Flowers, Disney Running, and a Dream Birthday Surprise!

[20thingamabobs]

Day 9: March 12 – Castaway Cay

We are scheduled to be in port at Disney’s private island Castaway Cay from 8:30am – 4:30pm. We plan to grab breakfast on the ship before heading on to shore. I’m sure we’ll do our best to head to shore as early as possible. Today is all about relaxation. We’ll spend most of our time laying on the beach or swimming in the ocean. I’m sure we’ll also spend some time checking out everything the island has to offer. We’ll grab lunch while ashore and will probably head back onboard between 3:30 – 4:00pm. We may spend some more time by the pool or just head to our room to get ready for the night. We’ll see the 7:00pm show and then tonight we have a reservation at the adult only restaurant Remy. We had considered trying Palo one night too but I am actually really excited about the regular rotational dining and so we’re only doing Remy. I hear a reservation can take up to 3 hours so we’ll just sit back and enjoy the experience. After dinner, we’ll probably just enjoy our last hours on the ship before we pull back into Port Canaveral the next day. We can forget to fix our clocks though because Day Light Savings is this night so we’ll need to Spring Ahead an hour. I can’t believe we’re losing a whole hour on the ship…

Anyway, we’ll finish up our night by packing our bags for our early disembarkation the next morning. I have a feeling this cruise is going to go by too fast…

 

[jenseib]

I had consider that excursion as well. I have heard fabulous reviews on it....In the end I have booked another one...something I think Claire will enjoy more. But it's all subject to change as well!

 

[Nermel9]

Wow I can't believe you're going on a Disney cruise, how fun!

LOL, that would annoy me too, losing an hour because of Daylight Savings time!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 10: March 13 – Disembarkation / Magic Kingdom / Epcot

Disembarkation of the ship begins at 7:30am. I’m not sure we’ll get off that early but most like we’ll grab some breakfast before heading off within the first hour and a half. Since my dad will be returning our rental car and flying home after he drops us off, we’ll be using Disney transportation to head back to WDW for the night. We were originally going to fly home this day but there weren’t any reward flights so we’re waiting until Monday. So, where will we be spending our last night in Florida at Disney?


Disney’s Boardwalk Inn.

I have this thing about wanting to try all the hotels and we were originally going to stay at Old Key West but my brother said he’d rather stay at the Boardwalk so that’s where we are. Once we arrive, we’ll drop off our luggage and head back out. My brother wants to do Epcot and I want to visit Magic Kingdom so I think we’re going to aim for a little of both. So, we’ll probably walk over to Epcot through the International Gateway and spend some time there this afternoon. We’ll watch Illuminations at 9 before exit the park and taking the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. I’m hoping to make it by 10:00pm to see Wishes but we’ll be cutting it close (even if we stand near Future World to view Illuminations). Either way, we’ll still have several hours to spend in MK. The park is open until midnight and then has Extra Magic Hours from 12 midnight through 3am!! I’m sure we’ll spend the time hitting our favorites:

Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Mickey’s Philharmagic
Peter Pan’s Flight?
Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

I’m not sure we’ll do all of them but if we do these will be our picks. Splash Mountain is always our last attraction so we’ll definitely save that one till last. We’ll probably browse the shops on our way out before taking a bus back to the Boardwalk. I’m sure we’ll be tired and head to bed right away. Luckily, our stuff will still be packed so we won’t need to worry about that. But, tomorrow is departure day and amazing 11 day trip will have to come to an end…

 

[20thingamabobs]

I had consider that excursion as well. I have heard fabulous reviews on it....In the end I have booked another one...something I think Claire will enjoy more. But it's all subject to change as well!

I'm pretty excited about the stingrays since it's something we've never done before. I think swimming with dolphins is cool but we did that last year in Puerta Aventuras so this seemed like the best option for us. I'm on my way over to your report now... have you said what excursion you're doing yet? I'm a lil behind on my DISing...

Wow I can't believe you're going on a Disney cruise, how fun!

LOL, that would annoy me too, losing an hour because of Daylight Savings time!

Yea, I'm so excited and can barely believe we are. It is sort of annoying right? I'm glad someone else gets it

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Whoops, missed a few updates

First off, welcome to Chris! Too bad all the times we ran into one another last trip I didn't get the chance to meet him... that would have been cool.

