The "I've Waited Forever to Go Solo" Mom's Leaving Everyone Behind Trip! Updt 3/11

[micandminforever]

The food at Kona sounds tasty. I need to put it on my list of places to eat next trip.

 

[LISAMWDW]

Sounds fun! We just ate at Kona and I also had the Beef Teriyaki! Yum!!!!!!!

 

[dddisrunner]

I am so glad you liked your meal at Kona, I knew you were looking forward to it! I ALWAYS order that exact same meal and I LOVE it!!!

 

[Nancy for Disney]

I am caught up. You are making me want my very own solo trip. I love your HS pics. We didn't have the best HS day and you took pictures of things that I didn't even notice were there.

Keep posting.

 

[bettyann29]

Loving your TR!

Im still toying with the idea of a solo trip in January.. DH knows this is the one thing I really want to do so I dont think it will be a problem.. The one fear I have is dining alone.. I dont know why its such a big deal, but that seems like the hardest part to me..

Yeah for you that you were able to overcome that!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Allyson,
really enjoying the updates!
Kona sounds lovely!
We've had a bit of a drama with our trip (see my PTR for details), but we're now going to POP in November - your photos of it look fab!
Can't wait to hear more!
Di x

 

[CJsMom]

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal alone! Kona sounds wonderful - must put it on my list for next trip!

 

[scottny]

Ok jusat read it all and am caught up.

great tr so far.

I am going solo next month and am also eating at Kona, am a little nervous but I will do it.

 

[MomofCKJ]

Sorry - didn't mean to pressure! Start of the school year is crazy-nutso time for sure. You are one of the best about keeping the updates coming and actually finishing in a timely fashion. The only way I could ever do that is....I don't even know!

Starting your training! That's awesome. I am still not quite settled on what I'm doing.....

A little pressure is needed at times! LOL! Any thoughts on your training yet? I ran with DH today and while doing so Friday was great, today stunk. I just felt tired the whole time. Crud.

Cool!

It was!

Great update Allyson!! Thats so neat about the belated hello!!! "Its a small world after all......"

Paula

I know isn't it?

Great update!!!

Kona sounds great!
I really want to add it to my next trip, but it will probably have to wait till next time. Or maybe for my someday solo trip.

I'm glad you went to dinner on your own.
I plan on doing that on my someday solo trip too.
I think I will feel the same way, nervous at first.

Did you have your own boat on POTC?!?
That's actually one of my goals!

And I hope it stopped raining sometime this trip.

Just editing to add:
I have never taken photos of my food, so I appreciate your tip about pretending to look through the photos on your camera, that may come in handy.

You'll know soon on the POTC, it did stop raining at times and yes it worked well the "I'm really looking at my pictures ha ha no I'm really photographing my food" technique.

Knew you could do it. I remember you saying you were nervous about it!

I'm waiting patiently for your KTTK tour day

That was Sunday, coming soon!

Congrats on conquering your fear and enjoying a nice solo meal at Kona.

Thanks!

Welcome to Florida!

You are so right and you know I went to college in Tampa, I should have remembered how "lovely" August can be.

Great update! Kona looks delicious! That bread and macadamia butter...

That's funny how you took your pictures of the food

I can't wait to hear about your evening in the MK ~ and who was on your boat !

The bread and butter are fantastic!

I'm so glad that I got that Kona ADR...I can't wait now that I've seen you pictures

You'll enjoy it a lot, I am sure!

YAY for solo dinners! Better than you thought right?

Yes and I am so glad I did it!

Yay for an update! I'm glad you enjoyed your Kona meal! I think $60 is just fine - you deserved it! Sorry about all the rain. I hope some of your Monorail Mojo finds us in a few weeks!

It was great and I hope you have the Monorail Mojo too!

Awesome update, Allyson! Good for you, succeeding on your personal quest and dining alone! Sounds like you had a pretty good time. And yeah for having a friend like Tigger to encourage you along the way!

I've been on the all ears website about a billion times too and the beef teriyaki is what I've been eyeing... I'm so glad to hear you liked it. Kinda a stupid question but do you know if the infamous Lapu Lapu is available in Kona or only in the lounge? I know... priorities!

