Just Me and You, Kid! A first-timer January 2018 Report

[Mskia]

Just Me and You, Kid!
A Single Parent's Trip with a Preschooler!​

Welcome to my first trip report on my very first trip to Walt Disney World! I joined Disboards just as I began to plan for the trip.

Who: Me (39) and DD (4) plus a day with brother, Uncle T

Where: Pop Century

When: January 22- 28, 2018

Tickets: Five-day base tickets

This trip went through several incarnations before settling on this version that appears below. Originally, my co-parent and I were going to take our daughter to Disney for her fifth birthday in October 2018. Then we moved the trip to February as an attachment to a family cruise. And finally in November, the family cruise was cancelled and I decided to take my daughter alone. I said it was for her, but really I’ve wanted to go to Disney for basically my whole life, and since the money was there from the cruise I decided, why not now?

The dates were picked by my travel agent, although I actually ended up booking online myself and then transferring my vacation to her.

What you are about to read looks very little like what I planned. The biggest lesson from traveling solo with a young child: be flexible if you want both of you to enjoy the trip. I cancelled a ton of table service reservations, and started later than planned on most days after a rough morning on day two of parks.


This trip was my daughter’s Christmas 2017 gift from mommy. Because she is four, I included a more tangible gift (Rapunzel dress, her favorite princess at that moment) in addition to a countdown chart with less than 30 days until Disney.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Following. I'm planning our first family trip for February 2019 with then 5 yos. Very interested to hear your experiences.

 

[Mskia]

Arrival Day— So this is Disney Springs?​

The travel day started bright and early with a 3:45 am alarm for me. I tried to wait until the very last possible moment to wake DD up for our one hour drive to the airport. It is not the cheapest airport to fly out of, but it is the best price with a short and simple commute!

We arrived an hour before our flight. It is a small airport and very busy on a Monday morning. This is DD’s second flight but she has no memory of the first one. She was excited to get on the airplane and we had a very smooth ride.

We landed on time at MCO and proceeded straight to the Disney Magical Express area. We waited about 20 minutes to board, and then we were on our way to Walt Disney World!!

I did not get a text that our room was ready, so we dropped our bags at bell services and boarded a bus to Disney Springs.

First stop was lunch at Blaze.

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DD and I shared a pizza and lemonade.

Once our bellies were full we were ready to do some shopping. I am not normally a shopper but I watched enough Disney vlogs to be inspired to spend some time. I had a list of places I wanted to see and did almost all of them. We visited Goofy’s Candy Shop for a cake pop DD had been wanting (she does not like cake pops, lol), World of Disney for her main souvenir- Stitch pillow pet, Basin, and Disney’s Days of Christmas for our “special” 2018 ornament.

I also ordered a cupcake from the ATM.

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It was delicious, and not so nutritious!


DD rode the carousel and participated in the princess parade. She was a little mortified she was not in a princess dress like the other children who were from Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. She got another free ride on the carousel as part of the parade.

Our room was ready by then, so we returned to Pop Century. We were assigned a refurbished room in the 70s building.

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DD immediately wanted to go swimming. This would turn out to be our only pool time, as the temperature dropped as the vacation progressed.

We ate dinner at Everything Pop! DD had pizza for the second time that day. Hey, it’s vacation!

We were both ready to rest and headed back to our room. DD typically wants to sleep with me, but on this trip DD was in love with the murphy style bed and slept in it alone all week.

 

[Mskia]

Following. I'm planning our first family trip for February 2019 with then 5 yos. Very interested to hear your experiences.

Welcome!! Please feel free to ask any questions too!

 

[Mskia]

Animal Kingdom—If this is low crowds…​

Animal Kingdom was scheduled to open at 9 am this morning. I was thinking that since it was supposed to be low crowds this week, and a Tuesday, and we weren’t going to Magic Kingdom that we could take our time and still be at Animal Kingdom by rope drop.

