I Am Not Fast: A 2015 Dumbo Double Dare Trip Report!

[Ariel484]

Crabbypants

After breakfast, I was DONE for a bit. I needed to get to sleep!

Courtney and Jess weren't quite ready for a nap yet, so they ended up heading back to the expo. Courtney needed to exchange one of her race shirts (sizing was a bit wonky this weekend...I ended up keeping all of mine but I feel like I would have been okay exchanging one or two for a smaller size), and Jess...bought a shoe jacket! Then they went to Trader Sam's. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed to have missed out on that! (We didn’t end up going back at all that weekend...MISTAKE. Another thing I will make sure to do later this year!)

I think I slept a bit too long and woke up somewhat crabby - again, just like January! Woof.

I ended up meeting back up with Courtney and Jess in Disneyland...specifically in the theater where Mickey and the Magical Map is performed! Really liked this show a lot!

High point of this show was Pocahontas coming out - people in the audience legit whooped and cheered. And Courtney, Jess and I were just like, "...what?" I mean, nothing against Pocahontas...but people were acting like she was a freaking rockstar. She is a big deal in California, apparently. They'd probably like WDW's Fantasmic!

LANTERNS! TEARS. CHILLS. GOOSEBUMPS.

Life is literally da bubbles for these guys.

Our favorite from this morning, shaking his butt at the audience.

The main mouse:

And more Tiana! I feel like between seeing her in this show and on the Mark Twain on day 1...Disneyland really appreciates Tiana. And I am here for that!

Overall, I would say this show was a little weird in some ways (just a random assortment of characters), but really good. I liked it a lot!

Low point after this show was over - Courtney dropped her phone and the screen just SHATTERED. Apparently that cute case isn't the best when it comes to screen protection! The real tragedy is that the front-facing camera was rendered unusable...such a shame as Courtney is a master at taking selfies. She handled this whole thing much better than I would have...she was just sort of like, “look, I dropped my phone.” I would have cried!

Next up, the Tiki Room! A classic! The queue area was pretty awesome (loved the talking Tiki Gods) and they had this fancy fountain inside...why doesn't WDW's version have this??

Enjoyable as always. The guy next to use slept through it.

Before the Tiki Room, Courtney and I had grabbed Indiana Jones fastpasses (Jess refused to do this one). So now it was time to use those.

Duckfaces. And Courtney’s new sunglasses - I regret not getting a pair myself. On my list for later this year for sure!

So this ride is the same system as Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom - and MAN did this ride put Dinosaur to shame! I personally didn’t find it as mind-blowingly amazing as I've heard from others...but it was hands-down better than Dinosaur. I'm making Will ride it later this year.

Our last ride for this stretch was Big Thunder - I forget if we had FPs or just waited. I have to think we had FPs, because the parks were getting REALLY crowded. The crowds were night-and-day now that it was the weekend compared to what they were Wednesday and Thursday.

I gave my phone to Selfie Master Courtney and we got lots of good shots. This one is probably my favorite.

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

Solo Time!

At some point that afternoon, we all grabbed fastpasses for that night's showing of Fantasmic! Jess and I were SO excited - we LOVE Disney World's Fantasmic! Courtney was less excited. (We have a long-standing feud - Jess and myself vs. Courtney and our other friend, Holly - over which is better...Fantastic or Illuminations. Fantasmic is the clear winner, obviously.)



ANYWAY...

Courtney and Jess were ready for their nap. I didn't want to take a second one, so I stayed in the park for a little solo time!

By now I was sick of carrying my big camera around, so I had a little phone photoshoot with Donald before settling into a shady spot to watch Soundsational!

I liked this parade, but I think I like Festival of Fantasy a lot better!

From there, I went up to grab a seat at the train station to give Will a quick call, hang out and watch the world go by. Just *being there* was really nice (something I love about Disney Parks).

The Flag Retreat just so happened to start while I was here, so I watched that. That was a first - had no idea how long or involved it would be! It was very cool.

It was almost dinner time, so I decided to head out of the park and over to Downtown Disney. I was a little early, so I wandered through World of Disney for the millionth time. I'd been looking at stuff to buy all week and decided to start narrowing things down.

