I See a Line, I Wait In It ~ A January 2016 TR - Completed 12/29

[SarahDisney]

Race Expo seems a little overwhelming to me!

It can be a little overwhelming, especially if you don't really know what to expect. It is still a lot of fun, once you get over the initial overwhelmingness.

Can't wait to hear about the race!

Hopefully I'll have the 5K recap either later today or tomorrow!

That sounds...confusing.

It's not really as confusing as it sounds. I was just annoyed at the Contemporary. I think the CMs at the resorts usually can help if you're lost, but you just have to look for the signs.

Of course there is.

Don't get me started on selfie sticks...

Ooh. I've never heard of Raw Threads but now I must check this out. My various hoodies are my favorite article of clothing 9 months out of the year.

The hoodies aren't cheap ($70 regular price), but they're really comfy and they have a lot of fun Disney-inspired designs. I love them. RawThreads.com.

That figures. Sorry you didn't get a hoodie. Hopefully you'll find a sale soon.

Oh, I'm stalking their twitter account for a sale. But they're busy with the Princess Expo right now, so I think I'll have to wait a bit.

I love this photo and baseball Mickey. Have you ever been to Spring training?

Thanks! I've never been to Spring Training, but I would love to go at some point. I love all things baseball.
Also, today is my favorite day of the year ... pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training!!

I just realized my comments are kind of heavy on the sarcasm. Sorry about that.

You never have to apologize to me for sarcasm. I fully believe that sarcasm is what makes the world go round.
Just be aware that sometimes I see sarcasm and respond as if I'm taking it literally. It's something I do that nobody understands.

But it was interesting reading about the running stuff because I might get the nerve up someday to try a race. Thanks for sharing, Sarah.

I'm glad you enjoyed! There are definitely parts of the experience that can be overwhelming, but the races really are a lot of fun and I highly recommend doing one if you can make it work!

 

[SarahDisney]

Day 3, Chapter 1: She Wants to Dance Like Uma Thurman and I Can’t Get You Out of My Head
Thursday, January 7th, 2016​

The day was finally here. 5K day!! Today’s wakeup call was brought to you by 3:30 AM (and Beth’s iPhone). Yes, I know, 3:30 AM is not an appropriate time for a wakeup call. That’s really the big downside of the runDisney races. I’m not big on the morning.
The early alarm went off, and we forced ourselves up and out of bed. Once we were dressed and ready to go, we walked over to where the bus had dropped us off the night before, expecting to see either a bus there loading or a line of people waiting for the bus. We saw neither. What we did see was a bus and a line entirely on the other side of the bus loading area. So … that was some extra walking we had to do. And remember, this is race day, so extra walking isn’t exactly on our agenda. (Thankfully, my knee was feeling better than the day before, so at least the walk wasn’t too bad)

While loading the bus, we saw a guy putting a giant Mickey head structure under the bus. Later investigation determined that his costume was a Mickey Ice Cream Bar. And that he was told by security that they’d let him run in it for the 5K, but he couldn’t do it again. Costume rules, people … they may have been last minute, but they exist.

We were on the bus and headed for Epcot around 4:18 AM. Because we’re us, we took a bus selfie:

Spoiler alert: you won’t see much of Beth’s headband. It came off before the race. It was super cute for Cinderella, but not super comfortable.

Our bus was totally full, so it didn’t stop anywhere else (in my experience, that’s how it tends to go with the buses to the race … each hotel has its own buses to the races, but they share buses after the race). Less than 20 minutes later, we arrived in the Epcot parking lot.

See proof below:

After that was the not-so-long walk to the security lines. Because we were both wearing things with zipper pockets (I had a belt and Beth was wearing a pouch), we went through the “guests with bags” security line, where someone looked in my belt (and Beth’s pouch) and then let us through. It really was a pretty painless experience (for us, at least).

Once we got through security, we kept walking towards the pre-race area, but stopped when we saw a line. The line was for pictures in front of a Marathon Weekend banner:

This was one of those “make friends with people on line” type things, because there was nobody there from runDisney to take your picture, so you needed a fellow runner to do it (just an fyi for anyone considering doing a rD race solo and worried about pictures … fellow runners will almost always be happy to take pictures for you – for the most part, we’re a friendly and encouraging bunch). We managed to befriend some people in line who were running the Dopey Challenge (5K, 10K, Half Marathon, and Marathon over the course of 4 days). They were pretty cool. They also recommended that we make it to the front of our corral so that we could hold the tape walking to the starting line … we did not do that.

Once our picture had been taken, we said goodbye to our new friends and made our way to the pre-race area. Basically, this is a big area with a DJ, some dancing, bleachers, and some fun backgrounds for picture taking. We got in line for a Marathon Weekend background … and then Pluto came out. Which was awesome. (There was also a Dopey Challenge background, featuring Dopey, but we didn’t wait on that line.)

