Trip Report All Alone in the World

Enjoying a late Mother's Day gift.

Husband and Son decided the best gift to give a harried mom is a few days away from them. To really make mom happy, they decided to send me to WDW!

I flew from Baltimore to Orlando on Southwest. <insert boring flight stuff>. From the time I found DME, I had to wait 45minutes before the bus left for the parks. I was the second stop so I didn't have to be on the bus the entire ride.

I am staying at All Star Sports. Charles at check-in was adorable. It's so nice to know that some of the CMs are also Disney fans. So far, Sports reminds me of a cheap motel. The rooms are small, the beds are doubles, not queens, and the rooms show a lot of wear and tear. The addition of the tiny fridge is a nice amenity.The bathroom only has the single bottle of shampoo/conditioner. My hair will be really big by the end of the trip.

My friend took me to dinner at Bahama Breeze off property so I don't have a food report yet. We got appetizers and talked about old friends and new stuff. She was a cast member for a few years in FL, a few years in CA and worked with the Disney Store while it was still the Disney Store. It was nice getting a CMs perspective on some things.

I really hope that red stain on the bathroom door is ketchup...

I have been able to move my FP+ for 7DMT from 6:50 pm to 10:30 am! I can now park hop freely in the afternoon and evening.

 

[ginadee]

Have thought about a solo trip myself. Looking forward to reading.

 

[mrdrift]

Wonderful start to your solo trip. You have a thoughtful family to send you to WDW for Mothers day. Following along.

 

[ThatBrunette]

Woo! What a day.

A few years ago, I got my hands on some pictures of our trip to WDW in 1977. I was able to recreate a few on our 2013 trip but I had a few missing shots. I tried to get the PP and CMs to help me get new ones. I amused many people with my polyester pants. (I'm on my tablet, sorry for the misspellings)

I made it to MK for rope drop and enjoyed it like a little kid. HM was being plagued by pesky spirits so I wandered over to PP. There was no line so I didn't get to see the new queue. No much has changed in the ride.

Next was iasw which was also a walk-on. I made it until the end until I started crying.

HM was it's normal gloomy self. I got to see Momento Mori which was new to me. I didn't know I had the option of buying an HM MagicBand.

I was able to jump on WTP before my 10:30 7DMT FP+ I enjoyed it. Cute ride. It's a cross between a roller coaster and a dark ride. I was a bit sad that there was no story to the dark ride part.

The CMs outside of BOG aren't very knowledgeable. Note: You can only check in 10 minutes before your reservation. I checked in early because of my food allergy. My allergy isn't listed on the "allergy list" so I have to talk to a real person. If you pre-order, you are able to skip the ordering line and go straight to your table. I spoke to a chef and ordered the roast beef sandwich. Pretty good. It was delivered with an "Allergy" toothpick.

Here's the good part about BOG. I asked one of the CMs in the seating area about where I should sit. After a few questions, Tori led me to the Beast's room. (The one with thee rose). I love when I find CMs that are also Disney fans. She found me a table and told me to watch the rose after the clap of thunder and then look at the painting after the next round of thunder. I went to Town Hall to praise Tori. More about that, later.

It was time for JC and THE BACK OF WATER! I had a decent captain and I made him laugh. During the airplane routine I said he had a 'certain air about him'.

Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room. I lurve the tikis. https://picasaweb.google.com/105106008427304992789/DisneyMay2015#6148172308247919586

I think I just posted a picture. My tablet is slow and I'm tired. I promise to make this more exciting.

I did COP and got stuck in 1910 twice and 1949 twice. I loved it. I put in my ear plugs, took an advil and unlaced my shoes. I've never been stuck on that ride and I was looking forward to the break. It rained while we are on the ride so, I missed getting wet.

People Mover next. It is still the WEDWAY People Mover to me. I got stuck on that, too. We were in one of the hallways by SM. The whole car shook from the vibrations of SM. Also, a new experience for me.

I had another relaxing time in the Laugh Floor. I worked in a comedy club in the early 90's so, for me, that ride is a little treat. We had Sam & Ella get our laughter to fill the canister.

My original goal was to leave MK by 1:00 PM and do DHS or AK because those two parks have EMH tomorrow and will be crowded. I didn't leave MK until around 6:00pm.

I did some meandering, photos and shopping. I went up to City Hall to let them know I enjoyed Tori at BOG. There were only a few guests so after I gave Sylvia my information, we got to talking. I showed her my 1977 pictures and told her I had trouble finding *anyone* in Liberty Square to take my picture. Sylvia liked my plaid faux fur trimmed coat. Sylvia tells me to wait and then comes back and says that she is going to help me get my pictures!

