I wasn't quite sure where to put this, but thought this might be the place. It is already too huge to add to any of the current threads, so I am hoping no one minds this saga hanging out here. This is still a work in progress, and I am hoping none of my WISH friends minds me posting their pix here. Since they know me so well, they probably figured it was inevitable!
DAY ONE (AND BEFORE)
Wow! Where to start? Probably at last year’s Minnie when my dear race partner Rhonda (akasleepingbeauty) and I decided we’d have to come back this year and wouldn’t it be fun to get a bunch of people together to share accommodations? Then, at marathon weekend 2007, a bunch of us started talking about it and soon after we all arrived home, a plan evolved involving a 2 BR villa at OKW and 7 women from various places around the country all desiring a weekend away and willing to run or walk 9.3 miles to “earn” a girls’ weekend away! The guests at this little party were me (Cam/keenercam), Rhonda (akasleepingbeauty); Lily (Tiger Lily 04); Carrie (wtpclc); Heather (TXBelle); Judy (Honeibee) and Martha (Red Dragon). We called ourselves the “Minnie Girls” and embarked on 4 months of fun and friendship as we all got to know each other and planned a weekend stuffed with fun.
Over 1200 emails and many phone calls & texts later
, we all arrived at MCO on Friday, May 4. I arrived just about on time and made my way toward baggage claim with the expectation of then going to the food court to meet Lily, Heather & Judy. Much to my surprise, however, as I came down the escalator to baggage claim, they were waiting for me at the bottom with huge smiles and warm hugs!
Ahhhh, that feels wonderful!
Off to claim my luggage and then a leisurely lunch at the food court while we waited for Rhonda to arrive. We surprised her at the end of the hall near the shuttle (after we thought we’d seen another WISHer and engaged in some jokes about our abililty/inability to identify him with or without his condom
) and then claimed her luggage and split into two cars to head to Target. We had a lot of fun shopping there, mostly for junk food, but also 3 cases of water and other necessities. We then headed to the EXPO where I spotted Robert (Anne/Maherae's DH) (I think MAYBE he wasn't as scared of me as he was at the
Disneyland Expo when a perfect stranger gave him a giddy hug!) and then, finally, Anne.
I was surprised to find there was no way to test chips, so I couldn’t be sure my new Mickey champion chip would work for the race.
I ultimately decided to take the race chip and to wear one on each shoe in case the champion chip registration hadn’t worked. (It was a good thing I did that because it turned out my championchip did not register anywhere
) We spent some time visiting the booths at the Expo and got a picture taken as a group. I found the pink "life is good" tee shirt I've been hunting and which matched the pink ball caps the Minnie Girls were sporting at various times over the weekend. I was thrilled to see that the race shirts now had sleeves and either they’ve made the sizing more generous or I have gotten smaller because, thrill of thrills, I own a Minnie race shirt that fits!!! We headed to OKW to check in and unpack before heading to dinner.
We headed to the beautiful Animal Kingdom Lodge and BOMA where Pat (WDWFan09) joined us. The restaurant was completely booked and we heard the CM telling someone they weren’t taking walk-ups, but the wait wasn’t bad and the service was awesome (thanks, Kea!!!) The food was fabulous and after we’d all had dessert, the chef came out with a bowl of deep fried oreos, saying he’d heard there were some special guests at that table and wanted to make us a special dessert! Oh my goodness, those things were amazing! We were reluctant to eat another bite, but there was one for each of us and how could we resist? Some of us even “licked” the chocolate from the bowl!
Of course, we had to walk off some of those calories, so we explored the resort and shopped a bit, too.
I wanted to pause here to say that the Disney Dining Experience discount card was a HUGE help this weekend. We used it for free valet parking at every resort we visited, whether to have a meal or to park at Boardwalk to go to Jellyrolls. We used it at BOMA Friday night; at Olivia’s and Grand Floridian Tea on Saturday; at Chef Mickey’s and for parking at Jellyrolls Sunday; and at Spoodles on Monday. The 20% savings on our bills added up to an enormous amount of money, so my card has really paid for itself many times over already (with several more meals to be discounted before its 1/31/08 expiration!)
We were back home at Old Key West by about 9:00, I think, where we gabbed all night and "hydrated" for the race, as we awaited Martha and Carrie’s arrivals. There’s a real funny story here involving Rhonda and the bell services cast member and a hug that so flustered him that I think he left without even waiting for a tip!
If I remember correctly, there was also one point where I was laughing so hard at one of Heather's stories that I “hydrated” the rug, the table, my clothes, etc., before I made it to the sink.
