My 36 Hour Disney World Solo Trip

After returning from our family trip, I knew I needed to return to Disney World ASAP! I don’t recall how long it took me to make it happen, but the trip was booked, and I’d return about 2 months after our family vacation. I planned the trip for the middle of the week for less crowds. It literally was an in and out adventure, spending barely 36 hours in the bubble.

I looked at airlines, ultimately choosing Spirit because their hours allowed me to get in early morning and leave late at night which was perfect for this plan. Pop Century was the resort of choice, affordable and on the Skyliner path (spoiler alert, this is my favorite mode of transportation). There were two specific things I wanted to achieve with this trip – go to Hollywood Studios After Hours (which is why I think I booked these specific days) and attend the Flower & Garden festival at EPCOT.

It was a super early morning preparing for a super early flight, thankfully I slept a little on the plane. From MCO to the resort, I booked Sunshine Flyer (they have since merged with Mears) which was effortless and got me to the resort quickly. Surprisingly, my room was ready early so I dropped my stuff off and decided to go explore. When I arrived at the resort, I was lucky enough to see Daisy and Chip & Dale!

I checked out the main pool, gift shop, quick service, and then jumped on the Skyliner to Caribbean Beach. Not really knowing what I was doing yet, I got off at the point where you switch for either EPCOT or Hollywood Studios, and walked my way around Caribbean Beach Resort. If you aren’t familiar with Caribbean Beach, it’s a moderate level resort that is spread out with multiple buildings creating neighborhoods within itself: Aruba, Jamaica (ooh, I wanna take ya), Barbados, Martinique, and Trinidad.

Just on the other side of the resort is the Riviera Resort, so I made my way there to explore. Unfortunately, I didn’t spend much time here but I did get to see the lobby and grounds. This resort is a deluxe level and consists of DVC rooms, the theming is Europe and the Mediterranean!

From the Skyliner transition stop, you can follow a circular path to see part of Caribbean Beach Resort leading to the Riviera Resort then continue in the circular manner to the other side of the Caribbean Beach Resort. Inside this circular path is a large lake adding to the vibe of both resorts.

While wandering through the resort, making my way back to the Skyliner to head to Pop, I grabbed a snack and drink at Spyglass Grill. At this point, it was approaching midafternoon, and I had dinner reservations at Trattoria al Forno before the Hollywood Studios After Hours event. Definitely needed to freshen up, the temps increased while I was out walking around exploring.

Y’all, when I tell you I had the most amazing gnocchi at Trattoria al Forno and you need to try them as well, I mean it! I started with bruschetta not realizing they bring you bread with an olive oil garlic dip, I still ate it all! Then came the Truffle Gnocchi dish which knocked my socks off. I do not like mushrooms at all, but the flavor of truffle oil is amazing, and I am almost guaranteed to get any item on the menu containing truffle oil. I had a nice glass of red wine to go with all this and ordered the tiramisu (my favorite dessert!) to go. It was close to 7pm by this point and that’s when you can enter the park with the After Hours ticket.

Now, before jumping on the Skyliner to get to Hollywood Studios, I had to find gum or mints because all the garlic in dinner was doing me no favors. Did you know, you can’t find gum anywhere on Disney property because Walt wanted to keep the parks clean, smart man. Didn’t help me at all at this point! Found some mints and boy those things opened my sinuses they were that strong. Again, much needed.

Upon arriving to the Hollywood Studios, I finished the tiramisu before walking in mainly because I didn’t want to keep carrying it around. I spent the next 5 hours or so meandering through the park hanging mostly in Galaxy’s Edge. I did ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Slinky Dog, Millenium Falcon, Rise of the Resistance (3 or 4 times!), and took all the PhotoPass pictures! I grabbed a drink in Oga’s Cantina which was a fun time. Drinks here are ok but the environment and immersiveness (don’t think that’s a word but lets use it anyway) is amazing!

During the After Hours events, you get free bottled soft drinks and water, ice creams snacks (including Mickey ice cream bars), and popcorn. Free snacks, no lines or minimal waits of no more than 20 minutes (I’m looking at you Slinky Dog & MMRR) is reason enough to buy the After Hours ticket. The one downfall is many shows and characters aren’t out.

This was a late night, so I slept in a little the next morning. Got up, got ready and took my stuff to bell services to grab later that night. Jumped on the Skyliner and headed to EPCOT.

While at EPCOT, I roamed around looking at all the displays for Flower & Garden. It is amazing what they can do with plants! I did try some food booths – probably my favorite was the Avocado Toast from Brunchcot. I have had it once or twice since then because I enjoy it so much!

I can’t believe I almost forgot to tell you I rode Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind for the first time. Our February trip, my brother and his family rode it prior to my arrival. To be honest, I’m not a roller coaster girly because anything that makes your stomach drop is not my favorite feeling at all. I was rather nervous to get on the ride, then ultimately enjoyed it though I believe my eyes were closed through most of it, as you can see in the picture! Sidenote: pull your hair back so it doesn’t end up in your face for your picture!

Later in the day I was trying to ride Frozen, it was down so I waited. This is when plans changed. I got notice that my flight was delayed, Houston was having bad weather. Cool, I get more time in the park I figured. Well, it somehow went back to the original time, which I had never seen happen before (to me at least). It wasn’t long when it was delayed again, then it was ultimately canceled. I later found out a severe storm decided to roll through the Houston area causing all kinds of chaos.

It took several hours before I heard anything from Spirit, so I booked my own flight back which was the next morning. Thankfully, a good friend lived in the Orlando area at the time and offered up her couch so I didn’t have to pay for another hotel night.

With the change in plans, I managed to stay for the fireworks show at the end of the night. After the show, I made my way back to Pop Century, grabbed my bag and waited for my Lyft to take me away. I arrived at my friend’s house and she had just picked up one of her besties for the weekend. We caught up for a little (we all went to college together) and then crashed, it was pretty late at this point.

The next morning, I made my way to the airport and successfully made it home.

I had such an amazing time being back in the bubble and being solo. Now, I’m one that enjoys alone time probably more than most, but the benefits are endless: do what you want, when you want is probably the biggest pro of them all! When I left this time, I knew I’d be back just wasn’t quite sure when it would happen, but I knew it’d be sooner than later!

Let’s recap – in 36ish hours, I visited 4 resorts, 2 parks, 1 festival, 1 after hours event, 2 on property modes of transportation (bus & Skyliner), and took a ridiculous amount of PhotoPass pics! Plus, visited with two friends as well! I’d say it was a pretty successful trip!

I’m not sure how long it was before my next trip was planned, but you bet your britches another one was scheduled! The next trip was in November 2023, just 7 months after this trip and 9 months after the first trip! Stay tuned to hear all about that trip in the next blog post!

Tell me, what’s the shortest trip you’ve taken to Disney World?!?!