~We Are Flying 1000 Miles to Run 13?!?-NEW TRIP REPORT LINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CAStevens218]

Okay a few things I HAVE to tell you. #1 I was going to comment on how I was there at the same time. I went with my cousin from Jan 6 - 15th. but then I was reading how you said you had a 6:30am flight and got in at 9am and a 1/2 hour early and I started thinking our flight did too! Then I read the part about CT and I totally think we were on the same SW BDL flight on the 6th! How crazy is that! Except I parked in the long term lot and glad to see there was no snow when I got back. Once I finish my report from December I will be starting on my January TR and we'll have to look for each other in the photos! Congrats on the half marathon!

How funny! We were definitely there at the same time, and probably at BDL at the same time, but we flew JetBlue this time! There must have been some kind of super fast jetstream working in our favor that morning! I’m sure we walked right by each other in the airport!!!!

I’m glad your car wasn’t buried when you got back! That would be such a pain!

I will definitely follow along with your trip report!

How fun! Glad you had a great time at your concert!!

Thanks, it was great!!!!!!

 

[CAStevens218]

Happy Friday! When I left off (pre-Kelly Clarkson interruption ), we had gone back to the hotel after lunch in Downtown Disney and my brother, Ben and I were heading out for the evening to experience our first park of the trip!

Where did we go?

Hollywood Studios! We all know I neeeeeded to ride Tower of Terror!!! Plus, we were hoping it would get dark early enough to see the Osborne Lights...but with the half marathon in the morning, I wanted to be back at the hotel pretty early.

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and we were sooo happy to be in Florida! Our first stop was the times board to see what the wait times were like.

Rockin' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and Star Tours all had pretty long waits, so we looked for something else to do in hopes that the wait times would drop later on.

We finally made a decision about our destination and headed on our way.

Here are a few pictures from our walk...

Very soon, we arrived a our destination...The Great Movie Ride!

We had picked this ride because the time board said 5 minutes, and it was definitely a walk on!

Join us for a ride through the movies!

Dan seemed to enjoy it, and I know I did, but Ben likes a little more excitement in his rides, especially when he is running on 3 hours of sleep! I think he took a little nap...

After the ride, we headed back to the times board to see what wait times were like in the rest of the park. Tower of Terror was listed as 20 minutes, so we headed that way!

Wooohooo!!!!!

The line was probably a true 20 minute wait, but it went by fast because we had so much to talk about...we had to discuss the entire week ahead of us!

Of course, I also entertained myself taking pictures!

You can tell we've had a looooong day in this picture!

Soon, we were in the room with the video...

Almost there!!

We all really enjoyed our ride! I was glad we got Dan on this on his first day! My dad always tells the story of when we rode Tower of Terror on our trip in the 90's. My brother was probably about 5, and the three of us rode. We got into the elevator and when the ride got to the top, the part where you see the ghosts and it starts to move forward, he asked my dad, "Can we get off now????" Of course, that was NOT an option!! I'm sure Dan ended up loving the ride on that trip, just as he did this time! I got no complaints from his about riding this over and over again later in the week!

I would have gone again immediately, but the line looked pretty long by the time we came around. I knew we would have PLENTY of opportunities to ride more as the week went on, so we headed off to see what else we could find to entertain us for the evening!

Next Time...the end of our evening at Hollywood Studios!

 

[tankgirl427]

LOL, we really did have the same trip since we starting at HS on our first day with very little sleep. I'm going to keep looking for us in your photos, who knows!

 

[jc040404]

Crazy woman!! I'll never understand how you can love Tower if Terror so much! That thing is too crazy scary for me! Just reading about it makes my heart race sometimes. I do like the pics though. Everything looks awesome in there. Too bad about that scary ride waiting at the end of the line! Glad your brother liked it this time!

 

[CAStevens218]

LOL, we really did have the same trip since we starting at HS on our first day with very little sleep. I'm going to keep looking for us in your photos, who knows!

HAHA Who needs sleep when there is fun to be had!!! It would be too funny we if we showed up in each other's pictures!

