A Royal Upgrade - Solo 7/14-7/16 (Completed!)

[MusicalAstronaut]

Lauren, I am considering 1 day memory maker for my solo trip. I have a HS + EP day, then a MK + AK day.

Which of those two days, in your experience, is more likely to have the better fast pass opportunities? Thank you

Do you mean which have better PhotoPass opportunities? That's a tough one....there are a lot of MagicShots that are available in multiple parks, so it's not like you can ONLY get Tinkerbell in MK, for example. If you go here to the PhotoPass facebook page (Disney PhotoPass Service) they have albums that show the current MagicShots in each park. That said, I have absolutely hunted down photographers and requested specific shots that were on that page, and told that they weren't sure if they could do them. That's how I've ended up with gems like these:

Wow, an empty bench!!!


Oh God no, not Kevin! (It was supposed to be the snake from Jungle Book)
It's kind of a tough call to make, but I feel like I've run into a lot of photographers "in the wild" around AK, Epcot, and DHS, but there are lots of ride photos you'd get in MK. And any character meet & greets you do will also have the photographers. Hope that helps a bit!

 

[PrincessP]

Too cute on the photopass mishaps!

 

[Kippa-Dee-Do-Dah]

Following! I wish we had made time to do a DVC tour on our recent trip. We're in no position to buy now...or ever...but I really want to tour them. And I can pretend to think about buying one for $100!

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Oh boy. This is what happens when you leave a trip report unfinished! Time to try to remember what I did, and I apologize if I repeat myself or (worse) leave out interesting things I did but can't remember now!
Back to the Animal Kingdom
Back I went to the Animal Kingdom, in search of tasty snacks. I love these seasoned fries! I personally think AK has some of the best food.

Nom nom nom! So much tzatziki.

Honestly, I have no clue what else I did in AK that day. This is the only photo on my phone! Laurennnnn why do you do this to yourself?! Knowing me, I probably rode Everest. And literally as I type that a memory came back, of being on Everest. Specifically at the top (where the ride stops before going backwards), in the front row, and the ride really DID stop. We sat there for what felt like forever but was probably 2 minutes. I wasn't sure if the ride was broken and if I was about to die. Spoiler alert, nothing happened, but I remember thinking "Okayyyy I'm done with this ride today". I know I went back to POR for pool time because of COURSE I did! I also took a nap (finally). Non-stop Disney catches up to the best of us. I did swing by the pool for this magnificent beverage.

It's 90% sugar! JK. But it was super delicious.

Napping & pool time done, I left the resort for Magic Kingdom (finally!!). Was this my only stop at Magic Kingdom that whole weekend? Probably. It takes soooo long to get in & out of there so when you have two days, you have to make the most of it. Anway. Remember that giftcard I got for doing the DVC tour? I felt justified in buying every treat I'd been wanting because they were sort of free. Let's start with my late lunch!

Oh yeah
Okay, yes, I've had turkey legs a bunch of times before. They're still delicious and it's a ton of protein, so it's not the worst thing, right? I probably bought a pickle with it too. A totally balanced meal! Looking at my pictures I went on the TTA (probably a few times because Space Mountain was down & the lights were on! Omg #NSFMagic pics here).

Love it!

Am I the only one who thinks SM looks like a death trap with the lights on?

Aaaaaand back out into a hot Florida summer
From here I went on Buzz Lightyear and kicked some serious butt.

What is this ride actually called? Something like Space Ranger Spin?
I went over to Castle Couture and got pixie dusted (it's free!). There is no photographic evidence of this except for a selfie I took....you can't actually see the sparkles, though. I then decided to go full "kid in a candy shop" and buy that cronut ice cream sandwich from Sleepy Hollow. You guys, it's so much food. I was still full with turkey leg and this was such a mistake. Thus I continued my tradition of making myself sick at Disney World.

It gets worse from here​

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

The End
Hey! Remember how I literally just said I only went to MK one time? That's true. Which means this photo is from THAT SAME DAY AND OMG WHY.

That's right, pineapple upside down cake with dole whip.
Just to make this trip report wrap up as confusing as possible, I apparently ate this FIRST thing at MK. So this guy, turkey leg, cronut. No wonder I made myself sick! There's also pictures of me in the hot tub yet again on my phone, so yep. I'm an all-or-nothing kind of gal.

Nailed by those water cannons before the big drop. Don't worry, I'm secretly happy because it was HOT.
I'm getting this report back on track now, I swear. So I'm munching on a cronut ice cream sandwich, making myself sick with all the sugar, and I ride some gentle things in Fantasyland like Small World.

World's Most Photographed Bathroom

Now it's getting later, and they finally fix Space Mountain so I can ride it a bunch of times before my night is up. This is old news now, but at the time they were doing construction. I had no idea that they were changing the way you exit the ride! Here's a pic of the way they had you going out while that was going on. You went over the train tracks and they had a CM there the whole time with a sign saying something like "Watch out/don't trip".

Neato!

Time to go squeeze myself in next to a family for HEA. As a solo traveler I can usually wander up last minute (ok, with like 15 minutes to go) and get a decent spot to watch the evening shows. I didn't take many pictures during HEA, because 1. It's not like they're any different from all the other pictures, 2. I'm never going to watch a video of this show on my phone and 3. Holy crap is it annoying to watch the show when 50 people in front of you are taping it with their flash on.

What a nice view of other people's phones. At least turn your brightness down, folks. Nothing makes me put my phone away faster than seeing how it can ruin someone else's experience.

I did one more run through Tomorrowland after the show ended. Did I ride anything? No clue. I did get my picture taken, and you can see how beat I am.

Sweaty, tired, crashed from my earlier sugar rush

I left the park at closing, despite my flight being at 6am the next day.

Which meant the Magical Express picked me up at a horrifying 3am for the airport.

I could tell you about how I got 2 hours of sleep, or how I bought a second sweatshirt at the Orlando airport because it was 50 degrees in there, or how I was 100% useless at work that day, but that's boring. What IS exciting is I'll be back in May for Flower & Garden, and yes I will be trying everything! I promise to write down what I do so my trip report doesn't get abandoned 3/4 of the way through. #staytuned ​

 

[MickeyReeds]

It was fun to read about your adventures!

 

[barbieb21]

enjoyed your TR. I leave close to Atl too and agree, Orlando heat just seems hotter. I chalk it up to the 5 million people standing around you, of which half of those have not heard of deodorant.

 

[CartyGirls]

Loved reading your trip report. Looks like you had a magical time.

 

[heaven2dc]

Great trip report! It's fun touring Disney solo once in awhile That was so cool you got to ride Space Mountain several times before you left the park. Can't wait to read your May TR!

I agree about people turning down brightness on their phones (better yet do what polite guests do in Tokyo Disneyland and don't use them and on another side note they don't put kids on shoulders so no blocked views!) Whenever I go into an attraction and want to take a video or pics, I put my phone close to me so I don't distract other guests with the brightness of my phone which I do while watching fireworks.