Practically Perfect in Every Way - Julie's Solo Disney Adventure - UPDATED 2/18!!! Finally!

juuuliebeth

Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 30, 2018
Hello, everyone! And welcome to my first official Disney Trip Report! You can read my Pre Trip Report which is linked in my signature - "How Perfect Can I Make This Trip?" As you may see, the title of this trip report is in response to that question. :)

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While I may have had a small hiccup here and there, I really believe I couldn't have asked for a better trip for my first completely solo venture. I was there for ten days and only got a little grumpy twice. And once was easily remedied with ice cream.

I was able to change plans last minute and generally just decide for myself what to do. I discovered a love of meeting characters, which I never really had before. That made this into a trip like no other I'd ever been on. I really had a wonderful time from start to finish. I never got overly tired. And I didn't feel like I missed out on anything. It was a good length of time, though of course I could have stayed another week of two. ;)

If you didn't read my Pre Trip Report, here's a little bit about me: My name is Julie and I live in New York City. I'm a Disney Cast Member and set out to abuse my perks as much as possible on this trip. I have been a lover of the Disney Animated Classics my whole life, but only started going to the parks when I was a bit older. I went for the first time for my college graduation trip in 2009. I've been addicted ever since.

Here are some of the trip basics:
Who: Just me! Julie is on her own and on the loose!
What: The Best Dang Solo Disney Trip of All Time
When: August 16-25, 2018, the hottest ten days of the year
Where: Contemporary Resort, Tower Room with Bay Lake View, a.k.a. Heaven
How: JetBlue Airlines from JFK to MCO and lots of budgeting

Also, I'll put in a bit of a disclaimer. I did take a lot of photos, and I had Memory Maker, which provided me with all sort of wonderful character photos. But I don't have a photo for everything. I'll put in as much as I have, but this won't be loaded down with picture after picture. Hopefully it's enjoyable anyway. :)

Here's a copy of the schedule I use to organize myself before the trip. I have updated it to cover what I actually did, because some was left up to what I was feeling at the moment. I made all my ADRs, but the Quick Service and Snack choices were flexible.

Schedule.jpg

So this is a sort of overview of what's to come. I took lots of notes while I was there and really enjoyed tracking everything I did. That way I hope to forget very little. It really was as perfect as it gets. And I can't wait to go back!

Up next will be travel and maybe a bit about arrival and Magic Kingdom. Enjoy!
 
Julie's Rules for Disney

I thought I'd share with you some rules I kind of came up with over the course of the trip. You might agree. You might not. Either way, this may shed some light on how I approach my time at Disney World.

  1. Absolutely no photos or videos of Happily Ever After, Illuminations, or any other nighttime spectacular. They should be experienced in person, not through a screen.
  2. Only take photos on an attraction after you’ve ridden them once already. Exception was made for Kilimanjaro Safaris.
  3. No phones on attractions. Refreshing for FastPasses can only be done in line or once off the attraction. Any text or call must be ignored and responded to later.
  4. Stop doing what you think you should and do what you want.
  5. Don't worry about prices. Get what you want off the menu and in the shops.
  6. No more Mickey shirts. I really do have enough already.
Instead of insisting I try new things in order to cross them off a list, I let myself eat something I'd already had. And my philosophy is that if I'd rather be on my phone than where I physically was, I might as well not be there. My main goal of this trip was to enjoy the parks and resorts as much as humanly possible. These rules allowed me to do just that.

I am a firm believer that what you put out comes back to you. Without even trying, I was putting out positive and happy energy the whole trip. (Except my two grumpy moments.) It's easy for me to do at Disney. And because of that, I found that happiness and positivity was coming back to me in spades. I had the best time.

(More rules may be added as I think of them. But these were the ones that immediately came to mind.)
 
Julie's Rules for Disney

I thought I'd share with you some rules I kind of came up with over the course of the trip. You might agree. You might not. Either way, this may shed some light on how I approach my time at Disney World.

  1. Absolutely no photos or videos of Happily Ever After, Illuminations, or any other nighttime spectacular. They should be experienced in person, not through a screen.
  2. Only take photos on an attraction after you’ve ridden them once already. Exception was made for Kilimanjaro Safaris.
  3. No phones on attractions. Refreshing for FastPasses can only be done in line or once off the attraction. Any text or call must be ignored and responded to later.
  4. Stop doing what you think you should and do what you want.
  5. Don't worry about prices. Get what you want off the menu and in the shops.
  6. No more Mickey shirts. I really do have enough already.
Instead of insisting I try new things in order to cross them off a list, I let myself eat something I'd already had. And my philosophy is that if I'd rather be on my phone than where I physically was, I might as well not be there. My main goal of this trip was to enjoy the parks and resorts as much as humanly possible. These rules allowed me to do just that.

