Last October, Dan and I took our big vacation for 2015. We spent just over a week in Florida! As much as I loved finally visiting Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, my highlight of our trip was Disney World. Dan was a little skeptical of how much fun we could have as adults in Disney World, but after three days in the parks, he agreed that Disney World without kids was totally worth the trip.
Our trip to Disney World was my third time visiting the parks as an adult–if you count college-age as being an adult! My Kappa Big Dani is from Orlando, so I visited her twice while we were at Furman. The first time, we just spent a single day in Magic Kingdom. The second time, I bought a 2-day park hopper pass so we could visit all the parks except for Animal Kingdom (my least-favorite).
Is a trip to Disney World without kids worth it?
As much fun as I had during the one Long family trip to Disney World when I was eleven, I definitely prefer going to Disney World as an adult. Dan and I don’t have kids, so I don’t know if visiting the parks would be even better with them, but so far, I love going to Disney World without kids.
Disney World isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’ve been thinking about taking a trip as a young adult, here are just a few reasons why Disney World without kids is awesome.
Go on all the rides with height requirements
Disney World is not exactly known for its thrill rides (Cedar Point has better roller coasters). The Disney parks still have some mild roller coasters and thrill rides with a height requirement. You know what’s not fun? Skipping out on those rides because your kid or younger sibling is too small to ride them.
Granted, Disney World does offer a Rider Switch option. This allows your group to wait in line together just once. One adult stays with any small children while the other adult goes on the ride. Then the adults just switch, so both adults can enjoy the ride without having to wait in line twice. While a nice alternative, I love going on roller coasters with Dan or with friends. It’s fun screaming together or making faces for the camera!
Drink around the world
Dan and I didn’t actually spend the money to drink at every country in EPCOT, but we did enjoy a few international alcoholic beverages during EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival. Actually trying the challenge to “drink around the world” was a bit expensive for our preferences, but I would totally do that for a bachelorette weekend.
Take less breaks
I thought I hustled in theme parks pretty well in order to maximize my activities in a day. Then I met Dan and his family. The Flecks are all about maintaining a fast pace and following a plan to do as much as possible.
Since Dan and I went to Disney World in October, it wasn’t nearly as crowded as any theme park in the summer, so we could be a bit more leisurely at times. And by “leisurely,” I mean Dan took a million photos for my blog.
You know who needs to take frequent breaks during a long day? Kids. Then you lose valuable time that could be spent riding your favorite ride for the second or third time.
Prioritize whatever you want to do
Disney World has several rides and attractions that are insanely popular, with long lines even during the off-season. In Magic Kingdom, these include the photo opp with Anna & Elsa and the Seven Dwarfs Train Ride. Guess which attractions Dan and I skipped in Magic Kingdom…
My priority was eating a meal at the new Be Our Guest restaurant. Our travel agent Casey (she’s awesome! hire her to book your Orlando vacation!) scored us breakfast reservations at Be Our Guest right when the park opened. It was everything I could have hoped for and so much more.
But when we finished breakfast, the lines for both the Frozen photo opp and the new roller coaster were already over an hour long. Why spend all that time in line when tons of other rides only had a 5-20 minute wait?
Save money on food
I was a kid once. In all my kiddie wisdom, I knew that the overpriced theme park food was way better than any lunch or snack I could have packed for myself. I wasn’t paying for it, so who cared how much it cost?
Now I’m an adult, with a budget. Granted, a pretty nice budget, which is how Dan and I could afford to go to Disney World in the first place. (Those tickets are not cheap!) Dan and I packed sandwiches, crackers, granola bars, cheese sticks, carrot sticks, sodas, and a water bottle for each day in the park. Yes, we splurged at Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom and again at Norway’s character breakfast in EPCOT. Also, we enjoyed some international treats at the Food & Wine Festival. But we otherwise enjoyed our packed snacks in the parks instead of buying Disney snacks.
Skip the long lines to take pictures with Disney characters
While the Frozen photo opp has the longest lines, many of the popular Disney characters have long lines if you want to get a photo with them. Luckily Dan and I could get pictures with the princesses during our character breakfast. We also only waited about 20 minutes to take our pictures with Minnie and Daisy.
But with just the two of us deciding on photo opps, we could prioritize what lines were worth the wait. Most of the princess lines were filled with hundreds of parents and their kids.
