Disney World solo? Let's do it! November 2016 Pre-trip report

[dav220588]

Originally Posted by klang_kat

Oh my gosh your plans sound amazing, if pretty intense! 8 parks in 8 full days; but then I guess the joy of travelling solo is that you can just totally please yourself and skip what you're not interested in at each park!

I love your Spreadsheet - nearer the time are you planning to make touring plans or just know what you want to do and work it out on the day? Different strokes for different folks, but I like a plan, especially when time is limited. (Plus, frankly, it gives me hours more of Disney geeking out to do before the trip ).

I've done Keys to the Kingdom before, though it was in 2008 so little while ago now. I absolutely loved the trip as did my mum who 'likes' WDW but isn't a complete nerd about it all like me. Getting to go into the Utilidors is pretty cool! I'd definitely do it again at some point in the future.

As for places to eat that have opened in the past few years, I'm probably not much help. For your Disney Springs night I suggest Earl of Sandwich for the Holiday Sandwich - quite probably the best thing I ate on the last trip!
There's the new place Skippers Canteen in MK, which I've heard good things about food-wise, but I don't know if I fancy only being able to do day-of reservations for it - I've become so institutionalised by the 180 day out ADRs haha!

See more...

Haha yeah they are a bit ambitious! To be honest there's only a few things I really want to do in some of the parks, if Mako wasn't opening at Seaworld and if I'd done Diagon Alley before then I'd have stuck to Disney and Kennedy Space Center only. I am swaying a bit on Universal because it's a lot of money for just one day there, but I suppose I also have the option to go there on my free day too?

Made a bit of a boob on my MK Fastpass plus options too, looks like Thunder Mountain is closed to the 19th November so I'll need to make sure I'm in MK on the 19th or 20th!

Great shout on Skippers Canteen I'm not planning on making any ADRs beyond Brown Derby (which I'm still undecided on because it's expensive) and Be Our Guest for lunch. I'm trying to go with more of a "free flowing" approach to eating out when I'm there because I'm not on a dining plan.

[Guest]

Your plans look great! We were there November last year and easily got Universal and Islands of Adventure done in one day. It was a Monday (14th I think) arrived at opening, stopped for breakfast and lunch, did some rides twice and were in Bubba Gumps having done the lot by 6pm. Was WAY quieter than Disney had been. Enjoy!

[dav220588]

Let me apologise for no updates in over a month! I had exams at the end of April and am just back from a family holiday to Mallorca (5 days of wandering around a sleepy seaside town was just what the doctor ordered after the crazy start to the year!). I'm actually going to Copenhagen on Thursday for a long weekend to celebrate my third anniversary with my girlfriend too May has been a good month!

So back to the pre-trip report! Since the last update a few important dates have passed -

My 180 day mark for the ADRs. As I said previously I wasn't planning on making any table service ADRs apart from the Brown Derby for the Fantasmic dining package and I'm happy to say -




I GOT IT! Hollywood Brown Derby is a new experience for me and I'm really excited to try it as one of my "splurge" meals (I think It'll cost around $80 all in with tax and gratuity).

The only other ADR I was really looking to make was BOG for lunch and I got that for the day I wanted with no problem at all, however I then noticed this pop up on MDE -



So it looks like I'll be trying BOG at dinner for the first time too! And on my last evening . I'd actually left that day pretty open in terms of plans but had originally planned on doing Fantasmic that evening. I'll now need to shift things around a bit to make sure I see it twice like I want to, but I love a bit of planning so I'm not complaining too much haha!

The only other update is this:



ANOTHER new experience! I've never been any later than September and I love DLP at Christmas time so this is definitely one of my most looked forward to evenings now!

I was a bit apprehensive about solo before but I'm starting to absolutely love the freedom it's given me now! The next 5 and a half months better hurry the heck up!

[dav220588]

It's still more than 5 months to go - although saying that it's been nearly 4 months since I booked already! - and I'm getting itchy feet. I've actually booked a few days at DLP at the end of the month to keep me going . I digress though. I thought it'd be a good idea to go through my plans in a bit more detail, I don't have a lot of pictures from Orlando so any of these have been grabbed from the internet somewhere!

Today I'm going to be looking at day 0 and day 1!

Day 0

This will be Friday 11th November which is the day before I leave. I've been swaying for a while on whether to book a hotel at Gatwick or not, mainly because I live about 40 minutes away and my flight doesn't leave until the afternoon on Saturday. I was having a wee browse and noticed the Premier Inn at the North terminal was showing £60 for the Friday night. I've booked it for now - it's one of those reservations you can cancel without penalty - and will probably decide nearer the time. I am thinking I might just do it though, it would make the travel day itself a lot less stressful and be a nice start to the holiday . No dinner plans or anything, I'll either eat at home before I leave or pick something up when I get there.

