2012 Marathon/2011 Princess Half Marathon Weekend Trip Report! 8/21 - 2013 TRAINING!
- Thread starter Ariel484
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Ariel484
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No, not a Disney race, just a local race. But, I'm especially proud of it because I really had no idea what I was doing, and was blown away when they called my nameThis was a November race, and my husband was the one who suggested hanging my medal as an ornament when we were putting up our tree that year, and so created a new tradition. That Princess tiara is going to look really good on my tree (hmmm, maybe as the tree-topper...). I'm taking lots of notes from your report, and got my eye on that Garmin you sport!!
Oohhhh, I see...so you placed in the race! That is awesome!! Great idea to top your tree off with the tiara, it'll look awesome.
Yes, I love the Garmin. I would even go so far to say that it's a must-have for me now. Here's the one that I have:
http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Foreru...WCQA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335964949&sr=8-1
I got it a couple of years ago and I know for sure I did not pay that much.
It might be more expensive now because they no longer make this model. I was between the one I got and this one (at the time the difference in price was like $10 or something):http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Forerunner-Receiver-Sports-Watch/dp/B000CSQJ8C/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_2
They're essentially the same, except mine came with a heart rate strap (which I never use) and the description said it's Mac-compatible, which wasn't explicitly listed in the 205 description. The Mac compatibility was what sold me on the 305, and now of course I almost never even plug it into the computer.
Ah well. If my current watch dies, I might look into this one:http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Forerunner-GPS-Enabled-Unisex-Sport/dp/B003JNYULA/ref=pd_cp_e_2
Or splurge and get this one (doubtful):
http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Foreru...3MXI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335965306&sr=8-1
Thanks! I was hoping to do the same for the marathon this year (just get one of those big Mickey head ornaments and have it personalized) but I never found the time...so next trip I'll need to get both marathon and Goofy ornaments.
You should totally get one to celebrate running the Princess Half. Better late than never! 
BurleyGirl
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Hey, thanks for all that info on the Garmins!! I'll check them all out (and start saving my money for one!).
Ariel484
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Ariel484
DIS Legend
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Day 3: Sunday, February 27, 2011 continued - DtD/Epcot
After picking up the ornaments, we cruised around a bit more through Downtown Disney. Will finally found some sunglasses he liked at Team Mickey, I grabbed an iced caramel latte at Ghiradelli -YUM! - and Craig grabbed a margarita from...somewhere. Not sure where he found it.
While looking in Goofy's Candy Co., my brother mentioned that he wanted to pick up a souvenir for his lady friend (er...his lady friend at the time. She's out of the picture now). I held up my new Mickey balloon wristlet - would she like something like this? He thought so, so we headed back to World of Disney, first stopping to look in Tren-D (he didn't like the wristlets they had out there).
On the way, he mentioned he wanted to get the lady friend something princess-themed. Apparently he was fond of calling her "princess"
...it's hard to imagine my brother ever calling someone that!. So we looked at the Disney Princess-patterned wristlets, which were 25% off as part of the Princess Half Marathon weekend! He picked the one that he liked, the CM rang it up, and I was surprised to find that even at 25% off, the wristlet cost more than the one that I'd bought the previous day! Hmm.
Anyhoo, here it is!
He never told me whether she liked it or not. Oh well, doesn't matter now!
After our retail successes in Downtown Disney, we decided it was time to head to Epcot. We caught a bus heading to the Yacht Club/Boardwalk/Swan and Dolphin (the bus driver made the bro throw out his margarita...he was not pleased).
On the way over, I finally got a nice shot of the medal:
Isn't it pretty? I love it! There's a space on the back where you can get a time engraved, but I haven't done that.
The first stop on the route was at the Swan and Dolphin, so we hopped off there.
Evil Swan!
After a quick bathroom stop, we continued on through the lobby...
...and out back, over the bridge to the Boardwalk.
We entered Epcot through the International Gateway and met up with Mom in England. Mom and the bro wanted to grab a drink at the pub, but we met up with some furry friends first!
At this point, we split up. The bro joined Mom at the pub, and Will and I were headed to France in hopes of meeting the Beast. I had decided that there were 1. Too few non-race character pictures and 2. Too few pictures of Will and myself for my liking at this point. Time to change that!
We hopped in line for Belle and the Beast around 5PM and got to witness a really hilarious character interaction. The first kid in line was maybe 10 years old and was in a wheelchair. Belle talked to him for a good 5 minutes or so, which was really nice. She ended up saying to the kid's mom, "I love him!" and then told him that she wanted to go on a date with him. Without missing a beat, the kid goes "What time?" After getting his photo, he headed back to his parents, and Belle yelled "Don't forget about our ice cream date on Thursday!" and the kid, who I noticed had gotten a kiss on the cheek from Belle (you could see her lipstick) simply replied "It's on!" Nice!
When it was our turn, Belle congratulated me on finishing the Half. Hooray!
After our photo, we headed back to England to find Mom and Craig, stopping for cups of ice water on the way. I very much appreciated the CMs at the counter service location in England (the one just to the right of Rose & Crown) who gave us the big, free cups of ice water.
It was greatly needed. We found Mom and Craig sitting on the public patio near the lagoon and found a spot in the shade. It was really nice to relax for a bit before dinner. 
Continued in Next Post
After picking up the ornaments, we cruised around a bit more through Downtown Disney. Will finally found some sunglasses he liked at Team Mickey, I grabbed an iced caramel latte at Ghiradelli -YUM! - and Craig grabbed a margarita from...somewhere. Not sure where he found it.
While looking in Goofy's Candy Co., my brother mentioned that he wanted to pick up a souvenir for his lady friend (er...his lady friend at the time. She's out of the picture now). I held up my new Mickey balloon wristlet - would she like something like this? He thought so, so we headed back to World of Disney, first stopping to look in Tren-D (he didn't like the wristlets they had out there).
On the way, he mentioned he wanted to get the lady friend something princess-themed. Apparently he was fond of calling her "princess"
...it's hard to imagine my brother ever calling someone that!. So we looked at the Disney Princess-patterned wristlets, which were 25% off as part of the Princess Half Marathon weekend! He picked the one that he liked, the CM rang it up, and I was surprised to find that even at 25% off, the wristlet cost more than the one that I'd bought the previous day! Hmm.Anyhoo, here it is!
He never told me whether she liked it or not. Oh well, doesn't matter now!
After our retail successes in Downtown Disney, we decided it was time to head to Epcot. We caught a bus heading to the Yacht Club/Boardwalk/Swan and Dolphin (the bus driver made the bro throw out his margarita...he was not pleased).
On the way over, I finally got a nice shot of the medal:
Isn't it pretty? I love it! There's a space on the back where you can get a time engraved, but I haven't done that.
The first stop on the route was at the Swan and Dolphin, so we hopped off there.
Evil Swan!
After a quick bathroom stop, we continued on through the lobby...
...and out back, over the bridge to the Boardwalk.
We entered Epcot through the International Gateway and met up with Mom in England. Mom and the bro wanted to grab a drink at the pub, but we met up with some furry friends first!
At this point, we split up. The bro joined Mom at the pub, and Will and I were headed to France in hopes of meeting the Beast. I had decided that there were 1. Too few non-race character pictures and 2. Too few pictures of Will and myself for my liking at this point. Time to change that!
We hopped in line for Belle and the Beast around 5PM and got to witness a really hilarious character interaction. The first kid in line was maybe 10 years old and was in a wheelchair. Belle talked to him for a good 5 minutes or so, which was really nice. She ended up saying to the kid's mom, "I love him!" and then told him that she wanted to go on a date with him. Without missing a beat, the kid goes "What time?" After getting his photo, he headed back to his parents, and Belle yelled "Don't forget about our ice cream date on Thursday!" and the kid, who I noticed had gotten a kiss on the cheek from Belle (you could see her lipstick) simply replied "It's on!" Nice!
When it was our turn, Belle congratulated me on finishing the Half. Hooray!
After our photo, we headed back to England to find Mom and Craig, stopping for cups of ice water on the way. I very much appreciated the CMs at the counter service location in England (the one just to the right of Rose & Crown) who gave us the big, free cups of ice water.
It was greatly needed. We found Mom and Craig sitting on the public patio near the lagoon and found a spot in the shade. It was really nice to relax for a bit before dinner. Continued in Next Post
Ariel484
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Day 3: Sunday, February 27, 2011 continued - Dinner and an evening in the Magic Kingdom
We headed to Canada to check in a wee bit early for our reservations at Le Cellier. This was right before Le Cellier became a Signature Restaurant.
We got seated right away, and the people at the table next to us congratulated me on completing the half!
This had been happening all day (I think it really bummed my brother out, since he'd forgotten his medal in his room! 
). So for anyone that runs one of these races at Disney, wear your medal afterward! It's fun! I think I forgot to mention that people were wearing their Beauty and the Beast 5K medals as well, so those were fun to see.
So we chatted with the people at the table next to us (1 guy and 2 ladies). Turns out the guy had run the race as well...remember how I said there was "insane frog" and "runner frog"? This guy was runner frog! It was like meeting a celebrity! I told him I really liked his outfit, and we chatted about the race a bit. It's fun to meet people at WDW!