As we were waiting on line, Beth saw someone behind us who looked like someone I had pointed out to her while watching the Disney Parks Christmas Parade Special Whatever (I know that makes no sense, but I’m not gonna go into the whole backstory). So I took out my phone and sent someone a text message. And then I heard someone call my name. It was Stacy (@stacy~**)!! DIS meet #2!!! We said hi and agreed to meet up after getting our Pluto pictures.
(For those of you who are confused … I sent the text message to Stacy, and her daughter, who just finished the College Program, is the one we had seen on the Christmas Parade Special).

Here is the aforementioned Pluto picture:

(NOTE: The character pictures posted here are all from Beth’s iPhone. The photographers at runDisney events are NOT PhotoPass photographers – they are from a race photography company (not owned by Disney), and your pictures are NOT included in Memory Maker).

We waited for Stacy and her family to finish taking their picture, and then it was finally time to chat with someone I’ve been DIS-friends with for over a year! We really enjoyed talking to Stacy and her family, and Stacy even suggested that we take pictures:

(Stacy was doing her best Peter Pan pose … I don’t do poses. I can barely look at the camera for pictures, poses are way too much for me.)
We also have full group pictures, but I’m not big on posting pictures of other people’s kids. So don’t think Beth was neglected … she was in some of the pictures too.

Eventually we parted ways, and around 5:30ish, Beth and I headed to the corrals. They were playing music to keep us all pumped up, and I started singing along to “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz. Except that I wasn’t exactly singing that song … I was singing “Candlelight” by The Maccabeats, a Chanukah parody that went viral a few years back. We also heard the song “Uma Thurman” by Fall Out Boy played several times. I happen to like that song … it’s not my favorite Fall Out Boy song, but I enjoy hearing it every once in a while. But maybe not over and over again, which is what was happening here.
SPOILER ALERT: That song ended up stuck in my head for the rest of the trip. Hence the title of this update. It’s still stuck in my head, over a month later. runDisney DJ, I think I hate you.

We made our way to Corral D and weaved our way through the people to get a decent spot on the right side of the corral (next to corral E) towards the front. I wanted to post something on Instagram (although that didn’t work because my reception was terrible), so I took a selfie:

For those of you not sure what’s going on … we’re on the right side of corral D, the 4th of 6 corrals. We’re basically leaning against the side fence, then there’s some empty space between the corrals, and that fence you see is the left side of corral E. As they prepare to start the race, they walk corral A to the starting line. Then as they’re getting ready to let corral A off, they start walking corral B over. And that keeps going.

Oh, and they set off fireworks as each corral starts:

Finally, it was time for the Incredibly Determined Corral D to make our way to the start line:

(The start line is an electronic screen … we couldn’t really get a good picture. And by “we” I mean Beth… I wasn’t even trying)

While we were waiting to start, they played a song for our corral … and, as all things “D” should be, it was “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey. Yes, most people sang along. Finally, at about 6:24 AM (the race started at 6 AM and there were 8 minutes between corrals), it was time for Corral D to start crossing that start line!

Here’s a map of the course to give you more of an idea of what I’m talking about):

Our plan for this race was a little bit complicated. Until we hit World Showcase (aka the first mile or so), the plan was to do intervals of 1:45 walking/1:30 running. Once we hit World Showcase, the goal was to walk all of the on-stage areas (both World Showcase and Future World). Once we left Epcot (shortly before the end of the race), we figured we’d go back to the intervals.

We started out walk/running the back roads of Epcot. After a little bit (maybe around 0.5-0.75 miles), we heard the theme from Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers. And saw a line that was clearly a character line. So we stopped and waited.

Before I get to the character picture, I want to share one experience that upset me a bit. In the backstage area where we were running, there was a road (which is where the runners were supposed to stay), with grass on either side. The Chip ‘n’ Dale line was on the grass on the left side (there was a little bit of grass between the road and the line, but not really enough for someone to pass on the grass with much clearance … which is fine, because runners aren’t supposed to be on the grass). Last year, when I was running the Princess 5K, I occasionally went onto the grass to pass people. I shouldn’t have, but I did a little bit … but only when there absolutely was no room for me to pass on the road, and only very close to the road for short periods of time. This year … there were people running on the grass on the left side of the character line. As in … between the character line and the trees. As in … the character line was between these runners and the road. And even after CMs told people they couldn’t, more people kept doing it. What the ****? This is a Disney race, not the Olympics. Nothing is worth compromising safety like that. I cannot believe these people. I’m sorry if the people on the road are too slow for you, but … get over it. If you’re starting in Corral C or D, you’re not winning the race anyway (since, y’know, the winner finished before you started), so calm the flip down and obey the rules.

After that rant, I think it’s time for something happy…

L-R: Chip, Beth/Cinderella, Sarah/Nemo, Dale

One of my favorite parts of the runDisney 5K course is going through what I think is the entrance to the CM parking lot at Epcot:

It just feels like a really special backstage moment. Anyway … we continued our walk/run intervals until we hit the mile 1 marker, where we stopped for a picture:

It did not take us 50 minutes to get to this point. The clocks start when the race starts. We started about 25 minutes after the race started … so mile 1 took us about 25 minutes (but that’s with a 10 minute wait for Chip ‘n’ Dale).

