So my husband and I are doing an adult only trip this October to celebrate our 15 year anniversary. With us will be 3 other couples: One die hard Disney couple (like me), one “I don’t like roller coasters” couple, and one Star wars fanatic first timers. I’m wondering what things you would suggest we do that you might avoid when taking kiddos?
Husband and I are doing just the two of us 18th anniversary celebration in October as well!!! cheers we are super NOT star wars fans… and are trying to figure out how to avoid it but still ride Slinky!!
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Hmm. Honestly, can’t think of much (other than “alone time” back at the room, which you can’t do with kids). I mean, we go to Disney because we love it, and the kids just have to learn to love it if they don’t already! 
Having said that, for our planned 25th anniversary trip, we are “splurging” because we only have to pay for ourselves. This means more Table Service meals in one trip, than we’ve probably ever done in ALL of our previous trips combined! But this isn’t because the kids wouldn’t have liked it, but that it just was too expensive.
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Yes! We are very much looking forward to splurging more on meals!
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We like to do things that aren’t possible or aren’t as enjoyable with our kids such as evening EMH, table service meals, and tours. On our next couple’s trip we are planning to try Nomad Lounge, Jellyrolls at the Boardwalk, Trader Sam’s, and possibly The Edison at DS for their evening entertainment. We are also thinking about either KTTK tour or Wild Africa Trek. There are so many experiences that it is hard to pare it down!
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Last time we went we did the dining plan and it was expensive. We did it partly because we knew we would have to eat, we thought it would be a great way for our kids to interact with the characters, and we could spend that time doing other rides instead of waiting in line to meet the characters in the park. What we didn’t realize was that by having the reservation, it probably cost us more park time (even though they were all in the parks). This next trip, we are not doing the dining plan and only having one reservation ( a PPO at BOG where we are only getting the Grey Stuff). It’s pretty much just to get in and be first in line.
Things we used to do pre-DD: late nights, long signature meals, evenings at Disney Springs with drinks on the porch at House of Blues, proper sleep-ins 
…
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I like the idea of tours. I’ve never done one, and with my kids in tow I wouldn’t. I would rather us be “spontaneous” (Which is impossible, because I’ve already planned it out) and be able to change direction if we want. Without my kids, I would love to do a tour or two.
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Yep, we did the Segway tour in Epcot - that was awesome!
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We found the dining plan will NEVER save us money. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t pick food items we wanted that ended up being more than what we’d pay for the dining plan. In general, we figured we save a couple hundred dollars by NOT using the dining plan. (And it makes no sense when the advice is that, if you get the dining plan, to do more Table Service or get more expensive items…because all that means is you are STILL paying more than you would have, and now just trying to justify the added expense by eating in a way you wouldn’t, otherwise!)
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I totally agree with what most have already said, more TS, after park lounges and definitely experiences!
Luckily, there are plenty of things to do for people “who don’t like roller coasters” that are still fun for adults. The majority of attractions at WDW wouldn’t be classified as “thrill rides”, so I think that will be fine.
I am going with my kids next week but already talking about doing an adults only trip in the future, so I started looking around for fun. I thought this sounded fun while still taking in the Disney Magic.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/contemporary-resort/celebration-at-the-top/
Now that my kids are grown and unfortunately in a couple of weeks, living on the west coast we seem to focus more on the food. I would not call us true foodies but nothing beats a great meal. I love signature restaurants, especially at the resorts. It seems quieter and more relaxed. Sanaa, Flying Fish, Yachtsman, to name a few.
One thing that I don’t see talked about here very often that DW and I like to do every other year or so is “The Highway in the Sky dine around” Look it up for more detail but basically you get a course at each of the Monorail resorts, ending with a dessert party watching the fireworks from the Contemporary. You get private cars on the monorail between resorts and you get to meet the manager of each restaurant you go to. It is a bit pricey, $160 a person last time we went but worth the unique experience. It is even more fun with a bigger group.
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It might not save money, but I will say it did help in budgeting. When we were in the parks, I was able to focus on what we were doing as opposed to how much my bill was going to be.
Oh, we budget that ahead of time. We actually go to the website, look up prices of the food we are most likely to get, add it all up, including snacks and drinks. Then, we add a bit more to cushion it. Then, we bring that much money with us (either in cash, or via Disney Gift card). We have envelopes for each day so that we know how much we can spend that keeps us within our budget. Anything we don’t spend that day rolls over into the next day’s envelope. Once I started using this technique, I’m SO MUCH more relaxed about spending money for food in the parks.
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Looking at the group you described, my advice would be to split up. When you are touring with your kids, you set the agenda because of the Golden Rule. However, with four sets of adults with different likes/priorities there will be conflict. Agree on things you want to do together (e.g. meet for dinner at 5:30 at La Hacienda), but otherwise let everyone follow their own path.
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That’s really good advice. Having just a few meet ups instead of a whole trip together is quite wise.
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Our kids are in their 20’s now, and we have been to WDW often. So the rides we tend to skip now and don’t even consider if the line is long …
- Speedway
- Small World
- Dumbo (Aladin carpets is the exact same ride)
- Most of Dino land (AK).
- Many Character meet/greet
- Pooh
Not saying we don’t like these. We do enjoy them, just other things we prefer if the lines get too long.
We will be celebrating our 15 Anniversary at Disney in February 2020. We plan on more Epcot time and I really want to see Magic Kingdom at night to take in all the magic!!
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