Have you ever taken a friend along and wished you were solo?

[BobBrazeal]

I do most of my trips solo (and a lot of them). I'm single but even during those times when I'm seeing someone seriously enough to vacation with them, it isn't always possible to match up vacation time from work. Sometimes the money isn't always there at the same time either. Consequently, I do find that many of my trips are solo.

However a few have been with friends, family or someone I'm seeing. I guess it is like the relationship itself. If it is right, things click to a certain degree and if it isn't right, it seems that nothing clicks. Of course, even in a good relationship, not everything is perfect, but I won't go there in this thread.

I've had a few trips that I've shared with others that were much more a burden than they were a vacation. It wasn't that we were at odds with each other, it was just that I really wished at the time that I had been there alone, that I would be having a lot more fun. Of course none of those relationships lasted either. Now, I've had the opposite as well where the trip was twice as good for sharing it with someone else and I never felt that my "Disney time" was being wasted or taken from me.

Does any of this make sense? Has anyone else every had this happen to them?

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'm so glad someone else asked this question, because it's happened to me and I felt guilty at the time. Actually I had gone solo and met up with another solo on the bus headed for the same park. We were going to spend the morning there together. But after about 1 1/2 hours of stopping to see what she wanted to see and not getting to spend as much time on what I wanted to linger over, I ran off to a show she didn't want to see. She was very nice, it wasn't her, but I missed my freedom.
And although I love going with DH, I spend so much time making sure he's happy (he's not addicted to Disney like me, so he's much harder to please there), that I sometimes don't relax and enjoy it there as much as on my solo trips. But if I tell anyone, they don't understand how I can truly love DH but sometimes enjoy DW more solo. Hope someone here does.

 

[MdmMim]

I had a long solo trip last year. I made the mistake of inviting a friend down for a few days, then I couldn't wait til she left! She got tired, hot, thirsty, bored, blah, blah, blah. She had to sit and mope. (Mind you--she's about 5 yrs younger than me--just couldn't keep up with an old bat, I guess!) When she left, I was alone and so glad! (My DH also came down for awhile, but he's cool.) I then had a week to myself--and it was great!
I may invite other friends in the future for a FEW days during solo trips, but I sure won't miss them when they're gone. I savor my time at WDW!

 

[wdw1972]

The earlier threads make a LOT of sense <g>! I once invited a friend because I did not want to hurt her feelings and NOT invite her, and learned the lesson of a lifetime - trust my gut instinct. It was the trip from hell for the days she was with us, and we have not spoken since (it's been years...no loss, though). I am very careful when I invite anyone to join me, and usually stick to staying solo. Even when I invite someone who I know is a compatible travel companion, I still like to have some solo days after the person goes home - that way I have the best of both worlds

 

[Margie J]

Back in '96 I invited a person to stay with me at OKW ... for free mind you. We were both attending a meeting and she needed a place to stay. Well, my guest was a pain in the butt for most of the time. I never complained to anyone but another friend actually asked me if my guest was "driving me crazy".

One night, the air conditioner stayed on by mistake and the unit was freezing (it was December). Till last week my guest has always brought up that part of the trip. Not that she got free accomodations in a 1-bedroom OKW unit, or the free admission to the parks, or the free transportation to the meeting I provided, or the free food I fed her. No, all I heard was "she froze me".

Last week I finally told her to cut it out and keep her comments to herself. What happened that one night was a mistake but I never heard the end of it.

I hate ungrateful people.

 

[Poohbear123]

YES, been there, done that, NOT doing it again! Learned my lesson! It seems my " friend" is ALWAYS broke when she meets me, and does NOT want to go to ANY of the Parks! This is the MAIN reason I go! Needless to say, she is NOT invited next time! She only meets me for a day and messes Up my schedule!

