NYE & WDW Marathon 2012 Trip Report - COMPLETE

[jrmint427]

I'll preface this report by stating the obvious; yes, this is an outdated report. I have a 2.5-month old DD and I am counting down the days until I can take her to WDW for the first time. Since that is still several years away, I have been living vicariously through you guys by lurking other trip reports and thought it would be fun to share my own "recent" experiences. I hope this is okay! I love learning from everyone else's reviews and have already started gathering ideas from those of you with young kids to plan our next trip, likely in 2017 but maybe sooner if I can convince DH!

Travel dates: December 31, 2011 to January 9, 2012
Resort: Hilton in Downtown Disney
Cast of characters (ages 26-27):
Jessica (me)
Pat (my husband)
Maggie (friend)

It had been many years since any of us had been to WDW (mid-to-late 1990s). It had been almost 17 years since I personally had been to WDW in Florida. We were all very much due for a visit, and it was the first time any of us went as adults. Just for fun, here is a picture of me with Mickey in 1995:

As fairly new runners, Maggie and I ran our first half marathon in March 2011. We signed up for the WDW Marathon in July 2011, which was going to be our first marathon. We figured if we were going to run a marathon, Disney was the one to run.

We were originally planning to spend just a few days at Disney before the marathon, but our trip quickly grew from there. What was going to be a long weekend became a five-day trip when we decided we wanted to go to all four Disney parks and spend a day at Universal. We couldn't make a trip to Orlando without visiting the Harry Potter world! We then realized that we were going to need three vacation days in order to make this work; if we were willing to take four vacation days, we could expand the trip to nine days, since January 2 was a paid holiday for each of us, and we would then have two full weekends to spend on this trip. And that would allow us to spend New Year's Eve at WDW! So the trip quickly went from a three-day long weekend to a nine-day long vacation. I am so glad we made this decision.

To save a little money we decided to stay at the Hilton at Downtown Disney. Although it was offsite the hotel offered free shuttles to all Disney parks, and as far as I know, was the only offsite hotel that offered Extra Magic Hours at the parks. It was also just across the street from Downtown Disney, which we thought would be a fun location. We decided to skip on the dining plan because we wanted more flexibility to save money on food. I will also note that I am a vegetarian and am very happy to say that I found plenty of delicious vegetarian food in the parks.

I am a planner, but when we first started planning this trip, I had no idea how much fun a Disney trip could be for a planner like me. I used TouringPlans to come up with a plan based on the crowd calendar and to research restaurants.

We managed to ring in the new year, hit all four parks (Epcot and HS twice), visit Universal Studios, and run the WDW Marathon all in 9 days!

 

[jrmint427]

Day 1: NYE in Epcot, Dinner at Biergarten (12/31)
Around the World - Part 1
Around the World - Part 2
Around the World - Part 3
Dinner at Biergarten
NYE Celebration
Day 2: Animal Kingdom, Dinner at Jiko (1/1)
Animal Kingdom - Part 1
Animal Kingdom - Part 2
Dinner at Jiko
Day 3: Epcot (1/2)
Epcot - Future World
Day 4: Universal Studios, Dinner at Benihana (1/3)
Universal Studios - Harry Potter!
Day 5: Magic Kingdom, Character Dinner at Crystal Palace (1/4)
Magic Kingdom - Part 1
Magic Kingdom - Part 2
Dinner at Crystal Palace
Day 6: Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney (1/5)
Hollywood Studios & Downtown Disney
Day 7: Hollywood Studios, Dinner at Brown Derby (1/6)
Hollywood Studios and Hollywood Brown Derby
Day 8: Brunch at Grand Floridian, Race Expo, Dinner at Portobello (1/7)
Grand Floridian, Race Expo & Portobello
Day 9: WDW Marathon! (1/8)
WDW Marathon - Part 1
WDW Marathon - Part 2

 

[jrmint427]

Day One: December 31, 2011
The Plan: Arrive in Orlando, Explore the World Showcase, Dinner at Biergarten, Ring in the New Year in Epcot

We flew into Orlando bright and early the morning of New Year’s Eve. I had read that the parks close early on NYE because they become so full, so we wanted to make sure we were at a park before that happened. We took a 6:20am flight to make sure we would be there in time.

We took a cab to the hotel (the Hilton in Downtown Disney), dropped our luggage off, and then took a hotel shuttle to Epcot. I think we heard that at least Magic Kingdom was already filled to capacity, but Epcot was the park we wanted anyway.

The Christmas decorations were still up, which made me very excited!