I liked this phone case...not quite as much as the other one, but at least it was in the correct size for my phone.

I get Christmas ornaments on every trip - preferably personalized ones, but I don't think that's as common of a thing at Disneyland as it is at Disney World. I did end up getting this one on our last night though (it lights up blue).

But what I really wanted was this watch. I would LOVE a watch with a castle on it, but the only other ones I have seen are the ones the Disney Fairy Tale Wedding couples get. I asked a CM how much it cost...and let's just say, it did not come home with me. Any guesses (answer below)?? Hint - there are real diamonds in it.

...that watch costs $1,000! Ugh!

I sent a picture to Will asking him to guess the cost - he said $8,000. And I was like, "no, only $1,000! Total bargain, right? I should totally get it!" And he goes, "please don’t spend $1K on a watch." Fair enough. But what about with my PAP discount?! Hmm...

Just kidding. Sigh.

After that failure, it was time to check in at Naples for dinner. I have heard people say that it is pointless to make ADRs at Disneyland restaurants, but I did anyway. And boy am I glad I did, because without this one, we would have been looking at a 2.5-hour wait! No thanks!

Special half marathon meal:

This one was a must-do for me. Via Napoli is my dinner of choice before WDW races, and I had heard Naples pizza was exactly the same as Via Napoli's, so it was a no-brainer to eat here tonight.

Plus...that day was National Cheese Pizza Day. It was only appropriate.

Jess and Courtney showed up from their nap and we were seated soon after. We got a table upstairs and quickly had bread brought to our table.

In between the time we ordered and when our meals came, I emailed my awesome travel agent to see what the on-property availability was for Tink weekend - Paradise Pier was full (!!) but I now have a room at the Disneyland Hotel booked for that weekend! Yay!

Back to dinner...we all stuck with water + Coke for our meals. I got the pepperoni and Jess got the margherita pizza. I forget what Courtney had...margherita as well?

So...these pizzas were NOT like Via Napoli's pizzas. The crust was thicker and there was a TON of cheese on these pizzas. I feel like one of the reasons Via Napoli works for me before races is that one of the single-serving pizzas is (in my opinion) not too heavy. The crust is thin and there isn't a ton of cheese. With this pizza, I could only finish half of it, and my stomach did NOT feel great afterward. Jess and Courtney seemed to feel the same way...oops! After this meal, I'm not sure what I'll be doing for Tink weekend. Hmm...

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

Fantasmic!

After dinner, we got into line to get on the monorail. We had to wait for a couple of trains to fill before it was our turn.

And we're back!

Courtney was saying we should probably go redeem our Fantasmic fastpasses now. I was not pleased that we had to sit and wait an hour before showtime...again. But here we were - Courtney was right that we had to arrive that early.

"What do you MEAN Fantasmic doesn’t give you ALL THE FEELS?!"
"...only 3 feels."

The feud continues...

Rawr.

*UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT*

Just like with World of Color, I tried hard not to look at pictures or videos of this show before seeing it in person. But I had heard a lot about it, and honestly, for me, it was sort of over-hyped. Trading the Lion King out for Kaa was a downgrade, in my opinion. Obviously Murphy is better than WDW's dragon. Peter Pan vs. Pocahontas is sort of a draw for me, I guess. Overall, I think the score to WDW's Fantasmic is a little better...so I'm probably the one person on earth that doesn't think DL's Fantasmic is better than WDW's.

HOWEVER - WDW's definitely has the nostalgia factor for me. That is the first nighttime show that Will and I saw together on our honeymoon in 2009, my first WDW trip in 14-15 years. And that is the first time I remember thinking, "man, I really love this place." So seeing the show in WDW always takes me back to that feeling.

And, you know...I don't have to show up an hour ahead of time. And I get to sit on an actual bench, and not the ground.

Anyway...

We left the park after the show and headed back to Paradise Pier through the Grand Californian. Loved these sliding doors.

The final flat runner picture of the weekend...two Minnies and a Baymax:

Up next - The 2015 Disneyland Half Marathon!

 

[ZellyB]

Woohoo!! More updates!!!

