Yes! I Really Do Want to Spend a Day at Disney By Myself! - A 24 Hour TR * NOW COMPLETE!*

[disneydaydreamer33]

Hello! I'm going to attempt my very first TR! I've been meaning to type this up for about 3 months now, and finally decided to report on just a part of my trip, the part where I went to Disney World ON MY OWN (for about 24 hours)!!!! (If I'm feeling extra ambitious I may get to additional trip days, but for now 24 hours is all I can handle!)
First a little introduction:

I'm Jenny! Stay-at-home-momma to three great kids. I'm obsessed with all things Disney, Broadway, and pop culture in general. I grew up in Northern California so Disneyland was my happiest place on earth! I went twice with my family and three times with my cheer squad (oh yes, I was one of those at Disney! In fact, I just ran across this Splash Mountain pic from my first trip to Cheerleading Nationals my freshman year of high school.

Ahh, the memories!
Anyway, once our dearest daughter was about to turn 3 we decided our family's first trip to Disney was in order. Since we lived in Virginia, it was the World, not the Land that we set our sights on.

We had a GREAT time! One week at the Art of Animation during February 2014 and I was hooked on the World!! When it came to time to plan another trip (after we moved from Virginia to Utah), I knew I wanted to do a runDisney race as well. In Virginia, I made a wonderful friend and a perfect running friend, Amanda. Amanda agreed to run the Princess Half Marathon with me and we decided we would have a friends weekend there BEFORE my family arrived in Orlando.
(here we are cruisin' it up during winter 2015)

Then, I raised the stakes even further and decided I wanted to have one day at Disney solo. This was for a couple of reasons: 1) Amanda only wanted to do Universal during our Princess Half weekend. The thought of not being in the parks during that weekend was too sad! and 2) Anyone with young kids knows that solo time is precious time. The thought of a shower without somebody knocking on my door needing me sounds heavenly. So the thought of Disney on my own?? I was elated at the thought!
So, you ready to hear how it turned out?
Ready, OK! Let's go Solo Travelers!

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[disneydaydreamer33]

And . . . I'm Off! Wednesday February 17th

There is only thing that is slightly better than being inside Disney World, and that is . . . planning for Disney World! Seriously, I am a travel planning addict! Luckily my sweet husband of 12 years (who is a perfect cowboy btw, I will refer to him as John Wayne from now on I think!) is perfectly content to let me plan out every little detail of our trips, Disney or otherwise So after months of pure planning joy, the morning had arrived. I woke up and realized I was about to get on a plane BY MYSELF and go to Disney!

I quickly got the boys ready for school and dearest daughter ready for her play date and then John Wayne dropped me off at the airport. Luckily, we are only about 20 minutes away from the Salt Lake City International Airport. Out of all the places we have lived in our marriage (which is 8!) this is the closest we've ever been to an airport. Though I miss the airfare prices of a Dulles or a Baltimore, it is pretty nice being so close!

Taking my kids to fun and cool places brings me a lot of joy as a parent. I love watching their cute, little faces light up as the airplane takes off. However, I was very much looking forward to this 6+ hours of uninterrupted reading/podcast listening/Hamilton singing (quietly, I promise. I am a very considerate passenger!) time.
My flight was pretty uneventful. We flew to Baltimore and then stayed on the same plane down to Orlando. I always love flights to Orlando, because the majority of people on the flight are in Mickey shirts and are super excited! This flight was no exception. From what I could gather by my super eavesdropping skills, a few families were on their way to a Disney cruise (AWESOME ). Another few families were talking animatedly about going to Harry Potter at Universal for the first time. I saw one woman that had been on my flight from SLC that caught my eye. She had a Mickey shirt on and was solo just like me! After we got off the plane in Orlando and we were walking side by side to the tram, I asked her if she was on her way to Disney (maybe to run in one of the races like I was? I was already getting super excited, envisioning a long and promising friendship with a fellow Disney addict- that was local no less!). Her answer? "Um no, actually I am just going to a convention for work in Orlando but my husband thought it would be funny if I wore a Disney shirt. I'm actually not a big Disney fan at all."
Um . . . excuse me??

Some people I just do not get.