I am a firm believer that what you put out comes back to you. Without even trying, I was putting out positive and happy energy the whole trip. (Except my two grumpy moments.) It's easy for me to do at Disney. And because of that, I found that happiness and positivity was coming back to me in spades. I had the best time.

(More rules may be added as I think of them. But these were the ones that immediately came to mind.)


Joining in! I absolutely LOVE your rules! I am going to try to do the same thing when we visit in December :)
 
Can’t wait to read your updates. I am planning my first ever solo trip for February. I am currently booked at POFQ, but I am really hoping to change to CR.
I booked DLXDP with hopper and memory maker. I was really up in the air about the memory maker. I couldn’t decide if it would be weird and make me uncomfortable. I wanted to try and get as many magic shots as possible.
 


Joining in, I love your rules especially #4, I think that happens to me and by this time I should know better, being at Disney makes me very happy and do want I love!
Such a simple rule and means so much!
 
Joining in! I absolutely LOVE your rules! I am going to try to do the same thing when we visit in December :)

I hope the rules serve you as well as they served me. Not something I set out at the beginning, but they all came to me in the first few days.

Can’t wait to read your updates. I am planning my first ever solo trip for February. I am currently booked at POFQ, but I am really hoping to change to CR.
I booked DLXDP with hopper and memory maker. I was really up in the air about the memory maker. I couldn’t decide if it would be weird and make me uncomfortable. I wanted to try and get as many magic shots as possible.

I highly recommend the CR for a solo venture. The #1 perk of the Contemporary is CONVENIENCE. The walkway to MK, the monorail, being all in one tower (unless you're Garden Wing) with dining. The pool is close as well. I loved it even more than I was expecting. Highly recommend. Though POFQ is high on my list to try! Hoping that one comes soon.

I found that I used my Memory Maker more for characters and rides. I'm awful at posing on my own, but that's just me. I'm awkward in photos unless I have other people. Hopefully you have better luck in that department. I will say I usually felt awkward posing, with and without characters, but the photos I have are worth it in the end. Memory Maker is now a must for me on any and all future trips!

Joining in, I love your rules especially #4, I think that happens to me and by this time I should know better, being at Disney makes me very happy and do want I love!
Such a simple rule and means so much!

It should be easy, right? Just do what you want! But so hard sometimes when there's a voice yelling at you to do something you haven't done yet, but you really just want to sit in the Tiki Room again.

I love your rules! And can't wait to hear about your trip--glad it went just amazingly for you :)

Thanks! I really did go well. So excited to share with y'all.
 


I'm in! Your rules are awesome! I wish I could let go more and live in the moment at Disney. I'm going to work on that on my trip in December.
 
I am doing a solo trip 9/15 to 9/22. I created a schedule similar to yours. I was getting a little nervous about doing my solo trip but seeing your post has made me excited again.
 
Love solo trips! Love that you set rules that should be very easy to follow especially if you want to get the most out of your trip. Anxious to see pics and read all about your trip!
 
I'm in! Your rules are awesome! I wish I could let go more and live in the moment at Disney. I'm going to work on that on my trip in December.

Love your rules. Following along!

Glad you like the rules. I debated sharing, but decided to in case they might help others in their approach to future trips. Because they really worked for me!

I am doing a solo trip 9/15 to 9/22. I created a schedule similar to yours. I was getting a little nervous about doing my solo trip but seeing your post has made me excited again.

I hope you enjoy your solo trip as much as I did mine. I had a few moments where I thought it would be nice to have friends around, normally when waiting in long lines. But ultimately, I don't know if I'd have had as good of an time if someone else was along. I think I was in such a good mood because I didn't have to worry about anyone else's mood or have anyone else's bad mood encroach on mine. It's glorious.

Love solo trips! Love that you set rules that should be very easy to follow especially if you want to get the most out of your trip. Anxious to see pics and read all about your trip!

Solo trips really are the best. Hope you enjoy the report!
 
following along, I want to do a solo trip so bad but my 12 year old would disown me lol. One day though!!!
 