I did not realize that the theme for the 10K changes year to year. Bummer that I missed Villains, but maybe it will come around again. I just got the email saying the registration for Star Wars - Darkside opens tomorrow. I had to send Chris an email to talk me off the ledge about registering. We are doing some work to the house and agreed that we need to take a SHORT break from Disney races until we get that done. *sigh*

Those pictures of all of you with Stitch are adorable. Or I guess I should say cute. That looks like an amazing character breakfast and you got wonderful shots. I remember riding the Indiana Jones ride when we were last at DL and remember loving it so much. I actually like Dinosaur although I know a lot of people don't, but I do remember thinking that IJ was much better.

I'm glad you got to enjoy some laid back solo time in the park. Chris and I have always been major commando park goers and our plan for the W&D trip is to take things much easier and just enjoy wandering the parks more and not worrying about running from ride to ride. I'm really looking forward to it. I guess that's the luxury of returning to the parks regularly, you feel less need to do everything possible.

I really like the ornament you got. Looks very pretty. And, man, that watch looks awesome. Yikes...$1000.

Sorry to hear that Naples was a disappointment. I'm in a total state of uproar on my ADRs for W&D. I had everything settled and then rearranged park days and we changed from staying at BC to offsite, so now I'm just at a loss on where to eat. I had Via Napoli and then dropped it and now I'm back to wondering about trying there again. We have a V&A ADR, but I'm going to drop it (sadness) because of the aforementioned house plans plus taking the kids on a cruise over Christmas (not DCL sadly), but still can't justify dropping hundreds on one meal when we have other things that need money. We think we may try for V&A again when we go for Dopey in 2018.

I need to try Fantasmic again. We went to it one year with the kids and I was meh about it. And we just haven't wanted to spend the time since watching it, but with our slower approach this year, maybe it's time to try it again. And, in all the years we've gone, we have yet to watch Illuminations.

The outfits are, once again, fabulous. I love all of them. You guys did a great job!!! I can't wait to read about the half!!!

 

[Ariel484]

Woohoo!! More updates!!!

I did not realize that the theme for the 10K changes year to year. Bummer that I missed Villains, but maybe it will come around again. I just got the email saying the registration for Star Wars - Darkside opens tomorrow. I had to send Chris an email to talk me off the ledge about registering. We are doing some work to the house and agreed that we need to take a SHORT break from Disney races until we get that done. *sigh*

Yeah, I'm really thinking/hoping they bring back the Tower of Terror 10-miler after the DHS construction. They need to have some sort of villains race!

I'm pretty tempted by the Star Wars race, just because my 3 BFFs are going to do it. But Star Wars doesn't really do anything for me and I am already signed up for Princess and Tink next year, so I'm going to resist. We too just had a bunch of house stuff done, so I can sympathize with you guys there.

Those pictures of all of you with Stitch are adorable. Or I guess I should say cute. That looks like an amazing character breakfast and you got wonderful shots. I remember riding the Indiana Jones ride when we were last at DL and remember loving it so much. I actually like Dinosaur although I know a lot of people don't, but I do remember thinking that IJ was much better.

Super cute?

Seriously, this was definitely one of the best character meals I have had (the other being a Garden Grill dinner). I think just because it wasn't so crowded? The characters played a lot more. It was so fun!

I like Dinosaur, I just think it's sort of...boring, I guess?

I'm glad you got to enjoy some laid back solo time in the park. Chris and I have always been major commando park goers and our plan for the W&D trip is to take things much easier and just enjoy wandering the parks more and not worrying about running from ride to ride. I'm really looking forward to it. I guess that's the luxury of returning to the parks regularly, you feel less need to do everything possible.

I so agree with you there! It really changes Disney trips for the better, at least for me - makes it seem more like a *vacation.*

I really like the ornament you got. Looks very pretty. And, man, that watch looks awesome. Yikes...$1000.

Yikes indeed!

Sorry to hear that Naples was a disappointment. I'm in a total state of uproar on my ADRs for W&D. I had everything settled and then rearranged park days and we changed from staying at BC to offsite, so now I'm just at a loss on where to eat. I had Via Napoli and then dropped it and now I'm back to wondering about trying there again. We have a V&A ADR, but I'm going to drop it (sadness) because of the aforementioned house plans plus taking the kids on a cruise over Christmas (not DCL sadly), but still can't justify dropping hundreds on one meal when we have other things that need money. We think we may try for V&A again when we go for Dopey in 2018.

