Hotel walls are boring, aka "the one where we got sick"

[annmarieda]

So sorry to scare you! I keep typing things out for you (like "let's meet up!"), then remember you're doing TOT...we're confusing each other!

That is so funny! We both are getting confused at what race each has going on... We are both doing the dlh though right?

 

[bumbershoot]

We ARE both doing Disneyland Half! Woo!

************************************************

January 7?

Temperatures:

high of 49
low of 34

Holy heck.


Today was move to the Boardwalk day. Decided to book Kouzzina breakfast. Since we had the car we headed over as soon as we could. This day I did the heretofore unthinkable (for me) and left a bunch of stuff in the car. We had rented a Passat and it had a trunk, so I just left all the stuff in there. Took my rolling carryon (expensive hard-sided Disney one) and maybe E's carryon and left those with Bell Services and then went to check in.

Alas! I had NOT done the checkout process at Pop, and it wasn't yet 11. So our MagicBands were having issues, and it was going to take awhile to get us checked out from Boardwalk. This is a problem brand new with all the changes, and it did NOT enhance our stay.

Since it was taking awhile and we were running up to our ADR time, and since it was taking me a little extra time to go anywhere because my breathing wasn't fabulous and I was exhausted, we said we would come back later.


Went on outside, found Kouzzina.

It wasn't overly warm there.

Eamon ordered the "Stacked Kouzzina Breakfast - Two Poached Eggs, Kalamata Olive Toast, Artichoke Spread, and Sweet Potato Hash with choice of Bacon or Chicken Sausage".

Except that he got fruit instead of the meat. He was truly being brave that day, trying something with that description while knowing that I would NOT be eating it if he didn't like it.

And what we learned here is that the word "stacked" means "heaped on top of" and "very difficult to scrape artichoke spread off of poached eggs". Also known as "who the heck puts spread on TOP of poached eggs????"

The artichoke thing had a decent taste but awful texture for him. The eggs were good. The egg yolk going into SWEET potato hash, however, wasn't good. So he lost a lot of egg. (sorry for my vegan buddies here!) And then the yolk messed with the sweet potato, and basically he didn't eat much of the hash.

Weird weird weird dish for him. And it wasn't to my taste. Not even the description was.


I got the "Classic Golden Waffle - with Whipped Mascarpone Cheese, Honey, and Chopped Pecans and choice of Bacon or Chicken Sausage", again, with fruit not meat.

I will have to try it again because I realize now that probably half of my taste buds had already closed down. It was never going to be a strong-tasting thing, but it was very muted. Good, but muted.

I had never had mascarpone cheese before. It was decent. At least to my left-behind taste buds.



Service was odd. It was great that they gave us fruit instead of the meat. He was very nice. But E spilled half a large glass of OJ on the table and floor, and despite the fact that they were two tables away, I had to go walk to the servers to ask them if we could have something to clean it up with. Oh and the place was NOT busy. (though there were cute babies nearby, which, of course, distract everyone...though the babies were not distracting the servers at that exact moment)

At some point the hostess opened the restaurant doors to the foyer that holds the host/ess stand and benches. At that time the room got about 10 degrees colder. And it wasn't a sauna to begin with. You can see the top/sides of the door behind E's head in the first picture. So you can see we were in direct line for the wind. Brr.

Sadly, because of my tastebuds, I had the first of many sad sad coffees from the trip. I was blaming the coffee, but it was me.


We slowly made our way back to the lobby, where we were checked in quickly and easily. Found our room and it was decent. GREAT view of the clown pool. Too bad the temperatures were what they were! Even if we had wanted to swim, the pool was flat out CLOSED.

I decided to leave our Owners Locker in the car, so we pulled some needed things from it, put some unneeded things into it, and dragged our bags on up. At one point we took a break.

 

[bumbershoot]

Pretty sure there was some relaxed Stacey-watching, resting time. But then we went over to Downtown Disney.

Took the boat; first time for that. BRR BRR BRR BRR.



The point of this trip was Disney Quest. We headed on into this crazy bit of insanity. I actually brought and wore earplugs. And thank goodness. E had a lot of fun, quiet fun (b/c he was getting sick and wasn't admitting it to himself yet), I didn't drag him off of games unless there was a line forming, and we got to every level. Didn't do things on every level, but we went there. Good exploration.

At last the craziness got to us and we left. Wandered around DTD a bit, and realized we were hungry. Well hey, there's Raglan Road!


This is not a Black&Tan. A Black&Tan is a different sort of ale/lager, and they didn't have that. So ashamed I don't remember.

It was good, though.


A bit of trick photography that cracked me up.

E's early dinner. Well, half the salad became mine.

My dinner. More salad and plain old mashed potatoes.

