My spontaneous (mostly) solo trip report

[rabidstoat]

On Thursday, September 4th, while sitting in rush hour traffic and frustrated over work, I decided spontaneously that I would take a trip to Disney World. I haven't had a vacation in over a year, since last spring when I took off for a month to go around southeast Asia. Usually I do extended trips (1-2 months) every 2-3 years, but in this case, I decided I needed an extended weekend. After talking to my boss, and convincing him I really needed time away from the office despite there being no warning, I got time off for a 4.5-day weekend (needing to work that Friday morning for some previously scheduled meetings). Yippee! So I spent the day making sure everything was in order for my absence, then went home to do laundry, call the pet sitter to stop in to feed my two kitties, and pack.

Starring Role: Me! 36-year-old single female. I grew up in Florida and went to Disney every couple of years, and have gone every 3-5 years since.

Supporting Cast Member #1: Dad. Mid-50s divorced male. Keeps his house at 66-68 degrees F in Florida, and very adverse to heat. Lives and works in Orlando.

Supporting Cast Member #2: Mom. Mid-50s divorced female. Lives and works in Celebration, FL as an accountant.

I'll do this trip report in segments. The pre-trip section I'll post here because, leaving on less than 24 hours of planning, there was not a heck of a lot of pre-trip planning.

Pre-Trip Planning

So I decided at 8 am I was going to Disney. I've been a few times before, and last time I stayed at Port Orleans, Riverside. This time I wanted to stay at Yacht or Beach Club, since it was near to EPCOT and that's my favorite resort. However, in checking online, it was more than twice as much as the moderate resorts. Yowch! So I decided to go with Port Orleans, French Quarters. I knew it was smaller than Riverside (or at least, I think that's true) and I'd seen pictures, with the wrought iron fences and all of that. So I made the reservations online and was good to go!

A note on Disney Dining: I guess there's free Disney Dining going on nowadays. I didn't see anything about it online, though I admittedly didn't ask, so I don't know if my last-minute reservation qualified. If so, no one told me, and I could have saved so money so whoops. I kind of thought it was for people who booked earlier but I don't know, but since my parents insisted on buying food for me I didn't spend as much as I could've, so I suppose that's good.

Anyway, pre-trip planning. I washed clothes. I poured extra food for the cats. I packed -- lazily, since I was going to drive from my house near Atlanta. I just opened up two bags and tossed anything I think I could possibly want into it. In went two weeks of clothes, practically. And a small library of DVDs, in case I just wanted to chill in the room or by the pool. And my Nintendo DS. My ipod. Cell phone. All my chargers. My work laptop (in case something came up). My personal laptop (for normal usage). My baby laptop (which is ultraportable in case I wanted to do some writing outside -- it's my lucky writing laptop, with my National Novel Writing Month sticker on it). A small library of books. A sudoku magazine, which I promptly lost within the first 24 hours. The contents of my bathroom counter and medicine chest. Both of my pillows. And probably other things. For someone who literally went around Asia for a month, and around the world for two months, in just a carry-on bag, I packed an amazing amount of stuff!

It's about 450 miles from Atlanta to Disney. I set my alarm for 7:30 am and went to bed far too late!

• Day #1: The Grand Entrance
• Day #2: Part A, Hollywood Studios

More installments later.

 

[heaven2dc]

Wow - I envy you - going solo! I would love to do that one day (I may end up just doing that in December - can't seem to get anyone on board definitely!)

Ready for next installment!

 

[OhMari]

Hi,
I didn't know Atlanta and WDW was that far apart.

Yes, you had to book free dining way back in April and you had till June 25th. But I heard some people were being offered it this Fall, so who knows.

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[Lorettainny]

Can't wait to hear more.

 

[vfair]

I envy the solo trip and also the ability to do a trip on spur of the moment. Sounds wonderful.

 

[MomofCKJ]

Signing on! I just took my first solo trip a few weeks ago! Aren't they great?

Allyson

 

[rabidstoat]

Day 1: The Grand Entrance

Being a last minute trip, I had to finish up some work-type work in the morning (boo!) and then left for Disney right after lunch (yay!). I was in such a hurry to leave, I grabbed lunch-on-the-run -- a smoothie from Smoothie King on the way to the highway.

