DEST EE 5K PTR - 19days Apr/May-(I'm BaaaaaCK!)

[keishashadow]

OP - hi, I followed the trail from the SW-Aquatica board. Let me say i'm not sure which impresses me more: the appendix'd pre-trippie or the most awesome photos that speak volumes as to being professional shots on the same old same old disney pics. I haven't plowed thru ur whole thread (yet) but a few questions for you regarding Aquatica:

1) What camera/lens was used for the amazing pics from the last pictorial post?

2) We've been to SW & DC and the WDW waterparks but never to Aquatica. Have it included in a combo tix that I need to use this year, likely in late September/early October for what I assume would be lower crowds than my other alternative, the end of May. Do you know if the water is heated in wave pool & the 2 lazy rivers? Yes, I am all about the lazy rivers and the fast one sounds perfect!

3) If we do find that we have to visit in May, I did notice that they offer in addition to the rather pricey cabanas, a reasonably-priced guaranteed lounge chair area, from what I can determine located on 'an island' in the lazy river. Since you've visited the park, can you tell me if it would be a good location to set up camp for the day? Since t'll only be me & DH, we chuck the commando mode and rarely make any park opening lol but i'm fair skinned and need some shade to retreat to when I get overheated. Likely, we'd only use the dolphin slide once, wave pool, both lazy rivers and the one 'family' slide you all sit in the same raft (the name escapes me).

4) Any recommendations on good choice for food in the park?

 

[disney 4 5]

I am checking into your PTR too. Now back to read the whole thing. Good luck to you & your daughter with the 5K.

 

[MHTeacher]

ToT night looks fun---good way to get a great family photograph taken too!

Never been to Aquatica---looks fun though! Perfect way to "chill-ax" after your EE run!

 

[PrincessV]

LOVE the TOT theme dinner!

A closer look at the spread...

This looks amazingly yum!

Gorgeous

TOWER OR TERROR!

Okay, am I the only one who never knew there was a TOT movie?!

I grew up in Alaska, and I lived in NC for 20 years but it was perfect weather in the mountains. To me 85 is as hot as I feel comfortable. With the sun (that is very, very hot) and the humidity it's just tolerable for me.

I stay indoors when it gets over 90.

Don't worry. I'm already freaked out about the weather

I'm a Floridian of 20 years and 85 was HOT to me this weekend at WDW, lol! And yep, we stay indoors as much as possible over 90. Try not to freak out, though - it will be warm, no doubt, but I've been waiting to run an hour before sunset and it's been fine. I imagine with the sun down completely, we'll all be warm, but not suffering heat stroke.

I really LOVE this water park and while DD and DH will tell you Blizzard Beach is the best bc of the thrill slides - I am NOT a thrill slider. I'm just not a huge fan of thrill slides so i find that this park just has more for me to enjoy.

Ooo, I've never been and have been wondering what it's like!

They have a GREAT play structure - no I don't go on it unless I'm with DD and now that she's 14 we might avoid it all together but it's a GREAT area for the smaller kids!

Wow, I think Leo would really dig this...

They have some mild slides which i will actually go on...

And I'm game for mild slides, so that's good to hear!

So, this is how I will spend my day recuperating.

This. Is. Brilliant. Really, I'm sitting here now thinking we should just plan a pool day post-5K, instead of the Epcot time currently showing on my spread sheet.

 

[wakica]

Your ToT night sounds like it was fun! I think it's cool you all got dressed up, those can be great times. (Of course, I laughed when I read that you changed into comfy clothes for the movie, because that sounded like something I'd do.)

A water park sounds like a good way to recover from the race, and an evening at the Boardwalk sounds relaxing. I've never been there before, but the night shots you posted of it make it look so neat.

Boardwalk is really nice at night. We had never been to it until we registered Dd in a pirate cruise so our first time there was daytime when dh and i walked around while she was doing her fun pirate thing. It was so nice and dh makes a point of visiting there each trip now. it's nice in the day (we stopped at the bakery for a nice snack and just walked and took pics) but it's cool at night when the buskers/entertainers come out and the lights are on.

Your ToT night looks like fun! I wish I could get my DH to do theme nights!

