My Solo Trip Report December 10-16, 2006

[kathymac]

First, thanks to all DIS members who contributed information to these boards that I used to make this trip great. Second a big thank you to Tour Guide Mike. I used his advice regarding which parks to go to on which days and either I was very lucky or he gives great advice. Very little to no waiting in line for anything and I saw more than I ever thought possible.

I am a 56 year old married woman who loves Disney. I live in Southern California, so I grew up at Disneyland. My Dad kept a little black book and marked down when we were bad or good – too many bad marks and not enough good marks and no Disney for us. It was a great strategy that kept us kids in line. Suffice it to say we visited Disneyland every year.

I had never been to WDW until a few years ago when I talked my DH into going at Christmas. We had a great time, but DH can only get time off the week between Christmas and New Years and he wasn’t keen on going, so I decided to go myself.

I studied and researched every aspect of this trip and I have to say my planning really paid off.

Day 1 - Sunday December 10 - I stayed at Coronado Springs Resort and let me just say that this is one beautiful resort. I arrived at the resort via Disney’s Magical Express around 5 pm. I took my bags with me on the motor coach so that I wouldn’t have to be bothered waiting for my bags to arrive later. There were just one or two families ahead of me in line so check in was a breeze. I had the nicest cast member – Dave – who asked me if I would be using the pool or the restaurants and if I had a car. When I said no to the pool and car and yes to the restaurants, he changed the room I had been assigned to in Casitas 4 to a room in Casitas 3. It was the perfect room for me. Very close to El Centro and bus stop #1, quiet and with a lovely view of the fountains in the Courtyard.

After settling in I walked a couple of laps around the lake to get my blood circulating after sitting so long on the plane. I had a lovely dinner at Maya Grill – beef tenderloin tips with mashed potatoes washed down with a Black Russian. After dinner I wandered around the resort checking everything out. Traveling is tiring for me, so I went back to my room and watched a little TV before turning in for the night.

Day 2 – Monday December 11 – I had no trouble waking up early and I was showered and out of my room by 8:30am. I had breakfast at the Pepper Market (cereal and fruit) and then made my way out to bus stop #1 to wait for a bus to Epcot. The bus service at CSR was very good. I never waited more than 15 minutes for a bus and always got a seat.

I spent the morning at Epcot in Future World going on every ride and some more than once. I especially loved Soarin’, Mission Space (the tame side), and Test Track. I headed over to the World Showcase and stopped for lunch at Cantina de San Angel. Lunch was grilled chicken soft tacos with black beans and salsa and a bottle of water – very good. As I think back I can’t think of one bad meal I had the whole week. I have simple tastes, and I think Disney food is very good to excellent.

I wandered around stopping at each country until I got to Germany where I started to poop out. So I walked back to the bus and headed back to my room at CSR. By the time I got back to my room it was about 3 pm and I wanted to lie down, so I put out the “privacy please” card on my door and rested for about an hour and a half. I headed back to Epcot around 4:30 pm.

I went to the Rose & Crown Pub where I checked in for my 5:50pm ADR. I was called in right on time and had a very nice dinner of fried fish, mashed potatoes and fresh peas with a glass of Fairy Tale champagne. After dinner I walked over to France where I had a napoleon and a cup of coffee from the Boulangerie Patisserie. I sat outside and people watched while enjoying my dessert. I continued on counter-clockwise around the World Showcase and stood outside of the America Gardens Theatre and listened to the end of a Candlelight Processional show. I decided to head on back to my resort after checking out a few more countries. Everywhere I went I heard music and saw beautiful Christmas decorations. What a great day at WDW!

Day 3 – Tuesday December 12 – Up early again and off to the Animal Kingdom after breakfast at the Pepper Market. I went first to Expedition Everest, but decided it looked too scary to ride. Forty years ago I would have gone on this ride over and over – but time has a way of changing things. Instead I went over to the Dinosaur ride thinking it would be similar to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland – NOT! Let me just say that the picture taken at the end shows me with my head down and my hands covering my ears. Holy cow! That’s one ride I won’t need to go on again.

From there I went over to see the Finding Nemo musical show. This is wonderful and I’m so glad that I saw it. It is of the same caliber as the Alladin show at California Adventure. After Nemo, I went on the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. I didn’t spend much time there I mainly went for the train ride. Then on to the Safari ride. I got the best tour guide in the Animal Kingdom for this ride. I think his name was Mike. He was a little older than some of the teen aged guides and serious about showing us a great safari – and he did. Thanks Mike!

From there I went to lunch at Tusker House. I had grilled salmon with rice and veges. It was very good. I had a churro from a cart for dessert. I wandered around a little more until it started looking like rain big time, so I headed back to the resort.

That evening I headed out to the Magic Kingdom. When I arrived I took one of the water launches over to the Grand Floridian Resort for my dinner at the Grand Floridian Café. This was wonderful. I had the most wonderful piece of prime rib, potatoes and vegetables and a glass of wine. For dessert I had a chocolate mousse cake and coffee.

After dinner I headed back from the Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom in a water launch. Fireworks started over the Magic Kingdom and the boat driver slowed way down so that we could watch the entire fireworks show from the boat. This was truly a magical moment and one of the highlights of my trip.

