My first solo trip to Orlando was for work. I was there for a project with a team, and during our down days, they just wanted to hang out at the hotel pool bar all day. One of them, a mom, had just ”endured“ going during the summer with her overheated, cranky, exhausting family and vowed never to visit WDW again. The others were just more into cocktails and downtime.
So I hung out with them for a bit but then decided I wasn’t going all the way to Orlando and not stepping foot into WDW, especially as a former DL CM and Parks fan. So I went by myself, enjoyed it so much, I converted my ticket to an AP and the rest was history.
Now I do like traveling with friends. But my friends are married, or are teachers on limited salaries, or have any number of reasons why our travel styles aren’t compatible. My best friend who is a Disney fan likes to skimp. He’ll pick an Airbnb 20 miles away, pack a bowling-ball heavy bag with sandwiches, snacks, water, etc. that I will end up lugging half of, and tends to skip eating otherwise (with maybe one QS or sit down meal on occasion). It’s perfectly fine, we have fun, we both like the parks, it works for his budget. He tours slowly and does a lot of social media which slows down the trip.
It’s the cheapest way to do Disney and I don’t entirely mind it. We’re going to only get to do half the things I want, but I learn to slow down and focus on the little aesthetic things and being more creative. And appreciate quality time with my friend. Oh and he wakes up late so we will never arrive until it’s really crowded each day.
But it’s not my natural style, which is to stay at a moderate hotel on property or at least nearby, to have a a good restaurant meal every day or two, and plentiful snacks in between, and get on my favorite rides. And spend money without feeling guilty about it (he would consider souvenirs to be rip offs, I disagree). So I will go with him, but solo also works well for me, for now!