We went to get on the bus just before 8 am. The line was very long. We ended up standing on the second bus. I was a little stressed carrying a stroller and managing DD, but we survived. We met a nice couple from Illinois. Chatting with them made the trip go faster.

We were still there in time for rope drop too.


We went directly to Kilimanjaro safari. This had to be my favorite thing of the trip. We saw a ton of animals.

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We then walked through Gorilla Falls. We saw the gorillas do some serious lounging.

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The day started to heat up by this point. This would be the last really warm day of the trip.


We watched some performers in Africa while we waited for our 10:30 FOTLK FP+. We both really loved this show. It was the perfect length for a preschooler. We then took a Mickey bar and Dole Whip break. The Dole Whip was good but I am not sure it warrants all the hype.

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We then ventured to Asia for the Maharajah Jungle Trek. The only thing I remember are the tigers. Maybe bats too?!?!


We then met Russell, Baloo, and King Louie. DD was not afraid of any of the characters.

We set off to see Pocahontas and DD ended up participating in a street dance for a bit. I am not positive what time it was at this point but DD started to look tired.

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After spending lots of time looking for Pocahontas, I gave up and ordered lunch at Flame Tree BBQ using mobile ordering (better than standing on the long line). I would say at this point, we were outside of the regular lunch times and yet the lines were very long. Again, this was supposed to be a low-crowds time but it definitely did not turn out to be.

Of course, I finally spotted Pocahontas location after I submitted our order! I really struggle with reading maps. Whether paper or on the Disney app.

We could see Expedition Everest from where we ate behind Flame Tree. DD got a hot dog and I have the pulled pork and cheese fries. They were delicious.

After finishing our lunch we went off to meet Pocahontas and then use our FP+ to meet Safari Mickey and Minnie. They were lots of fun.

We ventured into Dinoland and rode Triceratop Spin. DD played in the boneyard for a bit. I must say she seemed to love this the most. I had to bribe her to leave.

DD took a picture with Donald and then we headed to Pandora. What an awesome “land”. It was beautiful. So was Na’vi River Journey (our last FP+ at 4:20) I definitely wouldn’t wait more than an hour for it. There was a screen instead of the actual animatronic of the Shaman.

I felt we had done enough, so we headed for the exit. We did see a couple of characters as we were leaving and even got a photo with one of them.

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Can you name that character?


We got a ton of photopass pictures all over the park. I made it a point because I had purchased memory maker. I think it was great investment.

My brother had arrived in town, and we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and made a stop at Publix. I was able to get 5 large water bottles for only $1.50 more than a smaller bottle in Animal Kingdom. If you are a big water drinker, buy water from one of the delivery services or local grocery stores. A youtuber suggested bringing a filtered water bottle, and then just filling up at counter service restaurants for free (by the cup). I found getting to counter service restaurants with a stroller in the crowds not worth any savings. I imagine being able to send another person without stroller would have made this more doable.

 

[Mskia]

Magic Kingdom- I don’t like princesses plus a little extra pixie dust​

I did not really think we had pushed it the day before at Animal Kingdom. We got up at essentially our regular wake up time, she walked very little, and were back in our hotel room no later 7 pm.

Despite that fact, I had a very unhappy four-year old on my hands when I tried to get her ready for our pre-park opening breakfast at Be Our Guest. The promise of her favorite food, nor going to a castle, nor meeting princesses changed her mind. She declared she did not even like princesses. If it hadn’t been too late to cancel, I may have just given up.

We ate in the West Wing of BOG. DD had French toast and I had the open-face breakfast sandwich in addition to all the pastries. Everything was delicious. I did take some of the pastries in a baggie for later as it felt like such a waste of food. We also had the master’s cupcake with the grey stuff. I would definitely go back again for breakfast.

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Our reservation was for 8:10 and we ate with plenty of time to be done before official park opening. 7DMT was down at park opening so we went to start our touring plan.