Crazy woman!! I'll never understand how you can love Tower if Terror so much! That thing is too crazy scary for me! Just reading about it makes my heart race sometimes. I do like the pics though. Everything looks awesome in there. Too bad about that scary ride waiting at the end of the line! Glad your brother liked it this time!

I just love it, I can't help it!!! I love that you never know what your drop sequence is going to be!

I was glad Dan liked it too....I knew he was happy to be on vacation, but I wasn't sure how much he would enjoy the parks...turns out he loved them!!

 

[CAStevens218]

When I left off, we were spending our first evening at Hollywood Studios and had just take a ride on Tower of Terror...

We walked over to Rockin' Roller Coaster next...

...but the wait time was 70 minutes, so we snapped a picture...

...and headed on our way. We would be able to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster later in the week!

We weren't sure exactly what we wanted to do, but we knew we didn't want to wait in any long lines. We decided to just take a stroll around and see the sights around the park.

Here's our little tour...

Trying to look like he was leaning on the car...so silly! Although I guess it might have looked cool if the barriers weren't there!

While we were in the back of the park near the Streets of America, we made the decision to skip the Osborne Lights. It was staying light much later than I expected based on when it gets dark in CT this time of year, and I really wanted to be able to relax and get a good night of sleep before the half marathon. I had been looking forward to the lights, but in the end, I was okay with the decision and knew it was the right one to make. We pretty much just made a giant circle of the park...

Ben told me to act like a monkey...

It was a gorgeous evening!!

We were having a fabulous time just strolling around and talking about the amazing week we were going to have!

We stopped at this great photopass spot...and of course the guy took a blurry picture with my camera...oh well!

Dan took a picture of me and Ben...

And we decided to make our way back to the hotel for the night. Of course, I snapped some pictures on the walk out...

I'm pretty sure we were back at the hotel by 6 or 630, which was perfect to grab some dinner in the food court at Pop Century and settle in for the night. Dad and I got our carbs in with the chicken alfredo dinner at Pop...yum!!

We settled in early, which was pretty easy since we had barely slept the night before and had been up since 3AM!

Before I knew it, it was 3AM again and my alarm was going off!

Up Next....It's Half Marathon Time!!!!!

 

[jc040404]

70 minutes? Yikes. I'd skip that for a walking tour, too. (I've never been on that ride though!) I love the way DHS looks at night, even if we're rarely in it then!

Loved the car leaning picture. That was clever! Your monkey pic is great, too. Where was that Pluto at? I don't think we saw him at all. It's too cute!

3am again?? Can't wait to read about the marathon!

 

[CAStevens218]

70 minutes? Yikes. I'd skip that for a walking tour, too. (I've never been on that ride though!) I love the way DHS looks at night, even if we're rarely in it then!

Loved the car leaning picture. That was clever! Your monkey pic is great, too. Where was that Pluto at? I don't think we saw him at all. It's too cute!

3am again?? Can't wait to read about the marathon!

Yeah, 70 minutes is far too long!! Will Andrew be tall enough for Rockin' Roller Coaster soon? Would he do it?

Taking a walk around was a nice way to spend the night, I'm glad it happened that way! I love all the parks at night, especially at dusk...sooo pretty!

The Pluto is on the top of one of the buildings on the main road in the front of the park. I wish I could be more specific! If you are standing on the main road facing the park entrance (the hat is behind you), it is on the left.

Yeah, two 3AM mornings in a row!!! Definitely a scary thought!!!!!

 

[jc040404]

Yeah, 70 minutes is far too long!! Will Andrew be tall enough for Rockin' Roller Coaster soon? Would he do it?

Taking a walk around was a nice way to spend the night, I'm glad it happened that way! I love all the parks at night, especially at dusk...sooo pretty!

The Pluto is on the top of one of the buildings on the main road in the front of the park. I wish I could be more specific! If you are standing on the main road facing the park entrance (the hat is behind you), it is on the left.

Yeah, two 3AM mornings in a row!!! Definitely a scary thought!!!!!

That Pluto is too adorable. I wish we'd noticed it!

Andrew's 45 inches right now, so three to go before we can think about Rockin' Roller Coaster. He really wants to try that one anyway! I can't decide if I'm going to like it, but can't wait to try with him.

