Planning First Solo Trip - Please Help!!

mfriedl1

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 20, 2007
So...I'm planning my first solo trip as a belated 40th Birthday present to myself and I need some opinions on a few things to help me plan. I apologize in advance if this post is really long and/or jumps around a bit, but I have this complex decision tree in my head that I need to "get out" lol.

First the facts - I'm going to try and "piggyback" this off of a business trip - so my dates are pretty set - I'm going to arrive late afternoon on August 24, 2018 and plan to leave property around lunchtime on August 28th.

Issue #1 - Pandora
I'm not a fan of the movie, but I've so many good things about Pandora that I'd like to see it and experience Flights of Passage. I am not, however, willing to wait 3+ hours for the ride, which means I'll need a fastpass - 2 questions on this:

1. What is the likelihood of getting a fastpass for Flights of Passage before noon if I try to get it as soon as my window opens up (I think I'm going to book through a vacation planner to handle this for me)?

2. What are peoples experiences with the fastpass line wait for this attraction? This makes a difference to me - I don't know that I'm willing to wait much more than an hour for this in either line.

So, Pandora would be nice, but its not essential and it really depends on being able to get on Flights of passage with out wasting several hours of my day.

Issue #2 - Behind the Scenes Tour
So, decision tree time - My goal for this trip do what I haven't done before - If Pandora doesn't make sense - I'm contemplating doing the "Behind the Scenes" tour instead - Has anyone done this and can offer an opinion on whether or not its worth it? I remember my mother telling me several years ago that she did the Keys to the Kingdom tour and thought it was interesting - but from what she said, I don't think I'd really learn anything new - the behind the scenes tour seems like it would be more what I'd like to see/learn about - and yes, I did see that its a 7 hour tour!

Issue #3 - Where to Stay?
I've been debating this in my head since I started thinking about this trip - I want to splurge a little but my budget doesn't allow for a deluxe resort for 4 nights. I'm going back and forth between Pop Century and Port Orleans - Riverside. Historically I've stayed at the campgrounds in a travel trailer. Once in my early 20's I stayed at Caribbean Beach and thought it was OK, but the bus transportation was huge pain. and finally, I took my family last April for spring break last year and we stayed at Pop. I have no complaints about Pop - Food court acceptable, buses were pretty good - etc.

That being said, I like the idea of "upgrading" for this trip a little and having the convenience of "being right there" at Port Orleans - Riverside as I've never seen Yee ha Bob's show and would like to on this trip. On the other hand, its only a place to sleep, so why spend the extra money when it could be used somewhere else? Additionally, if I stay at Pop, there will be that quick service dinning promotion going on which would offset my meal costs a little - I'm going to do plenty of table service dining, but not for every meal - so aside from being a cheaper room, I'd save a little on food.

One final point (cuz the decision tree needs to be a tad more complicated) :P - Chances are, if I do the behind the scenes tour, I'll probably elect to stay at Pop to offset that expense

Softball Question
Ok - here's the easy one - I'm thinking about a meal at Chefs de France on my EPCOT day. Has anyone eaten there and have a strong opinion one way or the other?

I want to to have really good meals, but I also want to go places I haven't been. I've done Le Cellier, Teppan Edo, Beirgarten, La Cantina de San Angel, and a few others - I want to hit the Tangerine Cafe for a quick service so I kind of narrowed it down to Chefs de France. But if its not worth the time/cost, I'll figure something else out.

I think that covers all the stuff bouncing around in my head at the moment - but if you have any other suggestions, feel free to share - I'd love to hear them!

I really appreciate everyone for taking the time to read this post and I really look forward to hearing people's opinions and thoughts on these things!

Thanks!!!
 
1. What is the likelihood of getting a fastpass for Flights of Passage before noon if I try to get it as soon as my window opens up (I think I'm going to book through a vacation planner to handle this for me)?

