I Am Not Fast: A 2015 Dumbo Double Dare Trip Report!

Ariel484 · Sep 9, 2015

Hey y'all! We're going Coast to Coast! East side to the West side! :goodvibes

We began our journey in Walt Disney World, waayyyy back in January...

(Cheating! This one is actually from 2014 Wine & Dine Weekend. If you noticed that, gold star for you!)

...and now here we are in Disneyland!

Who's "we"? That would be (L-R) my friends Courtney and Jess, and myself, Shannon.

Now - we were on a mission. You see...we love us some Disney bling. And we all decided that we NEEDED a runDisney Coast-to-Coast medal.

I mean, just look at it...a medal with the Partners statue? :lovestruc

Gotta have it.

For those that do not know, the only way to get one of these beauties is to complete the runDisney Coast-to-Coast Challenge - running one half marathon (or the WDW Marathon) in Walt Disney World and one half marathon in Disneyland in the same calendar year. Yes, it's totally a money-making scheme to get us to pay to do two races on opposite coasts in the same year. And yes, we happily fell for it. ::yes::

In January, Jess ran the half marathon, Courtney ran the marathon, and I did the Dopey Challenge. For this weekend, we were all signed up for the Disneyland 5K and the Dumbo Double Dare (consisting of the Disneyland 10K on Saturday and the Disneyland Half Marathon on Sunday). Completing the Dumbo Double Dare would get us TWO challenge medals - the C2C and the Dumbo Double Dare medal...in addition to the actual race medals themselves.

Short version of the above: we were planning on running allllll the races and getting alllll the medals.

Say it with me now: BLIIIIIIIIIIING! :lovestruc

And speaking of bling...as we all know, this year is the 60th/diamond anniversary of Disneyland. Not only that - it was also the 10th anniversary of the Disneyland Half Marathon! So we really could not have picked a better year to go Coast-to-Coast (and in my and Jess' case, couldn't have picked a better year for our first-ever trips to Disneyland!).

Won't you run out west with us? Let's go!

Continued in Next Post

Ariel484 · Sep 9, 2015

Ariel484 · Sep 9, 2015

But first...the Dumbo in the room

Get it? Because Dumbo's an elephant? :banana:

Hardy har har.

As I mentioned above, this was my first-ever trip to Disneyland after 20ish trips to WDW. I was NOT looking to go into this trip constantly comparing things between the two resorts, nor to declare California or Florida a "winner" when everything was said and done. That just didn't seem like a fun way to spend my vacation.

Having said that, I did, of course, notice some differences between the two that I thought were interesting, and some things that I definitely thought were better at Disneyland compared to WDW...and vice versa (and this applies to the parks, resorts and runDisney events).

But slamming either resort (ahem) is just not something I'm going to do here.

Because SPOILER ALERT: now that I have been to both, I think they are both pretty great.

Moving on...

Ariel484 · Sep 9, 2015

The Night Before

In my limited flight experience I've pretty much only ever been on flights that were maybe 2.5 hours or less (one exception - a flight to Europe way back in high school). I'd been lucky to score direct flights for this trip (on points! Even better! More money for merchandise! :banana:

) which meant, per the airline website, that each flight would be 4.5-5 hours. I worked myself up over this way more than necessary...I just thought I would be SO BORED. :faint:

My outgoing flight left at about 7AM (so I'd be landing in California a little before 9AM PST - EXCELLENT!) and I was really hoping to sleep for a good chunk of it. With that in mind I tried reeeeeeeally hard to stay up late the night before. This was sort of difficult because I'd worked that day and on work days I always get up early to go to the gym, so my body was definitely thrown when I didn't go to bed at 10:30. I found ways to stay awake (messing around on my phone and watching "Clueless" on Netflix - classic) and ended up making it to about 1:30AM. My alarm was due to go off at 4:30...so 3 hours of sleep.

More now!

Mimsy Borogove · Sep 9, 2015

Following! I've really enjoyed your other trip reports.