I’m not going to go into every single cool thing that happens during the race, but another one I wanted to mention has to do with my favorite attraction at Epcot – Test Track. You kinda run under the track, and they had a car running along the track as we were running past. It was really cool … but unfortunately, we didn’t get a picture of it (we tried but failed).

We entered World Showcase in the Mexico area, and switched over to walking at this point. Being me, I made sure to take lots of pictures. Since I was taking them with my cell phone, I didn’t like how any of them came out (I hate my cell phone camera). We did, however, take a decent World Showcase Lagoon selfie:

We continued to walk around World Showcase until we hit that African Outpost area that isn’t really anything and never made much sense to me. We decided to stop there for some reason. I can’t seem to remember what it was … oh yeah, it was this:

Rafiki!! Asante sana squash banana! We love Rafiki, so even though we’ve met him before, we were still very excited to see him and get a quick picture!

Once we were done with Rafiki, we continued walking around World Showcase, making a few stops for pictures with the giant golf ball in the background:

We made it to the American Adventure pavilion (which is where we met Mickey Mouse last year), and got on line for the character. I didn’t actually know who the character was, though … we couldn’t see it. But we got in line anyway, because, as I said to the person in front of me … “I see a line, I wait in it.” I did find out that it was Bolt … but then Bolt went in for a break and was replaced by a cat of some sort. We later discovered that this cat’s name is Mittens, which was endlessly entertaining to us, because our brother likes the words mitten and kitten (I’m not entirely sure why, but it may have something to do with “Kitten Mittens” from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia).

Anyway, we got our picture taken with some sort of cat:

We continued running until we saw a French cat. Marie, as always, looks beautiful. My eyes are closed in this picture and I look stupid:

I believe it was at this point that I suggested we stop the whole “walking World Showcase” thing and go back to our intervals. So we did. Eventually we went backstage for a little bit, and that’s where we hit mile 2:

So that’s what … 36 minutes? With three characters stops and a lot of walking, that’s really not terrible.

We kept up our intervals, even once we got back to the onstage areas. The only character stop in Future World was a character we weren’t thrilled about, but I like to stop for everyone, so we stopped:

As you can see in the background of the Lilo picture, we ran past Epcot Character Spot over to Future World West, where we ran past The Land and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Since I was Nemo for the morning, I had to stop and get a picture with my movie costars:

The course took us back through the same area, and as we were turning towards the big giant golf ball, I saw them adjusting the cones, pretty much cutting off the Future World West part of the course. Someone seemed confused by it, so I mentioned that the park was scheduled to open (for EMH) in about 20 minutes. Apparently they do shorten the course if the park needs to open. Good to know!

As we approached the big giant golf ball, we took a nice picture of it:

We exited the park as some CMs were reporting in for their shifts, and finally reached the mile 3 marker:

Mile 3 looks like our fastest mile at about 17 minutes. After that it was only 0.1 miles until we ran under this …

My Garmin had our time as 1:19:57 (this race was not officially timed, so that’s the best I can give you), for a pace of 25:47 min/mile. And then we were officially runDisney 5K finishers!

(This photo was taken by Stacy, who we saw again in the post-race area).

To back it up a bit … we crossed the finish line and were given medals by some awesome volunteers. We then walked through an area where they gave us mylar blankets (see above … they keep you warm or something), water, and Powerade (I didn’t take any Powerade, but Beth did). There was then an area where the official race photographers took finisher photos, and after having our picture taken, we got free bananas (aka the #1 reason why anyone ever runs races) and a snack box containing tortilla chips, oreos, dried fruit, and cheese (which was the only thing in the box that we couldn’t eat).

Then we went into a large area where you could use a portapotty, claim your gEAR check bag, or just hang out. And that’s where we saw Stacy and her family again, so we chatted with them a bit before they left to head back to their hotel. Beth and I spent some time stretching (and I took some pictures for a very nice large group that had just finished the race) before heading back to the room. I believe there was a bus waiting there when we got to the bus area, and we didn’t have to wait too long to head back to the hotel.

For those of you keeping track … the bus dropped us off in the same place where it dropped us off after the Expo. Not where it picked us up.
I give up.

Overall Assessment of the Race:
Sarah - It was a lot of fun. There were some cool characters out (although nobody I really loved that I had never met before), and overall, it was a good experience. Definitely crowded, but manageable. I had hoped we would be a bit faster, but actually ended up not being too disappointed in our time. I definitely recommend the 5K as a great first runDisney experience.

Beth – So, I’m only a little aware of what my sister has shared with you , but here’s the most important thing to know – I LOVE Disney. I ran my first 5K last year (Princess) and it was awesome so I was eager to do it again. This race had all the awesomeness I love – there is really nothing like running through a Disney park super early in the morning with so few people around. There were definitely more people in our way at the beginning since we were in an earlier, faster corrall, but I still loved it. And I second Sarah’s motion that the 5K is a great first runDisney experience.