As we expected, Epcot was packed, but we were able to get in.

Since the park was so full, we decided we would come back another day to do the rides in Future World and opted to tour the World Showcase instead. On our way there, we stopped at the Coca-Cola store to try free samples of Coke products from other countries. I really liked the product from Israel and the vitamin water from Japan. The watermelon flavored soda from China was interesting. Italy’s was just gross to me, it was really bitter and left a bad taste in my mouth.

We then headed to the World Showcase. The first stop in our travels was Canada.

Our original plan was to drink our way around the world, but it was a hot day, and only noon, so instead we planned to just try a few drinks and food items along our way. In Canada we watched the video, O, Canada! The videos are in what they call Circle Vision 360. You stand in around room where you are surrounded by a screen that circles the whole room. It was a really pretty way to learn about what Canada has to offer. A few countries had these videos. They felt somewhat dated, and were pretty much advertisements for the countries, but I enjoyed them. It made me want to visit countries I haven't been to, and I got excited when I noticed landmarks I have been to before.

The view from Canada:

Next up was United Kingdom. We just took a few pictures here.

We were quickly on our way to France.

One of my favorite things about the World Showcase was that the cast members in each country were actually from that country. It made the experience feel more authentic. In France we stopped at a kiosk for strawberry-filled crepes topped with sugar. They were delicious!

We also watched Impressions de France, which made me want to go back there of course. I spent just 2 days in Paris when I was in high school.

 

[jrmint427]

Our next stop was Morocco, where we stopped for lunch at the Tangierine Cafe. The three of us split two Vegetarian Plates, which included hummus, couscous, falafel, lentils, tabouleh and salad greens. I also tried the Kabash Coffee with hazelnut liqueur. It was good, but for about $7, it was a tiny cup. Morocco was one of my favorite countries. It didn't have any rides or videos, but they had a market with beautiful clothes, jewelry and other items for sale.

Japan was next. There were no rides or videos, but we walked through a few displays and took some pictures.

\

Next was the U.S. in what they called the American Adventure. As you may expect, we were greeted by funnel cakes. How much more American does it get?

There was a long wait for the next show in the U.S., so we decided to come back later in the day.

Italy had some of my favorite scenery. We thought about stopping for gelato but the line was too long.

We had dinner reservations in Germany that night, so we passed through quickly our first time there.

We stopped for a refreshing drink in China.

We were making good time around the world and were quickly entering Norway.

We waited in a long line for the Norway ride, Maelstrom. It was a boat ride with a small drop. At this point in the trip, I was afraid of "small" drops. I had an experience as a kid where my parents didn't tell me there was going to be a drop on Pirates of the Caribbean until I was already on the ride. In my memory, this was a huge drop at a time I was scared of roller coasters, and I had really built these drops up in my head. I braced myself for a much bigger drop on Maelstrom, but it wasn't bad at all.

 

[jrmint427]

Our last stop around the world was Mexico.

By this point, we were dealing with wall-to-wall people, but we slowly made our way to the boat ride in Mexico, the Gran Fiesta Tour starring Donald Duck.

The ride was definitely one for kids. It was a random boat ride through a lot of television screens, each playing snippets of Donald Duck and the Caballeros. I think it was designed to keep the attention of a three year old.

After Mexico we headed back to America, where Disney was handing out free hats and horns for New Year’s Eve. We waited in line for about half an hour since we were told they were only giving away supplies until they ran out. After we picked up our goodies we went to watch the American Adventure movie. You can imagine how loud it was in this building with everyone blowing their horns indoors! I wish we could say we were better behaved, but we were caught up in spirit of NYE

 

[jrmint427]

After the movie we walked back to Germany for dinner at Biergarten. When I went to make reservations for our New Year’s Eve dinner this was one of the only restaurants that still had reservations available. I was worried that meant it was the worst of Epcot restaurants, but we were pleasantly surprised by the food and entertainment. It was a family-style buffet where we were sat with a family of five at our table. It was a couple with three girls. As the oldest of three girls, I was able to relate. The middle child was especially talkative and entertained us during the meal. She told me that Jessica is her favorite girl’s name!

I was impressed with the buffet. The website for the restaurant did not list many vegetarian options, but they had tons. Lots of salads (including bean salads), cauliflower soup, pretzel bread, spaetzle and more. Not to mention all the desserts! I did not go hungry. Or thirsty ;-)

The entertainment was fun too. We got to hear the band play a few times.

