Why don't we do a little day drinking? - F&W 2015 - Update 12/11 Bonus EPCOT Night!

[librarygeek]

I'm excited to follow along with another of your Food and Wine trips! That's awesome that your husband is into running now. Mine will do a 5k on occasion but otherwise has no interest. Yours is speedy, too!

I know how frustrating the weight loss thing can be. I've gained about 15 pounds in the past few months and I would really like to lose them but they aren't going anywhere it seems. I had pneumonia so I wasn't exercising and it's tough to get back into it. I'm doing the DisBrides Bigger Loser challenge on facebook which really helps keep me motivated. But like you, I need to make sure I'm keeping track of my measurements too. Otherwise I get too caught up with the numbers on the scale :/

 

[Dis_Yoda]

That may be the most awesome incentive ever. I think you and I may be kindred spirits!

I'm glad you also think its awesome Some of my friends think that its crazy as if I want them so much, why not just buy them? They think its silly I'll spend money on technology or entertainment so easily (like my Apple Watch or Lego sets) but not on shoes. I just know its something totally frivolous though as I'll wear them maybe 4 to 6 times a year?

I'm here following along with your plans!! I'm going to be at WDW Oct 8-14 as well and am interested in following you plan F&W etc. I'm debating about making any ADR's on a F&W day at Epcot...but looking at yours I'm thinking maybe making one for dinner and eating lunch at the F&W booths...or vice versa...I am not sure what will work best.

Welcome! If you see my husband and I while at F&W, be sure to say hello! It is always nice to meet fellow Disers. F&W is my favorite time of year at WDW! We like doing lunch at the booths more than dinner as it seems the lines get worse as the day goes on. If we munch from 11AM to 1PM, we'll still be hungry for a 6PM dinner but feel like we get to sample a lot of the items we want. The only caveat to that though is that is does get hot and humid during the day. My husband & I are used to it though since we live in Southwest Florida. If you aren't so used to it, switching the dinner ADR to a lunch may be a smarter choice in order to have some reprieve during the day.

I'm excited to follow along with another of your Food and Wine trips! That's awesome that your husband is into running now. Mine will do a 5k on occasion but otherwise has no interest. Yours is speedy, too!

I know how frustrating the weight loss thing can be. I've gained about 15 pounds in the past few months and I would really like to lose them but they aren't going anywhere it seems. I had pneumonia so I wasn't exercising and it's tough to get back into it. I'm doing the DisBrides Bigger Loser challenge on facebook which really helps keep me motivated. But like you, I need to make sure I'm keeping track of my measurements too. Otherwise I get too caught up with the numbers on the scale :/

He didn't used to be so into running until after he actually finished the Rebel Challenge. He did Tower of Terror to help keep me motived for it and thought it was ok but he hated started in that last corral. At Rebel Challenge, he was in the right corral for him and had a much better experience and realized that he could zone out for that time and just get it done. Of course now, he's super into it. We have sign ups for the 2016 Star Wars race on Tuesday and we are doing to the Triple Crown with the 5K + Rebel Challenge for both of us. We are planning on walking the 5K though together and just trying to get some good pictures with the characters as that was the only way I would agree to that.

I had seen the DisBrides group show up in my suggested groups I think originally. I find that keeping up my log for this trip report keeps me motivated as well. Its great to have motivation through a group of friends that help encourage! The measurements totally help with some of the disappointment when that scale won't move.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Eat to The Beat Concerts!

The finalized list for Eat to The Beat was released this past week!​

• David Cook – September 25-27, 2015
• Wilson Phillips – September 28-29, 2015
• Christopher Cross – September 30-October 1, 2015
• Starship – October 2-4, 2015
• Smash Mouth – October 5-7, 2015
• The Pointer Sisters – October 8-9, 2015
• 38 Special – October 10-11, 2015
• Rick Springfield – October 12-13, 2015
• Sugar Ray – October 14-16, 2015
• The S.O.S. Band – October 17-18, 2015
• Air Supply – October 19-21, 2015
• Fuel – October 22-23, 2015
• Tiffany (NEW!) – October 24-25, 2015
• Dennis DeYoung – October 26-28, 2015
• Jo Dee Messina – October 29-30, 2015
• Everclear (NEW!) – October 31-November 1, 2015
• Boyz II Men – November 2-4, 2015
• Sister Hazel – November 5-6, 2015
• Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – November 7-9, 2015
• Hanson – November 10-12, 2015
• Maxi Priest (NEW!) – November 13-14, 2015
• Chaka Khan (NEW!) – November 15-16, 2015

