A Salute to All Vacations… But Mostly This Sorta-Solo One! – August 2022 TR - NEW 2/15

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

Hi everyone!

My name is Tristin and I’m so excited to share the details of my recent trip with you all! I’m always lurking on the trip report boards to fill the void between trips, but now I get to post one of my own. It’s funny, I have posted on the Disboards before back around 2010 under the username Disney_Teen. Well, I’m no longer a teen, but other than that, my love for Disney hasn’t changed.

So without further ado, on to my August 2022 trip report!

Who: Me!

I’m Tristin, a 28-year old content specialist from Atlanta, GA.

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My love for Disney began as far back as I can remember. I grew up going to Disney World probably every other year. Now I’m old enough to plan my own trips so I try to keep up that same schedule. My last trip was in 2018 and I had one planed for 2020 until COVID happened so I was very excited to see all the changes in 2022.

What: My First Sorta-Solo Trip

I say “sorta” solo because I was joined by my girlfriend, M, for the half of the trip. She’s also 28 and we’ve been together for close to 10 years. She’s not a huge Disney person (or a fan of the heat, crowds, or waiting in line lol) BUT she does share my same love for food so that was the focus while she was here.

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Trip highlights include park hopping all 4 parks, 2 trips to Disney Springs, Typhoon Lagoon, and MNSSHP!

When: August 18th – 24th

M was here the 18th – 21st

Where: Port Orleans Riverside

We stayed here when we came in 2018 and really enjoyed it. We both love travelling to New Orleans often so we love the whole vibe of the resort. I specifically asked for the Magnolia Bend section before check-in… but will we get it??

Why: Conquering My Fears!

The ‘why’ of this trip is actually the most important part. I have a lot of anxiety, and part of that is social anxiety and a fear of being by myself. I work on this a lot in therapy, but it is something I’ve been really wanting to overcome. I wanted to be more ok with traveling, dining, and generally just being outside of my house alone with my thoughts. I thought a sorta-solo trip to Disney would be a great way to conquer my fears and meet my goals for personal growth.

Disney World seemed like the best place for me to experience travelling solo for the first time. It’s a place I feel safe, know well, and one that has so much going on you really don’t have time to focus on intrusive/negative thoughts. I also thought having my GF there for the first half would make the adjustment easier.

I’m happy to report - I had a great time by myself!! I had great conversations with strangers, didn’t feel as uncomfortable dining out as I thought I would, and enjoyed having the power to make decisions for just me, myself, and I. Overall, I’m really proud of myself for facing my fears head on and would 100% do it again!

If you needed a sign to take a solo trip THIS IS IT!!!

So thanks for joining me along as I recap one of my favorite trips EVER! If you’re a lurker (like me), a silent, knowing hello. Otherwise, drop a comment and say hi!

Next: Travel Day (Continued In Next Post)

 

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

8/18 – Thursday - Travel Day

Our arrival day was a little different than most. Both M and I had to work today so our goal was to leave at 4pm. I was going to try to leave earlier, but of course the week of I got a virtual meeting invite for 3:30 that afternoon. M’s sister also came over to pick up our dog (Keegan) and the key to our apartment so she could feed and play with our cat (Kitty) while we were gone. I got cuddle time in with them before we left.

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M’s sister got there right at 4 when I was getting off my meeting. We had already packed the day before, so she helped us load up the car. We ended up pulling out of our apartment complex at 4:20. We live in Midtown Atlanta so the traffic getting out of the city was rough, but soon enough, we were on our way!

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We had two scheduled stops before we hit Orlando. The first was Chick-Fil-A. Normally stopping at Chick-Fil-A wouldn’t be a big deal, but I hadn’t had fried food since July 1st so I was treating myself (and planned to for the rest of the trip). We stopped for Chick-Fil-A around 6pm in Macon. Nothing special, I got chicken nuggets and a peach milkshake and M got a spicy chicken sandwich.

Then it was on to Buc-ees! Y’all, if you’ve never been to Buc-ees, you are missing out. M and I joke that we were going to Florida only because we would be passing Buc-ees. We got there around 6:30 and spent about 30 minutes inside.

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We walked out with two waters, a pack of chocolate chip cookies, a homemade rice krispie treat, and some ice cream.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We crossed the Florida/Georgia line at 8:55pm and stopped for gas again at a Raceway at 10. We passed under the beautiful arches a little before midnight!

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When we pulled into Port Orleans Riverside…. We didn’t. Apple Maps brought us to the service entrance where they politely informed us to keep driving for the real entrance. It would not be the first time we made that mistake. We received our room number around 9pm so we headed there. We were room #8521 in the Magnolia Bend section (yay!). I dropped M off to unload and headed to the front desk for 2 reasons.