Since we weren’t able to compare Biergarten to other Epcot dining experiences, we felt very happy that we had eaten there. Although the food and entertainment were good and I was glad we ate here, I would probably choose to try a different restaurant next time we are at Epcot. One visit was probably good enough for us.

After dinner we went back to China to catch the only movie we had missed, Reflections of China, another circle movie theater. I’m adding China to my list of places to visit! Okay, it was already on there, but the movie made me want to go soon.

 

[jrmint427]

After the movie we wandered around the World Showcase, looking for the best place to catch the fireworks at midnight. We settled in somewhere around Japan. A little before midnight they celebrated New Year's for each country who had already celebrated around the world. They would announce, "Germany celebrated New Year's five hours ago!" And then Germany lit up, they played German music and shot fireworks off near Germany. The U.S. show right at midnight was awesome. They sky was completely lit up.

Since we had been up since 4:00am, we were ready to head back to our hotel right after midnight. It took forever to make it back to the buses, and then we had to fight our way onto the bus for our hotel. A cast member was threatening that people would walk home if he saw any pushing, but I definitely got elbowed by a lady who managed to get the last seat on the bus! We had to stand on the over-an-hour bus ride home, thanks to NYE traffic. I was a little grumpy by then (my feet were KILLING me!), but all in all, it was an awesome way to ring in the New Year!

 

[jrmint427]

Day Two: January 1, 2012
The Plan: Animal Kingdom, Dinner at Jiko

Even after our late night celebrations, we still managed to get up at a reasonable hour catch a bus to Animal Kingdom. Our first stop once we arrived was for caffeine! This was the one park we considered skipping early in our vacation planning, and I am so glad that we decided to go. Last time I went to Disney (1995), Animal Kingdom had not yet been built. The park was beautiful. We saw Divine when we first entered the park!

Expedition Everest was on the top of our list, so we headed there to go for a ride and to get our Fastpass to ride again later. Mount Everest was so majestic from a distance.

It was such a fun ride! At one point, the track looks like it ends, and you get a great view over Disney. Then the roller coaster is pulled backwards into the dark. At the very end you go through a tunnel with the giant Yeti. Apparently, the Yeti was broken while we were there, because we could barely see him! There were strobe lights over him, and you could just make him out in the right light. I read that they do this when the animatronic Yeti is broken. We rode Expedition Everest three times throughout the day, twice in the front row.

After our exciting roller coaster ride, we headed to Dinoland.

There we rode what I thought was the scariest ride of our entire trip - Dinosaur! You ride on a jeep that goes back in time and meet lots of dinosaurs. Including a giant t-rex. You sit in front of the t-rex for a long time. He even blows fire at you, and I had to look away. In fact, in the picture they snap of you, my head is in the process of turning away, and all you see is a blur of my hair! I'm wishing now we had bought that picture.

After the scary ride, we went on a tame roller coaster, Primeval Whirl. It's a mini coaster where you're in a circular car that spins around. It almost made me sick.

Next we headed to Asia for lunch at Yak and Yeti.

I had read they have some of the best vegetarian food in the park, and I have to agree. I was sold as soon as I saw that I could substitute tofu in any item on the menu. I had sweet n' sour with tofu. Disney does tofu well!

 

[jrmint427]

After lunch we rode Kilimanjaro Safaris, a ride into the Harambe Wildlife Reserve. It was like a zoo but better. We got really close to some of the animals, and many of them were pretty active. We got some pretty awesome pictures.

After the Safari we took a train ride to the Affection Section, which is what they call their petting zoo. They had goats, donkeys, llamas and pigs to pet. Bueller the goat was my favorite. He was friendly and reminded me of my playful dog back home. He just jumped right up on a bench to be part of the action.



He got really friendly with another goat!



Next we headed to Festival of the Lion King for a show. It was amazing! I love all the music from the Lion King and the performers were so talented. My favorite was a woman who flew around on a thin string, like a bird. Unfortunately, my pictures from the show did not come out very well so I will spare you those.

Our final ride for the night was It's Tough to be a Bug. I sat that one out, and I'm glad I did after Pat and Maggie told me about it. I don't do well with bugs, especially not ones that touch you. Fake or real.

 

[jrmint427]

We were very sad to leave Animal Kingdom, but we had an ADR to make at Jiko.



We loved all the Christmas decorations at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I would love to stay at this resort on a future trip!



