Why did you decide to go solo?

I went solo for the first time last year, and it was lovely. Like many folks here, I did not have any friends at the time who were up for a trip, but I felt the need to be in a happy place to help put some ghosts of my past behind me. I do graphic design for a living, but my real love is drawing cartoons, so I gave myself a theme that this would be an "Inspiration Vacation". I booked my room at Art of Animation, carried my sketchbook with me everywhere, and made it a point to take my time and relax and draw whenever the spirit moved me. Just sitting around drawing opened up loads of opportunities for conversation! There were group drawing lessons at AoA which were super fun also. I made it a point to chat with every cast member who I came into contact with at AoA in particular (since it was my home base for the trip), and found them all to be delightfully friendly and engaging. I even met the resort managers, and when I explained my "inspiration vacation" idea to them they thought it was a grand idea. I hunted all over the parks for things that would provide artistic inspiration, and focused on those things that made me feel happy and cheerful. I would not hesitate to do it again!
 
I'm in the "after my divorce..." camp. I loved it! I made every rope drop, and came back later to nap. I went to the pool. I didn't eat a single nugget or French fry....although some days I had ice cream and a Rice Krispie treat. I rode Everest over and over using single rider line. I wandered the hotels. I people watched. I chatted with strangers in line. I had a cocktail at the Nomad Lounge. So fun, doing what I want, when I wanted to. I think I will get an annual pass in January to pack in 1-2 Girls Trips with friends, a family trip, 1-2 solo trips. My kids say, "Mom, Disney World is more fun when we don't go all the time." (Yeah, I know they're wrong.)
 
The first time I decided to go solo was when a girl's trip fell through with a friend. I had already been saving up and thought, "Okay, well...where would I like to go if it could?" I checked some prices, found it not too expensive for just a couple days and decided to go for it! It's since become a normal, welcome thing for me to take a "mom trip" where I go solo for a few days, maybe longer. I love getting a break from home and kids to just do what I like. On my last trip, I upgraded to an AP!
 


I'm going this fall( late Sept-Oct) cause no friends 👌.

Well, no friends who want to make the trip, I'm from Canada so it's understandable, most of my friends are recent (poor) college grads. I got lucky and managed to get a job that gives me way more vacation time than I have the social circle to support lol. To be honest I'd rather go with friends, but it just isn't possible right now.
 
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My first solo was a bit of an accident, I was meeting family but decided to add on 2 days at the start of the trip. My brother and his family decided to do the same and we were going to do stuff together and then we just didn’t...and it was the best part of the whole trip. Once we were all together I found myself ditching them...a lot...When I got home I was sad I was not going back....so I planned my first solo! I have done solo trips, more family trips and trips with Disney friends...my favorites are my solos!
 
Like a number of others, I decided to go solo in 2015 after the end of my relationship with my now ex husband. I LOVE Disney, and couldn't bear the thought of not going again. Plus, I wanted to go on holiday and Disney felt like a very safe option for a woman travelling on her own; I could even go out for dinner in an evening if I wanted and come back to my hotel in the dark and still feel way safer than in many cities.

What made it extra daunting for me is that I'm from the UK, so it was quite a major trip and I was really anxious that everyone would think I was a complete weirdo for wanting to go solo. I didn't tell that many people, only my ex (we're still friends) and my parents and they all got it; I'm quite an independent person, so a solo holiday wasn't a huge surprise and they also all know how much I love Disney.

Quick summary of my experience:

Bad points of my solo trip

Despite feeling a bit anxious I was really excited on the flight over but then I got to immigration and, okay, I know it's a bit strange for a 30 something year old English woman to be travelling to WDW on her own, but I really felt like a freak by time the guy had grilled me on 'did I really not have anyone to go with??!!??'. Don't get me wrong, he had his job to do, and I would probably have been pretty suspicious in his shoes, but it really deflated me for a while. I was pretty delicate anyway because you know, end of relationship, on holiday on my own and all that...but I walked away feeling like a total loser and a sad, batty woman. I even felt a bit tearful on the DME 😢 However, I decided to snap myself out of it because I wasn't going to mope around and let it ruin my holiday.

