Need ideas for a Grown-up Girls' Weekend

[8lovesmickey]

Hi All -- I will be at the resort for a long girls' weekend in late January. We arrive Friday noon and leave Monday noon. We are staying at the Grand Californian and would love some ideas for grown-up activities (we are mature ladies who do enjoy an adult beverage from time to time).

Two of us are frequent visitors to the park, the other two have only been once. We will definitely be going to both parks for early entry, probably coming back to the hotel in the afternoon for breaks, and going back to the parks later. We're hoping to hit the pool, but that's weather-dependent of course.

We were considering a tour -- maybe the DCA California tour? What about the spa? Would it be worth it to get pedicures or something fun? Anything at Downtown Disney that would be fun for everyone? What about the lounge at the Grand?

The DLR site doesn't have their schedule of events up for January yet, but are there other things that might be happening we should know about?

Thanks for the ideas! I usually visit with my family, so I've never really thought about adults-only fun.

 

[crystal1313]

How fun!

We personally love the lounge at the Grand. It's really nice. Another thing we like to do on adult trips is go to Trader Sams at the DLH. It's such a cute bar! With yummy drinks. On our last adult trip, we tried Carthay Circle and loved both the lounge and the restaurant. The biscuits are amazing! I like to be able to browse the shops more and take my time when without the kids too. DTD has so much stuff to do!

I've never tried the spa. But then again, I've only ever had a pedi once. I'm not a fan of people touching my feet. LOL. I would maybe look on tripadvisor or yelp for reviews of the spa.

I think if you stay at the Grand, they offer a free tour about the hotel. And I think you can power walk in DCA before it opens. But not 100% sure those two things still happen. I would ask.

If you are a Walt fan, check out the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour at DL. You can go into Walt's apartment on Main Street. Pretty amazing! I would check though, because right now the apartment is under renovation. Hopefully will be back on the tour for Jan.

Something I would love to eventually try is Napa Rose. Either the lounge or the restaurant. I've heard so many great things on the Dis about it.

Another restaurant we love is Steakhouse 55 at the DLH. Yum!

Have a great trip!

 

[AnneUCSB]

When DH and I were at GCH in September (sans kids) we really enjoyed the power walk at DCA and a spa treatment in the hotel. Enjoy

 

[cmpeter]

I did a similar trip with my girlfriends in February of 2013. We were primarily interested in rides though...and a couple margaritas which we got at DCA or DTD. We did do a nice lunch at Blue Bayou and waited for a waterfront table.

Other than that it was rope drop to close for three days.

 

[jammyjam25]

I am going to DLR with three girlfriends the first week of December and some of the "adult" plans we have worked into our trip include:

1) "Bar Hopping" through DCA. We don't plan to get unreasonable but we do have plans to pop in at various restaurants/bars as we make our way around DCA for a glass of wine here, a sip of beer there type thing!

2) Trader Sam's. Trader Sam's may be my favorite place in all of the DLR area and we plan to hit it at least one night after the parks close for a fun drink and to enjoy the scenery!

3) None of us have ever been to the GCH but we are definitely planning to check it out as well! We debated getting mani/pedis our first day at the spa but ultimately decided against it for $$ reasons, but I wish we could.

Another fun thing in Downtown Disney you might want to check out is House of Blues (they often have live music).

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I cruise once a year with a group of other Disney fan girls. Its so fun! Today I saw a fun pic from our recent adventure, an impromptu selfie with the captain, and I came up with a fun idea for next year. A selfie scavenger hunt! Have a list of locations, characters, popular snacks, adult beverages, etc. You could even make it into a fun story. I love the idea of it. With a fun story you can come home and format some hard bound books as keepsakes. LOL!

 

[jammyjam25]

I cruise once a year with a group of other Disney fan girls. Its so fun! Today I saw a fun pic from our recent adventure, an impromptu selfie with the captain, and I came up with a fun idea for next year. A selfie scavenger hunt! Have a list of locations, characters, popular snacks, adult beverages, etc. You could even make it into a fun story. I love the idea of it. With a fun story you can come home and format some hard bound books as keepsakes. LOL!

What a fabulous idea!

