That’s right.  I said without kids.  Wait.  What?  How could you possibly ever visit anything that has the word “Disney” in it without someone under the age of seven?  Well, my sister-in-law and I did this past January and it was fabulous.  And I’m here to give you my ten reasons why you should to.

First, a little background.  My sister-in-law and I each had our first child almost seven years ago.  It has been a life saver having her to talk to about everything related to pregnancy (cankles), to nursing (why is that not easier!) and then raising kids (why is this not easier!).  We absolutely love our kids and spend a lot of time with them, but we are kind of hard on ourselves and like a lot of mom’s, we have suffered the occasional bouts of mom guilt, and melt downs, and total exhaustion from not sleeping for several years.  You know the drill.  Well, the good news is that over the past year or so we have both felt like maybe the fog was lifting a little and we had the occasional thought of possibly taking a trip somewhere together to celebrate the fact that the diaper bags had been ditched and our kids still liked us.

We both love all things Disney and had each taken our kids on a respective trip to Disneyland and Walt Disney World (WDW) the previous year and absolutely loved the magic.  Although a beach vacation was also on our list, we thought a Walt Disney World vacation would be just the thing to celebrate motherhood!  So, we booked a room at Pop Century, packed our bag (yep, just one) and headed on down to Orlando where we experienced one of our best weeks EVER!  And here are the ten reasons why:

1.  No Strollers. I’ll admit that after day five averaging 25,000 steps we considered renting one and taking turns pushing each other around Adventureland, but the pure freedom of zigging while everyone else is zagging was glorious.  We had a sling pack and our magic bands and that was it.  Ok, we are a little bit germ freakish, so we did pack some wet wipes and about 10 bottles of hand sanitizer just so you don’t think we lost all our “Mom senses”.

2.  Eating Food. You know how it feels to eat your food while its hot and no one is yelling at you, or asking you to cut up their dinner, or needs to go to the bathroom?  That is what it’s like to eat at Walt Disney World without your children.  And there are so many awesome places to eat in Walt Disney World that we totally took advantage of scheduling dinner at ‘Ohana and California Grill and places like that.  Even Casey’s Corner.  We sat there and ate a hot dog and only felt a little bit guilty as we watched other families reorder a meal after their toddler dumped their tray before they even sat down.

3.  No carousel. I don’t know what the heck happened postpartum, but if we even look at a carousel or spinning tea cup we about lose our lunch.  Well, when you take a Mom’s trip you can ride –or not ride, whatever you want.  It’s amazing.    

4.  No nap breaks. We’ll admit that we kind of pushed things a little too much to the point of being totally delirious one day walking out of Epcot, but it was so amazing to jump out of bed bright and early and just worry about getting yourself ready.  That’s it.  Just one person.  You feel absolutely efficient as you stroll on down to the bus line and then grab a coffee in the parks before they even open.  You get to make your own schedule and do whatever you want.  Even take a nap as we did on day six.

   

5.  Enjoying the “scary” rides. We both had memories of being on a roller coaster for the first time with our kids and spending the entire attraction staring at that them trying to gauge their reaction.  Were they thrilled, or had we just scarred them for life? Well, when you travel with your Mom ally you get to just scream your head off in pure joy.  And then if you happen to experience one that made you queasy or question what the heck was that, you just move on to the next one and it’s all good.

6.  Disney After Dark. The last time I went to WDW with my family we did a great job of being there at every rope drop, made good use of our mornings and then after lunch went back to the resort for a nap break.  We took these breaks so we could make it back and stay for the fireworks.  Well, say by about 7:00 pm everyone in our party of four had tanked.  I don’t know how people with small children can do both: a successful rope drop and a fireworks appearance?! Even with a two-hour nap, WDW is exhausting.  Well, when you travel with your Mom ally, adrenaline is on overdrive at the luxury of making your own schedule, that you not only enjoy the fireworks show, you also stay for another three + hours and enjoy the awesome atmosphere that can only be found in a Disney theme park at night.

7.  Trader Sam’s Grotto. This hidden gem over at the Polynesian totally made our day.  It’s a cross-between 10,000 leagues Under the Sea and Moana, and long story short, we only ordered one drink but the experience was so great that the souvenir cup that my sister-in-law’s drink came in (a large pearl) we named Shelley and is still with us today. If you are kid-less, give this place a try, but get there right at 4:00 pm if you want a seat.

8.  Characters: We both loved meeting the characters and I really can’t say why.  It was kind of like some weird scavenger hunt or something but the more we checked off our list, the better we felt.  I will admit though, we kind of wished our kids were there for those experiences not only for obvious reasons, but also so they could carry on the conversations.  #awkward. 

9. Memory Maker! And I’m not just talking about all the fantastic memories we made, I’m talking about the system tied to Photopass where you get all your pictures that the Disney photographers take throughout your entire vacation.  And let me tell you, we got our money’s worth.  I’m pretty sure we met every photographer in the parks because we were on a mission to document every aspect of our trip.  And don’t even get me started on magic shots, but we got one of each.  I mean, c’mon you know what it’s like to get family picture with kids.  The removal from the stroller, wet wipe to the face, convincing them to smile?  Well, when you travel with your Mom ally it’s just you two. Easy, breezy, and not exactly cover girl, but you are in and out and voila!  You just added another image to the best souvenir there is—your photos!

10.  You get to visit Neverland. How many of you love the nostalgia that Disney conjures up? It’s a chance to step away from whatever may be worrying you and head back in time and remember what it’s like to be a kid.  The memories we made were magical and even though we talked about our children constantly, comparing what they would like about this ride or that show, it was a breath of fresh air to spend time just being us in such a special place.  And between now and our next visit, either together or with our families, it was a great reminder to not take ourselves too seriously and to never grow up.

Ryen loves to help families plan their next adventure and is a certified travel agent for Key to the World Travel.  Check out these other great family friendly destinations: Disneyland, Jamaica, Aulani and the Oregon Coast.  Contact me @: [email protected] for FREE assistance in booking and planning your next trip!

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