Depends on what day of your trip you are planning on doing AK and Pandora. I was able to get FP for FoP on my first day before noon back in June by sheer luck and timing of my TA. So I would definitely recommend using a TA for this reason alone. But try for later in your trip for AK as it will make it easier to get the FP.

2. What are peoples experiences with the fastpass line wait for this attraction? This makes a difference to me - I don't know that I'm willing to wait much more than an hour for this in either line.

The Fast Pass line was basically a walk on up to the point where the lines merge when I was there. Once you are at the merge point, I would say it was 5-10 minutes, depending upon the size of your party in line. I was solo when I went, so I got to 'jump' line a bit earlier than everyone else as they were trying to fill seats in sections.

Issue #3 - Where to Stay?
I've been debating this in my head since I started thinking about this trip - I want to splurge a little but my budget doesn't allow for a deluxe resort for 4 nights. I'm going back and forth between Pop Century and Port Orleans - Riverside.

I have stayed at both Pop and POR and found that transportation was signficantly easier to deal with at Pop. The multiple bus stops at POR meant long wait times and several situations where a bus would pull up completely full at our stop. It did not make for the best situation.

Hope you have a great trip!
 
Thanks krysenchips!
I'm planning on going to hit Pandora on my Third day, so that sounds promising.
Its good to know that the fastpass wait is about the same as anywhere else - I just had this fear that the if the standby wait is 3-5 hours, the fastpass wait might be an hour +

Interesting point on POR - sounds like the buses are just as bad there as there at CB. That's might be a "deal breaker" for POR. Any suggestions on a good moderate? Although, Pop is looking pretty good based on that!
 
Most of my trips I have saved the money on the resort and stayed Value, because it was just a place for me to sleep. I'm a rope drop to fireworks kinda person, so I don't have any experience with the other moderate resorts, sorry!

I will say that in my research, Port Orleans - French Quarter, has sounded the best of the Moderates, to me, since it has a smaller campus so there are less people to worry about getting on the buses. So long as during your trip it is not sharing buses with POR...
 


Issue #1 - Pandora. It's a nice enough ride, not my favorite like it tends to be for others. If you can't get a FP try rope drop, we have had pretty good success with that, we have actually never ridden it with a FP since we tend to not decide we are even going to WDW until a month in advance.

Issue #2 - Behind the Seeds - we have done it twice so obviously we think it is worth it. It's one of the cheapest extras you can do, we have APs so we get a little discount there too. It doesn't take a long time and if you are the least bit interested in the ride or how they grow things, it's pretty cool.

Issue #3 - Where to stay. I go solo at least once a year, often twice a year. I tend to do split stays but with 4 nights that might not be practical. I'm not a fan of the value resorts and keep in mind the "free" meal plans are not free. You are paying rack rate for the room and often you can get them for a better discounted rate and the QS plans probably won't save you money. When I stay in a moderate, it is usually whichever one is less. I really think they all have something to offer, even CBR with the construction going on. If you don't plan on eating at the resort, the construction shouldn't be too much of an issue. Have you checked Swan/Dolphin for your time frame? I've been able to get something there for around the same price as a moderate at times and you can't beat being able to walk to two parks.

Chefs de France. Yes we have eaten there. It's not one of our favorites in WS. We have never eaten there when the service hasn't been slow and the wait staff a bit surely. The food is good enough, not cheap but not the most expensive place on property either. The tables are a bit close together and it can be loud. Our go to in Epcot is Spice Road Tables if we want not too expensive, we also love the regular TS in Morocco but I understand that isn't always for everyone. You can't go wrong going over to Flying Fish at BW or even one of the TS at the Dolphin. Just walk through the IG and it's a pretty easy walk to both places.
 
Issue #1 - I'm no help there.

Issue #2 - I have yet to take a tour, but I'm kind of in the same boat as you, planning my first solo trip for my birthday. I'm planning to take the DestiNATIONS Discovered tour at Epcot. I LOVE World Showcase, so it sounds like the perfect tour for me!