 

[DeeP]

I have very good experiences inviting friends to join me on my solo WDW trips and I have had 2 very bad experiences. I think there are people that you can travel with and have a great time and then there are others that just make your trip miserable. After my 2 bad experiences I am now very picky about who I ask to join me at WDW. I am a DVC member so the room is free for my guest and then to have a complainer/whiner ruin my trip is just not acceptable. I invited a friend to join me at WDW for what turned out to be my first bad experience and all she did was complain it was too hot, I was walking too fast, it was vacation so why was I moving so fast, plus she was always late to get up, get ready etc. It took her over 2 hours to take a shower, get dressed, do her make up & hair, etc! Please!!!! Unfortunately my next WDW trip she invited herself along (she wanted to get another trip out of the AP she had purchased on the previous trip) and I did not have the heart to say no. Well it was a repeat performance and then some. I finally could not take it anymore and blew up around the 5 th day of a 10 day trip. Needless to say, the remainder of the trip was very tense and we are no longer friends. As another poster stated, this trip taught me a lot. I value my trips to WDW and my DVC membership too much to have it runined by someone who is not a good traveling companion for me. So now, I only ask a select few people to join me at WDW and if they can great, if not I have a blast by myself or with just my teenage kids.

 

[BonnieA]

I invited a friend with me last year. I thought she would share my love of Disney. And she did have a good time but our rhythms were not the same. She tired easily and I wanted to see it all. After I figured her out we had a much better trip. We would do Disney in the mornings, I would then take her back to our rental house where we would have lunch. She would spend the afternoon napping or resting and I would return to the parks alone. It was a good compromise and we both got what we needed.

 

[seashoreCM]

A good bet: Share the room but go your separate ways during the day. If you want to, meet up for lunch or dinner on some days.

The entire contents of this thread would be a nice thing to post on the office bulletin board of each of the thread contributors, optionally after editing out just his/her own name.

>>> Unfortunately my next WDW trip she invited herself along (she wanted to get another trip out of the AP ...

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

****

Alas, for many of the contributors to this thread, to refuse to take a friend along, you lose the friendship, take the friend along and still lose the friendship. Or was it really a friendship?

More Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

Been to Disney World something like ten times, all solo.

 

[cassie]

I did my first solo and invited my ex-husband , who lives in Fla, up for a day. We seem to get along fine as long as we are in separate states (I'm in Ct). We are generally amicable with 2 kids. Well after 20 years of living apart, nothing changed and I couldn't wait for him to leave. He's definetly not a disney person.

My next trip is May 2002 and a girlfiend saw my pics and wanted to join me the next time. I thought cool, someone to share in the magic. Well, she has suddenly decided to get married and can't make the trip. Funny, even tho I have to pay full price for the room, I'm relieved to be going solo.

 

[sramille]

I've been thinking about this too. I just went on my first "solo" trip although it wasn't completely solo. I met some people from a chat club on my second night. I would run into them in the park, but if I didn't want to do what they were doing I would just walk off on my own. It was perfect.
Originally, I was supposed to have a friend with me, but she cancelled. After hearing about my exciting trip she is already planning to go with me next November. And, a bunch of family members might coordinate their Disney trip so that we can overlap.
But, the more I think about it.....I don't know if I would want that. I really enjoyed myself wandering around and not worrying about what other people wanted to do.
I'm almost crossing my fingers that everyone changes their mind about next years trips. What a horrible person I am!

 

[Terk-1]

Awhile back a former friend and I had planned a trip to WDW. She said that she had never been and I was so excited to show her everything there was to see @ WDW. Because she did not have alot of $$ (or so she said), I even bought her pass for her and we got a great rate at the All Star Music and she got a cheap airline rate. Well, on our way to the hotel I was telling her how excited I was to be there and to show her stuff, when she turned to me and told me she had just been down the month prior with her boyfriend. She never said anything about that to me, so I was a little disappointed. That feeling got progressively worse as the days went on. I am an early riser and love to do EE, as well as spending ample time in the parks. She did not rise until after 9am, laid around inbed eating donuts until 10am, then by the time she showered, changed and by then, it was 11:30am. We ate all meals in the foodcourt. She sat down on the floor for the 360 films and seemed to have little interest. We were back in the room by 4 or 5pm and then she just laid on the bed eating foodcourt food and watched tv until 9pm, when she went to bed. By the end of the 2nd day, I had had enough. She was not going to ruin my vacation, so I mentioned to her that we should take a day and spend it how we wanted and to meet up later. By 7am the next morning, I was showered, dressed and out the door and did not see her again until I returned to the room later that night. I called the room a few times during the day to see if she wanted to join me, but all she wanted to do was veg in front of the tv. That's fine for others, but I feel that it is a waste of my money for her pass for her to do nothing. By the 5th day, which was the last, it was apparent that it was a huge mistake to have gone with her and we spoke very little on the way to the airport. I did keep the pass I bought her, since it had 3 unused days. I've been to WDW with family a few times, which worked out much better. We would do things together in the morning, like go to the MK or another park, then they would head back to the hotel for my nephews to nap and I would stay at the park and meet up with them later in the afternoon for dinner and to do something. On our last trip, I agreed to stay in the room a couple of nights and watch my nephews, so that they could enjoy grown-up time.

