How do a Princess & Pirates go from Wilderness Lodge to a Disney Cruise PTR

[TxRabbit]

I watched the video they have a link to here on the Dis, I was looking for you! I didn't see you...But I saw the cool commemorative tiaras they handed out! Can't wait to see a pic of you with one. Great job on your time! Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[carissanboys]

Congratulations Donna!! You should be very proud of yourself.

 

[2BoysMom]

Wow, 10 days later from the last post. What's wrong with me.
And with my bad memory.... I'm going to have to pull my mini-trip report out of the cobwebs..

OK. Well, y'all know that we did not go on our big 7 day trip to WL b/c my DH had to be back to work b/c the legislative session is going on in FL's capitol. He's not a lobbyist but is a counsel to lobbyists, so that's where that part of the story came from.

We went down for my Half Marathon from Sat. March 7th until Monday March 9th. We were off-site (Sacrilege!) at the Caribe Royale in a 2 bedroom suite. Got a very nice discount using a code from Mousesavers.com. HUGE apt. with full kitchen, living area, 2 BIG bedrooms, 1 with King bed, 1 with 2 Queens. Jacuzzi tub in Master big enough for 2. Screened-in porch.

Do I have pictures? No. By the time I remembered, I had our stuff spread out everywhere and I didn't want pics of the mess. Sorry.

I guess my picture journal starts with the race on Sunday morning. Race time was moved to 7am on Sunday, but you had to get there early. I took a cab from CR, and my driver did not know how to get there????? They had some roads blocked for the race, and he apparently, only takes those particular roads to Epcot. OY! A little nerve wracking in the beginnng, then he calls his home office and someone coaches him on a different way. He STILL takes me an incorrect way, he dropped me off where the Disney buses "wait" before doing their usual rounds. I had a good distance to walk. Do I have pictures? Yes!

This was my long walk to the race. It was cool though. The lights in the distance are where the race party was.

Because then I got this shot of the Golf Ball. Just me and the ball.

And yes folks, it really was that dark. It was probably about 5:30am. (5:30am the morning the clocks were moved forward for Daylight Savings, thus really 4:30, but who's counting....)

I realize this is just a blip in my trip (no rhyme intended), but it's getting late and I should go to bed. I will try to keep writing until everyone is caught up. Whatever you do....Do not look at my Signature.

 

[TxRabbit]

Disney Cruise!!!

Oh that sounds like fun!!! I can't wait to hear all about how that happened!

But first. You must keep reporting on the half.

I know what you mean about pulling memories from the cobwebs, so get it out before you forget more!

 

[AlohaAnnie]

Glad to hear you are back and safe. I can't wait to hear more about the Princess half marathon & A Cruise PTR, how exciting!

 

[lurkyloo]

WHaaaa....? I wanna hear more about the cruise NOW! But also about the marathon. I want my cake and eat it too!

 

[2BoysMom]

HEY, you three! I said don't look at my Signature!!!!

You just couldn't stop yourselves...........

Yup, you're right. The great WL trip that was the purpose of my first ever PTR, is now completely gone and in its place is a 7 day Disney cruise. Talk about a change of events.

But I will continue with my Princess Half story for now. I started with the morning of the race in the previous posting, but I have to backtrack a little to add some notes from Saturday afternoon before the race. Thanks for bearing with my irregular brain patterns.

We first got to Disney on Saturday afternoon and had to head over to WW of Sports to the Princess Half Expo to pick up my packet and race number. I don't have many pics of that. I think I was a little on overwhelm from the school "playdate" that we had to attend and then the 4 hour drive (which I drove) to get to WWS before it closed and to my first ever DIS meet.

Here is what I have:

(Apparently a VERY LARGE pic of the official insignia and merchandise.)

This is the booth where I picked up my packet and race number, which was 3789.

Dave was able to register his cell phone number at this computer terminal, where they would then let him know where I was on the course and how my time was. He loved that feature on race day, he said it helped him feel like he was participating.

