2010 Princess Half Marathon and Flower & Garden Fest Trip!

[Where'sPiglet?]

I cannot believe I went a month without adding to this! I apologize! I did not realize it had been that long! WHERE is the time going?!?

When I left off, we had just stopped in the room to drop off the stuff from the Expo. We didn't stay long at all, we had places to go!

We left the room and headed out to the bus stop. I can't tell you how long we waited for a bus, but I can tell you it was quick because we were impressed at our luck with the buses so far.

We soon saw this:

We got in quickly and I stopped to take a quick, obligatory Tree of Life photo:

Our first stop was to go to Pizzafari. I know, most people seem to hate WDW pizza. I don't really hate it. I think it tastes like DiGiorno.

The pizza came whole, with 4 slices. I forgot to take a picture until I was half done. Now, this was a curious meal. First off, Animal Kingdom does not have lids or plastic straws for their fountain drinks. It's dangerous to the animals. They now offer paper straws, on drinks with open lids. The paper begins to disintegrate if you drink too slowly. If you haven't seen them, they're essentially a tiny cardboard tube.

The other odd thing was the bread sticks. They LOOK good, have a nice crispy outside and soft inside, and come with marinara dipping sauce. But they have no flavor! It's very bizarre how they can be totally absent of any taste!

Okay....I realized I just spent TWO PARAGRAPHS analyzing a frozen pizza meal.

After eating, we did exactly what your momma tells you NOT to do. We went on roller coasters. We knew this was the plan ahead of time, so we made our way towards them by way of gift shops.

For those of you that don't know, I am a teacher. I teach kids from kindergarten up through the 8th grade. I had one of my 2nd graders go to Disney World sometime between when I went and now. I asked her how her trip was and she commented on the amount of gift shops! "Every ride has a gift shop at the end!"

So, we had no lack of gift shops to browse through between Pizzafari and Primeval Whirl.

This ride falls into the same category as the WDW pizza. I like it but not a lot of others do. This ride had a posted 40 minute wait; it has two queue lines that lead to two identical rides. We were in one and got sent to the other by a CM partway through, then when we were about ten people from the front, they needed a party of 2 and we were the closest! So a posted 40 minute wait time turned into 10 minutes!

After Primeval Whirl, we made our way to Expedition:Everest. This is one of my favorite rides in all of WDW.

The wait time was posted 60 minutes, but we decided to do single rider line and made it through in about 20 minutes.

After Everest, we walked over to the Majarajah Jungle Trek. I love how even the walkways are themed.

We walked through the jungle trail. The photos really don't do this justice. If you haven't taken the time to really savor this park, it's worth the time in my opinion. I love walking through the trails and just enjoying the atmosphere and watching the animals.

Bats

Tigers

A fountain. I like fountains.

Birds

Up next...Animal Kingdom Lodge and Downtown Disney!

 

[portocall]

Woot! An update

You can add me to the list of primeval whirl haters... I should call it primeval hurl since I can't take spinning around. Expedition Everest on the other hand was just excellent.

Now you knocking the breadsticks, but could it have been the absence of the cajun spices that had you looking for flavor. I have eaten WDW pizza and I don't hate it. It fills the void just fine.

I was surprised how much I liked Animal Kingdom. I left plenty to still do when we return there someday.

 

[jwhtewolfd]

I must admit that primeval whirl is the ONE ride I didn't get to in two trips (though it was closed during the first trip).

I'm not so crazy about the cardboard straws either. I understand why no plastic ones, but I'd just rather do without. But I did see a video on you tube that at pizzafari they have a special pizza making machine that cranks them out quick, so i don't think it's frozen - so therefore it's worthy of two paragraphs.

And it's ok that you only got half the pizza in the pic. One night at Epcot I got a lamb chop at F&W and I so excited to try the lamb (ended up not liking it really) that my pic is post chop - just the bone.

 

[lori1043]

Primieval Whirl is NOT a fave of mine either.

I have never done the Trek- how sad! I am hoping to bring my dad to AK and do things more slowly with him.

Enjoying it!

I think Cara is right- your taste buds are desensitized! But I like the pizza ok too.

Heading to Nk with Haley tomorrow!

Hope to see you soon-Lori

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

just found your report. I am enjoying it. I am planning on doing the princess this year so I cant wait to hear how it went.

 

[lucas]

I'm late to the party - I just found your trip report. I'm off to catch up!

 

[FloraFauna]

I love Expedition Everest too! Its definitely in my top 5 favorites

I also love to take pictures of fountains (and unique light fixtures too)

 

[Twingle]

Lovely - a TR with info about the Princess Marathon! Looking forward to hearing about your experience, I'm planning on walking/running it in 2011!

