Trip Report SOLO + FOMO = DUO : Oct. '21 trip to WDW

Hello Friends!

I just spent last week in WDW and I'm excited to share another trip report with you all.

Back in August, I planned a SOLO trip to celebrate the 50th as a birthday gift to myself. My birthday is September 21st, but I was celebrating a month later in Disney!

One morning in September, my husband comes home from work (after working the night shift) and says he needs to ask me a serious question. Of course, all kinds of things start flowing through my mind. He proceeds to ask whether I would mind having his company on my trip. That he'd been thinking about how much fun it was going to be, etc. etc, but that if I really wanted to go SOLO he'd understand. I told him I'd love his company, however, it depended on a few things. One, you have to see if you can take vacation. He already handled that. Two, you have to see if flights are still available. Again, that was taken care of. Third, I had to check to see if park passes were available. He went to sleep and I got up to start my day. I logged on to work from home that day and immediately checked and saw that the same park days were available. So, I called Disney, added him to the reservation, scheduled his park days and voila. Since the original plan was for it to just be me, I was only planning on having quick service meals, but now that he was coming I also went ahead and grabbed some reservations. Fast forward to my birthday and we were out having brunch when he asks if it would be easy for us to add an extra day to the trip. When we got home, I called Disney to add an extra day and change our resort. I was originally staying at Movies, but we wanted Skyliner access. We were able to change flights easily as well. Final plans were now in place!

So without further ado, I hope you will all join in as I share our adventures!

Who: Josh and Heather
What: My Birthday Trip and WDW's 50th Celebration!
When: October 25-October 29
Where: Pop Century Resort

 

[riverside]

I’m here!!—literally!! Our trips overlapped also!!
I had the corned beef the other day & absolutely loved it!!

 

[Katiekitten]

I'm in! Your food and wine pictures are making hungry!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Following!!

Love the TR title

Following along!!

Following, looks like you had a fun time!

I'm in! Great start to the report!

I'm in and following along!

Thanks for joining!!!

 

[joshsprincess921]

I’m here!!—literally!! Our trips overlapped also!!
I had the corned beef the other day & absolutely loved it!!

Oh wow!! I'm always looking around, but I never see anyone familiar.
Hope you had a great trip. Yes that corned beef was soo good! I wish I had some right now.

 

[joshsprincess921]

I'm in! Your food and wine pictures are making hungry!

Me too! Thanks for joining in.

 

[joshsprincess921]

Next up, we made our way to the Epcot Experience to try Brew-Wing.

Pictured here is the Teriyaki-Sesame Wings and the Pineapple Vibes Blonde Ale. We also tried the Garlic-Parmesan Wings.
We were very pleased with both. 4/5.

By this point, we were feeling full. Our Frozen return time was open, so we decided to take a break from eating and head that direction. I believe it was around a 45 minute wait, but using the LL we waited maybe 10 minutes. I probably wouldn't pay to ride Frozen again unless my child was dying to ride it, but given I was "testing" out the new money grab, I went ahead and did it. Of course, I do enjoy it and was happy to ride. I just want to give you all my honest thoughts on Genie+ and LL as I go along.

We came to the exit and it had started raining pretty good. We waited in the gift shop for a little bit thinking maybe it would slack off some. I then suggested that we head back to Mexico to wait it out b/c waiting with Margaritas would be better than waiting with the heavy smell of perfume in Norway. We threw on the ponchos and splashed through the puddles towards Mexico and got in line for La Cava del Tequila. We opted to just get the drinks to go since there were several people waiting to get a seat.

La Cava Avocado for me which is a favorite of mine!
And I honestly can't remember which one Josh had.

We found a little corner off to the side and watched as everyone started piling in to dodge the rain. Several people around us were also drinking margaritas and having tequila shots. We finished up our drinks and went back out to check on the status of the storm and were pleased when we saw it was no longer raining, so we begun our trek over to France for our Remy time slot.

This area is so pretty and well done. I really liked it. Now I have no idea how long people were waiting, but there were lots of people lined up outside. We walked right onto the rat mobile.

The Remy ride is cute, no doubt, but again it's not something I would pay individually to ride each time. Also, it seems much easier to get a virtual boarding pass for this ride.

