A Royal Upgrade - Solo 7/14-7/16 (Completed!)

[SweetSerenity]

Hi! I'm here enjoying your report.

How exciting about the room upgrade! We love POR. I've always wanted to stay in a Royal Room, but we usually just go with the least expensive offer. They're so pretty, though!

 

[LeiaIsAPrincess2]

Great trip report! That room is so cool and I love the fireworks headboard. I completely agree about the lines in TSL, I was so surprised they didn't plan them out better. Our 45 min wait for AS2 felt like an eternity in the sun.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Day 2 Part 2 (continued) - More Disney's Hollywood Studios
Then it was off to ride Star Tours! It was getting ever hotter out, and I stood for a minute in the wonderful breeze of my best friend, this fan.

I was not the only one doing this
Just kidding, I have real friends. Anyway. This ride was also a walk-on (where was everyone??) and it was great as always! I got the Episode 6 and Episode 7 scenes. Those seem to come up a lot when you ride Star Tours, but they’re not the only ones in the rotation. In May I got three totally different scenes which was refreshing. I love how the ride ends with you landing in Galaxy’s Edge! That part always makes me very excited for the new Star Wars land.

I was not the rebel spy, sadly. How do you make that happen?
At some point either before or after I rode Star Tours, I saw that Goofy was out doing meet & greets. The past couple years I’ve started to have fun meeting characters again. I think it’s because I brought a friend to Disney for her first time, and that was one of the #1 things she wanted to do which made me remember how fun it was. I was sad that I didn’t have my Mickey Vinylmation with me for Goofy to sign, though. I left it home because there wasn’t really room in my duffel bag. Hopefully I’ll find him again (with a short line) in September.

Best friends!


Another for good measure
After that, it was time to head to Epcot! ​

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Day 2 Part 3 - Afternoon at Epcot
Epcot is my favorite park, but I really dropped the ball here on this trip. It was close to 1pm when I arrived and I can’t begin to tell you how oppressive the heat was. The “Real Feel” temp was 106 degrees F.

Most important thing I brought on this trip
I was SUPPOSED to go to get my Donald Duck AP magnet when I got to Epcot. I completely forgot. I was really hungry and got sort of single minded, and started walking towards Italy to grab food at Tutto Gusto as soon as I entered the park. I’ve never been there before but I heard it’s a nice little lounge where you can get nibbles & wine without a reservation. However, I made it to Norway (I always go left! Which way do you go around the world showcase?) before I decided that was just too darn far to walk in this heat & turned back around for Future World.

Do I look sweaty? I was sweaty.
I swapped out my portable Fuel Rod charger, got more water, and (finally) tried the school bread from Norway. It was so delicious! It tasted like a sort of cinnamon/coconut bun with a vanilla custard filling. I know there are more decadent options in Epcot, but I liked that it wasn’t too sweet, since this was my lunch placeholder.

So good!
With my stomach full of delicious school bread, I stopped in Mexico for some adult hydration – an avocado margarita! Normally the line for La Cava del Tequila is pretty long, but with how empty the parks were I walked right up. I didn’t remember to take a picture though! I finished that thing pretty quickly because it was delicious and exactly what I wanted in the heat. It’s not technically on the menu there, but I’ve always ordered it and they’d always had it. It’s sweet and has a spicy sort of chili sugar rim. They also have new margaritas at the stand outside of the pavilion, but since there was no line I went for the indoor option. I took more time to fill up my water bottle, check out the little Coco display, and cool off.

I love this pavilion
I wasn’t ready to leave Epcot for the pool yet, so I went on Spaceship Earth. The line wasn’t too long but at some point a woman in front of me actually threw up. A bunch of us flagged down a Cast Member and tried to give her water. It was clear this wasn’t too much alcohol – she was sober but obviously dehydrated. I felt really bad for her, and I hope she was okay after that. The CMs sort of shooed away those of us who were hovering/trying to help, so I just got on the ride. The overheated lady had the right idea trying to get on that ride - Spaceship Earth is an excellent option for a hot day. You can sit down A/C for a while and just regroup.