Issue #3 - POR is so gorgeous resort, and personally I think splurging a bit is totally appropriate in this situation. Granted, I'm not the biggest fan of Pop Century, so I may be a bit biased.

I think Les Chefs is great! It can be a bit crowded, but the ambience is lovely, and the food is fantastic (my husband said the chicken was the best he's ever had, and I share the same sentiment in regards to the crème brûlée).
 
First of all congrats on your first solo trip! It is so much fun!!

Issue #3 - Where to Stay?
I've been debating this in my head since I started thinking about this trip - I want to splurge a little but my budget doesn't allow for a deluxe resort for 4 nights. I'm going back and forth between Pop Century and Port Orleans - Riverside. Historically I've stayed at the campgrounds in a travel trailer. Once in my early 20's I stayed at Caribbean Beach and thought it was OK, but the bus transportation was huge pain. and finally, I took my family last April for spring break last year and we stayed at Pop. I have no complaints about Pop - Food court acceptable, buses were pretty good - etc.

I can't speak much about your other items but this one I definitely can! I have done value, moderate and deluxe. My most recent trip in November I stayed at POR and it was absolutely beautiful. I highly recommend going moderate. The prices are amazing for what you get and I don't necessarily find deluxe much better. Of all the places I have stayed I would say Coronado Springs was my favorite. The grounds are absolutely gorgeous. Its nice and big and very quiet! It didn't feel overrun with children. I felt like it was the best option for an adult solo traveler. It also was the best experience I had with buses to and from the parks. I rarely ever waited for a bus and they were never really crowded. The only downside is the location from the parks but the pros outweighed that con for me. It also had an outdoor bar that was right on the lake (most of the outdoor bars are at the pools). I loved sitting out there at night to have a drink before hitting up a park.

Best of luck!
 


So...I'm planning my first solo trip as a belated 40th Birthday present to myself and I need some opinions on a few things to help me plan. I apologize in advance if this post is really long and/or jumps around a bit, but I have this complex decision tree in my head that I need to "get out" lol.

First the facts - I'm going to try and "piggyback" this off of a business trip - so my dates are pretty set - I'm going to arrive late afternoon on August 24, 2018 and plan to leave property around lunchtime on August 28th.

Issue #1 - Pandora
I'm not a fan of the movie, but I've so many good things about Pandora that I'd like to see it and experience Flights of Passage. I am not, however, willing to wait 3+ hours for the ride, which means I'll need a fastpass - 2 questions on this:

1. What is the likelihood of getting a fastpass for Flights of Passage before noon if I try to get it as soon as my window opens up (I think I'm going to book through a vacation planner to handle this for me)?

2. What are peoples experiences with the fastpass line wait for this attraction? This makes a difference to me - I don't know that I'm willing to wait much more than an hour for this in either line.

So, Pandora would be nice, but its not essential and it really depends on being able to get on Flights of passage with out wasting several hours of my day.

Issue #2 - Behind the Scenes Tour
So, decision tree time - My goal for this trip do what I haven't done before - If Pandora doesn't make sense - I'm contemplating doing the "Behind the Scenes" tour instead - Has anyone done this and can offer an opinion on whether or not its worth it? I remember my mother telling me several years ago that she did the Keys to the Kingdom tour and thought it was interesting - but from what she said, I don't think I'd really learn anything new - the behind the scenes tour seems like it would be more what I'd like to see/learn about - and yes, I did see that its a 7 hour tour!

Issue #3 - Where to Stay?
I've been debating this in my head since I started thinking about this trip - I want to splurge a little but my budget doesn't allow for a deluxe resort for 4 nights. I'm going back and forth between Pop Century and Port Orleans - Riverside. Historically I've stayed at the campgrounds in a travel trailer. Once in my early 20's I stayed at Caribbean Beach and thought it was OK, but the bus transportation was huge pain. and finally, I took my family last April for spring break last year and we stayed at Pop. I have no complaints about Pop - Food court acceptable, buses were pretty good - etc.