I'm excited that Smash Mouth will be there during my trip. I listened to them a fair amount in my middle and high school years. I guess its also a sign of growing up for me as my childhood bands are now the ones playing at the Eat to The Beat whereas before it was more from the previous generations. I will probably also catch Big Bad Voodoo Daddy as I'm hanging out in EPCOT waiting on my husband to finish Wine & Dine. There are two other bands on the list that I would really want to see. Hanson was one of my favorite bands but they are playing during the week so there is no way that I could sneak up to WDW to see them. The other band I really loved was Everclear and they are playing the weekend before our W&D trip. I am really tempted to go up for a 2 Night Trip now so I can stalk them out but I'll have to debate on that before I make that commitment. I also discovered they are playing in Fort Myers on June 11th and the tickets for that are only $38 so maybe I'll just get my fix that way.​

 

[KathyM2]

Thanks for the tips!! That's probably a wise idea...ie: eat lunch from the booths...although...now I'm really going to age myself lol..Rick Springfield is playing when we will be there and...I wouldn't mind hearing some of his tunes while we eat lol...since it is called "Eat to the Beat" I assume that means they let you bring food in to the area where you listen to the music?

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Thanks for the tips!! That's probably a wise idea...ie: eat lunch from the booths...although...now I'm really going to age myself lol..Rick Springfield is playing when we will be there and...I wouldn't mind hearing some of his tunes while we eat lol...since it is called "Eat to the Beat" I assume that means they let you bring food in to the area where you listen to the music?

When I have listened to the concert in the past, I never actually sat down to watch. I was usually in the area behind the theater at the American Plaza so that I could wander as I want to get a drink or food or whatever. I don't know if you are allowed food while sitting though.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

May Training Update

Red is Strength. Blue is Cardio.

I think this is showing I’ve really gotten more into yoga over the past few months. I think it is really helping me not feel bad about my runs as I’m getting some really good stretches in!

Memorial Day 5K Race Recap

After the Run for the Music 10K, my husband wanted to do another 10K to try to improve his proof of time for Wine & Dine. As the run season in Southwest FL is winding down, there weren’t a lot of options for that prior to the cut off. Punta Gorda hosts a very small race on Memorial Day for the benefit of the veterans of Charlotte County. It is only limited to the first 300 registrants total between the 5K & 10K. I had tried to sign us up the year prior but waited too long as it does sell out at least a month before the race. We woke up at 4:45AM to get on the road up to Punta Gorda and arrived there right at 6:00AM. We picked up our packets and headed back to the car to put on our bibs and to look through the welcome packet and were happy to see that we both got nice maroon tech shirts, cliff bars, various freebies from local vendors and coupons for some area restaurants. Usually we don’t get those type of things for races around here!

The race started at 7AM - my husband had gone towards the front of the runner’s shoot for the start since he is fast. I stayed towards the back in front of the strollers as I was definitely under trained as the most I had run since Princess was a 2.05 Mile run at the beginning of the month. I had set up intervals on runkeeper for 30/75 to see how it would work for me. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it really worked out well as I felt I still had energy at the end of the race and the only run interval I walked thru was at the water stop as it was very humid this morning so I wasn’t going to pass up that drink! I was pleased with my results as it was my fastest official race time in the last year as according to the official results I finished at 47:11 which puts me at a 15:11 official pace.

Runkeeper Results

My husband didn’t do as well as he had at Run for the Music as he finished at 55:44 which is a 8:58 pace but he had a great race overall. He admitted he started out too strong as he was trying to keep up with the 5K sprinters and as the first 5K of this race is an out and back over a bridge, neither of us were prepared for that incline as Naples is pretty flat. He placed 2nd in his age group which is awesome and I think 10th overall for the males.

Husband Finishing

2nd Place Dog Tags

At the race finish, instead of a medal we were given a towel, bottle of water and an electrolyte ice pop. They also had bananas, bagels, peanut butter, granola bars, oranges and juice for us in the finishing area.

For being such a small race, my husband and I were both extremely impressed at how well it was run. The race started on time, which seems to never happen at local races. The course was well marked. They were prepared for the racer’s needs and it was nice that they also had a raffle for the runners to participate in (we didn’t win that though) My husband wants to do it again next year.

