The Trip That's Happening a Year Early - A Marathon Weekend 2017 PTR Update:12/22 - Day Seven Plans

fallonkendra

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 2, 2015
I can't believe I'm about to do this. We had a plan, and it was going to be perfect.

We went to Disneyland in April 2015 (worth noting - we went to Anaheim for NHL playoff hockey and just filled the days in between games with going to Disney parks), fell in love with it, came home and decided on going to Walt Disney World in January 2016 (link to that trip report and the dining report in my signature!). Luke decided while on our last trip to aim for a full marathon (he ran the 10km on that trip), so we decided we would be back to WDW in January 2018 for Marathon Weekend - giving him enough time to train properly and work up to a long distance. In order to satisfy our thirst for Disney, we would head back to Disneyland in 2017 (which is much closer for us, living in western Canada), either for Stars Wars race weekend in January or TinkerBell race weekend in May so he could run a half marathon.

Then, Valentine's Day weekend rolled around, and being the romantics that we are, we headed to an NHL game between our beloved Oilers (we live in Edmonton) and Luke's hometown team of the Winnipeg Jets. We even sprang for seats not in the nosebleed section! (Even the cheapest seats here are $75+...). As luck would have it, it was Jordan Eberle's 400th career game in the league, and to celebrate they were hosting an in-game contest - you just had to create funny captions for pictures they put up on the Jumbotron using twitter, and include your seat number. The top three as chosen by members of the Oilers social media staff were then paraded out in front of everyone, and the entire audience was shown the three captions. Then, they went through the captions again one by one and had the audience cheer for their favourite. Out of the 16,000 people there, I think 15,000 of them cheered for Luke - it wasn't even close... Now onto his prize for winning - an all-expenses paid trip to Anaheim to see the Oilers play the Ducks, and he was allowed to bring me along! So two weeks later (thank goodness we both keep our passports up to date at all times) we were flown to LA with a group of other winners from various contests, along with a writer from Sportsnet and a representative of the Oilers. From there, we were bussed to a hotel in Anaheim, and then off for a private tour of the hockey arena, followed by supper and row 6 seats to watch the game.
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After the game ended, the group decided they wanted to go for a few drinks, so I quickly suggested Downtown Disney to get my Disney fix! Everyone agreed, and the entire group headed to House of Blues and proceeded to get drunk - except me - I went to World of Disney and spent a few hours browsing and doing some shopping :lovestruc. The next day was a Saturday, and it was up to us how we wanted to spend it - so of course Luke and I decided on Disneyland! We originally booked an early breakfast reservation for the Plaza Inn, but decided to cancel it the night before when we found out that another surprise of our trip was that we were in the same hotel as the entire Oilers team, and they had arranged for a few of them to meet us on the Saturday morning. I'm sorry Minnie Mouse, but meeting Connor McDavid will win over the Plaza Inn every time...

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Just look at my big goofy grin! This was an exciting moment in my life, and worth cancelling a reservation for...And yes, I was already wearing my Lilo and Stitch dress, ready for the day! Once the team had all loaded onto their bus and drove away to head to the airport, Luke and I caught a cab and headed straight to Disneyland, where we bought park-hoppers and put in a solid 14 hour day (Disneyland Park was open until midnight!).

Once we were back in Edmonton, we got to talking about future Disney trips and we realized we now really wanted to go back to Florida! Don't get me wrong, we both LOVE California and Disneyland, but you really only need 3 days to fully cover the two parks and we try to get away for at least a week every January to escape the snow and cold. That means we'd be looking at other things to do, probably renting a car and driving to San Diego or something, changing hotels a few times, etc. Plus, we hadn't planned on being back to DL at all in 2016, and even though we only had a single day we covered both parks really well (and the only cost was admission since our flights and hotel were paid for by the Oilers!). So it was then decided - we were going back to Orlando in January 2017 so Luke could run the half marathon there!

Also - our plan is still to go back again for marathon weekend 2018, so it's shaping up to be three WDW January trips in a row! We'd also like to get back to DL at some point, either 2017 or 2018 so Luke can run another half marathon and get his coast to coast medal :)
 
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Index:

April 1, 2016 - The details!
April 2, 2016 - Who are we?
April 5, 2016 - Flights
April 8, 2016 - Accommodations (Part One)
April 26, 2016 - Race Registration
April 28, 2016 - Food! (Part One)
June 3, 2016 - Accommodations (Part Two)
June 8, 2016 - Food! (Part Two)
July 5, 2016 - Food! (Part Three)
July 7, 2016 - ADR Day!
July 12, 2016 - ADR Day #2
July 27, 2016 - Updates
August 16, 2016 - A Disney Purchase!
August 23, 2016 - Is it too Early to be Planning Our Next Trip?!
August 25, 2016 - The Budget :scared1:
September 7, 2016 - Life Updates
September 15, 2016 - New Brunswick Mini TR - Part One
September 16, 2016 - New Brunswick Mini TR - Part Two
September 19, 2016 - Canadian Savings!
September 25, 2016 - Running a 5km!
September 29, 2016 - Changes!
October 5, 2016 - More trips?
October 16, 2016 - FP+ Day is Approaching!
October 21, 2016 - And Another ADR Was Added...
October 26, 2016 - Decisions!
November 1, 2016 - Day One Plans!
November 3, 2016 - Autographs
November 4, 2016 - Update
November 10, 2016 - Day Two Plans
November 28, 2016 - Day Three Plans
December 1, 2016 - Day Four Plans
December 12, 2016 - Day Five Plans
December 19, 2016 - Day Six Plans
December 22, 2016 - Day Seven Plans
 
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The details!

Why: We decided to go back at the same time we were there this year - marathon weekend! Luke ran in the 10km race in 2016, and set a personal goal to run the full marathon in 2018 (hence our 2018 trip), and he will be *hopefully* running in the half-marathon during this trip. (I say hopefully because race registration has not opened yet, and the races sell out fairly quickly). Update: Luke is now registered for the half marathon, and we're both registered for the 5km race two days before that!

Who: As of right now, it will just be my boyfriend of 3 years, Luke, and myself. We're trying to convince others to join us, so we can force them into becoming Disney nerds like us - so far it isn't working.

When: The half marathon is January 7th, 2017, so that's the date we're building the trip around. Update: Now that flights are booked, our dates are set: January 3-12, 2017

Where: I'm determined to rent DVC points for this trip, but we're already within that 11 month window so it could be tricky. I submitted a reservation form to David's already... Update: The first five nights will be at Old Key West, and the last four nights of our trip will be at Saratoga Springs!
 
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Who Are We?

We are the two people in the middle, and we are unfortunately no where near as cool as those two on the ends.


My name is Fallon, I'm the one wearing the Bambi sweater. I turned 28 on our January 2016 trip to Orlando and I work as a welding inspector in the oil and gas industry in Alberta (I tend to get some weird looks when I first tell people what I do, I know I don't look like a typical tradesperson...). I was originally born in the Maritimes, but have lived in Edmonton, Alberta for almost 6 years now.

That fellow wearing the British indie-band t-shirt is Luke. He works as a creative writer for a bunch of radio stations here in Edmonton. He was originally born in Manitoba, but has called Alberta home for over a decade now.

We've been together for almost 3 years now, and bought a house together just a little over a year ago. We share our house with a little zoo:

These guys are called degus. They're related to chinchillas and guinea pigs, but they're much smaller. We own 7 of them - these 5 are brothers from the same litter. These 5 are Allan, Hans, Bruce Springsteen and the Ryan twins (Smitty and Getzlaf, both named after NHL hockey players). The two not pictured are Doug and X.


This is our only female pet. She's sweet and cuddly until she decides she's had enough and bites you. She also cost us quite a bit in vet bills recently, but whatever it takes to make her feel better!


This chubby guy is basically just a cranky old man (especially when I try to dress him up)...until you pull out his brush or the other animals are all napping - then he's the cuddliest cat in the world...


This might be the happiest dog in the world. We adopted him from a rescue last summer, and he did not have the greatest start to life:( He'll enjoy the rest of his life in comfort though! He's super lazy, but will leapfrog over the back of the couch as soon as you pick up his leash for walk time. Luke even takes him running with him sometimes!


This little guy was also a rescue dog. He's the baby of all our pets, and he's a huge sook. He sleeps on our bed in between Luke and I every night, and is currently asleep on my lap as I type this. This picture was taken on our trip to the Rocky Mountains last summer for my best friend's wedding.


So that's our family! I'll get into Disney stuff in the next post!
 
