Solo Sipping around the World: A Wine & Dine, Run Disney Adventure (updated 12/21)

Nhebron

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 31, 2012
:welcome:Welcome to my trip report! While I consider myself a WDW vet, this was my first solo trip and first trip during Wine and Dine.

So many questions leading up to my trip....would I miss my boys, would I feel weird being by myself, how many grey goose slushes could I down during the trip?? And most importantly, would I get swept from the 5K???! :tiptoe: :confused3

But before I g
et to all that, let's start with the details.

Intro
This is me and my guys. We actually just went to WDW in August. I felt so guilty over going to WDW alone, I booked a short trip for the family in August!

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We are big fans of Disney. Animal Kingdom is my favorite park and Expedition Everest is my favorite ride (yes, I even prefer it over FOP!)..even in the rain.

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Trip Details

  • 5 days, 4 night trip staying at Beach Club Resort Villas
  • MNSSHP
  • Lots of wining and snacking around Epcot
  • Run Disney 5K
  • Tequila tasting and signature meal to celebrate


***Spoiler Alert***

I had an amazing time! Hope you follow along (and comment!) as I relive my solo adventure.
 
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Going to save this spot to add post links....may not be needed...not sure how long the thread will get or if anyone will stop by.

In the meantime, here
are some placeholder pics from Halloween.

We put a spell on you!


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October 31st aka Travel Day!!

But first, time for a Halloween parade. Travel day just happened to be Halloween. I wasn't going to be around to take DS trick or treating, but I wasn't going to miss seeing him in his school's Halloween parade.

He was so cute in his wizard costume and I really enjoyed seeing all the kids dressed up. As he was making his final walk across the parking lot, I ran up and gave him a big hug. It made me a bit sad to think I wouldn't see him for the next four days.

He knew I was going away and would be back on Sunday. It didn't really seem to bother him...although, he didn't know I was going to Disney (and still doesn't know!).

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After the parade, I headed to work. My flight wasn't until 8:35pm, so I worked most of the day before coming home to pack a few last things.

Loved using my new Disney purse.


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I left from my house around 5:30pm, which gave me enough time to park in long term parking and shuttle over to the airport. Check-in and security were uneventful and pretty quick. I was able to snag a first class upgrade for cheap, which made me super happy! What a way to start off my solo vacation, even if it was a short flight.

Once in the airport terminal and heading towards my gate, I finally started to relax. I was on vacation and free from the normal concerns of work and family responsibilities.


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Pretty sure I was grinning ear to ear and even happier when I found a wine bar in the terminal.





 
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And it begins...Time for wine - Vino Volo

I had a couple of hours to kill before my plane took off. Fortunately, I found a nice spot to relax and have some wine and small plates.

What better way to start a wine and dine trip then with a wine flight. The flight included a Chenin Blanc, a Pinot Grigio, and a Reisling (my favorite). Looks like I also sampled a red.

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For dinner I had a couple of small plates. One dish was an arugula salad. It was yummy but not filling, so then I ordered these salmon rolls. This was supposed to be a signature dish but I wasn't really a fan.

Looks like I also ordered a full glass of something.


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Despite the miss on the salmon rolls, I enjoyed the wine bar and was pretty content heading towards my gate.





 


Travel Day Continued

After my stop at the wine bar, I was feeling pretty relaxed and excited for my first class flight. Being in first class made the boarding process AWESOME. Shortly after boarding, I was seated and sipping another glass of wine. No pics from the flight. I didn't want to seem weird or overly excited (trying to act like I had been in first class before) but inside I was all like :dogdance: and yes I would like a warm cookie and nuts and more wine!

Flight was uneventful and since I only had carry on luggage, it was a quick process to get to my hotel. Since I was landing so late, I decided to stay overnight at the Hyatt located in the airport. Room was nice and clean but it was very noisy. The hotel even provided ear plugs next to the bed.

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After settling in for the night, I started downing LOTS of water. It occurred to me that I had at least four glasses of wine and not much to eat. I was a little worried about how I would feel in the morning. I had big plans to start the day off at Epcot and finish it with MNSSHP.
 
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November 1st - Time for Disney!

My alarm went off around 6:30am or 7am, can't quite remember. I do remember feeling "off"....not really sick or hung over, but just "off" and sluggish, with a slight headache. I took some Advil and tried to get myself together. I had ordered breakfast to be delivered and wanted to be decent when it arrived.

Food came but I wasn't able to eat much of it. It got cold quickly and I just wasn't very hungry. But it looked good. It was an egg scramble with chorizo and avocado (yum).