Aquatica looks awesome! I'm not a big water park person anymore, but if I ever have a kid, I'm sure I'd have to go to them once in a while, and that looks like a really good one! And the Boardwalk at night is always fun!

DH just goes along with the theme nights for mine and DD's sake. LOL. I thought they wouldn't go for the formal wear and was pleasently surprised when they were all for it. What he does NOT like is that I always make him get out his camera and take pics before we can eat the food He didn't even take a pic of the whole spread this time bc he was so impatient to just dig in so while they started i grabbed my own camera and snapped some of them and more of the table. so it can take some arm twisting with him.

I am checking into your PTR too. Now back to read the whole thing. Good luck to you & your daughter with the 5K.

ToT night looks fun---good way to get a great family photograph taken too!

Never been to Aquatica---looks fun though! Perfect way to "chill-ax" after your EE run!

LOVE the TOT theme dinner!


This looks amazingly yum!


Gorgeous


Okay, am I the only one who never knew there was a TOT movie?!




I'm a Floridian of 20 years and 85 was HOT to me this weekend at WDW, lol! And yep, we stay indoors as much as possible over 90. Try not to freak out, though - it will be warm, no doubt, but I've been waiting to run an hour before sunset and it's been fine. I imagine with the sun down completely, we'll all be warm, but not suffering heat stroke.


Ooo, I've never been and have been wondering what it's like!


Wow, I think Leo would really dig this...


And I'm game for mild slides, so that's good to hear!


This. Is. Brilliant. Really, I'm sitting here now thinking we should just plan a pool day post-5K, instead of the Epcot time currently showing on my spread sheet.

 

[wakica]

A water park sounds like a good way to recover from the race, and an evening at the Boardwalk sounds relaxing. I've never been there before, but the night shots you posted of it make it look so neat.

Boardwalk is a really nice place to hang out for a bit. We discovered it when we dropped dd off one year for a pirate cruise and dh fell in love with it. It's nice in the day - we walked around, grabbed a snack from the bakery but it's awesome at night when the buskers/entertainers come out and the lights are turned on

Your ToT night looks like fun! I wish I could get my DH to do theme nights!

Dh just humors dd and i. He doesn't mind it but what he does NOT like is when I make him get his camera and take pics before he can eat the food. LOL. He just wants to dig in. This time he cheaped out on me and I had to get my camera to take pics of them at the table (and me and dd with our drinks) as well as a better pic of the spread or there wouldn't have been much to show. . guys hey??? lol

I am checking into your PTR too. Now back to read the whole thing. Good luck to you & your daughter with the 5K.

THANKS I hope you were able to catch up. I know there is LOTS!!! hahaha. I never realized how much I would end up sharing when i started this

ToT night looks fun---good way to get a great family photograph taken too!

Never been to Aquatica---looks fun though! Perfect way to "chill-ax" after your EE run!

Yes, it DEFINITELY was a great way to sneak in that photo I don't know if we've ever had a photo of us taken looking that formal. Usually we are too rushed if on our way to something or too tired afterwards so nobody is up for it - plus we rarely GET that dressed up. haha. I'm so glad we ended up doing it!!

oh and Aquatica is a great waterpark but if you don't want to leave the Disney bubble Typhoon is GREAT for relaxing too SO tropical!!!

Okay, am I the only one who never knew there was a TOT movie?!

This. Is. Brilliant. Really, I'm sitting here now thinking we should just plan a pool day post-5K, instead of the Epcot time currently showing on my spread sheet.

LOL - I'm sure there are LOTS that don't realize there is a movie. If DD hadn't found it in the ToT gift shop one trip I would never have known either. It does have it's cheesy moments too so i'm sure it's never exactly been a best seller.

I think you'll have fun at Epcot too - as long as it's not a rope drop day. LOL. Although I think I will do more relaxing and less walking by being at a waterpark.

 

[wakica]

Hi! and WELCOME I'm so glad you like the pre trip report and the photos. You will have a GREAT time at Aquatica
I will try to briefly answer a few of your questions but I will give you more details later when DH is home as he is the camera guy.

