Unexpected solo trip turned out good in october 2016

[frenchieSteven]

Hello everyone and welcome here for my second trip report of my second time in Disneyworld.
I know this introduction may be wordy so I'm going to try to limit a few things.
My name is Steven, I'm 31 years old (still for a month and a half), if you want to know a little more about me I invite you to read the introduction of my first trip report (link in my signature), I will try to limit this one to what happened since and to explain the title of this report.
But before I go on with that I'm sure you all want to know who is talking, so here I am :

Back in Christmas 2014 I did my first trip in Disney World, it was a solo trip back then too, after those vacations I went back to France, and I wanted to write a trip report. So I started reading all other trip reports I could find here, and one marked me, by the style and the positivity of the writer, it was a girl who had done the college program and was back in Florida to work at Disney World, I discovered her trip report in february and followed it for a while.
After my trip to Disney World I was really in love with Disney so I decided to go in Disneyland Paris and bought an annual pass, for a year I have been there at least once a month, sometimes 2 or 3 times in a month, I was especially going when there was some pin events, like the pin trading nights.
In september 2015 I obtained my permanent residency for Canada, and I decided to move there in may 2016 because of things I had to do in France before that.
In november I decided to look back at the trip report of this girl I was talking about earlier, and saw there had not been updates in months, and I decided to ask her what was her life now because I had liked her report, and her facebook was in her signature so I sent her a message there, so we talked a little, became facebook friends, and that was all, not much to say at that time.
May 2016 arrived, and I hadn't talk to her since that time, just saw once in a while what she posted on facebook, and one week before I left for Canada I saw her posted that she had just quitted her job, so I decided to take some news, it was the 12th of may and we started to talk almost everyday since that day. Very quickly being both Disney fans we talked about the possibility of doing a Disney trip together, I knew that now that I was in Canada it would be easier for me to go to Disney World, and she missed it (she had to live Florida to go back living with her parents).
So we finally decided on dates, it was going to be from 11th to 18th october. Our flights were supposed to arrive with only 1 hour of difference in Orlando the evening of the 11th, and left at only 15 minutes of difference around noon the 18th october.
On my first trip I was staying off site so I had decided that this time I wanted to do a Disney resort, so I said that anyway I wanted to go even if I had been alone so I was paying for the room.
But talking that much to her I ended up falling in love, I won't tell you much about her but she is the most wonderful person you could imagine, and despite not having met her I had feelings for her stronger than any feelings I ever had before. And she liked me a lot too, but not imagining being able to love someone she had never met, and she was seeing someone at that time. So I complicated the situation with my feelings, and though she wanted to meet me because we had a natural connection and she wanted to go to Disney she couldn't do it because of the man she was seeing. And how could I blame her, it was totally understandable.
So that's how this trip turned out to be a solo one (just one hour before I was on the plane).
She regrets not to have gone on this trip, in her own words today when I was telling her I started this report : "I just so wish I had gone on that trip. One of the biggest mistakes of my life".
Because even if she didn't come we stayed in contact, and she still wants to meet me so I decided to go to Colorado for thanksgiving just so we have a chance to meet anyway, because that's the kind of man I am, and maybe it's true love so I had to do it to find out. But I digress from that report concerning Disney World, but maybe I'll let you know how it goes, because we are still talking about going to Disney together someday.

I stop a little with that novel, and back to the trip. Even as solo the main planning was still the same, it was a trip beginning with two days in Universal Studios and Island of adventures, and then one day in each of the 4 Disney parks, with one night at the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. I had a big budget since I wanted to pay for most of the things for two.

So this trip began the 11th of october, I had my plane arriving at 10pm in the evening, at least I didn't have to wait an hour for her plane to arrive, I discovered a good thing coming from Montreal, it's that you pass customs for the USA in Montreal airport, so you arrive just like an intern flight and win some time in Orlando, Since I arrived just after ten I had to take my luggage myself (what I had planned anyway to be sure) and went in direction of the Magical Express, I was excited since it was the first time. At that time there was not much people so it went quickly to check my reservation with the CM, and I was sent on a line and the bus was already getting load so no wait here that was perfect.

In the bus I saw those little kids that are so funny on the TV.

The ride was pretty short because I was staying at the All Star sport resort and it was the second stop after Coronado Spring. I had done the online check-in so it went pretty quickly to get the two magic bands, we both had chosen the purple one, and instead of our name we had decided to go with "forever" and "always" in the customization, I plan to give her her magic band when I'll see her in ten days, that way she can use her 4 days ticket next time she go to Disney World, maybe with me.
After that I went directly to my room and went to sleep after a shower.

