My First Solo Walt Disney World Trip : Day 1

By Nick 
 
Friday, January 1st, 2016

I've written about how I constantly change things while in the planning stages of a trip to Walt Disney World. 

I also change plans while in the middle of a trip.

While I was sitting at the Philadelphia International Airport getting ready to go down to WDW for my first solo trip I started to tweak things. I didn't really pay attention to how late my flight was until the week before the trip. I always fly out on the earliest flight! Imagine my surprise when I checked my departure time and saw it was for 955am! I immediately went to the Southwest Airline website and discovered why I had done such a thing. The 7am flight made a connection and the time in the air was twice as long as the direct flight at 955. And for some reason, the connecting flight cost more!

I finally arrived around 130pm at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort and was surprised to find my room was ready. I asked if it would be possible to be upgraded to a lake view room, but none were available, so I made my way to a standard studio in the Moorea building.

I unpacked and then made my way over to the main building where I had checked in, The Great Ceremonial House, and grabbed an Aloha Pork Sandwich at Capt. Cook's.

 I wandered the grounds until 350pm, and made my way over to Trader Sam's Grog Grotto, where I spent an hour enjoying the ambiance and my VERY expensive drink, The Nautilus.

Despite the forecast for overcast skies, it was an absolutely beautiful evening.

I walked around a bit more and caught the Torch Lighting Ceremony at the Great Ceremonial House.

I hopped on the monorail, and headed to the Magic Kingdom for the evening.

I rode Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder before heading over to the Wishes FastPass viewing area in time to catch the Frozen Castle Lighting Ceremony, Celebrate the Magic, as well as Wishes.

I used my Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FP and was contacted by a Facebook friend who was also in the MK, and met Tony and his family before heading back to the Poly to call it a night.