Trip Report The Most Magical Solo Momcation

Hi everyone šŸ‘‹šŸ¼
Iā€™ve been back from Disney for about 5 days now and I am hoping to really dive into my solo momcation trip report tomorrow but, I thought I would start off today with a little backstory/ pre-trip report.
Normally, my Disney trips include my husband and two kids. We are a big Disney family and try to visit every few years. However, our last two family trips wereā€¦ unsuccessful to put it kindly.
In September of 2016 my kids were 5 1/2 and 1. That trip was a disaster for many reasons but mainly because 1) My oldest did not deal with the extremely hot temperatures and was a whiny, grumpy, mess all day every day. All she wanted to do was swim in the pool. and 2) My youngest decided that Disney trip would be the perfect time to sprout her top two front teeth and was awake crying, every night for hours in the middle of the night. In my attempt to not wake my husband and older daughter, I would take her outside and walk around with her to calm her down. That trip was absolutely exhausting.
Our next trip after that wasnā€™t until January of 2020. We purposely picked January hoping for cooler temps but of course you never know with Florida and it was in the 80ā€™s the entire week we were there. My kids, now 9 and 4, whined and complained about literally everything. It was too hot, too crowded, they were hungry, thirsty, tired. Plus they fought all day, every day. Like physically pushing and kicking every time we were waiting in line for something.
After that trip, we decided we were done doing Disney with little kids. It was just too much. It was so exhausting and so expensive and we always left feeling like we didnā€™t get to do anything WE wanted to do.
Fast forward a few months to March 2020. I lost my job, my kids schools were closed, my husband was working from home every day. Suddenly all I dreamed about was being alone šŸ¤£ I had this fantasy about going to Disney alone and finally doing everything I wanted to do without the constant whining and crying from my kids. Riding the big fun rides, eating in restaurants that had more than mac & cheese and chicken nuggets, not sitting for hours while kids play in some ridiculous play area. I didnā€™t even know solo Disney trips were a thing until I stumbled upon a Facebook group made up of Disney solo travelers.
So once our lives were (sort of) back on track, we went back to work and back to school, I ran the idea past my husband. He was completely supportive and totally on board right from the start šŸ™Œ
I officially booked my trip in March of 2021. In my mind, I was picturing a celebration. I thought Iā€™d be celebrating the end of quarantine, the end of remote learning, the end of the pandemic. Obviously this pandemic is not over but I decided to move forward with my trip for one reason and one reason only ~ DISNEY IS MY HAPPY PLACE. After almost two years of stress, anxiety, and sometimes just downright UNhappiness, I decided I deserved a week in my happy place.
Iā€™ll be back soon to dive in but for now, hereā€™s a pic of me and the fam from January 2020.
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day Four - Tuesday 2/1
Hollywood Studios

So I kept going back and forth about how to use Genie+ on this day. I knew I wanted to ride Slinky twice, once at rope drop and again when it was dark using genie. I had only been on Slinky once before, in January 2020 with my husband and kids. It was the first time riding for all of us and since everything we saw advertised it as a fun, family coaster, we assumed our kids would be fine. They absolutely hated it though and were in tears the entire ride. I was so focused on comforting my 4 year old, I didnā€™t remember much about the ride. So I really wanted to ride twice this time around. I attempted a few practice runs using genie before I arrived. It was so frustrating trying to get a nighttime time slot. The times would jump around, then sell out, then random times would pop up. So long story short, what I decided is I would purchase ILL for both Rise and Mickey & Minnie, and just wait standby for everything else.
That morning at 7am, I had a super frustrating time trying to secure my 2 ILLs. I started with Rise and when I clicked the time I wanted, the next page just kept spinning and spinning. I assumed my time was locked down so I just waited. After a solid 3 minutes or so, I closed out the app and went back in. Rise was gone.
So I tried for Runaway Railway. And the same thing happened. Iā€™d click a time and next page would just endlessly spin. After several attempts, I was finally able to secure an ILL for both however they were not at the time I wanted šŸ¤¦šŸ»ā€ā™€ļø So frustrating.

Anyways, early entry was at 8:30 but I went down to the bus stop earlier than I normally would. The DHS line always seemed to be the longest in the mornings. Iā€™m sure this was mostly due to Rise of the Resistance but, I actually heard quite a few different people throughout the week say they would be using the DHS bus to rope drop Remy. Apparently many people thought that by taking the bus to DHS, then the Skyliner to Epcot, they would be at an advantage. Iā€™m not sure if this is true or if people actually tested it out but, after hearing numerous strangers discuss it (and yes I often found myself eavesdropping on other peoples conversations šŸ¤£ ) I started to worry I wouldnā€™t make it in enough time.
The line was pretty lengthy when I arrived and I ended up being the last person let on the bus šŸ„³
I arrived at DHS at about 7:35. Similar to AK, they were letting guests into the park and you could queue up at your desired ride.
I love the morning quiet!
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Slinky started running at 8:30 on the dot.

