Collecting Castles and Sipping round the world - a WDW half marathon adventure

[roxymama]

Ok half recap coming for real now after I take advantage of the balmy 41 degree Chicago weather before it gets dark to run outside. I’ll be careful!

My Dad’s mom and my Nana passed this week and I’ll be flying to Ohio tomorrow to be with my dad and family. My nana was 90 and had a great life. But Life is short, go on adventures, live your life, love each other! Go for runs!

Come back to read and sorry for being so late on updates!

 

[TeeterTots]

Prayers to you and your family.

 

[michigandergirl]

Sorry to hear about your Nana. Hugs to you!

 

[ZellyB]

I’m so sorry, Roxy.

 

[Ariel484]

I’m sorry for your loss, thinking of you and your family

 

[girliea]

So sorry Roxy for you and your family.
Love your report as always!

 

[rteetz]

Sorry to hear Roxy. Thoughts and prayers with you guys.

 

[roxymama]

Prayers to you and your family.

Sorry to hear about your Nana. Hugs to you!

I’m so sorry, Roxy.

I’m sorry for your loss, thinking of you and your family

So sorry Roxy for you and your family.
Love your report as always!

Sorry to hear Roxy. Thoughts and prayers with you guys.

Thanks guys. It’s been a tough week.
I ran 3 miles tonight a min per mile too fast but it was “nice out” for Chicago and running helps me cope.

Guess what, I’ve written up to corrals. Boy am I long winded! Writing “the race” now .

Hugs

 

[roxymama]

Aaaand done!! Go back to page 2 for the recap. I’ll try to finish off our trip tomorrow when I’m bored at the airport.

In the meantime I hope this pic in my new shoes will tide you over. I retired my half shoes and since they ran a full marathon in October my husband had put them on display next to our hockey and baseball memorabilia in our basement. I wonder what these shoes will do this year? They have 3.09 miles on them so far

 

[cavepig]

So sorry for your losses

Enjoyed reading your half recap! I didn't even notice the acorns when I stopped for the chipmunks.

 

[roxymama]

So sorry for your losses

Enjoyed reading your half recap! I didn't even notice the acorns when I stopped for the chipmunks.

We didn’t either until we were told multiple times not to pick them up, haha.
They had a sign that said “Club Acorn”
Fun fact that Adrianne and I met because we both were swing dancers and we both partnered with the same fella (who became my husband and her “man of honor” at her wedding). So a chipmunk supper club was super appropriate for us!!

 

[TeeterTots]

We didn’t either until we were told multiple times not to pick them up, haha.
They had a sign that said “Club Acorn”
Fun fact that Adrianne and I met because we both were swing dancers and we both partnered with the same fella (who became my husband and her “man of honor” at her wedding). So a chipmunk supper club was super appropriate for us!!

Love this!!!

 

[FFigawi]

Sorry for your loss

 

[Mr. Drauer]

Nice job! Congrats on having so much fun. That was my daughter’s high school chorus!

 

[ZellyB]

Great race recap and I love the Chipmunk pic!! Well worth the wait. Your costume is great and so unique. That finish line photo is so good!

 

[run.minnie.miles]

So sorry about the loss of your Nana


You had some great pictures- I am so glad you had a great race!

 

[roxymama]

Day Two, part two: Galactic Heroes

After some post-race medal collecting and hanging out in the finisher area (the mister fans were pretty amazing) AD was off to find her family in Epcot and I headed for the busses back to the resort. Literally walked onto one, got a seat and it pulled away. We really had some incredible bus timing on this trip! I almost got off at POP though until I noticed the giant decade numbers out front and I had to laugh at myself because my most recent race weekend I got off at ft wilderness instead of wilderness lodge and had to take a walking path to a van to a bus back. Once at the correct hotel lobby I decided that I should listen to my now growling stomach. I assumed my dad hadn’t eaten yet so I took a look at the food court. One option was the Bounty Platter aka all of the things. I got two.

The cheesy hashbrowns were legit. Kinda like Cracker Barrel’s. And I didn’t get Mickey waffles this trip but I got Nemo and cars waffles. I think my Dad was happy to see me with the breakfast!



