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Old 27 Nov 18, 03:27 AM  
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kat90
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Kathryn Goes Solo (November/December 2018)

Hello lovely Dibbers!

After reading all your wonderful trip reports I thought I’d give it a go myself. Here goes…

(A note before we start: I’m already in Florida so this is a super super late pre-trip report I kept forgetting to post it! )

Cast

Me, myself and I.



So this is me ^^

I got this t-shirt on my trip last year, my love for Jimmy Fallon is probably bordering on an unhealthy obsession.

A little bit about myself, I’m Kathryn, I’m 28 and I live in the good ol’ North East. This will be my 9th≈trip to Orlando. I’ve been on 5 family trips between 1997 and 2003, then 2015/16/17 just me and my mam (I’m not sure she’ll ever forgive me for booking this trip without her). My favourite parks are definitely Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure (I know, I know), but Disney does have my favourite ride ever, Haunted Mansion.≈

The trip

I did my first solo trip last year to Los Angeles and Washington DC. I’d always wanted to visit both, especially Washington DC as I’m a really interested in US history/politics, but it’s not somewhere any of my family or friends ever fancied going. So instead of missing out I thought ≈≈≈≈≈≈ them lot, I’ll go myself!

Well it was amazing! I had the absolute best time and loved every minute of it. It was great to be able to do what I wanted when I wanted. I’m very independent and happy in my own company so I didn’t miss having a travel buddy. After that holiday I made the decision to do at least one solo trip a year.

So fast forward to the beginning of this year and I started thinking about where I’d like to go for my solo trip 2018. My first idea was San Francisco with maybe a few nights in New York thrown in, but this was outrageously expensive when I priced it up. So I thought why not go to my favourite place in the world, Florida! 10 nights in Orlando actually worked out cheaper, which is insane!

I’ve been to Orlando twice in November and really like that time of year. We usually go at the beginning of the month but I wanted to try a little later to make the most of the Christmas decorations. I also wanted to make sure I missed Thanksgiving week so I settled on the last week of November and first week of December for 10 nights. This is the best time of year to get holidays at work and an added bonus is when I get back there’s only 2 weeks until we close for Christmas. Perfect!

Flights

We usually fly direct from Manchester, but I live 20 minutes from Newcastle airport so I thought I’d see if there was an indirect flight I could get from there. Turns out at that time of year the only way is to fly to Heathrow, transfer to Gatwick then on to Orlando. I didn’t fancy transferring between airports, it’d stress me out too much especially if the flight was delayed!

I’d read on the Dibb about BA fly drives so thought I’d check that out. I found a really great price for EDI-LGW-MCO. I’d never considered Edinburgh airport before, but turns out it’s actually closer to my house than Manchester airport, so good news all round. It was also A LOT cheaper to book it for 11 nights instead of 10. It wasn’t a hard decision to extend my trip by a day!

So the final plan is flying from Edinburgh on Sunday 25th November with a 3-hour layover at Gatwick then on to Orlando. Same route on the way back leaving MCO Thursday 6th December and getting back into Edinburgh the next day.

Accommodation

On our trip last year, we stayed at the Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando. We’d had a great stay there so I knew that was where I wanted to stay on my solo trip. I booked my hotel before my flight and as I’d originally planned to go for 10 nights I booked 26th November - 6th December. It was only £45 a night with a £10 deposit! Bargain! After I’d booked my flights I added another night on for the 25th.

After reading all the onsite trip reports on the Dibb it made me desperate to stay on site, even if it was just for one night. I thought it might be out of my budget, but I found a great deal for Pop Century. I ended up treating myself to two nights instead of one, so I can stay in that Disney bubble for a little while longer.

Epcot has evening EMH on my check in day, and Magic Kingdom evening EMH the next day,≈so I’m hoping to make the most of those. I’ve never done EMH so not really sure what to expect. I hope they’re worth it!

Since my Edinburgh flight is at 7:05am I thought it best to book an overnight at the airport as a 2 1/2-hour drive in the early hours of the morning didn’t seem like fun. I found a great hotel and airport parking deal through Holiday Extras, so I’m staying at the Holiday Inn near the airport the night before. This will definitely help with the 4am start!

