Official 2013 Tower of Terror 10 Miler

[MacClemsons]

Read a good percentage of the posts but not ALL. Haven't signed up yet. This would be 1st race ever for me.
We have APs but this would be trip without kids. How inconvenient is it to stay in non-host hotel? We will have car. I don't want to pay $$$ for hotel. Right now there is no military discount for Oct.

 

[PrincessV]

I still need to register. I am thinking next week. I still don't see a bar, so i assume we are still under the 50% mark. I have a feeling that is going to jump up the closer to the end of march we get.

I ave absolutely nothing to base it on, but that's my feeling, too.

How much of Disney will you be visiting BEFORE the race?

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None. Zero. Zilch. Mostly because this is just a weekend trip for me,not a full vacation, but also because past experience tells me my running suffers if I've been on my feet in the heat for days before the race. I'll arrive Sat., hit packet pick-up, get into my hotel and just chill - maybe hit the pool, perhaps see a movie, definitely try to nap.

How long does packet pick up take?

Just pick-up was pretty quick for me last year - I'd say no more than 10 mins, though over an hour by the time you add in travel time, walking from the parking lot, etc. It can get a whole lot longer if you choose to truly shop the expo.

How inconvenient is it to stay in non-host hotel? We will have car. I don't want to pay $$$ for hotel. Right now there is no military discount for Oct.

Not at all inconvenient. I stayed at SSR, which was not a host last year. Rather than deal with parking at WWOS, I drove around the corner to POR, had dinner, and took the race bus from there. Going back after the race was no sweat, either - took the bus to POR and drove 5 mins to SSR. You may find a nice AP rate at a non-host, WDW resort. Might find a good one at a host resort, too!

 

[kmchisholm]

How much of Disney will you be visiting BEFORE the race?

I'm trying to plan our schedule out--
We arrive early (about noon) on Friday, and will leave early Monday afternoon.
While we're primarily there for the race, there's also the food and wine festival, MNSSHP, and just other general "Disney World" to see and do! I'm having a hard time figuring out just how much I should be trying to squeeze in without wearing myself out before the race.

Should we go to a park (likely Magic Kingdom) as soon as we arrive Friday...then rest on Saturday?

Or do you think a park early in the day on Saturday is "do able" without getting too tired?

What about going to ESPN to pick up the race packet? Should I plan to do that as early as possible on Friday, or will waiting 'till Saturday be better (especially if we plan to not go to a park Saturday?)

How long does packet pick up take?
Thanks!

May be lengthy, so i apologize. We're planning to arrive Fri afternoon through Wed (maybe Thursday). As always it will depend on the weather, but if there is a MVSHP Fri night we'll do that, if not expo (allow 1 1/2 for full round trip, always depends on how much time you want to spend at vendors). I learned my lesson by doing too much before W&D last year, so Sat will be breakfast and pool time, expo if we don't do Fri. However, it is only 10 mi (that sounds crazy) so if you take it easy, you could do park & shows Sat an. Just leave time for nap.

 

[acpalmer]

DH and DS (12yo) just registered. I will be cheering them on along with our younger DS (10). My mom (63yo) is also registered and plans to walk most of the race. She currently walks 5 miles every day at a 15 minute/mile pace, so I think she will be fine, as she is planning to up her training gradually from now until the race. We normally travel to WDW in June, so early October should feel NICE for temps and we know that going down to sea level (we live in Denver, my mom included) makes us feel so very strong and fit, LOL. DH and DS plan to run some/walk some.

We are excited to be there--just trying to decide how much park time we will do. We will arrive late Thursday night and leave Monday mid-morning, so could do some park time Friday, Saturday morning/early afternoon, and Sunday afternoon/evening. We're using our DVC points to stay at OKW.

 

[VAfamily1998]

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Just pick-up was pretty quick for me last year - I'd say no more than 10 mins, though over an hour by the time you add in travel time, walking from the parking lot, etc. It can get a whole lot longer if you choose to truly shop the expo.

Thanks! I don't really plan on shopping at the expo--I pre-ordered a pin, and that's really the only souvenir or gear I am interested in.

So it sounds like if we do arrive at POFQ about noon, take a bus to the expo to do packet pick up...we could still have a little time to hit magic kingdom for a few hours,then dinner at an Epcot restaurant? Great!

 

[VAfamily1998]

May be lengthy, so i apologize. We're planning to arrive Fri afternoon through Wed (maybe Thursday). As always it will depend on the weather, but if there is a MVSHP Fri night we'll do that, if not expo (allow 1 1/2 for full round trip, always depends on how much time you want to spend at vendors). I learned my lesson by doing too much before W&D last year, so Sat will be breakfast and pool time, expo if we don't do Fri. However, it is only 10 mi (that sounds crazy) so if you take it easy, you could do park & shows Sat an. Just leave time for nap.

Thanks! I know what you mean about only 10 miles...one thing I figure...Sunday is typically my "long run" day--most Sundays I will run between 10-13 miles...Saturday night is date night for us...so usually when I run my long runs, it is after an evening of good food, a little too much wine...so maybe I can just consider myself well trained for running the TOT 10 miler, even with a food and wine festival

 

[fairestoneofall]

i officially registered today.