Everyone decided on their meals pretty quickly. Mom got the salmon, which she said was really good. Craig got the mushroom filet with more mushrooms on the side, and he loved it. Will and I split a bowl of the cheddar cheese soup, asked for extra pretzel bread, and both ordered the gnocchi.
Apologies for the poor picture quality...it just doesn't work for me in that place!
Was halfway through before I remembered to take a picture...d'oh! But that goes to show how big the portion was.
We all shared Mom and the bro's desserts. Mom got the s'more:
And for the bro, the chocolate moose!
We think Le Cellier is really good, but not Signature material, in our opinion. We were lucky enough to eat there 3 trips in a row and haven't been back since the Princess Half trip, mostly because we wanted to try new places. Perhaps we'll be back some day.
While waiting for our check, we got a surprise from Runner Frog and his friends...3 Soarin' fastpasses that they couldn't use! It worked out great, because Mom didn't want to ride anyway. Woohoo!
We headed out and back to France so that I could indulge in a tasty treat...a Grand Marnier Orange Slush!
3 free fastpasses and a tasty drink...a winning combination!
On our way to Future World, we took a peek in the caramel shop in Germany *drools* before making our way to The Land.
No more fastpasses? No problem! Thanks, Runner Frog!
We got a seat in the front row (yay!) and had a lovely flight. I have to agree with everyone else though - this ride would be so much better if the film was cleaned up. Maybe someday.
After Soarin', we made our way to the front of the park to catch the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.
Nighty-night Epcot!
We hopped on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom around 8PM. As we got closer to the MK, I was surprised, and disappointed, to see that Wishes had already started!
I think I thought that it would be later since there were Evening Extra Magic Hours that night. D'oh!
By the time the monorail pulled into the station, Wishes had ended.
At this point, my mom and brother decided that they just wanted to walk around, "see everything," and head back to Riverside. They were pooped.
But Will and I weren't! We entered the Magic Kingdom, and it was like we were salmon swimming upstream. Everyone was leaving.
After walking through a few stores to avoid the crowds, we headed into Tomorrowland. As we walked, I blabbed on about where we'd run that morning. I was glad that he could see where we'd been. It was odd...the race had only ended that morning, but it already felt like it had happened a lifetime ago.
We made a beeline for Space - only a 20-minute wait! We'll take it. Unfortunately, just as we got in line, a CM came out to announce that Space was down and they had no idea when it would be up again. Boo!
Fantasyland was next on our list.
Next up on our tour was the Haunted Mansion...a walk-on! There was some sort of temporary screen up during the hitchhiking ghost scene with projections of the ghosts flying around. At the time I had no idea what was going on, but we were pleasantly surprised to ride again in June and see the new scene Disney had been working on! Too cool.
We hit up Splash Mountain next.
At the time, Mickey and Minnie had temporary meet and greets in Tomorrowland, Liberty Square and Frontierland. My hope was that we could meet them all that evening! Of course, just like with Wishes, we were there too late, according to the Times Guide. So imagine my surprise when, while walking through the Splash line, I saw them! Mickey and Minnie, still meeting and greeting, just to the ride of the Splash queue! (It looked like Mickey was wearing the same outfit he has on in Garden Grill.)
We hopped out of the Splash line and into the M&M line. I was quite giddy...until the woman in front of me turned around and said to the character attendant "isn't your line closed?" while sort of jerking her head in our direction.
Ouch. The CM, who'd been chatting with someone else, promptly kicked us out of line. I understand that they need to close the lines at some point, but still...thanks a lot, lady. For the second time that day, I just barely missed the mice.
After that disappointment, we re-entered the empty Splash line. Last chance to exit...
...and we totally should have. Something was off with Splash that evening. First we thought the audio was cutting out and skipping in some places. It was sort of weird, but not enough to ruin the ride or anything like that. Then we got completely stopped, both before and after the big drop. I wish I'd taken a picture - there were easily 8-10 logs backed up at the end of the ride. I was disappointed that such a great ride was having issues. 
After Splash, we headed over to Big Thunder (also a walk-on, not broken!) and Will annouced that he was hungry. We headed over to Pecos Bill's, where Will happily munched on a taco salad.
We decided to give it a go on Space Mountain, and it was up and running! Horray!
Upon returning from Space, it was almost time for the park to close.
Crooked castle!
We managed to get on a bus right at 11 and got back to Riverside quickly. We were in bed by midnight...last sleep at WDW
Continued in Next Post
We headed to Canada to check in a wee bit early for our reservations at Le Cellier. This was right before Le Cellier became a Signature Restaurant.
We got seated right away, and the people at the table next to us congratulated me on completing the half!
This had been happening all day (I think it really bummed my brother out, since he'd forgotten his medal in his room! ). So for anyone that runs one of these races at Disney, wear your medal afterward! It's fun! I think I forgot to mention that people were wearing their Beauty and the Beast 5K medals as well, so those were fun to see.So we chatted with the people at the table next to us (1 guy and 2 ladies). Turns out the guy had run the race as well...remember how I said there was "insane frog" and "runner frog"? This guy was runner frog! It was like meeting a celebrity! I told him I really liked his outfit, and we chatted about the race a bit. It's fun to meet people at WDW!
Everyone decided on their meals pretty quickly. Mom got the salmon, which she said was really good. Craig got the mushroom filet with more mushrooms on the side, and he loved it. Will and I split a bowl of the cheddar cheese soup, asked for extra pretzel bread, and both ordered the gnocchi.
Apologies for the poor picture quality...it just doesn't work for me in that place!
Was halfway through before I remembered to take a picture...d'oh! But that goes to show how big the portion was.
We all shared Mom and the bro's desserts. Mom got the s'more:
And for the bro, the chocolate moose!
We think Le Cellier is really good, but not Signature material, in our opinion. We were lucky enough to eat there 3 trips in a row and haven't been back since the Princess Half trip, mostly because we wanted to try new places. Perhaps we'll be back some day.
While waiting for our check, we got a surprise from Runner Frog and his friends...3 Soarin' fastpasses that they couldn't use! It worked out great, because Mom didn't want to ride anyway. Woohoo!
We headed out and back to France so that I could indulge in a tasty treat...a Grand Marnier Orange Slush!
3 free fastpasses and a tasty drink...a winning combination!
On our way to Future World, we took a peek in the caramel shop in Germany *drools* before making our way to The Land.
No more fastpasses? No problem! Thanks, Runner Frog!
We got a seat in the front row (yay!) and had a lovely flight. I have to agree with everyone else though - this ride would be so much better if the film was cleaned up. Maybe someday.
After Soarin', we made our way to the front of the park to catch the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.
Nighty-night Epcot!
We hopped on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom around 8PM. As we got closer to the MK, I was surprised, and disappointed, to see that Wishes had already started!
I think I thought that it would be later since there were Evening Extra Magic Hours that night. D'oh! By the time the monorail pulled into the station, Wishes had ended.
At this point, my mom and brother decided that they just wanted to walk around, "see everything," and head back to Riverside. They were pooped.
But Will and I weren't! We entered the Magic Kingdom, and it was like we were salmon swimming upstream. Everyone was leaving.
After walking through a few stores to avoid the crowds, we headed into Tomorrowland. As we walked, I blabbed on about where we'd run that morning. I was glad that he could see where we'd been. It was odd...the race had only ended that morning, but it already felt like it had happened a lifetime ago.
We made a beeline for Space - only a 20-minute wait! We'll take it. Unfortunately, just as we got in line, a CM came out to announce that Space was down and they had no idea when it would be up again. Boo!
Fantasyland was next on our list.
Next up on our tour was the Haunted Mansion...a walk-on! There was some sort of temporary screen up during the hitchhiking ghost scene with projections of the ghosts flying around. At the time I had no idea what was going on, but we were pleasantly surprised to ride again in June and see the new scene Disney had been working on! Too cool.
We hit up Splash Mountain next.
At the time, Mickey and Minnie had temporary meet and greets in Tomorrowland, Liberty Square and Frontierland. My hope was that we could meet them all that evening! Of course, just like with Wishes, we were there too late, according to the Times Guide. So imagine my surprise when, while walking through the Splash line, I saw them! Mickey and Minnie, still meeting and greeting, just to the ride of the Splash queue! (It looked like Mickey was wearing the same outfit he has on in Garden Grill.)
We hopped out of the Splash line and into the M&M line. I was quite giddy...until the woman in front of me turned around and said to the character attendant "isn't your line closed?" while sort of jerking her head in our direction.
Ouch. The CM, who'd been chatting with someone else, promptly kicked us out of line. I understand that they need to close the lines at some point, but still...thanks a lot, lady. For the second time that day, I just barely missed the mice.After that disappointment, we re-entered the empty Splash line. Last chance to exit...
...and we totally should have. Something was off with Splash that evening. First we thought the audio was cutting out and skipping in some places. It was sort of weird, but not enough to ruin the ride or anything like that.
Then we got completely stopped, both before and after the big drop. I wish I'd taken a picture - there were easily 8-10 logs backed up at the end of the ride. I was disappointed that such a great ride was having issues. After Splash, we headed over to Big Thunder (also a walk-on, not broken!) and Will annouced that he was hungry. We headed over to Pecos Bill's, where Will happily munched on a taco salad.
We decided to give it a go on Space Mountain, and it was up and running! Horray!