SarahDisney · Sep 9, 2015

Count me in!
I loved following along with the pictures on Instagram, so I'm excited to read the report!

girliea · Sep 9, 2015

Oh, I am so excited to read your TR! Can't wait to read more!

pxefig · Sep 9, 2015

YAAAAS! A Baymax-titled trip report. Already off to a great start!

Ariel484 said:
Short version of the above: we were planning on running allllll the races and getting alllll the medals.

Say it with me now: BLIIIIIIIIIIING!

Ariel484 said:
Having said that, I did, of course, notice some differences between the two that I thought were interesting, and some things that I definitely thought were better at Disneyland compared to WDW...and vice versa (and this applies to the parks, resorts and runDisney events).

But slamming either resort (ahem) is just not something I'm going to do here. Because SPOILER ALERT: now that I have been to both, I think they are both pretty great.

Moving on...

I go to both coasts pretty equally and they both are awesome in their own way- which is sort of the point, right? If they were the same or one was better, there'd be no point to even having multiple parks. Or races. or whatever. Still excited to hear you reaction- and yes, comparisons! I was a WDW cast member for years and the first time I walked down Main St. at DL I got a feeling of vertigo- everything was so familiar yet so completely different.

disneydaydreamer33 · Sep 9, 2015

I'm excited to follow along and read-- especially after seeing your super fun instagram posts! Love that you have like-minded friends that love that Disney bling!!

pamster · Sep 10, 2015

I love your trip reports and can't wait to read more about your experience at DLR!

Anisum · Sep 10, 2015

This is everything I've been waiting for. Can't wait to read more!

Ariel484 · Sep 10, 2015

Mimsy Borogove said:
Following! I've really enjoyed your other trip reports.

Yay! Thanks for reading the other ones.

SarahDisney said:
Count me in!
I loved following along with the pictures on Instagram, so I'm excited to read the report!

Thanks for following on Instagram! You'll probably see lots of those pictures again here...

girliea said:
Oh, I am so excited to read your TR! Can't wait to read more!

Yay, thanks!

pxefig said:
YAAAAS! A Baymax-titled trip report. Already off to a great start!

It's just so true though. :headache:

pxefig said:
View attachment 123028

YES, ALL OF THIS. :faint:

pxefig said:
I go to both coasts pretty equally and they both are awesome in their own way- which is sort of the point, right? If they were the same or one was better, there'd be no point to even having multiple parks. Or races. or whatever. Still excited to hear you reaction- and yes, comparisons!

YES, I so agree with this. I have read reports where people have gone to DL for the first time after years of going to WDW, and all they do is take time to point out every little thing that Disneyland does better. I'm talking ridiculous stuff. And I just did not want to be doing that on my trip!

It's a consequence of reading message boards, I guess (certain ones more than others) - for example, I started to read about things "wrong" with WDW, like burned out lightbulbs...then on my next trip, I found myself LOOKING for things that were "wrong," and looking at the stupid lightbulbs! Really, who cares?!

pxefig said:
I was a WDW cast member for years and the first time I walked down Main St. at DL I got a feeling of vertigo- everything was so familiar yet so completely different.

I so agree with this! I had the feeling quite a few times - it was WEIRD!

disneydaydreamer33 said:
I'm excited to follow along and read-- especially after seeing your super fun instagram posts! Love that you have like-minded friends that love that Disney bling!!

Thanks!! And having like-minded friends is pretty awesome.

pamster said:
I love your trip reports and can't wait to read more about your experience at DLR!

Yay, thanks! And hey, thanks for volunteering!!

Anisum said:
This is everything I've been waiting for. Can't wait to read more!

Yay!! Thanks for reading so far!

dancingtodisney · Sep 10, 2015

SO excited you're doing a trip report! I'm currently on the fence about Disneyland 2016 mainly because

Ariel484 said:
we were planning on running allllll the races and getting alllll the medals.

I'm already planning Dopey and Paris so that's Castle to Chateau sorted but add in Dumbo Double Dare... SO MANY MEDALS!! party:

Ariel484 said:
(If you noticed that, gold star for you!)