We rode Little Mermaid twice and had an awesome interaction with Ariel. We then met Merida.

When I saw the wait times for Winnie the Pooh versus Barnstormer, we went for Barnstormer. This was DD’s first rollercoaster ever and she loved it!

We then rode Dumbo and met Goofy and Donald. DD wanted to go back and play in the Dumbo area so we went back on the Dumbo ride.

We used our first FP+ at Peter’s Pan Flight. I loved this ride. We then stood in line for 20 minutes for the carousel. DD really loves carousels. We then went to Enchanted Tales with Belle with FP+. DD did not get to participate but she was in awe. And she got to meet Belle. With this photo op, everyone in your showing will get all the pictures. So strangers will have pictures of your child.

It was finally time to ride 7DMT with our 1:45 FP+. That ride lived up to the hype!

I wanted to leave the park, but not before getting a sweet and spicy chicken waffle and fresh fruit waffle with hazelnut spread in a to-go box. We then rushed to the bus. I recommend leaving space in your backpack for food if you plan to take food that is not prepackaged out of the park.

We ate our waffles and took a much needed rest in the mood. DD did not nap while we were in the room so I am not sure how useful the break was for her, but I definitely felt better afterwards.

We got back on the bus and DD fell asleep on our way back to Magic Kingdom. It is a bit of a ride from Pop Century. It seemed to be enough rest to refresh her.

I forgot our glow stuff in the room, and ended up purchasing light-up Mickey ears near the entrance.

People were already waiting for the fireworks. We snagged a night time castle picture and then headed towards Barnstormer with a 4th FP+. We rode Barnstormer and then had a special meet.

I received a call about returning lost item to me while we were in the room. At first the cast member was just asking to meet up with me. I was a little concerned it wasn’t a cast member as the call was from an unknown number to my mobile. I also did not recall losing anything important. The cast member reminded me of the index card with our touring plan on it. I was thinking, “Why is Disney stressed about returning this card”. Well, Tinker Bell found the card and decided to follow our touring plan meets. She took pictures of everyone we had listed on the card with our missing card. Like everyone.

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I was blown away by the effort. A little pixie dust on our first trip.

We then went to find a spot for Happily Ever After. It was beautiful. Tinker Bell flying off at the end was awesome. It was EMH so I wanted to catch a few rides we missed earlier.

DD was pretty tired but she also loves ride. We did Mad Tea Party and Winnie the Pooh before leaving the park.

We stopped at Everything Pop! because we had not had a proper meal since breakfast. I also got white sangria from Petals. I ordered the Mahi burger and DD asked for hot dog (ok, maybe a not so proper meal). The Mahi burger was okay, very salty. DD was asleep before we took our food to go from Everything POP! It was like 10 pm.

 

[Mskia]

Hollywood Studios- Star Wars Dream​

We had an intentional late start and it was much needed at this point. My brother, who had skipped the previous day visit at Magic Kingdom, felt well enough to join us. He is also a big Star Wars fan.

He picked us up at 10:30 and we headed to Hollywood Studios. This is a very short drive from Pop Century. It was also a nice change of pace to go in a car instead of on the bus with a stroller.(Side note: I packed a travel car seat for DD to use in Uncle T’s rental car).

We headed directly to Toy Story Mania. DD loved it. We then rode Star Tours. Uncle T and DD were really into it. Like, everyone knew they were having a good time on that ride.

We had some time before lunch so we went to meet Chewbacca and Kylo Ren. The posted wait times for Kylo Ren was definitely off. We waited over an hour. DD was not scared of either.

We ate a late lunch at Sci-Fi Diner. DD and I shared an Oreo milkshake, onion rings, and the sampler. It turned out DD just wanted to eat what one of the Disney vloggers ate in a video. DD did not like the fried pickles and I didn’t realize they changed the wings in the sampler to Buffalo wings which I do not like. The shake was delicious.

