ok,we are dumping our kids,where do we go??

[mamita]

we are planning our october trip and since we have live in babysitters (2 teenagers) we are planning on taking one night to ourselfs with no kids what should we do? we have never been to pleasure island,what is is like? or should we do just dinner and a nice walk..
I'd love some input. thanks

 

[iluveeyore]

Ooooh, so many choices!! We're not nightlife people so we don't do Pleasure Island (just walk through sometimes). When DH and I go out without our teenagers, we love to visit a resort restaurant, then tour all the resorts and feel the ambiance of each one. The Wilderness Lodge is our favourite to visit, but it's the kids' favourite one to eat at (WCC), so we don't normally eat there without them. Last year we went to Boma at AKL and it was wonderful (have ressies for just us in 7 weeks!). If you have park hoppers, our favourite thing to do is wander around the World Showcase at Epcot hand in hand in the evening. Lots of restaurant choices there, and it's so romantic to watch Illuminations after wandering through the shops or having a meal together. If you don't have passes for a park that evening, we really enjoyed sitting on the beach swing at the Poly last year and watching Wishes from across the lake after we had our meal at Boma over at AKL. Like I said, we like to hop from one resort to another and found lots of interesting things to see and do at each one - helped walk off our huge buffet meal from Boma at the same time!
Enjoy your time together, and the down time to wander and slowly take in all the wonderful sights WDW has to offer outside the parks!

 

[PoohsFan1]

We did this in June, but we dumped our kids off with my ILs. We started out having an awesome dinner at Calli Grill, we had originally had 6:10pm ressies, but at 5:30 decided to check in earlier and go have a drink at the bar (this was our first time up there). Once we checked in, it was no more than 5 mins. that our table was ready (we were the second table to be seated). We had an awesome window seat with me having a view of MK and my DH having the view of Seven Seas Lagoon and the rest of WDW. After our wonderful dinner we got to go out to the observation deck and get some pictures of MK from the 15th floor. After that was said and done, our waiter greeted us at the door as we came in and told us to come back for Wishes at 9:00 since we already ate there we can just show our receipt downstairs at check in. Once we were done with dinner we decided that we would get a drink at the bar downstairs of CR and just kind of let our stomachs settle. Since we were going to head on over to Poly (my fav resort), the bartender/waiter told us that we should do the "monorail crawl", so we did. As we were at the Poly, my DH and I both had a fruity tropical drink and sat down to hear some live entertainment from a ukelalie (sp) singer and then hula dancers....awesome, then we walked out to the beach and was going to watch Wishes from there, then decided since we paid for the meal at Calli Grill, we would just bypass GF (10 minutes to Wishes) and go back. Once up there we got ourselves a glass of wine and headed outside to watch one of my favorite fireworks display ever....the whole night was purely magical. After we had gotten back to our room, my DH had said that he would have to compare our night with the night we got married....

 

[Uncleromulus]

I'm not a big fan of Pleasure Island or Downtown Disney--but if you decide to eat there, I can recommend Raglan Road or the Portobello Yacht Club.

Were it me, I'd opt for dinner at one of the Grand Floridian Restaurants, maybe the Flying Fish on the Boardwalk, or as poohsfan1 has so well described-the California Grill.

 

[Princess_Dot]

We did this in June, but we dumped our kids off with my ILs. We started out having an awesome dinner at Calli Grill, we had originally had 6:10pm ressies, but at 5:30 decided to check in earlier and go have a drink at the bar (this was our first time up there). Once we checked in, it was no more than 5 mins. that our table was ready (we were the second table to be seated). We had an awesome window seat with me having a view of MK and my DH having the view of Seven Seas Lagoon and the rest of WDW. After our wonderful dinner we got to go out to the observation deck and get some pictures of MK from the 15th floor. After that was said and done, our waiter greeted us at the door as we came in and told us to come back for Wishes at 9:00 since we already ate there we can just show our receipt downstairs at check in. Once we were done with dinner we decided that we would get a drink at the bar downstairs of CR and just kind of let our stomachs settle. Since we were going to head on over to Poly (my fav resort), the bartender/waiter told us that we should do the "monorail crawl", so we did. As we were at the Poly, my DH and I both had a fruity tropical drink and sat down to hear some live entertainment from a ukelalie (sp) singer and then hula dancers....awesome, then we walked out to the beach and was going to watch Wishes from there, then decided since we paid for the meal at Calli Grill, we would just bypass GF (10 minutes to Wishes) and go back. Once up there we got ourselves a glass of wine and headed outside to watch one of my favorite fireworks display ever....the whole night was purely magical. After we had gotten back to our room, my DH had said that he would have to compare our night with the night we got married....

Aww, that sounds so romantic!

