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Solo getaway to remember my mama. PTR
About This Page: This is a discussion on Solo getaway to remember my mama. PTR within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; I woke up when I felt like getting up on Saturday morning and did my usual routine of feeding and ...
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I woke up when I felt like getting up on Saturday morning and did my usual routine of feeding and walking my dogs. Of course I didn't sleep very well, so that meant it was around 7am. I had managed to get packed and put my stuff in the car the night before so I could keep my pugs from stressing out too much when I left. They don't seem to like my duffle bag, and they KNOW what's up when they see it.
I got on the road by about 8:15am and I couldn't believe I was actually doing a solo trip to Disney. It didn't seem real to me. For the first time in my life, the trip seemed to go by rather quickly. There were times when I would think that I was farther back than I was, and then I would see a familiar landmark and think, "Am I to there already?"
Once I got on 95, traffic started to come to a stop around the Savannah exit where I yelled "Hello" out the window to my friend Ashli. I knew she was over there somewhere. We went on in the stop and go traffic for about 40 minutes and I was really aggravated. We finally came up to the issue that was holding everyone up, and it was an 18 wheeler turned over on it's side in the median. They had been boxing up all of the spilled cargo and hauling it off I guess. The bad thing was that NOTHING was in the road itself, the traffic was simply at a standstill so nosy people could rubber neck.
Finally the cars started to roll at a normal speed again, and I was on my way. I was on a mission so I didn't stop for any food. I wanted to wait and eat something that I couldn't eat at home. I'm funny like that. I guess it was around 4:30 or 5:00 when I rolled into Orlando! I knew where my hotel was because I had Google Earthed it and gathered my bearings by looking around at everything on the street view. I saw that there was a gift shop directly across from my hotel with a giant wizard on top so that would be pretty easy to spot. Once I hopped off of I4 and onto 192 West, I was almost right where I was supposed to be.
I drove right up to my hotel with no problems, and I got checked in quickly and lugged my bag up to the 4th floor. I have no idea how to attach a pic...I tried, but I don't know if it's there, and I'm scared if I mess around too much, I'll lose everything I just typed. I'll figure that out later....but when I opened the curtains to my room, I saw.....EVEREST! I couldn't believe how close I was to WDW! I could even see the top of SE and Blizzard Beach from there! I would have guessed that AK was only a couple of miles from me. NEAT!
I put my stuff away and headed to one of my favorite restaurants...SWEET TOMATOES! woohooo! One thing I noticed was that when you are alone, it looks like everyone is waving at you.....They're not. lol I counted 4 times that people looked in my direction and waved....at someone behind me. Even the waitress was doing it, and I could have SWORN she was looking me straight in the face. I refused to look behind me to check who was back there, that would have been too much like a sitcom.
I pigged out on my salad and headed back to my room to watch Stacy tell me about the "must do's" of Disney. Does she KNOW who I am? lol I really miss Samantha Brown, even though she annoyed me at the time. This Stacy girl just tries to hard to be cute. There is one scene where she is walking in front of some big tv screens towards the camera while she's talking, and I swear, her walk is completely comical. It's like the most rehearsed walk you could ever do! It reminds me of how the little girls walk on and off stage in a dance competition on "Dance Moms"....if you watch that then you know the exact ridiculous strut that I'm talking about.
Tonight was the night that you had to set your clocks forward so I went ahead and made sure that was done in the room, and thought, "that's one hour less that I have to wait to be in the parks!" yay! I also realized that the very last time I was at WDW was the exact night that you had to set your clocks back for the fall. Weird how that worked out. Both times it made the adjustment to the time change non existent. I never noticed it at all.
Welp, that's it for my journey down to Orlando. Up next, Which parks to chose....so many choices, so little time!
ooooh! my attachment worked! That is the view of Everest from my room....it sure looked a lot closer in person....you can't even see it back there in the pic! But those big dumpster looking things sure look pleasant huh? lol
Sounds like a relatively easy trip, despite Ashli's exit backup.
Did you hear my song?? "Living it up, love that feeling....living it, let the memories begin..." Oh, I can't wait to hear it!
I like Samantha Brown too, but she is just to big a celebrity now! It's okay, I am use to Stacy now, and even though I already know all that stuff, I still have to watch it...oh, a million times while I am there!
OMG, Dance Moms! Yes, I know that walk. We'll have to watch Stacy do that when we are on FFP!
We were there the day we set the clocks back in the fall too! I thought "one extra hour of being in Disney" I told Chuck that maybe we should make it even and go when we change time in the spring. Alas - couldn't swing it.
Now, I'm going to have to watch the Stacy walk. Too funny!
Yep, now you'll all be looking for the Stacy Strut! lol It really is goofy looking. I wish I could remember exactly which part it's in. She honestly looks like she's doing it to be funny....and then you realize she means business. hahaha!