Upon returning from Space, it was almost time for the park to close.
Crooked castle!
We managed to get on a bus right at 11 and got back to Riverside quickly. We were in bed by midnight...last sleep at WDW
Continued in Next Post
Ariel484
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Day 4: February 28, 2011 - A Morning With The Animals
Departure day. We’ve all been there. Woof.
We were up at 6:40 and ready to check out (we’d packed up most of our stuff the previous afternoon). Mom and Craig would not be joining us at Animal Kingdom - they needed to head back out West. Bye-bye family!
After storing our carry-on bags with the bellhop, we grabbed some breakfast from Riverside Mill and hopped on a bus to Animal Kingdom for Morning Extra Magic Hours.
Everest was up first that day…only about a 5 minute wait!
After our visit with the Yeti (who was in disco mode that day), we headed to Africa for an early morning safari!
At one point, I looked up and was surprised to see a woman walking on a bridge above me as part of the (new at the time) Africa trek.
Chomp chomp chomp!
Running away to hide:
Hidden, but curious.
More safari pictures!
"No photos, please."
The lioness was looking pretty relaxed...
...but then was staring right at us as we went around the corner! Eek!
Continued in Next Post
Departure day. We’ve all been there. Woof.
We were up at 6:40 and ready to check out (we’d packed up most of our stuff the previous afternoon). Mom and Craig would not be joining us at Animal Kingdom - they needed to head back out West. Bye-bye family!
After storing our carry-on bags with the bellhop, we grabbed some breakfast from Riverside Mill and hopped on a bus to Animal Kingdom for Morning Extra Magic Hours.
Everest was up first that day…only about a 5 minute wait!
After our visit with the Yeti (who was in disco mode that day), we headed to Africa for an early morning safari!
At one point, I looked up and was surprised to see a woman walking on a bridge above me as part of the (new at the time) Africa trek.
Chomp chomp chomp!
Running away to hide:
Hidden, but curious.
More safari pictures!
"No photos, please."
The lioness was looking pretty relaxed...
...but then was staring right at us as we went around the corner! Eek!
Continued in Next Post
Ariel484
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Day 4: February 28, 2011 continued - Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to Camp we go!
After the safari, we headed over to Camp Minnie Mickey to meet some friends…
…but they weren’t there!
On the way in we passed Pocahontas, so we went back to meet her while waiting for the others to arrive. We were behind a mother with her son and daughter…the daughter was excited to meet Pocahontas, the son, not so much. But she and the photopass guy had a trick worked out. The photopass guy suggested that Pocahontas step to the back so that he could get a shot of just the family, and the boy agreed to be in it. Then at the last minute, Pocahontas ran into the shot and struck a perfect pose! Sneaky lady.
When it was our turn, Pocahontas was very interested in my tech shirt and asked me to explain what a half marathon was. Our conversation ended with her saying that maybe we could meet in the woods to run some day. Perhaps!
When we headed back to the greeting trails, they were still empty. What’s going on here???
But not for long! Suddenly the characters were coming out. Mickey’s line was predictably long, so we decided to visit everyone else first.
We started with Minnie. There were a bunch of purple flowers on the ground (you can sort of see them in some of these pictures), so Minnie lifted her skirt a bit and gingerly tip-toed around them. Very cute.
Next up was the Goof. He blew me a kiss and I blew one back and he was so embarrassed!
Hehe.
Donald was up next. He noticed the Mickey on Will's hat and pinched his nose (which I am laughing at in the picture)!
After we met Donald, we were leaving his trail and I noticed that he was following us (no one else had been in line at that point). Donald spotted a little boy that was excited to meet him. Donald waved to him...
...and then tried to wave him over...
...and suddenly the boy began to have an epic crying fit! Oops!
And then finally we were able to meet the mouse!
Next up was Thumper and Miss Bunny. While waiting in line, we struck up a conversation with the CM, who was from Dayton. Basically we talked about how crappy the weather was in Ohio and how pleased she was to not have to go back that evening, like we did. Bleh.
But we met the bunnies! They were very cute.
Continued in Next Post
After the safari, we headed over to Camp Minnie Mickey to meet some friends…
…but they weren’t there!
On the way in we passed Pocahontas, so we went back to meet her while waiting for the others to arrive. We were behind a mother with her son and daughter…the daughter was excited to meet Pocahontas, the son, not so much. But she and the photopass guy had a trick worked out. The photopass guy suggested that Pocahontas step to the back so that he could get a shot of just the family, and the boy agreed to be in it. Then at the last minute, Pocahontas ran into the shot and struck a perfect pose! Sneaky lady.
When it was our turn, Pocahontas was very interested in my tech shirt and asked me to explain what a half marathon was. Our conversation ended with her saying that maybe we could meet in the woods to run some day. Perhaps!
When we headed back to the greeting trails, they were still empty. What’s going on here???
But not for long! Suddenly the characters were coming out.
Mickey’s line was predictably long, so we decided to visit everyone else first.We started with Minnie. There were a bunch of purple flowers on the ground (you can sort of see them in some of these pictures), so Minnie lifted her skirt a bit and gingerly tip-toed around them. Very cute.
Next up was the Goof. He blew me a kiss and I blew one back and he was so embarrassed!
Hehe.
Donald was up next. He noticed the Mickey on Will's hat and pinched his nose (which I am laughing at in the picture)!
After we met Donald, we were leaving his trail and I noticed that he was following us (no one else had been in line at that point). Donald spotted a little boy that was excited to meet him. Donald waved to him...
...and then tried to wave him over...
...and suddenly the boy began to have an epic crying fit! Oops!
And then finally we were able to meet the mouse!
Next up was Thumper and Miss Bunny. While waiting in line, we struck up a conversation with the CM, who was from Dayton. Basically we talked about how crappy the weather was in Ohio and how pleased she was to not have to go back that evening, like we did. Bleh.
But we met the bunnies! They were very cute.
Continued in Next Post
BurleyGirl
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Love, love, love the princess medal!! I now have major medal envy!! And, how cool to get to walk around in it all day, and wear your tech shirt the next day! Sad to see your report coming to an end...I've truly enjoyed it!
Ariel484
DIS Legend
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- Dec 27, 2011
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Yeah, you really can't beat a pretty tiara medal with rhinestones!
I think that wearing it around the parks afterward is one of my favorite things about the race weekends. My brother was super bummed that he didn't wear his after the race.Thanks for reading along so far...I am still planning on posting about running the marathon this year too. So it's not over yet!
Ariel484
DIS Legend
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Day 4: February 28, 2011 continued - TTFN, Animal Kingdom
After meeting all of our furry friends, we made our way toward Dinoland.
Just in time for the 10:30 showing of Finding Nemo!
We love this show. It's just so great!
At this point, we had sort of an awkward amount of time to kill before our lunch reservations. We decided that a nice, relaxing way to end the vacation would be to check out some resorts. Will decided he needed a snack, so while he waited for popcorn, I sat on a nearby bench and was entertained by this little guy.
Meanwhile, this one was contemplating jumping up and stealing Will's popcorn!
TTFN, Animal Kingdom!
Just as we got to the bus area, a bus to the Grand Floridian pulled up.
I'd always been curious to see this resort, and since our lunch reservations were at the Poly, I figured we could check out the GF lobby and pool, then hop on the monorail to lunch. The bus stopped first at the Wilderness Lodge...another place I had never been at that point. We're planning to stay there sometime next year though!
The lobby of the Grand Floridian sure is...grand. Yuk yuk yuk. Seriously though, it was very beautiful.
We walked through the shops and I peeked into 1900 Park Fare...the food smelled awesome.
The beach was quite lovely. It would be so nice to just relax out there on a lounger. Aahhh...
Once my curiosity was satisfied, we caught the monorail to the Polynesian, our first visit to that resort.
Since I had never been to the Poly, I have to admit that I never understood why people passionately declared their love for this resort. It won me over instantly though. As soon as I walked in the lobby, I felt completely relaxed and transported to another place entirely. It was really, really nice.
Continued in Next Post
After meeting all of our furry friends, we made our way toward Dinoland.
Just in time for the 10:30 showing of Finding Nemo!
We love this show. It's just so great!
At this point, we had sort of an awkward amount of time to kill before our lunch reservations. We decided that a nice, relaxing way to end the vacation would be to check out some resorts. Will decided he needed a snack, so while he waited for popcorn, I sat on a nearby bench and was entertained by this little guy.
Meanwhile, this one was contemplating jumping up and stealing Will's popcorn!
TTFN, Animal Kingdom!
Just as we got to the bus area, a bus to the Grand Floridian pulled up.
I'd always been curious to see this resort, and since our lunch reservations were at the Poly, I figured we could check out the GF lobby and pool, then hop on the monorail to lunch. The bus stopped first at the Wilderness Lodge...another place I had never been at that point. We're planning to stay there sometime next year though!
The lobby of the Grand Floridian sure is...grand. Yuk yuk yuk. Seriously though, it was very beautiful.
We walked through the shops and I peeked into 1900 Park Fare...the food smelled awesome.
The beach was quite lovely. It would be so nice to just relax out there on a lounger. Aahhh...
Once my curiosity was satisfied, we caught the monorail to the Polynesian, our first visit to that resort.