 

[Goingtoseethemouse]

Everytime we dump our kids we go to Kimonos in the Swan! We love sushi and they have the best sushi! Plus the karaoki is a blast to watch!!!!!(if you dont like sushi then don't go-they do not have much of anything to eat.) You will have to call and see when the Karaoki starts though. The times change. It is toooooo funny! Then we usually end up at jellyrolls (which is also a hoot-dueling pianos.)
Have fun what ever you are doing!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kathie859]

One idea is to hit the AKL (unless you're staying there!). You could stroll thru the spacious lobby, take in the savannah and have a little adult beverage at the bar. (Name escpaes me, but it's upstairs from Jiko and Boma.)
I'd have an ADR for Jiko and enjoy some unusal tastes in a nice, relaxing atmosphere. You can actually have a conversation there

Whatever you decide, enjoy yourselves!

 

[Disney Ron]

It depends what you enjoy. We laid back, we love the WL.
My idea of an ideal night is...start what a nice adult beverage at the Territory Lounge, followed by dinner at the Artist Point, then get after dinner drinks from the Territory Lounge and take them to the lobby to rock in front of the fireplace and people watch!

Enjoy whatever you choose.
Mrs. Disney Ron

 

[Goingtoseethemouse]

Yeah, the lounge has great appetizers! Once we sat there and ordered a few of them and just munched. It was our dinner. Plus we are Disney Dining members and got the 20% off discount there. It was relaxing and affordable too. The company was great and it was really laid back!

 

[zaxmom]

Well, we are dumping the kids with my sister and nephew and plan on going to Pleasure Island to dance (where no one knows us!) and do Jaeger Bombs.

It is something we rarely get to do. We only go out dancing when out of town. Sometimes you wanna go...where nobody know's your name.

 

[cmp1111]

I asked this same kind of question before our trip in May. We were staying at the AKL - the lounge/bar there is "Victoria's Falls", by the way - and put the kids in the Simba's Cubhouse babysitting facility. I was having a hard time deciding if we wanted "uberromantic" and fancy or "laid back" and relaxed.

We ended up going with laid-back, just because we can actually get pretty good "fancy and expensive" food around home, and we didn't want to worry about price or dress.

We went to Raglan Road. Someone else has mentioned it, and though it's on Pleasure Island, it's not at all a "nightclub" feel. We do like beer and had beer and some REALLY good food, out on the patio and did some people watching. We then walked around PI for a while, then came back to Raglan Road for another couple of beers before heading back.

Now, if you're not staying at AKL, I do recommend highly Boma and Victoria's Falls, though we didn't try Jiko. Jiko looks great, but we didn't want to take the kids and wanted to be "away", but if I weren't staying there... The AKL is a beautiful place and you can feel adult and relaxed.

 

[ms_mckenna]

I would definately take in a dinner and a moonlight stroll. Boardwalk is beautiful at night , as is the beach at Poly. The boats are really nice late at night as well. Especially sitting on the back outside part. : We are not really Pleasure Island people though so take that into account lol.

 

[Jen50]

My husband and I ate at Jiko in the Animal Kingdom lodge without the kids.
Food was very good . After dinner we strolled around the Resort and had a nice evening.

 

[irongirlof12]

whatever you decide to do have a wonderful time! It does not really matter where you go as long as you are living the moment and having fun

 

[jw50]

If you can afford it consider an early seating at V&A ($295 for two, including tax and tip, if you get wine or some of the upgraded items you can significantly increase this cost) and then hit PI afterwards.

 

[Tricia1972]

My most magical Disney experience was V&A's. I like dressing up and love eating good food.

The ambiance is amazing, and we truly felt like royalty all night long. Funny after dinner a beautiful little girl (7 or 8?) came over to me standing on the balcony overlooking the GF Lobby and tugged on my dress and told me that she loved my dress, I looked just like a princess.

After dinner we went to the Magic Kingdom to wander around, we caught Spectro and Wishes and it was really the perfect night.

Picture from MK after V&A's

 

[Ron from Michigan]

I would suggest dinner at Jiko at the AKL.

 

[DisneyLover75]

When we went to WDW the last two times, we left my DD and went to Epcot, because both times we wanted to go someplace that we could walk through without needing to hurry, and when we were in Epcot with my DD, she was so young (she was 2 and a half the first time, and we used the in-room sitter, and the second time she was 4 and we used the Neverland Club) and she did NOT appreciate the world section of Epcot the way we did. We wanted to take our time and wander through each country, and we couldn't do that when she was with us.

Both times, we ate at Alfredo's (*sniff* I miss that place!) and we got to have a kid free evening. It was lovely.

Just a thought.

 

[LglBlonde]

I vote for California Grill!!

 

[GEM]

Dinner and then Jellyrolls at the Boardwalk. THE most fun place in all of Disney World!

And, if Ray and Scotty are playing, please tell Scotty that I LOVE HIM!!