Well, it’s been about 6 weeks since my mini-solo trip and I’ve been meaning to get to do a small trip report, but life sometimes gets in the way… To recap, I was going down to Orlando on business, and was able to get a couple of complimentary tickets from a relative who is a Disney employee, and purchased one of my own. While I had to work most of the time while down there, I had two afternoon/evenings free and was able to take my first day in Orlando off and use it as a full-day at the parks. The trip was from May 5 to May 10, and I had all of May 6, the afternoon/evening of May 7, and the afternoon/evening of May 9 to myself.
Day 1
This was my full day at the parks, so I decided early that I would try to do three parks in a day, just for fun. I had booked a single FP at 2:00 for Rock and Roller Coaster in DHS, figuring I could do short(-ish) lines in the morning at AK park, and head to HS for the afternoon. Rock and Roller Coaster was on my “must do” list because I had not done it on my previous two trips with the family.
So my first park was AK - I had already resigned myself to not doing anything in Pandora, as it was an EMH morning and I was not staying onsite (first time I’ve ever visited WDW and not stayed onsite, it felt really weird). So my plan was to rope drop Everest, do single-rider if necessary, then hit Safari and Dinosaur before leaving the park. This is the only part of the day that was a fail and didn’t go according to plan. Everest was down at rope drop, so I headed to Dinosaur instead. After riding Dinosaur, Everest was still listed as down. I walked by Everest and spoke to a cast member. Apparently it had been down all night and they did not expect it back up for a few hours. It had been one of my “must dos” for this trip, but it was not to be. At least I got to see it.
On the positive side, it was almost 9:30 soon as I got out of Dinosaur, so I quickly went into MDE and scored a same day Slinky Dog fastpass!
Rather than do KJ (which had a 50 minute wait by that point), I decided just to take in AK and enjoy the theming/atmosphere. It is such a beautiful park. I really enjoyed just relaxing and taking in the scenery.
Around 11:30 or so I headed over to DHS and headed straight for Toy Story Land for my bonus Slinky Dog FP. Such a fun ride.
From there, I went over to the other side of the park and did standby for Star Tours, followed by Muppet Vision 3D. By then, I was a bit hungry so I grabbed a pretzel and beer from Baseline Tap House. After that, it was time for my R&RC Fastpass.
I hadn’t been on that ride in years. As short as it is, it’s so much fun. Really enjoyed it. After tapping in, tried grabbing a ToT FP, but it wasn’t meant to be, so I decided to call it at DHS and head to my next and final park for the day, Epcot. After I got out of R&RC, I snagged a Soarin’ FP and went to leave the park. I was escorted out by these guys:
On my way to the bus station, I saw the new Skyliner gondolas in motion as they were testing the system. I’m really looking forward to trying them!
I arrived at my last destination for the day:
At Epcot, I was able to make great use of grab-and-modify for additional FPs. I did Soarin’, followed by Spaceship Earth, then secured a TT FP and did Mission: Space Orange while waiting for my return time. After TT, I had the obligatory snack:
After TT, I decided to do World Showcase and try a bunch of Flower and Garden food - which I really enjoyed. I think F&G is my favorite festival - Epcot is so beautiful during this time.
I ended up circling World Showcase and ended up in the UK, where I grabbed a beer from Rose and Crown, and waited by the bridge near France for Illuminations.
I was really glad I got to see Illuminations - I have many fond memories of that show, and wanted to see it once more before it ended. The atmosphere in the 30 minutes before, sipping a beer, listening to the pre-show music, with the torches lit is just one of those moments that gets me every time. A perfect end to a great day.
I even captured a hidden Mickey in the fireworks!
After the show, I walked out of IG to the Beach Club (my favorite resort, and the one we stayed at in Feb and last April), and caught an Uber back to my hotel.
It was such a fun, enjoyable day, and I was impressed with how much I was able to accomplish without much real planning and with just grabbing what FPs I could find available. It definitely helps to know what you’re doing - ovverall an absolutely fantastic day! I collapsed into bed, as I had to be up and at the conference for 7:00 AM the next day!!