At the expo, while I was waiting in a line for my T-shirt, DH took the boys to one of the booths called Spira. It's a line of footwear with actual metal springs in the soles of the shoes. They had a display that you could jump on to indicate the "bouncy, springy feel" of the shoes. Imagine the delight of two 4 y.o. boys that they had something to jump on. One of the women that you see in the photo is an Olympic marathon runner (I'm sorry I don't remember her name), but Dave was suitably impressed.

I like this picture, b/c Dave and Alex must have landed at the same time on the springs.... b/c you can see just how much "air" Nathan got. He looks like he's about to shoot to the sky!

So, that's what I have for my first day. Not much, but it gives you a taste of what I was doing. After the expo we went to my DIS meet where I met some nice people, but I missed the official picture of the group and some of the folks had left before I got there (and some who I thought would be interested in talking to me based on our correspondence on this board, could barely bring themselves to say HI, but that's another story). Luckily there were still some very nice people wanting to chat.

We had dinner there, and I had the pasta meal that is available at POR, so that I could carbo load before the morning's race. After our meal we went back to Caribe Royale and had an early night so I could prepare for the race.

The next post will be aspects of the actual race. Stay tuned....

 

[2BoysMom]

Let's see what else I can post before I go make 50 (!) brownies for tonight....

In my first big post, when I got out of order, and showed you pics from the early morning set-up and my new WISH friends, I don't think I included this pic of the starting line:

Now you know why, it's a terrible pic. I tried 4 or 5 times to get a decent pic of that, and just could not succeed. It gives you a little indication where I was in the pack. They had 3 corrals (try not to think of us as cattle). "A's" were the fastest and in the front, "B's" and C's: accordingly. I was in the front of the B corral.

Most of the 13+ miles are on the highway, frankly. I had read this on previous marathon trip reports, and it proved to be true. I thought I was taking pictures along the way, but it looks like I just focused on the race, and thus, making good time, and didn't start taking pics until I had reached MK. This first pic is when we turned the corner (we entered from a back way) and first saw the castle!

Here I am getting closer to Cinderella!

You'll notice in many of these pics that people are along the sides cheering for us. It was very, very sweet. Some people looked at us like, "What the h.-e.-double-toothpicks are these weirdos doing???" But the majority of people had big smiles on their faces waving and clapping for us. It was very inspiring.

Speaking of cheerleaders Here is one of the Official WISH Scream Team. I believe his name is Chester, and he would move all over the course to cheer people on and ring his cow bell (again, please do not think of us as cattle). He always made me smile whenever I saw him. I think I heard that this is his natural hair color.

Here is a closer pic of the Castle (can you tell that running through the Castle is considered one of the highlights of the race?)

When I was approaching Cinderella's castle, we saw these lovely princesses and a prince. Something that I haven't mentioned yet in the report, is there were MANY photo ops along the way. Every Disney character you can think of were somewhere out on the course available for picture taking. I do not know this lovely girl in the photo, but here is an example of that very thing. I chose not to do any of the photo ops, as this was my first Half Marathon, and I did not know how I would do, I was trying to avoid the "infamous Sweeps," etc. As it turned out, my time was very good (for me) and I NEVER saw the flags or the sweeps or the sweep buses, except at the very start of the race (to intimidate you I guess).

So here is my Princesses by the Castle pic:

And the aforementioned and dreaded Sweep buses....

Feel free to boo and hiss like a Hissing Cockroach, right now.

Just before you ran into the tunnel at Cinderella's Castle, you were regaled with trumpets from the official castle trumpeteers (do they have an official name?)

I called to them just before I took my pic. I think they were flattered.

When we ran through the castle, we quickly approached Fantasy Land, here we are approaching Dumbo straight ahead, and then the Carousel.

I may have to continue posting pics on the next post.... Stay Tuned....

 

[TxRabbit]

I am loving reading about this!

I don't understand the sweeps buses though. If you couldn't keep up with the pack, would they just make you stop running or something? If so, booo, hissssssssss.

 

[lurkyloo]

Just before you ran into the tunnel at Cinderella's Castle, you were regaled with trumpets from the official castle trumpeteers (do they have an official name?)

