Hello, fellow pixie dust addicts! Welcome to my five night, six day solo trip report! You can check out the pre-trip report here, if you're so inclined. I'll get right to it!
Intro
So, for those of you who don't know, I'm Tracy. I'm a 25-year-old prior-military, current student, Disneyaholic.
This trip was a little bit of a surprise. My husband, Coda, and I had planned a last-minute getaway for the two of us over fall break, but because he was called away for work last-minute, I rescheduled and planned to head down by myself for the first time ever. I was on a tight budget and planned to eat a combination of counter-service meals and stuff I brought with me. I was fully on-board with the Fastpass+ system and had all of my reservations in place before I left, including a FP+ for Be Our Guest. Without further ado, I present the first day of my trip.
Day One
The day started at about 6am. I got up and got ready, had breakfast, and rushed out the door, letting my dad carry my bags.
We arrived at the airport around 8am. I had done online check-in with Southwest and left my bags with the men on the curb, got through security fairly quickly, and went to wait for boarding. It was my first time flying Southwest, so the boarding process was a little foreign to me. I ended up sitting in between two very nice ladies. Unfortunately, one of them wanted to talk the whole time. At risk of seeming rude, I pulled out my laptop once we'd taken off and watched an episode and a half of Glee (don't judge me). We landed right on time, at about 11:10am and, since I was using DME, I headed straight to the Disney Magic Express desk. I was ushered into a line and waited for my bus to load.
I got onto the bus after a very short wait. It stopped first at Art of Animation and Pop Century before arriving at Jambo House about 45 minutes later. I checked in without a hitch and was excited to find that my room was ready!
The room was very nice and pretty similar to Kidani Village, though it did seem somewhat smaller and the bathroom was set up differently. The sink was out in the open rather than behind a closed door, which I guess is no big deal. Just something i noticed. I also had a savannah view room, though I had only paid for a standard view. A pleasant surprise! Speaking of surprises...
This was waiting for me when I got there! My husband somehow worked this out and I was met with a glow with the show hat and an early anniversary card! Our actual anniversary is December 21st, but he's at work and won't be home til February. After unpacking my carry-on, I went to explore the lobby on the way out.
Then I got on the bus to Animal Kingdom. On my way in, I noticed something I'd never seen before: a remnant of what should have been.
I used my magic band to get into the park. It went really smoothly with no hiccups. Not any quicker than cards, but alright, I guess. My first stop was to get a paper FP for Dinosaur since all my FP+ were made for MK later in the evening. I used my AP to get it and it wasn't a problem, though the CM gave me a funny look... Next I went to Expedition Everest. The single rider line claimed a 30 minute wait, but I was in within 10 minutes. As always, lots of fun. Not much to say about that! On my way to It's Tough To Be a Bug, I saw some street performers interacting with the kids.
The show was cute, which is pretty standard. I did notice that Flik's eyes were in sync this time and the stingers in the seats worked, which is more than I could say in March. By that time it was about 2:45 and I had only been in the park for about two hours, but I was already ready to leave. I knew I would be back in a couple days. One thing I realized about solo trips - it doesn't take nearly as long to do what you want to do. I decided to give away my Dino FP since I didn't want to hang around to wait on it and I had a FP+ for it on a later day. I went back to my room and got my first glimpse of animals outside my room.
No giraffes or zebras, but cool anyway. I quickly noticed that my bags hadn't been delivered to my room. It was 3:30 and my flight had gotten in at 11:10. I called down to the desk at 3:45 and was told my bag would be right up because it had just come in. I sat around and waited until about 4:15 and then called back. They put me on hold for several minutes and finally came back to tell me that my bag would be right up. It finally got there about 10 minutes later. I've heard some things about how DME isn't super reliable, but I was still a little annoyed by the delay since I was waiting on my bag to take a shower. Once I had that taken care of, there was a knock at the door and a woman delivered a pile of gifts from Coda.
Included was a Belle doll, Simba plush, princess autograph book, and a picture frame. I was a little confused, but happily accepted them. More on that later... So, I went ahead with my plan to hit Magic Kingdom for the night. First, however, I stopped at the Mara for dinner.