 

[CAStevens218]

Time to start on Day 2! This is half marathon day, the event that inspired this whole trip! After almost a year of training and talking about this, the time had finally come!

I want to apologize ahead of time for my lack of pictures in this update. It was verrrryyy early and I had some issues that I will explain later!

The alarm went off at a VERY VERY VERRRY early 3AM. Our goal was to be at the bus stop by 4AM. Ugh.

I woke up really tried and groggy, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to shake it. The day before had been action packed, and it had taken a lot out of me! However, once I got up, turned on some lights and splashed some water on my face, I started to perk up and get excited for the run!

We showed no mercy to Dan and Ben, who were still sleeping...we turned on every light in the room to get ready! We got all our things together including race bibs and the little waist pack I had purchased to carry my phone and camera, and we were out the door.

We had picked up some bagels in the food court when we went for dinner the night before, but all they had at the time were everything bagels, and I just couldn't stomache all that flavor so early in the morning! I decided to eat the power bar that came in our race goodie bag instead, so I carried that with me to eat on the bus.

When we walked into the lobby, we were greeted by a loooong line of runners waiting to board a bus to the start of the race. The line started outside at the first bus stop closest to the lobby, came through the automatic doors and made a couple of u-turns before coming to an end. We jumped in line, thinking we had quite a wait ahead of us. However, this was just another example of how Disney had everything under control for this event! Despite the fact that there were literally hundreds of people in line ahead of us, we didn't wait any longer than 5 minutes to get on a bus.

I took this picture the next day, but this is what the signage looked like in the lobby of Pop...

It was a coach bus that picked us up, which was nice becaus the seats were comfortable. We setted in and I started to munch on my power bar. The traffic on the road looked pretty terrible, but it actually didn't take the bus long to get to the drop off point.

Soon, we were off the bus and headed into the pre-race area they had set up. It was pretty intense, with huge crowds and tons of different tents set up. We didn't stop to look at anything because I had read that it was a loooong walk to the actually start corrals, so I don't know exactly what was set up in the different tented areas.

We started following the huge crowd toward the corrals. This was the slowest moving, most frustrating walk! You basically just had to follow the crowd with no idea of how much farther you had to go. We DID see some interesting people in the crowd though, so that kept us entertained! There were two guys in full-on princess gowns, one was Snow White and I can't remember who the other guy was dressed as, but they were having a great time and were very funny! We saw plenty of other fun costumes and outfits!

Finally, we started to make progress. We came upon some porta-potties, which had very long lines!! I was glad we didn't have to go! Then, we started to see signs for the different corrals. We had submitted a time from a 10K that we did, so we were placed in Corral C, which was a great place for us. We didn't have to wait around very long to start, we only had to wait for the elite runners and corrals A and B to go before us. I defnitely felt for the people all the way in the last corrals who were probably waiting around for a good hour after the first wave of runners started!

After a half hour or more of walking, we finally made it to our corral. We found a spot to stand and get ourselves together. I put on my race bib and got my ipod situated. I then went to put on my waist pack that was going to hold my phone and camera. The camera was going to go in a zipper pocket, and the zipper wouldn't work!!!!! I finally got it zipped up, and decided that I wouldn't be taking very many pictures during the race because I didn't want to risk breaking it and having to carry the camera the whole way! I was disappointed, but oh well, it is what it is! I have great memories of the whole race, so I'll just have to describe it to you all!

Here is the one picture we had someone snap for us at the start line:

They had a big TV screen set up so we could see and hear what was going on at the front of the pack. They had a stage set up and were interviewing some of the celebrities that were running, including the Survivor winners who also went on Amazing Race. I can't remember their names?

After a long morning of getting to the start, it seemed like once we got there it was time to run before we knew it! The characters came out in their race gear and Donald had the honor of giving the signal to start! There were fireworks and cheers and the first wave of runners was off! After just one more wave, it was our turn! The fireworks went off and so did we!!!

Next time: Running the race!