I will post pictures when I figure out how to do it from the tablet or when I get home.

We took a few pictures in the stockade, a few in the shooting gallery, one buy the POTC fountain and another flashback picture. We had a great chat and she is a Disney fan and was delighted to help me on my quest.

Don't worry, I went back to City Hall when she wasn't there and gave her a lot of praise. If I knew more ways to praise her, I would. Definitely magical!

I was getting ready to leave when I asked a CM about redoing a Mickey picture. So, I went into Town Square Theatre. The talking Mickey is a bit disconcerting. I'm guessing it's pre-programmed because he interrupted me with phrases that had nothing to do with what we were doing. The picture I wanted was one of me walking away with Mickey. The original is taken my the carousel. I show the handler and the PP guy the original. They were both excited about it. Mickey asked me if I was having a good time. The shots aren't great but the PP was thrilled to help me. I left happy.

The Ambien is kicking in and my spelling is becoming more creative.

I ended the night at DHS. I did TOT and RNR as single rider.Less than 20 minute wait for either of them. I drew the alligator from Princess and the Frog. It looks kinda like him.The CM teaching the class was very cranky. The Little Mermaid theatre has a nice relaxing show.I had put my earplugs in while on the RNR and left them in for the rest of the nig. I still had them in while I was drawing. I got the last ride on the Great Move Ride. There were 5 of us in the boat. Juan Carlo and "mobster" did a great job giving us the whole show. "Mobster" made a crack about there being only 5 ladies in the boat. Oh, best crack was when the "Mobster" drove us into Western he said "Why, what is this, Jersey". Biggest laugh I had all day.

I't Ambien o'clock. I'm goign to go to bed before I star creative tping. I'll talk more about the solo-ness of my trip tomorrow. And try to post some pics.

 

[ThatBrunette]

Here is my family near the POTC fountain in 1977.

https://picasaweb.google.com/105106008427304992789/DisneyMay2015#6148172308247919586

Here is the 2015 version.

 

[FlaggNL]

What a great idea and gift for Mother's Day Thanks for sharing!!

 

[mrdrift]

What a wonderful day at the two parks. I'm glad to hear you took the time at city hall to give praises to the CM that deserves it and was able to get some pictures that you wanted. Following along.

 

[ThatBrunette]

Being alone...

It's nice to have the freedom to come and go as I please. With the exception of ADRs, Taking into consideration wait times, I can eat when I get hungry. I can ride what I want when I want. It is a lot easier to transition from one activity to another when I don't have to coordinate other people. Even if that other person is an adult, there is still some amount of coordination. Waiting on line can get a bit boring. Most of the attractions I chose had less than a 1/2 hour wait. The JC needs a new soundtrack and more interesting theming.

Some attractions, like iasm, I had an entire row to myself. Other more popular attractions, like RNR and 7DMT, had me riding with strangers.

A small downside of being alone was that I forgot to stop and eat or drink. The not drinking was a big problem. On Tuesday, I had lunch at BOG and didn't realize I was hungry until the bus ride back to Sports at 9pm. Hooray for breakfast bars!

Single travelers, remember to eat and drink.

I don't have spell check and my keyboard gets a bit loopy at times. I will make corrections when I get to a desktop tonight.

 

[ThatBrunette]

The All Star Sports...

It's a motel. The rooms are small with double beds. The beds are firm but comfortable. There are multiple electrical outlets in the room but I recommend bringing long charging cords. These rooms are not built for comfort, they are built for efficiency. It's a place to keep your stuff and sleep after a day at the parks.

I was lucky, I had a room in a quiet wing. I don't think there were any kids in my section. I was able to be asleep between 10-11pm each night. The only noises I heard was in the morning when the rooms around me flushed their toilets. The walls are very thin and if I had noisier neighbors, I would have heard them.

Mousekeeping did not do a good job cleaning the room after the last guests. I found Fruit Loops on the floor. They did do a good job on their first day of cleaning my room. Mousekeeping gave me extra shampoos, soaps and hand towels. Care was taken when they did my room. Then again, they didn't have too much to do, I didn't make much of a mess. Mousekeeping starts cleaning the rooms, according to the welcome packet, around 8:30am.

The property is not huge so I didn't feel like I had to hike back to my room. It is a bit awkward in that there is no straight path to my building. Around the pool...through a shrub...around the Mickey statue...

The gift shop has a nice selection of beverages including milk, juice, booze and water.

At first, I was going to complain about the quality and upkeep of the rooms then I realized, the wear comes from the guests. With the low price, Sports attracts families on a tight budget and school groups. Cramming a lot of people into these small rooms will result in harder use of the facilities. It is a younger age group of guests here. I went during a low capacity time and I am making guesses.