That being said, I like the idea of "upgrading" for this trip a little and having the convenience of "being right there" at Port Orleans - Riverside as I've never seen Yee ha Bob's show and would like to on this trip. On the other hand, its only a place to sleep, so why spend the extra money when it could be used somewhere else? Additionally, if I stay at Pop, there will be that quick service dinning promotion going on which would offset my meal costs a little - I'm going to do plenty of table service dining, but not for every meal - so aside from being a cheaper room, I'd save a little on food.

One final point (cuz the decision tree needs to be a tad more complicated) :P - Chances are, if I do the behind the scenes tour, I'll probably elect to stay at Pop to offset that expense

Softball Question
Ok - here's the easy one - I'm thinking about a meal at Chefs de France on my EPCOT day. Has anyone eaten there and have a strong opinion one way or the other?

I want to to have really good meals, but I also want to go places I haven't been. I've done Le Cellier, Teppan Edo, Beirgarten, La Cantina de San Angel, and a few others - I want to hit the Tangerine Cafe for a quick service so I kind of narrowed it down to Chefs de France. But if its not worth the time/cost, I'll figure something else out.

I think that covers all the stuff bouncing around in my head at the moment - but if you have any other suggestions, feel free to share - I'd love to hear them!

I really appreciate everyone for taking the time to read this post and I really look forward to hearing people's opinions and thoughts on these things!

Thanks!!!
 
Wicked Wonderful!!! You are doing exactly what I did last June .... my FIRST Solo trip piggy-backed on a conference in Fort Lauderdale.

Issue #3 ~ Where to Stay .... Stay in the Park ... and On a Budget Solo .... The value and the atmosphere at Pop Century is my TOP DRAWER recommendation. We loved it there! Plus when you stay in the park, your fast pass window opens 60 days before arrival. I mention this obvious fact because I choose to stay just off site over at Disney Springs. DTD or now DS factors into my planning with family or solo BIG TIME. I got an awesome hotel & ticket deal thru Costco ... BUT BUT BUT ... my Fast Pass window didn't open until 30 days before arrival. As a result I was shut out of a fast pass for Flights of Passage at Pandora. That brings us to ......

Issue #1 ~ Pandora If you stay on site and have the 60 day window for fast passes .... and you don't fall asleep for the first week you are 60 days out ... you should have no trouble getting all the Fast Passes for the best rides on your list. No Way ... I have never been on a Fast Pass line that was more that 30 minutes ... at the very busiest times. Even then, Uncle Walt has limited the Fast Passers so as not to overwhelm the ride and those holding passes. Plus with Pandora ... it will be over a year old and the folks who go multiple times a year have already had their turn. Would any of those folks like to adopt me???

Do Pandora at Night ~ I went during the day and returned the next day at night. The nighttime garden effects lighting, etc. is really to be seen.

Issue #2 ~ Behind the Scenes Tour .... Sorry, I got nothing for ya'. Other than it is on my WDW Bucket List.

Late August Crowds? Can someone else please help! With summer vacation winding down ... how crowded is the park in late August? When I went down last year in the last full week of June I thought it would be wall-to-Wally-World kids out of school. Apparently, my time was the calm before the storm and the parks were really empty. You might be luckily on the other end of school vacations.
 
Most of my trips I have saved the money on the resort and stayed Value, because it was just a place for me to sleep. I'm a rope drop to fireworks kinda person, so I don't have any experience with the other moderate resorts, sorry!

I will say that in my research, Port Orleans - French Quarter, has sounded the best of the Moderates, to me, since it has a smaller campus so there are less people to worry about getting on the buses. So long as during your trip it is not sharing buses with POR...

Yeah - Now that you say that - I kind of recall hearing that the buses at French Quarter are better because its so small.

Thanks for your input!
 
First of all congrats on your first solo trip! It is so much fun!!



