Mrs. Darling's 2010 Half Marathon Trip:Yes, it does snow at Disney World

[carissanboys]

I never got a call with Mickey singing Happy Birthday to me.

Sounds like you guys had a lovely meal! Absolutely perfect. Good food, a great view, and Wishes!

 

[wished]

Thanks for the great pictures of the California grill, I was considering going there next time I visit WDW.

 

[dismagiclover]

Uhhhh... what was that line to? The Milk House looked nothing like that when I was there the day before.

That isn't a line. It's a bunch of people listening to a speaker. I'm not sure who it was talking, but he must have been semi interesting.

I never got a call with Mickey singing Happy Birthday to me.

Sounds like you guys had a lovely meal! Absolutely perfect. Good food, a great view, and Wishes!

Sorry you never got a birthday call. Our dinner reservation was linked to our hotel reservation so that must be how they figured it out. CA Grill did have great food. Probably the best I've had at Disney World

Thanks for the great pictures of the California grill, I was considering going there next time I visit WDW.

I definitely recommend CA Grill. If I ever do a trip with just me and DH we are there

 

[Happy Elf]

Your dinner sounds lovely. I would love to eat there sometime. But the kids would never last 2 hours, so I guess we will have to wait until they are older or if we go with grandparents....maybe they could babysit.

 

[Dolce27]

That isn't a line. It's a bunch of people listening to a speaker. I'm not sure who it was talking, but he must have been semi interesting.

Thank goodness! It looked like it could be a line for where you make corral changes. I'll have to be in that line again next year, bumping back up corrals based on whatever my Nov 2010 1/2 marathon time will be (as I can't use this years full-marathon time when I sign up). The line hadn't been too bad for me at EXPO but then I saw your pic and worried that I was just lucky this year and may not be so next year!

 

[liznboys]

Jenny I am so glad you did this report. I love reliving our weekend. It makes me get teary though thinking about how fast it went! I knew it would, but geez, here we are already a week and a half past it... booohoo

That Cali Grill dinner was awesome...oh that filet I had was soooooooooooo good. I could not NOT eat every bit of it. YUM!!

Dolce LOL you cracked me up.."What was that line to??" Yeah that would have been a bad line eek! I wish I had looked at the runner's relations table/line though just to see what it looked like and stuff. I will probably be there next year too.

 

[Dolce27]

That Cali Grill dinner was awesome...oh that filet I had was soooooooooooo good. I could not NOT eat every bit of it. YUM!!

Between the two of you, the Cali Grill is soooo on my list for next trip. You guys are making me hungry!

 

[Stefy]

What a nice Cali Grill experience and it sounded very relaxed and enjoyable. Those desserts look so good

 

[Angies1274]

Good decision on the Tyvek outfit. I would definitely spend $20 to stay dry!!

A call from Mickey to wish you Happy Birthday!!! Very cool!!!

Your Cali Grill dinner sounds yummy!! And that cake...Mmmm!! I would so love to have dinner there but I agree with you-- I don't think I would take the boys. Even though they are getting older, they would never be able to sit for 2 hours.

Oh, if your interested I started my PTR (finally settled on a date...a little unexpected and soon but we're very excited.) The link is in my siggie.

 

[dismagiclover]

Your dinner sounds lovely. I would love to eat there sometime. But the kids would never last 2 hours, so I guess we will have to wait until they are older or if we go with grandparents....maybe they could babysit.

Like I said in my post, I wouldn't take my kids there. It would ruin the whole thing for me. It would change a relaxing atmosphere into a stressful atmosphere because I'd have to make sure the kids weren't disturbing anyone Disney has the child care clubs you could consider if you don't have grandparents there.

Jenny I am so glad you did this report. I love reliving our weekend. It makes me get teary though thinking about how fast it went! I knew it would, but geez, here we are already a week and a half past it... booohoo

That Cali Grill dinner was awesome...oh that filet I had was soooooooooooo good. I could not NOT eat every bit of it. YUM!!

That is why I like doing the reports. It seems to prolong the trip. And this trip was so short it need lots of prolonging. You'll be amazed at how I'll drag the race out

Between the two of you, the Cali Grill is soooo on my list for next trip. You guys are making me hungry!

Cali Grill should be on the list! It was yummy!

What a nice Cali Grill experience and it sounded very relaxed and enjoyable. Those desserts look so good

The desserts were yummy. I think part of what makes everything taste better is that just make it look so pretty

 

[dismagiclover]

Good decision on the Tyvek outfit. I would definitely spend $20 to stay dry!!

A call from Mickey to wish you Happy Birthday!!! Very cool!!!

Your Cali Grill dinner sounds yummy!! And that cake...Mmmm!! I would so love to have dinner there but I agree with you-- I don't think I would take the boys. Even though they are getting older, they would never be able to sit for 2 hours.

Oh, if your interested I started my PTR (finally settled on a date...a little unexpected and soon but we're very excited.) The link is in my siggie.

I'm headed over to your PTR right now

 

[liznboys]

That is why I like doing the reports. It seems to prolong the trip. And this trip was so short it need lots of prolonging. You'll be amazed at how I'll drag the race out

Yeah, I just don't have the energy for my own reports... I just need to keep travelling with you (and Carissa!) so you can do reports with me -and my family- in them!! teehee!

Drag out this report all you want, fine by me!

