Solo Trip - March (Easter 2024) - Allergies

[jf256]

Hey Everyone,

I hope everyone is starting to enjoy the spring weather. Although here in the UK it has been very hit and miss.

Last year I travelled to Disney for the first time with my fiance. This was my first solo trip.

I travel a lot for work but we very rarely get to the States. I had a very last-minute trip to New York and New Jersey and needed a bit of a break so I decided to go to Disney for a solo trip.

So I went for a week. I stayed 2 nights at Universals Surfside Inns and 5 Nights at the Hilon Buena Vista Palace.

This time I managed to take some photos. So I will be doing a review of some of the food and commenting on the allergy processes at individual locations.

 

[dizneedoll]

I travel solo occassionaly too and I enjoy other solo travelers perspectives. Looking forward to your report!

 

[stace1214]

Looking forward to reading about your solo experiences. I haven't done a solo trip yet but I am hoping to in the next year!

 

[followthatmouse]

I am tentatively planning a first solo trip for 2025. So, I’m looking forward to your thoughts, reviews and adventures!

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Always love hearing about solo adventures at Disney. Looking forward to your reviews.

 

[jf256]

Background Information:

Name: Jodie
Age: 31
Occupation: Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Bio: I am a Disney Adult through and through but I lean more towards villains and dark things in my decor and day-to-day. I'm an avid fantasy reader but completely risk-averse in my real life (hence the career choice). My job involves a lot of travel but this is predominantly UK, Middle East and India.

Disney Facts:

Favourite Ride: Cosmic Rewind
Favourite Park: Animal Kingdom
Least Favourite Ride: Buzz
Least Favourite Park: Hollywood Studios
Favourite Film: Beauty and the Beast
Favourite Character: Lilo / Gaston

Trip Information:

1. Left the UK on the 16th March - From Heathrow - New York. Flying BA economy (was upgraded to premium)
2. New York - 16 - 20th (Work Trip)
   New Jersey 20th - 22nd (Work Trip)
3. Frontier Flight - Trenton - Orlando
4. Universal Surfside - 22nd - 25th
5. Hilton Lake Buena Vista Palace - 25th - 30th
6. Orlando - Gatwick BA Premium Economy - 30th. Arrived at 6.30 am on the 31st.

I found out about the trip on the 1st of March and flights were not arranged until the 12th of March. So I did not have a lot of time to book hotels and meals. I did book refundable rates in advance but most of my bookings and reservations were done on the 13th / 14th March


Initial Costs:

• Premium Upgrade Flight for red-eye to UK (25,000 BA Points + £0 Taxes)
• Hilton Hotel (£500 in points purchases to take advantage of existing points + 5 nights for 4 + no resort fee)
  Surfside: £200 per night - expensive due to it being the week before easter.
• Tickets: £800 for 2 weeks combined Universal and Disney ticket ( I priced it out doing US individual day tickets and the UK 14-day ticket was still much cheaper) it also includes park-hoppers (for both parks) and a memory maker.

I planned to book the Holiday Inn in Disney Springs for the weekend but they ran out of points nights the day I went to book it (I'd been a bit indecisive - it would have saved money but I'm really glad I stayed at Surfside).

Initial Thoughts:

• Going Solo made this a lot easier.
  I took a lot more breaks this time around but ended up seeing and doing more.
• I am glad they have not yet reintroduced the pre-booking element for Disney Genie +. I quite like doing it the day of - I think if you have a plan in place it is effective and means not wasting money if you don't need it.
  I found out last year that the 'popular' Disney restaurants and most hyped restaurants were the most disappointing in my eyes - so I did not struggle to find somewhere to eat on any of the days.
• Due to the time of year - there were a lot less 'Disney' people. The number of conversations I had overhead of people rocking up with no idea how Genie Plus worked, how to get on Tron / guardians, or that they had to pre-book Cinderella's Royal Table was baffling to me. This made some things easier to get and do.
  

General Strategy:

• Early Entry
• Lunchtime Sit Down Meal.
• Back to the Hotel for Rest During Peak Time / Heat.
• Back to the Park till Close.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more I travel to WDW solo often and love it .

 

[jf256]

Week 1

Travel Day, New York & New Jersey

Flight One: British Airways - London Heathrow - New York (JFK)

Company policy is pretty much always economy. However; it was a full flight and I was traveling by myself on a special diet (picked the vegan option due to an egg allergy). I was upgraded to premium economy. It used to be that special diets were never upgraded due to needing to know the seat number) but I think on British Airways they don't have to pay more for a meal so they are more likely to upgrade.

I've traveled on quite a few airlines - and I have to say this was the worst special diet meal I have ever received - and one time on Etihad they forgot to book it, and on Emirates, someone else ate my meal and they just gave me carrots and mash.

