Oh Dopey!! - January 2016 Trip Report & VLOGS *updated 02/21

[dancingtodisney]

Woohoo!! Congratulations. You got such great photographs. I'm jealous (yet again) about Boo. I would love that one. And the shots of your dad with King Louie are great. Wonderful race reports and fantastic pictures. Congrats again!!

Boo was an awesome one! Came at such a great time as well! I was hoping for some Star Wars characters near HS though but really I can't complain with the selection we got..
Thank you and really appreciate you following along and all your lovely comments.

Long time lurker, big fan, very jealous!!!
So amazed by what the three of you did
You look in soooooo much pain by the end

Well hello Mr Chelynnah it's nice to finally meet you! I believe we will be running together next month! I think I'm still a little amazed myself. I know I do look pretty bad in some of those photos! I think it was more exhaustion than pain, I did have knee pain but it was more the struggle to keep moving despite feeling so tired!

Wow, I was so emotional reading that last part. I don't run (can't run) though DH does, and I could really feel your pain. So glad you didn't give up. Congrats to all 3 of you!!

How's your knee now? Are you doing all the DLP races or just the 1/2?

Edit: oops, looks like DH and I were reading and commenting at the same time LOL!

Thank you! Aw that's sweet, it was an emotional time!

It's OK, it's not 100% I've been struggling recently to get into a good routine with my running but with Paris so close now I'm trying hard!

We are doing the 5k and the Half Marathon, are you planning to spectate?

Awesome, just awesome. I hope you run a lot more races and post more reports because they are, well, awesome.

Aw stop you're making me blush!! Thanks so much for reading and for such a nice comment, it's really nice to share our story on here

 

[bananabean]

That was so inspiring to read!!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Congratulations to you and your family for completing the marathon (well actually two while at Disney). That's such a great accomplishment! When you went to the Magic Kingdom after the race I was thinking how are they doing that? I would be knocked out back at the hotel for sure. Well really I couldn't even walk 26 miles much less run it.

Keep up the great work with the training. I hope you run more Disney races and write more amazing trip reports.

 

[chelynnah]

Thank you! Aw that's sweet, it was an emotional time!

It's OK, it's not 100% I've been struggling recently to get into a good routine with my running but with Paris so close now I'm trying hard!

We are doing the 5k and the Half Marathon, are you planning to spectate?

Nick is booked for the half, but has decided he wants to do the 5k as well, so fingers crossed he can get a bib on the 23rd.

Yup, I'll be part of the cheering squad on the sidelines. Sorry to hear your knee is still giving you a hard time

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your trip with us! It has been so enjoyable and inspiring to read! You and your family are awesome-- you can truly see the love you have for each other.

And your final analysis of what you do the same and different is so helpful! I will definitely keep that in mind when I finally pull the plunge and do Goofy or Dopey if I'm feeling brave enough haha

 

[rteetz]

Awesome! Congrats on the great accomplishment. I am very excited/nervous to complete dopey in 2017.

I loved reading your report and it's definitely helped me with what to expect in 2017.

You had some great character meets those last few miles and I could tell you were tired but you pulled through and had a great finish to get all that bling.

I have BOG scheduled for my post marathon dinner.

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Congratulations!!! This is such an inspiring report, thanks for sharing!

I am terrified of him

I ate a banana sometime in WWOS but don’t remember where I picked it up.. it looked something like this

thanks for clarifying

I was trying really hard to think about our next park because I could feel myself starting to fade again and HARD…. My knee pain was coming back and my body was just DONE. We got to the first aid stand and I again through some biofreeze on. We passed mile marker 21 and took a right turn onto Word Drive.

I don't think anyone is surprised after all the running you've done over the past few days! You go girl! Keep powering through!!!

HAHA HER FACE.

(Last time I commented, the hat got into my head and I called him Vacation Goofy. So now I have a chance to put it right.)

VACATION GENIE!!!

Oh I would have LOVED a horse and carriage ride to Epcot!

WOOOOO Well done!!! Great shot of you three.

Holy cow! They must've been heavy. Very impressive!

We said our goodbyes and then we popped into the Bonjour gift store to sort a little surprise for my Mam. Today my Mam was officially one year cancer free, it was so fitting that we were doing this challenge for charity as a family and we finished on this exact day so we wanted to do something nice for her at dinner. I grabbed a nice belle postcard and wrote a message to Mam on it.

Awww GO MAM!!

 

[DVCShannon]

Thank you for bringing us along for the ride! I have never been to Disney during any of the races, so I really enjoyed getting a better idea of how it works and much fun a run can be! You guys did a great job!! Great trip report

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 11 – BAD TRIP REPORTER!!

Monday 11th January 2016​

Part 1 – The whole day!

Waking up today felt very different, for the first time this trip we didn’t have miles of running ahead! YAH! As much as I enjoyed the whole experience I was looking forward to eating and drinking as much as want and not worrying about being on my feet in the parks.

