Blue Skies, Sunshine, and Unseasonably HOT Pixie Dust! Update 3/6 Final Thoughts!

[SoonerGirl]

Hey Kayce! I'm so sorry you've had some 'downs' in your life recently, I hope things are on the up swing now! Congratulations on your weight loss, that is awesome!

 

[BippityBoo]

OH Kayce! I am so sorry all that happened Read my PTR and you will see that we have all been going through some bad things lately. Things WILL look up and until then---kiss your baby girl Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

 

[ladybugmom]

Hi Kayce! I've been MIA from the DIS for a couple of months as well but I'm all caught up on your TR! I'm so sorry that you have been going through so much lately. (((HUGS))) But WOW on the 20 lbs!! That's amazing!! WTG!!

 

[kcandbella]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Things have been going pretty well here lately. I'm finally ready to finish this TR...plus I have big news!

I have been wanting to run a half marathon for a while now, and where else would I do it besides Disney? I was talking to a good friend of mine from high school, and she really wanted to run one, too, and we started talking about Disney, the Food and Wine festival, etc. Well she totally wants to do it! Then I was talking to some people (some of you lol) on facebook and there's a huge group going during that time, and that clinched my decision...WE ARE GOING IN SEPT/OCT 2011! Even if I have to take a side job I am going to find a way to make it happen. And, I AM GOING TO RUN THE HALF MARATHON! I don't have concrete dates yet but I think you have to be there on Thursday before the run to pick up your registration packet, so it is tentatively Sept 29-Oct 4. I've been training and am going to totally (and literally) pick up the pace when it gets a little warmer, so hopefully I will be ready.

The thing I am most excited about is the potential opportunity to meet some of the people I have met here on the DIS!

Coming up: a long overdue update!

 

[kcandbella]

And now for a long overdue update!

I left off Wednesday night after Fantasmic! and a fun DHS evening.
We woke up the next morning, and I was anxious to get going. This was our Animal Kingdom day, and I had never been there before. The boys and my sister were up and ready to go, too, but Bella and my parents were more in the mood to lounge around for a while. We agreed that we would get to AK, ride some of the rides that Bella couldn’t/wouldn’t do, and they would meet up with us after a while.

We got to AK a few minutes after opening, which seemed to be a common theme this trip.

We headed straight here

And walked right onto EE! No wait at all. We all loved it and walked onto it a second time with about a five minute wait. Here are some pics from the second ride:

Tree of life from the uphill climb

And here we are:

After our two rides, we decided to head to Dinosaur. We snapped this picture at some point in time:

And pretty soon, we were on the ride. There was about a five minute wait again. It’s a pretty cool ride, though I’m glad Bella didn’t do it because she would’ve been scared out of her mind!

I love this ride pic, it is so obvious that the one girl was playing to the camera!

We headed to Primeval Whirl

There were some issues with it not working properly, so the wait ended up being super long. And I’m sorry, but this ride is terrible. It’s not even the least bit fun. We have a roller coaster at our Six Flags which spins, same idea, and it is a lot of fun so I expected to like this. It was way too jerky and just not well done. We will not be riding that again, probably ever!

After that we got a call that the rest of the group were on their way, so we browsed around the Dinoland gift shop and the boys posed by this dino:

Cont in next post

 

[kcandbella]

And pretty soon, who did we see?

Since we were right there, of course we had to ride Triceratops Spin.

While we were riding this, Kellie took our tickets and went to get FPs for KRR. The rest of us headed to get in line for Nemo, and she met us there.

By this time, it was getting really HOT, so we were glad to sit in the air conditioning and watch an AMAZING show. I didn’t get a lot of pics, but here is one of Jaeden being silly before it started.

And here are just a couple.

Up next:
The rest of our AK day!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Kayce - Welcome back and with the awesome news that you're going to be running a half marathon....AT THE WORLD!!

Your day at AK seems fantastic so far and Bella just gets cuter with each picture you post. That outfit she has on for the day is just something else again! I wanted to reach into the picture and touch the tiger patterned Mickey ears on her top. Well done you!

Can't wait to see how the rest of the day finished up!

ps. Love the new ticker!

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Hey Kayce!
I just love Bella's outfit. looks like a fun morning at AK...

I am soooo excited! that you are going to be at WDW during the same time; it is going to be soooo much fun. And, those of you doing the half are awesome! I was reading all the different things listed for that weekend. Some sound like a lot of fun (I like the Halloween walk/run) need to finish reading about all the activities.
Connie

 

[SoonerGirl]

Hey there Kayce! Glad to see you back on and posting.

Good for you running the half marathon! I am soooooo not a runner, if I'm not being chased, I'm not running. Although, if it could get me a trip to WDW I might consider it........

Woo Hoo for back to back rides on EE

I have to agree with you on Primeval Whril, it's way too jerky, not fun at all. My boys like to ride it, but not me. Thankfully they are now old enough to go stand in line for it and go on by themselves!

 

[kcandbella]

Kayce - Welcome back and with the awesome news that you're going to be running a half marathon....AT THE WORLD!!

