COMPLETE- "We're Never Coming Back!...Until October" FEB '14 Princess Half Marathon

[Careree22]

I'm having a really good time reading your TR I can't believe you guys ran so many races! Great Job

 

[emilyindisney]

I'm having a really good time reading your TR I can't believe you guys ran so many races! Great Job

Glad you're enjoying! And thank you!

 

[annmarieda]

LOVE the throwback picture. How cool that you two have each other.

Next we headed for World of Disney which was swamped! I’d been patiently waiting this stop for months because I’ve been dying to get my hands on an Alex and Ani Cinderella’s Castle bracelet. I’ve tried to order one a couple times over the past year and it’s always sold out. MJ wears Alex and Ani too so we headed over there first and got in line at the counter.

I love that!

Next we headed towards Characters in Flight. I really, really wanted to ride seeing as this has been on my disney bucket list forever but it was too windy, and there thunderstorms in the area so it wasn’t flying. Oh well- next trip!

The one time we planned on that (and by we, I mean my family cause I won't go up in that ) the same thing happened... too windy and not flying.

The boat ride to POFQ was very pleasant, I loved going past the treehouse villas! These are so cute, and I would love to stay in one, but I’m not sure I could combine the camping-type feeling they gave off, with my usual expectations for a Disney vacation.

That is what I thought too. However, the inside seems pretty posh. Point wise... I need a contract just for that! (or maybe just not to go to WDW as often but where is the fun in that???)

We had planned on POFQ both because we wanted to see it, and because we thought the food court had a make your own pasta station. We tried make your own pasta at AoA on our last trip, and it was delicious. Unfortunately, make your own pasta was not on the menu, so we opted for some of the other pasta options with the intention of “carb loading” for tomorrows race. (Disclaimer: I do not usually intentionally carb load for races-this was just an excuse to eat some delicious pasta!)

make your own pasta is at POR... super yummy!!

After dinner, we got some beignets to go (delicious!!!) and walked around the resort a little.

POFQ is my favorite resort!! I just adore it. The fact that there is beignets there is an added bonus. I just wish I could pay for it with points rather than "real" money. I looked at the cost for phm weekend 2015... yeah, I will spend the points over the grand to stay there!

After that, we were getting pretty tired and had an early wake up call, so we hopped on a boat back to DTD(a boat that nearly broke down and had to finish the trip at quarter speed) and then a bus back to the BW. It was a long wait for a crowded bus so we decided to hop off early at the Swan and walk back. I took the opportunity to snap some pictures of the Boardwalk all lit up!

This is one thing I am so looking forward to in the fall. The Boardwalk all lit up!!

MJ made her stop at Joe’s and got a tasty Passionfruit Margarita to bring up to the room as we relaxed and called it a night.

Joes is on the boardwalk, yes? Passionfruit? I love margaritas!!! I will have to remember to grab that one.

 

[disneyhorselover]

I absolutely loved running through World Showcase with all the countries lit up and the torches going. The music was great through there too - and I'm pretty sure I just had a goofy smile on my face that whole time.


I'm really hoping to be able to train and do the half next year. If I can't pull that off, I'm definitely doing the 10K again - it was a blast!

Agreed....I definitely had a goofy smile on my face for the whole race I think!

You should totally do the half next year, or better yet, both!

Did you know that this year they gave out the bags AFTER the half, instead of at the Expo?!? I think it was genius, I heard people complaining that there were no bags this year and then there they were, right after the race and PERFECT for carrying all the stuff! I guess that doesn't help much at the 10K though?

I cannot wait to do the 10K next year! This looked great!

Like Emily mentioned, I was soo happy to see that bag after the Princess...if only they could give them out after both races! (Not that I really need two, but it sure was nice for carrying stuff!

I really liked the course too, even with the roads in the beginning, I didn't care, I loved it. The Boardwalk might have been my favorite part!

Agreed, on both!!

How many corrals were there? Being in A, did you see less congestion and do you think that helped with lines? I guess with just 6000 runners there probably wasn't too much crowding overall.

