My friends and I were planning our annual girls getaway, and I suggested that we go to Walt Disney World. E-mails and text messages shot back to me in a hurry questioning the idea of going to such a kid-oriented destination. I reassured the gals, especially the ones who were eagerly anticipating their five-day escape from motherhood, that WDW offered an ideal vacation even for adults traveling without children. They were not disappointed.

We stayed at the Yacht and Beach Club Resort situated nicely within walking distance (or a short water taxi ride) to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. There are two distinct sides to the resort – the Yacht Club side and the Beach Club side. The Beach Club side is closer to the main swimming area with the water slide and tends to attract more guests with children. We stayed on the Yacht Club side and enjoyed more of the adult features, including the “quiet” pool, the Crews Cup lounge and the adjacent Yachtsman’s Steakhouse restaurant where they serve a wonderful lobster bisque. If you’re not up for a full sit-down dinner but want to try the soup, you may order it in the Crews Cup lounge.

The Beach Club’s main restaurant is the Cape May Café offering two buffets daily – a character breakfast and an evening clambake. For a more adult-oriented start to our day, though, we hopped on the resort shuttle bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and dined at Boma – one of the few restaurants on Disney property offering a buffet breakfast without characters. It’s also the only place you can get West African frunch – a refreshing blend of lemonade and pineapple, guava, orange and papaya juices – and bobotie – a spiced minced meat baked with an egg topping, in addition to fresh fruit, omelets and the usual breakfast fare.

After breakfast we headed to Animal Kingdom Park. The flagship ride here is the Expedition Everest roller coaster. The line tends to be quite long for this attraction so a FASTPASS is definitely the way to go to reduce your wait time. Two other attractions worth a wait are Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo – The Musical. Both are incredibly well done and entertaining. Each show runs for 30 minutes, so be sure to plan your day accordingly. You’ll want to get in line at least 20-30 minutes before show time to ensure yourself a seat in the theater. For a glimpse at some of the park’s wildlife, Flights of Wonder, Maharajah Jungle Trek and the Pangini Forest Exploration Trail are three pretty neat, yet often overlooked attractions.

The following day we took a break from the theme park bustle and half the group headed over to the Grand Floridian Resort for a few pampering hours at the Niki Bryan Spa. The spa offers a full array of services from facials, manicures and pedicures to rejuvenating baths and massage therapy. The rest of us went just across the road to play Disney’s Magnolia golf course, one of six within the resort including a nine-hole par-35 walking course. The Magnolia plays about 5,100 yards from the red tees (7,488 from the black) and its highlight feature is the Mickey Mouse shaped sand trap on the sixth hole. We got a bit of a discount since we were staying at a Disney hotel, and the rate included greens fees, cart and range balls. Note that proper golf attire is required and metal spikes are not allowed. Plan accordingly or you will be racking up quite a tab in the golf shop.

Our two groups met up later back at the Grand Floridian and had a wonderful dinner at Narcoossee’s, one of five full-service restaurants at this hotel complex. Seafood is the specialty here, but the menu does offer beef, chicken and vegetable dishes. The restaurant sits out on Seven Seas Lagoon with lots of windows and views of Cinderella Castle. If you dine after dark, you’ll also have a great view of the Magic Kingdom’s evening fireworks show. We instead opted for an early dinner and took a fireworks cruise.  At the Grand Floridian dock we boarded a 25-foot pontoon for our private cruise around Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon. Shortly before the start of the fireworks, our captain parked the boat in front of the Magic Kingdom.  Music was piped through the onboard speakers so we got the full “Wishes Nighttime Spectacular” experience. Snacks and soft drinks were provided, and had we not already eaten at the restaurant, we could have had dinner served onboard. 
 

Our last two days we split between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Epcot, by far, is the least kid-oriented of the four Disney theme parks, and we enjoyed the movies, exhibits and shops at the countries around World Showcase as well as the rides and attractions in Future World. We stopped for a pint at the Rose & Crown Pub in the United Kingdom, enjoyed pastries at the Boulangerie Patisserie in France and returned to the park after a break back at the hotel to have dinner at Tutto Italia. After dinner we saw Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, and while Disney does offer a cruise for this fireworks show as well, we watched from the promenade.

On our last full day we got an early start at Hollywood Studios and rode the three most popular rides – Rock’n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania - before the lines built up into long wait times. A few more rides and a couple of shows later we felt we adequately covered the theme park and walked back to the Yacht Club. While most of my friends headed to the pool for an afternoon of sunbathing, I walked around the lake just past the Boardwalk Resort to the ESPN Club. It was Sunday and the ESPN Club was a great place to catch every NFL game (even a girls getaway needs a little football). There's always a line to get in, but you can bypass it and grab a seat at the bar (a ‘no kids’ zone) where they serve the full restaurant menu.

Along the boardwalk there are three additional restaurants: Big River Grille & Brewing Works, Flying Fish and Kouzzina. Big River Grille is the only working brewpub at WDW offering five signature beers and award-winning handcrafted ales and lagers. Food items range from sandwiches and salads to steak and seafood. The cheddar cheese soup is quite good. The Flying Fish Cafe serves up various seafood dishes with a contemporary spin, and Kouzzina – the boardwalk's newest restaurant – features Mediterranean specialties of celebrity chef Cat Cora. 

At the Flying Fish we had the opportunity to sample several items sent over by the chefs in the open air kitchen before we ordered. The food was very good, but I’m more of a traditional seafood diner, preferring a simple flounder filet with a baked potato rather than some of the hefty-priced offerings and side dishes on the menu that were very unfamiliar to me.

A short walk down the boardwalk from the restaurants is Jelly Rolls – a sing-along bar with dueling pianos for adults 21 and over that’s well worth the $10 cover charge. Jelly Rolls is open nightly from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Another attractive nightspot on the boardwalk for adults is the Atlantic Dance Hall. This nightclub features live bands and DJs playing a wide selection of music spanning back to the 80s on Tuesday through Saturday evenings from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. There’s no cover charge here. We didn’t have a chance to go, but I understand it’s become very popular since Pleasure Island closed down most of its nightclubs. Perhaps we’ll go during our next girls getaway to WDW … there’s still so much more to do.