I don’t think either, is more or less fun. They are both fun in different ways. Both have their pros and cons. The only time I’ve found Disney more fun is when I’ve planned to take young kids who are really into Disney. There is nothing that can beat seeing their faces light up when something really magical happens. When they are at the age they still believe. That is the most fun. Otherwise, I think it all evens out.
Ok, I haven’t done Disney solo, but I’ve done the dark side, so I think in this situation it’s a close enough comparison.
What I enjoyed:
- Setting my own schedule
- Eat when I want, wake up, go to sleep when I want, do what I want, etc.
- Being lazy at the resort
- Relaxing in the room, eating in bed and watching tv, not being obligated to go out with anyone
- Not having to pack or unpack anyone else’s stuff
- Not having to take care of or entertain anyone else
- Taking time to explore, looking for Easter eggs or Hidden Mickeys
- I tend to notice all kinds of details and little Easter eggs I never saw before when I’m alone because I can really focus on my surroundings. When I am with friends or family we are usually busy rushing around, trying to fit in everything everyone wants to do in. We don’t have a lot of time to really soak it all in. I’m more focused on spending time with them than I am on paying attention to my surroundings.
- Taking lots of pictures of interesting things, instead of just of people.
- Again, similar to taking in the details. When I’m with people, most of our pics are of the group. But when I go solo, I take more time to explore and take interesting shots of other subjects.
- I’m also free to take the time to take the shots without someone trying to rush me along.
- Planning scavenger hunts out for when I’m with my friends / family on future trips.
- I can’t really plan a scavenger hunt for them, if they are with me, so this works out great to do if I’m solo.
- It’s kind of my go to solo activity. It lets me relax, take it slow, really explore, and usually leads me to meeting interesting people as it’s a great conversation starter.
- Riding my favorite rides over and over again without worrying I’m boring my friends / family
- I could totally ride IASW all day at Disney, but my family would kill me. I’m weird I know.
- Talking with the TMs / CMs, meeting new interesting people
- In my experience, they tend to pay you more attention if you are alone, and I’ve met some really interesting people and had some really nice conversations with TMs the times I was alone. Not sure if Disney CMs are as friendly, but all the TMs at Uni, have been amazing!
- For instance, one time I was taking my time exploring the gift shop across from Mythos. The store was fairly empty, so the girl behind the counter came over and started talking to me. She asked what I was doing, and I told her I was working on ideas for the scavenger hunt I was making. She thought that was really cool and asked me to come behind the counter so she could show me something she thought I might find interesting. There is a giant map behind the counter of some fictional ocean, and when you stand beside it, you can hear the sounds of the ocean coming out of the map. It’s really weird because from where the customers stand to check out, you can’t hear it. You can only hear it if you are on the employee side of the counter. It was really neat. We had a nice little chat, and I learned something new.
What I didn’t enjoy:
- Missing having people around to hang out with
- Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t depressed, miserable, or missing them terribly, but there were times that I thought I really wish they were here. You know you’ll see something and think so and so would have loved that.
- Or sometimes you just want to hang out with someone or talk to someone. At those times, I wished I wasn’t alone.
- I did spend a couple of times on the phone with friends / family just because I wanted someone to “hang out” / talk with. I was basically just a little bored. Usually this occurred when I had a long walk from A to B, say from the park back to the room or something.
- Not feeling comfortable eating alone at some of the sit down restaurants we normally go to
- Standing in line alone with no one to talk to
- I discovered a 10 minute wait while talking to your friend feels like 10 seconds, a 10 minute wait alone feels like an hour.
- It is also really annoying if the people near you in line are holding a conversation that you can’t take part in. Especially if the wait time is over 30 minutes. Sometimes you meet people who are happy to talk with a stranger in line and pass the time. Other times you meet those who want to have nothing to do with you. That’s fine. I get it, and I don’t expect everyone to talk to me, but it’s just annoying having to listen to someone else’s conversation. And it’s hard to tune it out, when you yourself have no one to talk to.
- Feeling a little awkward riding alone.
- Especially on little kid rides, such as WTP or last time at Universal it was Cat in the Hat that made me feel a little self conscious. I wasn’t just alone, but I was like the only person on the ride period. It was a little awkward. I felt like I needed to explain why I as an adult was riding this ride alone.
- But, for the most part, this doesn’t really bother me, as even when I’m on a trip with family, I’ll tend to ride a few things alone. We also tend to do single rider a lot, so I’m use to that as well.
What surprised me:
Meals were what I had the most anxiety about, I’ve never been comfortable eating in restaurants alone with the exception of places you go to eat and work. For instance, I have no problem going to Panera, sitting down and eating alone, while I do work on my laptop or read or something. But just sitting in a restaurant eating alone, I’ve never been comfortable with that. I thought that would mean I’d be stuck eating all quick service meals, and I wasn’t really looking forward to the idea, but that wasn’t the case at all.
First, I really enjoyed eating in the room which we never really do as a family. It was peaceful and relaxing. Second, I was able to find a few sit down restaurants I felt comfortable eating at. I had a very nice relaxing meal at a little table at Finnegan's. The bar atmosphere and the sports games on the TVs helped me feel comfortable as a single and like no one was paying me any attention as most were watching the ball game. I simply read on my phone while I ate. It was a nice break from the cold and crowds. I ended up really enjoying it, and it wasn’t awkward at all. So in the end, meals didn’t end up being the big deal I thought they might be. There were still a few places I definitely wouldn’t go alone, but overall it wasn’t an issue.