Oh! And your costumes were super cute!!! I can't do tutus (although I would love to). The two of you definitely looked like Minnie and Daisy

I didn't think congestion was bad at all for either race, and we were in corrals A and E....much better than the horror stories I was imagining after reading about it online!

Thanks....I spent a great deal of time trying to decide if people could tell I was Daisy. Though Emily had to twist my arm to get me to wear the tutu, I liked it more than I thought I would....the tights on the other hand, I was pretty done with by about mile 2.5

The 10K looks awesome! I love the mile signs with Disney characters.

AHH JIMINY CRICKET! So jealous, that's an awesome character meet.

One of the best perks of the races was all the unique characters we got to meet...some more great ones were out for the half

 

[disneyhorselover]

We ate at Cape May to, just the next day haha. I agree it wasn't my favorite. Goofy completely snubbed us and didn't even stop and Minnie never even came on our side of the restaurant so we saw Donald and took off. The food was good though!

I also bought that same Alex and Ani bracelet, we had scary similar trips, seriously haha. I love it, its so perfect!

Love the throwback pic too, so adorable!

It is a little scary how similar our trips are, so funny!

Sorry that you also had a poor experience at Cape May. I think I would probably be willing to give it one more try, because I was really impressed with the food and the selection....though, to be fair, I am impressed with most food after a run/race, haha.

LOVE the throwback picture. How cool that you two have each other.

The one time we planned on that (and by we, I mean my family cause I won't go up in that ) the same thing happened... too windy and not flying.

That is what I thought too. However, the inside seems pretty posh. Point wise... I need a contract just for that! (or maybe just not to go to WDW as often but where is the fun in that???)

make your own pasta is at POR... super yummy!!

Joes is on the boardwalk, yes? Passionfruit? I love margaritas!!! I will have to remember to grab that one.

It's funny, because before we discovered this love (obsession) for all things Disney, we were not nearly this good of friends...

I'm with you on the balloon...I haven't completely ruled it out but I'm in no hurry to go up!

The rule with WDW trips is DEFINITELY "the more the merrier!"

We realized after we looked around the POFQ food court that make your own pasta must have been at POR, but at that point we were hungry and tired of traveling, so we had to settle

Joe's is on the boardwalk, and looked delicious, though I didn't actually have anything from there. If you like margaritas, have you been to La Cava? I went for the first time on this trip and it totally lived up to the hype....I would give anything for another avocado margarita right now!

 

[annmarieda]

Joe's is on the boardwalk, and looked delicious, though I didn't actually have anything from there. If you like margaritas, have you been to La Cava? I went for the first time on this trip and it totally lived up to the hype....I would give anything for another avocado margarita right now!

I have been to la Cava! Such good ritas there! I have wanted to try the avocado one.. is it good?

 

[disneyhorselover]

I have been to la Cava! Such good ritas there! I have wanted to try the avocado one.. is it good?

SO GOOD. I am not a huge avocado fan normally, but I had heard great things about it. It is super light and creamy without being heavy. It doesn't have a very strong flavor, but in a good way that makes it so refreshing. My mom got the blood orange and I had some of that one too...not as good as the avocado but also worth trying.

I can't believe I've always skipped this place over for the frozen marg stand outside! Which ones have you had at la cava?

 

[emilyindisney]

Princess Half Marathon part 1

Disney's newest dining experience

At 3:15 the alarm went off for the last race of the weekend. I felt excited, but a little bit more tense. For me, 3 miles or 6 miles is a casual weekend run. A half marathon, on the other hand, is a big deal no matter how many times I do one. Those of you runners reading know that some days you have good long runs, and some days you have bad long runs- today NEEDED to be that good long run!

Nerves aside, we got dressed, gathered up our running stuff, made breakfast and made our way down for a bus. With a very short wait, we were headed to Epcot for race three. The half marathon had 25,000 runners which meant that the starting line/corrals were a whole different ball game than the two previous races (which only had 10,000 runners each.) Once we went through security, we made our way towards the bathrooms and medical tents that were at the end of the other race courses and settled down to eat breakfast, stretch and chat.



I’m tellin’ ya- breakfast in the Epcot parking lot should be Disney’s latest dining experience. No need for FP+! It’s gonna be big, guys.