 

[UsMcWifeForever]

I love hearing (or should i say/type reading lol) you TR. I plan on doing the princess in 2012. I know that is a long time away but i don't want to die so i want to give myself lot of time to train.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Woot! An update

You can add me to the list of primeval whirl haters... I should call it primeval hurl since I can't take spinning around. Expedition Everest on the other hand was just excellent.

Now you knocking the breadsticks, but could it have been the absence of the cajun spices that had you looking for flavor. I have eaten WDW pizza and I don't hate it. It fills the void just fine.

I was surprised how much I liked Animal Kingdom. I left plenty to still do when we return there someday.

So I take it you don't do the teacups either?

They needed zest! The breadsticks yesterday at Sicily's were far better...they had some flavor!

I must admit that primeval whirl is the ONE ride I didn't get to in two trips (though it was closed during the first trip).

I'm not so crazy about the cardboard straws either. I understand why no plastic ones, but I'd just rather do without. But I did see a video on you tube that at pizzafari they have a special pizza making machine that cranks them out quick, so i don't think it's frozen - so therefore it's worthy of two paragraphs.

And it's ok that you only got half the pizza in the pic. One night at Epcot I got a lamb chop at F&W and I so excited to try the lamb (ended up not liking it really) that my pic is post chop - just the bone.

Glad the pizza is worthy of two paragraphs! I want to see that machine. It sounds cool!

I was unpacking last week (have I mentioned how much I hate packing and unpacking? ) and found one of the cardboard straws in my suitcase!

Primieval Whirl is NOT a fave of mine either.

I have never done the Trek- how sad! I am hoping to bring my dad to AK and do things more slowly with him.

Enjoying it!

I think Cara is right- your taste buds are desensitized! But I like the pizza ok too.

Hope to see you soon-Lori

The animal trails - there are many - are my favorite parts of AK! Well, maybe Everest is first!

I am going out of town. I hope I lose weight!

just found your report. I am enjoying it. I am planning on doing the princess this year so I cant wait to hear how it went.

That update is coming. I promise! I am a teacher and we just finished up the school year; it is the busiest time of year for me. I cannot believe this trip was THREE months ago and I'm not even to the end of Day 1 yet!

I don't know how much I can update this week either; but by mid-June the updates should be more consistent and frequent!

I do not think I will be doing the Princess in 2011. Good luck to you!

I'm late to the party - I just found your trip report. I'm off to catch up!

You're not too late! Especially with the snails pace I've been posting updates.

I love Expedition Everest too! Its definitely in my top 5 favorites

I also love to take pictures of fountains (and unique light fixtures too)

I have to laugh at the "unique light fixtures" comment because there is a photo of one of those coming up! ....at some point...

Lovely - a TR with info about the Princess Marathon! Looking forward to hearing about your experience, I'm planning on walking/running it in 2011!

Good luck to you too!

I love hearing (or should i say/type reading lol) you TR. I plan on doing the princess in 2012. I know that is a long time away but i don't want to die so i want to give myself lot of time to train.

I don't know about the 2012 yet! I thought I planned far in advance! I AM signed up to do the Disneyland Half in *gulp* 3 months! I have not been training the last month or so, I need to get on that!

 

[lori1043]

C'mon- update! Chicadee!

I have been seeing a lot of the Princess half marathon stuff in the outlets and I think of you!

Lori

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Okay, I am back. Since my last update, I have been in 7 states: Louisiana (duh), Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Arizona, and Mississippi. I have one more to visit this month, then I should be done for awhile. I hope.

Before I update, I will review the Cast of Characters, because I'm not sure I ever introduced them in the first place.
Me (Bethany)...I was taking this trip to do the Princess Half Marathon. I live in the New Orleans area.
Lori..."Southerngirl71" on here....she's also from the New Orleans area; we traveled together and shared a room at All Star Sports.
Morgan..."DisneyDudet" on here...she lives in the Dallas area and she did the Princess Half with me. This was not her first race; she has done a few halves and even a full before!
Morgan's Mom...she also lives in the Dallas area and traveled with Morgan. They stayed at Old Key West this trip and I believe her mom did the 5K.
Lori..."lori1043" on here...she used to live in the New Orleans area, but recently moved to live near WDW!

In my last update, we were at Animal Kingdom. We were meeting up with friends at Downtown Disney for dinner. There is no direct bus from Animal Kingdom to DTD, so we decided to stop by the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We went outside to look at the animals. I love pelicans. They are cool.

There were a bunch of them at AKL. I don't remember seeing them there before, so I was totally excited!

I also think giraffes are really cool, so I was happy to see them fairly close to the viewing spot behind the lobby.

