Adults-only trip report

[nsl]

My BFF and I are both Disney people, and since I currently live within driving distance of WDW we decided to use our once-a-year girls getaway week to go to Orlando.  In brief, it was fantastic and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  Some highlights:

-We both love Epcot and decided to stay in the Crescent Lake area to get the best access to that park.  We also wanted to go during a festival that neither of us had attended before, which ruled out Festival of the Arts and Flower and Garden.  Her kids had a school break during Food and Wine (and mine could just stay with H) so we decided to travel in October.

-She found a really great nail salon just off property so we started our trip there.  It was a great, relaxing activity to kick off our trip, and best of all the total for each mani/pedi was under $60

-After we checked in to the Boardwalk we were on a Food and Wine mission.  We rode the Frozen ride, but otherwise just wandered World Showcase and snacked/drank for 5+ hours.  I read a lot of booth reviews to prepare for this trip, so we used my blogger-approved spreadsheet to pick what to buy.  It was time/research well spent.

-Day 2 we rope-dropped Hollywood Studios at 6:00 in the morning to experience as much Star Wars Land as possible.  We rode Smuggler's Run (meh), built a lightsaber, explored, and shopped before 9:00 in the morning, and then hit the rest of the park.  We were able to ride everything except Slinky Dog with a <15 minute wait.  Then we went to Oga's Cantina for a late "lunch" (aka, drinks and the charcuterie platter) and it was one of the best parts of the whole trip.  The bartenders were hilarious, and the 45-minute cap on visits meant that no one was drunk or cranky--we were all just living our best lives for a little under an hour before the next group cycled in.

After leaving Oga's we went back to the hotel for a nap/swim, then costumed up and traveled to MK for the Halloween Party.  This wasn't our best idea ever.  The party was sold out, waits stayed long all night (Haunted Mansion was still over 45 minutes at 11:00 pm), and the "feel" of the park was more annoyed than happy.  We had fun, but I wouldn't do that party again.

-Day 3 we woke up late, ate breakfast at the Boardwalk Bakery, and eventually wandered over to World Showcase for the Tequila Lunch we'd pre-booked.  This was excellent--the food in particular--and a great use of our time/money.  Lots of guests had done it in previous years, so the quality wasn't a fluke.  Around 3:00 we went back to MK for the few hours before the park closed for that night's party and had a much better time than we'd had the previous evening.  Lines were shorter, people were happier, and we were able to knock off a few things that we hadn't had time to do during the Party, like riding Mine Train and Peter Pan.  We talked to a fellow partygoer from the previous night in line for Small World, and she felt the same way we did about the party. 

-Day 4 we woke up to pouring rain.  Nestor took us by surprise because we hadn't been following the news closely, and even though Orlando wasn't in the direct path there were still some significant rain bands passing over the whole state.  We had a Food and Wine breakfast at the Paris pavilion that we couldn't cancel, so we poncho-ed up and sloshed over there.  The Boardwalk staff were handing out towels to everyone brave/dumb enough to go outside in the weather, and we were very grateful for them.  Breakfast was great, I drank 4 mimosas, ate a ton of pastries and cheese, and the rain started to lighten up a bit just as we were finishing.  We decided to head for the Land to do Soarin' and Living with the Land, and virtually walked on to both in spite of 25+ minute posted wait times.  The rain had stopped by the time we exited, so we decided to head to Animal Kingdom as we'd originally planned.  The day wound up BEAUTIFUL and cool, and the park was blissfully uncrowded because (I assume) a lot of people had cancelled their plans and decided not to reinstate them after noon when the weather got nice again.  We did River Journey, Flights of Passage, Expedition Everest, and the safari, ate a delicious lunch at Nomad Lounge, and just wandered around until 7:00 when we decided to end our day back at Epcot.  We grabbed fish and chips (my BFF's favorite thing at World Showcase) and some beer, and then stumbled into an amazing table right on the water.  We ate, talked, giggled over the dramatic middle schoolers one table over and the couple having a ridiculous fight next to the trash can, and then went back to the room to watch the final Yankees/Astros game.

-Day 5 was today.  We packed and then drove to Ohana for breakfast.  It was the perfect end to our trip, and we have some silly pictures with Mickey, Goofy, Lilo, and Stitch to show for it.  I got on the road by 9:30, my BFF took the Magical Express to the airport, and we're both home now.

In all, the best parts of an adults-only trip had to do with only managing our own experiences.  Rain on our Animal Kingdom day?  No one was crying or melting down, so it was the least stressful theme park hiccup I've ever experienced.  We got tired before the fireworks?  NBD, and the buses were less crowded than they would have been later in the evening.  Halloween Party kind of disappointing?  Oh well, we'll just do some of the MK rides the following afternoon and skip the others because we really don't care that much.  It was about as low-key as a WDW trip could be.  Aside from sore feet I feel refreshed, not exhausted, from the trip.

[mssaint]

Now I want to do a grownup Disney trip... that sounds amazing.

[PatBenatar]

That's awesome. I'm going with my brother in January and definitely looking forward to a lower stress trip

[flatlan]

Oct 20, 2019 17:04:41 GMT -5 nsl said:

We rode the Frozen ride, but otherwise just wandered World Showcase and snacked/drank for 5+ hours.  I read a lot of booth reviews to prepare for this trip, so we used my blogger-approved spreadsheet to pick what to buy.  It was time/research well spent.

Great trip report! It seems like you guys had a wonderful mix of busy and relaxed. We are doing an adults trip to Epcot next month. It will be our first time to Epcot. If you would consider giving us some recommendations from your spreadsheet, that would be awesome.

