Childless Mommies take on EEC, Food & Wine, Pleasure Island 01/01/09 DEPARTURE DAY!

[retiredkid]

great update! Le Cellier ROCKS!! Yummy!

anxious to hear about the race.

 

[cdotla]

Thanks guys for the comments! Have to admit I was feeling a little lonely for a bit!

thats so cool that you did those races, i am certainly not the athlete but i would like to wear the cool polka dot minnie #

Yeah, the Minnie bib was cool. And so many people were wearing all kinds of polka dot attire for this race. From head gear to t-shirts, socks, you name it! Heck check out this Minnie running skirt:

Andrea & I liked it so much, right after the race we went out and purchased one. Here we are modelling them:

Just kidding... That's actually a photo of Cindy and Christy - twin sisters and co-owners of www.runningskirts.com. They design fabulous running gear, including those Minnie skirts. Check them out!

Sadly, the Minnie Marathon as many of you know has been shelved. Instead, Disney is launching the Princess Marathon. While I would be equally keen to run in the Princess Marathon (which takes place in March, but sadly does not run thru the Magical Kingdom or the Castle ), I will greatly miss the Minnie. It took place in May, which is hands down my favourite time to vacation at WDW!

finally, which wdw run would you reccommend to start off? for fun/easy?

Clearly, I am no expert, and I only have two WDW races under my belt. But to start, I probably would have recommended the Minnie over the EEC.

Now that the Minnie is gone, I would think the Princess Marathon wld also be a good starter race.

I also want to try the Race for the Taste (I believe it's a 10k) and the Tower of Terror (13k).

Andrea & I would also like to bring our husbands back sometime again to do another EEC!

I can't see your pics at work, but you are definately inspiring me to run a race at Disney. I used to run races all the time, but I stopped and now I just run for fun and relaxation. Translated, that means I run really slowly.

Honestly, you have to do a Disney race. While I have nothing else to compare it to, something tells me that they are just way more fun than most other events!

Hope you had a great (albeit too short!) trip!

Caught up! to you for competing in the race. That's fantastic. It's something I *think* about and have definitely heard lots of great comments from participants in the various Disney races. I just don't quite know how to get into running. Exercise is not my friend.

LOVE that you imbibed (sp?) prior to the race. Yeah, probably not the typical pre-race routine but I bet you did great. I love Le Cellier too and wouldn't have given it up either. Also love the cheddar cheese soup and the pretzel bread. Yum-o!

BTW- I meant to tell you that I saw your same "perfume guy" when I was there in December and he was working hard to sell some perfume. He was "pushing" a certain kind of perfume for which there was an artist present who was hand painting the bottles. The scent wasn't for me. I was trying to remember what you had purchased but couldn't recall. I'll make a note for next time!

Thanks Christine! And if you ever want to get into running, check out the WISH boards (located near the bottom of the discussions forums). The acronym stands for "We're Inspired To Stay Healthy". It is where I learned all about the Disney races and got inspired to do one (then two) myself!

Ha, ha on your comments on the "perfume guy". Funny you should mention the handpainted bottles...I think those were the exact same bottles he sold us. And he also tried to talk up the fact that we could have our bottles handpainted for free as the artist was painting them in the store at the time. However, both Andrea & I passed on this. It was totally not my style. As Andrea said, the painted flowers on the bottle made it look like something our grandmothers would have bought.

The fragrance I bought is called Petite Cherie by Annick Goutal. I really do love it and wear it most every day. It is so light and discrete - not at all "perfumy" if you know what I mean.

I just found your tr and read the whole thing! Disney races, the Poly, Le Cellier, the F&W festival.... I am loving it! Can't wait to hear about the EEC as I hope to run it soon. It sounds like a lot of fun!

Thanks for posting and welcome! I have more coming up soon!

Ditto!

Thanks for sticking with me!

great update! Le Cellier ROCKS!! Yummy!

anxious to hear about the race.

Great...another update coming up soon!

 

[cdotla]

Day 3 - Part 3

After leaving Epcot for, sadly, our last visit during the 2008 Food & Wine Festival (I have yet to have enough time to do this event justice!), we took off for Wide World of Sports.

