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

[cavepig]

Wow, Character stop sign, how awesome! Was that just for the 5k, never saw any during the 10k & half?

 

[Ariel484]

I think a lot of people have that reaction ...

I think I had read that somewhere ahead of time, but now I know for sure.

Classic. You definitely are an expert.

That arrival night is a killer sometimes. But kudos to you for soldiering on and making it to mountain #4!

It really is - sleeping on the plan helped a lot but it was a loooong day!

This may be what I am most excited about when I finally make it out there for my first Disneyland race. I despise mornings, so I'm all for sleeping in!

It was SO nice - it made the whole thing seem a little less crazy. I always question my sanity when I am up by 3AM for WDW races...

From what I understand... (and I think this applies at WDW too)
Starbucks inside parks = owned by Disney and honor Disney discounts (they also accept payment via Starbucks app, but you can't redeem rewards)
Starbucks at DTD = corporate store owned by Starbucks, do not honor Disney discounts, can redeem Starbucks rewards

Yep, from what I experience in Disneyland, I would agree with that. It was nice to get the discount in the parks!

This sounds crazy. Seriously. A wristband and long line 3 hours in advance to buy merchandise? Reading this makes me wish you could pre-order everything!
Although things do look like they were under control. "Controlled chaos" definitely sounds like a good way to describe it.

It WAS crazy! Pre-ordering everything would be super...I would be all over that.

I also love all of the shirts ... although I'm a little surprised that they made 2 dark colored shirts for a race in SoCal at the end of the summer ... I figured it would be too hot for dark colors!

Apparently not! We wore them anyway

Thanks for all the expo pics & information!
I love that everything has the diamond celebration on it. It's great that they're celebrating both anniversaries and not ignoring DL's 60th to celebrate the race weekend.

Yeah, at one point someone pointed out that the 60th was sort of overshadowing the 10th anniversary of the race - which I agree with, but I can also see how the 60th is a MUCH bigger deal. And they still had 10th anniversary stuff.

There are a lot of things at DCA that are reminiscient of DHS to me. Although I can't really put my finger on why, but since they redid the entrance, I always think of DHS when I'm there (I actually liked the old entrance better).
I'm hoping that when they redo DHS they'll change it to be a little less similar to DCA.

Yeah, I wish I'd been to the park to see the old entrance. I've seen pictures of the C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A entrance and I thought it was just so cool! I was really surprised when they made the entrance pretty much exactly like the Studios.

I'm looking forward to the re-branding of DHS (or whatever it'll be called next) for sure. Pretty excited about that!

35 minutes? What? That's craziness! I don't think I ever saw it below 90 minutes when I was there (which, granted, was 6 months after it opened).

We didn't see that short of a wait time again!

Yeah, I have that with Test Track. Hair-in-face seems to be a common Disney ride photo phenomenon.

Yep! Wasn't the first time, won't be the last time. Jess was smart and brought a hairbrush with her for after the ride...I need to start doing that.

Ditto to both of these.
I love Cars Land, but I don't want to see its clone in DHS. I love that there are different experiences on the different coasts. It's why I try to visit both coasts.

I so agree! It's sort of awesome that we as Disney fans can get different experiences in both resorts.

So, I've never seen Soarin' at DCA. But I totally agree - I think California should keep the California film.

I know! The "world" theme just does not make sense to me in that park!

I think what most excites me about the idea of running a 5K at Disneyland is that it goes through both parks. It looks like it's almost all parks, which is awesome!

A good chunk of it was! I would say 2/3 of it was parks or backstage areas...but mostly parks. We really covered a lot of ground in DCA and Disneyland.

Eh. I hate when new running gear is not comfy. Which I guess is why people say not to wear anything new on race day.
Even though the outfit wasn't comfortable, it was super cute! (And really, for the 5K that's all that matters)

Yeah, thankfully it was just the shirt and the ears that were uncomfortable...and they weren't terrible, they just didn't breath well (and by "well" I mean "at all").

Totally agree! I love that mile marker!

I wish they had these for all the races! (I hope they do from now on).
I can understand not releasing a character map because they may want the option of switching out characters mid-race, but still ... it's nice to have some idea that a character is coming!

Me too!

I think they could do a character map if they did something like "Mickey & Minnie/Donald & Goofy" (the "/" meaning "switching out with"). But I'm happy with the signs for now - progress!

I love it!

Super cute! Even if it's blurry ... you guys look so excited!

We were! It was such a fun morning.

