Give up a park day for the pool... why?!

[SteveH]

It seems like such a huge $$$ expense to go on a vacation like this to spend a day swimming in a pool.

We never took a whole day off but when our kids were younger we did do a couple 1/2 days at the pool, either hitting the park in the AM and the closing it down or taking the AM off. There is such a thing as overdoing it and over stimulating, those down days can be good for everyone. But it's personal choice.

 

[Shanti]

i see a lot of people who say they do an "off" day or a pool day as a day off from the parks. Why? Are there not pools where you come from?..Is it worth it to spend a day relaxing at the pool or a waste of time/money?

There are no pools anywhere like the one at Stormalong Bay, no. Imo it would be a waste of money to shell out the bucks for a deluxe resort in the summer, and not enjoy yourself in those wonderful deluxe pools.

 

[YawningDodo]

I think of WDW as a resort in the traditional sense. The entertainment is at the parks, and relaxation is at the deluxe hotel and pool. They are equal parts of the trip for us. I wouldn't stay at a Disney resort without visiting the parks, and I wouldn't want to hit the parks without being able to relax later at a nice resort.

That's the other part of it. On our 2015 trip we lucked into a discount that enabled us to stay at the Dolphin when we'd previously planned for POP. We went down to the pool a couple of evenings, but the slide was always closed by the time we got there, and we were always too tired to linger long. While the Dolphin isn't my favorite (I'd rather stay at a Disney-owned resort), it was kind of a shame that we were staying at a deluxe but barely spent any time there.

 

[lovethesun12]

I think of WDW as a resort in the traditional sense. The entertainment is at the parks, and relaxation is at the deluxe hotel and pool. They are equal parts of the trip for us. I wouldn't stay at a Disney resort without visiting the parks, and I wouldn't want to hit the parks without being able to relax later at a nice resort.

This is exactly how I look at it. We've done resorts at Cuba, etc. We now prefer Florida/Disney for the sun, relaxation, kids rides and occasional thrill ride

 

[powellrj]

Its supposed to be -20 windchill tonight,and my DS is moving to Florida next week, so instead of staying with him, I plan to stay at WDW sometimes. You better believe I will be having lots of pool days. I am thinking of buying an AP and going often since I am retired and DH isn’t. If I do get the AP I can do mornings in the park and do the resort the rest of the day.

 

[MudQueen22]

I think the way each family spends their time at Disney is personal to that family. What is a waste of money for one family is an incredible value to another.
There is so much to do between the resorts and the parks that you cannot do it all in the short time spans most of us can afford to stay.
We did not do a resort day on our other two trips to WDW. We did arrive early enough on our last trip to enjoy the resort pools a bit, and I recall wishing that we had more time to swim in those really neat pools and enjoy them. I remember thinking a pool day was a waste prior to having resort time, but changed my mind once I spent some down time playing with my children.
We get to swim quite a bit where we live, but the pools at the Disney resorts are fun and unique.

 

[maxiesmom]

After a few days in the park I need a break.

 

[vacamom4]

I use to think the same and wanted to spend every minute in the parks. However, after going several times (and realizing I was driving my family crazy) I realized the resort was a significant expense also and I like to spend some time enjoying the resorts. We have gone several times for just a few days and never went to the parks at all.

 

[senseicj]

My opinion, the pools at WDW are just as much of an attraction as the parks. The water slides at most resorts are awesome and worth at least a day

 

[bopper]

1) Kids will whine about wanting to go to the pool
2) We do full days at the parks, so after 2 days you need a day off or Everyone Gets Cranky.

 

[Leinzlove]

We are staying a month at WDW. We have a nice 2 weeks that are busy and full of park days. And then the 2nd half we are enjoying relaxation, Resorts, Disney Springs and have annual waterpark passes.

I guess it would depend on how long you are staying.