Glad you had an easy trip down! I always think people are waving at me and then before waving back I think maybe they are waving at someone else so I do this sort of half wave half reaching over and scratching my arm thing.
Glad you had an easy trip down! I always think people are waving at me and then before waving back I think maybe they are waving at someone else so I do this sort of half wave half reaching over and scratching my arm thing.
Hahahaha! that is awesome! I kept telling myself, "You are in Florida, these people don't know you, and NO, they are not feeling sorry for you for being alone and trying to get you to come sit with them!" LOL! But I swear, that was what it felt like!
I woke up naturally at about 7am. I decided that today I would go to Animal Kingdom and try to add park hoppers onto my 7 day non expiration ticket that I only had two days left. I started out slathering on the sunscreen because the weather said that there would be few showers in the AM, clearing in the afternoon. They had been calling for temps in the low 80's for the days I would be there. Anyone who knows me, knows this sounds like torture, but it was the price I would have to pay for going to Florida in MY off season. I normally travel anywhere from November to early February. I am spoiled and don't like to wait in long lines for things that are normally a walk on. Perfectly reasonable right?
I got ready and threw on my tinted moisturizer and mascara, which were the only two things I decided to bring...I wanted this to be stress free. Talk about feeling nekkid! I am a make up and hair girl, I'm a hairstylist for Pete's sake! I don't DO nakedness. Hey, I had to stop and share this...there is a squirrel running up a tree out my front door that has an orange back and an orange tail! No kidding! I have never seen one like that before. It literally looks like someone tried to bleach him blonde and it only made it to that orangy stage. Of course I take all unusual things like this as a "hello" from my Mom. So, Mom says "Hello" to everyone!
It was about 8:30 when I got to AK and made my way to the gates. I asked a cm where guest services was, and she asked me what I needed to do and then told me I could get that done at any window. Yay! So I waited my turn and the entire time I was standing there, I was praying that my back wouldn't go out. I have 2 twisted vertebrea (sp?) in my lower back and they flair up and pinch alllll the time. This was a bad day. It was one of those days where you step wrong on your right leg and it feels like someone is stabbing you and that if you don't immediately get the weight off of that foot, your back will lock up and THEN you'll be sorry! I HATE that! I had stopped at the store and got some Advil to try and reduce the swelling and I'm guessing that the long drive flared it up.
It was my turn at the window and I happily limp up with my ticket and tell them I want the park hopper add on. The girl starts typing and then says, "Hang on and let me get a manager." uh oh....I figured this was where they came and got me and confiscated my Advil. Turns out, they said because the ticket was originally a ticket that expires in 14 days, and I had paid to make it a non expiration ticket, I only had 14 days from the first time I used it, (back in February of last year) to add on the PH option. That made absolutely NO sense to me since, they gave me a whole new card that said, "no expiration". It was as if I started fresh. At least in my mind. I kept saying, "But I PAID $170 to make this ticket a non expiration ticket....so I shouldn't still be restricted with the rules that are on the tickets that expire." They just kept shrugging their shoulders. It STILL makes no sense to me. I mean, WHY would they care WHEN I gave them the $55 dollars to add that on? It's a flat fee. Who cares if they got my $55 back in February or if they got it today? In fact, if they gave it to me now, I got LESS bang for my buck than I WOULD have right? Oh well, either way, they were not going to let me hop, and there I stood at the AK thinking that if I only had 2 parks that I could go to on this trip, AK was NOT going to be one of them!
Soooo....back to my car I walked, killing valuable time, but it was drizzling the whole time, so I decided, since I was over there, I might as well go tour the AKL. I showed my ID and found a parking spot. I went in and looked around the gift shop. I had heard that they didn't have resort specific items any longer, but this wasn't true here. They had a lot of AKL shirts and things. I like all of their stuff. I got a wild hair and decided that I always wanted to try Boma for breakfast...so I DID! Now I'm not a fan of Boma for dinner. I have eaten there 3 times trying to give them the benefit of the doubt because, number one....I love buffets. Number two....I love the AKL, and number three...everyone raves about it and I have always been an adventurous eater. There is just something a little off putting about Boma to me though. I'm not a fan of the cold, odd salads with couscous in there. I love couscous, but HOT, not cold. I also don't do lamb or goat, so the Bobotie is out for me. Not that it doesn't taste good, but it's more the sad thoughts. They are too small to eat. lol I can't believe I'm not a vegetarian at this point. So anyway, I thought breakfast would be a great way to enjoy the atmosphere AND buffets are a little easier when you are alone because people think your friend must be up at the bar a lot. <See that guy at the table on the right? He wasn't there.