We briefly cruised the lobby and the gift shop before going out to the bus stop to catch a DTD bus. This was one of our longest bus waits of the trip. I don't think it was a particularly long time, but we had been getting spoiled with wait times of less than 5 minutes!

We got to DTD and met up with my friend Morgan and her mother in the World of Disney store. We browsed for a little while. I love the details. Here is a picture of one of the unique light features I mentioned earlier:

I love that not only did they make it look like a beehive, but they added bees to it!

And this is not a light fixture, but it's really cool how the ceiling decorations tell Disney stories! This reminds me of the Pooh stories and the ride in Fantasyland:

So at this point, Lori, Morgan, her mom, and I, are shopping at World of Disney and I'm playing phone tag with the other Lori, who is on her way to DTD from her house with her 2 daughters to meet up with us.

We eventually met up and headed off to dinner. Morgan and her mom split off and ate before us, then they called it a night. (We had a VERY EARLY morning the next day!)

Lori, Lori, and the 2 girls wanted Earl of Sandwich. I also did, but I had heard you're supposed to carb load before a long race, so off I went to Wolfgang Puck Express to get some pasta. The line there was LONG, full of people that were there to do the Princess!

I had chicken alfredo. I have never seen bacon bits added to this before, but it added a nice bit of flavor. I will have to remember this for the future. It also had peas in it. Nice, sneaky way to get in some vegetables.

I took my food back over to Earl of Sandwich, where Lori, Lori, and the girls were sitting and eating their sandwiches outside. We enjoyed our meals and then went to browse a little more at a couple of shops. We went to Once Upon a Toy and Basin. Or....maybe we shopped before we ate? I can't remember, but I liked looking at the toys. I wanted all the ride vehicles in miniature (think about Hot Wheels size), but to get all the ones available would have cost over $40 and I don't think so! I did get the set of 3 Disney buses at World of Disney. There is one of the DME, the Cruise Line bus, and the Disney Transport bus. I also got some bath bombs at Basin. I figured they would feel good after the Princess.

We left DTD fairly early by my normal WDW touring strategies, but later than I probably should have to get ready for the BIG DAY. When we got back to the room, I got all my things together and re-read the information we had been given about the morning transportation and the race. Then I tried to sleep.

HA! I can sleep just about anywhere and usually have NO TROUBLE falling asleep. Not this night, the night I NEEDED a good night of sleep! First, I was NERVOUS!! I was nervous about the race itself, but also nervous that I would WAKE UP on time! I set 7 alarms. Second, there was a huge group of high school kids swimming outside. (Remember, we got a fabulous pool view! ) They were very loud, even past the 10 or 11 posted quiet time. I kept peeking out the window; security was there but not particularly effective in keeping them quiet for any extended length of time.

Eventually, I did fall asleep. But not for long!! It was another EARLY morning!

Next up...(and in less time than a month away, I promise!)....the PRINCESS HALF MARATHON!!!

 

[portocall]

Yay! an update. Fabulous dinner you had there!

Sorry the loud swimmers kept you up and I hate not being able to sleep when you NEED to sleep. I know you normally sleep easy too, that must have felt strange.

Glad you had fun meeting up with Lori and her girls.

Next stop, is it the Princess?

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Yay! an update. Fabulous dinner you had there!

Sorry the loud swimmers kept you up and I hate not being able to sleep when you NEED to sleep. I know you normally sleep easy too, that must have felt strange.

Glad you had fun meeting up with Lori and her girls.

Next stop, is it the Princess?

Yes, the dinner was good. I have heard great things about the Wolfgang Puck restaurants at DTD (I think there are 3 throughout DTD). This was good. It took awhile; the line was long and then once I ordered it took a bit to get the food, but it was worth it. I like my chicken grilled when I have fettuccine alfredo, grilled with those black grill marks. I'm not sure how they made the chicken, but there was no black stuff on it. I think that would have improved it a little bit.

I think the swimmers alone would not have kept me up. I think it was more nerves. I can sleep through a lot of noise usually.

Yes, we had a nice time. I cannot believe we forgot to take pictures though!

Yes, the Princess is coming up next. I'm going to try to get some of that up today!

 

[UsMcWifeForever]

You couldn't have posted at a better time, I was starting to feel bored with my training, and you reminded me about the fun to be had when i run the Princess1/2 in 2012, I'm off to do 3 miles now!!!!! I can't wait to hear all about the race itself.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

You couldn't have posted at a better time, I was starting to feel bored with my training, and you reminded me about the fun to be had when i run the Princess1/2 in 2012, I'm off to do 3 miles now!!!!! I can't wait to hear all about the race itself.

Glad I could help!

I am not bored with my training for the Disneyland half...because I'm not doing enough of it to GET bored with it!

