It was a big step for me. But my last two Disney vacations as a married family were uncomfortable because while we were all smiles on the outside (we vacationed with friends), there was no hiding the attitudes when the hotel room door closed. That really tainted my experience.
As soon as divorce was inevitable, I planned two Disney vacations for me and DD4 - Halloween in
Disneyland and Easter in WDW/
DCL. My ex suggested that she join us. No, no, no! I wanted happy vacations.
Being in the parks with my daughter, without a partner, was a bit weird at first. But we embraced our Daddy-daughter vacation. I took her to Disneyland first, she had never visited there before. But we did almost everything together for an entire week. I also got a babysitter for a half-day so I could ride thrill rides. DD4 had a blast with the sitter. We had some great memories, including multiple rides on Big Thunder Mountain Railway, Splash Mountain, Radiator Springs Racers, Goofy's Sky Coaster, Gadget's Go Coaster, and It's a Small World. We also had some frightening experiences, including Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, Tower or Terror, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, and Snow White's Scary Adventure. (DD4 was more frightened on the family dark rides than on the frightening thrill rides, but she didn't repeat any.) It was a great week we would never forget.
In the spring, we went on a 7-night Caribbean cruise followed by a 8-day WDW vacation. On the ship, we tried to visit the kids clubs for at least an hour or two each day, but spent every dinner and evening together. I was able to get in lots of day time adult activities, and only missed a couple shows because DD4 was too tired to go out. (I watched one show was on the stateroom TV. The other wasn't broadcast.) We also spent one port day together, but she was too tired to join me for the next port day - DCL kids clubs took great care of my tired girl. Back at WDW, I didn't use any kids clubs or babysitters - we were together all week and we managed great. The only frustrating part was that our "dinner for 2" ADRs always resulted in us sitting at a 2-top table across from each other. Kiddo was still learning how to use a knife and fork properly and I had to get up to help her several times - if they put us at a table where we could sit side-by-side it would have improved our dining experience.
Foreign separated parents take note: if your child wants to call their other parent and you don't want to pay cell phone roaming fees, the Skype smartphone application works good for voice calls when fast WiFi is available. DD4 had a nice chat with her mom while we sat in the Land Pavilion at Epcot. WiFi in our resort room (Art of Animation) was weak, but we could have made similar calls from the pool area or lobby.
A Primier Annual Pass was my divorce gift to myself. When kiddo was with her mom over Christmas, I enjoyed a spectacular road trip that included a few solo days at Disneyland. I can have fun there on my own! In the late summer, just before starting school, kiddo and I also had a very budget-concious So-Cal / Disneyland vacation. I love that my daughter can embrace this and have just as much fun eating groceries in our hotel room as eating Disneyland food every meal. Daddy-daughter-at-Disney is just awesome.