I made my way to the bar and tried the scrambled eggs with goat cheese and chives, bacon, a big sausage link and various other small animals that make me sad if I think too hard about it. lol They also had this skillet of bread pudding stuff that you poured hot pecan caramel syrup over that was to DIE for! I forget my servers name, but he never said anything like, "Hey, how come you have no friends?" or anything like that, but I could tell the people beside me were looking at the lonely girl. I didn't care, I just acted like I did this all the time....In my mind I was on a business trip and things just had to be done, and it was business as usual. I finished my meal...I'll spare you on how many times I went to that bar....ahem....three...cough cough....
My total with tip came to about $29. OutRAGEOUS for breakfast food, I know, but the jamba juice alone was worth it! That stuff is GOOD! I had coffee too. I figured I would be eating counter service for the rest of the day, so why not? Besides, I had just saved $55 by not being able to upgrade my ticket. I decided to wander the grounds outside a bit and see if I could see any animals out in the fog. Not much action going on, but I did get a couple of pics. Not many because I was using my phone and I don't like to get it wet. That would be just my luck for it to get ruined and I'm in Orlando alone! When I walked back to my car after deciding that since it was nasty outside, I would go to the MK and hopefully it would be dead! The car parked next to me had the BEST antenna topper for the day so I took a pic. I just add the thumbnails because I'm not as computer savvy as most of you guys.
Found your TR last night and just getting caught up this morning. First, I am very sorry for your loss and like others have mentioned, what you and your sister did for your mom is one of the sweetest stories I have heard in a long time.
It sounds like you are having a great time so far, other than the ticket issues. I am cracking up at your description of Stacy, and I can totally picture the scene you are talking about. haha
Breakfast sounded delicious, I am glad you were able to make the most of your morning!
Found your TR last night and just getting caught up this morning. First, I am very sorry for your loss and like others have mentioned, what you and your sister did for your mom is one of the sweetest stories I have heard in a long time.
It sounds like you are having a great time so far, other than the ticket issues. I am cracking up at your description of Stacy, and I can totally picture the scene you are talking about. haha
Breakfast sounded delicious, I am glad you were able to make the most of your morning!
Thank you. It was a nice time. I'm glad I got to do a solo trip, and this gave me a good excuse.
About This Page: This is a discussion on Solo getaway to remember my mama. PTR within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; I woke up when I felt like getting up on Saturday morning and did my usual routine of feeding and ...
I had managed to get packed and put my stuff in the car the night before so I could keep my pugs from stressing out too much when I left. They don't seem to like my duffle bag, and they KNOW what's up when they see it.
We went on in the stop and go traffic for about 40 minutes and I was really aggravated. We finally came up to the issue that was holding everyone up, and it was an 18 wheeler turned over on it's side in the median. They had been boxing up all of the spilled cargo and hauling it off I guess. The bad thing was that NOTHING was in the road itself, the traffic was simply at a standstill so nosy people could rubber neck.
One thing I noticed was that when you are alone, it looks like everyone is waving at you.
....They're not. lol I counted 4 times that people looked in my direction and waved....at someone behind me. Even the waitress was doing it, and I could have SWORN she was looking me straight in the face. I refused to look behind me to check who was back there, that would have been too much like a sitcom.
It's like the most rehearsed walk you could ever do! It reminds me of how the little girls walk on and off stage in a dance competition on "Dance Moms"....if you watch that then you know the exact ridiculous strut that I'm talking about. 
It's okay, I am use to Stacy now, and even though I already know all that stuff, I still have to watch it...oh, a million times while I am there! 
We'll have to watch Stacy do that when we are on FFP! 
"Sparky" Me & Dana @MVMCP
Day one: Animal Kingdom Day? 
Anyone who knows me, knows this sounds like torture, but it was the price I would have to pay for going to Florida in MY off season. I normally travel anywhere from November to early February. I am spoiled and don't like to wait in long lines for things that are normally a walk on. Perfectly reasonable right?
This was a bad day. It was one of those days where you step wrong on your right leg and it feels like someone is stabbing you and that if you don't immediately get the weight off of that foot, your back will lock up and THEN you'll be sorry!
I HATE that! I had stopped at the store and got some Advil to try and reduce the swelling and I'm guessing that the long drive flared it up. 
I showed my ID and found a parking spot. I went in and looked around the gift shop. I had heard that they didn't have resort specific items any longer, but this wasn't true here. They had a lot of AKL shirts and things. I like all of their stuff. I got a wild hair and decided that I always wanted to try Boma for breakfast...so I DID!
<See that guy at the table on the right? He wasn't there.
bacon, a big sausage link and various other small animals that make me sad if I think too hard about it. lol They also had this skillet of bread pudding stuff that you poured hot pecan caramel syrup over that was to DIE for! I forget my servers name, but he never said anything like, "Hey, how come you have no friends?" or anything like that, but I could tell the people beside me were looking at the lonely girl.
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