When you pay $1,100 to have them at your wedding, they're called the Herald Trumpet Duo.

I love your report! I am so impressed that you were able to take pictures while you were running the marathon. I would have been too busy dying...!!!

 

[Happydog]

When you pay $1,100 to have them at your wedding, they're called the Herald Trumpet Duo.

I love your report! I am so impressed that you were able to take pictures while you were running the marathon. I would have been too busy dying...!!!

Uh yeah, ditto on the dying... I just tried to use my laptop on my treadmill last night ala another poster on the DIS who gave me the brilliant not-so-brilliant idea... sorry, HD is NOT coordinated enough to run, read, and click!

Yay Donna! Oh! Wait. I know we are not "talking" about the cruise that isn't really a cruise b/c it hasn't been revealed in your PTR yet but oh let me tell you 7 day Disney cruise = devine, and I DONT mean that lady in green paint and grapes sweating over in the AK...

 

[2BoysMom]

I am loving reading about this!

I don't understand the sweeps buses though. If you couldn't keep up with the pack, would they just make you stop running or something? If so, booo, hissssssssss.

You are exactly right. When you enter a race, you are told what time they expect out of you. For instance, for the Princess Half, I believe they said a 16 and a half minute mile (or just 16, I can't remember). That means, you have to maintain an average of 16 min/mile based on the last person who crossed the starting line. Not the first person out of the gate.

And I heard through other trip reports that Disney definitely does Sweep. I think they flag you first to tell you, you need to speed up, and then if you don't, they pull you from the race and put you on one of those buses (booo, hisssss).

First time marathoners like myself are always worried about that, mostly b/c we don't know what to expect. But I did fine, even in my fluffy body.
As mentioned, I avoided most photo ops, so as not to lose time, but once I got to mile 11 and 12 and realized I was doing well for time, I did stop for two pictures. You will see with who soon....

When you pay $1,100 to have them at your wedding, they're called the Herald Trumpet Duo.

I love your report! I am so impressed that you were able to take pictures while you were running the marathon. I would have been too busy dying...!!!

LL - I knew if anyone would know the official name of that duo it would be you! That's why I left that prompt. I will also have another task for you shortly. I have a picture of my boys sitting on a wall, in I believe MK. But looking at the pic, I have NO IDEA where they are, and I hope you or someone will recognize the shot.

Uh yeah, ditto on the dying... I just tried to use my laptop on my treadmill last night ala another poster on the DIS who gave me the brilliant not-so-brilliant idea... sorry, HD is NOT coordinated enough to run, read, and click!

Yay Donna! Oh! Wait. I know we are not "talking" about the cruise that isn't really a cruise b/c it hasn't been revealed in your PTR yet but oh let me tell you 7 day Disney cruise = devine, and I DONT mean that lady in green paint and grapes sweating over in the AK...

You ladies have me laughing all of the time. Since we are not talking about this alleged Disney cruise, I can tell you that if I ever WAS to go on a 7 day, I would consider it probably one step above ecstasy. Good thing we're not talking about that, though.

 

[2BoysMom]

Let's see, where have I left off....


OK, here I am running/walking, running/walking, running/walking, running/walking, running/walking.....

Now we've entered Liberty Square.

And then Frontier Land.

Am I inspiring you guys to attempt one of these? You can probably gauge from my pics that there are all kinds of people there, all shapes and sizes and ages. I would like to make it a tradition to do the Princess every year with new friends or more friends. It's a great Girl-Power bonding time. And a Half Marathon is very doable. Just thought I would send that message out to the Universe.....

Now back to our regularly scheduled show...

After Frontier Land, we passed the Disney World Train, stopped at an intersection. The various conductors on the train were standing in front of the stopped train and rooting people on, they were very cute. I stopped to take a pic and said "OK Guys, give me a pose!" They were delighted I included them. It really takes such a tiny effort to put a smile on people's faces sometimes.
Here's one of my favorite pics of the day.