That introduction was really wordy but the next posts will have much more pictures than words.​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Table of content

Introduction​

Wednesday 12th october 2016
Part 1 - Disney's All-Star Sports Resort
Part 2 - Universal Studios
Part 3 - Islands of Adventure

Thursday 13th october 2016
Part 1 - Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure
Part 2 - Disney Springs
Part 3 - Resort hopping

Friday 14th october 2016
Part 1 - Magic Kingdom
Part 2 - Still Magic Kingdom
Part 3 - Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

Saturday 15th october 2016
Epcot

Sunday 16th october 2016
Part 1 - Hollywood Studios
Part 2 - Star Wars and Fantasmic

Monday 17th october 2016 - 4 parks
Part 1 - Animal Kingdom
Part 2 - Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Magic Kingdom

Conclusion​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Wednesday 12th october 2016 - Part 1 - Disney's All-Star Sports Resort

Hello, like I said in the first post, I went to bed almost after I arrived, and I woke up early in the morning. My initial thought was to make the most of every day in parks, but I finally decided to not put an alarm to wake up and just do as I felt. But I always wake up early anyway. The plan for this first day was to go to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, I had a two days two parks ticket, because with the Halloween night there Universal Studios were closing early and I wanted to ride the Hogwarts Express between the parks. But like I said I woke up early so I began my morning by a little walk around the resort to take some pictures. My room was in the tennis part.

I must say I really love the theming in the value hotels, full of colors and those giant decorations everywhere. I'm not much into sports, but still this one was great, it's kind of being a small kid again and living in a land of giants.

And it is Disney.

So for my first experience in a Disney resort here in Disney World I was pretty happy, I had experiences before in Disneyland Paris, and there again the cheapest hotels are my favorite in term of theming, especially the Cheyenne.
After that little walk around the resort, I went to see the food proposed in the morning but I wasn't yet hungry so I ordered a Uber that was there in 4 minutes, it was my first time using Uber that is amazing, so much cheaper than taxis, and for my first time I had a lovely driver. And I was on my way to Universal Studios.

But that will be for a next post.​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Wednesday 12th october 2016 - Part 2 - Universal Studios

Hello. On my first visit in Orlando I only did the Disney parks, so this was a first for me in Universal Studios and what I was looking forward the most was all the Harry Potter things. But first things first. I started taking pictures even before getting in the park.

There is absolutely no pictures of me during the first two days, the first ones are in Disney parks with the photopass, there are three reasons, I don't like pictures of myself, I'm really bad at selfies, and I'm shy so I don't ask people around to take a picture of me.
When I entered the park people where stopped just before the Minion ride, only those with early access could go on, but we were allowed to take the path on the right, so I did, walked in front of the Terminator show that I thought I do later if I had time because not really interested, I saw the Delorean on my way.

And after that I was in the Simpsons area, I thought it was well themed.

It's fun to see elements from the show that you know even when you are not a huge fan.

So I decided that my first ride of the day would be The Simpsons Ride.

There was not a lot of people yet in the park so it was a walk on. I'm going to say it now, I'm not a fan of simulator like rides, and I thought there was too much of them in Universal parks. But I had fun anyway just with all I was discovering.
After the Simpsons I changed totally of universe with the MIB.

First experience here with the lockers, still not many people in the park so it was quick, liked the use of the fingerprint, though I would have prefered if on return you would just have to put your finger and it opens the right locker instead of entering the number, because during a ride I can forget that number. The ride was fun, though I was never sure if I had to aim for a special part of the Alien or anywhere on their body. And in the part where you face another group, like I said not much people yet so the one in front of us was empty.
I kept on going my way and arrived in front of the entrance of Diagon Alley, where the Knight Bus is.

I decided to go for a little breakfast before entering the Alley. So I entered in San Francisco Pastry Company and ordered a chocolate eclair and a chocolate chip cookie. After the eclair and half of the cookie I ddecided to keep the other half for later, so I wrapped it up into some napkin and put it in my bag... what a terrible idea, it got crushed and I found crumbs everyday for the rest of the trip sticking on my camera and everything I had in my bag. But with my hunger satisfied I walked in Diagon Alley.

I'm not a big Harry Potter fan, but I looked at all the movies just before the trip to be sure to understand everything that I would see here. So I was in the spirit, and I must say the theming here is incredible. I love the details such as this :

And the dragon is really well done.

I didn't manage to take a picture when it was spitting fire but that was an amazing surprising thing. I was waiting to see the little show at Ollivanders when it happened, just above my head, I took a picture just after.

As I just said I was going to see the show about the wand choosing its wizard, I liked this interactive thing, the little girl chosen for it was funny.
And of course I decided to buy a wand, I based my choice on the wand I had on pottermore, so a vine wood one.

It was not my favorite wand design, but the wizard don't choose the wand . I tryed a spell or two and then decided to do the Escape from Gringotts ride.

Once again too much simulator for my taste, it gave me a little headache. I walked out of the Alley, saw that the wait time for Hogwarts Express was an hour so decided to do a little more things in this park before riding the train. So I went to ride the Revenge of the Mummy, mostly because she would have loved it if she had come.

I liked how they use fire in the attractions, that's really immersive.
After that one I decided to go for Transformers.

And another simulator like ride... So it was now time for a lunch break and I wanted to try the Krusty burger.