Wow! A cruise! What a great surprise.... I like the reveal at the Poly idea. Can't wait to hear all the details from both you and Jen on how your trips go. Snorkeling with stingrays sounds incredible and a Pirates party sounds like a blast!

And then a night at the Boardwalk? Nice! What a fun last day at Epcot and MK. Bonus on not needing to pack.

 

[jenseib]

Sounds like a fun way to end your trip. I am hoping our Mk extends til l3..we are at 2 right now. But then agasin, I don't know if Claire and Skip wil lbe able to hang that long...but I could always send them back to sleep and play a little longer.

 

[jenseib]

I'm pretty excited about the stingrays since it's something we've never done before. I think swimming with dolphins is cool but we did that last year in Puerta Aventuras so this seemed like the best option for us. I'm on my way over to your report now... have you said what excursion you're doing yet? I'm a lil behind on my DISing...

Actually no. I am kind of keeping it slightly a secret...I mean if people read it elsewhere thats cool, but I thought I would just kind of leave a few surprises for my TR too.
I have the Dolphin encounter booked right now.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

I'm so excited for you guys and your cruise!! I'm going to be picking your brain when you get back, since Ferb and I will be going on that cruise in Oct!!

 

[Shannon84]

I am just seeing your PTR for the first time, yay another report It sounds like you guys have some great plans, too bad the cruise didnt have more room so you could all go, but soooo excited to read all about it

 

[20thingamabobs]

Well, we’re home… we had a wonderful 11 days in Florida and on our cruise but it went by way too fast. I’m not sure yet whether or not I’m going to do a TR for the whole trip or just the cruise portion since I still never finished my Nov/Dec TR. But, I’ll definitely do one for my cruise portion. Until then, please feel free to check out my other TRs…

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Well, we’re home… we had a wonderful 11 days in Florida and on our cruise but it went by way too fast. I’m not sure yet whether or not I’m going to do a TR for the whole trip or just the cruise portion since I still never finished my Nov/Dec TR. But, I’ll definitely do one for my cruise portion. Until then, please feel free to check out my other TRs…

Welcome back!!! I'd love to hear EVERYTHING but just the cruise would be great too if you're pressed for time. Not long before you're back again!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Welcome back! Hope your trip was great! I'm sure it was. I can't wait to here about the cruise. I'm thinking thinking about doing the Dream for a honeymoon in 2012. That ship looks amazing.
Not sure if you realized it was me that said hello to you at the packet pick up at WWoS for the ESPN 5K. It dawned on me after that you probably didn't know my name is Cara.. Hope you had fun at the race. I loved every second of it! It really was the most fun I have ever had at a 5K!
I just started my TR so I'll be posting some pictures and video from it.

 

[20thingamabobs]

OK, I've decided to just start my TR on this thread and just have it moved to the correct section on the boards. So I hope you'll all read along below!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Since I’m just turning my PTR into a TR, I’m only going to do a brief overview of the Cast of Characters.

First, there’s me. I’m Whitney, the Disney obsessed main planner for this trip. I’m a 24 year old graduate student and this trip took place during my Spring Break from graduate school. Here’s me:

Then, there’s my mom, Christy. She’s my main Disney travel partner. She’s a retired school teacher and just goes with the flow with whatever I plan. Here she is:

For the first part of the trip, we were also joined by my dad, Rusty. He joined us in Disney for the first three days and then spent the next three days at a golf school before heading back home. Here he is:

Then, there’s my brother, Rustin. He didn’t join us in Disney until our sixth day. He works as a production assistant on Cougartown on ABC and had to wait until filming ended before he could head down. Here he is:

Finally, the last person I need to introduce is Chris. He’s a Disney Imagineer and was in WDW working on the new Haunted Mansion updates and was able to join us occasionally in the parks! Here he is:

I have a photo of Chris in his HM Imagineering gear that I'm going to post later but this will work for now.

