Dedication
Recently, Ed Badger, Webmaster for the Badger Disney
Countdown Page (link),
lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. I knew Ed for many years
and spent many hours talking Disney with this kind-hearted man.
Ed was a pure Disneyholic and a frequent participant at the rec.arts.disney.parks
gatherings. He will be missed. This article is dedicated to Ed and
is written in the spirit, as Ed would have liked it.
We all know that one of Walt Disney’s goals in designing an amusement
park was to create an environment in which whole families, not just children,
could partake of the rides. Disneyland and Walt Disney World were constructed
with families in mind.
I’m sure many of you reading this have enjoyed great family fun at Walt
Disney World. However, what if you were to visit Walt Disney World without
family or friends? Maybe that should read, “What if you had the opportunity
to go on a solo trip to Walt Disney World?” Perhaps you have a business
trip that takes you close to the resort, or you are attending a convention
nearby. If so would you be prepared for such a different kind of Walt
Disney World vacation?
On a recent trip to Walt Disney World, I experienced what it was like
to visit the “Happiest Place on Earth” by myself, and discovered
some things about solo touring I would have never imagined had I not experienced
them myself.
Flying solo
It had been a long time since I had flown solo, and I had never flown
to Orlando without my wife or children. Imagine sitting down at the gate
while waiting for your plane to arrive and all of a sudden it hits you.
Nature calls. In the past this wasn’t a big deal. I would turn to my wife
and say, “Honey, watch my stuff!” On this trip, I had my usual
stuff but no “Honey,” so the stuff came with me. Stuff means
all the papers; books, cameras, papers and all carry-on stuff. On this
trip, me and my stuff became inseparable.
When you are waiting for your plane, do you ever check out all those
who are waiting along with you? Probably not, unless you are flying solo.
That changes everything because you then must look for a potential “flight
buddy” who you will sit with on your flight (for airlines such as
Southwest, which does not assign seats).
I was looking for a few candidates. Actually I was hoping that I’d find
someone I knew, but no luck. It was the usual crowd: some families, couples,
young adults, some elderly people, and a few other “solo-ites”
. I thought my best bet would be to find someone who looked very much
like a Disney fan. Then I thought, “Hey, all these people are flying
to Orlando. The majority should be Disney fans.” I felt pretty good
about my chances. I did luck out as I sat with a family going down for
their annual trek to Orlando. We got along famously. Hey, this solo stuff
isn’t so bad.
When flying with my wife or family, our arrival in Orlando triggers a
routine in which I get the rental car and they get the baggage. It was
a dynamic approach to saving time. For this trip I had to go the sequential
route: first stop was baggage claim, then the rental car counter.
As I walked towards the parking garage to pick up my car, I realized
that this would be my first experience in the “no negotiations”
aspect of solo touring. As I approached the fleet of cars from which I
would choose my chariot, I thought, “Hmmm, silver, white (yawn),
hey, red, that’s what I’m talkin’ about.” No negotiation necessary.
No asking the family which color they prefer.
Before I started the car, I made sure I had all my toll currency ready.
I would not have my wife sitting next to me ready to hand me the toll.
Checking in
Checking in to your Walt Disney World resort is always an exciting time.
Regardless of whether it was the first or the 21st visit to a resort,
my family always had beaming faces waiting to see our room. Not this time.
No beaming faces. It was just me checking in to the economical Pop Century
Resort.
When you check in solo, the cast member might asked you if you expect
to have another person in your room at any time during your stay. That’s
what I was asked. When I heard that question, I thought, “I have
the room all to myself. That means I can watch whichever of the gazillion
Walt Disney World stations they are showing on the resort network… YES!”
It was somewhat strange to enter the room all by myself. Which bed should
I sleep in? Which drawer should I use for my clothes? After a quick change
into Orlando garb, a.k.a. shorts, I headed out for the Magic Kingdom.
As I pulled into the Magic Kingdom parking lot, I found myself getting
excited. I parked the car and called my wife on my cell phone. As I was
talking to her, I walked towards the Ticket and Transportation Center
(TCC). Just when I was about to cross over the road, I said, “Oops.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Erh, I didn’t noticed where
I parked.” That was something I know my wife Carol would have remembered
to do.