And when in France....

I wanted to go walk around the shop in Japan. It started to rain again, so we briskly walked over there and explored for a little bit.

This has always been one of my favorite views. I told Josh at this moment that I sure hoped those ugly barges were worth the obstruction of the views. We'd find out later....

Time for another snack!

Spicy Hako Sushi - 5/5 from me! I loved it. Josh didn't try it because he's super picky about sushi. You'll see more on this later in the trip report.

Ozeki Platinum Sake which I didn't try. Josh said it was strong.

 

[joshsprincess921]

We were ready to go do some more rides, so I booked the next Genie+ for Spaceship Earth.

One more stop on the way, at the Appleseed Orchard.

I got the Apple Crumble Tart. I give this a 4/5, but had they given me a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, this would have easily taken it to a 5.

Josh tried the Apple Pecan Brown Ale and he said it was his favorite out of the ones he tried today.

Made our way to Spaceship Earth...the one where there was a 5 minute wait and it took us longer to walk around to the LL line than it did for the standby.

Some dark, blurry SE pics for you.

We stopped by the new Club Cool. It's not as fun as the old one IMO. I missed my feet sticking to the floor and the weird smell. The nostalgia was missing, LOL.

Then we stopped by to see our friends at the Seas. Yes another pointless Genie+.

I checked to see if I could get a Genie+ selection for Test Track, but the next available wasn't until late that night and the wait was around 45 minutes. The ride kept going down off and on during the day as well. On our way back to the World Showcase, Soarin' was 15 minutes, so we stopped by and rode again.

I stopped at Starbucks on the way for a much needed pick me up. We strolled all the way to America before deciding to grab a seat and relax a bit. I sipped my Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew while Josh enjoyed a good ole Bud Light. We sat and relaxed for about an hour.

 

[joshsprincess921]

I didn't take too many pictures from the rest of our evening. I guess I was getting tired. I know that we walked around Germany a bit and visited Karamell-Kuche. We both got a Turtle and I got a bag of popcorn for later. I also finally tried the Grapefruit beer which I loved! We also walked around the China gift shop and sat on one of the benches as it rained again and we finished our beer.

We finally noticed some of the 50th gold statues.

We had a 7:30 dinner reservation at Le Cellier. I knew for sure I'd be getting the cheddar cheese soup. I've always wanted to try it.

I really liked it, but it was at this point (which also was AFTER I already ordered an entree) that it hit me just how full I was. And by full, I mean uncomfortably full. I didn't think I could eat another bite when our waiter set this down in front of me.

I took a deep breath and maybe ate two bites. I just couldn't do it and felt horrible that I was wasting so much food, not to mention, the cost of Le Cellier isn't cheap! The bites I did have were very good though.

Josh got the filet and was able to finish all of his.

I took mine to go, but I never did get around to eating it so it just sat in the room fridge the whole week. Such a bummer!! But I was really starting to feel bad. We were planning to catch Harmonious, but we decided to just head to the resort and catch it another night.
We walked to the Skyliner and I was so wishing we had our own b/c I was struggling and I was so embarrassed b/c the couple in there with me could see I was struggling and I think they thought I was drunk or something, but nope, just stuffed beyond belief! The good thing was that I had a doggy bag if I need it, but even better was that I didn't have to use it.

I took one picture from the Lobby because I remember having lots of these things as a kid.

We were in the 80s section, so we made our way to our room, got unpacked, showered and crawled in to bed. It was such an amazing, fun day, but note to self, do not make a dinner reservation following an entire day of eating around the World Showcase!!

 

[Darstarr]

Sorry I am late but you are a speedy little thing!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Sorry I am late but you are a speedy little thing!

LOL. I have to write these things quick or I'll forget everything!

 

[Tuvalu]

Can’t believe I missed you again!

We were in Epcot all day Monday too!

 

[LeighM]

Following along!! Those food pictures are making me miss Food and Wine lol. I'm waiting to see the menus for the food kiosks at the Festival of the Holidays bc I don't want to make the same mistake with Biergarten I still remember the time I ate too much during the day snacking and then had a huge dinner at Sanaa. That bus ride to Disney Springs then boat to Riverside felt like an eternity

 

[joshsprincess921]

We were in Epcot all day Monday too!