 

[jc040404]

Hooray! I'm so excited to read about this. With a 3am wake up, I have a feeling I would've missed the whole thing. Nice that it sounds so organized and loved the better bus. You need a more comfy ride for that hour! Too bad about your bag though. I'm sad there won't be a bunch of pictures, but totally understand your situation. That stinks!

Super love Donald getting to start things instead of Mickey!

 

[CAStevens218]

Hooray! I'm so excited to read about this. With a 3am wake up, I have a feeling I would've missed the whole thing. Nice that it sounds so organized and loved the better bus. You need a more comfy ride for that hour! Too bad about your bag though. I'm sad there won't be a bunch of pictures, but totally understand your situation. That stinks!

Super love Donald getting to start things instead of Mickey!

Its a good thing my dad was running with me because if it had just been me who had to get up I'm not sure if it would have happened!!

We were definitely impressed with the organization of such a huge event! Disney knows how to get it right!

I was sad about the picture thing too, but I just couldn't risk it! I would have been miserable having to carry the camera if I had broken the zipper! There will be plenty of pictures to make up for it from the rest of the trip!

I'm glad Donald got his moment in the spotlight too!!!

 

[CAStevens218]

Alright, so the last time I left off with the start of the race! This will be the last post that is very light on pictures. We ordered a few of the professional prints that they take along the course, so I'll be able to update with those once they come in!!

Anyway, the fireworks went off for our corral and we were off! It was pretty crowded at the beginning, with a lot of people weaving in and out of the crowd. We had decided to start out slow and not do a lot of weaving, so we found a good pace and just went with the flow. We had actually pushed ourselves really hard in the 10K we ran so that when we submitted our time we would be positioned with those who are faster than us so they could pass us rather than us passing others. It worked out great for us!

About a mile in I was regretting not using the port-a-potties before starting. However, the lines were just soo long for the ones along the course and I couldn't imagine stopping. We decided to try to hold out until we got to Magic Kingdom so that we could use the real bathrooms. (TMI?? )

We settled into our stride and were really enjoying ourselves. I was feeling great, I got my breathing right and we were moving along steadily. There were some great sites to see along the course, which made time go by very quickly. We saw a hot air balloon, some parade floats, cheerleaders, marching bands, and of course, the best part, the mile markers! It seemed to me that there was something to see about every half mile, which was great!

It seemed like no time at all before we were heading into the Magic Kingdom!!! This was just AMAZING, it made the whole race worth it! We came in through a back entrance and entered near the Town Square Theater. We came around past the Christmas Tree and headed up Main Street. This moment seriously gave me chills. The streets were lined with people cheering, the castle was magnificent and the energy was just thrilling! We decided to take a risk and pull the camera out for a castle shot. We handed the camera to a CM who was along the course, who proceeded to take a very off-center, sideways photo.

I actually kind of like it, I think it captures the feeling of the moment! Here we are:

I got the camera safely put away and off we went! We ran over the bridge to tomorrow land and decided to use the bathroom next to Cosmic Ray's. For the rest of the trip, every time we walked by this area, one of us would point out that bathroom. It is now a land mark for us!

Ready to go, we continued on into Fantasyland and through the castle. This was such a cool moment! We came out of the castle and could see the mob of runners coming up Main Street, the tree, the buildings and lights...it was just amazing! We came down the ramp and headed over to Liberty Square, through Frontierland and out a back entrance. We got to see some parade floats back there and before we knew it we were back out on the road!

I was starting to fade at this point. I think stopping for pictures and the bathroom and having to slow down in general because it gets crowded up Main Street and through the castle had caused me to loose my rhythm a bit. I pretty much went into the zone at this point.

We did see some cool characters along the way back to EPCOT, including Mickey and Goofy in their golfing gear. The last three miles were pretty tough because we had to run up and over two or three highway overpasses.

Finally, we were headed into EPCOT! Once again, we entered the park through a side entrance. We ran all the way up to the Christmas tree and then back down the other side of that path. At this point, there were runners jumping up on the raised planters lining the siewalk, and I was just amazed! I could NOT imagine how they had the energy to jump up that high!!