We were there are the perfect time where it was light outside, it wasn't crowded or terribly noisy, AND the dancers started to dance! Fun fun fun.

I got no good still pictures of them. I got some crooked videos of them. I'm not going to post them. Irish dancing, several women, two men, good times all around.



Such a pretty day. WHY was it so cold?

I tried to do some shopping, but I just felt too icky. E saw nothing (shocking! shoulda known right then that he wasn't OK), I saw nothing, we left. NO BOAT this time. Too cold!

Went out to the bus area. This isn't the same bus situation we dealt with in 2010; it took a shorter amount of time (wow, did I actually just say something relatively positive about Disney buses?) and it looked pretty cool.

It did take a bit of time (just not AS long as our 2010 experience), but it was relatively controlled and we all got onboard.


Only issue was that I couldn't hear the driver and it was dark by the time we got back, so we accidentally got off at Yacht&Beach Club. Whoops!

But we got to see that lobby, and we had a nice walk back to Boardwalk along the water.


Wanted to wander the grounds, and we found a very nice and kind and talkative lifeguard CM who was stationed at the pool to....make sure people saw the "pool closed" signs and stayed OUT of the pool.

We talked for what felt like ages, about just every Disney and Universal and cast member related things we could think of! Then I found out he's a photographer for the official company that photographs the events, and the days we were doing the races were the days he was NOT doing them! Oh well.

Eventually E and I were freezing, so we went on inside, after picking up a couple movies from the Community Hall.


Watched one movie, can't remember what it was. Froze. Shivered. I fevered. Felt bad.

Let's put it this way. Apart from the pictures I took, I have NO recollection of anything inside that room. Not even one little memory. I was sick.


And what we found out later on was....on that day that we had spent hauling bags and sitting in windy areas of restaurants (notice the picture of E above at Raglan Road, you can see the door!) and wandering DTD and taking a boat and standing outside for buses and standing outside at the pool area for something like 1.5 hours and wandering more.... with wind chill taken into account, it was 21 that day.




And goodnight!

 

[kaoden39]

Being sick on vacation is horrible! While you were really cold there we were unseasonably warm at Disneyland. Crazy weather this year.

 

[appleorchard]

Ugh, I hate hate hate being cold at Disney! Even though it was miserably humid for the PH, I was SOOO glad it wasn't 40 degrees!

 

[bumbershoot]

Being sick on vacation is horrible! While you were really cold there we were unseasonably warm at Disneyland. Crazy weather this year.

Definitely crazy.

Ugh, I hate hate hate being cold at Disney! Even though it was miserably humid for the PH, I was SOOO glad it wasn't 40 degrees!

Summer trips for me! OK maybe rundisney trips around the calendar, but for actual trip trips, I want warmth.

 

[annmarieda]

We ARE both doing Disneyland Half! Woo!

January 7?

Temperatures:

high of 49
low of 34

Holy heck.

How is that even allowed? Sunny and on vacation...yet soooo cold??!!!

Alas! I had NOT done the checkout process at Pop, and it wasn't yet 11. So our MagicBands were having issues, and it was going to take awhile to get us checked out from Boardwalk. This is a problem brand new with all the changes, and it did NOT enhance our stay.

I will need pointers here. I was wondering how this works with a split... on that checkout/in day. How does that work with both bands being "active" I am most concerned with dp credits.... but I wonder about park tickets too.

Went on outside, found Kouzzina.


And what we learned here is that the word "stacked" means "heaped on top of" and "very difficult to scrape artichoke spread off of poached eggs". Also known as "who the heck puts spread on TOP of poached eggs????"

The artichoke thing had a decent taste but awful texture for him. The eggs were good. The egg yolk going into SWEET potato hash, however, wasn't good. So he lost a lot of egg. (sorry for my vegan buddies here!) And then the yolk messed with the sweet potato, and basically he didn't eat much of the hash.

Weird weird weird dish for him. And it wasn't to my taste. Not even the description was.


I got the "Classic Golden Waffle - with Whipped Mascarpone Cheese, Honey, and Chopped Pecans and choice of Bacon or Chicken Sausage", again, with fruit not meat.

I will have to try it again because I realize now that probably half of my taste buds had already closed down. It was never going to be a strong-tasting thing, but it was very muted. Good, but muted.

I had never had mascarpone cheese before. It was decent. At least to my left-behind taste buds.

Kouzzina is such unique place for breakfast. I usually get the spinach and egg dish. This last trip someone had the waffles that you had. OMG! I had a taste and it was so yummy. Now I am not sure what I will have the next time I go there!