[nsl]

Oct 20, 2019 18:30:26 GMT -5 flatlan said:

Oct 20, 2019 17:04:41 GMT -5 nsl said:

We rode the Frozen ride, but otherwise just wandered World Showcase and snacked/drank for 5+ hours.  I read a lot of booth reviews to prepare for this trip, so we used my blogger-approved spreadsheet to pick what to buy.  It was time/research well spent.

Great trip report! It seems like you guys had a wonderful mix of busy and relaxed. We are doing an adults trip to Epcot next month. It will be our first time to Epcot. If you would consider giving us some recommendations from your spreadsheet, that would be awesome.

Absolutely!  Below are the things we tried and loved:

Ireland

-warm chocolate pudding

-Guinness Bailey's shake

Belgium

-anything waffle

-beer flight

France

-fondue

-escargot croissant (trust me on this--unless you hate the texture of shellfish--very similar to escargot--and/or garlic butter this is amazing)

-frozen martini

Wine and Dine

-seared scallops

Cheese Studio

-black pepper Boursin souffle

-maple bourbon cheesecake

Appleseed Orchard

-cider flight (specifically the Limoncello one--we both would have gotten full pours of this if we'd known how good it was ahead of time)

-charcuterie

Mexico

-Tostada de carne

-Classico margarita

-smoky margarita

Spain

-charcuterie in a cup

-seafood salad

-wine flight

[flatlan]

Oct 20, 2019 18:47:23 GMT -5 nsl said:

Oct 20, 2019 18:30:26 GMT -5 flatlan said:

Great trip report! It seems like you guys had a wonderful mix of busy and relaxed. We are doing an adults trip to Epcot next month. It will be our first time to Epcot. If you would consider giving us some recommendations from your spreadsheet, that would be awesome.

Absolutely!  Below are the things we tried and loved:

Ireland

-warm chocolate pudding

-Guinness Bailey's shake

Belgium

-anything waffle

-beer flight

France

-fondue

-escargot croissant (trust me on this--unless you hate the texture of shellfish--very similar to escargot--and/or garlic butter this is amazing)

-frozen martini

Wine and Dine

-seared scallops

Cheese Studio

-black pepper Boursin souffle

-maple bourbon cheesecake

Appleseed Orchard

-cider flight (specifically the Limoncello one--we both would have gotten full pours of this if we'd known how good it was ahead of time)

-charcuterie

Mexico

-Tostada de carne

-Classico margarita

-smoky margarita

Spain

-charcuterie in a cup

-seafood salad

-wine flight

Wow! Thanks so much! Those all sound delicious!

[ksun]

Sounds like a blast! I've done several adult-only trips at Disneyland, and DH and I are planning an adults-only for WDW for our 15th anniversary (2021). That sucks about MNSSHP. I don't think our party was sold out. The only ride with waits longer than 10 minutes for us was Snow White. We didn't bother to wait for any characters since we had already met most of them at Disneyland in the past. We also did the Ohana breakfast for DD's 11th bday last month when we were there since Stitch is her favorite, and I thought the food there was definitely the best character food I've had.

[nsl]

Oct 20, 2019 19:51:12 GMT -5 ksun said:

Sounds like a blast! I've done several adult-only trips at Disneyland, and DH and I are planning an adults-only for WDW for our 15th anniversary (2021). That sucks about MNSSHP. I don't think our party was sold out. The only ride with waits longer than 10 minutes for us was Snow White. We didn't bother to wait for any characters since we had already met most of them at Disneyland in the past. We also did the Ohana breakfast for DD's 11th bday last month when we were there since Stitch is her favorite, and I thought the food there was definitely the best character food I've had.

The food was delicious, and our server will forever have a place on my heart for overhearing that it was our last morning and giving us very large to-go cups of coffee before we left, plus extra waffles for the road. 

[Wines Not Whines]

That sounds like a great trip!

[kittycatlove]

Sounds like a fantastic trip.

Some girlfriends and I are planning something similar for next October, I can't wait now after reading your report!

[covergirl82]

nsl, great trip report! I'm glad you had a great time! We went to MNSSHP as a family in October 2016, and I wouldn't spend the extra money to do it again. We made the mistake of going on a day we had already spent all day at the parks, and we were all toast by 9:00 pm. SO crowded (we also made the mistake of going on Halloween) and hard to get places with some walkways roped off for the parade.

F&W Festival is my favorite adults-only trip. DH and I went for a long weekend in 2017, and I'd love to go again. I wish we would've planned for at least one more day so we could enjoy two full days at Epcot.

[countthestars]

This is awesome! My sister and I are itching for a girl's trip but I think we're going to wait a few years for when our kids are older. This sounds like so much fun.

[cincodemayo]

This sounds heavenly! Where was the tequila lunch? All of your food choices sound great.

What a bummer about your Halloween party. We went on a semi crowded night and it was the highlight of our trip.

[nsl]

Oct 22, 2019 17:47:31 GMT -5 cincodemayo said:

This sounds heavenly! Where was the tequila lunch? All of your food choices sound great.

What a bummer about your Halloween party. We went on a semi crowded night and it was the highlight of our trip.

The tequila lunch was in the Mexico pavilion, at the San Angel Inn (or Hacienda--whichever one is on the water).  We had to book it by calling Disney--it's advertised online but you can't reserve it that way--and is only during the Food and Wine Festival.  It's led by the La Cava manager, whose business card, I kid you not, lists her profession as "Tequila Ambassador."  Disney apparently recruited her from Jose Cuervo's tequila bar in (where else?) Tequila, Mexico.  She was phenomenal.

[curbsideprophet]

Sounds like a great trip!

[nicolewi]

Your trips sounds fantastic.