Trip Report Treat Yo Self! (within reason) LIVE-ish! **COMPLETE**

Who: Just me.
When: (Feb 4-9)
Why: To celebrate paying off my students loans.

If you’ve been following the pre-trip report, thanks so much for reading and for continuing the journey to this thread.

If you’re new to this part welcome!

I’m going to try a live-ish TR. With it being a solo trip I’ll have some downtime to post but I certainly don’t want to be one of “those people” on my phone the entire trip. (I’m already planning on wearing leggings so I don’t want multiple threads against me on the other forums.)

Tomorrow morning the trip begins. Just a few more hours of work. Then last minute packing and hanging out with DH and the doggo.

Just one more sleep!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 6: the end

There was a PORS bus ready to leave and nothing at the FQ spot so I went for the sure thing (and another stroll down the Sassagoula River)

No time for a chat new tree friend- I gotta leaf.

I really like the color scheme for the buildings at FQ.

Picked up my suitcase, grabbed a muffelata and one final lobby sniff on my way out to wait for the airport bus.

Before I could even start to eat my sandwich a bus showed up. It was 20 min before my scheduled time but since they tell you to get there 15 min early I wanted to check with the driver if I was on this bus or the next.

He assured me there would be another bus in 20 min but said if I wanted to go now I could. I said of course I don’t want to go but I guess I should.

I begrudgingly boarded the early bus. Nothing of note at the airport. Didn’t seem too busy. I was through TSA super quick.

A breastfeeding pod at the airport. Cool idea. The code to unlock it was “8008”

Flight back was fine. There was a little one who started screaming as soon as we began to taxi. Poor little guy. He did quiet down at times. Extra thankful for headphones and DH’s sweet playlists.

And then I was back in the cold. It was 19*F and very late. Got a very sleepy greeting from DH and doggo.

Look what was waiting for me in the mail pile.

Oh Disney I just can’t quit you.

Day 6 Wrap Up:

Hamburgers: 0
Boozes: 0
New attractions: Liberty Belle, Enchanted Tiki Room
Song of the day: My Doorbell- The White Stripes

Well that’s it for now. I will post some final thoughts/wrap up in a couple days. Gotta catch up on real life for a bit.

Thanks for reading!

 

[krisri18]

Best way to end a Disney trip is to have the next one on the horizon!

 

[DisSplash]

No time for a chat new tree friend- I gotta leaf.

I love silly jokes, and that one did not disappoint. You have a fun sense of humor, which made your trip report really good reading! I will for sure be looking for your next trip report in May. ☺

 

[DisSplash]

Best way to end a Disney trip is to have the next one on the horizon!

... and this is why I cannot stop buying the DCL placeholder when we go on a cruise! There is always a "next time"

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Wrap Up Thoughts Part 1

I’ve been back from my trip for a few days but it already seems like it was forever ago.

I’m so honored that so many people were interested in what I had I say. Thank you all very much.

I figured I would push my luck and give some final thoughts. It will be in multiple parts (to make it easier to do.. at work )

Solo nature of trip:
Wasn’t a weird as anticipated. Truly no one else is concerned with what you are doing.

My overall opinion on the solo trip is that I am glad that I did it. It accomplished my goals of rewarding myself, allowing me to escape the cruddy weather and using up some vacation days.

I have been lucky enough to experience Disney multiple ways and now can include solo as one of them.

Would definitely do another solo trip again if able but also plan on plenty of more trips with others too.

Solo trip pros:

• True freedom to do whatever I wanted and on whatever schedule I wanted.
• My extra tours- experience-wise and price-wise I was glad I did them solo.
• Moving around the the park was a breeze solo.

Solo trip cons:

• Actually not really any. I did really start to miss DH by day 5 though.

Solo trip neutrals:

• Certain aspects of the trip may have been better enjoyed with people in the same way that certain aspects were better alone.
• Example: my little bro and I always try to take the most ridiculous ride pictures. I managed a really funny SSE one but was a little sad to not be able to see his reaction to seeing it revealed during the descent

Oh penicillin. How I love you and hate you (well mostly allergies and “allergies” to you.)

Your grandmother’s 2nd cousin might have had GI upset so now you have an allergy?

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Wrap Up Part 2- Resorts

This trip was my second stay at POP, my first stay at POFQ and my first time doing a split stay.

POP

I can’t say enough good things about this resort. Especially with the refurbed rooms, this place is great. POP has a fun and bright vibe to it- to me it just feels very Disney.

Had great experiences with the buses and the food court. I enjoyed my preferred room in the 50’s. Fingers crossed that next trip I get to try out another section.

