Plan your dream adult-only trip...

[Jenny Sanders]

Definitely want to try the Lapu Lapu at the Poly!!!

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

My husband and I have done 2 adults-only trips since our daughter was born (so not counting our honeymoon here when we really were doing Disney on the cheap and he hadn't been in over 15 years so was getting reacquainted with the park). My husband and I are of the mindset that romance is what you make it, so my stuff might be a bit different than others.

We have an "our restaurant" at Disney. It's Mama Melrose and so, we certainly had to schedule a meal here. We like lunch as it is a nice break in the middle of the day to get out of the hustle and bustle of the crowds and just enjoy each other's company. Night time is romantic enough so we don't book "romantic" meals for supper. We also tour a bit different without our child. We are early risers by nature which works out with our touring strategy. We plan out our mornings and get just about everything done before lunch. Then, we schedule a nice table service lunch together (and bonus to it just being the two of you is it is rarely hard to get a reservation at a restaurant of your choosing). After lunch, we might watch a show or something, but it is very relaxed. At Magic Kingdom, we ride the train and Peoplemover. At Hollywood Studios, we enjoy One Man's Dream, Magic of Disney Animation, shopping in Sweet Spells, or walking around the park taking in all of the sights and music. At Epcot, we love to stroll World Showcase. We might check out Sergio or Serveur Amusant while enjoying a glass of wine or a grey goose slush. All just very slow and relaxed. It is amazing the things you can miss while enjoying all of the magic through your child's eyes. When you slow down, without even thinking about it, you will see so many fun new details, many of which are for adults, that you don't see while waiting for Mickey to come out or standing in line for TSMM. Oh, but I do suggest scheduling a character meal or two. It's a lot of fun to see the characters interact with you and your spouse when you are without children. Might I recommend Garden Grill and/or Akershus?

 

[SuperRob]

Every trip my wife and I take is just the two of us. We've been blessed without any little deductions, as much as it's painful around tax time.

One thing I can always recommend is a couple's massage at one of the spas. A few other options are afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian (we had a high tea wedding reception, so this is a tradition for us), renting a watermouse for a two-person cruise around the lake, "drinking around the world" at Epcot, dinner at Victoria & Albert's, late night Extra Magic Hours (Hollywood Studios at 2AM is awesome!) ... there are so many wonderful things to do as couples.

By far, though, our favorite thing to do is getting to bypass all the lines by skipping character meet & greets. It's so easy to just do the rides, enjoy the ambience, and not have to succumb to the will of a child. You get to go at YOUR pace, and it's amazing. You can see the characters and not have to wait to "meet" them. You can just enjoy when you stumble across them.

One of my favorite memories from our Honeymoon trip was at Animal Kingdom. I went to go get some Mickey ice cream for my wife and I, and when I waked back to where she was waiting, Goofy was hitting on my girl! What a dog!

I hope you have a romantic trip! It really is a magical experience!

 

[DakotaRose]

We really enjoy a leisurely signature dinner at a resort, and then strolling around with a cocktail. We also enjoy the parks after dark, just taking our time, looking at things we don't slow down for during the day. They're beautiful!

 

[KrazeeK120]

DH and I don't have kids yet and have been to Disney 5 times together.

I don't know what your budget is like. We booked a standard room at the Boardwalk and were magically upgraded to a cottage suite. If I could afford it, I would stay there every time!! Even if you can't swing the cottage, I think the Boardwalk is a very adult-friendly resort.

We've never done anything super fancy. But we do enjoy Jellyrolls, the dueling piano bar at the Boardwalk. We also went to Big River Grille. They have excellent beer. It's also fun to stroll around Epcot with adult beverages! (These are all great reasons to stay at the Boardwalk...you can walk to all of them.)

DH and I have had a blast on our trips...but I am the opposite of you, OP. I hope and pray that I have a little one to take on my next trip...

 

[Magpie]

Depends if you consider this a one-time thing, or something you'd like to do regularly.

Ever since our kids got to be teenagers with lives of their own, my husband and I have been going to Disney, just the two of us.

We stay at Pop Century, standard room, requesting a lagoon view in the 60's. Yes, an Epcot resort would be lovely, but not at that price and not if we want to come back in a few months' time. Pop has excellent busses, and the rooms are plenty comfortable for two people.

Maybe we'll do the Beach Club for a special anniversary, or something.

My husband has issues staying asleep, so regardless of when we go to bed, we're up at 7am. That makes rope drop a cinch! We save a bit more by packing porridge, raisins and nuts in our luggage for breakfast. It's healthier, and doesn't make me feel queasy like your standard fried breakfast.

And what do we do with the money we've saved by going for a value resort and packed breakfasts?