To cover the basics, here is a basic overview of our dates and where we stayed:

When: March 4 – 14, 2011
Where: Sheraton Vistana Resort, Disney Dream, Disney’s Boardwalk Resort

Continued Next Post…

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 1 – Arrival

We were flying out of Pittsburgh so I had driven home the night before. March 4 started early. We were up and out the door by 6:30am. My dad was worried about the lines being bad because of the start of Spring Break but when we arrived at the airport at 7:30am (two hours before our flight) he realized how wrong he was. We checked our bags at the curb side check-in and made our way to security. My dad is a preferred Southwest member so we went through the special security line that was shorter and we were quickly on our way to our gate. Since we left so early and now had plenty of time to kill, we decided to grab some breakfast. After we ate, we grabbed some water for the plane and made our way to the gate. We had done early bird check-in and had a low boarding numbers. We only waited about 10 minutes before it was our turn and we found a row of seats in aisle 8. We took off on time and I took the mandatory cloud picture before drifting off for a little nap:

Before I knew it, the pilot was announcing that we were making our final decent into Orlando. We had arrived 30 minutes early! We were all excited until we realized that we were so early that the gate wasn’t ready so we had to wait on the tarmac but still pulled into the gate about 15 minutes early. We deboarded quickly and were on our way to baggage claim. It took us a minute to figure out which one we needed to go to since I was so used to Magical Express. It seemed like it took forever to get our bags and then we had to drag them over to the car rental place. But, our car was ready and waiting for us so after some handy packing work, we were piled in and on our way to the Sheraton Vistana. It was about a 30 minute drive. We check-in and our room was ready so we stopped to drop off our bags. I grabbed some pics of the room:

Then, I spent some time unpacking and then helped my mom. Her hairspray had been dented during the flight which caused the pent up pressure to completely empty her hairspray into her suitcase. The good news is that this particular suitcase had nothing but cosmetics in it and most of the stuff was in plastic bags so we mostly just wiped down the bags but the suitcase itself was drenched and sticky. We ended up having to put the whole thing in the shower. But, once all that was over, we were all pretty hungry so we decided to head to Downtown Disney. On the way, I got my first view on the Welcome Sign:

Once there, we headed straight for my mom and I’s new favorite, Earl of Sandwich:

I had the All American, my mom ordered the Caprese, while my dad had the Full Mantago:

We all enjoyed our sandwiches! I’m already trying to fit a trip to EoS in during my May trip. Once finished, we spent some time walking through DTD. Our last stop was the World of Disney store. Once we’d finished our browsing, we headed to the grocery store to pick up some breakfast items for the rest of the week. We got everything we needed, dropped it off back at the hotel and we headed out to go to packet pick-up to get everything my dad and I needed to our ESPN 5k the following morning.

I tried to take a picture of the WWoS sign as we went by:

We arrive at the “expo” about 30 minutes after it started and were greeted immediately by this:

There was a sign telling you what your bib number was and then you were to get in the line associated with the range of numbers that yours fell within. Of course, my line was not only the longest but the slowest. We’d been waiting for close to an hour and it was already pretty chilly but it only got worse when the rain came. My mom, dad, and I tried to huddle under my mom’s umbrella but it wasn’t quite big enough for all three of us so we did get a little wet which only made it colder. When the rain started to let up, we had my mom go to wait over on the side with her umbrella and my dad and I inched closer to the front. Finally, it was our turn. My dad handed over his waiver and ID and it became apparent why our line had been moving so slowly. We had the nicest guy helping us but he was… well, up there in age and therefore, worked very slowly. But, he got my dad’s bib number, goody bag, and t-shirt and moved to me. I handed over my waiver and ID and as he put my bag together, I looked at the advertisements for the future Disney races. This was a mistake. After we had left and got in the car, I went to pull my bib out to see what it looked like, only to find that I didn’t have one. He had forgotten to give it to me. So, my dad dropped me back off and I looked around to some help so I wouldn’t have to stand in line again. Finally, I saw a sign for people like me that were having issues. I went to get in line and as it turned out, the only person in front of me was Cara (Dsnygrl1205). Now, I have to admit that by this time I was a little cold and flustered so when she turned around and asked if my name was Whitney and explained that she was “Cara from the boards” I was a little caught off guard. Also, I didn’t know her real name and had only seen a few photos so it did take me a minute to put everything together. Therefore, our brief meeting resulted in no pictures. She had trouble receiving any of her stuff because they had “lost” her registration but everything worked out and she was able to get everything she needed and still run. However, when I got back in the car, I did excitedly tell my parents that I’d met one of my DIS Friends because I think it’s so fun that you feel like you know people so well just from talking on the internet. Hopefully, our meeting at the Wine & Dine half marathon will go a lot better!