We had a pretty slow start to our morning, it was nice to catch up on some sleep! We had breakfast in the room and then packed our suitcases because today we were moving resort. It was time to head to Animal Kingdom Lodge… EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

We requested collection of our suitcases from our room at OKW to be delivered to AKL. This was great as the guy that came over helped us (and by us I mean my Dad) bring all the cases down the stairs from our room. We did have a car but it would not fit all four of us plus 4 cases (my parents travelled separately from the airport and would do on the way home too).

We drove to AKL and parked up. My parents had never been to AKL before but had seen bits of it from pictures and we had facetimed them from our room the last time we stayed.

We went straight to reception and got set up with our new bands, adding our credit cards so we could continue to spend on them. We also made sure our dining credits were still showing as we were using our last dinner credit in Boma that night.

New Bands

Our room wasn’t ready when we first arrived but we planned to go for lunch anyway so we went across to the Mara passing by the lovely pool area on our way

We had a quick service credit left each also so we ordered mains and picked out deserts

All of the food was nice, I really like the Mara it’s a decent choice for a quick service meal…

FREE DESERTS…

Our plan was to head to Epcot and meet my cousin and his girlfriend there again, myself and Rachel decided to go ahead a bit earlier so we went for the bus.


We didn’t wait too long for a bus.


It was a really sunny day and spaceship earth looks so pretty in the sunshine.

We stopped for a photopass pic

We went to mouse gears for a look around, I love this Chewy bag

And I sent my boyfriend a picture of this Goofy hat (because he’s my fave obviously) and he replied back to say he remembers having one as a kid!

I like the cap too

We wanted to head to our favourite food store to use the last of our snack credits… any guesses???



Karamell-Küche of course! We were feeling REALLY lazy though and we decided to wait for the friendship boat even though we could see that it was going to take a while…

We just chilled on a bench in the sunshine

I had a check of the boards in the marathon thread that I’d been following and there were a couple of people in Epcot as well so I messaged to see if they were still around.


We got the boat eventually and each bought ANOTHER bag of caramel popcorn… NOM NOM NOM


Our cousin text now to say that he had arrived although he was mighty confused about where he was… I think they had taken the boat from HS but we agreed to meet in Mexico because we’d already discussed our plan for our first drink… no surprises where that was going to be!


Our parents had also arrived at Epcot and stopped on their way for a few photos

Even meeting Daisy too!

Of course our drinks were going to come from Cava Del Tequila… Sorry I have no pics of our drinks!! We were too busy chatting away!

We moved on to China and myself and Rachel went to meet @FFigawi and his lovely wife as well as @SunDial

We chatted for a bit and talked about the races, it was nice to finally meet someone from the boards especially after the long build up on the marathon thread to race weekend!


Our parents got a shot in China which has evidence of our drinks lol

We strolled around the world showcase chatting away and catching up. We were looking for another photopass photographer to get a group shot but it wasn’t until we made it to France that we found one

Our cousin had reservations in Via Napoli so they went off to have dinner and we made our way out towards the exit. We stopped in starbucks and my parents used their last credits on some large caramel frappuccinos…


We went to the bus stop to wait for the bus back to our new resort… Animal Kingdom Lodge! I was really looking forward to Boma!

We didn’t wait too long for a bus, we went to our room and dropped our luggage off and got ready for dinner.

I was a very bad trip reporter today… I think maybe because it was such a relaxing day!


We went down for dinner at Boma and once seated order some drinks…

Here’s mine

And Dad’s

With the dining plan we also got free soda drinks AND unfortunately as we did not have the dining plan with our AKL stay this was our last FREE thing... For our next trip Mam has insisted that we have FREE things everyday hahaha


I have two food pictures from the buffet haha


One is this fish stew/soup which had a curry flavour off it and was AMAZING

And the other was this other curry soup with some rice (Dad was clearly mid eating as I tried to snap this one)

WORST TRIP REPORTING EVER… HAHAHAHA


I promise I’ll do better from now on. Boma was lovely, our waitress was great, the cocktails were yummy and we had a nice evening!
​

 

[ZellyB]

Yay for a new resort. I've never stayed at AKL, but all the pictures I ever see of the place look fantastic. Most excellent to get some drinks in Epcot and I feel like a loser of the runDisney forum in that I never knew that Ffigawi and SunDial were husband and wife! Looks like a great day at Epcot and dinner - the little of it we see - looked delicious.

 

[FFigawi]

Yay for a new resort. I've never stayed at AKL, but all the pictures I ever see of the place look fantastic. Most excellent to get some drinks in Epcot and I feel like a loser of the runDisney forum in that I never knew that Ffigawi and SunDial were husband and wife! Looks like a great day at Epcot and dinner - the little of it we see - looked delicious.

We're not, not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[ZellyB]

We're not, not that there's anything wrong with that.

HA! Clearly my reading comprehension is stunted and missed the crucial "as well" in that sentence.

 

[chelynnah]

Don't apologise, I'm surprised you did anything or remember anything in your post running crash. A quiet 'down day' was definitely called for.