EVERYTHING ELSE was GREAT

I felt just as happy an excited as ever when I walked in to the Magic Kingdom on my first day
I loved the freedom of doing what I wanted when I wanted and sitting in the sun people watching for as long as I wanted
I rode all the rides I wanted to (and didn't have to go on Jungle Cruise :duck:)
I met some lovely people - usually just chatting on line or at adjacent tables
No-one, not one single person there made me feel weird (although occasionally I would fib and tell people that my family were still at the hotel or I was just going to meet them or something)
I was treated like a princess when I ate at Coral Reef - the server gave me an amazing table and was so helpful and attentive, but without being over-bearing
In fact, I really enjoyed my experience at all the places I ate, counter and table service. Table service - I also ate at Liberty Tree Tavern, twice (Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake 🤤), Yak & Yeti, Restaurant Marrakesh, Mama Melrose's, Sanaa and San Angel Inn
I really felt that I got to spend some quality time on my own recovering from the pretty emotional few months I had been through, and I got to do that in a beautiful, fun, magical place.

Reading though similar accounts from others, I think that a solo WDW trip could be the perfect antidote to rubbish life events!

I still have such fond memories of that trip, and would love to do it again, but I have also been incredibly lucky in that I have a new partner now who I introduced to Disney World in 2017. He wasn’t 100% sold on it at the time, but some months afterwards, out of the blue he asked if we could go again. So here we are counting the days until we get back in December of this year!!!! :hyper:

Long story short – if you’re the kind of person who is okay travelling alone, then a solo Disney trip can be amazing and good for you too...so it would be wrong not to go really!!!


I’ve also been grilled by immigration in multiple countries because I’m a solo traveller. One time I was transiting through the United States en route to Canada and the immigration officer seemed to be genuinely concerned for my safety (rather than suspicious for the usual reasons). I’m lucky in that it’s never happened soon after a breakup and I’ve been single a while now so I’m used to it.

I love travelling and while it would be nice to have a friend or family member to travel with (I’ve had company on a couple of trips) I long ago decided that waiting for company was a waste as I’d just miss out on so much. Also it’s hard to find someone with the $, leave and available schedule to take trips with, as well as interest in going to the same places that I want to and to travel in the same style that I do (I’m more of a planner).thats a lot of things that need to line up! Now most of my friends have young children I can’t see that changing any time soon.
 


I did Disney in California solo but that was literally a one night stopover, had some time to kill in LA so I booked an extra night to stay at a Disney hotel and hit the park.

This time, I'm spending 5 days there solo. I'm travelling from the UK to the States anyway (I'm following my football team to Boston) and as I'm turning 30 in September I thought.... why not? I'd been trying to organise something with a friend but she's consistently let me down, made plans then backed out etc so I figured I could either wait at home while she made up her mind, or do something for myself.

So come July 28th I'll be arriving for my first proper solo adventure! And I've loved reading everyone's opinions and how much they've enjoyed going solo :)
 
While I have had great trips with family.... it never fails that I miss things I want to do so that the others get their stuff done. My upcoming trip to Disneyland will be 4 days of doing exactly what I want to do, when I want to do it. If I got on Indy 10 times in a row, no one will be affected :)
 
My husband left me and the divorce was finalized this year. So...I've booked a trip for myself for December, and I can't wait! For me, I can't afford to take our five children by myself at the moment, but after the last few years I've had (and multiple trips cancelled, subsequently) I didn't want to wait any longer to go. I'm an introvert and I enjoy my own company so I don't think I'll have any problems with being lonely.

I've never travelled alone anywhere. I think Disney is the perfect place to take a solo trip because they will literally take care of you from beginning to end. I have a lot of peace of mind knowing that they will take care of my luggage and take me everywhere I need to go throughout my trip. Not having to rent a car and navigate myself (I have NO sense of direction, haha) is awesome. Plus, there is so much to do one one property that it's pretty much impossible to get bored. I've never gone without my kids so there is so much to do that I haven't done in the last couple of trips, and I am super excited.
 
After I got divorced I really felt I needed some Disney magic in my life. I did a quick 4 night trip and loved every second of it. I thought I'd feel weird being there by myself but it was awesome to be able to do what I wanted, when I wanted. I did QS only the 1st time I did a solo trip ( I've done several on my own after the 1st! ) but booked a mix of QS & TS on subsequent trips.
Disney heals, I did my Disney solo trip two years after my divorce and previous ones with our children. The solo one I thought would be difficult but it was the most magical, healing trip ever.
 
