I will be embarking on my Solo Trip in May; Some advice?

Darthbane2007

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 24, 2012
By my good fortune ( And a Timeshare Presentation at Hilton Grand Vacation club) I will be able to do a small solo trip at Disney. The dates I will be there is May17th-21st, with me having to do the timeshare presentation on the 20th at 11:30.

1. My initial plans are to fly into Orlando early on the 17th, and do a park. I am having trouble deciding which park to do first. The 3 I want to do are Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Magic Kingdom. Whatever 2 parks I do not do I will go on the 18 and 19th.

2. I will not be doing a dining plan, so any recommendations for resturants in those parks?

3. Any rides I should get fast passes for?
 
I'd do AK on your arrival day and use the full days to rope drop Epcot/MK.

Fast passes

Animal Kingdom ... Flight of passage if possible, Dinosaur and Tough to be a bug. Everest has a single rider line so don't waste the FP for that.

Epcot ... (My personal opinion) Make these for middle of the afternoon... Frozen ever after, Soarin and space ship earth. I'd rope drop the single rider line at test track, head to mission space then make my way around world showcase reaching my fast passes on the other side mid day.

MK ... (Opinion)... Rope Drop Jungle Cruise & Pirates... Fast past Seven Dwarfs if possible then space mountain and buzz light year. Id make these earlier then refresh to see what you can get later on in the afternoon... Should be able to snag a haunted mansion and big thunder mountain as a 4th/5th fast pass.

Food, not sure i really don't like eating in the parks. I always make my way down to Disney Springs for dinner and drinks later on at a bar. Homecoming or Boathouse are very good for solo travelers.

Good luck and enjoy.
 
I can tell you all the places I didn't like to dine solo: Via Napoli, Be Our Guest, Trader Sam's Tiki Terrace. At all of these places, I was treated less than spectacular for being solo. This year for my solo trip I am trying Cali Grill, Spice Road Table, and Skipper Canteen. I've heard amazing things about Satu'li Canteen so I'll be trying that as well.

I would also agree with doing Animal Kingdom on the first day. In terms of Fastpasses, it's really up to you. As a solo traveler, I always rope drop so I can get so much done being by myself. I would utilize that if you don't mind getting up early. Try to get FOP and Safari for Animal Kingdom if you do come in late on that day.
 
I can tell you all the places I didn't like to dine solo: Via Napoli, Be Our Guest, Trader Sam's Tiki Terrace. At all of these places, I was treated less than spectacular for being solo. This year for my solo trip I am trying Cali Grill, Spice Road Table, and Skipper Canteen. I've heard amazing things about Satu'li Canteen so I'll be trying that as well.

I felt the same way when I was solo at Be Our Guest, it felt like the server was a bit bothered that someone would do a table service meal alone.

By my good fortune ( And a Timeshare Presentation at Hilton Grand Vacation club) I will be able to do a small solo trip at Disney. The dates I will be there is May17th-21st, with me having to do the timeshare presentation on the 20th at 11:30.

1. My initial plans are to fly into Orlando early on the 17th, and do a park. I am having trouble deciding which park to do first. The 3 I want to do are Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Magic Kingdom. Whatever 2 parks I do not do I will go on the 18 and 19th.

2. I will not be doing a dining plan, so any recommendations for resturants in those parks?

3. Any rides I should get fast passes for?

CA Grill and Skipper Canteen were both awesome solo, complete 180 from the experience I had at Be Our Guest. Tiffins was also a good experience or you could do Nomad Lounge. I would say just about any lounge is good for a solo who wants a table service experience without dealing with ADRs.

Epcot & AK are my 2 favorite parks so I would do MK on arrival day and devote my 2 full days to rope drop to close AK and Epcot.

Fastpass at MK would be Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Seven Dwarfs or Splash; AK: FoP, Safari, and Dinosaur using single rider for Everest; Epcot: RD Test Track single rider, FP Soarin', Spaceship Earth, & Mission Space.
 


I agree about Be Our Guest dinner, but it's a different experience at lunch. My only experience at Be Our Guest solo was while I was pregnant with DD1. My DH and DS10 we're doing the ' big rides' that I couldn't go on and neither wanted to eat at BOG....so I went alone. The service was slow and bad. My waiter never came to check on me, and I had to hunt him down to get my bill. We had been to BOG numerous times as a family and never experienced anything like this.
BOG lunch solo is fine though, again while pregnant with DD1( not the same trip though).... All went well. In fact the cm that dropped of my food order at the table offered to go up and get my drink from the drink station for me. I'm guessing because I looked like I was about to pop( 8 1/2 months along.) Lunch solo, great experience.

Definitely FOP on AK day, and SDMT on MK day
 
I forgot to mention that I will be staying at Los Palmeras by the convention center. I will likely use their shuttles ( Assuming they have one) or Uber/Lyft
 
BOG lunch solo is fine though, again while pregnant with DD1( not the same trip though).... All went well. In fact the cm that dropped of my food order at the table offered to go up and get my drink from the drink station for me. I'm guessing because I looked like I was about to pop( 8 1/2 months along.) Lunch solo, great experience.y
i should've mentioned my bad experience was at lunch, not dinner.
 


i should've mentioned my bad experience was at lunch, not dinner.
Sorry your experience was poor at lunch. Was it just the long line and wait time or were the cm's rude? Since it's technically a quick service and they just normally drop our food off and run, we hadn't ever had a ton of interaction with a cm at BOG lunch. They direct us to the kiosk to order, we seat ourselves then they drop our food. Pretty much very little service on their behalf, maybe that's why I thought they were great at the one solo lunch I had at BOG.....it was the first ' real' interaction from a cm there.
 
Sorry your experience was poor at lunch. Was it just the long line and wait time or were the cm's rude? Since it's technically a quick service and they just normally drop our food off and run, we hadn't ever had a ton of interaction with a cm at BOG lunch. They direct us to the kiosk to order, we seat ourselves then they drop our food. Pretty much very little service on their behalf, maybe that's why I thought they were great at the one solo lunch I had at BOG.....it was the first ' real' interaction from a cm there.
Everyone that I encountered, both CMs and other park guests, seemed very annoyed that I was taking up a table by myself. I got lots of dirty looks from people who were trying to find tables and I was asked many times if it was "just me". I haven't ever dealt with this while dining solo, which I do quite often at home, so it was odd.
 

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