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I was moving pretty slow and decided to try and push out all of my fast passes. Originally, I had scheduled fast passes for Mission Space, Soarin and the Character Meet. I think the first fast pass was schedule
d for 10:20am and there was no way I would make that as it was already close to 9am.

I finally made it out of the room and down to the Magical Express. It was a bit busy and took longer to get on the bus than I expected. I was also still feeling a bit "off." Once I got on the bus, I ended up taking a nap until I reached my resort. I was super excited to get a text telling me that my room was ready! It was still early (like 10am), so I was surprised.

I have never stayed at Beach Club Villas before and I was so pleased. I loved it from the moment I walked in the building. There was a hiccup with my magic band, but there was a concierge in the Villas lobby who was able to help me. And when I walked in the room :woohoo::cloud9: I was in love.

***Warning***
Room pic overload

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Is it weird that I was super excited about the television. Both the living room and bedroom had these huge 4K televisions.

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And I must be a mom because I got sooo excited when I opened a door and saw a WASHER AND DRYER!!

I had booked a studio but this was a 1 bedroom. Guess I got an upgrade :tink:I did not complain.

After I finished squealing over the room (and taking pics), I started to settle in and think about my plans for the day. I had fast passes but only really cared about the Soarin fast pass...
I kept looking at this really comfy couch. My desire to nap outweighed all of my plans and I settled in. I found an extra blanket and snuggled up on the couch. What started out as a quick nap turned into HOURS. I ended up rescheduling my Soarin fast pass to 5:40pm and it was a struggle to get myself up for that. I also missed a wine tasting I had scheduled for 1:30pm. And I still had MNSSHP which started at 7pm. It was at this point I decided that I probably had a hangover and would avoid drinking alcohol for the day, so I could be ready for the rest of the week.

Oh this comfy couch..

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I finally made it out the door around 4:30pm.
 
November 1st (continued)

It was a struggle, but I finally made it off the couch and headed to Epcot. I don't have any pictures of the walk over, but it was lovely.

The Beach Club lobby was pretty hectic. I am not sure how I would feel staying in the main building. The Villas side was just so peaceful. I must have looked lost because a nice man in the lobby asked if he could help me. I was trying to figure out how to get to the international gate. Once I figured out which way to exit, it was a quick and enjoyable walk. The weather was perfect, maybe a bit warmer than I expected. I have never stayed in this area before (Epcot resorts) and all I kept thinking is that I must come back with my family. It was so beautiful and the pool looked amazing. I regret never making it to the pool. I guess that means I need to come back!

There was no line at security and the gate brought me in between France and U.K. I had a little time to kill before my Soarin fast pass and hadn't eaten much all day. So I was ready to start sampling a few of the food booths. Unfortunately, I forgot my list of booths to try so I just started walking towards Soarin and looking for booths that seemed appealing. I was still not feeling great and committed to not drinking for the day :(, which ruled out France for now. There was no way I could go to that booth and not get a grey goose slush.

So I ended up in Ireland. But first, time for a pic.

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And now some food. I love beer cheese flavor and this Cheddar Cheese and Stout dip did not disappoint.



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All of the food in Ireland looked good to me and I regretted not getting the sausage! I made a plan to come back another day.

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After Ireland, I made my way to Canada. This was the booth I was most excited about with the cheese soup and filet.

I actually don't have any pics of this stop, but I snagged these from the internet.

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I had such high expectations for this stop and I ended up disappointed. After the cheese dip in Ireland, I just wasn't as satisfied with the Canada cheese soup. I probably should have saved it for another day. The other error I made was to order the cheese soup and filet at the same time. By the time I was finished the soup, the filet was cold. It was tender but not very flavorful. The last time I went to Le Cellier and ordered the filet, it was so salty that I couldn't eat it. So I was surprised that the filet in the booth was kind of bland. I was also kind of uncomfortable eating. I was sitting on a bench next to people trying to juggle my food. I think all of this factored into this food stop falling below expectations.

After finishing my food, I headed towards Soarin. I didn't see any other booths that really caught my attention. All of the options were a little overwhelming to be honest.


 
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Love the Halloween pics! Your little boy is so cute!

I hope you were able to start feeling better - rough way to start your first day :( Hopefully getting some food in your tummy helped! I cannot drink wine at all - I end up with a pounding headache after more than one glass (but the wine flight looked delicious!). Hope the rest of your day ends of much better!

We haven't stayed at Beach Club Villas yet and were booked to stay at Yacht Club for end of October this year but plans got changed so now rescheduling for sometime in 2018. I love the rooms at Beach Club Villas! Was there a shower as well or just the bath tub? We might change our minds and book through a DVC member to get to stay in the villas instead.
 
