Tips about Rain and Resorts

Take a Disney Vacation Club Tour. That's what we did and we are so glad we did. The DVC has been a wonderful purchase for our family. It is an opportunity to explore the DVC and be in out of the rain at the same time! - Steve & Susan Beck

Take advantage of the exercise rooms in most of the Disney hotels, a nice meal and maybe even a nap... the sun will come back soon enough. And, you will be refueled and energized, ready to go. - Mary Parker

One day it rained the entire day and we were lucky enough to have planned the tea with Alice that day. We took the monorail to the Grand Floridian where my daughter spent a wonderful hour with Alice and the Mad Hatter and my husband and I had a quiet hour together listening to the piano player in the lobby and watching the rain. We took the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge where she spent the rest of the afternoon at the Cub's Den making crafts. After dinner at the hotel where she rode in a hobby horse race, we sat and watched her have her character portrait drawn by the lobby artist. It was a wonderful day and we discovered many wonderful new things to do that we might not have done had it not rained. - Lisa Bliss

A great way to spend a potentially not-so-magical day is to visit Disney Springs. The shops are fantastic and are each beautifully themed. The Once Upon a Toy Store will keep the younger set busy with its interactive toy displays -- be sure to design your own Mr. Potato Head postcard for a fun and cheap (free!) souvenir. The outdoor LEGO play area is also sure to be a hit. As far as dining goes, there are plenty of options to please all members of your group. Disney Springs is also home to a huge movie theater and DisneyQuest -- an indoor interactive theme park good for a few hours of fun when the weather isn't wonderful. My family and I could easily spend an entire day wandering around Disney Springs. Regardless of the weather it's a great place to relax a bit after storming the parks. Enjoy! - Amanda Downs, Whitney Point, NY

Last time we were in Disney on a rainy day we took a bus to Disney Springs to the shops and bought a scrapbook and supplies. We then went back to the hotel and I started working on it while my husband plotted out the next day's itinerary. I even included a rainy day section with pictures of us stuck in the hotel room. I was able to do most of the scrapbook before we left Disney and I had something fun to show my coworkers when we came home. - Danielle Mahoney

My husband and I like to drive over to Disney Springs and do a movie marathon at the AMC24 theater. If we are at the BoardWalk Villas as DVC members when it is pouring, we try to grab a rocking chair on the deck outside the main lobby, curl up with a book and we have a great view of the lagoon and BoardWalk. - Shelley Bordo-Bracken

All Star Resorts - When my family of four (two adults/two teenagers) stayed at the All Star Music resort we brought along two twin-sized air mattresses and the electric pump to inflate them. My daughters slept on the air mattresses while my husband and I had the full sized beds to ourselves. We did need to push the full sized beds closer together to create enough room for the air mattresses and in the mornings we would need to flip one mattress on top of the other but this wasn't too big of a deal. The wonderful Cast Members who came in to clean our room didn't seem to be bothered by the air mattresses and they left our full sized beds where we had placed them. This was our great solution to the sleeping situation when it came to only being able to afford the value resort rooms but needing more space for sleeping. The cost of the air mattresses was actually less than paying for fold-out beds for the eight nights we were there and everyone had their own bed to stretch out in for a more relaxing night's sleep. - Lisa Cash

EDITOR'S NOTE: While this arrangement worked in this particular case, we wanted to note that most All-Star rooms are only meant to accommodate up to four individuals, plus one child in a crib. Bringing the air mattresses to squeeze more than four occupants in a room would be violating the hotel's fire codes.

All Star Resorts - My husband, 4-year-old son and I just returned from a fantastic 10-day WDW trip and one of the best things we did was ship a small coffee pot with filters and coffee packets to our All-Star resort ahead of time since they do not provide coffee pots in those rooms. What a treat it was to just wake up and make our own personal pot of coffee each morning. The 4-cup pot at Walmart was only $19.99, and the filters/coffee were inexpensive. - Laureen EDITOR'S NOTE: The Family Suites at Art of Animation and All Star Music have coffee pots.

All Star Resorts - If you're staying at the All Star Movies, one extremely useful tip is to use the bus for the All Star Music resort when coming back from the theme parks at night, and simply walk over to All Star Movies. The Music buses are by far less crowded than the Movies (seeing as the Movies is a more popular resort), and the short walk between the resorts is much more enjoyable than standing in line for an hour trying to get on the All Star Movies bus. - Lindsay P.

ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE - We just returned from our annual visit to Disney World. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge for the second time. On our previous visit, the Sunset Safari of the three savannahs was only offered to concierge level guests. It has recently been opened to all hotel guests. My husband is handicapped, but the truck was equipped with a wheelchair lift so he was still able to take the tour. The tour also included dinner at Jiko. It was a great experience, and one I would highly recommend to any guests staying at the resort. - Kimberly Shannon

Take your Hidden Mickey book and head over to a hotel on an adventure looking for them. We were on one of the floors by a room looking for one when a family came out. They were very surprised when we showed them that a Hidden Mickey was right by them. - Sharon Petrow

We bring "Disney games" with us. There is the Disney version of Guess Who, Disney Trivial Pursuit, Uno, Memory and many other board games. We order in room service, play Disney board games and watch Disney movies/TV. We also eat Disney "snacks." Walmart has Disney microwave popcorn, and local dollar stores and Walgreens have Disney candy and fruit snacks. - Christine Mercier

Don't forget to check out activities that might be going on at your resort! One rainy afternoon our extended group of nine gathered at tables in the food court area of the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. We had found tables by the windows and out of the way of people eating a late lunch to enjoy some card playing. We noticed that some Disney staff were setting up tables with an activity and had also brought out a dozen or so chef coats. One of the Cast Members approached our group and invited the kids (all four of them) to come don a chef's coat and join in the activity at the table. Each child got a large Mickey shaped sugar cookie and frosting and decorations to create their own MICKEY! It was a fun activity for the kids and a tasty treat as well! In case you were wondering, it was a free activity! - C. Hesse

Discover the beauty of the resort you are staying in, take a closer look at the lobby decorations, walk around and look out the public viewing areas. Or take a tour of a resort. If your resort has no tours, call the Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge and see if a tour is available. - Wendy from NY

I go resort hopping and go shopping. Each of the gift shops at the different resorts has the standard merchandise; then, as an added bonus, they have merchandise specific to that resort. So far, what I am trying to do is either collect a different beach towel or shirt with the resort's logo on them, or I stop by their snack bars and pick up a soda cup with the resort logo for about 11 dollars. With the mugs, I even have the ones that say Fall 2000, which I got at Epcot. - Debbie Jeffers