 

[verleniahall]

If I am going going going the full time we are there, then its not really a vacation - i go go go at work all the time - plus, its a nice way to spend some quiet time - might be different if we had kids

 

[sashasmommy]

No one has pools at their house where we live. In a city of 500,000, there are 3 outdoor public pools which means during the warm months, they are overflowing with people and often close for capacity if you don't get there right when they open. The indoor pool that I have access to (YMCA) is freezing. So yeah, I'm looking forward to playing in a warm pool in Florida. The only problem is that we're going in December :-(

 

[srwarden1928]

I wouldn't do it, but I am not on the PP's vacations. I spent 10 nights at WDW in November. I spent nine full days in the parks, plus shorter times on both arrival and departure days. This was a solo trip. This is how I personally prefer to do Disney.

 

[Tattylou]

We have not taken a whole day to go to the pool, but I know many ppl do. We generally go to the parks in the morning and at night. We chill at the pool during the midday. My boys like to swim and they look forward to the pool as much as the parks. Like others, we live in a chilly climate so after a long winter it's a treat for the kids to be in a pool in April.

In general, I like a vacation that involves sitting by the pool and the beach. In April, we are doing 5 days down at St Pete Beach area and only 2 days up at Disney. We have been to Disney enough that we can hit some favorite attractions and get our Disney fix in a relatively short trip bc we know we will be back to see whatever we miss.

 

[PollyannaMom]

i see a lot of people who say they do an "off" day or a pool day as a day off from the parks. Why? Are there not pools where you come from? It seems like such a huge $$$ expense to go on a vacation like this to spend a day swimming in a pool. Am I the only one who doesn't get this? I must be one of only a few because I see so many people talking about this. What do you all say? Is it worth it to spend a day relaxing at the pool or a waste of time/money?

It's worth it to us if our trip is longer than four days. - We'll do two park days, a day off, and then two more park days. It's so important to us not get cranky and ruin the magic! If we go full throttle every day, it stops being fun. (We call it "the day 3 curse".) Our last trip was shorter, but we still purposely planned day 3 to be a bit of a sleep in and a water park.

We also don't just sit around the pool when we have an off day. We've booked resort meals, ridden surrey bikes, spent time at Disney Springs, etc.

 

[AZMermaid]

^^^^ This! The three day curse! We plan two days on, one day off. It works great for us. Last summer, my kids were 5 and 6. They loved the off days just as much as the park days. We did a split stay at Bay Lake and Animal Kingdom Lodge. The first off day, the kids did a pirate cruise, we swam and went to Disney Springs. The next one, the kids did a bunch of those cultural activities at AKL, we swam until we were rained out, and played in the community hall some. These down days let us have more fun on our park days. 6 Park days, 71 miles, no stroller- no meltdowns or tears even. I really Attribute that to those days off. Others can probably go, go, go- but it worked for us!

Oh and yes, we have a pool in our backyard!

 

[Vicki E.]

At most we'll do an afternoon or evening at the pool. We get park hopper so we can go back to a park when we are ready. We don't have kids so that helps. My parents have a pool so I have no problem skipping it while in WDW. However, it is awesome to be in the pool in Jan/Feb when it's snowing at home so I get it. Plus if anyone is injured, it's a good rest day but again, I really wouldn't do a whole day, half at most and that's pushing it.

 

[ZoZo]

i see a lot of people who say they do an "off" day or a pool day as a day off from the parks. Why? Are there not pools where you come from? It seems like such a huge $$$ expense to go on a vacation like this to spend a day swimming in a pool. Am I the only one who doesn't get this? I must be one of only a few because I see so many people talking about this. What do you all say? Is it worth it to spend a day relaxing at the pool or a waste of time/money?

I would venture to say that at least half of the folks in the US (if not more) don't have regular access to swimming pools. Especially those of us that live "up north." Where I live, we have maybe six weeks of weather each year where it's warm enough to swim, if we're lucky, and very few public pools. So you bet I'll take some pool time! It might not be a whole day, but at least one or two afternoons per trip, definitely!

 

[NashvilleMama]

We're alternating park days this coming trip - because our first MK day is wall to wall and I know we'll all be toast from EMM to fireworks! Plus my kids always beg to be in the pool the whole time, it's just as much fun for them as being in a park sometimes. And as others said, we do things like an early resort dinner that we don't normally make time to do. Vacation = sitting by the pool for awhile. At least for those of us who don't get to do it that often!