Best Way to Cure Disney Depression? Plan Another Trip! A Solo PTR *Updated 5/13 TR Link

[Newsies]

Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry I JUST found this PTR because it's a LOT of fun!!! I love your bows. It looks like you only have about 2 months to go- good for you!

Watching this thread now!!!

 

[PippiDancer]

Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry I JUST found this PTR because it's a LOT of fun!!! I love your bows. It looks like you only have about 2 months to go- good for you!

Watching this thread now!!!

Thank you! Welcome! Better late than never thanks for following along!

 

[Tracy161]

The bows are beautiful! But I'm not sure if they'd come in in time for my trip if I ordered soon?

I can't believe how much snow you've had! I live in upstate New York and we've had tons of snow this winter but nowhere near what you've had!

I'm really enjoying all your lists - I've been making similar QS lists myself - just tonight, in fact!

Pretty soon you'll be under the 2 month mark... and then time will [hopefully] really start flying!

 

[PippiDancer]

The bows are beautiful! But I'm not sure if they'd come in in time for my trip if I ordered soon?

I can't believe how much snow you've had! I live in upstate New York and we've had tons of snow this winter but nowhere near what you've had!

I'm really enjoying all your lists - I've been making similar QS lists myself - just tonight, in fact!

Pretty soon you'll be under the 2 month mark... and then time will [hopefully] really start flying!

You probably wouldn't be able to get a bow order in time for your trip if it is 3 months like your ticker says. But the seller does offer a "fastpass" to ship your order faster, I've never used them so I don't know if that would make it fast enough, but you can look into it.

The amount of snow we have is crazy! And we are supposed to get another foot tomorrow, maybe 2!

It's getting so close! My FP window opens in a few days. Hopefully the next 2 months fly by!

 

[PippiDancer]

My Fastpass+ window opened up last night and I was easily able to get everything I wanted! Last night happened to be one of the nights that the window didn’t open until 1am, which didn’t bother me since I was up anyway. I got a few “server error” messages pop up but it worked again after I hit the retry button, so it didn’t cause any issues. I booked everything, adjusted some times, and was done by 1:30.

I didn’t realize how hard it would be to pick times. I hadn’t really thought about it beforehand because I didn’t really care so I was just going to take what times were available. But once I actually was booking them I realized how many things to take into consideration. I didn’t want to book anything too close to park opening because I’m not a rope drop person and I don’t want to be rushing to a park to make my fp. Also I tried to leave between 11 and noon completely open for lunch because, again, I don’t want to be rushing to eat to get to a fp. For Magic Kingdom I had to leave a window open for FoF and for Epcot I tried to make them earlier so I have time to do World Showcase in the afternoon. And I tried to make sure I wasn’t criss-crossing across the park. But I have no sense of time, so this was the hardest part.

I’m the type of person that gets paranoid about being on time. In college, I always left for class 15 minutes before it started and if it was even one minute later than I normally left I would be frantically rushing so I wouldn’t be late, even though it only took a few minutes to walk across campus. I’m worried that I’m going to obsess over making my fastpasses on time, which I don’t want to do. I ended up laying in bed until 2:30am thinking of all the possible time conflicts and trying to decide if I should move things around. And of course I woke up this morning and couldn’t remember anything I was going to change.

I wasn’t going to post my fastpass times in this update, but since I’m so indecisive about times, I’m hoping you fp+ veterans can offer some help.

Saturday (arrival day): Magic Kingdom
8:35-9:35pm Splash Mountain
9:40-9:55 Wishes
10:25-11:25 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

This is the day that I am most concerned with timing. My flight doesn’t land until 6pm, so I doubt I will get to the park until 8. I booked Splash Mountain because I wanted it to be my first ride. But I’m concerned with getting from there to the Wishes spot in time for Celebrate the Magic, especially since there is a Main Street Electrical Parade at 9 that will most likely be blocking my path. I thought of scraping the first ride idea and doing both Splash and BTMRR after Wishes (since they are right next to each other), but since the park closes at 12 there isn’t enough time to book 2 fps after Wishes. I also considered moving my Splash time closer to 8, but I don’t want to be rushing to get to the park and that doesn’t completely solve the parade route issue. So now I’m considering scraping the Splash fp and getting something else (or scraping BTMRR and doing Splash after Wishes). Opinions would be greatly appreciated on this!

