Let's be honest.....when you think of Disney....Disney movies...DisneyLand....Disney World.....your first thought is kids. Kids love Disney.....Kids love Mickey and Minnie and Pluto and Donald and Goofy. Well here is a bulletin......Adults LOVE Disney also! And here is an even bigger kept secret....sometimes it's more fun going to Disney as an Adult or for a "Couples Trip"!
There is nothing....absolutely nothing... more wonderful than seeing the excitement and awe in your child's eyes as they enter the Magic Kingdom. If you have ever taken your child to Disney World you know exactly what I mean. It is worth the cost of admission just to see that look! A visit to Disney is sure to be one of the highlights of your child's life. It will also be one of the highlight's of your life as it was with ours. I have absolutely no regrets in taking my son to Disney at an alarming rate during his childhood and adolescent years!
As he got older and older, I was worried that he would "outgrow" Disney. I also was worried because I loved my trips to Disney and I wasn't ready to give them up! What would we do?? Well.....as I soon found out.....there is no "outgrowing" Disney. Even better than that......Disney could very well be even more fun as an adult without kids or with your Adult Children! "Why is this so?" you ask......well let me tell you what I've learned.......
The Happiest Place on Earth?
Disney is dubbed as "the happiest place on earth" and it is.....most of the time. Who among you hasn't seen the overtired child crying as he/she has hit their limit of entertainment for the day. It happens to all of them.....they are little and it's a huge park! Everything is going along just fine and then BOOM.....they snap!!! It's like a chain reaction at that point.....kid snaps....starts screaming...mom and dad (who are tired of pushing a stroller, carrying diaper bags and/or running around with the kids) snap also and all of a sudden the "fun" is gone. Now one of the ways to effectively deal with this is take the children back to the resort for a nap......now you've missed half a day at a park by going back to the resort...but it does help with the general mood!
Now if you have older children...that gets a little better but you have the issue of who wants to do what......are the rides too scary for younger children....getting everyone to agree on a place to eat. Do you want to watch the parade? Can you see the parade? Do you need to sit on the side of the street for an hour before the parade so you can see it? Keeping track of all the details can be exhausting for parents and annoying to children. Often times the parks are crowded...the waits are long and the weather is HOT! All of these things can sap the happiness right out of the experience.
The cost of a day at the parks is not cheap no matter how you do it. Multiply that cost by the amount of people in your family and add in airfare and the cost of a hotel or Disney Resort and the cost adds up fast! Often times young families don't have the means to stay at the Deluxe Disney resorts or even the Moderate Resorts....this leaves the Value Resorts....great theming....itty bitty living space (as the Genie would say)! So now your refuge from the parks is crowded and stressful also.
Again......totally worth it for the wonderful Magical Memories that you get....but realistically the vacation with all it's planning and cost and logistics....can be tiring and stressful!
The Benefits of being a "childless" Adult at Disney
Here are my favorite parts of traveling to Disney as a "childless" adult or with my adult son who is now 22:
1. You get to decide when you want to go!
You are no longer bound to school schedules! You realize you can plan a trip to Disney World ANY TIME YOU WANT! This means that you now have the ability to plan your visit to take advantage of LESS crowds......DISCOUNTED rooms.....and COOLER Weather! This in and of itself is one of the best perks of all!
2. You get to decide what you want to do!
All of sudden you have this wonderful freedom......you get to decide where you want to go and when you want to go there! I remember one Disney Vacation (which still provides many, many magical memories) when my son was 4 years old. He loved the characters...he loved Dumbo but many of the other rides he found to be scary....they were loud and dark and usually had a villain in there somewhere and his response to this was to scream the entire time that we were on the ride! Stressful!! As he got older this was no longer an issue but guess what? As an adult couple or even if my son travels with us......there is no problem with scary rides....everything becomes a possibility and everyone knows which rides are their favorites so it makes planning much easier!
While we love our characters and thoroughly enjoyed seeing as many as we could find....for the time being we no longer have to take chunks of days hunting down the characters and standing in long lines for autographs and pictures. This opens up endless possibilities of scheduling your day since you are not time-bound!
It is also easier with adults to decide on where you want to eat and be able to find things on the menus that everyone can agree with. You are not time bound to children's eating routines.
3. You save money!
You really notice this if you go as just a couple as the savings for Adult children are not nearly as much. If there are just two of you....now you are only paying admission cost for 2 people. The rooms are adequate for two people and even if you want to upgrade to a Deluxe...you are usually making better wages at this time in your life than you were starting out 20 years ago with a family! There is just more expendable income for some luxuries that you can't afford as a young couple with children. You also are only paying for airfare for 2.....meals for 2 and probably a whole less snacks and souvenirs (although the souvenir part is debatable because I think I buy more now than when I was younger....it's the disposable income thing again as well as the fact that you become a Disney collector over the years!).
4. There are more options open to you.
As parents with small children, you focus on the vacation for the children as it should be. You rarely if ever take the time out for yourselves to participate in activities that you may like. For instance, Disney has 5 beautiful Golf Courses. How many of you would take time out to shoot a round of golf if you had children with you. Add to that that the cost of a round of golf at these golf courses can run as much as $139.00 a round per person! (There are lesser costs depending on the time of year and time of day that you book). Are you really going to go alone and can you afford a $300.00 time out when you are budgeting a Disney Vacation with children??
Spas are another adult pleasure.....Disney has spas available but who knows that when you are traveling with children? Better yet....who has the time or money to go to one if you are there with your children?? Now as an adult vacation....this is now an option! You aren't tied to a ragged schedule at the parks to get everything in and you have the extra money to indulge in the spa services if you so desire!
Cirque du Soleil.....another attraction that we never made it to when we were traveling as a family. Not everyone wanted to go and the cost is quite high per ticket. When you have a large family this can be prohibitive...especially when it's a cost that is in addition to park admission fees. A day at the water parks was a much better choice for us as a family...cheaper, you could spend all day and everyone had a good time!
5. You can still do all the things that you loved!
Just because you are there without children doesn't mean that you can't still do all the things that you loved when you were there with children. It was always a family tradition to have dinner at Chef Mickey's on our first night at the Walt Disney Resort. Just because we don't have our son with us at times, this doesn't stop us....we make the reservation and go and enjoy the characters! Now is it a little different....yes. The characters don't spend as much time as they do when you have children with you but they still interact and the atmosphere is just as fun. We took my parents (74 and 83 at the time) and they had a wonderful time at Chef Mickey's! Don't think that you can't participate in some of the "kids" activities just because you are there without children or with adult children. If you want to get your picture taken with a character....do it!! If you want to eat Dole Whip before your dinner....do it! The possibilities are endless!Simply Enjoy
My best advise to you if you are going without children is to simply enjoy it! Enjoy the extra freedom and the extra savings and remember that Disney is for kids of ALL ages! Where else can you go....leave your troubles behind and be a kid again??? Go.....Run....Do Not Walk.....to Disney World!
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