I ordered the Taste of Africa, a sample of four African dips. To be honest, I wasn't crazy about it. Two of the dips were too spicy for me and I think one had cilantro, which I hate. There was only one dip I really liked. However, the wine and the soup were amazing. The soup was one of the best things I ate all week. It was a puree of sweet potato, pineapple and red pepper. I even attempted to recreate it (almost successfully) at home after our trip.



I wish we could have had two full days at Animal Kingdom!

 

[jrmint427]

Day Three: January 2, 2012
The Plan: Epcot

On our first day at Epcot we mostly stuck to the World Showcase. We felt like we could spend a whole day exploring the rest of Epcot, so we headed back, hoping it would be less crowded than it was on NYE. It was not much better.

We first went to pick up a Fastpass for Soarin. On NYE, we heard there was close to a five hour wait, so we knew we wanted to grab a Fastpass quickly. I only wish we had the Fastpass system down on day one. You can only get so many Fastpasses during a day, and each on tells you what time you can get your next Fastpass. So we would plan our day around those times to get as many Fastpasses as we could. While we were in The Land for our Soarin Fastpass, we road Living with the Land.



We didn't know what it was, but saw that there was almost no line. It was actually a fun boat ride. We learned about agriculture and took a trip through Epcot's greenhouse, where they actually grow food they use in their restaurants in The Land. One of my favorite items in the greenhouse were the 9 pound lemons. You read that right, they were seriously huge!

Next we headed to watch Captain EO, the 3D Michael Jackson video. We then rode Spaceship Earth in the giant Epcot golf ball, as we heard one little girl call it. It was cool! I didnt realize how tall the ball was, but it felt like we kept going up, up, up. Apparently it is 18 stories tall!

We ate lunch at a quick service counter. Pat and Maggie had burgers and I had a black bean veggie burger. It was very good. I was once again impressed with the vegetarian options.

After lunch we went to watch Ellens Energy Adventure with Ellen DeGeneres.

Our guidebook said it was a 45 minute ride, but it went by very quickly. It starts with a video of Ellen who has a dream that shes on Jeopardy and is asked questions about energy. We then went into a large theater. They told us that once we were in our seats, no one could stand up for the next 35 minutes. The cast member actually threatened they would stop the entire ride if anyone stood up. Yikes! I didnt realize the whole theater would move. We went on a ride through the history of energy, beginning with the Big Bang. It was fun!

After the ride, we headed back to the World Showcase. We had picked out a few souvenirs we wanted on NYE. I had decided to collect shot glasses from each park, and I knew I wanted the Mickey boot shot glass from Germany. We also wanted to try some lefse in Norway. It was delicious!

We took a few silly pictures on our quick tour of the World Showcase.

We then wandered back through Mexico to go ride Soarin' with our Fastpass. It was a fun ride, but would not have been worth a five hour wait. Or a two-three hour wait. You're hanging in the air in front of a large screen, as though youre hang gliding over California. It was very pretty, but we could see the legs of the people hanging down from the row above us, and it took away from the experience for us.

We then headed to Test Track. My favorite part of the ride was the super-fast part of the track!

Our final ride for the day was Mission Space. I had read that this one might make me sick, so I wanted to save it for last just in case. Spinning rides often give me motion sickness, and once I have it, its hard to get rid of. I considered going on the more mild version of the ride, but was talked into going on the intense version. I was given a "ticket" with lots of warnings about the ride.

They said no matter how sick you feel, you should not close your eyes. I knew it wasn't a good sign when we got on the ride and they had barf bags in front of each rider. The ride simulated a space shuttle taking off, and I actually felt like my skin was being stretched back, as though I was shooting upwards on a space shuttle. I did feel pretty sick, but didn't know it was because we were spinning around in circles until I was off the ride. No wonder I felt sick! Luckily, it didn't last for too long after the ride.

We decided to call it a day and head back to our hotel for dinner where we ordered pizza delivery. I was glad that we had spent two days at Epcot so we could experience most of the rides and shows.

 

[jrmint427]

Day Four: January 3, 2012
The Plan: Universal Studios

Since this is a Disney site, I wont spend too much time on Universal, but I at least need to mention it. The Harry Potter world was a huge draw for us.

I only wish we had gone to Universal Studios one day earlier. Sadly, one of the rides from my childhood (again, this was 1995), closed the day before we went: the Jaws ride. It closed on January 2, 2012 and we visited on January 3. They had already boarded up the ride. When I was little, my family had our picture taken under a giant shark outside the ride. I was looking forward to re-creating this picture 17 years later, but was not given the opportunity.

I have wanted to visit Hogsmeade at Universal ever since I read it was opening. I couldnt believe I was finally there! It was everything I had imagined and more.