Your day at AK seems fantastic so far and Bella just gets cuter with each picture you post. That outfit she has on for the day is just something else again! I wanted to reach into the picture and touch the tiger patterned Mickey ears on her top. Well done you!

Can't wait to see how the rest of the day finished up!

ps. Love the new ticker!

Thank you! I can't believe you are going to DL in three days. Have a magical trip! I need to catch up on your new PTR/TRs!!!

 

[kcandbella]

Hey Kayce!
I just love Bella's outfit. looks like a fun morning at AK...

I am soooo excited! that you are going to be at WDW during the same time; it is going to be soooo much fun. And, those of you doing the half are awesome! I was reading all the different things listed for that weekend. Some sound like a lot of fun (I like the Halloween walk/run) need to finish reading about all the activities.
Connie

Thanks Connie! I would love to meet you and Ashton so I really hope everything works out. What are your exact dates? I haven't figured mine out yet...posting about that dilemma in a few minutes.

 

[kcandbella]

Hey there Kayce! Glad to see you back on and posting.

Good for you running the half marathon! I am soooooo not a runner, if I'm not being chased, I'm not running. Although, if it could get me a trip to WDW I might consider it........

Woo Hoo for back to back rides on EE

I have to agree with you on Primeval Whril, it's way too jerky, not fun at all. My boys like to ride it, but not me. Thankfully they are now old enough to go stand in line for it and go on by themselves!

I wasn't a runner either until I found the couch potato to 5K program. It starts out so slowly and gradually builds your time. You should check it out, especially if it might get you back to Disney! Thanks for sticking with me!

 

[kcandbella]

Well I'm glad I still have some readers! I am bound and determined to finish this thing so I can start obsessively planning my next trip. Which leads me to my dilemma...

Ok I need some advice. I am on the fence thinking about dates for this next trip. The half is on Saturday, October 1st at 10pm. I have to be at the ESPN complex for packet pick up NO LATER than 4 pm that day. So I'd have to arrive and check in by 11 or noon at the very latest, and that seems like pushing it to me. What I can't decide is if I want to get there and run the first weekend and then have the rest of my trip, if I want to spend the week before at the parks and then run and leave on the 2nd, or if I want to go mid-week to mid-week and run in the middle. I know I will spend a week there, I just can't seem to decide what would work out best! Does anyone have any suggestions? Also, for those of you that are going to be there at that time, what are your dates? I appreciate any help!!!

 

[kcandbella]

After the Nemo show, we decided to head over to the safari. I accidentally posted earlier that my sister had gotten fast passes for KRR, but that was a mistake. She actually got them for KS. So at this point, I ran to KRR to get fast passes and then to meet everyone at the safari to use our fast passes. On the way either to get the FPs or to meet the family, who should I see but DeVine? I was so excited to see her but a little bummed that the rest of the family missed out. She is pretty amazing though! I stopped to watch her for just a minute before I continued on.

I met the rest my family at the entrance to the safari, and within minutes we were on our way.

Things were going great until we got about here:

One of the vehicles ahead of us had broken down and caused a backup. We sat in the same place on a bridge for over 20 minutes. Now, normally this wouldn’t have been too bad but have I mentioned how HOT it was this day? And we were directly in the sun, not moving the shade from the vehicle not really doing much of anything. So we sat and sweated with no animals in sight for over 20 minutes! So when I think of the safari, I think of the extreme HEAT!!!

While we were on the bridge, I did see this floating in the water, which I thought was pretty funny. Must have been some animal’s leftovers from lunch.

Finally we were on our way to save the baby elephant.

After the safari, we headed for lunch. Now, I originally wanted to try Flame Tree Barbeque, but none of us could even stand the thought of sitting outside and eating, even in the shade. So instead, we ate at Restaurantosaurus. It was ok, nothing special, but it was air conditioned!

Cont in next post

 

[kcandbella]

After lunch, Bella was really wanting to swim. Kellie agreed to take her back to the pool while the rest of us went and rode the rapids. Before they left, we stopped to get some PP pics. This is the pic Bella really really wanted, so she was glad she got to get one!

After some quick pics, Kellie and Bella left and the rest of us headed to ride KRR. I didn’t take any pics, but we waited a really long time, even with FP. At this point the boys and my parents were done, too. It was so hot and that park traps the heat in. They just wanted to swim. I wanted to see FotLK, so they all left and I was on my own for a while. It was a while before the next showing, so I rode EE in the single rider line with a five minute wait, walked around and took pics, and caught a little of the parade. It was actually kind of nice to have some time alone in the park.

Finally I headed over to the show. I don’t even remember what section I was in, but the arena was pretty empty. I remember thinking the whole show how I wish everyone was there, because it was awesome and I know they would have loved it.

This was the last showing of the day, and the park was closing as it was over. I headed out, and it started sprinkling. This was the only rain of the whole trip and it lasted about 20 minutes on and off. I hoped it would cool things off, but no such luck!

I headed to the bus stop and caught a bus to meet my family for our dinner reservations.

Up next: Some more alone time for me and a very yummy dinner!