Plus I just love this ride
Since the lines were so short, I went and did Test Track before heading out. I normally skip this in favor of Mission Space (one of my favorites!) but I couldn’t resist it with no lines. Sadly my awesome blue car wasn’t the best one in the group. I scored very high in “capability” but not so great in the other categories. Oh well! I only ride Test Track because the end part is super fun. The whole ride needs to be like that!

You could see the hazy humidity
I was finally done with Epcot. I normally would spend a few hours here wandering around World Showcase, but I really wanted to take advantage of the pool at Port Orleans Riverside. I also wanted to eat at the restaurant there, but that ended up getting tossed out the window once I actually was back at the resort because I was too hungry to wait. I ordered a shrink-wrapped sandwich at the pool bar and annihilated it. It was the Italian sub I think, and it was actually super delicious, so no regrets there! I also bought a SweetWater 420 IPA because that brewery is right next to where I live and it’s a local favorite. It did suck to pay nearly $10 for it though! Next time I should branch out.

Fun fact: They sell their pineapple IPA Goin' Coastal at the pineapple booth during Flower & Garden
I think I'll pause here for today. I have to get back to work! ​

 

[PrincessP]

I am enjoying your solo report since I have my first one coming up soon. Hooray for short lines! I love that you stopped to meet Goofy.....and keep up the great food/drink reviews. Congrats on your magical upgrade at Port Orleans! Hope you got to enjoy the pool.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Day 2 Part 4 - Pool & Animal Kingdom
The pool at Port Orleans Riverside is Ol’ Man Island. It has lots of water spraying into the pool which was super fun to swim under. Now I know why the parks were empty – the pool was packed! I went down the slide a bunch of times and even took a dip in the hot tub

Yes, even though it was a million degrees out
I probably should’ve taken a nap at this point, but instead I took a shower and went to Animal Kingdom. I had my fastpasses scheduled for this park: Flight of Passage, Safari, and Dinosaur. I was excited to finally do the twilight safari and I think I timed it well. It wasn’t dark out, but the sun was setting and it finally started to cool off.

I didn’t see anything on the safari I hadn’t seen before, though. I’ve seen just as much activity early in the morning. Still, it's always one of my must-do's at AK!

It did seem like they were wandering around a bit more than usual at least!
I had some time before my next fastpass, so I went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek to see the tiger cubs. I saw them back in May when they were about 100lbs. Surprise, they're even bigger now! Last time I saw them it was early morning and they were playing around a ton. This time they were just napping.

ZZZZZzzzzzzz.......
On a side note, I had an encounter with a lost child going into the Jungle Trek. This happened on a previous solo trip as well. Back in March I was knocked into by a running kid in Adventureland. It all happened pretty fast but I went from thinking "rude" to realizing the kid was wildly looking at the face of every person she saw, to realizing she was SPRINTING through the crowd and was obviously panicking. I ran after her, asked if she was okay, and she started sobbing saying she couldn't find her mom. So I'm talking to her, telling her it's okay because we'll find a Disney person to help (while trying to see if there's one near us), and I asked if she knew her mom's phone number. She looked really relieved and grabbed at a necklace she was wearing that had little numbered beads with a phone number. GENIUS IDEA. I highly suggest anyone with kids have something like this, because even if they "know" your phone number, when they're young and freaked out they might forget it. After a minute or so we found a cast member who took over. I tell this story because as I was heading into the Jungle Trek I saw another little kid standing alone, crying. I asked if she was okay, nope she's lost, but she doesn't know her mom's phone number. I took her to cast members nearby and handed her off to them and I'm sure they eventually found her family, but I bet it's a lot harder to find lost parents if the kids don't know how to contact them.

Moving on! After all that it was time to head over to Pandora to ride FOP.

