Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, dreams are forever.
My husband and I recently celebrated our birthdays, which are two days apart. This year for “birthday weekend” our kids went to stay with their grandparents. And let me tell you, I felt all kinds of guilt about that. What kind of mother doesn’t want to spend her birthday with her children? Honestly, a pretty good one, I hope. Here’s why: taking time away from the more-than-full-time occupation of educating, nourishing, tending, regulating, etc. makes me a better human. I’m a better Mom when I’m rested, a more fun Mom when I am not drawing from an empty well. When I have time to remember who I am as a person, not just as a role, I can actually perform that role so much better. And not only that: I want very much to give our children the gift of having parents who are madly in love. These little breaks are mutually beneficial for all of us.
But what place does this have on a Disney blog, you ask? Why, I’ll tell you! It’s because sometimes, in fact two times so far, we have left our children with their grandparents and gone to Walt Disney World… just adults. And it was awesome. We stayed in swanky hotels, ate fancy food, and rode all the “big kid” rides that our kids weren’t tall enough for at the time.
We honeymooned in Walt Disney World, spent anniversaries there, and went on adults-only family vacations before our kids were born too. I wouldn’t advocate that a Disney-moon is perfect for every couple, but it was for us. In addition to the types of vacations we have personally taken, I have planned adults-only Disney vacations for milestone birthdays, bachelor and bachelorette parties, retirement celebrations, marathons, graduations, baby-moons, and more.
Some Guests express a little trepidation about whether a Disney vacation is really the right choice for their group of adults, but often it becomes a tradition they’ll repeat for years to come, and I find that such a pleasure. Getting to know Guests on a more personal level over time, learning what they enjoy, and hearing what new experiences will become must-do additions to their repertoire, or hearing about the unexpected magic they met with is one of my favorite things about being a travel agent. The paragraphs-long emails I have received from the family whose ninety-something matriarch took all her adult children to the Contemporary every year, or from the retired teacher and curriculum director who would send me Disney-related education ideas for my children, or the couple who booked their honeymoon and returned for each anniversary, were just proof of concept for what I already knew: Disney has a lot to offer adults of diverging interests. It’s a beautiful place to celebrate; whatever the occasion or non-occasion may be (sometimes the celebration is just because you’re tired parents and you finally got to sleep through the night, amen?).
So, if you’re curious about why on earth someone would plan a Disney vacation sans children, here is a brief summary of our personal experiences for just the two short trips we’ve taken to Walt Disney World since we had kids.
In early 2017, my husband and I were both feeling over-taxed professionally. We had set a goal the previous year to take a quarterly weekend for just the two of us, so for the first one of 2017, I lobbied that we should go a little crazy and fly to Orlando. Little did we know that the rest of 2017 would present us with some of the most intense and grueling personal challenges, on top of the professional strain. Actually, for that exact reason, 2017 was a pretty prolific travel year for us. We took a three night adults-only Walt Disney World vacation in February, a two-night whirlwind beach vacation as a whole family in April (this might end up being its own blog post), a two-night adults-only beach vacation in May, and then a seven night Walt Disney World trip as a whole family in September. I can’t tell you that all of that travel was financially super responsible (perhaps this is a good insight into why I’m a travel agent and not a financial planner), but those investments paid a different kind of dividend for us. I’m more than okay with that, looking back. Sometimes, running away is the right call.
Anyhow, we took this vacation in February of 2017, knowing that we would need to spend the first day working, but looking forward to doing our jobs from somewhere different, and so delighted at the prospect of exchanging grey winter days for the vibrant Florida landscape. We stayed at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village, in a Standard View 1 Bedroom Villa. If you need it, we have found the in-room wifi at the Disney hotels to be very reliable. On our first night, we walked around the Boardwalk (the resort area between Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios), shared a margarita, and picked up some pastries from the Boardwalk Bakery for breakfast the next morning. We spent most of the next day working from our hotel room, with the Resort TV channel providing a cheery musical backdrop. For lunch during our work day, we walked up to The Mara, at Jambo House, which is one of our favorite Quick Service restaurants on Disney property. The food is unique and delicious, and we also enjoy viewing the animals out on the Savanna. For dinner, we ate at Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge, which is where we honeymooned in 2008. It’s such a beautiful hotel; I recommend that all Walt Disney World travelers pay at least a quick visit just to walk around the lobby. If you have time, do the Hidden Mickey Hunt! The next day, we set our “Out of Office” email replies, and visited the Magic Kingdom until it closed. We slept in, rode Space Mountain for the first time in several years, drank coffee, ate pastries (yes, we do this a lot), shopped for souvenirs, and spent time remembering all the things we genuinely like about each other. When we headed to the airport the next morning, we were excited to get back to our kids, but also not quite ready to leave.
2018 brought a job change and subsequent out-of-state move, just nine days after our fourth child was born. As the dust settled around the makings of our new life, we decided to take another adults-only Disney trip in March of 2019. This time, we booked a two night stay at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, which is one of my favorites for its gorgeous grounds and proximity to Disney Springs. We spent arrival day visiting the other Disney Springs area resorts, walking around Port Orleans - Riverside so I could talk to my husband about all the fun childhood memories I have there, and then eating the most delicious Mickey-shaped beignets with chocolate sauce over at Port Orleans - French Quarter. I remember taking the boat over to Disney Springs for dinner, where we put together a meal from the quick service windows at several of the restaurants, but our favorite dish was elotes from Frontera Cocina. We walked back to the resort and picked up some baked goods (I am a sucker for the giant sugar cookies with Mickey sprinkles) for dessert. We spent the next day in Epcot, exploring the Flower and Garden Festival. We ate empanadas in the Mexico pavilion, troll horns in Norway, and s’mores from Karamell-Kuche in Germany. We lingered over all of those snacks, just taking in the sights and sounds of the different pavilions, and enjoying the kind of sustained conversation you can’t always have when small humans are also vying for your attention. It was the most beautiful, sunny day, ideal for admiring the festival topiaries. For dinner we ate at Les Chefs de France, which is a perennial favorite. And, of course, no trip to Epcot is complete without a visit to Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie. It was a day that filled my heart, and my stomach. After so much change in a short period of time, it was a welcome repose.
These vacations have served as a sweet reminder that we had a great relationship before the kids were born, and that while we wouldn’t dare wish away this precious time with our children, there is still so much to look forward to in the future. Since we are in the habit of taking one park day per trip when it’s just the two of us, I think it logically follows that we’ll need to plan one around visiting Hollywood Studios, and one for Animal Kingdom, too. I don’t see those happening until at least 2022 or beyond, but it’s a nice subject to ponder in the meantime. I’d really like to revisit the BoardWalk Inn (proximity to pastries and theme parks, yes please!), and maybe finally convince darling husband to rent a Surrey bike with me. Whatever we do, I look forward to revisiting the scene of some of our most cherished memories, and to creating new ones.
If you’re considering an adults-only Disney vacation, I’d love to help you plan!
“There is great comfort and inspiration in the feeling of close human relationships and its bearing on our mutual fortunes – a powerful force, to overcome the ‘tough breaks’ which are certain to come to most of us from time to time.” - Walt Disney