With about 30 minutes to race start we started the trek to corral E. I’m not kidding when I say we probably walked at least a half mile to get there. It was MUCH further than walking through the parking lot yesterday and Friday was. It definitely gave me a good idea of just how huge of an event this was!

We slid up to the front of the corral, ditched our sweatshirts in the donation bins, and had some GU chomps. We asked a runner next to us to take our pre-race photo!



Warning- mini rant coming:

I think runDisney is very clear about how/when they assign corrals and race day changes. (If you’re not familiar, runDisney accepts times from comparable distances races to seed you to an appropriate corral based on how fast you’ll run. The last day they accepted times to bump someone’s corral up was 12/1/13. Any runner may choose to bump back to a further corral on race day, but cannot move foward.) It made me kind of angry to see one woman really argue with the volunteers, and the runDisney staff at the entrance to corral D to try and get in. First off- the volunteers are giving up their time to make this an awesome race experience for all of us. Don’t try to pressure them into letting you break the rules, or huff and roll your eyes at them! Not nice! Second- when someone from runDisney staff re-explains the rules to you, please accept that those are the rules. Everyone has to follow them, no exceptions! This woman stood there for another ten minutes trying to work over the runDisney guy to let her in. I don’t understand how many times she needed to hear no!

End rant.

Pretty soon, the lone wheelchair racer-I’m always amazed by these athletes-was on their way and the 2014 Princess Half Marathon had officially begun! The first few corrals went off every 2-3 minutes, so soon we were right up under the starting arch! While our corral was at the start and waiting to go, one of the announcers mistakenly remarked that we had 26.2 miles ahead of us. We weren’t the only runners who looked a little concerned for a moment after he said that!

Another set of fireworks, and we were on our way!​

 

[emilyindisney]

Princess Half Marathon part 2

Caution runners- speed bumps ahead



The course started by sending us down Epcot Center Drive where we passed a high school marching band playing. I imagine it’s quite an undertaking to get a bunch of high schoolers up, dressed, and on the course for 5:30 so I definitely appreciated them coming out to play us on!


Shortly after that, we heard the fireworks that sent off Corral F. Everyone was a little surprised to hear how close behind us they were, but we continued to settle into our pace. We were chit chatting, watching runners around us, and getting our legs moving so I was surprised when we passed the mile one sign so quickly. It was on the opposite side of the road as us, and the course we crowded so we opted to keep moving.

Somewhere around Mile 2, I once again needed a bathroom break. Drinking a lot of water was definitely helpful in the humidity but never have I stopped for so many bathroom breaks in races! (And by that I mean one in each race...usually I never stop!) Luckily, there was a small set of port o potties that had no line, and then we were once again on our way.

While I waited for Cait, the monorail drove overhead and beeped. How often can you say that a monorail beeped at you while you’re on your morning run?! This happened multiple times on the course, and we always waved to the passing monorail-it was much more entertaining and uplifting than it sounds now! It was definitely mind blowing to see all the runners going by while I was standing by the bathroom- so many moving feet!

Coming up on the divider I saw a pirate ship that I recognized as belonging to the one and only Captain Jack Sparrow. The line for a picture with Jack and his cohort was long and I knew we’d pass this again around mile 9. However, there was no line for a picture with the ship!





Somewhere on this stretch of road was a set of handsome heroes-Aladdin, Flynn Ryder, Hercules, and Prince Eric! Unfortuately, their line was at least 30-40 people deep, and we made the decision not to stop, which was a decision that I regretted for the next 7 miles….

Pretty soon, we could see the Magic Kingdom gates coming up!





Passing through the gate, we were greeted with everyone’s favorite on course message: ‘caution runners- speed bumps ahead’. They also had red and blue lights highlighting the bumps under the MK gate so hopefully no one tripped!



When we reached mile 3 another runner offered to take our picture together- sweet!

Coming around the speedway there was a race car/driver picture setup with no line so we stopped.



We’re still not really sure if these were actual race car drivers, or just attractive looking CMs who they told to put the suits on and stand in front of the cars. Who knows?

The villains photo-op was just ahead on the other side of the road but it had a MASSIVE line. We opted not to wait, but I did snap a picture of them for trip report posterity.



