Oh Dopey!! - January 2016 Trip Report & VLOGS *updated 02/21

[TheLittleKatie]

Pretty dress!

Rachel went for the 'Keen Eye for the Shepherd's Pie'

EWWWW

And I went for the Bangers and Booz

This looks good!

Sorry for the terrible pic... but guess what???! IT WAS FREE!!!

No way!

FINALLY IT WAS TIME TO LEAVE!!!! I think we were close to 3hrs in total at this meal... SERIOUSLY?!

That's outrageous! You'd think they'd be conscious of racers wanting to rush off to bed. Did you leave a full tip!?

We made our way out towards the buses and I'm sure I'm not the only one to comment on how crazy the Disney Springs bus area got (prior to the new changes which I HOPE have sorted this out) but it was CHAOS!!!

UGH I know, it was when I was there in Sept. The buses came pretty quickly but the waiting area just had people EVERYWHERE.

We reluctantly got ourselves out of bed at the horrible time of 3.15am.

EW

Looking forward to hearing about your 10k, that's the one that goes around the Epcot resorts right? I think that's the first one I would go for.

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 8 – Walt Disney World 10K

Friday 8th January 2016
Part 2 – Walt Disney World 10K Course

And we were OFF!!! There were lots of people running with ponchos on and I found the noise they were making quite amusing!

I don't think I've talked too much about our race strategy but for the most part we were on 5:1 run/walk intervals. We did however also walk at every water station and also stop in line for characters. We would skip a walk break if it really close to either.

The first mile was rather boring but passed by pretty quick so soon enough we are at our first marker

The only thing that was annoying me about the weather was my memories of Wine&Dine 2014 and the quite obvious lack of characters that were able to stay out. Sure enough we ran out of the car park area and on towards the overpass and our first two character stops were just empty shells as we ran past. This part of the course is really not very exciting so that was a shame.

I kept thinking to myself that the best part of the course was still ahead and hopefully the rain would stop!

Mile Marker 2 (so difficult with the light!!)

We continued running along following our intervals and the rain had started to let up... YAH!

I believe it was around mile marker 3 that we spotted Chip and Dale again in the same place as yesterday and with a rather long queue as it was the first stop for most so we decided to skip...

We did however stop at the marker

Next it was into the park!

Good morning Epcot

Such a rush coming into the World Showcase again, all of the lights were on too which made it even more pretty!

Dad stopped for a quick bathroom break so we took a selfie while we waited.

We got a good professional photo as we were running around the World Showcase, I think the photos/photographers were a bit light from this race due to the weather but we were really keeping an eye out for them and managed to get some nice shots!

Mile 4 was just before the American pavilion, we stopped for a pic, I realise you can't see us very well but it's still proof we were there! AND you can take your picture in front of the mile markers FOR FREE so I knew Mam would appreciate it!

We carried on running around the showcase and posing like pros!

I missed out on this one

you'll notice in my photos that my number is a bit crumpled. All of these photos are from my Dad's account so luckily Marathonfoto allowed us to have all photos on all three accounts otherwise I never would have seen these. If you are getting the photo package make sure you keep your number visible!

Before we went out to the boardwalk Dad ran on ahead with the plan that he would get in line for the next character stop and we would join him shortly after (Dad’s proper speedy without us lot haha)

We caught up with him a few mins later at a Monsters Inc character stop with Mike and Sully and just as we made it up to Dad the girl from earlier that we’d given the mylar blanket to joined her Mam who was waiting in line just in front of my Dad. We chatted while we waited in line and they were really nice, the young girl was giving out about the rain and the cold but we were having a laugh about too so it passed the time.

Just as we get to towards the very front of the queue this random guy pulls in off the course and says ‘Do you mind if I go ahead of you I want to get a good time?’

Em…. WHAT?! Like we’re all just standing here waiting for the fun of it and our times don’t matter?! Ok so maybe I was having fun but that’s not the point, why should he not have to wait like everyone else?! What about the people behind us that had been waiting, maybe some of them were also conscious of their time too!!

Our faces must have said it all because I don’t remember anyone actually saying anything but he took the hint and ran off… So strange…

The people in line behind us were all so shocked at this guy!

Anyway… we made it to the top of the queue and got some nice photos before dashing off again

I love Sullys face in this like 'WHAT are these crazy people doing out running in the rain!'

Running around the boardwalk was fun! There were lots of people out in front of the hotels cheering us on despite the bad weather!

