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

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.

 

[Tiggerish]

I like the way you shop!

Me too!!

When I can't decide, I usually get none of them!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Me too!!

When I can't decide, I usually get none of them!

Same, especially with Disney prices.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

I like the way you shop!

Me too!!

When I can't decide, I usually get none of them!

Same, especially with Disney prices.

I wouldn’t normally shop like that but I hadn’t bought any new Disney T-shirts for a few years so decided to treat myself. I would have bought some on the ship but I don’t think it had been restocked since it left on the Eastbound sailing, the only sizes left in things I liked were XXXL. The only items I bought on the ship were the special transatlantic ones, a T-shirt and Tervis mug.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

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

The tram back to the pier was quite busy, everyone was leaving around the same time.

Some of the flowers at the pier tram stop, I think this is one of the areas that the vegetation needs to grow in a bit.

A slow walk back to the ship. It was very hot, I can see why some people might struggle at the end of the day.

I had a lovely day on the island, it is an absolutely beautiful resort particularly that beach. And I like that it’s not an exact copy of Castaway so you can feel like you have a different experience at each resort.

But it felt like there was something missing during the day, and that something was family. This was the day that I really missed them the most. I have so many happy memories of time spent with the girls on Castaway Cay. One of my favourites is a silly, simple little game that we always played where each of us would pick a character, build a little sandcastle and wait for the tide to come in. The last one standing was the winner and it always seemed to be Pluto, the youngest’s favourite (I think she cheated ). I have three sets of these plastic characters at home because I kept forgetting to take them back.

So for me Castaway still has the edge because of the memories, I definitely need to visit Lookout Cay lots more times with the family so I can make a better comparison

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I wouldn’t normally shop like that but I hadn’t bought any new Disney T-shirts for a few years so decided to treat myself. I would have bought some on the ship but I don’t think it had been restocked since it left on the Eastbound sailing, the only sizes left in things I liked were XXXL. The only items I bought on the ship were the special transatlantic ones, a T-shirt and Tervis mug.

I'm glad you treated yourself to some new t-shirts when they had them in the right size.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

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

Back on the ship I grabbed my favourite blueberry soft serve as I hadn’t had dessert on the island and didn’t want to break my streak of dessert with every meal . Then a last afternoon chill on my verandah before doing some packing . I wasn’t rushing to get everything packed as I’d decided to keep my suitcase with me overnight and do express walk off the next morning. This turned out to be a very, very good decision!

The last night show was Believe which I love, the actor playing Genie was hilarious. Then off to Animator’s for the fifth time for the final dinner of the cruise.

It was the Animation Magic night where you draw a character and then it gets animated on the screens around the dining room later on.

My attempt

The Animation Magic menu

I had the tuna to start and then the beef, both were excellent

I forgot to take a photo of the dessert menu, this is from Disney cruise line blog

The cappuccino mousse for dessert, so good

My creation on screen, it’s such a cute show everyone gets so excited seeing their drawings come to life

Chatting over dinner with K and M, none of us were ready to get off the ship the next day. The 13 nights seemed like they had flown by and all of us would have been happy to stay on for longer. I said a sad goodbye to them, they really had been good dinner company. I also said goodbye to our servers as I was doing express walk off in the morning I wouldn’t be going to breakfast.

Back at the room for my final bedspread/towel creation

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

That last day vibe sucks

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

That last day vibe sucks

It really does. I was so glad I wasn’t going straight home

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

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

A final trip up to the pool deck via Cabanas, I really do love it up there at night when it’s all lit up and so peaceful.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

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

More strolling around

And my last photo of the cruise

I was sad to be leaving the ship the next day but very excited to be going back to Disney World.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 2nd November: Fort Lauderdale to Disney World

I’d decided to do the express walk off on this cruise because the last time we’d sailed into Port Canaveral it had taken ages to get through customs. I had an Uber booked for 10am and the Brightline train booked for 11.20 and I was worried about making those connections. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it to breakfast on my own with a huge suitcase and backpack so I’d grabbed some pastries from Cabanas the previous morning.

I packed up the last of my things, ate my slightly sad breakfast in the room and was queuing just off the atrium before 7.30. There was maybe a 20-30 minute wait before we got the all clear to disembark the ship, then the queue moved quite quickly and I was stepping off the ship for the final time

Once in the terminal there was a bit of a queue for US passports but for non US passports there were only four people in front of me, I think it was my easiest trip through US customs ever. I was far too early for my Uber so cancelled it and joined the queue for the yellow cabs where I waited about five minutes.

I’d disembarked so quickly that I was at the Brightline station before 9am which meant a very long wait for my train. I had bought a flexible ticket and tried to get an earlier train but they had already stopped taking checked luggage for it. I didn’t want to have to deal with my suitcase on the train so decided just to wait. The station has quite a nice waiting area and I had a book so just settled down for a while.