Crosswords, fill in the blanks, word finds, etc were our go to airport and hotel activity because we know how to party. After showering and getting dressed I hit a wall of tired and asked my dad if he minded if I power napped for 20-30 min. And so that’s what I did. Not sure I ever fell asleep totally.
Original plan for the afternoon was Bus to MK then monorail to GF for afternoon tea then bus to AK for FPs. Well my dad was very leg tired from the previous day and so to cut down on the extra transit and moving around we decided to cancel the tea (maybe the giant breakfast platters had a little to do with it too) and head to animal kingdom instead to do some easy going things.

I had some FP for later in the afternoon so we decided to do something close and went to it’s tough to be a bug. Why is the line like 2 miles long? It was a walk on but I felt so bad for my dad that the line just kept going and going. I haven’t been on this for over a decade but I still remembered to sit forward so as not to get poked in the back. I forgot about the butt bugs though!!

To make up for the crazy bug hike I suggest we go find a nice spot to have a beer. But then we noticed that the UP bird show was nearby and a show was just about to start. It was a cute show and I’m a bird person (see above recap where I carried one for 13.1 miles.). Dad and I had a sentimental moment because they had two parrots who were learning to sing and one of them went off script and started singing “you are my sunshine”. My dad had given my mom a stuffed elephant that had a little blue bird on its nose. And when you pressed it, it would sing that song. My mom would play it for visitors when she was sick and the week after my mom passed my dad took his picture with it for our church’s family directory. So that was really special.

Ok but now time for beer! But first medal pic!!



We found a really nice dock across from the rivers of light seating and across from yak n yeti. Nice umbrella table off the beaten path. I grabbed us two big Safari Ales and some fried rice and spring rolls. Sort of like afternoon tea???



The FP for Everest was up next and my Dad I could tell was on the fence about going on it. We walked around the gift shop and since we had 40 min until our time window I said “how bout I go in single rider and tell you how getting in and out of the cars and riding it is”. Well the single rider line was quoted as 40-50 min!!!! My dad was like yeah...let’s just wait for our FP and I’ll try the ride. So we found a nice spot for more relaxing and bird and monkey watching. Then we walked thru FP and both got to see our names on the posters in the line bc of the magicband Magic. It actually was really easy for my dad to get into the cars (really low step) and I knew he didn’t know about the backwards part so that was fun to watch him be surprised. When we got off he said “well that was thrilling!!! But it’s my last roller coaster”. Haha. I owed him another drink.

Here’s us being “thrilled”. And no we did not plan to wear Cubs vs Sox clothing but more than one person questioned us on this in the park


We had a bit of time until Safari FP so I got Dad a cold drink in a little off beaten path that I’d never even been down. We had fancy ices. Mine was a pina colada and I can’t remember what Dad got but it may have involved melon???



We then took our safari and they kindly let us go down the ramp instead of stairs at the end. I’m not great at remembering to take pictures but I did get some pretty sweet giraffe shots. I realize it didn’t fit on this page so maybe I’ll put it in the next one as a bonus. We also saw a majestic lion throwing up. So I guess even big cats get hair balls. Maybe she’d been drinking around Epcot earlier that day??? We got stuck at the end of the Safari waiting on something to move out of the way and our guide allowed us to ask him any questions. Such as “would he like to know the score of the football games?”
After the Safari I was thinking we could eat dinner at Satuli canteen and then use our Navi FP. But my dad said his legs were about done for the day. He said he’d like to head back to the hotel and get some food court stuff to take back to the room and watch football. Since I had plans to close out the MK with AD and it wasn’t dark yet I decided to walk my dad back to his bus and then head to MK. So no Pandora this time but that’s ok. More to do next time.

As we were walking out I switched my FP (it was a late one) to an earlier dinosaur one to free up Navi for someone else to use and to let mine expire so I could get a new one at MK.

The bus took long time to come and I had to stand but with all the good bus timing this trip it was ok. My legs started to ache though on that ride. Got to MK and the sun had gone down which is a magical time to be in the park. I poked around a few shops and pollinated merch that I liked. Headed down bridge to fantasyland to maybe do peoplemover and texted AD. She was at 1900 PF with her parents finishing up dinner. My Disney app wasn’t connecting so I used the kiosk by Stitch and saw that Winnie the Pooh was available right now. Ok! So I saved Peoplemover for later so I could ride it with AD.

