Running... From Coast to Coast and Back Again - Tink 1/2 TR, Princess TR

[Shannon84]

I loved Tangled, we watched that one a couple weeks ago!! Pascal is so funny! I really like the modern princesses more too! with the exception of Belle she will always be my fave, though she sort of falls in with the modern princesses having ambitions too somewhat Now I am analyzing princesses too

Thats a great meal choice, the taco tower is a cute idea!! And major points to DBF for not falling asleep

 

[DrMomof3]

Your trip plans look great!
I love Tangled!!! It's such a great movie.

Amanda

 

[Nermel9]

Hey! I don't know how I missed your PTR, and your trip is coming up in like 2 days, but I'm here now!

I LOVE your zebra outfit! What a great idea! You made the zebra Mickey head yourself??? That's amazing! I'm the least crafty person alive!

Love your movie nights! I'm planning to do the same thing once our trip is 10 weeks out! I was going to do that last year, but it just didn't work out, so I'm definitely doing it this year!

Drinking around the world will be fun! The only drinks I can think of that I really love are what everyone else suggested, a margarita from Mexico and a slushie in France! I know Italy has wine that is good, if you like wine, and I'm pretty sure China has some really yummy sounding drinks that I've been meaning to try!

 

[20thingamabobs]

I'll be back to comment on posts a little later but I forgot to post this the other day. On Sunday, DBF and I had a Disney Day Breakfast. We had Mickey Waffles and even put Mickey ice cubes in our drinks! Here’s a pic:

It was fun and got me really excited for the Mickey Waffles awaiting me this weekend!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Great Tangled movie night! I heard the hazelnut soup is actually not very tasty for such an intense recipe so I think you made a great choice with your Taco Tower!

Kudos for your DBF not falling asleep. The lantern scene makes me teary, did it do the same to him? Maximus steals every scene he's in. Love that movie!

I'm jealous of your Mickey plates.... how did you make those awesome waffles?

 

[Shannon84]

What cute Mickey waffles and you even had the ice cubes!! I am soooo excited for you to be going on your trip and I cant wait to hear about it!!

 

[DrMomof3]

So jealous of the Mickey waffles!

Amanda

 

[20thingamabobs]

Welcome! I hope you love the race this weekend. I can't believe it's this weekend already either. You should absolutely try one of the other races! The training is completely doable and finish the race is one of the most amazing feelings! How long will you be in Disney for this trip? What all do you have planned? I love hearing about other people's trips!

And, thanks! I had a lot of fun coming up with a costume and I can't wait to wear it!


I hope to one day do one of the Disney half marathons. At the moment, I'm leaning towards Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon, but first, I figure I'll do the EE 5K and go from there.

We are getting there the 6th and leaving on the 11th. We had hoped to get to Orlando a day earlier, but I promised a friend I'd attend her college graduation, which is at 7pm the night of the 5th.
This is, hopefully, going to be a relaxing trip for us. A lot of naps by the pool and easy-going park days.


I love your last movie night choice! Tangled is such an awesome movie, and I love how independent Rapunzel is. And Pascal has to be the cutest sidekick I've ever seen!
Did your DBF stay awake for the whole movie?

The half marathon is one of my all time favorite memories! and not just from Disney. I can't wait to run the Wine & Dine this year.

You're so lucky that you get to spend a couple extra days there opposed to me jam packed 3 day trip. It'd be nice to have some relaxing pool time.

Thanks! I had a lot of fun with our movie nights, I definitely want to do them again before our Disneyland Half Marathon trip in early Sept. DBF did actually make it through this one too so that was definitely a bonus!

Maybe I'll see you this weekend! I hope you have an awesome trip as well!

I loved Tangled, we watched that one a couple weeks ago!! Pascal is so funny! I really like the modern princesses more too! with the exception of Belle she will always be my fave, though she sort of falls in with the modern princesses having ambitions too somewhat Now I am analyzing princesses too

Thats a great meal choice, the taco tower is a cute idea!! And major points to DBF for not falling asleep

I would say Belle is a more modern princess. I mean at least at the time she didn't know he was prince and fell in lonve despite his looks. And she like to read so we'll give her points for that too I know the tacos don't really go with the theme so I was working more with design lol but they were good and it worked out. I was glad DBF made it through too! and he even laughed a couple times.