I think that is all I have of MK. We actually are not in there for very long.
I mentioned earlier that we are mostly on a highway. I just went back to look at the route map, but it is no longer posted since the race is over. We left out of the Epcot parking lot, ran on a highway to MK, ran through MK, got back on a highway and headed back to Epcot. At the end, we actually run through Epcot (Future World) and then back out to the parking lot again for the Finish Line.

As usual, I do not have any pics while on the highway. I have two regrets as far as missed photo opportunities. I wish I had taken photos of all of the AMAZING costumes that so many people wore while running. Every Princess you can possibly think of, saw the Queen of Hearts and some of the Villains, various and individual princess get-ups. I wore a green tiara and a glowing princess necklace. I also did an iron-on with a DIS green mickey head that said DIS Board Princess, with my real name in the crown. That's as far as my costume got. Did I post this pic yet? My first ever self-portrait? Sorry if I did, but it's a good shot of my Dollar Tree tiara.

My other regret is not getting a picture of Matt. Matt is very well known here on the boards in the running marathon boards. He is an accomplished runner/triathelete and finished the Princess rather quickly. Instead of leaving, he is known to don a Mickey Wizard hat and run all over the course rooting people on. He always made me laugh and called me "Hey DIS Girl!" b/c he didn't know or remember my name. In a future photo, you will see my DH and sons rooting for me on the sidelines, and Matt's hat is in the background. Unfortunately, it's the only evidence I have of him that day.

I'll leave you with this for now.

You know me, I'll be back soon.

TTFN
-Donna

 

[2BoysMom]

OK. If there is anyone still out there.... I will wrap up my adventure at Disney and the Princess Half Marathon. Maybe reading my brief trip report of the experience will inspire someone else to try the adventure. Believe me, it was worth the training and the blisters and being rubbed in a certain nether-region that has no business being rubbed raw by exercise clothing... ouch

It was worth all of that. Let's see if I have any other pictures to share with you.

Here is my first pic with Disney characters. You might remember that I was not stopping at the other photo ops along the way b/c I was concerned about my time and not wanting to get swept. But as I approached mile 11 (out of 13.1) I realized I was doing well and could stop. Here they are:

Fawn and Iridessa, I believe.

When I was reading other people's trip reports about WDW half marathon races, they mentioned one large overpass (i.e., HILL) that had to be climbed around mile 11. This was true. HOWEVER... there are actually THREE overpasses one had to go up towards the end of the race, not just one. That DID come as a surprise as you can imagine.

ANYWAY.... after the fairy pic, I had to go over one of the overpasses and received a phone call from my DH telling me he and the boys were on the other side ready to root me on. This was the first spot where they were waiting for me. (My DH would never be without his white hat)

After I ran past them in this location, they were able to readjust their's and meet me after mile 12.

This one is typical of my son Nathan, you can see him talking to a stranger, making new friends, instead of watching his mommy run by.

Here's another one.

In the background of this pic, you can see a man wearing a Mickey's wizard hat. This is the infamous Matt that I mentioned previously in my trip report. A great athlete and WISH member who ran the race and then came back and cheered people on all over the course. I wish I had a better picture of him.

As I ran past my family, after mile 12, we were heading into the final stretch. This included running into the Future World part of Epcot. Here is a shot of the back of the golf ball, in the "behind the scenes area."

The only other shot I have of me in the final mile is with Cinderella's Evil Step-mother and step sisters. They were very funny, and totally in character.

Soon after I left the Evil Family, I was able to cross the finish line about a half mile further up. It was great. I haven't yet purchased the official pics from Disney Sports, but as soon as I do, I will post my Finish Line pic and what I looked like after running 13.1 miles. But for now, the story of my Princess Half Marathon race is complete. I hope you enjoyed it, and maybe I have inspired you to give it a try.

 

[lurkyloo]

Great report!

I'm so happy to see your family was able to cheer you on at various spots - that must've felt good to see them up ahead.

I don't think I will ever do a marathon (I don't run unless I'm being chased), but I've always been curious about them and loved getting to read along.

