Pre-Trip The "I'm Going to WDW Solo with my Toddler" Pre-Trip Report! :)

Good evening! Thanks for joining me!

I'm Courtney, and I'm 36 years old. My last trip to WDW was well documented in a separate trip report here. I'll post a link to it for reference later.

I've been divorced from the man I was with in that trip report for almost a year now. I've been a little bit depressed, and I've had a rough year for other reasons too, so I decided I was treating myself and my son to a trip to WDW over fall break. It'll be his first ever trip! He's four, and I had always said I'd want to wait until he was bigger to take him there, but honestly, I needed something to look forward to, and he'll love it! Here are our plans so far:

Dates: October 8-13
Lodging: Contemporary (lavish, I know, but since it's just us, I figured being on the monorail line would be worth it).
Plans:

Tuesday:
Check in
Dinner at Chef Mickey's

Wednesday:
Epcot
Breakfast with Chip and Dale at Garden Grill
Fast passes: Nemo, SE, Frozen
Planning to rope drop test track and see if my son measures 40 inches... he's 39.5 now.

Thursday:
MK
Breakfast at CP
Halloween party that night
Fast passes: Thunder Mtn (I know, I'm risking the height issue here...), Pirates, and Peter Pan

Friday:
Pool day/maybe lunch at T-Rex
Dinner at O'hana

Saturday:
AK
Dinner at Tusker House with River of Lights package
Fast Passes: Safari, Lion King, and Na'vi River

Sunday:
Head home

I hate that only gives us one MK day, but I think that'll be fine since we're rope dropping AND doing the party on the same day.

I don't think I could do the HS crowds with my child by myself. Not with SW being so new. So I figured Epcot was a better choice than HS for this trip.

I'd love to hear suggestions and feedback!

 

[cw1982]

Link to my last trip report in case anyone is curious:

Trip Report - *Completed!* The "pick a celebration and stick with it!" Trip Report :)

My husband and I have just returned from six wonderful days at WDW! The trip could not have gone better. I seriously did not want to leave. I won't delve too far into the background here, because it's all in my pre-trip report here...

forums.wdwmagic.com

 

[jrogue]

I'll be there the same time! Following along

 

[Katiekitten]

Following along!

 

[cw1982]

I got my Halloween party tickets in the mail today! And my son's Hawaiian shirt that I bought for our dinner at O'hana. I let him pick from a few I found on Amazon. He picked a green shirt with dinosaurs on it. I'll get him to try it on tomorrow and take a picture.

 

[cw1982]

Oh... and I got our Halloween party costume ideas going! I'll be wearing the dress in the attached picture, and Luke will be wearing a yellow t-shirt with blue stripes and fins either painted on or felted on. I might even find him a yellow baseball cap and hot glue some blue fins on the top.

 

[DryerLintFan]

Good evening! Thanks for joining me!

I'm Courtney, and I'm 36 years old. My last trip to WDW was well documented in a separate trip report here. I'll post a link to it for reference later.

I've been divorced from the man I was with in that trip report for almost a year now. I've been a little bit depressed, and I've had a rough year for other reasons too, so I decided I was treating myself and my son to a trip to WDW over fall break. It'll be his first ever trip! He's four, and I had always said I'd want to wait until he was bigger to take him there, but honestly, I needed something to look forward to, and he'll love it! Here are our plans so far:

Dates: October 8-13
Lodging: Contemporary (lavish, I know, but since it's just us, I figured being on the monorail line would be worth it).
Plans:

Tuesday:
Check in
Dinner at Chef Mickey's

Wednesday:
Epcot
Breakfast with Chip and Dale at Garden Grill
Fast passes: Nemo, SE, Frozen
Planning to rope drop test track and see if my son measures 40 inches... he's 39.5 now.

Thursday:
MK
Breakfast at CP
Halloween party that night
Fast passes: Thunder Mtn (I know, I'm risking the height issue here...), Pirates, and Peter Pan

Friday:
Pool day/maybe lunch at T-Rex
Dinner at O'hana

Saturday:
AK
Dinner at Tusker House with River of Lights package
Fast Passes: Safari, Lion King, and Na'vi River

Sunday:
Head home

I hate that only gives us one MK day, but I think that'll be fine since we're rope dropping AND doing the party on the same day.

I don't think I could do the HS crowds with my child by myself. Not with SW being so new. So I figured Epcot was a better choice than HS for this trip.

I'd love to hear suggestions and feedback!

I think your plans look pretty solid. We LOVE Tusker House, but my kid (same age) wasn't a fan of Rivers of Light last year. Be sure to bring an activity he can see in the dark just in case he's not into it.