Sunday: Magic Kingdom
10:35-11:35 Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
12:35-1:35 Splash Mountain
3:45-4:35 Space Mountain

I want to sleep in a little today since I’m planning on being in the park until around 1am the night before and the next day is going to be very early. My plan was to get to the park between 10 and 10:30, but now I’m starting to wonder if that is too early? So I’m considering moving 7DMT later since that is the one I would least want to miss.

Monday: Epcot
1:10-2:10 Soarin
2:15-3:15 Spaceship Earth
3:20-4:20 Mission Space

This is the day I have the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour, so that will be 8am-11am. I’m thinking I probably won’t get to Epcot until noon, depending on where I decide to eat for lunch. For some reason, Epcot is the park that I have the most issues with figuring out how to avoid criss-crossing the park. So, again, advice would be appreciated.

Tuesday: Animal Kingdom
9:35-10:35 Kilimanjaro Safaris
12:45-1:45 Expedition Everest
2:25-3:25 Kali River Rapids

I don’t have a lot of issues with this day. But I am a little concerned with having to double back for Kali.

Wednesday: Magic Kingdom
10:00-11:00 Space Mountain
12:35-1:35 Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
1:35-2:35 Peter Pan’s Flight

I don’t have many issues with this day either and I don’t think I’ll have any issues with criss-crossing.

Thursday: Epcot
9:35-10:35 Spaceship Earth
11:40-12:40 Seas with Nemo & Friends
12:45-1:45 Soarin

This is another Epcot day that I’m not sure about layout or order of the fastpasses. I tried to make them as early as I could so I have plenty of time to do World Showcase in the afternoon.

Friday: Hollywood Studios
9:35-10:35 Toy Story Mania
12:10-12:25 Frozen Sing-Along
2:10-3:10 Tower of Terror

This is another day that I think I have timing figured out. It makes a logical path around the park and HS is so small that it isn’t really a huge issue if I have to double back later in the day.

Saturday: Epcot
10:30-11:30 Soarin
11:40-12:40 Seas with Nemo & Friends
12:40-1:40 Journey into Imagination with Figment

This is my birthday! I have a breakfast reservation at the Grand Floridian at 8:50, so I wanted to make sure I had enough time to eat un-rushed and take the monorail over to Epcot. I don’t want to make any commitments to park this day because I wanted it to be a go with the flow day. I tried to make the fastpass as close together as I could so I can easily hop to another park if I want to. I may even decide not to go to Epcot at all and cancel these.


Wow, this post turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be. So thank you for getting through it and putting up with my indecisive ramblings.

 

[SarahDisney]

Overall, I think your selections and times are great.
Just a general comment, based on something I've seen a lot of - you don't have to be at the park for the beginning of your first FP+ window. On days when we get into the park late, we will generally try to schedule our arrival somewhere towards the middle of our first FP+ window, so that we have time to make the window, but then don't have to wait forever for our next FP+. So don't stress if you don't make it to the park before your first FP+ window - as long as you're there before the end of the window, you're fine.

I wish I could help with Epcot ... but I always criss-cross the park. I've never managed to figure out how to avoid it.

 

[*tinker*bell*]

woo~! for fast passes!!! Your selections look great!

For your first day, on the Saturday I wouldn't worry too much, you usually have about a five minute grace period, even with the FP+ and if you do miss your splash fast pass just jump in line after BTMRR, at that time I think the line shouldn't be too terrible, and as long as you are in line before the park closes you'll get to ride. I love being in MK after the park closes, my mom and I did Be Our Guest and when we came out Fantasyland was empty, so cool to walk around and then through the castle and down Main Street, saw the *Kiss Goodnight* or whatever they call it and then went and caught our bus.

For your Thursday at Epcot, I think you'll be okay... imo EPCOT kinda requires a certain amount of criss crossing, but if you do spaceship earth, then head over to test track and anything else over there you want to do, then the seas, Soarin and the attractions in there, then you can enter the world showcase at Canada and make your way around to Mexico... possibly check out the F&GF booths along the way.

