This trip was planned to coincide with the 3rd Annual Inline Skating Marathon. It would be my third time doing the race. The course takes racers through MGM, EPCOT, BoardWalk, Beach and Yacht Club and Wide World of Sports. For a Disney fan like me, it's fun to get a different perspective on some of my favorite places, including a glimpse of backstage areas. The fact that the race was taking place not long before the 50th Anniversary Celebration made me decide to stay longer than my other teammates. Well, that and the fact that I'm a bigger Disney-phile than the rest of them! So that's why it's a "sort-of" solo trip.
Day 1: 4/30
This day is usually a non-park day for me. I arrived in Orlando around noontime and, after collecting my luggage, headed for the Alamo desk to pick up my rental car. This was the second worst line I stood on all week. It went quickly, however, and after an accidental tour of the airport (I missed the correct exit the first time around), it wasn't long before I was buzzing down 417 South towards the Happiest Place on Earth.
The majority of my stay would be at the BoardWalk Villas. To my pleasant surprise, my room was ready upon arrival. It was 4034, a studio with this preferred water/pool view:
The room was in great shape with little wear and tear. I dumped my things and ran to meet my teammates, and hopefully DisneyFreak43, at the Milk House. Her husband and oldest son were going to be skating the race as well. Before we both left for Disney, I'd told her to look for someone wearing a black hat with the Rollerblade logo in silver, an army-green shirt with Rollerblade stenciled in black on the front and khaki shorts (no RB logo there). Hey, I'm a sponsored skater who teaches for one of the few RB-sponsored schools in the U.S. Every now and then, I have to be a sponsor-slut.
The Wide World of Sports is the expo, packet pick-up, and start/finish area for the Inline Marathon. By sheer luck, my teammates and I arrived from different directions at the same time. Unfortunately, one of them, who looks enough like me that people call us "the twins", was wearing the same exact outfit. *sigh* If DisneyFreak43 mistook her for me, it wouldn't be the first time it happened. I got my race packet and started searching for DisneyFreak. We were able to find each other pretty easily, and since I had some sponsor-related duties to take care of, we agreed to meet at a park the next day after the race.
I got to play with some new skates, chat up the RB rep, catch up with some old friends, and do some sponsor photos. The team and I then went off to do some food shopping - me to stock up the room for the week, them to get the makings of our carbo-loading feast to help get all of us ready for the next day's race. Eight of them had rented a house, so they were hosting the dinner. We chowed down on pasta, chicken, salad and cookies, all the while keeping an eye on the weather report. It was supposed to rain the next day, so we were taking bets on whether or not the race would actually take place.
Last year, the course was wet. I can't remember if it had rained the night before or if it was raining during the race. Either way, it led to quite a few slips (including my own, leaving me with a very pretty bruise on my hip) which resulted in bad injuries. Disney became liability-shy and declared that this year, if it rained, there would only be a 13.1 "skate tour" with no racing allowed.
Since I would to get up around 4 a.m. the next morning in order to be dressed and ready to go at the Milk House by 5 a.m., I had already decided if it rained the next morning, I'd be rolling back over in bed. The "skate tour" wasn't going to show me anything new, and there was no point in risking injury in a non-race.
The next morning dawned with dry skies. Except that didn't last...
TBC tomorrow
Day 1: 4/30
This day is usually a non-park day for me. I arrived in Orlando around noontime and, after collecting my luggage, headed for the Alamo desk to pick up my rental car. This was the second worst line I stood on all week. It went quickly, however, and after an accidental tour of the airport (I missed the correct exit the first time around), it wasn't long before I was buzzing down 417 South towards the Happiest Place on Earth.
The majority of my stay would be at the BoardWalk Villas. To my pleasant surprise, my room was ready upon arrival. It was 4034, a studio with this preferred water/pool view:
The room was in great shape with little wear and tear. I dumped my things and ran to meet my teammates, and hopefully DisneyFreak43, at the Milk House. Her husband and oldest son were going to be skating the race as well. Before we both left for Disney, I'd told her to look for someone wearing a black hat with the Rollerblade logo in silver, an army-green shirt with Rollerblade stenciled in black on the front and khaki shorts (no RB logo there). Hey, I'm a sponsored skater who teaches for one of the few RB-sponsored schools in the U.S. Every now and then, I have to be a sponsor-slut.
The Wide World of Sports is the expo, packet pick-up, and start/finish area for the Inline Marathon. By sheer luck, my teammates and I arrived from different directions at the same time. Unfortunately, one of them, who looks enough like me that people call us "the twins", was wearing the same exact outfit. *sigh* If DisneyFreak43 mistook her for me, it wouldn't be the first time it happened. I got my race packet and started searching for DisneyFreak. We were able to find each other pretty easily, and since I had some sponsor-related duties to take care of, we agreed to meet at a park the next day after the race.
I got to play with some new skates, chat up the RB rep, catch up with some old friends, and do some sponsor photos. The team and I then went off to do some food shopping - me to stock up the room for the week, them to get the makings of our carbo-loading feast to help get all of us ready for the next day's race. Eight of them had rented a house, so they were hosting the dinner. We chowed down on pasta, chicken, salad and cookies, all the while keeping an eye on the weather report. It was supposed to rain the next day, so we were taking bets on whether or not the race would actually take place.
Last year, the course was wet. I can't remember if it had rained the night before or if it was raining during the race. Either way, it led to quite a few slips (including my own, leaving me with a very pretty bruise on my hip) which resulted in bad injuries. Disney became liability-shy and declared that this year, if it rained, there would only be a 13.1 "skate tour" with no racing allowed.
Since I would to get up around 4 a.m. the next morning in order to be dressed and ready to go at the Milk House by 5 a.m., I had already decided if it rained the next morning, I'd be rolling back over in bed. The "skate tour" wasn't going to show me anything new, and there was no point in risking injury in a non-race.
The next morning dawned with dry skies. Except that didn't last...
TBC tomorrow
