Star Wars Darkside Trip Report (April 19-23)

doctorintheTARDIS

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
**I hope it's alright that I do a trip report in the RunDisney forum section. I am going to cover a bit about the parks, but this is mostly about my running experience, so.

DoctorInTheTARDIS' Dark Side 5k+ Challenge + 4 Parks Trip Report!

Some Prior Information About Myself and Running: I started running in June 2016 on a whim. I tried several couch to 5k programs that never worked for me. One night, I saw a 5k for animals on facebook scheduled for the next day. I signed up...after eating McDonald's for dinner. My time was ~34 minutes, completely untrained and I sort of went with it from there. I had a lot of great races and eventually ended up with a personal best of 26 minutes for a 5k. After a few races, I was eventually evaluated for running shoes and told that my foot pronation was pretty severe and the employee went as far as telling me that I shouldn't be running. I was pretty heartbroken. I played ice hockey, soccer, and softball growing up without issue, so I ignored the store employee's comments, got the stability shoes and continued on. Until...I was training for a half marathon last summer and made it up to about 25-30 miles a week and suddenly my knees started hurting. Long story short since this intro is getting long winded- went to a doctor and I not only have runners knee but was also born with deformed knees (my knee caps are arrowhead shaped).

With deformed knees and pronating ankles... running shouldn't be my sport, but I love it. I can't train as much as others without pain, so I've learned to get by with what I can do. I may have made some questionable decisions based on others opinions, but I know my body and ask that we don't question my medical based decisions in this thread.


(Each day will be written in the posts below this initial post. More photos may be added later as Disney photopass' website is down and has been down since we left Disney...)
 
Last edited:
April 19- Arrival Day/Expo Day/Hollywood Studios


Airport/Magical Express
28asxll.jpg

We flew from Newark, NJ to MCO on Jetblue with an arrival at MCO at 8:20am. From wheels touching tarmac to arrival at All-Star Sports it was about an hour long experience (including a bathroom stop and dunkin donuts stop at the airport). Our Magical Express was ready when we got there, we boarded and it took off within 5 minutes. A true dream experience. We dropped our things off at the hotel, changed from pants to shorts and headed to the expo, getting there at about 10:20am the first day (20 minutes after opening).


Expo
2ynh1l5.jpg

First, I must applaud Disney on their race transportation. I never had to wait for a bus, at all, for the duration of the weekend. Then, I have to applaud Disney for this expo. I was terrified that arriving when the expo started meant there would be long lines and fighting people. We accounted about 3 hours of time at the expo for this reason. We started at the bib location and my boyfriend who did the 5k and 10k had 0 wait and I stood behind just 2 people for the challenge and 5k bibs. Next, we went to the actual "expo" portion. I am truly happy they got rid of the RunDisney Official Merch from this building, and I'm sure the lack of New Balance shoes also made it less crowded. It's wasn't empty in nature at all, but I also didn't feel like I couldn't take two steps without stepping on someone's feet. The only other expo I did was 2017 Princess and I actually had a panic attack due to the overwhelming and crowded nature of that building (and I don't have claustrophobia or fear of crowds!). I spent this past summer fitting people for shoes, meeting brand representatives and such so the expo lost its charm for me. I have all the new gadgets and powders and such sitting on shelves at home. Regardless, Disney puts on a great expo!

At 10:45 we entered the RunDisney merchandise arena. There were NO LINES at the registers, plenty of space to move around and nothing was sold out or otherwise stingy on sizes/etc. I had the same experience at Princess 2017, on the second day of the expo...mid-day (except the checkout line was about 10 minutes long at Princess). I don't know if people over-dramatize the expo experience online, or I've just missed all these "fist fights" for items and long lines by luck? I know the Han Solo dry-fits did end up selling out by end of day two expo for this race as I had a friend looking for them, but otherwise, the expo seemed well stocked and very tame.

Hollywood Studios

v3p1l5.jpg


After returning to the hotel to put our bibs and expo purchases in baggage hold (until the room was available) we arrived at Hollywood Studios at about 12:15 which was WAY earlier than we anticipated with magical express times and expo times so we were thrilled. I want to take the time here to mention that we stayed at All Star Sports and did not share a bus with another hotel even once for our five-day stay. There were usually long lines for the bus at peak times, but other than that, I can't complain. Hollywood Studios post-Fantasmic the bus for AS Sports was out of the corral with people waiting, so we waited in the AS Music line. The bus came first, we had a seat and just walked across the parking lot to AS Sports. This too (the All Stars bus situation) was not nearly as dramatic as people online have made it. Again, I'm not calling people liars, maybe we are lucky, or maybe we go with a flow better than others? I don't know.