 

[cleo]

I might not count since I wasn't solo, but I've also found adding another person to the mix doesn't always work out so well.

The worst was probably the time we took my step-daughter, age 17 or so at the time. She wanted to drive part way and almost caused a terrible accident. She sort of moped through the parks and on the second day while we were waiting at the TTC she told us she felt really sick and was going back to the room. We spent the day worrying about her, calling the room every so often to see if she was alright. Turns out she spent the day flirting with a lifeguard down at the pool. She didn't care at all that she'd gotten a free trip with us since she was coming back in a month with friends. Lying about being sick was a bit too much for me though.

Another trip down we invited my brother and his girlfriend to join us. She spent the entire time (3 days... they finally just went home) complaining and feeling sorry for herself. It was hot. She didn't like rides. She didn't like the food. On and on and on. Luckily, that time we could laugh since we weren't staying together. My brother quit seeing her shortly after that.

 

[taswira]

Terk-1, regarding the 3 unused days on the pass: If your friend had to stick her fingers in the scanner (which is usual to verify that the pass belongs to the same individual with each entry) upon park entry, then those 3 days should not be transferable to anyone else. Multiple-day tickets are discounted (instead of full daily price) for a single individual's use. And hopefully it wasn't a "consecutive days" pass.

On Solo Travel: It's almost the only way for true Disney fans to go where they want, when they want, how they want. If you want to ride the same ride several times in one day, see the same show twice, eat at YOUR favorite restaurant and travel at your own pace through the parks, you can't beat going solo. The only exceptions I've found are when I KNOW the person I'm with is a true WDW fan (not just someone who likes Disney films), they have been there before and we've established that we like the same attractions, etc. Then it is FUN to have a companion. I also make an occasional exception for my mother. When she is with me, the pace is slower and I skip the wild rides but we enjoy the shows and leisurely meals. After some unbearable experiences taking people who had never been there, only to discover that they had no passion for WDW and could only talk about their local favorite "amusement park" and its rides (missing the entire point of the Disney experience with that comparison), I decided to leave the introduction of newbies to others.

WDW is an "immersion experience." It is fantasy brought to reality. Some people just aren't capable of letting go and sharing the enthusiasm and wonder of it all. They have grown old before their time.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

Yeah ....... I took my Husband with me ........ and I wished
that I was solo. Now, I did not say *single* I mean *solo*.
I have now had 3 solo trips, and my "hunny" stayed home.
We are each happier that way, and we even missed each
other.

 

[Hollymom1229]

I have never gone solo, but I have finally discovered that there is one person in the world I can go to WDW and he enjoys doing it the same way as me. Fortunately that person is my fiancee. In the past three years I've gone with my mother and sister (great trip, but not quite my way), my friends and fiancee (a problem on the days spent with my friends), and my best friend and sister (nice, but they were constantly conflicting). Without a doubt my best time in the world was the day spent in MK with my fiancee. He loved all my favorite rides, wasn't that impressed with the ones I don't like much, he loved Cosmic Ray's (I've gone with another who won't eat counter service), he loved LTT, and he just soaked up the theming and raved about all the little details. Because we were so in synch it was like travelling with just myself, but with kisses.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I'm having a fun time reading this thread. I've gone to WDW 4 times (3 within the last year) and all with my husband and children. We only had our toddler with us for our May trip, but I've always had to jusggle the different needs/wants of my various children. My sister and I are going to WDW next week for a spur of the minute trip (before my annual pass expires) without children and husbands. I think that our touring styles will be similar, so I don't anticipate any problems. I'm sure looking forward to going without needing to take my children into consideration.

 

[ASFCurly]

I am going on a solo trip May 2003 a sort of a present to myself for graduating college, for a while I was trying to convince someone to go with me but no one really wanted to and the more that I thought about it, the happier I was that they said no, I am thrilled to be going alone.