What to do on Disney Property besides the parks?

[DisDude0521]

Hello all, My fiancé and I are headed to Walt Disney World in 25 days and we have 7 days on property but only 6 days in the parks. I was hoping to get some good ideas on what we could do on property besides the parks? I really wanted to do some resort hopping to see the different resorts. Are there any must-see resorts that we should hit along the way? Looking forward to hear from everyone! I'm sure everyone has their own fun little things that they do on property that we all don't know about!

 

[stewart715]

Disney Springs for sure. Not sure where you are staying but the Epcot resort area is nice to walk around and visit (the BoardWalk, Beach Club), a lot of food and entertainment there. Coronado Springs with its expansion also seems worthwhile to visit with great views from the new restaurant.

 

[Disneypeach]

Tons of things to do at Fort Wilderness Campground...canoes, kayaks, fishing (catch and release), biking, Segway riding, horseback riding, and singalong/chip and dale/outdoor movie.

 

[stewart715]

Tons of things to do at Fort Wilderness Campground...canoes, kayaks, fishing (catch and release), biking, Segway riding, horseback riding, and singalong/chip and dale/outdoor movie.

Along with that, Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue is worth seeing as well: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/d...wilderness-resort/hoop-dee-doo-musical-revue/

 

[Calee]

Where are you staying?

 

[GoingSince1990]

Mini Golf. Everyone should do Fantasia Gardens at least once.

 

[BarlowFamily]

Animal Kingdom Lodge! This calendar is a little old, but it gives you some idea of the activities they have going on.

 

[Figment Mom]

I love the monorail loop, mostly for nostalgia. You can hop on the monorail at the MK. The 3 resorts on the loop have such very different feels.

(If you don't want to keep getting on the monorail, you can walk between the poly and GF.)

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You don't mention where you are staying, but if it's just you and your fiance, you could make a whole day out of touring the deluxe resorts and Ft. W. I would start at AKL - have a late breakfast at Boma (you would need an ADR) or simply get something at their QS. Tour the resort, go out the back of the lobby to the public animal viewing area. I would then uber/lyft to WL, tour the resort (make sure you go to the Boulder Ridge Villas building to the sitting room area to see some of Walt's backyard train cars and ask the WL front desk for the hand-out that describes the totem poles and artifacts in the lobby), maybe grab a drink at Geyser Point, then boat to Ft. W, walk around, do an activity there, tour the stables. I would then boat to CR, poke around and monorail to Poly (you can grab QS for lunch at any of these resorts if you get hungry). If you time it right - I would try to get to Poly a little before 3 pm so you can be in the first wave of people to go to Trader Sam's. Have a drink, an app, get a Dole Whip outside, check out the beach area. Monorail to GF, look around, monorail to MK and then catch a bus (or simply uber/lyft from GF) over to any of the Boardwalk resorts (BC/YC, BWI, Swan/Dolphin). Or swing back to CR and have a drink in the Cali Grill lounge area (the view is spectacular) and then head to the Boardwalk. Spend the evening on the Boardwalk - tour the resorts, see the magicians and jugglers, play some carnival games, rent a surrey bike, walk over to Fantasia mini-golf and, to end the night, watch Illuminations from the bridge between BWI and BC.

 

[loves to dive]

As others have mentioned, a lot depends on where you are staying but when touring resorts, what we do is:
Take a bus to MK (you don't have to go into MK) and hop on the monorail to do the monorail resorts then back to MK and hop on the boat to FW (or make CR your last stop and hop on the boat there), back to MK to take the bus back to our resort. If staying at one of the Epcot resorts, we walk around the Boardwalk going into all three Disney resorts and Swan/Dolphin. It's a little harder to bus to the Epcot resorts since you can't go into Epcot and there is no way to walk from there to the resorts since the buses stop at the front entrance. You would probably have to Uber that one or bus to HS and walk or boat to the resorts from there. There is a walking trail which isn't a bad walk from HS to the resorts and the boat isn't bad but we find walking is faster and more pleasant for us.