Since I had never been to the Poly, I have to admit that I never understood why people passionately declared their love for this resort. It won me over instantly though. As soon as I walked in the lobby, I felt completely relaxed and transported to another place entirely.
It was really, really nice.Continued in Next Post
Ariel484
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
- Messages
- 11,911
Day 4: February 28, 2011 continued - Kona!
It was a teeny bit early, but we were seated right away when we checked in at the Kona Cafe podium.
This ADR was a last-minute addition. When I originally booked our flight home, it was supposed to leave around 5:30. This would have had us getting on the Magical Express to head to the airport around 2:30. About a month before the trip, the flight got pushed back to 7:30 - we wouldn't need to catch the Magical Express until 4. So I thought it made some sense to try to have a bigger lunch, rather than depend completely on the airport food (this turned out to be a good plan - there weren't many options in our terminal).
Our server Jackie was great. Very helpful and nice, and just fun to talk to. She recommended the Island Chicken sandwich, and we both took her advice. It was delicious! My favorite part was the onion straws.
(Will got his with fresh cut chips on the side instead of fries...they were soooo good.)
Then dessert came out...
Kilauea Torte. Oh my. This was amazing. Will's not really a big sweets person, and even he thought it was incredible. YUM...
Overall I was very pleased with the dining on this trip. All three new places we tried - Earl of Sandwich, Wolfgang Puck, and Kona Cafe - were excellent. Chefs de France and Le Cellier are always good, but like I said, we're probably done with Le Cellier now that it's Signature.
After lunch, we wandered around in the lobby some more and checked out Boutiki.
We went out back to check out the pool next. It looked really fun!
View of the Grand Floridian from the beach:
I spy a castle!
By then we decided that it was probably time to think about leaving WDW We hopped on a monorail to the Magic Kingdom and grabbed a bus back to Riverside.
After our afternoon visit to the Poly, we couldn't stop thinking about the place...we MUST stay there! And we will be for Marathon Weekend 2013! WOOHOO!
The weekend finally caught up to me on the bus back to Riverside. I'd been doing okay up until then, but suddenly I just could not keep my eyes open.
After picking up our carry-ons from bell services around 2:45, I promptly plopped down on a couch in the lobby and fell asleep sitting up! It was glorious. Will woke me up at around 3:30 so that we'd have plenty of time to change into warmer clothes to go home and still be able to make our 4PM bus. We were at the stop early, but the bus was a bit late - at 4:15, we were on our way to the airport...and just like that, our weekend was over.
Continued in Next Post
It was a teeny bit early, but we were seated right away when we checked in at the Kona Cafe podium.
This ADR was a last-minute addition. When I originally booked our flight home, it was supposed to leave around 5:30. This would have had us getting on the Magical Express to head to the airport around 2:30. About a month before the trip, the flight got pushed back to 7:30 - we wouldn't need to catch the Magical Express until 4. So I thought it made some sense to try to have a bigger lunch, rather than depend completely on the airport food (this turned out to be a good plan - there weren't many options in our terminal).
Our server Jackie was great. Very helpful and nice, and just fun to talk to. She recommended the Island Chicken sandwich, and we both took her advice. It was delicious! My favorite part was the onion straws.
(Will got his with fresh cut chips on the side instead of fries...they were soooo good.)
Then dessert came out...
Kilauea Torte. Oh my. This was amazing. Will's not really a big sweets person, and even he thought it was incredible. YUM...
Overall I was very pleased with the dining on this trip. All three new places we tried - Earl of Sandwich, Wolfgang Puck, and Kona Cafe - were excellent. Chefs de France and Le Cellier are always good, but like I said, we're probably done with Le Cellier now that it's Signature.
After lunch, we wandered around in the lobby some more and checked out Boutiki.
We went out back to check out the pool next. It looked really fun!
View of the Grand Floridian from the beach:
I spy a castle!
By then we decided that it was probably time to think about leaving WDW
We hopped on a monorail to the Magic Kingdom and grabbed a bus back to Riverside.
After our afternoon visit to the Poly, we couldn't stop thinking about the place...we MUST stay there! And we will be for Marathon Weekend 2013! WOOHOO!
The weekend finally caught up to me on the bus back to Riverside. I'd been doing okay up until then, but suddenly I just could not keep my eyes open.
After picking up our carry-ons from bell services around 2:45, I promptly plopped down on a couch in the lobby and fell asleep sitting up! It was glorious. Will woke me up at around 3:30 so that we'd have plenty of time to change into warmer clothes to go home and still be able to make our 4PM bus. We were at the stop early, but the bus was a bit late - at 4:15, we were on our way to the airport...and just like that, our weekend was over. Continued in Next Post
Ariel484
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
- Messages
- 11,911
Final Thoughts (non-race)
Port Orleans Riverside: This was our first time staying at this resort, and first time at a moderate in general, and we really liked it. We got a great location (room 9012 – ground floor in Oak Manor) that was close enough to the lobby to not seem like a hassle, but tucked away enough that it was very quiet. The resort being spread out can be an issue for some people, I think, but we liked exploring the grounds and just taking in the whole environment. I mentioned before that the only thing we didn’t like in the room was the shower and the fact that we had 2 double beds (but I knew going in that the chance of us getting a king bed room was pretty slim), but the room was clean and the one double bed that we squeezed into was nice. I’m pleased that they were able to put us in the same building as my mom and brother though – that was the most important thing, and I appreciate that they accommodated that (they were in room 9009). We had great luck with the buses, waiting no more than 10 minutes for a bus to come all weekend (mostly it was more like a 5 minute wait). The rides weren’t too bad, except that, as is usually the case (I think), going to and from Downtown Disney felt like it took forever. In our opinion, the boat was the way to go to get there, and we enjoyed the one ride we took. I regret that we didn’t get more time to spend at the resort – in particular, I wish we’d had more time to look around the Alligator Bayou section, enjoy the pool, and hit up the River Roost Lounge. Maybe some other time! We’d stay here again, but we’re completely spoiled by the Boardwalk’s location, specifically being able to walk to 2 parks. That’s still our #1 resort, but we were very happy with our stay at Riverside.
Food: Riverside Mill, Earl of Sandwich, Wolfgang Puck Express and Kona Café were all new to us on this trip. Riverside Mill was fine, but the other 3 really exceeded my expectations. We’ll definitely be returning. This was our third time eating at both Chefs de France and Le Cellier, and while both were good, as usual, I’m excited to try new places on future trips.
Tables in Wonderland/Dining Plan: This was our first trip not being on the dining plan, and it was nice. It was great to be able to just split food (like we did at Wolfgang Puck, Le Cellier, and Kona) and not feel at all restricted in what we could order. The mom and bro had free dining, and I think they liked it, but we always ended up splitting their desserts between the 4 of us, which worked out well. Having said that, we’ll probably go back to the dining plan in the future, just because I don’t think we’ll always be AP holders (too hard living in Ohio) and I just don’t think we’ll want to pay out of pocket for every meal without the Tables in Wonderland discount.
Merchandise: I completely see what people are saying about the merchandise being standardized. I mentioned that I was on a mission to replace our coffee mugs…I was hoping to get a Riverside mug in Fulton’s, and they didn’t have any. Just the same stuff you’d find in any other store. Nothing resort-specific. I know this is old news, but there you have it. I did see resort-specific stuff in the Grand Floridian, so maybe they just reserve that for the deluxes? Anyway, I got a couple of things I really wanted (the wristlet, ornaments, a different coffee mug) and didn’t spend too much, so I was proud of myself for that! My one merchandise regret is not getting a Princess Half Finisher t-shirt. The front said “13.1, I did it!” or something, and I just sort of passed it by, but the back, which I didn’t look at, had a course map. For some reason, I really wanted the shirt after seeing the back, but I didn’t actually see the back until I was in the airport, about to board our flight home! D’OH! 
The Parks: I thought everything looked great. Every Cast Member we encountered was super friendly, and there weren’t too many obnoxious guests around. Hooray! I was really surprised at all the work going on in Magic Kingdom – it’s one thing to read it here, quite another to see it in person. There were scrims up on Main Street, on the back end of the castle, and screens up in the hitchhiking ghost portion of Haunted Mansion (just realized there’s a thread about this in the New section), and of course, the construction walls up around Fantasyland. I think initially I was disappointed to see all this work, but it has to happen sometime, right? It’s good that they are on top of the maintenance. Speaking of maintenance…I remember really thinking that Splash needs some help. Unfortunately I think that's still true. Get on it, Disney!
Disney in February: …was fabulous! The weather was perfect and the lines were short. I wish we could come at this time of the year every year!
Princess Half Marathon thoughts
This was my first race at Disney (7th race overall) and it was a blast. These things are addicting!
Training: This was the first and only time (so far) that I have used a Jeff Galloway plan to train for a race. This one did the job - I felt prepared on race day and pretty good once the race was over, save the ITB pain - but I've gotten to a point where I prefer to run 4 days per week instead of 3. But ultimately I am very grateful to Galloway for getting me to the finish line of my first half!