Again my Dad ran on ahead to the next character stop to get in line while myself and Rachel kept a steady pace. I was conscious of keeping my legs in the best condition possible for the two days to come..

We continued with our splits as we ran back towards Epcot and our next mile marker

Right after we completed our lap around the resorts it was time for our next character stop which was the fairy godmother. Again the same mother and daughter were beside us in line and we chatted some more, while in line there was a swap out and the replacement was tweedle dee and tweedle dum, I didn’t mind as either was a brand new meet and greet for us!

Time for some posing!


This was a really fun interaction and as the queue wasn't too bad we had a bit of a laugh with the characters as they posed with us

I remember really enjoying this last section, I had been sort of trying to ignore the fact that I had this nervous feeling in my stomach every time I thought about completing these four days, my injury problems during the year sat in the back of my mind and I was afraid that I could be starting to struggle by the end of the 10k. I was relieved that I felt fine, I felt comfortable and not at all pressured as I’d made myself keep my pace steady and easy.

Oh hey there Mr. Camera Man!

We came across our final character stop with absolutely no wait!

And before we knew it we were heading out towards the park exit! From leaving the Monsters Inc character stop the rest of the course seemed to fly by..

Look how happy we are!!

We came around towards the finisher shoot and hit our last mile marker

Just a little more to go! Coming around that last bend and spotting the finish line is such a great feeling

Think Dad was caught mid arm raise here

And we did it!!!

Check out Rachel trying to steal my limelight!

And just like that it was over!

We collected our medals, grabbed another myler blanket and headed over to get our photo taken

We were given snack boxes again and this time they were offering some extras so we got two each! FOR FREE!!

​

 

[rteetz]

Awesome job!

You got some great character photos and I like your plan where you had your dad run ahead and then met him. Ive heard of a lot of people doing that.

That guy who asked if he could skip in line is just nuts. I would've been like if you want a good time why are you stopping anyways?

They must've had extra snack boxes if they were giving two away!

 

[dancingtodisney]

I didn't run the 10K this year but I love the course for it. The rain was problematic for many but not much you can do about it. I came out about half way through the race and was cheering outside the Beach Club and it was lightly raining at that point. That was my first time spectating and I really enjoyed it.

I bet it's fun spectating a Disney race, everyone is so encouraging!

Love the trip report!

Aw thank you!!

That's outrageous! You'd think they'd be conscious of racers wanting to rush off to bed. Did you leave a full tip!?

I don't think we were as generous as other nights but we probably left a decent one considering the service!

UGH I know, it was when I was there in Sept. The buses came pretty quickly but the waiting area just had people EVERYWHERE.

From what I've seen it looks so much hoping.. here's hoping!

Looking forward to hearing about your 10k, that's the one that goes around the Epcot resorts right? I think that's the first one I would go for.

Ye the 10k course is so good! I would definitely recommend it!!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Awesome job!

You got some great character photos and I like your plan where you had your dad run ahead and then met him. Ive heard of a lot of people doing that.

That guy who asked if he could skip in line is just nuts. I would've been like if you want a good time why are you stopping anyways?

They must've had extra snack boxes if they were giving two away!

Thanks!! Ye it worked really well because Dad was happy to run a bit quicker and it saved us a couple of mins with each stop

It was so rude!!! We were lucky not to experience many rude people over the weekend but this really was unbelievable.. I actually thought he was joking when he first said it!

Ye lucky us! I still have some of the dried fruit packets lying around!

 

[ALEXandFAB]

We got a good professional photo as we were running around the World Showcase, I think the photos/photographers were a bit light from this race due to the weather but we were really keeping an eye out for them and managed to get some nice shots!

Goodness! You weren't kidding about the rain!

AND you can take your picture in front of the mile markers FOR FREE so I knew Mam would appreciate it!

Just as we get to towards the very front of the queue this random guy pulls in off the course and says ‘Do you mind if I go ahead of you I want to get a good time?’

No. He. Did. NOT! The nerve of that guy!

I love Sullys face in this like 'WHAT are these crazy people doing out running in the rain!'

You're so right!

Running around the boardwalk was fun! There were lots of people out in front of the hotels cheering us on despite the bad weather!

What a great thing to see others for you.

Look how happy we are!!

Great photo!

And we did it!!!

YEAH! Congratulations

 

[ZellyB]

Congrats on finishing up the 10K! It looks like you guys had a great time and you got some amazing photos.

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 8 – Walt Disney World 10K

Friday 8th January 2016
Part 3 – GIANT STITCH!

We made our way back to the resort to have a shower and freshen up

It felt so good to have a hot shower after all that rain!