Uncle T went to watch the March of the First Order and the live Star Wars show while DD and I went to see Disney Junior Live. This show uses puppets. I thought it was going to be life-size characters.

We then hopped in a line to meet Doc McStuffins. This took much longer than expected and we had to rush to Frozen Sing-along. It really did not seem to matter whether or not you had a FP+ for this as we were all mixed together when the doors opened. We all really enjoyed this show. DD and Uncle T sang the whole time.

We then did Muppet 3D vision which we all enjoyed. I’m not sure why that show isn’t more popular. We thought that it was great.

We met Sofia the First and headed out of the park.

We went to Chipotle for dinner and then we said goodbye to Uncle T.

It was a very short day in the parks mostly because Uncle T was ready to go after just a few hours. I had been nervous about traveling on my own with DD. That's why Uncle T joined us. He, having been to WDW several other times, just wasn't into it. After this experience, I would be comfortable doing all WDW trips with just the two of us.

I stopped for another drink at Petals and headed to the room.

 

[Mskia]

Epcot- Not exactly how I expected it to go​

We had breakfast at Everything POP! It was not my favorite meal. DD didn't even eat half of the French toast which is her favorite breakfast.

We basically were off plan immediately this day. We rope dropped like I wanted to do. But that is where the plans ended outside of the schedule FP+.

It started out pretty frustrating but we rebounded fairly quickly. My poor map reading skills caused me to go in the wrong direction for Test Track and when I corrected it, I got there just to be told it was down. It was too late to try to get on Soarin' without a big wait.

I decided to go meet Anna and Elsa in Norway. We got in line with about 10 people ahead of us. DD then decided she had to go to the bathroom. We spent some quality time in the very nice bathrooms in Norway. By the time we got back to the line, we ended up waiting close to an hour to meet them. Anna and Elsa were a fantastic meet. Definitely in the top three.

We then headed to The Land. We did a few pressed pennies and then did Turtle Talk with Crush. ADD enjoyed it. We then rode The Seas with Nemo. I definitely preferred Little Mermaid over this very similar ride.

We walked to the World Showcase to use our FP+ to ride Frozen Ever After. DD treated it like another rollercoaster ride. Hands up and all. She got pretty wet as well. While in Norway we went to Kringla Bakeri Og Café for schoolbread. I had been looking forward to this for well over a year and it did not disappoint.

Next up was China where we met Milan and did a couple of pressed pennies. We passed through Germany, Italy, and American Adventure without stopping as I really wanted to get to Japan.

We shopped at Mitsukoshi Department Store. DD got a little trinket and I bought mochi.

We watched performers in Morocco before going to meet Jasmine.

Next stop was Croque Glace' from L'artisan des Glaces. We had vanilla with chocolate sauce. DD tried to eat the whole thing. We will be getting our own sandwiches next time.

We proceeded to the UK where DD asked for a picture in the red phone booth. We did not really stop in Canada. By this point I was getting tired of walking and pushing a stroller. When DD gets older, I think I would spend more time in the World Showcase. At four, there wasn't much besides the characters holding her attention.

We headed to Club Cool after wandering a bit. Again with my inability to find things, this wandering was unintentional. We then used our third FP+ for Spaceship Earth. While on the ride I was able to get a fourth FP+ for Living in the Land.

While on that ride, I secured a fifth FP+ for Soarin'. I could barely contain my excitement. While we waited for that FP+ to be active we had dinner at Sunshine Seasons. DD and I shared a roasted chicken dish and apple juice. It was all good. Despite having had so many snacks (but no lunch), I wasn't satisfied after sharing this meal. But there was no time for more food.

It was time to ride Soarin'. It was kinda awesome. we were in the front row of the third grouping. Although it made me nervous in the beginning for DD, she was not concerned at all. I had to keep telling her sit back. She was trying to see below us.

DD got cotton candy outside Soarin' and we headed for the bus. Another long day in the books!