I had the African stew, which is amazing, for those who haven't had it. After satisfying the rumbling in my tummy, I got on the MK bus. I decided to take the railroad over to Frontierland since I'd never ridden it. I had a FP+ for Haunted Mansion and jumped right into the line. Again, the magic band worked perfectly and I had no trouble lining it up.
Still one of my favorite rides! It's still competing with SSE for absolute favorite. After the HM, I wanted to check out the new Jingle Cruise overlay.
I have to say, I wasn't impressed. The "overlay" consisted of the boat names seen above and some awkward Christmas jokes. Our skipper was not funny. In fact, she was one of those people that just makes other people shift uncomfortably. They should probably forego the holiday overlay from now on. Next I jumped on Pirates of the Caribbean with barely any wait and a whole row to myself. After PotC, I had a Peter Pan FP+ to use. Another one of my favorites! I wish I could get clear photos of the London scene... Then was the Little Mermaid. We got stopped at this point:
I'm not sure that I've ever been on that ride without it stopping for a minute or two. My final FP+ of the evening was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I just LOVE the rain scene. I did get annoyed because someone took a flash photo and I was able to see how they do the raindrop effect. I hate those people. Before I left, I wanted to start using the autograph book Coda had sent, so I got in line for Cinderella at the new Princess Fairytale Hall. The wait wasn't long and I got to meet Cinderella and Aurora.
I had intentions of heading out, but I got pulled in by IaSW. I had to look for the cobwebs that were mentioned in another thread. And... I found them.
I wish no one had told me, because I was totally grossed out and seriously ducking when we went under the bridge. I also noticed - wait for it - light bulbs that were blown.
Oh well, still a cute ride, even with the song. My very last stop of the evening was the Rapunzel bathrooms.
I really do wish they'd done more with this, though it's still really nice to look at. I stopped to watch Wishes on the way down Main Street USA, but didn't want to be caught up in the crowd in front of the castle. I got back on the bus without much of a wait, since I was already near the exit when the finale went off, and got back to my room by 11pm. I watched some SVU and hit the sack!
Next up: Hidden Mickey fail and Quiche
Intro
So, for those of you who don't know, I'm Tracy. I'm a 25-year-old prior-military, current student, Disneyaholic.
This trip was a little bit of a surprise. My husband, Coda, and I had planned a last-minute getaway for the two of us over fall break, but because he was called away for work last-minute, I rescheduled and planned to head down by myself for the first time ever. I was on a tight budget and planned to eat a combination of counter-service meals and stuff I brought with me. I was fully on-board with the Fastpass+ system and had all of my reservations in place before I left, including a FP+ for Be Our Guest. Without further ado, I present the first day of my trip.
Day One
The day started at about 6am. I got up and got ready, had breakfast, and rushed out the door, letting my dad carry my bags.
We arrived at the airport around 8am. I had done online check-in with Southwest and left my bags with the men on the curb, got through security fairly quickly, and went to wait for boarding. It was my first time flying Southwest, so the boarding process was a little foreign to me. I ended up sitting in between two very nice ladies. Unfortunately, one of them wanted to talk the whole time. At risk of seeming rude, I pulled out my laptop once we'd taken off and watched an episode and a half of Glee (don't judge me). We landed right on time, at about 11:10am and, since I was using DME, I headed straight to the Disney Magic Express desk. I was ushered into a line and waited for my bus to load.
I got onto the bus after a very short wait. It stopped first at Art of Animation and Pop Century before arriving at Jambo House about 45 minutes later. I checked in without a hitch and was excited to find that my room was ready!
The room was very nice and pretty similar to Kidani Village, though it did seem somewhat smaller and the bathroom was set up differently. The sink was out in the open rather than behind a closed door, which I guess is no big deal. Just something i noticed. I also had a savannah view room, though I had only paid for a standard view. A pleasant surprise! Speaking of surprises...
This was waiting for me when I got there! My husband somehow worked this out and I was met with a glow with the show hat and an early anniversary card! Our actual anniversary is December 21st, but he's at work and won't be home til February. After unpacking my carry-on, I went to explore the lobby on the way out.
