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

[RedsDrew]

We're doing an 11 night honeymoon stay at the end of May/beginning of June. We will be happy to have some down time at the resort swimming in the pool or just relaxing in general. 12 days of park can just be too much.

 

[Penmac]

We have done it both ways and have found that a day off in the middle is good for us. Mostly because we have little kids and they get tired and cranky (and, actually, so do we!). In addition, we spend MANY hours in the park to maximize that ticket price and get as much out of our vacation as we can. A day to recover in the middle is good for allowing us to enjoy the last couple days of vacation without being too exhausted to really enjoy it. After a couple days of rope drop, as well as staying at MK for the last kiss goodnight, we are bone tired!
I also don't think of the pool as a waste of a vacation experience. We don't have a pool at our house in New England, so maybe get to swim in someone else's a handful of times over the summer (besides swim lessons). These pools usually reach 75 degrees at best. And we certainly don't have lazy rivers or water slides to enjoy, so a full day doing that is so enjoyable for my kids. Especially when the water is 85 degrees!

 

[msdaisy]

We LOVE pool time! When my kids were younger, we were at Hollywood Studios. We gave them the choice to stay and watch Fantasmic or to go back to Coronado Springs and swim.

This was the moment that pool time was born for our family!

Since then we have scheduled pool days on each and every trip. In fact, if we go for 8 days we will go to each park once and have a pool day in between to relax and go to Disney Springs.

When we first started going, we would always try and do each park twice. And it was just too much for us. We wound up tired and cranky. We love our pool and shopping time. In fact, on our park days we take mid afternoon breaks and usually wind up in the pool until it’s time to go back to the park.

Don’t knock it until you try it!! We love the R&R time.

 

[cuteandfluffy626]

So when we have a rest day, it's not only about just sitting by the pool and relaxing. We can also enjoy going to other places around WDW like the Boardwalk or Downtown Disney and shop a bit without the worry of making a fastpass attraction. After several days in a park, possibly going to a special event and all it's worth it to take it easy one day.

 

[bryanb]

I don’t know if most people literally spend all day in the pool on a “pool day.” But I like having park hoppers and maybe breaking up the middle of the day with some non-park relaxation or other activities.

If someone wants to spend the whole day soaking in water I’d probably recommend the lazy rivers at either water park as a much more enjoyable way to have a pool day.

 

[Dis703]

We don't normally do off days. We did do one morning at our resort pool only for DH's benefit because he can't keep up with the rest of us with the parks. But I would normally be at the parks arrival through departure day even if it was a 2 week long trip. I have zero interest in pools, but if the kids wanted to spend time at one I'd put in an afternoon break for pool time but definitely not a whole day.

 

[Hawaii2Dis]

My boyfriend and I made our last day our pool day! We are from Hawaii.. so we actually have beautiful beaches and pools galore... but we decided to hit Magic Kingdom in the morning with our Breakfast at Be Our Guest... rode our favorite rides one last time and headed back to he hotel! We stayed at Pop... but we planned ahead of time to do laundry on our last day which was by the computer pool! So we made a pool day/laundry day out of our afternoon! It was actually very refreshing because it’s just so sticky and humid in Florida! Honestly, yes you are paying a lot to go to Disney but spend it how you want! If you want to go into a pool, go into a pool!! If you don’t then don’t! It’s your money! Lol

 

[Cinderfella92]

Usually I do pool time in the evening (after park closes, but before dinner and pool close). The other times I do the pool is after returning from the park that is smallest and finished everything quickly (usually Hollywood Studios). So the afternoon is relaxing and swimming.

I had to do pool times.

My visits consisted of:
Beach Club in Aug. 2004
Caribbean Beach in Nov/Dec. 2016
Boardwalk in Oct. 2017

Several of these hotels pools are very memorable. Couldn't miss out!
Plus, groups/families with children need down time. It's easier for young adult single (meaning no children) people to continuously go go go... Give us a few years though! Haha

 

[Krandor]

Personally the only day I've done a straight pool day is after the full marathon on dopey weekend. No energy (or legs) left to go to the parks that afternoon and just sitting and soaking legs in the pool feels wonderful.

 

[pigletgirl]

You’ve got to rest while at Disney. Being around the pool is the perfect way to do that!

 

[pigletgirl]

Usually I do pool time in the evening (after park closes, but before dinner and pool close). The other times I do the pool is after returning from the park that is smallest and finished everything quickly (usually Hollywood Studios). So the afternoon is relaxing and swimming.