1) What camera/lens was used for the amazing pics from the last pictorial post?
I can't say for sure. DH uses DSLR - he has the Nikon D300 but he doesn't always take that into the parks so there is a chance it could have been my "mini me" of his camera which is the Nikon D40. We also have a cheap point and shoot that DD likes to carry so the less desirable pics in the threads are likely on her camera. lol. I can find out more though - are you familiar with the DSLR cameras?? and all the manual settings that need to be learned to use them? I'm not so when I take my mini me of his camera I either set it to automatic or have him change the settings for me several times b/c you need to be playing around with the settings for almost every photo as they are very dependant on the brightness, shade, etc...

2) We've been to SW & DC and the WDW waterparks but never to Aquatica. Have it included in a combo tix that I need to use this year, likely in late September/early October for what I assume would be lower crowds than my other alternative, the end of May. Do you know if the water is heated in wave pool & the 2 lazy rivers? Yes, I am all about the lazy rivers and the fast one sounds perfect!

It's GOT to be heated or there is NO way i would have been in it. Im a cold water WIMP!!! Mind you it WAS over 30 C that day so the sun would have warmed it up plenty too. You could probably find that information on their website.

3) If we do find that we have to visit in May, I did notice that they offer in addition to the rather pricey cabanas, a reasonably-priced guaranteed lounge chair area, from what I can determine located on 'an island' in the lazy river. Since you've visited the park, can you tell me if it would be a good location to set up camp for the day? Since t'll only be me & DH, we chuck the commando mode and rarely make any park opening lol but i'm fair skinned and need some shade to retreat to when I get overheated. Likely, we'd only use the dolphin slide once, wave pool, both lazy rivers and the one 'family' slide you all sit in the same raft (the name escapes me).

I came across that area by total fluke. I was trying to find a shortcut walking around and wandered into it. LOL - I knew immediately i wasn't supposed to be there. I cannot for the life of me remember the details of it though - I just turned and headed right back out. I beleive it's a little area near the rapids. i will pull up google maps and see if I can explain where it is and see if you can do a walk through of the area. You can walk through most of the park and view it on google maps. i know this b/c we've done it several times. They were doing the filming for google of the parks when we were there so we went in to see a pic of DD and DH walking in front of the cameras. LOL- it's been changed recently though so they aren't on it anymore. Anyway - I'll see if you can view the special area on there.



4) Any recommendations on good choice for food in the park?

No pointers here We just grabbed something qick like fries or something and we were equally stumped as to where to get our food. I will tell you though that the birds are not afraid of coming close to see what they are welcome to.

Make sure to come back again so I can try and get more information for you. Thanks for popping in. If your doing SeaWorld, Busch and/or Universal then keep checking back b/c those days in my plans are coming. OH and the nice thing is that what info I don't have for you now I can probably have after our trip so that's plenty of time if your going in the Fall.

 

[wakica]

I wanted to share this at one month but I decided to wait til the 4 week mark b/c I find it more exciting to say that this day (Thursday) in exactly 4 weeks we will be ON OUR WAY!!!!!! YAY

SSooooo, it's time for the UNDER A MONTH CELEBRATION!!!!!!!!




WOOT WOOT

 

[HalloweenNut]

OH! And we ejoyed some cheese cake while we watched the movie b/c we figured that is the calibre of dessert they would have served at the Tip Top Club

Actually I thought you went with Cheese Cake due to the movie being so cheesy!! Just got through your PTR so far. Great job! I haven't read too many PTRs but I like yours because all the photos really makes it come alive! Wonderful family photos as well. Must be great having a photography studio in the basement. I like your husbands idea of taking impromptu family shots while waiting in lines or for ADRs and such. I just got a new camera for Disney (Woo Hoo!) and will be on the lookout for similar opportunities.

 

[earthfaries]

Congrats on the 1 month mark!!! How exciting! It's going to fly by from here, next thing you know you'll be in WDW .

Love your Aquatica post. We LOVE aquatica! Such fun!!! My favorite (and the kid's) is Roa's River Rapids. Man, those are fun rapids.

I'll never forget the first year we lived here, back in '09, we went to Aquatica in Feb.. There was No One there! I swear, we only saw two other families .

You know why? Because it was during a cold spell and it was 60 degrees .

It was FREEZING!!! Rainy, foggy, freezing!!! It was sure fun though (but awful when you got out of the water).