I put my 10k race shirt on and took a selfie with my medal

I LOVE the Minnie medal and shirt! So cute!

We had fastpasses and a lunch reservation at MK so we caught the bus over. It was raining out again so we got our ponchos on. First on our to do list was to meet Minnie, it was her race day after all!

It was really quiet in the meet and greet so we got lots of photos! Minnie was really excited to see herself on our shirts…

Running poses!!

Daisy was excited for us too and we told her that we would be running Donalds Half Marathon tomorrow and that it was twice as long! She was very impressed!

Here she is giving us some encouragement

When we came out of the meet and greet there was a CM that was FULL OF LIFE like super excited that he had people to talk to and he was holding a GIANT Stitch. He stopped us and somehow we ended up trying to walk across this white line on the floor backwards with the giant Stitch on our back… So so random but pretty funny!

Here we are posing with Stitch… we also had to dance with Stitch and got stickers!

We had lunch reservations at BOG so we strolled in that direction. There were lots of people wearing their shirts and medals and we got lots of congratulations and smiles from other runners.

We hadn’t pre-ordered our lunch as I wasn’t sure how it would work with our dining plan however the queue seemed just as long for those who had. We waited first just outside the door for a short while, the CM managing the line was in good spirits! ​

And then queued inside alongside the knights… I love how they randomly sneeze and stuff as your queuing!

Hmmmm which cupcake to go for?! ​

As we were placing our order I explained to the CM that we were on the dining plan and so we had desert included (FOR FREE) and she was punching our orders away and didn’t really seem to be listening. Mam was looking a bit anxious now as she ordered and I could tell she was questioning the system, was the CM going to give us lunch AND desert FOR FREE!?? ​

Something went wrong anyway and the cupcakes ended up not being on our receipt and so she said we needed to notify the CM that brought our lunch… a bit odd but we went and found a table. It was really crowded and there was literally no free tables!! We waited in the library for a few mins for other guests to finish up and then grabbed a table.


We again waited quite a long time for our lunch, I really felt today like they had overbooked this lunch, the service was slow and there were always people looking for a table.
Our food arrived and we explained about the cupcakes. The CM didn’t understand why they hadn’t been ordered for us and went off to see what she could do.
I went for my usual croque monsieur as did Rachel

Dad got the carved turkey sandwich

And Mam went for the Tuna Nicoise Salad…

I also got soup which I must have forgotten to photograph, most likely because I demolished it! The potato and leek soup at BOG is always really good! Dad tried the french onion soup and Rachel got the potato and leek as well.
Unfortunately and I’m assuming it’s related to the long delay but Rachel’s French fries arrived stone cold. I got the attention of the same CM after quite a while as she was very busy and asked for fresh chips and again asked about the cupcakes.

We got replacement chips about 10mins later and polished off our food (running makes me hungry) and waited for our desert….. and waited….. and waited… We asked a different CM after giving up hope on the first and I ended up having to go back out to the ordering screen to process an order for the cupcakes as they weren’t on our receipt and then finally we got these bad boys

​

​

I’m really sad to say that I was so unimpressed with this lunch
It makes me sad because lunch at BOG has been one of my best memories of the past two trips. I remember the first time we went which was back when you had to queue to in and it was such an experience, the CM’s were so in character and told us that it was the masters castle and he knew where all his guests sat. The food was always delicious and even though at lunch it was busy you could always find a seat. I was really sad that my parents weren’t getting to experience the same special atmosphere and they both said there weren’t that impressed with lunch. I actually omitted BOG originally from our plans for our trip next month but I do now have a lunch reservation and I’m hoping that if we go it’ll restore my faith. Has anyone else noticed a change or do you think maybe we were just unlucky this day?

I also just want to add that even despite my complaints from dinner last night and lunch today we were still having such a fun and amazing time. I hold all my Disney experiences in such high regard that I guess I expect a lot but we are not the type of family to let small things like this really impact on our trip. Also I think having our early starts and the pressure of the runs hanging over us made anything that involved extra waiting around or less sleep far more significant.

Anyway..... on with show!

Due to the delay with lunch we were just outside of our fastpass window for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (more than 15mins outside) but we decided to chance it and head over anyway. I explained to the CM that we got held up at lunch and he was happy to let us ride. Mam sat this one out, probably a sensible decision after a big lunch!

Again when I’ve checked my photos I don’t seem to have this ride photo either… Make sure you check your ride photos are coming through while you’re still in the parks!

