Parent Getaway 2023 (updated 3/23)

[Disney102015]

Intro and Travel Day​

Hi again all! I’m usually here writing about our trips with our 3 littles in tow, but here I am with another adults-only trip report! This is going to be a quick one but it was super special and so different from the trips we usually take so I wanted to document it!



Husband and I are big Disney fans and DVC members - we take our kids (5, 3, and 1.5) about once a year but hadn’t been without children since 2017, before our oldest was born. My in laws agreed to watch the kids for a few nights this summer while Husband and I snuck away!! Sold!!



We debated where to go for a hot minute and ultimately settled on Disney World! I had done a quick adults-only trip with my sister earlier in the year (trip report here) and it convinced me that the occasional grown ups only trips to Disney are absolutely amazing! We felt *slightly* guilty going without the kids (especially after I had snuck to Disney earlier in the year with their auntie, too!), but like I said, they go at least annually so we didn’t feel too too badly. Plus the kids LOVE visiting my in laws so I’m not sure they even noticed we were gone!



We had 3 nights to work with and somehow were able to snag a last minute DVC booking for the resort studios at Grand Floridian - perfect for an adults-only trip (although by the end of the trip Husband was saying this would be a perfect location with kids, too - just SO convenient to Magic Kingdom!)



We initially planned to make the most of our 3 days by flying at the crack of dawn but this didn’t end up working out. The rest of the house had a stomach bug about 1.5 weeks before the trip and lo and behold, it struck me just before the trip! I was still feeling a little yucky the day before we flew so we ended up bumping to a late morning flight to give me a bit of extra time to recover. This turned out fine and gave us a more relaxing travel morning. Husband and I walked into the Pittsburgh airport with our TSA precheck and were literally walking to our gate 2 minutes later - it was amazing! Why did it take us so long to get precheck?!



Because we switched flights at the last minute, we were at the very very end of the boarding order for Southwest. I’m a really anxious flier (flyer?) so we paid the extra $80 total for upgraded boarding - ouch! It was worth it though, as we easily got seats together once we boarded. The flight was uneventful (if a little boring - no TVs on Southwest is a bummer) and we landed 15 minutes early.


We usually fly from Boston but flew from Pittsburgh this time since we had to bring my kids to the in laws - I can’t believe how much quicker the flight was from PA!!



Since we had no car seats to worry about, we were able to just Uber to the GF. It was $49 plus tip. We were checking in at the Grand by 12:40. It took a while to re-link our Magic Bands - our last trip was to Disneyland and we were told the bands had to be unlinked then relinked?

Our room wasn’t ready so we headed to lunch at the Beaches Pool Bar.



We had had a reservation for Grand Floridian Cafe that I had to cancel when we rebooked our flight, and we weren’t able to reschedule it but we were fine with pool food. I got the chicken strips and Husband got the shrimp sliders - both were good!



We grabbed chairs by the pool and settled in for an afternoon of relaxation. It was so different settling in to read a book rather than applying sunscreen to 3 little kids, wrangling life jackets, and heading straight for the pool slide! We were definitely enjoying the relaxed vibe. We hopped in and out of the pool a few times and even saw a duck swimming by at one point! We also had a round of strawberry margaritas.



I was still feeling a little “off” from the stomach bug. We had booked Cali Grill for that night but I didn’t think I was going to be up for a 3 course (fancy!) meal. Luckily we were able to snag Narcoosee’s for 5:00 instead and hoped to reschedule Cali Grill for another night (spoiler alert: we were able to!) Our room wasn’t ready until 4:30 so were cutting it a little close but changed quickly and made it by 5:00! It was good we didn’t have too far to go.





We always like eating at Narcoosee’s but I was glad we had skipped the 3 course meal because I only ate about half my dinner. Husband enjoyed an old fashioned with his meal. All in all this was a lovely time!



Next up…Moonlight Magic!

 

[Ann-CA]

I had done a quick adults-only trip with my sister earlier in the year (trip report here) and it convinced me that the occasional grown ups only trips to Disney are absolutely amazing!

Super fun! Just did my own leaving kids behind, and loved it! Looking forward to reading.

