buttercup14
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2015
- Messages
- 180
Well hello there! I just got back from a WDW part solo/part half family trip (well, the WDW part was at the beginning of February, but I/we spent the rest of the month travelling elsewhere), and wanted to have my hand at a trip report, to share my experiences with folks looking for advice and folks who share my love for Disney (unfortunately most of my friends don’t and my story’s are just going in one ear and out the other!). I didn’t have ANY time to write anything down during the holiday, so this may take a while to finish, bear with me!
ABOUT ME/ US
I’m 22 from Australia, been to WDW a few times as a child, and again a few years ago when I was 19, did a lot of riding and not much of anything else. This time I was really wanting to get into the other elements (characters, shows, dining etc.). I work as a children’s entertainer and performer, so as you can imagine, these elements were particularly interesting to me for inspiration.
I went along with my brother, 18, under the understanding that part of the time we would be together, the other part of the time we’d be solo. We had separate rooms and I suspect days we went solo he spent a lot of time in DQ.
Here's us with snow white:
My brother's not really into being in pictures, this is one of the few I could find us together in
PLANNING/ GETTING THERE
This was a pretty last minute trip, particularly coming from the other side of the world. I believe I booked flights around mid-November, and accommodation at the end of Nov. I was a planning Nazi, this being the first time I’ve had any hand in the planning, I was quiet excited. I planned EVERYTHING (full well knowing half of it would go out the window when I arrived) I’ve never enjoyed planning something so much! I mostly used touring plans to decide what I would do first, second etc. I googled for lists of ‘secret’ things to do and see, over and over again, and just when I thought I’d found every secret anyone had ever listed, I’d find a new one! I tackled FP+ reservations like a solider, figuring out all of them exactly as I wanted. Needless to say, I was OCD in my planning. I even drew little maps of the parks with schedules for the day.
My map of Epcot resembles a little robot
Like I said, I knew I wouldn’t stick to half of it, what’s a holiday without spontaneity, but I was having so much fun planning!
I flew over by myself, my brother was coming a few days later. From Australia it’s normally a 14 hour flight, I had a stop over in New Zealand so fight time ended up being around 15 hours overnight. I slept for about 4 of them. Needless to say the rest of the time I was watching Disney movies.
NZ airport was quiet pretty with some nice views
I was stopping in LA for a few days, I’d heard terrifying things about the airport and this was my first time travelling abroad solo. Thankfully the airport was no issue, I got through in record breaking time. A few days later I was back at the airport and heading to Orlando. I actually found it more confusing going into LA domestic airport then coming out of the international airport. But I got through it, got to Orlando hassle free, found magical express and got to WDW with no issues (and no lunch, with my body thinking it was lunch time but it actually being dinner time, I hate time zones!).
I/we stayed at all star sports, not my choice of all stars but It’s what they had available. I checked in, was told my brother was in the room next to me (which actually wasn’t that helpful, since there was TWO rooms next to me, I had to wait until the next morning to find out which one) and went to see my room. Previously we’d stayed at Port Orleans, I found the room to almost exactly the same except sports themed, wouldn’t need anything more as just one person. The main difference was that the resort wasn’t as ‘pretty’, I didn’t spend much time there except to sleep so I didn’t mind to much. My only ‘complaint’ if you can call it that, was the room safe was a bit small and key operated, I was so concerned I’d forget I had the key when checking out and end up leaving my valuables behind, I didn’t use it at all and had to take everything with me into the parks.
I grabbed a quick dinner (I don’t even remember what) and crashed. Sorry, didn’t take any photo’s of the resort or room.
ABOUT ME/ US
I’m 22 from Australia, been to WDW a few times as a child, and again a few years ago when I was 19, did a lot of riding and not much of anything else. This time I was really wanting to get into the other elements (characters, shows, dining etc.). I work as a children’s entertainer and performer, so as you can imagine, these elements were particularly interesting to me for inspiration.
I went along with my brother, 18, under the understanding that part of the time we would be together, the other part of the time we’d be solo. We had separate rooms and I suspect days we went solo he spent a lot of time in DQ.
Here's us with snow white:

My brother's not really into being in pictures, this is one of the few I could find us together in
PLANNING/ GETTING THERE
This was a pretty last minute trip, particularly coming from the other side of the world. I believe I booked flights around mid-November, and accommodation at the end of Nov. I was a planning Nazi, this being the first time I’ve had any hand in the planning, I was quiet excited. I planned EVERYTHING (full well knowing half of it would go out the window when I arrived) I’ve never enjoyed planning something so much! I mostly used touring plans to decide what I would do first, second etc. I googled for lists of ‘secret’ things to do and see, over and over again, and just when I thought I’d found every secret anyone had ever listed, I’d find a new one! I tackled FP+ reservations like a solider, figuring out all of them exactly as I wanted. Needless to say, I was OCD in my planning. I even drew little maps of the parks with schedules for the day.

My map of Epcot resembles a little robot
Like I said, I knew I wouldn’t stick to half of it, what’s a holiday without spontaneity, but I was having so much fun planning!
I flew over by myself, my brother was coming a few days later. From Australia it’s normally a 14 hour flight, I had a stop over in New Zealand so fight time ended up being around 15 hours overnight. I slept for about 4 of them. Needless to say the rest of the time I was watching Disney movies.

NZ airport was quiet pretty with some nice views
I was stopping in LA for a few days, I’d heard terrifying things about the airport and this was my first time travelling abroad solo. Thankfully the airport was no issue, I got through in record breaking time. A few days later I was back at the airport and heading to Orlando. I actually found it more confusing going into LA domestic airport then coming out of the international airport. But I got through it, got to Orlando hassle free, found magical express and got to WDW with no issues (and no lunch, with my body thinking it was lunch time but it actually being dinner time, I hate time zones!).
I/we stayed at all star sports, not my choice of all stars but It’s what they had available. I checked in, was told my brother was in the room next to me (which actually wasn’t that helpful, since there was TWO rooms next to me, I had to wait until the next morning to find out which one) and went to see my room. Previously we’d stayed at Port Orleans, I found the room to almost exactly the same except sports themed, wouldn’t need anything more as just one person. The main difference was that the resort wasn’t as ‘pretty’, I didn’t spend much time there except to sleep so I didn’t mind to much. My only ‘complaint’ if you can call it that, was the room safe was a bit small and key operated, I was so concerned I’d forget I had the key when checking out and end up leaving my valuables behind, I didn’t use it at all and had to take everything with me into the parks.
I grabbed a quick dinner (I don’t even remember what) and crashed. Sorry, didn’t take any photo’s of the resort or room.