I did a frozen sing-a-long fast pass too! Glad to know I'm not the only solo adult who's doing that!!!

 

[PippiDancer]

Update: now that Ive had a few days to think about my fastpasses, I am overall happy with them and the anxiety about timing has pretty much disappeared. I did decide to move my splash mountain fp on the first day a little earlier. I changed it from 8:35-9:35 to 8:10-9:10. I realized I wouldn't get in line towards the end of the original window anyway since it is to close to celebrate the magic. I'm planning to get to the park around 8 anyway, so this new time makes much more sense.

Overall, I think your selections and times are great.
Just a general comment, based on something I've seen a lot of - you don't have to be at the park for the beginning of your first FP+ window. On days when we get into the park late, we will generally try to schedule our arrival somewhere towards the middle of our first FP+ window, so that we have time to make the window, but then don't have to wait forever for our next FP+. So don't stress if you don't make it to the park before your first FP+ window - as long as you're there before the end of the window, you're fine.

I wish I could help with Epcot ... but I always criss-cross the park. I've never managed to figure out how to avoid it.

I know I don't have to be at the park as soon as the window opens, but it goes back to the anxiety about making it on time. If I'm not IN the park around the time my window opens I'll probably be irrationally worried about kissing it, even though I logically know I won't. My brain is wierd sometimes, haha.

woo~! for fast passes!!! Your selections look great!

For your first day, on the Saturday I wouldn't worry too much, you usually have about a five minute grace period, even with the FP+ and if you do miss your splash fast pass just jump in line after BTMRR, at that time I think the line shouldn't be too terrible, and as long as you are in line before the park closes you'll get to ride. I love being in MK after the park closes, my mom and I did Be Our Guest and when we came out Fantasyland was empty, so cool to walk around and then through the castle and down Main Street, saw the *Kiss Goodnight* or whatever they call it and then went and caught our bus.

For your Thursday at Epcot, I think you'll be okay... imo EPCOT kinda requires a certain amount of criss crossing, but if you do spaceship earth, then head over to test track and anything else over there you want to do, then the seas, Soarin and the attractions in there, then you can enter the world showcase at Canada and make your way around to Mexico... possibly check out the F&GF booths along the way.

I did a frozen sing-a-long fast pass too! Glad to know I'm not the only solo adult who's doing that!!!

Magic Kingdom actually has EMH until 2am that night, you just can't book FP's during EMH. I'm not too worried about getting on splash that night, if I miss my fp I'm sure the line will be short later in the night. That Epcot plan sounds good, it is pretty close to what I was thinking. I am definitely doing the Frozen show, solo or not! I will be singing right along with all of the little kids there, I love Frozen songs!

 

[PippiDancer]

For those of you that haven’t heard, Disney has decided to discontinue the fastpass+ test for Be Our Guest. However, they now accept reservations for lunch, which is still considered counter service! I read about it on the Disney Food Blog, but I’m surprised I haven’t seen more about it on DIS.

Today was the first day that they started accepting reservations. I didn’t think it would be to hard to get a reservation, but turned out to be very stressful. I started trying after I got ready for work (around 7:30am) but the site was being incredibly slow to load. I wanted a reservation for Wednesday, but no times were available. I tried for Sunday and there were several times to choose from. Of course it couldn’t be that easy. I picked 11:30 (the exact time I wanted!) and got all they way to the finalize page. But my tablet wouldn’t let me check the “agree to terms and condition box” so it wouldn’t go through. I finally was able to check the box and send it in. But of course the page wouldn’t load and at that point I had to leave for work and couldn’t wait any longer. I left the tablet on the table and kept my fingers crossed that it would go through. In the car I used the MDE app on my phone to check if the reservation showed up in my plans, it didn’t. So I spent the ride to work trying to book it on the app (don’t worry, I wasn’t driving). Again I got all the way through to the last step but every time I hit submit I would get a message that it didn’t load correctly and to try again. I gave up after about 15 minutes of hitting submit over and over. I tried again once I got to work, still wouldn’t work. And finally around 8:30 I got the confirmation page! It went through, yay! But when I clicked the “view in my plans” it didn’t show up, even after refreshing it several times. I was freaking out that I had finally gotten the reservation and it somehow didn’t get linked to my account. And I hadn’t written down the confirmation number so I couldn’t call to get it fixed.
I finally checked the website (instead of the app) and it showed up!! But since nothing is simple, apparently the first reservation I tried to make at home did go through. So I have 2 reservations, one at 11:30 and one at 11:35. I tried to cancel the one at 11:30 (after taking screen shots of both confirmation numbers) but they both still show up under my plans. I didn’t want to screw it up, so I just left it to see if the cancelled reservation disappears from my plans later.

