Thanksgiving Part II - The Solo trip strikes back (RL Updated 12/23)

[Stacybaeasm]

Greetings everyone!! Welcome to my new trip report. This one will follow my solo adventures for Thanksgiving week 2025. Once again, I stayed at Pop Century for the trip. First up, introductions (for anyone new to my reports.)


That's me -Stacy. This was a solo trip with only very occasional visits from others. If you followed my May trip report, you know that others visiting adding some stress. The goal for this trip was to relax and just "do me." And after a very long semester, I needed that. Some quick facts about me:
Favorite Park - Magic Kingdom
Favorite Ride - Guardians of the Galaxy
Favorite Princess - Belle (she reads!!!)
Favorite overall character - The Evil Queen! (My students are pretty sure I AM the Evil Queen and they aren't wrong, although I have no illusions I am the fairest in the land.)

Once again, I had some goals for this trip, especially since I considered this to be the make-up trip for the make-up trip (May) that was a make-up trip (last Thanksgiving) for the initial half bummer of a trip (Scotty's wedding where I was sick). That's a lot of making up to do!!! Anyway - goals and plans. First and foremost - continue the trend of relaxing on these trips. I am too old and fluffy to be commando any more so I wanted to allow for pool/nap breaks, lazy evenings, or late mornings as I chose. Other plans: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (done MY way this time); Hollywood and Vine for Fantasmic dining; Crystal Palace for Thanksgiving (with Caroline); seeing Scotty and Stephen (separately and I'll explain that later); going to the first day of Festival of the Holidays; and seeing Drawn to Life (the Cirque show) for the very first time. Of course, I had Lightning lanes for rides, plans for snacks and quick service and drinks, and lots of items I wanted to shop for.

I spent most of the semester planning and dreaming about this trip. I was so excited and ready for the Disney magic to ease my tired and entirely too busy mind and soul. Did it work? Did I finally get the fun without the drama? Stay tuned and see!!!

 

[leebee]

I hope you had a good trip. My November solo trip was pretty much a disaster, one thing after another, and I almost didn't schedule a bounce back, I was so defeated... but you can't keep a Disney fan down, so I am booked for next November as a make up trip! We'll see...

And don't you love planning in "down time?" Traveling solo, I can get up and out in the morning on my schedule, head back to the resort mid-day, and still spend evening time in the parks. It's just amazing to do a Disney trip without throbbing feet and blisters!! Can't wait to read your trip report!

 

[Woth2982]

Followed along on your May Vacay but I dont think I commented! Joining in for this one!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Yay! I hope the make up trip was far more magical and filled with less drama for you than May!! Excited to follow along

 

[WWhitehead]

I'm excited to read about your solo adventure!

 

[DLo]

Following along, looking forward to reading more . Hoping not as much stress and drama as last trip !

 

[disneyAndi14]

I’m here following along! I thoroughly enjoyed my solo Thanksgiving trip, no need for a do over except I will definitely be back! I hope your do over was as wonderful as my trip!

 

[LoveToDisney]

What an awesome photo to start your trip report! I hope you had an amazing time and I’m looking forward to hearing all about it. I think solo trips may just be perfect for you since you love to do your own thing and have plenty of friends/past students to meet up with to keep things fresh. I think going at a cooler time will improve your spirit, as well, and hopefully refueled you to enjoy the rest of your busy school year.
PS Thanks for posting a link!!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I hope you had a good trip. My November solo trip was pretty much a disaster, one thing after another, and I almost didn't schedule a bounce back, I was so defeated... but you can't keep a Disney fan down, so I am booked for next November as a make up trip! We'll see...

And don't you love planning in "down time?" Traveling solo, I can get up and out in the morning on my schedule, head back to the resort mid-day, and still spend evening time in the parks. It's just amazing to do a Disney trip without throbbing feet and blisters!! Can't wait to read your trip report!

I saw that you were a victim of the shut down flight cancellations. I was so sad for you. I can only imagine how awful it felt. I'm glad you have another trip booked and can try again.

Now that I understand the concept of down time, I love it!!! And my body is able to do more because I'm not pushing past my limits. This getting old is not for the weak.

Followed along on your May Vacay but I dont think I commented! Joining in for this one!

Welcome!!!!! Glad to have you join in for the merry adventures!!

Yay! I hope the make up trip was far more magical and filled with less drama for you than May!! Excited to follow along

One would assume there has to be less drama with just me, right??? I mean, I can make drama for myself but that's to be expected I guess. Welcome. Glad to have you join in on this adventure.

I'm excited to read about your solo adventure!

Thank you! And Welcome! The great thing is that I do so much solo, it never occurs to me that it's weird to be myself (at least in some people's eyes).