Service was odd. It was great that they gave us fruit instead of the meat. He was very nice. But E spilled half a large glass of OJ on the table and floor, and despite the fact that they were two tables away, I had to go walk to the servers to ask them if we could have something to clean it up with. Oh and the place was NOT busy. (though there were cute babies nearby, which, of course, distract everyone...though the babies were not distracting the servers at that exact moment)

Service has been odd there for me the last two times I have been there.

We slowly made our way back to the lobby, where we were checked in quickly and easily. Found our room and it was decent. GREAT view of the clown pool. Too bad the temperatures were what they were! Even if we had wanted to swim, the pool was flat out CLOSED.

Our pool was closed at OKW too. I guess the fact it wasn't particularly warm out made it ok that the pool was closed...cause we wouldn't have swam much anyway.

The point of this trip was Disney Quest. We headed on into this crazy bit of insanity. I actually brought and wore earplugs. And thank goodness. E had a lot of fun, quiet fun (b/c he was getting sick and wasn't admitting it to himself yet), I didn't drag him off of games unless there was a line forming, and we got to every level. Didn't do things on every level, but we went there. Good exploration.

I think the earplugs were a good choice. That place gives me such a headache.

A bit of trick photography that cracked me up.

Great pic!

Such a pretty day. WHY was it so cold?

Exactly what I was saying... how is that allowed?! Pretty outside but cold?

We talked for what felt like ages, about just every Disney and Universal and cast member related things we could think of! Then I found out he's a photographer for the official company that photographs the events, and the days we were doing the races were the days he was NOT doing them! Oh well.

How fun to have a conversation like that! Too bad he wouldn't be one of the photographers...

Let's put it this way. Apart from the pictures I took, I have NO recollection of anything inside that room. Not even one little memory. I was sick.

I am so sorry you were sick... that too should not be allowed on vacations!

 

[bumbershoot]

I will need pointers here. I was wondering how this works with a split... on that checkout/in day. How does that work with both bands being "active" I am most concerned with dp credits.... but I wonder about park tickets too.

The dining credit part is the place where I have a black hole in my info and experience. They SHOULD be fine.

The park tickets are linked to mydisneyexperience, and they will be just fine. We used all sorts of MBs during our trip, and they all worked fine. It was just that one day trying to check in before checkOUT time had passed at the first resort. No issues on the other days (can't remember if it was because we checked in after 11 or if we had done the check out process).



Now...all "it will be fine" statements are made with the caveat "unless there's a glitch". It's highly recommended to bring printouts of reservation info and ticket info (and any paper tickets you might have) with you, just in case Vanellope shows up in the computer that day.

 

[annmarieda]

The dining credit part is the place where I have a black hole in my info and experience. They SHOULD be fine.

The park tickets are linked to mydisneyexperience, and they will be just fine. We used all sorts of MBs during our trip, and they all worked fine. It was just that one day trying to check in before checkOUT time had passed at the first resort. No issues on the other days (can't remember if it was because we checked in after 11 or if we had done the check out process).



Now...all "it will be fine" statements are made with the caveat "unless there's a glitch". It's highly recommended to bring printouts of reservation info and ticket info (and any paper tickets you might have) with you, just in case Vanellope shows up in the computer that day.

Gottcha! thanks

 

[bumbershoot]

Expo day!

Or as it felt....expo, achoo, cough cough cough, achoo, expo day ugh.


High temperature: 68
Low temperature: 38


We were changing over to Saratoga Springs that day, so we headed over and checked in. I looked so bad that morning that the CMs at checkin ("my" CM and the woman next to him) offered to call the CentraCare van for me. I declined because if I wanted to go, I had my car, and I just could not think of what they could do for me. I wasn't going to take anti-virals (freaky side effects and just doesn't do as much, if/when they work, for me to justify taking such a thing) and I wasn't going to take antibiotics, this was just a "get through it" thing, and of course I had no idea how long it was going to take to get through it. But I'm not sure I've ever looked SO bad that people were offering to send me somewhere like that.

Got breakfast to take back to the room. Turns out food court (Artist's Palette? Palate?) omelets don't survive trips back to the room. We could barely eat them. Rubbery. Food court omelets should be eaten immediately. Just so you know.



I think we drove in for the Expo. Wow that was a lot of cars.

I don't want to talk about the expo. With us having 3 runs between us, in different areas, with it being chilly, with me still being in pain in the back and shoulder region, and feeling like such utter crud, and only having the two of us there...having everything in different buildings was NOT good for me. If Robert had been there he could have snagged one thing while we got another, etc etc.

I really wanted to sign up for a massage, but the lady said that it was cold where they were doing them and I wasn't sure if it was lie-down or seated, but regardless I didn't want to have my face in any sort of downward direction given what my nose was doing. I sadly did not sign up for one.