Your trip plans look great!
I love Tangled!!! It's such a great movie.

Amanda

Thanks! Yea, it's one or my new favorites!

Hey! I don't know how I missed your PTR, and your trip is coming up in like 2 days, but I'm here now!

I LOVE your zebra outfit! What a great idea! You made the zebra Mickey head yourself??? That's amazing! I'm the least crafty person alive!

Love your movie nights! I'm planning to do the same thing once our trip is 10 weeks out! I was going to do that last year, but it just didn't work out, so I'm definitely doing it this year!

Drinking around the world will be fun! The only drinks I can think of that I really love are what everyone else suggested, a margarita from Mexico and a slushie in France! I know Italy has wine that is good, if you like wine, and I'm pretty sure China has some really yummy sounding drinks that I've been meaning to try!

Hey and Welcome! I'm glad you found it! I had a lot of fun with my outfit and I'm excited to wear it! THe movie nights have been so fun and I definitely recommend doing them but like you said, I would wait till just like 10 weeks out. I'm also excited to try drinking around the world but we're definitely doing a minor version of it since we have a race the next day.

Great Tangled movie night! I heard the hazelnut soup is actually not very tasty for such an intense recipe so I think you made a great choice with your Taco Tower!

Kudos for your DBF not falling asleep. The lantern scene makes me teary, did it do the same to him? Maximus steals every scene he's in. Love that movie!

I'm jealous of your Mickey plates.... how did you make those awesome waffles?

I love Tangled. and I'm glad I didn't attempt the Hazelnut soup since you say it wasn't any good. I hadn't read any reviews so I would have been upset spending all that time just to have us not eat it.

I'm glad he made it through too! He laughed a couple times but we're still working on the tears . I bought a Mickey Waffler on Ebay several months ago. It's the Villaware one. Some of them are really expensive but I won mine for $22 and I LOVE it!

What cute Mickey waffles and you even had the ice cubes!! I am soooo excited for you to be going on your trip and I cant wait to hear about it!!

Thanks! I'm getting really excited too!

So jealous of the Mickey waffles!

Amanda

Haha yea, I bought my Mickey Waffler on Ebay several months ago for $22 and it's been one of my best purchases ever. I don't use Ebay a lot so I was happy it worked out for the best!

 

[20thingamabobs]

There’s a great big beautiful TOMORROW, shining at the end of every day. There’s a great big beautiful TOMORROW and it’s just a DREAM away!

This morning, we did our ONE DAY WIGGLE dance because we’re leaving TOMORROW!

Can you tell how excited I’m/we’re getting? This is the first time I’ve been able to get DBF to actually do a wiggle so I figure he must be getting pretty excited too.

So, I figure it’s down to the wire in posting our plans for the last day so here they are…

Day 3: May 8, 2011 – Magic Kingdom / Departure

It’s going to most likely be a late night on the 7th but that won’t be stopping us from another early morning. The plan is to have everything packed and ready to go in the morning. We’ll go ahead and check my bag with the airline Check-in then our carry-ons will be left with Bell Services. We’ll grab a quick breakfast at the hotel before heading to the Magic Kingdom. I’m hoping to be on a bus by 8:00am. We’ll watch Rope Drop at Magic Kingdom and then make our way into the park. Here’s the plan…

Fast Pass Space Mountain
Ride Peter Pan’s Flight
Ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Fast Pass Splash Mountain
Ride Haunted Mansion to see new queue and hitchhiking ghosts (Chris did the new ghost so can’t wait to see those)
See Mickey’s PhilharMagic
Ride Space Mountain

If we have extra time at this point we may try to fit in some other attractions. These would consist of:
Pirates of the Caribbean
Tea Cups
Buzz Lighyear’s Space Ranger Spin

Splash Mountain will be the last attraction we ride before leaving the park around 1:30pm.
We’ll take the monorail to the Polynesian for a 2:00pm lunch reservation at Kona Café. This is my favorite restaurant and they always have quick service. After lunch, we’ll make our way back to MK to take a bus back to AKL. When we return we’ll grab our stuff from Bell Services and head to catch the Magical Express. I’m assuming our pick-up will be around 4:30pm. So we’ll take that to the airport and I’ll feel sad as we watch the goodbye video. Our flight departs around 7:30pm from Orlando, we have a 35 minute layover in Nashville again and we’re due to arrive in Cleveland around 10:55pm. Then it’ll be back to reality and work the following morning…

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

Just so nice, I had to say it thrice!

