dismagiclover
Mrs. Darling: Mom to Wendy, John & Michael
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2007
- Messages
- 3,074
to my latest trip report. For those of you unfamiliar with any of my previous adventures you can check out my last trip report hereThe Darling Family June Beach Club Trip: Hugging Ewoks and Finding Peter Pan
This trip report has a much shorter cast of characters and a much shorter duration, but it was definitely an adventure. So without further delay I’ll introduce our limited cast:
Mrs Darling (that’s me and you can call me Jenny). I’m now a 38 year old mostly SAHM that loves all things Disney (except maybe Hannah Montana). I also dabble in running and one of my favorite things is combining the two. I “ran” the Disneyland Half Marathon in 2007 and this trip was planned so I could “run” the Disney World Half Marathon.
Mrs. Disney (but we can call her Liz). My great friend that used to be my great neighbor. She left me a few years back, but I’ve long since forgiven her for that oversight. She is a huge Disney lover too and we’ve been lucky enough to meet up in Disney World three times since she moved far, far away. I planted the seed in her head of running in Disney way back in 2007 when I did the Disneyland Half. She started running herself a little less than a year ago. She then took me up on my promise that if she ever ran the Disney World half I’d come run it with her. (Of course that was a promise I was thrilled to keep.) She took to running right away and as you will see as the report progresses the student has overtaken the instructor. (Not that I was ever a great instructor.) Hopefully she will pop in regularly and tell ya'll the real story
The final cast members play very minor rolls that involve voices only (sometimes they come from the cell phone and sometimes they are just in my head.) If you read my summer trip report you’re familiar with the ones I left behind. DH (he’s not Peter this trip because he is nowhere near Disney World), Wendy, John, and Michael. This is the whole family last summer.
The Plan:
This was a quick weekend trip with the sole purpose of getting our Donald Duck medals though we did fit some other fun in. I’d rented some DVC points for the weekend at a Bay Lake Towers studio and we’d decided on the Deluxe Dining Plan. We figured it would be OK to splurge on a weekend that we ran 13.1 miles. Our reservations were made and we were ready to go.
So let the good times roll!!!
Day 1: The Journey
Bay Lake Tower Arrival
The Expo and the Tyvek Man
A California Grill Birthday Dinner
Night Night
Day 2: The Marshmallow Gang
Will we ever get to the Magic Kingdom?
A Sad Parting
Racing Up Main Street
Blazing our way through the Magic Kingdom
Heroes
This Race is On (for one of us anyway)
Epcot Here I Come
The Big Finish
It's Freezing Out Here!
Liberty Tree Character Lunch
A Magic Kingdom Afternoon
Our Celebration Dinner at the Castle
The Day Finally Ends
Day 3: Goodbye Bay Lake Tower
The End
Final Thoughts
sneeking in. 
I read your report on Sandy's thread. Someday I want to be you. I'm thinking maybe next year.
Everyone that I met on here (pre-race) was doing the half. I'm on a mission to convert all of you to the full for the 2011. Come on over!! I see that the dates are announced. I'd sign up today but Disney currently has all of my money. I'm going to have wait a couple of months before I can fork over some more.
No wonder you had IT band issues. That is just amazing. I'm planning on the full next January. I'll make my reservations on Feb. 6 when the 11 month window opens up. Boardwalk villas here we come! I won't officially register for a while because I too want to hold on to the money a little longer. I noticed on Sandy's report you're thinking of staying at BWI. Maybe we can ride the bus at the ungodly hour of 4 am together
The delay was good news because now DH and the kids could drive me to the airport and I wouldnt have to mess with parking and shuttles. So we left promptly and before I knew it I was at the airport standing in line to check my luggage. Originally I had planned on just taking a carry on. (The trip was only 2 nights.) But the weather forecast kept requiring me to pack more and more clothes so I finally decided to check a bag so I wouldnt have to worry about space. It was the coldest it had been in Florida in at least 25 years and I was pretty bummed about that. I want to escape winter when I go to Florida not take it with me.
Anyway, I made it to the gate where they promptly announced our plane was still on the ground in Buffalo but would be leaving shortly. It looked like about a 30 minute delay. I called Liz and left a message to let her know Id be late and shed have to wait a bit longer in the airport. We were taking the Magical Express together and I had the passes so she didnt have any choice. (Sorry again, Liz.) The plane eventually loaded and we were on our way. We landed after an uneventful flight. I called Liz and she told me she was sitting right by the food court waiting so I headed over. We happily said hello and then headed for Quiznos where we picked up sandwiches and quickly ate. We were in a bit of a hurry because we were hoping to make a DIS meet at POP by 4:00 and because of my 45 minute flight delay were running a bit behind schedule. After scarfing down our sandwiches we headed to the Magical Express. You no longer have to wait in line at the counter. You show your ticket and they send you directly to your bus line. We were in line number 4
Next stop was the Grand Floridian. Then came the Wilderness Lodge. At this point it looked like the entire bus disembarked. 