The line for the ride in Hogwarts castle was advertised as being 2.5 hours. We were hesitant to get in line, but decided this ride was the whole reason we came to the park, so we went for it. It was too bad we couldnt get a fast pass. It only ended up being about a two hour wait, but they did have a lot to look at in the queue once we got inside the castle.

The ride was worth the two hour wait. We were in cars that alternated between showing you a video screen, where you felt like you were flying on a broomstick and scenes where you felt like you were actually in the movie. The dementors got super close to us. I loved it!

Next up was the Dragon Challenge roller coaster. It's a coaster with two intertwined tracks that "race" each other. We almost missed out on this coaster because the weather was so cold. It was closed the first time we went by because temperatures needed to reach 40 degrees before they could start testing the track. Thankfully it "warmed up" a bit.

After the rides we ate at The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. We had to wait in a very long and very cold line just to get inside. But it was worth it to experience the pub. They had traditional pub food and a few favorites from the Harry Potter books. We ordered butterbeer and took the obligatory butterbeer mustache pictures. It was similar to cream soda. Sorry for the poor picture quality here but I wanted to share a few.





I hated leaving Harry Potter world, but there was so much more to see at Universal. We rode the Incredible Hulk roller coaster, which was one of my favorite rides of the entire trip. It was such a rush!



We also rode Disaster, a ride that was similar to one from my childhood, which I think had been called Earthquake. After a show with audience participation, you board a subway and experience an earthquake complete with fire and rushing water.

We went on the Simpsons ride. We were freezing by this point. We were going to ride Twister and waited about 20 minutes. As we were boarding the ride, they made an announcement that you would get wet on this ride. We made a quick decision not to ride. Of course, once we were out of line, a park attendant told us that they turn the water off on cold days. But we had already decided we were ready to head back to our hotel.

We ate dinner at Benihana in our hotel. They threw a bit of Disney into their show, which was fun.



After dinner we called it a night. We had a full day planned at Magic Kingdom the next day!

 

[jrmint427]

Of all the parks, I felt most like a kid again at Magic Kingdom. Even as an adult it was truly magical. It was fun to ride the Disney classics from my childhood. I was so excited when I caught my first glimpse of the castle!





Our first mission was to find coffee. Touring the Disney parks for nine days straight was a lot of fun, but it was also exhausting. We found some caffeine at the Cheshire Cat.



We first rode Stitch's Great Escape, a ride where you are locked in a chair in a room that goes dark and Stitch gets loose and bounces on your head and pokes you. It was really creepy. I don't think I would have liked that as a kid. I didn't like it very much as an adult!



Next up was Buzz Lightyear's ride, where you shoot at targets to score points. I sat between Maggie and Pat so I didn't get to play - we didn't realize in advance that there were only two shooters per car. But I had fun taking pictures and cheering them on. It wasn't even a close match!

I was most excited to go on It's a Small World. When I was little I rode that one over and over again. One of my favorite sights here is the clock out in the queue. I love this thing and wish I could have a replica at home!

It is truly the happiest cruise that has ever sailed!

The last room with characters from all over the world singing together has always been my favorite.

We also rode the classic Peter Pan ride. I couldn't believe how long the lines were for these two rides, but I would have been very sad to miss them.

 

[jrmint427]

The Haunted Mansion was another favorite. I can’t believe I was scared of that one as a kid.

The entertainment while you wait in the queue is almost as good as the ride itself. There were funny tombstones, a stone piano that actually played, a magical bookshelf you could interact with and more.

When I was younger, I refused to go on any ride that had a drop of any kind. No roller coasters or log flumes for me. The Pirates of the Caribbean ride has a small drop. My parents waited until I was on the ride to tell me about the drop. Once I was in the boat, there was no escaping. I was mad about that one! I still haven’t forgotten it (obviously). I guess the drop was smaller than I remembered

We used our Fast passes for Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, alternating throughout the day so we could ride both several times at the end of the day. They were my favorite at Magic Kingdom. We skipped Splash Mountain because of how cold it was. On one of our rides on Big Thunder Mountain, we got stuck on the way up. We had a great view of the park though!

It is amazing to me that so many Disney rides have not changed in the past 17 years. In comparison, many of the Universal rides seemed much more high-tech, but they did not have the same Disney magic.

 

[jrmint427]

We ate dinner at the Crystal Palace.

The buffet food was actually pretty good (and there were plenty of options for me as a vegetarian), but we were really there to see the Winnie the Pooh characters. Even as adults, a character meal is so much fun. We got pictures with all four, and a few of them had a little fun with us.