We passed some drummers who seemed excited that I wanted to stop and take my picture with them.




Next we came up by the TTC, where there were a ton of people out cheering and holding signs! It was also near here that we caught our first (and last) glimpse of the “parade” busses. We trained at about a 9:30 min/mile pace (Disney’s minimum is 16 min/mile) so we were never in any danger, but I can imagine how nerve wrecking it would be to see one of those closer to the back of the pack!​

 

[courtneybelle]

Hi Emily! Sorry I've gotten behind; you know how busy college life can get!

That's so disappointing that the character interaction wasn't good at Cape May. I just love those outfits but haven't gotten to go. We were thinking about it for our next trip but decided on Crystal Palace for our character breakfast.

I have the castle Alex and Ani too! I've been considering getting the initial one on my next trip.

Your costumes look AWESOME! I love that sparkly skirt.

SO COOL that you get to run through those MK gates.

 

[annmarieda]

SO GOOD. I am not a huge avocado fan normally, but I had heard great things about it. It is super light and creamy without being heavy. It doesn't have a very strong flavor, but in a good way that makes it so refreshing. My mom got the blood orange and I had some of that one too...not as good as the avocado but also worth trying.

I can't believe I've always skipped this place over for the frozen marg stand outside! Which ones have you had at la cava?

Ok, so next time I am definitely getting the avocado one! I have only gone twice. I think I have tried the passion fruit and the pomegranate. I was tempted by one that I later got at La Hacienda.. I am pretty sure it is the same rita made with rumchatta. Super yummy.

 

[annmarieda]

At 3:15 the alarm went off for the last race of the weekend. I felt excited, but a little bit more tense. For me, 3 miles or 6 miles is a casual weekend run. A half marathon, on the other hand, is a big deal no matter how many times I do one. Those of you runners reading know that some days you have good long runs, and some days you have bad long runs- today NEEDED to be that good long run!

I do know what you mean! 3 or even 6 can be on a whim... even on occasion I have hit 10 "on accident" Mostly though... 10 and over is a planned gig.

Nerves aside, we got dressed, gathered up our running stuff, made breakfast and made our way down for a bus. With a very short wait, we were headed to Epcot for race three. The half marathon had 25,000 runners which meant that the starting line/corrals were a whole different ball game than the two previous races (which only had 10,000 runners each.) Once we went through security, we made our way towards the bathrooms and medical tents that were at the end of the other race courses and settled down to eat breakfast, stretch and chat.



I’m tellin’ ya- breakfast in the Epcot parking lot should be Disney’s latest dining experience. No need for FP+! It’s gonna be big, guys.

Sitting in the parking lot and eating such a fun thing to do!!!

With about 30 minutes to race start we started the trek to corral E. I’m not kidding when I say we probably walked at least a half mile to get there. It was MUCH further than walking through the parking lot yesterday and Friday was. It definitely gave me a good idea of just how huge of an event this was!

I was in E for the Donald. I thought I read/heard someone say it was like 2 miles. I am just not sure it is that far... but definitely at least a mile!

We slid up to the front of the corral, ditched our sweatshirts in the donation bins, and had some GU chomps. We asked a runner next to us to take our pre-race photo!

Cute pic!!

Warning- mini rant coming:

I think runDisney is very clear about how/when they assign corrals and race day changes. (If you’re not familiar, runDisney accepts times from comparable distances races to seed you to an appropriate corral based on how fast you’ll run. The last day they accepted times to bump someone’s corral up was 12/1/13. Any runner may choose to bump back to a further corral on race day, but cannot move foward.) It made me kind of angry to see one woman really argue with the volunteers, and the runDisney staff at the entrance to corral D to try and get in. First off- the volunteers are giving up their time to make this an awesome race experience for all of us. Don’t try to pressure them into letting you break the rules, or huff and roll your eyes at them! Not nice! Second- when someone from runDisney staff re-explains the rules to you, please accept that those are the rules. Everyone has to follow them, no exceptions! This woman stood there for another ten minutes trying to work over the runDisney guy to let her in. I don’t understand how many times she needed to hear no!

End rant.