I'll never forget that warm water in the cold, and the mist and rain while floating down Roa's Rapids, in the empty park ... it was awesome, lol.

1 month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!​

 

[momabaarjo]

Love your TOT of night...way more fancy then what we did! And looks a lot yummier too! I love how everyone puts their own spin on the nights!

 

[keishashadow]

wakica - never thought to check google maps duh, navigating the interactive Aquatica website one was frustrating so slow to load.

Sounds like you have a great trip planned! we did Busch Gardens sadly pre cheetah, but had a wonderful trip. Best part was the safari excursion we booked where we got to hand-feed giraffes and see rhinos up close. we've been returning to SW pretty regularly lately, I consider it a nice veg out sorta day to break up hectic trips.

re the camera, let me know please. We have older canon manual gathering dust that just takes too long to compose. We missed too many shots & wound up going to point & shoots (I do like my current canon elph). Bought a fuji DSLR, which we passed onto one our kids, then a nikon P90 in '09 (nice camera with lots of features, even a 24X zoom and 12 megapixels fixed lens though) but we're ready to venture up the food chain to capture those low light and action pictures better. We can't decide between canon t3 or t2i vs nikon D3100 (we demo'd it in camera store and I did like the auto setting that makes suggestions as to manual settings - good for camera dummies like us!).

 

[wakica]

keishashadow - i talked to Dh and he just cant remember which camera it was (it was 3 years ago and we swapped out between D40, D90 & D300 around that time). He did however say that the D3100 would be a GREAT camera if you are interested in going to the next level and interested in starting to look more into learning the settings etc.. Unfortunately we are unable to compare it to a Canon for you bc he has never had a canon and is not familiar with them. We would never say do NOT get a Canon though b/c they are really great cameras as well. Professional photographers usually stick with whichever they start out with and some are adament that theirs is the way to go but we are not like that - we know that both Canon and Nikon have top notch cameras and we have seen similar results in the two coming from professionals.

I know this is not much help except to say that you have chosen a GREAT camera (3100) to go up to the next level. Sorry we can't do any comparisons for you.

As for the private area at the waterpark i was able to find it on google maps by doing a walk around. I walked across a bridge which went over Roas Rapids and just over the bridge at one end was the spot. It has about a dozen umbrellas in there with two chairs per umbrella so it's not exactly private but it guarantees you a chair and umbrella which is nice and bc it's on a little islad around Roas Rapids it's somewhat centrally located. if you look at Aquatica on google maps you will see Roas Rapids - it's the big blue snake like thing that goes in a wonky sort of a ring shape. LOL. You'll see there is lots of foliage on either side of the rapids and the reserve area is the area on that island that shows more white (concrete).

Hope that helps

 

[wakica]

Actually I thought you went with Cheese Cake due to the movie being so cheesy!! Just got through your PTR so far. Great job! I haven't read too many PTRs but I like yours because all the photos really makes it come alive! Wonderful family photos as well. Must be great having a photography studio in the basement. I like your husbands idea of taking impromptu family shots while waiting in lines or for ADRs and such. I just got a new camera for Disney (Woo Hoo!) and will be on the lookout for similar opportunities.

How appropriate that the cheese cake would suit the cheesy movie too I had forgotten it was a bit cheesy though - still enjoyable anyway tho.
It's definitely handy having a photo studio in the basement but i have to confess Id rather have more room It takes up so much of our living space and we only have a home that's under 1,000 square feet so at times the studio can test my patience!!! but it's a necesary evil.
Glad your enjoying the ptr

Congrats on the 1 month mark!!! How exciting! It's going to fly by from here, next thing you know you'll be in WDW .

Love your Aquatica post. We LOVE aquatica! Such fun!!! My favorite (and the kid's) is Roa's River Rapids. Man, those are fun rapids.

I'll never forget the first year we lived here, back in '09, we went to Aquatica in Feb.. There was No One there! I swear, we only saw two other families .

You know why? Because it was during a cold spell and it was 60 degrees .

It was FREEZING!!! Rainy, foggy, freezing!!! It was sure fun though (but awful when you got out of the water).

I'll never forget that warm water in the cold, and the mist and rain while floating down Roa's Rapids, in the empty park ... it was awesome, lol.

