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.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 21st October: A Very Rough First Day at Sea (cont)

Before dinner I spent some time overlooking the atrium. I don’t tend to do character meet and greets any more, I spent a lot of time doing them when my girls were little, but I do like to watch the character interactions with little ones. It brings back lots of happy memories.

I got to see Belle meeting Belle, it was so cute. And I loved that the character attendant for Belle was one of the theatre performers, he played Beast in the summer and Gaston on this cruise.

Dinner tonight was in Enchanted Garden and was the standard menu there. I had my usual: lobster ravioli (forgot photo), scallops and lemon raspberry mousse bombe. All were delicious

I was feeling so much better by this point that I managed a glass of wine as well

Surprisingly after sleeping half of the day, I was tired again after dinner so headed back to the room.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd October: Vigo, Spain

I woke up this morning to thankfully much calmer seas than the day before. I was awake pretty early after all the sleep yesterday and was at Cabanas just as it was starting to serve hot food (it’s usually open half an hour earlier for pastries and cereals). One of the good things about being solo is not having to wait for anyone else to get ready before going anywhere, I always end up being later than I want to be when I’ve got the girls with me.

I didn‘t take photos of every breakfast because I had the same thing most days, except the few days when biscuits and gravy were available.

Typical breakfast:

And my daily breakfast dessert of Mickey churro waffles . I’d discovered them on the last morning of my summer cruise and regretted not trying them earlier.

After breakfast I wandered the pool decks while they were empty, I really enjoy being out there before most people are awake.

I love this window in the floor near the adult hot tubs, you can see straight down to the sea.

The Dream Tower Suite was still under construction. It doesn’t appeal to me to stay there at all. Crazy prices and even though I’m sure it’s very luxurious, no verandah and that forward facing view would be mostly of the adult pool deck not of the sea. I’d much rather stay (if I had the money) in one of the Royal Suites with the huge verandahs, sun loungers and private hot tub.

The new expanded concierge sun deck, it looks like a bar is out there now.

 

[MinnieM123]

I've been enjoying the photos you've shared. Great trip so far!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

I've been enjoying the photos you've shared. Great trip so far!

Thank you. There’s a lot more to come.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd October: Vigo, Spain (cont)

All ashore wasn’t until 11am so I headed back to my room to tidy up everything that I just thrown into drawers the day before. I really like the amount of storage you get on the ships, it’s much better designed than the Disney hotel rooms, and having a room to myself meant that I could keep everything very tidy.

My bag had a cupboard all to itself.

There were new toiletry bottles, the old ones had stickers over the H2O, although I’m sure the product was the same.

There were new carpets throughout the ship and new linens in all the restaurants, so it did have a little bit of a new ship feel and smell about it.

I think the air conditioning had had something done to it as well, there was a new thermostat in the room and it didn’t feel as cold as it had in the summer. I like a cold room for sleeping so have the thermostat turned down as low as possible overnight.

Enjoying the view from the verandah as we headed in to Vigo.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd October: Vigo, Spain (cont)

Almost there, it looked like it was going to be a gorgeous day.

 

[Tuvalu]

My well-worn Dooney & Bourke Pooh bag has not held up as well as yours and I wish it had not been discontinued. I'd give anything to replace it, love it so much!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

My well-worn Dooney & Bourke Pooh bag has not held up as well as yours and I wish it had not been discontinued. I'd give anything to replace it, love it so much!

I’ve got a few Dooneys and that one is my absolute favourite, it’s a gorgeous bag. It’s only held up so well because I don’t use it very often, I want it to last as long as possible

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd October: Vigo, Spain (cont)

I‘d been to Vigo in the summer and it’s a very easy town to walk around, if a bit hilly, so didn’t book an excursion that day. There‘s a fortress at the top of the hill which we’d walked up to last time, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go up that far this time.

I wandered along the seafront first.

