Walt Disney World: Single Rider Edition
Life can be crazy and plans can change. That was the situation I found myself in last week when preparing for my trip to Walt Disney World for the Princess Half Marathon.
It ended up being a solo trip which I decided to take in stride. There is so much magic in Walt Disney World, and usually I'd want to share it with someone, but I've never been one to flip a negative spin on a situation. I decided to look on the bright side and make the most of this trip as a single rider, so to speak.
I've actually experienced a few solo days and moments in Disneyland before, so the idea of it didn't scare me. More or less I was nervous about my lack of plans! Most of my Disney trips have been heavily scheduled (by me) to make the most of the time there and get on all the best rides. Knowing I'd just been to WDW a few months ago, I put rides on the back burner.
Instead, I decided to make a few goals for this trip:
I arrived on Saturday and immediately had to rush over to ESPN Wide World of Sports to grab my race bib and shirt for the Princess Half Marathon. I had my suitcase with me and was wearing leggings and my Disneyland Spirit Jersey. And it was 85 degrees and sunny. Needless to say, I was very hot and sweaty for most of the expo! I grabbed my bib and did a little perusing of the expo... mostly because I still needed to get items for my race day outfit! I picked up a Sparkle Athletic skirt and new tank tops from Raw Athletics and called it a day.
My resort for this trip was Coronado Springs. I absolutely loved it there and would stay again! My first big decision for the trip came once I got back to my room. Pool or Parks? While it was gorgeous and sunny out, I knew I had to start my trip in the place I always do: Magic Kingdom.
So after a quick change, I headed on over to MK. At first I didn't know what my plan was other than I needed a churro and a Dole Whip. I hadn't eaten since the airport, so I figured I should get some sort of substantial food before my main snack attacks. That is when I found The Friar's Nook!
I love tots, so to see some specialty tots on the menu completely sold me. I went with the Loaded Greek Nachos as they had no meat on them. With olives, peppers, feta cheese and tzatziki sauce, these tangy tots hit the spot!
There were a few FastPasses that I had available to me, but I decided to skip them all in order to find some new characters to take pictures with. I found Peter Pan, Tiana and Rapunzel!
I got my churro from Frontierland and of course, my Dole Whip. This time around I went with the whip on pineapple upside down cake. SO GOOD. And the best part? I used the mobile ordering system from My Disney Experience so I waited all of 3 minutes for my Dole Whip instead of a 20 minute line in the hot sun!!!!
At this point, I decided to head back early and get some sleep before my 3AM wakeup call for Princess Half. I had a very restful night's sleep and was ready to go in the morning!
I'll do a separate post for my race recap, but this was a tough one for sure. It was SO humid and I hadn't trained well.... but I did get some great Character Pics on the course so that is always a plus!
After the race I was starving and exhausted, so I went to the pool and got lunch and a margarita and relaxed for a few hours. Then I went back to the room and took a nap! Around 5 I decided to head to Epcot because I was hungry once again (running 13.1 miles will do that to you) and I'd heard tell that the America Pavilion had the Beyond Burger.
And they did. And it was a dream!!! It came with fries and was topped with onion straws and BBQ sauce. I found a quiet patio spot to enjoy my burger and fries and enjoyed every bite of it.
If I had 1 regret for my trip it would be that I didn't spend enough time at Epcot. I basically walked right to the America Pavilion, ate, then stopped by Italy for Gelato, and then Japan for a few things for my brother Matt. Then, I was exhausted, and although I wanted to stay for Illuminations I could hardly even walk anymore so I called it a night and went back to my room to sleep.
The next morning I woke up bright and early for Animal Kingdom. While everyone ran to Pandora, I rode Everest twice and had a really yummy coffee and elephant ear from Isle of Java. I then found Pocahontas, Russel, and Safari Mickey & Minnie for Pictures!
I then made my way over to Mr. Kamal's for lunch. The menu had caught my eye earlier and I wanted to try it out! I got the falafel and the seasoned fries.
The fries were delish! Wonderfully seasoned and topped with tzatziki and sriacha ketchup. The falafel left me wanting more. They were a bit squishy and sticky. However, dipped in the sauce they were still alright. I ate on the little patio behind Mr. Kamal's. Even with the full sunlight making it one million degrees, it was still enjoyable because of the amazing view of the tree of life!!!!!
After my lunch I grabbed a Kali River Mango Margarita from Warung Outpost and then headed back to my hotel! I spent some time back at the pool, this time the quiet pool, before heading to my massage appointment at Senses Grand Floridian.
I'll write a more in depth post about my experience there, because it deserves its own post (it was amazing - spoiler alert). Then I decided to get to Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic! I had never seen it before, and since I was trying new things, it was the perfect chance!