For me, a HUGE WDW/Disney fan, Hollywood Studios was a bust. Despite running the Star Wars races, I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan and could take it or leave it (everyone else in my party is a big fan though, so I tagged along). I loved HS for The Great Movie Ride, Fantasmic, and Lights, Motor, Stunts so my favorites are mostly gone. Indoor roller-coasters make me sick, can't do Tower of Terror, and my boyfriend and I aren't really into the shows (despite feeling like a kid at Disney, we feel like the shows are more for children and just can't move past it). We rode Star Tours twice, explored Launch Bay, used our QS Dining plan at the ABC Commissary and then were lost. We finally got in line for Toy Story Midway Mania mid-day which was an agonizing wait. Part of the queue was directly in the sun at that time, with no offering of water without getting out of line. The crisscrossing back and forth across the "street" was also insane. I know this is only temporary but it was a painful 80 minutes to get on the ride. Luckily, first time HS visitor (which is why we went to Hollywood Studios, if anyone is wondering) boyfriend loved Midway Mania and we felt like the wait was worth it in the end.

We had dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe which I have to say was a highlight of our trip. We had no idea about the theming really but went because I had already done Sci-fi Dine In and didn't care for it and Hollywood and Vine is terrible and Brown Derby required 2 TS credits. We are sarcastic and lighthearted people and were dying of laughter as they dumped the silverware on our table and "pressured" the guests next to us to make up their mind on their meal. As picky eaters, we found the food delicious and "not scary" and were thrilled when we found out we could have any alcoholic beverage AND dessert we wanted with our dining plan. We were the happiest adults in the place with our light up ice cubes :lmao:I could definitely see how this restaurant could rub some people the wrong way though.

After chugging some Starbucks (we woke up for our flight that morning at 2am) we quickly rode Midway Mania again and made it to Fantasmic 15 minutes before it started. We had FastPasses, so we assumed there would be special seating for those with Fastpasses, but that was an incorrect assumption. We ended up on the far left (which seems roughly where we would have been anyhow if we were earlier as there were so many reserved dining sections now...) and still truly enjoyed the show.

Overall, extreme Star Wars fan boyfriend (who had never been to HS) and our friend who also falls into that category decided that we wish we had taken a second day at Magic Kingdom and skipped HS. We went in very optimistic and left feeling like everyone said... Hollywood Studios is not worth the admission price currently.

2py2a76.jpg


dpve49.jpg



5k race report and Epcot day review to come (as with the rest of the trip report!)
 
5k Race and Epcot Day

5k Race

k96uf7.jpg


We woke up at 3:30am, cutting it a little close and were headed down to our bus at 3:45 and made it on the last bus to the race at 4:00. We put our bibs on our shirts the night before and had everything organized into the bag check bags which made getting out the door in 15 minutes not even mildly challenging. I definitely recommend pre-prepping your stuff for Disney races the night before as the wake up is so early and it can save you some valuable sleep minutes.

My boyfriend and I both were in Corral A for the 5k. We told Disney our pace was 9:30-10:00 when we were realistically about 10:00-10:30. I was told (I believe on Disboards) that most Disney competitors flub their times by up to a minute, so I didn't feel so guilty. We chose to lie (I'll admit, that's what it was) to hopefully get a slightly better corral position as we knew the 5k is a family race and we planned to run it and wanted to save the dodging and weaving if we could.

When we got to Corral A and began being ushered to the start, we were very alarmed to find there were several small children in Corral A. Please know that I understand the 5k doesn't have a chip time and a lot of families participate and I am totally ok with that. Why I was alarmed was because these children, some clearly under the age of 5 (which I believe 5 is the cut off for Disney distance races?) were being pushed by their parents to the front of the corral and near people who were clearly there to run quick times. I was genuinely afraid these children would be trampled by people who didn't anticipate a 3ft tall child to be in front of them as they race from the starting line. The only reason I could assume parents would put their three-year-old in the front of the race was because they were worried the child would struggle to finish the race in the allotted time (even though there aren't balloon ladies). I think maybe they should have waited a bit until the kids are older so they could enjoy the race (and safely be in the front corral) or Disney should have some sort of policy about birth certificates for young children (is that too much? I don't know how else they could stop 3-year-olds from entering). I don't know that I have the answers but was definitely afraid for them.

As it were, we ended up being in the front of the second wave of Corral A. We got to the corral holding area late and tried to be respectful, having ran local 5k's where we knew our 10 minute miles aren't exactly "fast". As I made it to 4/10th of a mile (.4) I found a woman who was dragging her child on a child leash through this race. He could not keep up and was sobbing as his mother pulled him along. Again, in my best opinion, he was under 5 (I teach first grade, so I feel like I have a decent eye of how old younger kids are) and perhaps this was not the time to have him run a 5k. I just found it so mind-boggling that he was on a leash too (but hey, he wouldn't get lost or run all over the course that way!) The bathrooms were also backed up at mile .4 and there were people walking from the minute the race started.