I love it!
(I actually thought about trying to sign up through a travel provider when I first saw that medallion posted online ... but it's a good thing I didn't because my schedule that weekend was insane)

I don't think you were the only one that wanted to sign up when they released that picture!

Yay! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed!

We really did. I think it was way better than the WDW 5K courses I have done.

I just now saw you updated today some how I missed the alert.

Boooooo

Anyways that 5k looks fantastic!

It was! We had a great time!

So much park time! I'll be doing my first Disney 5k in January.

The January 5K is fun - not quite as much park time as the Disneyland 5K but you do get to run through World Showcase all lit up (which is pretty great)

I hope they continue those character stop signs for the rest of the races.

You and me both! It was helpful!

I love that medal! One day I'll run a race in Disneyland maybe I'll go for the 70th or 75th anniversary.

Good goals! Seeing everything they did for the 60th, I'm sure they will do amazing stuff for the 70th and 75th!

PHEW. I'm so glad I decided to ditch those dang Mouseketeer ears on Saturday (I bought a Disneyland Half Marathon running hat to wear instead), because with all the first 3-mile drama I had on Sunday, those suckers would have died an awful, awful death. I totally see what you mean about fine for a 5K, but not for a longer distance.

Yeah, there's no way I could have left those on for 13.1 miles - especially in that sun! That would have been awful!

I've heard wigs are really hot too. Not that I'd know anything about such things.

Sure, sure you don't.

It seems a 5K would be a really fun distance for Disneyland! I love the jumping in front of the castle pic!

It was! The 5Ks are really great - they are more casual and all about the fun!

Wow, Character stop sign, how awesome! Was that just for the 5k, never saw any during the 10k & half?

I truly do not remember. I don't have any pictures of them for the longer races, but that doesn't mean they weren't there...I really have no idea! I would THINK they would have had them for all races and not just the 5K, but who knows.

 

[Ariel484]

Post-5K Drama...and Fun!

We headed through the post-race area and grabbed Powerade and a runDisney snack box. Then we had to make the trudge through Downtown Disney to get back to Paradise Pier, meaning we needed to cross over the race course. I know the CMs were doing the best they could with this (they actually had a pretty good method to get us safely across without interfering with the race), but it was a slow process.

So as we're standing there waiting for our turn to cross, a woman next to us starts loudly squawking about how there were BANDITS RIGHT THERE! BANDITS!

For those who do not know - "bandits" is a running term for people who run a race they have not paid for (the verb being "banditing" - as in "that jerk bandited the Disneyland 5K"). SO NOT COOL!

I have never actually seen a bandit in person (that I know of), but once I saw who this woman was yelling at, it was SO OBVIOUS! They were two girls a few feet in front of us, and their bibs were on their backs, so I could easily see them. Their bibs... 1. had the exact same number and name on them, 2. had white around the edges and where the safety pin holes were (those of us that had real bibs had clean edges and larger safety pin holes), and 3. had fuzzy-looking numbers. So clearly these bibs were copies of a real bib, and to make it less obvious, the bandits had decided to wear the bibs on their backs.

And once they figured out that they had been caught, they got total deer-in-headlights looks on their faces and started to move away while the woman next to us continued to yell at them. But at that point...what could be done? There were no runDisney employees around, and once we were able to start crossing over the course, the bandits were out of sight. So frustrating that they never got any type of punishment!

I have to think that a registered runner either knowingly let these girls copy their bib, or that the bib was pulled off of some form of social media - Facebook, Instagram, whatever. If you think about it, anyone could easily search the Disneyland 5K hashtag and just print a picture out. THAT is why, if you look back at our Flat Mouseketeer picture, our bib numbers are covered - hopefully that prevented anyone from using our bibs.

Woof.

Anyway...back to the room for showers and a few snacks!

Om nom nom nom! Jess brought this giant bag of peanut M&Ms...girl knows how to pack.

Ready for a fun day in the parks!

Starting with Walt's Park.

More than once I would be walking through Disneyland, and I would just think, "...I am walking somewhere where Walt Disney himself has actually walked." It was too cool.

Back to Carnation Cafe! This time with an ADR!

We opted for an outside table. As you can see...I was the 3rd wheel.

The whole reason we came here for breakfast was because Jess had read that they had apple granola pancakes. That is what I ordered - they were SO GOOD! And the bacon here was real bacon, not that not-even-paper-thin crap you get at most WDW restaurants.

Jess and I both OBLITERATED the pancakes. Courtney got a Mickey waffle with some of the apple topping on the side.

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

"Hello, my peasants."

Could you just hold this for me for a second? Thanks.

Yay.

So pretty.

