A Very Lucky (First) Solo Trip! A Feb/Mar 2020 TR * Completed 1/10: Brown Derby Lounge and Goodbye WDW

[Disneyhanna]

I am really enjoying your trip report! Sounds like an excellent start to your vacation

Aww I am glad to hear! It was indeed an excellent first day!!! Many more to come!

 

[disneyAndi14]

The dinner experience looked wonderful!
My son love Sashimi. We have a very good Japanese restaurant in Duluth and we love going there when the kids are home. We do take out now.
I agree the monorail ride to MK from Epcot is long. The last couple EMH’s we have done have been very busy not like in the past.
It looks like you had a decent one! I love the HM picture!

 

[Disneyhanna]

The dinner experience looked wonderful!
My son love Sashimi. We have a very good Japanese restaurant in Duluth and we love going there when the kids are home. We do take out now.
I agree the monorail ride to MK from Epcot is long. The last couple EMH’s we have done have been very busy not like in the past.
It looks like you had a decent one! I love the HM picture!

I love how more restaurants are doing take out now! I actually had sushi take out last night, I think writing about Takumi-Tei made me hungry EMH definitely seems like a hit or miss, when I've gone with my mom we usually go to parks that don't have EMH in hopes of lower crowds! Usually I am so caught off guard by ride photos and look super silly, every once in a while I time it right!

 

[goodeats]

You're so lucky to get this trip in when you did. Even if Takumi-Tei reopens it definitely won't be the same without the international CMs.

 

[Disneyhanna]

You're so lucky to get this trip in when you did. Even if Takumi-Tei reopens it definitely won't be the same without the international CMs.

For sure! The international CMs are what makes Epcot so special, I've had this restaurant on my list since it opened so I'm so glad I got to fully experience it!

 

[wanderlust_chi]

Really enjoying your trip report! I'm so happy to also have made a small trip in January pre-covid. We had a late August reservation to visit again, but cancelled because we're just not brave enough. Having major Disney World withdrawals right now since we visit almost every year. Luckily I can read all the awesome trip reports on here to ease the pain a little. Looking forward to reading more of your trip!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Really enjoying your trip report! I'm so happy to also have made a small trip in January pre-covid. We had a late August reservation to visit again, but cancelled because we're just not brave enough. Having major Disney World withdrawals right now since we visit almost every year. Luckily I can read all the awesome trip reports on here to ease the pain a little. Looking forward to reading more of your trip!

Welcome friend!!! We are the lucky ones to have squeezed in a normal 2020 trip, I was sad to cancel trips but it hurts less since it hasn’t really been that long since I went Trip reports are definitely the best way to pass the time, writing them is so fun too. I’ll be updating again very soon, hurray!

 

[cajunfan]

I am enjoying reading your report! Thanks for sharing! I dream of a solo trip.

 

[Disneyhanna]

I am enjoying reading your report! Thanks for sharing! I dream of a solo trip.

Yay, thanks for following along!!! I never even considered a solo trip until two or so years ago, and Disney seemed like the perfect place to start!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Day Two - Part One: An AK Morning

I had a slow start to my second morning in WDW, waking up to my 8:30 alarm and not leaving my room until around 9:30. Rope dropping is not in my DNA!

It was cooler this morning, so I was staying warm in a fuzzy fleece turtleneck sweater. Leopard print since I was headed to Animal Kingdom!

A bus arrived at my stop at 9:33 and we were dropped off at AK at 9:47, so under 15 minutes even though my stop was the second to last resort stop. CSR really is an awesome location for park hoppers like me!

Lines for security and to get in were pretty long, but I made it to my first FP to meet Mickey and Minnie a few minutes into the 15 minute grace period. I think I’ve already mentioned, but you can automatically scan in 5 minutes early or 15 minutes late to any FP! I use this to my advantage a lot.

It was so good to see Mickey and Minnie! My favorite M&G, they are always so happy to see you! Sometimes this can be a long wait even with a FP but I was in and out very quickly, I think standby is a separate line and was a 35 minute wait.

Love their safari outfits, such a fun time!

I headed over to Pandora for my Na’vi FP, taking a few pictures of the queue since I hardly ever ride this one! I scanned in around 10:15 and standby was already 85 minutes.

Lots of hanging vines in this one!

It’s super warm and humid in this ride, not bad on a cool day but I bet this gets pretty sticky and gross in the summer!

The CM told the mom and daughter ahead of me that someone might join their row (aka me) and I appreciated that so I didn’t have to get any looks when I joined them. Just solo things! The FP line was nice and short, way quicker than FoP.

