Would your WDW trips be different if you went without kids?

[blanq]

DH and I just have one child, and he is 16 and a Junior in high school. We have been to WDW as a family 10 times, and have had the luxury of traveling to many other destinations over the years. We have only taken one trip without him...a cruise when he was four. As our DS gets older I am beginning to think about travel without him. We truly love to travel with our son. Traveling without him is an exciting, but somewhat sad prospect for me. I have been thinking about how trips to WDW (and other places) might be different without our DS tagging along, and I am curious to hear about your experiences. Maybe your children are grown, or maybe you take some trips with kids and without. Regardless, I would love to hear about how your trips to WDW are different when it is just your spouse as opposed to with your spouse and kids. Is your resort choice, how you approach the parks, when/where you eat, etc. different? What makes travel to WDW with just your spouse special for you?

 

[SnowandMittens]

It is the BEST thing ever just to have you and your hubby go alone. There are only two opinions, you both like each other, so if there is something that you REALLY want to do he'll go for it, and you can use that trip to fall in love all over again.

My Dbf referes to our Disney trips as our 'refalling in love' trips. It's amazing.

 

[KevinCG316]

Wouldnt be much different, instead of telling my kids if you arent good you wont go see Mickey, ill just use that line on my wife

 

[figmentgirl]

I suppose it depends on the relationship the couple the goes alone has, but my husband and I had a romantic time! We ate at our favorite restaurants (Victoria and Alberts is a MUST if you have the $$$), we slept late when we wanted to, we read in hammocks at the Poly and held each other while watching Wishes. It was a rebirth of our love and SO much fun!

 

[mickeymom55]

Yes, our trip without the children was quite different. We took the KTTK tour, a Wishes Cruise, stayed at a moderate hotel (always economized when we had a party of 5 or more) and made ADR's for a real sit down restaurant. Our pace was quite different also. My husband is affectionately known as "Captain Fastpass" but for this trip, there was no frenzy to ride, ride, ride at each park. We took our time and actually sat down, had an ice cream and people watched - something we would never had done with the kids along. We had a blast! Is it different - yes. Is it fun - yes. The kids were jealous and they really didn't understand why we would go without them, but they got over it. Give it a try - you might LOVE it.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

It is the BEST thing ever just to have you and your hubby go alone. There are only two opinions, you both like each other, so if there is something that you REALLY want to do he'll go for it, and you can use that trip to fall in love all over again.

My Dbf referes to our Disney trips as our 'refalling in love' trips. It's amazing.

It is totally awesome. Relaxed and you can do what you want when you want. Eat where you want, make RD's or close down the parks, its your choice. My DH and I are the worst kind of parents, we go EVERY YEAR without out kids. We make our marriage a priority and spending time alone together is a big part of that. We both hate the beach and aren't that into other 'normal' travel destinations but love Disney so we go. Actually we are leaving next week for another adults only trip (last minute suprise anniversary present) so this year we will be going twice without the kids. We can go there cheaper than anywhere else too ($469 next week airfare, rental car and on site hotel), so that frees up more $ for our family vacation.
Flame away, I can take it.

 

[dvcdisney]

I suppose.....but I wouldn't want to....

Actually, we've never thought of it. For us, vacations involve the family. I know it's strange but, since the children were born, we have never gone on vacation without them. I think we'd spend most of the time worried about them.

 

[blanq]

It is totally awesome. Relaxed and you can do what you want when you want. Eat where you want, make RD's or close down the parks, its your choice. My DH and I are the worst kind of parents, we go EVERY YEAR without out kids. We make our marriage a priority and spending time alone together is a big part of that. We both hate the beach and aren't that into other 'normal' travel destinations but love Disney so we go. Actually we are leaving next week for another adults only trip (last minute suprise anniversary present) so this year we will be going twice without the kids. We can go there cheaper than anywhere else too ($469 next week airfare, rental car and on site hotel), so that frees up more $ for our family vacation.
Flame away, I can take it.

You are NOT the worst kind of parents. ITA that making your marriage a priority is important, and you have a fantastic way of doing it by going to WDW with your DH. DH and I have always made time for ourselves and our marriage (in fact we have a weekend marriage retreat coming up later this month), but in different and shorter ways. Several times a year we do a quick overnight getaway locally, we also have plenty of date nights/days to spend time just together. We just have never taken the step to have a longer period of time together though, and I really think it will be a change for us when DS moves on. I am looking forward to it, as is DH, and am trying to plan some fun places for just the two of us to go. I do want to try WDW with just the two of us too, but that place only holds family memories, and lots of them, for me so it feels strange to think about going there with just DH. But, I definately want to give it a try.

 

[mickeymom55]

I suppose.....but I wouldn't want to....

For us, vacations involve the family. I know it's strange but, since the children were born, we have never gone on vacation without them. We'd spend most of the time worried about them.

Unfortunately, there comes a time when the "children" no longer want to vacation with you. For some people it's teenagers and for others it's not until the kids get married. Our kids are off on their own, so vacations are about us now. I'd be shocked if they wanted to join us on vacation (unless of course it was on our dime) lol. At some point, they leave the nest and you have to reclaim your relationship - what better place to do that than at Disney World?

 

[blanq]

I suppose.....but I wouldn't want to....

Actually, we've never thought of it. For us, vacations involve the family. I know it's strange but, since the children were born, we have never gone on vacation without them. I think we'd spend most of the time worried about them.

You get what I mean by this thread. Our real "vacations" have always included our DS (except for one), and it is hard to imagine it any other way. I have to get my head around it though because it will soon become a reality. I mean, kids do grow up and move away. Well, they are supposed to anyway.