After dinner we went to the Hall of Presidents. We had just enough time to make it back to the castle for the fireworks. I found myself wishing that every night of my life could end with fireworks. After the show we rode Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain a few more times before going home. It was such a magical day!

 

[jrmint427]

Day Six: January 5, 2012
The Plan: Hollywood Studios, Downtown Disney

Our plan for the day was to spend most of the day at Hollywood Studios. We decided we would go back the next day so we did not feel too rushed to get everything done on our first day there. I loved the huge Christmas trees outside of each park!

I was a little bit nervous about Hollywood Studios because it came with a challenge. I had been mentally preparing myself all week to take on the Hollywood Tower of Terror. It is a ride a skipped when I was younger because I was too scared. I was determined to overcome my fear and ride it at least once. We first picked up Fastpasses for the ride, but I wasn't ready to go on it yet.

Instead we rode the Rock n' Roller Coaster. It's an indoor, looping roller coaster. It wasn't quite as thrilling as I expected it to be. It was still fun, but it's not as scary going upside down when you don't know which way is up!

Next we went on the Studio Backlot Tour. They take you through various stunts and a behind-the-scenes tour. It was entertaining.

We also went on the Great Movie Ride.

I'm pretty sure I remembered this one from when I was little too. You ride in cars with a tour guide and they interact with scenes from different movies. Our first tour guide was a little annoying so I wasn't too sad when a gangster scared her off and took control of our car!

We finally rode Tower of Terror. I was literally terrified to get on the ride. I was especially alarmed when we got on the elevator and I realized the only restraint was a band that went across our laps. There is nothing that comes down over your head! I read later that Disney does that on purpose, so you lift up in your seat a little when the elevator drops. It adds to your terror.

The elevator attendants were probably some of the best cast members. We got in our elevator, and we were off, winding through the hotel. The next thing I knew, we were on our way up. Then the doors opened in front of us and we could briefly see out across the park. And then we dropped. Over and over again. I was terrified but it was so much fun. When we got off the ride I was shaking. And then I asked if we could ride it again!

One of our last rides for the day was the Star Wars ride. It was a motion simulator ride and it made me feel a little sick.

This was our sixth day at Disney, and we knew we were planning to come back the next day, so we left a little early and headed to Downtown Disney to explore a bit and find some dinner.

While we were at the parks, Maggie and I found ourselves pulled into the pin trading. We had to check out the pin station at Downtown Disney and see if the cast members had any pins we wanted to trade for. We also wandered around the Lego store. I was amazed by all the Disney Lego creations in and around the store.

We ate at the Earl of Sandwich and called it an early night. With only three days left until our first marathon, we needed to get some rest!

 

[jrmint427]

Day Seven: January 6, 2012
The Plan: Hollywood Studios, Dinner at the Hollywood Brown Derby

This was our final day touring the parks before we ran our marathon. We were sad to be ending our days in the park, but we were excited that we still had the weekend at Walt Disney World.

We got to the park early and we booked it over to the Tower of Terror. We got a Fastpass and jumped in line for a quick ride. I was addicted at this point.

Next up were a few shows we had missed the day before. We watched the Beauty and the Best show, which was basically the whole story, including the music, in 30 minutes.

Then we went to the Indiana Jones show. We were in the very back row (standing) but still had a great view of the special effects.

Our last show was the Lights, Motors, Actions show. There was lots of fire in these shows! I was really impressed with the stunts in the last one.

We had Fastpasses to ride Toy Story Mania. It was similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom, but more fun, with different kinds of games in each room you passed through.

We were really into pin trading by this point in our trip and we were in awe of this guy's vest and hat. It didn't look like he was trading, but a lot of people were stopping him to take pictures. We waited our turn and then asked if we could have a picture too.

We ate dinner at the Hollywood Brown Derby.

The food was good, but it was my least favorite dining experience at Disney. The environment was supposed to be like the classic Brown Derby restaurant (in California, I think), but it wasn’t anything special like other Disney theme restaurants. The food was good, but it felt like any other nice restaurant.

After dinner we rode the Hollywood Tower of Terror a few more times. I love that ride! When we go back next year, we will probably go to Hollywood Studios just to ride the elevator a few times in a row.

 

[jrmint427]

Day Eight: January 7, 2012
The Plan: Brunch at the Grand Floridian, Marathon Expo, Dinner at Portobello

We decided to give our poor legs a break the Saturday before the marathon. After a full seven days of touring the parks, we needed the day off.

