Trip Report Dreaming My Way Back to Disney. A First Ever Solo Trip **Completed**

I’ve been back for over a month now and am finally getting around to writing about one of my best ever Disney trips. I spent 2 nights at All Star Movies, the first time staying here.

This was my first time back at Disney World since January 2020 when I did this:

But, I’m getting ahead of myself because the main part of the trip was…

A transatlantic cruise on the Disney Dream.

This has been a cruise I’ve wanted to take ever since my first cruise 11 years ago, so I was very excited to finally be able to do it.

So the plans were:

October 20th to November 2nd: 13 night Westbound Transatlantic cruise from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale with stops at Vigo (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), Ponta Delgada (Azores) and Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point.

November 2nd: Brightline train from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando

November 2nd to November 4th: All Star Movies resort only stay with lots of good food, resort hopping and fireworks

And I did all of this completely solo, which as a mum of four was not something I’d had the opportunity to do before.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 3rd November: Disney Springs and Resort Hopping (cont)

My destination for dinner that evening was my absolute favourite restaurant in all of Disney World, The Flying Fish. I tried to time my reservation so I could watch fireworks afterwards but the earliest I could get was 7.35 so I knew I’d be cutting it a bit close.

I only waited a few minutes to be seated, but the restaurant was very busy and it took a while for my server to come over.

I love the little fish details around the restaurant

Everything on the menu sounded amazing (except pork belly, I don’t like that)

I had the Stags Leap Petite Syrah, one of my favourites

More fish details

And more wonderful bread and butter that I had to stop myself from filling up on

As good as everything on the menu sounded i was there for one thing only, my favourite meal in my favourite restaurant, the potato wrapped snapper

This was amazing, every bit as good as I remember it . And it was a big piece of fish, I had been tempted to have one of the enhancements with it but it would have been too much food.

 

[littleroo]

The Flying Fish is also one of my favorite restaurants. I struggle with choosing between the snapper and strip. The strip usually wins. I want that silverware!!!!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

The Flying Fish is also one of my favorite restaurants. I struggle with choosing between the snapper and strip. The strip usually wins. I want that silverware!!!!

It was a hard choice, I wanted the seabass as well. And the pasta. And the scallops, octopus and lobster enhancements

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 3rd November: Disney Springs and Resort Hopping (cont)

It was after 8.30 by now so I knew that if I wanted to watch fireworks I would have to skip dessert. But I’d had such a relaxing dinner, I really didn’t want to rush out. And I didn’t have the same emotional attachment to Luminous that I did to Happily Ever After so it wasn’t as important to me to watch it. It was something I could save for the summer and watch it properly for the first time with Alice and Lexi.

My favourite “dessert” at the Flying Fish, the Peanut Butter Freeze

I love the lights

I decided to get the boat back to Hollywood Studios and as I was waiting did see the last of the fireworks.

Blurry photo from the boat

Bye Hollywood Studios

I only waited a few minutes for a bus back to All Stars, I had been very lucky with transport all day.

I had such a lovely day and it had been a perfect ending with my favourite meal.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 4th November: Final day

My flight wasn’t until 11.30 that evening so I still had another whole day.

First was a quick trip over to the food court for my morning danish, cherry this time

Then back to my room to finish packing and drop off my bags at bell services for the day.

I hopped on a bus to Disney Springs because there were still some presents I wanted to get for the family. I had thought about getting some lunch there but it was very crowded already so I decided to do a bit more resort hopping.

This was the one time that I had bad luck with transport, I think Disney Springs is one of the worst places to wait for a bus. I was waiting for a bus to Wilderness Lodge for over 40 minutes.

I love the lobby at this resort

One of my favourite places to sit

I was feeling quite hungry after the long bus wait so headed straight over to Roaring Fork for some lunch. I ordered and went to sit outside because the weather was beautiful.

My lunch, I think it was the only burger I had during the whole trip. Nothing fancy but it was pretty good.

After lunch, I had a little explore around the resort.

Then headed over to the boat dock

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 4th November: Final day (cont)

I was one of the first people on the boat so managed to get a seat outside at the front. I love the boat journey over to MK, so relaxing. There was a lovely CM on the boat that started chatting to me, once he heard my accent he was telling me about his visits to to the UK and how much he liked it there.

Then a change to the monorail for my next destination

I couldn’t go home without having one of these

I relaxed on the beach for a while, there were only a few other people there so it was very peaceful.

Then a little stroll around the resort. I’m not sure about the new addition, I don’t think it looks very pretty from the outside but the photos and videos I’ve seen of the inside do look good.

Last views of the castle

 

[Tiki Traveler]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point (cont)

I stopped in Disney T’ings to look for a few souvenirs, along with what seemed like half the passengers from the ship. It was absolutely packed in there, the only time all day that anywhere had been busy. I decided on a couple of pins for Alice and Lexi, but couldn’t choose between some T-shirts for myself so ended up getting three.

It’s hard to find quality well-fitting clothes now so when you find something you like and know you’ll wear buy it! No regrets.