 

[catne]

totally different once your kids are grown...no guilt (they're grown, and have their own homes and own vacations they go on without you, lol.)

We thoroughly enjoy our Disney vacations sans kids...relaxed, and we just do what we want. No pressure to get "everything" fit into one trip because we know we'll be back.

Fun...and a real vacation

editted to add: We do still take our grown kids sometimes (not all at once, though. that'd be too pricey all at once - we have 4, ages 21-31...plus fiances, roommates, etc.) And that's fun, too, traveling as adults together. Whole different vibe, having Grand Marnier slushies in Epcot with your kids, lol.

 

[cinderella crazy]

Wouldnt be much different, instead of telling my kids if you arent good you wont go see Mickey, ill just use that line on my wife

I almost spit my soda all over the computer screen!!! That was good!

They only time we've ever been to Disney without our kids was on our honeymoon. LOVED it! Very romantic, much more relaxed, just a completely different experience. Not that going with kids is horrible, it's just a completely different experience.

I understand what you mean about not knowing what it would be like to go on vacation without children. We had originally planned to go on a 7 night cruise for our 10 year anniversary (without our children). Then I started getting sad thinking about being away from them for that long. Then, the kids started asking if we were going back to Disney this year... (talk about feeling guilty). So DH and I decided that instead of celebrating our anniversary by ourselves, we'd include the children in our celebration. So now, instead of our couples cruise, we're going to Disney as a family. And I'm a very happy mommy and wife because of it.

 

[hearts8701]

my children are grown and my DH & I go several times a year without them we all go together for christmas without our children we have the best time i know i know but its so true we do what we want no one telling us thats boring... we don't want to ride that...we have our coffee at the pool in the morning... go to a park ..go back to the hotel for a swim & a nap...dinner where ever we want...we love it have fun you can take your kids another time and i'm sure you will

 

[Virtucomp]

Over the past few years as the kids have gotten older and more independant we have notice that the focus for DW and myself has been back to just us. When the kids were younger the world (not just WDW) revolved around what they wanted, needed or where they needed to be.

Now DD is in college and DS is a junior at HS. We are looking forward to our very first trip without the two for many of the reasons people have listed here. The last time we spent more than one night alone on vacation was our 10th anniversary. Now it is our 25th!

We plan to spend time doing things we like to do and not adjusting our plans because DS wants another run on splash mountain or DD wants to drop in ToT one more time. We made some good ADRs for us. We scheduled the KTTK tour which we've never done. We also picked some restaurants that the kids are not as adventurous to try.

I look forward to going back to the times when we could jump in the car and go to the mountains for a weekend like when we were first married.

 

[Pakey]

Our youngest is 29 now so we've enjoyed maybe 15 WDW vacations without children now. We still take our children, their spouses, and now a grandson, every year but in all honesty, my husband and I enjoy our annual solo trips so much more.

On our adult trips, we get up, have coffee on the balcony and read a bit. If we get to a park that day, fine, if not, that's fine too. My husband will golf and I will go to the spa. We make very few meal reservations and just go with the flow. We almost always have cocktail hour on our balcony with some snacks and a drink in the late afternoon. We may read some more, we may sit and chat, we may go out to a park after, we may not. We spend a lot more time lounging at the pool.

And yes, we've done quite a few of the tours. We only plan one each trip because it's such a pain to have to plan to get up early.

 

[cinderella crazy]

Our youngest is 29 now so we've enjoyed maybe 15 WDW vacations without children now. We still take our children, their spouses, and now a grandson, every year but in all honesty, my husband and I enjoy our annual solo trips so much more.

On our adult trips, we get up, have coffee on the balcony and read a bit. If we get to a park that day, fine, if not, that's fine too. My husband will golf and I will go to the spa. We make very few meal reservations and just go with the flow. We almost always have cocktail hour on our balcony with some snacks and a drink in the late afternoon. We may read some more, we may sit and chat, we may go out to a park after, we may not. We spend a lot more time lounging at the pool.

And yes, we've done quite a few of the tours. We only plan one each trip because it's such a pain to have to plan to get up early.

That sounds so heavenly! Gives those of us with small children something to look forward to.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Our trips are different when we BRING kids...DH and I are always solo but when we bring our nieces we find that we do more character breakfasts, more CS dinners, more park time and less down time....

 

[drag n' fly]

Fortunately my kids won't see this however the best Disney trip I have ever taken in my life hands down was the one I took without my kids. Signature restaurants, lots of red wine, snoozing with a drink by the pool....it was pure bliss

 

[dvcdisney]

Unfortunately, there comes a time when the "children" no longer want to vacation with you. For some people it's teenagers and for others it's not until the kids get married. Our kids are off on their own, so vacations are about us now. I'd be shocked if they wanted to join us on vacation (unless of course it was on our dime) lol. At some point, they leave the nest and you have to reclaim your relationship - what better place to do that than at Disney World?

I know....I guess my children are still young so I can't even imagine going without them, especially to Disney...they love it. But I'm sure when they're older, it'll be a different story...although, I can see them still trying to go with us when they're in their 20's

 

[dvcdisney]

You get what I mean by this thread. Our real "vacations" have always included our DS (except for one), and it is hard to imagine it any other way. I have to get my head around it though because it will soon become a reality. I mean, kids do grow up and move away. Well, they are supposed to anyway.

And so many people do go without their children and seemed to have a fabulous time....I think it just takes time....the first few will probably feel strange, but after awhile, you'll get used to it and (as it sound by so many others who are doing it) have a great time. Then you wonder why you were so worried about it, you are having a fabulous time...and that's when your son will asks you if he and his family can go with you....