The "They're all grown up!" thread!

[mskayjay]

Hey all! Looking for other folks who have had the joy of raising kids but are now "child-free" in a new/old way! DH and I have had many great years with our children doing all of the sports, theater, music, PTA things but now we are back to being on our own at home and on the road!

We started doing Disney without the kids as a lark by going down to celebrate our 15th anniversary and found we *really* loved being their without the kids! They both wanted to do different things, are very different from each other, and what should have been a really joyful experience was starting to become a total PITA! We brought them together for one more trip when they were in high school and said "that's it!". Love them to death but they were taking all the fun out of it for us!!!! lol \

We have since gone back for our 25th, 26th, 27th, and will be doing our 28th anniversary there later this year! Family and friends think we're nuts and can't understand why, when we can now go anywhere we want to, we still go back to Disney! We do take trips elsewhere but we just love our time there and look forward to it every time!

So.....I'm looking to get a thread going and keep it going for folks like us who love Disney even after the kids are gone! Share your trips, tell us about upcoming trips, maybe we can even set up some get-togethers while we're all there!

DH and I will be at AKL and then VWL from Nov. 26-Dec 2 (still trying to get an extra night of two added onto the end of the trip!) if anyone else is heading down!

 

[disneygal58]

I have visited Disney dozens and dozens of times with my daughters from the ages of 5 to 22 as a single mom and loved every trip. I married 3 years ago and planned to introduce my never been to Disney hubby to the World in October, the girls (now 26 and 28) caught wind of the trip and are coming along (much to my delight, So, will I ever attend WDW childless - yes, I think.....
Enjoy your trip!!!

 

[beansmom]

Dh and I are older...52 and 67...and we are long since past our child-rearing days. We LOVE disney as adults! We get to splurge (cost 2 IS almost as cheap as one!) on things we couldn't afford to do with a family of 4-6. We can go when school is in session and the weather is nicer! We get to avoid the worst crowds of school breaks!

And we get the pleasure of sometimes taking the kids and grandkids with us. WE have the bet of all worlds at this point of our lives.

 

[com_op_2000]

Dh and I are older...52 and 67...and we are long since past our child-rearing days. We LOVE disney as adults! We get to splurge (cost 2 IS almost as cheap as one!) on things we couldn't afford to do with a family of 4-6. We can go when school is in session and the weather is nicer! We get to avoid the worst crowds of school breaks!

And we get the pleasure of sometimes taking the kids and grandkids with us. WE have the bet of all worlds at this point of our lives.

DW and I have been where you are at since 92 and we were 10 years younger. DGS #1 is now 22 by DD #1 and we took him multiple times, including DCLs, DVCs, and passes to all the parks. DGS #2 was just born last week, our DD #2 and we are looking forward to the same things with him. Going on our own is what we enjoy most but love that we can take family when we want.

 

[mskayjay]

I have visited Disney dozens and dozens of times with my daughters from the ages of 5 to 22 as a single mom and loved every trip. I married 3 years ago and planned to introduce my never been to Disney hubby to the World in October, the girls (now 26 and 28) caught wind of the trip and are coming along (much to my delight, So, will I ever attend WDW childless - yes, I think.....
Enjoy your trip!!!

Dozens and dozens!!!!!! OMG I am so jealous!!! Last count was around 20 total for me. I just love it there soooo much!

I think its awesome that your girls are going to go with you as adults! Our kids will come with us again when/if they are ready but we would probably do it with them but I don't think it would be at the same time....lol

We are going to have a ball! Its always a good day at Disney!

 

[mskayjay]

Dh and I are older...52 and 67...and we are long since past our child-rearing days. We LOVE disney as adults! We get to splurge (cost 2 IS almost as cheap as one!) on things we couldn't afford to do with a family of 4-6. We can go when school is in session and the weather is nicer! We get to avoid the worst crowds of school breaks!

And we get the pleasure of sometimes taking the kids and grandkids with us. WE have the bet of all worlds at this point of our lives.

That splurging thing......lol...um yeah......sooooo nice to go to Citrico's for dinner, stay up and out late if you want, sleep in if you want...... We always go off season when the kids are in school and crowds are down and it is so nice! Even when our kids did go with us, we would pull them out of school to go.

We're looking forward to someday having grandkids and spoiling them rotten at Disney!!! They will get Bibbitty Bobbity boutiqued and pirated, have silly balloons, and ride whatever they want over and over with us....well except for the tea cups and roller coasters! lol

 

[mskayjay]

DW and I have been where you are at since 92 and we were 10 years younger. DGS #1 is now 22 by DD #1 and we took him multiple times, including DCLs, DVCs, and passes to all the parks. DGS #2 was just born last week, our DD #2 and we are looking forward to the same things with him. Going on our own is what we enjoy most but love that we can take family when we want.

We are sooo looking forward to doing it with grands someday but for now, we get to deliriously enjoy all of it for ourselves! We just love it! And I don't have to explain to anyone why I cry when I walk under the train bridge onto Main St USA.....hubby gets it!

 

[donac]

Dh and I have been many times with our kids.

Three years ago we spent a few days in Key West and then drove up to Dw and spent a day and a half before the kids joined us.

The following year I was recovering from foot surgery and dh suggested we go and spend a few days. we had a great time. If we had the money I would have gone back this year but we still have one more year of college tuition to pay for.

Our next trip is with not only our sons but my sister and her family. We are staying together in a 3 bedroom DVC space. The youngest child is 20 so it really is an all adult trip.

 

[mskayjay]

Congratulations!!!! You will have such a great time! There are so many things that you can really take in without feeling bad for making the kids wait!

where will you be staying? We are doing our first DVC trip this year....rented our friends' points from him and we're doing split stay with AKL and VWL.

Dh and I have been many times with our kids.

Three years ago we spent a few days in Key West and then drove up to Dw and spent a day and a half before the kids joined us.

The following year I was recovering from foot surgery and dh suggested we go and spend a few days. we had a great time. If we had the money I would have gone back this year but we still have one more year of college tuition to pay for.

Our next trip is with not only our sons but my sister and her family. We are staying together in a 3 bedroom DVC space. The youngest child is 20 so it really is an all adult trip.

 

[donac]

As of now we are doing 2 nights at BW and then 3 nights at BLT with theme park view. She is trying to get all 5 nights at BLT. we are all really excited.

My sister has given us a night at AKL and we loved it. She also helped us get a night at VWL and that was nice too.

Have fun

 

[mskayjay]

As of now we are doing 2 nights at BW and then 3 nights at BLT with theme park view. She is trying to get all 5 nights at BLT. we are all really excited.

My sister has given us a night at AKL and we loved it. She also helped us get a night at VWL and that was nice too.

Have fun

I hope you have a wonderful time! Since it is a special family trip it might be fun for you to hook up with one of the Dis-igners here on the boards and get some special shirts made or something!

We've done AKL and WL before and love them both but have never done DVC so this will be slightly new for us! Can't wait!!!!

 

[disney212]

DH & I (42 &44) went on our first solo in trip in Feb 2011 to celebrate belated 10 year anniversary (due to 2 in college). Had so much fun that we ended up buying DVC with the money we had been spending on tuition each month when oldest graduated. We are headed down in 14 days to first F&W, youngest graduates in May....I see a long trip to Hawaii at the new resort in our future!