llachance
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 14, 2002
- Messages
- 644
Spent this past weekend in Disneyland! My daughter and I stayed at the Crowne Plaza Resort (Hotwire $59.00 per night). Paid a $9.00 resort fee when we got there (included parking, internet access and shuttle to Disneyland). The parks were within walking distance (about a mile) but the shuttle ran regularly. For those who are inpatient a taxi ride was 10.00 including tip. There is a target across the street if you forget anything and Outback Steak House, Red Robin and Joes Crab Shack within 100 yards. There is a restaurant in the hotel and the prices seemed reasonable but we didn't try it out.
Drove from Northern California on Friday. Checked into the hotel then headed to the Disneyland Hotel to pick up our race information. We were signed up for the 5K and the 1/2 Marathon. The 5K was on Saturday morning and the 1/2 was on Sunday. Walked around the expo a little, picked up some souvinears (they had gold ears with the Inaugural 1/2 marathon logo on them among other things) and then headed out to find dinner. It was about 5:00 pm and we stopped at Goofy's and were seated within 5 minutes. Even though my daughter is almost 20 she still loves character meals and had a great time getting autographs!
Saturday morning we were up at 5:00 and walked to the 5K start, stopping on the way at Denny's for an early breakfast. The 5K had a Pirates of the Carribean theme and pirates were everywhere. The race started at the Mickey and Friends parking lot and went through both parks, ending in California adventure. There was a 3000 participant limit. This was good because the streets are narrow in places. Less then an hour later we were done with the race. Received our medals, very fun with a pirate's logo and headed back to our hotel. Took quick showers and headed back to the park! Went to Disneyland first went on Pirates of the Carribean, Indiana Jones, Poohs Great Adventure, Buzz, watched the parade (which was fun), went on Roger Rabbit, shopped for gifts then headed over to California Adventure. Walked on to Soarin (single rider line) and had dinner. Then, since we had to be up at 3:30 to make it to the start of our half marathon we headed back to the hotel and to bed.
Sunday morning we were up at 3:30am. Had somebreakfast in the room then about 4:30 caught the shuttle to the race. The race started near downtown Disney and had about 12,000 participants. For those of you who are interested the average age of participants was 40, 62% were women and there were 16 different countries represented (figures that I heard while waiting to use the Porta Potty). With the characters looking on the race started promptly and about 12 minutes later my daughter and I crossed the start line. Since I haven't mentioned it up to now this was my daughter's first half marathon! I have done a bunch including all the Disney Events including the Goofy challenge but since my husband had to back out this weekend she took his spot! Along the route we saw numerous high school bands, Hawaiian Dancers, Mariachi's, we got to run the bases (so to speak) at Angel Stadium and yes we went through both parks again, the last half a mile was through downtown disney finishing right near the hotel. And don't let anyone tell you it is not about the medal. The medal is a replica of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. It has the 1/2 marathon day and tells us that we have completed the "Happiest Race on the Earth". I forgot to mention there were characters in both California Adventure and Disneyland when we were going through! We had a great time and my daughter and I finished right at 3 hours (for me this is what I normally do, for my daughter she was more then please because she figured she would take at least 30 minutes longer)
We caught a cab, showered, checked out of the hotel and went back to California adventure. Walked onto Tower of Terror (first time I had been on it in California and it was a blast) then went to Monsters Inc. This was the only problem the entire weekend. There was a family behind us in line that thought it was fun to listen to their child scream. I asked him to be quiet because he was hurting my ears but to no avail. So, when we got to the front of the line (and there was not a long wait) we asked the ride operator to put us in a separate car from this family because if their child was going to scream throughout the ride, and they were going to laugh, then I didn't want to put up with it. The family got very indignent and said that I should understand that he was just a baby (this baby had already lost at least one baby tooth and his head reached my waist line - he was no baby, just not disciplined) and were very upset that they were going to have to wait for the next car - literally 5 seconds - however our ride was peaceful and I could enjoy my surroundings.
Any questions that I can answer please don't hesitate to ask!
Drove from Northern California on Friday. Checked into the hotel then headed to the Disneyland Hotel to pick up our race information. We were signed up for the 5K and the 1/2 Marathon. The 5K was on Saturday morning and the 1/2 was on Sunday. Walked around the expo a little, picked up some souvinears (they had gold ears with the Inaugural 1/2 marathon logo on them among other things) and then headed out to find dinner. It was about 5:00 pm and we stopped at Goofy's and were seated within 5 minutes. Even though my daughter is almost 20 she still loves character meals and had a great time getting autographs!
Saturday morning we were up at 5:00 and walked to the 5K start, stopping on the way at Denny's for an early breakfast. The 5K had a Pirates of the Carribean theme and pirates were everywhere. The race started at the Mickey and Friends parking lot and went through both parks, ending in California adventure. There was a 3000 participant limit. This was good because the streets are narrow in places. Less then an hour later we were done with the race. Received our medals, very fun with a pirate's logo and headed back to our hotel. Took quick showers and headed back to the park! Went to Disneyland first went on Pirates of the Carribean, Indiana Jones, Poohs Great Adventure, Buzz, watched the parade (which was fun), went on Roger Rabbit, shopped for gifts then headed over to California Adventure. Walked on to Soarin (single rider line) and had dinner. Then, since we had to be up at 3:30 to make it to the start of our half marathon we headed back to the hotel and to bed.
Sunday morning we were up at 3:30am. Had somebreakfast in the room then about 4:30 caught the shuttle to the race. The race started near downtown Disney and had about 12,000 participants. For those of you who are interested the average age of participants was 40, 62% were women and there were 16 different countries represented (figures that I heard while waiting to use the Porta Potty). With the characters looking on the race started promptly and about 12 minutes later my daughter and I crossed the start line. Since I haven't mentioned it up to now this was my daughter's first half marathon! I have done a bunch including all the Disney Events including the Goofy challenge but since my husband had to back out this weekend she took his spot! Along the route we saw numerous high school bands, Hawaiian Dancers, Mariachi's, we got to run the bases (so to speak) at Angel Stadium and yes we went through both parks again, the last half a mile was through downtown disney finishing right near the hotel. And don't let anyone tell you it is not about the medal. The medal is a replica of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. It has the 1/2 marathon day and tells us that we have completed the "Happiest Race on the Earth". I forgot to mention there were characters in both California Adventure and Disneyland when we were going through! We had a great time and my daughter and I finished right at 3 hours (for me this is what I normally do, for my daughter she was more then please because she figured she would take at least 30 minutes longer)
We caught a cab, showered, checked out of the hotel and went back to California adventure. Walked onto Tower of Terror (first time I had been on it in California and it was a blast) then went to Monsters Inc. This was the only problem the entire weekend. There was a family behind us in line that thought it was fun to listen to their child scream. I asked him to be quiet because he was hurting my ears but to no avail. So, when we got to the front of the line (and there was not a long wait) we asked the ride operator to put us in a separate car from this family because if their child was going to scream throughout the ride, and they were going to laugh, then I didn't want to put up with it. The family got very indignent and said that I should understand that he was just a baby (this baby had already lost at least one baby tooth and his head reached my waist line - he was no baby, just not disciplined) and were very upset that they were going to have to wait for the next car - literally 5 seconds - however our ride was peaceful and I could enjoy my surroundings.
Any questions that I can answer please don't hesitate to ask!