Now, the plan was to drive down Friday, tour on Saturday through Tuesday, and drive back Wednesday. I had less than 24 hours to plan this, remember. I am also horrible about sticking with plans, so I don't even know why I try. On the way down there I was thinking, "You know, it sure would be nice to spend the first night on park property instead of with Mom, just so that I can wake up and be right at the park." So I called up while stopped to refuel in Valdosta and voila! My three-night trip became a four-night trip and I was going to Disney that night!

I got to Port Orleans French Quarter at about 8 pm or so. I didn't really know where it was but thought it was somewhere around Epcot, so went poking around in that direction. Turns out I was close; it's a Downtown Disney area resort. Disney roads are very forgiving and well-marked, I've always thought, so I found my way there easily anyway. Check-in was a breeze and, as I suspected, they were more than willing to sell me Magic Your Way passes there. I got 3 nights, uncertain about what Hurricane Ike was going to do.

Despite being exhausted from the 7 hour drive down, I was also starving, so I struck off in search of Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney. I was going to take the boat but decided to stick with the car instead, and got directions from the concierge. Turns out to be a good choice for dinner. I knew I was in Disney when my Vitamin Water drink cost somewhere near three bucks! Ah, Disney. As it turns out, this was foreshadowing of me spending about as much on hydrating liquids as on lodging for the trip!

First try at Wolfgang Puck Express and I'd say it's definitely my favorite counter restaurant. I had a BBQ chicken foccacia sandwich with potato chips that were dusted with parmesan cheese. It was a wait to get in to order, it being a Friday night, but worth the wait. Incidentally, the 10 minute wait to order made it one of the longest lines I experienced all trip! Aside from having tasty adult food, the kid food seemed to be huge-sized. There was a cheese pizza some kid was trying to eat that was practically as big as his head. Seating was inside (ah, air-conditioning) or outside, and there was plenty of it. Kind of weird that the line queue for ordering was so small. Anyway, you order and sit, and then they bring the food to your table, so it's counter service mixed with a bit of table service. Looks like free drink refills for those who go for fountain drinks.

Afterwards I didn't stick around too long. I meandered through a store or two, watched a caricature being drawn, saw some kids riding around on the little train and the merry-go-round, failed to find the boat launch point for getting back to Port Orleans (and really, I don't even know if it's in the West End or Pleasure Island side or where), yawned excessively, and drove back home to call it a day.

Oh, last minute parking tip for Downtown Disney: it was crowded enough that lot 1 was closed, but I snuck into lot 2 and went right instead of left, and ended up in, uh, lot one-and-a-half, and there was plenty of parking there -- even later in the night when the signs claimed it was closed.

 

[rabidstoat]

Day 2, Part A: Hollywood Studios

A bit on the hotel

I woke up with neither the aid of an alarm or a plan at about 7 am on day 2. One thing I will say about Port Orleans -- they make a mean air conditioner there. I am perpetually hot, and the room was slightly colder than a deep chill freezer. When my dad visited briefly on day 3, even he was cold, and this is a man who likes to keep his house as cold as his Florida air conditioning will allow. Very, very, very cold, which is welcome for a few minutes when first entering from the parks, but unwelcome in the middle of the night when you wake up and have to chip icicles off your nose.

Further commenting on the hotel, I travel a lot and I would put it somewhere around a Marriott Courtyard type of hotel in terms of quality, with its plusses and minuses. I like the fact that it had a mini fridge, which I gather most (all?) moderates have now, though I think overcompensated on the temperature as one of my coke cans frozen and bulged out the first night. (I'll also note that when I say 'coke' I mean 'caffeine free diet coke', but I come from Atlanta, where everything is called 'coke'. Even Pepsi.) I wish it had a safe for my work laptop I brought for VPNing in to check mail. The bed linens were pretty cheap, as was the light blanket. But the furniture was nice. And hey, the TV got about 50 channel, and nearly a third of them weren't Disney channels. There's a little curtain for partitioning off the bathroom for privacy, and two sinks, so I could brush my top teeth over one and my bottom teeth in another. Or, if you had multiple people, I guess different people could use them at the same time. They even had an iron and ironing board! And a nice tub, in that it wasn't the weird molded plastic inset some places have, and had a little area to sit at the back. It looked like it'd work well for hosing off young'uns. I just used it for a quick shower (with Disney soap, natch) on my way out to...