Ariel484 said:

This medal is SOOOOOOOOO pretty!

Ariel484 said:
But first...the Dumbo in the room

Ariel484 said:
Get it? Because Dumbo's an elephant? Hardy har har.

But slamming either resort (ahem) is just not something I'm going to do here. Because SPOILER ALERT: now that I have been to both, I think they are both pretty great.

Moving on...

Haha nice

Totally agree on not focusing on the negatives through comparison, I've been to Tokyo and Paris Disneyland and when I was trying to find out about both I kept reading negative comparisons :confused:

Ariel484 said:
In my limited flight experience I've pretty much only ever been on flights that were maybe 2.5 hours or less (one exception - a flight to Europe way back in high school). I'd been lucky to score direct flights for this trip (on points! Even better! More money for merchandise! ) which meant, per the airline website, that each flight would be 4.5-5 hours. I worked myself up over this way more than necessary...I just thought I would be SO BORED.

Ariel484 said:
My outgoing flight left at about 7AM (so I'd be landing in California a little before 9AM PST - EXCELLENT!) and I was really hoping to sleep for a good chunk of it. With that in mind I tried reeeeeeeally hard to stay up late the night before.

I always try to get to bed really early the night before my Orlando flight (which is stupidly long coming from Dublin and always indirect) but it never happens, I’m lucky to be in bed by midnight.

Excited for more!

Ariel484 · Sep 10, 2015

dancingtodisney said:
SO excited you're doing a trip report! I'm currently on the fence about Disneyland 2016 mainly because I'm already planning Dopey and Paris so that's Castle to Chateau sorted but add in Dumbo Double Dare... SO MANY MEDALS!!

That would be a busy and awesome year!! ALLL THE MEDALS!

dancingtodisney said:
This medal is SOOOOOOOOO pretty!

Isn't it just perfect?! I have wanted one for years!

dancingtodisney said:
Haha nice

Why thank you...

dancingtodisney said:
Totally agree on not focusing on the negatives through comparison, I've been to Tokyo and Paris Disneyland and when I was trying to find out about both I kept reading negative comparisons

Yeah, I mean, obviously I noticed things that were different and some that I thought were better/worse than WDW. But why go into the trip thinking like that? Best to be a Positive Poly and not a Negative Nancy!

And it's so not helpful when you're doing research to only read the negative stuff!

dancingtodisney said:
I always try to get to bed really early the night before my Orlando flight (which is stupidly long coming from Dublin and always indirect) but it never happens, I’m lucky to be in bed by midnight.

How can one sleep when it's almost Disney Day anyway?!

dancingtodisney said:
Excited for more!

Ariel484 · Sep 10, 2015

Day 1: Wednesday, September 2 - Travel Day!

Warning: I will use many exclamation points and words in all capital letters when writing about this day. Yes, that means I am shouting. No, I am not shouting at you, and it's nothing personal...but it was all just TOO EXCITING.

CALIFORNIIAAAAAA, CALIFORNIIAAAAAA….HERE WE COOOOOOOME!!

I wasn't the only one awake this morning...look who was in my yard! (Don't worry, I stopped the car to take this picture.) Actually, this is a terrible picture...it's a deer. They are fearless where I live, they always come right up to the house!

This was an adorable start to the day. It was less adorable a few minutes later when I rounded the corner and a baby deer ran out into the street in front of me :scared:

...luckily he turned right around and ran back into the grass, but YIKES! I mean, really...hitting Bambi with my car would have been a pretty terrible way to start this trip. :faint:

Stuff at the airport was uneventful (short security line, life-giving Starbucks purchased, etc.) and my flight took off as scheduled. And I was OUT COLD almost immediately, sleeping for about 2.5 hours. :banana:

Success!

Traditional "I'm going to Disney" plane music:

Yes, I know everyone does the "looking out the plane window" pictures...but these mountains were awesome! We don’t have those in the Midwest!