Coming Next: How Many Species Can We Meet in One Day?
(Feel free to guess, but I won’t tell you if you’re wrong or right … you’ll have to wait for the next update to find out)

 

[rteetz]

Yay 5K!

I'm not a fan of the early mornings either but hey I'll make myself do it for a Disney race.

Great pre-race photos. I am surprised I didn't see you, my sister and I stayed near the stage area pretty much until we went to the corrals. Awesome Dis-meet! I also think rundisney people are friendly.

I liked the digital start screen, I know they just started that last year.

We skipped chip and Dale due to long lines at the start. I agree that after about corral B people should obey the what CMs are saying and such and it's a Disney 5K after all not the marathon. I think we were finishing when you were hitting mile 1!

I kind of wish Rafiki was out for us but we got Timon instead.

We didn't stop for mittens as we didn't know who that was.

Marie was great and we had stitch instead of Lilo.

That bus situation is weird!

I really loved the race and would do it again. Depending on what I sign up for next year (if I go dopey or not) I will probably do the 5K again. Glad you had a great time!

 

[afwdwfan]

we walked over to where the bus had dropped us off the night before, expecting to see either a bus there loading or a line of people waiting for the bus. We saw neither. What we did see was a bus and a line entirely on the other side of the bus loading area.

I knew they'd move it!!!!

While loading the bus, we saw a guy putting a giant Mickey head structure under the bus. Later investigation determined that his costume was a Mickey Ice Cream Bar. And that he was told by security that they’d let him run in it for the 5K, but he couldn’t do it again. Costume rules, people … they may have been last minute, but they exist.

SO they let him run anyway??

(For those of you who are confused … I sent the text message to Stacy, and her daughter, who just finished the College Program, is the one we had seen on the Christmas Parade Special).

Thanks for clearing that one up.

We also heard the song “Uma Thurman” by Fall Out Boy played several times. I happen to like that song … it’s not my favorite Fall Out Boy song, but I enjoy hearing it every once in a while. But maybe not over and over again, which is what was happening here.

Blah... Disney seems to have a tendency to do that. You'll hear about this one eventually in my TR, but we kept hearing the same song over and over at the DHS stage when we were there.

We started out walk/running the back roads of Epcot. After a little bit (maybe around 0.5-0.75 miles), we heard the theme from Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers. And saw a line that was clearly a character line. So we stopped and waited.

Cool!

If you’re starting in Corral C or D, you’re not winning the race anyway (since, y’know, the winner finished before you started), so calm the flip down and obey the rules.

In other words, it is the same mindset as trying to get out of MK after Wishes!

L-R: Chip, Beth/Cinderella, Sarah/Nemo, Dale

What a rip off!!! They advertise Rescue Rangers and you just get plain Chip n Dale.

Since I was Nemo for the morning, I had to stop and get a picture with my movie costars:

My Garmin had our time as 1:19:57 (this race was not officially timed, so that’s the best I can give you), for a pace of 25:47 min/mile. And then we were officially runDisney 5K finishers!

Yay!!! You did it!

we got free bananas (aka the #1 reason why anyone ever runs races)

Because who would want to sleep until 7:00 and grab one at the food court on their way to MK???

Overall Assessment of the Race:

I'm glad you both enjoyed it so much! Hopefully the next one is just as good.

 

[ursalita]

The day was finally here. 5K day!! Today’s wakeup call was brought to you by 3:30 AM (and Beth’s iPhone).

Ouch!

I’m not big on the morning.

I'm with you. Mornings are the worst.

And that he was told by security that they’d let him run in it for the 5K, but he couldn’t do it again. Costume rules, people … they may have been last minute, but they exist.

Why bother with last minute rules if they let him run anyway? So if I ever run a race I shouldn't worry about the rules, right? JK.

So I took out my phone and sent someone a text message. And then I heard someone call my name. It was Stacy (@stacy~**)!! DIS meet #2!!! We said hi and agreed to meet up after getting our Pluto pictures.
(For those of you who are confused … I sent the text message to Stacy, and her daughter, who just finished the College Program, is the one we had seen on the Christmas Parade Special).

So Beth recognized her resemblance to her daughter? That's pretty cool. And yay for Dismeet!

(NOTE: The character pictures posted here are all from Beth’s iPhone. The photographers at runDisney events are NOT PhotoPass photographers – they are from a race photography company (not owned by Disney), and your pictures are NOT included in Memory Maker).

That kinda stinks since you guys had MM anyway.

Cute pic!

(Stacy was doing her best Peter Pan pose … I don’t do poses. I can barely look at the camera for pictures, poses are way too much for me.)

Ha! You're like me. I know that if I put some effort into posing I'd look better but I never do it. I'm too awkward.

SPOILER ALERT: That song ended up stuck in my head for the rest of the trip. Hence the title of this update. It’s still stuck in my head, over a month later. runDisney DJ, I think I hate you.

I hate it when that happens.

This is a Disney race, not the Olympics. Nothing is worth compromising safety like that. I cannot believe these people. I’m sorry if the people on the road are too slow for you, but … get over it. If you’re starting in Corral C or D, you’re not winning the race anyway (since, y’know, the winner finished before you started), so calm the flip down and obey the rules.

