A grown-up’s guide to visiting Disney World
SUMMER in Walt Disney World is not just for children, as scores of baby boomers roaming the parks in mouse ears can attest.
You can bar hop among theme hotels, like the Tambu Lounge at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort or the Victoria Falls Lounge at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. You can dance to hits from the ’80s through today at the adultsonly Atlantic Dance Hall on Disney’s BoardWalk; find your Zen during a deep-tissue massage at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort; sample sushi at Morimoto Asia by the Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto; and canoodle with your sweetheart on a monorail as it glides by the Magic Kingdom (for a five-course meal and cocktails with your ride, followed by fireworks, check out the Highway in the Sky Dine Around).
Whatever brings you to the theme parks – your honeymoon, nostalgia, business travel, unfulfilled childhood fantasies – there’s plenty of grown-up fun to be had. Here, a few choice stops.
Epcot has some of the most flavourful food, thanks to its various “countries” like Morocco and Mexico. Adults may want to grab a table at Restaurant Marrakesh, which serves dishes such as roast lamb and shish kebab, and Moroccan pastries, alongside belly dancers; and La Cava del Tequila, a cosy bar with more than 100 tequilas as well as specialty margaritas and tapas-style snacks.
While you are in the park, Soarin’, one of the newer rides, raises you 12 metres in the air and simulates hang gliding in a 180-degree, 25-metre IMAX projection dome. With its technology and footage of breathtaking landscapes, it’s among the most grown-up attractions in Epcot. Disney has never been known for white-knuckle roller coasters, but this park offers a few thrills, both real and virtual.
The Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith has high speeds, loops and drops, all in the dark and set to the pulsing music of Aerosmith. Nearby, you can hear screams from riders of the Twilight Zone Tower Terror as they are hurled up and down in an abandoned hotel’s ghostly elevator.
For something more subdued but nonetheless delightful thanks to clever technology and familiar Star Wars beings like C-3PO, there’s Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, a 3D motion-simulated intergalactic “flight”. Technically, you are not going anywhere, but if you keep your eyes on the screen, it can sure feel as if you are.
One the biggest coasters in Disney, Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, is in this theme park, but those who want something wild in another way can get up close and personal with all sorts of creatures.
On Kilimanjaro Safaris you can ride on an open-air vehicle through a wildlife reserve where you may see baboons, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, lions, warthogs and wildebeests. Adults may appreciate that the park offers nighttime safaris.
But the real draw this summer is Pandora –The World of Avatar, with rides such as Avatar Flight of Passage, where guests are made to feel as if they are flying on a banshee over the jungles of Pandora, and Na’vi River Journey, a trip through a fantastical bioluminescent rain forest.
Who’s to say what’s for children? Plenty of grown-ups delight in posing for photos with the Disney characters they grew up watching or revisiting rides they experienced as children (or wish they had). That said, this is the park that feels most geared to little ones. Will you be scared in the Haunted Mansion? No. But it, as well as so-called “dark rides”, in which you sit in a motorised vehicle in a pleasantly climatecontrolled space while gliding along a track on the ground or in the air (like Peter Pan’s Flight), can feel like a far-out lullaby for adults.
You need not be in a theme park to have a Disney experience. Disney’s BoardWalk is a lakeside stretch of restaurants, boutiques and entertainment venues where you can stop and play a carnival game or rent a bike. Adults will fare better at the restaurants there and in nearby hotels such as the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin than in the typical park restaurant. There’s also an ESPN Club for those who can’t bear to miss a game.
For late-night fun there’s Atlantic Dance Hall, a nightclub that plays music from the 1980s to today, and Jellyrolls, a piano bar for those who enjoy singalongs.
Disney’s BoardWalk allows adults to stroll along the water to Epcot and simply walk in, one of the most sane ways to get there. A path by the BoardWalk in the other direction leads to Hollywood Studios. Alternatively, you can take a breezy boat ride along the water; the boats make stops at both of the parks as well as area hotels.
For more adult restaurants (like Morimoto Asia and the Dining Room at Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe) and shopping (Zara, L’Occitane en Provence), there’s Disney Springs. This year, Springs is opening more restaurants including Planet Hollywood Observatory, with burgers and sandwiches by Guy Fieri, as well as Wine Bar George, with small plates and wines by the glass and bottle.
Rainy day? After sundown? There is live music at House of Blues; an AMC movie theater with dinner while you watch; as well as Splitsville Luxury Lanes, where bites like grilled avocado and ahi tuna surpass the usual bowling alley fare.