Here I Go Again On My Own – April/May 2023 Pre-Trip Report
Here I Go Again On My Own – Pre-Trip Report
With the remnants of an Annual Pass burning a hole in my wallet and an AP Discount on rooms, I have pulled the trigger on another solo trip to ‘The Most Magical Place on Earth.’
Basic Info:
Dates: April 25 – May 2, 2023
Resort: Pop Century (Yes, I am finally going back to Pop after doing ASMo and ASMu on my last 2 visits)
Room Type: Preferred
Discount: ‘Annual Passholders: Save Up to 25% on Rooms’
Many thanks to Denise Keeler @ Magical Journeys for all the help in getting this trip going. As always, your help is immeasurable.
Thought about calling this my “Once around the block and ‘Home, James’” trip, but I liked the musical reference better. LOL
I’m sure you all have heard/read my problems with activating my AP Voucher in January 2022, so I won’t go into that again other than to say that my AP was extended to the end of May 2023 giving me this opportunity to get one more trip in before it expires.
I have visited in this time frame before and it is normally a good time, weather wise, to visit and past the majority of the Spring Break crowds. Flower and Garden Festival will be in full swing and there is a hope that some of the construction projects will be coming to fruition.
There are some things that I hope to get to do, but those MAY require Genie+, which I have tried to do without the past two trips. We shall see…
Of course, Guardians of the Galaxy will be a big one. Got shut out of the virtual queues on my last visit, but will continue to try. I know it’s not supposed to work this way, but I honestly believe that if you don’t have Genie+, you won’t get a slot in the queue. Maybe I’m just being a ‘sore loser’ for not being prefect with my timing. LOL
Okay…TRON WILL BE OPEN!!!! If this opens with a virtual queue, I guess I will be losing some sleep to try to get in! Maybe even have to book MK as my park reservation for every day! LOL No, I’m not going that far, but do hope to get a shot at riding.
Decided to book my parks, even without announced hours, just to be safe. Of course, these are subject to change before the actual trip starts, but here we go…
April 25 – Tuesday: EPCOT Since I tend to arrive midday or later, this is a good place to start.
April 26 – Wednesday: MK Let’s jump on the bandwagon early on and see what happens.
April 27 – Thursday: AK Hit Flight of Passage early and go from there.
April 28 – Friday: MK Yep, gonna give it another go.
April 29 – Saturday: DHS Hit Rise of the Resistance early, then the rest of Batuu/Black Spire Outpost before trying for Slinky Dog, TSMM, and on to the rest of the park.
April 30 – Sunday: EPCOT Can I finally get on Guardians? We shall see…
May 1 – Monday: AK Kilimanjaro Safari early because I like to see the animals getting breakfast.
May 2 – Tuesday: MK This is going to depend on whether or not I was able to hit TRON, but it is still a good park to finish my trip with.
Two things will play into this:
- Crowd levels. I expect MK to be packed with people trying to get on TRON as early as possible, but I am hoping that the other parks will be ‘reasonable.’
- Marci has offered to give me a tour of USO, so one day may be dropped to do this. Depending on her schedule, it would be Thursday or Monday. I have not been to USO since 2004, so I have not seen any of the Harry Potter attractions/land.
Evening (‘hop to’) parks will be whatever I feel up for at the time. I would, however, like to hit each park at least once in the evening hours for the closing shows and, honestly, I prefer the parks late, at or after dusk.
I do not plan any dining, as a solo it just doesn’t make sense. Typically, I hit Counter Service for meals on these trips on an ‘as needed’ basis.
Yes, I am posting this more than 3 months prior to my actual visit, but with everything going on, including ‘new/returning’ closing shows, I figured I might get some feedback and have time to adjust my ‘schedule’ accordingly.
I welcome any feedback and might adjust my plans accordingly…but don’t count on it! LOL