Since Amanda and I were going to be spending all day Friday at a certain wizard's world, I sent a quick text to her. She was busy packing for the weekend, and was planning on driving from North Carolina to Orlando the next day.


Now another reason I was excited for my solo time was this first night was to be my only night on property. Because we were just doing HP together, Amanda wanted to stay closer to Universal. And because our family trip was going to include multiple days at Universal (thus we felt the need for a car rental), plus my in-laws were going to join us for a bit of the vacation, we decided to go the off-site condo route. This ended up being very good for this trip, but I was a little heartbroken to not even get a little on-site Disney magic. So win/win, I get a night on-site and everyone is still where they want to be for the rest of the trip!

Just because I was staying on-site, didn't mean I was staying in the lap of luxury. Pop Century was to be my home for the next several hours!


Is there anything better than that first Magical Express bus ride?? With my magic band securely on my wrist, I enjoyed the entertaining and informative DME TV while a lovely little overly-tired boy kicked the back of my seat while simulatanously throwing a tantrum
But that's OK! I wasn't his mother, so I could tune it out!

After checking in at the front lobby (which actually I didn't need to do, but I wanted to ask about bringing my luggage down in the morning before I went to the parks), I set off for my lovely night-time hike to the 80s building.


It really was a lovely walk. I was overjoyed to have left the cold, icy, yucky air of the Salt Lake Valley (we have a huge inversion problem in the winter where all of our smog just sits on top of us, trapped by the surrounding mountains. Couple that with a small amount of daylight hours and icy snowy sidewalks, and you've got all of the ingredients for some serious Seasonal Affective Disorder!). So a walk in the deliciously WARM Florida air felt like heaven.

My room was fun and fine and everything you hope a Disney value resort room will be: clean and lacking any offending smells-- score!!

I realized I was pretty hungry for dinner at this point, so I dropped off my carry on bag and backpack and took off. I decided to take another nice, little walk. This time back to my old stomping grounds, AoA On the way over, I Face Timed the kids and felt only a little bit bad about how jealous I was making them (after all they were flying to Orlando in 2 1/2 days!)

Between my day of travel and my nerves/excitement at my trip ahead, I wasn't able to eat very much. This always happens to me at the beginning of a vacation. But then within a few days, I am literally eating like the Beast when he's scarfing down his soup.
Anyway, this turkey croissant sandwich was fine. I think I ate most of the sandwich and like two bites of the coleslaw.

With a fairly full tummy, I was ready to hit the sack. My one problem was that my check-in luggage had not yet arrived to my room (it had been over two hours, but I knew this could take a while). I called to the front desk, and they said they really didn't have a time they could estimate. So I read some of The Royal We (excellent book btw!) while fighting my droopy eyelids! Finally at about 11:15pm, I called and asked if the luggage would arrive soon. When she told me that she still couldn't give me a time, she asked if I would like my luggage to be held until the morning and I was like Yes, Yes I would! If I knew that was an option earlier, I would have just done that at 10:00pm (luckily I had face wash and tooth brush with me in my carry on)! I set my alarm a bit earlier to allow time to wait for my suitcase in the morning. Then, I was practically out before my head even hit pillow!
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[deannaf87]

Ohhhhh fun a solo trip report! I am going to Disneyland semi-solo in November for 3 days. My husband is going to Blizzcon across the street and will be joining me one day, but I'll have 2 glorious solo days to myself. Can't wait to hear more about your solo trip!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Ohhhhh fun a solo trip report! I am going to Disneyland semi-solo in November for 3 days. My husband is going to Blizzcon across the street and will be joining me one day, but I'll have 2 glorious solo days to myself. Can't wait to hear more about your solo trip!

Hello and welcome! 2 days solo at Disneyland sounds sooooo nice! I think Disneyland, being a touch more laid back than Disney World (no pre planning fast passes and not as big a need to pre plan ADRs) would really make solo touring delightful!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I AM IN MAGIC KINGDOM BY MYSELF!
At 5:20, I awoke, more than ready to get this day started!

