A popular podcaster says: Disney(land) is always better when it’s shared. While true (and also unavoidable due to the popularity of the parks these days), I can also say that traveling solo can be fun and fulfilling, as well. I often travel to Disney alone. So I thought that I’d share, in a series of blogs, some of the good and bad experiences I’ve had while travelling solo. By sharing my experiences, I hope to alleviate fears, answer questions, and encourage people to take their own solo Disney adventures.
My love of Disneyland started after my first visit to the park when I was six years old (with my family…I didn’t just hop a bus from Canada and find my way to Anaheim). At that young age, I took in all of the spectacle, and I was hooked, wanting to go back every summer as soon as school let out. (No such luck.) It wasn’t until I was much older that I could identify what it is that makes Disney parks magical and magnetic for me: I love the combination of all of the different arts and sciences that the Imagineers employ in an attraction to tell a story. I love the storytelling architecture of a show building. I love the complex and clever layout of a ride track. I love finding the small and authentic details that the smart and playful Imagineers hide in their designs. I love it all.
And I am fully aware that some people do not find much thrill in these aspects of the Disney theme parks. This is the reason for my solo visits. They give me the freedom to take my time to observe the details, or rush about impulsively from one experience to the next, in a way that appeals and makes sense to me. There are both advantages and disadvantages to traveling solo (including single supplement rates…booooo!!!), many of which have been outlined in various DISBoards posts. No need to rehash them here.
Instead, in the upcoming series of blogs, I’ll describe how I’ve learned from the disadvantages and advantages, adventures and misadventures of solo travel to improve my vacation experience. And I’ll share tips and tricks that work, most of the time. I’ll share my mistakes, and what I learned from them.
So stay tuned, brave reader. This adventure begins, ironically, with the Adventures By Disney Backstage Magic tour (a group trip). The next two blogs are about cruising solo on the Disney Magic (which also happened to be PCC 5.0). The third in the series will be about traveling solo to a Dreams/DIS event, DISapalooza 2015. Some of the blogs’ highlights (or lowlights, depending on your perspective) include nearly becoming the victim of profiling; the longest, most nauseating stopover; and the strategies of a ghost photographer.
This is my journey. I hope you enjoy it, and learn from my mistakes.