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I love the detail of Busterā€™s tag!
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Such a fun queue!
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I enjoyed Slinky, itā€™s a cute ride and I can definitely see why more adventurous kids would like it.
From there, I went over to Tower of Terror. It was about 8:45 so still during early entry.
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ToT is my FAVORITE Disney ride. I love everything about it, especially all the details throughout the queue. Many years ago, I was super into the Twilight Zone and I rode ToT about 10 times in one trip trying to find all the Twilight Zone references in the queue. I would love to be able to wander all around the lobby and get a close look at everything šŸ˜
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After exiting ToT, it was just past 9 so the regular crowd had arrived. I went over to Rock N Roller Coaster and thanks to single rider, walked right on. One thing that was kind of strange was that they had the doors open in pre show room. So people were just walking through instead of stopping to watch the pre show šŸ¤·šŸ»ā€ā™€ļø
I do really love this ride but man, it makes my head hurt šŸ¤£ Like I physically feel like I can feel my brain sloshing around šŸ¤Ŗ I decided RnRC can now only be tolerated once a day by this old lady.
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Walking down Sunset
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I knew I wanted to ride Midway Mania at some point. And without genie, I knew Iā€™d inevitably have a long wait. The current wait was 45 minutes. People always say the wait times are inflated so I thought Iā€™d test it out!
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Yeah, it was definitely a 45 minute wait šŸ¤£ Worth it though. I do love this ride and I donā€™t even mind doing it alone. Itā€™s so fun, the score doesnā€™t matter to me.

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Oh hey there Buzz šŸ˜Ž
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
After Soarinā€™ I went to Living with the Land. I find this ride very peaceful and relaxing and it feels the most ā€œEpcotā€ to me.
LWTL is one of my favorite rides. Your photo of the farm scene is one of my favorites -- so peaceful -- I've always wanted to jump off the boat, and go "live" there! :hilarious:

Really enjoying all your photos throughout this TR. I particularly liked the interior lobby photos you took inside TOT -- those were some of the most detailed ones I've seen (and I've seen many, over the years in the forum). :)
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
LWTL is one of my favorite rides. Your photo of the farm scene is one of my favorites -- so peaceful -- I've always wanted to jump off the boat, and go "live" there! :hilarious:

Really enjoying all your photos throughout this TR. I particularly liked the interior lobby photos you took inside TOT -- those were some of the most detailed ones I've seen (and I've seen many, over the years in the forum). :)
Thank you so much! So funny you mention the farm house and how you could live there. Later in the week, I was on the Liberty Belle Riverboat and when it goes by that little shack with the old man and his dog I was thinking, oh ya I could totally live there šŸ¤£
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Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
So I was originally supposed to fly out on Saturday January 29th. On the Monday before, all the local news stations starting predicting a big winter storm for Friday into Saturday. I instantly went into panic mode but my husband calmed me down and we agreed I would fly out Friday afternoon if this storm was actually for real. We originally decided I would make a decision by Wednesday but on Tuesday morning, everyone was still predicting a whopper of a storm for Saturday. My anxiety got the best of me and by Tuesday mid-morning, I changed my flight. And I was glad I did because by Wednesday, every flight out of Providence was either sold out or quadruple the price.
I was booked at Music for 1/29-2/5 but unfortunately they did not have any availability for Friday night. Movies was available but just for Friday, not the rest of the week. So I would have to make a transfer on Saturday morning. I also had to change my Mears Connect and change my pick up with the local transport company that was driving me to the airport. All in all, I had to add a little more than $200 to my trip. Not bad at all and yes, we got the storm and all flights out of both Providence and Boston were cancelled on Saturday. This is a picture my husband sent me of our deck-
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My original flight was non stop but my new Friday flight did have a short layover. The first part of the flight was smooth and on time, unfortunately the second part did have some delays. I landed about an hour and a half later than I was supposed to. MCO always confuses me and unfortunately, I did take a wrong turn after getting my luggage. I foolishly followed the signs for Mears and it brought me to their old location. Once I realized my mistake, it took a little bit for me to find my way to their new location (the old Magic Express location). Check in was a breeze and I walked right out to a bus. The bus waited for maybe 10/15 minutes for other people to load and then we were off. The bus did make several stops at other Disney hotels so bring your patient pants. The driver, I want to say his name was Randy, was great. He was super fun and upbeat, he was telling jokes and giving us Disney trivia the whole ride. When we were approaching the Disney World sign he told everyone to take out their phones and cameras and when he drove under the sign he beeped the horn really loud and was yelling Woo hoo! Weā€™re in Disney World!!! We happen to drive by Epcot while the fireworks were happening and he made a big deal out of that too. He accidentally said Thank you for riding Disneyā€™s Magical Express once and caught himself and said he was a driver with them for 10 years. Just a great guy and you could tell he really loved his job.
By the time I got to my room, I was completely exhausted so I showered and went right to bed. It was a bit of a pain to not be able to unpack and to have to transfer my luggage over on the next morning. Well worth it though for a full day in Magic Kingdom!
I call this the end of a perfect day because..... Disney.
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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So first the good. This is a fun ride! I actually enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. The scene in the dance studio with Daisy was my fave šŸ˜
But, I absolutely hate this animation style. My kids watch these shorts and I canā€™t stand them. All the characters look drunk and homeless. And more importantly, I will always be salty that this replaced the Great Movie Ride. Always. šŸ˜’
 

