Guest Post: My less-than-24-hour adults-only stay at WDW

We checked in around 6:00 pm on Monday night, and the Magical Express (ME) picked us up at 4:05pm on Tuesday. It would seem like it was a very short stay, and it technically was, but we got so much done in those few precious hours! It was our first time at the World with no kids, and we were going to take advantage of it!

The WDW stay came at the tail-end of an adults only weekend in New Smyrna Beach (NSB), Florida. When my sister told me that she and my brother-in-law were going to have to leave a day earlier than us, it was a no brainer to us to ditch NSB and spend the extra night in WDW!

We were originally booked at Boardwalk Villas (we are DVC members), but went on the wait-list for Beach Club (BC). We had never stayed at BC, so what better time to try it than on a one-night trip. If we didn't like it, or were too home-sick for our beloved Animal Kingdom Villas, we could deal with it for one short night. We also knew we wanted to do the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, so BC provided the perfect location! A few days out from our trip, our wait-list came true. Everything was falling into place.

Once we dropped my sister and brother -in-law off at the airport, we headed to the World. We checked in, dropped our bags off in the room, and walked into Epcot (yes, I said walked - we LOVED the proximity of BC to Epcot). We immediately hit the food and wine marketplaces. I am not a huge foodie or wino, but I did enjoy the novelty of experiencing one of WDW's special events, especially since this is one that we couldn't experience with our kids at their ages. Their patience level is usually at 0, and I'm sure they would not enjoy stopping every few minutes for mommy and daddy to have a bite to eat. I really enjoyed the leisurely pace of the festival. Being a Monday night, there were no lines and we could just eat and sit as we pleased. My favourites were the margarita in Mexico, and the Greek salad in Greece (I know, I'm boring!). 

Hubby, on the other hand, LOVED all the food samplings! He loves experiencing different foods from all over, so this was right up his alley. His favourites were: Taco de Filete in Mexico, Mongolian Beef in China, and the Rendang in Singapore.

The highlight of my night, though, was seeing one of my favourite music groups from high school: Boyz II Men, in the Eat To The Beat Concert Series. Boy, did that take me back to my youth!  The best part was that it was completely unexpected! I had no idea they would be performing. I loved singing along to all their hit songs. I couldn't believe I still remembered all the words to "On Bended Knee". They put on a great show.

Once we hit all the marketplaces, we had to hit Mouse Gear before it closed! Then it was off to bed for us, as we were determined to make rope drop at Disney's Hollywood Studios (DHS) the following morning. And... We did. DHS has the most adult-friendly rides, in our opinion, so we were going to make sure we took advantage of this park while we were kid-less.

The important reason to make rope drop at DHS is to ensure a stand-by ride on Toy Story Mania (TSM), plus get an early FASTPASS return time. We did just that. Once we rode TSM, we went over to my all-time favourite attraction, The Tower of Terror (ToT). Unfortunately, Rock 'N Rollercoaster was down, but we did get in another ride on TSM and ToT, plus a ride on Star Tours and The Great Movie Ride. This was all accomplished by 11:30am, and then we decided to head back to BC to enjoy the wonderful Stormalong Bay.

Before pool time, though, we walked over to Epcot to get our beloved fish and chips from Yorkshire Fish & Chips in the England Pavilion. Ok, truth be told, hubby likes the fish, and I like the 'chips'!

With lunch over, we secured our pool chairs with a wonderful view of the Boardwalk, the lighthouse, and the water. Stormalong Bay was huge and was a lot of fun to swim in! Hubby went down the slide, while I enjoyed the whirlpool. If I had to find something to complain about, I guess it would be that a lot of the pool area is very deep. However, they have a great sand-bottom shallow area for young children, complete with sand banks and sand toys. It made us really excited to take our young kids there when we stay at the Yacht Club in May. They will love it!

After a few hours, lounging, it was time to head to the ME pick-up spot. While we were sad to go, as we always are, we were happy with all that we had accomplished on our adults-only stay at WDW. Until we meet again, Mickey!

Contributed by Danielle from Ontario, Canada.  She and her husband are Disney Vacation Club Members and visit Walt Disney World several times a year with their two children.  She writes The Fairytale Family and has her own blog, Life As A Disney Mommy.  She is a Minnie Mom here at Growing Up Disney.