When I arrived at the Magic Kingdom it was time for MVMCP to start, so I got my wristband and headed in. I spent a wonderful night in the MK watching the Christmas parade, going on rides with little or no wait and shopping! The crowds were smaller than I expected and for me this was so worth the money.

Well since I’m back to the real world now, I need to do laundry and to make dinner. I’ll be back tomorrow to finish the rest of this report.

 

[Vivianne]

Glad to read your report.

I have no kids, so I'm living vicariously through your report if I ever do go alone. It's just DH and me. He loves to go to DW too.

Looking forward to reading more..

 

[100%Libra]

Can't wait to hear the rest. As a solo traveler I love to hear what other solos do.

 

[kathymac]

This is the rest of my trip report. Thanks for reading.

Day 4 – Wednesday December 13 – No rush getting out of bed this morning since last night was late with MVMCP. I decided to spend the day visiting resorts and shopping.

My first stop was the Magic Kingdom where I boarded the resort monorail and headed over to the Contemporary hotel. I wandered around in the shops on the floor below where the monorail lets you off and bought a couple of small items.

I got back on the monorail and got off at the Polynesian resort where I had lunch at the Kona café. I had a bowl of Asian noodle soup and a piece of white chocolate cheesecake with three fruit sauces that was so good I wanted to lick the plate. After lunch I checked out the shops at the Poly and got back on the monorail to go to the Grand Floridian.

The decorations in the lobby of the Grand Floridian were just beautiful. I stopped at the gingerbread house to buy a couple of gifts, but the selection was limited and I didn’t see anything I wanted to buy. So I forged on back to the Magic Kingdom where my plan was to stay for the Spectro Magic parade at 7pm. It seemed pretty crowded at MK and got more crowded as the time for the parade got nearer. I sat on the curb on Main Street for a while but there was some pushing and shoving for spots and I decided that it was more important to me to keep my feeling of holiday happiness than to wait for the parade, so I left and went back to the resort after having a really big hot dog at Casey’s corner.

Day 5 – Thursday December 14 – spent the morning at MGM where I went to the Indiana Jones Stunt Show which I though was OK to see once, but I wouldn’t rush back to see it again. I went on the Great Movie Ride which I thought was greatly improved since I had seen it last back in 2002. I stopped in the candy store and got a sample of the rocky road fudge which was wonderful. I ended up taking home two tins of assorted fudge as gifts.

I walked over to the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster but couldn’t convince myself to go on it. I have been on the Tower of Terror a couple of times in California and each time I go on it just before the drop sequence starts I think to myself, what in the world am I doing on this ride. So – I decided to skip being terrified this trip altogether.

After MGM, I went over to Downtown Disney where I didn’t stay long because it was raining. I did make it over to the World of Disney where I found a lightweight sweatshirt without a hood to wear in the evenings. That was all I really needed since the weather was so warm.

In the evening I went back to Epcot for dinner at Le Cellier where it really started to rain just as I got checked in for my ADR at 5:30pm. I had another wonderful meal of a filet with Bernaise sauce, and mashed potatoes. The maple crème brulee was very good. My waitresses were very friendly and thoughtful and they kept checking up on me to be sure everything was perfect with my meal.

After dinner I put up my umbrella and went over to the American pavilion where the choir was filing in for the Candlelight Processional show. It was raining steadily and the benches that were not under the pavilion roof were pretty empty. An usher asked me if I would like to go in and of course I said yes. I stood in the back since I had my umbrella up and didn’t want to block anyone’s view. A very nice lady usher came by with a big towel and wiped off the bench I was standing near so that I could sit down on a dry bench.

I absolutely loved the Candlelight Processional! Maureen McGovern was the narrator and she did a wonderful job. She also sang along with the choir which I thought was great. The music gave me chills and made me cry it was so lovely. This evening was definitely the highlight of my trip despite the rain. I will never forget this moving experience. When the show was over I walked around the World showcase in the rain humming Christmas carols to myself and thinking how lucky I was to be in this wonderful place.

Day 6 – Friday December 15 – I spent the morning at the Magic Kingdom going on Space Mountain, TTA, IASM, Peter Pan, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, the Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain, Hall of Presidents and others.

In the afternoon I went back to MGM and saw One Man’s Dream before going to dinner at the Brown Derby. This was another wonderful meal of grilled salmon and polenta with grapefruit cake for dessert, but my server Jaime was very slow and not very attentive. I would definitely go back to the Brown Derby on a return trip, but would hope to get a better waiter.

After dinner I went over to see the Osborne lights display which was very nice. I could have lived without the “snow” that was blowing all over the street since it kept landing on my glasses. It only took me a few minutes to walk through the display since it was pretty crowded and I didn’t want to linger.

Day 7 – Saturday December 16 – I had called the day before and asked if I could get a late check out since my Magic Express bus would leave the resort at 1:00pm and my plan was to spend the morning at the resort. Since this was OK’d, I spent a leisurely morning at CSR and walked all around the resort taking pictures of everything. I packed up and headed out to the bus stop around 12:30 and a bus pulled up just as I arrived. I had a very nice bus driver for the drive back to the airport which made it easier to leave.

After a long plane ride with a stop in Las Vegas I made it home safe and sound (love Southwest airlines).

I will definitely plan another trip to WDW, maybe in December of 2008. I loved going at this time of year for the decorations, Christmas music, cooler weather, and lower crowds. For this trip, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.