I think I ruined a couples romantic Pooh ride when at the last minute they put me in the back of their honey pot while they were taking smoochy selfies. The fellas were probably early 20’s and were very good at side eye. So that’s how I became a chaperone for three awkward minutes through the hundred acre woods.

As I was walking into that line my app came back up so I made a Dumbo FP for right now. Luckily I shared my elephant with only me!! AD texted she had arrived so I told her I’d come meet her once I took my flight.


I was feeling only like kinda hungry so I took advantage of the only “no line” snack cart to get a Mickey pretzel with a cup of cheese. And headed to the peoplemover.
Found AD in glowing ears and we headed up the peoplemover as I shoveled the last bits of pretzel down. And then in the best timed peoplemover trip of all time we got to see fireworks during our ride as we came in and out of the buildings!!! Was magical!!!

We had no specific plan after that but kinda knew we wanted to stay away from the Main Street craziness. We saw buzz was a short wait so off we went to defeat Zurg. Last time we rode this years ago I defeated AD so it was a heated rematch.



And then a magical thing happened. We got stopped in the zurg robot room and literally killed ourselves trying to rack up points. I have photo proof that I got the 999999 first but we both were proud of our new Galactic Hero status. I was not aware that you get stickers for this until I got home.



I told Adrianne my Winnie the Pooh awkward ride thru and she said she’d never been on it. It had like no wait so off we went to redeem my night. We did make sure to play with all the interactive things in line that are meant for children. Because we are adults so we can do what we want!! We got our own honey pot so we were not able to make anyone else uncomfortable

Adrianne wanted to do one more thing before heading out so we decided Pirates or Splash Mtn. They had same wait times but one would result in us being really wet and so pirates was the winner. Luckily we were put in the last row so my goal of not being drenched could continue. Well until I got cannon-balled! Here we are on pirates. Aren’t I good at capturing the magic around us?



In line for pirates I had been looking at the app for food ideas and I kinda really wanted nachos. It looked like pecos bills was still open and close by so I hoped they still were serving food this late. AD walked with me but she decided she wanted to just keep walking back to leave for the night. It was so nice to race with her and then to run amok in the MK at night.

Then I ordered my humongous pile of nachos. And a glorious Diet Coke. Found a little corner table and texted with my hubby as I ate. I couldn’t finish it but I tried my best. And since I was wearing a race shirt I was secretly hoping people thought I was fueling for the marathon the next day



I grabbed a little mermaid ride FP and decided I’d leisurely walk that way and if my legs were too tired I’d just walk to main st and if not I’d go for a ride. Well my legs were too tired but I soldiered on and walked onto the ride. Wished that clam shell could just whisk me all the way back to the hotel.
Stopped in the Emporium on way home. Kiddo had asked for a Daisy Duck so I found a good one. Found a 2019 mug for me (bc I have a mug problem) and then waddled back to the bus stops. I knew in my heart it was a Minnie Van night and the most magical part of the ride was when the driver said she’d drop me off in front of my building. Oh thank goodness!!! That pretty much sealed we’d be using it for our ride home tomorrow too.

And that’s how I stayed out til midnight in the park at both Disneyland and WDW after half marathons.

Next up: Epcot Day!!!

 

[michigandergirl]

Your Dad is a trooper - the look on his face in that EE pic just says it all!

 

[roxymama]

Nice job! Congrats on having so much fun. That was my daughter’s high school chorus!

That’s so cool! I’m glad they were there singing for us!

Great race recap and I love the Chipmunk pic!! Well worth the wait. Your costume is great and so unique. That finish line photo is so good!

Thank you! I was trying to brainstorm the most obscure ride themed outfits and came up with Delta Dreamflight.

So sorry about the loss of your Nana


You had some great pictures- I am so glad you had a great race!

Thank you!

Your Dad is a trooper - the look on his face in that EE pic just says it all!

He really was. We definitely went for a less thrilling strategy for our Epcot day!!

 

[garneska]

I think your dad’s shirt at AK was perfect