Expo: Not fun - not enough space and too hot and crowded for my taste. I think this year the expo was split between 2 buildings, which I'm sure was a huge improvement. The goody bags were just okay – mesh bag, tech shirt, a small Luna bar sample, some coupons and ads for other races. At least the mesh bags were there though - I think those are now a thing of the past. Getting to the Wide World of Sports was a bit of a pain, but it was cool to see once we actually did get there. The good thing about the expo was that it was easy to make any changes – my brother exchanged his shirt (a medium for an XL – men, if you do this race, the t-shirts are in WOMEN’S sizes!) and changed his corral placement, and both of those tasks, which I thought would be monumental pains, took minutes. So that was really nice. My advice for the expo: get there early, don’t wait until the day before the race if possible, bring proof of time if you have it (we were supposed to send them in by January 11 I think, but we were still able to make the corral change), and print your waiver beforehand and bring it with you. By arriving with our waivers in hand, we avoided the additional line people had to wait in to print theirs out.
Pre-race: One weird thing that really worked out in my favor was the insane travel day we had on the 25th and not getting a nap the afternoon of the 26th. Because of this, I was able to get to bed the night before the race pretty early and slept like a rock, which was lucky. In the months leading up to the race I was definitely more scared of the 2:50AM wake-up time than running the race itself, but it turned out to be fine. I thought the race was pretty well-organized for the start…plenty of porta potties of all that. Just wish they all had Purell! (Some did, some didn’t.)
The race: It was awesome! More characters than I expected by far. The sloped roads killed my knee though, and the constant widening and narrowing of the course was slightly difficult to deal with. The on-course entertainment was great though – definitely made the miles fly by - and the volunteers were so wonderful. I wish I could thank all of them. We got lucky with the weather – not too cold at all, any hotter and I think there would have been problems.
Post-race: Nice food/water spread, I just wish there were more characters to meet and that they’d advertised the med tent a little better!
Transportation: Surprisingly good. We didn’t wait long for buses to/from the expo/race at all…same goes for mom and Will. Families of runners were easily transported to the race, which was nice.
Seriously, if anyone out there is thinking about doing one of these races, DO IT. You’ll have a blast! And if you do it, be sure to wear your medal around the parks afterward. It was so fun to get congratulations from Cast Members and to chat with other runners!
Thanks for reading so far...up next: the 2012 Walt Disney World Marathon!
Port Orleans Riverside: This was our first time staying at this resort, and first time at a moderate in general, and we really liked it. We got a great location (room 9012 – ground floor in Oak Manor) that was close enough to the lobby to not seem like a hassle, but tucked away enough that it was very quiet. The resort being spread out can be an issue for some people, I think, but we liked exploring the grounds and just taking in the whole environment. I mentioned before that the only thing we didn’t like in the room was the shower and the fact that we had 2 double beds (but I knew going in that the chance of us getting a king bed room was pretty slim), but the room was clean and the one double bed that we squeezed into was nice. I’m pleased that they were able to put us in the same building as my mom and brother though – that was the most important thing, and I appreciate that they accommodated that (they were in room 9009). We had great luck with the buses, waiting no more than 10 minutes for a bus to come all weekend (mostly it was more like a 5 minute wait). The rides weren’t too bad, except that, as is usually the case (I think), going to and from Downtown Disney felt like it took forever. In our opinion, the boat was the way to go to get there, and we enjoyed the one ride we took. I regret that we didn’t get more time to spend at the resort – in particular, I wish we’d had more time to look around the Alligator Bayou section, enjoy the pool, and hit up the River Roost Lounge. Maybe some other time! We’d stay here again, but we’re completely spoiled by the Boardwalk’s location, specifically being able to walk to 2 parks. That’s still our #1 resort, but we were very happy with our stay at Riverside.
Food: Riverside Mill, Earl of Sandwich, Wolfgang Puck Express and Kona Café were all new to us on this trip. Riverside Mill was fine, but the other 3 really exceeded my expectations. We’ll definitely be returning. This was our third time eating at both Chefs de France and Le Cellier, and while both were good, as usual, I’m excited to try new places on future trips.
Tables in Wonderland/Dining Plan: This was our first trip not being on the dining plan, and it was nice. It was great to be able to just split food (like we did at Wolfgang Puck, Le Cellier, and Kona) and not feel at all restricted in what we could order. The mom and bro had free dining, and I think they liked it, but we always ended up splitting their desserts between the 4 of us, which worked out well. Having said that, we’ll probably go back to the dining plan in the future, just because I don’t think we’ll always be AP holders (too hard living in Ohio) and I just don’t think we’ll want to pay out of pocket for every meal without the Tables in Wonderland discount.
Merchandise: I completely see what people are saying about the merchandise being standardized. I mentioned that I was on a mission to replace our coffee mugs…I was hoping to get a Riverside mug in Fulton’s, and they didn’t have any. Just the same stuff you’d find in any other store. Nothing resort-specific. I know this is old news, but there you have it. I did see resort-specific stuff in the Grand Floridian, so maybe they just reserve that for the deluxes? Anyway, I got a couple of things I really wanted (the wristlet, ornaments, a different coffee mug) and didn’t spend too much, so I was proud of myself for that! My one merchandise regret is not getting a Princess Half Finisher t-shirt.
The front said “13.1, I did it!” or something, and I just sort of passed it by, but the back, which I didn’t look at, had a course map. For some reason, I really wanted the shirt after seeing the back, but I didn’t actually see the back until I was in the airport, about to board our flight home! D’OH! The Parks: I thought everything looked great. Every Cast Member we encountered was super friendly, and there weren’t too many obnoxious guests around. Hooray! I was really surprised at all the work going on in Magic Kingdom – it’s one thing to read it here, quite another to see it in person. There were scrims up on Main Street, on the back end of the castle, and screens up in the hitchhiking ghost portion of Haunted Mansion (just realized there’s a thread about this in the New section), and of course, the construction walls up around Fantasyland. I think initially I was disappointed to see all this work, but it has to happen sometime, right? It’s good that they are on top of the maintenance. Speaking of maintenance…I remember really thinking that Splash needs some help. Unfortunately I think that's still true. Get on it, Disney!
Disney in February: …was fabulous! The weather was perfect and the lines were short. I wish we could come at this time of the year every year!
Princess Half Marathon thoughts
This was my first race at Disney (7th race overall) and it was a blast. These things are addicting!
Training: This was the first and only time (so far) that I have used a Jeff Galloway plan to train for a race. This one did the job - I felt prepared on race day and pretty good once the race was over, save the ITB pain - but I've gotten to a point where I prefer to run 4 days per week instead of 3. But ultimately I am very grateful to Galloway for getting me to the finish line of my first half!
Expo: Not fun - not enough space and too hot and crowded for my taste. I think this year the expo was split between 2 buildings, which I'm sure was a huge improvement. The goody bags were just okay – mesh bag, tech shirt, a small Luna bar sample, some coupons and ads for other races. At least the mesh bags were there though - I think those are now a thing of the past. Getting to the Wide World of Sports was a bit of a pain, but it was cool to see once we actually did get there. The good thing about the expo was that it was easy to make any changes – my brother exchanged his shirt (a medium for an XL – men, if you do this race, the t-shirts are in WOMEN’S sizes!) and changed his corral placement, and both of those tasks, which I thought would be monumental pains, took minutes. So that was really nice. My advice for the expo: get there early, don’t wait until the day before the race if possible, bring proof of time if you have it (we were supposed to send them in by January 11 I think, but we were still able to make the corral change), and print your waiver beforehand and bring it with you. By arriving with our waivers in hand, we avoided the additional line people had to wait in to print theirs out.
Pre-race: One weird thing that really worked out in my favor was the insane travel day we had on the 25th and not getting a nap the afternoon of the 26th. Because of this, I was able to get to bed the night before the race pretty early and slept like a rock, which was lucky. In the months leading up to the race I was definitely more scared of the 2:50AM wake-up time than running the race itself, but it turned out to be fine. I thought the race was pretty well-organized for the start…plenty of porta potties of all that. Just wish they all had Purell! (Some did, some didn’t.)
The race: It was awesome!
More characters than I expected by far. The sloped roads killed my knee though, and the constant widening and narrowing of the course was slightly difficult to deal with. The on-course entertainment was great though – definitely made the miles fly by - and the volunteers were so wonderful. I wish I could thank all of them. We got lucky with the weather – not too cold at all, any hotter and I think there would have been problems.Post-race: Nice food/water spread, I just wish there were more characters to meet and that they’d advertised the med tent a little better!
Transportation: Surprisingly good. We didn’t wait long for buses to/from the expo/race at all…same goes for mom and Will. Families of runners were easily transported to the race, which was nice.
Seriously, if anyone out there is thinking about doing one of these races, DO IT. You’ll have a blast! And if you do it, be sure to wear your medal around the parks afterward. It was so fun to get congratulations from Cast Members and to chat with other runners!
Thanks for reading so far...up next: the 2012 Walt Disney World Marathon!
BurleyGirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2003
- Messages
- 728
Although there's no medal at this finish line, let me just say "Job well done!" Looking forward!!
Ariel484
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
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- 11,911
Ariel484
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
- Messages
- 11,911
2012 Walt Disney World Marathon First, some background…
I’ll just get this out of the way upfront…the weeks leading up to this trip kind of sucked. Nothing truly 100% awful happened, just a lot of crappy things all around the same time. When it rains, it pours, right? There was job stress (good stress, but still, stress all the same), some family/personal issues to deal with, house appliance repairs/replacements, our dog got sick off and on, and I injured myself twice during training (back spasms in October and a rolled ankle in November – neither injury lasted too long, but they were just bad enough to completely freak me out for a couple of days at a time – after both injuries I immediately thought marathon training was over. Luckily, I was wrong). Apparently life doesn’t stop when marathon training begins. Who knew?
