Live trip report - my first solo trip :)

[karentan]

The lamb and the shrimp were both so good! I didn't try the Singapore stand. My dad is from Singapore and when I told him the menu he wasn't too impressed, he says the curry sounds more Thai and mahi mahi is a Hawaiian fish! Plus I don't do well with spicy stuff, everytime I go to Singapore I avoid all the hot stuff!

 

[karentan]

Well today started a bit later, today in the UK is the showing of the last ever episode of dexter. I've been watching this since season 1 so was gutted that I couldn't see the finale til I got back, so downloaded it off itunes last night. So sat and watched that while eating brekkie, so didn't get to AK til just after nine.
Most of the character meet and greets don't open til ten so watched its tough to be a bug. It's been years since I've seen this, I'm surprised they don't warn people not to take small kids to this, if I was a kid that would scare the cr*p out of me! Hit all the character meet and greets after that, got another 13 characters in the bag, the only ones in the park that I haven't done yet is mickey and Minnie.
Got the train over to rafiki's planet watch and saw the little animal show they do over there, then walked through pangani exploration trail.
Now stopped for lunch in restaurantasaurus to give my feet and back a bit of a rest, then going to ride Everest (single rider queue!) and then do the asia trail.
Hoping to stick around to watch the parade then will head back to the hotel. Need to swap pins again

I'm bringing 25-30 pins out a day and trading them all, the only park that I'm finding it hard to find decent trader pins in is magic kingdom. The other parks I can quite easily do the 25-30 in a few hours

 

[jockey]

Just catching up with your trippie and really enjoying it ! I managed to spend a few days solo in the parks a few years ago when my husband was out flying in Florida.... It was very relaxing .. I loved doing everything I wanted to do

 

[Button]

Getting jealous by the day. Asked hubby if he'd mind if I went alone you can imagine the response....

 

[dixonsontour]

enjoying following along

 

[karentan]

Hi from new fantasyland!
I went back to the hotel after AK and sat by the pool for an hour while I did some washing. Decided to head out to magic kingdom even though its closing at 7 tonight for the Halloween party. I was trying to pick up some sorcerers cards for a friend but despite getting to the park at 6.20 they were only giving them out to people with party tickets. Decided to try and get on some rides instead, so in the space of 35 mins I've managed to ride the teacups, dumbo, barnstormer and the ariel ride.
Just heading back towards the entrance now as will get chucked out soon for not having a wristband.
Gonna go to the contemporary for a walk round, then get the monorail to the GF and the poly, and gonna watch hallowishes from the poly beach later

 

[karentan]

Enjoying the park free evening I went for a walk round the contemporary, then got the monorail to the grand. The band was playing, and it reminded me of our wedding, we sat in Mizners before our fireworks cruise listening to the band. On the way to the poly I also walked past the wedding pavilion where we got married, and got the "wish Gary was here" feeling
Walked on to the poly, decided to walk barefoot in the sand along the beach, with the sound of th water lapping up, on a warm florida evening, bliss
Got dinner at captain cooks, and took dessert and a portion of the poly chips to go, and now sat on the beach watching the world go by. The electrical water pageant has just finished and waiting for hallowishes to start. Gonna watch that then head back to the hotel. A lovely relaxing evening, only got two more full days to go

 

[Shazzie B]

Enjoying reading, thanks for posting. DH slowing coming round to another trip, without the kids this time. I've been updating him with your report and think how much you're getting done but still going with the flow, also F&W festival has tipped him to a definite yes (he's Gary too!)

Enjoy the rest of your stay

 

[jockey]

I love the band at the GF I even bought the cd last trip

 

[karentan]

Had another couple of long days:

Yesterday I headed for magic kingdom and got the just as rope drop was finishing. I'd done most of the rides at that point so decided to go character hunting. Within the first hour I managed to see rapunzel and snow white, Merida, did all the guys in the big top (goofy, Donald, daisy and Minnie), and saw gaston. If you really want to see the characters I highly recommend doing two rope drops at MK, one for the big rides, and one for the characters.
After that it was time for some rides, so rode haunted mansion (never get tired of this ride, for one I love the song!), then got the raft over to tom sawyer island. Don't think I've ever done this before, and to be honest I didn't really see the point to it. Never really watched whatever film it goes with, and just didnt really get it..... Got the raft back over then rode splash mountain in an attempt to cool down, which didn't work as was sat at the back so stayed dry.
I was meeting a friend at 12.30 and was hungry and hot at 11.45 so headed to gastons tavern for a pork shank, but also to sit in the air con for a bit (yea it's been that hot the last few days).
Met my friend then went looking for more characters and rides, met pooh and tigger, but a lot of the rides were getting long queues at this point, so wandered around for a bit then ended up on pirates.
Watched the castle show and the parade, then headed back to the hotel for a swim as was really suffering with the heat at this point.....
After a couple of hours back at the hotel and in the pool I headed out in the evening, and went to HS, with the intention of watching fantasmic. Rode tower of terror and rock n roller, and did a good session of pin trading (managed to trade 19 in an hour and got some really good ones too). It started raining just after 7, and the sky looked really dark. I thought I heard thunder at some point too,so decided to give up on fantasmic as didn't fancy getting stuck in an open air theatre if it did rain so headed back to the hotel, got dinner in the food court then sat in the room watching tv

 

[karentan]

Today I got up and hit morning EMH at Epcot, and got there just after 8. Rode soarin, then watched circle of life as I was walking past it anyway. Even though I know it's rubbish, I rode figment, then headed over to the other side, and did mission space and test track. It was about eleven at this point, so got a friendship boat over to Germany and walked to American adventure. I noticed a few days ago that the counter service there does steak, so made a mental note to try it. It didn't open til 12 though so wandered to Japan, and had a look through the shops. Found an exhibit I didn't know was there, and a counter service I didn't know existed! Really does show how much of Epcot we normally miss! Had the steak for lunch followed by a yummy rocky road chocolate mousse (also noticed that they sell frozen coke there too, that's good to know for next time I'm in Epcot). Walked back round world showcase via the uk side, then watched captain EO again (it's so much 80s cheese that I had to see it again) and saw turtle talk with crush.
Headed back to the hotel about 2.30 ish, and been chilling out by the pool in the shade with my book.

May pop out to a park tonight if I feel up to it, but im kinda in a hang out at the hotel kinda mood. Gotta pack up at some point as my ME bus is at 1.45 tomorrow, then that's it, solo trip over and back to reality
Will be going to MK tomorrow morning though, jungle cruise has only just reopened yesterday after refurb, and although it's cheesy as hell, gotta ride it one time

 

[fizz13]

just caught up, sounds like you've had an amazing time finding all the hidden gems, exactly what a solo trip is for! great character hunting too a safe journey home to you

 

[karentan]

I decided against going out in the end, the only thing I still want to ride is jungle cruise and I'm heading to MK tomorrow morning so l'll do it then. Just hung out by the pool, then watched bolt on the big film screen was supposed to pack tonight but didn't get round to it so will have to get up earlier and do it tomorrow

 

[jockey]

I heard hey do steak now at the American Pavilion.....! Good luck with the packing

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Enjoy your last day at MK

 

[karentan]

Well I'm now on the magical express bus back to the airport had a productive morning though, woke up at 6am for some reason, so got packed up and ready to go. I got a late check out, as I was heading to MK and knew it'd be hot and clammy out there again Got to MK about ten to nine, and headed straight to enchanted tales with belle. It's such a cute show but there's no way I'd wait more than half hour for it. Luckily I seemed to beat most of the crowds there and only had to wait ten minutes max to get in. From there I headed towards haunted mansion, but saw peter pan and wendy had no queue so grabbed another photopass photo, then rode haunted mansion again and then splash mountain. Was glad I had a late check out as I got splashed pretty badly and the water smelt a bit stagnant-y, eeewww. I'd wanted to ride jungle cruise this morning (it's been closed for refurb) but it was temporarily closed for a technical issue, so headed to tomorrowland and rode astro orbiters and buzz lightyear. I suck at this and Gary normally kicks my butt at it but there was only five minutes queue so I thought I'd give it a go. I scored 120300 which is probably about what I normally get. Jungle cruise had reopened so I headed there, only to get there and find it had closed again. They thought it was going to be a whole so resigned myself to not riding it this trip. Headed back to tomorrowland instead and rode stitch and saw monsters laugh floor, then it was time to head back to the hotel. Got some goodies from the candy shop on the way out and bid farewell to MK til next time. Got back to the hotel, grabbed a quick shower and got bell services to pick up the bags, then I headed to the food court to use my last credit for lunch Now sat on the ME bus on the way back to the airport.

 

[karentan]

So my first ever solo trip has come to an end, some thoughts:
As usual the Disney hotels have been awesome, this is my first time at ASMo, and it's been great. I had preferred room 5862, a handicapped accessible king bed room and it was awesome, great location and easy walk to the main building and bus stops.
Disney buses have been efficient as always, never had to wait more than 10-12 mins for a bus
Weather started off a bit iffy, some very heavy rain showers, but nothing unusual for this time of year. Last few days have been blisteringly hot though, even the CMs have said its not normally this bad
Didn't really see a huge amount of last weeks limited time magic, and this weeks one is chalk drawings at DTD. Think they're definitely running out of ideas
Solo trip has been fun, and I recommend everyone try it at least once. It's been great doing what I want when I want and not having to worry about people catching up. Done a couple of very long park days, and found loads of stuff that we normally just pass by. Have met up with friends during the week which was great, but towards the end of the week I've been missing Gary.
Think a week solo is just enough, two weeks would have been too much
Loved spending time at Give Kids The World, it was great meeting and working with other volunteers, and doing my bit to help make these kids' vacations even more special. In fact my fave souvenir from this trip is a bookmark one of the wish kids made for all of the volunteers. I will deffo be doing this again next time
All in all it's been a great trip and I've thoroughly enjoyed it, but also looking forward to coming back with Gary next time.
Hoping my flight leaves on time, and that me getting up at 6am this morning works in my favour tonight on the plane!

Thanks for reading along everyone, and hope this helps someone maybe considering their own solo trip

 

[Elise79]

Safe flight home Karen

 

[stephensmum]

Enjoyed your trip report. Safe trip back.

 

[edinburghlass]

I've really enjoyed reading your trip report, thanks and have a safe journey home.