Our (Second) Adults-Only Trip to Disney World
Well, Corey and I just got back from our second anniversary trip to Disney World and, once again, it was pure magic! If you’re new around here, I spent the first 35 years of my life desperate to get myself to Disney World, and we finally made our first trip happen in 2023. We immediately became addicted and over the last year and a half, we’ve visited multiple times, become annual passholders, and I started a side business helping people plan their own Disney vacations! So, I guess you can say we’re Disney people now.
I’ve recapped every trip we’ve taken here on the blog, so it only makes sense to take a minute to tell you about our latest trip! I love to share these recaps partially just so I can record the memories, but also because I am hopeful it’s a useful resource for anyone thinking about going on their own trip. So, let’s jump right in.
Day One
This trip, we stayed at the Yacht Club. It was our first time staying a hotel in the Boardwalk area and we are definitely feeling like this needs to be a regular thing. I mean, it took us about 5 minutes to walk to EPCOT. Does it get any better than that?!
We always take the earliest available flight because it’s the cheapest, and because we love to get there and dive right in. So, by the time we were settled into our rooms it was just approaching lunch time. We headed straight to EPCOT for some festival food and a few rides!
The crowds this year were quite a bit worse than they were when we went last year (we went a week earlier, so maybe that was a factor?), so we didn’t do a ton on day one other than walking around and taking in the vibes. We rode a couple of our favorite rides (Soarin’ and Guardians!), met Minnie and Pluto, and ate until we thought we might burst.
That evening, we rode the boat over to Hollywood Studios for a quick drink at Oga’s Cantina (I love the Outer Rim, if you’re looking for recommendations). We had every intention of sticking around for Fantasmic but we were tired after waking up around 4 AM and decided to go back to the hotel and eat a salad and some bread in bed before crashing. Late night bed snacks are always the answer on vacation, if you ask me.
Day Two
This was our biggest day because we were planning something silly that we’ve never done before – hitting up all four parks in one day! It isn’t necessarily something that was on our Disney bucket list, but since it was just the two of us we thought it might be fun. And truly, it was a blast!
Park One: Animal Kingdom
We kicked things off in Animal Kingdom with a ride on Flight of Passage. We didn’t get up early enough to properly rope drop it, so we had to wait in line for about an hour, but we had fun chatting with other people in line and taking in all the cool sights in the queue.
Afterwards, we headed over to the Dinoland area to meet Donald and Chip & Dale. I developed a side quest that morning to meet Donald Duck in every single park (I was decked out in all of my Donald gear), so that was obviously a must.
Park Two: Magic Kingdom
It was still pretty early in the morning when we made it to Magic Kingdom, and we were planning to spend the full day there the following day, so we really focused on just being there rather than getting much done. We rode a few rides (can’t set foot in Magic Kingdom without riding Pirates and the Peoplemover!), met Donald again, and got some Dole Whip and nachos.
Park Three: EPCOT
Next up, we hopped on the monorail over to EPCOT. We had already spent several hours here the night before, so we mostly just wanted a margarita, to meet Donald, and to ride Guardians (because of course). We rode a few more rides that we had missed the day before, and then we walked back to our hotel for a little break (and for Corey to get some work done) before our last park of the day.
Park Four: Hollywood Studios
This is the park we were both the most excited for, because we had tickets for their After Hours event! We arrived right at 7 PM and headed straight to the Brown Derby Lounge for our favorite salad (in the entire world – literally) and some people watching. We also had a couple of lightning lanes lined up, so we rode a few favorites and waited for the rest of the guests to clear out so we could enjoy our After Hours event!
It was SO much fun, and I truly can’t recommend these events enough. We didn’t wait in line for anything other than Slinky Dog Dash, and it was a 10 minute wait. There were characters to meet (with no line), free ice cream, sodas, and popcorn, and the sweet bliss of a fully empty park. Truly, it’s magic. I will literally plan trips around going to these events, because I think they’re so, so worth it.
And, of course, it’s worth noting I did get all of my Donald photos.
Day Three
Our last full day was a Magic Kingdom day – the park was scheduled to close at 4:30 so we figured the crowds would be light, and boy were we right! It was practically empty the full day, and we enjoyed every single second of it. We ate a Gaston’s cinnamon roll, rode every single one of the rides we wanted to ride, watched the parade, and even bumped into someone from our favorite Disney YouTube channel!
We took a midday break to walk over to The Contemporary for a burger and a drink, and it was a really lovely break. We hadn’t visited the Steakhouse 71 Lounge before, but it’ll definitely be a place we return to!
At the end of the day, we popped back into EPCOT on our way back to the resort to ride Guardians again (because OF COURSE WE DID), and then we tucked ourselves into bed early because we had been going hard all week and we were fully and completely exhausted.
Day Four
And finally, our travel day home! We got up bright and early so we could get into EPCOT at the beginning of the day to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and get breakfast at the bakery in the France pavilion (which I’ll argue is the best breakfast in all of Disney World).
We had originally booked our flight for the evening, but we were both exhausted and feeling really great about how much we had done on our trip, so we decided to hop on standby for an earlier flight home. We got our last Guardians ride in, and then headed to the airport to come back and see our sweet boys.
It was truly an absolutely magical and wonderful trip. I can’t say enough good things about taking a few days to go be a kid again with your partner. Any vacation without the kids is always delightful, but there’s something extra special about one where you get to be silly and playful like this.
We currently don’t have our next Disney World family trip booked (which feels almost blasphemous!), but we’re headed to the other coast for a Disneyland trip at the end of the school year and the countdown has officially begun!