It is a good thing I booked it when I did because I checked again on my lunch break to see if I could move it to Wednesday and nothing was available for any days I’m there. And just out of curiosity, I checked every day in a 3 week period and there wasn’t a single time available.


In other news...
I’ve been very busy planning my mom’s friend’s Disney trip for March. I planned their trip last year and they are just as clueless now as they were then. And it is proving to be difficult because their touring style is very different from mine. I don’t mind doing it, I really do enjoy planning all things Disney. But I haven’t had much time to work on updates. I’m planning on posting my daily plans now that I have everything booked, and hopefully I can get those out soon!

 

[PippiDancer]

It is now March, do you know what that means? I am going to Disney NEXT MONTH!!!

AND I completely paid off my trip!!

I discovered that Sam’s Club sells $150 packs of Disney gift cards for $143. A $7 savings doesn’t sound like much, but by paying off my entire balance this way I saved over $70! I just bought a few packs a month and slowly made payments.

It is a good feeling to finally have that out of the way! Everything is all planned and paid, all that is left to do is pick up a few things and pack. It is so close, I can’t wait!!

 

[SarahDisney]

I missed last week's update - congrats on getting the BOG! I heard the system was super buggy the first day but is getting better ... so if you want to move it, try, there may be other options available now that they've worked out some of the kinks.

Yay for getting everything paid off. Next month means your trip is so close - so awesome!!!!

 

[wellesleyprincess]

I need to catch up, but I'm excited to read another solo traveler report

 

[Tracy161]

Woohoo!!! You're going to Disney next month!!! Your FP+ selections look great!

Ahhh, I can totally sympathize with you BoG drama - I had a similar experience the morning I tried to book a lunch ADR. What a nightmare!

What a great idea for paying off your vacation by using the Sam's savings!

 

[PippiDancer]

I missed last week's update - congrats on getting the BOG! I heard the system was super buggy the first day but is getting better ... so if you want to move it, try, there may be other options available now that they've worked out some of the kinks.

Yay for getting everything paid off. Next month means your trip is so close - so awesome!!!!

I actually did check again a few days later and was able to change my reservation to the day I originally wanted. There were a bunch of times available, so I guess the site just wasn't working right that day.

I need to catch up, but I'm excited to read another solo traveler report

Thanks for joining in!

Woohoo!!! You're going to Disney next month!!! Your FP+ selections look great!

Ahhh, I can totally sympathize with you BoG drama - I had a similar experience the morning I tried to book a lunch ADR. What a nightmare!

What a great idea for paying off your vacation by using the Sam's savings!

I was surprised it was so difficult to make a BOG reservation, I didn't think there would be such a mad rush that morning.

 

[PippiDancer]

I have been eagerly awaiting the release of menus for the Flower & Garden booths. I spent the past week since the festival started scouring food pictures and descriptions on Disney Food Blog (multiple times) and picked out all of the dishes that I might try. I am a picky eater and not very adventurous so I was surpised to find so many dishes that sounded appealing to me. This list is definitely not must do's, there are some musts and some maybes, but I wanted to compile a list of all potential dishes. All pictures are courtesy of Disney Food Blog.