The flight was uneventful (if a little boring - no TVs on Southwest is a bummer) and we landed 15 minutes early.

FYI - even though they have no TVs, Southwest free wifi options are pretty amazing. You'll probably want a battery pack or something, but if you log onto southwestwifi.com with a phone or tablet, they have an array of shows, movies, and live tv to watch. Somehow their media wifi is super fast, and you can easily be entertained. Don't ever get their regular wifi service - it's terrible!

 

[Disney102015]

Super fun! Just did my own leaving kids behind, and loved it! Looking forward to reading.

Thanks for following! Aren’t adult only trips the best? So different from trips with kids! Hopping over to your TR now!

 

[Disney102015]

Moonlight Magic​

Next we were off to Animal Kingdom for Moonlight Magic! We were supposed to attend an AK Moonlight Magic event back in 2022 which got canceled due to Hurricane Ian so we were psyched that another one fell during our trip and we were able to get tickets. We ordered an Uber and headed to the lobby area for pickup. We were waiting off to the side when we saw our Uber pulling up…and another family jumping into it! We were running over to wave the driver down when he started pulling away but then stopped - luckily he had asked the family to confirm where they were headed and realized he had the wrong party! Everyone had a good laugh about the mixup. The family was dressed quite fancy and was headed to a wedding - definitely not headed to AK!



The weather was not looking too promising and it started absolutely POURING as we drove to AK. We considered turning around but I convinced Husband to power through…only to get out of the Uber and realized I had forgotten the ponchos Gah! We were literally wading through ankle deep water on our walk to the park entrance and were soaked to the skin within seconds. THEN, my flip flop broke! We were not off to a good start! We stopped at the store at the front of the park to see if they had any footwear but no dice - plus the shop was absolutely packed from people trying to stay out of the rain. I hobbled into the park and we decided to make our way to Island Mercantile to see if we could find me footwear and salvage the night.

Again, ankle deep water, one bare foot. Not great!


LUCKILY Island Mercantile came through and I was soon the proud owner of these babies:





Yes, those are Haunted Mansion crocs. Eighty dollar Haunted Mansion crocs, to be more specific. Did I like them? No. Did they save the evening? Yes. Were they shockingly comfortable? Also yes.



Footwear sorted, we headed to Dinosaur which was a walk-on despite a posted 10 minute wait. It was FREEZING in the building plus we were still soaked even though it has stopped raining!! I haven’t ridden this ride in years so it was fun to do again. By now it was almost 7:45 and Everest was down - the CM out front said they weren’t sure if it’d be back up that night. AK Moonlight Magic doesn’t have a ton of rides available to begin with so that was a bummer. We grabbed a drink at Thirsty River Bar and I got my favorite, the Himalayan Ghost. We stayed in the area having our drink hoping Everest would come back up but eventually moved on.



Our next stop was Pandora. The lines for food were HUGE and it was at that point we realized we hadn’t gotten our food coupons at the entrance This night was a bit of a comedy of errors but oh well, we were in Disney and we were together. There was also a lengthy wait for Flight of Passage so I grabbed a DAS. (For the MM event they were handing out paper DAS passes with a return time.) Navi River was unfortunately also down so we had some time to kill - we walked over to Flame Tree to grab a drink and a snack since we didn’t really know what else to do. It sounds like we weren’t doing a whole lot but we were just enjoying relaxing without the kids. Plus AK is SUCH a gorgeous park at night (or all the time, really) so it was just fun to walk around and soak up the atmosphere.



After our drink and snack, Navi had just reopened. The posted wait was 10 minutes but we ended up waiting 40! I like Navi River, but not 40 minutes worth. Oh well. By the time we got off it was time for my Flight of Passage DAS (Husband doesn’t do heights so he skips FOP.) I really, really love this ride but wish the preshow was shorter! It’s so long I always wonder if the ride is broken down while we are in the preshow rooms! Husband was wondering where I was because it took me so long to ride. By the time I got off the ride it was about 9:30. FOP had a 15 minute wait posted and Everest was back up but we were zonked and ready to head out. We slowly made our way out of the park and were on a bus back to GF almost immediately. It was a lovely first day of our trip!!