I know that in the show the Krusty burger is known for being a bad product but I didn't think they were going as far in the theming, probably the worst burger I've ever eaten. I didn't dare to try the flaming moe (nowhere was written what was inside).
After lunch I decided to go back to Diagon Alley and do all the spells there was, no pictures of that but I filmed everyone of them, I still have to upload them on facebook and I'll give you the link. I mastered instantly the Incendio spell, and had fun lighting the building, but I had a really hard time with the Metelojinx one, it took me several tries, and by that I mean I tryed a couple times, then saw a line was starting behind me so decided to let the kid to and went at the end of the line for another try after, and I did that several times, and even with the help of a staff member in the end it had been a hard one. But did it eventually and moved on to the next. I really like this kind of things, it's a nice change from just rides all day long. After doing all the spell there I decided to go take the Hogwarts Express to go do the spell on the other side.
Once again the theming is great, seeing people walk into the wall is a nice idea.

And since I'm leaving that park this is where I will end this post, and I'll be back soon with more Harry Potter stuff on the Islands of Adventure.​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Hello every one, I didn't have the time to go on with this trip report, I should be able to do it next week end.
Last week end I was in Colorado, with a beautiful weather and friend, I hope I'll be back there soon, maybe for christmas.

​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Wednesday 12th october 2016 - Part 3 - Islands of Adventure

Hello. I have a little time so I'm going to finish that first day. When I left you in the previous post I was taking the Hogwarts Express, which took me to Hogsmeade.

Just like I was doing right before I kept spending time on doing the spells located all around the place. And then did the three attractions, dragon challenge, flight of the hippogriff and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

And then I left the world of Harry Potter for something a little more wild, Jurassic Park (do you hear that music).

I did River Adventure and I got just a little wet (but the day wasn't over yet).

I then decided to go on Skull Island.

Probably one of the longuest wait I had to do that day because no single rider line there. But that was okay. And I liked the ride. After that I change of universe once again and was in Toon Lagoon, nothing really interresting to me in this area but I decided to do the Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls.

Now I was soaking wet, and my shoes decided to do "splotch splotch" for the rest of the day. And I walked in Marvel Super Hero Island, and took a picture of all the big heros and villains.

I did The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, another one of those simulator like attraction.

And then Doctor Doom's Fearfall, not as funny as the Tower of Terror. And then The Incredible Hulk Coaster.

I don't think I've ever been in a ride with so many loopings before, but it was okay. Funny thing here though, I had been using the lockers all day, and it was great, but for Hulk the locker were not using the fingerprint but your ticket to get opened, so I opened one and put all of my stuff in it, and I was walking towards the ride a question popped into my head "wait how am I going to open the locker when I'll get out of the ride since I put my ticket inside?", because you know, you don't have to bring anything in your pockets in the ride... But it was easy to find someone to open it when I was out of the ride, I guess that must happen often at those lockers.
After that I took a break to eat diner at Cafe 4, nothing really exceptional there but when you are hungry any food is good.
I then went through Seuss Landing, just walk through it because nothing looked interresting to me.
And I finished my tour of Islands of Adventure with The Lost Continent.

I really loved that trident. It was starting to get late so I decided to do only Poseidon's Fury there. It was a nice show, and when I got out it was dark outside and the moon was almost full so I tryed something with my camera.

I really loved that trident.
After that I decided to go back to the hotel, it was a really full day, thanks to all the single rider lines there are in those parks I was able to do a lot and I was really happy of my day.
All the pictures I took that day are here​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Thursday 13th october 2016 - Part 1 - Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

Good morning, I don't know where you are guys but here it's snowing right now and it's beautiful.
This post will start describing my seconde day in parks. No alarm was set but I woke pretty early and since I add done a lot of things in Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure the day before I decided to take things slow so after my shower I decided to take a breakfast at the hotel and chose the bounty platter.

Everything was good but it was too much, lately I have been doing light breakfast so this one was hard to finish (but I did). And I took also the refillable mug for the rest of my stay.

Filled it with hot chocolate for this morning. After that I took an uber once again to go to Universal Studios. I started the day in that park and did Despicable Me Minion Maihem that I didn't have the time to do the day before.

After that I watched the show Terminator 2 3D. Then I went to the Woody Woodpecker's Kidzone.

And went on a bike to another planet.

After that I decided to go back to the Harry Potter World, and on my way I saw someone knocking on a door revealing something I missed the day before.

I decided to buy a pin representing my house according to pottermore.

After that I took once again the Hogwarts Express to go to Islands of Adventure. Back there I went for another picture of the trident.

Couldn't get it aligned with the sun though. I did some ride in Seuss Landing (the train and the cat in the hat) then I crossed the Marvel island and went to the Poppeye's ride.

And wasn't too much wet from it. Then I went to see some dinosaurs in the Discovery Center.

And I witnessed the birth of a new creature.

And now it was around time to lunch, I think I went to the burger digs. After eating I decided to go back to Universal Studios so I took the Hogwart Express once again, the time to wait is really less on that side and was able to see a different video on the train so it was a good idea. In Universal Studios I saw Shrek's show and then the Animal Actors show.