 

[amazingact21]

Good luck tomorrow night!!! Have fun and enjoy your trip!
If you see a couple with a bright yellow shirt with the EE mountain/yeti on the front and the name ALICIA and ALEX on the back...that's me and my DF!

 

[Nermel9]

Yay, your trip is here (well, tomorrow, but still, pretty close!) Have a great time!!!

 

[jenseib]

Have fun!

 

[Shannon84]

Hope that you guys have a safe and awesome trip, I am sure you will

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

I hope you're having a great time! Can't wait to hear about the race.

 

[20thingamabobs]

We're home! We had an amazing weekend and the Expedition Everest Challenge was so much fun! I CANNOT wait to tell you all about everything! I'm in the process of uploading my pictures so hopefully I can get started with a report tomorrow!

Good luck tomorrow night!!! Have fun and enjoy your trip!
If you see a couple with a bright yellow shirt with the EE mountain/yeti on the front and the name ALICIA and ALEX on the back...that's me and my DF!

I saw you! I hope you had fun and I wish I would have got to talk to you. Your DF briefly introduced himself while we were waiting for the bathroom but it would have been fun to get a picture! Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful trip and I can't wait to read your report!

Yay, your trip is here (well, tomorrow, but still, pretty close!) Have a great time!!!

Thanks!

Have fun!

Thanks!

Hope that you guys have a safe and awesome trip, I am sure you will

Thanks!

I hope you're having a great time! Can't wait to hear about the race.

We had an amazing time. I would definitely make a special trip back just for the EE Challenge again! You should definitely do it next year!

 

[jenseib]

Can't wait to hear...but I'm still waiting to see your cruise pictures too! You need to get busy!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Can't wait to hear...but I'm still waiting to see your cruise pictures too! You need to get busy!

I know.. I'm so behind on everything. Luckily, after tomorrow I will officially be done with classes for the summer and will be able to post a lot more. I promise to get more on top of things starting on Thursday.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

I know.. I'm so behind on everything. Luckily, after tomorrow I will officially be done with classes for the summer and will be able to post a lot more. I promise to get more on top of things starting on Thursday.

Can't wait!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Thursday May 5th – Day before leaving

DBF and I both had to work a full day this day so when I got off at 5, I headed home to finish up everything. I let our puppies out while I changed into my running clothes, then I headed outside to do my last training run before the Expedition Everest Challenge. DBF was home by the time I returned from running. He cut the grass while I showered and finished packing. We packed the dogs a “go bag” and then loaded up the car. We headed over to the restaurant opening near my work and had dinner with some of DBF’s family. After, we headed over to DBF’s parent’s house to spend the night. They were going to watching Lilo and Otis while we were away and taking us to the airport in the morning. We headed to bed around 11:00pm to get as much sleep as possible.

Day 1: May 6th, 2011 – Arrival / Expo / Epcot

Day 1 started very early. I woke up a little after 4:00am and laid in bed waiting for my alarm to go off at 4:15am. When it did, I headed into the bathroom to get ready. DBF woke up around 4:30am and got ready as well. We headed downstairs where is mom had bagels waiting for us. Once we finished eating we headed out to load up the car and headed to the airport. We checked by bag curbside and headed to security (I’d printed our boarding passes the day before). We had a fairly short wait in security and got separated at the end when I was sent through the regular detector and DBF got sent through the body scanner. I got through a little faster so I had to wait for a few minutes for DBF to get through. We went to find our gate and then I headed off to buy a bottle of water. We had about a 30 minute wait and here’s me being anxious:

And a quick picture of our plane as the sun was starting to rise:

We finally got to board and I grabbed a quick picture of DBF and I waiting to take off:

Our flight took off at 6:50am and as much as I was ready to be heading to Florida, we were actually on our way to Nashville. It was fairly short and smooth 1 hour and 20 minute flight. We deboarded quickly and found the monitor to find our next gate. Luckily it was just a short way down. We made a quick bathroom stop and headed over to our gate. We only had a 35 minute layover so by the time we made it to our gate we only had to wait a few minutes before it was time to board again but I grabbed a quick picture of our plane:

We made our way onboard and found an empty row semi-close to the front. We were FINALLY on our way to Florida. It was about an hour and 45 minute flight this time. I read the In Touch magazine I’d picked up at the grocery store a few days before departure and read it during the flight. By the time I finished the Sudoku in the back of the magazine we were in our final descent.