Jungle Cruise at night ... can't wait to hear what you thought of that. And your own boat in POC?! On the one hand I think that would be awesome but on the other I think I might get a little scared.

By the way... and congratulations on your half marathon training. That's just amazing. And how great that it culminates with a trip back to WDW!! And another TR from you, I hope! Not that I want to wish this one away. Still lots more good stuff to hear about your soggy solo trip!!

Yes you can get a Lapu in Kona. I thought about it but went with the wine instead. But I saw it on the drink menu.

JC and POTC coming right up! And thanks on the half marathon. I never thought I'd ever be attempting something like this. I have a long way to go and less than 4 months to get there. It should be an interesting experience and trip report worthy I am sure!

That meal at Kona looks so yummy. I often feel weird when I eat alone at restaurants, but it's so worth it to avoid the urge to hide and stick with room service.

A POTC boat of your own? Spoooky!

You are right, getting out there to eat alone is often a step out of one's comfort zone but well worth it.

Hey Allyson,
Sounds like you had a great dinner - good for you conquering your insecurities! We had our own boat on PoTC when we were on our honeymoon. Probably no one else wanted to be with us!! It really sounds like you enjoyed your trip - I'm glad it wasn't a disappointment.

I really did enjoy the trip and too funny you had your own boat!

Great update - I'm so glad you had a good meal at Kona because I never would have been able to forgive myself for recommending it if it was awful!

Good job going by yourself and enjoying yourself. That's what it's all about really.

And way to go on sticking to your running! I have been working up to the 5K I'm doing at the end of October but still only get through about 2 miles without pooping out!

Can't wait to hear more!!!

Good for you doing the 5K! That is great! Have you done any races before? I did my first 5K in June and that adrenaline of being on the course with people will definately push you on.

Great update Allyson and I love how you got your photos at Kona!! I would so do that to....pretend to look at the pictures and then click!! That is classic!

I love that about the DIS that people recoginze each other, but it is too bad she did not speak up. I met one DISer on my January family trip and that was a highlight for me. He saw my LGMH and spoke up! So worth the effort to make my crafty LGMH!!

Suz

Yes I wish she had said Hi then but I can relate. My DH would be rolling his eyes at that sort of thing too. I am amazed we found each other here on the DIS!

So glad your braved it and enjoyed your solo meal. It's the one thing I'm nervous about for my solo trip next year. I'm glad to hear it went well.

Yes I think it is one of those things that is much more in your own head. No one around you is really noticing, they are just too busy doing their own thing.

The food at Kona sounds tasty. I need to put it on my list of places to eat next trip.

I'd call Kona a must do in the ADR world now.

Sounds fun! We just ate at Kona and I also had the Beef Teriyaki! Yum!!!!!!!

Wasn't it so good?

I am so glad you liked your meal at Kona, I knew you were looking forward to it! I ALWAYS order that exact same meal and I LOVE it!!!

I'll probably order it again next time!

I am caught up. You are making me want my very own solo trip. I love your HS pics. We didn't have the best HS day and you took pictures of things that I didn't even notice were there.

Keep posting.

I feel I spent a lot of time at DHS this trip and it really is probably my #2 favorite park now. I really like it there.

Loving your TR!

Im still toying with the idea of a solo trip in January.. DH knows this is the one thing I really want to do so I dont think it will be a problem.. The one fear I have is dining alone.. I dont know why its such a big deal, but that seems like the hardest part to me..

Yeah for you that you were able to overcome that!

You can too! And really if you decide to do just CS, there are soooo many more options than just burgers. You can really eat well on CS.

Hi Allyson,
really enjoying the updates!
Kona sounds lovely!
We've had a bit of a drama with our trip (see my PTR for details), but we're now going to POP in November - your photos of it look fab!
Can't wait to hear more!
Di x

I think you and the kids will love Pop! I've got to catch up on my trippies, drama? Oh no, what is it? I'll be running over today to read!

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal alone! Kona sounds wonderful - must put it on my list for next trip!