The flight ended up taking about 4:20 (is it just me or do airlines ALWAYS overestimate their flight times? No wonder their on-time percentage is so high...HMMMM) and we landed at LAX* at 8:30PST...and then taxied for 15-20 minutes. Zzzzzz. But still, yay!! Overall the whole morning was going a lot more smoothly than I’d expected. LAX was VERY easy to navigate and I got my one checked suitcase pretty quickly (something I was afraid I’d forget to do after years of Magical Express doing it for me in Walt Disney World). This was a relief as my last airport experience was the worst travel day I've ever had (more on that later, because it does apply to this trip). And BONUS - the SuperShuttle pick-up location for my terminal was right outside the door.

*Yes, LAX...I realize people say that John Wayne and wherever else are better/closer, but for me, LAX was cheaper and had better times.

Like I said, SuperShuttle was my transportation of choice for this trip ($32 RT - I'd also added on tip ahead of time). I booked them about a week ahead of time once I remembered that DME wasn't really a thing here - I know there's Disneyland Resort Express, but I didn't think the timing would have worked out for me. When I'd taken my phone out of airplane mode during the (seemingly) never-ending taxiing around LAX, I'd had a welcome text waiting for me from SuperShuttle, along with a link where I could track my vehicle. I thought that was pretty cool.

Not cool: my terminal was the last one on the route, meaning that I had a 20-30 minute wait for the van. :sad:

Whatever, someone has to be the last stop...

#positivepoly

...but WAHHH GET ME TO DISNEYLAND!!

Of course, the good thing about being the last stop is that once I was in the van, we were on our way! We hopped onto the highway and before I knew it...we were on Disneyland property. After a quick stop at the Grand Californian (EEEEK SO BEAUTIFUL) Paradise Pier was next!

I took this picture at about 10:30PST, so almost exactly 2 hours from when my plane landed to when I was walking into Paradise Pier. Not quite as good as Magical Express, but still not bad. Overall I’d take SuperShuttle again - I’m sure I lost some time this way, and the girl I was sitting next to was pretty annoying (seemed very reluctant to move over to let me sit down...rude) but for the price, it wasn’t bad.

Oh, also...I could see California Adventure! Right across the street!! No big deal.

:faint:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right off the bat I was really impressed by a few things - there was Diamond Anniversary stuff everywhere (it was on my check-in documentation, Goofy’s surfboard in the lobby, etc.) and there was lots of signage for the half marathon weekend. Overall I felt like there was a TON more helpful signage around DLR compared to WDW for the races, which I thought was odd at first - runDisney as a company runs the races on both coasts, so it’s the same group of people putting on the races at both resorts - why not put that helpful stuff at WDW as well? I have to think that part of the reason for the increased signage is because in DLR, people have to walk to the expo and corrals (no buses to take runners there like in WDW)...so runners really need to be in-the-know when it comes to how to get to places and what roads are closed. Other than that, not sure why it was so different.

Continued in Next Post

RnbwSktles · Sep 10, 2015

Yay I'm so excited for another race TR! I felt a little left out not going to the half this year, but I will be there for Avengers!

kaoden39 · Sep 10, 2015

Hi! I'm in!

Dis5150 · Sep 10, 2015

YAY! So excited for a new trip report!

ETA: Your trip reports are the best!

Ariel484 · Sep 10, 2015

RnbwSktles said:
Yay I'm so excited for another race TR! I felt a little left out not going to the half this year, but I will be there for Avengers!

I totally know what you mean - whenever there's a runDisney event going on and I am not participating, I get a little crabby. I'll be the same way when all of you are at Avengers! :sad:

kaoden39 said:
Hi! I'm in!

Hi!

Thanks!!

Dis5150 said:
YAY! So excited for a new trip report!

ETA: Your trip reports are the best!

Thank you! That's so nice of you.

wiscbugs · Sep 10, 2015

Always like your reports...we also did both World and Land trips this year.

I Am Not Fast: A 2015 Dumbo Double Dare Trip Report!

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