If you have never been here before, it is quite an impressive complex. And huge. For the Minnie, we were parked what seemed like 10 miles away. Fortunately, the crowds weren't near as bad this time for the EEC.

Here is the Milk House Building where the packet pick-up and expo takes place. (I actually took this photo in May for the Minnie):

There are all kinds of sessions taking place, from briefings on what to expect in the race, to runners' clinics and product give-aways and sales of various running gear and products.

In keeping with our stellar preparation plan for the race, we decided to forgo participating in one of the information sessions where they actually advise you what to expect in the race. Sadly, our desire to get in some last-minute shopping before our departure the next day won out!

Here are some photos taken during our packet pick-up:

And some at Base Camp, going over pre-race strategy:

By the time we finished up at the Milk House, I am sure it was about 2:30pm. The race started at 7pm and we were advised to be in the start lines at the Animal Kingdom parking lot by 6:30pm at the latest.

So, instead of doing something reasonable like going back to the Poly to relax, put our feet up, maybe hang out at the pool, drink lots of liquids and take it easy, we decide to head to the Orlando Premium Outlets!

Almost three hours later, with the trunk loaded to capacity and our credit cards still burning with activity, we hop in the car and fly back to the Poly to get changed and ready for the race.

By the time we were pulling into the Poly parking lot, at about 5:50pm I think we were finally realizing the errors of our ways.

After frantically running around the room pulling on tight stretchy race gear, unlacing sneakers to tie on the race chips that would time our finish once we (hopefully) crossed the finish line and fumbling with safety pins in order to attach our racing bibs to our jerseys, followed by a wild goose chase around the room searching for the car keys which I had somehow misplaced in our haste to get ready, we finally made our way out the door at about 6:10pm.

As we were literally running down the hall of our longhouse at the Poly, we realized we were absoluted parched. It was very hot and neither of us had consumed hardly any liquids all afternoon. After all, when power-shopping, who has time to stop for a bottled water?

Well, at this point we were in a tough situation. If we drank too much we knew it would spell trouble for the race. Clearly we did not want to have to worry about potty breaks along the track. However, extreme thirst still won out and we each consumed a full bottle of water that we got from the longhouse vending machine before jumping in the car and heading for Animal Kingdom.

Now we were really pushing it here. By the time we were in the car heading out of the Poly parking lot I am sure it was close to 6:20pm. And we were supposed to be in the starting corrals by 6:30pm. However, we apparently weren't the only ones who liked living on the edge. As we got closer to Animal Kingdom we saw quite a traffic jam ahead of us on the highway into Animal Kingdom. At first we got nervous thinking we wouldn't make it on time. However, as we looked into the other cars, we soon saw that just about everyone was decked out in race gear and EEC t-shirts and were obviously, like us, on their way to the Race.

Knowing that they could not start the Race with massive amounts of people still trying to get into the parking lot and to the starting lines, we began to relax. Then the excitement and adrenaline started kicking in.

My drive into the Epcot parking lot at 6am for the Minnie in May and this drive into Animal Kingdom were equally thrilling and exciting. Especially for a total race newbie like me.

To see miles of cars lined up, with everyone decked out in race gear on their way to participate in a Disney race is (dare I say), even more exciting than rope drop at any of the Parks.


UP NEXT: IT'S RACE TIME!!!

 

[cdotla]

Day Three - Part 4

We finally made our way into the Animal Kingdom parking lot along with everyone else, and started making our way over to the starting corrals.

First we had to do the bag check and find out which starting heat we would be in.

While we were almost to the front of the bag check line, I turned around and noticed one of the Disney Moms' Panelists. Actually it was Bret, the sole Dad of the Panel. Unfortunately apart from saying a brief hello I did not have time to chat. Erin came over just as we were finishing up with the bag check along with her husband who I hadn't seen since the Minnie in May. Once again, we didn't have much time to chat. By this point everyone was scurrying to the starting lines. We planned to meet up after the Race.

Andrea and I took our spot in our starting corral. By this point our corral were packed. We squeezed ourselves into the back of the pack and waited for the start.