When you are in your room, hang your "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. The rooms look identical and not everyone remembers their room number. A small decoration might help, too.

I did not make full use of the property amenities. I didn't need the pool games or the food court. The kids looked like they were having a great time playing some sort of combination of "Name That Tune" and volleyball.

 

[ThatBrunette]

Okay, I'm on my desktop with spellcheck so, things should look a bit better.

Day 1 Part 2: I was having a good time getting pictures, chatting with CMs and finding attractions with low wait times so, I didn't get to MGM/DHS until 6pm. At first, I was upset that I had left so little time in DHS then I realized, there wasn't much I wanted to do. I couldn't get a FP for TSMM so, I rode TOT and RNR.

I grabbed a few pictures with a PP guy. At one point, since the park was kinda empty, I ended up with 3 PP guys. We were having a great time chatting and they were giving me advice as to where to find the characters in my 1977 pictures. So, one of them had me pose as if I was with Mike Wazowski and roaring. The actual picture on MM has me with Olaf. I'm roaring at Olaf! Hysterical!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Such a wonderful mother's day present! I would love to go to WDW solo one day, feel like you can really take everything in at your own pace and go throughout the day on your own itinerary. Thanks for sharing your trip

 

[ThatBrunette]

I've edited some of my past posts in this thread for spelling. I was using a Blue Tooth keyboard with my table. Occasionally, they wouldn't communicate properly and I would get extra letters or symbols.

 

[ThatBrunette]

Day 2

First, a note on my weird eating habits and why I almost had to visit first aid. I got food poisoning a while ago and I started a new medication two months ago. Some days, I don't feel hungry and my stomach feels sour. Not looking for pity, I'm explaining some of the reason I went stoopid.

I woke up early and had it in my head that I had to get to Epcot early. I was so early, I had my own bus! There was one family ahead of me queued up so I sat down and made some to-do lists and fiddled with my phone.

I had FPs for Mission Space (I regret that one) and the Epcot Character Spot. Both were after 10am so I had time to jump on Spaceship Earth.

I realized that I hadn't had anything to eat since my breakfast bar last night so I stopped by the Starbucks. Why go to a chain coffee shop in Disney? I won a gift card last year. I treated myself to an iced green tea latte and a crappy breakfast sandwich. I regret the sandwich and MS.

With low crowds in the park, I wandered over to the Character Spot and showed my pictures to the CM at the door. She told me Chip and Dale were around the corner and I should go and meet them and then come back. I hadn't mentioned my FPs.

I had a GREAT experience with C & D! Dale was fabulous and posed us for my pics. (I will do a then and now post with all the pics when I get the download from MM) The PP guy and handler got a good chuckle from the 1977 pictures while I verbally described the pose to the boys. I don't know how much they can see out of their eye holes so I thought a verbal description would be better.

ChipDale1977 by ThatBrunette, on Flickr

Dale was able to see the pic and moved us into the proper positions. Chip is 'kissing' me and Dale is looking very embarrassed. They worked hard to get my pics and did new poses with me, too.

I went back to the Character Spot and told Marie about my encounter. She loved my old pics and we talked about the old days of WDW. She was so excited for me, she brought me into the Character Spot and told them I was her special guest (not "Treasured Guest). Since I knew I was going to take a bit longer than a single guest should take for pictures, I made friends with the people behind me. I shared my Mickey Mouse decorative tape (washi tape) with the little girls. They used it to decorate their autograph books.

MickeyDonaldGoofy19797 by ThatBrunette, on Flickr

Mickey Mouse was great. He was very enthusiastic about posing with me and suggested a few extras. The handler was trying to rush me but the PP guy and MM were happily suggesting poses.

Goofy didn't care and neither did I. Nothing negative. He is barely visible in the photo but was happy to do some poses.

Minnie loved my pics and so did the handler and PP guy. She is not in the original picture but loved posing with me. She was sweet and I had a great time.

At this point, I am feeling the effects of the caffeine and the excitement of the characters. I still haven't had any water. I went up to Guest Relations to give a good report for the characters and Marie. I got a very new CM. Somehow, all of my FPs got deleted while I was in GR. I'm pretty sure it was me but the CM was accessing my account to check on a reservation at the same time so I am not sure.

I regret going on Mission Space. I left feeling nauseous and light-headed. I should have gone to the first aid station for a cold compress and water but, I are adult. If my child or husband had been experiencing the same symptoms, I would have taken steps to fix it. Nope! No basic first aid for me! Instead, I went to Ellen's Loud Adventure. I stuck in my earplugs and took off my shoes. I miss the original introduction with the screens that flipped.