1. I wanted to check and see if they had a room with a king bed (they didn’t)
2. And I wanted to add M as a day guest so she could access the room without me during our stay. Turned out that that wasn’t necessary, but I digress.
I unpacked and went to sleep around 1am.

Next: Our First Official Day at Disney Springs

 

[disneyAndi14]

Joining in! Excited to hear about your adventures!
We have stayed in The Magnolia Bend area a couple times and really enjoyed it!

 

[Magic2000]

Following along! Can't wait to read about your trip! I have some of those same anxieties, and am trying to talk myself into a solo trip!
And I've never been to Buc-ees!

 

[buzzrelly]

If you needed a sign to take a solo trip THIS IS IT!!!

I totally think the universe is speaking to me! I was scrolling through Disboards this morning, as I do most mornings, I decided to click on the TR boards to see what's new and yours was the first I saw.

I am also taking a partially-solo trip in 20 days and I've been super anxious about it! Long story short, I was supposed to go with my DH but he got a new job and can't get time off so I ended up keeping the WDW part of our trip and adding 5 nights at Disneyland as I've been wanting to go forever!

My friend (who also isn't a big Disney fan) is coming along for the WDW trip and then I'll be flying to CA by myself...eek!

I'm happy to follow along with your report for inspiration!

Then it was on to Buc-ees!

OMG, my DH and I laugh because we LOVE Buc-ees so much! Looking forward to that stop almost makes the ride from CT bearable!

When we pulled into Port Orleans Riverside…. We didn’t. Apple Maps brought us to the service entrance where they politely informed us to keep driving for

the real entrance. It would not be the first time we made that mistake.

We've done this many times. Maps doesn't distinguish between the main entrance and service entrance. Not to mention how many times we got lost trying to get to DHS because they always try to bring us the back way!

 

[footballmouse]

 

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

Joining in! Excited to hear about your adventures!
We have stayed in The Magnolia Bend area a couple times and really enjoyed it!

Thanks for joining in!

I've also stayed in the Princess and the Frog themed rooms in Magnolia Bend too. Have you stayed in the Alligator Bayou section and if so, how did you like it?

Following along! Can't wait to read about your trip! I have some of those same anxieties, and am trying to talk myself into a solo trip!
And I've never been to Buc-ees!

Thanks so much!

If you ever have questions about doing a solo trip with anxiety, let me know. I'd be happy to help! Hopefully I can drop in some tips and tricks when I get to my solo days. And if you ever see a Buc-ees, it's worth the stop!

I totally think the universe is speaking to me! I was scrolling through Disboards this morning, as I do most mornings, I decided to click on the TR boards to see what's new and yours was the first I saw.

I am also taking a partially-solo trip in 20 days and I've been super anxious about it! Long story short, I was supposed to go with my DH but he got a new job and can't get time off so I ended up keeping the WDW part of our trip and adding 5 nights at Disneyland as I've been wanting to go forever!

My friend (who also isn't a big Disney fan) is coming along for the WDW trip and then I'll be flying to CA by myself...eek!

I'm happy to follow along with your report for inspiration!

This makes me so happy to hear! I really had hoped my experience would help others with the same big feelings.

I have never been to Disneyland, but after this trip I think it would make another great solo trip! You'll have to report all about it. And I'm positive you won't regret it!!

We've done this many times. Maps doesn't distinguish between the main entrance and service entrance. Not to mention how many times we got lost trying to get to DHS because they always try to bring us the back way!

Apple Maps really needs to get it together. Lol

Welcome! Thanks for following along!!

 

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

8/19 – Thursday – Work/Disney Springs

M got up this morning around 7am. She complained that she was freezing, and I told her not to change the thermostat because I was hot. Arguing ensued. Honestly this is normal behavior for us. I sleep hot and she sleeps cold, so she put on a sweatshirt and we tried to go back to bed.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. There was light coming in through the curtains, the walls were thin, and we could hear the family with kids getting ready for their day and every flush of the people above us. Honestly, I was pretty miserable and had hoped this wouldn’t be an issue every day. I’m usually a heavy sleeper, not a morning person, and I can go back to sleep. Call it the annoyances or the excitement to start our trip, but we didn’t go back to sleep.

To make matters worse, we both had to work today. We can both work remotely (for the most part), so our plan was to spend most of the day working from the room. But since we were both up early (didn’t have to log on till 9ish), we decided to make the best of it and go grab some breakfast at the food court (Riverside Mill) a little before 8.

We made a quick stop in the gift shop to grab some snacks for our day of working inside. I thought these Tiana items were cute.

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Then we walked over to the food court. M got the waffle platter and I got the kids waffles. We also decided to share a coffee.

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M said the eggs were like gelatin eggs and I thought the potatoes were cold. But we both really liked the waffles! The coffee was also a bust. It was their 50th anniversary blend, which I think is a dark blend, so I’m not surprised we didn’t care for it. I’m glad we decided against the refillable mug.

