In May of 2021, I booked myself a solo trip to Walt Disney World. On the heels of 2 traumatic pregnancies, a global pandemic, surgery for my youngest, weaning, and general mom-ing, I desperately needed a break that only the magic of Walt Disney World could provide. I was very excited but also very nervous. I hadn’t traveled alone since flying back and forth from college. Ultimately my mom wound up coming with me on this trip and we had the time of our lives, but I still hadn’t scratched the itch to experience some magic alone. It took another year to make it happen, but I just spent 2 magical solo days at Walt Disney World. Here’s everything I did:
I started my first day at Animal Kingdom for some early morning hours. Normal people love to use this time to skip the lines in Pandora: The World of Avatar, but I chose to ride Dinosaur for the first time. It was so fun to be the only person in the ride vehicle and I loved the pictures I got! I then wandered over the Expedition Everest, took a safari ride at Kilimanjaro Safaris, got a Lion Latte at Royal Anandapur Tea Company, aka Joffrey’s, and wandered around to see some animals. I left around 10 am having accomplished everything I set out to do, and met a friend at Boma for brunch.
From there, while I waited for park hopping hours, I explored both Jambo House and Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom Lodge. When it was time I caught a bus to Hollywood Studios to start park hopping at 2 pm. There I met Ariel from the new live-action movie and shook Din Djarin’s hand and waved at Grogu It was hot and crowded here so I decided to jump on the Skyliner and head to Epcot.
I grabbed an Almond Cold Brew from Le Petit Cafe at Disney’s Riviera Resort on my way and took a relaxing ride in the sky to my next park. At Epcot, I saw some live performers and spent some time shopping for my daughters. I got them the cutest little dragon figures in the China Pavilion, rode The Three Caballeros, and joined the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Virtual queue. Since I had a long wait for my number to be called I walked to the front of the park and grabbed a monorail to Magic Kingdom.
At Magic Kingdom, I grabbed myself a snack and took a ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority’s People Mover. I also caught the Adventure Friends Cavalcade! I love this particular cavalcade because it has Genie in it! At this point I had been at all four parks, and out and about all day. I decided that it was time to go check into my resort and freshen up. After a quick swim and outfit change, I headed back to Epcot to finish my day. I was going to try to eat at Spice Road Table but since they were full I grabbed some quick-service food from Tangierine Cafe. I decided not to ride Guardians of the Galaxy because the line was so long and instead found myself a Limoncello Spritzer in Italy and a place to watch Epcot Forever.
On my second day, I only had a few hours in the parks before I had to head to the airport. I chose to spend the day at Magic Kingdom. I rode a few rides, took lots of pictures, saw Cinderella’s Carriage, watched the Festival of Fantasy, and got to experience Tron for the first time.
Walking out of the park I realized that this trip had been everything I needed. It was full of good food, fun rides, and just the magic of Disney. It’s often easy to forget that you are there for the magic too when you’re so focused on making magic for your family on your Disney Vacation. This solo time reminded me of why I fell in love with Walt Disney World.
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