Um... did you see the same rant on my race recap? What is with people?? In my corral there was a group who stood their ground when they were told they had to leave the corral. It was ridiculous! In the end, one of the people crossed the finish line like an hour after I did. I do not think that he should have been in the same corral as me... I am so glad that they finally were told that they had to move to their corrals or leave the race entirely.

Pretty soon, the lone wheelchair racer-I’m always amazed by these athletes-was on their way and the 2014 Princess Half Marathon had officially begun! The first few corrals went off every 2-3 minutes, so soon we were right up under the starting arch! While our corral was at the start and waiting to go, one of the announcers mistakenly remarked that we had 26.2 miles ahead of us. We weren’t the only runners who looked a little concerned for a moment after he said that!

That would have me a little worried!

Another set of fireworks, and we were on our way!

You two look like you were having a great time! So cool to hear the monorail!! Have to ask.. was it raining? the pictures look like it was raining. Then again, that humidity and fog can do that too....

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

As always, enjoy every picture from your run course! Especially the ones in front of the pirate ship.

Your dining experience at the parking lot at Epcot sounds like a good one. Actually based on the reviews I've read, it sounds better than the Illuminations Dessert Party.

 

[ZellyB]

Love the pre-race pictures. The atmosphere in the starting corrals is the best. I love all the energy and how excited everyone is. Love your running costumes as well. You guys look great!

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[emilyindisney]

Sorry I have disappeared and become neglectful in my comments (both here and on the other TRs I'm reading.) Here in UConn country we've been pretty busy- you know, just winning championships and all

I do know what you mean! 3 or even 6 can be on a whim... even on occasion I have hit 10 "on accident" Mostly though... 10 and over is a planned gig.

Sitting in the parking lot and eating such a fun thing to do!!!

I was in E for the Donald. I thought I read/heard someone say it was like 2 miles. I am just not sure it is that far... but definitely at least a mile!

Cute pic!!

Um... did you see the same rant on my race recap? What is with people?? In my corral there was a group who stood their ground when they were told they had to leave the corral. It was ridiculous! In the end, one of the people crossed the finish line like an hour after I did. I do not think that he should have been in the same corral as me... I am so glad that they finally were told that they had to move to their corrals or leave the race entirely.

That would have me a little worried!

You two look like you were having a great time! So cool to hear the monorail!! Have to ask.. was it raining? the pictures look like it was raining. Then again, that humidity and fog can do that too....

The walk was definitely far! I imagine it was probably further for those who had to take a right at the highway intersection (as opposed to us who went left.)

I did see your rant and I laughed because we literally had the exact same thoughts! Your story is a particularly good example of why people can't bump up the day of because those people didn't even need to be up that far (based on their finishing time!!)

I'd say it was misting. It was extremely humid so it was hard to tell whether it was precipitating or the water was just hanging in the air. It definitely made a bit of a mess of our pictures in the first few miles. Luckily it seemed to clear up just before we ran into MK!

As always, enjoy every picture from your run course! Especially the ones in front of the pirate ship.

Your dining experience at the parking lot at Epcot sounds like a good one. Actually based on the reviews I've read, it sounds better than the Illuminations Dessert Party.

Agreed!!

Love the pre-race pictures. The atmosphere in the starting corrals is the best. I love all the energy and how excited everyone is. Love your running costumes as well. You guys look great!

Thanks!

Great pics!

Thanks!

 

[emilyindisney]

Princess Half Marathon part 3

The most magical miles of all!

The closer we got to the Magic Kingdom the more the crowds on the side of the road started to pick up which was exciting. We came through the little dip in the road under the water and could almost see the Contemporary. Had the weather been nice we definitely would have been able to, however, it was so foggy that we couldn’t see the building until we were almost right at the driveway! There was a DJ on the overpass playing music to motivate everyone back up the hill. Since I train on quite a few hills at home, I didn’t think it was too bad at all. Soon we were running past the Contemporary and headed in the direction of Space Mountain!

As we turned to run into the CM entrance to MK we passed the mile 5 marker. It was positioned on the other side of the guard rail on a crowded turn so we kept going. Coming into MK we saw another DISer in W.I.S.H. green- woohoo! We took a turn and were welcomed to Main Street USA with huge crowds, and a glowing castle.