So here is quick disclaimer about our last day. I actually typed notes daily on my phone while we were at Disney....until the last day. The next entry will be solely based on memory from almost eight months ago. Let's see how I do!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

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I decided to go meet Anna and Elsa in Norway. We got in line with about 10 people ahead of us. DD then decided she had to go to the bathroom. We spent some quality time in the very nice bathrooms in Norway. By the time we got back to the line, we ended up waiting close to an hour to meet them.

Oh my goodness, I hate the preschool bladder shuffle! My kids never remember they have to pee until the absolute least opportune times (I just finally got them all buckled into car seats, we're the further possible distance from the bathroom, etc) and that's despite my mandating pretty frequent stops when we do pass a bathroom because, "Sometimes we stop because it's convenient, not because we really feel like we have to go, ladies." My pre-kid self did not know that I'd have to pick that one up as a regular mantra.

 

[Mskia]

Magic Kingdom- Take 2
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This was our last park day and after a week of park touring, we were both tired. I decided to let DD sleep until she woke up naturally, which was around 8 am.

We got to Magic Kingdom around 11 am. On this day, Magic Kingdom opened at 8 am (not EMH). The goal was to visit Frontierland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland as we spent our previous visit only in Fantasyland.

We headed straight for Adventureland. DD immediately wanted to climb the Swiss Family Treehouse, and then we headed for the Magic Carpets which we waited about 20 minutes to get on. We then headed to see the wait times for Jungle Cruise and Pirates of Caribbean. Both were at least 40 minutes, and one was over an hour. I decided it was a good time to get an early lunch instead of standing in line.

We headed to Pecos Bill, and used mobile ordering. My order was giving to another customer so ended up waiting a bit for pick-up. It was a challenge navigating the tray with stroller. I brought the stroller in because DD was already having a rough time ,and did not want to really walk at this point. I think I just ordered tacos and it was good and filling with all of the toppings.

After lunch we passed Splash Mountain which was down for refurbishment. I think it is often being refurbished this time of year. They were running the boats so I believe they were preparing to reopen the ride within a few days. DD saw/heard Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and was excited to ride. The wait was posted as about an hour, but I do not think we waited that long. DD really enjoyed this roller coaster, and wanted to get back on immediately but I couldn't imagine waiting almost an hour again for the ride.

We headed for the train to go to Tomorrowland. There are turnstiles to get to the waiting platform. I did not see a stroller entry, and it was rough trying to lift a fairly large stroller above the turnstiles while navigating an upset four-year old through turnstiles. I am not sure why the turnstiles are even necessary. The ride was fun though.

We got off the train at the Fantasyland stop, and DD really wanted to play near the Casey Jr. Splash N Soak Station. We were already two meltdowns into the day so I let her play a little before heading to Tomorrowland.

We used our FP+ for Tomorrowland Speedway. DD loved feeling like she was driving, and of course wanted to get back on immediately. We met Stitch. We also rode the Buzzlightyear with a FP+ which was down for 10 minutes or so before we got on. I had planned to do Monsters Laughing Floor and the Peoplemover but lines we pretty long. It was the perfect time for Carousel of Progress. Which got stuck and re-watched the last part at least twice. I think there were a few false starts. I did not mind though. We were sitting and it was air-conditioned.

It was close to the time for the Festival of Fantasy Parade, so we went to get a spot. We ended up with a front spot. People clearly had staked out their seats more than hour before the parade started. We ate snacks and played with bubbles while waiting. We were next to another family with children so it made the wait pleasurable for everyone.

Then it was time for our very special appointment at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. DD has been asking since the princess parade at Disney Springs when she would get to be a princess. There was another little girl waiting for an appointment who got sick all over the waiting room. The staff handled the mess, and subsequent sickness with such kindness and professionalism. They comforted the little girl and her father. We brought our own Rapunzel dress, and we were led to a dressing room to change.

