I won't say I'm in love...but I am!! A Feb '14 GSC PTR! (NEW 2/9)

[emilyindisney]

Grab a water bottle, throw on your sweat bands, and lace up those sneaks' because we've got 19.3 magical miles ahead of us!



That's right, folks! The DISters (DIS sisters- disneyhorselover and I) are back running the Walt Disney World Enchanted 10k and Princess Half Marathon (together known as the Glass Slipper Challenge) and we're inviting you to join us! Whether you'll be earning your own pair of glass slippers, or reading from home, sit back, relax and enjoy the run!

For my new friends, I'll do some introductions!

Meet Emily:

I'm 20 years old and I love Disney, running and crafting.

I wasn't raised in a Disney-or-die family but have grown to love the parks over the past 3-4 years. I've traveled twice as a kid, and once this year with my sister. I hope to continue to see the World annually over the next couple of years! I especially love planning my fantasy Disney vacation with my sister. Growing up, I always loved to watch my beloved Disney VHS, especially the Little Mermaid!

I'm not narrating this PTR/TR alone! My partner-in-crime is my DSis Caitlin, whose joining me for the ride...and the run! All of her writing will look like this.


Meet Caitlin:

Like Emily, I also enjoy Disney and running, but rather than crafting, I'm much more likely to be found on the back of a horse. I am lucky enough to have my dream job, training horses for a living. My favorite Disney movie changes from week to week, but the main stays are The Lion King, and more recently, Tangled.

I can't quite remember when I got bit by the Disney bug, but I went once as a child and then started going again when I was in college, and have been fortunate enough to travel to Disney several times over the past few years, though not as frequently as I'd like!

This trip we'll be traveling with our mom (DM, I suppose), and Caitlin's friend R.

Meet Mom (aka MJ):

Mom likes a good vacation- no matter where it is! She also loves to read, and reads over 70 books each year (yes- she actually counts!)

She first visited Disney with DDad on their honeymoon over 25 years ago. Though MJ doesn't love Disney quite like DSis and I, she tolerates our obsession and is very excited about going on a girl's trip! She won't be running but is excited to cheer us on with a sign and her Mickey clappers.

Meet R:

R is my best friend from college. She didn't go to Disney for the first time until she was 21, when we went for senior spring break. Since then, she has also fallen in love with The World, and has been able to go for a few more day trips since interning and then moving to Florida. Since we first booked, R was accepted to Vet School out of the country and now will only be able to cheer us on in spirit!
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[emilyindisney]

Table of Contents​

How this trip came to be (part 1)
How this trip came to be (part 2)
POFQ, ASSp, BC...and where we actually decided to stay
Going Glass Slipper
Mini TR: Bermuda and Chicago
Picking ADRs and Making Plans
Dining Details and Flight Watching
Mini TR: Gobble, gobble! Cait finishes her first half marathon!
Houston, we have lift off... or take off...
Hartford Half Marathon
Ch-ch-changes
A mini-update of sorts
It's the final countdown!
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[DaveinFallsChurch]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

 

[emilyindisney]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

Welcome! Glad you made it!

 

[wiigirl]

I'm in!

 

[emilyindisney]

I'm in!

Thanks for joining!

 

[Eight]

Count me in!

I really wish I could do the GSC, but with doing the marathon the month before, I don't think it will happen. I will have to live vicariously through your P/TR!

 

[emilyindisney]

Count me in!

I really wish I could do the GSC, but with doing the marathon the month before, I don't think it will happen. I will have to live vicariously through your P/TR!

I will do my best to make it like you're right there running with us! I cannot wait to hear about your marathon! Are you doing a PTR?

 

[emilyindisney]

It's hard to pinpoint exactly where this trip began because it is really the culmination of a lot of different events. After thinking it over, I've decided I don't think this trip would be possible without Philadelphia Marathon Weekend 2012. To make any sense of that, we have to back up to the beginning of 2012.