 

[acpalmer]

I did this race last year and LOVED it!! Yes it was HOT, but it was FUN!!!

So, who's in with me

Freepixie--I just saw in the 2012 MNSSHP thread that you did MNSSHP on Friday night and the TOT 10 Miler on Saturday night--we are thinking of doing this schedule this year. How did it go for you? Thoughts, feedback, input, etc.?

 

[VAfamily1998]

Freepixie--I just saw in the 2012 MNSSHP thread that you did MNSSHP on Friday night and the TOT 10 Miler on Saturday night--we are thinking of doing this schedule this year. How did it go for you? Thoughts, feedback, input, etc.?

Oooo I am interested in knowing too!

 

[freepixie]

Freepixie--I just saw in the 2012 MNSSHP thread that you did MNSSHP on Friday night and the TOT 10 Miler on Saturday night--we are thinking of doing this schedule this year. How did it go for you? Thoughts, feedback, input, etc.?

Oooo I am interested in knowing too!

It worked out nice for us I did not do the 5K, so we planned that on race day we would want to sleep in anyhow! So staying out late the night before helped force us to sleep in on the day of the race! Plus, I ALWAYS have the problem with anxiety/nerves the day before a race, so having a party helped to alleviate the stress and take my mind off of what I would be doing the next evening, helped me to "stay in the moment" you know?

Not sure if we are doing the party the same way this year too, we will have to see once they release the party dates and go from there

I will tell you that the Friday Halloween party was very crowded, it was a sold-out party, and one of the CM discount parties, but it was a BLAST!! Still nowhere near the crowds you see during the day!!

Definately doing a Halloween party again this year

 

[acpalmer]

It worked out nice for us I did not do the 5K, so we planned that on race day we would want to sleep in anyhow! So staying out late the night before helped force us to sleep in on the day of the race! Plus, I ALWAYS have the problem with anxiety/nerves the day before a race, so having a party helped to alleviate the stress and take my mind off of what I would be doing the next evening, helped me to "stay in the moment" you know?

Not sure if we are doing the party the same way this year too, we will have to see once they release the party dates and go from there

I will tell you that the Friday Halloween party was very crowded, it was a sold-out party, and one of the CM discount parties, but it was a BLAST!! Still nowhere near the crowds you see during the day!!

Definately doing a Halloween party again this year

Thanks so much! We are coming from Mountain time zone and would frankly like to try to stay on that time (it will help DS12 if the race/villains party seems to be from 8-2 rather than 10-4, kwim?) and we think that being up for the party the night before will do just what you said--force us up late Friday and to sleep in on Saturday. We also are not doing any of the events Sat. morning.

We already arrive late Thursday (late in FL, anyway) so we are set to sleep in Friday morning. If we can maintain that schedule, then I think we will all be better off.

Thanks again!

 

[tcmata]

Just noticed that ToT registration is now at 52%!

 

[mufasa0505]

That just happened in the last few hours. I checked it earlier and it wasn't listing the percentage yet!

 

[french lady]

Well I guess it's time to register
Diane

 

[tcmata]

Well I guess it's time to register
Diane

That's what I was thinking!

 

[mufasa0505]

Is it normal for people to bring kids to the after-party? We definitely won't make it to 4am, but just curious.

 

[MacClemsons]

If the race is at 10pm, what time do you need to leave to get over to start location?

Just registered with DH.

This is my first kids-free Disney vacation in 10 years. We will only be there 3 days but hoping to do Key to the Kingdom. really would like to do it on Saturday. Just don't know that I can "do nothing" all day.

 

[annmarieda]

If the race is at 10pm, what time do you need to leave to get over to start location?

Just registered with DH.

This is my first kids-free Disney vacation in 10 years. We will only be there 3 days but hoping to do Key to the Kingdom. really would like to do it on Saturday. Just don't know that I can "do nothing" all day.

Rundisney will give definite times in the final race instructions, but I want to say that we left at 7:00..no later than 7:30.

 

[freepixie]

Is it normal for people to bring kids to the after-party? We definitely won't make it to 4am, but just curious.

Yeah, I saw a lot of kiddos running around at the after-party! It is a kid-friendly environment They can even get into the park at 10:00 as the race is starting so they can start riding rides

If the race is at 10pm, what time do you need to leave to get over to start location?

Just registered with DH.

This is my first kids-free Disney vacation in 10 years. We will only be there 3 days but hoping to do Key to the Kingdom. really would like to do it on Saturday. Just don't know that I can "do nothing" all day.

Last year we left our room at 5:00 Not doing that this year LOL!! But last year we stayed at the Poly- not a host resort- so we left our room at 5:00 to get a cab, then took the cab to ESPN, then hung around there to get on the bus right at 7:00! The busses took off right around 7:00, got to the staging area before 7:30 and just hung around!

This year we are not planning on leaving that early- we are staying at the Boardwalk so we will walk over to the staging area and avoid all the transportation stuff

 

[mufasa0505]

Based on this thread, I'll have a lot of company on the walk from BW to the race.