After that I had done during the two days everything I wanted there, so I started wonder if I should not upgrade my Disney ticket for an annual pass and start doing a Disney Park that day, but then I decided that I could instead go to Disney Springs which was not on my original plan and maybe do some resorts exploring, and enjoying the pool at my hotel too. So I went out of the park, and checking on Uber it was cheaper to go to Disney Springs than my hotel so that's where I went. And that will be for the next post.​

 

[Britbrie]

Looks like you had a lot of fun in Universal! Keep the updates coming!

 

[frenchieSteven]

Looks like you had a lot of fun in Universal! Keep the updates coming!

Thank you for reading, I will keep the updates coming regularly. Yes I had a good time in Universal but mainly because it was all new to me, otherwise it didn't make me feel as Disney does so I'll probably won't go back often on those parks on my next trip. Well maybe next time I'll go again if I'm not on a solo trip.

 

[frenchieSteven]

Thursday 13th october 2016 - Part 2 - Disney Springs

Hello. That's motivating me knowing some people read and like this TR. I think this post will be really light on text because like I said at the end of the previous one I was going to Disney Springs.

And while I was there I didn't really feel like doing some shopping, I wanted to keep my budget and shop only at the end of my trip. So I just walked around to see the new things since my last time there it was still Downtown Disney. But some things haven't change.

Some new stores looked good like the new Marvel one.

Or the Star Wars one.

But that's just shops. That new part is really beautiful though.

There's one shop I stopped by a little longer.

That's where I bought my very first set of pins almost two years ago, the beginning of a collection that went wild during my time in Disneyland Paris, I have now more than 200 pins. But as I was in this shop I didn't buy any, I think I'm done with the pins for now, I have enough of beautiful ones in my collection (though half of my collection is for trade).
Like I said it's a light post, after that little walk in Disney Springs I decided to go visit some resorts. But I won't spoil which one.​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Thursday 13th october 2016 - Part 3 - Resort hopping

Good morning. So at the end of my last post I was telling you that after my walk in Disney Springs I was going to do some resort hopping. For the first time of my life, on my previous trip I was staying off property and was really about spending most of daytime in parks, so this was a new opportunity. I decided to take a bus from Disney Springs and started my visit.

You recognised it, it's the Animal Kingdom Lodge, I wanted to see this one because I saw pictures of it on other TR and it seemed amazing and I'm an animal lover. I was really impressed by the theming of course.

But I was also really dreaming about what the view from those room must be like.

Seeing those majesctic animals when you wake up or before you go to sleep must be incredible.

I don't know if I'll ever stay there because for now I'm usually use the hotel just to go to sleep and spend the rest of the time in parks so it's better for me to be in the cheapest hotel, but maybe as I grow older it will change.
After doing a little tour around and filling up my cup with a soda I decided to go to the other one I really wanted to see after all the pictures I got a glimpse at.

Art of Animation, no hesitation if someday I have a family that's where I want to bring my kids. This theming is all I love about Disney, colorful and joyful. So I took a lot of pictures there, I won't post them all here but I'll give you the link to my facebook album so you can see it all.

Lion King is my favorite movie, so seeing those characters larger than life was really amazing. So I decided to go around see all the areas.

The Little Mermaid one.

Finding Nemo.

And Cars, with the sun starting to get down as you can see with the shadow. So I decided that it was enough and to go back to my hotel and enjoy a little swim in this pool.

By the time I was back to my room to drop my bag and take my swimsuit and go back to the pool it was dark and I think it's the first time I enjoyed a swim under the moon and stars, where I'm from it's usually too cold for that. So I relaxed and started to hear that the lifeguard CM next to me was singing for herself, so I got close enough to listen to it, music always helps me relax, and at some point complimented her about her pretty voice and so we spent some time talking, she was really nice, she was from England and was doing the college program, I wasn't able to see her again during the trip because the morning she had bought plane tickets to leave the next day and spend a vacation week in California.
After that I went to eat a little, I can't remember what, and then went to watch the end of Beauty and the Beast that was playing on the football field.
And that concludes that second day, far from what I planned but I was happy to had the time to visit some resorts and to enjoy the pool a little.
All the pictures of this day are here​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Friday 14th october 2016 - Part 1 - Magic Kingdom

I'm in the mood to still write more so I won't let you wait for the beginning of the next day, finally a day in a Disney park. When I planned this trip, I looked at all the opening hours from the parks during my visit and decided of which park which day according to the time they were opened the longest (with the EMH for example) because I didn't take park hopper with my ticket, so for this day it was Magic Kingdom because there was EMH the morning, and I had a ticket for MNSSHP the evening bringing the total of hours to be able to be in the park to 18. Well it turned out I didn't stay that long but almost, I think over 16 hours in the park, so a pretty busy day.

As you can probably not see on the clock, it was 7:10am when I got to the entrance of the park, so just 10 minutes after the beginning of EMH, not bad. My goal was to ride 7DTM first because I didn't have a fastpass for it, but I don't like to rush on a Disney vacation so I enjoyed the halloween decorations.

And the scarecrows.

