Mrs. Darling's 2010 Half Marathon Trip:Yes, it does snow at Disney World

[carissanboys]

The close up of the castle is just gorgeous. I can understand why Wishes may not have been quite as enjoyable as usual.

Too funny about you both using different modes of transportation to get back to your room. I understand both trains of thought.

 

[Ellester]

I, for one, have enjoyed your fourteen posts to cover one day! You experienced a side of Disney I never have and it's been great reliving it with you. I'm sure you two were Zombies by the time Wishes was over. I'm so impressed you stayed up all day after the race and did so much at MK. (And, I think Chick-Fil-A is plenty refined!)

 

[dismagiclover]

Lovely pictures of the castle, its soooo beautiful with the icicles and the one with the portcullis and carousel in the background is v cool

Bless Liz, she must have really been in pain, but at least you went to get her a hot choc. Bet you were both out like a light that evening

I wish I could say I was thinking of Liz when I went to get the hot chocolate, but it was for me.

Beautiful pics of the castle and fireworks that night

The castle lights are so pretty.

The close up of the castle is just gorgeous. I can understand why Wishes may not have been quite as enjoyable as usual.

Too funny about you both using different modes of transportation to get back to your room. I understand both trains of thought.

The walking vs. monorail was pretty funny. We just both assumed we were thinking the same, but we obviously weren't.

I, for one, have enjoyed your fourteen posts to cover one day! You experienced a side of Disney I never have and it's been great reliving it with you. I'm sure you two were Zombies by the time Wishes was over. I'm so impressed you stayed up all day after the race and did so much at MK. (And, I think Chick-Fil-A is plenty refined!)

I'm glad someone enjoyed my ramblings! And we were pretty tired by the end of the day! Chick-Fil-A is the bomb! The workers at my local Chick-Fil-A actually recognize me when I go in

 

[carissanboys]

I'm glad someone enjoyed my ramblings! And we were pretty tired by the end of the day! Chick-Fil-A is the bomb! The workers at my local Chick-Fil-A actually recognize me when I go in

Chick-Fil-A is the best! Don't know how I made it growing up in the north without one around! But, Five Guys has the best burgers and fries. I love both of them equally, but for different reasons.

 

[Stefy]

Reason why I haven't rode it in 4 or 5 years

Well if you ever go Disneyland Paris, you will not only enjoy the ride much better, but it will be more comfy too (as comfy as you can be on a super fast ride)

Re: Hot Chocolate - Jenny Lol, oops must have read it wrong. I sure she was in your thoughts though

 

[Angies1274]

Wow! You got some beautiful pictures of the castle!!! I hope to make it there someday during the holidays...it looks so pretty!!

 

[dismagiclover]

Chick-Fil-A is the best! Don't know how I made it growing up in the north without one around! But, Five Guys has the best burgers and fries. I love both of them equally, but for different reasons.

Five Guys does have awesome burgers. I just love all those toppings! Grilled mushrooms, onions, peppers YUM!

Wow! You got some beautiful pictures of the castle!!! I hope to make it there someday during the holidays...it looks so pretty!!

The castle really did look great, but you'll have much better weather in April!

 

[dismagiclover]

After a great night’s sleep I woke up about 8:00. Liz was still in bed so I tried to quietly get up and get dressed. My plan was to head down to Contempo Café for a quick breakfast. I guess I wasn’t so quiet because Liz woke up too. She had a muffin she’d gotten yesterday at the post race tent so she didn’t need to go get breakfast. So I headed down. As I walked across the bridge to the Contemporary I shivered. It was around 28 degrees. I looked over and saw some of the full marathon runners making their way past the resort. I shivered at the thought of being out there again today. It was dry, but it was even colder than the day before. Kudos to those that did the full. And giant kudos to those that ran the Goofy (the half and the full). I’m not sure I could have motivated myself to get back out there in the cold again after the day before. Anyway, I smiled to myself as I thought about my plans for next year. I’m going to do the full and earn myself a Mickey Medal. Hopefully it’s a bit warmer (but not too warm.)
Anyway I headed into the Contemporary and used up a couple of snack credits on a muffin and fruit. Plus some hot chocolate in my handy refillable mug. The place was quite crowded and it was tough to find a seat. I sat at a single chair at the bar like thing. With the addition of Bay Lake Tower this quick service probably gets overcrowded quite often. After finishing up I headed up to the room. I found Liz taking a picture of this sign.

Liz made it the day before at the Expo, but she didn’t want to take the picture before we’d actually finished. Now we were finishers!

We discussed what we should do this morning. We considered Downtown Disney, but that would involve Disney buses. (We were Disney Bussed out.) We also considered visiting some of the other Magic Kingdom resorts, but we never really came to a decision. Instead we just sat around and chatted about life. It was really nice. Unfortunately I don’t get to just sit and chat with Liz anymore (what with her no longer living 2 doors away.) So it was great. It was the perfect way to spend our morning. (At least I thought so. Liz may have a different opinion.)

Eventually we realized it was getting close to check out time so we packed up our stuff and took a few pictures of our incredible view. Today it was sunny, but don’t let these pictures fool you. It wasn’t warm.