General Health Update

At the beginning of the month, I went to the doctor for my yearly check up as I hadn’t gone to one since we moved to Naples, FL, so I was a bit overdue. (Shame on me) While taking my history, I explained how I’ve been told I have PCOS, explained my frustration for my weight and talked about some other things as I told how it felt my last doctor in Georgia didn’t really want to deal with my PCOS unless I wanted to get pregnant. When we talked about my activity levels and how much weight I’m not really losing, we talked about how my PCOS can be the cause of that. This meant I needed to get some blood work done so he could confirm as I couldn’t find a copy of the my work from last year from work. I went back to the doctor this past Friday and now have been placed on a couple different medications. We’ll see if that helps jump start it all! It also should help my moods once we get my hormones leveled out.

May Miles Ran: 18.7 miles
Total 2015 Miles Ran: 134.6 miles​

 

[franandaj]

It funny how you point out that the bands that used to play are older and bow some of your bands are showing up. Most of the band's used to be my bands (or older) now I don't know some of the bands. I went to school with a few of the guys in Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. They wouldn't know me because they were young and I was on the 8 year plan. They started out when I was graduating and one of my friends was dating the Bari sax player. They broke up because of his touring schedule. Glad they are still going strong.

I hope you have fun during F&W. I'm envious.

 

[Blissikins]

Subbing in!

I've often wondered about doing one of the races, but I am definitely not a runner! I've done a power-walk marathon and half-marathon (two years apart...I did the marathon first because I knew if the half was horrendous I'd never go back and do the full one!), but I was pretty slow and I doubt I'd be fast enough to finish in time. It's a shame as I love getting medals! My gym teacher once told me that I would never compete/win anything. I actually went to my 10yr reunion with both of my medals in my bag, just in case she was there (she wasn't...boo!!).

It looks like our trip overlaps with your first trip, we might bump into you!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

It funny how you point out that the bands that used to play are older and bow some of your bands are showing up. Most of the band's used to be my bands (or older) now I don't know some of the bands. I went to school with a few of the guys in Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. They wouldn't know me because they were young and I was on the 8 year plan. They started out when I was graduating and one of my friends was dating the Bari sax player. They broke up because of his touring schedule. Glad they are still going strong.

I hope you have fun during F&W. I'm envious.

It definitely has been an interesting progression of bands over the years. Give it 20 more years and I probably won't know any of the ones going anymore! Thats cool that you were in school at the same time as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy!

I'm excited for F&W! You have some nice trips lined up with your cruises at least. This year is light on travel as we know next year between Disneyland for Star Wars and Hawaii our vacation budget is pretty much claimed.

Subbing in!

I've often wondered about doing one of the races, but I am definitely not a runner! I've done a power-walk marathon and half-marathon (two years apart...I did the marathon first because I knew if the half was horrendous I'd never go back and do the full one!), but I was pretty slow and I doubt I'd be fast enough to finish in time. It's a shame as I love getting medals! My gym teacher once told me that I would never compete/win anything. I actually went to my 10yr reunion with both of my medals in my bag, just in case she was there (she wasn't...boo!!).

It looks like our trip overlaps with your first trip, we might bump into you!

Thats the beauty of Disney races is that you don't have to be a super fast runner to do them. They have a 16minute mile requirement which is much nicer than most other marathon or half marathon groups. I interval so that also helps me be able to keep going. I'll never be as fast as my crazy husband though! That is awesome to complete a marathon and half with power-walking!

 

[librarygeek]

That looks like a really good run, and congrats to your husband for placing!! That's so exciting.

I also really enjoy yoga. I find it helps me with my running because I don't get as sore. Unfortunately every yoga place around here is really expensive. My work place is offering a free weekly yoga session during June and July so I'm doing that, but I'd love to continue once that's done.

 

[huggybuff]

Hi, I made it here, finally. You're so nice and organized over here. I need to take notes. I'm really looking forward to the October trip pics and report as a preview for my November trip. You can week out all the bad stuff for me.

I hope the new meds spur some quicker results for you. Our bodies are so weird.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

That looks like a really good run, and congrats to your husband for placing!! That's so exciting.