Oh wow, probably walked right by each other and never knew!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Following along!! Those food pictures are making me miss Food and Wine lol. I'm waiting to see the menus for the food kiosks at the Festival of the Holidays bc I don't want to make the same mistake with Biergarten I still remember the time I ate too much during the day snacking and then had a huge dinner at Sanaa. That bus ride to Disney Springs then boat to Riverside felt like an eternity

Oh my gosh, I will never make that mistake again! This was the first time we've really even eaten around the World like that, so I guess in my mind I was thinking oh we will be hungry b/c we are just eating snacks throughout the day.

 

[joshsprincess921]

Step total:

October 26th:

Since resort guests were able to enjoy the parks 30 minutes prior to park opening, we were up super early for Hollywood Studios! I was feeling much better and ready to have a great day! It was a beautiful morning!

It didn't take long at all to board and get over to HS. Before long we were walking right in. Welcome to Hollywood! I was so excited!

I had already purchased the Individual LL for Rise, so we were headed away from the crowds. It felt so weird seeing NO ONE around us.

We got in line for Slinky. There was still about 30 minutes before we got to the 30 minute early opening, but it was a pleasant wait as we watched them testing the ride and people watching.

Weirdest thing we saw while people watching. There was a family of 5 in front of us. They had 3 small children with the youngest being about 1 years old. You could tell that by the 3rd kid they just didn't care anymore. The middle child was running around barefoot and then the parents would take turns walking the 1 year old around. There were small puddles of water on the ground and the child would get on the ground and start licking up the water. Parents had an extremely delayed reaction to the child doing this each time and would sit and watch him do it for a minute before picking him up.

We also went ahead and put in a mobile order for breakfast from Woody's Lunchbox which is a must for Josh. He loves it so much. Before long we were loading up! So much fun!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Afterwards, was a little Midway Mania action!

Josh beat me again.

Then a spin with the aliens!

And breakfast time at Woody's was up!

Josh loves the Totchos. He talks about them all the time. This morning, the tart was the raspberry one. I had the blueberry one before and loved it, but loved this one even more and they gave me a birthday cupcake which was yummy too.

After a successful morning in Toy Story Land, it was time to ride Rise of the Resistance. We walked that way and saw a friend on our way!

When we arrived, the standby wait time was 2 hours! I'd say in this instance the purchase of the Individual LL was absolutely worth to us. We went straight back and directly into start of the attraction.

 

[amjt660]

I just want to give you all my honest thoughts on Genie+ and LL as I go along.

Made our way to Spaceship Earth...the one where there was a 5 minute wait and it took us longer to walk around to the LL line than it did for the standby.

Yes another pointless Genie+.

Thank you for doing this - I am hearing similar stories about people spending $7 each to do Everest and showing up to a 10min standby line. No refunds available

Enjoying the pace of the trip so far - shame that you could not enjoy that great Canadian meal!!


Max

 

[joshsprincess921]

So my first experience with this attraction in May wasn't the best. We were seated in the 2nd row behind plexiglass and the two girls in front of us held their phones up in the air recording the entire time so it was very distracting. This time, I felt the hype and was blown away. It's superb! I took a few pics in the beginning, but once we loaded up I put my phone away so that I can enjoy it fully.

Our first Genie+ selection was next for Rockin' Roller Coaster. I can't recall the wait times, but it was a good use of the Genie+ here.

We got some song I had never even heard before, but ride was still a blast. I had looked to see if there was a ToT slot open, but the ride was down. The Beauty and the Beast show was starting soon, so we hopped on over there. I hadn't seen this in forever. I enjoyed it, but the social distancing scenes were kinda funny. I also found out this trip, that my husband is a big fan of stage shows. The things you continue to learn over the years.... Also, we used Genie+, but for stage shows there really isn't a need. We were just able to enter the theater earlier.

 

[Sabrina1705]

Following along!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Thank you for doing this - I am hearing similar stories about people spending $7 each to do Everest and showing up to a 10min standby line. No refunds available

Enjoying the pace of the trip so far - shame that you could not enjoy that great Canadian meal!!


Max

Glad to give some insight. We definitely learned when we'd use it and when it's not worth it for future visits.