And now I was in main street facing the castle.

For those of you who read the introduction and why I was doing this trip solo I must say that after moving to Canada I knew I was going to Disney World but I thought to plan this only for 2017, turned out the dates were working for my friend earlier and I knew that she would have been really happy to be in Main Street and seeing this castle again, so that's why it turned out to be in October this year instead of some time next year. So being there alone was a weird feeling, I was both enjoying it and a little sad to not be able to share it with her. But maybe it will happen, we are talking about trying to do this trip in march. So that will maybe be an all different TR then.
Back to this TR though. I stopped in front of the castle and took a picture of the partners.

And got some pictures of myself taken too.

I guess it was hard to smile more than that in the morning, but I promise it got better.
I continue my way to the 7DTM, and tryed to take a picture in the line.

But didn't manage to get all of the characters and since they keep moving it's always blurry.
After that ride I went to the back of fantasyland and stopped to take a picture of Gaston's fountain.

And then went to meet Ariel.

First interaction with a character so I was shy, I still don't know how to really talk to them. And after again Ariel with Under the sea which was a walk through line.

After that I decided to go on Peter Pan's Flight while it was still the EMH.

The new interactive line was really beautiful but we were walking fast in so barely had the time to play with the shadows. Then I just crossed the street.

I can't tell if I prefer this one or the one in Disneyland Paris, both are a lot alike. Then I went to see the Philharmagic show.

I'm not a big fan of 3D, because it doesn't work well with me anymore, it used to, I used to were glasses but I've had laser surgery and now I see very well but ever since I don't see 3D shows or movies as good as before. But it's a small inconvenient comparing to not have wearing glasses at all.
While I was around here I took a picture from the back of the castle.

And one of the princess Cinderella.

I often see in other TR people talking about their notes, I understand now why, it's been two months since that trip and I can't remember at all what I've done after that. It seems that I walked through tomorrowland, but I don't think I did any ride at that time. But like I said I spent so much hours in the park walking back and forth and doing so much ride that I will probably forget to tell about some.
Next thing I remember was going to Adventureland.

I decided to go on Pirates while there was still not too much people in line.

And since I was solo on this trip, I decided to do something I liked the first time the Pirate's adventure Treasures of the Seven Seas, especially after reading somewhere that now they give a card when you complete a map and another card when you complete all 5. So I went to do it all. Not at once, I stopped for the Tiki Room, I love the song, and I stopped also to eat lunch because I knew I was coming back in Adventureland in the beginning of afternoon for a fastpass on Jungle Cruise. I didn't have a reservation but I tryed to go to the Crystal Palace since I liked it on my first trip and I really love buffet. And they said only 10 minutes wait without reservation so I jumped on the occasion. And of course I got to meet Winnie and his friends.

It was not a great experience as I recalled it from my previous trip, the choice was limited but still it was good, and I enjoyed the deserts.

And I will stop this post here and keep going for the afternoon right on the next one​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Friday 14th october 2016 - Part 2 - Still Magic Kingdom

After lunch I went back to Adventureland to finish my quest for the treasures, and also got a fastpass for Pirates in the process, so it was a nice surprise though I rode it before so I didn't use it.
It was then time for Jungle Cruise with my fastpass, but I didn't take any pictures in it I don't know why. But I noticed that my english is better than two years ago and I was able to catch more of the jokes now.
I don't know why but it seems that I didn't take much pictures in the afternoon, luckily I have some from the photopass. Because after Jumgle Cruise my next fastpass was for meeting Rapunzel and Tiana.

She noticed that I was well dressed, so I answered that her dress was amazing. She was a pretty princess. Then it was Rapunzel.

She wanted me to take frying pan fight lessons.
After this encounter I had a fastpass for splash mountain, so I headed up that way, I remember booking the fastpasses that I didn't want to do it before meeting the princess in case I would have ended up soaking wet.

As you can see I'm not the kind who can let go the boat during a drop, I can only put my hands in the air in the Tower of Terror (because there even if you hold it hard the elevator still falls without you). I then decided to take a snack and since I've never tasted it before I wanted to try the dole whip, but decided to go for the dole whip float to have a full experience.

And it was good. As I was eating/drinking it I saw a spot where CM were giving the wristband to the people with a ticket for MNSSHP, so I took mine and got a first bag with some candies in it and the map for the party. But that's for later because it was not that time yet.
Now it was the time to the a show, Enchanted Tales with Belle. Second time I see it, and second time I wonder how this magic mirror works, but not wondering too much because in fact I don't want to know, it's magic.

I really love Lumière in that show, he is really well done. After that I walked in front of the Princess Fairytale Hall and two other princesses had a short wait time so I went in line and met first Aurore.

And then Cinderella.

She probably said something funny considering my smile but I can't remember what it was.
And then it was time to start the party, so I'm going to stop this post here and have MNSSHP in the next one.​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Friday 14th october 2016 - Part 3 - Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

Let's get the party started.
And to do so I decided to go back at the entrance of the park.
Took a picture of main street with the spooky colors.

And including the view of the castle.