I wanted to hear some John Denver so I waited on the longer-than-expected line for the Land. What happened to John Denver? Not a trace of his song. I vaguely remember that attraction having a live guide rather than an audio track. Don't worry, the couple behind me pointed out *everything*. "Oh, watermelon". "Look, tomatoes". "Look, there's coco...ca-kow".

Still not feeling well, I plopped myself down at a table and drank some of the water I had in my bag. I finally realized I was dehydrated and on my way to heat stroke. Yup, I'm good at being an adult.

I grabbed a cold bottle of water at Starbucks and left for MK.

 

[epcotisbest]

Sorry you got sick...WDW is a bad place to get sick. I now get queasy just walking past Mission Space. I got a lousy cold last Sept. While staying at AKL and spent a while in the room, but on a brighter note, it was a huge condo at AKL Kidani..not a bad place to be stuck in the room. Very much enjoying your trip report.

 

[ThatBrunette]

I still had 3 FPs for the day and I wanted to see THE BACK SIDE OF WATER again so, I let MDE pick the other two. It gave me HM and BTMRR.

I made two different JC captains laugh by telling really bad jokes. If you hear "What did the CM say to the horse? Hey, why the long face?" or have Trader Sam serve "hand-burgers and feet loaf". Those are from me!

The MDE app needs some work. The ability to schedule FPs is nifty but it can only give 3 FPs, not one and it deletes all 3 at the same time. Also, the search function doesn't work very well. I tried to find a place to have a QS pizza and the only place it recommended was Tony's Town Square. Happily, I found Pinochio's Village Haus on my own and had the kid's pizza meal around 4pm. Great time to eat.

I didn't want BTMRR so I decided to change it and 7DMT popped up. Sure, why not?

Apparently, Pooh and 7DMT are on the same circuit breaker because they both went down at the same time. (I know they aren't) So, I ended up with a "wild card" and some time. Speedway was low wait and I jumped on that. I was able to get another one of my 1977 pics. My quest was aided by 5 different CMs. The colors and the numbers are the same!

Raceway1977 by ThatBrunette, on Flickr

7DMT went down around 5 pm and didn't open back up until around 7pm. I shared a row with a nice French boy. His mom and brother were behind me in line. I think she knew I was a mom-type and felt comfortable letting him sit with me. It's a mom thing.

My son gave me a pin to trade while I was at WDW. I asked over 30 CMs for Stitch or HM pins. The bathroom attendant in Fantasyland had one. I found her (and the much needed bathroom) around 8pm on my last day.

 

[ThatBrunette]

Questions:

Can the CMs control the overall speed of the HM? On the first day it seemed a lot faster than the second day.

When did the HM get so dark? It was hard to make out a lot of the details.

Does anyone know the name of the Japanese CM in Town Hall? She worked in TDL before coming to WDW. She has a short name with only 3 letters. Super nice and complimented my broken Japanese.

 

[ThatBrunette]

@disney4life2008 , @HouCuseChickie , @grim-grinning_toast , @Jessica Meier , @Kate Alan , @Mukta , @JohnD , @jlsHouston , @LieutLaww , @Tuvalu , @disneyfirstLJ

I forgot to invite you to the Trip Report. Sorry!

 

[Kate Alan]

Great trip report - it is so neat that you were able to get the photos! I love hearing about the CMs helping out that way too.

When you were on HM, was it daytime or nighttime? During the day I know it can seem a lot darker/harder to make out details because of your eyes needing to adjust from the bright FL sunshine outside. It makes for a much smoother transition at night.

 

[grim-grinning_toast]

Great trip report - it is so neat that you were able to get the photos! I love hearing about the CMs helping out that way too.

When you were on HM, was it daytime or nighttime? During the day I know it can seem a lot darker/harder to make out details because of your eyes needing to adjust from the bright FL sunshine outside. It makes for a much smoother transition at night.

This is what I was going to suggest!

I get so sick sometimes in Florida, and I often think "I don't NEED to go to first aid, I'm 22 years old!" and the last time I thought that, I ended up in the hospital with dehydration. When I was there with my sister, though, I was all over her about keeping cool and hydrated. I've always been quite maternal - but funny thing about us "mom types," we definitely put ourselves last! Not a great thing when it's hot and humid. But glad you still enjoyed yourself!

I find myself feeling sick on Mission Space, too. But not even because of the ride. I literally want to throw up when they close the door and the screens come down. It is way too close, and you're in there for way too long before any action starts!

thank you for inviting me to the trip report! I really enjoyed reading it And you're right about All Star Sports - it's a motel. All of the values are! It's disappointing, but when you're only spending 80-100 a night, you feel less obligated to spend time in there anyway!

 

[12in12]

More please!