After the massage, I hustled over to Hollywood Studios to quickly grab some food (starving!) and get into Fantasmic! I used the mobile order option again... and once again it saved my life! There were pretty long lines for food and I was trying to get into the show on-time, so I ordered from Rosie's All-American Cafe. I got the Fried Green Tomato Sandwich and a beer and it was PERFECT though I forgot napkins and I'm sure some people thought I was insane because I literally inhaled the damn thing. So nomz.
Anyhoo, I got to Fantasmic in time and it was a great show! You can totally tell when it was created due to the characters that were at the forefront, and I thought it was interesting that Pocohontas was such a main part of the show, but of course I loved Mr. Mickey Mouse and the different boats with the lights were awesome as well! I'm very happy I finally got a chance to see it.
After that, I went to the single-rider line on Rockin' Roller Coaster for a quick ride, then hobbled myself back to the hotel for another good night's sleep. At this point, in my mind, I was going to take it easy the next day at the hotel and sit poolside again until it was time to go to the magical express at 11:45am.
However, me being me, I woke up bright and early at like 6:30 and decided to pack up. Then, I got breakfast at the resort, and the more I thought about it I was like NO - I AM IN DISNEY WORLD. I AM GOING TO THE PARKS! If I hadn't just spent so much time at Animal Kingdom, that is where I would have gone since it opened first at 8am. Instead, I hit Hollywood Studios again. I wanted to ride Tower of Terror at least once before I left and I wanted one more churro.
I got to HS nice and early and was able to walk right onto ToT. It was weird because the ride was not as amazing as I remember since going on Mission: Breakout. I still love ToT because it is a classic but wow - Mission: Breakout is so amazing!!!! I got a churro, walked around a bit, and did a little browsing at the stores. I got my picture with Minnie, Mickey, and Donald. And then, sadly, it was time to head home.
One last margarita from Coronado Springs was my send off, and the magical single rider vacation came to a close.
If I had to do it over, or if I could make any changes, I probably would have done Epcot on Monday morning/day instead of AK, and then done AK Tuesday morning before I left. But, hey - I still had an amazing time! And I'll just make sure to spend more time at Epcot on my next trip.
So, as it turns out, solo vacations are pretty frickin awesome. I relaxed a heck of a lot more than I usually do on Disney trips and really got to take in new perspective on one of my favorite place. Of course, there is nothing better than spending time there sharing the magic with friends and loved ones, but don't count out a solo trip if you're in the mood for some self-care.
<3
It ended up being a solo trip which I decided to take in stride. There is so much magic in Walt Disney World, and usually I'd want to share it with someone, but I've never been one to flip a negative spin on a situation. I decided to look on the bright side and make the most of this trip as a single rider, so to speak.
I've actually experienced a few solo days and moments in Disneyland before, so the idea of it didn't scare me. More or less I was nervous about my lack of plans! Most of my Disney trips have been heavily scheduled (by me) to make the most of the time there and get on all the best rides. Knowing I'd just been to WDW a few months ago, I put rides on the back burner.
Instead, I decided to make a few goals for this trip:
- Try new foods
- Meet new characters
- Do some relaxing
I arrived on Saturday and immediately had to rush over to ESPN Wide World of Sports to grab my race bib and shirt for the Princess Half Marathon. I had my suitcase with me and was wearing leggings and my Disneyland Spirit Jersey. And it was 85 degrees and sunny. Needless to say, I was very hot and sweaty for most of the expo! I grabbed my bib and did a little perusing of the expo... mostly because I still needed to get items for my race day outfit! I picked up a Sparkle Athletic skirt and new tank tops from Raw Athletics and called it a day.
My resort for this trip was Coronado Springs. I absolutely loved it there and would stay again! My first big decision for the trip came once I got back to my room. Pool or Parks? While it was gorgeous and sunny out, I knew I had to start my trip in the place I always do: Magic Kingdom.
So after a quick change, I headed on over to MK. At first I didn't know what my plan was other than I needed a churro and a Dole Whip. I hadn't eaten since the airport, so I figured I should get some sort of substantial food before my main snack attacks. That is when I found The Friar's Nook!
I love tots, so to see some specialty tots on the menu completely sold me. I went with the Loaded Greek Nachos as they had no meat on them. With olives, peppers, feta cheese and tzatziki sauce, these tangy tots hit the spot!
There were a few FastPasses that I had available to me, but I decided to skip them all in order to find some new characters to take pictures with. I found Peter Pan, Tiana and Rapunzel!
I got my churro from Frontierland and of course, my Dole Whip. This time around I went with the whip on pineapple upside down cake. SO GOOD. And the best part? I used the mobile ordering system from My Disney Experience so I waited all of 3 minutes for my Dole Whip instead of a 20 minute line in the hot sun!!!!