We headed out of the room shortly before 11:00. It is always sad to say goodbye to a Disney Home, but this was an extra short trip (though you wouldn’t know it from how dragged out the trip report has been) so it was extra sad to say goodbye. Here is the hallway as we left.

Here are some views out the windows in the hallways.

Here is me at the elevator

Here is Liz by the coolest artwork in the whole place

Seriously. Check that out. It’s Donald running! Nothing could be more appropriate for our trip.

We headed down to the first floor to check out.
But wait. We weren’t done quite yet. Our Magical Express Pick up time wasn’t for another 2 ½ hours. So what did we do next?

 

[carissanboys]

I'd figured out from other things you've said here and there (on other TRs) that you are going to do the marathon next year. Wow! That's so great!

Spending time just sitting around, relaxing, and chatting with a good friend is one of my favorite ways to spend some time.

 

[dismagiclover]

I'd figured out from other things you've said here and there (on other TRs) that you are going to do the marathon next year. Wow! That's so great!

Spending time just sitting around, relaxing, and chatting with a good friend is one of my favorite ways to spend some time.

I'm excited about doing the full marathon, but pretty nervous too. There is a big difference between 13 miles and 26 miles. The training will take up so much more time, but my youngest starts kindergarten next year so I'll be able to run during the days. Hopefully I can do it

 

[Stefy]

Wow that fifth pic is a pretty awesome view

 

[disneylovin24]

So sad that your TR is almost over I've really enjoyed reading it

 

[jmskinner]

Love the pictures of the resort. on returning next year and doing the full marathon.

 

[Angies1274]

Yay!! for returning next year to do the full marathon!!! Great pictures around the resort!!!

 

[dismagiclover]

Wow that fifth pic is a pretty awesome view

There are awesome views all over the resort! That may be the 2nd best thing about it (the best being it is walking distance to MK)

So sad that your TR is almost over I've really enjoyed reading it

I don't think you'll miss it too much. I see from your ticker you'll be at BLT soon

Love the pictures of the resort. on returning next year and doing the full marathon.

Thanks! You sure you don't want to try one of the races? They do have a 5K!

Yay!! for returning next year to do the full marathon!!! Great pictures around the resort!!!

I'm excited about trying the full, but nervous too. It's just one of those things I want to do before I die and I'm not getting any younger!

 

[dismagiclover]

We had a couple of hours before the Magical Express picked us up so we decided to go shopping. We browsed around the shops in the Contemporary resort. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but this caught my eye.

Cute isn’t it? My DH and my youngest are big baseball fans so they loved this when I showed them the picture. Liz picked up some things for her family and I continued to browse, but couldn’t resist buying this guy.

DH is a big Indiana Jones fan and I’d never seen this Mickey before.

After my impulse buy we headed over to the little convenience store area and used up all our snack credits on Mickey shaped rice crispy treats. The kids loved them. I have no pictures to show because they are long gone.
After getting our shopping done we needed to use up those last Deluxe Dining credits. We headed here.

They were just opening for lunch so the place was empty.

We were seated at a small table.

Liz needed one last shot with her medal.

We both had the soup for an appetizer. It was yummy! Plus we were both still loving hot foods after the previous day.

For our entrees I had a hamburger and Liz had the Rueben. My hamburger was good. Nothing fabulous, but good. Liz really enjoyed her Rueben. At this point it was getting late and I was getting worried about catching our Magical Express bus. We’d already been there around an hour and hadn’t even ordered dessert yet. I expressed concern to our server so she quickly took our dessert order. The order didn’t come too quickly though. In fact the server brought out the check and we had it all paid before the dessert ever came. Liz told me not to worry. (I think she just wanted to prolong the trip.) Anyway, by the time our dessert finally arrived we managed to take a few quick bites and then we had to run. The desserts here are very cute. They are 3 sample sizes of different things. They were tasty too, but we didn’t savor them so I can’t give a good review. Overall I’d say our meal was just fine. There was nothing to complain about (other than it took a while), but I don’t view the Wave as a destination restaurant. If I stayed here again I would eat here, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to come back.

We headed out to bell services to pick up our luggage and they said they would bring it to the bus. Around three minutes later the bus pulled up and we had to wait a few minutes for the bellhop to retrieve the luggage before we could board. We made it on though and even got front row seats. Here is the view as we pulled out.

And here is the final shot of us on the bus.

We arrived at the airport. I said a sad goodbye to Liz and got off at the first stop while Liz headed to the second terminal. The check in and flight home was uneventful and before I knew it I was standing on the airport curb in Baltimore being greeted by the rest of the Darling Family. The trip was over, but the memories live on.

Would I do it again? Well the plan is to run the full marathon next year to get my Mickey Medal so

Next up: Final Thoughts

 

[mla1977]

I'm going for a Mickey medal next year too! (with TnT again)

 

[disneylovin24]

Good for you for planning on doing the full marathon Can't wait to read about it


I bought an Indian Jones Eeyore a few years ago but I've never seen the Mickey before

 

[carissanboys]

Thanks! You sure you don't want to try one of the races? They do have a 5K!

I believe Melissa is thinking about it. She's started the C25K program.

 

[carissanboys]

I really like The Wave's decor. What kind of soup was that?

So sad to see your report end. I have really enjoyed this one!