You know I say Kona is the new Le Cellier. Really, I loved it that much. And the bread with macadamia nut butter gives pretzel bread with cheese soup a run for its money.

Ok jusat read it all and am caught up.

great tr so far.

I am going solo next month and am also eating at Kona, am a little nervous but I will do it.

Oh definately do it Scott, so worthwhile. A delicious meal! Glad to see you over here!

Allyson

 

[MomofCKJ]

So I sloshed over to the Jungle Cruise. I got there and there really wasn't anyone around. There were 2 CMs at the entrance and I was about to ask if it was open when they told me to go right down. Wow, this place was empty. Two girls came in shortly behind me and it appeared we'd have a 3 person boat when a few more came up. I think our boat took off with maybe 8guests on it. We had a female skipper and she was funny, the typical dry witty humor. It is neat at night. It just has a different look to it because it is darker and such. Try it, I think you'll like it.

After this I headed to POTC. I really like this ride. I think I like all the oldies because I remember riding them as a kid. It is neat to relive them as an adult. I remember being little and thinking the hill in Pirates was just HUGE. When you are small it can feel that way. So I wandered in and through the long empty queue. I got to the end and wait, where is everyone? It was just me. Yup. Just me. They told me to get in the front row and then off my boat went. All by myself. I'll admit at times it was a little creepy. Like right before the hill when it gets really dark. Just odd.

I didn't take any other pictures, just enjoyed my ride. Boy that Captain Jack Animatronic, isn't it just so amazingly real?

When my boat pulled in at the end the CM said over the mic "What happened to your crew?", made me giggle.

So now back in the rain. Now what? Well Splash was out. Splash is my favorite ride but I just didn't want to ride in the rain. I was already wet and it just is not a ride in the rain ride for me. So off to its neighbor Big Thunder. I was walking through the queue and there were 2 poncholess boys ahead of me, maybe 10-12 years old. Ahead of them were 2 very large men in ponchos, they were not with the boys. So the boys are being very loud and singing this song about "Who needs ponchos, real men don't wear ponchos" and getting quite annoying. The large men hollared back "Dry men wear ponchos", I laughed. There was no wait for this either and this too is a cool ride to go on at night. It seems faster in the dark, I know it is just perception but it does. It was also raining so the added element of getting pelted with rain as you are careening over the hills was there. For a moment I thought "Gosh this track is so wet, we are going fast, what if we go flying off one of these corners?" then I told myself to knock it off and just enjoy the ride.

I headed over towards Tomorrowland now. I walked through Fantasyland and ToonTown and took the little path that brings you out by Space Mountain. So. Much. Rain. I got to Tomorrowland and it was really dampening my spirits. One can only stay upbeat so long I think when you are constantly wet, shoes that never rub are rubbing, plastic poncho sticking to you. I had capris on and my poncho came to my mid thigh. The entire bottoms of my pantlegs were soaked, not just damp, but utterly you could wring them out soaked. I headed towards the bridge to the castle.

I was supposed to meet a DISer here on the bridge to watch Wishes. I didn't see anyone fitting her description hanging out on the bridge so I opted to just skip out. At this point I wasn't sure they would even do Wishes. I walked up by the Castle to try and get a few shots. That is the other thing with rain. It is hard to get all the pictures you want for fear of ruining your camera in the water.

See the water spots on that one?

So I decided to head towards the exit. As I walked it seemed to slow down, the rain. I got to the flagpole and there was about a half hour till Wishes would start. So I figured as long as it stayed stopped/slow I would stay.

I waited and finally Wishes began. Oh how I love this show! It was amazing as always. After it ended I hung around a bit. I was hoping to stay for the Kiss Goodnight. I wasn't sure when it would happen though. I hung around for a while, they played some songs, but then tired won out over Kiss Goodnight and I decided to go catch the bus. I was cold and wet and surrounded my more cranky,cold, wet people. It was time to go.

Off to bed and I had an early ADR for Tusker House in the morning. Not sure I was feeling like A. getting up so early and B. spending a bunch when I am really not much of a breakfast person.

Stay tuned for what I decided!