I also really enjoy yoga. I find it helps me with my running because I don't get as sore. Unfortunately every yoga place around here is really expensive. My work place is offering a free weekly yoga session during June and July so I'm doing that, but I'd love to continue once that's done.

That run was great! Provided we are still running after Princess (which we probably will be), we are totally going again! My husband was annoyed that he didn't get first as he lost by like a minute. Only him!

It really does help the running to help get that good stretch! If I had to go to an actual 'real' yoga studio, I wouldn't be going as much as I am. The yoga studios here are super expensive as well - like $149 month up to $399 or $20 a class. My gym has classes almost every day and my membership is only $20 a month - probably not the best yoga teachers out there but its good enough me and affordable! Another thing I have is this app for my iPhone called FitStarYoga - I don't remember if it was like $1.99 or Free but it will give you a shorter yoga session with audio and visual cues on what to do and then you can rate the poses afterwards so it gets a little customized towards you. You can get some better options with paying for a couch but the free stuff is good for when getting to the gym just can't happen such as vacation or whenever. Thats great you get to have free yoga in the summer!

Hi, I made it here, finally. You're so nice and organized over here. I need to take notes. I'm really looking forward to the October trip pics and report as a preview for my November trip. You can week out all the bad stuff for me.

I hope the new meds spur some quicker results for you. Our bodies are so weird.

Welcome! Over the years, I've learned how I like to my reports organized. Looking at my old reports versus new, I find that I organize better now. Some people work differently though and thats why its fun to see how everyone does their reports I'm looking forward to the October trips as well! I can't wait until more details start coming out!

The new meds are spurring some good results so far but we'll see if it lasts. One of them though makes my mouth so dry that I'm drinking way more water than before which in turn is having me eat less as my stomach is constantly full of water! This isn't really a bad thing though as my skin is looking better than ever!

 

[franandaj]

Evidently I missed your training log. You are doing great! I wish I could do that. I suppose if I counted packing and moving boxes in addition to moving furniture that would be my training. Probably not as effective as what you are doing.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Evidently I missed your training log. You are doing great! I wish I could do that. I suppose if I counted packing and moving boxes in addition to moving furniture that would be my training. Probably not as effective as what you are doing.

Moving can be some good training! On bad weeks at work, I'm having to lift lots of 30 to 40 pound objects and its a good arm work out! Hopefully you will be done with all the moving and packing soon between all your places!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

June Training Update

Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend Sign Ups

June 2nd at 12EST was the sign up day for the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend Races. My husband and I had agreed that we would be completing the Rebel Challenge once again along with also signing up for the 5K. The order I was going to complete this sign up was getting my husband signed up for the Rebel Challenge, then myself, then him for the 5K then finally myself for the 5K. If I ended up missing one of the race sign ups for myself, I knew I could either get a chance through a Travel Agent or on general sign ups on June 16th. Getting signed up was much more important for my husband than me as I still am nervous at trying to complete this again after my emotional state during the half marathon last year.

I woke up at 2:45AM on June 2nd completely unable to go back asleep as I tossed and turned for almost an hour. I think my body thought it was an actually race day instead of just a sign up day. *insert rofl smilie here* The good thing about waking up so early was that I was able to get a 2.4 mile run in before work and get my day started right!

Fast forward to 11:45EST. I’m at my desk logged into both our DVC account and Annual Pass Account to wait for the link to go live. The links showed up at exactly 11:55AM but the events were not active until exactly 12PM. My first concern was getting my husband for the Rebel Challenge. I went back to get myself for the Rebel Challenge and it continued to say “On Hold” so I got my husband signed up for the 5K then myself for the 5K. The Rebel Challenge never changed from the “On Hold” status for me. I didn’t like this! So I called Get Travel to get my registration through them. I thought I had set up myself for my registration along with 7 Nights at Grand Californian from January 12th to 19th. By 9PM that evening, I still hadn’t gotten any confirmation email from Get Travel.

Pre-Trip for Disneyland is started here: http://www.disboards.com/threads/mi...-rebel-challenge-jan-2016-update6-23.3419339/


Princess Half Marathon Weekend Sign Ups

In comparison to the Star Wars sign ups, the June 30th early registration was a piece of cake! Our active accounts had all our information saved for credit cards and I was able to get both my husband and I signed up for the Glass Slipper Challenge in less than 2 minutes even with having to sign into a different account to get his done.

