We spent 14 hours in the theme parks, rode over 10 attractions, and ate our favorite foods.
I think it's worth paying more at Disney to create your perfect, stress-free day.
As an annual passholder and a journalist who covers theme parks, I spend a lot of time at Disney World.
My whole family used to have annual passes as well, but as my two teens have gotten older, they're not as excited about long days in theme parks.
Still, my husband and I love going together. I recently paid over $1,000 for us to spend a full day (from park-open to park-close) at Disney World.
The trip was pricey and full of splurges — including a two-night stay at a Disney resort to ensure we could really be at the park all day. But it was one of the most fun days we've had at the parks.
Here's what our expensive, adults-only Disney vacation looked like.
To ensure maximum time inside the theme parks, we booked a Disney hotel for two nights.
I wanted to be able to wake up on Disney property and start the day early.
Terri Peters
Although we live within driving distance of Disney World, my husband and I wanted to get to Magic Kingdom right when it opened and stay at Epcot until it closed.
I booked a two-night stay at Coronado Springs Resort, which cost about $500 total for the two nights.
In addition to being close to the theme park, staying at a Disney hotel provides free transportation and early access to services like Disney Genie+, which helped us streamline our day and go on more rides.
The night before our park day, we had a low-key dinner at Disney Springs.
One of Disney Spring's newer restaurants is called eet by Maneet.
Terri Peters
Since my husband doesn't have an annual pass, we decided not to pay around $200 for him to spend a night in the parks on the day we arrived.
Instead, we went to Disney Springs, Disney's shopping, dining, and entertainment hub, which is free to enter.
We had a relaxing dinner at one of the newest quick-service restaurants on the property, eet by Maneet — an Indian-inspired restaurant helmed by "Chopped" judge Maneet Chauhan.
Our meal cost around $60. Afterward, we walked around the shops for a bit before heading back to our resort to get a good night's sleep.
On our park day, I was up before 7 a.m.
I got up early to book some advanced reservations.
Terri Peters
We purchased Genie+ ($30 each) to use on our day in the parks.
Since we were staying on the property, we could start making attraction reservations at 7 a.m. I set an alarm for 6:45 so I could hop on as early as possible.
I was also able to snag a spot in the virtual queue for Tron: LightCycle Run, a newer coaster at Magic Kingdom that my husband hadn't been on yet.
There aren't many rides at Disney World that use virtual queues (a reservation to wait in line for the ride), but being able to grab this particular one made my husband's day.
Because we didn’t have late-sleeping teens with us, we were at Magic Kingdom before 8 a.m.
Our kids usually take a little longer to get up and moving in the morning.
Terri Peters
On the day of our visit, Magic Kingdom opened at 8 a.m.
Since we didn't have our kids along for the ride, we didn't have to worry about how late they wanted to sleep in. We hopped on an early Disney bus that took us from our resort to Magic Kingdom, entering the park just a few minutes before it opened.
After posing for photos with Cinderella Castle on Main Street USA we were ready to enjoy our full day.
Thanks to Genie+, we were able to get on every ride we wanted.
Jungle Cruise is one of our must-do attractions.
Terri Peters
With Genie+, we were able to reserve expedited times to ride attractions like It's a Small World and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
We paid extra to guarantee a spot on the busiest attraction.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a popular ride at Magic Kingdom.
Terri Peters
Some rides cost extra to reserve a time in line for, including Magic Kingdom's "Snow White"-themed roller coaster Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
There's a standby line, but it can take hours to get through when the park is busy. We opted to spend an extra $12 each to skip the line by purchasing an Individual Lightning Lane.
After about four hours, we were ready to leave Magic Kingdom. By then, we'd ridden eight attractions, which made the extra Genie+ and Lightning Lane purchases feel worth it.
One of our favorite ways to take a break from the park is having lunch along the monorail loop.
Steakhouse 71 is a great restaurant at the Contemporary Resort.
Terri Peters
The free monorail from Magic Kingdom makes stops at a few Disney resorts (known by fans as the "monorail loop"). One of our favorite ways to rest and refuel is to hit one of the resorts for a relaxing, sit-down lunch.
We took a much-needed break from the theme parks by hopping on the monorail and riding it to Disney's Contemporary Resort.
There, we had a $75 lunch at Steakhouse 71, which serves one of the best cheeseburgers on Disney property.
After lunch, we used the free Disney transportation to get to Epcot.
The park has changed quite a bit since the last time my husband visited, from the recently added "Moana"-inspired Journey of Water attraction to the newly built World Celebration Gardens.
We spent a lot of time checking out these new additions and grabbing snacks along Epcot's World Showcase.
We continued making the most out of our Genie+ purchase.
It was nice to not have to wait in long lines at the theme park.
Terri Peters
We kept making attraction reservations through Genie+ and added Soarin' and Journey Into Imagination With Figment to our list for the day.
There were lots of other rides we could've opted to reserve. But since none of them really jumped out at us, we used our time to take in new features and explore the World Showcase.
We also paid extra to guarantee a spot on our favorite Epcot attraction.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is a popular ride at Epcot.
Terri Peters
We knew we wanted to ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which isn't available to reserve through the standard Genie+ service. Line-skipping privileges cost an extra $17 a person.
We could've tried to join a virtual queue for the attraction, but the extra expense felt worth it for a shorter line and a more predictable time slot.
In total, we spent more than $100 extra for line-skipping services, but it streamlined everything and allowed us to plan our day better.
For dinner, we rested our feet and met friends for a sit-down meal.
Shiki-Sai is a restaurant in the Japan Pavilion at Epcot.
Terri Peters
After walking around Epcot's World Showcase on the hunt for our favorite snacks and drinks, we met friends for dinner at Shiki-Sai, a Japanese-inspired restaurant that serves everything from sushi to noodle dishes.
It's always great to catch up with friends, especially without kids in tow.
Our meal, which cost around $200, was well worth it for the chance to sit and chat with fellow grown-up Disney lovers.
We planned our dinner reservation so we could see the fireworks.
We had a view of the fireworks show from our table.
Terri Peters
Besides the delicious food, another perk of dining at Shiki-Sai is its views of the fireworks over Epcot's World Showcase Lagoon.
The park recently launched a new nightly fireworks show, "Luminous the Symphony of Us," and we hadn't seen it yet. When you reserve a restaurant with fireworks views and time it right, it's a great added perk to the cost of dinner.
After the fireworks, Epcot closed for the evening, so we said goodbye to our friends. We used another form of Disney transportation, paid rideshare vehicles called Minne Vans, to return to our hotel.
Although the cars can be pricey (ours cost around $40), they're my favorite way to get around Disney World without battling crowds and lines.
After a long day, there's nothing better than grabbing a fast and direct ride straight back to your hotel.
My husband and I spent over $1,000 on the short trip, but the cost was worth it for us.
We really got to do everything we wanted on our adults-only trip.
Terri Peters
From Lightning Lanes and park tickets to Mickey-shaped snacks, our total for the adults-only trip was over $1,200.
My husband and I don't splurge like this very often, but we were glad we paid for so many bells and whistles to streamline our day.
Staying at a Disney hotel allowed us to be close to the theme parks, which made it easy to get there early and stay late. We spent around 14 hours in the two parks riding 11 attractions, meeting a few characters, posing for countless photos, and eating some pretty fantastic food.
For us, the expense was well worth it to make sure we could fit all of our favorite things into a day in the parks together.
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