My Solo Supercalifragilistic Sabbatical at SSR UPDATED 9/6 Final Thoughts

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I don't do Mornings~ Unless its for Disney!

The last few days before the trip were madness. Trying to get DH packed for Montana was a nightmare. I keep saying all week don’t you need to pack, umm why don’t you go pack, hey I took the suitcases up for you, go pack. So at 11pm the night before he leaves (at 4am) he packs. I could have killed him. Off to bed about 1230 I had to get up at 330am and take him to meet his group to make it to the airport. I went back home and crashed for about an hour and got up and went to work early.

I was flying out of an airport about 2 hours from home. My sister in law lives about an hour closer so I planned to head to her house to stay the night so the drive wouldn’t be as bad at 5am. I got all packed and headed off to her house. My plan was to get in bed kinda early and then sneak out in the wee hours of the morning without waking anyone. We ended up sitting around and talking till late so that plan was foiled immediately. Then when I got into my room I remembered DH had asked me to stuff 120 envelope and mail them for a mobile food pantry at the church we do every month. Snot. So I spent another hour up doing that. It was after 1am when I got in bed. And of course I had Disney butterflies so I didn’t go to sleep right away. I finally did drift off and before I knew it my phone alarm was going off. I jumped up took a quick shower and dressed and quietly head out. Uggh I am not a morning person, I’m becoming better at it but still I am one of those jump out of bed into the shower out the door people to get every last minute of sleep possible types. But if it’s for Disney I am out of bed like a rocket.

I apologize but I got no airport pictures it was just too early and I was too sleepy.

I made it to the airport in record time and it’s a good thing I did. I rarely plan on more than an hour or hour and half from airport door to take off. Our airport just isn’t that busy. I have never ever seen Tyson McGee airport that busy. I had done online check in and had only carry on’s so I skipped the counter. I got in line for security and it was almost out to the front door. Everyone around me also was in shock at the line. But it moved quickly and before I knew it I was getting ‘the scan’. I have that kind of luck I can’t win a contest but will always win the random one they search at the airport award. I must look like a criminal. nah it really doesn’t bother me and make me feel safer in the airport and on planes. I got thru security and had about 10 minutes to spare a quick restroom break and they were boarding. Our flight was scheduled to take of at 725 am.

I settled into my window seat and got my work book out and my ipod. Then my seat mates sat down. A mother and teen daughter. And a dog. A little cute yippie puppie. It was wimpering. Great I thought that sucker is going to bark or whine all the way there. Mother and daughter we arguing because daughter said the plane would hurt the doggies ears, etc etc. Then the dog pooped. Right in its carrier before the flight even took off. The daughter was freaking out. I thought boy am I in for a flight. Mother used an air sick bag to clean up the mess and we were off. I was quiet surprised the pup did well throughout the flight and would have done better had mother and daughter not bickered the whole way about holding her/ keeping her in the carrier. I did manage to get quit a big of work done on the way though.

This was my first flight with Frontier Airlines. Airtran pulled out of our airport when the SouthWest merger took over so we got Frontier. I must say I was impressed. No issues, no hold ups with anything, and they didn’t steal my carry-on bag and force me to gate check in like Airtran did 90% of the time. I will defiantly fly with them again.

We landed early about 10 minutes (go Frontier!). I quickly got off the plane and made beeline for the mini monorail. I went over to side A and down to the first floor. I was a girl on a mission. I stopped and helped a few lost WDW visitors with directions to DME. One woman was so grateful and as I walked off said to her husband wow that was nice I wonder how she knew exactly how to get were we are going. Umm I would think she could have gotten a clue by the WDW shirt, the Mickey earrings, my WDW branded luggage, my Minnie luggage tag on the bag or the WDW charm hanging off my backpack. But whatever.

I timed a lot of things on the trip for reference purpose so if you are wondering. We landed at 8:52, I was off the plane and into the terminal by 9:07 and walked up to the DME desk at 9:22. It doesn’t seem like it took that long but I guess it did. I think the adrenaline of being so close to WDW makes time insignificant. I got scanned at the entrance to my line and I headed right to the rope. They immediately opened the rope for me and I was on the bus by 9:24am. Got settled in, called my mom and we took off by 9:29. The bus was about ¾ full but I was the only one staying at Saratoga Springs and I would be the first stop. The scheduled stops were SSR, POFQ, POR, and Ft Wilderness.

