Disney World Non-Park Days: Exploring Playgrounds
Each and every Disney vacation we plan a non-park day. A day that we don’t go to any of the four theme parks, and these days aren’t our arrival day or departure day. This is a day to give us a break from the full tilt schedule of visiting the parks. It gives us a day to explore all the many other things found at Disney World. Did you know you can hop over to other Disney World resorts and play around? Pool hop, dine, shop, explore the massive Deluxe resort lobbies. It is so fun! Our kids are still quite young (7, 5, and 1) so they still love playing on playgrounds and the Disney resorts have some very creative play sets found at the resorts. Which means they love to carve out time on these playgrounds during our down days. Here are the details for each playground at the resorts that have them. They are broken down into resort areas.
Animal Kingdom Resort Area
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village
Uwanja Camp
Found in amongst the Kidani Village pool area, Uwanja Camp is a combo of water play area and playground. One side has water shooting out from the ground with a slide in the rocks. The other sides has rope ladders and bridges and slides. One of the things I love about this area is it’s shaded.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House
Hakuna Matata Playground
This playground has two structures which accommodates more kids at a time. One is for school aged children and the other is for preschoolers. They both have slides and ladders. The area is gated off which gives parents a piece of mind. The playground is right next to an animal viewing spot.
Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
This is one of the coolest playgrounds on sight. The playground runs right with the theming of the resort with a temple like structure that is nothing like what you’d find at a playground at home. There’s a large slide coming out of a temple and a crawl through larger than life statue. This is one we will definitely be checking out on our next vacation. The playground is found on the island with the resort’s main pool and volleyball court.
Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
The playgrounds found at All-Star Movies Resort are very young, so if you’re looking to entertain kids 5 and older this is not the spot for you. There’s some slides and a few places to climb but nothing to write home about. The playground is found across from the resort’s main building.
Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
This playground is better for a wider range of ages, with a set of monkey bars for older kids and and smaller slide for littles, your whole family can play on this structure. The playground is on sand so you can bring some buckets and shovels and spend time building with the sand. The playground is found in between a couple of the southern buildings and can be totally missed by guests staying in the northern part of the resort.
Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
All-Star Music has the best playground set up out of all three all-star resorts. It actually has three structures, giving your kids more of a variety. There’s monkey bars, a big twisty slide, a little climbing wall for littles, a balance bridge. The playground is found on the southern part of the resort and is easily accessible by the the All-Star Sports resort.
Magic Kingdom Resort Area
Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
This resort actually has two playgrounds, one is found in the heart of the resort. By the resort’s feature pool, Chip n Dale Campfire Sing-A-Long, is the Meadow playground. This is a small playground with a couple slides and a bouncy bridge, nowhere near the impressive playground that you find at the northern part of the resort. The Settlement Playground is HUGE. With large climbing ramps, slides, and a rope ladder, there is plenty for everyone to do. There’s actually two structures to disperse the crowd.
Disney Springs Resort Area
Port Orleans- Riverside
The one playground found at Port Orleans – Riverside resort is found in the resort’s main pool area termed Ol’ Man Isle. It’s here you’ll find their fantastic pool and pool bar. Just a few steps away is the resort’s playground. The playground has a spin of the resorts theming with a big shining wheel found in one part of the playground. All the siding of the structure is made to look like wooden fences. There’s two structures found in the area to give variety to visitors.
Port-Orleans – French Quarter
The playground found at French Quarter is very basic. This playground is going to look like any playground you’d find in your neighbourhood. With a small slide on one end of the playground and a big one on the other end. You’ll find the playground east of the resort’s main pool.
Saratoga Springs has one playground found in the southern part of the resort in the Congress Park area. Beside the resort’s quiet pool is this playground that is decorated to coincide with the resort’s pastel colours. It’s nothing fancy, with two little slides and a couple sets of climbing stairs. But there’s quite a few areas for kids to play with things on the structure, with little huts created at the base of the structure.
Old Key West has the most playgrounds of all the resorts found at Walt Disney World. There are three different playgrounds found at this resort. There’s one found at the main house, by the main pool. This playground is surrounded by sand. It’s got a couple of slides, some climbing stairs and some monkey bars. There’s another playground at the very outskirts of the resort in the South Point Rr area. This playground is small with a rock climbing wall and a couple slides. But it’s a great place to spend some time if you’re staying in this area. The best playground found at this resort is the playground found in the Old Turtle Pond area. The playground has multiple climbing areas, big slides, a musical playing area, although it’s better for school aged kids not the best for toddlers.
ESPN Wide World of Sports Resort Area
Pop Century Resort
This resort has one small playground nestled in amongst the southern buildings. It’s a small little structure with a couple of slides, some twisty monkey bars and an arc staircase. Instead of spending time here I would head over to the neighbouring resort, Art of Animation.
Art of Animation Resort
Art of Animation has two amazing play areas both heavily themed. One is found in the Lion King area of the resort. This playground area is made up to look like the Elephant Graveyard, although there’s no proper structure there’s caves to run around in, with larger than life Lion King characters overlooking the area. The main playground area is found in the Finding Nemo section of the resort, very close to the swimming pool. This playground has a couple of stairs and slides that come out of this large rock structure. The whole area is on soft ground, making it a fun safe place to play.
Epcot Resort Area
Disney’s Boardwalk Inn is found around the corner from Epcot and Hollywood Studios. It has one playground area, located close to the feature pool Luna Park Pool. There are two structures, one for older kids and one for younger. There’s also some musical play things. The whole area is on soft ground and it’s gated.
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
This playground is one of the coolest on property for a number reasons. Reason number one, where it is. The playground is found on the resorts island that is only accessible by two special pathways. Reason number two, the structures are fantastic! They are mainly balance focused and therefore appeal to a lot of ages. With a swinging bridge and many balance beams, your kids will be wanting to waster hours here. So hope over to this resort and spend sometime at the playground before grabbing a meal at Sebastian’s Bistro.
Well that’s it friends. There are 15 resorts that have at least one playground. Don’t forget to check if your neighbouring resorts have better playgrounds to suit the age of your kids better. With so many to choose from and explore don’t waste time at one they won’t love. I can’t wait to go explore the one at Coronado Springs during our next Disney World vacation.
For more posts on non-park day activities check out these posts:
Non-Park Days: Free Magic Kingdom Fireworks
Non-Park Day: Animals at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Non-Park Day: Movies Under the Stars