This park is so pretty at night!
I didn’t even bother glancing at what the wait time for Flight of Passage was as I made a beeline for the FastPass+ entrance, but that area of the park was much busier than the rest. The sun was going down but there was still a bit of light, and it was so pretty in Pandora! I didn’t stop to take any pictures though, because once I was in line I didn’t want to hold up anyone behind me. The best part about having a FastPass and being a single rider for FOP is you get to skip the last bit of the line! They send you down the center row instead of the big line to the left.

Flight of Passage is such a cool ride. If you haven’t done it, it’s sort of like Soarin’, but so much better. It’s a really cool motion simulator and you are flying on the back of an animal (a banshee?) from the movie Avatar. Full disclosure, I haven’t seen the movie and I wasn’t happy about the addition of Pandora to Animal Kingdom (I’m still rooting for the Beastly Kingdom), but the whole area is really neat. I’ve made a FastPass for the ride a priority every time I’ve gone since it opened.

Yet another staging area
It still takes a while to ride even with a FP+, because of the multiple staging areas, so when I left Pandora it was fully dark outside. It was time to head over to Asia. I originally had Dinosaur scheduled but then I pushed my fastpasses back so I could spend more time at the pool, so Dinosaur got swapped for Everest. I rode it once with FP+, did single rider a couple times, then I just got in the standby line when it became a walk-on. On my way over though, I got to see a little light show on the back of the Tree of Life. I’ve never been in Animal Kingdom at night before (it’s always been a rope drop & leave by lunch place for me) so I don’t know if what’s on the front is the same as what I saw. It was a little wordless story about a baby deer and there was a bird and some cool music. I seriously have no better way to describe it because that’s all I remember, lol. A quick google search told me it’s called Tree of Life Awakenings and it runs about every 10 minutes. It was neat, but nothing I’d camp out for, and since it happens so frequently that’s probably not necessary anyway.

Terrible iPhone picture of said show
Back to hanging out in Asia at the end of the night. Rivers of Light was going on when I saw there, and that was super pretty. I was more interested in riding Everest with no line, but I did watch from the walkway for a minute.

I also could see this from the top of Everest which was neat!
​

 

[Newsies]

It sounds like you had an awesome start to your morning at DHS! Swirling Saucers looks so cute!

I love your water bottle!

Oh wow, you had a BIG day three parks in AND a dip in the pool?!?!? AWESOME stuff.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Day 2 Part 5 - Animal Kingdom (continued), also Disney Springs

Seriously pretty at night
I think I'll definitely be going to Animal Kingdom at night again next trip. There's good food, it's pretty, and the park has a different feel than during the day. I got to take a picture with a new prop in Asia too!

Oof, you can tell I'm tired.
Now, this is when I made a mistake. I was hungry and REALLY wanted ramen, so of course I thought it'd be a great idea to go to Disney Springs and eat at Morimoto. No, Lauren! Go to sleep! By the time I got to DS I was dead on my feet. Yes, I ate at Morimoto, yes the ramen was delicious, but I should have just gone back to the hotel and gotten pizza or something. With how little sleep I had the night before & the intense heat of the day, I literally had a hangover in Disney Springs. I kept drinking as much water as I could and hoped for the best, but I wasn't feeling good or happy. I have no pictures of the ramen sadly, because I'd lost the energy to document things haha. By the time I left the buses had stopped running and I had to take an uber back to POR. So, see the cute dress I'm wearing in that picture up above? I was also wearing these cute little boots. I had not thought about what would happen to my feet in the cute little boots in 100 degree heat & 100% humidity & walking all over creation. I had stupid blisters forming and they HURT. Apparently there is only one spot you can get an uber/lyft in Disney Springs, and it was insanely far from where I was when I decided I was dead & wanted to be back in the hotel. I'm a runner so normally getting 30,000 steps in a day at Disney doesn't phase me, but between the lack of sleep, dehydration, and blisters, I was done. I don't know if this is a new change or if it's because of the time of night, but there was one pickup location & I couldn't change it. It was 10000 miles away from where I was.