We deboarded and I had a one track mind to get to the Magical Express area but DBF wasn’t really having that. So instead, we made a quick bathroom stop then as DBF waited in line at the Starbucks to get a coffee I inched ever closer to the mini-monorail with thoughts of just leaving him behind running through my head. Alas, I decided that wouldn’t be too nice and just waited it out. He finally finished and we made our way to the mini-monorail only to see one just pulling away. Grrr. Oh well, we hopped on the next one and we’re on our way. We went through the Magical Express line and were directed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village line. I panicked for a second because we were the only ones in line and I assume we’d just missed a bus. But luckily they came to get us right away and we were directed to a bus that was still loading. Perfect! No waiting! We were seated pretty far back so I knew this meant there was no chance of a welcome sign photo but I was too happy about not having to wait to be worried about that. Here’s a picture of our bus and us riding to the hotel:

We stopped at Pop Century, then Caribbean Beach, before we finally arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We made a quick stop at Jambo House before heading over to Kidani. I grabbed these pics on our way in and of the lobby:

We had done the Online Check-In but we still had to wait briefly so while I waited in line DBF headed to the bathroom to change into shorts (he wore jeans on the plane). Once it was my turn, they quickly told me that my room request to be close to the lobby had been fulfilled (YAY!) but that my room wasn’t quite ready yet. They gave me all of information and key to the world cards and I was on my way. I headed over to the bathrooms and DBF was just coming out. I left him with the carry-ons while I headed in to change out of my capris into shorts as well. Since our room wasn’t ready we headed to Bell Services to drop off our carry-ons before heading out to the bus stop. The first stop of the day was the Expo for all of our Expedition Everest Challenge goodies. They were only offering transportation from Jambo House so we hopped on the first theme park bus that arrived (we only waited about a minute) and took it over there. We found the area where the pick-up was suppose to be and the guy said the busses only came every 30 minutes and it was 12:33 so we’d just missed one and would have to wait until 1:00pm for the next bus. I really didn’t want to sit around for 27 minutes and I was hoping to attend the 1pm Course Talk so we went looking for a Taxi. The taxi was just sitting there waiting so we hopped in and were on our way to the Wide World of Sports Complex. It ended up costing approximately $12 but oh well. I snapped a quick picture near the entrance before heading to the packet pick-up area:

DBF and I had filled out our waivers ahead of time but I left them in my carry-on so we had to fill out new ones. It was no big deal because there was no one in line and it took about 30 seconds to fill out. We took it over and turned it in and were given our bibs, party wristbands, our D-tag (timing tag), and my commemorative pin. Then we went to the next station to get our goodie bags with our free t-shirts. I don’t have pictures right now but I’ll try to post them later. With a few minutes to spare, we headed into the Course Talk; this was basically just an overview of what to expect and what was new this year:

I don’t really think it would have been a huge deal to miss it but being our first time, I’m glad I went. When we walked out, we passed a large sign that this guy was airbrushing and people could sign so DBF and I grabbed a marker and headed up. Here’s a close up of our signatures and then a zoomed out picture of the whole thing:

On our way out, we saw this area where they had a little “set’ out where you could take pictures. There were also several tables and tents in this area and I got the opinion that they were originally planning on holding the Expo outside but it was drizzling just slightly so they must have moved inside. Well, it wasn’t really inside but rather just under an overhang on a sidewalk type area. We asked someone nearby to snap our picture in the little area:

With goodies in hand, we headed out. I couldn’t see an busses anywhere and they were no signs. Finally I saw a bus pulling in and we walked over there. There were signs for busses going to Pop Century (which wasn’t a host resort), Caribbean Beach, and the All-Star Resorts. I asked the bus driver of the Pop Century but where I could find one for AKL and he said there aren’t any??? So, I never really did figure out what was going on with the busses but we went ahead and got on the Pop Century bus because we were heading a park anyway. So we got on and off we went. Once at Pop we got off and then went to wait for a bus to Epcot.

Up next, our night of traveling around the world…