Day 1

Today I'll be a mix of nervousness and excitement. Nervous because I HATE flying but I refuse to let it stop me doing things.

My flight leaves at 1pm which for me means a 9am rise and to the airport by 10am. I've flown from Gatwick quite a lot in recent years and am probably going to stick to the trusty Giraffe or Wetherspoons for breakfast . Then bit of duty free browsing before a (hopefully!) on time departure.

At this point I've got a bit of a dilemna. There are currently 9 spare seats in the bubble, 2 of which are extra leg room. Some elements of the bubble really appeal to me (hopefully getting off quicker, quieter) but £80 return for extra leg room feels like a lot. Again I'll probably end up just going for it .

All going well I should land around 5:30pm and am hoping that means I'll be at Pop around 7:30pm - 2 hours seems reasonable right? I think I'll be able to use the automatic gates and it's just lil old me who can high tail it to immigration!

Once I arrive I'm hoping my request for a king size bed will be fulfilled but if it isn't it's not a big deal. I'll just use the other bed to dump my souvenirs on . Originally I'd planned on going to Disney Springs because that's our family tradition on the first night. Because of the relatively late arrival though I think I might just stick to the immediate resort area. That means either going to the Pop food court or, preferably, heading over to check out Art of Animation. I've been trying to get into photography over the last year too so this could be a good chance to get some night photos of both the resorts . I'll probably be ready to collapse by this point so I'll be heading for an early night as I have a big first day planned out, which I'll talk about in my next post .

Again, thanks for following along! It really helps me keep up the excitement of the build up to my trip by being able to share everything!

[Louisiana]

Just caught up with your report. I'm going to be doing my solo trip 11th-18th Nov at the pop as well!
Your itinerary has totally put mine to shame! I really need to work on it lol

[Guest]

Eek so exciting to hear your plans coming together! I can't decide what to do on arrival night either - I'm desperate to go to MK... but it's all well and good saying that now when I've not been awake for 23 hours isn't it!

[DisneyDreamer81]

I live 15 minutes from Manchester Airport but am still considering staying at an airport hotel the night before our next trip. I think it'll add an extra night of holiday excitement!

And you sound like me. Once I get an idea in my head, I'll pretend I'm not going to do it but will invariably end up doing it!

[dav220588]

Originally Posted by Louisiana

Just caught up with your report. I'm going to be doing my solo trip 11th-18th Nov at the pop as well!
Your itinerary has totally put mine to shame! I really need to work on it lol

See more...

Haha don't worry about it, I'm definitely at another extreme of planning. I just want to do so much I want to make sure I fit it all in!

If you need/want a park buddy for any of the days we're both there give me a shout .

Originally Posted by klang_kat

Eek so exciting to hear your plans coming together! I can't decide what to do on arrival night either - I'm desperate to go to MK... but it's all well and good saying that now when I've not been awake for 23 hours isn't it!

See more...

I'm the same! Last time I went with my family I tried to get them to go to MK on arrival night, but we were on the earlier flight and the parks were open later so I don't think a park night's such a good idea this time if I might only get an hour or so.

Originally Posted by DisneyDreamer81

I live 15 minutes from Manchester Airport but am still considering staying at an airport hotel the night before our next trip. I think it'll add an extra night of holiday excitement!

And you sound like me. Once I get an idea in my head, I'll pretend I'm not going to do it but will invariably end up doing it!

See more...

I totally agree. Not only that but travelling can be quite a stressful thing so I try and do anything to reduce that stress if I can.

Haha I'm totally going to end up just booking everything I'm swaying on.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by dav220588

I'm the same! Last time I went with my family I tried to get them to go to MK on arrival night, but we were on the earlier flight and the parks were open later so I don't think a park night's such a good idea this time if I might only get an hour or so.
.

See more...

I know, it's such a tough call. My flight lands at MCO at 1535, so I'm thinking in my room and valubles chucked in the safe by 1815, in MK by 1900? It shuts at 2100 so I can't decide if it's worth it for just a couple of hours: but then I guess I could hang out on Main Street and chillax for a while after the official park close. Ah, decisions.

[Louisiana]

Originally Posted by klang_kat

I know, it's such a tough call. My flight lands at MCO at 1535, so I'm thinking in my room and valubles chucked in the safe by 1815, in MK by 1900? It shuts at 2100 so I can't decide if it's worth it for just a couple of hours: but then I guess I could hang out on Main Street and chillax for a while after the official park close. Ah, decisions.

See more...

Im planning on heading to Epcot for the evening on my arrival day! I love the f+w festival.