Past the statue of Jules Verne. Vigo Bay is in one of the chapters of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Then into the town where I found a lovely park

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd October: Vigo, Spain (cont)

Then I started going up

I decided to just go part way up and found another part of the fortress

Tried to take an arty photo of the ship

Leaving the fortress I saw this abandoned building, looked like something out of the walking dead.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd October: Vigo, Spain (cont)

And down the hill

I was really enjoying exploring on my own, I loved all the narrow hilly streets, but a couple of times I turned down a deserted street and turned back around thinking it might not be the best idea to go down there on my own. So I stayed in the more peopley areas.

A little modern house tucked in with all the old ones

And more exploring

Spotted Jack Sparrow

I was trying to find a little shop that we’d passed in the summer, Lexi had seen a bracelet in the window that she regretted not getting. I remembered that it was near one of the escalators that are on the hilly streets.

I managed to find the shop, but forgot to take photos. It was like a little workshop with an old man making ceramic bead jewellery and was all very reasonably priced. I bought Lexi a bracelet that only cost €8.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd October: Vigo, Spain (cont)

Heading back down to the seafront

Accidental arty photo of the ship and its reflection

Then back aboard and up to Cabanas for some lunch

There were different flavours of cheesecake and pannacotta most days, today’s was pecan pie and mango

My lunch view, it was warm enough to eat outside

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

This popped up in my photo memories today, our first cruise in December 2013

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd October: Vigo, Spain (cont)

Later that afternoon I did something I’ve never done on a cruise before, actually went to the gym!! I figured that with 2 weeks of cruise food I should at least attempt some exercise.

Before dinner I met my tablemate K and one of the other solo cruisers in Pink champagne bar. One of the reasons I’d joined the solo cruisers group was because I was a bit nervous about sitting on my own in a bar. I was there early and didn’t feel out of place on my own, after that evening I went to Pink and District Lounge quite a few times alone.

Champagne cocktail, a Pomegranate Passion

There was a pianist called Ellis Lucero playing in the bar, someone said later that he was TikTok famous and that’s how he got the job working on the ship. I don’t use TikTok so I don’t know if that’s true. He was playing a guessing game with Disney songs, playing them in slightly different ways and was very entertaining.

Dinner that night was in Royal Palace and was their regular menu. A downside of having nice tablemates was being too busy chatting to remember to take food photos, the only photo I have is of something I tried for the first time: escargot

They were fine, a slightly chewy texture a bit like clams and just tasting of garlic butter. I can say I’ve tried them but wouldn’t be in a rush to eat them again.

Another earlyish night after that because I needed to be up early for my excursion in Lisbon the next day.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Wednesday 23rd October: Lisbon, Portugal

I woke up to another beautiful morning

The view of Lisbon from the ship (behind the plexiglass because I’m short and couldn’t reach over the top )

I‘d booked a walking tour of the city and my group was meeting in the Buena Vista Theatre at 8.30 so I headed there after breakfast. This was my first experience of an excursion through Disney and it seemed to take absolutely ages to get everyone checked in and organised. Eventually we were off the ship and meeting our tour guide.

We started in the Alfama, the old town. Most of Lisbon was destroyed in a huge earthquake and tsunami in the 1700s and our guide told us that the Alfama is the only part of the city that predates that.

We explored lots of narrow, hilly, cobbled streets with some interesting buildings.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Wednesday 23rd October: Lisbon, Portugal (cont)

Our guide took us to a terrace part way up the hill

Beautiful view

We waited to see one of the trams come down a hill, they really hurtle down and look quite old and rickety.

We saw some artwork

A trash panda

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

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.

Some lovely views from the terrace

Then some more exploring

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Wednesday 23rd October: Lisbon, Portugal (cont)

Someone’s garden terrace has a good view

Then more exploring

A lot of the buildings have tile work, our guide explained the process of making them

There are lemon trees all over the city which are apparently an especially sour variety

 

[erstwo]

Alfama is beautiful! Thanks for taking us along.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Alfama is beautiful! Thanks for taking us along.

Your welcome. I loved it there, would definitely go back for a longer stay