Hollywood Studios

I decided to hit Hollywood Studios first, primarily because it was Extra Magic Hour that morning, and I would get there right about opening time. Also, I knew it was a smaller park, and I figured it'd be a good warmup for walking endlessly, as I am overweight (ahem, Pooh-sized with extra fluff) and sedentary. Plus I like the park, having been there before.

By the time I got through the bag check it was right about opening time. Perfect timing! Oh, and I took what was to be one of the rare few tram rides I was to take this trip. It being slow season, the lots were so empty you could park in the first section or two, and unless a tram was right there or obviously soon to be there, it was quicker just to walk, so that's what I and most people did the majority of the time. Anyway, park opened, and me without a plan or a map took off!

Now, I knew Toy Story Mania was new, and I knew that when Soarin' first opened the queues were several days long, so I decided to go there first. That was probably my best decision. In retrospect, I should've gotten a fast pass before boarding so I could ride it twice. I dawdled a bit on the way there, looking around, and by the time I got there I encountered what was to be the longest line of my trip -- nearly 15 minutes. Well, at least 10. I hung out with the Big Spud for a while, and he was cute and entertaining, so I'm glad I didn't Fast Pass and miss him. Then onto the ride!

Kinda reminded me of Buzz Lightyear at Disney, except you fire by pulling a string and there are five different sections. I managed to beat the 7-year-old I was teamed up with, though the mother beat me. (My score was about 135,000, which I thought wasn't so bad for a first timer.) It was fun, and about as long as I'd want it to be. Being sensitive to spinning motions, I'll point out that the cars do spin around some, not in circles endlessly but spinning you around to face different directions now and then. I got a bit motionsick, but only a little.

That would be rectified by my next ride -- Rock 'n Roller Coaster. Yeah yeah, I'm sensitive to spinning. And being upside down. Poor choice! But I rode it before and remembered it being fun. I was able to walk right on, practically, seeing about half of the pre-show and then watching a car or two screech off at the start. I accidentally let an un-Disneyified word slip out when I saw the car take off as fast as it did! Whoops. Being Pooh-sized, I wedged myself into the seat so that I wasn't going out even with the seatbelt, and we inched up, and then... well, we went really fast and spun around a lot and went upside down a few times and there was loud music and then we screeched to a stop, and my stomach was somewhere back in at the front of the line queue. It was fun! And the only upside down roller coaster I can ride without tossing my cookies (I know, too much sharing there) so it's not really a bad ride, and it's very smooth. But once was enough.

Already feeling a bit sick I decided to go to Tower of Terror, since it was right there. Again, I walked right on, admiring the cobwebs and dust and general ambiance. I have decided to make my own house a haunted hotel, to save on the cleaning! Ha. Except instead of cobwebs, it will be covered in cat hair, so maybe not. I'd been on the ride before, and it was a good amount of anticipation, but while the actual drop (and drop, and drop) made me yelp in surprise, it wasn't quite as thrilling I was remember. The fact that I've been skydiving since I last went may have made me immune to simple drops, I don't know. The theming and general experience definitely made it worth it and I do like the ride a lot, though.

There's more to go at Hollywood Studios, but I am tired of writing trip report foo, so I'll add that tomorrow. Or later tonight. Or sometime that's not now.

 

[heaven2dc]

RnR and ToT - my two favs! I rode both by myself last trip (DBFF couldn't do either ) but I screamed like a banshee in RnR (kept bouncing my head against the headrest and the teenage girl riding with me kept laughing -glad I could entertain her )

Love your writing style

 

[Harters2WDW]

Fun report!

 

[perriwinkleblue]

Secretly wishing I could run off without the family sometime and just run around Tom Sawyer Island like a manic 5 year old. Can't wait to read more.

 

[rosiep]

More please!

I have always wanted to go to Disney by myself.
And I will someday!

 

[the4princesses]

More please!

I have always wanted to go to Disney by myself.
And I will someday!

I'm enjoying your report. will you post pictures?
I just love reading reports with pictures!!