Yep, many castle pictures. Not even sorry about it.

The Evil Queen was meeting and greeting on the backside of the castle with pretty much no line, so of course we had to stop.

"Hello, my peasants. Let's all cross our arms and look at the camera."

One of my favorite pictures of the trip! She talked to us about the race a bit and said she’d see us tomorrow (this made us very excited - ever since the race theme was confirmed as being villains, we’d been really hoping for some great photo-ops on the course!). We put on our best RBF for this one! Jess clearly wins this one though.

Love it.

Storybook Land Canal Boats! This was cute. So Cute. Maj Cute.

Om nom nom

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

From 5K to Fab 5 - The Quest Begins

Up next...

The outside of this ride is SO beautiful.

I haven't ridden the WDW version of this ride in about 20 years (man, that makes me sound old) because that song is like a VIRUS. But I did enjoy this one! It was fun to look for the Disney character throughout. I can't WAIT to see this one lit up for Christmas!

From here, we headed into Toon Town.

Goofy was out! He was excited to see that we had run that morning and that he was on our medallion.

Cross-training!

Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin was a walk-on, so we did that next. I rode solo.

We came out and Pluto was meeting! A woman tried to cut us in line (could you not? ) but we wouldn't let her. Pluto was not excited to see us.

So - note that Courtney is no longer wearing sunglasses. When she arrived the previous day, she realized she'd forgotten shades. She also told us how her husband wouldn't let her buy nice sunglasses because she would lose or break them. Jess had brought a spare (cheap) pair and lent them to Courtney. Somehow they disappeared in between Goofy and Pluto. Which was hilarious and sort of unbelievable since she'd JUST told us that she has a history with not being very good with sunglasses. Oh, Courtney.

By now we had a little mission in mind - we'd gotten pictures with two of the five character depicted on our adorable 5K medallions - why not shoot for all 5?

3 down!

After Mickey, we headed to Main Street for a little pick-me-up. First Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season for Minnie! It was SO THICK and syrupy! Not as good as I remembered. And the cookie I got was WAY too sweet. Oh well.

We headed toward the exit, but didn’t make it there - HEY GIRL HEYYYYYYY!

4 down, 1 to go!

Up next - we journey across the esplanade!

 

[rteetz]

Great pictures!

I can't believe some people and the things they do to copy and cheat. I haven't seen this myself but I can definitely believe it.

Love the castle photos, it looks really good for the 60th.

 

[Ariel484]

Great pictures!

Thanks! I had some new camera gear for this trip and was SUPER pleased with how it performed.

I can't believe some people and the things they do to copy and cheat. I haven't seen this myself but I can definitely believe it.

I KNOW! It really had never occurred to me to bandit a race - I just had no idea that that is a thing that people do. People are just awful sometimes...

Love the castle photos, it looks really good for the 60th.

It looks awesome. I don't think I captured just how sparkly it was...I love it!

 

[Ariel484]

An Afternoon in Paradise

We made the ever-so-long journey across the esplanade, headed into California Adventure and went straight back to Paradise Pier!

I honestly think this is my favorite area in the resort as a whole. I just loved it there!

I forget exactly when we did this, but at some point during this day we grabbed fastpasses for that night's World of Color show - I was so excited to see this!!

The wait for California Screamin' wasn’t very long. I REALLY didn't want to ride it or Mickey's Fun Wheel at all - I like rollercoasters, but I really don't like the launch right at the beginning (part of the reason why I'm not really a fan of Rock 'n' Rollercoaster in the Studios) - and I DO NOT do ferris wheels. Skipping the Fun Wheel was something I was not budging on, but after watching Screamin' launch a few times, I decided it didn’t seem quite as fast as RNRC, and would give that a try. I think the wait was maybe 15 minutes or so.

The verdict? I did okay on it - glad I tried it once but I'm not sure I would do it again. At least the ride itself was longer than 90 seconds or whatever ridiculous time RNRC is (the other reason I don't like to ride it - all that time in line for less than 1.5 minutes??? ).

After Screamin' we got in line for Toy Story, and it was a LONG one. I had to get out quickly though - I survived Screamin' but was feeling hot and a little shaky after, and all of the queues for the Disneyland rides are outdoors, so I couldn't really handle that. I was really missing the indoor, shaded queues at WDW.

Random aside: another thing I found striking compared to WDW was that Disneyland rides don’t really dump you into gift shops afterward!

Anyway...Courtney and Jess stayed in the Toy Story line while I went and sat in the shade like the delicate little flower that I am. Eventually I roused myself to take some pictures.

