I usually take a “momcation” by myself once a year, but because of COVID haven’t been basically anywhere without my kids for a very long time. I have some vacation time to use up by the end of the year and am considering a trip to DL the first week of December (sans kids and DH). Is it totally crazy to try to squeeze DL and DCA into 2.5/3 days plus 6 hour flights since I live on the east coast? I’m thinking day 1 I’d take the earliest flight out and arrive in CA around 10 or 11am, head to one of the parks and then crash pretty early. Day 2 and 3 I could easily rope drop since I’d be on east coast time, and day 4 TBD on when my flight is if it makes sense to hit a park or not before leaving later in the afternoon.
Airfare to CA ends up being similarly priced to Orlando, and we are heading to WDW in June with the whole family, which is why I thought DL might be better for my solo trip. I have really fond memories of my one and only trip to DL back in the early 90s, we only went once but I remember it way more than WDW which we went to a bunch of times growing up!
I’ve done a similar short trip to Universal Orlando a few years ago, I only spent 2 nights there but saw a ton and had a great time. I’m just worried the extra long flight time and time change will make this trip different / worse.
tldr - would you take a short trip that involved long flights to DL? and do you think 2.5/3 days is enough time to see a bunch but also not feel like I’m walking myself to death?
Be flexible with this thought. It’s a very good plan but the airlines stink right now. We were to arrive by 0930 west coast time and they borked our flights so now we don’t arrive til 1230. Not a huge deal but on short trips every minute counts.
Well, I’ve taken a short (2 nights) trip to WDW from the west coast, so of course I don’t think it’s crazy.
I do think you can do DLR in three days. So if you have two full days and two partial days, you should be able to do everything you want to do and hopefully repeat some of it.
I always feel like I’m walking myself to death at Disney. The geographic area of DLR is much smaller than WDW (obvs), but I tend to rack up more steps at DLR than at WDW. Maybe the going back and forth between parks? I would plan for 25,000 steps on your full days. Is that being walked to death?
I think you can make the time change work in your favor. Get up early and be there for RD. Get a bunch of stuff done. Spend the evenings leisurely wandering (you’ll notice the crowds increasing in the evening too) and call it an early night.
Thanks for weighing in, I’m sure coming this way is a lot harder time change wise considering rope drop being in the middle of the night for you then ha. 25k steps I can handle with lots of treats and yummy food mixed in
I came as a kid in the 90s. It’s funny because we went to WDW 4 or 5 times growing up, and DL only once, but I remember more about DL. Really hoping I can swing this quick trip!
I did a mom solo trip with one day in the parks (park hopping). It was incredible how much I got accomplished. Have a wonderful time! Do it!!! Waking up day one on east coast time made it super easy to be first in line at the gates.
That is a good point, in an ideal world it would be fully weekdays but unfortunately with 3 kids in different schools the drop off / pick up routine is insane for just one parent, but hopefully I’ll get at least one full weekday!
Oh that sounds awesome! I actually brought up my idea for this trip to my kids to gauge if they would think I was the worst mom ever for going without them and they all were super excited for me and wanted me to go (as long as I bring home some “really cool souvenirs”). Hoping to nail down dates tonight and make this a reality!
I am planning a solo WDW trip in January over MLK weekend. I upgraded to an AP during my mother/daughter trip earlier this month partially to force me to actually take the solo trips (have to get my money’s worth from the AP!). I am also planning to be part of the Epic Liner Meet in July.
Keeping this in the same thread so as to not clutter up the board - I’m looking into flights - it seems like lots of people advise to fly into SNA since its much closer / less traffic than flying to LAX. I feel like these two options have the same amount of pros and cons - any advice here? I’m thinking doing a park on my departure day doesn’t make sense with having to leave by 10 or 11 am due to flight times.
Coming from Boston, here are my options
BOS > LAX - nonstop, depart 6:15am, arrive 10am
LAX > BOS - nonstop, depart 2:50pm, arrive 11:15pm
Pros - nonstop flight, arrives at a time where maybe it will really only take 1 hour to get to DL from LAX…putting me in the parks by noon.
Cons - timing the departure day - I’m an anxious traveler so like to be at the airport 2 hours before my flight – so if I’m trying to get to LAX for just before 1:00 I probably need to leave DL around 11 in case there’s some horrific traffic? I keep reading how bad the traffic can be but its obviously unpredictable.
BOS > SNA - 1 stop, 1 hour layover, depart 6am, arrive 11:30am.
SNA > BOS - 1 stop, 1 hr 43 min layover, depart 12:54pm, arrive 11:20pm.
Pros: much closer and less of a drive, and on departure day won’t be as much stress around traffic
Cons: all the flights out on departure day leave around 12/1, which means I would need to leave for the airport by 10am
JetBlue out of Boston has jacked my itinerary twice. Had a 6:15 nonstop to LAX which is now 9:30 nonstop to LAX. Glad it’s still (so far) nonstop but it ate three key hours of my day.
SWA had junk itineraries for my dates
I’m all about nonstop as often as possible especially on the way to. On the way home I don’t give as much of a ratatouille’s behind if it takes longer. But getting there fast is key to me. What you save in drive time you lose in a layover and every stop is a chance for something to go wrong.
Delta and American seem like the best time options for either location - and good point about layovers just being additional points for things to go sideways!
Absolutely not. DLR, especially solo, is quite doable in that amount of time, and even less. My DSIL just went to California just last month for a very similar kind of momcation.
Her main reason to be there was to visit someone so DLR was just an added bonus day after her visit. But she said 1 day was just about perfect for her because it got her the time she needed and she felt carried her until she could next come to Disney, but she ended up missing/feeling guilty without her kids, especially her equally Disney obsessed 6 yr old daughter. (She ended up Facetiming with her kids and riding rides for them because she missed them).
And reading down to the end of the thread, I’m so glad you’re doing it!