Hold your spouse’s hand
Former nanny here. I spent a lot of time holding my youngest kid’s hand whenever we went anywhere. At one point in my au pair job in France, I had to hold all three kids’ hands because they were trying to run off from me in the crowded Paris metro station.
I enjoyed walking hand-in-hand with my sweet husband through all the Disney parks.
Carry less crap
Dan and I fit everything–our phones, our snacks & drinks, his camera, our sweatshirts–into a single backpack that we took turns carrying. No stroller. No kids’ toys.
All of these reasons may not outweigh the cost involved for a Disney vacation. Or maybe you’re not a huge Disney fan like I am. But if you can afford it, and you loved the Disney parks as a kid, definitely consider visiting Disney World without kids.
Of course, if you already have kids, it might be polite to take them with you. If you think they might like Disney and all.
Have you taken a trip to Disney World without kids? Or without being a kid yourself? What are your thoughts?
Yes, yes, yes! Who needs kids to enjoy Disney!? I turn into the biggest kid ever, every time I go.
Me too! Why wait til you have kids when you can just become a kid for a few days?! 😉
Me and my husband went to Disney and Universal Studios last year when we were still dating. It was a really fun trip.
We also spent 2 days in Universal Studios, but with so many pictures, I figured I should break up the posts. 😉
My parents actually pointedly never took us, as they always explained that if they spent money on traveling with us they wanted to take us to “actual places” instead of “fake ones” (aka Epcot), and they did. Now, if I have kids I’ll probably take them, but I never begrudged my parents for their reasoning, and finally got to go when I was 21, and freaking loved it. Three friends and I got to the Magic Kingdom for park open, and stayed to park closing when they practically have to kick everyone out. The fireworks / projection show on the castle about made me cry. So, my experience going for the first time as an adult was seriously just as magical as the experience (allegedly) is for kids. Maybe more so — the number of temper tantrums I witnessed was ridiculous and it didn’t even seem like the kids could enjoy waiting and being in the heat for more than a few rides.
I’ll probably take kids if I have them. But I’ll try to find a “smart” way to do it so I don’t blow hundreds of dollars on an experience that may only stress their patience and reward them with a few vague memories. In the meantime, I’m hoping to go again while still childless…
That’s an interesting perspective. I guess it depends on both a family’s finances and geographic location. I was certainly quite privileged that my family could take 1-2 vacations per year, but until I was in college, they were all within driving distance because that was what we could afford (including our one trip to Disney). We even drove to visit my mom’s family in Denver the two times we managed to get there from SC when I was a kid! Visiting other countries just wasn’t in the budget, but I did eventually make my way to Europe, first when I studied in France and then when I worked there after graduation. 😉 Plus I loved our trips to Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, and–most frequently–Myrtle Beach.
If you have kids, take them during the off-season and just be an actual good parent. I loved our one trip when I was 11 (my younger brother was 6). My parents had waited until he was old enough to enjoy it. So make sure they’re past the tantrum phase!
Absolutely, within a certain range it seems like a really practical and fun family vacation. We always have lived at least two days from Florida driving, and rarely ever flew as a family…I think when we were a family of five, we flew together a single time. For large vacations, usually it would be a major road trip, or only one or two people going out of the country at a time for special events (graduation from high school being the main one, but my mom went to Italy several times solo to visit friends as a break when she had 2 babies).
I’m glad you have good memories of it!! I certainly do, and I hope my kids do, too — I’ll try to do it right.
Glad you enjoyed your trip! My parents have been in the Disney Vacation Club timeshare since I was a kid, so we used to go multiple times a year… but I definitely went through a phase when I was “too cool” for Disney and only really started appreciating it again when I was 24 or so. We ended up doing our wedding there to fulfill my mother’s dream, and now I try to meet my parents there at least once a year to relive the memories and enjoy the magical atmosphere 🙂 We have our park routes and favorite restaurants we HAVE to hit every time, but the Food and Wine Festival is definitely the best time of year to go!
Ahhhh that’s so cool! I wish I could go on a regular basis. I definitely loved all their wedding stuff. I thought about getting some cute bride & groom stuff for Dan & me, but I was trying to be thrifty with our souvenirs. Plus I already knew we would splurge on an interactive wand at Universal. 😉 I do think it’s hilarious you went through a “too cool” phase! I’ve never felt too cool for something, but I’ve also never felt “cool” in the first place. 😉
Girl this post made me so so so excited for our Orlando trip next year for our 5th anniversary! Gah I can’t wait! All these reasons are perfect. I have never thought twice about whether Disney is worth it without kids… In fact, I’m not really sure it’s worth it with kids…
YES!!!!! Best anniversary trip EVER!
