Disney World is pretty big. So finding your way around can sometimes be a little confusing. Luckily, Disney offers complimentary transportation to help you get around the property.
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Weekly Tip #11: Resort Tours on Non-Park Days
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Posted in AllPosts, Disney Dining, Disney Resort Hotels, Disney Transportation
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Posted in AllPosts, Disney Dining, Disney Resort Hotels, Disney Transportation
Leave a comment
Planning a Disney World vacation takes a lot of planning and decision making. Your first big decision is where to stay. There are many factors that go into choosing the resort you would like to call home for the duration of your trip, price and location being two of the bigger factors. There are so many different resorts to choose from, all with fun themes, in Disney World. So it can be a hard choice to make, but there is a way to see the resorts you don’t choose. It’s called resort touring.
Lots of people do this on non park days. You can hop on the monorail and tour the monorail resorts or take a bus from any park or Downtown Disney to the resort you want to see. It actually makes for a pretty relaxing day.
On our last trip, we made a lot of dining reservations at different resorts. We actually had more dining experiences at the resorts than in the parks and it worked out pretty well for us. If we showed up a little early we were able to look around the resort before our reservation, otherwise we would tour the resort after we were done with our meal.
We had dinner at California Grill one night and we had a little time before the fireworks viewing, so we decided to do the monorail loop. We didn’t have enough time to get off at each stop, but it was still fun to ride the monorail and see all the monorail resorts.
Here are some things to see on your resort tour:
Resort Grounds
Obviously, there are areas you will not be able to go to if you are not a guest at that resort, but there is plenty to see in the areas that are open to the general public. The grounds of the resorts are fun to walk around, because so much goes into the theme of each resort. It does not matter if the resort is a value, moderate, deluxe, or deluxe villa, all of the grounds are well-kept and make for a fun way to tour a resort.
At Pop Century there are signs positioned along the walkway with fun pop culture tidbits. It’s fun to read the signs as you have a leisurely stroll around the resort. The grounds at Kidani Village and Animal Kingdom Lodge are the savannas. So, seeing the grounds means watching the animals, and that is fun for both kids and adults. Wandering around the grounds of the Polynesian Village Resort will make you feel like you are in the tropics. I love taking pictures of all the tropical plants that the Polynesian Village Resort has on their grounds, they are so beautiful.
Resort Lobbies
Another area that you can visit are the hotel lobbies. Those are also fun to walk around. Some are pretty grand, like Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge, and others are just fun and colorful, like Pop Century and Art of Animation. The Beach Club lobby is warm and inviting with all of the pastels on the furniture and walls.
Off of the lobbies you will find the resort gift shop and those are always fun to poke around in. The gift shops are designed to the theme of the resorts. So it is fun to look for those extra Disney touches, even in the gift shop.
Resort Dining
A dining reservation is a good excuse to tour a resort. You are already at the resort, so if you have no where else to be that day, I would definitely recommend sticking around to see the rest of the resort.
If you don’t have a dining reservation you can look at the list of quick service restaurants at the resorts and choose one of those to try. Once your get your food you can find a place to sit and people watch at the resort.
Whether you try a quick service or a table service, make sure to look around at the decor of the restaurant. Like the resorts, the restaurants have themes. We enjoyed the theme at Cape May Cafe. We were seated near the sandcastle that they have on display. The beach umbrellas that line the back area of the restaurant were a nice touch. The characters at the character breakfast are dressed in beach gear and the kids loved that. It is a very fun theme.
Resort Activities
Some resorts will have special activities that you can take part in even if you are not a resort guest. For instance, there is nightly viewing of the animals at Animal Kingdom Lodge that everyone can enjoy. So if you are there for dinner at one of their delicious restaurants, head up to the viewing area afterwards and check out the animals with night vision goggles. Please note that the night viewing is different from the Night Safari. The Night Safari is only available to guests who are staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House, and Kidani Village.
Another activity that is offered at many of the resorts is nightly campfires. The activities at the campfire will vary depending on the resort, but there are usually stories, singalongs, and marshmallow roasting. These are a lot of fun and they are free activities offered at the resorts.
Resort Transportation
Sometimes it is fun to just spend the day taking different forms of Disney transportation, especially if you are staying at a resort that only has bus transportation. The monorail is fun to ride and you can take it to the monorail resorts or you can transfer and take it to Epcot and back. There are boats that will take you from some resorts to Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Downtown Disney. You can also walk to some parks from certain resorts. Epcot is a short walk from Yacht and Beach Club and from the Boardwalk Inn, you can also walk to Hollywood Studios from these resorts (about a 20 min. walk). The Magic Kingdom is a short walk from the Contemporary. So you can walk to and from the parks and just enjoy the scenery and landscaping.
There are lots of ways to experience different resorts at Disney World. Not only is it a nice relaxing day, but it can also help you decide which resort you would like to book for your next trip. When we had our first breakfast a Boma, we knew we wanted to book a stay there at some point. For our last trip, we did end up booking at Kidani and we were certainly not disappointed. So, if you know you want to try different resorts for each trip, I definitely recommend giving yourself a tour of different resorts. Plus, it is good to have days off from the parks to relax and this is a great way to do that. Happy exploring!