 

[cw1982]

I think your plans look pretty solid. We LOVE Tusker House, but my kid (same age) wasn't a fan of Rivers of Light last year. Be sure to bring an activity he can see in the dark just in case he's not into it.

Good to know. Thank you!

 

[DryerLintFan]

If it helps with your planning, I have a trip report from last year in my signature when my daughter was 3.5 but we went with a friend. In three weeks we'll be back but it will just be me and her this time. So if you see the live trip report pop up, feel free to follow along. She's 4.5 now and it will be just the two of us.

 

[cw1982]

So we updated our plans a bit!

We're driving halfway down on Monday night. Tuesday morning, we'll get to Orlando in time to eat lunch at t-rex. That way we'll be less rushed and less stressed.

I also added park time on Friday morning at MK in case we need it, plus park hoppers in case we want them (although the only time they'll help is Wednesday evening after the morning at Epcot).

My travel agent bought Luke an autograph book! He's going to love it!

 

[DryerLintFan]

So we updated our plans a bit!

We're driving halfway down on Monday night. Tuesday morning, we'll get to Orlando in time to eat lunch at t-rex. That way we'll be less rushed and less stressed.

I also added park time on Friday morning at MK in case we need it, plus park hoppers in case we want them (although the only time they'll help is Wednesday evening after the morning at Epcot).

My travel agent bought Luke an autograph book! He's going to love it!

I don't know what the difference is in the tickets, but if you only benefit by one evening at the most with the park hoppers, is it worth it?

 

[cw1982]

I don't know what the difference is in the tickets, but if you only benefit by one evening at the most with the park hoppers, is it worth it?

The price difference wasn't much... like $100 I think. I went back and forth about it, but I'm paranoid about not having enough time at the Magic Kingdom lol.

 

[DryerLintFan]

For just $100 overall, not a huge deal. But we went last year with friends of ours on one park a day tickets. I thought it would hold us back (AP tickets) but it didn't. When I sketched out my plan this year, even with the AP tickets, we're really only park hopping once or twice.

It's shaping up to be a great trip!!

 

[cw1982]

For just $100 overall, not a huge deal. But we went last year with friends of ours on one park a day tickets. I thought it would hold us back (AP tickets) but it didn't. When I sketched out my plan this year, even with the AP tickets, we're really only park hopping once or twice.

It's shaping up to be a great trip!!

Thank you. You're right that it may be an unnecessary expense. I just overthink literally everything and want to be sure Luke doesn't miss out due to me dropping the ball somewhere lol.

 

[DryerLintFan]

I do the same thing. At the end of the day, penny pinching and Disney don't usually go hand in hand anyway. For our upcoming trip I didn't plan on doing many extras, but now I've got ADRs for character meals, the dessert party, the pirate cruise, and the Halloween party. It is what it is, LOL

 

[cw1982]

I do the same thing. At the end of the day, penny pinching and Disney don't usually go hand in hand anyway. For our upcoming trip I didn't plan on doing many extras, but now I've got ADRs for character meals, the dessert party, the pirate cruise, and the Halloween party. It is what it is, LOL

Oh the pirate cruise! That would be fun lol

 

[jrogue]

So we updated our plans a bit!

We're driving halfway down on Monday night. Tuesday morning, we'll get to Orlando in time to eat lunch at t-rex. That way we'll be less rushed and less stressed.

I also added park time on Friday morning at MK in case we need it, plus park hoppers in case we want them (although the only time they'll help is Wednesday evening after the morning at Epcot).

My travel agent bought Luke an autograph book! He's going to love it!

It's always great to not feel stressed and rushed at Disney. Good call!

Autograph books are the best haha

 

[cw1982]

It's always great to not feel stressed and rushed at Disney. Good call!

Autograph books are the best haha

And this one is custom made! I'll share a picture of it later.

 

[kimberlymautz]

Sounds like you've got a great plan! Four is the PERFECT age for Disney in my opinion! Your kiddo will still be able to enjoy all of the magic of the characters (my daughter mentioned last year when we went for her 7th birthday that she knew the characters were people in costumes, but when we went when she was 5 she didn't realize it) and he'll be able to ride almost anything he'd want!

Very excited to follow along!

 

[cw1982]

Sounds like you've got a great plan! Four is the PERFECT age for Disney in my opinion! Your kiddo will still be able to enjoy all of the magic of the characters (my daughter mentioned last year when we went for her 7th birthday that she knew the characters were people in costumes, but when we went when she was 5 she didn't realize it) and he'll be able to ride almost anything he'd want!

Very excited to follow along!

Thank you!