renderman7
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2007
So, there are threads happening all the time about, I am a single man, women, table, washing machine, etc and I worry about going to Disneyworld solo. People ask, can I do character meet and greets solo, what about dining, tours, etc. Here is the simple truth... YES
I have been to Disneyland twice with people and out of 12 trips the rest have been solo. I have done 3 solo trips out of 4 to Disneyworld, with a 5th coming up. I have also done solo to Hong Kong Disneyland and recently got back from a solo trip to Tokyo Disneyland and I never felt like I could not do anything because I was on my own.
Character meet and greets - Honestly, doing them on your own is not an issue. No one is going to judge, heck they might just think the rest of your party is off doing something else. If someone asks and you feel like you don't want to tell people your alone, just say that my "blank" is off riding "thrill ride X" and its not for me, or something like that. Last time I was at WDW, I did Chef Mickey solo, the characters come and interact with you, no matter if your 25, 50 or 1, they will do whatever they can to make sure that you are having a good time. So really, don't worry about them, if you want to do it, jump in the line. If that makes you feel strange do, go do the ones that have dedicated space, gives you a more private meet, rather than the open ones around the park.
Dining alone is a great experience - There are many instances of dining alone, where I did feel out of place, but that was more the place I was eating at than anything else. I personally, don't do fancy, but when I try, I just feel odd. But sitting down at Cosmic Rays, or Backlot Express on your own is no big deal, most people are going to be there in order to eat and get back out to the park, so they wont really care. If you are concerned that eating solo within Be Our Guest, or Le Cellier is going to make you look strange, again don't worry, the people there are there to enjoy their meal, the surroundings and more importantly, their dining partners. I never felt that sitting on my own made me a target for ridicule, now ordering the biggest dessert in the place, will draw attention, as will placing the soup bowl on your head.
Riding solo - This is the one where I feel Disney do a much worse job than anything anyone else can say. Almost everytime in WDW whenever I go on Pirates, Space Mountain, Big Thunder and such, I am pushed to the back of the vehicle, even if by allocation, I should be in the first row. Now that is not to say it happens all the time, but its common enough for me to notice, but as for riding solo, you normally can only get 4 people in the big rides at once, 2 is standard and their are the odd 3's like thunder, so riding solo is never as big a deal as people think. Plus, if they have single rider lines, the wait times can be much nicer.
Does this make it sound like going solo is perfect, I hope not, because it is not. When you are resting back in your room, you are on your own, when standing inline, if the people near you are speaking another language, you most likely won't be able to jump in and have a chat, but these are minor issues and can be addressed, by simply doing other things. Last November I was standing in line for Tower of Terror at DCA and saw, at least 12 familes playing that who am I game on their iphone, they were all having a blast, firstly I have windows phone, so no game for me, but I remember just chuckling at one description the teenager in one group gave for the little mermaid and that was it, I was in the game.
Going solo is not the worst and if you want a test run, go to a movie and dinner on your own, in your home town where people know you. If you can deal with that, WDW is not going to be an issue.
I have been to Disneyland twice with people and out of 12 trips the rest have been solo. I have done 3 solo trips out of 4 to Disneyworld, with a 5th coming up. I have also done solo to Hong Kong Disneyland and recently got back from a solo trip to Tokyo Disneyland and I never felt like I could not do anything because I was on my own.
Character meet and greets - Honestly, doing them on your own is not an issue. No one is going to judge, heck they might just think the rest of your party is off doing something else. If someone asks and you feel like you don't want to tell people your alone, just say that my "blank" is off riding "thrill ride X" and its not for me, or something like that. Last time I was at WDW, I did Chef Mickey solo, the characters come and interact with you, no matter if your 25, 50 or 1, they will do whatever they can to make sure that you are having a good time. So really, don't worry about them, if you want to do it, jump in the line. If that makes you feel strange do, go do the ones that have dedicated space, gives you a more private meet, rather than the open ones around the park.
Dining alone is a great experience - There are many instances of dining alone, where I did feel out of place, but that was more the place I was eating at than anything else. I personally, don't do fancy, but when I try, I just feel odd. But sitting down at Cosmic Rays, or Backlot Express on your own is no big deal, most people are going to be there in order to eat and get back out to the park, so they wont really care. If you are concerned that eating solo within Be Our Guest, or Le Cellier is going to make you look strange, again don't worry, the people there are there to enjoy their meal, the surroundings and more importantly, their dining partners. I never felt that sitting on my own made me a target for ridicule, now ordering the biggest dessert in the place, will draw attention, as will placing the soup bowl on your head.
Riding solo - This is the one where I feel Disney do a much worse job than anything anyone else can say. Almost everytime in WDW whenever I go on Pirates, Space Mountain, Big Thunder and such, I am pushed to the back of the vehicle, even if by allocation, I should be in the first row. Now that is not to say it happens all the time, but its common enough for me to notice, but as for riding solo, you normally can only get 4 people in the big rides at once, 2 is standard and their are the odd 3's like thunder, so riding solo is never as big a deal as people think. Plus, if they have single rider lines, the wait times can be much nicer.
Does this make it sound like going solo is perfect, I hope not, because it is not. When you are resting back in your room, you are on your own, when standing inline, if the people near you are speaking another language, you most likely won't be able to jump in and have a chat, but these are minor issues and can be addressed, by simply doing other things. Last November I was standing in line for Tower of Terror at DCA and saw, at least 12 familes playing that who am I game on their iphone, they were all having a blast, firstly I have windows phone, so no game for me, but I remember just chuckling at one description the teenager in one group gave for the little mermaid and that was it, I was in the game.
Going solo is not the worst and if you want a test run, go to a movie and dinner on your own, in your home town where people know you. If you can deal with that, WDW is not going to be an issue.
I admire you.