I am impressed! I cannot go out and do 3 miles right now. The heat index is 112 degrees.

The next update should be up this evening.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I fully intended to add an update yesterday evening. But a friend is in town from out of state and changed her plans last night and we ended up hanging out around town for several hours.

2:30 comes early. Forget bright and early. It's dark and early. And it comes FAST, especially when you go to sleep at about 11 the night before. And if you recall, my flight was at 6:30 the morning before; I had only gotten about 4.5 hours of sleep on Friday night. And 3.5 hours on Saturday night.

Yes, 8 hours of sleep between 2 nights. Sounds like the perfect way to prepare for a half marathon.

Or not.

Anyways, Stitch called me. My iPhone alarm went off. The room alarm went off. My iPhone alarm went off. My iPhone alarm went off....3 more times. Oh good....I did NOT sleep through 7 alarms. Don't laugh. I HAVE done that before.

It's a good thing I had set out everything the night before; my groggy self needed that organization. I left out of the room at about 3:20. AM.

Here's what 3:20 am looks like at All Star Sports:

As I started walking towards the bus, I started seeing many ladies (and a few guys) heading in that direction also. Disney designates some of the resorts as "host resorts" for the race. This means that they provide bus transportation to and from both the Expo and the event. All Star Sports also had their food court open extra early (3am) the day of the event.

I got in line for the bus. It was early, but everyone was excited and in a good mood. It was a pretty long line, but it moved fast. We got a nice bus with the big comfy seats, like a DME bus. The buses dropped us off in part of the Epcot parking lot. We walked a bit before coming to the first set of portapotties. I waited around in this area a bit for Morgan to come on her bus.

The routine is this: Use the bathroom. Get in line to use the bathroom again. Use the bathroom. Get back in line....etc. You don't want to have to wait in a line to use the bathroom during the race, and we had plenty of time before the race started. We got there at about 4, but the race didn't start until 6.

They were playing some music for us as we were standing around waiting. There was bag check for people that needed to check things in the bag they gave us at the expo. There were more portapotties. This area where bag check is was also the finish line. But it did not double as the start line. That was about a 20 minute walk. Hello?!? We are going to do 13.1 miles and you want us to walk a mile or two from the bus drop off to the start?

There were a LOT of people at this thing! I think 13,000 people were signed up. Here is a picture of people waiting around:

It was so cold this morning. I was wearing a sweatshirt that I was okay with tossing away partway through the race. They tell you to do this, because you stand around a lot at the beginning. All the clothes that are tossed are picked up, washed, and given to charity. Morgan, having experience with these race things, brought a pool towel for both of us. That was also helpful. I looked ridiculous, but so did many other people. Many people had those big black trash bags on; they were wearing them like a poncho. Apparently they trap your heat and keep you warm. Who knew?

As we were walking, the only light was from those temporary lights like they use at construction sites. You know, the kind that are run by generators. Oh, warmth! We kept jumping out of the street to go huddle by the exhaust. We know it's dangerous. But so is frostbite.

Anyways, we got to the starting line area. There were - wait for it - more portapotties!

This race had 5 corrals, lettered A-E. They place you in a corral based on your estimated finishing time. To be in a fast corral, you had to submit proof of (a good) time from another race. I was placed in Corral C. Each corral started 7 minutes after the one before it.

As we went through the race, there were official clocks on each of the mile signs. That official time was based on when the first foot in Corral A crossed the start line (based on electronic D-tags we put on our shoes). Our personal official time was based on our own D-tags, so since I was in Corral C, my time was 14 minutes behind the official clocks that I passed.

And from what I understand, as for the official pace time, and "sweeping" the people not maintaining the 16 minute mile, that time pace is determined by the last person that crosses the start line in the last corral (Corral E in this case). Since Corral E started 14 minutes behind me, that actually gave us a little bit of grace period in our 16 minute pace requirement. Phew!

The corrals were actually separated by ropes, and the entrances to them had people checking your bib to make sure you were entering the correct corral. As each corral stepped out, we moved up a corral.

Here is a picture of the fireworks for when Corral A started:

You can see how far back we are from the start line. It is that little yellow stripe towards the bottom of the picture.

Here we are, after Corrals A & B had already stepped off. We have moved quite a bit closer.

Here is a video of when they did the fireworks for our corral:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Jr69Za7vqqE

Up next: We start moving and don't stop for 13.1 miles!

 

[UsMcWifeForever]

Can't wait till your next post.....

 

[miztigg]

subcribing

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

subcribing

I am about to put up the next installment. I sat down to write it about 10 times. Each time, the phone rang or something came up that pulled me away from this!

The next installment is short, but it's HERE!

And hopefully the next installment will not jinx my phone line and cause it to ring with trouble on the other end...