At least it felt like it was that far
I did eventually make it there, my uber eventually showed up, and way too long after I was in my nice giant royal bed back at Port Orleans Riverside. I've never been so happy to go to sleep in Disney World! ​

 

[iivye]

I'm enjoying your trip report and can't believe how much you are accomplishing in just a weekend!

 

[lolomarie]

On a side note, I had an encounter with a lost child going into the Jungle Trek. This happened on a previous solo trip as well. Back in March I was knocked into by a running kid in Adventureland. It all happened pretty fast but I went from thinking "rude" to realizing the kid was wildly looking at the face of every person she saw, to realizing she was SPRINTING through the crowd and was obviously panicking. I ran after her, asked if she was okay, and she started sobbing saying she couldn't find her mom. So I'm talking to her, telling her it's okay because we'll find a Disney person to help (while trying to see if there's one near us), and I asked if she knew her mom's phone number. She looked really relieved and grabbed at a necklace she was wearing that had little numbered beads with a phone number. GENIUS IDEA. I highly suggest anyone with kids have something like this, because even if they "know" your phone number, when they're young and freaked out they might forget it. ​

I'm really enjoying your trip report and want to thank you for sharing this! This is now on my Disney To Do List for my DS4!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Great TR so far.
We are booked to go to POR for the first time next year (will be our 10th trip to WDW) but just standard view,
Those Royal rooms look awesome

 

[PrincessP]

Your report is giving me so many “wish list” items for my solo trip...

1) photopass pic with balloons
2) photopass pic with lantern in AK/Asia
3) school bread in Norway
4) remember to sleep - I am past the age of 3 parks, the pool, and DS in one day. You go, girl! Being a runner surely helped with that!

And I can’t wait to hear about the DVC tour as I want to do one on my arrival day. DH and I have talked about merits of DVC....can’t quite make the finances logical to us so I want to hear firsthand on a tour...and my kiddos wouldn’t want to take park touring time to do a tour. So it is in my plans.....maybe depending on how you felt touring without your DH.

Really enjoying your humor, too. 10000 mile journey to uber/lyft. Thanks for sharing!

 

[PrincessP]

I'm really enjoying your trip report and want to thank you for sharing this! This is now on my Disney To Do List for my DS4!

Yes! We did this.....had dog tags made with our phone numbers for our kids to wear when they were small. Thankfully, Never needed them..but gave peace of mind. And our children thought they were the coolest things. Even Asked for them on subsequent trips.

 

[richmo]

Many kudos helping out with the lost little girl!

I hit AK at night the last time I went too. You're totally right about it having a different feel and its great that it isn't lit up bright. Kind of similar to how World Showcase is at night, only more so.

 

[Tina1]

Wonderful trip reportThank u

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Day 3 Part 1 - DVC tour
Good Morning Port Orleans Riverside! I forgot to mention this previously, but when I was in Hollywood Studios the day before I was talked into doing a DVC Tour. I told the Cast Member that I didn’t have my husband with me and I’d done one before but it was years ago. He said that was fine, we could do them every 6 months. I sort of nodded politely while flipping through the book with pictures from the resorts. Then he said “I mean, that $100 giftcard is pretty sweet”. Say what?! Now he had my attention. When I did the tour years ago we got free fastpasses & ice cream, but not $100! So I happily signed up for the tour, with the disclaimer that I wouldn’t be buying on this trip and it was merely for gathering information. They didn’t care. So that was the first item on my agenda for Sunday.