I love this ride so much! I always sing along in the mine!

Next up our fastpass window had opened to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel. Cinderella was very interested in our medals and was telling us how she prefers to travel by horse and carriage.

This Cinderella had really good chat! I find Cinderella usually doesn't have as much to say as some of the other princesses!

Seriously... how happy do my parents look?!

Next was Rapunzel...

She was not as chatty as Cinderella but did congratulate us on our race

We came out and I checked the wait times on my phone, Under the Sea had a 15min wait so we went there next...

After that we walked around to futureworld and got on Space Mountain while Mam waited outside, the weather had cleared up by now!

Our rocket was arriving soon..

Ready to launch

No ride photo again... boo

We hopped on the people move next

I was sat beside Mam and started winding her up saying 'please don't be mad Mam but this is a roller coaster!!' Rachel joined in too, we are so evil

We decided that was enough park time today, we started walking towards the exit and stopped on Main Street for some photos

The CM was really good and was getting us to do some poses

And the all important shot

We got the monorail back to the car and then drove back to the expo, we had yet to purchase our voucher for the official photographs for our runs so we picked up to order our photos with when we were back home. The expo was really quiet at this time (about 4pm) and it was a quick process!

​

 

[ZellyB]

You got some wonderful pictures. Love that one with your parents in front of the castle!!

 

[chelynnah]

BOG lunch and dinner in November last year were great. We did wait longer at lunch to get in than for dinner, but the food and service was pretty quick. Our 'lunch' was 10:45am

We preordered our meals. I think this makes a huge difference, even if you jutst preorder the night before. Then everything's there and accounted for.

I'm glad you've been before. I'd hate for that to have been your first experience and be put off going back.

 

[rteetz]

It's been a while since I've had lunch at BoG but that sucks that it was quite slow and problematic. My guess is it was just an off day. I'm a big fan of that grey stuff cupcake.

I'm glad the CM at mine train let you guys in. That ride is always fun!

Great pictures on Main Street!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 8 – Walt Disney World 10K​

Friday 8th January 2016​

Part 4 – Kona Cafe​

Dinner this evening was at Kona Café which was a first for all of us! I’ve great things about Kona so I excited to try it but I was also super tired and praying that we wouldn’t be out really late again.

We drove to the Polynesian and made our way inside​

​

We checked in and were a bit worried that we might be left waiting quite a while as there was a lot of people waiting outside but luckily it was 10mins max and we were called to be seated.

Our waitress was lovely! We told her that we were on the dining plan and she recommended a drink for us to get with our meal… FOR FREE! I believe it was the All-Natural Lemonade but it came out looking like a cocktail which was impressive and it was really delicious!


First up was the Sweet Bread and Macadamia nut butter which really doesn’t look like much but O…M…G it was delicious

We ended up getting seconds when our waitress saw how quickly we had demolished it, we of course justified it as ‘carb loading’ for our run the next day haha​

​

Our drinks (we all went for the lemonade)

I’d heard good things about the steak so that’s what I ordered and Dad went for the same

Rachel wanted sushi so ordered the California Luau Roll

The food was really nice and our whole dining experience was just so more relaxing and enjoyable tonight which is exactly what you want when you’ve got to run a half marathon the next morning.

For desert I went for the Crème Brulee (I might have eaten some before I remember to take photos)

Rachel and Dad opted for the Kilauea Torte

And Mam chose the Chocolate Fondue

All were delicious but we were pretty full up and even with help from the rest of us the fondue went unfinished.

The waitress then brought us over what I believe were coconut macaroons, they were nice if maybe a little dry but we were so full up I think we only managed a couple

Fed and watered we went back to the car and drove back to our room. We got ourselves ready for the next morning, laying out our outfits and setting our alarms for stupid o’clock.

Next up is the Disneyworld Half Marathon!​

 

[rteetz]

Dinner looks great. I can't wait to hear about the half since I did that race too!

 

[dancingtodisney]

You got some wonderful pictures. Love that one with your parents in front of the castle!!

Thank you!! I've got lots of great pics from this trip, especially of Mam and Dad, they're such posers!

BOG lunch and dinner in November last year were great. We did wait longer at lunch to get in than for dinner, but the food and service was pretty quick. Our 'lunch' was 10:45am

We preordered our meals. I think this makes a huge difference, even if you jutst preorder the night before. Then everything's there and accounted for.

I'm glad you've been before. I'd hate for that to have been your first experience and be put off going back.