We already had our hotel set up for this trip with our DVC points. We are planning at staying at Animal Kingdom Villas - Jambo House from Feb 18th to 21st.

General Updates

Since that last doctor’s appointment - I’ve been doing really well! My body seems to finally be balancing out and letting me drop some weight. I probably would have lost more if I didn’t skip the gym so much or half heartily completed the workouts the second half of June. This month was our year end at work and I’ve been drained when getting home that my motivation to getting to the gym hasn’t been the best. At least I balanced it out some as I didn't really have any alcohol this month. Next month should be better as the work stress won’t be as bad. I do have a work trip to Dallas/Fort Worth, TX scheduled for the 3rd week of July that might end up being a bit hard to get a good work out in due to the schedule of the days we have.

June Miles Ran: 17.16 miles
Total 2015 Miles Ran: 153.76 miles​

 

[KathyM2]

Wow, congrats on getting all signed up! And all the weight you've lost and keeping up with any excercise is a big accomplishment in my book! Way to go!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Food & Wine Festival Updates

News is finally starting to come out about this year's festival! This is what I needed to catch up on today after the way this week has gone (I got to spend $2200 today replacing our pump and filter system for the water to the house to just top it off)

For the dates we are going, there are some things exciting going on!

October 1st, 2015 - Flying Fish Signature Dinner
Guarachi Winery - Featuring Alex Guarachi, Owner & Vintner, Guarachi Family of Wines from Somona and Napa Valleys

October 8th, 2015 - Flying Fish Signature Dinner
Celebrating the Numerous Grape Growing Regions of New Zealand featuring Matt Deller, Kim Crawford Wines

November 5th, 2015 - Flying Fish Signature Dinner
Northwestern Flavors - Oregon Wines, Featuring Randy Ford & Cameron Scott of King Estate Winery-Eugene, Oregon

The one we will most likely pick is the one on October 8th as to attend either the 1st or the 5th, I would have to take a half day off of work in order to not rush up there and risk getting stuck in traffic. We've enjoyed all the wine dinners we have done at Flying Fish in the past so we won't go wrong either way.

October 7th, 8th, & 9th - "The Chew"
The Chew is going to be taping live from the Food & Wine Festival for those days. They also are going to be hosting some special events that weekend.

We have requested tickets to the show for either October 7th or 9th at the 8AM taping. I'm crossing my fingers that we get in!​

Disney Family Culinary Adventure

This is a new option that was recently offered to DVC members and has now been opened to the general public after the first test runs. It takes place in the catering kitchens at the Contemporary Resort and you have the opportunity to interact with the chefs as you make your own dinner. Looking at the first review of them - you are placed a station and you get to learn different cooking styles - the first being the Garde Manger (Farmer's Cheese & Butter from scratch + Salad on a Conveyor Belt), Sushi (Sushi & Sashimi), Boucherie (Trimming Beef Tenderloin), Pasta (Turn Semolina Flour, Olive Oil & Eggs into Pasta + make pesto), and finally Patisserie (Baking & Desserts) You then get to have the five course meal you helped make and it includes wine & beer. Then you have a special demo on molecular cooking. The cost of this is $175 and will be offered two evenings a week starting at 5:00PM. I think for $175, it seems like it will be worth it! Depending on what official Food & Wine Festival Events are going on, we may decide to do this as well!
​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Wow, congrats on getting all signed up! And all the weight you've lost and keeping up with any excercise is a big accomplishment in my book! Way to go!

Thank you! I'm glad I got all signed up and that is over with. Now to get more serious with my run trainings as that hasn't been as much as it should be.

 

[BillBrasky]

Joining in. You had me at drinking. So jealous about F&W, not sure when I'll ever get to do it since my wife works in education. If you see Smashmouth, make sure you ask them "hey, didn't you used to be Smashmouth?"

 

[franandaj]

I got the email from Flying Fish about their wine dinners and was sad that we aren't going during that time this year, but next year hopefully we can squeeze one in!

I hope you get into the Chew tapings. We watch that show often, not every day, but we DVR it and it's a fun show, I would love to be in the audience for it!

I saw the Family Culinary Adventure on the blog. I was wondering if everyone had to participate. I would love to do it, but Fran would not be able to stand and do all the tasks required to fully participate, but I'm sure she would love to partake in the meals. Please post about it if you do it, I'm thinking where I could add it for my December trip!