I had to do pool times.

My visits consisted of:
Beach Club in Aug. 2004
Caribbean Beach in Nov/Dec. 2016
Boardwalk in Oct. 2017

Several of these hotels pools are very memorable. Couldn't miss out!
Plus, groups/families with children need down time. It's easier for young adult single (meaning no children) people to continuously go go go... Give us a few years though! Haha

And even those people burn out too. Kids just make you slow down even more.

 

[GirlDreamer]

I'm going to have several pool days when I go. I live live in the UK and it's not unusual for UK visitors to go for 21 days, which we will be doing for our next trip. The main reason for having such a long trip is so that we can have plenty of relaxation time as well. We go to WDW frequently, about every 2 years, so we're not worried about missing out on anything by not going to the parks every single day. We don't get many nice summer days here and we definitely don't have a pool or live close to the beach, so for us it's a luxury being able to relax by the pool. I don't have the patience to spend an entire day by the pool, but it's just as much about being able to have a lie in and to have a full day with no set schedule. We can just do what we want and when we want.

 

[zobow02]

Some maybe spending 6 nights at a disney resort and only have 4-5 days on there ticket. you have 14 days to use up the days on your ticket if I remember right. so it isn't really a money waster only if you waste a day on your ticket

 

[SL6827]

I haven't read the whole thread, but if you are staying at the Yacht or Beach Club, that would be a no brainer!

 

[VandVsmama]

Why take a day off to spend it at the pool?

Because it's vacation.
Because your family/travel group wants to.
Because you're tired from the past ___ days in the parks.
Because you need/want some down time.

We're from Arizona. And we're going to WDW this June for our 1st WDW family trip. Normally, we are Disneyland people because it's a 5.5-6 hr drive from where we live. But as most people know, summer in Arizona...especially June...is like the 7th circle of heck. It's as hot as can be. We've gone to weekend swim meets in Arizona in June and July...the sort of grueling ones where you're outside from 7 am - 8 pm. And even though we're geared up with all of the normally recommended summer heat survival gear (Frogg Toggs, mister fans, alternating drinking water & Gatorade, etc.), after 2 days of that in a row, we are WIPED out! And keep in mind...that's with just SITTING there in the shade all day long.

So for our week of Florida fun, we're taking a day off after 2-3 park days. Sleep in, swim in the pool, do whatever. And while I'm very tempted to have us spend the entire morning of our departure day at 1 of the parks, we're going to rest and chill out and do some other fun stuff around WDW instead.

My kids pretty much live in a pool all summer long here and despite that, they LOVE hotel pools.

 

[ncc1701]

Because it's what DH and I want to do on our vacation. Relaxing by the pool and reading is part of vacation even if we aren't at WDW. Our usual day is park in the morning and after lunch back to the pool.

 

[bluejasmine]

We both work so much that we have very little time to go to a pool plus here in the south where we live there aren't any public pools so on vacation is the only time we get to enjoy a pool outside of taking a day off of work and going to the beach...

Its what we enjoy doing, we take mid day breaks after lunch and head to our monorail resort and relax and swim and come back to the park early evening for dinner, more attractions and fireworks

 

[NickC]

When planning our upcoming trip, both kids, 8 and 10, asked to have more time at the pool. We’ve gone without rest days, but, generally, everyone is happier for the second half of the trip if we have some down time. We also have a sit down breakfast, enjoy a nice dinner or visit DS.

 

[Summer2018]

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?

When I was younger, we were go go go! I fantasized about taking a day off from the parks but felt obligated to get our money’s worth.

I’m 53 now. I feel no obligation to “get my money’s worth”. I spend my money how I please. I care more about comfort now. I have arthritis and a torn meniscus. All of the miles of walking causes pain, not to mention blisters upon blisters. I have to ice my knees and back midday and again at night. Midday naps or pool time helps me to feel better. Having a relaxing day at the pool or spa in the middle of my vacation rejuvenates me so that I can return to the parks for the remainder of my vacation.

I have finally gotten to the point in my life that I believe in doing what makes me happy.

 

[kreckl]

For us it’s a big part of our trip to Florida. WDW is more than theme parks! We have plenty of park time and like to relax, and play together in the pool, talk, or nap
We like split stays and pool time is a great thing to do on switch day.