Solo trip in photos
I took a trip to Disney World by myself in October 2015 for my birthday. I had two goals on this trip: attend the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, and attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom. It was so much fun I'm doing it again this year!
I got to meet several characters - because I could!
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| Striking a pose with Minnie - she loved my shirt! |
Animal Kingdom
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| Asia |
Hollywood Studios
Magic Kingdom
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| I finally tried a Mickey Mouse bar at Hollywood Studios while waiting for my FastPass+ time at the Tower of Terror |
Magic Kingdom
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
at Magic Kingdom
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) is what is referred to as a "hard ticket" event. You have to purchase a separate ticket (approximately $61-$101 per person, depending on the night) for admission to the Magic Kingdom, and the park is closed to everyone except MNSSHP ticket holders after 7 p.m., and you can go in with your ticket as early as 4 p.m. and stay until the park closes at 1 a.m. You get to enjoy (somewhat) shorter lines, special parades, fireworks, and shows, as well as trick-or-treating throughout the park.
Depending on how close to Halloween you go, it can be more or less crowded. I can only imagine that Halloween is extremely crowded. During MNSSHP adults as well as children can dress up, but the usual rules apply: no masks to cover your face, no weapons, good taste, etc. Kids under the age of 10 can dress up any time they come to Disney World, so that doesn't change for the parties.
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| Skull and crossbones on the side of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad |
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| "Madame Leota" interacting with guests outside the Haunted Mansion during MNSSHP. |
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| Four ladies dressed as the bride from the Haunted Mansion ride wait for the parade-so cute! |
Boo To You! Halloween Parade
Magic Kingdom
There are two Boo To You! parades during every MNSSHP night: one at 8:30 p.m., and another one at 11:00 p.m.
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| The Headless Horseman leads the parade. Seriously, this is the only thing I wanted to photograph at the parade! |
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| My favorite photo from the parade. |
Ride lines are really short during either parade time, but especially during the second one. If there's something you'd really like to ride at Magic Kingdom but don't because you don't want to wait and/or you have your FastPass+ assignments already set up, ride then!
Epcot
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| Moroccan Pavilion |
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| Spaceship: Earth |
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| I thought this was too cute to pass up! |
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| More Moroccan pavilion |
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| View from Japan's pavilion back to Spaceship: Earth |
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| China pavilion |
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| Nordic church - Norway pavilion (soon to be home to Anna and Elsa from Frozen) |
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| Street performers outside the France pavilion |
Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival
So much food, so little time! A total of 42 food booths that represented countries around the world for 2015, reasonably priced, with more choices than I could even begin to try! I want to try some of the same things again this year, but also some new things, too. There is no extra cost to get into the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, but you do have to purchase your food and drinks as needed.
I would recommend getting a gift card so that you can preload it and be ready to swipe at each booth (if you don't want to use a debit or credit card and give yourself some sort of limit) instead of fumbling for money every time you want to try something new.
I visited Epcot for four (partial) days during this event so I wouldn't stuff myself silly with food from every booth all in one day. I also recommend going earlier in the day when the food booths first open up at 11:00 a.m., because some of the booths A) tend to run out of popular foods quickly, B) have insanely long lines that are NOT worth waiting in, or C) have even larger crowds on the weekends. On the third afternoon when I wanted to get a sample from the Australia booth, the line LITERALLY went all the way back to China (the pavilion, but still...)! Start with the booth/food you really want to try first, and work your way down...or out...
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| Frozen Chai Latte with Bailey's Irish Creme - Joffrey's Coffee Stand |
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| Warm Chocolate Pudding with Kerrygold Irish Cream Liqueur Custard (Ireland) |
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| Black Pepper Shrimp with Szechuan Noodles (China) |
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| Top: Grilled Sweet and Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onions, and Snap Peas (Australia) Bottom: Steamed Green Lipped Mussels with Garlic Butter and Toasted Bread Crumbs (New Zealand) |
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| Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond truffle with Warm Whisky Caramel (Chew Lab cart) |
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| Ricotta and Zucchini Ravioli with Rustic Tomato Sauce (Sustainable Chew cart) |
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| J&H Selbach Bernkasteler Reisling Kabinett (Germany) One of my favorites! |
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| Florida grass-fed beef slider (Hops and Barley booth) |
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| Fess Parker red wine (Block and Hans booth) |
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| Potato and Leek Waffle with Braised Beef and Sour Cream (Belgium) - there is a waffle under there! |
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| Hard Cider Flight (Farm Fresh booth) Top left - Woodchuck Raspberry Hard Cider Top Right - Wyder's Dry Pear Hard Cider Bottom left - Two Henrys Elderberry Hard Cider Bottom Right - ACE Hard Pumpkin Cider |
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| Frozen Szarlotka-Apple Pie with Zubrowka Vodka (Poland) My favorite dessert of the trip! |
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| Prosecco (Italy) |
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| Miso Udon (Japan) My favorite sample of the trip! |
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| Kefta Pocket (Morocco) Seasoned beef in a pita |
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| Croissant aux Escargot (France) I tried snails and I didn't die or throw up, lol! |
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| Cocada-Brazillian coconut candy Me no likey... |
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| Cheddar Cheese Soup (Canada) Pretty close second place on the food... |
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| Frozen S'mores (Dessert and Champagne booth) This was pretty dang good, too! |
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| Pineapple wine - Hawaii My FAVORITE wine sample of the trip! |
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| Seared Sea Scallop with Spinach-Cheddar Gratin and Crispy Bacon (Scotland) |
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| Grand Marnier slush (France) - This is a full-sized drink, and is available year-round! |
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| Domaine Skouras Moscofilero wine (Greece) |
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| Cronut - a croissant and donut cross (Canada) Also available year-round - YUM... |
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| Pescado con Coco (Dominican Republic) - Seared grouper, pigeon peas, and rice with coconut sauce |
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| Trio of cheese: Karst and honey Goat cheese and Craisin bread Oregon Bleu cheese and berry compote |
Magic Kingdom
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| Rapunzel's Castle |
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| Chicken waffle with slaw Next time: the fruit and nutella waffle... |
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| Vultures on Splash Mountain |
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| Cinderella's castle lit up for Halloween |
Happy Hallowishes Fireworks at
Magic Kingdom
Partying with the Sanderson Sisters at
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
This was a special party within the party, and took place at 11:30 p.m. or so after the second Boo To You! parade. I really enjoyed it and was glad to hear it will be back again this year!
Mickey's party is over - time to go back to the hotel...
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| Me and my new friend outside Haunted Mansion |
On to the next party!
