Skywatcher1206
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2008
Hi All!
Welcome to my trip report covering 4 resorts, all 4 parks, 1 tour, 1 new to me festival, and more fun. This was my first solo trip, definitely not my last. As the trip report states, it was the best of times and the worst of times.
My name is Christina, and I am a married mother of 2 boys, 14 and 11, who were not too happy to learn I was going to Orlando without them. Don’t feel too sorry for them as we had just taken them last month to see Epcot Festivak of the Holidays and the holiday stuff at MK.
Here is the family meeting Pere Noel in the France pavilion.
Here is my pre-trip report link if you’re interested: https://www.disboards.com/threads/first-solo-trip-plan-january-2024.3933805/
Originally, I was going to have my husband drive me to the airport, but he had a work call that he could not get out of, so I stopped working at Noon, finished packing up and left the house at 1pm for my short drive to RDU airport and took a pic of where I parked for the shuttle drive to the terminal.
I noticed that there was a direct flight to Orlando that had been delayed so asked about getting on that one. The gate agent said that unfortunately they could not put me on that flight as my original flight had a stopover and they would only be able to do it if my original flight was also direct. They were able to put me on standby for an earlier flight that would get me there a hour earlier. I made the standby list for the first flight which was delayed 40 minutes and was on my way to Atlanta to see if I would make the standby list for the flight to Orlando. We landed and I found out that the flight I was on standby for was also delayed. I got some dinner from Paschals and scarfed it down quickly at the gate as they had started to board. I also made the standby list for this flight to Orlando. All flights were delayed due to weather. All in all, it saved me at least a hour as my original flights were also delayed, but it also made for a more stressful trip.
Before the trip, I had decided that I wanted to minimize my use of Uber as I was traveling solo so I made a reservation with Mears Connect. It ended up $17.60 which was a bargain as my last Uber with surge pricing was at least $50. The Mears Connect was efficient and there was no wait to get on bus. Got on bus by 8:45pm and we were on our way by 8:53pm. There was even some Disney Magic on the bus as it was originally a DCL bus. The seats had DCL print on them.
They played an educational video about animals and trivia about the parks, and cartoons. Did you know that a group of flamingoes is called a flamboyance? Also learned that WDW is roughly the size of San Francisco and the weight of the Epcot ball.
We entered Disney property at 9:18pm. The bus went to Riviera first which was kind of ironic as I will be staying there the next 2 nights after staying at the All Star Movies for 1 night. We were at All Star Movies at 9:43pm which was the last stop. I felt bad that I did not have any cash to tip as I did not think to go to the ATM and hardly ever carry cash. I got a kids size Sprite, walked to my room in the Mighty Ducks section, and tried to go to sleep with low success. I never sleep well the first night in a new place. I was also by myself and knew I had a big day tomorrow with my 4 park challenge so had some nerves regarding completing that. I will end this installment with some super cute pics of All Star Movies. I would totally stay here again in the future if need be. It was less than $100 with the AP discount.
Welcome to my trip report covering 4 resorts, all 4 parks, 1 tour, 1 new to me festival, and more fun. This was my first solo trip, definitely not my last. As the trip report states, it was the best of times and the worst of times.
My name is Christina, and I am a married mother of 2 boys, 14 and 11, who were not too happy to learn I was going to Orlando without them. Don’t feel too sorry for them as we had just taken them last month to see Epcot Festivak of the Holidays and the holiday stuff at MK.
Here is the family meeting Pere Noel in the France pavilion.
Here is my pre-trip report link if you’re interested: https://www.disboards.com/threads/first-solo-trip-plan-january-2024.3933805/
Originally, I was going to have my husband drive me to the airport, but he had a work call that he could not get out of, so I stopped working at Noon, finished packing up and left the house at 1pm for my short drive to RDU airport and took a pic of where I parked for the shuttle drive to the terminal.
I noticed that there was a direct flight to Orlando that had been delayed so asked about getting on that one. The gate agent said that unfortunately they could not put me on that flight as my original flight had a stopover and they would only be able to do it if my original flight was also direct. They were able to put me on standby for an earlier flight that would get me there a hour earlier. I made the standby list for the first flight which was delayed 40 minutes and was on my way to Atlanta to see if I would make the standby list for the flight to Orlando. We landed and I found out that the flight I was on standby for was also delayed. I got some dinner from Paschals and scarfed it down quickly at the gate as they had started to board. I also made the standby list for this flight to Orlando. All flights were delayed due to weather. All in all, it saved me at least a hour as my original flights were also delayed, but it also made for a more stressful trip.
Before the trip, I had decided that I wanted to minimize my use of Uber as I was traveling solo so I made a reservation with Mears Connect. It ended up $17.60 which was a bargain as my last Uber with surge pricing was at least $50. The Mears Connect was efficient and there was no wait to get on bus. Got on bus by 8:45pm and we were on our way by 8:53pm. There was even some Disney Magic on the bus as it was originally a DCL bus. The seats had DCL print on them.
They played an educational video about animals and trivia about the parks, and cartoons. Did you know that a group of flamingoes is called a flamboyance? Also learned that WDW is roughly the size of San Francisco and the weight of the Epcot ball.
We entered Disney property at 9:18pm. The bus went to Riviera first which was kind of ironic as I will be staying there the next 2 nights after staying at the All Star Movies for 1 night. We were at All Star Movies at 9:43pm which was the last stop. I felt bad that I did not have any cash to tip as I did not think to go to the ATM and hardly ever carry cash. I got a kids size Sprite, walked to my room in the Mighty Ducks section, and tried to go to sleep with low success. I never sleep well the first night in a new place. I was also by myself and knew I had a big day tomorrow with my 4 park challenge so had some nerves regarding completing that. I will end this installment with some super cute pics of All Star Movies. I would totally stay here again in the future if need be. It was less than $100 with the AP discount.
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