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

[20thingamabobs]

Day 3: Magic Kingdom / Departure Day

Well, it had been a whirlwind of a trip so far and despite it being our departure day, I still had a day of plans. We had finished packing up our luggage and we took it with us to the lobby. We left our carry-ons with Bell Service and I went ahead and did the airline check-in for suitcase and received our boarding passes. With our luggage taken care of, I headed to the front desk to see if I could get a Magical Express voucher because ours hadn’t arrived. It took a few minutes because apparently our departure flight information hadn’t been recorded but we were eventually given a voucher. It didn’t list a pick-up time but the woman at the desk said I should be picked-up at 4:30pm for our 7:30pm flight.

So, where were we headed for the day? The only park we hadn’t been to yet, the Magic Kingdom. We started our morning by making the short walk over to Jambo house to grab some breakfast. This time we knew when they opened and arrived right at 7:30am when they opened and before the lines came. DF ordered the breakfast platter and I of course, had a Mickey Waffle:

We were finished eating by 8:00am and headed out to the bus stop. When we were arrived, there was no one waiting so I figured we had just missed a bus. We waited about 15 minutes before another bus came and in the meantime several other families had joined us. We made somewhat lengthy drive over to the Magic Kingdom but still arrived about 15 minutes before opening. We swiped our tickets, went through the turnstiles and found a spot to watch the opening ceremony. We were a little to the right but still had a nice view. I was hoping to take pictures but our regular camera was dead so instead DF took out our Sony Bloggie video camera and taped the opening ceremony as I sang along to “It’s all pure magic, wrapped up in Pixie Dust… Welcome to the place where dreams come true”.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why I have not showed you any of our videos yet… I’ve mentioned that we took some of the race and then again this morning yet haven’t displayed any… well that part is coming up…

Once rope drop was over, we made our way into the park and thinking we’d be using the camera again shortly, DF slipped it into his pocket (don’t panic, he didn’t lose it). We took our time heading down Main Street; at the end, we veered towards Tomorrowland. We grabbed two fast passes for Space Mountain and then made our way to Fantasyland. The plan was to head to Peter Pan’s Flight. Well, as we were passing Winnie the Pooh, DF mentioned that he hadn’t seen the honey wall yet and since he never asks to ride anything, I figured I better stop. So into Pooh we went. There was no line so we took our time running our hands across the screen before heading into our honey pot and through the Hundred Acre wood. When we exited, we made our way to Peter Pan. The line was still pretty sure and we only had about a 5 minute wait. Once returning from Neverland, we headed to Frontierland. Big Thunder Mountain still had a 5 minute wait as well so we hopped in line and had a great time on the “wildest ride in the wilderness”. The next plan was to get a Fast Pass for Splash Mountain so we started to walk that direction when DF noticed the boats that go to Tom Sawyer Island. Again, he asked to do it so of course I couldn’t say no. We headed down the ramp and realized we still had about 10 minutes before the boats started. We made a quick bathroom break and I went ahead and grabbed our Fast Passes and we made it back just in time to catch the first boat. Now, I had tried to explain to DF where these boat went but he was still very disappointed when we just made the short trip to the other side of the river because he thought we would make a whole loop. Either way, we disembarked and spent about 20 minutes exploring the island before heading back. Now, I’ve heard that if you find a used paint brush and bring it back to the boat driver, they’ll give you a Fast Pass. Well, the other people that road over with us were running around like crazy looking everywhere (even in the bushes and behind props) but as far as I could tell, no one ever found anything. Does anyone know if they still do this? Just curious, this was the first time I’d been on Tom Sawyer Island since I was little. When we arrived back on the “main land” portion, we headed to visit with the 999 Happy Haunts. I was really excited for this attraction because Chris had been working on it the last time we were at the parks and I couldn’t wait to see the finished product. We headed through the line and at the end, you could choose to head right and go into the ride or you could head left and go through the new interactive play area. We went left. We meandered through with everyone else playing with all the new things. Now, I came across one of the “play stations” that everyone else was skipping and I poked it a couple times but nothing happened. I started to turn to walk away and explained to DF that it was suppose to squirt water but wasn’t working and no sooner had those words left my mouth that the thing squirted me! I just laughed and said “nevermind, it works”.