A friend who used to work with us had moved back to Orlando, so we made plans to get brunch with her at the Grand Floridian. She picked us up at our hotel. This was a nice treat after taking Disney transportation all week! The Grand Floridian was beautiful. We walked around for a little bit before our reservation. I would love to stay there some day. One more resort to add to my "some day" list.

Brunch was delicious. I had pancakes with banana, trying to load up on carbs and potassium before the big race. We had strawberry orange juice as a nice treat too.

After brunch our friend dropped us off at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex where we needed to pick up our race packets. We took the obligatory race number photos.

This was the packet pick-up room - it wasn't very crowded while we were there.

Then we were off to the expo. The expo was huge! But Disney was, as always, well organized, and it did not take very long to pick up our packets. TI ended up making a few purchases at the expo (a marathon pin, a pouch to carry a few things during the race and a Stick, which is similar to a foam roller).

After the expo we took a bus back to our hotel. We hung out for awhile before dinner. We had plans to meet up with a friend of mine from high school who had also moved to Orlando. We ate a very early dinner with her at Portobello. As in 4:00 PM early. I ordered ravioli and it was delicious!

We walked around Downtown Disney after dinner and got some hot chocolate. It was a cold night, and we had a 3:00 AM wake-up time the next morning, so we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

I was incredibly nervous about the marathon at this point. I was nervous about whether I would make it the whole way, or if I would have to walk the whole time. I was also really excited.

I think we were in bed by 8 or 9 PM. I slept surprisingly well!

 

[jrmint427]

Day Nine: January 8, 2012
The Plan: Run the Walt Disney World Marathon!

Disney races start at 5:30 AM. We woke up at 3:00 AM, planning to take a cab to Epcot at 3:30 AM. The cab didn’t show up until 3:45 AM. At that point, a few other people at our hotel were sharing a van that was only charging $5 per person, so we decided to go with them. Although the Hilton in Downtown Disney came with many of the Disney resort benefits such as extra magic hours and free shuttles to Disney, they did not offer a shuttle to the parks on marathon morning. That was a little disappointing, considering that many people staying at that hotel were probably there for the marathon, either as runners or spectators.

Our van dropped us off at the start line… where there were no other people. If only we knew we could have stayed where we were! We walked all the way back to where everyone gathers before the race. Then we had to walk back to the starting corrals with everyone else. It was a cold morning, and I was thankful we had bought some warmer clothes at a thrift store that we could ditch right before the start of the race. I had heard that Disney will collect any discarded clothes to donate. I was lucky to have found a Mickey sweatshirt to wear before the race.

After a quick breakfast of a banana and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and a bathroom break, Maggie and I made our way to corral D. It was such a long walk to the corrals that we didn’t have to wait too long for the start of the race once we got there. I loved that they had fireworks that went off before each corral was released.

The first few miles were pretty congested and a little boring. It was dark out, and we were running around outside of Epcot. Running through Epcot was fun, but it was a quick run by Spaceship Earth and through a few countries of the World Showcase, and then we were on our way to more highway running. We stopped for a bathroom break during the 5th mile. I drank a whole liter of water before the race!

Mile 1: 11:34
Mile 2: 10:57
Mile 3: 11:02
Mile 4: 11:45
Mile 5: 14:54

Due to an IT band injury on my part, we ended up training for the race with walk/run intervals. Our plan was to run 6 / walk 4 minutes. It was really hard to walk early in the race because we were so excited, but we knew we had many miles ahead of us. We weren’t running this race for a specific time goal, but we didn’t want to take forever either. Our plan was to stop for pictures with characters that we really liked and skip the rest.

It was mostly highway running until we entered the Magic Kingdom around mile 10. They had some music and characters along the way, but none that we felt like stopping for. Before entering the Magic Kingdom we ran past the Grand Floridian where we had eaten brunch the day before. That really put the distance in perspective!

Mile 6: 11:48
Mile 7: 11:44
Mile 8: 11:31
Mile 9: 11:51
Mile 10: 12:15

Magic Kingdom was my favorite park to run through. I loved all the crowds and the energy. It definitely helped me to pick up the pace. I didn’t want to stop much while we were running through the park. It was really exciting to be coming up on Cinderella’s Castle.

And even more exciting to run right through the castle!

We made our first stop for a character picture in Magic Kingdom with Jessie from Toy Story. They were very efficient with the picture taking, so the lines went pretty quickly. Most characters had several helpers who would take your camera as you waited in line, quickly snap a picture, and then off you went.