Transport

I’ve booked the cheapest option that came with the BA fly drive which is an economy (Ford Fiesta or similar) which will be plenty big enough for little old me. It’s with Avis so I followed Dibb advice (you guys are the best) and signed up the Avis Preferred Programme so that I can head straight to the garage when I get to MCO.

For my two nights onsite I’m going try using the Disney transport. I’m planning on doing EMH so this should hopefully better than trying to get back to the car nearly midnight. We used Disney buses a few times last year to get from park to park instead of driving and had some really long waits, especially when we tried to get from Hollywood Studios to Magic Kingdom. I think we ended up waiting about 40 minutes and only 1/3 of the people waiting could actually get on the bus when it finally came as the queue it was so big! Hopefully I’ll have better luck this time.

Tickets

I’d originally planned to buy 14 day Disney and 14 day Universal tickets but my mam mentioned she’d like to go back next year so we’ve tentatively planned in early May. As this’ll be less than a year later, it worked out cheaper to get Annual Passes for both Disney and Universal. This also gives me the perfect excuse to fit in another solo trip next year!

I’d seen a lot of threads about Annual Pass upgrade prices and costs seem to differ so I’ve just bought them both direct from Disney/Universal. I’ve gone for the Preferred pass at Universal so I can make the most of the free parking.


Food

There’s a couple of new places I want to try on this trip, specifically Blaze Pizza and Chef Art’s Homecomin’. I’ve read about them both in a lot of trip/dining reports and they look amazing! So they are both definitely on the list. I also want to try Planet Hollywood, Yak & Yeti (probably just the QS), Casey’s Corner, D-Luxe Burger, Morimoto Asia and Wolfgang Puck Express if I can fit them all in. Everywhere else I want to eat at I’ve been before like Cheesecake Factory, Earl of Sandwich, Outback, Longhorn and Olive Garden but the food is so good I can’t not go back!


I’ve also been dreaming about the waffles from Keke’s ever since our trip last year so I’ve got a few breakfasts planned in for there.



I mean look a this ^^ 


I haven’t made any ADR’s as I don’t want to be worrying about getting to a restaurant for a certain time. Knowing me I’ll end up completely loosing track of time, missing my reservation and get charged the no-show fee. I’m hoping as I’m on my own I’ve got a better chance of them being able to squeeze me in somewhere. This also gives me the option to change my plans a little.

Itinerary

I must have re-done this about a million times, but I think I’ve finally settled on an itinerary. I don’t usually plan very much, but as I’m going solo I want to try and cram in as much as possible, also I get really bored sitting around so I’ve made sure to plan something in for every day. There are a few days that I could switch around if needed, or if it all ends up being too much and I need a well deserved rest day!

Sunday 25th November
Travel day

Monday 26th November
Universal Studios / Islands of Adventure

Tuesday 27th November
Check in to Pop Century / Animal Kingdom / Epcot

Wednesday 28th November
Hollywood Studios / Magic Kingdom

Thursday 29th November
Check out of Pop Century / Visit hotels / Epcot

Friday 30th November
Islands of Adventure / Universal Studios

Saturday 1st December
Shopping / Hollywood Studios

Sunday 2nd December
Disney Springs / Animal Kingdom

Monday 3rd December
Universal Studios / Islands of Adventure

Tuesday 4th December
Magic Kingdom / Epcot

Wednesday 5th December
Animal Kingdom / Hollywood Studios

Thursday 6th December
Islands of Adventure / Universal Studios / Travel home

Hopefully it should be fun filled trip. I’ve just got to remember to take plenty photos and plenty notes!
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Old 28 Nov 18, 05:38 AM  
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Taffy1959
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Hope you’re having a fantastic time
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Old 28 Nov 18, 02:38 PM  
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Jaspercat10
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Looking forward to reading along have a great time x
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Old 3 Dec 18, 11:07 AM  
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margyloveswdw
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Sounds like a fab trip you have planned/are having
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