It must have been hard to get pictures with the characters if people kept running on the grass. You did get a good one, though.

Anyway, we got our picture taken with some sort of cat:

Is that the kitty from Bolt? Aidan loved that movie when he was smaller.

We continued running until we saw a French cat. Marie, as always, looks beautiful. My eyes are closed in this picture and I look stupid:

High ratio of cats on this run.

So that’s what … 36 minutes? With three characters stops and a lot of walking, that’s really not terrible.

Not bad at all.

There was then an area where the official race photographers took finisher photos, and after having our picture taken, we got free bananas (aka the #1 reason why anyone ever runs races) and a snack box containing tortilla chips, oreos, dried fruit, and cheese (which was the only thing in the box that we couldn’t eat).

It's all about the free stuff!

Beth – So, I’m only a little aware of what my sister has shared with you , but here’s the most important thing to know – I LOVE Disney. I ran my first 5K last year (Princess) and it was awesome so I was eager to do it again. This race had all the awesomeness I love – there is really nothing like running through a Disney park super early in the morning with so few people around. There were definitely more people in our way at the beginning since we were in an earlier, faster corrall, but I still loved it. And I second Sarah’s motion that the 5K is a great first runDisney experience.

Hi Beth! Glad you enjoyed the race.

 

[BlvInMagic]

Just wanted to drop in and say HI -- just found your TR and I'm following along! (I'm also a fellow New Yorker) We've never done a MK rope drop, but I have high hopes to do so on our upcoming trip next month. It's just crazy how much can be accomplished in the early morning time-frame, so it's a definite must-do for us. Loved your runDisney post -- very cool accomplishment for your and your sis. Having the character meets along the way is a great -- makes the experience more "Disney" and not your everyday 5K race

 

[oceanmarina]

Wow what a great update!! 3:30 am holy crow that's early!! Love, love, love all those character pictures along the race. I've never seen that black and white cat before, is it from a particular movie?

 

[KathyM2]

Thanks for sharing!! I loved reading about your 5K experience...looks like so much fun and I'd love to do it one day!!! Must be so cool to be there when hardly anyone else is...and looks like you got to see some backstage areas too.

 

[Saphire5742]

Today’s wakeup call was brought to you by 3:30 AM (and Beth’s iPhone). Yes, I know, 3:30 AM is not an appropriate time for a wakeup call. That’s really the big downside of the runDisney races. I’m not big on the morning.

Just reading that makes me want to crawl in bed. So Early!

Once we got through security, we kept walking towards the pre-race area, but stopped when we saw a line. The line was for pictures in front of a Marathon Weekend banner:

Cute outfits!

SPOILER ALERT: That song ended up stuck in my head for the rest of the trip. Hence the title of this update. It’s still stuck in my head, over a month later. runDisney DJ, I think I hate you.

That sucks. Well at least it's a song you sorta like?

This is a Disney race, not the Olympics

Some people.....

And then we were officially runDisney 5K finishers!

Yay! And congrats.
I guess it is worth the very early wakeup. So nice that you get to experience this together.
Loved all the pics.

 

[SarahDisney]

Yay 5K!

I'm not a fan of the early mornings either but hey I'll make myself do it for a Disney race.

That's basically the only reason I'll get out of bed that early. It's just crazy that I was waking up for a race a good few hours before I normally would even think about getting up ...
Only at Disney.

Great pre-race photos. I am surprised I didn't see you, my sister and I stayed near the stage area pretty much until we went to the corrals. Awesome Dis-meet! I also think rundisney people are friendly.

Thanks!
If you were near the stage area, I'm also a little surprised we didn't see you, since that's where we spent much of the time ... but there were definitely a lot of people there. Oh well, at least I got to see you at a later point in time.

I liked the digital start screen, I know they just started that last year.

The digital start screen was definitely cool. This was our first time seeing something like that, since Princess last year didn't have it. I wish we could have gotten a good picture (we actually got some decent ones at the 10K), but those are always hard to photograph. It was a lot of fun to look at, though!

We skipped chip and Dale due to long lines at the start. I agree that after about corral B people should obey the what CMs are saying and such and it's a Disney 5K after all not the marathon. I think we were finishing when you were hitting mile 1!

There were definitely some crazy people out there who did not seem to comprehend that this was a Disney 5K and there was no reason to be crazy. Always listen to the CMs ... occasionally they know what they're talking about!

I kind of wish Rafiki was out for us but we got Timon instead.

I think Timon is still a pretty great character to meet! (I actually might have prefered Timon ... as much as I love Rafiki, I've met him before, and I'd love to meet Timon)

We didn't stop for mittens as we didn't know who that was.

We didn't know who Mittens was either. We asked someone. But we stopped anyway because I'm strange.

Marie was great and we had stitch instead of Lilo.

I think they probably switched out Lilo for Stitch at some point in time. I think it was cool that they were switching out characters ... that way you can give characters a break without trying having making people wait for them to get back.

