Kid Free Birthday Trip with HUGE Pixie Dust Upgrade!!! First TR!

[dorospin]

Hi All..

Introduction.. First trip report.. long time DIS follower!! We actually visited WDW 8 times in 2019 from NC, but I wanted to try my first trip report based on my husband Bret's birthday trip in June 2019 as it was an adult only trip during which we received a MAJOR pixie dust upgrade!! More on this later.

Bret and I have 6 kids - ages 17, 16, 14, 13, 11, and 4 (3 girls, 3 boys) - so a "kid free" trip is very rare

We were engaged literally at the top of Splash Mountain! Imagine seeing a diamond ring coming out of your boyfriend's pocket right as you are about to plunge down into the briar patch! I was seriously terrified the ring was going to go flying into the water! We were also married at the Grand Floridian! So, Disney is definitely our happy place.

Back to this trip - We were able to get away for three nights. Our plan was to stay at the Yacht Club and take a lot of relaxing strolls around the World Showcase as we rarely get to Epcot with the kids. Our girls enjoy the Frozen ride, and everyone enjoys Test Track, but we normally end up at the Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios!

We arrived at MCO and took a Minnie Van to the Yacht Club. Our room wasn't ready yet so we took a nice stroll around the World Showcase! I really enjoyed taking lots of pictures and noticing all of the details we normally miss!

 

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[dorospin]

Still trying to figure out how to turn around some of these photos? Any tips?

More World Showcase photos coming, dinner at the Yachtsman, and our first room at the Yacht Club to come..

 

[cajunfan]

Can't wait to read about your trip!

 

[dorospin]

 

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Here are Bret and I, and our custom Magic Bands we brought along!

 

[Avery&Todd]

I'm totally ready for a new TR! Bring it on!

 

[dorospin]

After our walk around the World Showcase, our room was ready! We had booked a water view room at the Yacht Club. We had not stayed in the Yacht Club since the rooms were refurbished several years ago. We were happy with the room and the view! Unfortunately, after the events to come that night, we were very unhappy! More on this to come..

We put our stuff down and quickly headed to the Yachtsman for dinner.

A look around the Yacht Club..

 

[dorospin]

 

[dorospin]

Next up was Bret's birthday dinner at the Yachtsman! We had a great table right beside Storm Along Bay. With Disney's signature restaurants it always surprises me some at how few people are in the restaurant when there are no reservations available! We had our own little area. The food, as usual, was delicious! And, Bret got this cute birthday treat!


After leaving the Yachstman very full, we headed back up to the room for what we hoped would be a restful night after traveling! We had plans the next day to head over to Hollywood Studios to ride one of our favorites - Slinky Dog - and possibly hop to Animal Kingdom to ride Avatar.

Having no real plans other than a few dining reservations, and just going wherever we felt like going in the moment was definitely new for us!!

Up next - the most sleepless night EVER at Disney!

 

[cajunfan]

I need food porn...show me the food pictures if you have them!

 

[dorospin]

Thank you so much for anyone who is reading my first trip report

Back to our first night. We had just finished up dinner at the Yachtsman. We headed back up to our room - Water view. I think we were on the 2nd floor. We were really tired from traveling and got in bed around 11pm. We immediately noticed that there was quite a bit of noise coming from the room next door. However, at 11pm it was mainly "loud talking" and we figured they were just getting ready for bed. 🛏

Midnight hit, and the "loud talking" had turned into a child screaming, and who I assume were two parents, loudly arguing. Having kids ourselves, we at first didn't think too much of it, just turned back on the TV to the "Disney music", and tried to go to sleep.

Well, 1AM rolled around, and the screaming child and arguing parents had escalated into such a commotion that it sounded as if the child were in our room with us, standing next to the bed screaming. At this point, the parents were in the hallway, directly outside of our door - loudly arguing. It went something like this:

Mom: You have to get him to go to sleep!
Dad: He can scream all night for all I care! I'm going out!
Mom: You can't leave! They might kick us out if he doesn't stop screaming!
Dad: I can't deal with this right now! You are the one always saying let him cry it out!

2AM and things are no better. Child is still screaming except for now it sounds like he is in pain the screaming is so loud. I call down to the front desk - or try to - only to be routed to the off site answering service. My husband walks out to the hallway - parents are now back in their room, still arguing. My husband walks down to the front desk - cannot find anyone to help.

3AM. Dad, from the sounds of it, has made good on his threat and has left the area. Mom is now pleading and yelling for the child to go to sleep. The child is now yelling that he is hungry. Bret and I have our TV as loud as we can tolerate, heads under pillows, trying to go to sleep.

4AM. Mom has given up. We can hear child in the hallway calling for his dad. I finally drifted off right before 5AM, was awakened right before 6AM by dad coming back in and fighting resuming. Bret however never could get to sleep.

At 6AM we finally found a cast member in the lobby. The cast member confirmed that the family next door (and yes it was a connecting door room) would be staying our entire length of stay. We begged to be moved to another room - any room. A manager was called. The manager informed us that they were completely booked and couldn't move us. We begged to be moved to another resort. The manager told us to enjoy a day at the parks, and when we got back, he'd have a solution for us.

At this point, it was about 7AM. We grabbed some breakfast from the marketplace, and headed back to the room (which of course was now silent). We decided to head over to Hollywood Studios when it opened, and then come back and fingers crossed the manager would have good news!!

Up next.. Hollywood Studios, and what was the manager's solution???

 

[dorospin]

Very very sleepy.. we took a Minnie Van to Hollywood Studios. First - I cannot say how much we love the Minnie Van service!! We were the second family ever to ride the Minnie Van from the airport. On that occasion, there was a thunderstorm preventing the airline from unloading bags from the plane. Our Minnie Van driver sat with us in baggage claim for 2 hours waiting. During that time, he told us all sorts of stories from his time at Disney, and a lot of Disney trivia.

Back to this trip.. being so tired and just ready to get away from the Yacht Club.. we were happy to see the Minnie Van.



We arrived very quickly at Hollywood Studios. Without our kids there.. there wasn't much of a "plan" but we knew we wanted to ride Slinky Dog and just check out the sights.






After walking around for about 2 hours, we were just exhausted and decided to head back to the Boardwalk area to eat. So, back in the Minnie Van we went and were dropped off at the Boardwalk.

Bret and I love walking around the Boardwalk. We also love the Boardwalk Inn!

Some pictures from our stroll:

We ended up eating lunch at the ESPN Club on the Boardwalk. We have found the ESPN Club to be a solid choice when we don't have in park plans and are in the Boardwalk area. There are lots of options, the food is normally good, and if you like sports there is always some sort of game on. We shared a few things, including this burger and onion rings!


Up next.. we were so tired by this point.. even though it was still early afternoon, that we decided to head back to the Yacht Club and find out if we were going to be able to move rooms or resorts.

 

[cajunfan]

Ya left me hanging??! Can't wait to hear how everything was resolved. I might not have handled things as gracefully as you all did...I am not a happy person when I am lacking sleep.

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following!
What a view! Makes me want to book a Yatch Club water view for our next trip! (Although I am not sure we could afford it...)
But that sleepless night must have been terrible...

Travelling with young kids I was always afraid we would wake someone when the baby woke up in the middle of the night, we tried to usher them back to sleep quickly (and were lucky enough that it worked most of the times) but we would have NEVER let a baby cry it out in a hotel room! It is so disrespectful for other guests...
How ironic that you were kept awake by a crying kid on your kid-free trip... I feel your pain!