I am blessed to be a mom to four kids, and my favorite thing to do is to take them ALL on Disney vacations together! We take an annual trip to Walt Disney World® with a group of 10 of us, and I love the fun of a big multi-generational family trip. This year I decided to mix that up a bit. My oldest son, Logan, is now 17 and we decided to take a long weekend to Walt Disney World® just the two of us last summer to check out the brand new Pandora area at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® and to enjoy some time together. I had never considered taking JUST ONE KID on a Disney vacation – I was concerned that the rest of my crew would be hurt and upset that I left them behind. I decided to frame this long weekend with my oldest as a special experience that each of my children would be able to enjoy in the future – a trip with just me where we would make sure to cater the trip to things that just the two of us would really enjoy.
There are a lot of benefits to splitting up the family unit, and just hitting Walt Disney World® with two people!
First – especially if you are traveling with an older child – you can get so much done! Particularly if you wait until your child is older, it is simply much quicker to navigate the parks and transportation when you aren’t dealing with strollers and all the needs of younger children. Logan and I made it a goal to hit all four Walt Disney World® parks in one day and we did it! We picked a must-do attraction at each park as well as a couple of our favorite dining spots and it was an amazing day we will never forget. We would never have been able to cover all four parks with our entire family unit!
Changing up your travel party and length of your trip also can get you out of a vacation rut! We travel to Walt Disney World® frequently and tend to follow a similar outline to each vacation, so it was fun to stay in a new hotel, change up our touring plans, and just do things differently than we normally do on our annual trip. One of the best parts about traveling to Walt Disney World® frequently is that things are always changing, and there is always something new! We were particularly impressed with the new Pandora section at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Park as well as the amazing new Happily Ever After projection show and fireworks at Magic Kingdom®. We will be able to share our best tips and tricks with the rest of our family on our next Walt Disney World® vacation.
One significant benefit to taking this trip with just the two of us was to be able to try things that we hadn’t in the past. We spent one day at Universal Orlando™ and now we know that we definitely need to bring the rest of our family there for a day or two on our next trip to Orlando! We also tried new restaurants such as Skipper’s Canteen at the Magic Kingdom® Park and found that the creative menu and wonderful atmosphere, along with the good-humored cast members will be a great choice for our whole family on our next visit.
The biggest highlight of our trip was the Happily Ever After Dessert Party at Magic Kingdom® Park. This separately ticketed event provided us with a huge array of tempting desserts and an absolutely spectacular spot to view the show-stopping nightly fireworks show.
As a mom, the best part about taking just one kid to Walt Disney World® was being able to take a step back from the bustling and chaotic world of a family of six and to really be able to spend time connecting with my son. As he prepares to move on to college and beyond in the next few years, I know it’s a vacation that he and I will never forget.
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Missy Graner
Travel Planner