 

[footballmouse]

 

[jrmint427]

Navi River was unfortunately also down so we had some time to kill - we walked over to Flame Tree to grab a drink and a snack since we didn’t really know what else to do. It sounds like we weren’t doing a whole lot but we were just enjoying relaxing without the kids. Plus AK is SUCH a gorgeous park at night (or all the time, really) so it was just fun to walk around and soak up the atmosphere.

It's a bummer when multiple rides are down during a special event, but it sounds like you made the most of it! I agree, AK is such a beautiful park, just being there is so relaxing. I'm glad you got to ride FOP! And agree, they could really shorten the pre-show.

 

[Disney102015]

Day 2​

We had a nice leisurely sleep in on our first vacation without kids in years. Just kidding! I was up at 7am to get an individual lightning lane for Guardians for that evening We were both wide awake anyway - I think it’s physically impossible to sleep in when you’re a parent of 3 kids under age 5. It’s basically the law.



We didn’t rush right out the door, though - we had some coffee and watched Tv and were generally lazy til about 8:40 when we left the room to head to breakfast. We were on the monorail pretty much immediately and were at Steakhouse 71 less than 20 minutes later! We really like this restaurant - always a solid meal. We were done with breakfast by 9:45 and hopped on the monorail back to GF.



Then we napped!! If you had told me I’d spend time on a Disney vacation without kids napping and watching TV I would’ve said you were crazy but it was exactly what we wanted to do after our delicious breakfast. We were sooo lazy, it was lovely. We had thought about going to the spa for massages but decided to skip it this trip and I’m glad we did! It was plenty relaxing just hanging in the room and then hitting the pool, which we did by about 1:00. In the meantime I got a dining alert with an opening for California Grill for the following night so that worked out perfectly. I was thrilled! I would’ve been bummed to miss it due to not feeling great the night before.



At the pool, N was feeling a bit snacky to he had the Greek salad, which he said was delicious. He also had a sunshine margarita while I stuck with the frozen strawberry margarita.



We had a lovely 2 hours at the pool before heading for the room to freshen up. We were leaving the room by 3:30 but it was POURING rain. Neither of us had any desire to start the night off soaked with a repeat of the night before, so we retreated to our balcony to drink a glass of wine while watching the rain. It didn’t last too long and we made a mad dash to Enchanted Rose during a break in the rain. N had the French 75 and I had the French Rose. We love this bar!





While we were sitting, we saw a guy in a Red Sox shirt and wound up talking to him for a little bit - fellow Bostonian!



Next up we had a Topolino’s reservation so we got an Uber to the Riviera. We got there about 20 minutes early but got a table right away. This meal was AMAZING!! I think this miiiight be my favorite restaurant on Disney property right now. N started with the Marseille spritz and I had the Pomegranate paradiso. Both cocktails were excellent!



We split the ricotta app which was incredible and N also tried the grilled octopus (which I was not touching, haha).



For my meal, I still wasn’t feeling super hungry so I got an app as my main. The burrata was amazing and at the time came with grilled peaches which went perfectly with it (looking at the menu I think it’s served differently now?)



N got the sole meunière which he said was one of the best things he ever ate.



We both skipped dessert thinking we’d save some room for Food & Wine booths but this really turned out to be unnecessary - we were both too full already plus it was so hot out we didn’t have much appetite to eat at the park. We did stop outside on the patio for some photos before we left. So gorgeous!!



N is very very afraid of heights and was trying to psych himself up to take the Skyliner for the first time since we were headed to Epcot. We walked down to the station but turned around - he just couldn’t stomach it! Oh well, it gave me the chance to grab some pics of the mosaics which I always love to see:



Since we were headed to the World Showcase we decided to take a Minnie Van so we could get dropped at the Beach Club and walk over to that side of the park. It was about a 20 minute wait and $30 which seemed like kind of a lot for such a short ride but the Minnie Vans are always pricey!



We were in line for Epcot After Hours at 7:00 on the dot!



Next up…our evening in Epcot!

 

[awrites]

Your Topolino’s dinner looks lovely! You’re making me want to do an adults-only meal there. We took our DD4 there for breakfast on our trip in February and the characters were fun, but I could definitely go for an adult meal there sometime.