We are (meaning I am) planning a big 4-generation family trip in January. (18 of us from 90 years old to 1 years old). DH's family isn't great about communication or planning. So, I am doing a solo trip for a few reasons

  • I did a solo day at MK in 2018 and had so much fun and felt such freedom. DH had to teach a class in Orlando and I still had a couple of days left on my ticket.
  • To enjoy planning solely for what I want to do and experience. To not worry if others are having a good time.
  • Because the bulk of the family isn't as interested in the trip or understand the sheer amount of planning it takes.
  • To allow myself to try new things (a dessert party, the progressive dinner around the monorail resorts, etc.) and see if it's something I'd recommend to others
  • To try some things BIG I've never done before (Like Magical Express) so that I can walk folks through it. (we've driven the last 2 trips). And to see how I like using the Dining plan
  • Because DH is going on a biz trip to South America and I can't tag along (safety reasons). And I don't want to be home alone again.
  • A dear friend gifted me some DVC points so the excuse of "too expensive" to go alone went out the window when I just needed to pay for food and airfare.

Like everyone here, I believe that solo travel can be healing. I recovered from my divorce over a decade ago by hitting the road thanks to work (mostly to DC) but it was life changing. Disney allows you to do that in a little bit of a smaller bubble
 
I’ve also been grilled by immigration in multiple countries because I’m a solo traveller. One time I was transiting through the United States en route to Canada and the immigration officer seemed to be genuinely concerned for my safety (rather than suspicious for the usual reasons). I’m lucky in that it’s never happened soon after a breakup and I’ve been single a while now so I’m used to it.

I love travelling and while it would be nice to have a friend or family member to travel with (I’ve had company on a couple of trips) I long ago decided that waiting for company was a waste as I’d just miss out on so much. Also it’s hard to find someone with the $, leave and available schedule to take trips with, as well as interest in going to the same places that I want to and to travel in the same style that I do (I’m more of a planner).thats a lot of things that need to line up! Now most of my friends have young children I can’t see that changing any time soon.

I hadn't seen these replies about getting grilled in immigration and...yikes! I suddenly feel really lucky that didn't happen to me when I went to Disneyland Paris followed by London last year. It's good to know that might happen so I can be emotionally prepared...I get that they're just doing their jobs and trying to spot anything that sounds fishy, but it's not that unusual for a woman to travel alone! Pete's sake.
 
I travel and cruise solo because of several reasons:

- I have no friends (although the people I interact with online are quite lovely and I have met some IRL)
- I like to travel
- I like my own company
- I am stubborn as a mule and like to do things my own way
- I hate to hear people complaining about things beyond my control (i.e. the weather, the crowds)

With that being said, I like travelling and cruising with my family providing that I get my own free time every day.

Edit: I would like to add that I am a perfectly friendly Canadian with a family who drives me crazy at times LOL. I bet you that, if I met up with any of you onboard a DCL ship or WDW, I would have no issues buying you an adult beverage :)
 
I do a lot of travelling solo because I tend to travel at times where other people are busy. It's tough to coordinate schedules with my friends, and many of us are in different financial situations, so what seems like a normal trip for some of us is totally out of the question for others. There's places I want to see with or without anyone joining me, so I just go.
 
I hope this isn't a prying question, but I'm seriously contemplating a quick weekend solo trip. My fiance finishes up his first year of dental school at the end of April, and I thought it would be a stress reliever for him to take a mini trip after the semester ends. He told me he doesn't really want to do two trips in one year and "lose the magic." But I have a crazy Disney bug and really still want to go!

Did anyone decide to do a solo trip because their partner/travel buddy didn't want to go? I'm an experienced traveler so I'm not worried about that part, but I'm worried I'll feel sad the whole trip because I won't have anyone to share it with. Anyone feel the same? Did you regret going solo? Did you still have fun?
I decided to go solo because I love to travel and there is no one I know who wanted to go. I need my Disney fix occasionally. I'm very excited about the fact that I can do exactly what I want to do when I want to do it.
 

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