Here was the view from our table by the window

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We came back at 8:45. I got a pic of the room number but not the room (bad Dis-er, I know).

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I put the second Harry Potter movie on low in the background when we both opened our laptops to work. As a content specialist, most of my days are spent writing blogs, emails, social media posts, press releases, etc. for a large marketing firm. I love my job!! But I specifically did a lot before our trip so I wouldn’t have to do much today. M had some meetings and calls to jump on.

We took a break at 2:30pm to go to the pool. The pool was less than 100 yards from our room, so it was a quick walk. No pics, we were there for less than an hour.

When we got back the third Harry Potter movie had started (my personal fave). We both showered , went back to work, and snacked on some Pringles we bought at the gift shop. We both finished up a little early so we laid down for a nap at 4pm and slept until 5:15.

Then it was time for our vacay to officially begin!

We got ready for the evening at Disney Springs. As we were getting ready, the fourth Harry Potter started. I love Harry Potter, just not as much as Disney. I haven’t been to Universal since Diagon Alley opened, so maybe I’ll do that soon. Is it worth it to take a day trip?

It also started pouring as we were getting ready to leave. We grabbed the packable umbrella I brought and walked out the door at 6pm.

Next: Disney Springs (Shopping, a trip to Gideons, and dinner at Morimoto Asia)

 

[buzzrelly]

That stinks that you had to work on vacation! I hope that was the only day you had to do that.

I haven’t been to Universal since Diagon Alley opened, so maybe I’ll do that soon. Is it worth it to take a day trip?

I'm not the biggest HP fan, but that whole area is amazing! Stay at Royal Pacific for a night and you'll get two days of unlimited express passes there.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Sharing a cup of coffee ? Makes me laugh …
and those waffles I’m not a waffle person but for some reason I actually ate one the last trip and was ! Wow these are actually good!
Without syrup!
Isn’t it time to wake up and let us know your plans for the day?
or what your plans for the day were. Sorry you can remain asleep.

 

[tara595]

Following along!

 

[lauralynn0612]

Even working (remotely) in Disney is better than working remotely at home!

We got ready for the evening at Disney Springs. As we were getting ready, the fourth Harry Potter started. I love Harry Potter, just not as much as Disney. I haven’t been to Universal since Diagon Alley opened, so maybe I’ll do that soon. Is it worth it to take a day trip?

I am a huge Harry Potter fan and would definitely encourage a Universal day. We were able to get everything accomplished in one day and kind of regretted going back for the second day because it was a missed Disney day. But for sure worth at least a day.

 

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

That stinks that you had to work on vacation! I hope that was the only day you had to do that.

It did, but it made the most sense. Otherwise we would have to leave around 5pm on Friday and arrive after midnight that evening, then wakeup early to go to our first park the next day. I'm glad we did it this way because it gave us more time to relax, plus who doesn't love an extra day at Disney! This was luckily the only day we had to work.

I'm not the biggest HP fan, but that whole area is amazing! Stay at Royal Pacific for a night and you'll get two days of unlimited express passes there.

That's where I stayed when I went last time (2012?) and I really enjoyed it. That's a great deal!

Sharing a cup of coffee ? Makes me laugh …
and those waffles I’m not a waffle person but for some reason I actually ate one the last trip and was ! Wow these are actually good!
Without syrup!
Isn’t it time to wake up and let us know your plans for the day?
or what your plans for the day were. Sorry you can remain asleep.

We are big coffee drinkers at home. I just wasn't feeling it that morning. And I'm glad my instincts were right, that coffee was nasty!! But the waffles more than made up for it!

Following along!

Thanks for joining!

I am a huge Harry Potter fan and would definitely encourage a Universal day. We were able to get everything accomplished in one day and kind of regretted going back for the second day because it was a missed Disney day. But for sure worth at least a day.

That's good to know! My mom is going in a couple of weeks so I'm excited to hear her reviews!

 

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

8/19 – Thursday – Disney Springs

Last we left off we walked out the door to Disney Springs at 6pm.

We pulled into the Lime garage at 6:08pm. I took a picture to remember our parking spot.

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When we got down the escalator, we saw that it was absolutely pouring! So much so that people were crowding at the bottom of the escalator because they didn’t want to go out in the rain. It was a mess. We ended up ducking into the first shop we saw, Ron Jon Surf Shop, just to get out of the rain. Inside I contemplated buying a shirt and M a bag. But we decided to move on. The next hour was spend ducking in and out of shops and just looking around. We went inside Free People and I found some glasses I liked.

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M being goofy.

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You can see M holding our Mike Wazowski Loungefly backpack in the front. She’s holding it like that to keep it from getting wet. We joked out entire trip and called it our baby. As we were walking around, one of the cast members saw it and started yelling “Mike Wazowski” but in Roz’s voice from the movie. I laughed but M misheard and wondered what that guy was yelling at us. Lol.