Following along, looking forward to reading more . Hoping not as much stress and drama as last trip !

Glad to have you join!!! I'll say without too many spoilers - definitely not as much drama this time.

I’m here following along! I thoroughly enjoyed my solo Thanksgiving trip, no need for a do over except I will definitely be back! I hope your do over was as wonderful as my trip!

Welcome!!! I'm so glad your trip worked out. You certainly sounded like you were having a great time when we checked in. I will say up front that my trip was wonderful and I've already booked my bounce back for May (assuming I'm not leaving right away for summer theatre somewhere.)

What an awesome photo to start your trip report! I hope you had an amazing time and I’m looking forward to hearing all about it. I think solo trips may just be perfect for you since you love to do your own thing and have plenty of friends/past students to meet up with to keep things fresh. I think going at a cooler time will improve your spirit, as well, and hopefully refueled you to enjoy the rest of your busy school year.
PS Thanks for posting a link!!

Thank you! The photo pass they had out for the party were great! I'm not usually a picture person but at Disney, I'm all about it. I'm so glad you followed me over to this report. And yeah, solo trips are the way to go for me I think. People may think that sounds weird or selfish or like I can't travel with others, but it is what it is. I do travel with other people a lot for recruiting events at work and it's always fine. Maybe I'm just selfish with my Disney time. And I'm going to say - that's ok.

I'm so happy so many of you have joined in. Up soon: the drive down.

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Looking forward to this TR!!!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Love that cute picture of you! Can’t wait to hear about your trip

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Looking forward to this TR!!!

Thanks!!! And Welcome!!

Love that cute picture of you! Can’t wait to hear about your trip

Aww...thank you! As a fluffy girl, I don't usually love pictures of me. But a) Disney does a great job and b) I've entered the "I don't care" phase of existence. Thanks for joining the trip report!

 

[Chief Powhatan]

I don't think I have ever left you a comment, but I really enjoy your trip reports. Thanks for sharing another one with us.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Day 0
The Long drive down
​

Saturday was travel day. Since I moved to Virginia, I've found it so much easier and cheaper to drive to Disney. Sure, it takes about 12 hours with stops but I'm not fighting airlines and delays, I can take as much stuff as I want, and I have my car at Disney if I need/want it for anything. Plus - Buc-ee's!!! (Although, spoiler alert - I didn't manage to stop at Buc-ee's this trip at all.)

Friday I had 3 meetings at work that finished up about 2pm. As soon as the last one was over, I was locking my office and heading out. I wanted to get my car gassed up, finish packing, load the car, shower, and get to bed early. Of course, as the day went on, I started to feel a little tickle in my throat. On Wednesday, the chair of my department had gotten sick and ended up missing the last half of the week. And of course, he is in my office at least 3 times a day for check-ins. (The students joke that I am his unofficial assistant which is kind of true. But also, as the production manager for the department, we have a lot to talk about throughout the day.) I made sure that I had lots of cold medicine packed because I was NOT getting sick this time. I got the car loaded, garbage out, dishes done, all the things and then settled in to relax a little and head to bed early. I think I headed to bed about 8pm that night. And I'll be honest, as I was getting ready for bed, I actually wondered if I should cancel the trip. Between worrying about being sick, how tired I was from the semester, and the pressure I was putting on myself to have a great trip, I just wasn't feeling it. I sat on my bed for a few minutes and started looking at everything and wondering how much money I would lose if I just didn't go. It was the weirdest emotional place to be the night before leaving. Eventually, I just decided that I was going to Disney. Period. If I felt sick or tired or whatever, I could just stay in the room or lay by the pool but too much money had been invested in this trip and until about an hour or so before this, I was SO excited to go. So, off to bed I went with the alarm set for 4:45am.

I was up before my alarm and quickly got ready. Drinks and overnight bag in hand, I headed to my car and backed out of my parking spot at 5:21am - 9 minutes ahead of schedule. The first little bit of my drive was pretty uneventful. Honestly, it was just me and the long-haul truckers out on the road. But as I was coming down out of the mountains, I ran into fog. It wasn't impossible to keep driving but I did slow down a little. The fog was pretty heavy and it reminded me of that Stephen King story "The Mist". I won't lie, I kept my eyes out for aliens emerging from the fog. However, I never lost my radio signal (that was part of the story if you haven't read it) so I figured I was ok. I finally drove out of the fog after about an hour and the drive got back to normal.