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A bit more about us:

Fallon's Disney story: My love for Disney story is not like most people's ("I've loved Disney my whole life!" - isn't me) I was like any other child of the late 80's, I grew up watching The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, etc. When Toy Story first came out, I was 7 and I LOVED that movie (Yes, I realize Pixar was not owned by Disney at that point). I stopped being really into animated movies at a fairly young age though, and only wanted to watch movies with real people in them. I did watch Monsters Inc and Shrek (yes, I know, not Disney) a couple dozen times each as a teenager while babysitting though... The next time I saw an animated movie in theatre was in 2010 when Toy Story 3 came out. I then went another couple of years without watching many animated movies, until I went to see Magic Mike with a few girlfriends, and it was sold out so we ended up at Brave instead (because those are TOTALLY similar movies hahahaha). When I first started dating Luke, an early conversation ended up being about movies, and my lack of knowledge of them (and not just animated Disney/Pixar movies, I hadn't seen most classics at that point...). Within the first month of dating, Luke had made me watch Wall-E and Up, two of his favourites (and yes, he owned the entire Pixar library up to that point). Since then, I have caught up on quite a few "classic movies I can't believe you've never watched!" and we have been to see every Pixar movie released since then in theatre, either through pre-screening events or on opening night, and we own them all as well. I am a much bigger Disney fan as an adult then I was as a child, and it has only grown since our first trip to Disneyland in April 2015!
 
Following along!
Good decision to go in 2017 instead of waiting until 2018. You may get to go in 2018 too!
You have a beautiful family! We are down to three non-human family members but my daughter is constantly trying to get me to agree to adopt a couple of cats and a dog. Or a couple of dogs and a cat. and a horse would be nice but our house is not big enough;)
Looking forward to the next update!
 
I'm here to follow along with your planning!

Yay for another runDisney trip. I know a few people who ran the half this year and really loved it. I hope Luke gets in!!

Also ... I'm highly entertained that two of your degus are named after NHL players. All of your pets are adorable!
 


I'm here to follow along with your planning!

Yay for another runDisney trip. I know a few people who ran the half this year and really loved it. I hope Luke gets in!!

Also ... I'm highly entertained that two of your degus are named after NHL players. All of your pets are adorable!

Yay! I'm so glad you're here to follow along!

Luke even has me *almost* convinced to sign up for the 5km with him - he thinks it would be the perfect length to run 2 days before a half, especially if he's with me - someone who has never run in my life... So we'll see.

I am a huge hockey fan (see my first post in this trip report haha), so it was only natural that I name some degus after NHL players. Plus, the day we adopted them from the SPCA was Ryan Smyth day in Edmonton (the day he played his last game before retiring from the league) so I had to name one after him :)
 
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Flights!

This past weekend, we were googling prices of flights for next January just to see how they compared to what we paid for our trip this year. We found the exact flight we actually took this year for only a few dollars more, but we really didn't want to have 2 connections again. A WestJet flight popped up (our favourite Canadian airline) that only had one connection and landed in Orlando in the afternoon (hours earlier than we landed this year!). The return flight was with Delta (our favourite American airline) and again had only one connection. We talked about it for a bit and realized we really want this trip to happen, so we booked it! Flights are now paid for and there's no cancelling allowed! Now that we have money invested, it makes the trip that much more real - so look out WDW, we're coming for 9 nights in January 2017!
 
Luke even has me *almost* convinced to sign up for the 5km with him - he thinks it would be the perfect length to run 2 days before a half, especially if he's with me - someone who has never run in my life... So we'll see.

The 5km race is really a great distance, even if you're not normally a runner. It's short enough that it won't feel like torture, it's amazing to be running through Epcot early in the morning ... and they don't really time it, so if at any point you feel like you can't run anymore, you can walk. You should do it!!
And it will definitely be a good "warm up" race for Luke before the half!

Congrats on having your flights booked - that means the trip is definitely more real!
 
The 5km race is really a great distance, even if you're not normally a runner. It's short enough that it won't feel like torture, it's amazing to be running through Epcot early in the morning ... and they don't really time it, so if at any point you feel like you can't run anymore, you can walk. You should do it!!
And it will definitely be a good "warm up" race for Luke before the half!

Congrats on having your flights booked - that means the trip is definitely more real!

Thanks Sarah! I'm really considering it! I guess we'll see in a few weeks when registration opens up - our first priority is to get Luke into the half marathon, and then we'll try and register for the 5km. I've walked that distance many times (most Saturday mornings we'll get up and take our dogs for an hour+ walk which I think is usually around 4km...it's just the upgrading to a running pace that frightens me haha.

Not only do we have our flights booked, but we also have 4 nights (out of our 9 night stay) booked and paid for! I'll try and do an update on that later tonight :)
 
Accommodations!

As I mentioned above, I submitted a request to rent DVC points for our trip. I didn't mind staying at All Star Music on our January 2016 trip, but I really wanted to experience something nicer this go around. My first choice was Boardwalk - that place is beautiful! But, of course by the time we decided to actually make this trip happen we were already within the 11 month window and that is a very sought after location, so there was zero availability. I decided then we should do a split stay, so we could see two different DVC resorts! Based on the flights we've already booked, we will be in Orlando for 9 days, so it just made sense to split our stay into 5 nights at one location, and 4 nights at another. We're still waiting to hear back on our 5 night stay, but the last 4 nights of our vacation are already booked and paid for - we're staying in a Deluxe Studio at Saratoga Springs!