Oh no! No V&A?! (Man do I want to go back there.)

I can totally see how a hotel switch would mess with your plans big-time. One of the things I really liked about Disneyland is that I don't seem to stress as much over where to make ADRs - because everything is so close I don't need to lock myself into a park that day like I do at WDW - for example, if I make a Be Our Guest ADR, I pretty much need to plan my day so that I'll be in Magic Kingdom. But with everything being so close at Disneyland, it's not a big deal to switch parks/resorts for ADRs...even for off-site hotels that are close to the parks.

What cruise line are you guys going on?

I'm thinking Dopey in 2018 too...we'll see what happens!

I need to try Fantasmic again. We went to it one year with the kids and I was meh about it. And we just haven't wanted to spend the time since watching it, but with our slower approach this year, maybe it's time to try it again. And, in all the years we've gone, we have yet to watch Illuminations.

Will and I don't plan on trying to see it in December - I enjoyed it, but the hassle of having to get there so early to sit and wait for an hour really put a bad taste in my mouth.

I'll keep my thoughts on Illuminations to myself.

The outfits are, once again, fabulous. I love all of them. You guys did a great job!!! I can't wait to read about the half!!!

Thank you thank you!!

 

[Ariel484]

Sob Story

Now, before I talk about the half...a little word on all of our mindsets leading up to the half (and by that I mean - mostly mine).

I don't think any of us were looking forward to this race very much. We knew there would be limited park time (none at all after mile 4ish) and I don't think any of us were trained quite as well as we would have preferred.

In my case - and I mentioned this a bit on the runDisney portion of the boards - a month before this trip, I went on a cruise (Disney, of course). On the last full day of that cruise, Castaway Cay day, I somehow managed to completely throw my back out. It started out as just a little soreness, and as the day went on it got worse and worse, to the point where it was constantly spasming. I could barely walk and was in tears. The next day, August 1, was the day we were due to fly home and the "worst travel day ever" I mentioned earlier in this report. Will had come down with some sort of a flu and I was still in crazy amounts of pain. Like - couldn't get up from being seated without help, couldn't bend down to tie my own shoes...all that good stuff. And we were in the Orlando airport that day for no less than 12 hours - through flight delays and cancellations, getting bounced from airline to airline, etc. It was a nightmare.

Eventually, as you may have guessed, we did get home. I took a few days off from running after that injury, jumped back into it too soon, and re-injured myself (that was August 13 or 14). Not as badly as on the cruise, but still...no running for a few days, and I was starting to get pretty nervous about being able to complete the races. I finally managed to recover and get a few runs in before the race weekend, and I was pretty sure my back wouldn't go out on me again (though the soreness I felt after the Matterhorn and after walking around the parks too much did concern me a bit), but I was disappointed to know that I just wasn't going to be in as good of shape for this as I had hoped, especially after feeling so amazing during Dopey in January. I knew I would finish the race...it was just disappointing to have to accept that I possibly wasn’t going to particularly feel great doing it.

So...with that said...

It's race day.

 

[Ariel484]

Day 5: Sunday, September 6

2015 10th Anniversary Disneyland Half Marathon!! Last run through California Adventure

For better or worse, here we go...

This morning we had alarms set for 3:45 instead of 4...just to give us a little more time to go. No one was excited for this!

We headed to our corrals a little after 5...just in time to hear the woman announcer mentioning "all of the serious runners in Corral A" multiple times. I will fully admit I have never been a fan of hers (can't quite put my finger on why...she has just always bugged me), so I sometimes do the immature thing and look for things not to like about her, but...really? Just because we aren't in Corral A means we don’t take running seriously? Thanks. I understand that those announcers need to fill the time talking about something...but maybe just think through what you're going to say a bit first, k?

I mean, I wasn't in the greatest mood that morning, anyway, but still...

Moving on...

The National Anthem was sung by a Disneyland Ambassador, and she was awesome! They actually shot off fireworks for this...the only time I remember them doing so all weekend.

3-2-1-GOOOOOOOOOO!

Just like the previous days, we in Corral B started at about 5:38. I lost Jess immediately.

