You love the Kool-aid.
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I was always the same until this past summer. We had 3 resort days and it was amazing. I had planned to upgrade to more days on our tickets until I realized the price changed and I was too stubborn to fork over $300 for the 7 to 8 day upgrade. It was a happy accident though and we plan to do it on every future trip.
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Love this post. Just Sunday we did MK. 17 rides between EE and 6pm without Genie+. We walked on to a resort ferry and snickered at the masses waiting for the monorail. We grabbed a mobile order from capt cooks, ate inside. Checked out the Poly shops, and then back outside. On the beach, we had the swing to ourselves while our son played in the sand. We chilled for an hour before the Electric Water Pageant showed up. A nice quiet walk back to TTc parking where we were the 11th car parked that morning…
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Weird. There was no such parade this Monday at HS. It was in our touring plan but suddenly I couldnt optimize without removing it first.
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That is weird. I saw it twice when I was there today
They gave you ours?
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Yes yes bc I’m special 
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Definitely do this! We had an awesome relaxing morning hanging out on our balcony and at the pool. I even got some laundry done. Had a nice lunch at the Mara and were at AK by 1:30. AKL is such a fantastic resort to relax at!
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It’s called a cavalcade. Left over from the reopening.
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It had a drum core… so I’ll call it a parade 
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Haven’t read what other things people may have suggested, but here are some of my own:
- Watch the fireworks from the Contemporary or Poly
- Watch the electrical water pageant
- Do a monorail resort crawl
- Visit the Boardwalk and surrounding hotels (Including Swan and Dolphin)
- Shop in Disney Springs, listening to live music performances
- Do a Skyliner crawl, visiting each of the resorts to explore their theming, etc.
- Take a DS boat to Port Orleans to walk the grounds and maybe grab lunch or listening to music at Scat Cat Cafe (with beignets)
- Take a boat to Wilderness Lodge to see the lobby and the geiser
- Take a bus to AKL and watch the animals on the Savannah
- Spend time in the resort pool and hot tub
- Find an online scavenger hunt for things to see outside the parks and find everything
- Arrange a liner meet up outside the parks
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No parade but they have cavalcades.
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I went and looked it up. I hadn’t realised the cavalcades were still happening.
The old parade at DHS was so much fun. And they even made an “event’ out of the Power Rangers’ arriving for their meets at the Crossroads in their vehicle. I miss those days. 
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We’ve never actually watched any parade except the MSEP until I saw FOF in the summer. I did see a couple of cavalcades but not many. Definitely still happening though.
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Okay - so Ryan took all of mine. This is a great list.
I did a “resort mostly” trip in 2018. We did MNSSHP and one after 1:00 ticket at AK. Now all of these tickets are way more expensive, so I know this is not the option you are looking for, but I mention it, because it was a nice proof of concept for a no-parks visit.
We did four things from Ryan’s list on that trip (stayed at POR) and had a fantastic trip.
- Beignets at POFQ followed by boat ride to Disney Springs
- Visited the Boardwalk and then had brunch at TAF (back when Flynn was there, maybe he will come back)
- Visit to AKL with lunch at Sana, but if you have never been to Jambo it is more impressive and the Mara is decent QS for a cheaper option. There is a massive African art collection here too.
- Dinner at Geyser point and looking around WL. The tour in the morning sounds great too.
My one other suggestion is Fort Wilderness. I am not sure how many of their activities are free.
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One problem that the group may need to help @sanstitre_has_left_the_building with is the lack of Starbucks outside of the parks, other than those at Disney Springs. Anyone know of a frappuccino or similar beverage at any of the resorts?
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You meant “our” I assume.
Please do HDDR. Like, if you think next time you go will be the last time, maybe even if not, please do HDDR. And pay for floor seats. Go AFTER an MK day. Go hungry.
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As we drove home from our 2nd family trip, my wife and I both kind of agreed that it was much less magical than our first trip. (Our first trip was a rebound after my wife was found to be ill and we had to cancel, so that first one we were riding on a high of her getting past surgery.)
We both realized that there was a point in the trip where the Go-Go Took Its Toll (feel free to use that phrase for your retro 60’s pop song) and we had to do something differently next time.
On our next trip we took a minor step of actively “scheduling” some open-ended days - we hit the parks normally at RD - then mid-day we grabbed an early lunch at WL and just did whatever the rest of the day. (Until HEA, anyway.)
Kids were still younger then, played a lot of Sorcerer’s then I just kept refreshing MDE and asking who wants a FPP to X? Or just wandering.
Best. day. ever.
Over the last few years we’ve expanded to have resort-only days and even mostly resort trips (in the name of getting a little Disney fix but saving money) - and every one has been better than the last.
One of last year’s day of exploring was just terrific and ended at the Poly beach eating Dole Whips and watching HEA for the last time. We all adored CSR resort. (You do have to go to Three Bridges.)
I highly recommend the exploration route - once you’ve hit the parks enough to have seen everything, you just have to get past the mental FOMO.
So far I’ve gotten past FOMO pretty well, but at this point I’m personally looking for a full blown parks trip - I still have not seen Galaxy’s Edge or Toy Story Land. I have not been able to get my family to stay long enough at AK to see it at night! Or been to UOR in 25 years!
But, I don’t think we’ll ever book another WDW trip without including down time for exploring resorts again. On go-go trips my wife will fight through like a trooper, but in the end she will feel awful, and that ain’t how any of us want things to go. (Between WDW and on hiking trips I’ve had to learn to moderate - she says she suspects I am part mountain goat because I just keep climbing/walking ad infinitum while others start dragging.)
I’m currently working on my credit card hacking Year of Points™ to hopefully fuel some additional trips to WDW and other places - thinking I might have to use some of my Southwest airlines points and eventual Companion Pass to make some smaller, more targeted go-go trips to supplement park time without making it a marathon. But also looking forward to the next low-effort explorations. There’s just so much to see and eat at WDW.
edit: I am typo man today
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