Anyway, it was difficult and tiring and my legs hurt and lungs hurt. The Chiquita line was weird and I got in line where I thought the line ended and the lady snarked at me about standing in the wrong spot, and then I went to the wrong, again, spot, and she was snotty with me and I'm not going to lie, I started to cry. I felt like SUCH crud. And I really wanted a banana, but when we went through they gave us a bag of apples and that's not what I needed and waaaaah.

I cried two more times just at the stinkin' expo. I felt like SUCH an idiot, but also so tired I just had to do what I wanted to do before I fell over completely. Got a lot of empathy, and no "why are you here and planning to do the runs?" because the people there were runners and understood, but still, wow, I felt horrid.

Finally E wasn't feeling great (hungry, pre-sick) and asked to leave, so we did that.


He had some sort of dinner. I had half of this.

Dairy while sick is not the best option. But fat and calories when you've barely eaten for a couple days IS a good option, especially when you have some miles to run over the next few days. I ate quite a bit of that and didn't look back. E helped, of course.


This is the day when I bought the aspirin (horrible face ache) and dimetapp. I don't normally use such things but I needed a break from the coughing. It didn't quite work but maybe it did a little bit. Not sure.

There was sleep, there was fever, there was misery. I barely remember the room at all. We were there 3 nights and I don't remember it apart from being sad. Awesome.

 

[bumbershoot]

Gottcha! thanks

Glad you got that.

Lazy day around here. I had a girl's night in last night with a friend and her friends, and Robert's taking some "time in lieu" days Mon and Tues. Yesterday we cleaned up a bit and today it's just laaaaazy.

 

[bumbershoot]

The day of the 5K.

High temperature: 72
Low temperature: 59


These jumps are just brutal on me. I don't remember waking up. I don't know how I woke up. I'm impressed that E woke up! We got ready. Got to the race bus. It was drizzling. Oh well.


Almost all of the photos you're about to see are blurry. Sorry. That's how I remember it, too, LOL.

My glasses prescription was outdated and I couldn't see perfectly in the dark. It was hard for me to figure out where we should go, but I knew I didn't want to be late! We wandered, listened to the music a little, and headed to our corral.

A short person's view of the fireworks at the starts.

Neat seeing the building from backstage.

E and I weren't having all that much fun, but we could still come out of our slowness and sadness (of me being sick and slow, not that he was a speed demon that day either) to look around and see the pretty and feel how cool it was to see all this stuff in a way that not everyone experiences.

I see by my Garmin watch that it took us 50 minutes 32 seconds. We hang our heads in shame. Oh well.


We had the "family reunion breakfast" for that day, so we headed in and ate whatever they had. There were characters. This guy was a little confused about where I was.

Headed on back to the resort.



Now, you might be wondering about the massage search I had had going. I can't remember if I mentioned, but I had set one up for the 10th in the morning. Figured we could get up early, go over, E could wait, I could get massaged, then we could race to his Mile.

But I thought I would be better by then. And I wasn't. So I called and rescheduled for much later. Weirdly, the more I went into the illness the less I was hurting, shoulder-wise. And the aspirin I was taking couldn't have taken care of all the pain I had been in, so it was just weird.


We rested. I recall some dimetapp. E recalls some Disney Channel. There had to have been food but I can't recall (and my receipts got buried under other stuff again, and I don't think you care THAT much).



Later on, we emerged and decided to go to Epcot. As we drove over, we encountered one of the biggest downpours we've experienced in Orlando. Really bad timing!

Just walking from our car to the entrance to Epcot we got soaked. And as we approached the entrance the rain slowed and stopped. So if we had just sat in the car for 10 minutes we wouldn't have gotten so wet. But, of course, you just never know with Orlando storms!

Went to Fountainview for some caffeine and sugar, hit Club Cool for more sugar. E went on Mission Space 100% by himself. As in, through the line and everything. I just wasn't feeling up to even being in line (and I might have forgotten that I could have taken the chicken exit before going onboard). I pretty much went into the giftshop and sat. It started to rain again, and stopped, before he was off the ride.

We went to Mexico where I found that the Donald plush with the sarape is not being carried anymore. I had just seen it in October! It was going to be my prize for doing the Donald Half. I was sadness personified... Oh well, got some more sugar from Norway.

We left pretty early as far as I can recall. I have no proof whatsoever that anyone had dinner. hmm. I bet I had dimetapp, though. As I have no further memories of this day.

 

[appleorchard]

I can't even imagine doing the races being this sick-- and with rain, besides!

 

[bumbershoot]

Day of Eamon's Mickey Mile!


high temperature: 81 (seriously?)
low temperature: 68


This day we had Bell Services move our stuff over. I simply could not take dragging all our stuff to and from the car one more time. Of course that resulted in a mad dash to get it all packed and sorted and to the Bell guy before we had to go to his race.