The vegan meal was a grain dish with a few bland tomatoes, an overly sweet bread roll 1 grape, half a strawberry, and 2 pieces of very very hard melon. It's a far cry from Emirates where the food is well thought out, with a real vegan dessert option, and a real vegan cheese and cracker.

The 'afternoon tea' option was a pastry with curry tomato filling - this is the same brand that they have on Emirates and Etihad but I hate it. I don't know why because there is nothing inherently wrong but I honestly can't stand it - and you get it all the time.

I didn't take a picture of the meal but 99 percent of it was left. I bought a sandwich from Coco Di Mama at London Liverpool Street - Proscuitto & Mozzarella. Coco Di Mama is a decent chain and has a lot of options for those with special diets so worth checking out if you are in London. The sandwiches are also on really good multigrain bread that doesn't go soggy if left for a while. So perfect for a long plane flight.

 

[jf256]

New York

Arrived in New York quite late - around 7 pm. It was a bit of a nightmare getting to the hotel as I had to get the metro. I was staying at a Holiday Inn and it didn't have a restaurant. Luckily there was a Chipotle.

We have Chipotle in the UK but it isn't as good as the US. I was working remotely from the hotel for 2 days and having one around the corner helped. There is nothing in Chipotle that has eggs in and it was cheap (meaning I could save my food allowance for a decent dinner).

I was in New York from Saturday - to Wednesday. Sunday was a free day as we have a mandatory rest day when changing time zones. I got a ticket for the hop-on bus and just explored a bit.

Wogies (Sunday)

Breakfast was lunchable. I know I'm super adventurous...

For lunch, I found a bar Wogies and they had loads of Philadelphia Cheese Steak Options. I had the Loaded Philly Steak Fries ( I figured New York is quite close to Philly.. so should be good). There were three cheese options - I went for provolone because I don't think I could have dealt with cheese whizz.

They were amazing... way too much food for one person and very indulgent but it was such a good food start to the trip.




The picture doesn't do it justice because a) I am pretty terrible at taking pictures and b)it was dark in the bar.

For dinner, I ordered Uber Eats - Colleta. A Vegan Carbonara, house salad, and a lemonade. I think I forgot to take a picture - but honestly, it was really expensive for what it was and wasn't great.


Monday - Gregory Coffee and Quality Italian

On Monday I was working remotely for a client (Due to the time zone changes it was not worth staying in the UK and then traveling in) It was quite intense but finished up at around 3 pm.

I had my breakfast/ lunch at around 12.30. I tend to intermittent fast because breakfast is so awkward for me with the egg allergy. I popped into Gregory's Coffee and got an Americano and a Breakfast Vegan Croissant and hot sauce. It was awkward to eat, and messy so did not take any pictures. I give it 3/5. It was quite nice and had an impossible patty, vegan cheese, and a buttery croissant, but was way too sweet for me.

I had booked Robert Deniro's Restaurant for dinner on Tuesday but I went to Central Park and decided to try 'Quality Italian.' I have the Amex platinum card because it enables me to get a little bit more comfort/ hotel points when I'm traveling for work. One of the benefits is a £150 credit for both UK and abroad dining. There are no restaurants on the list in Orlando or the Middle East and my travel is limited this year due to our wedding.. so I figured why not spend it on a fancy New York steak? I did not claim this back from work for obvious reasons.. my daily allowance would not go far here!!

I sat at the bar and was a bit sad that there was no vegan pasta on the menu as I would have loved to have started with a specialty but unfortunately, all the pasta options were egg-based. Instead, I ordered the octopus which is my standard 'steakhouse starter' option and as such I've had them all over the world. This was fantastic. The white bean and potato bed that it was on was one of the best things I've ever eaten.



The steak was also really good, had it with fries and a peppercorn sauce. But I have had better it was nothing special. The peppercorn sauce was very wine-heavy. It was also very very expensive. The meal cost £125 for the octopus, a fillet steak, and a mocktail. People say that Disney is expensive but New York seems to be way more expensive.



Tuesday - Chipotle And Eatly

Tuesday's Lunch was Chipotle (there's a surprise). For dinner, I walked to Eatly and was planning to go to one of the cafes or restaurants there. But I was tired, couldn't be bothered to go through all the allergy information, and had to pack so I just grabbed a pizza. Again no pictures.. Sorry, I just kept forgetting. I had one salami slice and one mushroom slice.

The mushroom was a white pizza and was not that great it went cold quickly and cold slimy mushrooms were not it. The salami was great and the crust and sauce were very good. It was similar to a Rome pizza but with a thicker crust. Very enjoyable.