When we entered EPCOT, I had gotten a second wind from knowing the end was near!! We pushed on, and came to a chorus singing hallelujah! This was too funny and my dad LOVED it!!

Finally, the end was near. We could see the finish line and we pushed on to the end! There was a huge cheering crowd and we held hands up in the air as we crossed the finish line! We finished in about 2hrs and 45 minutes, which was a bit slower than we hoped for, but we were just happy to have accomplished the race! I would also like to mention that my dad could go MUCH faster, but he sticks with me when we do races together!

This is where it got a little crowded and confusing. I don't like to drink along the course, so all I could think about was water...but there was none to be found! We had to go through the line for our medals first, and then walk a little farther before they were giving out water. Once I got that I was much happier!

It continued to be a little crowded and confusing at the end. They were giving out food and more drinks, but the line wasn't clearly marked and by the time I noticed we had walked past and the last thing I was doing was walking back!! I was pretty stiff at this point.

Oh well, we pushed on to the bus. But, we couldn't find the way to the bus. There were people walking in all different directions and nobody was directing traffic. After going the wrong way a few times, we finally got in the right direction. We got in the line for the Pop Century bus and we only had to wait about 10 minutes to hop on our ride back to the hotel!

As all this was happening, Ben and Dan had been trying to get to the finish line to see us. They had started their journey at about 7AM and spent the entire time on a bus. They weren't even at the Transportation and Ticket Center by the time we crossed the finish line. Needless to say they were pretty frustrated. We told them to just stay on the bus and go back to Pop Century.

Unfortunately, their bus detoured to the Grand Floridian and we beat them back. We didn't have room keys or any kind of ID with us, so we ended up collapsing on lounge chairs by the pool to wait for them. It took a good half hour and I'm pretty sure we both napped!

When the boys finally arrived, we found out that they had been on a bus with a lot of other people who were trying to get to the finish line and every time someone's phone rang the whole bus would hold their breath waiting to find out if someone had missed their runner. So, the whole bus was disappointed when they found out that Dan and Ben had missed us!

Honestly, I do not think it would be worth it to try to go out and watch a loved one run this race. With 27,000 runners, it is almost impossible to find your person, and the wait would just be horrendous. Its not worth the frustration if you ask me!

All in all, the race was FABULOUS! Totally worth all the hard work and pain! Ben and Dan are interested in doing it, so I might be back for more!!

Next time: Post race lunch....we were STARVING!!!!!

 

[dara00]

I really want to do the disney 1/2 marathon but I highly doubt I can wake up at 3 am!!

I'm training for a 5K now, I'm only up to running for 5 minutes at a time, so I have awhile to go.

 

[CAStevens218]

I really want to do the disney 1/2 marathon but I highly doubt I can wake up at 3 am!!

I'm training for a 5K now, I'm only up to running for 5 minutes at a time, so I have awhile to go.

Haha, trust me, after months and months of training, you would drag yourself out of bed!!!!

Congrats on starting to run! Its the best decision I ever made for myself! Good luck with your 5K, I'm sure you'll be able to do the Disney Half Marathon some day! Its all in your head!!!!!

 

[jc040404]

I think I got a little chill at the idea of running down Main Street like that! Wow! That must've been an incredible moment. I love the pic of you and your Dad, too!

The whole thing sounds awesome. You almost make me wanna try this someday.. Almost. Okay, it's never happening. It stinks that things weren't quite so organized at the end, but sounds like a great experience.

 

[CAStevens218]

I think I got a little chill at the idea of running down Main Street like that! Wow! That must've been an incredible moment. I love the pic of you and your Dad, too!

The whole thing sounds awesome. You almost make me wanna try this someday.. Almost. Okay, it's never happening. It stinks that things weren't quite so organized at the end, but sounds like a great experience.

Running up Mainstreet was amazing, definitely a memory that will always be very important to me! I'm so glad I got to have the experience with my dad!!

You could totally do it! I am honestly so shocked that I am able to run that far...if I can do it anyone can do it!!!!!

It definitley got disorganized at the end, which was frustrating because I was hurting pretty bad! BUT, the busses were on point, and I suppose that is the most important part!