I sat back got ready for the magic and watched a little of this.

Only bummer was the sound was very low. I couldn’t heard neither could the couples around me. Most of us were straining to hear the movie at all. Good thing there was closed captioning and I had it almost memorized. Before I knew it we were pulling into SSR and I was hopping off DME. I grabbed my bag and headed to check in, the Cast Member opened the door and greeted me with “Welcome Home!”. Sigh. It still gives me warm fuzzy feelings thinking of it. I’m finally home.

continued in next post
​

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I step thru the doors and instantly love Saratoga. It is the only WDW resort I’ve never been in, we have driven thru on the Magical Express but I’ve never been there. It’s beautiful. I was just in awe of everything in the lobby.

I did online check in so I went up to the counter and got checked in right away. And my room was ready! I had requested 3rd floor in Congress Park and got exactly that. The Cast Member that checked me in was lovely, she was from Brooklyn originally and we chatted for a few minutes while I waited on Bell Services to come get me and my case of water I had shipped in.

Bell services arrived after maybe 10 minutes and wished me away on a golf cart to my room. Juan pointed out some things on the way showing me the main pool and the bus stops. When we whipped into Congress Park he made sure I saw the temporary bus stop as they were working on the real one. He was very friendly and a talker. I tipped him a little extra because 1) I didn’t get change before I left home and 2) when we were riding over chatting he told me it must be busy today because they had just called him in on his day off.

I opened the door to my room and stepped in. Immediately I was impressed. It was so nice. And open and seemed roomy. I ran over to the balcony and looked out the window and saw this:

Oh my goodness its Downtown Disney! Like right there! Just there! I stood and stared for a while. Then I remembered I need to photograph every inch of the room for my own collection of WDW photos and this trip report. Oh and to show DH what he is missing. I thought I hope he enjoys his teepee (which he REALLY slept in no joke). So here we go.

Entrance area/coat rack:

Bathroom:

Kitchen:

Bedroom/living room combo:

continued in Next post
​

 

[goodmorningbelle]

Ooo, that room is so cute--and what a view!

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm just getting started. But wanted to comment. That really WAS a morning to remember on Monday. I think we'll be talking about that one for some time to come. I never did get through. But thankfully my friend, who is meeting us there, did....... and got our ADRs.

I've never seen anything like it.

But at least I didn't start the day with ripped jeans!

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Ooo, that room is so cute--and what a view!

I know! the view alone and being able to be near the action but still have peace and a relaxful area to chill in was enough to make me want to buy into DVC that minute. We have been looking into in for a while and its a good thing DH wasn't there or I may have begged and negotiated till we bought in. I was able to refrain on my own. We are in year 2 of our 4 year plan to pay off debt and DVC is purchase #1 when we get all our debts paid down.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I'm just getting started. But wanted to comment. That really WAS a morning to remember on Monday. I think we'll be talking about that one for some time to come. I never did get through. But thankfully my friend, who is meeting us there, did....... and got our ADRs.

I've never seen anything like it.

But at least I didn't start the day with ripped jeans!

Nothing like showing the world your undies on a monday morning to start the week off on the wrong foot, at least it can only go up from there.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I snapped some pictures on my way to the bus stop. Every step I took I just loved SSR that much more. It is just beautiful, peaceful, calm, relaxing, and oozing Disney charm without all the characters. Here is Congress Park my home away from home for the next few days.

I arrived at the bus stop with a plan in mind. Play bus roulette! DH and I like to play this game from time to time but I did it more this trip than every before. After about 2 minutes this puppy showed up:

I hopped on and off I went to Hollywood Studios.

I noticed my tummy was grumling and realized I had not eaten all day. It was almost 11am and I was ready for some Disney food. While Hollywood Studios has some icky counter service food we love the table service options there. I decided I would head to Hollywood Brown Derby after I got there and accessed the crowd situation.