Love it! Can't wait to hear more. I'll be heading to the Disney Institute in October, so will have some solo time at the parks to go with it. It will be my first solo time too!
 
Joining in! Love the rules! I agree that when you are recording something or taking a picture of something you really arent in the moment!
 
Wow. Okay. Took me a while to get back to this. After getting back from Disney, focus shifted to my sister's wedding. (One of the most perfect days of my life, btw. It was wonderful.) And now I've been spending time figuring out the best way to upload photos to this trip report. Save smaller versions and upload from my computer? Third party site? Ugh. So many options. I think I've settled on saving smaller versions on my computer. I don't need a bunch of extra website accounts. (If anyone has advice on this, it's welcome!)

But I'm ready to start now. Hope you enjoy!


Day 1 Part 1 - Travel

So this trip started on a Thursday morning. That turned out to be a blessing, as I was traveling to the airport by public transportation and I’d be going during a normal schedule, not a construction-filled weekend schedule or late at night. I woke up around 6:00am. There were a few things left to pack that I couldn’t do the night before, like my glasses and so forth. I had one medium sized suitcase to check, one carry on roller bag, and my backpack. It was almost too much for one person to handle, but I have tons of experience in navigating NYC with luggage. I managed okay. (The three flights up to my apartment would prove quite the challenge upon return, though.)

My plan was to leave the apartment by 6:45 and I was out at 6:40. Ahead of schedule is always good. Especially when you’re depending on the MTA. Then I walked about five minutes to the subway. It was nice and cooperative this morning. Only had to wait a couple minutes then just two stops to reach Penn Station where I’d take the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) to JFK. You can take the subway to JFK, but it takes longer. The LIRR is only about $15 round trip. Then there’s $5 for each AirTrain ride and then $2.75 for each subway ride. How the AirTrain costs more than a subway fare, I’ll never know. But all in all, it costs about $25 to get to and from the airport.

I made the earlier LIRR train, so I ended up getting to JFK ahead of schedule. Along with TSA Precheck, I had serious time to kill while waiting for my flight. TSA Precheck is one of the best things ever. I’m not kidding. Not just a shorter line, but not having to take off my shoes and remove electronics or liquids. It’s just the best. Best $85 I ever spent. It’s like FP+ for the airport.

The JetBlue terminal at JFK has some solid options for breakfast - Dunkin’, Starbucks, etc. But the lines are always ridiculous. I usually head to a coffee kiosk at the end of one hallway to pick up a muffin and a banana along with a water bottle. Enough to hold me over until I check in at the Contemporary. I went for the Orange Cranberry this morning. Pretty good, though I wasn’t in trip report mode and forgot to take a photo.

My flight was scheduled to depart around 9:50am, but we didn’t end up boarding until about ten minutes before then. We had wheels up at around 10:30 instead, but ended up landing on time. I’ll never understand flight schedules.

The flight was uneventful. In air time is right around two hours from New York to Orlando. Just enough time to watch Father of the Bride Part II. A favorite from way back that was perfect for my I’M GOING TO DISNEY! Mood. I hadn’t seen it in years. It was absolutely what I needed that morning. Distracted me from my impatience to get there.

While landing, I did see the fluffiest clouds of my life.

Clouds on flight (u).jpg

We deplaned around 12:50 and I was at baggage claim at 1:00. I always understand that bags can take a while, but it doesn’t make me any less impatient when I just want to get to Disney. I finally got my bag around 1:20 and was at Disney’s Magical Express before 1:30. There was hardly anyone in line, so I made it on a bus fairly quickly before waiting for it to fill up. We left the airport around 1:45.

I enjoy the video they show on the bus. I think it's fun and a nice way to get excited for the trip. Our bus driver made an announcement before the Disney World sign, which was a welcome site. We stopped at Wilderness Lodge first. I've never been there, so it was nice to see it in person. Definitely on my list of resorts to try!

Wilderness Lodge 1 (u).jpg
Soon after was Bay Lake Tower. It's easier for the bus to navigate the parking lot by going there first, then the A Frame Tower. So I enjoyed this site for a bit before waiting a few minutes to actually get there.

Bay Lake Tower 2 (u).jpg
Before long, I was at home. For the next ten days. And what wonderful days they would be.

Contemporary 1 (u).jpg
Next up will be checking in at the Contemporary and exploring the resort.
 

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