Traffic wasn't too terrible through VA, NC, and SC. About 11am, I called my former work wife from Lindenwood and we spent about an hour and half catching up. Honestly, chatting on the phone makes the drive go faster. Soon enough, I was getting onto I-4 West and there I hit traffic. WHY is I-4 always a parking lot?? And also, why do Florida drivers not realize that 2 cars can't occupy the same space at the same time?? Weave in and out of traffic all you want but I really like the front of my car attached to the rest of my car, thank you! And, as I should have anticipated, once I was on I-4, I really, really had to go to the bathroom. I had planned to stop at the Buc-ees in Daytona right before you get on I-4 but decided last second that I didn't need to. Silly Stacy. Luckily, I remembered there was 1 rest area about half way to Orlando so I kept my eye open for that. Once that stop was accomplished, I just had to find the patience to survive the insane Orlando traffic. But soon enough, it was my turn to exit and I was driving under the Disney sign. (The bad thing about driving alone is that I can't take a picture of that sign but you know the one!)

I pulled into Pop about 5:15pm so almost exactly 12 hours. I had gotten the room ready text as I was getting on I-4 so I was able to head to the right parking area and skip the lobby. I got a room in the exact location I had requested - Building 1 in the 50's section of Pop, 1st floor. My room was really close to the corner of the building so I was a short walk to the lobby and buses, right around the corner from the ice machine (which is super important to me), about 5 minutes from the skyliner, and a very short walk to the Bowling Pin pool. Woo hoo!! I had used the chat feature on the Disney website in late September to put in a room request and that worked better than the Touring Plans request in May so I think I'll keep with that for the next trip. I found an abandoned luggage cart by parking so I quickly grabbed that and unloaded my car. I also sent a quick text to Scotty to see if he was able to have dinner that night. He said yes and he was on his way. I returned the luggage cart to Bell services and started to unpack while waiting for him.

Once Scotty got to my room, we headed to the Skyliner and over to the Riviera for dinner. We placed mobile orders (which we honestly should have done ON the skyliner but forgot) and then found a place outside to wait. Scotty got a burger and I did the pepperoni flatbread and a water. Because even though the temperature was lovely, I was already sweating. There is something about Florida that makes me sweat all the time (I know its the humidity but why does it bother me more than anyone else???)


After we finished eating, we headed back to Pop to drop off my leftovers in the room. We then went up to the Lobby building to shop at Everything Pop. I found a few things I was interested in but I've literally only been here a couple of hours. It is not time to buy yet. After that, Scotty headed home and I finished unpacking and got ready for bed. It was still early - like 9pm ish. But it had been a long day. Plus, I wanted to be up kind of early (although NOT early entry) on Sunday for Magic Kingdom.

Up next: Magic Kingdom and Beak and Barrel

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I don't think I have ever left you a comment, but I really enjoy your trip reports. Thanks for sharing another one with us.

Thanks for reading and following!!! I hope you enjoy this one as well.

 

[cassidy57]

I love your trip reports!! Beautiful picture you posted at the beginning of your trip. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I love your trip reports!! Beautiful picture you posted at the beginning of your trip. Can't wait to read more.

Thank you! Thank you!! I hope you enjoy this report as much as I enjoyed my trip!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Being able to drive to WDW does sound more delightful than dealing with flying honestly. I wish it didn't take so long to get there from Chicago! One week from today, I should be lounging at the Hippy Dippy Pool with my first Petals cocktail right about now. I CAN. NOT. WAIT!!!!!

Glad you had an uneventful drive down and a nice dinner to wrap up day 0!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Being able to drive to WDW does sound more delightful than dealing with flying honestly. I wish it didn't take so long to get there from Chicago! One week from today, I should be lounging at the Hippy Dippy Pool with my first Petals cocktail right about now. I CAN. NOT. WAIT!!!!!

Glad you had an uneventful drive down and a nice dinner to wrap up day 0!

For me - driving is SO much better. My time table, no delay worries, not crammed in with eleventy billion new friends, and I can take how ever much I want (as long as it fits in the car.) This has also saved me money on things like water and snacks because I take a case of water and pool/room/breakfast snacks with me as well.

I'm so jealous that you will be there in one week!!! What drink from Petals???

 

[MPD]

For me - driving is SO much better. My time table, no delay worries, not crammed in with eleventy billion new friends, and I can take how ever much I want (as long as it fits in the car.) This has also saved me money on things like water and snacks because I take a case of water and pool/room/breakfast snacks with me as well.

I'm so jealous that you will be there in one week!!! What drink from Petals???

We drive from NC for many of the same reasons. I can do a two-week business trip on a carry on an a laptop bag. We fill my MINI going to Disney with two people LOL.

Totally unrelated to Disney - but I have a Virginia Tech connection. I'm on the board of directors of Historic Smithfield, the museum on the Tech grounds. It's a beautiful campus!