That bus situation is weird!

Yeah, I had no idea what was going on with the buses. It was pretty weird.

I really loved the race and would do it again. Depending on what I sign up for next year (if I go dopey or not) I will probably do the 5K again. Glad you had a great time!

Thanks! I definitely think you should do it next year - it really is such a fun race!

I knew they'd move it!!!!

Yes, you did predict that. I hope you're very proud of yourself, Andy.
Here's the question ... where will the bus stop on 10K morning?

SO they let him run anyway??

I forgot to mention that ... enforcement of the rules was, at best, inconsistent.
We saw a few costumes that were dragging on the floor ... against the rules.
"Costume props" are not allowed ... we saw that guy with the Mickey bar, and we saw a monorail.
Capes can't go below the waist ... we saw some longer capes.
But I think they must have stopped some costumes ... maybe. It was definitely not as well enforced as we thought.

Also ... for future reference ... I don't allow Johnny Depp anywhere on my TR. I wish he wasn't in Pirates of the Caribbean. I despise Johnny Depp.

Thanks for clearing that one up.

Well, I figured I had to. I was saying it in a very confusing and convoluted way.

Blah... Disney seems to have a tendency to do that. You'll hear about this one eventually in my TR, but we kept hearing the same song over and over at the DHS stage when we were there.

Yeah ... this DJ seemed to have a playlist of like 8-10 songs. And he was there from about 4 AM until the last runners started at about 6:45ish.
I think that's an issue Disney needs to work on.

Cool!

Yeah, that was definitely a fun character spot to hear/see.

In other words, it is the same mindset as trying to get out of MK after Wishes!

It may have actually been worse than trying to get out of MK after Wishes. Some of these runners are NUTS!

What a rip off!!! They advertise Rescue Rangers and you just get plain Chip n Dale.

Yeah, I would have loved for them to be in Rescue Rangers outfits. But regular Chip 'n' Dale is still better than no Chip 'n' Dale.

Yay!!! You did it!

Yes we did!!

Because who would want to sleep until 7:00 and grab one at the food court on their way to MK???

You have to pay for the bananas at the food court. These are free. Free is always better.

I'm glad you both enjoyed it so much! Hopefully the next one is just as good.

Thanks

Ouch!

Pretty much my sentiments exactly.

I'm with you. Mornings are the worst.

Yes. Absolutely the worst.

Why bother with last minute rules if they let him run anyway? So if I ever run a race I shouldn't worry about the rules, right? JK.

Enforcement was pretty inconsistent, but apparently it got stricter over the course of the weekend. So maybe if you do a 5K you can try to get away with it, but not for the longer races ...

So Beth recognized her resemblance to her daughter? That's pretty cool. And yay for Dismeet!

So, I had actually seen pictures of Stacy's daughter, and I recognized her on the Christmas Parade on TV, and Beth recognized her from my pointing her out when we watched the parade on TV.
And yes, it was definitely exciting to have a DIS meet!

That kinda stinks since you guys had MM anyway.

We knew about it going in, so it wasn't a big deal for us.
I actually like it better this way, just because these photographers are trained/more experienced in getting good action shots, whereas the PhotoPass photographers probably couldn't get the same quality of pictures of people running. I may post my 10K finish line picture (if I ever get around to buying it), and that's a picture that I love, but I don't know if a PhotoPass photographer could have gotten that good of a shot.

Cute pic!

Thanks

Ha! You're like me. I know that if I put some effort into posing I'd look better but I never do it. I'm too awkward.

Exactly! I just can't figure out how to pose for pictures ... whatever I do comes out awkward, so I don't even try.

I hate it when that happens.

Yeah, I think everyone does.

It must have been hard to get pictures with the characters if people kept running on the grass. You did get a good one, though.

Thanks! The CMs actually managed to get the runners under control a bit while we were waiting in line, so we were lucky. But I think the runners getting in the way were definitely holding up the line a bit. So frustrating.

Is that the kitty from Bolt? Aidan loved that movie when he was smaller.

Yes, that's Mittens! Bolt was actually there for a while, but they switched characters while we were on line.
And I still haven't seen that movie...

High ratio of cats on this run.

Yes. It was definitely a cat-heavy race.

Not bad at all.

It's all about the free stuff!

Exactly!

Hi Beth! Glad you enjoyed the race.

 

[SarahDisney]

Just wanted to drop in and say HI -- just found your TR and I'm following along! (I'm also a fellow New Yorker) We've never done a MK rope drop, but I have high hopes to do so on our upcoming trip next month. It's just crazy how much can be accomplished in the early morning time-frame, so it's a definite must-do for us. Loved your runDisney post -- very cool accomplishment for your and your sis. Having the character meets along the way is a great -- makes the experience more "Disney" and not your everyday 5K race

Hello fellow New Yorker! Thanks for stopping by and saying hi!
MK rope drop is not easy (mornings are never fun), but it's definitely worth it - you can get a lot done in that first hour, and I hope you get to experience that on your next trip!
The character meets at the race is one of my favorite parts - it definitely makes it easier to get through the race (for me at least), and adds an over the top "Disney" feeling to the race (as if Epcot wasn't enough Disney feeling...).

