Enjoying The Resort

For most people, visiting the Walt Disney World Resort is all about enjoying what the theme parks have to offer. However, the fun doesn’t stop there! In fact, there are a lot of great ways to enjoy the Walt Disney World Resort without stepping foot in Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios or Epcot. Today, we’re talking about all the ways you can enjoy the Walt Disney World Resort without visiting the parks or needing a park ticket!

Disney Springs

Located in the Walt Disney World Resort and accessible via Disney Transportation [as well as by ride-share service or your own vehicle], Disney Springs is a place where you can shop, dine and play! With 99 shops, 64 dining locations and 22 entertainment options, there’s a little bit of something for everyone to enjoy at Disney Springs. In fact, there’s so much to do at Disney Springs that you can easily spend an entire day strolling, eating and enjoying other special offerings that are available throughout the year.

Now, it has to be said that to some [especially those visiting Walt Disney World on a budget], Disney Springs can seem like a pretty intimidating place. With some very high end brands and fancy restaurants peppered throughout, budget travelers might wonder if there’s any reason to stop in at all. Goodness knows we felt that was strolling through some parts of Disney Springs during our last visit and we weren’t on a tight budget. However, I assure you that it’s not all thousand dollar watches and fine dining.

Walking around Disney Springs, you’ll find a number of great [and shareable] food offerings and even shops that will fit within your budget. It’s also worth mentioning that Disney Springs also has free entertainment offerings throughout the year as well to include live music, DJs or even seasonal activities like the Christmas Tree Stroll.

Disney Springs can also be a good place to check out if you’re in need of something such as a new pair of shoes, hat, sunglasses, backpack or even another outfit. Though these items can most certainly be purchased off property, the savings isn’t always worth what you’d pay for a ride-share to get to Walmart or Target. That said, prices and selection is more reasonable at Disney Springs than in the theme parks, so I think it’s worth the shot of finding whatever it is you need there.

Beaches

The Walt Disney World Resort is not located along the Atlantic or Gulf coast, but that doesn’t mean that strolling along a well manicured beach is out of the question during your next Disney vacation. Disney’s Beach Club, Caribbean Beach Resort, Contemporary Resort, Fort Wilderness Resort, Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and Polynesian Resort all have beautiful beaches for you and your family to enjoy next time you’re at Walt Disney World. Whether you’re a guest at one of these resorts or are just passing through, you can enjoy the sand, beach chairs and even hammocks.

Personally, we had a really great time enjoying the beach at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort during our last Walt Disney World vacation. Though we weren’t staying at the Caribbean Beach, its proximity to the Disney Skyliner made it the perfect place to disembark, grab a coffee and soak up some sun. Just don’t forget, swimming is not permitted at the beaches at Walt Disney World. If you’re looking to spend some time in the water, you’ll need to check out your resort’s pool.

Movies Under The Stars, Campfires & Other Activities

We’ve talked a bit about different ways to enjoy the Walt Disney World Resort as a whole, but you don’t have to venture far from your room in order to have a good time. In fact, staying at one of the Walt Disney World Resort hotels gives you access to some pretty fun activities and offerings! Whether you’re enjoying a movie “under the stars”, sharing stories [and making s’mores] around a campfire or taking part in another activity, there are a lot of ways to have fun right at your resort hotel.

You can learn more about what’s available at your resort hotel, including schedules and other offerings, by inquiring at check in. You may also want to keep an eye out for signage or phone calls which will inform you of upcoming events available to you during your stay.

Crawls [Pub Or Food]

If part of your vacation checklist includes eating or drinking some of the fun offerings available around the Walt Disney World Resort, doing a crawl can be a great way to spend your resort day! There are lots of different ways that people like to conduct their crawls at Walt Disney World. Some like to stick to places located along the monorail loops, others like to stick to the Disney Skyliner, but with so many transportation options to choose from the sky’s the limit!

What exactly will be available to try will vary depending on when you’re visiting Walt Disney World, which is what makes doing a crawl like this so much fun. Those who are visiting during the holiday season or other special times of the year will likely have specialty drinks and treats to choose from, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give a crawl like this a try even if it’s not a particularly notable time of year.

During our last visit to Walt Disney World we had a blast traveling around to different resorts and trying some of the offerings that were available. One of our favorite stops was at the Art Of Animation Resort where we had the most delicious cookie either of us have ever had on Walt Disney World property. [It was called the S’mores Gourmet Cookie and it was AMAZING! Sadly, I did not take a picture during our trip so I’m going to send you over to the Disney Food Blog to see what they had to say. . . . . . ‘cause I agree!]

Now, before we wrap things up here, it’s important that I make note of an important detail. Currently, as I am writing up this discussion we’re having, there are limitations in place at Walt Disney World regarding resort hopping [or traveling from resort to resort, much like we’ve described above]. Because of health and safety restrictions that are currently in place, if you want to visit a resort you’ll need a confirmed resort reservation or a confirmed dining reservation. From what I’ve seen, guests without a confirmed room reservation, dining reservation or [in some cases] mobile order scheduled for pick up will be turned away. There is also some talk about arriving too early for your dining [or presumably mobile order] reservation. We are currently looking more into this so that we can get you the most up to date information possible.