 

[dancingtodisney]

Yay for a new resort. I've never stayed at AKL, but all the pictures I ever see of the place look fantastic. Most excellent to get some drinks in Epcot and I feel like a loser of the runDisney forum in that I never knew that Ffigawi and SunDial were husband and wife! Looks like a great day at Epcot and dinner - the little of it we see - looked delicious.

It's a beautiful resort I love it! Hahaha ye the 'as well' there was rather important!

Don't apologise, I'm surprised you did anything or remember anything in your post running crash. A quiet 'down day' was definitely called for.

Ye I don't think my brain was engaged that day! It's the most chilled day I've had at WDW but definitely justified I think...

 

[dancingtodisney]

That was so inspiring to read!!

Thank you! I've read many trip reports on here from rundisney events and that's what inspired me to sign up for one!

Congratulations to you and your family for completing the marathon (well actually two while at Disney). That's such a great accomplishment! When you went to the Magic Kingdom after the race I was thinking how are they doing that? I would be knocked out back at the hotel for sure. Well really I couldn't even walk 26 miles much less run it.

Keep up the great work with the training. I hope you run more Disney races and write more amazing trip reports.

Thanks! Haha There were many times when I thought about being back in bed especially during the marathon!

I'm heading to Paris next month for the first Disney Half Marathon then so there will be a trip report coming on that soon.

Nick is booked for the half, but has decided he wants to do the 5k as well, so fingers crossed he can get a bib on the 23rd.

Yup, I'll be part of the cheering squad on the sidelines. Sorry to hear your knee is still giving you a hard time

I'll keep my fingers crossed for him! Oh great you'll have to let us know where you are cheering and we'll keep an eye out for you!

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your trip with us! It has been so enjoyable and inspiring to read! You and your family are awesome-- you can truly see the love you have for each other.

And your final analysis of what you do the same and different is so helpful! I will definitely keep that in mind when I finally pull the plunge and do Goofy or Dopey if I'm feeling brave enough haha

You're welcome! This was an amazing trip and so great that we do it as a family as well, I think I appreciated it even more because I no longer live in Ireland with them.

Maybe 2018?? If so see you there!!! Hopefully!

Awesome! Congrats on the great accomplishment. I am very excited/nervous to complete dopey in 2017.

I loved reading your report and it's definitely helped me with what to expect in 2017.

You had some great character meets those last few miles and I could tell you were tired but you pulled through and had a great finish to get all that bling.

I have BOG scheduled for my post marathon dinner.

Thank you!! Oh so exciting for you!! Try not to be too nervous and just trust in your training, I was extra nervous because I had several set backs in training but still the mileage we had put in got us through

Ye I was SO TIRED but it's those moments with the characters and going on everest that put a smile on your face and create some great memories.

Oh good choice!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Congratulations!!! This is such an inspiring report, thanks for sharing!

Thanks Katie!

I am terrified of him

He is pretty scary.... Although the most scary character I've met is for sure Darth Vader... He's been replaced by Kilo Ren now though

thanks for clarifying

It always helps to have a visual

I don't think anyone is surprised after all the running you've done over the past few days! You go girl! Keep powering through!!!

A post marathon Beaches and Cream reservation is a good motivator lol

HAHA HER FACE.

Hahahahahaha

(Last time I commented, the hat got into my head and I called him Vacation Goofy. So now I have a chance to put it right.)

VACATION GENIE!!!

Ye I noticed

JUST KIDDING...!! Gotta love vacation genie!

WOOOOO Well done!!! Great shot of you three.


Holy cow! They must've been heavy. Very impressive!

They are actually really awkward to wear all together like that and super heavy! They came straight off after that photo haha

Awww GO MAM!!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Thank you for bringing us along for the ride! I have never been to Disney during any of the races, so I really enjoyed getting a better idea of how it works and much fun a run can be! You guys did a great job!! Great trip report

You're welcome! It's a really fun time to go even if you're not running there is a great atmosphere for spectating too! Thanks!!

 

[rteetz]

Looks like a nice relaxing day after dopey. Dis meets are always awesome I had one during marathon weekend as well. I love how you guys say everything is "free" on the dining plan but you really paid for it in advance. I like the dining plan but it can have its positives and negatives. I have done Boma for breakfast but never dinner it sounds like you had a good time though.

 

[dancingtodisney]

Looks like a nice relaxing day after dopey. Dis meets are always awesome I had one during marathon weekend as well. I love how you guys say everything is "free" on the dining plan but you really paid for it in advance. I like the dining plan but it can have its positives and negatives. I have done Boma for breakfast but never dinner it sounds like you had a good time though.

Ye it's more us having a joke with my Mam about what she can get for free or not! I know even the 'free' dining plan offers aren't free as you miss out on room rate discounts BUT we did get a great offer booking via the UK with 40% off the room rate AND free dining so it kinda was free lol

Oh Boma breakfast is amazing! We did have it later on during this trip and I've booked it again for my trip this month with my sister

 

[dancingtodisney]

8 DAYS TO DISNEY

Not sure if I mentioned on here yet or not but I'm heading back to Disney World next weekend with my sister for a week.... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK