Calling all Princesses! (2014 Princess Half Marathon Weekend)- thread #2

[STILLWISHING]

Any thoughts on the RunDisney teaser for Rick
The Half posted on the princess page?

Trying harder next year because although I trained, I had a poor time to submit and spent a lot of time walking (amongst some not so nice runners and walkers alike) and snaking around. I gave up having a real time and took a lot of photos and enjoyed the experience and finished a happy and soggy mess.

Interested to see what could be added over what they did this year.

Congratulations to all the finishers - I heard there were a ton of people behind the balloon ladies this year.

 

[jbish]

I did it! First ever half, first rD event. I only have one 10k to compare to, but I thought that the race was so well run. Based on reading other reports, sounds like corral placement was important so I'm glad I did well enough to be placed in G. I did commit a faux pas as I stopped short right before the underpass by contemporary and didn't realize someone ws right behind me. Was paranoid after that so I didn't do that again. Lol

I kept thinking that whenever I would see a runner at the hotel or just around, "I wonder if she's a DISer?" Lol. I wanted to ask so many times!

I definitely want to do it again. DH may even run with me next time! And we'd love to bring the kids. Sounds like the kids races would be a lot of fun.

Thanks to everyone here for all of the mental and moral support during the training. It was not easy training in one of the snowiest winters we've had in years. But having a fun race in the happiest place on earth was the best motivator that I could have ever asked for!

Am I crazy for thinking I could even possibly do GSC next year? At a minimum I'm thinking about C2C at some point!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Trying to gather my thoughts so I will post more the next few days. I did all 3 races and I have different perspectives on them.

But for now, I want to give a shout out to the WISHers and especially to Lisa, if it weren't for her, I'd still be finding my way to Corral M!! Love you Lisa, you rock!!!

And to Belle2211, so so sorry I couldn't make it to the meet up Saturday. I was just in so much pain we went back to the room so I could lay down and DH put some tiger balm on for me. Then we took the kids back out long enough to see Illuminations. PM me your address and I will get your package out ASAP!

 

[FSUWXGirl]

I just got home and can’t believe it’s already over! This weekend went by so fast! I’m glad to see that everyone seems to have had a wonderful time despite the nasty humidity. This was my fourth time doing the Princess half and obviously first for the GSC, and unfortunately for me, this was the most disappointing one yet. It started off in a bad way with a delayed flight and missed connection but we did still manage to get there on Thursday morning after a lot of frustration.

The expo went great on Thursday! Tons of space this time and not anywhere near as crowded as last year. I didn’t buy much but they had plenty of merchandise in all sizes when I was there! Got my bib and headed off for our dinner reservation where we experienced the second of many frustrating experiences this weekend. We had an issue with our meal and the manager was the most rude and disrespectful person I have ever encountered at Disney! So bad that I am about to write a complaint letter about how horribly he handled our issue, not how I expect to be treated at Disney at all!

Anywho, next up was the 10K which was the best part for me. The course was fun, it was humid but not unbearable, and I really got to enjoy it! Buses were great Saturday and just loved the 10K part!

I could tell there was going to be thick fog Sunday morning but I was still hoping that maybeeeee it would lift, but not so much I left my room at Port Orleans Riverside at 320 am and went out to the bus stop… where I waited for 1 hour and 15 mins for a bus… completely unacceptable. Only 2 buses went by that whole time already full, and we had no phone # to call and no one at the front desk knew anything!! Ladies were crying and starting to panic, and when a full bus went by at 415 am, people ran into the street and screamed at it to stop. The driver actually did stop and 200 angry princesses screamed at him to call for a bus immediately. We finally got one at 425 and then the bus driver was so rude!! He wouldn’t let 3 people squish in a seat so people were actually hiding on the floor under seats because no one knew if another bus would ever come. It was just unacceptable, and people who paid for race retreat ect no longer had time to use it. So I made it to my corral with 6 mins to spare. After all of this nonsense, I just wanted to be done and didn’t enjoy the race at all the cloud basically right on top of us became oppressive and I definitely had to walk more than normal, but managed to finish in 2:08 still despite all the frustration and my IT band issues which thankfully didn’t flare up at all this weekend and I am very happy.

I’m sorry for this horribly long post, but I really needed to vent. I am hoping that next year will be better, or I believe that will be my last Disney race which is crazy to think about because this has been my favorite weekend of the year for 3 years now. I am so glad that everyone else seems to have had a wonderful time especially those who did their first half and that my issues were limited to a small group of people. Congrats on finishing whichever race (s) you did ladies! It’s a wonderful accomplishment!

 

[afnaechiquita]

I could tell there was going to be thick fog Sunday morning but I was still hoping that maybeeeee it would lift, but not so much I left my room at Port Orleans Riverside at 320 am and went out to the bus stop… where I waited for 1 hour and 15 mins for a bus… completely unacceptable. Only 2 buses went by that whole time already full, and we had no phone # to call and no one at the front desk knew anything!! Ladies were crying and starting to panic, and when a full bus went by at 415 am, people ran into the street and screamed at it to stop. The driver actually did stop and 200 angry princesses screamed at him to call for a bus immediately. We finally got one at 425 and then the bus driver was so rude!! He wouldn’t let 3 people squish in a seat so people were actually hiding on the floor under seats because no one knew if another bus would ever come. It was just unacceptable, and people who paid for race retreat ect no longer had time to use it. So I made it to my corral with 6 mins to spare. After all of this nonsense, I just wanted to be done and didn’t enjoy the race at all the cloud basically right on top of us became oppressive and I definitely had to walk more than normal, but managed to finish in 2:08 still despite all the frustration and my IT band issues which thankfully didn’t flare up at all this weekend and I am very happy.

I’m sorry for this horribly long post, but I really needed to vent. I am hoping that next year will be better, or I believe that will be my last Disney race which is crazy to think about because this has been my favorite weekend of the year for 3 years now. I am so glad that everyone else seems to have had a wonderful time especially those who did their first half and that my issues were limited to a small group of people. Congrats on finishing whichever race (s) you did ladies! It’s a wonderful accomplishment!

i am so sorry you experienced that. we experienced the same issue at POR last time we did it, and that's why we chose a different resort this time. i am surprised that there was not a CM there to call for a bus though? there was when we were there, and it still did not help much but at least someone was advocating for us. very unfortunate.

 

[steph0808]

i am so sorry you experienced that. we experienced the same issue at POR last time we did it, and that's why we chose a different resort this time. i am surprised that there was not a CM there to call for a bus though? there was when we were there, and it still did not help much but at least someone was advocating for us. very unfortunate.

This was my experience at POR for the 2013 Marathon. And I liked the resort, but never again during a race weekend. We actually stopped a full bus in the street and the driver let us sit/stand in the aisle.

 

[SRUAlmn]

If its any 'consolation' we had the exact same bus issues staying at POR not for a race. Their buses are crazy bad in general!

 

[pixarmom]

Wow - awful POR-Riverside experience - so stressful and un-Disney. Since we left early to avoid flight cancellations, we spent one night at POR-Riverside and were there for a total of 7.5 hours before we transferred to BWI. I have to say, we're not POR fans and hopped in a cab to BWI around 7am.

The runDisney buses were great from BWI - always a CM out there who could tell us exactly when the next bus would arrive. We took the bus to the expo, to the 5K, to the Kids' Races and then I took it PHM morning. Never a long wait and never anything near a full bus. Highly recommend BWI!

 

[VAfamily1998]

I'm so sorry to hear of so many having a bad experience with the buses at POR. I was considering staying there for the upcoming TOT 10 miler, but now I will reconsider.

I stayed at the Wilderness lodge, left my room to go down to the lobby about 3:40, got on a bus about 3:48--no problems. But after the race, relaxing in the hot tub, I talked with another couple who also ran. They said they were too late to get on that bus I was on, and had to wait until 4:20 for another bus to come along!

 

[emilyindisney]

The only wait for a race bus I experienced all weekend (from BWI) was for the 10k. We got down to the stop at 3:40ish and didn't get on a bus until 4:15. A full bus came by and took maybe twenty runners in front of us but otherwise that was it. There was a Mears employee there who kept calling and requesting buses so that was certainly helpful. Otherwise the transpo was great!

It's been great chatting with everyone over these past few months!