Ok well we've got a reservation for our trip in August so fingers crossed it's back to being as good as before! I love Beauty and the Beast so I was so excited when this place opened!

It's been a while since I've had lunch at BoG but that sucks that it was quite slow and problematic. My guess is it was just an off day. I'm a big fan of that grey stuff cupcake.

I'm glad the CM at mine train let you guys in. That ride is always fun!

Great pictures on Main Street!

I do like the grey stuff cupcake! I prefer it to the option you get at dinner...
YES! I can't help but sing along either on that ride!

Thank you!

 

[Ariel484]

Okay - whaaaat is with the guy who wanted to cut in line?! I am so glad he didn't get his way! Not cool.

You guys got some great pictures at the race, and I love the jacket picture! So sad about your BoG lunch. I hope it's better during your next trip!!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 9 – Walt Disney World Half Marathon

Saturday 9th January 2016
Part 1 – RUNNERS... ARE YOU READY?!


Morning came faster than I would have liked! I felt quite groggy getting up and could feel the tiredness of the last few days. Luckily my legs were feeling good which is obviously a massive plus.

We got ourselves up and followed what had become our usual routine of getting dressed, making a bagel with peanut butter and heading out to the car.

I usually run with my running belt which has two 8oz water bottle but for the 5k and 10k I’d just worn my fitbelt and I decided to do the same again today, the water stops are so frequent I never felt like I needed additional fluid. This turned out to be a great decision!


We arrived at Epcot just after 4am and parked up. There was a lot more traffic this morning due to the higher volume of people attending but it was still super quick and easy to drive. We got out and took our usual myler blanket, we didn’t take the ponchos as the weather was clear and we weren’t particularly cold.

I also had a plastic bag with some nutrition supplies that we would be eating or packing in our belts for the run.

Then we saw this

A CRAZY line for bag check to get through to the staging area. There were CM’s letting guests know that if they didn’t have a bag or a running belt with a ZIP that they could come through the no bag entry. So we quickly popped back to the car dropped off the plastic bag and took just what we needed in our belts and hands (flipbelts have no zips) and skipped what was at least a 20min queue to get in. This was another handy thing about the car!

We came through to the staging area and knowing that the corals would be a bit of a walk away we decided to head straight there. For the 5k and 10k we had our starting corals just off the staging area and it took 5mins max to get there, for the half and the full you have to walk around and around to Epcot Centre Drive I believe.

As we passed through what I think was the bag check area the Green Army Man was giving us some words of encourage/abuse!

We went to the loos on the other side which didn’t have much of a wait and then followed the signs and CM’s directions out towards our Coral.

These guys were practically begging people to stop for a photo and I felt bad so we stopped haha

We made it to our Coral, for the half and full my Dad and I had managed to scrape into coral H because we ran a race in London together in late September, Rachel had run back in Dublin in August at a slightly slower time so her coral was I. You are permitted to drop down a coral so of course me and Dad went to I with Rachel.

Today felt like a much bigger deal. The whole set up was bigger and more extravagant and this made me more nervous!


There was entertainment from the announcers to keep us distracted and there was a big screen so we knew what was going on. We sat on the floor, had the last bit of our nutrition and waited. Before we were ready to start!

We had a lot more corals to wait for this time but it seemed to move rather quickly.

We inched closer and closer to the front

RUNNERS… ARE YOU READY???!


3……..2………1…….GO!

​

 

[dancingtodisney]

Okay - whaaaat is with the guy who wanted to cut in line?! I am so glad he didn't get his way! Not cool.

You guys got some great pictures at the race, and I love the jacket picture! So sad about your BoG lunch. I hope it's better during your next trip!!

I couldn't believe it! He seemed to have no idea why we were all looking him funny!

Thank you! I've so many photos from this trip! I'm using that as my excuse for this TR taking so long hahaha

 

[ZellyB]

Dinner looks delicious and the desserts even better!!!

So excited to hear about the half. I love the shirts you guys have for the race.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I've been reading along from the beginning and loving this trip report. I think I've posted a few times here. I noticed your "Not So Scary Very Merry Wine and Dine Dashing" link and I just finished reading that one as well. I think it's so special that you and your sister are making such wonderful memories traveling together. Waiting for the next update...Great job!

 

[rteetz]

Wow thats a long line! I got there super early so I didn't have any line problems even though I didn't check a bag.

I was in corral H for the half.

This was my first half and yes it was such a bigger deal and it was a little nerve racking at first but once the count down and fireworks go off the adrenaline is pumping and I was ready to go. I can't wait to hear about your race experience.