At this point, I realized we hadn’t taken any pictures so I asked DF for the video camera since it also takes regular pictures and I snapped one of the new headstone for Master Gracey:

Well, after I took the picture, I realized that it was the only thing in the library on the camera. Uh oh. I wanted to stop and look at it but we at the point where we were headed inside. We boarded our doom buggy and made our way through Gracey manor. Now, the part Chris had been working on was the new hitchhiking ghosts. I had a pretty good idea what to expect so I made DF move about three different times as I decided where I wanted my ghost to go. Finally, we ended with him on top of our cart. I love the new ghosts. I know some people were fans of the originals but I think the new imagery is awesome; they look so much more “real”. When we exited, we found a seat and took a look at our camera. Sure enough, everything was gone. The only picture left was the one of the tombstone. The only thing that we could figure out was that DF must have bumped something while it was in his pocket that caused it to erase. We were pretty bummed about the race videos and the one from the opening ceremony but what we were most upset about losing was the videos of our room, hotel, and balcony since it was where we got engaged. Now, I had pictures on my regular camera but still…

With that behind us, we headed to find something to pick our spirits. We didn’t have a lot of time left before our dining reservation so I decided that Mickey’s PhilarMagic was the right choice. I love this show and it was just as good this time as the first time I saw it. When it was over, we decided it was time to eat. So we made our way to the front of the park.

Continued next post

 

[20thingamabobs]

Our reservation was at Kona Café at the Polynesian so I asked DF if he wanted to take the boat or the monorail over. Since the Tom Sawyer boats turned out to be a flop in his opinion, he decided on the boat. We enjoyed the ride over and took in the warmth of the sun. As we were crossing the lake though, DF noticed the little blue and white sea raycers zipping around and exclaimed that we just had to do it. So after we got off the boat, we stopped at the desk to check on pricing and time options before heading inside. All through lunch, that was all Df could talk about. For lunch, I ordered the Pan-Asian noodles with chicken and DF some type of burger I believe but thinking back now, I’m actually not sure and because of our camera issues I don’t have pictures.

Once we finished eating and paid our bill, we made our way back down to the sea raycers. We went to the desk and said we’d like to rent one. We had to sign a waiver and DF was required to leave his driver’s license. We were suited up into life jackets:

And then it was time to get into our boat:

They record the time that you leave and then when you get back they record the time again so they know how long you were out and charge accordingly. DF drove and I was on camera duty. He asked where I wanted to go first and of course I said the Wedding Pavilion! Here’s the pics I took of that and the Grand Floridian:

Next, we headed towards the Magic Kingdom! It was really cool getting a perspective of the park and a new angle of pictures:

After that, we headed through the channel that connects the Seven Seas Lagoon to Bay Lake to get some pictures of the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower:

Then we headed towards the Wilderness Lodge. Along the way, we found these guys:

We eventually reached the resort:

Then we made our way back into the Seven Seas Lagoon. Along the way I grabbed this picture:

We also stopped for a few more pictures in front of the Magic Kingdom:

Finally we wrapped up our tour by grabbing a picture of the Polynesian on our way in:

When we returned, we went back up to the desk to get DF’s license and pay. The guy at the counted asked the guy in control of the boats and clocking times to bring our whole packet over (i.e. clock times, waiver, etc.). Well, the guy brought over the whole box and as the counter guy was looking through all of them for ours the other guy noticed my Just Engaged button and congratulated us. He asked if we had gotten engaged at WDW and we said yes. He then asked where he had proposed, if we were staying at AKL, and how long we were in Disney for. By this point, the counter guy had found our information. We knew based on the board that it should be $40.00 and DF had taken the money out of his wallet. When he turned to pay, the counter guy says “Don’t worry about it and Congratulations again on your engagement. That’s really awesome”! I thought that was so sweet and nice of them. I mean it’s one thing to give someone a free cupcake but this was a $40.00 boat ride. We thanked them profusely! I couldn’t believe it and DF and I walked away amazed at the pixie dust that only WDW offers.