So, when it was my turn I explained what had happened and they quickly went over and got my bib out of the box for me. Now, I have to admit that I was a little put off by the whole experience seeing as my marathon weekend expo had gone so smoothly but I had everything I needed and was on my way. When we left, we were headed for the Poly where we had a 7:30pm dinner reservation at Kona Café.

Per Nermel9’s suggestion, we ordered the sticky wings as an appetizer. I didn’t take a picture but I have to say she was right, they were very good! Then, my mom and I had our usual Pan-Asian noodles while my dad ordered the steak:

I'd listed my mom's birthday on all our reservations so at the end of our meal, they brough this out for her:

Kona is one of our favorite restaurants and as usual we loved our meal. After dinner, we made our way back to our hotel. I laid out everything for the race and flattened out the tulle skirt I’d made and then settled in for a good night’s sleep.

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

We did Kona for dinner too. I wish I had gotten the Pan Asian Noodles instead of the Tuna Oscar. It was just ok but your meal looks so good! I'm getting that next time for sure.

Looking at your picture of the line for packet pick up brings back some bad memories. What a nightmare that was! And freezing! I'm so excited to see your pictures and videos from the race!! We'll plan our meeting for the wine and dine just a little better.

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 2: March 5, 2011 – ESPN 5k

Race morning started really early. We woke up around 5:30am, had some breakfast, packed a bag for the day, and got ready. I put on the “costume” I’d made and laughed at how ridiculous I looked. I debated for about 5 minutes whether or not to actually wear it and then finally decided to just go with it. Needless to say, I did get quite a few looks and comments. We walked out the door around 6:15am and headed to Hollywood Studios. We arrived within 15 minutes, parked and made our way over to the race start central. It took me awhile to adjust to how different it was from the morning of my half marathon. The lines for the porta potties were much shorter and things were overall just more relaxed. Since the starting line was right there, you could basically just hang out until about 15 minutes before the race was suppose to start. So, I found my mom an ideal seat in the bleachers where she would be able to see us cross the finish line and then my dad and I headed inside the tent to see what was going on. Immediately, I saw Mickey and Minnie in their race gear taking pictures with the runners so I placed my dad in line and I ran to go to the bathroom. The line was pretty long so I figured I had plenty of time. Well, apparently it moved really fast because I made it back just as it was our turn. I hurried up and pulled my camera out and rushed forward for the pic (notice our OH-IO shirts we had made and the AWESOME skirt I made ):

As we were saying our goodbyes to Mickey and Minnie, they made an announcement that they would be leaving now and would be back after the race. Looks like we had perfect timing. We knew it was getting close to the start time so we headed back outside. My dad headed off for one last potty break and I had my mom take some pictures of my outfit:

Once my dad was back, we headed over to line up for the start of the race. My dad decided that he wanted to line up somewhere in the middle of the 9:00-11:00 minute per mile group so that’s what we did. We were basically in the middle of that section on the far right side. Here’s a picture I took of everyone waiting to start:

I received quite a few looks and comments because of my tutu but it was all in good fun. They made an announcement that a bus (or maybe two) coming from the host resorts were running late so the delayed the start. I didn’t have a watch so I wasn’t sure what time we actually started but I think Dsnyglr1205 (Cara) mentioned that it was around 7:20am? I have videos of the race but haven’t edited and uploaded them so those we’ll have to wait. But, they started the countdown, shot off some fireworks and we were off. Instead of starting in waves, they let us all go at once. I could tell my dad was anxious as he kept trying to start running but I kept telling him to wait until we actually crossed the start line so it’d be easier to move. Once we got across, I let him set the pace and I just set in next to him. This part was extremely crowded and I hard to get a comfortable pace. There was a lot of bobbing and weaving going on. We were restricted to the left side of a road in one lane.