Are you not going to report on the rest of the weekend? What happened after you crossed the finish line?

 

[TxRabbit]

Wow! Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your half experience. You have totally inspired me. I would love to do it!

Like lurkyloo, I wanna know what else happened that weekend? I can't remember if you had to leave on Monday. Were you just exhausted after running? Being up so early? How was your recovery following the half? Share more please!!!

Oh! And can we start talking about the trip that we aren't talking about yet? Inquiring minds wanna know!!

 

[2BoysMom]

I was remarkably OK after the race. I had a blister and a "rubbing" that were irritating me, but otherwise I was feeling pretty good. After I got my medal and my official picture taken we decided to head back to the car and back to our hotel room. I knew after the adrenalin dissipated I was probably going to crash.

So we went back to the hotel and I took an Epson salt bath in the huge jacuzzi tub while Dave took the boys swimming. I think the boys took a nap after that, so I was able to rest for a couple of hours. After I rested, we went to MK b/c if was EMH that night, open until 1am. Plus I got to walk around with my medal around my neck .

I have a few pics of that evening. Here is a pic of Alex and Nathan sitting on a wall in MK, BUT I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE???? This is the one I hope you guys can help me figure out where. I remember we were standing there initially (for some reason) and then I said "Hey, this would make a good picture." So I plopped them on the wall, but that's all I remember.

When we were in FantasyLand, Alex wanted to do Barnstormer and Nathan wanted to do Philharmagic, so Dave and I split up with the boys. We don't usually do that, but tried it this time for a short time. Here is a pic of Nathan and I in the lobby of Philharmagic.

I wish you could see how much Nathan laughs during that. It's a laugh of pure joy and probably my favorite thing about our trips to Disney.

Hey, is that a medal I see???

DH and Alex still weren't back, so NayNay and I hit the carousel waiting for them. While we were on that, the other two showed up and we continued on as a family.

That night was the first night any of us had ever been on the Teacups. Shocking, right? I have a number of pics that I was trying to get of the boys, but when one was looking at me, the other one wasn't. That's how it goes with twins I guess. If you will indulge me, here is a few....

This one you can see that Nathan is..not..that..sure..he..is..going..to..like..this...

Getting into it..

It's Daddy's first time, too.

From the Teacups we went to the TomorrowLand Speedway. Here is Dave and Nathan behind us.

And Super Race Car driver Alex in the car with me. He had so much fun, we were laughing so hard.

And another..

After this, we went to Cosmic Ray's for dinner. Another first for us, we had never been there before. Dave and I shared the chicken and ribs combo and Nathan got freaked out by the singing alien. He kept saying he wanted to move somewhere away from "that Moose." Sorry, no food porn.

I think we left the park leisurely at this point, I know it was after 11, and the boys normal bedtime is 7:30, so they were starting to fail. Here's my last pic of the night.

I hope these brief details aren't too boring. We did leave on Monday, which is what Rabbit mentioned. We had an early ADR for Donald's breakfast at AK for Monday morning, but we ended up canceling that and doing Chef Mickey's instead, later on in the morning. My next post will be some Chef Mickey pics.

This sure is a quick trip! But we did a good amount, considering how brief we were there.

 

[lurkyloo]

[

OK, my vote is for the area near the old Skyway station:

Also, I love the wanting to get away from "that moose!" SO cute! Here's a gratuitous shot of DH rockin' out with that moose...

 

[TxRabbit]

Were you able to stay for EMH? Because of participating in the half? I thought you were staying offsite...so I'm confused. I know you didn't stay for the whole thing...

And I forgot to say, that pic with you and the fairies is wonderful!!!

I'm a big fan of the local library and our turn for Tinkerbell the movie finally came up, so we just watched it. The character fairies are really good! Fawn is wonderful. We are totally going to have to do the fairy thing on our trip.

Sounds like you had a nice relaxing time after the half. A bit to recover and then enjoy the park.

Getting CM on short notice is really good I think!

 

[TxRabbit]

Wow lurkyloo! Good eye! I agree with you simply from looking at your pic!