It was a good idea coming back to the entrance because I was able to spot that sign.

And go where you usually don't to grab some candies and had my picture taken.

I was then on my way to Tomorrowland and stopped to take a picture of the moon again.

I walked into Stitch's great escape to grab the candies there. I then did the Carousel of progress, which I liked a lot, and Space mountain (maybe I had done all that earlier that day I'm not sure because I did Monster inc laugh floor too but I think it was during the day, or not).
On my way out of the area I had my picture taken with the castle in background (just like the one I used in the introduction).

I took a minute to look at the map and discovered that there was some pins going out for the event. So I went to Big Top Souvenirs and decided to buy the set of pins (I'll show you later I took a picture when I went back to my room). While I was there I decided to go on the Barnstormer because I never did it before, and I don't think I will again because my legs were kind of too long for it, it was not comfortable.
And after that I was on my way to see some ghosts.

I can play scared. And there was more.

She was fun, when she saw me she asked if a pretty bachelor like me could be interrested by a wealthy woman owning that big mansion . It's really fun to walk around there at night.

And when I got out I was able to see a colorful scary fog above the water.

I had now a reservation for diner at Be Our Guest.

It was supposed to be a diner for two so I had a hard time feeling confortable to be there alone. But I overcame that and enjoyed the amazing theming.
My table was in the ballroom.

I really enjoyed the view, it's amazing to see the snow on the mountains outside. I loved the rose/napkin.

I was a bit disappointed when I discovered my pictures that night because on the screen of my camera they didn't appear that dark.
That must be one of the only time of the trip that I took pictures of the food.

Diner with a candle, so romantic...
If I remember it right I took the Sautéed Shrimp and Scallops.

That was very great. And of course for desert, the main reason why I was here, to try the grey stuff.

It's delicious, and see that rose, that was beautiful.
After that fantastic solo meal I took some pictures around the castle.

And in the west wing.

After that I was able to meet the master. But just before I took a picture of the lyrics of Be Our Guest, or at least the french version C'est La Fête.

I think I know it better in french anyway.

It's intimidated how big he is. And I took a couple more pictures on my way out.

Beauty and the Beast became pretty important to me and was supposed to be the main theme of this trip if not solo. At least on my trip to Colorado last month I was able to dance with her on the street on the song Beauty and the Beast. I've never done something like that before, never danced with an amazingly incredible person before neither.
The diner was longer than anticipated and I missed HalloWishes. I looked one again at the map of the party, and saw something about a free card at the Firehouse Station, I didn't know what it was about but I when there and was introduced with the game Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. It was late so I didn't have much time to play but I think I will in the future, and I think I will like collecting the cards.
But before playing a little I decided since I was there to meet Tinkerbell, she had a wait time of only 10 minutes.

I have no idea what we talked about. After this meeting I decided to play a little at Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom so I was on my way to Frontierland.
That's where just before playing at two portals I was able to see the end of the Boo-to-you parade.
After trying the game I went for more candies and then decided to call it a night after I think now was 17 hours in the park.
And in my room I took a picture of my booty.

You can see there from left to right and top to bottom, the pins of the party (well the box at least), candies, not as much as I thought I had, I'll do better next time I have the chance to attend this party, the 5 maps and 6 cards from my treasure hunt, and the sorcerers of the magic kingdom cards.
And that was all for that day, all the pictures and a few videos are on my facebook, in an album here​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Saturday 15th october 2016 - Epcot

Hello. I'm not sure this day will be split in different posts yet because I have very few pictures taking that day. Probably because Epcot is not one of my favorite park, and on my first trip I took a lot of pictures of the different architectures from all around the world. So it might get wordy. A few week before the trip I realized it was going to be Food & Wine Festival, as I don't drink alcohol I was not really interrested by that and I like to have a big meal instead of tasting little portions of different food (except in a buffet restaurant), and I guess reading often things about drinking around the world doesn't help in me liking this park.
I arrived in the park at rope drop.

You can see the clouds are threatening but I don't remember about rain, I know there was rain during the week, on several days, but that is never something that bothers me much so I can't tell exactly when that happened.
As soon as the park opened I asked for some pictures to a photopass photograph. And luckily it happened as Tinkerbell was passing over.

And that's all for the pictures that morning, except for one in test track.
So let's start with a wordy part. After those pictures I headed right to Soarin' since the fastpass I took for this tier was Frozen Ever After.
I didn't have an exceptional memory of it when I did it two years ago but that time was amazing, so I guess the new Soarin' must be the reason why (though I really can't remember what was different before).
After that I decided to cross to the other side of Future World to do Test Track before too much people in the park but I forgot there was a single rider line there so it went really quick (nobody in that line before me).