 

[CAStevens218]

Alrighty, when I left off, we had just finished the half marathon and were waiting at Pop Century for my brother and Ben to let us back into the room. We were actually pretty comfortable laying in the sun by the pool, but we were ready to shower and clean up!

The boys finally arrived and we limped our way back to the room. I had pulled a groin muscle (which happens often) and that was making it difficult for me to lift my right leg. AND my dad had hurt his knee! The consequences of running long distances!

When we got to the room, I spotted the bagels we had purchased the night before and realized how unbelieveably hungry I was! My dad jumped in the shower and I sat at the table to eat a bagel with cream cheese. A stale bagel had never tasted so good!

When my dad was finished I jumped in the shower, and ended up enjoying the nice hot water for about 30 minutes! I deserved it!!!!!

It felt great to be cleaned up. I decided to rock my half marathon shirt and medal! I figured I had bragging rights for the day!

At this point I had also had time to assess my physical condition. I had made it through pretty well, with just the groin injury and a blister developing on my right foot. Dad just had the knee pain, which ended up hurting him for almost the whole week, which was a bit of a bummer. He hurt that knee at work a few months earlier, so it wasn't really a surprise.

When everyone was ready, we headed out in search of food. We were ravenous!!! That bagel hadn't done much for me!

We headed out of the room and I snapped some pictures of the Art of Animation resort across the lake.

And the yo-yo staircase!

Here's Ben, ready to go!

And here we are together! I must have been very happy to have finishd the race at this moment, I look so excited!

Here I am, ready to go and showing off my race shirt and medal!

We headed toward the front of the hotel to get on a bus to our lunch destination.

Where were we headed? Downtown Disney! Where were we going to eat? Earl of Sandwich...AGAIN! Everyone had loved it the day before and wanted a repeat! Plus, we were still paying out of pocket at this point and its very reasonably priced! AND, now that the race was over, I could eat dessert and I had my eye on the brownie sandwich with chocolate filling!!

We changed up our orders a little bit. Dad and I each had a tuna sandwich, Dan had the Earl's Club again, and Ben had the Hawaiian sandwich. We also had some sides, I think we got some fruit and macaroni salad. We all had lemonade from the soda fountain, and I got my brownie! Everything was DELICIOUS, and we ate every bite!

When we were finished, we sat at our table for a bit. We were sitting outside facing the area of the sidewalk with the water the squirts up (what are these called?? LOL). There were a few little kids having the time of their little lives getting soaking wet in the fountain! They were having so much fun that a crowd gathered to watch them!

When we had digested a bit, we decided to take a walk around some of the shops.

Everywhere we went, people were congratulating me on running the race, which was nice!! I also saw a lot of other runners and congratulated them as well!

We went into Team Mickey, which all of my boys loved!

And we checked out the displays at the Lego store. These are just so cool!!

I love the 7 Dwarfs!

Dan and Ben decided to see if they could blend in here. Where's Waldo?

When we walked past the Rainforst Cafe, they had these gorgeous birds out!

We hung around for a few minutes to watch the trainer feed them...

At this point, we decided to head back to the hotel, regroup, and hit one of the parks! There was a certain parade that I reallllyyyy wanted to see that night!!!!!!

 

[jc040404]

You look soo happy in all of these pictures! I love it!

I can imagine you must've been hungry after all that running! Too funny about the stale bagel being so good. I really need to try Earl of Sandwich now. We meant to when we stayed at POR, but forgot about it. Sounds good!

Loved the pic of Ben & Dan with the lego tourists!

 

[CAStevens218]

You look soo happy in all of these pictures! I love it!

I can imagine you must've been hungry after all that running! Too funny about the stale bagel being so good. I really need to try Earl of Sandwich now. We meant to when we stayed at POR, but forgot about it. Sounds good!

Loved the pic of Ben & Dan with the lego tourists!

I am always happy in Disney World!!

I was soo so soo hungry!! I think anything would have tasted delicious at that point!

Earl of Sandwich has NEVER disappointed me! We ate there AGAIN before the trip was out!!!!

Ben and Dan were very good sports about posing for pictures the entire trip!!! We got some great ones!