I can't speak much about your other items but this one I definitely can! I have done value, moderate and deluxe. My most recent trip in November I stayed at POR and it was absolutely beautiful. I highly recommend going moderate. The prices are amazing for what you get and I don't necessarily find deluxe much better. Of all the places I have stayed I would say Coronado Springs was my favorite. The grounds are absolutely gorgeous. Its nice and big and very quiet! It didn't feel overrun with children. I felt like it was the best option for an adult solo traveler. It also was the best experience I had with buses to and from the parks. I rarely ever waited for a bus and they were never really crowded. The only downside is the location from the parks but the pros outweighed that con for me. It also had an outdoor bar that was right on the lake (most of the outdoor bars are at the pools). I loved sitting out there at night to have a drink before hitting up a park.

Best of luck!


Hmm - I'll definitely have to look at Coronado Springs as a possibility - It sounds like the bus service is pretty good, and it seems to be right in the middle of EPCOT, The Studios and AK, so the location is certainly better than Pop!
I'll check it out, Thanks!
 
Issue #1 - Pandora. It's a nice enough ride, not my favorite like it tends to be for others. If you can't get a FP try rope drop, we have had pretty good success with that, we have actually never ridden it with a FP since we tend to not decide we are even going to WDW until a month in advance.

Issue #2 - Behind the Seeds - we have done it twice so obviously we think it is worth it. It's one of the cheapest extras you can do, we have APs so we get a little discount there too. It doesn't take a long time and if you are the least bit interested in the ride or how they grow things, it's pretty cool.

Issue #3 - Where to stay. I go solo at least once a year, often twice a year. I tend to do split stays but with 4 nights that might not be practical. I'm not a fan of the value resorts and keep in mind the "free" meal plans are not free. You are paying rack rate for the room and often you can get them for a better discounted rate and the QS plans probably won't save you money. When I stay in a moderate, it is usually whichever one is less. I really think they all have something to offer, even CBR with the construction going on. If you don't plan on eating at the resort, the construction shouldn't be too much of an issue. Have you checked Swan/Dolphin for your time frame? I've been able to get something there for around the same price as a moderate at times and you can't beat being able to walk to two parks.

Chefs de France. Yes we have eaten there. It's not one of our favorites in WS. We have never eaten there when the service hasn't been slow and the wait staff a bit surely. The food is good enough, not cheap but not the most expensive place on property either. The tables are a bit close together and it can be loud. Our go to in Epcot is Spice Road Tables if we want not too expensive, we also love the regular TS in Morocco but I understand that isn't always for everyone. You can't go wrong going over to Flying Fish at BW or even one of the TS at the Dolphin. Just walk through the IG and it's a pretty easy walk to both places.

Yeah - I'm not expecting it to be my favorite - especially since I'm not a fan of the movie, but since its new and people have been saying good things about it - I'd like to there to see it if its "convenient"

I appreciate your opinion on the "Behind the Seeds" tour, I've heard its pretty cool and not time consuming or expensive. The tour I'm looking at is the "Behind the Scenes" tour, which appears to be a 7 hour ordeal with a price tag of $275. This will probably come down to whether or not I'm going to go get a park hopper to do AK and HS on my last day. We'll see...

So, as I understand it, they are not giving away the QS dining plan, just 1 QS meal per night of stay. Thanks for reminding me that the promotion includes "rack rates" on the room, I'll have to see if there are any room discounts...but its not a deal maker/breaker either way. Honestly I hadn't considered the "Swolphin" :P but you're right that they are in a great location, so its a great idea!

The only reason I'm looking at Chefs de France is that looking at WS, its one of the few places I haven't eaten or have a "bias" against - ie I'm from the Northeast, so I'd be weary of eating at China or Italy. I'm interested in Morocco, but I'm planning on hitting the TC on this trip...

Thanks for your input!
 
Issue #1 - I'm no help there.

Issue #2 - I have yet to take a tour, but I'm kind of in the same boat as you, planning my first solo trip for my birthday. I'm planning to take the DestiNATIONS Discovered tour at Epcot. I LOVE World Showcase, so it sounds like the perfect tour for me!