This is the day I realized how, exactly, people can miss the fact that there's a race going on. (this was relevant because I read a huge, fairly justified, rant about a guy having an awful time getting to or from his resort b/c of one of the races, and that he hadn't been informed of it before, during, or after his stay. people insisted that disney does let you know but he said they hadn't.)

So it had been raining. And it was so wet and humid that the corridor outside our villa door at SSR was sopping wet. Now, we were at the back of our building, and had a solid wall opposite our door. We were right next to the stairwell. It had to be seriously raining for the water to get all over there. And it was windy as anything.

When we opened the door to make a staging area for the bags (we were approaching checkout time) in the hallway, I just happened to see the notice they had left on our door. I don't know if it was actually on the door/in the doorjamb OR if it was just on our mat on the ground, but it was very casually sitting there sort of in front of our door. If it had been windier, it would have been gone. It's a really haphazard way of letting people know, know what I mean?


So we finally got everything out, gave it to the Bell guy, put our carryon stuff in the trunk of the car, and took the race bus over. We were cutting it SO close I was really freaked out on the inside that my bad timing was going to ruin it all for the poor kid...


As we rode in on the bus I was glad I hadn't driven.

We had to walk really really fast from the bus to the walkway to the race areas.

Finally...

I was in jeans. I was carrying some strangely big bag; not sure what was in it. Don't know what I was thinking. I was sick, weighed down, and HOT.

The Mile was fairly casual, and felt far TOO casual to me. But...in the end they got everyone gathered, got everyone ready, and the race was run. My advice to others is to relax. They know what they are doing, even when it doesn't seem like they do. Might not be a ringing endorsement, but oh well.


This is the pre- corral, basically.

Looks like they moved from there over to the start about 7 minutes before the start.


he finished in something less than 15 minutes, but he was NOT happy while doing it. I didn't have any sort of visual on him from before the start and just barely caught him at the end. He said that in the middle he was having to walk, but the people on the course were really helpful to him and brought him up out of his funk. He finished strong, and looked just like my brother in my brother's race finish pictures.

Their system for picking up kids is good. You take a strip from their bib, and you have to have that to get into the post-race kid corral. Go in, find your kid, show the strip and the bib to the CM at the exit.

By this time it was at full heat for the day and we were miserable. He was definitely on the way into the illness.

He didn't want to hang out at all, so we headed on back to the bus. That took us back to SSR where the car was. Also, where the laundry was. Since we had checked out the day and had the "right" to use their facilities, we did so. E sat in the hot tub and messed around at the waterplay area at the smaller pool, while I did very necessary laundry.

I had purchased that refillable mug, and just about got a soda. In fact I had served myself a Barqs from the outside at-pool soda station...but there was a dead bee in it. Not a surprise, as I had to brave the bees hanging out at the soda station just to get that drink. They were flying and crawling all around, including on up into the nozzle things. Not sure why I persisted in wanting that Barqs, but I did, and there was the bee. Hmm. Nevermind. Didn't need that soda afterall.


Took a picture of the view we had had.

And a picture of our building.

Finally the laundry was all done and the weather was changing yet again. It was time to head on over to All Star Music.


I do not have good pictures of the room! My mind was elsewhere. It was pretty neat. Two bathrooms. A weird kitchenette. Lots of storage in the kitchenette but not a lot to do with the things you stored. Pullout chair, pullout couch in the living room, decent bed in the bedroom. Two TVs. One remote. That worked for both TVs.


Here is E, in a combo of his swim and race gear (note the Seattle socks LOL), really starting to head downhill.

My aunt and her grandson (my first cousin once removed) showed up! Everyone got settled in and relaxed, and eventually we needed food. Headed to the food court, had some (to me) tasteless veggie burger goodness (or so I assume)... Filled up some arcade cars for DS and his second cousin. Headed back to the room.

Got as ready for the next morning as I could possibly get, and went to bed.

 

[bumbershoot]

I can't even imagine doing the races being this sick-- and with rain, besides!

At that point I truly didn't know what I was doing. I think I was just following the plan (except for the park and dining plans, that is).

 

[bumbershoot]

High temperature: 86 (oh gracious no)
Low temperature: 69 (still too high)


I woke up at "sick and wrong" in the morning and was on total auto-pilot. I had been told sternly to make whatever noise I needed to, that this was my race day and they would be fine (b/c they could go back to sleep), so I made coffee and had a little snack of some sort and got out of there.

I had my hydration backpack stuffed to the brim with shotbloks and electrolyte drink and water (of course) and sports beans and various other calorie and nutrient helpers. I had my albuterol, too. Had my running shorts, green compression socks, and green top, as well. It was so warm that morning. Had my gear bag as well, of course.