The only bad part of running down Main St USA-it was the exact moment that I discovered my camera memory card was full! (I had a few old video files that I didn’t realize took up so much space-stupid mistake). So I spent half of Main St fighting with that before giving up and decided to use my iphone for pics from here on out. Thankfully, most of the pics came out better than expected, and the battery made it all the way to the end!

A couple weeks ago I saw another DISer who was standing on Main Street that morning say he could tell who was running the course for the first time because they all had huge grins on their faces when they turned and saw the castle. Thinking back, I’m sure that’s exactly what I looked like!

When we got close to the hub we stopped for a castle photo.



I wish I wasn’t doing that funny shoulder drop pose- oh well!

We turned right into Tomorrowland and decided it was time to bite the bullet and wait in a character line. Buzz’s wait seemed fairly reasonable so we hopped in and snapped some pictures.





I’m really glad we decided to stop there because it made us realize that the CMs work really hard to make those character lines move quick. We were much more open to stopping for (almost) whoever we wanted going forward.



After passing the speedway we stopped for the White Rabbit. At this point, we were giggling like little kids, getting to run through this magical place and stop where ever we wanted. Since the park was closed, it had this fun feeling of being rebellious in a familiar place. Crowds were very light in this section, which added to the feeling of our own private tour of one of our favorite parks! Obviously this is an exaggeration-there were people around us-but there was no congestion at all we we were able to bounce happily from one side of the course to the other to get all these pictures.





Course to Tomorrowland- anyone? Haha, get it? Okay, okay- totally corny runner's joke.



The Tea Cups were running but we agreed we definitely didn’t need a whirl on that this early in the morning (or ever, really.)

On our way to the castle we stopped for a couple pictures with some of our favorite attractions!





I'll be greeting daily!

There was a huge line at the entrance to New Fantasyland to meet Minnie and Mickey in their royal wear that we passed to run through the castle!



This moment was literally exactly like I dreamed it would be. All those early mornings of training, those cold days and those hours on the dreadmill, I would close my eyes and picture myself running through the castle, and now it was finally happening just like I had imagined...UNREAL. As you can see from the picture, crowds weren’t bad at all, and we cruised right through. They had volunteers directing traffic at the bottom so that runners moved to the side before taking pictures, which definitely helped prevent some collisions!

We stopped on the other side for a castle selfie!



In Liberty Square we stopped for Louis and told him he should join the trumpet players heralding runners into the castle!



Next up- Frontierland!



Woody was out and we asked if Bullseye would give us a ride to the finish line. For both Louis and Woody, we saw them out with a short line (only 3 or 4 people) and actually sprinted to the line….just like we’ve always wanted to do in the parks and never been allowed to!



Mile 6 was right before Splash Mountain (which was covered in scaffolding and construction workers.)



We passed Splash and exited the park by crossing the railroad tracks. The train was parked right there along with a conductor for a photo op, but we didn’t stop. Backstage, Snow White and her Prince were out with their Celebrate A Dream Come True parade float. They had a bit of a line, and we didn’t feel particularly strongly about meeting them so we kept going.​

 

[wiigirl]

Cute pics!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I LOVE reading your recap, it takes me right back!!! I had to smile when you said you heard corral F fireworks because that was ME!

I did not see the teacups running, were people riding them!?!?!? I was in a world of hurt at that point and only noticed the White Rabbit that I sadly had to pass up (not next year! I WILL get a pic with him!) but if the teacups are running, I may have to take a spin on them next year! How fun would that be?!!!

 

[emilyindisney]

Cute pics!

Thanks!

I LOVE reading your recap, it takes me right back!!! I had to smile when you said you heard corral F fireworks because that was ME!

I did not see the teacups running, were people riding them!?!?!? I was in a world of hurt at that point and only noticed the White Rabbit that I sadly had to pass up (not next year! I WILL get a pic with him!) but if the teacups are running, I may have to take a spin on them next year! How fun would that be?!!!

I didn't see anyone on them but they were definitely spinning. I feel like why run them if they weren't going to let runners hop on if they wanted!