Wow what a great update!! 3:30 am holy crow that's early!! Love, love, love all those character pictures along the race. I've never seen that black and white cat before, is it from a particular movie?

Thanks!
3:30 was definitely early ... but it's worth it for a Disney race!
The black and white cat is Mittens from Bolt. I've never seen Bolt, so I didn't recognize her ... but I asked someone.

Thanks for sharing!! I loved reading about your 5K experience...looks like so much fun and I'd love to do it one day!!! Must be so cool to be there when hardly anyone else is...and looks like you got to see some backstage areas too.

You have to do a runDisney race ... you will love it!
It's definitely cool to see some of the backstage area ... and nothing beats seeing Epcot all lit up just after the sun comes up.

Just reading that makes me want to crawl in bed. So Early!

Yeah ... that's one alarm I really hate. 3:30 AM should really be illegal!

Cute outfits!

Thanks!

That sucks. Well at least it's a song you sorta like?

I'm definitely glad it was a song I like and not one of the songs that he played that I hated (like that Whip Nae Nae song). But it was still annoying.

Some people.....

Yeah. I don't understand why Disney brings out the stupid in some people.

Yay! And congrats.
I guess it is worth the very early wakeup. So nice that you get to experience this together.
Loved all the pics.

Thanks! It was definitely a lot of fun and I'm glad Beth and I were able to have the experience together, despite the early wakeup. If I had to wake up early, I'm glad it was for a Disney race. Disney's pretty much the only think that's worth an early wakeup.

 

[stacy~**]

Yay for the 5k review!

I still can't believe our luck of running into you both before and after the race (and later in the trip too)! And I'm so glad we took pictures. I am usually super guilty of forgetting to do this. Thanks for being considerate about pictures of my girls. I know many are very defensive about that. Although....there are tons of them out there in various social media/Disney forums so it would have been fine of you to do so.

I really love that you did all the character stops. If I could change our experience (which was good) I would have stopped for everyone. Lucy was pretty unwilling to run most of it so our time was record breaking in the sense of it being my slowest 5k. Haha. At that point I should have just embraced the Disney of it.

I love the movie Bolt and was so happy to see he was out for us. Honestly Mittens would have been ok too but Bolt is a favorite (I dressed as him for the 24 hour day in May 2014).

Marie has to be one of the cutest characters. And don't feel bad....I think half my pictures from that day my eyes were either closed or barely open. I'm blaming the early wake up for all my awkward pictures.

The picture at the Nemo area is great!

I'm glad you both had such a good race and hopefully we will meet at a Disney race again in the near future!!

 

[SarahDisney]

Yay for the 5k review!

I still can't believe our luck of running into you both before and after the race (and later in the trip too)! And I'm so glad we took pictures. I am usually super guilty of forgetting to do this. Thanks for being considerate about pictures of my girls. I know many are very defensive about that. Although....there are tons of them out there in various social media/Disney forums so it would have been fine of you to do so.

I'm really glad we ran into each other so many times! And I'm glad you suggested taking pictures, because I can't think of such things in the morning.
I know you have lots of pictures of the girls up here, but the way I see it ... parents can post pictures of their kids, but for other people it's a little awkward.

I really love that you did all the character stops. If I could change our experience (which was good) I would have stopped for everyone. Lucy was pretty unwilling to run most of it so our time was record breaking in the sense of it being my slowest 5k. Haha. At that point I should have just embraced the Disney of it.

I think it's really hard to balance running and stopping for characters. Sometimes I regret stopping for some of the characters because it slowed us down. But that's why you have to do a lot of Disney races - you can try doing it a little differently every time, and eventually you'll figure out what works best for you.

I love the movie Bolt and was so happy to see he was out for us. Honestly Mittens would have been ok too but Bolt is a favorite (I dressed as him for the 24 hour day in May 2014).

I still haven't seen Bolt, so it was equally unexciting for us. But I was very happy that they had some less common characters out.

Marie has to be one of the cutest characters. And don't feel bad....I think half my pictures from that day my eyes were either closed or barely open. I'm blaming the early wake up for all my awkward pictures.

I think race pictures are always awkward. It's probably the early wake up, I think you're right about that.

The picture at the Nemo area is great!

Thanks!!

I'm glad you both had such a good race and hopefully we will meet at a Disney race again in the near future!!

I really hope we get to meet up at another Disney race soon!

 

[NJlauren]

You don't love the random cat you had not met before?