1 month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!​

ya, it really is a great park I'm excited we get to do TL and AQU this trip - we usually only hit one between the Disney ones and this one. That would be amazing to have the place to yoursleves like that!!! Although I'm a wimp in cold weather so I totally couldn't have enjoyed it. It needs to be 28C and above for me to enjoy water.

Love your TOT of night...way more fancy then what we did! And looks a lot yummier too! I love how everyone puts their own spin on the nights!

Ya, I love seeing all the different ways people put their theme nights together too. I HAD thought of making a bellman hat for DH to wear but when I thought of the photos I decided to just make it black tie all around.

 

[wakica]

Well, February's busy schedule and bad running spread over into March so my first 2 weeks of March were pretty sucky but when things finally calmed down and all the birthdays were out of the way i finally started getting my act together so here is how March ended up looking...


MARCH
3 - 1mile (1.6K) in 12:46

7 - 2.6K in 24:--

11 - 5K in 42:40

13 - 1mile (1.6k) in 12:02

16 - 3k in aprox. 26 (Ran outside and it was AWEFUL!!! lungs were burning)

18 - 3K in aprox. 25 (still really hard outside but a tiny bit better)

20 - 1 mile (1.6K) in 12:30 (with a 1 incline to get used to outside ground not being level)

23 - K in 33:45 (used Jeff Galloway method and 1 incline)

25 - 1mile (1.6K) in 11:50 used JG method and 1 incline - seeing some time reduction which makes me very happy

ooops - had a bad week and didn't get many jogs in.

30 - aprox. 3.65K in aprox. 35 (my ipod was acting up so my timing got all messed up so these are estimates but it was an outside run and HARD again b/c the stupid winds were gusting up to 70km into my face at tiimes)

TOTAL K RUN THIS MONTH - 27.5
Hoping to up that for April.

One thing making me nervous is that we leave on our trip about 9 days before the run and i have NO clue how I'm going to find the time or the energy to get in some jogs that week before the race

I have heard that the week before the race your supposed to take it a bit slower and take off a day or two before the race so that will help but our busyest park days will be the first 4 days of our trip - RIGHT when I should be at my hardest training.
UGH - wish me luck on that! lol

 

[::Snow_White::]

LOVE your TOT night! It's so nice that you all got dressed up, I bet it was fun. No matter how cheesy it is, I still love that movie!

WOOHOO! 1 month, awesome!!

Good luck!! I'm sure you'll do awesome no matter what kind of training you get in!

 

[wakica]

i know - one month isn't long and now we are at 25 days!!! How is that even possible? lol

I hope to get going more this month and i'm sure it'll all work out too - the adrenaline will definitely help - I just hope I'm able to get some jogging in on the trip though.

 

[Elleshoodat]

Yay for your March mileage!

As you well know, there's lots of walking that goes into a WDW trip, but you might want to try to get in a jog or two around your resort, too -- at least early in the week.

You're so close now ... hooray!

 

[PrincessV]

For a "sucky" month, you're turning in some great times - way to go!

I have heard that the week before the race your supposed to take it a bit slower and take off a day or two before the race so that will help but our busyest park days will be the first 4 days of our trip - RIGHT when I should be at my hardest training.

BUT, think of all the walking you'll be doing during that week... I think you'll be just fine without adding any runs in, but you can always throw a few little sprints in there between rides, too! Don't worry: you've got this

 

[wakica]

Yay for your March mileage!

As you well know, there's lots of walking that goes into a WDW trip, but you might want to try to get in a jog or two around your resort, too -- at least early in the week.

You're so close now ... hooray!

ya, I hope i'm able to find some time to get in a few jogs early in the trip. Still worried though b/c i know how tired i will be after each park day. yikes!!

For a "sucky" month, you're turning in some great times - way to go!



BUT, think of all the walking you'll be doing during that week... I think you'll be just fine without adding any runs in, but you can always throw a few little sprints in there between rides, too! Don't worry: you've got this

I can't say my calculations for outside runs are completely accurate unfortunately and i know of 2 mistakes I am trying to fix in the accountability post right now but DIS is EXTREMELY annoying again with being slow!!! I thought they got that fixed already! ugh.