Thanks for reading!
*Liz*
Weekly Tip #2
Time for the Weekly Tip! Here we go!
Staying on Disney Property: Why it is Worth the Price
Yes, staying on Disney property is expensive, but is it worth it? If you can swing the cost, I would definitely say yes and I will tell you why. It’s all about the perks!
Staying on property gives you extra perks, like the ability to take advantage of Disney’s Extra Magic Hours, which allows you to either get to the park earlier than opening time or stay after closing if you are a guest staying on Disney property. If morning Extra Magic Hours are available you may be able to get all your rides in before the park starts to get really busy. Which means you could be enjoying a nice swim back at your hotel for the afternoon while everyone else has to wait in longer lines for the rides you already got to see in the morning.
Complimentary transportation to and from the theme parks, water parks, and Downtown Disney (soon to be Disney Springs) is also available in the form the monorail, buses, and boats. It’s always nice to let someone else do the driving!
Disney’s Complimentary Transportation
The Monorail, Buses, and Boats
If you have a car, it might not be as big of a deal, but you will have to pay for parking if you are not staying on property. If you have a car and are staying on property, you can park for free .
If you are not staying at a Disney resort hotel and are using their transportation system, make sure you take note of when the shuttles runs. Many of the non-Disney resort hotels do not run shuttles as often as Disney does, so you will want to make sure you get back to your shuttle stop in time. Also, the non-Disney resort hotel shuttle stops tend to be far away, which makes sense. Why would they have competitor shuttle stops close to the Disney ones?
On our last trip, one person in the party was staying at a non-Disney resort hotel for the whole trip. The shuttles for their hotel stopped running earlier than Disney’s and they didn’t run as often. Plus, when it was time to go back to the hotels, our shuttle stop was always so much closer than the non-Disney one. At the end of the trip I think they wished they had taken my advice and stayed at a Disney resort hotel. You don’t have to spend a fortune for the hotels, you can stay at one of their value hotels. I have stayed at Pop Century 3 times and it is my value hotel of choice in Disney. The theme throughout the hotel is so much fun! There will be a separate blog on Pop sometime soon.
A (Big) Big Wheel at Pop Century
Also, if you are staying on property the MagicBands are included in your stay. If you are staying off property and want to use a MagicBand, you will have to purchase it separately.
Something else to consider when deciding whether or not to stay on property is if you want to use the dining plan. The dining plan can only be purchased when you are staying at a Disney resort hotel, so if you were considering one of the dining plans then you will have to stay on property to take advantage of it.
The next perk for staying on property involves dining reservations and FastPass+ (FP+) reservations. If you are staying on property you can make dining reservations 180 days from the first day of your trip. If do not have Disney resort hotel reservations, you will not be able to take advantage of this and chances are the more popular (Cinderella’s Royal Table, Be Our Guest,etc.) will be booked during your stay. I know, it seems ridiculous to book dining reservations 6 months in advance (and it is), but because of the dining plan it is necessary for the more popular restaurants.
FastPass+ is available to book 60 days from the first day of your trip if you are staying on property and 30 days for those that are not staying on property (angering many locals). It means a lot of planning on your part, because you are going to have to figure out what park you want to go to on what day and hope you can get your FPs for that day. We’ll see how this plays out, because this idea is still fairly new. In all honesty I’m hoping it doesn’t work out and goes away, but it’s here now and if you want to ride the popular rides you have an extra 30 days on the people not staying on property.
Another perk is that you are completely immersed for your entire trip. Staying at a Disney resort hotel means that you never have to leave the “magic”. There are some hotels that will give you a little more quiet than others (Animal Kingdom Lodge and Kidani Village), but you are still receiving the Disney treatment. The cast members are wonderful and if there are problems they will take care of them. We had issues with our MagicBands when we stayed at Kidani Village and had to go down to the Concierge 3 nights in a row, because of this they gave us an extra 3 FastPasses per person, per day for the rest of our trip!
Beautiful (and quiet) Kidani
That service doesn’t end when you leave the hotel either. I had a not-so-magical experience with a couple of cast members (but that’s out of hundreds of great cast members) and I emailed my complaint when we got home. I honestly didn’t expect to hear anything, and if I did I figured it would be a general email apology, but to my (happy) surprise I received a phone call a few days later! Her name was Beth and she was wonderful! She listened to me, apologized, and explained to me the steps they would be taking to resolve the situation. It was wonderful to have a company actually care about what you think and to talk to someone who didn’t sound like they were rolling their eyes on the other end of the phone. Thank you, Beth!
So, while it can be expensive to stay at Disney (don’t forget about the values!), if you can swing the cost, I would definitely recommend staying on property. There are so many different perks to take advantage of! Plus, you feel the magic throughout your entire trip and if you’re going to Disney, don’t you want to feel as much of the magic as possible? 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Liz ⁰O⁰
One of the fun signs found around Pop Century.