At some point I checked on the cruise Facebook group and realised how lucky I’d been. Apparently customs started having problems with their computer systems and this together with all the crew as well as passengers having to go through customs meant that there were absolutely crazy delays with getting off the ship. It was taking hours for people to disembark the ship, quite a few were missing their flights, one couple on my train were supposed to be on the one an hour earlier. Getting up early to do the express walk off turned out to be a very good decision.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Saturday 2nd November: Fort Lauderdale to Disney World

I’d decided to do the express walk off on this cruise because the last time we’d sailed into Port Canaveral it had taken ages to get through customs. I had an Uber booked for 10am and the Brightline train booked for 11.20 and I was worried about making those connections. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it to breakfast on my own with a huge suitcase and backpack so I’d grabbed some pastries from Cabanas the previous morning.

I packed up the last of my things, ate my slightly sad breakfast in the room and was queuing just off the atrium before 7.30. There was maybe a 20-30 minute wait before we got the all clear to disembark the ship, then the queue moved quite quickly and I was stepping off the ship for the final time

Once in the terminal there was a bit of a queue for US passports but for non US passports there were only four people in front of me, I think it was my easiest trip through US customs ever. I was far too early for my Uber so cancelled it and joined the queue for the yellow cabs where I waited about five minutes.

I’d disembarked so quickly that I was at the Brightline station before 9am which meant a very long wait for my train. I had bought a flexible ticket and tried to get an earlier train but they had already stopped taking checked luggage for it. I didn’t want to have to deal with my suitcase on the train so decided just to wait. The station has quite a nice waiting area and I had a book so just settled down for a while.

At some point I checked on the cruise Facebook group and realised how lucky I’d been. Apparently customs started having problems with their computer systems and this together with all the crew as well as passengers having to go through customs meant that there were absolutely crazy delays with getting off the ship. It was taking hours for people to disembark the ship, quite a few were missing their flights, one couple on my train were supposed to be on the one an hour earlier. Getting up early to do the express walk off turned out to be a very good decision.

It was classic case of the early worm catches the worm. So glad you got of the ship and through customs quickly.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 2nd November: Fort Lauderdale to Disney World (cont)

I had originally looked at flying up to Orlando but the only flight I could find wasn’t until 5pm and I didn’t want to be waiting around all day so I booked the train. I’m not that keen on travelling by train, my main experience of them is from when I used to commute into London and they were crowded, dirty and very rarely on time. But the Brightline turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant experience.

The check in is a bit like an airport where you can drop off your suitcase if you’ve booked the luggage service, I think it was about $20 extra. Then through scanners into a small waiting area, which was filled with people mostly from my cruise. There is a small shop selling snacks and drinks but it was very expensive, I paid $4 for a tiny tube of Pringles. There is also a premium section on the train, and they have a separate fancy waiting area with a bar.

There was no worry about going to the wrong platform, just before the train’s arrival station employees had us all lined up and led us down to wait. The train was right on time and was maybe about two thirds full. I was glad I’d paid for the luggage service, there are large luggage racks at the end of the carriages but these were all full and passengers were having to wedge their cases into empty seats.

I’d made sure to book a forward facing seat because sometimes travelling backwards makes me feel ill. The seats were pretty comfortable, I even managed a little nap which made the journey go by more quickly. It takes just under three hours for the journey to Orlando airport and we were right on time arriving.

 

[belledream]

I found your trip report recently and just finished! What a cool experience… 13 nights! So interesting to hear about, thanks for sharing.

Also the last night dinner looked so good.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

I found your trip report recently and just finished! What a cool experience… 13 nights! So interesting to hear about, thanks for sharing.

Also the last night dinner looked so good.

Thanks for reading, 13 nights was wonderful. And yes that last dinner was very good.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 2nd November: Fort Lauderdale to Disney World (cont)

The Brightline train arrives at the new terminal at MCO and when I exited the station there were greeters to help with directions. I had booked a bus with Mears Connect and wasn’t sure where to go and the very friendly greeter lady told me that not all the buses stop at that terminal and that I would be better off going to the main terminal.

I headed over to the old Magical Express area which was very quiet, I was the only person waiting for a bus to the All Star Resorts at about 2.30pm. After a short wait the bus arrived, everything seemed to be going very well.

I boarded and it was one of the old cruise line buses

Then I waited and waited and waited while the bus filled up. The wait seemed ridiculously long, this was my first experience using Mears Connect and I wasn’t impressed, I never waited anywhere near that time using Magical Express. Finally we were ready to leave and then we stopped at the new terminal, so I could have just waited over there. I was feeling a bit at this point, it didn’t help that I’d hardly had anything to eat all day.

Luckily the ride to the resorts went smoothly and we were soon driving through the Ducky Williams designed gates

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Apologies for hijacking the middle of your trip report,but, any feedback future cruise plans ?

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Apologies for hijacking the middle of your trip report,but, any feedback future cruise plans ?

I may have accidentally booked this earlier in the week. Couldn’t resist the really cheap price

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I may have accidentally booked this earlier in the week. Couldn’t resist the really cheap price
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I'm so happy for you. I might need to join you if you go again in 2026.

 

[Minnie1986]

Wednesday 23rd October: Lisbon, Portugal (cont)

Our guide took us to a second terrace higher up the hill where we could see the ship again. Up to this point we had a photographer from the ship with us so we spent a while here for everyone to get photos.

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Some lovely views from the terrace

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Then some more exploring

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Lisbon is one of my favorite places in the world; such a beautiful city