Now my body was on MST, so it was thinking it 3:20 am. However, there is nothing like a day at Disney to make your forget that you are not really a morning person!
It took about 30 minutes for my suitcase to arrive in my room. In the meantime I took a shower, got dressed, and packed my backpack for the day. Another fun, new aspect for this trip was the concept of Disney bounding. I had been pinning (on Pinterest) and planning my outfits for MONTHS! As you can see, I am a pretty understated Disney bounder. But for me it was fun! Can you tell who I'm going as??

RAPUNZEL!!!! Can you see it? The purple shirt? The overall flower theme?

I had recently received a bit more layers to my hair, so my planned braid was out for now. Anyway, I love the movie Tangled so much! Honestly, I could listen to "I See the Light" for six months straight and not get sick of it. My little brother Derrick does not have the same fond feelings I do for Tangled.


He is a film critic and arts feature writer for a local newspaper, as well host of his own podcast dedicated to all things Pixar (I'm super proud of my little bro if you can't already tell!) Anyway, he has major problems with the movie which we argue about on occasion. Mostly with the gender politics (he is a much better feminist than I am!) and he feels like the movie can't decide if it wants to be a true musical where the characters really do break out into song or if it just wants the characters to think the songs or have the songs in the background while they go about their lives . . . whatever. I think Tangled is one of most fun and funny Disney movies around! (And I can never get enough of baby Rapunzel in that first scene. She is so adorable!!!)


After dropping off my suitcases with luggage service, I was on board the bus headed to Magic Kingdom at 7:00am!
To make the most of my day, I booked a 8:05 BOG breakfast. I had eaten dinner there in 2014 (which was amazing!), but was really excited to try breakfast (oh and I may have booked my lunch for the day there as well ). I was cautiously optimistic that after breakfast I could go on 7DMT before the park opened (I know it's not a guarantee, so I was trying to keep hopes planted firmly on the ground.). We longingly looked in on the construction of 7DMT during our 2014 trip, so that was the ride I was most looking forward to!

I was in the "pre-park breakfasts and tours line" by 7:20, and I chomping at the bit to get in! They finally let us in around 7:50, and my heart was nearly bursting with the first sights of Main Street!
Crane is on the castle and that's OK! As a February traveler, I have come to accept and even have fond feelings for the crane.


I of course, wanted to take advantage of the fairly empty park with some castle shots!
There was a definite chill in the air that morning, so my Rapunzel DB outfit had to share with my Ariel sweatshirt for a few hours. Everyone got along just fine.

My happy face!

How did she get there??

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[hbrc2125]

Yay! Following
I dream of going to WDW solo, even if just for a day!
I don't have kids yet, but sometimes dragging my boyfriend around the parks feels like it

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Yay! Following
I dream of going to WDW solo, even if just for a day!
I don't have kids yet, but sometimes dragging my boyfriend around the parks feels like it

Thanks for following along!
Keep that solo dream alive! It seriously was amazing, and I may already be scheming when I can do it again!

 

[abarriger]

I'm following along! My first adult Disney trip was a 24 our Magic Kingdom packed full day like this-- so I'm excited to hear about yours! LOVE the empty park shot! We have an 8:00 BOG reservation in August and am seriously hoping for some...

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I'm following along! My first adult Disney trip was a 24 our Magic Kingdom packed full day like this-- so I'm excited to hear about yours!

Welcome! Since I only had one day by myself, it was pretty easy for me to decide where to go. Magic Kingdom IS packed full of things to do that for me, take me to that happy, magic place that is uniquely Disney!

Oh and I hope you get some good empty castle shots! I felt like I lucked out pretty well with mine.

 

[cmsnyder77]

Ooh, can't wait to read this TR! I am going to a work conference in Orlando and plan on squeezing in a couple of park days solo. Some people think I'm crazy for doing this (including my 16 y.o. DD - "That's kind of weird for a 39 yo to go to the parks by herself.") But I don't care!!! I'm excited.

 

[mercydisney]

following along.

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

Following! Can't wait to read more!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Ooh, can't wait to read this TR! I am going to a work conference in Orlando and plan on squeezing in a couple of park days solo. Some people think I'm crazy for doing this (including my 16 y.o. DD - "That's kind of weird for a 39 yo to go to the parks by herself.") But I don't care!!! I'm excited.

