Calling all Princesses! (2014 Princess half marathon board)

[MickeyMinnieMom]

We were there post race this year too...the food was better than I expected...I know it's not really a character meal, but I sort of compare it to Cinderella's Royal Table being that it's in a "castle" and it was just soooo much tastier than CRT...and I treated myself to the light-up castle "goblet", so that was fun! It's my Princess Pimp Cup.

ITA! Loved it and we booked again for 2014.

 

[DisneyRunnerGirl]

Hello all - I am on the fence about the race retreat. Can a PHM veteran give me thoughts on it? Is everything post-race within the retreat? I'm staying at BWV and trying to decide if it it worth the $.

I did the retreat for the Full in January since it was my first full and I really wanted to be as relaxed as possible. I had never done the retreat for any other Disney races since it is pretty expensive IMHO. For the Full it was exactly what I wanted/expected.

99% of the time, I will skip the retreats and just about all other "extras" for the Disney races. I would rather go to more races, so cut my expenses by skipping the retreat, pasta in the park, etc.

That said, I have elected to get the retreat this year at the PHM for my DN and I who are running together. We had not planned on doing the PHM again, but decided to go one last time in order to do the GSC.

Quite honestly, the last time we did the PHM was in 2011 and we thought it was overcrowded and stressful back then, so decided we were done with the Princess races. Elected to work our way through the other Disney races rather than repeating those we had already experienced.

I hope having the retreat will allow us to escape some of the craziness we didn't like pre and post race in 2011. We are only getting it for the Half.

I actually just got it this morning when I noticed it was at 84%.

Not sure what you mean by "is everything post-race within the retreat"? I'm probably just being dense, but can you give us a specific of what you mean?

 

[Gryhndmom]

Hello all - I am on the fence about the race retreat. Can a PHM veteran give me thoughts on it? Is everything post-race within the retreat? I'm staying at BWV and trying to decide if it it worth the $.

DH and I loved RR for all the reasons Princess V has mentioned ..RR really kept my nerves under control and it was much, much less crowded than being outside with the other racers and their families !

 

[Tinkerbrat]

Looking forward to seeing so many Princesses at Be Our Guest to celebrate! We have a reservation in the 6pm hour and I'm very excited.

 

[disneyhorselover]

I hope everyone enjoys BOG! I ate there in january and it was amazing.

Our post race dinner ADR is at Via Napoli. Has anyone ever been here? I've heard great things. We are also having a late brunch at Cape May Cafe after the 10k....really looking forward to that one although I'm slightly worried about having enough time...

 

[Tinkerbrat]

What are you Saturday plans? Right now we are all kinds of open, other than going to the Expo. No parks, no ADR. Maybe walking around Downtown Disney. Likely have early dinner at AoA food court.

Since we have 3 other Park and ADR days, I thought it would be good to have absolutely no structure the day before Half. But now I'm starting to 2nd guess......those Downtown Disney restaurants are calling my name.

 

[joanzie72]

We are going to AK on Saturday. Hoping to leave after parade and head on over to AoA for dinner. After that it is pool time for the kids and bed for me.

 

[DVCFan1994]

I hope everyone enjoys BOG! I ate there in january and it was amazing.

Our post race dinner ADR is at Via Napoli. Has anyone ever been here? I've heard great things. We are also having a late brunch at Cape May Cafe after the 10k....really looking forward to that one although I'm slightly worried about having enough time...

I love Via Napoli. That's my lunch ADR after the 10k. Eating in our BLT villa for dinner that night. For the PHM I've got Citricos for dinner. After the 5k we have lunch at the Sci-Fi drive in for the kiddos so many Disney Dining options, it's always tough making choices.

 

[keahgirl8]

How do you like it? I have read a bunch of bad reviews about it not working properly so I was hesitant to buy it.

Every once in a while it will crash the first time I open it, but other than that, I've never had an issue.

 

[catho72]

I am so jealous of all you Princesses getting ADR's at BOG! I've been trying since our 180+10 opened up and I can't get in! There's 5 people in my party so maybe that's why I'm having difficulty? I ate there last month and loved it! My fellow Princesses would like to eat there too but Disney isn't cooperating!

Our meal schedule looks like this:
Thursday: Tutto Italia
Friday: 50's Prime Time
Saturday: early Chef Mickey's dinner
Sunday: hoping for BOG
Monday: 'Ohana

 

[kappyfamily]

Got a few good ADRs today! Our dinners include on the 20th: Hoop dee doo, 21st:50's prime time, 22nd: Liberty Tree, & after the 1/2: California Grill.

I made a promise that I would try all new restaurants for lunches and dinners this trip....