DD's Fairy Godmother in Training (FGT) was fantastic. My DD's hair is in its natural curly/kinky state and I was little nervous if the FGT would be able to handle it. She did a wonderful job, and DD loved all of the pampering and attention. She also had her own photopass photographer, and tons of pictures were taken. If you are doing a BBB appointment, I think it alone makes memory maker worth the cost.

We were encouraged to go to the photopass studio in Castle Couture for more pictures. All of the pictures came out wonderful.

I had scheduled our final FP+ to meet DD's current favorite princess, Rapunzel, and Tiana right after her makeover. The man (I do mean an actual adult man) in front of us was a bit inappropriate with Rapunzel and even asked for a kiss while trying to pull her closer. Rapunzel declined politely, and recovered fairly quickly from a very awkward situation. DD adored Rapunzel. The interaction with Tiana was probably my favorite of the whole trip (she happens to be one of my favorite princesses). The wait to meet Cinderella and Elena was less than 30 minutes but DD had zero interest. Cinderella had previously been her favorite princess but I let her decide what we would do next.

She wanted to go on the carousel again and then we did Mad Tea Party. I could tell DD was getting very tired at this point so I decided our time at Magic Kingdom was over. I believe it was around 7 pm at this point. DD was asleep before I even made it to Main Street. I was so grateful for the stroller at that moment. I stopped for some treats at Main Street Confectionery, and then headed for the bus.

We had to be on Magical Express by 7:30 the next morning, so I was at peace with the "early" evening. Magic Kingdom was scheduled to be open until midnight that day but forcing a four-year old to stay up would not have ended well for us.

And that was our first WDW vacation. I loved the idea of WDW before going, and truly fell head over heels after this trip. I am actually already planning a 2019 trip!

 

[DaddysPrincess]

Ty for making this I'll be there in Feb/March 2019; our food choices are pretty similar + I like the way you write. Very to the point
Hope you're having an awesome day!!

 

[Mskia]

Ty for making this I'll be there in Feb/March 2019; our food choices are pretty similar + I like the way you write. Very to the point
Hope you're having an awesome day!!

Thank you. I hope your trip is fantastic!

 

[Lupine Aura]

I am planning a January trip, and my kids will be 7, and 4.5 (x2...twins). How did you find the weather? How were crowds at MK? Your pixie dust story is so sweet!

 

[Mskia]

I am planning a January trip, and my kids will be 7, and 4.5 (x2...twins). How did you find the weather? How were crowds at MK? Your pixie dust story is so sweet!

Hi! Overall the weather was good. It was in 80s the first two days and then it cooled off. We would start with jackets in the morning and it would warm up to low 70s. I recall it sprinkling only one time while in the park.

It was very busy. The week I went was suppose to be low crowds but it didn’t play out that way. I’ve heard there were large travel groups of teens from South America and the pro bowl was the reason. Rope dropping and just packing your patience makes it ok.

 

[dbb727]

Great trip report! Thanks for taking the time to write it, it seems not many parents write TRs which I understand with the demands on everyone’s time, but it is nice to get a parent’s perspective. Especially with where/how to manage the stroller, your realistic take of managing expectations and being flexible to change up your schedule. Sounds like it was an awesome trip.

 

[JK World]

I am also a single mom taking my son for our first solo WDW trip, he will be 2 weeks shy of 4 years. We went last year, but took my parents for that trip. I loved reading your report, perfect timing since we head out in less than 2 months. I am ready to be flexible, since this is a preschooler-led trip!

 

[Mskia]

I am also a single mom taking my son for our first solo WDW trip, he will be 2 weeks shy of 4 years. We went last year, but took my parents for that trip. I loved reading your report, perfect timing since we head out in less than 2 months. I am ready to be flexible, since this is a preschooler-led trip!

I am glad you enjoy it. With flexibility in mind, I am sure your trip will be great!