I arrived to see this:

Yep crowds, it ain’t September, baby! And I just love Tour Groups. Someone might want to take my DIS card for that but they are excited, having fun, and full of energy. Later on I even have some delays because of them but I still enjoy them. I ran into no less than 5 between the bus stop to RnR and back to Hollywood Brown Derby for lunch.

I walked in over to Rock N Roller coaster to get a FP. I pulled a return time of 3:05pm. I decided it was time to eat and headed to Hollywood Brown Derby. HBD may have my favorite dish in all of WDW. The Cobb Salad. I am a salad nut and just love Cobb Salad, it is also HUGE and is easily split able (and probably should be). I walked up and was seated within minutes with no ADR. The place was practically empty. My table was on the raised balcony type area on the far side of the restaurant. My server, Jose greeted me promptly and commented on my great people watching location. I ordered without as much a glance at the menu and sat back to wait on my food. This is the part of the solo trip I thought I might struggle with, eating table service alone. But really it was great. I updated some chats on my phone, checked out some wait times and sat back and watched people. I love people watching and this was a great location to do it. I could watch people and as a bonus see all the beautiful dishes HBD was serving. Jose came by a few times to fill my drink and stopped and chatted. We talked about how long I’d be there, what I did, where Jose was from, etc. He was very friendly and made me feel right at ease with eating alone.

It seemed like no time before this appeared:

And I dug in. It was great, nice and cool, fresh and crispy where it needed to be and dressed with just the right amount of dressing but not overpowering. It was as wonderful as I remembered it was and I scarfed it down. I was much hungrier than I realized and still couldn’t finish it. Jose came back by I settled up my check, sat for a few minutes longer people watching and deciding my next destination.

I checked my app on my phone and saw Beauty and the Beast was starting soon so I headed that way. Boy it was HOT. Sweating almost immediately when leaving Brown Derby kind of hot. The sun beating down on my skin like it was on fire. I was glad I got some carry on sized spray sunscreen, I don’t burn easily but in this intense heat a sunburn could develop quickly. I stopped for a photopass pictures on the way.

Just want to say that I loved the photopass photographers on this trip. I still had photopass plus left from our May/June trip and since I was within my ’30 day’ window I figured I would take advantage and use the regular photopass cards and add those to my CD. Every time I would stop at a photographer they would take extra time with me chatting and extra shots with different poses. I ended up with some good ones and had a great time chatting with the photographers.

Beauty and the Beast was fabulous as always. We had the ‘good’ Belle and our Gaston wasn’t too bad either but he is ‘new’ to me. We have our favorite performer in most of the shows at WDW. As usual I loved the show got misty eyed in all the right parts and clapped like mad at the happy ending. I want to add that it was blazing hot and stifling in the theater area. There was no breeze so it was just heavy heat hanging around. The only good thing was we were in the shade but that seemed to be holding in some of the muggy air. I thankfully had my Frogg Togg with me and it helped a lot. I got many strange and many jealous looks throughout the week when I had my Frogg Togg out. If you don’t know what they are but visit WDW anytime between May-October you need one. You can find them at Wal-Mart, Dicks, Bed, Bath and Beyond and online. Best $12 I’ve spent in a long time for our WDW trips.

I tried something new with this viewing of Beauty and the Beast. Usually I’m trying to get the perfect shot of this or that. This time I only took a few shots and sat back and enjoyed the show. That part was great. Here are my few Beauty and the Beast shots.

I hung back after the show for a bit while the crowds cleared out and planned my next move. I headed over to check on Single rider line for Rock N Roller coaster to find out it was closed. They had no idea when it would open back up but the 60 minute standby wait was definitely not appealing. They said the line was closed because emergency crews were dispatched inside to get a sick guest.

I still had another hour or so till my Fastpass window opened. I wondered around a bit and took some more pictures and decided that it was just too hot. So I hopped on a bus back to the hotel to enjoy some pool time.

Continued in the Next Post ​

 

[lurkernj]

Oooh, Saratoga Springs looks beautiful! I've also only seen it from a bus. I like the fact that you can walk to DTD since that's usually the worse place to get a bus to/from.