Going...

...going...

...gone!

After Toy Story, Courtney and I went on the Silly Symphony Swings. Jess sat that one out.

By now we were thinking about lunch...but first...

Woo! From 5K to Fab 5!

Our lunch spot was right by Donald...the Cove Bar!

We waited 10-15 minutes to get a table in the shade. Courtney and Jess split a plate of Lobster Nachos and each got the Mickey's Fun Wheel from the secret menu (I don't have a picture of that for some reason), and I got a quesadilla roll. So good!

I think after lunch is when Courtney gave in and bought a new pair of sunglasses - they were super cute SO CUTE MAJ CUTE with Mickey heads on the frames and mirrored lenses. I bought them for her with my AP discount and they were pretty cheap - less than 20 bucks if I recall correctly. With that sun...going without sunglasses just was not an option!

By now we were ready for a break, so we left the park and made our way back to Paradise Pier...but first we took a detour to White Water Snacks in the Grand Californian for a little treat.

Yum!

Jess and Courtney were ready for a nap at this point - I REALLY didn't want to take one that day, so I kept myself busy by taking pictures of all of my race merch (which I posted earlier) and looking through the Paradise Pier gift shop. That is when I bought my non-race pins...I also found a phone case I REALLY wanted. Unfortunately this was the only place I'd seen it, and it was for an iPhone 6 (I have an iPhone 6+).

CUTE SO CUTE MAJ CUTE! I resolved to keep an eye out for a 6+ version of this case.

I made sure to show this case to Courtney - she has an iPhone 6 and had mentioned that she really needed a new case. She ended up buying this one!

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

ALL THE FEELS

Once naptime was over, we headed back to Walt's Park!

YES PLEASE!

We'd enjoyed more short wait times during the day, but now the parks were starting to fill up a bit...

Dinner time!

Two words, people - FRIED. CHICKEN.

Normally I am NOT about splitting meals (hence why I got my own plate at lunch...ME WANT FOOD), but since we were eating so soon after Cove Bar, I totally think we could have split 2 meals between the 3 of us. I ate MAYBE half of my friend chicken dinner - the green beans were not good (cold in spots...yuck! ) and the mashed potatoes reminded me of what I used to get during elementary school lunches (which is not a compliment). But that chicken was DELICIOUS.

Jess also got the chicken and Courtney got the pot roast, but I forget whether she liked it or not.

After dinner, we headed back to California Adventure! We had fastpasses to use!

Quick peeks on the way...

The Golden Ticket.

After grabbing hot chocolate in THE CUTEST REFILLABLE MUGS EVER, we settled into our spot a full hour before the show was due to start. This is something I was NOT impressed with at Disneyland - having to line up SO FREAKING EARLY before the nighttime shows began. This wasn't the last time we'd do it.

At least we had a pretty view.

The aforementioned cutest mug ever. There was a Disneyland Park version as well, and we forget to get them...so that is at the top of my to-do list next trip.

Now...World of Color.

I tried very hard not to look at picture or videos of this show before this trip, but I kept reading that people didn’t like the new 60th version of the show. I even read recommendations to skip it altogether!

Well...this show was amazing. I am NOT a crier and I cried 3 times. I honestly do not get how anyone that is a fan of Walt Disney and the Walt Disney Company wouldn't like this show. Maybe if you don't like Neil Patrick Harris...I could see that.

And I get that people like the original version better (Courtney - who has seen the original version - mentioned missing some of the music) - so I have a different perspective as I haven't seen the original yet. But I was floored that there are those that think this 60th version is so bad that it should be skipped.

I mean...seriously? All the feels.

Really, the only bad thing about this show was that where we were standing happened to be right behind some sort of fake snow/smoke canon, so that thing scared the crap out of us more than once. I was also surprised at how long the "Let It Go" section of the show was...but I still like that song and don't hate Frozen so I was okay with it. Sorry not sorry!

After World of Color, we headed out of the park and back to the resort. Time to get ready for race #2!

Up next - the 2015 Disneyland 10K...aka 6.2 miles of RBF!

 

[steph0808]

Your matching outfits are sooooo cute (MAJ CUTE)! I love them - especially the additions to the hats! I am going to have to remember to do that (I always wear a hat when running) if I ever get to run a Disney race again!

 

[Keels]

Wow, Character stop sign, how awesome! Was that just for the 5k, never saw any during the 10k & half?

I saw a couple during the Half - mostly right around Fantasyland, but honestly, it was so crowded and I wasn't paying super attention so I don't know how many there truly were. And even the ones I DID see, I only saw because I was running far to the side and they were like right in front of my face.