Botanas Botánico
Cachapas con Queso - $3.25
(sweet yellow corn pancake w/ farmer's cheese)

La Tizana - $2.75
(Venezuelan fruit punch - non alcoholic)

Pineapple Promenade
Frozen Desert Violet Lemonade - $3.00 (must!)
(non alcoholic)

Fleur de Lys
Gnocchis Parisienne a la Provencal - $4.75
(Parisian style dumplings with vegetables and mushrooms)

Macaron Guimauve a la fraise - $4.50
(Strawberry marshmallow macaron)

Hanami
Frushi - $4.95 (must!)
(Fresh pineapple, strawberries, and melon rolled with coconut rice, toppeds with raspberry sauce, toasted coconut, and served with whipped cream on the side)

Primavera Kitchen
Fior di Latte, Prosciutto e Pane di Casa - $5.75
(Pinwheel of mozzarella and prosciutto with ciabatta bread)

Jardin de Fiestas
Flan de Queso con Chocolate Abuelita - $4.20
(Mexican chocolate custard with whipped cream and cinnamon)

Florida Fresh
Watermelon Passion Fruit Slush - $3.00 (must!)
(non alcoholic)

I originally wasn't planning on taking advantage of the food booths, maybe just try one or two things. But now I'm really excited to sample some new things!

 

[dreamseeker9]

I went to F&G last year for the first time. The frushi was really excellent, and they had these great high tables set up where I stood and enjoyed it and watched people go by - it was perfect!

The Piggylicious bacon maple cupcake at the Smokehouse kiosk was also very good!

 

[magpie128]

Hi there! I've never chimed in on a PTR before, but I couldn't resist yours because our dates overlap--I'll be there April 16-20! The trip is with my parents for my mom's birthday (I'm also a recent college grad living with my parents ), but in a way it's a solo-ish trip because they don't like to spend a lot of time in the parks, they'd rather mostly chill by the pool and do fun dinner ADRs. I'll be at MK solo for late EMH on your arrival day if you want to try to meet up at all!

I loved reading your F&G top picks as I'm also not a big drinker and it seems like we have similar food tastes. So your list is really helping me narrow down mine!

 

[dalayney]

Seeing all of these food and wine food choices... I now want to schedule a trip during the F&W festival. Oh my gosh your pictures are making my mouth water! Violet lemonade? Yum!

 

[Tracy161]

Yes!!! Absolutely try the food booths! I am SO excited to make the most of them on my first day [which, unfortunately, is the LAST day of F&G]. Your potentials look great! Many overlap with mine, too!

You're getting SO close!!!

 

[PippiDancer]

I went to F&G last year for the first time. The frushi was really excellent, and they had these great high tables set up where I stood and enjoyed it and watched people go by - it was perfect!

The Piggylicious bacon maple cupcake at the Smokehouse kiosk was also very good!

Frushi has been on the top of my must try list way before the menu was released. It looks so yummy!

Hi there! I've never chimed in on a PTR before, but I couldn't resist yours because our dates overlap--I'll be there April 16-20! The trip is with my parents for my mom's birthday (I'm also a recent college grad living with my parents ), but in a way it's a solo-ish trip because they don't like to spend a lot of time in the parks, they'd rather mostly chill by the pool and do fun dinner ADRs. I'll be at MK solo for late EMH on your arrival day if you want to try to meet up at all!

I loved reading your F&G top picks as I'm also not a big drinker and it seems like we have similar food tastes. So your list is really helping me narrow down mine!

Thanks for joining! I don't really want to commit to any plans, especially since it is my first night and I'll probably be wondering around in shock that I'm actually there. But if we run into each other you should definitely stop to say hi!

Seeing all of these food and wine food choices... I now want to schedule a trip during the F&W festival. Oh my gosh your pictures are making my mouth water! Violet lemonade? Yum!

Those are actually from the Flower & Garden Festival, not Food & Wine. But they certainly do look delicious! The Violet Lemonade is at the top of my must try list, it sounds so intriguing.

Yes!!! Absolutely try the food booths! I am SO excited to make the most of them on my first day [which, unfortunately, is the LAST day of F&G]. Your potentials look great! Many overlap with mine, too!

You're getting SO close!!!

I will definitely be trying the food booths! There are too many delicious looking options to pass up. At least you get one day of F&G yumminess!