But the crappiest thing that happened involved my poor husband, Will. He had been dealing with some health issues (nothing life-threatening, thankfully) since September and decided that this trip just wasn’t in the cards for him. He knew he wouldn’t have fun not being able to ride the rides, and I know both of us were afraid he’d experience a huge setback in his recovery, which had been long and slow up to that point. He made the final call around Christmas and I canceled his flights on New Year’s Day.
It was pretty upsetting for both of us. If he had wanted me to, I absolutely would have stayed home, but since he’s so fabulous
, Will encouraged me to go on the trip and enjoy myself. He was disappointed to miss the marathon but said he’d feel bad if I didn’t have a good time...yet I felt guilty getting excited for a trip that I knew he wanted to go on, but couldn’t. I was, of course, looking forward to seeing my brother (who lives in Florida…I see him maybe once a year) and spending time with my mom, but there’s just something about being in Disney (my favorite place) with my favorite person – nothing compares to that, you know? Ultimately we both realized that it would be better for me to come home to Will having recovered even more rather than for him to push himself to come on this trip and return home the worse for wear. Plus, Disney will still be there…it’s not like we’ll never go back! It just wasn’t meant to be this time. Blech. And the GREAT news is that at this point (knock on wood) he's 99% recovered and is anxiously awaiting our next Disney trip! So YAY!
So beyond these issues, I had the race to train for. I found a training plan on Hal Higdon’s website called Novice Supreme (which is just like his Novice 1 plan that I know a lot of runners use, but has a 12-week period added to the beginning to build a base). I’d taken a break from running during the spring of 2011 due to being a bit burned out, so I was almost starting from scratch…this extended plan was just what I was looking for. The first 12 weeks (spring/summer) went fine…when all this other crap began in the fall, it was a different story. Oftentimes running helps me relieve stress, but throughout the final months of training it just felt like one more thing heaped onto a pile of a million other things I had to worry about. There were times where I missed a run because I just mentally wasn’t there, and times where I cut a run short because I would be thinking of everything going on and suddenly find myself exhausted and struggling to move or (on a couple of occasions) breathe. It was overwhelming.
But I got through it as best I could, and Will was a huge help with that – he was, as always, very supportive and gave me a kick in the butt to put on my running shoes and get out the door when I needed it. Yet another reason I was disappointed he couldn’t make the trip – I wanted him to see me cross the finish line! He's determined to be there next time.
Sorry for such a long, sad post…but this was my mindset going into Marathon Weekend. Shall we?
Continued in Next Post
Ariel484
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
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- 11,911
Day 1: Friday, January 6 - Arriving and Checking In
I woke up early on Friday to remotely log in to my work computer to tie up a few loose ends before the trip began. Once my work stuff was done, it was time to bid farewell to the pup and perform the final luggage check. I find packing for a Disney trip (even a short one) to be stressful enough – add a race to the trip and that stress doubles!
See ya later, Monster Pup!
After deciding I was good to go, I loaded my car up and grabbed some lunch for me and Will, as well as some bagels for breakfast the morning of the race. Next stop was Will’s school (pretty close to the airport) for a nice, short lunch together around 11:30. I’m so glad that I made this stop…it was really nice to sit and chat for a bit, plus Will had worn brown shoes with black pants that morning, so I needed to bring his black shoes to rescue him from this fashion emergency!
We said goodbye around noon and I made it to the airport in about 15 minutes. My uneventful layover in Baltimore was sandwiched between two uneventful flights…just the way I like it.
Onward to the Magical Express! Are these signs new? I don’t remember them from past trips. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention in the past because OMG I'M AT DISNEY!!!!
I do remember these guys:
This was the shortest Magical Express experience I’ve ever had. I took the above picture at about 7PM, and we were on property by 7:30. Madness.
About a half hour later, I checked into the Beach Club Villas. After getting turned around a bit on the way to my room (you have to exit the resort and go into a separate building) I had arrived!
Eventually I found my room…the very first room right by the elevator. Good and bad at the same time (only bad because it got noisy at times over the weekend).
I really was not feeling picture-taking for the first couple days of this trip. I think I was just feeling weird due to being at Disney by myself…odd, since being myself actually afforded me more time to take as many pictures as I wanted. I did get it together enough to take pictures of the room, though.
My first thought was that the room was nice…then I saw the bathroom.
They’d given me a handicapped room. Not a huge deal, but the sink in the bathroom really bugged me – NO counter space. I needed room to spread out all of my crap! This is the second time I’ve been given a handicapped room at Disney, and I’m starting to think I need to specify on my reservation that I’d prefer a regular room. In this case I felt silly wanting to be moved for a short weekend trip, so I left it alone.
The other issue with the handicapped room was that there was no closet…everything was hung in the entertainment center, in the tall doors on either side of the TV:
Love this, obviously.
In the end, I didn't like this room was as much as the villa we stayed in at the Boardwalk in June 2011. I'm sure it was most likely personal preference, due to the décor or the issues I had with lack of closet and bathroom counter space. Plus, the Boardwalk has a lot of sentimental value for me (we've stayed there the most, including our honeymoon in May 2009). So it's hard to beat the Boardwalk Inn for me!
Anyhoo, I pretty much walked in, quickly unpacked, and headed right back out…it was time for Extra Magic Hours at Hollywood Studios!
Continued in Next Post
I woke up early on Friday to remotely log in to my work computer to tie up a few loose ends before the trip began. Once my work stuff was done, it was time to bid farewell to the pup and perform the final luggage check. I find packing for a Disney trip (even a short one) to be stressful enough – add a race to the trip and that stress doubles!
See ya later, Monster Pup!
After deciding I was good to go, I loaded my car up and grabbed some lunch for me and Will, as well as some bagels for breakfast the morning of the race. Next stop was Will’s school (pretty close to the airport) for a nice, short lunch together around 11:30. I’m so glad that I made this stop…it was really nice to sit and chat for a bit, plus Will had worn brown shoes with black pants that morning, so I needed to bring his black shoes to rescue him from this fashion emergency!
We said goodbye around noon and I made it to the airport in about 15 minutes. My uneventful layover in Baltimore was sandwiched between two uneventful flights…just the way I like it.
Onward to the Magical Express! Are these signs new? I don’t remember them from past trips. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention in the past because OMG I'M AT DISNEY!!!!
I do remember these guys:
This was the shortest Magical Express experience I’ve ever had. I took the above picture at about 7PM, and we were on property by 7:30. Madness.
About a half hour later, I checked into the Beach Club Villas. After getting turned around a bit on the way to my room (you have to exit the resort and go into a separate building) I had arrived!
Eventually I found my room…the very first room right by the elevator. Good and bad at the same time (only bad because it got noisy at times over the weekend).
I really was not feeling picture-taking for the first couple days of this trip. I think I was just feeling weird due to being at Disney by myself…odd, since being myself actually afforded me more time to take as many pictures as I wanted. I did get it together enough to take pictures of the room, though.
My first thought was that the room was nice…then I saw the bathroom.
They’d given me a handicapped room. Not a huge deal, but the sink in the bathroom really bugged me – NO counter space.
I needed room to spread out all of my crap! This is the second time I’ve been given a handicapped room at Disney, and I’m starting to think I need to specify on my reservation that I’d prefer a regular room. In this case I felt silly wanting to be moved for a short weekend trip, so I left it alone.The other issue with the handicapped room was that there was no closet…everything was hung in the entertainment center, in the tall doors on either side of the TV:
Love this, obviously.
In the end, I didn't like this room was as much as the villa we stayed in at the Boardwalk in June 2011. I'm sure it was most likely personal preference, due to the décor or the issues I had with lack of closet and bathroom counter space. Plus, the Boardwalk has a lot of sentimental value for me (we've stayed there the most, including our honeymoon in May 2009). So it's hard to beat the Boardwalk Inn for me!
Anyhoo, I pretty much walked in, quickly unpacked, and headed right back out…it was time for Extra Magic Hours at Hollywood Studios!
Continued in Next Post
Ariel484
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
- Messages
- 11,911
Day 1: Friday, January 6 continued - Nighttime at the Studios
If there’s one thing I love the most about the Epcot resorts, it’s the location. The ability to walk to 2 parks cannot be beat.
At about 8:15, I exited the villas and was back in the Beach Club Resort near the Marketplace. Here was my first sign that, oh yeah, it was Marathon Weekend.
Eek!
Through the lobby…
…and onward to the Studios!
After crossing the bridge near the Swan and Dolphin, I ran into another sign that the marathon was actually happening…porto-potties and a med tent!
Yikes! I said a quick prayer to the runDisney gods that I wouldn’t have to visit said med tent on Sunday and continued on my way to the park. I should mention that as a gal traveling by myself at night, I felt completely safe. Nothing like strolling Disney property in the evening.