In January, I resolved to run a Warrior Dash with Caitlin. She'd done one the previous year and it seemed like a lot of fun. I didn't know how I was going to run 3 miles but, I agreed anyways.

I was telling a friend about this newly made pact, and she suggested that we sign up for a Color Me Rad race together. That way, I'd have motivation to follow through on my training over the spring because CMR was in May. So, I agreed to that too.

Then came the hard part- the running. I worked and worked and worked, and completed CMR in 35 minutes!

The race was a lot of fun, and the personal accomplishment I felt as I crossed the finish line was awesome. I was officially hooked.

Over the summer, I ran two more 5ks and improved my time each race! By the time Warrior Dash came around, I considered myself a runner.

Warrior Dash was my first race with DSis and we had a great time. We run well together, and finished Warrior Dash in 38 minutes (I think? DSis can probably confirm.)

When I got back to school in the fall (UConn- Go Huskies!) I joined the long distance running club. They were planning a weekend trip to the Philadelphia Marathon in November so I decided to take the plunge and sign up for the 8K on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, a week or two later this proved to be out of the question. We wouldn't be leaving campus for Philly until Saturday morning, after the race had already started. It was either sign up for the half marathon on Sunday, or stay home. I'm sure you can see where this is going...

With 9(ish) weeks of training, I completed my first half marathon in 2:17. Even though my legs were killing me as a crossed the finish line the feeling of earning that medal was addictive. I knew I had to get another one (and another, and another!)

A few weeks later, I signed up for two more half marathons- one in April and one in September. Though this whole process, I'd talked a lot to Caitlin about how happy I was I'd done Philly and how I knew I wanted to do more. Caitlin had been running longer than I had been but had never done any serious races, or any long distance races. I kept saying she should do a half but she would jokingly tell me she'd only do a half marathon if it was the Princess Half Marathon.

Flash foward to January when we're wandering around Animal Kingdom on the first day of our trip. Everywhere we look people have all sorts of race bling and we were jealous! Not only were there running medals, but they had Mickey Mouse on them. My two loves had come together and I had to have one of my own.

The idea of a runDisney race kept popping up over the course of the week. We'd throw out resort suggestions, or next time, we should... plans. By the time we went home, we knew we were going back for the 2014 Princess race!

Next Post
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[Eight]

I'm not sure if I'll do a PTR yet or not, it depends on when my current one gets finished, and then, I'll probably do a Disneyland TR for Dumbo Double Dare, but I'd like to do one at some point!

Totally agree, that feeling of crossing the finish line and getting a medal, especially on longer races, is so addictive! And I must warn you, Disney medals are especially addictive. They are my favorites of the ones I have!

 

[emilyindisney]

I'm not sure if I'll do a PTR yet or not, it depends on when my current one gets finished, and then, I'll probably do a Disneyland TR for Dumbo Double Dare, but I'd like to do one at some point!

Totally agree, that feeling of crossing the finish line and getting a medal, especially on longer races, is so addictive! And I must warn you, Disney medals are especially addictive. They are my favorites of the ones I have!

I totally didn't realize you were doing Dumbo!!!! I feel silly because its right in your signature too, haha! Cannot wait to hear about that race(s).

I already feel addicted to Disney medals and I haven't even won one yet. I'm toying with the idea of an overnight to do ToT 10 miler in 2014 too!

 

[magichusky]

Wow you guys really DO look like warriors in those Warrior Dash pics!! I don't know if I'd be able to work up the gumption to jump right into a mud pit w/ running shoes on! That Color Me Rad race also looks pretty awesome- and messy!

 

[emilyindisney]

Wow you guys really DO look like warriors in those Warrior Dash pics!! I don't know if I'd be able to work up the gumption to jump right into a mud pit w/ running shoes on! That Color Me Rad race also looks pretty awesome- and messy!

Thanks! We felt pretty beastly after that race!

Trust me- I definitely didn't jump in with my good running shoes. I threw on a pair of old sneakers for the race that I designate for messy things (like Warrior Dash and Color Me Rad, haha!)

