On Valentine’s Day this year, my wife opened her card and found a rather surprising message. I had booked a romantic weekend getaway in the spring for just the two of us. Where did I decide to spend a much needed, long weekend with my beloved? A Connecticut bed and breakfast? An oceanfront room in Montauk? How about a trendy hotel suite in Manhattan? Of course not. We went where every couple’s romantic thoughts take them…to Walt Disney World, of course! Where else but the vacation capital of the world could we find peace and quiet and time alone to reconnect and recharge our batteries, and while we’re at it, share our vacation with 50,000 other tourists?
I wrote about this notion back in February in a My Disney Top 5 article (Top 5 Things I’m Looking Forward to Doing on my Kid-Free Trip to Walt Disney World, February 19, 2010). Just about all of your responses were overwhelmingly positive.
Mike wrote in and said:
“My wife and I totally concur with your decision! Your relationship with your spouse comes first, and the children benefit from the time you share together alone.”
Kelly from Saskatoon said:
“My husband and I just came back from a trip to the World without our three kids in January. It was wonderful.”
Amy obviously agrees:
“I CRAVE a trip just like the one you describe.”
Mike W. agreed:
“You are taking the trip that my wife and I are really anxious to do for most of the reasons you have outlined.”
So it seemed like what I had planned wasn’t all that crazy. And even though a few people I know didn’t get it, that really didn’t matter; we got it and we couldn’t wait. That brings me to today’s topic: did my trip work? Was it everything I expected? Was it better? Worse? Today I’m following up on that article with a look back on whether or not I actually got to do the Top 5 Things I Was Looking Forward to Doing on my Kid-Free Trip to Walt Disney World.
5 – Stay at the Wilderness Lodge
The view from our Wilderness Lodge balcony. Photo by Chris Barry.
I was seriously looking forward to staying at The Wilderness Lodge and I was seriously thrilled with the experience of staying there. As I said in the original article, we’re a family of 5. Unless we spring for a villa or two standard rooms, places like Wilderness and Animal Kingdom Lodge are off limits to us. So, this was a real treat. We absolutely loved it there. We had a woods view room and were magically upgraded to a courtyard view, with a straight look at Bay Lake off in the distance. Usually I don’t really care what view I have, but this was a great one and sitting out on the balcony in the morning and evening was a real treat. We loved the theming of the whole place. We both agreed it was much nicer than the Yacht and Beach Club where we stayed last. The feel of a rustic lodge in the woods is carried off beautifully. We took a long walk on the nature trail and had a deer run across our path. You won’t get that on the Boardwalk for sure. We had an excellent meal at Artist Point. I loved having the boat transportation to the Magic Kingdom. Hands down, it’s our favorite place we’ve stayed yet. We’ll be back one way or another.
4 – No Chicken Nuggets & French Fries please!
On our way to a great meal at Citrico's. Photo by Chris Barry.
We made it a point to try and eat in some different and fancier places on this trip and the ironic thing about it is the best thing I ate down there the entire 4 days were the Truffle Fries at Artist Point. They’re just fried potatoes drizzled with truffle oil and sea salt, but I couldn’t get enough of these things. That’s certainly not taking away from the Seared Tuna Carpaccio and Braised Short Ribs I had at Citrico’s or the Warm Goat Cheese in a crispy shell I loved at Bistro De Paris. Nor is it taking away from the slower pace and lengthy conversations my lovely wife and I enjoyed over fine wines at our tables. We thoroughly enjoyed our grown up meals on this trip, but man—those Truffle Fries are awesome.
3 – Slowing Down
Stop and smell the flowers in the United Kingdom. Photo by Chris Barry.
I’m asked Disney advice all the time and while I have plenty of it to offer, my biggest piece of advice, especially to first-timers, is to slow down and really try to soak it all in. It’s hard. There’s so much to see, and with the kids we try to take in as much as we can before the lines and the Florida sun beat them down. This time, my wife and I took our time. If we didn’t make it to a ride or attraction we were aiming for, it didn’t matter. We relished walking slowly down Main Street. We experienced more details in World Showcase than we ever have before. We took the time to really appreciate all of the amazing flora and fauna of Animal Kingdom. We strolled. We stopped. I took photos of small details. We strolled some more. I’m quite sure we could’ve just walked around the parks at a slow pace and never visited an attraction and been perfectly content.
2 – Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, Everest…
Two of the Magic Kingdom mountains. Photo by Chris Barry.
Considering what I said in the previous paragraph, we actually got to experience a lot of attractions. Some things were left behind on this kid-free trip like Pooh Bear and Buzz Lightyear. Not that I wouldn’t go on those rides without my kids. I would, in a second. We just didn’t feel the need to hit everything, so we made sure we got on some of the rides that the kids are leery of. Most importantly, we got on them together, side-by-side, or front and back in the case of Space Mountain. We’re almost always split up when it comes to “big” rides like Dinosaur, Everest, and Big Thunder Mountain. I love these attractions and for a change it was great to share them with my other half. We screamed and laughed together this time.
1 – Whatever We Want, Whenever We Want
Diane and Chris and some friends. Photo by Chris Barry.
When there are five of us down there, there are five opinions. That’s five brains, five stomachs, five attitudes and ten tired legs. (On our last trip there were 18 people. That’s a lot of tired legs.) If you take three of those people out of our equation, you definitely make things easier. When you take three children out of the equation…you can pretty much do whatever you want. For the most part, my wife and I are on the same page with our interests, especially when it comes to Disney. We both love Epcot the most. We both could care less if we go to Hollywood Studios. (That’s a whole other article in itself.) We both love to hang around in the Magic Kingdom after it closes and let the crowds thin out so we can shop on Main Street in relative peace. I can’t say I dragged her anywhere unwillingly and vice versa. I was more than happy walking around the Flower and Garden Festival with her, even though she’s more the gardener than I am. We certainly have our differences, but this trip was about quality “us” time and we really did do, just like it says above, whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It was pretty amazing.
So we did it. We left our kids behind and went to the ultimate kid place without them. We’ve been saying for years “I wonder what this place would be like without our kids.” The answer is “it’s pretty darn incredible.” We missed the kids in a big way. It was tough experiencing things and going to those special places without them. Sometimes we would catch a kid all caught up in the magic and we would look at each other with a sad look, because we missed them. But that’s all right; we’re booked to go back with them this summer.
If you love Walt Disney World, really love it, and appreciate its magic and artistry, then being able to walk around at a slower place and really soak it in with the one that you love on your arm is fantastic. Sure we acted like big kids. We still had fun on Peter Pan’s Flight and Small World. We still waved goodbye to Jiminy Cricket at the end of Spectromagic. But we also held hands and strolled through the parks like two newlyweds. We ate gourmet food and drank expensive wine. Most importantly, we spent some serious time re-connecting and experiencing that special Disney magic in a whole new way. We also had a very special romantic moment in the rose garden right before Wishes that we’ll never ever forget.
So, as far as amazing, grown-up, romantic, power down, vacation time goes—believe it or not, Walt Disney World was the perfect place.
Although I’m pretty sure if you’re out there reading this, you already knew that.
That's My Disney Top 5 for today. What's yours? Click on the “Discuss this article on MousePad” link below and share your list!