At this point, I decided to head back early and get some sleep before my 3AM wakeup call for Princess Half. I had a very restful night's sleep and was ready to go in the morning!
I'll do a separate post for my race recap, but this was a tough one for sure. It was SO humid and I hadn't trained well.... but I did get some great Character Pics on the course so that is always a plus!
After the race I was starving and exhausted, so I went to the pool and got lunch and a margarita and relaxed for a few hours. Then I went back to the room and took a nap! Around 5 I decided to head to Epcot because I was hungry once again (running 13.1 miles will do that to you) and I'd heard tell that the America Pavilion had the Beyond Burger.
And they did. And it was a dream!!! It came with fries and was topped with onion straws and BBQ sauce. I found a quiet patio spot to enjoy my burger and fries and enjoyed every bite of it.
If I had 1 regret for my trip it would be that I didn't spend enough time at Epcot. I basically walked right to the America Pavilion, ate, then stopped by Italy for Gelato, and then Japan for a few things for my brother Matt. Then, I was exhausted, and although I wanted to stay for Illuminations I could hardly even walk anymore so I called it a night and went back to my room to sleep.
The next morning I woke up bright and early for Animal Kingdom. While everyone ran to Pandora, I rode Everest twice and had a really yummy coffee and elephant ear from Isle of Java. I then found Pocahontas, Russel, and Safari Mickey & Minnie for Pictures!
I then made my way over to Mr. Kamal's for lunch. The menu had caught my eye earlier and I wanted to try it out! I got the falafel and the seasoned fries.
The fries were delish! Wonderfully seasoned and topped with tzatziki and sriacha ketchup. The falafel left me wanting more. They were a bit squishy and sticky. However, dipped in the sauce they were still alright. I ate on the little patio behind Mr. Kamal's. Even with the full sunlight making it one million degrees, it was still enjoyable because of the amazing view of the tree of life!!!!!
After my lunch I grabbed a Kali River Mango Margarita from Warung Outpost and then headed back to my hotel! I spent some time back at the pool, this time the quiet pool, before heading to my massage appointment at Senses Grand Floridian.
I'll write a more in depth post about my experience there, because it deserves its own post (it was amazing - spoiler alert). Then I decided to get to Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic! I had never seen it before, and since I was trying new things, it was the perfect chance!
After the massage, I hustled over to Hollywood Studios to quickly grab some food (starving!) and get into Fantasmic! I used the mobile order option again... and once again it saved my life! There were pretty long lines for food and I was trying to get into the show on-time, so I ordered from Rosie's All-American Cafe. I got the Fried Green Tomato Sandwich and a beer and it was PERFECT though I forgot napkins and I'm sure some people thought I was insane because I literally inhaled the damn thing. So nomz.
Anyhoo, I got to Fantasmic in time and it was a great show! You can totally tell when it was created due to the characters that were at the forefront, and I thought it was interesting that Pocohontas was such a main part of the show, but of course I loved Mr. Mickey Mouse and the different boats with the lights were awesome as well! I'm very happy I finally got a chance to see it.
After that, I went to the single-rider line on Rockin' Roller Coaster for a quick ride, then hobbled myself back to the hotel for another good night's sleep. At this point, in my mind, I was going to take it easy the next day at the hotel and sit poolside again until it was time to go to the magical express at 11:45am.
However, me being me, I woke up bright and early at like 6:30 and decided to pack up. Then, I got breakfast at the resort, and the more I thought about it I was like NO - I AM IN DISNEY WORLD. I AM GOING TO THE PARKS! If I hadn't just spent so much time at Animal Kingdom, that is where I would have gone since it opened first at 8am. Instead, I hit Hollywood Studios again. I wanted to ride Tower of Terror at least once before I left and I wanted one more churro.
I got to HS nice and early and was able to walk right onto ToT. It was weird because the ride was not as amazing as I remember since going on Mission: Breakout. I still love ToT because it is a classic but wow - Mission: Breakout is so amazing!!!! I got a churro, walked around a bit, and did a little browsing at the stores. I got my picture with Minnie, Mickey, and Donald. And then, sadly, it was time to head home.
One last margarita from Coronado Springs was my send off, and the magical single rider vacation came to a close.
If I had to do it over, or if I could make any changes, I probably would have done Epcot on Monday morning/day instead of AK, and then done AK Tuesday morning before I left. But, hey - I still had an amazing time! And I'll just make sure to spend more time at Epcot on my next trip.
So, as it turns out, solo vacations are pretty frickin awesome. I relaxed a heck of a lot more than I usually do on Disney trips and really got to take in new perspective on one of my favorite place. Of course, there is nothing better than spending time there sharing the magic with friends and loved ones, but don't count out a solo trip if you're in the mood for some self-care.
<3
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