Much-belated mini solo trip report

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!!

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wow, what a great day! Three parks and some great same day FP+, nicely done. You probably did more in one day than some do in 2 or 3!

Yeah, 9 attractions, 3 parks, 5 FPs (4 procured that day, mostly for headliners). Plus a lot of down time just to relax. Longest wait was 25 min for Star Tours. Other than that I didn’t wait more than 10 minutes for a single attraction.

It was a good day.

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Nice work! I remember your planning thread. It, and this report, has me googling conferences in Orlando to see if I can make up an excuse to take a Disney… I mean business trip, too.

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Day 2

So the next day I was up and at the convention for 7 AM. After my marathon day the day before, I was tired - but determined to make the most of my afternoon. I went straight from 7 until about 2:30 when I was finished for the day (lunch was basically a granola bar). When I finished, I ran up to my room to get changed, and called an Uber to get to the TTC.

I caught the monorail from the TTC (this was intentional - I know it would have been quicker to take the Uber to the Contemporary, but I wanted the experience of going through the contemporary and onto the MK). I arrived on Main Street a little after 3, and remembered why I love this place. As I got to the Hub, Festival of Fantasy was starting to come through, so I watched the parade. Afterwards, I went and spent some time at the Emporium picking up souvenirs for the family (I mean, I got to go to Disney without them - the least I could do was pick up a little merch… :slight_smile:).

My first FP was for Space Mountain around 4… I made my way into Tomorrowland and went on the PeopleMover first, followed by Space Mountain. Despite it being bumpy (I’m getting older, I guess), it was a lot of fun. I have not been on SM since 2010, so it was quite a treat.

I was able to modify my next FP (Haunted Mansion) up a little, so I headed there next and spent some time with the Happy Haunts.

I could only move up my third FP (BTMR) a little bit, so I had some time to kill after HM. I grabbed a bite to eat at Pecos Bills (I know it gets some hate, but I enjoy the bowls.) and then headed for the final of my main FPs with BTMR.

I got the last car!

I love BTMR. It’s one of the best rides in MK, IMO. It’s very long, extremely well themed, and just a lot of fun.

When I tapped into BTMR, the real FP fun began using the refresh/grab/modify trick (thank you, @OBNurseNH) . It was onto Adventureland for back-to-back FPs for Pirates and Jungle Cruise, followed by a Dole Whip using mobile ordering.

Then, back to Fantasyland for successive FPs for Small World, Mermaid, Pooh, and finished off in Tomorrowland with Buzz (with snacks in between).




By the time I was done all that, it was around 8:30 and I was exhausted (having been up at 6 and working the conference followed by my MK day). My original plan had been to stay for HEA, but I decided that I was too tired to fight the crowds after the fireworks. So I left MK for the day, snapping what happens to be one of my favorite castle pictures ever on the way out:

I walked over to the Contemporary. On the way, HEA started, and I could hear the music being piped in on the Contemporary grounds. I stopped and watched the whole show from the walkway near the bus stop.



HEA is quite the show, even without the projections. After the show, I called an Uber, walked to the Contemporary entrance, and within 5 minutes was on my way back to my hotel. Had to be up and working at 7 AM the next day again, with a full day of work, so the timing worked out well.

All told, another great day and a lot accomplished in a short amount of time:

10 attractions
9 FPs
1 Parade
Shopping
Various food stops
HEA from the Contemporary

Not a bad day at all. Amazing, actually.

11 Likes

Major liner points for fping all your rides!

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D’oh, I made a mistake. I FP’d 9 out of 10 rides, not 10 out of 10. People mover doesn’t have FP…

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Still impressive!

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I don’t think @ryan1 would approve though. :wink:

I approve. As long as Disney offers them, you’d be stupid not to use them!

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