It was another lesson in solo touring. Those “trip responsibilities”
that are normally handled by someone else in your group now fall upon
your shoulders. Carol always took note as to where we parked, but for
this trip, I had that responsibility.
I also had to make sure I would not lock myself out of my room. There’s
no one to turn to and ask to use his or her key card. Here’s a tip: Do
not leave your room unless you are holding your key card in your hand.
Same thing with your car keys. That worked well for me.
A Decision of one
As I approached the TTC, I realized once again that the most significant
aspect of a solo trip to Walt Disney World is that there are no negotiations
necessary. When people travel together, they decide together—or should
I say, they negotiate with one another and compromise. For this trip,
the decision-making process is quick. No discussions. No negotiations.
No deals.
Some trip aspects that enter into this area of negotiation might include:
• When to start and end the day – Not all families are in synch.
Only some may be early birds, and they may or may not have to encourage
others to start the day early. How about deciding how long to stay in
the parks? If you travel solo, you can start and end your day without
having to discuss your plans with anyone. For the record I pretty much
opened and closed whichever theme park was on my radar for that day.
• What parks to go on what day – It was easy putting together an
itinerary. I broke up my days into halves and spent one half on one theme
park and the other half in another. That’s not to say that wouldn’t work
when not traveling alone. It’s just easier to finalize a plan when you
have no one to “buy off” on it.
• How to tour the parks – My Walt Disney World trips are usually
long enough so that I get to see and do just about everything I had planned
for the trip. When traveling with my family however, I let them decide
how they want to tour the park, figuring that in most cases my stuff will
be covered. When traveling solo, it’s completely different. It’s one of
the few times in life when it’s okay to be selfish. Do whatever you want,
whenever you want, and as many times as you want. Although it sounds attractive,
it does take some time getting used to this touring mode.
• When, where, or if to shop – This is a good one. For those who
love to shop, going solo is shopper’s heaven. For those who hate to shop,
going solo is freedom to do something other than deciding which of those
$30 T-shirts looks best.
• Where to watch parades and fireworks – This may sound trivial but
it really isn’t. With the family, you naturally want the absolute perfect
spot for viewing either a parade or fireworks. This means getting to this
spot early. When alone, you really notice that it’s not that big a deal.
You have much more flexibility. Plus you can experiment with new locations
without disappointing anyone else but yourself. And when you are alone,
even the best spots are easier to squeeze into, since you don’t take up
much space.
Table for one, please
Let’s face it: who doesn’t think of food when they visit Walt Disney
World? Before my trip, I always make a mental list of where I wanted to
dine and refuel while in Orlando.
However, on this trip, the thought never crossed my mind. In fact, my
first solo trip was very much an education on how to dine when traveling
alone in Walt Disney World.
My first lesson came on my first full day. I think it was about 2 p.m.
when I called my wife to do a daily update. During the conversation, I
mentioned to her that for some strange reason, I was a bit fatigued. She
immediately asked, “Did you eat?”
“Oops!”
In my excitement to jump-start my first day, I had forgotten to eat.
Actually, when I had awakened, I thought about it but didn’t want to “waste
my time” at breakfast. As the day wore, on I may have thought about
eating, but that was quickly flushed from my thoughts by plans to “do
this and to see that.”
When you visit Walt Disney World with someone else or a group like your
family, at some point during the day, someone invariably says, “I’m
hungry!” or “Is anyone hungry?” In every group there are
usually one or two people who will initiate the dining mode. If this is
not you, then you probably wouldn’t think to eat unless you were absolutely
starving or a bit tired, as I was that day.
So I learned that yet another trip responsibility for the solo traveler:
Make sure to eat once in a while so I could fuel the furnace and have
the energy to do the things I wanted to do.
Another factor in all of this is the notion of eating alone.
Some people feel odd announcing, “Table for one, please.” It
took me a day or two to get used to it. Of course there’s also the “pity
factor.” During my trip, I did not do much priority seating but instead
would walk up to the podium and ask for a table for one. The “pity
factor” would then come into play. “Wow, this poor guy is here
by himself… we just gotta find him a table or he may do something
crazy like purchase a nasty smoked turkey leg in the Magic Kingdom, watch
the movie in the Norway pavilion in Epcot, or see Sounds Dangerous
at MGM Studios.