This ride is very calm and pretty, I do wish they had more scenes.

The shaman animatronic was neat to see for the first time in a few years, it really is impressive. More animatronics throughout the ride would be amazing!

Does anyone else think the most exciting part of the ride is when it accelerates before you unload?

Love the floating mountains as always!

I remember being so amazed by Avatar when it came out, seeing it in IMAX 3D. I’m not sure if I’ve seen anything in 3D since, but it was incredible at the time.

The Pandora Utility Suits are actually really cool as well, things like this make Disney so much more special and immersive than regular theme parks! I hope they have a lot of cool things like this in Avengers Campus when that opens in Disneyland.

I wanted to try the Kusafiri colossal cinnamon roll for breakfast, so I headed across the bridge to Africa.

See all those people? Yup, the morning FoP line!

The line just kept going, and going…

...and going! All the way into Africa!

I literally cannot imagine waiting in a line that long for any ride, standby was listed over three hours. I’d like to see the regular queue someday but not if I have to wait that long!

Harambe was pretty lively for the morning, but there was plenty of room to find a seat.

I waited about five minutes to order at Kusafiri, just look at this delicious cinnamon roll! Could have used more caramel sauce though!

I’m not sure if it’s any different than the one served at Creature Comforts (Starbucks). I found a spot to sit near the musician playing the beautiful kora.

Such a peaceful way to enjoy breakfast! My mom is the type to roll out of bed and immediately need breakfast, so we usually have resort QS on our trips together. I much prefer heading to the parks and having a later breakfast/brunch in the parks!

The cinnamon roll was so good! More like a flaky croissant (but not dry) than a Cinnabon style roll, and I ate the entire thing. Not a ton of icing or sauce but it was the perfect amount for me. Perk of being solo, I had the whole thing to myself.

I browsed the MDE app a bit and the other parks seemed quite busy, HS had five rides with waits over two hours already. Finished with breakfast, I headed to the Gorilla Falls trail prior to my Safari FP.

There was a baby Columbus monkey! It’s hard to see but it’s all white and you can see the white tail hanging down!

I love all the details Disney adds, even the hoof prints in the paths.

Naked mole rats, anyone? Rufus looks much cuter than these guys! I noted to myself that they just look like a pile of raw chicken...sorry, TMI!

I love watching the birds, there was a little yellow bird that was taking a shower under the spout. You do what you gotta do!

There were a lot of CMs along the trail, one of the facts I learned was that male hippos poop on the walls and use their tails to spread it around to mark their territory. Now you know!

Overheard at some point: “We have a Navi fastpass, I don’t know where or what that is.”

Oooh, blurry picture of Meerkats! Timone, is that you?

There was a baby gorilla born in May, you can see his little foot here in his mom’s lap. So cute!!!

I spent about half an hour on the trail at a leisurely pace. Definitely check this trail out if you've skipped it in the past, there's lots to see!

Continued in Part Two: Safari ft. Giraffic Jam!​

 

[Bama Mom]

Jumping in and following along.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Jumping in and following along.

Welcome, thanks for joining in!

 

[tundra1]

You posted some beautiful photos! I am glad you had such a beautiful day at Animal Kingdom! Love seeing the babies!

 

[buzzrelly]

Your dinner in Japan looks incredible, but nothing I would ever try since I don't eat sushi. But if I did, I would definitely go there!

It was definitely pretty empty, I think the rain scared people off. The castle looked so lovely!

only waited about 10 minutes, it was so funny because the CM put me in the back row of a hunny pot and then two older ladies tried to squeeze in with me!

Yikes! Get your own pot, ladies!

(I may have just bought a spirit jersey yesterday with the new shopDisney 30% AP discount, oops!)

Ha! I did some damage with that discount too! I actually started my Christmas shopping, but I also bought some cute shirts for myself

This Disney Monopoly was calling my name, but I already have regular monopoly and LotR monopoly (even though I haven’t seen LotR,

We have Disney Monopoly, but it's a different version. So cute.

Such a fun memory of us sitting by the pool at BLT back in 2015 playing...



But what is LotR?? It's hurting my brain trying to think of what that is

These Space Mountain plushes look like cute garlics, don’t they?

Yes, they do

It was so good to see Mickey and Minnie! My favorite M&G, they are always so happy to see you! Sometimes this can be a long wait even with a FP but I was in and out very quickly, I think standby is a separate line and was a 35 minute wait.

Love their safari outfits, such a fun time!

Adorable pic!

