disney activities that don't require park tickets

• The Animal Kingdom Lodge offers viewing of the animals after 6 pm
• Downtown Disney has a Rainforest Café (call for reservations first or put your name in before shopping in the area) and a McDonalds.  There main shop there (World of Disney) has most of the items in Disney and offers 10% off to purchases over $25 to Disney visa card holders.
• The Disney Boardwalk is close to MGM (follow MGM signs until you see Boardwalk signs) and is a pretty walk around a lake with one nice large store and several restaurants.  You can rent boats by the half hour for all sized families ($42/half hour for a 10 person boat).
• Most of the hotels are fun to walk around and shop in.  You have to tell the parking attendant you are there to shop briefly and show a photo ID for one person.
• You can go to the Rain Forest Café at the Animal Kingdom if the one in Downtown Disney is too busy, but tell the parking attendant you are there to eat so you can bypass the parking fee for people visiting the parks.  Also, don’t follow the traffic cones if arriving late – go all the way up and take a spot of someone that left early.