We had decided to take the Monorail back so we stopped in the food court quickly to get a drink before heading up. We didn’t wait long for the monorail to arrive and it was a short ride back to the Magic Kingdom. Now, we probably should have just headed back to Kidani at this point but I couldn’t leave without a couple castle pictures and a ride on Splash Mountain. So first up was castle pics:

Then, we headed back to Splash Mountain and made our way through the Fast Pass line. I had put our ponchos in my back pack this morning so we could wear them and not have to be wet on the plane so we threw them on as we made our way through the short line. We boarded our log immediately and had a zippity do-dah time! This is my all time favorite classic Disney attraction! It was great as usually and even without our ponchos I don’t think we would have gotten too wet. Now, at this point I made crucial decision that turned out to be a very bad one. I knew it was getting close to 3:00pm so I told DF that instead of fighting the parade crowds on Main Street, we should just take the train from Frontierland to the front of the park. Well the train came quickly and we got on; however, after barely moving away from the station the train stopped and the conductor made an announcement that we would be waiting for the parade to pass… Uh-oh. We couldn’t get off at this point so we were forced to wait. We waited for at least 20 minutes before the train started to move again. Now, we probably still would have been fine except the conductor again came over the speaker to announce that we’d be stopping in the Toon Town area to get water for the train… That’s not good. We spent our 10 minute wait checking out all the posters on the walls blocking Toon Town advertising the new Fantasyland. Finally, we were on our way to the Main Entrance and I kicked myself knowing we would have been better off fighting the crowds in the first place. When we deboarded the train, I took one last quick look at the castle saying I’d see it again in October and we headed off to the bus stop. When we arrived at our bus stop there was no one in line and like this morning I knew that meant we’d probably just missed one… Are you kidding me? How bad can my luck get right now? As we were waiting in line, I watched our Magical Express pick-up time click closer, come, and pass before the bus pulled up. Luckily, our ME voucher didn’t list a time so I figured we just try to get on a later bus if it wasn’t too full. Our bus did finally arrive and we made the trip back to Kidani. On the way through I snapped this picture throught the window (I was rather proud of it):

On our way I went to Bell Service to pick up our carry-ons and DF headed outside to try and replace some of the video that had been lost. He was back in by the time I got the luggage and said he got videos of basically all the animals we’d had before so the only thing lost was our room footage. He took our luggage outside and I headed quickly into the gift shop to buy my only souvenir from the whole trip… I’d been looking for some type of pin to commemorate our engagement but the only one I could find was from Valentine’s Day. It was just a Mickey Head silhouette that was light pink with dark pink hearts all over it. Once I made my purchase, I made my way outside and sat with DF on the bench. Before too long, the ME bus pulled up and we joined the other two couples that had been waiting and boarded the bus. We loaded quickly, and were on our way. We made a quick stop at Jambo House, another stop at Pop Century and then it was time to watch the goodbye video:

Overall, this trip was unlike any of my others. We took a much more relaxed approach and it was so nice to finally "stop and smell the roses". Plus, with the excitement and memory of engagement, I know I'll never forget this trip! If they offer the Expedition Everest Challenge again, we will definitely be there!

 

[Shannon84]

How cool that you didnt have to pay to take the boat out!! that is awesome and the pictures of the view you had out there really makes me want to try those now That is a really cool way to view WDW!!

I cannot wait to check out the queue for HM!!! I am so sorry to hear what happened to your camera though, that stinks

Sad to have that part of the TR end...but excited to read about Disneyland, are you going to do a part on that trip?

 

[20thingamabobs]

With the completion of my Expedition Everest TR and the fact that our Disneyland Half Marathon trip is a mere four weeks away, I think it’s about time we start a PTR. So, let’s cover the basics first which means it’s time for our

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Me, Whitney. For those of you that have been reading along thus far, I’m assuming you already know me but just a quick recap. I’m 25 years old and work as a sales manager at a marina while attending graduate school at night to obtain my Master’s in School Psychology. I’ve been to WDW 17 times and Disneyland 3. My favorite character is Tinkerbell and my favorite rides are Expedition Everest and Splash Mountain.