At a park already! yay!

The same Cars character from yesterday was out again this morning. I skipped that and we briefly went backstage before coming back into the park in Paradise Pier.

Favorite!

First character stop of the race! Long line for this one...really, long line for all of them. The CM that took my picture complimented my outfit and knew exactly what it was supposed to be, which made me happy. This and the Ursula "hat" are as crafty as I get.

I passed up Jafar and Aladdin before coming out into the esplanade.

Up next - Disneyland!

 

[Ariel484]

2015 10th Anniversary Disneyland Half Marathon! Last run through Disneyland

You can't get rid of me, Disneyland!

Love, love, love these retro-style mile markers used for the race. They're pretty similar to the ones that have been used in past years, from what I have seen.

Also, this second mile was my longest of the race, at just about 20 minutes long...eek!

My next character stop was in New Orleans Square! View from the line.

Someone in front of me was running with a Dumbo...LOOK OUT DUMBO!

Yay!

Alice and the Queen of Hearts were out in front of the carousel. I passed them up.

We ran through the castle and I stopped for some pictures!

I really like this picture...bummed about the weird perfectly straight shadow over half of it.

And on through the park...

I passed up Hook and Pan, and Cinderella and Lady Tremaine. I was really digging the villain + hero match-ups, but I'd met all of them before (save Foulfellow). Later I read that people had gotten pictures with Hades and Meg (switching out with Pan and Hook, I think) and Shen-Yu and Mulan, which I guess just means I didn't have good timing this morning.

From there we headed backstage...and that was it for the parks.

It's really shocking to me to look back at these pictures, because I only have two character stops! And at one point my watch was showing me at a 15:33 average pace...eeeeeeeek. I know I said I wasn't in the best shape for this race, but 15:33 for me is NOT normal. I think the lines were just long - I knew ahead of time that there wouldn’t be any Disney characters outside of the parks, and clearly everyone else did too, so those first few miles were our only chances to get pictures - and everyone was taking advantage. Courtney pointed out later that this would have made it pretty easy for someone to get swept early on. Hmm...

I had also predicted a huge negative split for this race (running the latter miles faster than the earlier miles)...because I assumed there wouldn't be anything worth stopping for later on the course. So seeing the 15:33 wasn't great, exactly, but I tried to stay calm about it.

Up next - the rest of the race!

 

[FFigawi]

Oh no! No V&A?! (Man do I want to go back there.)

We were there last month and are going again in Nov. Looking forward to seeing what the new "wine experience" they're putting in place is like.

 

[kirstie101]

So...these pizzas were NOT like Via Napoli's pizzas. The crust was thicker and there was a TON of cheese on these pizzas. I feel like one of the reasons Via Napoli works for me before races is that one of the single-serving pizzas is (in my opinion) not too heavy. The crust is thin and there isn't a ton of cheese. With this pizza, I could only finish half of it, and my stomach did NOT feel great afterward. Jess and Courtney seemed to feel the same way...oops! After this meal, I'm not sure what I'll be doing for Tink weekend. Hmm...

Continued in Next Post

For Tink, if you're in the parks, you could try Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta in DCA. The crust was nice and thin the last time I had it, hopefully that hasn't been changed! I normally do pizza before a half also but before Star Wars last year I actually had the ravioli here and it was great. Ate a few bites of moms pizza too

 

[ZellyB]

Yeah, I'm really thinking/hoping they bring back the Tower of Terror 10-miler after the DHS construction. They need to have some sort of villains race!

Oh, I'm very much hoping that ToT comes back. A 10-mile distance would be fun and since ToT is the best ride in all the world I need that medal.

Oh no! No V&A?! (Man do I want to go back there.)

I know. Even though we are pretty certain we are canceling, I haven't been able to bring myself to call and actually do it yet.

What cruise line are you guys going on?

Carnival. Nothing fancy, but we are taking my sister along too, so for 6 of us it gets pricey fast. We sail out of New Orleans so we are taking a couple of extra days ahead of time to enjoy the city. We actually did this cruise before and it's a nice easy one to take.

I'm thinking Dopey in 2018 too...we'll see what happens!