This walk was somehow longer than I remembered…I think it took me about 25 minutes to get to the park entrance. And would you believe my feet and back were a little sore already? And I actually stepped funny at one point and tweaked my knee (not too badly, just a bit of pain that went away quickly). What a wimp. I made a mental note to make a better effort stay off of my feet more – after all, I was planning on running a marathon on Sunday – and was very pleased to see the Christmas tree was still up when I got to the Studios!
Here are some crappy pictures…this is what happens without a tripod, I guess.
It was odd seeing Christmas stuff up and hearing Christmas music when Christmas had been over for 2 weeks, but it was nice at the same time…almost like a little marathon weekend bonus.
My first stop was Toy Story, which of course had way too long of a line (70-80 minutes I think?). So I strolled beyond Pixar Place and found the Osborne Lights!
It was bittersweet to see the lights…this was my first time, and I’d always wanted to see them, but it was odd not having someone to share it with. So I took a picture on my phone, texted it to Will, mom and Craig, and started to explore.
As I was looking around I realized that in my previous trips to WDW, I’ve never actually been to this area of the park before. How stupid is that?!
Once I’d had my fill of the lights, I headed to Sunset Boulevard. Single rider for Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster wasn’t open and the standby line was way too long (over an hour) so I headed to my absolute favorite…the Tower of Terror!
I almost felt guilty going on this without Will, as it's his favorite too, but I knew I’d get yelled at if I didn’t. Plus, well…I just really, really wanted to ride it.
I got stuck with a few obnoxious guys in the library that seemed to really want to prove to everyone just how much they knew about this ride (“Hmm, I bet the lights will go out! I bet the TV will turn on now!” etc.). Dude, you’re not impressive. Shut up. Then, as I entered the Boiler Room I found myself behind a group of cheerleaders who were, apparently, planning to chant “Down the shaft! Down the shaft! Down! The! Shaft!” during their ride. 
Okay, I’ll admit it, that one made me giggle…having said that, when they went into the line to the right, I veered left. Then I ended up sitting next to a super obnoxious dude on the ride that was screaming and yelling "WOOOOOOHHHHH!" at random points. Awesome.
So despite all these super cool people I'd encountered, the ride was most excellent as usual. On the way out I grabbed a ToT coffee mug and shirt for Will.
Love this window display:
By now it was about 10PM and I hadn’t had dinner yet. I made my way out of the park and, keeping my promise to myself to stay off my feet, did something I almost never do when staying in the Epcot area: took a Friendship Boat back to the resort. Very relaxing.
I got dinner at the Beach Club Marketplace (some kind of turkey & cranberry brie sandwich, which was pretty good - no pictures, sorry
), called Will, and was in bed by about 11. My travel companions were due to arrive the next day! Yeehaw!
Continued in Next Post
If there’s one thing I love the most about the Epcot resorts, it’s the location. The ability to walk to 2 parks cannot be beat.
At about 8:15, I exited the villas and was back in the Beach Club Resort near the Marketplace. Here was my first sign that, oh yeah, it was Marathon Weekend.
Eek!
Through the lobby…
…and onward to the Studios!
After crossing the bridge near the Swan and Dolphin, I ran into another sign that the marathon was actually happening…porto-potties and a med tent!
Yikes!
I said a quick prayer to the runDisney gods that I wouldn’t have to visit said med tent on Sunday and continued on my way to the park. I should mention that as a gal traveling by myself at night, I felt completely safe. Nothing like strolling Disney property in the evening.This walk was somehow longer than I remembered…I think it took me about 25 minutes to get to the park entrance. And would you believe my feet and back were a little sore already?
And I actually stepped funny at one point and tweaked my knee (not too badly, just a bit of pain that went away quickly). What a wimp. I made a mental note to make a better effort stay off of my feet more – after all, I was planning on running a marathon on Sunday – and was very pleased to see the Christmas tree was still up when I got to the Studios!Here are some crappy pictures…this is what happens without a tripod, I guess.
It was odd seeing Christmas stuff up and hearing Christmas music when Christmas had been over for 2 weeks, but it was nice at the same time…almost like a little marathon weekend bonus.
My first stop was Toy Story, which of course had way too long of a line (70-80 minutes I think?). So I strolled beyond Pixar Place and found the Osborne Lights!
It was bittersweet to see the lights…this was my first time, and I’d always wanted to see them, but it was odd not having someone to share it with. So I took a picture on my phone, texted it to Will, mom and Craig, and started to explore.
As I was looking around I realized that in my previous trips to WDW, I’ve never actually been to this area of the park before. How stupid is that?!
Once I’d had my fill of the lights, I headed to Sunset Boulevard. Single rider for Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster wasn’t open and the standby line was way too long (over an hour) so I headed to my absolute favorite…the Tower of Terror!
I almost felt guilty going on this without Will, as it's his favorite too, but I knew I’d get yelled at if I didn’t. Plus, well…I just really, really wanted to ride it.
I got stuck with a few obnoxious guys in the library that seemed to really want to prove to everyone just how much they knew about this ride (“Hmm, I bet the lights will go out! I bet the TV will turn on now!” etc.). Dude, you’re not impressive. Shut up. Then, as I entered the Boiler Room I found myself behind a group of cheerleaders who were, apparently, planning to chant “Down the shaft! Down the shaft! Down! The! Shaft!” during their ride. Okay, I’ll admit it, that one made me giggle…having said that, when they went into the line to the right, I veered left. Then I ended up sitting next to a super obnoxious dude on the ride that was screaming and yelling "WOOOOOOHHHHH!" at random points. Awesome.So despite all these super cool people I'd encountered, the ride was most excellent as usual. On the way out I grabbed a ToT coffee mug and shirt for Will.
Love this window display:
By now it was about 10PM and I hadn’t had dinner yet. I made my way out of the park and, keeping my promise to myself to stay off my feet, did something I almost never do when staying in the Epcot area: took a Friendship Boat back to the resort. Very relaxing.
I got dinner at the Beach Club Marketplace (some kind of turkey & cranberry brie sandwich, which was pretty good - no pictures, sorry
), called Will, and was in bed by about 11. My travel companions were due to arrive the next day! Yeehaw! Continued in Next Post
Ariel484
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
- Messages
- 11,911
Day 2: Saturday, January 7 - Exploring the Villas
Originally I’d planned to head to the Studios this morning for Extra Magic Hours, but after being there the previous night I decided to just sleep in a bit and possibly catch the end of the half marathon.
Here’s the view from my balcony (looking toward Epcot)...pretty and quiet:
Looking the opposite way at the resort (toward the Studios)…I never realized that the resort (the blue building) and the villas (the greenish building) are actually 2 different buildings. You learn something new every day!
Maybe it was just me being weird, but the balcony seemed extra small.
After admiring the view, I got myself cleaned up and wandered out to the common areas in the villas.
The Drawing Room:
Here’s the path to the resort from the villas. I’m standing with my back to the villas entrance looking at the resort. For whatever reason this had been incredibly confusing to me the night before.
On the path, looking back at the villas entrance:
The covered walkway from the villas to the resort. The walkway leads right to the entrance of the Beach Club Marketplace.
Another thing I need to mention here…as I was standing outside taking these pictures, I realized that I could hear the half marathon finish line! (“Bring it home! You’re about to finish the 2012 Walt Disney World Half Marathon!”) Very exciting! Also, as I made my way to the resort from the villas, half marathon finishers wrapped in their mylar blankets were arriving from the finish, donning their hard-earned Donald medals. I realized, OMG, that’s going to me tomorrow!, a thought that was equally exciting and terrifying. I also realized that I had dawdled too long – there was no way I was going to make it to Future World in time to see any of the half marathon and still make it to the expo for packet pick-up at a decent hour. Bummer.
I suddenly found myself with some time to kill, so I decided to explore the resort.
Cape May Café...originally Will and I had a breakfast reservation here for the last day of this trip, but I canceled when he decided he couldn't come. Maybe some other time!
Mickey sandcastle:
Oops, almost forgot breakfast! Back to the Marketplace for a muffin and an apple, enjoyed in the Solarium. And coffee from the room (which I’d made when I woke up and forgotten to take with me…had to go back and grab that). No mud, er, Nescafe for me.
By now it was about 9:30. The expo was set to open at 10…time to head to the bus stop!
Continued in Next Post
Originally I’d planned to head to the Studios this morning for Extra Magic Hours, but after being there the previous night I decided to just sleep in a bit and possibly catch the end of the half marathon.
Here’s the view from my balcony (looking toward Epcot)...pretty and quiet:
Looking the opposite way at the resort (toward the Studios)…I never realized that the resort (the blue building) and the villas (the greenish building) are actually 2 different buildings. You learn something new every day!
Maybe it was just me being weird, but the balcony seemed extra small.
After admiring the view, I got myself cleaned up and wandered out to the common areas in the villas.
The Drawing Room:
Here’s the path to the resort from the villas. I’m standing with my back to the villas entrance looking at the resort. For whatever reason this had been incredibly confusing to me the night before.
On the path, looking back at the villas entrance:
The covered walkway from the villas to the resort. The walkway leads right to the entrance of the Beach Club Marketplace.
Another thing I need to mention here…as I was standing outside taking these pictures, I realized that I could hear the half marathon finish line! (“Bring it home! You’re about to finish the 2012 Walt Disney World Half Marathon!”)