DF, Ian. DF is also 25 years old and works as a Manager of Technical Sales at a local IT company. He’s been to WDW 5 times (once as a child, four times with me) and Disneyland once. His favorite character is Goofy and he really only like the Thrill Rides. Oh, and we got engaged in WDW this past May and will be getting married June 9, 2012.

Here's a pic of us standing on our balcony at Animal Kingdom Lodge where DF proposed:

DB, Rustin. DB is 28 years old, lives in California, and works as a production assistant on ABC’s Cougartown. Living in California, he’s been to Disneyland more times than one can count and to WDW almost as much as I have. His favorite attractions are Soarin’, Peter Pan’s Flight and Splash Mountain. Here he is:

(this was after wrapping up filming on Angels & Demons)

DM, Christy. DM is typically my Disney trip partner in crime. Unless, DF and I are on a short running trip, I typically travel with my mom. Since we’ll be visiting my brother on the trip, my parents couldn’t help but tag along. Her favorite attractions are Soarin’ and Everest.

DD, Rusty. DD is about as far from a Disney fan as one can get. When we drag him to Orlando, he usually spends his days golfing while we tour the parks but, like my mom, he couldn’t resist a trip out to visit my brother. Plus, when it comes to Disneyland, we typically do 1 day trips instead of a weeklong affair. Same as DF, he only really likes the thrill rides. Here he is:

Running in the ESPN 5k

Finally, there’s Chris. Chris works as an Imagineer and recently moved from Orlando to Los Angeles. I’m sure at some point during the weekend we’ll see him since it’s his birthday and last I heard, he’ll be attending our race to cheer us on! Here he is:

Now, for some travel details.

When: Sept 1-5, 2011

Where: Burbank / Disneyland

Why: DF and I will be running the Disneyland Half Marathon as the second half of our Coast to Coast Challenge. This will be our 2nd half marathon ever.

Stay tuned for all our travel/trip details!

 

[20thingamabobs]

How cool that you didnt have to pay to take the boat out!! that is awesome and the pictures of the view you had out there really makes me want to try those now That is a really cool way to view WDW!!

I cannot wait to check out the queue for HM!!! I am so sorry to hear what happened to your camera though, that stinks

Sad to have that part of the TR end...but excited to read about Disneyland, are you going to do a part on that trip?

It was a lot of fun and something that I normally wouldn't do at WDW. And it was so nice of them to let us do it for free.

The new HMM queue is awesome and I personally love the new hitchhiking ghosts.

I was pretty upset about losing our videos but I'm sure it could have been worse... But, we'll definitely be more careful next time

I feel like that TR took forever to finish so I'm excited to move on. I did start a PTR for our Disneyland Half. It's weird because everything's planned so I literally just need to type it up.. there's nothing left to plan really...

 

[amazingact21]

I've fallen behind!

First off, good luck at your 5K this weekend (plus the extra running afterwards) and have fun at your upcoming weddings!

Congrats on getting the boat ride for free! How nice of the CMs to do that for you guys; WDW is definitely the best place to celebrate special occassions just for that very reason.

The train ride sounds frustrating, and I would've been so stressed about missing the ME if I were in that position. I'm gald everything worked out, though, and you guys were able to catch your flight.

I agree that the new ghosts on HM are really cool. I didn't know they were coming, so I was impressed when I saw them.


And now I am looking forward to hearing about your Disneyland Half Marathon. It's exciting that it's only a month away and only two months until your October trip to WDW.

 

[20thingamabobs]

I've fallen behind!

First off, good luck at your 5K this weekend (plus the extra running afterwards) and have fun at your upcoming weddings!

Congrats on getting the boat ride for free! How nice of the CMs to do that for you guys; WDW is definitely the best place to celebrate special occassions just for that very reason.