Hey, are you going to post about that, um, "interesting moment" we had near the start of the race? I think you should......lol

 

[dismagiclover]

Hey, are you going to post about that, um, "interesting moment" we had near the start of the race? I think you should......lol

It will be all about reading between the lines

 

[dismagiclover]

I apologize in advance. This is rather a dull update. But stick with me because next update the fun really starts

We’d just finished up our fabulous California Grill meal and realized we better get to bed because we had a 3 am wake up call coming. We made a quick pit stop and picked up a few things for breakfast at the shop in the Contemporary. It was freezing in the Contemporary. I guess because the monorail hole and the wide open space, but the cast members were all wearing winter coats! That was not a good sign for the next morning if it was freezing inside the buildings! Anyway after picking up our breakfast, Liz headed up to the room, but I wanted to quickly check out the Top of the World Lounge. This is a perk for DVC members staying at Bay Lake Tower. So I headed down to the lobby, showed the CM my room card and she took me to the elevator, stuck in her special card and pressed the button for the top floor. I felt rather too special. I got out on the top floor, turned right and found myself in the lounge. My initial thought was this is small. Here are a few pictures of the interior (that I took from AllEars site).

When I was up there it was obviously dark unlike the pictures. There were very few people up there (maybe 5 or 6). It was quiet and cozy and would be a nice place to relax with a few friends, but I just wanted to check it out so I headed out to the viewing area. There was a lovely view of the Magic Kingdom, but it was freezing so I snapped a couple of pictures (that turned out blurry as you can see) and headed back to the room.

As I exited the elevator on my floor I snapped this shot of the view out the window.

Liz told me this is a real fun pool area with a fun slide. I didn’t try it out. (A bit too nippy)

After arriving back at the room Liz and I got all of our stuff ready for the morning’s race. We laid out the layers of race clothes, attached the timer thingy to our shoes, and pinned our bibs to our shirt (well I did. Liz waited until morning to decide which layer to put the bib on.) We had nothing to do, but try to go to sleep so Liz set her alarm and we climbed into bed. (Poor Liz was stuck with the fold out couch. I never asked. Was it comfy?) We both laid awake in bed for a while without talking willing ourselves to sleep. We were awake at least until 10:15 because we heard the water parade going by, but didn’t get up to look. Eventually we both slipped into a restless sleep. We had a big adventure ahead of us in the morning.

Next up: Half Marathon Day!

 

[carissanboys]

That answers my question! I saw you had a studio and wondered if you guys shared a bed or if the couch was a pull out.

 

[liznboys]

The pull out was fine. It had this crease in it between the top 2/3 and bottom 1/3 that at first I thought would bother me. But it didn't. I actually kinda stuck my feet in there and it was comfy.

It sure was hard getting to sleep that night. My mind was racing and my body just wanted to get up and go!! I did peak out the window to see the Electric Water Pageant, which of course we couldn't see from our room, not sure why I looked out. I loved hearing it though! It's one of my favorite WDW things.

Carissa, Jenny and I are close, but not THAT close. (No offense, Jenny. ) There are only 5 people on this planet I would share a bed with.

 

[disneylovin24]

Can't wait to read about the marathon!!!!

 

[jo]

Ok, here's the thing with the big tyvec decision... I was standing there thinking, if I buy these stinkin' things then I'm giving in to the fact that there REALLY might be rain. Furthermore, I thought if I buy them I won't end up needing them and if I don't buy them I will end up needing them....because that is how life goes sometimes. What to do, what to do?!?!?


jo and anyone else who truly wants to start running, Jenny already said it but I will say it again, definitely check out the Couch to 5K program. I did the program myself last year! That is how I began running. Before that I was not a runner by any stretch, I didn't even exercise AT ALL for many years before that (besides being the mom to four active little boys). I was truly going from the COUCH to a 5K. I even teased to my dh the week before I was planning to start the program... I was sitting on the couch and told him, "Look, I'm doing great, already on step 1!" haha The first week of workouts have you running for 60 seconds at a time....even that was hard for me! But after the 9 weeks I was able to run 3 miles non-stop. It really works!

Here's a link for beginner runners:
http://www.active.com/running/Articles/How-to-Start-Running-Today.htm

And here's the C25K program:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

I could go on an on about being a new runner and doing this program but I'll stop. Anyone out there feel free to PM me with any questions. I would LOVE to help others who want to run. I can't tell you how happy I am to be a runner now, and to have done the WDW Half is simply amazing!!

Thank you! I did check out the C25K site and printed it out! You two have really motivated me to do this!

 

[dismagiclover]

The pull out was fine. It had this crease in it between the top 2/3 and bottom 1/3 that at first I thought would bother me. But it didn't. I actually kinda stuck my feet in there and it was comfy.

It sure was hard getting to sleep that night. My mind was racing and my body just wanted to get up and go!! I did peak out the window to see the Electric Water Pageant, which of course we couldn't see from our room, not sure why I looked out. I loved hearing it though! It's one of my favorite WDW things.

Carissa, Jenny and I are close, but not THAT close. (No offense, Jenny. ) There are only 5 people on this planet I would share a bed with.

I'm glad the bed was comfy! I didn't realize you got up and peaked out the window. I must have either been asleep or very close to it!

Can't wait to read about the marathon!!!!

Can't wait to tell you about it!

 

[dismagiclover]

Thank you! I did check out the C25K site and printed it out! You two have really motivated me to do this!

Good luck! I'm always happy to share any advice I have. But remember you get what you pay for