Look at how pretty it is! (and yes, these are from a google image search, I did not take these myself)


I love the idea of being so close to Disney Springs from there! We know we want to make up for needing to cancel our 1900 Park Fare reservations on our last trip, so it will be super handy to just walk to Disney Springs and catch a bus straight to the Grand Floridian, without needing to transfer buses at one of the parks. I might also use that as an excuse to get to the Polynesian to try Tonga Toast or some drinks at Trader Sam's...
 
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Saratoga Springs! Awesome! That's one of the resorts that I definitely want to stay at some day - the proximity to Disney Springs is definitely a selling point!
 
Saratoga Springs! Awesome! That's one of the resorts that I definitely want to stay at some day - the proximity to Disney Springs is definitely a selling point!

I'm really excited! And the price wasn't bad at all by renting points! Yes, I'm sure we could have stayed at a value resort for less, but I think it will be so nice to splurge a little and enjoy a higher quality resort :)
 
Following along!
Good decision to go in 2017 instead of waiting until 2018. You may get to go in 2018 too!
You have a beautiful family! We are down to three non-human family members but my daughter is constantly trying to get me to agree to adopt a couple of cats and a dog. Or a couple of dogs and a cat. and a horse would be nice but our house is not big enough;)
Looking forward to the next update!

I apologize, I somehow missed your message before! I'm sorry for not replying to this earlier!

We are still planning on going again in 2018! My boyfriend ran the 10km race this year, and the plan is for him to run the half marathon in 2017 and the full marathon in 2018! He also has me convinced to run the 5km in 2017 - but I've never run before in my life. We'll see how this goes haha.

People always make jokes about my "personal zoo". If I had the space and the money, I'd have even more haha.

Thanks for reading along!
 
Race Registration

Registration for marathon weekend officially opened this morning, and it is now official! I will be running my first ever 5km race - and at WDW no less! Luke is also registered for the 5km so he can run with me, and then two days later he will be tackling the half marathon (only his second one ever, and his first one was back in 2013). This is exciting!

Now that we know for sure that we have two very early mornings, we can start planning our days!
 
Race Registration

Registration for marathon weekend officially opened this morning, and it is now official! I will be running my first ever 5km race - and at WDW no less! Luke is also registered for the 5km so he can run with me, and then two days later he will be tackling the half marathon (only his second one ever, and his first one was back in 2013). This is exciting!

Now that we know for sure that we have two very early mornings, we can start planning our days!

Congrats! I heard those booked up fast this morning!
 
Congrats on getting registered for the races!! The 5km will be a lot of fun ... there's really nothing like running through a fairly empty Epcot early in the morning with everything all lit up. It's amazing!

And I'm sure Luke will love the half marathon!
 
Congrats! I heard those booked up fast this morning!

I checked about an hour after registration opened, and the 5km and 10km were both already sold out. I guess all those years of buying an insane amount of concert tickets paid off, we know to sign in about 15 minutes before anything goes on sale, and then be refreshing the page until ticket sales open (or in this case, race registration haha).

Congrats on getting registered for the races!! The 5km will be a lot of fun ... there's really nothing like running through a fairly empty Epcot early in the morning with everything all lit up. It's amazing!

And I'm sure Luke will love the half marathon!

I'm really excited for it! Worst case scenario, I just walk it. I already know I can walk that distance without being sore, we walk more than that in a typical park day. I'm guessing you won't be attending marathon weekend in 2017?

Luke is getting excited to run another half. His run-club instructor just got back from running the Boston marathon and was showing him the medal she got there, so it made him excited about long-distance running again, and he ran almost 9km last night. I'm not going to join any run clubs, but the two of us will probably start running together this summer - our dogs love it when he takes them on his short runs but it'll be much easier with both of us.

Now to start thinking of costumes!
 
I'm really excited for it! Worst case scenario, I just walk it. I already know I can walk that distance without being sore, we walk more than that in a typical park day. I'm guessing you won't be attending marathon weekend in 2017?

Yep, we're skipping marathon weekend next year. I'm a little sad, but hopefully we'll get to do a different race weekend, and I want to go back for marathon weekend at some point in the future.
A lot of people walk the 5Ks, so if you do end up walking, you'll be in good company. The walkers are a lot of fun :)
 

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