 

[hauntedcity]

It wasn't long before I was feeling slightly uncomfortable in my outfit - I haven’t ever run in a mouse hat (MAN do those things trap in the heat!) and I never run in cotton shirts. Blech!

On Friday, I bought ears and wore them for the Half Marathon on Sunday! Every time I briefly took them off, my head felt so cool and happy. But I wore them for the whole thing. I mean I had to; I was dressed as Mickey Mouse.

 

[mbwhitti]

Kicking myself for not getting that phone cover. I saw it too and it was definitely *cute*! And the mug....I wanted it but then I didn't want hot choc or coffee at that moment. Merch fail for me!

The pier was my fave too. I think because it's so different from anything at WDW.

 

[rteetz]

So cool you got medal photos with all of the fab five! I think they all look great especially in their special 60th outfits.

Every time I see these Disneyland experiences it makes me want to get out there even more. World of color looks absolutely great and I really want to see it in person.

I would've gotten that mug as well.

Great outfits can't wait to hear about the 10k!

 

[IrishMel21]

@Ariel484 I am LOVING your trip report! So much fun to follow along! I even went back and read all of your other trip reports, I'm jealous but so happy for you! I do love reading of you running with your brother - it's fun that you two can share those moments together! Love it, keep them coming!!!

 

[Woodskeeper]

The Ursula hat is amazing! Love these outfits!

Loving your trip report!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Wow! How awesome you got pics with the whole fab 5! I love it!

So I love that photo by the Mickey Fun Wheel (which is such a pretty area, I agree!) is like the standard photo op for my west coast friends that frequent Disneyland a lot. Just as much as the photo op in front of the castle is for Disney World-ers! So fun to have unique things in each park!

 

[SarahDisney]

I really do not understand bandits. How can people "steal" entry into a race that they didn't pay for and still live with themselves. How is this any different than stealing a TV or walking out on a restaurant bill. You're using goods and services that you didn't pay for.
I'm sure they're justifying it by saying it's too expensive or they got closed out or one extra person doesn't matter, but still ... I just don't get these people at all.
I wish the bandits had been caught by runDisney and banned from future events (although I don't know how they'd enforce that if they don't buy a bib).
/RANT

On to happier things...
I love all the castle pictures! Last time I saw that castle it was covered in fake snow ... I think the diamond celebration looks much better on it!

I am totaly with you on Paradise Pier. That area is probably the reason why I love DCA so much (well, that and Cars Land). It's such a fun theme and there are a lot of great rides there!

Congrats on getting pictures with the Fab 5 - that's a perfect idea and all the pictures look great!

In my (admittedly somewhat limited) experience, I feel like the parks out at Disneyland tend to fill up a lot at night. I'm guessing it's because local AP holders come by after work. But that's just a theory and I might be wrong.

I haven't seen the new version, so I'm not going to comment on that, but original World of Color is one of my favorite Disney things ever. Definitely my favorite Disney Parks night show. If this version is even half as good as the original, I can't imagine that it's not amazing.

I love the 10K flat runners! All three outfits are adorable. I think the pants are my favorite!

 

[huggybuff]

I honestly think this is my favorite area in the resort as a whole. I just loved it there!

I love it so much too! I can just sit and relax on a bench with a beer and take it all in. Or eat a great spicy link at Corn Dog Castle. Or enjoy the view at Cove Bar like you did.

I got a quesadilla roll. So good!

Excellent. I'm totally getting this on my next trip. It looks awesome! The Fun Wheel drink is too pretty. They just did a post about it on Disney Food Blog. I'm going to try The Zombie. (Light rum, dark rum, coconut rum, spiced rum, 151 Rum, orange and pineapple juices, blue curaçao, midori and grenadine.) The picture makes it look absolutely disgusting though:



Your 10K outfits are adorbs!

 

[DMGeurts]

OK... I am here... I am late, but at least I made it, right? I don't even know where to start for comments?

I've read your entire TR so far, and I've enjoyed it immensely.

A few notes... LOVE the race bling - ALL of it!!!!

Now, not only is it my dream to run a RD half... but now I'd love to do a C2C event, as well. So, thank you - from me and my wallet. LOL

The 3 of you are just adorable!!! Seriously - cute - and having a great time!

I adore your race outfits so far... Seriously - I have a sad race outfit obsession. Eeep - I almost think that is the best part.

And the BLING.... Speechless! <----- That never happens to me!

I could comment about so much more, but I can't remember it all. But I am here and following.

D~