We were headed out to the entrance of the parking lot area and once there, we made a u-turn to head back in. As we were making our way down the first stretch, we saw the front runners coming back the other way (note why they were restricting us to one lane each):

I snapped a picture of the sign on my way back in:

Right before entering the actual park, we saw Mile Marker 1:

Then we made a left and it was back behind part of the Lights, Motors, Action! show:

I got this picture of my dad which I love because it really looks like he’s having fun:

And we made a right and headed across the front part of the “stage”.

I tried to take pictures of the jumbo screen that was displaying the runners as they were entering the area and I managed to get one where you can see my dad in it:

I grabbed a couple more of the set and one of Herbie before headed out along the route that the Backlot Tour follows. Along there, I managed to get some more pictures:

Then we headed into the tunnel through the costuming department:

This was cool but it was really dark and towards the end it became hard to tell where you were stepping. Thankfully, that didn’t last too long. When we exited, we passed one of the actual trams before heading out on to the Streets of America:

We passed the Muppets gift shop and Mama Melrose:

Before heading towards Indiana Jones and out past Echo Lake:

Once we’d reached the other side, we headed left behind the Hat. We looped around and on the other side, we did make one quick stop to get our picture taken in front of the Hat. There was no line because we just asked a random CM to take it for us:

 

[20thingamabobs]

We kept running and made the left onto Sunset Blvd. They had us keep to the left again as we made our way towards ToT and RnRc:

There were some streemosphere people out and one of them commented on my tutu. At the end of the road, we headed left towards RnRc:

And then right into a back stage area. I grabbed this picture of the back on ToT on our way through:

Then we ran up a slight hill and ended up in the hub area where they sell snacks before Fantasmic!. I grabbed a picture of part of the stage:

Then made the right to head down the ramp that is usually the entrance for the show:

Somehow we made some turns and ended up where ToT exits so I grabbed these:

We made our way back out to Sunset Blvd and back down the opposite side that we’d come up originally. I ran a little ahead of my dad and turned around to take this:

Then had him do the same for me:

At the end of Sunset Blvd, we made a left and headed down Hollywood Blvd. As we neared the entrance to the park it was around 7:50am and there were already people lined up waiting to go inside. At the entrance, we made a right and headed backstage again. Shortly after, we saw Mile Maker 3:

At this point, though I knew I was way past it, I began to wonder how I had managed to miss Mile Maker 2? With only .1 mile to go, I could see the finish:

We headed through those buildings, my dad waved high so my mom would see us and we crossed the finish line. I told my dad to go first and I would get a picture of him receiving his medal:

Nice right? Well, then I asked him to do the same for me and all I got was this:

Haha. Um, too bad you can’t actually see me taking the medal… Oh well. My dad and I grabbed a water and the little food bag and a banana they were handing out and headed towards the bleachers to find my mom. On our way, I noticed they had the ESPN back drops up and were taking pictures with them. Ian (DBF) and I had this done after our half so I wanted to do it so we hopped in line. It moved quickly and as we made our way up, they told us that after we got our picture taken, to look at the video camera and act all excited and yell. So after all of that, we headed over and found my mom pretty quickly. We headed towards the parking lot, found our car, and were on our way to our next destination. I felt a little gross not showering but I hadn’t sweated too much and I changed every piece of my clothing in the car. So, it was off to conquer the yeti… but, would we make it before the lines got long?

 

[20thingamabobs]

We did Kona for dinner too. I wish I had gotten the Pan Asian Noodles instead of the Tuna Oscar. It was just ok but your meal looks so good! I'm getting that next time for sure.

Looking at your picture of the line for packet pick up brings back some bad memories. What a nightmare that was! And freezing! I'm so excited to see your pictures and videos from the race!! We'll plan our meeting for the wine and dine just a little better.

The Pan Asian Noodles are the only thing I've ever ordered but they're soo good! My dad (and DBF back in Jan) both really liked the two different steaks they offer too.

Packet Pick-up was a nightmare, which stinks because it went so smoothly during half marathon weekend. I really hope the W&D is more similar to the half in Jan than the 5k. I would think so though since it's a bigger event. We'll definitely have to plan better next time.

By the way, are you planning on making dining reservations? My friends just don't "get it" when it comes to Disney so I'm on my own with the planning and it's hard because they won't even tell me how many and which parks they want to go to How can I plan if I don't know where we'll be? It's tormenting me