Very exciting! Also, as I made my way to the resort from the villas, half marathon finishers wrapped in their mylar blankets were arriving from the finish, donning their hard-earned Donald medals. I realized, OMG, that’s going to me tomorrow!, a thought that was equally exciting and terrifying. I also realized that I had dawdled too long – there was no way I was going to make it to Future World in time to see any of the half marathon and still make it to the expo for packet pick-up at a decent hour. Bummer.I suddenly found myself with some time to kill, so I decided to explore the resort.
Cape May Café...originally Will and I had a breakfast reservation here for the last day of this trip, but I canceled when he decided he couldn't come. Maybe some other time!
Mickey sandcastle:
Oops, almost forgot breakfast! Back to the Marketplace for a muffin and an apple, enjoyed in the Solarium. And coffee from the room (which I’d made when I woke up and forgotten to take with me…had to go back and grab that). No mud, er, Nescafe for me.
By now it was about 9:30. The expo was set to open at 10…time to head to the bus stop!
Continued in Next Post
Ariel484
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
- Messages
- 11,911
Day 2: Saturday, January 7 continued - 2012 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Expo, Part 1
As I mentioned earlier, I did not enjoy the Princess Half Marathon expo in 2011. Everything – bib pick-up, d-tag activation, vendor booths, etc. – was crammed into the HP Field House. It was jam-packed with people, hot…just not at all pleasant. So I was hoping to get to the marathon expo as early as possible, do what I needed to do, and get out quickly.
The special runDisney transportation wasn’t actually at the normal Beach Club bus stop…I think it was near a convention area of the resort or something. At any rate, they did have a decent amount of signs telling us where to go. Of course, now that I really wanted to get somewhere early, this was the longest I had to wait for a bus the entire trip (maybe 15 minutes). During that time about 4 or 5 half marathon shuttles pulled up to drop off half marathon finishers.
I ended up sitting next to a really nice woman from New Jersey on the bus to the expo. She told me that this was her first marathon as well…she’d trained for the 2011 marathon but had slipped on a patch of ice on New Year’s Eve and broken her arm, so she couldn’t participate. Isn’t that horrible? Plus, she’d missed the deadline to defer her entry to this year, so she’d lost the entry fee. Woof.
We arrived at the ESPN Wide World of Sports a bit after 10…marathon signage was everywhere!
First stop was the HP Field House for bib pick-up and b-tag activation.
Look at how empty it is! What a beautiful thing. For the Princess Half, bib pick-up and vendor booths were ALL in this room, and it was packed. It was so nice to have things spread out this time. Plus, at this point, the only people that were picking up packets were non-Goofy marathon runners and relay runners, so that helped cut down the crowds a lot.
I love this ad. I’d seen it all year in issues of Runner’s World.
I was a very nice sister and offered to grab my brother’s stuff for him (I needed a copy of his drivers license, his signed waiver, and a form from him allowing me to pick up his stuff), so I had 2 lines to wait in. I hopped into his first (6001-6500) and then into mine (5501-6000).
I got my marathon bib (I took this picture after the race, which is why the bib is so wrinkled) and pin…oh crap, they actually expect me to run this thing!
The half marathon bibs were royal blue (with Donald), the Goofy racer bibs were orange (with Goofy, of course), and I believe the relay bibs were white (with Chip and Dale).
Next stop was Runner Relations to change Craig’s corral so that we could run together. This corral placement stuff continues to be a mystery to me. The race starts in waves (so the fastest runners are in Corral A, and they start first, then B a few minutes later, etc.) and runners can submit a time from a previous race to try to move up in corrals – so you’re guaranteeing yourself an earlier start. I thought Craig had submitted a time from the same race I did (a 10-mile race...the same time I used for corral placement for the Princess Half), yet even though the time he would have given Disney was 20 minutes faster than mine, he was in corral E and I was in corral D.
So I am guessing that he actually did not enter his time, and this makes me think that people that submitted times were in corrals A-D. I entered in a time when I signed up for the race, but it was a slow one, so I was in the last possible corral for people that submitted a time, and then those that didn’t give a time to Disney were in E-H. The order for E-H is something I’m not sure about – is it based on when you sign up for the race, or when you think you’ll finish? Who knows.
Okay, enough rambling on corral placement. I’d brought a proof of time for Craig and easily changed his corral from E to D. My last task was to walk over a timing mat to activate our b-tags (which are attached to the bibs and track our time). One of the volunteers got weirdly snarky with me for having 2 bibs until I explained that I’d picked one up for someone else…odd.
Bibs in hand, I was off to the Jostens Center for the expo.
Shoppinggggggggg!
The biggest area in the back had official race merchandise. On my way there I picked up our goody bags (which were not impressive – no drawstring mesh bag like we got for the Princess Half, just a bunch of coupons and ads) and tech shirts…which I LOVE.
My favorite detail is on the sleeve…since the course goes through all 4 parks, we get all 4 park icons!
The shirts for the other races were very similar – the half was royal blue with Donald on the front (the castle and Spaceship Earth were on the sleeve), the Goofy shirt was white (totally should be orange to match the bibs and stand out, in my opinion) and the Chip and Dale relay shirts were, I think, dark blue. Very cool. I should also point out that the shirts are unisex…I probably could have used a smaller size, but I still love mine.
Continued in Next Post
As I mentioned earlier, I did not enjoy the Princess Half Marathon expo in 2011. Everything – bib pick-up, d-tag activation, vendor booths, etc. – was crammed into the HP Field House. It was jam-packed with people, hot…just not at all pleasant. So I was hoping to get to the marathon expo as early as possible, do what I needed to do, and get out quickly.
The special runDisney transportation wasn’t actually at the normal Beach Club bus stop…I think it was near a convention area of the resort or something. At any rate, they did have a decent amount of signs telling us where to go. Of course, now that I really wanted to get somewhere early, this was the longest I had to wait for a bus the entire trip (maybe 15 minutes). During that time about 4 or 5 half marathon shuttles pulled up to drop off half marathon finishers.
I ended up sitting next to a really nice woman from New Jersey on the bus to the expo. She told me that this was her first marathon as well…she’d trained for the 2011 marathon but had slipped on a patch of ice on New Year’s Eve and broken her arm, so she couldn’t participate.
Isn’t that horrible? Plus, she’d missed the deadline to defer her entry to this year, so she’d lost the entry fee. Woof.We arrived at the ESPN Wide World of Sports a bit after 10…marathon signage was everywhere!
First stop was the HP Field House for bib pick-up and b-tag activation.
Look at how empty it is! What a beautiful thing.
For the Princess Half, bib pick-up and vendor booths were ALL in this room, and it was packed. It was so nice to have things spread out this time. Plus, at this point, the only people that were picking up packets were non-Goofy marathon runners and relay runners, so that helped cut down the crowds a lot.
I love this ad. I’d seen it all year in issues of Runner’s World.
I was a very nice sister and offered to grab my brother’s stuff for him
(I needed a copy of his drivers license, his signed waiver, and a form from him allowing me to pick up his stuff), so I had 2 lines to wait in. I hopped into his first (6001-6500) and then into mine (5501-6000).
I got my marathon bib (I took this picture after the race, which is why the bib is so wrinkled) and pin…oh crap, they actually expect me to run this thing!
The half marathon bibs were royal blue (with Donald), the Goofy racer bibs were orange (with Goofy, of course), and I believe the relay bibs were white (with Chip and Dale).
Next stop was Runner Relations to change Craig’s corral so that we could run together. This corral placement stuff continues to be a mystery to me. The race starts in waves (so the fastest runners are in Corral A, and they start first, then B a few minutes later, etc.) and runners can submit a time from a previous race to try to move up in corrals – so you’re guaranteeing yourself an earlier start. I thought Craig had submitted a time from the same race I did (a 10-mile race...the same time I used for corral placement for the Princess Half), yet even though the time he would have given Disney was 20 minutes faster than mine, he was in corral E and I was in corral D.
So I am guessing that he actually did not enter his time, and this makes me think that people that submitted times were in corrals A-D. I entered in a time when I signed up for the race, but it was a slow one, so I was in the last possible corral for people that submitted a time, and then those that didn’t give a time to Disney were in E-H. The order for E-H is something I’m not sure about – is it based on when you sign up for the race, or when you think you’ll finish? Who knows.
Okay, enough rambling on corral placement. I’d brought a proof of time for Craig and easily changed his corral from E to D.
My last task was to walk over a timing mat to activate our b-tags (which are attached to the bibs and track our time). One of the volunteers got weirdly snarky with me for having 2 bibs until I explained that I’d picked one up for someone else…odd. Bibs in hand, I was off to the Jostens Center for the expo.
Shoppinggggggggg!
The biggest area in the back had official race merchandise. On my way there I picked up our goody bags (which were not impressive – no drawstring mesh bag like we got for the Princess Half, just a bunch of coupons and ads) and tech shirts…which I LOVE.
My favorite detail is on the sleeve…since the course goes through all 4 parks, we get all 4 park icons!
The shirts for the other races were very similar – the half was royal blue with Donald on the front (the castle and Spaceship Earth were on the sleeve), the Goofy shirt was white (totally should be orange to match the bibs and stand out, in my opinion) and the Chip and Dale relay shirts were, I think, dark blue. Very cool. I should also point out that the shirts are unisex…I probably could have used a smaller size, but I still love mine.
Continued in Next Post
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