And on an unrelated off topic note:

As you may know I am a huge Rick Springfield fan. I think I've mentioned it before. Well I have been looking all year to see if he is playing in New England. Grumpy and I usually go once a year to see him. My Grumpy is such a good sport. Well no New England dates! About July or so I officially gave up that I'd be seeing my Rick this year. Well a few days ago I check the website just for kicks and low and behold he is playing in MA on Oct 17th! I was thrilled! I called Grumpy at work to ask if I could get tickets and have it be my birthday gift. This was the following conversation:

G:Go upstairs
Me: Why?
G: Just go upstairs.

So I do...

G: Open my dresser

So I do...

G: Look under my shorts

So I do and find an envelope

G: Happy Birthday, I already arranged a babysitter

He already got me tickets! How cool is he? He knew about this show a month ago and got tickets for us the day they went on sale! That is my man, oh how I adore him! Now I just need to get him to love the Mouse!

Allyson

 

[Hedy]

Ooh, your own boat on Pirates-cool!

 

[4boysrus]

I sure hope that you get some dry weather sometime during the trip!

another great installment. can't wait to hear what you decided about bfast.

WTG Grumpy on scoring the tickets!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Very cool that you got your own boat on Pirates.

Those poncholess boys sound annoying,

 

[LISAMWDW]

Too bad about all the rain! Hope the weather got better for you!

That is so cool about the tickets! Your DH is so sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jcc0621]

So I decided to head towards the exit. As I walked it seemed to slow down, the rain. I got to the flagpole and there was about a half hour till Wishes would start. So I figured as long as it stayed stopped/slow I would stay.

This where wew watched Wishes. It's a great spot!

Off to bed and I had an early ADR for Tusker House in the morning. Not sure I was feeling like A. getting up so early and B. spending a bunch when I am really not much of a breakfast person.

Stay tuned for what I decided!

And on an unrelated off topic note:

As you may know I am a huge Rick Springfield fan. I think I've mentioned it before. Well I have been looking all year to see if he is playing in New England. Grumpy and I usually go once a year to see him. My Grumpy is such a good sport. Well no New England dates! About July or so I officially gave up that I'd be seeing my Rick this year. Well a few days ago I check the website just for kicks and low and behold he is playing in MA on Oct 17th! I was thrilled! I called Grumpy at work to ask if I could get tickets and have it be my birthday gift. This was the following conversation:

G:Go upstairs
Me: Why?
G: Just go upstairs.

So I do...

G: Open my dresser

So I do...

G: Look under my shorts

So I do and find an envelope

G: Happy Birthday, I already arranged a babysitter

He already got me tickets! How cool is he? He knew about this show a month ago and got tickets for us the day they went on sale! That is my man, oh how I adore him! Now I just need to get him to love the Mouse!

Allyson

Awesome. I have to check the website and see if he is around here anytime soon

 

[dddisrunner]

Oh Alyson, I felt sad reading that update! I hope the weather turns around for you soon! I am glad you stayed for Wishes, one of these days I actually need to stick around for the whole show too! I am so with you on the POTC drop thing, I was actually scared of that drop as a child!

 

[KatGarcia]

YAY! Not only were we solo buddies but we were the only people I know that rode POTC alone!!!! Awesome! And props to DH for the tix!!!!! He's a keeper!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Oy. It does look like it was pretty wet out there. Understatement of the year, probably! I know you said that it started to challenge your positive outlook on things but from where I sit you were a regular Pollyanna through this trip! I would have freaked out on POTC. I think I revealed over on Kat's TR that I still get scared in Snow White so ya can't blame me for being scared on Pirates! I know... SUCH a wimp!!!

Yeah for Grumpy!!!! Good job!! Now, no disrespect to Mr. Springfield b/c I am a Jesse's Girl and General Hospital fan from way back but I gotta believe that if you can get this man to love Rick then WDW should be a piece of cake!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Have you ever heard the story of George? I was completely creeped out riding POTC with just my family in April -- I would have been even more freaked riding it all by myself!

What a great DH to get you tickets for Rick!!!

 

[irky416]

Wow. It does look really wet out there.

I agree that BTMMR seems faster at night!