Disney Overload! Our very Disney Year...DCL Med, ToT 10, MVMCP and SWW

[drlaurafsu]

Welcome to my trip report! Its actually going to cover a few Disney trips and my latest obsession...runDisney!

We actually already started our Very Disney Year as I think it will run summer to summer. I'll begin by showing you some highlights of our Disney Cruise in July 2013 to the Med (to Greece) just because it was so amazing that I want to share (and to give me another reason to finally get busy editing our pictures!!)

Next up will be trips in October for the Tower of Terror 10 miler and DS's 7th birthday, a quick mother/son surprise trip in November for MVMCP, a solo or perhaps girls only trip with my mom or BFF in February for the Glass Slipper Challenge and culminating with a return trip to SWW in May.

For a quick intro...

I'm Laura, although my son's school friends parents refer to me as "The Queen of Disney." Personally I wouldn't go that far...there are lots of people on here that know way more than me! But growing up in FL (we moved there in 1972), having lived in Orlando for a while and now having a son who loves Disney as much as I do, I would say I've been more than my fair share.

DH (Andres) is a reluctant Disney attendee although I will say it was his suggestion that we do a Disney cruise.

My partner in crime is DS (Mateo). He is 6, almost 7 and just started 1st grade. We didn't take him to Disney until his 4th birthday, as in my mind that is the perfect age for kids to go to Disney, but he has more than made up for his late start. He has been to WDW 6 times now plus the cruise.

There will be additions to the cast of characters I'm sure...but for now this will do!

 

[drlaurafsu]

The newest wrinkle in my love of Disney coincides with my efforts to get back in shape. At various points in my life I have done a little distance running.

A little background: I was never a runner growing up. My ballet teacher was absolutely against running. And therefore so was I. Back in 2000 I started running after a breakup in an attempt to get back in shape. It was going well as I ran a 10k (Peachtree) and even a half marathon! I was losing weight and while I was slow as molasses...I was running! I kept on with the intention of running a marathon. I made it as far as my 17 mile training run when plantar fasciitis and a heel spur hit me hard! I literally thought I was going to have to crawl from my living room to my bedroom because I didn't think I could walk. A trip to the podiatrist gave me the options of a temporary fix with a cortisol shot, a permanent fix with surgery or I could quit running...so I quit. It eventually got better so it seemed like a good solution!

Next round was about 3 years ago...again in an effort to get in shape, I signed up for the Peachtree 10k. Did some training, ran the race...PF came back. Quit again.

This time around I decided to get smarter about it. I decided to try the walk/run method. I signed up for the Tower of Terror 10 miler because I wanted a race that was expensive (don't want to back out and lose that $$), fun (characters - of course!) and the threat of getting swept to motivate me to actually train for the race!

So in an effort to make sure I was on track for my training schedule I, again, signed up for the Peachtree. Training however was not going so well as I hurt my back about a month before the race. But rather than skip the race, I decided even if I had to walk, I was going to do it!!

AND I DID! It wasn't pretty. I ran/walked the race with mostly 3 min run/walk intervals until the 2 major hills. But I finished with a decent time (only a few minutes behind my 2010 time) and best of all, had a time to submit for the ToT! Hopefully that will keep me out of the last corral and give me a little extra breathing room from getting swept!

Now before I even got to the first runDisney race, my excitement got the best of me...and I not only signed up for the Princess Half Marathon ...but the Glass Slipper Challenge!!

So the training will be intense...but I am going to follow the Galloway program to the best of my ability and plan to run/walk all 3 races. But I can't wait!!

 

[drlaurafsu]

About a year or so ago, DS informed us that he wanted to go on a boat. So I told DH that we should take him on a cruise. DH's response was...well we should do a Disney cruise, right? I mean he is only 6 afterall...Disney seemed the logical choice. So looking at the options I really didn't want to do either the Eastern or Western Carribean or the Bahamas. So that left Alaska and the Med. DH looked at the choices and said...we should do the 12 day to Greece and Turkey. So that's how we went from only having been on one (4 day Bahamas - for a wedding years ago) cruise to a 12 night cruise and 17 day trip to Europe.

As I get the photos edited I'll add some details and photos for each port we stopped in.

Barcelona
Villefranche/Nice
Pisa/Lucca & Cinque Terre
Rome
Sea Days 1&2
Athens
Ephesus
Mykonos
Sea Day 3
Malta
Sea Day 4
Barcelona

 

[drlaurafsu]

This is the trip I am most focused on right now...both from a training and a planning perspective.

Who: Me, DH and DS
What : ToT 10 miler, MNSSHP and a slightly early Birthday celebration for DS who will be 7 on Oct 11th!
Where: Port Orleans Riverside
Why: To run at Disney World!! And because my soon to be 7 year old seems to think that every one of his birthdays needs to be at Disney World.

Day 1: Arrival
Day 2: Race Day
Day 3: MNSSHP
Day 4: Going Home

 

[drlaurafsu]

Who: DS and me
What: A Surprise trip!! We've never surprised him with a trip to Disney and I thought this would be a fun one for that...
Where: POP Century
Why: MVMCP - DS has asked about going to Disney at Christmas so I thought I'd take him for a quick trip to see the Christmas decorations.

 

[drlaurafsu]

Who: Me...and who knows if I'll even ask anyone to come with me! LOL!
What: more like YOU SIGNED UP FOR WHAT???
Where: Port Orleans Riverside
Why: Glass Slipper Challenge - why I thought it was a great idea to sign up for both a 10k and a half marathon when I haven't run a 1/2 in 14 years, I'll never know!

 

[drlaurafsu]

Who: Me, DS and maybe DH?
What: Star Wars WEEKEND!!
Where: ???
Why: For my Star Wars Loving son...who had an absolute blast when I took him this year for the first time!

 

[drlaurafsu]

ATL to BCN

 

[drlaurafsu]

Happy Bastille Day!

 

[drlaurafsu]

Boys Adventure

 

[drlaurafsu]

A visit 14 years in the making!

 

[drlaurafsu]

The Eternal City

 

[drlaurafsu]

Time to relax and watch the world float by...

 

[drlaurafsu]

As my high school humanities teacher made us practice...oooohhh, ahhhhhh...

 

[drlaurafsu]

This stop was a surprise...not really someplace I had ever expected to visit.

 

[drlaurafsu]

Paradise found...

 

[drlaurafsu]

Pirate night...I think.

 

[drlaurafsu]

<Insert WW of the West voice> I'm melting....<end voice>

 

[drlaurafsu]

You see the strangest things...

 

[drlaurafsu]

then home...