The point is to not let being alone deprive you of eating where you want
to. On the contrary, embrace the fact that you can eat anywhere you want
to; there is no need to negotiate with others and end up eating somewhere
that you aren’t particularly fond of.
Of course, there’s always the opportunity to meet up with a friend or
two. Brian Bennett and I had arranged one day to meet outside Mission:
Space in Epcot, and we talked about where to have lunch. Brian had the
right idea. “So where does you wife not like to eat?”
he asked. I thought of Akershus in the Norway pavillion, and Marrakesh
in Morocco. Brian said Barb was not a fan of Askershus and Biergarten
in Germany. We both said, “To Akershus.” It was an opportunity
to dine in a restaurant we would normally not visit. To our dismay, Akershus
was closed that day so we ended up eating in Biergarten.
The point here is that we took the opportunity to eat somewhere we normally
wouldn’t eat.
I need to confess that I still found myself eating no more than one meal
a day, but supplemented that meal with your basic Walt Disney World staple—Dole
Whip and smoothies—works real well on warm days.
The “Zone” factor
Up until now I’ve pretty much talked about the bright side of solo touring
with the flexibility it brings to the trip. I’ve also mentioned how traveling
solo brings with it the notion of non-negotiations for things like itineraries,
attractions, restaurants, and so on.
There is, however, one aspect of solo touring that I noticed my first
evening in the Magic Kingdom that I didn’t expect to experience. It first
occurred to me when I was watching the SpectroMagic Parade in Town Square.
While watching the parade I felt giddiness, an excitement. I did not recognize
it then but something interesting was happening.
After the parade, I found my spot to watch the Wishes! fireworks show.
About five minutes into Wishes, I found myself in a “Disney
Zone” moment. I never expected it. Here I was, alone in The
Magic Kingdom, and I’m “zoning” . I always thought that this
occurs only when you are visiting the Walt Disney World resort with your
family. Don’t believe it for a second. The tears were welling up in my
eyes and I’m thinking, “Whoa dude… you’re zoning man!”
I needed to put this to the test. The following day I visited Epcot.
My favorite Walt Disney World attraction is the American Adventure. I
have always felt that this attraction wrote the book and set the standard
for multimedia experience. There are two points in the show that put me
in the zone. I needed to see if going solo would change that. It didn’t.
The first “zoning” took place during the Civil War sequence
with the “Two Brothers” song. That vanishing son in the photo
gets me every time. Maybe present-day events led to that portion hitting
me hard.
Then the big hit… “Golden Dream” and I was totally immersed
in my own Disney Zone. I noticed a row or two in front of me was a middle-aged
couple, both of whom had “something in their eye.”
The show ended and I found myself quite fully spent and convinced that
regardless of whether you travel solo, with a companion, or with a group,
if you’ve zoned before you will most likely zone alone.
Sharing the joy
The aspect of solo touring that I did not enjoy was not being able to
share some of my trip with someone. My visit was during the International
Flower Festival and there were many times where I wished I could have
turned to someone and said, “Can you smell those flowers?”
Of course there was that one night in Epcot where Len Testa (from the
Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World) and I spent about 30 minutes
trying to figure out how they put those fiber optic lights in the ground
outside the entrance to Innoventions. For me that was an oasis in a desert
of non-sharing opportunities. We shared our thoughts on the lights and
how they worked.
Final thoughts
There are definite pros and cons to solo touring in Walt Disney World.
It’s pretty safe to say that some may embrace the opportunity to visit
the resort alone while others would never even give it a thought. It is
not for everyone. My experience and approach was such that I wanted to
see what it was like and hopefully pass on this information to others.
Of course my trip was not 100 percent solo as I met up and dined with
several friends and cast members. Maybe that says a little something about
me… that maybe solo touring is palatable, with a dash of social interaction
tossed into the trip.
Is solo touring for you? Only you can answer that question. Some day
the opportunity may pop up. If so, hopefully some of what we discussed
here will prepare you for that day.
Next time
Next time we’ll look at the recently published Louis Mongello book on
Walt Disney World trivia.
Class dismissed.