 

[emilyindisney]

My running story starts similarly to Emily's. I was a very casual runner, using it for exercise, but never really considering it possible to run long distance. My happy place was 1-2 miles...a far cry from 13.1. I was always impressed with half marathoners, and thought that was something I could NEVER do.
In August of 2011, a friend and I signed up for Warrior Dash, because we thought it looked like more fun than just running. It was! After completing that, I still wasn't sure about running long distance, but I had started to get hooked on that feeling of crossing the finish line for a medal. I signed up for 2 more Warrior Dashes in 2012, and completed them both.

This kept me running 2-3 miles a few days a week, but still nothing more. After completing those and a regular 5k in the fall, I was starting to consider myself a regular runner-of 3 miles or less.

After Emily completed her first half marathon, I decided I eventually had to do one as well, and that it would be a Disney one. As Emily mentioned, we were extremely jealous of the runners there for marathon weekend who got to walk around the parks wearing such amazing bling!! While we were in line, we started chatting with a woman behind us who had run the Goofy challenge, which we couldn't even fathom. On top of that, she was planning to run the Tinkerbelle half marathon in a week!!! We were obviously in awe of her, and she was very nice and told us a lot about Disney races and how she completed Goofy. I love the running community!

It was decided we were doing the Princess and the 5K figuring two medals would be awesome. When the opportunity arose to run the Glass Slipper Challenge and earn three medals we knew that's what we had to do!

Fast forward to today, where I have now run a 10k (to qualify for a better corral for the Princess Half), regularly run 8-9 miles on the weekends, and am registered for a half marathon in September, and the Glass Slipper Challenge in February.

Most people think that we are crazy for wanting to run this challenge. I'd probably agree with them....I'm fine with that!

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[emmysmommy]

I'm loving your back story to this upcoming trip and your running histories. I'm a lazy runner who only runs 15 miles a week just to eat more junk food! I really wish I would get back to the 30 miles a week I used to run when I was more in shape. How awesome that you are doing this.

I'm definitely looking forward to hearing all about your training, planning and of course the accomplishment with this feat!!

BTW: I just got back from Hartford, CT for business! Go Huskies!

 

[disneyhorselover]

I'm a lazy runner who only runs 15 miles a week just to eat more junk food!

BTW: I just got back from Hartford, CT for business! Go Huskies!

Isn't this why we all run?!


Seeing as Emily and I are both Uconn alums (well, I am), a Huskies cheer never fails to make me smile

 

[emilyindisney]

I'm loving your back story to this upcoming trip and your running histories. I'm a lazy runner who only runs 15 miles a week just to eat more junk food! I really wish I would get back to the 30 miles a week I used to run when I was more in shape. How awesome that you are doing this.

Isn't that why we all run? (Derp- I just realized Cait said the same thing...great minds think alike!)

BTW: I just got back from Hartford, CT for business! Go Huskies!

Welcome to UConn country! Luckily you saw some of our nice weather, and not our blizzard weather

 

[emilyindisney]

Before I get into all the juicy, Disney 'deets' I wanted to give a quick running update.

I ran my first roadrace of the summer this morning. It was a brand new 4 mile event by Hartford Marathon Foundation. Though there are some kinks they should work out in years to come, I really enjoyed the course and the staff were great.

Finished with a smile, and a sub 10-minute pace so I'm pretty happy!

Without further adieu, I'll get to some details of our trip. We'll be staying in the at the Disney's Boardwalk Inn Villas from Friday, February 21st to Monday, February 24th. This is our first time renting points and staying deluxe (aside from the Swan) so I'm pretty excited!

As the title implies, we did a lot of flip flopping before we decided on BWV. I'm going to through some resort photos in to color my story- they're all from allears so I take no credit

Our first thought was to stay cheap again and go with a value. DSis is partial to Pop but I wanted to try something new and suggested we try ASSp seeing as this would be a sports themed trip.

DSis is not a football person so I suppose this definitely would not be her hotel of choice!