 

[Cripey]

Got a few good ADRs today! Our dinners include on the 20th: Hoop dee doo, 21st:50's prime time, 22nd: Liberty Tree, & after the 1/2: California Grill.

I made a promise that I would try all new restaurants for lunches and dinners this trip....

Oh I looooooove 50's Prime Time! It's such a fun place and the food is always really good...my BF thinks they have the best fried chicken he's ever had. I love the meatloaf personally. And now that I think about it, we don't have an ADR there at any of our upcoming trips...I need to get on that!

 

[JamieLM]

Is anyone flying out Sunday but making reservations? I hesitate to make them bc I am unsure of what time I will get back to shower and then checkout is at 11am.

 

[amingione]

I am so jealous of all you Princesses getting ADR's at BOG! I've been trying since our 180+10 opened up and I can't get in! There's 5 people in my party so maybe that's why I'm having difficulty? I ate there last month and loved it! My fellow Princesses would like to eat there too but Disney isn't cooperating!

I had trouble with BOG too! When I first tried it, it said no reservations, so I made all the others and when I tried again afterwards there were three different time slots available!




I ended up doing:

Saturday: Boatwright's
Sunday: Grand Floridian Cafe, 50s Prime Time Cafe
Monday: Coral Reef
Tuesday: Crystal Palace, Be Our Guest

I'm pretty excited to try everything (minus GF Cafe) for the first time!

 

[JamieLM]

Does anyone know what time the after party in downtown Disney begins?

 

[joan4mickey]

Is anyone flying out Sunday but making reservations? I hesitate to make them bc I am unsure of what time I will get back to shower and then checkout is at 11am.

I fly out Sunday, but I am not making any reservations. One thing about checkout. If you have a late flight you can leave your bag at the baggage check for hold until time for the ME (assuming you are using the ME).

 

[PrincessV]

Our post race dinner ADR is at Via Napoli. Has anyone ever been here?

It's one of the few TS places I still like at WDW! I went back and forth about booking it for post-PHM, too - I ended up going with Tutto, but Via Napoli was a very close second. I keep meaning to try another dish there, but the Capriciossa pizza is so darned good, I get it every time! (And I've lost count of how many times that is, it's so frequent, lol!)

What are you Saturday plans?

I started pondering that question yesterday. I don't have an answer yet - my mother and son will be with me on the trip, which is exciting but complicates things, too: I'll need to spend most of the weekend off my feet; my mother hits her limit of theme parking after about 35 minutes, and my son would really love to do some rides. I'm at a loss as to how to handle this situation! I may shuttle us all to a park and park myself on a quiet bench with a book.

 

[Cripey]

What are you Saturday plans? Right now we are all kinds of open, other than going to the Expo. No parks, no ADR. Maybe walking around Downtown Disney. Likely have early dinner at AoA food court.

Since we have 3 other Park and ADR days, I thought it would be good to have absolutely no structure the day before Half. But now I'm starting to 2nd guess......those Downtown Disney restaurants are calling my name.

As little as possible! After the 10k, we'll get some food and rest a bit...I'll have a 12 year old on the trip with me who's running the 10k and missing school for the trip so in order for me to be off my feet as much as I'll need for the half on sunday, I've designated saturday as "do your make up work" day for her. She can do homework and I can rest...We're staying at AoA, and I like their food court options, so I'm planning to just eat an early dinner there and possibly work in some pool or hot tub time (is there even a hot tub at AoA?) depending on the weather. I second guess my food court fo dinner choice. I keep wondering if it would be better to get an ADR somewhere to force me out for a while...while I don't want to be on my feet much before the half, I'll likely need to do SOME walking to stay loose from the 10k that morning...I may have to make some changes after I'm further along in the training with back to back runs and can see how my legs are reacting to that.

 

[DisneyRunnerGirl]

Oh I looooooove 50's Prime Time! It's such a fun place and the food is always really good...my BF thinks they have the best fried chicken he's ever had. I love the meatloaf personally. And now that I think about it, we don't have an ADR there at any of our upcoming trips...I need to get on that!

If you can't get a reservation, you can do a walk up and eat at the bar. They serve the full menu there. DH and I love to do that!

 

[JessM]

I am so jealous of all you Princesses getting ADR's at BOG! I've been trying since our 180+10 opened up and I can't get in! There's 5 people in my party so maybe that's why I'm having difficulty? I ate there last month and loved it! My fellow Princesses would like to eat there too but Disney isn't cooperating!

Our meal schedule looks like this:
Thursday: Tutto Italia
Friday: 50's Prime Time
Saturday: early Chef Mickey's dinner
Sunday: hoping for BOG
Monday: 'Ohana

Try searching for 6! There were a ton of BOG options when I looked at my 180 day mark.