We book ourselves dinner shows. And a behind the scenes tour! We try out new restaurants in Epcot's World Showcase. And we get park hoppers.

Every day, after lunch, we return to our room for some time alone with each other, and a nap. That way we're well rested and ready to stay out late, having fun.

Every time we go, I find something new for us to explore. Even just walking around the resorts, hand in hand, is fun. I love our adults-only trips!

 

[caitlinnf]

We will be celebrating our 10th anniversary with an adults only trip this fall!

The really great part is that later this month we are taking the kids, so we will have the full family, character meal, kids'-view magic experience too.

Our anniversary trip will involve nicer restaurants and likely more shopping, but we like rides so we will probably still rope drop most of the time. The difference will be less whining!

 

[catra121]

My ideal trip (realistically speaking) would be 9-10 days. If we were living in a fantasy world...I would want to the trip to be at LEAST 2 weeks...but I could never get that time off work. We would have park hoppers and would spend at least some of every day in the parks.

If possible...I would like to do a fishing excursion. We both enjoy fishing and that just seems like a nice thing for the two of us to do. We're not really into massages or cirque or anything like that...so this would be our special thing.

I would also like to do at least one tour if we could work it in. That's something that's been on my bucket list and would be nice to do on my "dream trip."

We would stay at AKV in a savannah view studio. I love the resort and would plan on us spending some down time puttering around the resort, sitting around the fire, watching the animals, etc.

We would have the deluxe dining plan and would have 2 table service meals a day. I love to eat good meals...and we rarely ever go out to eat at home. Trips to Disney are really the only time we get to have nice sit down meals together. We also enjoy trying lots of different things and Disney definitely gives us the ability to be adventurous.

I WILL get to take this dream trip some day...but do not have it in the works yet.

 

[AndreaDM]

I'm taking DH to Florida next month as a surprise for his 40th birthday! We are going to Tampa for a Yankees spring training game - he is from NY and a huge fan. Then, we are just going to Epcot for one day of F&G and to drink around the world. It's just a long weekend so not a lot of extra time, but the day we get in I'm thinking maybe a monorail pub crawl too, something we've never done because we always have DD11 with us. She actually got invited to go to an indoor water park with friends that weekend so I don't feel as guilty leaving her behind. I always want to spend more time in each country at Epcot, but she's always ready to move on, so it will be nice to go at our own pace.

Would LOVE to stay at Boardwalk, but we have lots of free hotel points, so staying offsite for free for 3 nights.

 

[karenklo]

We just did it for our Anniversary on New Years! It was a last minute surprise for Christmas. WE stayed at the POR in a King bed. THings we don't get to do with kids:
1. Annv Dinner in the QVR at V&As. It was 10 courses of pure heaven and took 4 hours! It will now be a must do for us!
2. We went to AK, did not ride a ride and had a great day! We wandered around the trails, watched the animals, really took time to see the great themes in the park.
3. Thanks to FP+, we slept in when we wanted!
4. Ate where we wanted!
5. Beer at 11am in Mexico!!
6. We went our own pace since we were there to see the Christmas decorations and we loved being there at a relaxed pace!

Have a great adults only time!!

 

[Kae]

DH and I don't have kids yet and have been to Disney 5 times together.

I don't know what your budget is like. We booked a standard room at the Boardwalk and were magically upgraded to a cottage suite. If I could afford it, I would stay there every time!! Even if you can't swing the cottage, I think the Boardwalk is a very adult-friendly resort.

We've never done anything super fancy. But we do enjoy Jellyrolls, the dueling piano bar at the Boardwalk. We also went to Big River Grille. They have excellent beer. It's also fun to stroll around Epcot with adult beverages! (These are all great reasons to stay at the Boardwalk...you can walk to all of them.)

DH and I have had a blast on our trips...but I am the opposite of you, OP. I hope and pray that I have a little one to take on my next trip...

My first thought was one of those Cottages at BW. when DH & I went without the kiddos(after having them) we stayed at WL & CSR. We do things a little slower but I think we don't leave any stone unturned when it is just the two us. We really stick to plans a little better with out kids.

kae

 

[Networth]

No children yet(not till after grad school). So every trip the fiancé and I have been on is without children. Last trip we stayed at the Grand Floridan(always will till kids than CR probably). Every night we ate at a TS restaurant and 6 of those nights were at Signature dining. We ate at Victoria & Alberts. Had drinks at Mizners(we were staying their so it was kind of a given nightly), but also hopped around to the Poly, Cr. Went to Jellyroll's till 2 am one night after eating at Flying Fish. Did MK till 1 am. We semi slept in (9-9:30) the whole trip and had all our rides ready for noon or later. Other people kids didn't really bother us, except for maybe one time but thats just because the parents had no manners so what can you expect from the kid.