The train ride sounds frustrating, and I would've been so stressed about missing the ME if I were in that position. I'm gald everything worked out, though, and you guys were able to catch your flight.

I agree that the new ghosts on HM are really cool. I didn't know they were coming, so I was impressed when I saw them.


And now I am looking forward to hearing about your Disneyland Half Marathon. It's exciting that it's only a month away and only two months until your October trip to WDW.

No worries! I too have fallen behind on a lot of my reading. OUr 5k last weekend went really well and it was a lot of fun. I was going to post pictures but I didn't really take any.

It was so nice of the CMs not to charge us. I love pixie dust moments!

The train ride and waiting for the bus was frustrating but I try not to let things like that stress me out because there was nothing I could do about it. Thanks to DF, I'm not one of those people that feels like "if I can't control it, then there's no point in worrying about it either".

I love the new ghosts. I knew they were coming because our friend Chris was working on them when we were there in March. Which made it even more exciting to see them though DF thought I was crazy make him scoot around 50 million times while I decided where I wanted my ghost to go

I'm really looking forward to writing about my Disneyland Half too. Get to switch things up to the West Coast for once! Plus, since most of the trip we'll be visiting with my brother rather than on Disney property, it's a completely different story.

 

[20thingamabobs]

Since I last posted about movie nights, we've had two more. We were suppose to see Winnie the Pooh last week but our schedules changed so we ended up not being able to go to the movies and instead decided on a movie at home. We watched Aladdin:

(proprofs.com)

And for dinner we had...

Sultan's Shish Kabobs:

And Jasmin's Red Pepper Hummus with Abu's Bread Crumbs (chips):

This week for movie night, we decided to finally go see Pooh. Well, only problem was our movie theatre wasn't showing it past 2:00pm. Since we both work till 5 or later that wouldn't work. I did some research and found a theatre a few towns over with a 7:05pm showing. So, before we left, for dinner we had:

Pooh's Honey Mustard Chicken with Rabbit's Garden carrots:

Then we headed over to the show. I thought it was cute and DF and I both laughed out loud a couple times. I especially enjoyed it because Pooh holds a special place in my heart. When I was little my family used to call me Whitney the Pooh or pooh / pooh bear for short. In fact, my one aunt still calls me that .

I haven't completely decided on a movie night for next week yet but I'm leaning towards Meet the Robinsons.

4 weeks from today we'll be leaving!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 1: Thursday, September 1st - Arrival

I'm sure this day will prove to be a very long one. You see, I don't get to leave for California until later in the evening which means my day will start like most others. I'll get up around 7:30am, leave for work around 8:30am, arrive at work at 9:00am. However, I'll only work until about 1:00pm. Then I'll head back home to meet DF, load up the car, and pick up Lilo and Otis. Then we'll drive over to DF's parents house to drop off our car and the puppies. Most likely, DF's dad will take us to the airport. The plan is to get to the airport around 3:15pm. Our flight departs Cleveland around 5:15pm.

My parents are also making the trip but they will be flying out of Pittsburgh because it's closer to their house and is cheaper than flying out of Cleveland.

Once we depart, hopefully we'll have a smooth and uneventful flight. DF and I will probably spend our time, reading, watching a movie on our iPad, or attempting to rest our eyes. It's a 4 1/2 hour flight to our layover destination in Las Vegas. We only have a 55 minute layover before we board our second flight. This flight will only take an hour and will hopefully also be uneventful. We are scheduled to land in Burbank, CA at 8:35pm PST. As far as I know, my brother will be picking us up from the airport but if it turns out that he'll still be working, then my dad will probably just rent a car. We will grab our luggage and be on our way to my brother's apartment. We'll probably grab dinner near his apartment somewhere too. Then, since it'll be close to midnight EST, I'm sure we'll set up our beds and fall right to sleep.