Issue #3 - POR is so gorgeous resort, and personally I think splurging a bit is totally appropriate in this situation. Granted, I'm not the biggest fan of Pop Century, so I may be a bit biased.

I think Les Chefs is great! It can be a bit crowded, but the ambience is lovely, and the food is fantastic (my husband said the chicken was the best he's ever had, and I share the same sentiment in regards to the crème brûlée).

LOL, I get not being the biggest fan of Pop, but I had a really good experience there last April and compared to the Campground - Its nice (not that I don't love the campground, I do! - but I don't know how I feel about it being considered a Moderate) If I'm gonna stay value it will probably be pop. I don't need the size of AoA and my impression of the all stars is that I should probably stay away if I can help it.
 
Wicked Wonderful!!! You are doing exactly what I did last June .... my FIRST Solo trip piggy-backed on a conference in Fort Lauderdale.

Issue #3 ~ Where to Stay .... Stay in the Park ... and On a Budget Solo .... The value and the atmosphere at Pop Century is my TOP DRAWER recommendation. We loved it there! Plus when you stay in the park, your fast pass window opens 60 days before arrival. I mention this obvious fact because I choose to stay just off site over at Disney Springs. DTD or now DS factors into my planning with family or solo BIG TIME. I got an awesome hotel & ticket deal thru Costco ... BUT BUT BUT ... my Fast Pass window didn't open until 30 days before arrival. As a result I was shut out of a fast pass for Flights of Passage at Pandora. That brings us to ......

Issue #1 ~ Pandora If you stay on site and have the 60 day window for fast passes .... and you don't fall asleep for the first week you are 60 days out ... you should have no trouble getting all the Fast Passes for the best rides on your list. No Way ... I have never been on a Fast Pass line that was more that 30 minutes ... at the very busiest times. Even then, Uncle Walt has limited the Fast Passers so as not to overwhelm the ride and those holding passes. Plus with Pandora ... it will be over a year old and the folks who go multiple times a year have already had their turn. Would any of those folks like to adopt me???

Do Pandora at Night ~ I went during the day and returned the next day at night. The nighttime garden effects lighting, etc. is really to be seen.

Issue #2 ~ Behind the Scenes Tour .... Sorry, I got nothing for ya'. Other than it is on my WDW Bucket List.

Late August Crowds? Can someone else please help! With summer vacation winding down ... how crowded is the park in late August? When I went down last year in the last full week of June I thought it would be wall-to-Wally-World kids out of school. Apparently, my time was the calm before the storm and the parks were really empty. You might be luckily on the other end of school vacations.

Staying on Property isn't even a question - LOL I prefer to stay in the bubble. My gut is always to do it as inexpensive as I can, but I'm trying to fight that a little since its my first Solo and I'm treating myself for a milestone B-day.

From what I've read here so face on Pandora, its sounds like my concerns are all in my head for that. I've heard that you have to see Pandora during that day and at night - maybe I'll jump over to AK one evening to check it out if I decide the park hopper makes sense for me on this trip.

From what I'm seeing on Tourplans, the crowds for the last week in August are mostly 5's and 6's out of 10. If you are not familiar with their system, (as I understand it) they basically divide the year into groups of 36 days based on crowd levels (ie 36 X 10 = 360 (not sure how they deal with the remaining 5-6 days) ) So the 36 most crowded days will be the 10's and the 36 least crowded days will be 1's. So 5's and 6's aren't bad at all!!!
 
Pandora- Gorgeous at night! FOP is my new favorite ride in all of WDW. I think it's an amazing ride, even if you are not a huge fan of the movie.

Where to stay- I stayed solo at Coranado for a conference and really liked it. Great bus transportation and the resort is beautiful.

Tour-I really like the Backstage Magic tour as a solo. It's a long tour, but worth every penny.

Have a great trip!
 

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