OMG how fun!! That is so awesome you can add some days for solo Disney time! I say it is definitely not weird . . . like I think it would be weird if you didn't at least try to make that work!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

following along.

Great! Welcome

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Following! Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for the stopping by!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I Nibble on Some Food in the Beast's Castle!
After taking the castle pics, I made my way over to Be Our Guest. And guess what? I was the very first one there!

I was starting to realize that when I only had myself to get from place to place, it didn't take very long!

As the group of us waited for the restaurant to open (with me being in front- oh yeah! ) I chatted with a CM who was lovely, then a group of CMs came out and did a little song and dance to welcome us to the restaurant!!


Of course like an idiot, I just stood there and enjoyed it and didn't take any pics or videos I have since gone back and tried to find a YouTube video of it, and it is NOWHERE to be found! I guess everyone else is just as mesmerized during the little performance and can't video it!


Like I said previously, the fam and I had gone to Be Our Guest dinner back in 2014 so I knew how amazing the inside looked. It really is just so immersive! Another great thing about coming in at the open of the restaurant was that the noise hadn't quite ratcheted up yet. It was great walking around snapping pics before anything else.

I had pre-ordered my breakfast (Croque Madame) and the whole process was super simple of getting my drinks and utensils and then sitting down.


Can you guess where I decided to sit?
The ballroom! By the end of our trip I ended up sitting in all three rooms which was fun.

Breakfast was great! I still hadn't reached the part of vacation where I eat and eat and eat, so food still wasn't as exciting to me as it usually is (I forgot to take a picture of my meal!). I did remember to bring a few little baggies, so I could put the pastries (that come at the beginning of breakfast) in my backpack for snacks throughout the day. I was pretty proud of myself!

By 8:30 I was done with my time at BOG (another thing that takes less time when you are solo? Meals!). I went outside to find out if 7DMT was up and running, and if they were allowing guests to ride early.

And a CM said they were! She directed me to a little line that had formed around the corner, between BOG and the ride. There were two families in front of me and several more that were starting to line up behind.

I was so excited to finally ride this ride!!!!
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[westcoastfldisneygirl]

GREAT update! I love BOG I mean...who doesn't?!

 

[c3h3a3r]

Following along

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Putting in Overtime at the Mine
I can't remember how long we waited in the FP+ line to get on 7DMT, but it wasn't long. Pretty soon we were taking off to dig up some jewels in the mine!



Ride-selfie! ​

This ride is seriously adorable!! I am actually quite happy that I got to ride it after reading some mixed reviews. Half of liking something is expectations I think, and because I had read some that were disappointing (particularly in the short length) it helped temper my expectations. Also, the fact that I didn't have to stand in a long line helped a lot! In the end, I thought the ride was SO fun and SO well themed! Heart eyes all over the dwarfs' shadows inside the mine, especially!


In the reviews I had read, I had either forgotten or hadn't read about the witch at the end. I totally shrieked with delight when I saw her! I thought that was such a perfect ending to that ride. It really feels like you were dropped in the middle of the movie.

Just look at the face! She certainly deserves to be in an attraction!

Well once just wasn't enough for me-- I was able to ride a total of THREE times before the park opened! On this morning, my BOG breakfast lived up to everything I was hoping it would! The next week, the fam and I did this again and it turned out quite differently. It was much harder to get John Wayne, the three kids, and the in-laws to the 7DMT line as quickly as I did by myself. We still got to ride it once, but not the three like I did. Another win for the solo day!

After the third ride, the CMs were not letting anyone go back into the FP+ line and were directing people to the standby line that was filling up fast. They must have let people into the park a little early-ish, because I was in line for Peter Pan at 8:57.

This was my first time in the stand by line for Peter Pan, and I was totally charmed by it!
Super cute!

Hey there crane peeps! Lookin' good!

After 7DMT, the ride I was most looking forward to was Splash Mountain! It was closed the whole time we were at Disney World in 2014 , and as kid and teenager that was my favorite! I was super excited to tackle this mountain (and actually this would be my first DW Splash experience)!

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[disneydaydreamer33]

GREAT update! I love BOG I mean...who doesn't?!

Thank you! BOG really is an amazing restaurant in MK. Totally smart on their part to add it!

Following along

Awesome! Welcome!