Does anyone else think the most exciting part of the ride is when it accelerates before you unload?

Yeah, that or the shaman. That ride really needs something

Overheard at some point: “We have a Navi fastpass, I don’t know where or what that is.”

Did you tell them they weren't missing much?!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Your dinner in Japan looks incredible, but nothing I would ever try since I don't eat sushi. But if I did, I would definitely go there!

They serve wagyu beef as well! But that's a little rich for my blood

Ha! I did some damage with that discount too! I actually started my Christmas shopping, but I also bought some cute shirts for myself

Oooh, I definitely regret not getting more! I got some cute runDisney shirts to console myself for when my January race inevitably gets canceled

We have Disney Monopoly, but it's a different version. So cute.

Such a fun memory of us sitting by the pool at BLT back in 2015 playing...

That monopoly is so cute! I love that you are playing it at WDW!

But what is LotR?? It's hurting my brain trying to think of what that is

Lord of the the Rings!!!

Yeah, that or the shaman. That ride really needs something

I heard they had to take out out for repairs or something too, maybe they can do some upgrades and make it come at you like the Yeti

Did you tell them they weren't missing much?!

Oooh burn!!! I wonder if they ever made it

 

[disneyAndi14]

We love meeting Mickey and Minnie on Safari! It is always a good meet, both are so sweet!
I like Navi as a peaceful couple minutes, lol it is short!
The trails are just wonderful to explore, we try to go every trip! I have a little bit of a bird phobia but I tough it out!

 

[Disneyhanna]

We love meeting Mickey and Minnie on Safari! It is always a good meet, both are so sweet!
I like Navi as a peaceful couple minutes, lol it is short!
The trails are just wonderful to explore, we try to go every trip! I have a little bit of a bird phobia but I tough it out!

I remember meeting them for the first time there during December 2018, and they had their Christmas sweaters. I was so crushed because I wanted to meet them in safari gear Luckily the next year for the holidays they had their safari gear with little holiday scarves haha!

My mom loves NRJ, she doesn’t ride anything big so I suppose if it’s all you know it’s a really awesome ride

Oh my, those trails are all terrible if you have a bird phobia! In one area the CM was feeding them and they descended upon her!!!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Day Two - Part Two: Safari ft. Giraffic Jam!

I headed to the safari around noon, standby was 145 minutes, wow! A woman tried to scan her magicband and she didn’t have a FP, and when the CM asked she was like what’s a FP?

I picked up a 1PM Everest FP without even needing to refresh as I walked through the Safari FP queue. I browsed the other FPs and there were plenty of other FPs available for early times including Meet Mickey and Minnie, the Safari, and Dinosaur.

You have to choose right or left to load onto a vehicle, and I feel like everyone always goes right! Just pay attention to where everyone in front of you is going and pick the other direction. People always seem to just follow those ahead of them until someone switches directions.

I only waited about 15 minutes in the FP line which was pretty quick for the safari.

Lucky me, I got front row! The CM told me I’d be on the next truck, I think they must be coached to let solo people know which ride vehicle to take!

I ended up getting an accessible safari truck which was AMAZING!

Since the front row was half bench and half empty for a wheelchair, I got the entire front row to myself! This meant I had a good view on both sides!

Some of the hippos were out of the water, and birds kept landing on them!

An African wild dog was enjoying the sun, are we sure these aren’t actually cats?

There was a cute baby zebra on the savanna!

I got some lovely pictures of the giraffes with my unobstructed view. They are so majestic! On our first trip to WDW many many years ago, my mom rode the safari alone and got photos of a giraffe sticking its head inside the vehicle!

We ended up getting stuck waiting for a giraffe to enjoy a roadside snack, no complaints from me! The CM called this a “giraffic jam” and said it happens very regularly.

He was taking his sweet time, the CM had to radio for assistance since he showed no interest in budging! We waited around seven minutes before a CM in a pickup truck came by and finally the giraffe decided to move on. It was fun for us, but I hear that every minute of delay on the ride increases the wait time by some crazy amount, yikes!

Not a great view but there was a baby elephant as well, on the left! Lots of babies this trip.

No picture but I watched a flamingo bite a duck that got a little too close!

The lions were sleeping as usual, the female was sleeping on her back with her legs in the air. The dad behind me told his little boy “that’s how mommy sleeps.”

One of the ostriches was rolling around in the dirt, apparently this is how they clean their feathers. Interesting!

All in all our safari trip was a little over half an hour, and I loved every minute! Definitely one of my favorite WDW rides, every single trip is different.