 

[afnaechiquita]

i learned my garmin cannot last a 5k, 10k, and half. i set it up to charge after the 10k but apparently it stopped charging because the morning of the half, i was at 50% it turned off at mile 9, so i have no idea what my final splits were. now i know for the future to watch it charging!

AND i left my camera battery in its charger, which i did not learn until i pulled it out at the pre-race staging area and tried to get a picture. running 13.1 miles with a useless piece of equipment is no fun! luckily i had my phone.

next time, i will check, check, and double check all electronics.

 

[sunshinecruise]

Does anyone know the name and backstory on the princess (I assume) at mile 12 inside Epcot? She was wearing a pink dress and had a microphone, cracking jokes.

Was it Cinderella's Fairy Godmother? We saw her right past the Starbuck's in Epcot. She had microphone and was congratulating and saying encouraging things to the runners.

 

[keahgirl8]

I am at POR and never had an issue getting a bus. Were you waiting at the South Depot?

 

[emilyindisney]

Did anyone stay at OKW or SSR this weekend? We're considering those for ToT in October and were curious if there were any adverse transportation stories.

 

[charmed1212]

I just booked POFQ for ToT weekend. Hopefully they run smoothly. Sorry some of you guys had bad transportation experiences. I stayed offsite and drove myself this time but I hated the stress of not knowing where to go. Hoping staying at the resort will alleviate some of that.

 

[dminnie]

I am at POR and never had an issue getting a bus. Were you waiting at the South Depot?

We didn't either. We were there Fri-Mon. The only wait we had was for MK one day when we had just missed a bus. We went to the South Depot.

On race mornings, we arrived at the South Depot at 3:45 and only waited about 5 - 10 minutes each time (Sat. & Sun.). Some members of the family that were spectators, left at 4:45 on Sunday and had no wait at all.

 

[cepmom]

Did anyone stay at OKW or SSR this weekend? We're considering those for ToT in October and were curious if there were any adverse transportation stories.

I stayed at OKW this weekend as well as for the WDW Marathon Weekend, no transportation issues at all either time. This weekend we got to the Hospitality house about 345 and had to wait for another bus to the race, but it came quickly we were probably on the bus by 4ish. Traffic was pretty backed up getting to the parking lot but we still made it with plenty of time to get to our corrals. In January the bus was waiting at the front, I hopped right on by 335 and got to the parking lot much faster, probably due to it being a little earlier I would guess. Transportation back after each race was seamless as well each time....well except for the fact that the bus driver pulled into the OKW parking lot instead of the bus stop, he paused the bus for a Moment but never opened the doors then left to go to Saratoga Springs without letting any of us off! We all thought he was going to turn around and bring us to the bus stop, but I guess when he paused the bus that was our signal to get out lol! He did bring us back after he dropped off at Saratoga though so it's all good haha. Id definitely stay at OKW again. Looked at my Garmin today and noticed how close OKW is to the corrals....it's too bad we couldn't just walk there in the morning, it would be so much quicker than the bus!

 

[Freight Train]

Was it Cinderella's Fairy Godmother? We saw her right past the Starbuck's in Epcot. She had microphone and was congratulating and saying encouraging things to the runners.

This is who I was referring to. Is this the same person you saw? I thought I knew all of them but I'm stumped!!!

 

[amingione]

I just booked POFQ for ToT weekend. Hopefully they run smoothly. Sorry some of you guys had bad transportation experiences. I stayed offsite and drove myself this time but I hated the stress of not knowing where to go. Hoping staying at the resort will alleviate some of that.

I stayed at POFQ this weekend and transportation was fine. The buses went to French Quarter first and then to other stops at Riverside. I was on the bus that the runners stopped and screamed at - the issue was that the buses were always stopping at that stop last so they were full from the first three stops. Hopefully in the future, they'll either have stops on separate buses or vary the order they stop in!

 

[afnaechiquita]

This is who I was referring to. Is this the same person you saw? I thought I knew all of them but I'm stumped!!!

i asked this on the boards a while ago and no one knew. someone on one of the FB groups was talking about her today though and said her name is Ivanna Dream and she is just a character actor, not disney-specific, but she's always at the race.