Can't wait to read more of your solo adventure. Thanks for taking the detailed pics of the resort room... It looks beautiful! I hope you got over your illness quickly!

- Susan
 
Love the Halloween pics! Your little boy is so cute!

I hope you were able to start feeling better - rough way to start your first day :( Hopefully getting some food in your tummy helped! I cannot drink wine at all - I end up with a pounding headache after more than one glass (but the wine flight looked delicious!). Hope the rest of your day ends of much better!

We haven't stayed at Beach Club Villas yet and were booked to stay at Yacht Club for end of October this year but plans got changed so now rescheduling for sometime in 2018. I love the rooms at Beach Club Villas! Was there a shower as well or just the bath tub? We might change our minds and book through a DVC member to get to stay in the villas instead.

Hi there :wave: @heaven2dc Yes, I loved the Beach Club room and here is a pic of the rest of the bathroom. There was a separate area with a sink and shower and then a separate toilet area. It was huge.

Can you tell I loved the room...:love:

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I heard Yacht Club was really nice too and that the standard rooms are bigger than standard rooms at Beach Club. I think it would be hard for me to stay at a different deluxe after experiencing BCV. When we went as a family in August, I was on a tight budget and it was a short stay. We stayed at All Star Movies, which was adequate and my son loved it....but doesn't compare at all to staying at one of the Epcot Resorts!
 
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Can't wait to read more of your solo adventure. Thanks for taking the detailed pics of the resort room... It looks beautiful! I hope you got over your illness quickly!

- Susan

:welcome: @Susan R Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I actually did feel well enough to make it through the Halloween party...but spoiler alert, I actually still felt bad when I woke up on Thursday! And since I didn't drink at all on Wednesday, this was obviously not a hangover (which kind of made me feel better.....I mean who gets a hangover on day 1 of a solo trip to Disney??).
 
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Still November 1st - time for MNSSHP

After sampling some of the food and wine booths, I made my way over to Soarin. I don't have a strong opinion on new vs. old Soarin. But I didn't really enjoy it much this trip. I was actually pretty nauseous during the ride. Next I made my way over to Living with the Land. I have never been on this ride and didn't have high expectations....but I loved it! Peaceful, educational and inspiring. It also helped that I was sitting in front of two girls (cast members) that were super enthusiastic about the ride and talking about the Behind the Seeds tour. Why have I never been on this ride before??

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Love the idea of mixing agriculture with aquaculture.
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After the ride, I made my way to the exit. But first some more pics.

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Hi!!! I didn't know you started a TR!! so happy you did!! Did I ever send you our pictures? Let me know and I will send them if I haven't! I haven't even begun to start on our Oct/Nov TR yet...that will be coming up soon. Maybe just will do a dining report for that since all we did was pretty much...EAT. And run the 5k, but for the amount we ate, should probably have been running the half, LOL.

Love your TR so far! Love that you pampered yourself with first class. I would totally do the same thing if it were just me. Hehe. AND YAY FOR THE UPGRADE! Seriously, your room is gorgeous. The Yacht Club rooms are nice but compared to the Villas of the BC, those are even more gorgeous. Love your bathroom, and the washer dryer is so nice to have! We've yet to stay in a one bedroom DVC...we haven't gotten upgraded from a studio yet, LOL!

Looking forward to more!
 
Hi!!! I didn't know you started a TR!! so happy you did!! Did I ever send you our pictures? Let me know and I will send them if I haven't! I haven't even begun to start on our Oct/Nov TR yet...that will be coming up soon. Maybe just will do a dining report for that since all we did was pretty much...EAT. And run the 5k, but for the amount we ate, should probably have been running the half, LOL.

Love your TR so far! Love that you pampered yourself with first class. I would totally do the same thing if it were just me. Hehe. AND YAY FOR THE UPGRADE! Seriously, your room is gorgeous. The Yacht Club rooms are nice but compared to the Villas of the BC, those are even more gorgeous. Love your bathroom, and the washer dryer is so nice to have! We've yet to stay in a one bedroom DVC...we haven't gotten upgraded from a studio yet, LOL!

Looking forward to more!

Hi there! No, I don't have a copy of our pics from the meet. Would love to see them. I am following your current trip on FB. What a celebration. Looks like a great time, with good meals.
 
I am still on Wednesday or my first day! I am such a slacker in getting this report done.

So to finally wrap up the Epcot portion of this day...I made my way towards exit, but first made a quick stop to say hi to some friends.