It's a fun ride but as you can see it leaves me cold like okay I've been in a car before no big deal .
Right after I went next door to Mission : SPACE, took the orange line. I really don't like to be crushed, I think as I'll grow older I will tend to do the green one instead.
After that I went back on the other side and used a FP for Journey into imagination with Figment, not really any comments on this ride, fun but nothing exceptionnal.
Now without pictures it's a little bit blurry in my memory in what order I did the rest that morning, I know I did the short film festival, the seas with Nemo and friends, Turtle talk with Crush (I liked the additions from Dory), Living with the land, the Circle of Life, and a second FP for Spaceship earth.
And that was all for the morning. I ate quickly at Electric Umbrella and then was on my way to the World Showcase.
On my way there I stopped a little to look at the interactive adventure from Phineas and Ferb since I loved the interactive things in Magic Kingdom, but the need to use my phone when the battery is something that runs out pretty quick these days and that having not an american sim card I have to use wifi in the parks it was not something I was going to enjoy so I forget about it (and I don't know at all Phineas and Ferb, I'm too old).
So I kept going and starting walking around the world with Mexico.

Finally some pictures and a beautiful blue sky. When I went to Epcot two years ago (well in two days it will be exactly two years ago) I skipped all the attractions in the world showcase.
So I have to make up for it now so I entered this pyramid to ride with the three cabaleros.

Having seen this old movie not so long ago it was really fun.
It was not yet time for my Frozen Ever After FP so I walked right through Norway for now to go to China.

I appreciated the exposition about Shanghai Disneyland.

And I can't wait to go there someday (like many of you there is a dream of going to every parks).
And then I watched the show Reflections of China, really beautiful, some moving views made my head spins a little though.
After that I went back to Norway.

And finally got the chance to discover this new ride and wasn't disappointed, the animatronics looked really amazing, the only regret is that it's too short.
And that's over with the pictures. With the Food & Wine Festival the place was really crowded (it was a saturday so didn't help), so I walked pretty quickly around the pavilions, and I went to see Impressions de France.
I must say as a french it's really funny to see, I think the images we see are from the 70's or early 80's (considering the clothes and haircuts).
After that I decided to go for one last show, to discover a little more about my new country, O Canada. Back then the first scene was funny because I didn't have experienced the snow yet, that has changed in the last few weeks.
But it's a really beautiful country and I can't wait to explore more of it (between two disney trips).
After that I just walked around and back and forth, and rest a little on a bench.
I don't remember where I went to eat diner, probably nowhere important, or maybe didn't eat diner.
Anyway I left the park around 9pm I think.
There was a little more pictures that what I just posted, like for my other posts you can find them all here.​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Sunday 16th october 2016 - Part 1 - Hollywood Studios

Happy new year every one, I wish to all of you a lot of Disney magic and love. Me I ended 2016 and started 2017 in New York but my next trip should be one more time in Florida.
So before that I have to go on with this TR, only two days left to talk about so that shouldn't be a problem.
So that day was dedicated to Hollywood Studios, I was there for rope drop, and headed first to what are my two favorites attractions in Paris, Rock'n'Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
And I started with the musical one.

I'm not sure but I think I prefer the ride itself here in Florida, but the music in Paris.
Then it was time for a travel in another dimension.

And this time no doubts I prefer the one in Disneyland Paris which stays my favorite ride of the Disney parks I have done. First because in Paris it's actually an elevator, it only goes up and down, unlike in Florida (why would your elevator go through the hotel?) and also because I think there are more big drops in Paris, it makes you fly off your seat more, here I barely felt anything.
After that I had one other that I wanted to do absolutely because I didn't have the time on my last trip, so I went into the pixar area.

So you have guessed, to do Toy Story Midway Mania. I really loved the line, all those giant toys, kind of what you dream of when you are a kid.

And the ride itself is very good, much more than the Buzz one in MK.
And as I went out that's when I realized how small the park is now with the new lands being build behind that area. So I went back from where I came. And decided to go see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

I really like the songs of the Little Mermaid so always a pleasure to hear them.
The next thing I was going to do with a FP was the Frozen sing-along but I still had a little time so I went quickly here.

I'm really interested about Walt's life and vision so it was really great and I'm sure that I'll spend more time there in the future to get deeper.
I'm especially interested by his vision for the original EPCOT, I wonder how it would have turned out if the project had been carried on.
And now time to sing.

But before that while I was waiting at the entrance I managed to have a nice picture of the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

I didn't take any pictures during the show but I have some videos, that you'll find in my facebook album that I'll link at the end of the report of that day.
I really loved it, not just because I love to sing Disney songs but for the two narrators who are very funny.
I still had some time before lunch so I decided to go see some Muppets.

It feels kind of weird to go all the way there just for this show.
After that it was time to eat, I asked at the Sci-Fi Dine-in theater restaurant but the wait was more than an hour and when I'm hungry I can't wait. So I went to ABC Commissary.
After lunch I had a little time before my FP for Indiana Jones so I decided to go on star tours.

It makes no sense to me to see images of the last movie and Darth Vader in the same video, I'm not a big Star Wars fan but enough to know the timeline was all mixed up.
After that I saw Indiana Jones. And then it was pretty much anything I wanted to do in the park. But I stayed and kept myself busy, and you will see that in the next post​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Sunday 16th october 2016 - Part 2 - Star Wars and Fantasmic

Hello. So to continue the tale of that sunday, I think I forgot in the previous post that I did the Great Movie Ride too.