I'm gonna have to check out that frogg togg thing.

You're really making me jealous with your ability to just go with the flow on a solo trip. Someday....someday...

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm so jealous. Your solo trip sounds awesome! The perfect chance to slow down and take in all the details! And I've never seen photos of Saratoga Springs. It looks pretty amazing!

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Oooh, Saratoga Springs looks beautiful! I've also only seen it from a bus. I like the fact that you can walk to DTD since that's usually the worse place to get a bus to/from.

I'm gonna have to check out that frogg togg thing.

You're really making me jealous with your ability to just go with the flow on a solo trip. Someday....someday...

Walking to DTD was one of the best parts. I wish I would have discovered it earlier in the trip but I could literally be at Earl of Sandwich or Goofy's candy shop in less than 5 minutes. It was closer than going over to Artist Pallette to eat. Even taking the bus to Artist Pallette took longer on the bus than to walk to DTD!

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I'm so jealous. Your solo trip sounds awesome! The perfect chance to slow down and take in all the details! And I've never seen photos of Saratoga Springs. It looks pretty amazing!

Saratoga Springs seems to not get very much love on the DIS. There are a few threads over on the DVC board but when I was looking before the trip I kinda felt sorry for SSR, its like the stepchild of the DIS resorts.

 

[solana131]

Joining in What were your dates? Did I miss that post?? I was there the 18-23rd, just wondering if we overlapped...

SSR looks beautiful. That is on my short list of resorts to try. Love that you can walk to DTD! Great view from your room

Wow, that is weird that the single rider line was down. You would think they would have a different emergency entrance

I really wanted to see Beauty and the Beast...I just couldn't deal with the heat that day

Yum, that salad looks really good. HS is my least favorite park, so we usually try to run in and do the rides then get out. I will have to make time to try HBD sometime.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Joining in What were your dates? Did I miss that post?? I was there the 18-23rd, just wondering if we overlapped...

SSR looks beautiful. That is on my short list of resorts to try. Love that you can walk to DTD! Great view from your room

Wow, that is weird that the single rider line was down. You would think they would have a different emergency entrance

I really wanted to see Beauty and the Beast...I just couldn't deal with the heat that day

Yum, that salad looks really good. HS is my least favorite park, so we usually try to run in and do the rides then get out. I will have to make time to try HBD sometime.

I'm glad to have you along! I was there 7/7-7/11. I love to come look for trip reports of my same time and see what perspective others had of the parks that day.

I've got a crazy weekend ahead I will be posting an update hopefully on monday.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Sorry for the delay I am working on an update today. Room only discounts came out on monday for WDW and new passholder rates yesterday so I was a wee bit busy. My goal is to get thru at least the next day today.

and BTW I'm doing my 7 day WDW countdown dance today. I WILL have this TR done before I leave. I promise if I have to stand in the airport and send the last chapter from my phone I will get it done.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

As soon as I walked up to the bus stop a bus appeared. This would be a trend for me I never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus the entire trip at SSR or anywhere else. I headed back took a quick break and changed into my swim stuff. I planned on heading to the SSR pool but on the way down I walked past the bus stop and thought well hmm I could had to the water parks instead. I had my KTTW card and AP on me anyway and a towel with me so when the Typhoon Lagoon bus pulled into the lot I detoured from my pool plan and decided to hit the water parks instead.

I arrived at Typhoon Lagoon and felt like a fish swimming upstream, tons of other guests were pouring out. Sweet I thought I will have the park to myself! So I found a spot quickly and hit the wave pool to cool off. Then it was off to the lazy river where I spent an hour just lounging and relaxing. It was busier than I am used to with kids swimming instead of being lazy but hey that happens. I just enjoyed floating around and people watching. After my spin in the lazy river I headed to Crush n Gusher but as I was getting in line clouds started rolling in. I thought uh oh. Then I saw it, snot it was going to storm. I jumped out of line and headed for my chair, threw on my cover up and made a dash for the exit. I was determined to beat the crowds to the bus and more importantly beat the rain! I walked over to the bus stop stood there about 2 minutes and up pulled the Saratoga bus. :dancing: I hopped on as rain started to sprinkle down. We waited a few minute the bus filled about haflway and off we went back to SSR. It sprinkled and we saw some lightening on the way back. It quit sprinkling about the time I was dropped off at my Congress Park stop. I headed to the room to relax a bit.