Love these curtains.

That’s 8 of the 10 pillows in the room. I would have liked to trade in a pillow or two for tiny H2O lotion bottles.

POFQ
I really wanted to like this resort more than I did. Perhaps it had just been too overhyped for me.

Don’t get wrong. My room and the grounds were beautiful but I just felt like it was missing a certain je ne sais quoi. I just felt myself comparing it to Riverside (which perhaps is why I wandered over there so often)

More curtain love

So much better than previous creepy masks.

I can see the advantage to staying here if you needed a more compact resort though. Perhaps if my stay was longer I would have appreciated it more.

After getting home I did look at what it would cost to upgrade the May trip from POP to PORS. And to do it for both rooms it would be over a grand. Nope. As much as I enjoy Riverside can’t justify that cost difference. Especially not for the little time we tend to spend in the room.

It was interesting to be able to compare a value and mod in real time. I would say with the updates to POP and impending skyliner I can see Disney justifying (slightly) higher POP prices.

What I can’t understand is the current moderate pricing. It just seems disproportionately high for what you are getting in comparison to a value.

Split Stay

The split stay process was easy peasy. No issues with DME or with using luggage services to move my stuff. I would say that doing 2 nights in FQ felt a bit rushed.

 

[aliceismad]

Thanks for the review! It was fun to follow along.

 

[DisSplash]

Just curious - if your mom was watching your dog because your DH was at a conference, where did she think you were? Did you finally tell her you were doing Disney solo?

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Just curious - if your mom was watching your dog because your DH was at a conference, where did she think you were? Did you finally tell her you were doing Disney solo?

Yeah. It was actually My Disney Experience that gave me away. I started planning another trip in May with my family and didn’t realize it shared all of my plans with them and not just our shared plans.

So my family found about my trip a couple of weeks prior and everything ended up ok.

A bonus side effect of them being in the loop was that my husband could go to that conference and have dog care arranged.

It was a work thing he was on the fence about so when the trip was secret he used the dog as a reason not to go. I think in the end he was happy he did go though.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Wrap Up Part 3 Random Thoughts

Bag checks:
Seemed more efficient/organized than previous trips (Well Epcot’s is still a hot mess)

My gauge of how thorough the check wawas if they opened my hard sunglasses case or not. It was about 50/50. More common at the parks than the monorail resorts.

Room checks:
I declined mousekeeping at both resorts. Did not experience any security checks. Didn’t see any signs of a visit either. Room checks were never mentioned in any paperwork or by the front desk staff etc.

If I had a random check as a solo lady traveler I would have been quite unsettled. I’m glad I knew about the possibility of it ahead of time. I think they should be letting people more clearly know about it.

Bonus Thoughts:
I found it amusing that the local police vehicles said: “making a difference” (quotation marks are theirs- not mine)

Didn’t take a picture because I didn’t want to seem suspicious but I find unnecessary quotation marks hilarious.

I guess it could be worse. It could have been: making a “difference”

A final thing I enjoyed was having two very different trips planned so close together.

There were just a handful of things I didn’t do this trip and it was nice to know that I can just do them in May and not years from now.

I also liked being able to scout out new stuff (like snacks) for my family. I think they’re really going to like RoL.

Hopefully this solo trip gave me enough patience for the upcoming family trip. I think having done whatever I wanted to this trip will make me better able to cater everyone else in May.

If you liked this TR you can look forward to more of the same for the May. Plus a lot more drama.

(This is a sneak peak at May BES)

 

[Rista1313]

Wrap Up Part 3 Random Thoughts

Bag checks:
Seemed more efficient/organized than previous trips (Well Epcot’s is still a hot mess)

My gauge of how thorough the check wawas if they opened my hard sunglasses case or not. It was about 50/50. More common at the parks than the monorail resorts.

Room checks:
I declined mousekeeping at both resorts. Did not experience any security checks. Didn’t see any signs of a visit either. Room checks were never mentioned in any paperwork or by the front desk staff etc.

If I had a random check as a solo lady traveler I would have been quite unsettled. I’m glad I knew about the possibility of it ahead of time. I think they should be letting people more clearly know about it.

Bonus Thoughts:
I found it amusing that the local police vehicles said: “making a difference” (quotation marks are theirs- not mine)

Didn’t take a picture because I didn’t want to seem suspicious but I find unnecessary quotation marks hilarious.

I guess it could be worse. It could have been: making a “difference”

A final thing I enjoyed was having two very different trips planned so close together.