After talking it over again, we thought it might be worth splurging for a shorter trip and bumping up to a moderate. The hot tub would be nice, and seeing as its our goal to one day stay at every resort it would be cool to try somewhere new again.

I like the Mansion section of POR so that was my pick. DSis has visited New Orleans so she thought it might be more fun to stay at POFQ. This was the plan for a while until I discovered the concept of renting DVC points.

Now that I knew deluxes could be in our price range if we rented a villa, the plans changed again. After a short discussion we agreed we liked the Boardwalk and wanted to book there. The rental site made us pick three choices so after much debate we settled on BC and OKW as our second and third. I was really pulling for SSR but the resort sounds very big and DSis was concerned about the amount of walking. We tossed around the idea of WL too but it seemed a little far from our race weekend agenda. I would have loved AKL too but the standard villas were below David's booking minimum and we were concerned about the distance from our races.

As soon as our 11 month window opened up, I filled out the form for David's and waited to hear back.

Unfortunately, there were no openings That was disappointing and though I tried to wait it out, my eyes couldn't help but wander. Another site had points available for the Beach Club Villas. We'd also considered this (and passed because it was more expensive) but at this point I was itching to book and liked the idea of having SAB.

My only worry was that it might be too cold to enjoy all the awesomeness SAB has!

I texted DSis about considering a switch and checked my emails while I waited for an answer. Low and behold, I had a message from David's saying our rental had come through! All BC thoughts disappeared from my mind because we were officially booked for a standard villa at the Boardwalk Inn!

Cannot wait to be here in person!

Our experience so far with David's has been great. I was a little leary to book with an individual but now that I know the process I might be more comfortable doing that in the future. Have any of you ever rented points? Do you have any tips/tricks/experiences to share? How about any BWI fans? Anything we should definitely do while staying there?

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[emmysmommy]

First of all CONGRATULATIONS on your time. I'm such a slow lazy runner - my GOOD time is about 10:30 per mile.... Ok, I'm going to invoke old age here since if I can keep running 4-5 miles at 50 I'm happy!!! Anyways, great job and it sounds like you really enjoyed the race.

I LOVE BW as well. We stayed at the villas for part of our family trip last year. I am interested to hear about folks experience renting points as well. We've stayed at a DVC property every trip we have been on and paid cash. Yikes! Makes me feel silly for doing that when points can be rented cheaper. I'm glad you feel good about using Dave. I've read all the information and just haven't taken the leap yet. I'm going to keep tuned in to see how your experience is. I'm sure it will be a game changer and you'll never pay rack rate again.

Have a great Sunday!

 

[emilyindisney]

First of all CONGRATULATIONS on your time. I'm such a slow lazy runner - my GOOD time is about 10:30 per mile.... Ok, I'm going to invoke old age here since if I can keep running 4-5 miles at 50 I'm happy!!! Anyways, great job and it sounds like you really enjoyed the race.

I LOVE BW as well. We stayed at the villas for part of our family trip last year. I am interested to hear about folks experience renting points as well. We've stayed at a DVC property every trip we have been on and paid cash. Yikes! Makes me feel silly for doing that when points can be rented cheaper. I'm glad you feel good about using Dave. I've read all the information and just haven't taken the leap yet. I'm going to keep tuned in to see how your experience is. I'm sure it will be a game changer and you'll never pay rack rate again.

Have a great Sunday!

Any miles you can run are better than not running any at all! I always say if you're not walking, you're running! (Haha, I don't believe in the word jog.)

Reading into the world of DVC renting and finally understanding it sort of blew my mind. I am- if nothing else- an extreme 'bargainist'. The fact that you can stay on deluxe property for such a savings is awesome! I know the villas are a little different from the rooms but they certainly have their advantages while still allowing us to try deluxe and save money. Granted Dave charges a little more than the average owner does, but I felt comfortable with the security of his BBB accreditation. If this experience goes well, I doubt we'll ever stay at a deluxe resort for rack rate!

Happy Sunday to you as well!