 

[Shannon84]

You leave in less than a month Thats awesome!!! I have never been to Disneyland and I am excited to hear about it. It is a place that is on my vacation to do list in the next few years (depending on budget)

Hopefully the weather out there will be good running weather...its been too hot for me to get out there lately and go for my training runs here in VA

 

[20thingamabobs]

You leave in less than a month Thats awesome!!! I have never been to Disneyland and I am excited to hear about it. It is a place that is on my vacation to do list in the next few years (depending on budget)

Hopefully the weather out there will be good running weather...its been too hot for me to get out there lately and go for my training runs here in VA

I'm getting so excited, I can't believe we go in 3 1/2 weeks! This will be my fourth time visiting Disneyland. It's not as bad now because my brother lives out there so we don't have to pay for a hotel usually. I think you should definitely try to visit sometime! It's cool to see "where it all started" but you don't need as long of a visit as you do when you go to WDW.

I hope the weather is good too. They said the average temp at the start of the race is in the low 60s which would be perfect but hopefully it won't get too hot before we finish. It's been really hot in OH lately too with a lot of days in the low 90s which makes it really rough training. I've had to do some treadmill training because of it and I hate it because it's weird transitioning outside . I've told myself to suck it up lately because I don't want it to affect my race but we'll see.

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 2: Sept 2 – Cougartown / Universal Studios iFly / Show at Barre

Day 2 is when all the fun begins. We typically wake up early in California because our bodies never really adjust to West Coast time. My brother thinks were crazy if we get up at 7am but it’s really 10am to us. To start our day off, we’ll be waking up, getting ready, having some breakfast, and then heading over to my brother’s work to tour the set of Cougartown. My parents and I got to do this last February but DF wasn’t with me on that trip so this will be his first time. My brother hasn’t got his filming schedule yet but DF is really hoping to meet Courtney Cox like we got to last February. Once we leave there, we’ll be heading over to Universal Studios. We may go in the park but I doubt it. We’ll most likely stick with the CityWalk portion where we’ll be partaking in iFly, their indoor skydiving:

http://www.iflyhollywood.com/

My family and I did this last February also and it was so much fun. I can’t wait to do it again and take DF for the first time. After iFly, we’ll probably just head back to my brothers apartment to rest and wait for him to get home. Once my brother is back home and ready to go, we’ll be heading to Show At Barre:

http://www.showatbarre.com/

It’s basically a restaurant/bar that puts on a show / musical based on different people’s work. The night we go, For The Record – The Coen Brothers will be playing. My brother says it’s his favorite thing to do in LA right now so we agreed to try it out. My parents are a little worried that they’re “too old” to go because of it being a “bar scene” but my brother insists they’ll be fine. Afterwards, we’ll be heading back to my brothers house to get a good night’s rest. The next day, we’ll be heading to Disneyland!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 3: Sept 3rd, 2011 – Head to Disneyland

Due to not really adjusting to the time change right away, we tend to go to bed early and wake up early and I’m sure that combined with my excitement, we’ll be up fairly early today. Once we’re all up, showered, and ready to go, we’ll be packing our overnight bags and heading down to Anaheim. It’s about a 45 minute drive from Burbank (without traffic) and hopefully we’ll make a smooth trip. Our first stop will be the Sheraton Anaheim, our hotel for the night, to check-in. We traded reward points to stay here and it’s supposed to be about a 10-minute walk from the start line in the morning. Once checked-in, we’ll be heading over to the expo. While DF and I pick up our packets containing our bibs, timing tags, goodie bags, t-shirts, and my pin, my parents and brother will picking up their chEAR Squad packages. We weren’t originally going to purchases these but I wanted them to get a good view of us coming through the castle so we could actually get a picture this time. Also, it includes a one-day theme park ticket, which we were planning on buying anyway so it turned out to be a pretty good value. Also, DF and I purchased one-day park hoppers so we’ll need to pick those up too. Once all that is out of the way, it’ll be time for some shopping! I don’t plan on purchasing a whole lot but I do have several things in mind that I’d like to pick up. I’ll definitely be getting another I Did It! T-shirt because I just love the one I got from the WDW half. Then, in Jan, DF got a beer cup so we’ll be purchasing some other type of glass as well. Finally, I’ll be looking for a DL Half Marathon Vinylmation to go with my WDW half one. Once we finish up at the Expo, we’ll head over to Downtown Disney to grad some lunch, probably somewhere quick. Then we’ll spend some time walking around and visiting the shops. I definitely want to go to the World of Disney store to get a 2011 DL pin and t-shirt and I’d also like to visit D-Street to see if I can make a trade for some of my duplicate vinylmations. After this, I’m not entirely sure what we’ll do. We only have a one day park ticket and we’re planning on using it Sunday after the half but we may decide to upgrade to a two day ticket so we can get some rides out of the way this first day. That being said, I don’t want to walk around too much because I need my legs ready to go the next morning! Regardless of what we decide, we’ll probably grab dinner around 5:30-6:00pm and I’d like to be back in our hotel room by 8:30pm. I doubt we’ll be able to fall asleep quite that early but I’d at least like to just rest. We’ll fall asleep as early as our bodies will let us because we have an early morning!