There were just a handful of things I didn’t do this trip and it was nice to know that I can just do them in May and not years from now.

I also liked being able to scout out new stuff (like snacks) for my family. I think they’re really going to like RoL.

Hopefully this solo trip gave me enough patience for the upcoming family trip. I think having done whatever I wanted to this trip will make me better able to cater everyone else in May.

If you liked this TR you can look forward to more of the same for the May. Plus a lot more drama.

View attachment 350530
(This is a sneak peak at May BES)

Good luck on your May trip. I know that I can't do groups of family for trips like Disney... I would be grumpy the entire time. I'm better off with just hubby and i!

 

[aliceismad]

Bonus Thoughts:
I found it amusing that the local police vehicles said: “making a difference” (quotation marks are theirs- not mine)

Didn’t take a picture because I didn’t want to seem suspicious but I find unnecessary quotation marks hilarious.

I guess it could be worse. It could have been: making a “difference”

 

[Darstarr]

Wrap Up Part 3 Random Thoughts

Bag checks:
Seemed more efficient/organized than previous trips (Well Epcot’s is still a hot mess)

My gauge of how thorough the check wawas if they opened my hard sunglasses case or not. It was about 50/50. More common at the parks than the monorail resorts.

Room checks:
I declined mousekeeping at both resorts. Did not experience any security checks. Didn’t see any signs of a visit either. Room checks were never mentioned in any paperwork or by the front desk staff etc.

If I had a random check as a solo lady traveler I would have been quite unsettled. I’m glad I knew about the possibility of it ahead of time. I think they should be letting people more clearly know about it.

Bonus Thoughts:
I found it amusing that the local police vehicles said: “making a difference” (quotation marks are theirs- not mine)

Didn’t take a picture because I didn’t want to seem suspicious but I find unnecessary quotation marks hilarious.

I guess it could be worse. It could have been: making a “difference”

A final thing I enjoyed was having two very different trips planned so close together.

There were just a handful of things I didn’t do this trip and it was nice to know that I can just do them in May and not years from now.

I also liked being able to scout out new stuff (like snacks) for my family. I think they’re really going to like RoL.

Hopefully this solo trip gave me enough patience for the upcoming family trip. I think having done whatever I wanted to this trip will make me better able to cater everyone else in May.

If you liked this TR you can look forward to more of the same for the May. Plus a lot more drama.

View attachment 350530
(This is a sneak peak at May BES)

Bring on the “drama”!!! (“See” what I did there? And “there”?? LOL)

 

[ELeigh]

Great solo trip! Looking forward to hearing about your May trip

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Bring on the “drama”!!! (“See” what I did there? And “there”?? LOL)

Yes. Lol. I “love” it.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Enjoyed reading about your trip!!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Good luck on your May trip. I know that I can't do groups of family for trips like Disney... I would be grumpy the entire time. I'm better off with just hubby and i!

Thanks. Just traveling with just DH is my favorite way to travel in general.

I’m just trying to frame this May trip as doing something nice for my parents (and MIL- more on that later) and knowing that I will likely have fun as well as a side product.

Great solo trip! Looking forward to hearing about your May trip

Thank you for much for reading!

Enjoyed reading about your trip!!

Glad you liked it. Thanks!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Wrap Up Part 4- I promise this is it

If you liked this TR thank you very much for reading.

If you didn’t like this TR well it’s pretty awkward that you stuck it out this long. That’s on you.

I’ll end with a review of how I did on the rules I made in my pre-trip report.

Rule 1: No hamburgers.

Mission Accomplished

Rule 2: One adult drink per day. Minimum.
5 out of 6 days I did it. My final day was in MK so adult drinks weren’t as accessible. I considered a drink at the airport but didn’t get one.

Rule 3: Try a rope drop.

Goal exceeded! I rope dropped MK and HS.

Rule 4: Try a Dole Whip

Had one. Didn’t care for it. Not even with rum.

Rule 5: Visit new resorts.

Polynesian. Grand Floridian. Wilderness Lodge. Beach Club.

Rule 6: Try new restaurants/ food places

Overall I think I did good with this. No Cosmic Rays. No Electric Umbrella etc. All of the new places I tried I would go back to again.

Also I ended up walking 58.6 miles total.

Thanks again for reading!

 

[KellBelle]

I really loved reading your solo adventures! I will also be doing a split stay between POP and FQ, so it's was great to hear your thoughts! Looking forward to May!

 

[Swissmiss]

You did a really good job on your rules. I think I’ll do something similar if my trip in September to DLP is solo again (went on my first solo trip last September for the half marathon weekend).