Congrats on the race! It actually looks really cool and a lot of fun.... I am toying with the idea of running a Disney 5k... maybe in 2018...... stop making it seems so cool.. i want a reason NOT TO DO IT

 

[roxymama]

I just caught up on your recap for the 5k and it was fun re-living it through your pictures. Thanks for posting such detailed info.
I was surprised how light out it was for you and we were only two corrals apart. But that totally makes sense since it was getting light out as I was crossing the finish (duh.) The reason I bring that up is because it was so dark I missed Chip n Dale (saw them in my rearview mirror if you will) and Timon (again saw him too late...he must have been rotating with Rafiki.) The unknown cat was SO CREEPY in the dark. I literally was like AHHHHH WHAT IS THAT?
But then I got my coveted Marie pic and pics after that. Yours turned out better since mine were so under-lit. Next time I do rundisney I am stopping at more characters...I just know they will be on the left side for Epcot which is so conter-intuitive.

 

[SarahDisney]

You don't love the random cat you had not met before?

Um ...

Congrats on the race! It actually looks really cool and a lot of fun.... I am toying with the idea of running a Disney 5k... maybe in 2018...... stop making it seems so cool.. i want a reason NOT TO DO IT

Thanks
So ... if you're looking for reasons not to do it ... by 2018 it might cost $100. How's that? (These races are a lot of fun, but they're also a lot of money)

I just caught up on your recap for the 5k and it was fun re-living it through your pictures. Thanks for posting such detailed info.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed reliving it!

I was surprised how light out it was for you and we were only two corrals apart. But that totally makes sense since it was getting light out as I was crossing the finish (duh.) The reason I bring that up is because it was so dark I missed Chip n Dale (saw them in my rearview mirror if you will) and Timon (again saw him too late...he must have been rotating with Rafiki.) The unknown cat was SO CREEPY in the dark. I literally was like AHHHHH WHAT IS THAT?

I think the light definitely makes a difference with the experience. It's pretty cool to see Epcot in the dark, but it's easier to miss out on things when you can't see so well. I don't know if I'm making any sense ... it's just something that I noticed.

But then I got my coveted Marie pic and pics after that. Yours turned out better since mine were so under-lit. Next time I do rundisney I am stopping at more characters...I just know they will be on the left side for Epcot which is so conter-intuitive.

I agree that having the characters on the left seems counter-intuitive, but I guess it makes sense inside World Showcase because that's where the pavilions are, but it seems weird for a race because the faster runners are usually on the left, and slowpokes like me have to cross in front of runner.
Also, this is my Chip 'n' Dale picture before Photoshop:


So it was still dark for that picture. I just have a special program on my computer that helps me pretend that it wasn't so dark .

 

[roxymama]

That's a good point about left side runners....I am not a left side runner...I'm either on the right letting people pass me or in the middle letting people pass me...haha! But now I know strategy for if I get myself back to a Disney race in Epcot again

Also I showed your outfit sitting next to the Living Seas and my kiddo said "NEMO!" So she officially "gets" disney-bounding outfits

Looking forward to your 10k review since that's the race I wish I had registered for

 

[kathleen27]

Catching up ...

Relatives lie Love that title! I'm not a fan of getting wet on rides.

Wow! So many photo pass photos!!! I love the magic shots! I am pretty sure I did not see photographers in those spots when I was just there.

Expo - Great in depth detail! Sorry you didn't find anything you really liked. I just bought my first raw threads and wow! they are so soft. But ouch on those prices.

Love the 5k photos! Your costumes look great, that's fun that you got a photo in front of Nemo & friends! Stopping for characters definitely adds to the fun of the Disney races.
OK that's crazy that runners were on the far side of the characters. And in the dark.

 

[disneywlf]

The marathon looks like a lot of fun and I love all the characters you got to meet! Hope to try the marathon someday!

 

[SarahDisney]

Also I showed your outfit sitting next to the Living Seas and my kiddo said "NEMO!" So she officially "gets" disney-bounding outfits

Your kid is awesome. Seriously.

Looking forward to your 10k review since that's the race I wish I had registered for

The 10K was really a cool distance - I think you should definitely do a runDisney 10K in the future!!
Hopefully I'll have the recap up eventually ... I've been a little lazy lately.

Relatives lie Love that title! I'm not a fan of getting wet on rides.

Thanks
I'm totally with you on that - if I want to get wet, I'll go swimming. I don't want to be wet on a ride.

Wow! So many photo pass photos!!! I love the magic shots! I am pretty sure I did not see photographers in those spots when I was just there.

Thanks!
We tend to walk past the same spots multiple times looking for PhotoPass photographers. That's why we get so many pictures ... we kinda stalk photographers.

Expo - Great in depth detail! Sorry you didn't find anything you really liked. I just bought my first raw threads and wow! they are so soft. But ouch on those prices.

Thanks! I really love Raw Threads ... but yeah, those prices. Which is why I love when they have major sales.

Love the 5k photos! Your costumes look great, that's fun that you got a photo in front of Nemo & friends! Stopping for characters definitely adds to the fun of the Disney races.

Thanks!
I totally agree on the characters - stopping for characters is one of my favorite parts of the race!

OK that's crazy that runners were on the far side of the characters. And in the dark.

Yeah, that was pretty insane. I still can't believe they did it.

The marathon looks like a lot of fun and I love all the characters you got to meet! Hope to try the marathon someday!

Thanks! It was really fun!