 

[20thingamabobs]

For last weeks movie night, I had a really had time coming up with a meal... So with a last minute decision, we went with the following...

Movie: Monsters Inc.

http://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Two-Disc-Collectors-Billy-Crystal/dp/B00005JKDR

and for dinner we had:

Monster Mash - Italian chicken with peas, egg noodles, and mashed potatoes (I forgot to take a pic of mine so this is DF's plate):

And to go with it we had Mike One-Eyed Rolls with Honey:

I had forgotten several parts of this movie so it was fun watching it again. And I really loved Sulley. Overall, it was another really fun movie night!

 

[Shannon84]

I still can't believe you get to tour a show set and such...I have never experienced anything like that and I have watched Cougartown a few times (though Friends was one of my favorite shows and still is on re runs )
Courtney Cox was always one of my favorites

I always have the hardest time picking things out at the expo, I want them all. I got 2 shirts and a travel mug from the wine and dine plus the pin you can order when you register for the race

I love your Monsters,Inc. dinner choices, very creative!! That movie always makes me tear up!

 

[20thingamabobs]

I still can't believe you get to tour a show set and such...I have never experienced anything like that and I have watched Cougartown a few times (though Friends was one of my favorite shows and still is on re runs )
Courtney Cox was always one of my favorites

I always have the hardest time picking things out at the expo, I want them all. I got 2 shirts and a travel mug from the wine and dine plus the pin you can order when you register for the race

I love your Monsters,Inc. dinner choices, very creative!! That movie always makes me tear up!

Yea, I still find it pretty crazy too. I'm excited to take DF too. He really likes Courtney Cox and he's already talking about getting a new outfit for the occasion

I didn't get a whole lot at the Expo in January because it was my first time and I was super overwhelmed with all the choices. I order the pin as well when I registered. And I know I'm going to get a t-shirt and some type of glass and the vinylmation but after that we'll see. I just hope knowing what to expect this time will help me make decisions

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 4: Sept 4, 2011 – Disneyland Half Marathon / Park Day