Even with our picture stops, our Magic Kingdom miles went a little quicker.

Mile 11: 10:49
Mile 12: 11:50

Almost all of our character stops came during the second half of the race!

 

[jrmint427]

The stretch from Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom was another long one. After we hit the half-marathon point, I was finally starting to feel the distance. There seemed to be a good number of characters on this strip though, so we stopped a few times. The Johnny Depp pirate was one of my favorite characters

Maggie wore a green skirt and top in honor of Tinkerbell, so we had stop for the Peter Pan characters. We were sad we didn't get to see Tinkerbell!

We stopped for pictures with the Pocahontas characters. John Smith said something to me like, “So good to see you.” Some of the characters were talking and playing their parts!

Mile 13: 11:58
Mile 14: 12:11
Mile 15: 13:19

My biggest complaint about this stretch was when we went by the Disney compost and/or water treatment plant. The smell was overwhelming and absolutely disgusting – about as bad as the port-o-potties. I thought I would be sick. I felt really bad for the volunteers who were handing out water as we went by. I could not have stood that smell for more than a few minutes, and we ran a little faster to get past it. The animals at Animal Kingdom smelled better than that stretch.

As we came up on Animal Kingdom, they had a few of the animals from the petting zoo out for us to pet and take pictures with. We had visited these animals earlier in our trip at the petting zoo in Animal Kingdom, but it was fun to see them along the race course. We took pictures with an owl, donkey and goat.

I loved that the run through Animal Kingdom felt a little longer. We waited for this park for our next bathroom break since we knew we would be able to pull off for an actual bathroom (with soap). When we passed Expedition Everest, a couple of women in front of us actually left the race course to go for a ride! I guess that’s the nice thing about such a relaxed race. We were tempted to follow, and now wish that we had.

At Animal Kingdom we stopped for pictures with Rafiki and a safari Minnie.

Mile 16: 12:04
Mile 17: 15:58 (bathroom break)
Mile 18: 11:58

The stretch between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios went by in a blur. It felt like they had more frequent water stops and there were more characters and entertainment to look at. We stopped for a picture with the old many from Up.

On the way into Hollywood Studios we stopped for a picture with Jafar.

Mile 19: 11:54

The race got really tough for me around miles 18-19, but I probably didn’t hit the “wall” until miles 21-22. It was so excited to see mile 20, since everything after that would represent a personal distance record. Someone told me before the race that the marathon wouldn’t start until the last 10k, and they were right. Somewhere between miles 19-20 we switched to running 3 minutes / walking 2 minutes. It was the same amount of running time in total, but helped us mentally at the time.

Mile 20: 11:51
Mile 21: 12:52
Mile 22: 12:38

Hollywood Studios was a really good distraction. There were more crowds of people, which always gives me a little more energy.

After Hollywood Studios, we ran through a boardwalk area, and we were quickly back at Epcot, running through the World Showcase again. We stopped for a picture with the Beast.

Mile 23: 13:57
Mile 24: 12:55
Mile 25: 12:00

At this point we were just running as much as we possibly could and taking walk breaks as needed. The last 1.2 miles were the worst. I kept trying to remind myself to run happy and keep smiling, but I was experiencing more pain than I ever expected to feel.

When we got to mile 26, we took a short walk break, hoping we could push it through the final stretch with all the crowds. But then a woman yelled to us: “Don’t stop now. See that corner up there? You just need to get around that and you will see the finish line. Run!” So we did.

Mile 26: 12:53
Mile 26 – 26.76: 11:11 (7:49 pace during our sprint at the end)
Total: 5:29:02 (12:18 pace) / Official time: 5:28:36

We were marathoners! We were given our medals and water and pushed through to the food. I started to feel a little dizzy, but we made our way to meet up with Pat at the family tents.

I was exhausted but felt awesome after finishing my first marathon.

We finally made it back to our hotel, and after a shower and a two-hour nap, I was good to go. We walked to Downtown Disney for dinner at Earl of Sandwich and a special post-marathon treat: a Ghiradelli cookie/ice cream sundae. After we got back to our hotel we took a quick dip in the hot tub. That felt amazing.

We left Orlando early the next morning (another 3:30 AM wake-up), and I wore my marathon shirt to the airport. It was fun to see the other marathoners and be congratulated. However, Maggie and I found ourselves feeling a little bit jealous of those elite few who were wearing Goofy Challenge shirts, so...

Next up: Goofy Challenege 2013!

Thanks for reading along!