I headed to my Everest FP and had to wander a bit until I could scan in.

Standby was 90 minutes! The single rider line is a bit of a hit or miss, I usually end up waiting 20 minutes so a FP is faster for me if available.

A mom with two older kids adopted me in line, she must have decided I looked relatively normal and safe to sit with rather than risk a total rando . I picked up a Flight of Passage FP for 3:45 while in line, figuring I’d have lunch after Everest first.

I was on Everest in about 10 minutes, what a fun coaster! It’s a really different experience depending on where you sit! I honestly find it fairly similar to the Matterhorn in Disneyland except Everest is much more comfortable than those bobsleds.

There’s a bit of a gap in my notes so I must have wandered around AK a bit. I ended up at Satu’li for lunch, my favorite QS!

I really want to try the noodles here, but I love the salad so much (light and refreshing!) that I always get the same thing. Someone convince me to try the noodles!

I asked the CM and they won’t do half salad, half noodles. Worth a try! Definitely get the dressing on the side, it’s much better when it isn’t drowning in sauce!

I must confess I don’t remember this meal at all. I had a pretty bad allergic reaction or something on my feet from what I'm guessing was chemical runoff in the puddles the night before, and it ended up bothering me for the entire trip. It was really a bummer, and probably the one time during the trip I had wished my mom was there with me. All I remember is eating like a robot while trying to diagnose my symptoms on WebMD and trying not to panic in the middle of the restaurant, LOL. I ended up getting very familiar with all of the first aid stations in the parks so I could get benadryl ointment every day.

Anyways, I gathered myself together and decided I wasn’t going to let this ruin my trip. It was definitely tough since I was in a lot of pain but I was going to make the best of it!

I still had some time to pass before my FoP FP, so I decided to watch It’s Tough to be a Bug for some laughs. There were so many screaming kids as usual! I have a major bug phobia but I loved this movie as a kid and will be very sad if they remove this show!

Finally, it was time to ride FoP. I scanned in around 4 and standby was only 135 minutes, honestly not that bad! I think the wait is worse in the morning when everyone rushes to get in line without realizing you need to actually be there before park opening.

My wait wasn’t too bad, videos seemed shorter than usual and I was on in 17 minutes! A little boy was worried about drops, and the CM assured him it only “drops” around 3 feet. Ummm, aren’t there multiple huge dives? Hope he was okay lol!

Everyone on the ride was oohing and ahhing, lots of first timers and I overheard many people after saying it was the most amazing ride they’ve been on!

I sat around refreshing for a bit but wasn’t finding any good FPs. I decided to head to Disney Springs around 5 since it was a Thursday, and I had to pick up something for my mom at Pandora. I wanted to avoid DS on the weekend if I could!

A bus pulled in as I got to the stop, then pulled out right away. What?! I have been burned by the DS bus so many times!

Luckily another DS pulled in less than a minute later. Weird! There were quite a few people in line, probably heading for dinner. A little girl was crying and her mom was like “Dear god be quiet, what are you crying about?” Yikes, people have no patience in Disney!

We left AK at 5:06 and were dropped off at DS at 5:22. I swear DS is always the longest bus ride, maybe I need to stay at a DS resort one trip!

Continued in Part Three: Disney Springs Evening​

 

[igloo155]

Following. I am lucky that my husband and I both grew up with Disney. In fact, we actually hid it from each other when we were dating because we didn't want to freak each other out. I have been meaning to do a solo trip for the last year since I always end up with a few extra days of vacation. This is inspiring me to do it. I especially appreciate your insights while getting on rides as a single rider. I didn't really think about how helpful it would be if a CM warns a family that they might be joined by someone. That could definitely happen.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Following. I am lucky that my husband and I both grew up with Disney. In fact, we actually hid it from each other when we were dating because we didn't want to freak each other out. I have been meaning to do a solo trip for the last year since I always end up with a few extra days of vacation. This is inspiring me to do it. I especially appreciate your insights while getting on rides as a single rider. I didn't really think about how helpful it would be if a CM warns a family that they might be joined by someone. That could definitely happen.

That is really funny! People can get really weird about "Disney people" and I'm like how is it any different than people obsessed with football or something The extra vacation is exactly how I feel! It's a bummer this year, I planned on backloading my PTO this year and now I will probably end up losing a bunch of days! Ugh, oh well!

I don't really remember CMs making those comments on past trips so it must be for single riders! It definitely made me feel a lot less awkward! Of course, it doesn't always work like when the two ladies squeezed into my honey pot on the Pooh ride