This day is the reasoning behind the whole trip and the one I’m most looking forward to. And, it’s going to start VERY early! Our alarm will be set to go off around 2:50am. We will have laid our stuff out the night before so hopefully we can get ready fairly quickly. We’ll probably grab our typically pre-race breakfast of a bagel with peanut butter and a banana before heading out. Now, it says our hotel (Sheraton Anaheim) is a 5 minute drive or 15 minute walk from the start line. That being said, I’ll definitely be checking out the sidewalks and roads the day before to make it’s fairly safe before we attempt walking it. If it doesn’t seem like a good idea, I’ll just have my dad run us over and drop us off. I would like to be at bag check no later than 4:15am. Once we drop off our bags, we’ll make a potty stop and then we’ll most likely head for our corral. We like to be in the front so we’ll want to make sure we get there early enough to make that possible. Once in our corral, we’ll just hang out, stretch, and enjoy the atmosphere. The actual race start time is 6:00am. I won’t know until the expo which corral we’ll be in but I’m thinking maybe the 3rd or 4th. If that’s the case, we won’t start until 6:10-6:15am. Then we’ll be off! I’m really excited about the course as we’ll get to see a lot of cool things. Plus, we got my parents and brother a chEAR Squad package so they’ll be able to see us run through the castle. That portion of the race occurs early so I’ve told them to plan on being in Disneyland right when it opens to ensure getting to see us. Then they’ll be heading back to rest some more before coming back to see us cross the finish line. I’m thinking that I would like to stop for a few more photo ops this time but we’ll have to wait and see what’s available and how long the lines are. Once we finish, we’ll get both are finisher’s medal as well as our coast to coast medal which I’m really excited about! Now, I’m sure DF and I are both going to be dreaming of a shower by this point so that’ll be a first priority most likely. We’ll need to get back to the room, shower, and get ready before our 11:00am check out time. But, we’ll also need to do it as quickly as possible in order to get back into the parks. The goal is to be back by 10:00am when California Adventure opens. Our first stop will be to pick up Fast Passes for World Of Color, I can’t wait to see this! Then we’ll head over to Toy Story Mania and California Screamin’ before the lines get too long. When we can, we’ll grab another set of Fast Passes for the new Ariel’s Undersea Adventure attraction; another one I’m super excited about! Once all that is out of the way, we’ll be making our way over to Disneyland for awhile. We’ll probably try to grab another fast pass for something and maybe hit up an attraction if there’s time before our 12:50pm reservation at the Blue Bayou! I LOVE this restaurant and have been dreaming about their Monte Cristo sandwiches for months now! So, that’s definitely what I’ll be ordering. After lunch, it’ll be time for some more attractions! Here’s most likely our to-do list (in order of preference / hopefully, some we’ll get in before lunch):

Nemo Submarines (FP?)
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Space Mountain
Indiana Jones Adventure
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder
Star Tours (can save this for WDW)
Tea Cups

I mostly want to do the attractions that are unique to Disneyland that you can’t ride at WDW. That being said, we’ll most likely try to head back over to California Adventure around 3:00-4:00pm. Our remaining to-do list here includes:

Aladdin – The Musical (LOVE this show)
Soarin’
Tower of Terror
And possible the Animation class

We’ll probably grab something quick for dinner in this park then around 8:00pm hopefully we’ll be able to use Fast Passes and grab a seat for World of Color which starts at 9:00pm. After the show, we’ll be heading back over to Disneyland to hit up anything that we missed earlier, if anything.

Now, here’s my disclaimer. After our half marathon in January, I was sooo sore. So, that means, all these plans are pending how well DF and I are able to walk! We’ll definitely be heading into the parks but we may cut back on our to-do list if we’re struggling. Also, I don’t know how busy the parks we’ll be so that’ll be a factor as well. I’m sure we’ll have a very fun day regardless!

Oh, one more thing…

SINGLE DIGIT DANCE!!!

 

[dismagiclover]

I haven't been around much this summer, but I want to tell you good luck! My first half was the DL half and I will never forget it! That is quite an ambitious schedule to keep for the race day! Good luck!

 

[amazingact21]

Your plans sound great! I can't wait to hear about the race and your time at DL. Reading about your trip almost makes me want to go there!

 

[20thingamabobs]

I haven't been around much this summer, but I want to tell you good luck! My first half was the DL half and I will never forget it! That is quite an ambitious schedule to keep for the race day! Good luck!

Thank you! I'm so excited to run in DL! I'm sure it won't be quite the same as WDW since this won't be our first anymore. I know our schedule is a little crazy and I'm sure it'll all depend on how we're holding up but I'm completely open to being flexible and taking things slow. We'll play it by ear.

Your plans sound great! I can't wait to hear about the race and your time at DL. Reading about your trip almost makes me want to go there!

I really like visiting DL for a change and I'm getting really excited about our trip. How are your wedding plans coming along? I can't believe you didn't know your wedding date when you were in WDW in May and now your wedding is coming up already! We gave ourselves a full year to plan and I think I'm going to need it! So here's to you for putting it all together that quickly!