RememberWhen

Well-Known Member
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So first the good. This is a fun ride! I actually enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. The scene in the dance studio with Daisy was my fave šŸ˜
But, I absolutely hate this animation style. My kids watch these shorts and I canā€™t stand them. All the characters look drunk and homeless. And more importantly, I will always be salty that this replaced the Great Movie Ride. Always. šŸ˜’
Right?! Why have they done this to the characters? Why is Goofy a homeless weirdo??
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Now it was time for ILL #2- Rise of the Resistance. Also my first time riding! My husband tried to ride in January 2020 but his boarding group was so high, it was never called.

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So hereā€™s the thing. I am not a Star Wars fan. Couldnā€™t tell ya anything about anything. So Iā€™m not gonna lie. This ride wasā€¦ meh šŸ¤·šŸ»ā€ā™€ļø It was fine. But the pre shows were so long and boring and it felt like it took forever to get the actual ride. The ride part was fine but Iā€™ll be honest, I donā€™t need to do it again anytime soon šŸ™ˆ
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Oh I forgot to mention this. On Rise, there were two different families in my vehicle and both had little girls. One of the little girls started crying at one point and saying she was scared and wanted to get off. This caused the other little girl to start crying as well. So super loud, hysterical crying, in surround sound, all around me. Fun times šŸ¤£
But really, I did feel bad for them. I did not feel bad for one of the dads though as he was bragging in line about putting lifts in his daughters shoes to get her on the ride šŸ¤¦šŸ»ā€ā™€ļø

Anyways, it was lunch time! I picked up my mobile order at Woodys and then played the fun game where you walk around with a tray of food and canā€™t find a table! Finally found one of those high top ones where you have to stand. Better than nothing I guess!
The food was delish! Brisket melt with tots and lemon blueberry lunch box tart. Everything was excellent!

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After lunch, I went over to Muppet Vision 3D. I made sure to sit towards the back so I didnā€™t go cross eyed šŸ˜œ
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After a little coffee break, I decided to queue up for ToT again. I forget the exact posted wait, it was somewhere in the 45-60 range and yes, it was accurate.
The absolute CUTEST thing happened while I was in line. There was a young couple in front of me and the girl was all decked out in the cutest ToT dress. She even had the bellhop hat. After only waiting for 5 minutes or so, a cast member came up to her and said, ā€œWhere have you been?!? We have been looking all over for you, staff is not permitted outside the hotel!ā€ And he took them in through the lightning lane! It was so fun to witness and I really was so happy for them because that line was loooong!
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Goofy and Max were out on the balcony!
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I love you Hollywood Tower Hotel!
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Walking to my next attraction, I just happen to catch a cavalcade!
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Short but cute!
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Next I decided to see the Indiana Jones show. I honestly canā€™t remember when I saw this last! It was a little cheesy and boring in parts but I appreciate the old MGM vibes of the show.
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Walked around a bit more, taking in the sights šŸ˜
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I loved this movie as a kid! I love that the references are still in the park. On a family trip in 1995 I met Roger Rabbit at a character breakfast šŸ˜
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So next I decided to go see the Frozen Sing a Long. Frozen is not my favorite movie but I always enjoy this show. Iā€™m so glad I went because the two historians for this show were HYSTERICAL! It was seriously the best version Iā€™ve seen.
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Oh and side note, my younger daughterā€™s name is Aria šŸ˜Š

As previously mentioned, one thing I really wanted to do on this day was ride Slinky in the dark. It wasnā€™t dark yet and I had some extra time so I decided to queue up for Alien Swirling Saucers. Definitely not on my must do list but I figured why not. The posted wait was 25 minutes.
After about 20 minutes in the queue, and barely any movement, an announcement was made that they were having technical issues and only some of the ride vehicles were operating properly. I was committed at this point though and didnā€™t want that 20 minutes to go to waste so I toughed it out. Total wait time- 45 minutes šŸ¤¦šŸ»ā€ā™€ļøšŸ¤£
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Time for dinner! Hummus and kefta meatballs from Docking Bay 7. Yum!
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