One of my to-dos this trip was to visit Giedons. My hope was that if I put our name in at the virtual queue then our name would be called after dinner. I had heard horror stories where people put in their name and didn’t get called until long after dinner and after they left so, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t feeling hopeful. Especially it being a Friday night. So we headed that way. It was still raining pretty hard.

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I guess the rain scared everyone away because the line was so short there wasn’t even a virtual queue. Woohoo! We got in line to wait.

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Continued in next post!

 

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

Continued from Previous Post

This month’s menu:

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It wasn’t long till we got to the front!

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I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect inside, but I was excited! I didn’t look up too much about the interior because I wanted it to be a surprise. I did this with most of the things that were “new” to me. I had heard so many good things and wanted to experience it for myself. The only thing I looked up beforehand was the entry process (obvs). So if you want to keep it surprise, keep scrolling!

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Continued in next post!

 

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

Continued from Previous Post

M being goofy again (are you sensing a theme)

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We ended up ordering 3 banana bread cookies, one key lime, and one original.They also had ‘steam’ in front of the registers, which I thought was cool!

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We also ordered a peanut butter cold brew each, which I had heard so much about.

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OMG! This was one of the best coffee drinks I have ever had. Better than anything I’ve had at Starbucks. Yum, I think about this drink all the time.

All in all we got in line at 7:02 and we were out at 7:25. Success!

Next: Disney Springs (Dinner at Morimoto Asia and more shopping)

 

[buzzrelly]

I love Gideon's! It's must-do for us every trip. If you listen to podcasts at all, I just listened to the Gideon's Origin Story on WDW Prep to Go. The owner was interviewed and listening to him makes me like Gideon's even more.

But you didn't say what you thought of the cookies!

 

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

I love Gideon's! It's must-do for us every trip. If you listen to podcasts at all, I just listened to the Gideon's Origin Story on WDW Prep to Go. The owner was interviewed and listening to him makes me like Gideon's even more.

But you didn't say what you thought of the cookies!

Thank you so much for reccomending that podcast! I listened to it earlier this week while getting my nails done. The owner sounds like a real humble guy. Great listen. I also enjoy WDW Radio if you are looking for another great Disney podcast. Their "Top 10" episodes are my favorite!

We hadn't eaten any of the cookies yet, so I was saving my review for later when we had them for dessert. So they are coming!

 

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

8/19 – Thursday – Disney Springs – Cont.

After securing the goodies from Gideons, we walked next door to check-in for dinner at Morimoto Asia.

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We waited about 10 minutes before being brought back. Which was perfect because that was all the time we needed to down our delicious cold brews!

We were brought up to the top level that overlooked the rest of the restaurant. Pictures don’t do it justice, but the chandeliers are beautiful. Here was the view from our table.

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M seemed to approve.

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Our server did take a long time to greet us (around 10 min.) and had like 0 personality or enthusiasm. Bummer, but I understand everybody can’t be ‘on’ all the time.

Anyways, we decided to start with a bottle of chilled white peach sake.

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M loves crab rangoons and they were on special tonight, but when we went to order them as an appetizer, our server informed us that they were out. Another bummer. We ended up going with a shrimp tempura roll, spicy tuna roll, and tartare to start.

This was the tuna roll, and the better of the two sushi rolls. Sorry, no pic of the shrimp tempura.

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I will say, both of the rolls were pretty basic, but you could taste the difference in quality. I thought the spicy tuna was a big step above what I would get elsewhere.

Continued in next post!

 

[ASaluteToAllVacations]

Continued from Previous Post!

The tartare ended up being really interesting. Take a look!

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The table next to us looked at it and had to ask what it was. So the raw beef (on the slab) came with various “toppings?” to add and a sauce. You could create combos with te different toppings. Left to right I think it was chive, onion, guacamole, crème fraiche, seaweed, and wasabi. My favorite combo was unexpected – crème fraiche and seaweed. It was salty and creamy, but really good. Overall, it was an interesting experience, but one I wouldn’t necessarily run to order again.

I was getting pretty full at this point, but heard so much about the Buri Bop that I had to order it. It is Morimoto’s signature dish and the one that won him his first Iron Chef! It is a tableside presentation and the girl who came out and did mine was super sweet and explained all about the dish. So it’s yellowfin, rice, veggies, egg, and sauce mixed in a hot stone pot. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but I highly recommend it! I finished almost all of it despite already being full.

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M had pork dumplings. I didn’t get a picture, but she liked them. We ordered another bottle of peach sake about halfway through our meal and ended up walking out at about 8:55. But not without taking more pics!

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Overall, we really enjoyed this dinner. The Buri Bop was one of the better entrees I had my entire trip. The service was sadly lacking a little bit, but I would definitely return!

Continued in next post!