>Epcot Resort Area

>

So, how many times have you heard someone say, or have said yourself, “I need a Vacation, because of my vacation?” That cracks me up. If you are going on Vacation and working harder than you would have at work, then you are doing something wrong in my mind. Many people find Disney Vacations especially tiring. This is because some families think they have to do everything there is to do in Disney World in one trip. I can tell you from experience, it cannot be done. But people think if they go commando*, they can make it happen. All going commando seems to do is make you grumpy and causes people to not have a Magical Experience. When my family visits Disney World, we have a philosophy of non-Commandoism. We may start at the crack of day and not end our day until late, but at some point in the middle, we will leave the parks, stop what we are doing and take a break. These breaks can be as short as a lunch break (in which case we’ll also take a dinner break) or they may be as long as a few hours and we will stop for the afternoon. We have found that this type of break, where we leave the parks behind and go

back to our resort after lunch, hang by the pool, maybe take a nap, visit another resort or even just ride the Monorail, is the perfect way for us to “Do Disney“. Our Hakuna Mawednesday articles will share with you the different places we have found to relax and maybe even recreate, while taking a break from the parks. We hope you find some places you can enjoy the next time you are in Disney World.

One of my favorite places to relax is at the Epcot Resort Area. The Epcot Resort Area is “out the backdoor” of Epcot, also known as the International Gateway. The Epcot Resorts are The Beach and Yacht Club, the Dolphin and the Swan and the Boardwalk Resorts. Each of these Resorts has some great places to relax and get away from the crowds and rushing of the parks.

There are also some recreation choices for you in the Epcot Resort area, if you are so inclined. At the Bayside Marina you can rent bicycles and boats for your personal use. They also offer fishing excursions and specialty cruises. Over on the Boardwalk you can also rent bicycles and surrey bikes for some family fun. Across the street from the Swan and Dolphin is Fantasia Gardens Mini-golf, which many people don’t know about and is a great place to get away from crowds of people.

All of the Epcot Resorts offer great places to eat and some neat shops to walk through. Of course the main area to visit, for guests who are not staying in the Epcot Resorts, is Disney’s Boardwalk. The Boardwalk itself is located behind the Boardwalk Resort. The Boardwalk is an actual boardwalk like you might find at the beach in the Mid-Atlantic States. It is fashioned after the Boardwalk in Atlantic City around the time of the turn of the 20th century. Disney’s

Boardwalk offers a variety of food choices, everything from a hot dog stand to Celebrity Chef Cat Cora’s Kouzzina (which is becoming a signature restaurant in Disney.) One of my favorite places is The Big River Grille and Brewing works. This brew pub is a nice place to get some fresh brewed beer and have a burger. (best burgers ever!) They have outdoor seating areas, which when it isn’t too hot, is a great place to sit on the Boardwalk and people watch.

The Boardwalk is also home to some very unique shops. They have a Wyland Gallery which if you have never been in one, I recommend just to see some really great pieces of artwork. The ESPN Club at the end of the Boardwalk also has their own shop called the Yard which sells ESPN merchandise. There is also an arcade in the Yard and one further down behind the Wyland Gallery that is actually part of the Boardwalk Resort.

The main reason my family enjoys going to the Epcot Resort area, to relax, isn’t the shops or the eateries (although they are all wonderful), it is the relaxing atmosphere. Taking a break from the Parks to go and hang out in the stress free environment is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon or even an evening. As places to Relax in Walt Disney World go, the Epcot Resort Area and the Boardwalk are at the top of the list for Hakuna Mawednesday!

*By going commando, I mean being a Disney Commando and rushing from one attraction to the next and then from park to park. Going from the crack of dawn, until the wee hours of the night.

>Take the Earliest Flight?

>

A man gets on a plan in Philadelphia at 8:00 am. His Resort check in time in Walt Disney World is 3:00 pm. If his plane ride takes a little less than 2 1/2 hours, what does he do with himself, if he is using Disney’s Magical Express to get to the Resort? (Disney’s Magical Express was explained in our post of August 11 called “In Disney”) I know this seems like an odd question, but this happens to many people in Disney World as they are either first coming in, or as they are leaving. They book a flight that lands earlier in the morning or one that takes off later in the day. Then they are at the resort without a room. A lot of them sit around the lobby and wait for their room, or for the bus back to the airport, but that seems like a waste of a Day in Disney to me. So, if you are in this situation what should you do? After you have checked in to your Resort and found your room isn’t ready, you can enjoy the Unknown Magic of things to do when you don’t yet have a room.

The first thing you should do is something I mentioned in a post a while back, check out your surroundings. Find out what your resort has and what you can do there. Take the time to look for the Unknown Magics that it has to offer, things like a beach or a playground for the kids. Then you should decide if your park tickets will cover every day that you are in Disney, if you go to a park, now. If they do, you can always go to a park. We have on occasion gone to a park, at this point, but most of the time, we wait until after we have been in the room, so that we can change and freshen up, then we head out to a park (of course if you have a park hopper, which is the best way to go, you could do both). If you are like us and don’t want to do the park without freshening up, or you don’t have enough days on your tickets, then there are plenty of other options available to you that can lead to Magical Experiences.

You can Hotel Hop (as described in my post of August 17) this is a great way to find different places to eat and maybe a different place to stay on your next trip. You can also go over to Disney’s Boardwalk, and have lunch at any of the great restaurants. Our family stops in at Big River Brewing Company, usually our first day in Walt Disney World, for lunch, it is one of our favorite places to eat. While on the

Boardwalk, you can shop in some wonderful places like Thimbles and Threads or the Wyland Galleries. The Wyland Galleries have some very cool art work and the prices are not as extreme as you would think they’d be. There is also a Wyland Galleries in the Polynesian Resort.

The Polynesian Resort is another great place to go if you are waiting to get into your room. The Kona Café is wonderful for lunch and the Waterfall in the Lobby is a very nice place to sit and relax before a busy Disney Vacation starts. Another thing to do while you’re are waiting for your room, is to ride the Monorail. Disney’s Highway in the Sky is a Magical Experience in itself.

And on the Magic Kingdom Loop you can get out at the Contemporary Resort and enjoy the Grand Canyon Concourse, and at the Grand Floridian you can enjoy the piano playing in the lobby. You can also ride the Monorail over to Epcot and get a sneak preview of the park as the Monorail makes its loop around the entrance to the Epcot Station.

Another fun thing to do as you are waiting is to take a boat ride. If your resort is one of the many Disney resorts that offers floating transportation, this is a great way to learn where it goes. Not only that but it gives you a different view of the Walt Disney World Resort you may miss later in your trip.

If you get to Disney World very early and you have an hour or two before your room is ready, you can go play miniature golf. The Fantasia Gardens Minature Golf Course is near the Dolphin and Swan Resorts. To get there you need to take a bus to any Park and then take one to the Dolphin and the Swan. Winter Summerland mini-golf is connected to Blizzard Beach, so to get there you just need to catch a bus to Blizzard Beach.

Which brings up another option for you if you have a lot of time; you may want to go to either Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon. If you don’t want to purchase the ticket to either of the water parks, or didn’t have it as an add on to your Park Hopper Pass, then you can enjoy one of the most wonderful things to do for the wait before your room is available, Swim in your Resort’s Pool (I talked about the Resort pools in my article Let’s Take a Dip, back in June).

So, now you know, if you get an early flight and have to kill sometime in Disney before you get into your room, there are some great things you can do to create Magical Experience. So, book that early flight and enjoy your extra half day.