 

[lalasmama]

I cruise once a year with a group of other Disney fan girls. Its so fun! Today I saw a fun pic from our recent adventure, an impromptu selfie with the captain, and I came up with a fun idea for next year. A selfie scavenger hunt! Have a list of locations, characters, popular snacks, adult beverages, etc. You could even make it into a fun story. I love the idea of it. With a fun story you can come home and format some hard bound books as keepsakes. LOL!

That idea is FANTASTIC Totally going to have to start doing this on our future DLR vacations. My DD is nearly 11, and is ALL about the selfies right now! It would be great to see her do this! May have to suggest this to my BFF as well--or make the husbands come up with the list, which could be entertaining as well! (And I'm stealing the idea for the book as well--I've been trying to think of something that would be a sentimental gift for my BFF, and this would work wonderfully after our next trip!)

On our previous adults-only trips, we enjoyed:

Drinks at Trader Sam's, later in the evening... and then going back into the parks with a mild, giggly buzz. We were totally in control of our facilities, just kept on getting cases of the random giggles. Made Space Mountain all the better after that drink!

Hearthstone Lounge (GCH) in the later evening. It's quiet, it's relaxed, and they have STRONG drinks. No going back to the parks after that glo-tini! They have a berry cheesecake that is wonderful to have with the drinks.

Slowing down to take pictures, if you like that sort of thing. I think BFF got minorly annoyed with me, as I was obsessed with taking pictures our last night. I managed some amazing shots, though, and it's been fun to look back over the pictures and "remember when..."

A challenge is always fun. On my solo trips, I always try to hit every open ride. I've never completed it though, as California Screamin' scares me, and that's always the one I don't get done. Some people love to see how many characters they can meet in a day.

If you aren't all about the rides, try to see the shows you might have not taken time to do in past.

 

[8lovesmickey]

Thanks for the great ideas! I am all about the attractions, but there is at least one of us who gets motion sick on anything that spins, so we won't be riding everything (at least not all together). I'm also not beyond riding things by myself for the experience, so that's an option. I have a stomach of steel and can do just about everything (although I'm not a fan of the ferris wheel).

I love the selfie / challenge idea. I also love Trader Sam's, so we may need to hit that as a group. I've never tried the lounge at DCH so we will definitely give that a try!

I agree that the spa is expensive, but we may be able to pull off something smallish since we're sharing a room. Does anyone know if there are any spa discounts for AP holders?

Also any ideas how far in advance the live entertainment schedules come out? I see that the refurbs are out already and a few major attractions will be down (Matterhorn, Splash, Soarin) but I guess that's the price for going in January...

Thanks again -- Keep the ideas coming

 

[DizMe]

Lots of my favorites have already been mentioned. Some other ideas:

*Have dessert by the fireplace in the Napa Rose lounge

*Enjoy some wine by the fireplace in the GCH lobby

*Have dinner on the patio or balcony of Jazz Kitchen and be sure to order either the double chocolate bread pudding (which is like a chocolate souffle in which you get to pour pitchers of white and dark chocolate ganache!) or the bananas Foster, which is made at your table. Order the chocolate dessert when you order dinner because it takes about 15-20 minutes to make. It's amazing. Oh, and the food is pretty good, too If you time it right, you can see the fireworks!

*Have everyone bring a tiara and wear them all day! We did this (4 of us) and had so much fun being princesses. We also had champagne in our room and giggled a lot.

So now it sounds like all I do is eat desserts and drink

Also, one time my sister and I went on a girls' trip. She is a school principal and brought along their school mascot, (a little stuffed otter), and we took his picture all over the place. It was really fun to discover new and fun places for photos of Oscar the otter. He was held by several characters, rode many rides, etc. My sister made a whole poster of Oscar at Disneyland pictures for the kids back at her school and they loved it! The next time we went, we took mini versions of our dh's and did the same thing with taking pictures of them. It's the whole Flat Stanley concept. We went into the park one evening and I left my little dh on the bed at the GCH, and when we got back later that night, the maid had tucked him in under the covers with his head on the pillow and a chocolate next to him

 

[danabalana]

If my girlfriends and I have time on Sunday morning we love to do brunch at the Jazz Kitchen. The food was great (I've only had the Eggs Benedict) and they have a build your own Bloody Mary bar. Delish! I like them spicy ;-)
Great fun and very tasty!
I'm looking forward to checking out Trader Sam's. We're planning on a pupu dinner one night. We're die hard riders and we ran out of time last year but we're going to appropriately prioritize it this year.
Enjoy your trip!