One Solo Day- HELP! EPCOT? DHS?

Just stayed at The Swan in December and love being in that area with so much ease getting to EPCOT and DHS. I'm an EPCOT girl thru and thru and love to end my evenings there, regardless of where I've been during the day... even if it is just for a stroll around WS. So EPCOT would be my recommendation.

Hope you have a wonderful trip.
 
I did book a room at the Dolphin so good to hear all the positive support here for that! It does seem like the perfect location for my solo day, especially with high prices and limited availability at the Disney Resorts in that specific area.
 
I wanted to circle back and say THANK YOU to everyone for your help and info. My solo day yesterday was wet and exhausting but also amazing! I realized last week that there was EMH at DHS yesterday morning and I would be eligible since I was at the Dolphin. Soooo.....

I bought a hopper and made it DHS right around 8am (no small feat since I arrived at the Dolphin the night before at 11:30pm and I was on west coast time so my body was NOT ready for a 6:30am EST wake up!). Rode Slinky Dog Dash (LOVED IT) and poked around Toy Story land a little bit. I didn't ride TSMM since my understanding is its the same at DCA. I love TSMM but didn't seem like a good use of my time since standby was showing 50 min (and it was still during EMH). I thought about riding Alien Swirling Saucers but the line was crazy for that too and I didn't want to take the time. I wanted to ride Rockin Roller Coaster since its unique to DHS so I headed over there instead and did single rider. Enjoyed that one as well. Decided to walk around DHS a bit- the park was just opening at this point- just to sight see and standby for Star Tours was only 15min so I decided to ride. I like the outside queue area better than the one at DL. The ride itself was, of course, the same. Lately at DL I only seem to get the Last Jedi/Crait sequence on ST so I was happy to get the Kashyyk/Naboo storyline this time.

After walking around a bit more (and the rain getting a bit more persistant) I decided that was enough of DHS and headed for Epcot (about 10am). I did take the boat because of the rain- I really liked the boat as a means of getting from one place to the other. WS wasn't really open yet (it was a little after 10am) so I decided to hit the rides. The rain was pretty serious now and I was soaked but still enjoying things. I made my way through all the rides in Epcot by 1:30pm except for Test Track and Frozen Ever After. Really enjoyed all of them except maybe Journey into Imagination (sorry Figment fans). Test Track was down all morning/early afternoon due to the rain which finally cleared up around 1:30-2pm. They started running test vehicles around this time and a huge line began to form in anticipation of the opening. But lucky me, I had snagged a FP+ earlier in the week for 4:40-5:40pm and it was looking promising that I would still get to ride. So I wandered part of the world showcase and did standby for FEA until my FP+ time. I thought FEA was adorable. My DD7 would have LOVED IT (and probably DD9 and DD13 too though they wouldn't have admitted it). Then back to TT for my FP time. I really really enjoyed TT. I've heard people say RSR at DCA (which is a similar ride mechanism but obviously different themeing) is better but I think I love them both equally. They're just really different rides when it comes to the story aspect. I really enjoyed the "story" for TT and thought it was very well done- and RSR is too!

Wandered back around the rest of the WS and some of the Festival of the Arts booths. Realized that I was hitting the America Gardens Theatre right around 6:30 which was perfect for the 6:45pm performance of the Disney on Broadway series which I had originally planned to see but almost forgot about. They had just opened the seating when I walked up and I got a great seat about halfway back in the middle. Heidi Blickenstaff and Gavin Lee were amazing and I was very happy I had managed to catch a performance after all.

Afterwards I continued to wander around WS and completed my loop before finally grabbing a spot on the UK-France bridge for IllumiNations. This ended up being a little suboptimal because there was a decent wind blowing all the smoke and ash from the show directly at us. I had realized this was probably going to happen but decided I still wanted to stay there so I'd be close to the exit for the boat back to the Swan/Dolphin as I had to go get my car and leave for a non-WDW area hotel for the night (for my conference). I enjoyed IllumiNations but not as much as I'd hoped. Still, I'm glad I saw it before its gone.

So all in all a VERY successful day (in my opinion) with a taste of DHS and a great full day at Epcot. 10.5 miles of walking later I was pretty exhausted but so happy I'd done it. I really loved Epcot- more than I expected to- and hope I can make it back with the kids and DH soon. I really like the location of the Dolphin and would definitely stay in that area again (though not sure how well the Dolphin itself will work for a family a 5 as the general rooms seem to only accommodate 4?).

And now I'm eyeing that Disney After Hours at Animal Kingdom on Wednesday night....hmmm..... should I? Just to get a little taste there too?
 
Sounds like you had a great day! And I would totally do after hours, you know for future planning purposes. Not to have fun or anything:)
 


I wanted to circle back and say THANK YOU to everyone for your help and info. My solo day yesterday was wet and exhausting but also amazing! I realized last week that there was EMH at DHS yesterday morning and I would be eligible since I was at the Dolphin. Soooo.....
Thanks for coming back with an update. I am heading there for conference/solo visit in a few days and looking so forward to it. I'm also contemplating doing DAH, so I just have to know....did you?
 


Thanks for coming back with an update. I am heading there for conference/solo visit in a few days and looking so forward to it. I'm also contemplating doing DAH, so I just have to know....did you?

Just got back from the event a little bit ago. I thought it was fantastic and made a great first trip to DAK for me. FoP is an incredible ride. I rode it twice but could have ridden even more as it was basically a walk on, as was everything else. I also really enjoyed Rivers of Light and EE. This was the perfect way for me to ride everything at Animal Kingdom with minimal stress and only being able to go in the evening anyway due to a conference. I would not hesitate to do something like this again solo.

That said, I am less sure I could justify it if the whole family was here. ~$650 is a lot of $$ for a few hours even if premium rides are easy to get on.
 
I’d definitely choose Epcot for a solo day. Swan/Dolphin would be an excellent choice based on location.
 
That said, I am less sure I could justify it if the whole family was here. ~$650 is a lot of $$ for a few hours even if premium rides are easy to get on.

Completely agree. I decided to book DAH at MK for tonight, simply because I’ll be solo and staying on the monorail so I figured now or never! I couldn’t justify bringing my family, specifically because my kids are little and asleep by 8pm so this seems like fate for me to go solo. Glad you enjoyed your night!
 
Completely agree. I decided to book DAH at MK for tonight, simply because I’ll be solo and staying on the monorail so I figured now or never! I couldn’t justify bringing my family, specifically because my kids are little and asleep by 8pm so this seems like fate for me to go solo. Glad you enjoyed your night!

Have fun! It’s kinda nice to be able to do whatever YOU want and not have to worry about someone having to go potty, not wanting to go on a ride everyone else wants to, needing a snack etc.
 

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