I don't especially WANT to run Dopey, but the allure of a 5 year anniversay of Dopey combined with 25 years of the Marathon will be too much for me to resist. I shudder now to think what the registration process is going to be like that year.

I'll keep my thoughts on Illuminations to myself.

Guessing you aren't a fan.

We headed to our corrals a little after 5...just in time to hear the woman announcer mentioning "all of the serious runners in Corral A" multiple times. I will fully admit I have never been a fan of hers (can't quite put my finger on why...she has just always bugged me), so I sometimes do the immature thing and look for things not to like about her, but...really? Just because we aren't in Corral A means we don’t take running seriously? Thanks. I understand that those announcers need to fill the time talking about something...but maybe just think through what you're going to say a bit first, k?

I so agree with you on this. As you said, they are trying to fill time, but some of the stuff they say is so tone deaf when you consider the broad audience you are speaking to.

I passed up Hook and Pan, and Cinderella and Lady Tremaine. I was really digging the villain + hero match-ups, but I'd met all of them before (save Foulfellow). Later I read that people had gotten pictures with Hades and Meg (switching out with Pan and Hook, I think) and Shen-Yu and Mulan, which I guess just means I didn't have good timing this morning.

Total bummer on the timing. Shen-Yu and Mulan would have been cool.

From there we headed backstage...and that was it for the parks.

Wow...that went fast.

Up next - the rest of the race!

Yay!!!

We were there last month and are going again in Nov. Looking forward to seeing what the new "wine experience" they're putting in place is like.

I'm going to pretend like I didn't read this.

 

[rteetz]

That Surfs Up breakfast look great! I've heard that character interaction is at a whole other level at Disneyland and you seem to help confirm that.

That sucks that you were crabby and slept long. I have heard a lot of good things about Mickey and the magical map as well.

Hmm. I thought Naples was run by the same people as Via Napoli. Weird that the pizza was different.

I love the look of the monorail at Disneyland.

Great costumes for the Half!

Looks like some great in park character meet and greets. That sucks that the race didn't start out all that exciting though. I'm beyond excited for my first half in January. I can understand it not being as exciting as the WDW half tho.

 

[mbwhitti]

My phone has the weird shadow split screen on some castle shots too. I wonder if it had to do with the flash from the marathonfoto photographer

 

[cavepig]

We got the pizza at Naples 8 years ago and did not like it either. We ate at Boardwalk Pizza like Kirstie101 mentioned and the ravioli was really good. I agree character lines seemed longer than I thought they would be for the half.

 

[huggybuff]

I loved the Surf's Up! pics. You finally got some of Jess without the RBF.

Isn't Mickey and the Magical Map fun? That one gives me a few feels at the end. I heard they canceled it the other day because of the heat. 103 degrees. Yikes!

I'm jealous you at least got to sit down for Fantasmic! I don't care if it's on the ground, it's better than the standing only section that I got back in June. Harumph.

Oh, I KNEW as soon as you said Naples pizza it was going to end badly! Granted, I got some of their pizza from the to-go side, but it was not good. At all.

LOVE that pic with Tiana! Her dress is sooo gorgeous. That's an early call time to look so pretty.

Your outfits are so MAJ CUTE!!!

 

[Ariel484]

We were there last month and are going again in Nov. Looking forward to seeing what the new "wine experience" they're putting in place is like.

Yeah, I need to get back there. It's gonna be a shock to my system to not have Tables in Wonderland whenever we do go back!

For Tink, if you're in the parks, you could try Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta in DCA. The crust was nice and thin the last time I had it, hopefully that hasn't been changed! I normally do pizza before a half also but before Star Wars last year I actually had the ravioli here and it was great. Ate a few bites of moms pizza too

Ah, thanks for the suggestion! I will definitely keep that in mind for May.

Oh, I'm very much hoping that ToT comes back. A 10-mile distance would be fun and since ToT is the best ride in all the world I need that medal.

AGREE ON ALL COUNTS!!

I know. Even though we are pretty certain we are canceling, I haven't been able to bring myself to call and actually do it yet.

I mean really...who wants to cancel a V&A ADR?!

Carnival. Nothing fancy, but we are taking my sister along too, so for 6 of us it gets pricey fast. We sail out of New Orleans so we are taking a couple of extra days ahead of time to enjoy the city. We actually did this cruise before and it's a nice easy one to take.

