Hi! My Dad's friends are driving to Orlando to pick up their granddaughter. They will arrive Wednesday afternoon and leave Friday morning and are staying at the Regal Sun Resort (formerly Grosvenor) across from Downtown Disney. They will not be able to afford any park visits though and asked what they could do Wed. pm and all day Thursday. I said they could check out Downtown Disney and jump on all the WDW transportation and explore the resorts. I was wondering if they could time it so they could see Wishes and maybe Illuminations from a nearby resort. Does anyone have any tips on where the best out-of-park spot is to watch those or any tip at all on what free or very cheap things they can do? It will just be 4 adults-they don't get the granddaughter until late Thurs night. Thanks for any advice you can give! OH! One more thing! Isn't there a water taxi that travels to and from Port Orleans? Does it go all day or just certain hours? Thanks!!
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What to do out of parks free or cheap??
- Thread starter clee687
- Start date
lscott933
New Member
you could take the bus from downtown disney to the animal kingdom lodge and visit the animals they have outside the hotel there. then take the bus to epcot to get on the monorail ride around once then get on the magic kingdom loop ride the around once. then take the boat ride to the magic kingdom. to get on the boat to wildneress lodge. take in geyser i believe they have one there. then take a bus to mgm and get on the boats to boardwalk area. walk around there see and then eat at the espn zone. then take a bus back to downtown disney get an ice cream there and take a nice long boat ride to por and back. that should be a nice day for free.
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redkoala245
New Member
You can go to TTC and view Wishes. You can visit any of the hotel's game rooms. You can do anything at the Boardwalk and view Illuminations. Or just walk around DD.
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Scooter
Well-Known Member
" Guests who wish to use the Disney transportation system may be asked for proof of riding privileges. Accepted IDs afford differant degrees of access. WDW resort ID cards, Magic Your Way tickets with Park Hopper options or Water Park Fun and More options, and Annual Passes let guests use all Disney buses, monorails, and boats. Valid one-day theme park tickets permit guests to use monorails and the ferries running betweenthe Ticket and Transportation Center and The Magic Kingdom, but do not allow use of buses."
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krankenstein
Well-Known Member
Source? Depending on the validity of this post (which given the poster I have no reason to doubt it), I stand corrected. I have been told it was available to anyone visiting property. That said, I do apologize if I am spreading something that isn't the truth.
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Thanks everyone for all of the tips! I too could not stand to be so close and not go into the parks!!! They are not so Disney-minded as me though so they should be OK. I have always read you needed to stay at a Disney resort to use their transportation too but have never needed to prove that I was, so I was just hoping they would be alright. Also, since they are staying at one of the Downtown Disney resorts, they are technically ON Disney property, the hotel is just not owned by them. Thanks again!
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ZambeziZelda
Member
I've held an annual pass since last August, and have visited the parks at least 5 or 6 times each month. I have never once been asked to see a ticket/hotel key card to use the monorail/ferry/bus.
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gettingsmaller
New Member
While that may be true, I think the reality is that they rarely check any sort of ID. We were there for 12 days this past Sept., and never had to show any sort of ID for any transportation (and, trust me, you take a lot of transportation in 12 days!).
I would think that the "payoff" wouldn't be worth the "cost" for Disney... Do they really want to slow down boarding for 1000 customers just to nab that one person who is using transportation he's not entitled to? Even from a "saving fuel" standpoint, it would probably cost more fuel to run the bus while IDs are checked than it does to load an "extra" person every once in a while....
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mickeymatt
Active Member
There are a lot of shops and restaurants in Celebration. You can rent bikes (I believe) and ride around. There is a pizza-by-the-slice place there and a big lake. In the thanksgiving/christmas season it is really nicely decorated and they it "snows" every hour while they play Christmas music. We enjoyed touring some of the model homes. I swear we wanted to move there. To be so close to DW........wow!
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Scooter
Well-Known Member
A few years back when I stayed at The Contemporary Resort, there was a Castmember at the bottom of the escalator going up to the monorail. He was checking everyone that tried to go on the escalator for resort ID's. That went on the whole week of my stay. Maybe they spot check once in a while because I havn't seen them do that since then.
Years ago you couldn't get on a Disney bus without showing some sort of Disney ID. Perhaps they don't do it anymore now but if some serious threat came up they certainly could and I'm sure they would.
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MKCP 1985
Well-Known Member
This has been said, but I will second the notion (or third it . . . or fourth) :lookaroun
From Grosvenor, it is a short walk over to Downtown Disney where they can browse shops and take any number of buses to any number of resorts where they can enjoy all sorts of free ambiance. The rocking chairs at the Wilderness Lodge, the monorail transportation around the monorail resorts, and the water taxi to the Port Orleans resorts.
Plus, bus transportation over to an Epcot hotel where they can walk around the Boardwalk.
Fun stuff, with plenty of air conditioning scattered around the various restaurants and shops.
At night, you can hear all sorts of live music at the various restaurants or enjoy watching a fireworks display from various hotels.
Yep, it is all good.
In over 20 years of resort hopping, I cannot remember a single time where my Disney park media was required to be presented in order to board a bus or boat or monorail. Come on . . . they make money from people visiting the bars and shops at the hotels. They aren't going to turn you away simply because you don't have a hotel key.
From Grosvenor, it is a short walk over to Downtown Disney where they can browse shops and take any number of buses to any number of resorts where they can enjoy all sorts of free ambiance. The rocking chairs at the Wilderness Lodge, the monorail transportation around the monorail resorts, and the water taxi to the Port Orleans resorts.
Plus, bus transportation over to an Epcot hotel where they can walk around the Boardwalk.
Fun stuff, with plenty of air conditioning scattered around the various restaurants and shops.
At night, you can hear all sorts of live music at the various restaurants or enjoy watching a fireworks display from various hotels.
Yep, it is all good.
In over 20 years of resort hopping, I cannot remember a single time where my Disney park media was required to be presented in order to board a bus or boat or monorail. Come on . . . they make money from people visiting the bars and shops at the hotels. They aren't going to turn you away simply because you don't have a hotel key.
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