After my "I feel so alone" bus ride to the Tower of Terror run, I thought I was prepared for that, but I wasn't. I did get on the bus trying to smile, though, which was different than the TOT.



Magicband, Race Retreat band, and pace band.

For whatever reason, I was a little later in leaving than intended, so I didn't get all that much time in the retreat before the run. Oh well. It was nice to have because of the smaller gear-bag check, places to sit, etc. And our own portapotty area. Now THAT was nice.

It was a long walk to the start. Pretty, though, in a spooky way.

I wish I could get a handle on how these things work. I wanted a portapotty but also wanted to be IN my corral. I couldn't figure out how to mesh the two. Being in the corral won. Next time I'm going towards the front. Especially as a solo runner, I'm just going to casually make my way on up. Being in the middle is just too hard on me. Better yet, I'll catch the earliest bus and just get to that corral immediately. I'm so shrimpy and don't see well at night, and it's hard to really figure out what's going on when you're in the middle.

Eventually our race started.

Jack and Barbossa were over there.

Started outside of Epcot, went along that road, cloverleaf to World Drive, up, to the east of the Exotic race track. I remember stopping to tie my shoes there.

Very very blurry start of sunrise while heading in the racetrack and MK's direction.

Went on some road/path that was directly south of the lagoon, turned east around the water. not sure if the parking lot entrance was before or after that, but here are my blurry pictures.

I actually stopped for this one.

We entered from the "right" side of MK, and as far as I recall came out onto main street from somewhere over there. I remember trying really hard to feel terrific about this experience, but I wasn't feelin' it.

I remember this moment, taking this picture, but I recall nothing else about going through Tomorrowland. Crazy.

According to the map we went to the left, past Stitch, between Cosmic Ray's and the Speedway, through that side of Fantasyland, and then the castle. What a silly way to go through the castle. They had pictures on the front side of the castle, official ones with an official place to wait in line for them, but when you're coming from BEHIND the castle, you don't know that. So people were stopping like crazy for pictures, I mean lots of pictures, holding up everyone behind them. They need to let people know that there will be a good spot for photos AFTER you get through the castle.

Hub, bridge, into Liberty Square, along through Frontierland. Exited out near Splash.

At some point backstage I saw a huge stroller storage area, I saw Cinderella...I saw lots of people who were taller than me and had elbows on my eye level...I dealt with tutus stretching across roadways. I saw people who were incredibly happy and I wasn't and that made me more annoyed and more sad....

I was in a really good amount of despair. Looking at the map, it's no wonder. We had hit mile 6 through Frontierland. This is where I hit despair on TOT as well. During TOT at that point, where I felt alone and sad and like it would never ever end, suddenly it was a zombie dance party and they were blasting Lady Gaga's Born This Way. Brought me right up and out of it, and I could continue on.

This time, from the map and vague memory, we exited Magic Kingdom and things got quiet again. Quiet, just roads, alone (though I was anything but alone)....

And then, suddenly, on a long-in-memory stretch of road...music. I've just looked it up, and they played Let It Go (which I'd never heard at that time, and still really haven't, so I kept forgetting that one). And Don't Stop Believin'. And then...Roar by Katy Perry.

Looking on my Garmin, you can see this awesome spike in my speed right there. I started running, small bitty steps, to the beat of Roar. It's a pretty fast beat but it worked SO well for me. Just like Lady Gaga, it did the trick, brought me up and out of my despair.


I found out later on that for each race the music for this mileage area is voted on. I didn't know. Apparently I wasn't checking rundisney's Facebook page often enough. For this race it was a three-way tie, so they played all 3. Well, thank goodness they did.


On the long way back out to and then down World Drive from MK, there were more struggles, but I now had Roar in my head and I felt a little more chipper. I had heard that being head-down was a bad sign, so when I saw a woman running with her head down I chatted a little with her. I honestly now think that she was doing WAY better than me, but at the time I thought she needed cheering up. It helped me, and I hope I didn't annoy her too terribly.

Then there was the cloverleaf back to Epcot Center Drive. I'm pretty sure it was right there that I just had ENOUGH of other humans. It was pretty much a 180 degree turn, going uphill. they were playing Surfin' Safari, which was fun. And then this woman in a Brasil running shirt started cutting through the crowd, dancing. With both arms/elbows punching and up in the air. She quite nearly took me OUT. I was very very unhappy with the maneuver I had to do to avoid a black eye or a fall. Grump-o-rama.

But then we were over the road, from what I recall, and there were people in cars below, honking and being happy for us, and that helped. I would like to run with the spectators, thank you.

When you enter Epcot you're at about mile 12. Run up, through, around, back, down, out....and you're DONE.

