Advice sought for transition to no kid trips

[Guzzi]

We are almost there, our daughter is just about too old to vacation with the family, our son will be going to college next year. We have enough pts to stay in studios for a week, but not enough for a one bedroom that would splt them up.

So we are within a trip or two at the most where it will be my wife and i traveling to the world, that both scares and excites me (and i think my wife!?)

So i'd like to hear from folks who have made the transition from traveling to the world with the kids to traveling to the world as a couple. What advice can you give, (ive been thinking two short trips, one during food and wine, one during flower and garden)

[capeokw56]

I completely understand your apprehension about this issue. My wife and I had the same anxieties about our first trip without the kids. We wondered if it would even be fun anymore without them. Maybe we'd feel guilty about going alone.
We stayed at POR our first time for just the two of us. We felt a little out of sorts at first but once we were there we settled right into our regular activities, our favorite rides, and restaurants. What we found is that we seemed to slow down a little bit too. Instead of the rush to hit all the things we wanted to get done, we had time to stroll around Epcot, go to the spa at GF for a couples massage, sit and enjoy an ice cream at The Plaza while people watching, take a carriage ride in the evening, maybe even take an afternoon nap before heading back into the parks. We've come to love our trips to WDW when it's the two of us. We have a week long trip planned for 02/01/17 at our HR OKW
We're very fortunate that our kids still want to come on vacation with us. Our daughter, 29 and son-in-law, 30 and our son and his girlfriend, both 25 come with us every year for a family vacation to WDW. We get the best of both worlds! Hopefully you will too.
I'm sure that you will adjust very quickly and have a great time, just the two of you!

[jly27]

My wife and I have our first adult only trip this Sept for a week at SSR (33 days and counting) after DD and DS goes back to college. We are planning doing the parks during the morning and going back to the resort for a few hours during the hot afternoons (pool time), then we will hit the parks again for evening activities. With staying at SSR we are planning on going to DS most evening for some cocktails and live entertainment. One thing we are going to try this trip is to do the Monorail Crawl . We are also doing F&W, MNSSHP, and the DVC Safari Spectacular.

Should be a great trip, don't tell the kids

[jtrobi]

Originally Posted by capeokw56

I completely understand your apprehension about this issue. My wife and I had the same anxieties about our first trip without the kids. We wondered if it would even be fun anymore without them. Maybe we'd feel guilty about going alone.
We stayed at POR our first time for just the two of us. We felt a little out of sorts at first but once we were there we settled right into our regular activities, our favorite rides, and restaurants. What we found is that we seemed to slow down a little bit too. Instead of the rush to hit all the things we wanted to get done, we had time to stroll around Epcot, go to the spa at GF for a couples massage, sit and enjoy an ice cream at The Plaza while people watching, take a carriage ride in the evening, maybe even take an afternoon nap before heading back into the parks. We've come to love our trips to WDW when it's the two of us.

This sounds AMAZING! Only about 20 more years to go for us...enjoying every second now and still looking forward to trips like that!

[tink711]

Enjoy it!
Go at a more leisurely pace. Stop and see the things you never noticed before because the kids would have thought it was boring. Plan nice adult meals. One of our favs is resort hopping, we go visit another resort and maybe just have lunch at the pool bar and stroll around (Jambo is awesome for this). Chill at TOWL and watch the fireworks. Stop and notice the beautiful landscaping and fountains. There is so much that we all miss when we are hurrying to the next thing.

[micca]

You sure the kids are going to stop going on your vacations? We have two daughters in their early 30s who still manage to tear themselves away to go to WDW. Not that we don't love having them join us, they are always welcome. Besides they can bring drinks from the bar with the best of 'em.

[helenabear]

We started going as a couple without kids so to me I see that as a bigger transition (going with kids vs alone). We're in the height of traveling with kids but I do look forward to the day where we can go and relax and do what we want when we want like we did many years ago.

[MagicJourneys]

More Victoria and Alberts and Monsieur Paul. Less Chef Mickey's and Hollywood Play 'n' Dine.

[captainjack]

I go to WDW 2-4 times a year, mostly with family or friends. However, once a year for the past several years DW and I go just ourselves. Sometimes we don't even go into the parks. You will find that just the two of you seems like a different vacation. Relaxed, slow going, easy. Enjoy. Without the kids you can go on some of the adults only backstage tours. They are great.

[Laura D]

Our children are grown, but we usually take one or two of the grandkids each trip.

Our very favorite trips, however, are the adult only ones that we take in January. Low crowds and nice weather. Very low key and laid back. We particularly enjoy having appetizers for supper in any of the resort lounges; Territory Lounge is our favorite.

A couple of weeks ago, we were discussing plans for our anniversary later this month. Husband decided he would really like to have dinner at California Grill, so we looked and found an opening on the right day. Also happened into three nights at BLT in a studio. It will be a quick trip, but we know we will enjoy it.

So, happy adult-only trips! A friend once told me that an empty nest can be some of the sweetest days of your life, and she was so right!