We only took one trip as a family because 1) it’s expensive! 2) neither of my parents were that into theme parks 3) they also didn’t like crowds. My twin brother and I were both 11. I definitely appreciate Disney more as an adult simply because I can do a lot more.
Assuming Dan and I are still within driving distance of Orlando whenever we have kids, I think it will be fun to take them while their admission is still free. 😉 That’s actually the post I linked near the end, to Jessica Lynn Writes on her family’s trip!
Oh I didn’t even know kids had free admission! Well it might be worth it then! 😉
Only really little kids. I think it’s under 3!
So, I’ve been twice in my life but both times I was too young to remember. I would LOVE to go but unfortunately in our house anything Disney-related is out, since my husband is in the animation business, we have found out some shady things with Disney and their treatment of their animators, so we won’t be supporting them but man does it seriously look like the happiest place on Earth!
It is the happiest place on Earth! I understand trying to follow personal ethics, though. That’s gotta be a tough one to navigate, though, since Disney owns so much US media. ESPN, ABC, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm Ltd., etc. It’s actually really depressing to realize that so much media is owned by just a few huge companies.
I tagged along on a family trip with my parents and siblings and my uncle and aunt and their kids in 2014 and it was incredibly magical! Granted, the youngest in our party was 8 years old–everyone else was 12 and above–every time my Mom saw miserable parents snapping at crying toddlers, she would ask “Why do this to yourself??!!” And my mom’s the most pro-baby person in the world (she did have seven of them) and she took us on all sorts of adventures but she prepared us ahead of time and didn’t plan vacations beyond our endurance (my family was pretty crazy, though, they used to take 10+ miles hikes in the local national park with 6 kids 10 and under). Mom thought that trip to Disney with her kids aged from 8-22 was just about perfect. 😛 I was just in awe of the parks and having the time of my life–what made the trip even more awesome was that my uncle was paying for everything (he’s a young retiree, and while my family was in the states, offered to include us on their family vacation so that the two families could spend rare time together), and he picked awesome and really cool restaurants that we got to experience. My family does vacation, and does do cool stuff, but my parents are more the bring snacks with you and buy a couple burgers and fries to split for the whole family because they prefer to save their money for bigger adventures than feeding 7 kids.
I’ve always been a theme park fan–we went to Cedar Point on our honeymoon! But now I’m definitely a Disney park fan. Since then, we went to Hong Kong Disneyland for our 4th anniversary (I had to talk Angel into it, but he liked everything except he wishes the parks have shorter hours because he doesn’t have my energy)…..and….we’re going to Tokyo Disney Resort (and Tokyo itself) for our birthdays this year!! (Since, for us, Tokyo is way, way more local than Orlando or Anaheim!!)
You guys got the cutest pictures! I’m really looking forward to seeing the Cinderella Castle on this side of the world! 🙂
Age-appropriate vacations are the best! It’s really a win for everyone. The kids get to better appreciate it while the adults aren’t being exhausted by the kids. That sounds like SUCH a fun family trip. I would honestly love to plan a big one in 15 years with all of my siblings and in-laws and our hypothetical children. Like sometimes I daydream about it!
I think I read your post on the Hong Kong Disneyland. I did Disneyland Paris many years ago. I actually preferred Sleeping Beauty’s castle there! Underneath the castle you could see the thorny vines and the dragon. I can’t wait to read about your Tokyo trip!
I did the Disney Internship after I graduated college and my husband (then boyfriend) came to visit me and proposed while I was there! I LOVE Disney as an adult. Most of my days off were spent park hopping with my friends and I absolutely loved being able to do the parks with my husband. I know one day we will go back with our kids (in fact, due to pricing that’s the only way my husband wants to go back!) but I am so grateful I got to go as an adult too. Magic is for everyone of every age.
Looks like you two had a blast! My husband’s parents go every year, just the two of them, and they enjoy it more than they did when my husband was little. Who says Disney is just for kiddos? 🙂
Living in Los Angeles yet somehow survived without going to Disney land 🙁 Now I feel like it’s high time I shud 🙂 Lovely pics that tells us that you had a great time there. Soon you will find DisneyLand at http://usa.IamVagabond.com