We plan to go back probably one more time before kids and we will be doing all the above + a couples message at Senses, renting a boat, and going to Splitsville late. On a side note after we do have children I doubt we will ever go yo WDW without them. My parents never did that to me, and I will never do it to my children not judging anyones choices just I know I would feel terrible leaving them home, especially if our vacation was to Disney.

 

[thewesterberg]

OP here - thank you for all the wonderful ideas! We've been talking about tours and going at a slower pace to take in things we usually zip by. I love the idea of strolling around World Showcase and taking it all in (without doing Phineas and Ferb Adventures!) Maybe some special meals. Enjoying our balcony. And I think Magic Bands would help us enjoy a slower pace... not the rush to do rope drop and still get some rides in.

And I cannot wait to watch the fireworks and illuminations with him... DS has never enjoyed them so often we're not at the parks to watch or I've stayed by myself to watch the night shows while DH has taken DS back to the resort.. When Grandpa and Grandma went with us, they watched him so the two of us could go to Illuminations - it was a great evening of being able to soak it all in.

Since we are DVC members so we have a good number of family trips under our belt and we have many more to come. DS has not lacked in Disney trips by any means and we'll have future family trips! He's been to WDW and DLR over 10 times (2 being Mom/Son trips). DH and I have never had a trip away just the two of us, other than a night here and there in the large metropolitan area about 3 hours away. While we will miss DS, I think it will be good for DH and I for some alone time. We'll see... maybe the two of us could go down to WDW for a few days and then have DS fly down with my parents for some more family time at the parks. Best of both worlds!

 

[frozengurl]

I didn't read all the responses... But... I'd spend a lot of time in WS at Epcot, taking in everything I could, every country, every shop! I'd have a nice dinner and a few drinks, stay at an Epcot resort! dido the same thing at MK, I'd go into every shop I rush by normally to get to the next attraction. I'd also do Disney Keys to the Kingdom tour!!!
I'd check out the resorts, fine at nice restaurants, go to the spa!! Ok... I'm starting to plan now

 

[Pakey]

Since my baby is 33, I've done plenty of adult only WDW vacations. My dream trip is a split with BWI Innkeepers Club, Boardwalk View and GF RPC, MK view. I've done both of these but not in the same vacation.

Some things we have done that we really loved:

Fireworks cruise (liked Illuminations better than Wishes)
Segway Tour
La Nouba
Parasailing
Spa treatments (Mandara while staying at BWI and Senses while staying at GF)
Pool day at the GF with a Cabana


So I would do all of those and add in the Wild Africa Trek which I haven't done.

I would book the following meals as these are my favorites:

1) Victoria & Alberts. I like both the Queen Victoria Room and the main dining room; have never done Chefs table.
2) bluezoo. With several of their specialty martinis.
3) Il Mulino. Splitting a bottle of great wine and having that amazing tiramisu for dessert.
4) Kimonos for Sushi and watching karaoke
5) Citricos

I would make sure to hit La Cava de Tequila, Tutto Italia and the new tapas place in Morrocco and skip dinner that day.

While staying at BWI, I would head over to bluezoo lounge and Jellyrolls and at GF, I would hang out listening to the live music while enjoying my complimentary wine at RPC.

In my free time, I like to go on a few rides.

 

[ShannonMB]

I probably won't have any adults-only trips till DD is out of the house, and even then, she'll probably want to go with me. Also, DH never wants to go to Disney, so I will have to find some other adult(s) to go with when the time comes.

That said, one of my biggest fantasies for an adults-only trip is hanging out in La Cava de Tequilia for a long time. Not just grabbing a quick blood orange margarita to go, but to sit at the bar and have a couple or 3 of those tantalizing margaritas before continuing on our EPCOT day. I do enjoy a good cocktail, and for some reason that is at the top of my Disney grown-up bucket list!! I wanna hang out in La Cava!! Someday!

 

[AndreaDM]

I probably won't have any adults-only trips till DD is out of the house, and even then, she'll probably want to go with me. Also, DH never wants to go to Disney, so I will have to find some other adult(s) to go with when the time comes.

That said, one of my biggest fantasies for an adults-only trip is hanging out in La Cava de Tequilia for a long time. Not just grabbing a quick blood orange margarita to go, but to sit at the bar and have a couple or 3 of those tantalizing margaritas before continuing on our EPCOT day. I do enjoy a good cocktail, and for some reason that is at the top of my Disney grown-up bucket list!! I wanna hang out in La Cava!! Someday!

I want to do that too, but I'm afraid if we start in Mexico, we'll never leave! We only have the one day to ourselves and there is a lot of Epcot to enjoy. I also want to spend time in the Rose & Crown pub.