Yeah, it's shocking to look at the price of other lines compared to what Disney charges. When it's just the two of us it's not QUITE as bad (so I tell myself), but with 6, I could see how that would be a huge difference.

I don't especially WANT to run Dopey, but the allure of a 5 year anniversay of Dopey combined with 25 years of the Marathon will be too much for me to resist. I shudder now to think what the registration process is going to be like that year.

It's definitely going to be nuts.

Guessing you aren't a fan.

Nope! Totally puts me to sleep!

I so agree with you on this. As you said, they are trying to fill time, but some of the stuff they say is so tone deaf when you consider the broad audience you are speaking to.

Yeah, I did notice that they seemed to make an effort not to say "only the 5K" or "only the half marathon," but she was really going on about how corral A was the corral with the "real" runners. Just stop it!

Total bummer on the timing. Shen-Yu and Mulan would have been cool.

Wow...that went fast. [/quote]
I know!!

That Surfs Up breakfast look great! I've heard that character interaction is at a whole other level at Disneyland and you seem to help confirm that.

It really was! This was one of the few times that I felt the extra money paid for the meal to have the character interaction was worth it.

That sucks that you were crabby and slept long. I have heard a lot of good things about Mickey and the magical map as well.

It was a good show, for sure!

Hmm. I thought Naples was run by the same people as Via Napoli. Weird that the pizza was different.

I think it is - the menus were exactly the same but the pizza was not as good.

I love the look of the monorail at Disneyland.

Me too!

Great costumes for the Half!

Thanks!

Looks like some great in park character meet and greets. That sucks that the race didn't start out all that exciting though. I'm beyond excited for my first half in January. I can understand it not being as exciting as the WDW half tho.

Yeah, a lot of it was different with WDW having so much more property than Disneyland. I didn't realize how much of a difference that would make.

My phone has the weird shadow split screen on some castle shots too. I wonder if it had to do with the flash from the marathonfoto photographer

Maybe? I just can't believe it's this perfectly straight line. It happened on 1-2 of my other pictures too.

We got the pizza at Naples 8 years ago and did not like it either. We ate at Boardwalk Pizza like Kirstie101 mentioned and the ravioli was really good. I agree character lines seemed longer than I thought they would be for the half.

Okay, I was thinking I just caught them on an off-night...maybe not!

I loved the Surf's Up! pics. You finally got some of Jess without the RBF.

She was happy to be eating!

Isn't Mickey and the Magical Map fun? That one gives me a few feels at the end. I heard they canceled it the other day because of the heat. 103 degrees. Yikes!

Yikes indeed! With all of the dancing they do, that could get dangerous!

I'm jealous you at least got to sit down for Fantasmic! I don't care if it's on the ground, it's better than the standing only section that I got back in June. Harumph.

Well, we sat when we were WAITING for the show. I should have explained that better...we sat on the ground for the first 30 minutes or so of waiting, and then we had to stand up so they could cram more people into our area. From then until the end of the show we stood. Are there place where you can sit for the show?!

Oh, I KNEW as soon as you said Naples pizza it was going to end badly! Granted, I got some of their pizza from the to-go side, but it was not good. At all.

Wow, really? I must have been punk'd by the person who told me it was just like Via Napoli!! I had no idea it wasn't good!

LOVE that pic with Tiana! Her dress is sooo gorgeous. That's an early call time to look so pretty.

It sure is...I couldn't do it!

Your outfits are so MAJ CUTE!!!

THANKS!

 

[Ariel484]

2015 10th Anniversary Disneyland Half Marathon! AKA the Anaheim Half Marathon

Knowing the park time was over for the race was pretty deflating. I wanted to get this done as quickly as possible!

I did find two characters right around mile marker 4 though...at the time I thought they were fake (because dude on my left is WEIRD-LOOKING) but I stopped anyway. I texted this picture to my brother the Star Wars guy and he informed me that the weird guy is indeed a Bike Trooper. Apparently that is a thing. So this was my last character meet of the day.

And now...just me versus the mean streets of Anaheim. Good thing I brought my sunglasses!

Seriously, biggest tip I can give anyone that is thinking of running this race in the future - bring your sunglasses!

