Between work, kids and life in general, it’s sometimes hard to find an evening on the calendar free. Besides, after a long day, the idea of just grabbing take-out and plopping yourself on the couch with your partner often sounds very appealing. But experts say that sharing experiences with your loved one OUTSIDE THE HOME is important for a healthy relationship as it allows you to focus on just the two of you and helps you connect more with one another.
But who’s to say that a date night needs to be at night? Day dates are great because they allow you to do things you may not be able to do at night, break up the monotony of a workweek, and even tend to save money! My husband, Roger, and I recently went on a day date to Epcot, and what started as just low-key quality time turned into a fun international adventure.
After making sure the kids were off to school safely, we headed to Disney, where my husband was able to do something we had never done before … find front-row parking. Talk about a great start to our date! Just to be safe, he made me take a picture of the momentous occasion, so he could reminisce should the park be crowded and he got cranky.
He didn’t need the parking picture because another advantage to this weekday daylight date was no lines at bag check or anywhere in the park, really. We soared through the Soaring standby lane and were able to get right on the Journey Into Imagination ride. (Figment is my favorite, as you can see from the ears!) Roger got me a Mickey-shaped pretzel because one must when visiting the MOUSE, and we people watched and talked until 11:30 a.m. when the Countries opened.
Without crowds – or other family members in tote – we were able to take our time and truly explore. We looked in the gift shops and even did things we never really wanted to do before, like watching the movie in France. Okay, we may have snuck in there to dodge a few raindrops, but once there, we found the beautiful images to be quite relaxing. Some of us relaxed more than others and needed to be elbowed to wake up. I’ll let you readers figure out which of us that was. (Hint – it wasn’t me.)
We ate lunch at Biergarten restaurant, in the heart of the Bavarian Village in the Germany Pavilion, where they celebrate Oktoberfest all year long. We sat at a long table with a cute pair of Honeymooners and another couple who were about our age. It was nice chatting with them throughout our meal.
Speaking of the meal … probably the best buffet you will find at Disney and, because it was lunch, much cheaper, too. They had all the German traditional tidbits such as bratwurst, sauerkraut, potato pancakes, and Cheese Spaetzle, which is the German version of mac ‘n’ cheese and, boy, was it good. Of course, there was a buffet of desserts, too, which I proudly filled my plate with so I could taste them all. The best part of this restaurant is that once every hour, they have a lively 25-minute show, which allowed us to raise our cups filled with German beer and sing along. While this wasn’t what I would consider to be a romantic place to dine (it can get loud and you are sitting at a table with strangers), for us, it was perfect. We left Germany and Epcot full and happy.
It was hot, we got rained on, and yet it was one of the most fun days I remember having with my husband in a long time. We laughed and enjoyed being in each other’s company so much that we made a pinky-swear promise to play hooky from adult life soon and go on another Disney Day-Date.