Either one of those loops, catch a meal at one of the resorts or bar hop and eat bar food at all of them.

We often will leave a park mid-afternoon, go to the bus stop and hop on the first bus to come and tour that resort. AKL is worth the bus ride but you have to catch the bus at a park, again no big deal just hop on the first park bus to come to your resort and transfer to an AKL bus at that park. Reverse it when you are ready to leave, hop on the first park bus to come and transfer to your resort from there.

The moderate resorts all have TS restaurants and bars as well so they are worth a visit. I would think you could hit the monorail/FW resorts and the Epcot resorts in one day, taking your time to go to the shops at all of them and catching a meal at one of them.

 

[StageTek]

Resort hopping! We love this. Even taking the time to visit the All Stars is fun. One trip a few years ago we just walked a couple of cabin/RV loops over at the Fort. We're planning on doing that again this trip; at dusk head over to The Outpost, take a bus to one of the RV loops and take a nice stroll looking at the unique way people set up their sites. We've found that people there are open to chatting. Then head up to Pioneer Hall for the dinner show.

Or... head over the Port Orleans Riverside at dusk and take a carriage ride then dinner at Boatwright's.

Spending 30 to 45 minutes exploring each resort plus the time it take to get to each one we can make a whole day out of it.

 

[SillySallySews]

We can spend an entire day resort hopping.

 

[maryj11]

I love the monorail loop, mostly for nostalgia. You can hop on the monorail at the MK. The 3 resorts on the loop have such very different feels.

(If you don't want to keep getting on the monorail, you can walk between the poly and GF.)

Agree! We love going around to the resorts on the monorail loop. We always pick a restaurant to eat at one of them.

 

[DizzyDis]

Agree with others. Either shopping at Disney Springs (with great meals) or resort hopping (with great meals). I love Poly, both Kona Cafe for breakfast and for drinks/Dole Whip later on. Monorail is great, I would be sure to stop at Grand F to see the lobby and listen to the musicians/ piano.

 

[Luvs Mickey]

If money allows, you could spend some time at Senses, the Disney spa. One is at GF and another at SS...

But, as others have stated, taking the monorail around to the different resorts is always fun!

 

[DisDude0521]

Where are you staying?

We are staying at the All Star Sports!

 

[igrsod]

We love walking the Boardwalk, wandering the shops at GF as well as listening to the live band there, Yeehaw Bob at POR is fun (have to check his schedule), loads of fun at AKL watching the animals and wandering the resort. On non park days we usually swim and/or go to Disney Springs.

 

[Anthony1971]

Resort days boil down to how much money you want to spend if any.... While not as openly advertised anymore as people seem to be obsessed with the parks and eating in the parks and why not as this is where Disney makes its $$$$$. Disney actually has many activities (or better you name they most likely have it) that are very reasonable priced or the same and sometimes less than you will pay at other resort settings one of the biggest bargains is renting a boat where you have many choices like Bay lake and seven seas Lagoon where you can drive between them also Jet ski's to driving a race car the last two are priced where you would expect them to be anywhere else... If it were me taking a tour by a boat rental starting on Bay lake or Seven seas lagoon would be one of my choices... Years ago you would wait to rent the sea racers as this was a nice afternoon activity now with park tickets being so high people plan there entire day around being in a park..

 

[Waiting2goback]

Tons of things to do at Fort Wilderness Campground...canoes, kayaks, fishing (catch and release), biking, Segway riding, horseback riding, and singalong/chip and dale/outdoor movie.

I may be doing a camping trip at Fort Wilderness. Does anyone know if I brought a kayak if I can use it on Bay Lake? I have never seen one on Bay Lake but figured I ask just to be sure.

 

[Disneypro1]

We do some resort exploring. Especially WL and Contemporary. Do Disney Springs one evening. But the rest of the time is park time. Probably 90% of our waking moments is in the parks. That’s how we roll.