Hello Liners,
I’ve been to Disney three times with my daughter/15, with each time NEVER doing a full rest day. This year we are staying 8 days at the end of August, so we have time to do a full resort day (on a Saturday too). We will do the obvious of sleeping in, as well as enjoying the resort pools.
I was hoping to get some suggestions on things other people like to do on their “rest” day or resort day?
One really hot day last year my sister and I intended to do something but we wound up sitting around in our jammies reading and playing silly games on our phones until about 4 pm when we finally went to a lounge to eat supper and sit around some more. Trying to cool off and recharge.
Other trips we’ve mini-golfed, checked out other resorts (visited lounges and shops).
Usually our rest days involve not doing the things we had intended. Like hanging at the pool, searching for hidden mickeys at a resort, riding the Skyliner, eating around the MK resorts. We’ve never done those 
My rest days tend to be “eating” days! We go someplace special for a meal. If possible I still like to do “Activities” on a rest day. A prime example is Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. It’s dinner and a show.
It’s also fun to do a “progressive” meal at Disney Springs. Get a snack / appetizer one place, an entree elsewhere, dessert at another place - all this while shopping / activities at DS.
Your dates are at “The end of August”. There may already be Halloween décor and activities at WDW by then as well.
What are your interests?
Walt Disney himself? Check out the Carolwood Pacific lounge at Boulder Ridge. And the photos in the hallways at Riviera.
Mary Blair artwork? Check out the mural at the Contemporary.
There are photos of the Contemporary construction and MK construction in the lobby of the Contemporary.
Art? The collection at AKL is the largest private collection of African art in the USA.
Book a carriage ride at FW or Port Orleans Riverside.
See the stables at FW. Take a pony trek.
Into sports? Try kayaking or archery at FW.
Mini golf or foot golf.
Paddel tennis, regular tennis, volleyball - check out which resorts have courts (OKW has volleyball, Contemporary has tennis courts).
A water park.
Lounge tour? Resort hopping for shopping.
Check out the life size models at POP or AoA.
Take a Skyliner tour. Do the scavenger hunt for that or WL. Checkout the geyser and indoor stream at WL before relaxing in a rocking chair upstairs in the lobby.
Watch the animals at AKL.
Go offsite, to KSC or the Orlando Eye. Gatorland, Sea World. Visit Kissimmee.
Lounge in bed a while
Coffee and a book on the balcony
Breakfast in room
Resort walkabout (perhaps laundry at this time, too)
Pool time
Nap
DS or dinner somewhere kind of special
actually, outside of the continent of Africa, not just USA 
Ah yes, a resort tour, scavenger hunt, or other resort-specific recreation is always fun!
Pools, activities at the resort like movies on the lawn or pool games like trivia or slide competitions, mini golf, Disney springs and have done the hot air balloon, stayed in the room and watched Disney movies, definitely eat at the resort or Disney springs or room service, water parks. Watch the animals at AKL! Do one of the safaris from there. Horseback riding and archery or fishing or canoeing at fort wilderness.
Water parks. The pace is as slow as we can get.
Oh yes. This is a lot of fun for my family bc we usually stay off property.
Things we have done on rest days/ no park days in the past-
Sleep in, late breakfast, then some combo of the following:
Water park for part of day
Hotel pool
Mini golf
Character meal at a resort
Disney springs shopping/eating
BBB when it used to be at Disney Springs
S’mores and Chip and Dale sing a long
Fireworks cruise
Nice meal at a resort
Build a mini figure at Lego store
Ride the monorail for fun
We normally only have 4-5 day tickets (military special tickets are limited in length) so we look for all the things we can do out of the parks and do those things on our no park days. By sleeping in this gives us some rest.
If you will have photopass you can go to the Grand Floridian or Disney Springs for pictures with special backgrounds and props.
I get antsy on rest days and want to be out doing things, mostly at the parks, so we don’t normally do a whole day of rest.
For the sake of not making my family crazy, I try to balance that with planning some “off” time during the trip to just hang out, go to the pool, roast marshmallows, watch fireworks from the hotel, etc. We also always take a trip to Disney Springs but only for the food and Lego/disney stores.
When we were younger and had grandkids along our rest time was a few hours mid day. Every few trips we’d do a water park but hitting one park (AK, MK or HS) in the morning and Epcot in the evening worked so much better. I guess we didn’t like doing the same thing all day
Now that we’re older, we’re amazing ourselves at how our priorities have changed.
Thank you for all the thoughtful responses! This list of ideas is GREAT!
I am going to start researching a few of these options to add to our plans.
Look at Coronado Springs resort for mosaic or painting classes
Other resorts may have classes as well
A bunch do!
I don’t know why but sleeping in followed by getting a carafe of coffee delivered to my room (maybe with a couple pastry items) just feels really luxurious to me
Thank you for this good resource
Not available at most resorts. GF only to my knowledge. Everywhere else you’ll have to retrieve that coffee and pastries yourself. 