Then I got on the bus to Animal Kingdom. On my way in, I noticed something I'd never seen before: a remnant of what should have been.
I used my magic band to get into the park. It went really smoothly with no hiccups. Not any quicker than cards, but alright, I guess. My first stop was to get a paper FP for Dinosaur since all my FP+ were made for MK later in the evening. I used my AP to get it and it wasn't a problem, though the CM gave me a funny look... Next I went to Expedition Everest. The single rider line claimed a 30 minute wait, but I was in within 10 minutes. As always, lots of fun. Not much to say about that! On my way to It's Tough To Be a Bug, I saw some street performers interacting with the kids.
The show was cute, which is pretty standard. I did notice that Flik's eyes were in sync this time and the stingers in the seats worked, which is more than I could say in March. By that time it was about 2:45 and I had only been in the park for about two hours, but I was already ready to leave. I knew I would be back in a couple days. One thing I realized about solo trips - it doesn't take nearly as long to do what you want to do. I decided to give away my Dino FP since I didn't want to hang around to wait on it and I had a FP+ for it on a later day. I went back to my room and got my first glimpse of animals outside my room.
No giraffes or zebras, but cool anyway. I quickly noticed that my bags hadn't been delivered to my room. It was 3:30 and my flight had gotten in at 11:10. I called down to the desk at 3:45 and was told my bag would be right up because it had just come in. I sat around and waited until about 4:15 and then called back. They put me on hold for several minutes and finally came back to tell me that my bag would be right up. It finally got there about 10 minutes later. I've heard some things about how DME isn't super reliable, but I was still a little annoyed by the delay since I was waiting on my bag to take a shower. Once I had that taken care of, there was a knock at the door and a woman delivered a pile of gifts from Coda.
Included was a Belle doll, Simba plush, princess autograph book, and a picture frame. I was a little confused, but happily accepted them. More on that later... So, I went ahead with my plan to hit Magic Kingdom for the night. First, however, I stopped at the Mara for dinner.
I had the African stew, which is amazing, for those who haven't had it. After satisfying the rumbling in my tummy, I got on the MK bus. I decided to take the railroad over to Frontierland since I'd never ridden it. I had a FP+ for Haunted Mansion and jumped right into the line. Again, the magic band worked perfectly and I had no trouble lining it up.
Still one of my favorite rides! It's still competing with SSE for absolute favorite. After the HM, I wanted to check out the new Jingle Cruise overlay.
I have to say, I wasn't impressed. The "overlay" consisted of the boat names seen above and some awkward Christmas jokes. Our skipper was not funny. In fact, she was one of those people that just makes other people shift uncomfortably. They should probably forego the holiday overlay from now on. Next I jumped on Pirates of the Caribbean with barely any wait and a whole row to myself. After PotC, I had a Peter Pan FP+ to use. Another one of my favorites! I wish I could get clear photos of the London scene... Then was the Little Mermaid. We got stopped at this point:
I'm not sure that I've ever been on that ride without it stopping for a minute or two. My final FP+ of the evening was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I just LOVE the rain scene. I did get annoyed because someone took a flash photo and I was able to see how they do the raindrop effect.
I hate those people. Before I left, I wanted to start using the autograph book Coda had sent, so I got in line for Cinderella at the new Princess Fairytale Hall. The wait wasn't long and I got to meet Cinderella and Aurora.
I had intentions of heading out, but I got pulled in by IaSW. I had to look for the cobwebs that were mentioned in another thread. And... I found them.
I wish no one had told me, because I was totally grossed out and seriously ducking when we went under the bridge. I also noticed - wait for it - light bulbs that were blown.
Oh well, still a cute ride, even with the song.
My very last stop of the evening was the Rapunzel bathrooms.
I really do wish they'd done more with this, though it's still really nice to look at. I stopped to watch Wishes on the way down Main Street USA, but didn't want to be caught up in the crowd in front of the castle. I got back on the bus without much of a wait, since I was already near the exit when the finale went off, and got back to my room by 11pm. I watched some SVU and hit the sack!
Next up: Hidden Mickey fail and Quiche