I found TV land on my tv and watched a few Everybody Loves Raymond shows, I just love that show. I headed out to the balcony with the laptop to work for a few minutes and watch another cloudy rainy storm blow in. It was in and gone before I was done checking my email. The weather in Florida amazes me, it shouldn’t because it’s the same thing here at home but without all the mountains in the way its easier to see the storm clouds coming in Floridia.
I got ready to head to the parks for the evening and it hit me I was tired! Sleepy tired. I’m usually not like that but very little sleep the past night was taking its toll. As I walked toward the bus I thought I wonder how the food here is so I took the time to just stroll over to Artist’s Palette instead. I took a lot of picture along the way and fell more in love with Saratoga. My favorite walking spot was along the path that went by the lake (or lagoon) to Downtown Disney. Here are a few of my favorite:

This fountain was in the perfect spot to relax in the pool and stare off into DTD with the fountain framed perfectly in the middle of the view but not blocking it. It was so relaxing to just float in the pool looking out past the fountain at the business of DTD.

These little details like this birdhouse themed to match the buildings were just too cute.

I finally arrived at the Springs pool, it was really neat. Nice and big with lots of space and the kids seem to be having a blast sliding on the slides.

Then I found my destination:

When I arrived at Artist’s Palette I was starved but there looked to be some good choices. I settled on the Smith Stack sandwich and got a side of mozzarella & tomato salad. I tried to opt out of chips with my sandwich (to save the $2 and I don’t eat chips very often) but the CM said I had to take them. I was disappointed but knew that some CM’s just didn’t get that and know how to do it. I asked her to ask someone and her co cashier said they couldn’t do that. Ok whatever I said ok just charge me and keep the chips, they seemed confused and said we can’t do that either.

I bagged up my food and headed to the room. It was a pleasant walk but could be long if you were in a hurry. On the way over I decided against getting a refillable mug. I have way to many of them and with that walk it wouldn’t be worth going over for one soda or two a day. I would say it was a 10-12 minute walk at a comfortable pace from Artist’s Palette back to my room.
Some more photos as the sun was setting on the walk back:

For some reason I didn’t bother to take any pictures of my food that night I must have been really sleepy. I ate relaxed in the room and ended up falling asleep about 10 o’clock to TVland reruns! I don’t go to bed that early at home and woke up thinking DH would never believe that I was the one falling asleep early in Disney! I decided that was ok since I was heading out for Rope Drop the next morning I needed my rest.

Up next its time for the Toy Story Midway Mania Mad Morning Dash!​

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

It’s time for the Toy Story Midway Mania Mad Morning Dash!

I woke up nice and rested early on Sunday morning. I headed to the bust stop to make rope drop at Hollywood Studios. I walked up as the DHS bus was pulling up. I hopped on with about 3 other people and headed off to DHS. I walked up to the turnstiles and they were pretty full far back but it wasn’t open yet. At precisely 847 am the lines started moving and people were going in. I was of course in the line of THAT family. You know them, you have been behind them, they don’t have their tickets out, their kids are running around the line bobbing in and out of line, they are bickering with each other and saying Suzy get back in line, Suzy stop that, Suzi…, and then they get to the turnstiles and act like it’s an alien probing machine. They dig out their tickets give them to the wrong people in their party, then they don’t know how to do finger scans. Yep I was behind a whole row of them.

It seemed to take forever but I was in right at 9am and took off for Toy Story Mania. I grabbed a Fastpass (there was no line for them at this point) and hopped in standby. The posted wait was already

I knew that was wrong when I walked in and right up to Mr Potato head passing all this along the way. You can see the que starting to build behind me some.

I grabbed my glasses and when we hit the split I asked the Cast Member if I could go up the right side of the stairs since I was single. He said sure have fun and off I went. I was on and off TSM in less than 15 minutes.
DH beats me at TSM about 70% of the time when we come so I needed some practice. I was proud of my scores and I’ve been practicing on our Wi at home so I hope next time I can beat him every time. I never have a shot at winning on Space Ranger Spin ( he maxes out everytime its annoying) so TSM is my only shot at winning.

I hopped off and got back in standby line. It was about 20 minutes in and back out the door this time.

Then I headed over to Rock N Roller Coaster. Single Rider was open I walked right to the top with no resistance and then the CM held me there for about 5 minutes letting standby thru. Then he sent us singles on and I walked right up and into a limo after being let out of the movie room. I dashed over to Tower of Terror. I love this ride, no one else in my family enjoys it as much as I do but I could ride over and over. I had about a 20 minute wait total to get in the elevator.

I was shocked at how quickly I was still moving thru the park in July. The park has been open about an hour and this is how slow Hollywood Boulevard still is:

In July! Seriously at Disney its totally worth getting out of bed early.

After Tower of Terror my tummy was growling. I was ready for some breakfast. I hate the counter service in Hollywood Studios I just can’t find anything there I ever want so I was not very optimistic heading into Starring Roles. We have tried eating there several times but every time we go their sandwiches have some king of mayonnaise sauce on them. To say I have an aversion to mayo is putting it mildly. A phobia is more like it. We don’t have it in our house. I won’t go down that aisle in the grocery past it I will go all the way around. I am a cook for our church (200-300 people at some meals) and I flat out won’t cook with it. I have become very creative to get around it (and make a kicking baked potato salad with sour cream). I can’t stand to even look at it and have been known to have to leave the table and room gagging if someone around me is eating it and I see it on their face or plate. I am getting much much better and haven’t lost my lunch at the site of it in about 2-3 years now but I still wouldn’t dare eat it. I had decided on a bagel but really wanted something more substantial when I saw this puppy.

I got my hopes up and asked what the sauce was, it was mustard! I could have jumped up and down. I ordered it without chips and took my breakfast outside to people watch and enjoy a few minutes off my feet. It was really good a nice sized sandwich and without chips the perfect breakfast, it was hearty and had plenty of protein so I was full quickly. I sat in the morning sun watching people eat their breakfast and fend off the birds. Then I headed back to Toy Story Mania to use my FP and get in a little more practice.

I topped my score from the last round and even got this:

I came out saw a 70 minute posted wait so I peaked in the que, it was mostly empty. I was gathering some actual wait times for Line the touring plan app so I headed in. I started calculating how many people were in front of me and thought surely this isn’t 70 minutes. After 10 minutes of not moving a foot I realized that fastpassers were returning and that kills standby times. So I hopped out of line and wondered around the park, getting some photopass photos along the way.

Continued in the next post
Let the Hopping Begin
​

 

[mom2rtk]

That sandwich looks awesome. I need one on our next trip!

And really, it's just not fair that you get to interrupt this trip report to take another trip!

 

[solana131]

Great couple of updates And I totally agree with you....it is so very worth it to get up early when it's busy at Disney. Heck, we get up early even in the dead of February. You can get so much accomplished those first couple or hours while everyone else is still sleeping!

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

That sandwich looks awesome. I need one on our next trip!

And really, it's just not fair that you get to interrupt this trip report to take another trip!

I promise I'll finish before we leave. I've got 6 days!

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Great couple of updates And I totally agree with you....it is so very worth it to get up early when it's busy at Disney. Heck, we get up early even in the dead of February. You can get so much accomplished those first couple or hours while everyone else is still sleeping!

Rope drop is the only way to do it. We converted from never getting there before 11am to RD about 4 years ago for a spin on TSM and were converted on that first day. Back then DH and I worked nights and were used to going ot bed about 4am so it was wretched dragging out of bed but still worth it. Now we worked normal 8-4 hours so its much earlier. We try to make it everyday, it's worth losing the sleep for the shorter lines even during super slow park days. I'm concerned next trip b/c we will be out at NOJ till 1am on Friday and Saturday so RD on Sat morning will be almost impossible. Sunday we have to be at RD at DHS to meet some friends and do an Ultimate Tour attempt there. I figure after that we may want to sleep in Monday too but I can't give up that many days of RD!