Woo!

You can see the huge band set up behind Mile Marker 5. This is what the rest of the race was like - there was near-constant entertainment, just none of it Disney.

Some dancers during the 5th mile...

And Mile Marker 6.

And 7. No photos during this mile so...oops?

Both of my hips started hurting right around this point. I knew for sure it was IT Band pain (a ligament that runs from the outside of the knee up to the hips) and it's something I almost never deal with. The last time I had it was during a half (coincidentally right around the halfway point, just like today), and it got so bad that I had to walk most of the rest of the race. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case today! I kind of just wanted to get this thing over with!

More dancers...

And then the classic cars started.

There were HUNDREDS of cars out. I kept thinking I'd reached the end, and then I'd turn onto the next street and there would be more. I'm not really into cars, but still...it was incredible.

I was trying to chug along as best I could...looking back it's really amazing how the city of Anaheim came out to support all of us runners that morning (from the dancers to the bands to the classic car club to all of the amazing volunteers)...but at the time I was worried about my stupid hips and a little bummed about the non-Disney of it all. Of all of the Disney races I have run...this was by far the one that seemed like it was the least *Disney,* if that makes sense.

But I perked up when I saw we were approaching the Honda Center!

I knew the Honda Center and Angels Stadium were the last big landmarks to hit before the finish!

We passed the Honda Center and I was surprised to see that we were now going to run on a dirt/gravel trail. Maybe I need to actually pay attention to course maps ahead of time?

I did NOT like this at all. It was uneven and I got crap in my shoes!

Then we went up this STEEP hill...

Almost to the stadium!

Up next - the finish!

 

[Ariel484]

2015 10th Anniversary Disneyland Half Marathon! The Finish!

We turned to enter the stadium and there were lots of people cheering us on!

We headed inside and did a lap - this put the lap around Champion Stadium during the WDW marathon to shame! There were actually people here, and they were cheering, and they were excited! It was awesome!

After the stadium lap, I pulled off to the side of the course to empty the gravel out of my shoes from that stupid trail. Woof.

By now, I was ready to be DONE.

I WANT MY MEDALS.

Yes. I want to go to there.

I'd been holding out hope that we'd get a last little jaunt through the parks - as I mentioned before, I hadn't read the course map very well beforehand, so maybe I'd missed one last lap through Disneyland or California Adventure? - but when we got to 12 I knew this was it. Bummer.

This course actually did not go through Downtown Disney. Just outside of it.

DONE!

I felt nothing but relief when crossing that finish line. I was so glad it was over! VERY rare for me for a Disney race. And remember how my pace had been 15:30ish earlier in the race? I ended up finishing with just over a 13:00/mile pace. I guess it's easy to negative split a Disney race when there's really nothing to stop for over the last 9 miles...

I walked through the post-race gauntlet to collect my bling. As far as I could tell, they didn't check anything for Dumbo. They did look at my Coast-to-Coast wristband though.

Yay!

I did not like this medal at all when I first saw the concept art. It's way better in person.

Seriously, who else is going to get a medal that has some 60th love on it?

And Dumbo...MAJ CUTE

And of course...the whole reason this trip happened in the first place (if I'm being completely honest here): the Coast-to-Coast medal.

Worth it!

Dressed mine up a little bit.

I cannot explain how glad I was that I did not have to run a marathon the next day like I did in January!!

Up next - our last afternoon in Disneyland.

 

[huggybuff]

Are there place where you can sit for the show?!

I've heard there are sections where you are able to sit. Then there are the seated sections reserved for the dinner packages at River Belle Terrace and Blue Bayou. I'm definitely doing Blue Bayou next trip!


LOOK AT ALL THAT BLING!!!

Congrats!

 

[ZellyB]

Great job and that bling is great!! I really like the half medal. I think it's different and really cool. And, yes, Dumbo is Maj Cute. But really, that Coast to Coast is incredible. I'm so jealous. I have to start working out a plan to get one.

I'm bummed to hear that the half wasn't a great race for you. That's been a worry of mine with doing a half at DL. I'd heard there was very limited park time. Glad there was at least a lot of entertainment along the way even if it wasn't Disney per se.

Congratulations!!!