 

[bumbershoot]

My race had been run. Well, jog/walked. Lots of walking. A bit of limping. A lot of "these shoes felt great before, why do they feel like this now?"


I got my medal and headed on through the maze. Got my rundisney box 'o food. They did not give hummus this time. I was sad. Most of what was in the box wasn't eaten by me. (same with the 5K) I had the Retreat to go to anyway, but I did wish I could have brought some of the box food back.

Oh the Retreat is a long long way away....and we had to go all the way around whatever tents were in the way...

Doing the Retreat alone was hard. Of course, I did the Retreat because I was alone. I had to juggle food and coffee and gear bag and such. And since I was far back in corrals AND was so slow, I felt like I was in peril of them taking the food away.

The food was not as fabulous as I wanted it to be. My plate was pretty much scrambled eggs (with hot sauce to make them palatable) and evil muffins. And coffee. Plus some more coffee.

During the run, like I mentioned, I had an electrolyte drink. I hadn't practiced many times with it, but once or twice to make sure it didn't make me sick. I believe that that drink, along with getting food in my stomach within maybe 20 minutes (long and painful minutes) of finishing the run helped me tremendously.

I needed to be warm, but I wasn't feeling like I was freezing. My lips weren't turning blue. I wasn't shaking. I mean, i could have used one of those heat-reflecting blankets (I guess you have to have a massage to get one of those) but I didn't NEED it. I slowly changed the clothes I could (socks, shoes, etc) while eating and chatting with nice people.

I would have stayed until the end but I was worried about the wee kidlet. My aunt was being so sweet and not messaging me, but that only made me more nervous that he had fallen ill and she wasn't telling me. So I made my long, slow way to the bus.

It got really windy as I walked, which didn't make things easy. found a CM who told me that my bus was alllllll the way over there. We started joking around that it seems like they hate me (b/c of the extra walk) but in fact they are just trying to help out my recovery, to keep me walking and stretching out before sitting. So they really cared MORE about me (and others at All Stars Music) than everyone else.

At last, amid falling over signs and rolling-around garbage bins, I made it to my bus. Met another nice person and chatted on the way back, me with my half-lost voice...

Got back, and YES, Eamon was now sick. He had been a trooper, though. He gamely went along to get breakfast that morning, and they played a few videogames at the arcade (sorry).

Once I got back, they (aunt and cousin) went on out to have a little fun. Went swimming, wandered the resort, wandered other resorts. While E and I rested. They had lunch, we probably snacked.

That night, we ordered pizza from the food court,and it was pretty good. Just the cheese pizza, they delivered it,and it was 13.99 plus 3.00 delivery plus tip and tax. I recall it being pretty big and decent.



I had had two reservations for this day. One was tea at 2:15. I cancelled that. The other was Be Our Guest at 6:45, thinking that we would have tea then go to MK and ride some rides, have some fun, then go have some soup (and whatever my aunt and cousin wanted). This wasn't going to be possible for me, so I cancelled that as well.

Thinking about it, that was kind of mean. I should have gone ahead and bought them tickets and given them a giftcard so they could have had the fun and the meal, but I didn't even think about it. I don't know that my aunt would have relished the idea anyway; she's nowhere near the fan her daughter and I are, and generally just follows along on our forays into the parks. I think she was happy to take care of us. My cousin (once removed) is easy-going when it comes to the parks. He was quiet ecstatic to take his grandmother on the buses, to be outside a park and change buses to go to a different resort, and show her around. He got some one on one grandma attention that day, and that's just about all he wanted. (the arcade was the other part he wanted, and he got that, too) So maybe it wasn't really mean, but it sort of feels like it.


I definitely did NOT refuel in nutrition or even calories that day, but I had no stomach for it. And there was sleep.

 

[bumbershoot]

Jan 12.

High temperature: 70
Low temperature: 50


This was the day of the marathon that we weren't doing, and the celebration event at DTD that I had wanted to do.

This wasn't going to be possible. Too sick. And now with Eamon fully swallowed up by the germs, it coudln't happen.

I had had Sunday Brunch scheduled at Raglan Road, and just like all but one of the ADRs, I'd had to cancel that the day before, too. At some point I had scheduled another Tea for later that day, but I had cancelled that well before.

Park plans had been DHS, but that was also not happening.

Aunt and cousin left really early, and Eamon and I just snorfled and snuffled and sighed and sneezed and coughed (and coughed and coughed and coughed) together.


I haven't mentioned it, but in between things, during this week, we had made a few trips to Publix and Whole Foods, and by this time had a vast pharmacy of both Eastern and Western type of medicines. We were on echinacea and some disgusting coconut based probiotic, and some homeopathy that I was hoping would help. I kept the option for dimetapp open but it was less and less "fun" to zone out while E watched Disney Channel. And it wasn't helping.