Thank you for letting us travel vicariously w/you on this trip. It’s been like three trips in one!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 4th November: Final day (cont)

Then one last monorail trip back to MK to catch the bus back to the resort

Bye Mickey and Minnie, it was lovely to see you

Back at the resort i relaxed/napped by the pool for a while before changing from shorts to jeans for the journey home because it was cold back in the UK. I then had the worst food of the entire trip, the super slice of cheese pizza. It was absolutely awful, I only had a couple of bites. Luckily I wasn’t that hungry, I’d only ordered something because I didn’t know if I would have time to eat at the airport.

My Mears bus was due to pick me up at 8 pm for my 11.30 flight, I liked that they send you a link so you can track where your bus was and it looked like mine would be right on time.

The journey to the airport is probably the strangest bus journey I’ve ever taken. My driver got out and announced that my Uber was here which I thought was an odd thing to say until I realised that I was the only person on the bus. I sat a few rows back from the driver who then talked to me the entire trip, which might be ok if it wasn’t so personal. By the end of the journey I knew so much about his life that I really didn’t need to, including his bad relationships with friends and family and girlfriends. He also told me about all the guns that he owns and how he once ordered 3000 bullets off the internet. He didn’t come across as threatening, just too much of an oversharer and I was a bit uncomfortable. I was so, so glad when that journey was over.

My flight was with Delta and it was the first time I’d flown with them, I’d booked through Virgin Atlantic who I usually fly with and the only flight available was with their partner airline. Even though I’d checked in online, because I have a non US passport I had to check in again at the airport. I didn’t realise until after I’d left the check in desk that I’d been assigned a different seat to the one I’d chosen when I booked, which I wasn’t very happy about.

TSA was pretty smooth that late in the evening. There was one annoying family (British) in front of me all through the queue who then decided they would try to pick an argument with the TSA officer at the scanners. They were very firmly told not that they did not want to be doing that.

My flight was on time and I booked a bus to take me home from Heathrow while I was waiting to board. I queried my seat assignment with a flight attendant when I boarded and he checked but didn’t have me sitting in either of the two seats and had me wait while he went off to find out where I should be. When he returned he told me that I’d been upgraded to premium economy which was lovely news, one perk of being a solo traveller.

The food was pretty good in premium, the flight attendants were lovely and I managed to sleep pretty well which I don’t normally do on a plane. I was impressed with my first Delta experience.

The flight landed at Heathrow pretty much on time and I caught my bus back home to reality.

I’ll put some final thoughts in the next post.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Final Thoughts

This trip was wonderful, magical, amazing, one of the best holidays I’ve ever had. I wasn’t sure I would enjoy travelling alone, I’m quite an anxious person (very Piglet-ish), but I loved it and wouldn’t hesitate to travel solo again.

I loved being back at Disney World again even though I didn’t go to any parks. I got to eat some lovely food at my favourite restaurants, visit some of my favourite resorts and the weather was gorgeous.

I was pleasantly surprised by All Star Movies, I’ve mostly stayed at moderates and DVC resorts before with only one previous value stay at Pop Century. The only thing I didn’t really like was the noisy food court, even when it’s not busy it seems like it is because of how echoey it is.

The cruise was definitely the most relaxing trip I’ve ever taken, I would highly recommend a transatlantic to anyone who loves sea days. It’s also one of the cheapest per night cruises that Disney does. The short UK cruise I took last summer was a little bit disappointing, not up to the previous cruises I’d taken, and this one more than made up for that. I met lots of lovely people, the ship was beautiful, the crew were just all absolutely fantastic and I really enjoyed the ports we visited.

This was my bucket list cruise that I’ve wanted to take ever since my first cruise, and I thought it would be a once and done. But apparently transatlantic cruising is addictive, I met quite a few people who’d taken lots of them, and I’m booked on the next westbound one in November.

I won’t be solo next time though, my oldest daughter Sophie will be with me which I’m really excited about because we’ve never taken an adult trip together. We’ve also got four nights at All Star Movies after the cruise so there will be some parks time as well. I’m hoping we can fit in a Christmas party as well.

But before then

This is with my youngest two daughters, Alice and Lexi (my second oldest isn’t coming on any of the trips because she’s going through a too cool for Disney stage). The three of us are so excited for this.

Thank you to everyone who’s followed along, even though it’s taken such a long time for me to finish this. I really appreciate all your likes and comments.

 

[Tuvalu]

Thanks for sharing your solo adventure. Maybe our paths will cross in November!

 

[littleroo]

I enjoyed your trip report and solo adventure. I look forward to reading about your July and November trips. A transatlantic cruise is definitely on my bucket list. Probably when the kids are all older. I am sorry about the odd bus driver. I don't want to know how much ammo anyone has on hand!! Lol

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Thanks for the trip report.

 

[cgersic]

Thank you for taking the time to share this wonderful journey with all of us! So excited for the next one!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

What an amazing adventure you had. Looking forward to the July one but especially the November one as you are leaving from the UK to USA and that sounds really interesting.

 

[MinnieM123]

Very interesting and fun TR -- thank you so much for sharing with us!

 

[erstwo]

I loved following this trip report- thank you so much for taking the time to write it!