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I let Goofy in on my big secret.... my son had no clue I was in Disney without him. He promised not to tell.IMG_0165.JPG

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I thought about hopping in line to meet Joy and Sadness, but it was getting late and I really needed to make my way over to MK for the Halloween Party.
 
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IMG_0449.JPG Boo to You!

I hopped on the monorail and made my way to MK. MNSSHP is a separate or "hard" ticket, beyond your normal ticket or park hopper. With the MNSSHP ticket you can arrive as early as 4pm on your party day, so technically you don't need a regular park day ticket. I had a park hopper, so this really didn't matter. I actually went to two parties this year...once with my family in August and then solo on this trip. I really enjoyed it but it does take some planning. I think it is hard to do all the character meets you want, do the special Halloween activities (Hocus Pocus show, parade, fireworks, trick or treating) and also ride the headliners.

Because I was still feeling a little nauseous, I didn't make much of an effort to ride anything, except for Haunted Mansion which was supposed to be special during the party (and it was!). My focus was on seeing the show and fireworks, doing some character meets and finding the magic shots, starting with these:

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This agenda was really different than our party in August. On that trip, we got to MK before the party started so I could wait in line for over an hour to meet the 7 Dwarves (DS was really into a Dopey). There would be none of that on this trip! No lining up early and waiting forever to meet rare characters.

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I did decide that I should meet with the head mouse, all decked out in his Halloween finest and take some more photopass pics.

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I picked up my trick or treat bag and headed towards Tomorrow Land.

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There was a trick or treat line winding outside of Stitch's Great Escape. I have actually never been on that ride but heard it was pretty awful. The line for the candy was also pretty awful. I didn't even really want the candy. I was planning to take it home to my guys (except for any Reese's cups or peanut butter snickers...those were all mine!)

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After doing some more trick or treating, I made my way over to meet Lotso Bear or "Pop-Pop" Bear as my son calls him. The line was pretty short and I got a kick out of some of the costumes people were wearing. The family immediately in front of me was dressed as Disney treats: a Mickey waffle, Mickey pretzel, and an ice cream bar. I wanted to take a pic, but thought it would be weird.

Me and "Pop-Pop" Bear. I can't imagine how hard it is wearing that costume! I watched him waddle off for a break and he was struggling.

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The rest of the night was filled with fireworks (awesome!), a ride on the People Mover (one of my favorites) and watching the Halloween show in front of the castle.

Oh and I made it to Haunted Mansion...there were extra characters roaming around welcoming us in for a frightful ride.



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November 2nd - Animal Kingdom and Run Disney Expo

I woke up this morning still feeling a bit off and didn't get to Animal Kingdom as early as I planned. It was at this point I realized I probably had a bug or something and not a hangover. But I had a fast pass for Flight of Passage and my favorite ride (Expedition Everest), so I pulled myself together and made it out to the park. After riding EE twice (with no wait in the single rider line!), I made my way over to Pandora for my first ever Dismeet! It was great to meet @chunkymonkey and her husband. Always nice to meet fellow Disney fanatics!

I hadn't eaten anything yet and was curious to try Suli Canteen. I had heard good things about it but wasn't terribly excited.....but it was actually really yummy, especially the dessert, which was a lemony
cheesecake thing (sooo good).

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After a yummy meal in Pandora, I made my way over to the Nomads lounge for one of my favorites. I can't remember what it is called but there is watermelon and tequila(sweet!). I really love this place. I didn't eat this time, but the small plates are very tasty (wings, ribs, bread service) and the atmosphere is very comfy. It has become a must stop on my AK visits.

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I couldn't handle more than one drink, which was unusual for me! I finished up and made my way over to flight of passage (FOP). Even though I had lost a few pounds, I still needed an extra push from the cast member to make my restraints lock. I don't usually get motion sickness, but the ride made me a bit nauseous this time. Still enjoyed it though. I did need some help getting out of the restraints when the ride was over. I know there is a lot of talk about not fitting on FOP if you are larger. I am a larger lady but am pretty short (5'4). I needed an extra push on both the waist and leg restraints. And both times I ride FOP, I needed the cast member to let me out once the ride was over.

After riding FOP, I made my way towards the exit. I still needed to get to the Expo to pick up my bib for the 5K.

The Expo is held at the Wide World of Sports, a place I have never been. To get there, I first took a bus back to my room and then hopped on a shuttle from there. I don't recall waiting very long for either of the buses. I do remember it being very warm, almost hot....especially after walking the distance from the shuttles to the Expo complex.

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