We were sad sad sad and more sad.



Jan 13

High temperature: 80
Low temperature: 49


Packed up. Got things slowly to the car. Wandered, trying to pretend like we were having a nice time.

Bet you can't guess that we were in the Calypso building.

I love the pools at Value resorts. So big!

Brave face!

He lost those sunglasses at some point after. Harumph. I really liked those sunglasses for him. If anyone finds some nice Crocs brand, kid-sized, sunglasses somewhere, get them and I'll buy 'em off you.


I had already cancelled our Animal Kingdom plans, which also meant cancelling Tusker House. Just had no appetite, no sense of taste, no interest in eating, no interest in walking.


Finally headed out. On our way to check out we saw many people wearing their shirts and their medals, and we were SAD. So much of the fun of TOT was found in the days of wearing my medal to the parks. Seeing others doing the same thing. And I got none of that. Worse, neither did Eamon. Yes he's wearing the medals in that picture, and he did until we got in the car, but that's not wearing them at the parks, and it didn't feel the same.

I'm betting that we stopped in at Whole Foods again, for water and snacks and more healthy medicines and such... And then we headed to Daytona.

 

[bumbershoot]

Jan 13
High: 77
Low: 45

Jan 14
High: 73
Low: 54

Jan 15
High: 66
Low: 49

Jan 16
High: 54
Low: 36

Jan 17
High: 65
Low: 34

Jan 18
High: 56
Low: 37




Stayed at The Cove on Ormond Beach.

It's a timeshare and I didn't much care for it. Part of it was because we didn't get to experience any of the interesting parts of it, but it was also just sort of cold and sterile, with a weird fish tank and policies that weren't clear to the non-owner.

But it had a full kitchen, which I thought we were going to need (never knowing how UN-hungry we would be), and there was a view of the beach and it was walking distance (not that we walked) of Starbucks. It was further away from my family's house than I thought, but it turned out that wasn't a problem at all.


We were able to take two walks on the beach (in 5 days). We didn't swim at all. Even though we wore wristbands allowing us access to the pool and waterslide and such, we never did it. Alas, we forgot until the LAST night that the second building had an INDOOR pool.

Both buildings are part of the Cove.

I have learned that this is a Grand Tern. Not a squished seagull.

I'll spare you the pictures of the dead jellyfish we found.



We sat around, we discovered Redbox movie rentals, I did finally manage to get a chiropractic adjustment though it wasn't the experience I was hoping for and it was annoying to have to jump through hoops...we moaned and groaned and had some awful nights. The nighttimes were the absolute hardest to get through for both of us. The misery just overtook us, the dreams were bad, and there were hallucinations that wouldn't quit. Eamon couldn't communicate at all at night, which made it even harder on me, as well as scary.

Didn't matter how far or close we were to family, because by the time we got there, they were sick, too. It does turn out that the other cousin had had a nasty cough for a week, so it's not like they were the picture of health. And EVERYONE had this thing, everyone, out there, so I highly doubt we were the ones that brought it to them. I couldn't help but feeling guilty, though.

And as you can see the weather was getting worse and worse.


We managed to spend ONE evening over there. It was a nice evening, but by that time my very pregnant cousin was sick as well, and very miserable in so many ways. So that was rotten for her.



The next day I was hitting a WW meeting before heading back towards Orlando, and after that my aunt suggested we meet up for coffee, so we did. That was a nice hour or two, just chatting. And then we hit the road. Decided to go along the coast on 95 (?) rather than back on 4. Once we hit the Port Canaveral area we turned west on toll road 528 and kept on going.


Seriously seriously disappointing visit. I had put Daytona in there for many reasons. Some were homeschooling reasons, others were "I wanna see family" reasons. and also "I want to see family without making them having to buy a themepark ticket!" since 4 was becoming 5 (or including my aunt 5 becoming 6, since they all live together) and their frivolity money was going to be going elsewhere. Apart from maybe 7 total hours of visiting, we got none of what I had hoped for.

Too sad.


So we headed back to Orlando and went to Portofino Bay Resort at Universal. We would have a car for one 24 hour period. However, it would not be the car we were in. Got our stuff unloaded, found that we had a room already, got that settled. Then headed back on out to the airport to turn in our Alamo and pick up a National car as well as Robert.

 

[Heluvsme]

I'm enjoying your trip report, although I feel guilty for saying that... it sounds like I'm enjoying it at the expense of your health. I promise that's not how I mean it! But I have such admiration for you---when I'm sick I stop what I'm doing and take to bed.... YOU run a race!!

Your pictures are great! And I love hearing about all the different resorts.
Thank you for sharing!