So beautiful....so humid.
Well, second. First was breakfast! I wandered into the food court at Port Orleans to find something to eat before my DVC tour. I knew they’d have pastries but I needed some protein to get me going. Now, I love Disney, but their eggs are just terrible. I got a bounty platter with a mini mickey waffle (always the best!) and the eggs were inedible. I did eat the sausage and wished for another waffle….but my tour was starting soon so it was time to get moving. When you do a DVC tour they have a van/shuttle pick you up at your resort and take you to Saratoga Springs. That van, like all things indoors in Florida, was FREEZING. I was an iceberg by the time we got to SS. There they signed me, gave me a name tag, and directed me over to the coffee & pastries. They also had iced coffee which was nice! After a few minutes my agent/CM came over and took me into a room to tell me about DVC.

I have no pictures from any of this, so enjoy this one from the safari I did the day before!
I’m no expert, but the gist is it’s like a timeshare, but it’s through Disney so unlike the scummy ones that cold call you & freak out when you say no, this is a very pleasant experience. You buy a certain amount of points that you use towards your hotel stay, the more points = the more it costs, and you can also use them at other “partner” hotels around the world. I asked for some info on that, because DH isn’t a Disney fan and wouldn’t want to just come to Disney every year. You can also bank your points for a year and borrow from the next year, so technically you could do a big trip every 2 or 3 years if you want. I know I should buy into it, but DH won’t hear of it. But I go about every other month and really like staying on property, and it would be nice. My CM didn’t mention this, but a lot of people will buy theirs resale and save money that way. Your cost is fixed, so my aunt & uncle who bought into DVC back in 1992 pay WAY less than folks who buy in now. You also have to pay dues every year. I’m pretty sure there’s a section on the boards here if you want to learn more, or of course you could do the tour! They really are very nice and both times I’ve done the tour I never felt pressured (whereas when I’ve done tours with other companies like Hilton they’ve gotten really angry when we said no). After they’ve explained how it works to you, they’ll give you a tour of some model rooms of other DVC resorts. You get to see studios, 1, and 2 bedroom suites. I’ve stayed in a 1 bedroom suites at Animal Kingdom Lodge and it was very nice! Once the tour was over they took me back to the check in area and offered me ice cream (I said no because it was 9:30am) and emailed me my giftcard. I used it the rest of the day to try new treats! Then they call the shuttle to pick you back up and take you anywhere on Disney property. I asked them to take me back to Animal Kingdom.

Photopass guy says to point, so I point!​

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

What a cool upgrade! I love Riverside!

The 10,000 miles at Disney Springs made me laugh. It totally feels like it. I was trying to find the bus stop from the World of Disney and it felt like 10,000 miles, in part because I sailed past it due to some construction and had to double back and it was approximately 8,000 degrees.

I have totally been at that Disney Tired point of exhaustion and struggled with making it back to the room. Nothing like falling asleep leaning against the wall in the Peter Pan queue and having to make it back to the front of the park, to the bus stop, then to the room to the bed when you're so tired that breathing feels like a struggle.

P.S. I also have two dogs - a dachshund and a mystery mix that is about knee-high.

 

[PrincessP]

Hooray for a new update on your trip report.

My son is the pickiest eater....but he loves Disney eggs. Go figure.

I think I am going to try to do a DVC tour on my upcoming solo trip. I am glad you reported about yours. I am curious about DVC and have free time on my arrival day. I will definitely bring a sweater for the van. Thanks for that A/C report as I tend to wear sweaters all summer b/c of A/C everywhere even though I am from HOTlanta like you. I like the 80+ degree seasons of the year.

And BONUS you got $100 to spend on Disney treats. Woohoo!

Great Pandora photopass pic....even if the photographer neglected to tell you to look where you were pointing.

Can’t wait to read more!!

 

[PrincessP]

Lauren, I am considering 1 day memory maker for my solo trip. I have a HS + EP day, then a MK + AK day.

Which of those two days, in your experience, is more likely to have the better fast pass opportunities? Thank you

 

[jbhodj]

Here! Liked the DVC part as we are wanting to take the tour for the info and perks but probably won’t commit and hate being pressured.