 

[MaryAz]

Well I'm glad I still have some readers! I am bound and determined to finish this thing so I can start obsessively planning my next trip. Which leads me to my dilemma...

Ok I need some advice. I am on the fence thinking about dates for this next trip. The half is on Saturday, October 1st at 10pm. I have to be at the ESPN complex for packet pick up NO LATER than 4 pm that day. So I'd have to arrive and check in by 11 or noon at the very latest, and that seems like pushing it to me. What I can't decide is if I want to get there and run the first weekend and then have the rest of my trip, if I want to spend the week before at the parks and then run and leave on the 2nd, or if I want to go mid-week to mid-week and run in the middle. I know I will spend a week there, I just can't seem to decide what would work out best! Does anyone have any suggestions? Also, for those of you that are going to be there at that time, what are your dates? I appreciate any help!!!

Great updates Kayce!! I am VERY impressed yu are doing the half!! And SO happy that we will get to meet!! Our dates are Sat Sep 24th thru Mon Oct 3. Using up almost all our points. Will be staying at AKV Kidani. I am doing the 5k with Leanne on Sat the 1st.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Hey Kayce,
How I would love some alone time at WDW;I would love to stroll World Showcase at my leisure. The pictures of Bella with the Simba cub are too cute!

Our dates are probably going to be Sept 28 - Oct 2 (with a day probably for Seaworld in there--the 29th or the 2nd probably). Leanne, said her dates were Sep 29 - Oct 4, Wendy Sep 28 - Oct 3, and Stephanie Sep 28 - Oct 2. I believe I got those right, the check out dates are the ones I may be confusing--that is from the info on the fb msg.
I asked Danny last night which resort he was interested in he told me CBR but probably the POP....if the gas prices go up as predicted. We will need the extra money for fuel . I'm not saying anything, I'm going to Disney!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Those PP pictures of Bella are GREAT! I bet she was thrilled to have gotten such beautiful photos...

And I'm glad you got some "alone" time; with more coming up. I might have to catch up on your TR when I get back in Feb.

If you're asking for recommendations for when to go, I would be inclined to go mid-week to mid-week. Purely from a work perspective, it makes two short weeks at work; and from a race perspective, you get there in plenty of time, run the race and then get a couple of days to chill before heading home. But any option that you choose, will probably work out for you...

 

[kcandbella]

Great updates Kayce!! I am VERY impressed yu are doing the half!! And SO happy that we will get to meet!! Our dates are Sat Sep 24th thru Mon Oct 3. Using up almost all our points. Will be staying at AKV Kidani. I am doing the 5k with Leanne on Sat the 1st.

Thanks Mary! The 5K actually looks like a lot of fun since you get to race through MK. I wish the half went through there, it just goes through AK and DHS and ends at Epcot. Last year the Osborne lights were on though and I'm hoping they will be this year, too. That would make my race!

Hey Kayce,
How I would love some alone time at WDW;I would love to stroll World Showcase at my leisure. The pictures of Bella with the Simba cub are too cute!

Our dates are probably going to be Sept 28 - Oct 2 (with a day probably for Seaworld in there--the 29th or the 2nd probably). Leanne, said her dates were Sep 29 - Oct 4, Wendy Sep 28 - Oct 3, and Stephanie Sep 28 - Oct 2. I believe I got those right, the check out dates are the ones I may be confusing--that is from the info on the fb msg.
I asked Danny last night which resort he was interested in he told me CBR but probably the POP....if the gas prices go up as predicted. We will need the extra money for fuel . I'm not saying anything, I'm going to Disney!

Connie you sent me that message on FB and it didn't have the dates on it, and I just got that one since you copied it to me. I'm not sure how to get on the list so I get all the other responses. Thanks for letting me know though! A few of my friends are coming with me and we are staying value. I wanted POP but last year that wasn't one that had transportation to and from the half, so I think I may choose ASMo. That looks like the AS we would enjoy the most.

Those PP pictures of Bella are GREAT! I bet she was thrilled to have gotten such beautiful photos...

And I'm glad you got some "alone" time; with more coming up. I might have to catch up on your TR when I get back in Feb.

If you're asking for recommendations for when to go, I would be inclined to go mid-week to mid-week. Purely from a work perspective, it makes two short weeks at work; and from a race perspective, you get there in plenty of time, run the race and then get a couple of days to chill before heading home. But any option that you choose, will probably work out for you...

Before we went, Bella kept talking about pictures with Baby Simba. She had seen them on other people's TRs. I'm so glad I remembered to ask that PP photographer, she really loves those pics.

And thanks for your suggestions!

 

[SoonerGirl]

AK is so hot isn't it? I can totally see why the pool was calling to everyone! I think I'd enjoy a little alone time to walk around and see just what I want like you had though. Don is going to Orlando at the end of the month and I really want to go with him and go hang out at the parks during the day while he works, but it's just not a good time for me to get away - too many obligations with the boys

On the race, I think I'd try to arrive the day before and then have the bulk of your trip afterwards. I wouldn't want to worry about staying ready for the race and not eating Mickey bars by arriving too early.