But I'm not sure if it was after Star Tours.
Anyway like I said I had done every important things there. So I just walked around, asked for some photopass pictures.

I was wearing my most discreet Disney shirt from Disneyland Paris, when I wear it at work no one can guess it's a Disney one, but I guess you will spot it.
At that time I saw the stormtroopers coming.

So I thought since I had time (the reason I was staying in this park was because of fantasmic) I was going to check on the Star Wars Launch Bay.

I don't have a lot to say about the Launch Bay, I don't even remember what I saw in the short movie shown there.
I liked the helmets and lightsabers displeyed in the lines before the meet & greet.

But was not really enthusiastic about the meetings.

Chewbacca was fun but Kylo Ren didn't impresse me much, I didn't really like the last movie so that didn't help to think of him as a charismatic villain.
After that I decided to rest a little and sat under some shadows in the main place. And soon after started the Star Wars A Galaxy Far, Far Away show.

I was a little far but still managed to see most of it.

After that I still had a little more time so I decided to go give a hug to Minnie.

And a hug to Mickey.

It's fun to see him in the magician outfits. After that I rest a little again and then decide to go grab a little something to eat before Fantasmic.
I had FP for Fantasmic so no long wait to worry about.
I took several pictures but it's always hard to have something clean with the darknsess and the water projection.

And that was all for this day. Only one left, but worth it you'll see.
The pictures and videos are all here.​

 

[frenchieSteven]

Monday 17th october 2016 - Part 1 - Animal Kingdom

Hello everyone. I'm now starting the report of the last day of this trip, because the real last day was just the plane back, so this one is the last day in parks. And there was one park left to do, Animal Kingdom.

And as I was stading there before rope drop I took a long reflection, since this trip turned out to be solo I didn't use as much of my budget I thought I would, and with Disney World birthday the annual pass was for 13 months, and now that I live in Canada it's not that far and on the same timezone so I was more than likely coming back as soon as I can, so I finally decided myself and upgraded my ticket to an annual pass.
I regretted a little not have done it directly in the beginning of my stay I would probably have done some park hopper before. But next time I'll be able to.
So now with my new excited happy smile on my face I walked in the park for the first time as an annual pass holder (and still annual pass holder from Disneyland Paris too, it was not expired yet at that time). And I took a picture of the tree.

The thing I wanted to do in the park was, like for Magic Kingdom, the interactive game, so I started my day becoming a wilderness explorer.
I don't have the book with me right now and didn't take any pictures of the badges so I tell you right now I wasn't able to collect all the badges, but almost, so I'll finish that next time.
My first destination was Asia.

I wanted to ride Everest (and all the big attractions) quickly while there was no big lines.

It's really rare for me because I always do thrilled rides but I felt dizzy after this one, but had fun anyway.
I walked from there to Dinoland only to find out that Dinosaur was closed. So I just took a little spin in Primeval Whirl.

As you can see not many people in that area that morning.
I then decided to cross the park to go in Africa for the safari. But on my way there I decided to stop a little for It's tough to be a bug. And took a lot of pictures of the animals in the tree.

I like that I don't have a great memory because every time I go to a show I rediscover it.
Like I said after that it was time for the safari. And here is a picture of a girafe obviously.

I don't know why I didn't take a lot of pictures, I usually do when I see animals. There was two badges at the end of the safari.
Then I walked around to see a sleeping gorilla (a badge to earn here too).

After that I saw there was a few badges to get at Rafiki's Planet Watch.

One badge required to pet some friends (actually cleaning your hands after).

And now I have a little part without pictures, I went inside to earn the other badges. And then took the train back to the main part of the park.
I ate quickly in DinoLand, then I had a FP for Festival of the Lion King, I was in the lion section. Then as I went out I have another FP for Finding Nemo, it was a really close call getting out of Lion King and run to be in time for Nemo but it worked. And I ended with my third FP for Kali River Rapids.
After that I decided that I had done everything I wanted to do here and it was only 3pm. So I made the crazy decision of trying to do the other 3 parks with at least one attraction to end the day.
And to prove it I wanted a photopass picture in each park.
So I went in front of the tree and waited for a few family to pass before me.

And I left the park. So I will stop this post here and continue a next time for the rest of the adventure.​

 

[disneyAndi14]

I have enjoyed your report, glad you had a good time solo. I am an AP holder to and do love the perks this year. It looks like you had many experiences in each park. Character meets are so fun! Isn't the HP area at US so immersive? Sounds like a good way to end your trip, hitting all 4 parks.

 

[frenchieSteven]

I have enjoyed your report, glad you had a good time solo. I am an AP holder to and do love the perks this year. It looks like you had many experiences in each park. Character meets are so fun! Isn't the HP area at US so immersive? Sounds like a good way to end your trip, hitting all 4 parks.

Thank you for enjoying. Yes the Harry Potter area is amazing, but not enough for me to really want to go back to this park, I feel so much more home in the Disney parks.