There was lots of excitement and of course there was a DJ who was spinning tunes and getting everyone psyched up for the race. They also had some character actors who were supposed to be at Base Camp as well as a well-known Everest climber, Jamie Clarke. Due to the crowds, we weren't really able see or even hear very well all of the pre-race dialogue and acting that was going on.

In no time at all they were building us up for the final countdown.

Now the Minnie race was a bit different as we all started at once. Although they had separate corrals based on your estimated running speed, everyone had the same start gun. Here, each corral was to start 5 minutes apart.

So we all got excited counting down the seconds until the official start of corral one and then everyone moved up in their corral and waited 5 mins until the next start.

As the first corral left the starting gates we all watched them go. At the start line we had our backs to the entrance of Animal Kingdom and were running to the far end of the parking lot, before looping back around and running up to the front again and finally into the Park.

Watching the runners from the first and second corrals start the long run around the parking lot I think I realized just how long the first bit of running in an unscenic parking lot area was really going to be.

Here is a picture of the track that we had to follow for the 5k. It started and ended in the parking lot.

http://www.disneyrunning.com/EverestMap08a.jpg


Finally, it was our corral's time to start the race....3...2...1...GO!!!! Andrea & I started slow. And then I got even slower! Despite my best intentions I did not do any training for this race. In fact, I had not run since the Minnie. And it definitely showed.

Although I had only been running for about 2-3 months before the Minnie (and had never run before), I was quite proud of how I did in that race. I ran the whole 5k without stopping and finished with a chip time of around 33 minutes.

This time - not so good. I think I ran at least the first mile, maybe a bit more without stopping, but then quickly slowed down. Even after we got inside the Park could hear all the tunes being pumped in on the sound system to keep people motivated I still became a total drag on our team. We alternated between running and walking throughout the entire course, with a fair bit of walking talking place on any of the uphill climbs.

One thing that was different this time was that we were running at night. The Park was very dark and exotic looking at night. I did really enjoy this part of the run, even though I wasn't exactly having the time of my life!

Not too far into the Park, and already I am looking at bit sluggish. (I apologize, but all of our photos from Action Sports do not seem to be capable of being rotated on photobucket).

Funny thing is that we will never know just how fast (or slow) we accomplished the 5k compenent of the Race because unknown to us, the chip didn't time participants for the just the 5k. I remember when we crossed the finish line for the 5k thinking it was odd there wasn't a clock showing the finish times as had been done at the Minnie, but I assumed it was because of the staggered starts. (I guess I should have also figured out that there was no chip mat on the finish line but I was so tired by that point I didn't really notice - LOL!)

By the time we crossed the finish line for the 5k I was beat. But wait...we still had the obstable course and scavenger hunt!

Literally within feet of crossing the 5k finish line they are lining you up for the next challenge - the obstacles.

Now the first obstacle was the hurdles. Which to me looked much easier than they were, especially if you had weak and rubbery jello legs like I did. Here is a picture in the daytime. (Bear in mind we were doing this at night):

I made a couple of attempts, but it just wasn't happening. After I saw a bunch of people around me start to go under the hurdles, abandonning the task, I quickly followed suit. Andrea tried to stop me but by this point I had decided I could live with the shame of not completing the hurdles!

Next up was a military-style triangle horse with rop netting that you had to climb, hop over top and climb back down. That was easy. Piece of cake.

Then it was a long balance beam that you had to walk over. Again, piece of cake. No problem.

The final obstacle was a long crawl on the ground underneath a piece of netting that I swear was no more than 1 foot off the ground. And to boot it wasn't grass, it was dirt that you had to crawl/slide along. While your body was completely sweaty. You get the point. Yuck! Not pretty and I would die if I was ever caught on video in that position, but again, I got that one done in no time.

By this point we were finished both the 5k and the obstacles. But we still had to complete the scavenger hunt. OK - no problem - let's go!

We get in line where they were handing out the clue booklets and came to find out that the scavenger hunt actually started back in the heart of Animal Kingdom. I think our first clue was way up near Africa. And we were at the back, back end of the parking lot. So probably another mile hike just to the first clue! Like many other people, I was not particularly pleased about that!

Anyway, we eventually made our way into the Park and started going through our clues. Some of the riddles were very tough but we eventually completed everything.

While there were a limited amount of people still racing and running through the Park to complete the scavenger hunt, most people were like us - walking and in no particular hurry. That is why it would have been nice to have a time for the 5k component of the race. Of course I would probably not want to know my time, but I think it would have been nice for the other more serious runners to have it. Of course, probably most of the serious runners would have thought to look at their watches to get their time as they crossed the line!

After we got all our answers we headed to the finish line.

Bear in mind, I am really not sweating that hard! LOL! Andrea had dumped a glass of water over me at one of the water stops on the 5k to try to keep me cool!


After crossing the finish line, we went to get our answers verified. We were happy to have all of our answers correct.

We then went to pick up water, bananas and muffins and made our way over to get our metals and finish photos.

We then sat down and ate and drank for a good while before heading over to the Party area in Dinoland where the DJs were spinning tunes. Then we headed over to Expedition Everest. It was packed!!! I am sure we waited at least 30 minutes to get on. It was Andrea's first time and my first time at night. We both loved it. A completely different experience at night!

Afterwards we went and sat and tried to find Erin and her husband and some other people that I knew who were running. However, there were so many people. We didn't see anyone. By this point it was after 10:30pm, and although the post-race party lasted until midnite, we were both too tired to stay. So we made our way yet again back to the parking lot and headed back to the Poly.

On the way out we saw a rather incredible sight. As we were walking over the Bridge to the Oasis, we saw a number of people standing on the side of the Bridge looking out over the water into the darkness. At first we couldn't see anything. Then we noticed literally hundreds of birds perched in the trees sleeping. It was really incredible. I tried to take a picture, but unfortunately it did not turn out.

Once we got back to the Poly, we decided to get cleaned up and take a dip in the pool. This was the first and only pool visit on the trip. Just what we needed. Then we headed back to the room and got to bed just after midnight. Our earliest night yet!

 

[kimmylaj]

i am truly impressed, there is no way i could have done even a quarter of that stuff. i think i may check out WISH .sounds cool

 

[kaysmommie]

Sounds like alot of fun and a good reason to go back to Disney without kids or DH's . AK and riding EE at night must have been fun too.

 

[MJAJmom]

Hi there again, finally catching back up after the holidays. What amazing updates since I last read. The dinner at LeCellier looked awesome, can't wait to try it out next trip. That's exactly what I would want to order -- the cheese soup and mushroom filet. How yummy!

Geez, I thought you were just going for a fun trip without kids.... and then I see you ran in 2 races!! Holy cow!!! Good for you!!! I loved the minnie skirts - you had me there, I did a double take looking at the picture of the 2 ladies in the red minnie skirts! Ha!!!

Glad to hear you had such a wonderful time. Happy new year!

 

[retiredkid]

ATTA GIRL !!

Congrats on completing the race. I'm gonna peek over in the WISH thread now too.

Happy New Year

 

[cdotla]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

And thanks as well for not pointing out that I didn't finish the report in accordance with my self-imposed deadline. I may be one day late.

 

[cdotla]

Day Four - Departure Day

Departure Day. These are never pretty, are they?

At least we were each anxious to get home and see our families, so that softened the blow a bit.

We had initially planned to get up early and head to the Magical Kingdom. I wanted to do some videotaping of Park opening, which is something I don't get a chance to do with my family. Normally we are already in the Park at an ADR and then making a beeline for Dumbo.

However, it was not to be.

For the first time the whole trip I slept in. We both really needed it.

By the time we got up and about and finished packing (which was a feat in and of itself!) it was probably 9:30 or 10:00. Given that we had to leave for the airport by 12:15pm at the latest, that didn't give us a whole lot of time.

So we decided to go to the Wave for breakfast. It had actually literally just opened. We didn't have an ADR, but it was not a problem. There may have been 8-10 other diners in the place.

Here's the little lounge area right off the main reception:

There is also a bar area behind that.

Walking in, it felt a bit like you were walking into a night club, which during breakfast hours appeared a bit strange until you got into the main dining area.

I liked the decor and it was a great little place to have breakfast, especially if you were staying at the Contemporary and wanted to get away from the Chef Mickey madness, however much we all love it!

I had heard that it was a restaurant which promoted organic healthy food and I was interested to see the menu.

In the end, we took our server's recommendation and had the Eggs Benedict. It was very good:

We also each had a berry smoothie, which was also delicious. Also their coffee was some of the best on Disney property!

Overall, a great place for very well-prepared food at a very reasonable price.

We enjoyed breakfast at a long, leisurely pace, reliving the trip and finally having some "down" moments.

Afterwards we had our fully packed car waiting at Valet in the Contemporary so we bid our farewells and headed off to the airport.

All in all, we had a fantastic trip. It was great fun to travel with girlfriend and enjoy the more adult activities at Disney. we completely proved that you don't have to have your kids with you to enjoy Disney! Thanks for following along!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Happy New Year to you too!

Thanks so much for sharing the whole race experience. I am very intrigued. Intrigued enough to get my butt off the couch and actually start running... we'll see. Maybe I could start off being a spectator.

Has Disney said whether they do an EE challenge again? I think that was an experiment right? The idea of the race/obstacle course/scavenger hunt. It sounds cool -- other than wiggling in the dirt when you're already sweaty.

I'd love to try the Wave sometime... and always good to have a good breakfast place away from the hustle and bustle of character breakfasts.

Great report! I've so enjoyed following along with you. Now when are you going back??

 

[cdotla]

Thanks Christine!

Good luck getting into running. I am also trying to get into it on a more consistent basis. My goal is to be a bona fide runner by the time I compete in my next Disney event.

While the Disney website is not showing dates yet for EEC for 2009, Robert's Disney Running website shows it down for September 26, 2009. Here is the link:

http://www.disneyrunning.com/index.html

Also, just to get you excited about potentially doing this in future, here is a link to the Disney Sports video that was produced following the inaugral EEC.

http://www.wdwnews.com/viewvideo.aspx?videoid=111100&siteid=1

Enjoy!

 

[PrincessNewsie]

Day Four - Departure Day

Departure Day. These are never pretty, are they?

At least we were each anxious to get home and see our families, so that softened the blow a bit.

We had initially planned to get up early and head to the Magical Kingdom. I wanted to do some videotaping of Park opening, which is something I don't get a chance to do with my family. Normally we are already in the Park at an ADR and then making a beeline for Dumbo.

However, it was not to be.

For the first time the whole trip I slept in. We both really needed it.

By the time we got up and about and finished packing (which was a feat in and of itself!) it was probably 9:30 or 10:00. Given that we had to leave for the airport by 12:15pm at the latest, that didn't give us a whole lot of time.

So we decided to go to the Wave for breakfast. It had actually literally just opened. We didn't have an ADR, but it was not a problem. There may have been 8-10 other diners in the place.

Here's the little lounge area right off the main reception:

There is also a bar area behind that.

Walking in, it felt a bit like you were walking into a night club, which during breakfast hours appeared a bit strange until you got into the main dining area.

I liked the decor and it was a great little place to have breakfast, especially if you were staying at the Contemporary and wanted to get away from the Chef Mickey madness, however much we all love it!

I had heard that it was a restaurant which promoted organic healthy food and I was interested to see the menu.

In the end, we took our server's recommendation and had the Eggs Benedict. It was very good:

We also each had a berry smoothie, which was also delicious. Also their coffee was some of the best on Disney property!

Overall, a great place for very well-prepared food at a very reasonable price.

We enjoyed breakfast at a long, leisurely pace, reliving the trip and finally having some "down" moments.

Afterwards we had our fully packed car waiting at Valet in the Contemporary so we bid our farewells and headed off to the airport.

All in all, we had a fantastic trip. It was great fun to travel with girlfriend and enjoy the more adult activities at Disney. we completely proved that you don't have to have your kids with you to enjoy Disney! Thanks for following along!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Amazing. It seriously sounded amazing. I have totally enjoyed this. And still not finished my trip report from LAST may. Nor even started one from August.

You put me to shame and you look like you're having so much fun doing it Maybe i'll get last may's TR done by this May's disneymoon TR?

 

[Me&3]

Congrats on the race what a fun TR

 

[PrincessNewsie]

Loved the TR, congrats on the race... Josh and I can't get to WDW until January 2010 or May 2010 post Disneymoon, are there any races I can plan a trip around?