DAY TWO
Saturday morning saw me and Lily and Judy out for a leisurely stroll around the beautiful and serene OKW grounds.
Somehow we forgot our room number and tried to break in to villa 6212 instead of 1612.
We even took a picture of Lily and Judy in front of the room number and didnt’ figure out the problem even when we noticed a room bill hanging from the handle.
It was only when my key didn’t work that we broke out into hysterical giggles and hustled away from the door to find our real room.
You can tell Judy was really relieved we'd found the right villa!
Breakfast was at Olivia’s and everyone seemed to enjoy their food.
Thank God we were all well-behaved that day because I understand that may have made the CMs a bit more tolerant of some Minnie Girls rowdiness on Sunday!
After breakfast, Lily, Judy and I enjoyed a couple of hours at the pool. The CMs were very diligent about taking towels off of lounge chairs if there were no personal items there. We were told by two different cast members that they are really trying to prevent people from saving pool chairs with resort towels. I was very impressed that Disney has taken steps to address a small but annoying issue.
By the time we left the pool, others had arrived back from an outing to the outlets and we all got ready for tea at the Grand Floridian. But, before we left, Carrie and Martha put up the gorgeous good luck sign that Scott (Carrie’s DH) had made for us! It was awesome, as you can see:
Thank you, Scott!
We drove to the Contemporary and had time for a monorail ride (and some more fun pix) before exploring the GF shops:
While we were shopping, Vicki (Tinks) found us and we met up with Anne and Pat and her sweetheart DD, Sarah. Soon the 11 of us were heading in to tea. I think almost all of us ordered the Buckingham Palace 3 course “tea” with variations made for those who don’t eat seafood or who are vegetarian. We ordered a number of different flavors of tea and shared rather than each person drinking only the pot/flavor they’d ordered. It was a great way to try a lot of different flavors including cassis, eros, mad hatter, etc. Our meal started with a plate of finger sandwiches – chicken salad w/walnuts; shrimp salad; egg salad; pear & gorgonzola (my personal favorite) and watercress & cucumber and a sweet onion tartlet. The second course was a fresh, warm white raisin scone w/devonshire cream and strawberry preserves and a raspberry tart. Dessert was strawberries & cream for some and a trifle of yellow cake, vanilla custard & cream & strawberries for others. $20 with tip for each person and it was an absolutely fabulous, filling meal.
Vicki was staying at the Grand Floridian and after some walking around the resort and another group picture, she was generous enough to let us see her room. She had a fabulous view that included the castle and the monorail. Beautiful! Thank you, Vicki!
From there we headed to Downtown Disney for the WISH meet. What an awesome time that was! We saw some old friends, including Bill and Lynnda and Billy and the newest WISHer, Timmy, and Kristi and her mom, Michelle and many others! It was nice to meet Michelle’s daughter and her friend and to start hyping them for the prospect of wearing their Minnie medals to school this week. How cool to meet so many new people too, including Stephanie and her DH, Scott (who we obviously didn’t scare too much since he was willing to go to Jellyrolls Sunday night and Spoodles Monday) and to connect screennames and faces – Leana, Kim & her DD, Kathy, and so many others.
I am constantly amazed at just how nice everyone is. WISHers are truly the most welcoming, warm, affectionate and accepting people I’ve ever met. You always feel surrounded by positive vibes and indomitable spirits when you are among WISHers. I am so grateful for every moment I get to spend in the presence of my teammates.
After the WISH meet, a bunch of us went shopping at World of Disney and then the Minnie Girls who were left got sandwiches at EoS and headed back to OKW where the rest of the girls were settled in for dinner.
Trying on race outfits and pinning race bibs and affixing timing chips was such a hoot! Everyone was helping everyone get bibs on straight and figure out how to put on chips. Carrie and her DH Scott had made a bunch of sponges with grommets and then attached spiral bracelets for WISHers to carry during the race. Rhonda had bought us all lime green small flannel blankets for stretching at the start and we gathered all that stuff so it wasn't forgotten in the morning. It was such a festive atmosphere as we ran from room to room asking each other’s advice on everything. Some of us stayed up later than others and worked on personal grooming
Soon everyone settled in to bed after calls to loved ones for last minute encouragement and good wishes.
Race Day coming soon!
. I'm just inspired and amazed by you EVERY day girl. YOU were one of my inspirations for finishing the marathon in January when I felt like I wanted to give up. So I can't thank you enough or tell you how proud I am 
I am so happy and relieved and proud to know I had it in me to get back on track. Sometimes we just don't know what we have inside of ourselves and the people we love (including our DIS friends) remind us that we can do anything we set our minds to. 
It sounds like it was a challening race. I think you did a great job!
