Details of my Solo Disney Trip! (Day 2)

(Welcome! If you didn’t start on Day 1, you can find that post HERE.)

On Tuesday, I woke up early (around 6 AM) to get ready and be on my way to Hollywood Studios. I got dressed, straightened my hair, and put on makeup… only to walk out to rain. It was a bit frustrating, but I was hopeful that it would clear up soon!

I grabbed a banana and some donut holes from the food court and went outside to wait for the bus. I guess I didn’t check the park opening times, because there was still more than an hour before Hollywood Studios even opened! I waited about 20 minutes in the on-again, off-again drizzle for the bus, and the weather continued while I stood and waited.

The cast members were holding the front of the line and not allowing anyone to move forward before a certain time, and it got pretty crowded at the front of the line before they moved us up.

Thankfully, they took us to where Starbucks is located, so I went in and got an iced coffee. We waited about 15 more minutes (during which time it stopped raining, finally!) and then they eventually herded everyone toward the new Toy Story Land.

Now, I didn’t necessarily want to go straight to Toy Story Land, but I’m pretty sure I was the only one in the whole park who wasn’t headed there so I figured it would be safer for me to go with the crowd so I didn’t get trampled.

As expected, it was incredibly crowded… but most people headed toward Slinky Dog Dash, which means that I was able to literally walk right on to Midway Mania (which has never, ever happened… ever).

For the record, Toy Story Land is amazing. It’s so fun and brightly colored! I didn’t get a ton of pictures, mostly because it started to drizzle again and I didn’t want to take out my DSLR, but I did manage to grab a few!

By the time I got off of Midway Mania, the area was so incredibly crowded that I decided to leave and check out the rest of the park.

I had a FastPass for the Voyage of the Little Mermaid (mostly because I was trying to get all of my FPs out of the way early to allow me to grab more later), but there was nobody there and the cast member wouldn’t let us scan our FastPasses. (She explained something about not knowing if there would even be a show, and if we scanned in, we wouldn’t get a recovery FastPass but if we didn’t scan them and there was no show, we would get a recovery FastPass? I’m not sure and she didn’t seem too sure either, but I was kind of annoyed to be honest.)

To replace my FastPass, I picked one with the closest time, which ended up being for Muppet Vision (which I’m not a fan of). I kind of cheated the system by scanning in and then ducking out before the show (sorry, Disney, but I had to). After I left Muppet Vision, I grabbed a Mickey pretzel and caught the tail end of the March of the Storm Troopers which, to be honest, I had totally forgotten about and was thrilled to see!

I had a FastPass for the Tower of Terror (another absolute favorite!) so I hopped onto that, screamed my little head off, and then ran back to catch the Star Wars show. I only caught the tail end, but I knew where the characters would exit out the back to go back to Launch Bay so I was able to stand there and get some pretty good character pictures!

After that, I went for my FastPass for Star Tours (which is always so fun) and decided that it was just about time for me to head back to Magic Kingdom.

I realized on my way out that it was almost time for another March of the Storm Troopers and I really wanted to watch the beginning, so I bolted to the front of the park and asked a sweet cast member where I should stand for the best pictures. She told me where to stand, when to move, and when to be back to watch them return, and I was able to see the very beginning of the March (when they open the gates) all the way to the end (when they march back and close the gates back up again).

Do I sound like I’m obsessed with the March of the Storm Troopers?

Because I definitely am.

After that, I left Hollywood Studios and caught a bus back to Magic Kingdom… which was a lot harder than it sounds, since it took about 40 minutes for a bus to show up, and there were about 15 people in line in front of me who had been there even longer! Several people ended up getting out of line to ask the other bus drivers to radio and ask when our bus would be coming, because about 7 Animal Kingdom busses came and went while we waited and it grew very frustrating.

Once I finally arrived at Magic Kingdom, I wandered around and got some pictures of the castle and got a rice krispie treat.

After that, I got onto the Jungle Cruise again (I had a FastPass) and grabbed a FastPass for It’s a Small World. On my way across the park, it started pouring down rain, and I was lucky enough to grab an empty seat in one of the covered outside dining areas.

About 10 minutes later, the rain had stopped so I went back on my way to It’s a Small World.

Once I was off of Small World, I realized that it was just about time for the Festival of Fantasy Parade to start. I really wanted to watch it (I had only caught the tail end on Monday), so I scoped out an area behind a family of four who were sitting down on the ground and waited there for about 20 minutes for the parade to come around.

Unfortunately, as soon as the parade music reached us, this family of four stood up and they were all (mom, dad, and two teenage girls) over 6 feet tall! That, obviously, wouldn’t work for me (I’m 5’2 on a good day), so I had to run around and try to find another spot quickly!

I was able to find an alright spot and got some awesome parade pictures. (Some of them had random arms and heads of the people in front of me, but I was able to crop most of them out.)

After the parade, I walked over to Casey’s Corner and got another veggie dog and fries, then went to Starbucks and got a mango black tea lemonade. (So yummy!) After that, I went back to Pirates of the Caribbean and then Ariel’s Undersea Adventure.

When I was off of that ride, the sun was setting and I realized I was running out of time to get pictures! I had really wanted to get some pictures of my business cards around Magic Kingdom, since I sell Disney shirts, so I went around and took some pictures around the castle and carousel.

Then, I finally ventured over to Tomorrowland (for the first time) since I had a FastPass for Space Mountain. I headed straight for the PeopleMover (another favorite) and happily rested my tired feet for a few minutes before going to Space Mountain.

When I was on my way to Space Mountain, my water bottle fell out of my bag twice and I was so afraid that it was going to fly out of my bag and knock someone out during the ride, so I kept a tight grip on it (and my bag, with my DSLR inside) the whole time and never let go!

After Space Mountain, I walked to the Lunching Pad to get one of my very favorite snacks, a cream cheese pretzel! Let’s be real, this is the real reason I came to Tomorrowland!

Before I could finish my pretzel, it started downpouring again. Luckily, I was already under an overhang so I stayed there and eventually made my way over to the Peoplemover again.

I got soaked. 😉

When I got off, the ground in Tomorrowland was completely flooded! There were 4-inch puddles in some areas, so I spent a couple of minutes just watching people trying to avoid the puddles (or walking through them and not realizing how deep they were until their entire foot was underwater).

A few minutes later, I went back on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (I had the highest score in my car again; can you believe it?!) and then decided that I was done with Tomorrowland.

I walked back over to Main Street and did some souvenir shopping, picking up cookies for my coworkers and some other things. I got myself a blue sweatshirt, which I’ll link below in case you want to match!

By the time I was done, it was almost time for the nighttime show. I got myself some fudge from the Confectionary, parked myself in the middle of Main Street, and waited for the show.

I was completely exhausted at this point so, after I watched the castle show and fireworks, I made my way back to All-Star Movies, brushed my teeth, and collapsed.

I admit that I did shed a few tears while walking out of Magic Kingdom, as I always do, but these were happy tears instead of sad. I was so happy to have completed my first ever solo trip, and I felt so empowered and knew that I would definitely be going back for another trip soon.

So, have I convinced you? Can you imagine yourself going on a solo trip to Walt Disney World anytime soon? I would love to hear about it!