I say this all not to shame anyone (run your race, you know your kid, etc etc), but to help others understand what the 5k race is like. I had read about it being very family oriented but imagined something similar to local 5k status (try-hards and competitors near the front and moms with strollers near the back type thing) and it was a lot different than that. This is clearly the first race for many and that's awesome. I don't think I'd personally run it again though as it didn't have a chip time and I felt concerned for the safety of others which made me run my race differently. It didn't seem worth the money.

Finished with a time of 34:38, running at a comfortable pace but trying to save my legs. Garmin read 3.21 miles from mat to mat.

I did not stop for any characters and not being a huge star wars fan, I could only name some of them (R2 was the first stop around mile 1.5). The lines, even being near the front of the race field were very long and I just wanted to get back to sleep :P

25fou94.jpg




Epcot


With about an hour of sleep after the race we arrived at Epcot around 9:30 to make our 9:40 Test Track fast pass. As we stood in line for bag check, we get an email that Test Track is down and we got a "generic" fast pass for a set of rides as our ride was down when we wanted to use it. We saw that Soarin' was a 15-minute wait and headed that way. Of course, by the time we got there the sign changed as we were walking up from 15 to 50 minutes. As we were already there, we decided to wait for it. We got off Soarin' and were prepared to go to our next fast pass- Figment. Then, I get an email, Figment is down. At this point we're completely lost, our plan is failing and everything is broken. We have two random fast passes and aren't sure how to proceed. We decide to grab a snack, as we hadn't eaten yet, and head toward Test Track and see if they have any developments. Luck would have it that Test Track re-opened and we were able to use our "general" fast pass from earlier to ride Test Track. I love that ride but actually liked it better as test dummies. I couldn't care less about making my own car.

After Test Track we try again for Figment and it's still down. Again, our carefully thought out plans were beginning to fall by the wayside as we stood around waiting for our next Fast Pass to happen. We rode our third (technically second fast pass), Spaceship Earth at 11:50 and Figment finally opened at 12:30ish for us to ride. We spent much more time on rides and not in the world showcase than we really wanted to. I think it's important for people to consider this when they go to Disney and on vacation in general. I've been to Disney World probably over 40 times. I know the system, I belong to "insider" groups on tips to maximize your park time, etc, but rides break, people need snacks and days, no matter how intricately planned, need to be flexible. Luckily no one in my group had even a mild panic that all the rides were breaking, but I could see how this would easily ruin someone's day.

Having had a Mickey pretzel for a snack not all that long before entering the showcase around 12:30 we discussed that no one in our party was very hungry for lunch and with a dinner reservation at 5:00 we decided to skip lunch and have snacks. I had a lovely pineapple beer from one of the Flower and Garden "huts" (for lack of better term) and we had chips and cheese from the Mexico pavilion (side note for my picky eater friends- you can order an order of chips and like 6 sides of cheese for a massive dish of cheese for like $6. Cheese isn't spicy but has good taste. Don't use snack credits though as they have to charge you 6 snack credits!).

We had discussed before leaving for the trip that we weren't going to spend tons of time in the World Showcase and try to do things we didn't do before as we spent almost a full day in the Showcase on our last trip. This trip we did the Mexico pavilion for snack/margartias, Mexico ride (we haven't done it in years!), Frozen ride (to which our legs almost died standing in line and we almost let fatigue ruin our day), Japan gift shop, and boyfriend and friend got shaved iced from the Japan pavillion. It was delicious!

We had dinner at Biergarten in Germany and I think I really want to love it, and keep coming back because I want my mind to change but every time it's just "meh" to me. Again, we are picky eaters, but I like sausage and spatzel. I ate a lot, and the food was "alright" but I spent most of my time yelling to my group to try to talk over the music (which I guess could be considered rude to the musicians?) and keeping my right arm squished to my body as I'm just not comfortable around strangers (Biergarten is tables of multiple families). I don't think I would eat at Biergarten again (I've been there twice) as there is food I would enjoy more elsewhere at Epcot and I always just settled for Biergarten and hoped it would be better than I truly knew it was.

WIth sore feet, we left Epcot around 7pm and prepared our bibs and bags for our next race day. We made it to bed by roughly 10pm I believe.
 
Last edited:
10k and Magic Kingdom

10k

14jnapv.jpg


I shall start with, I don't know how this happened but I submitted a point of time (my 1:03 princess 10k) through active.com and I think either the website didn't accept it, or I didn't hit the right button to confirm, but the result was still the same-- I was in the last corral (F/H) for the Challenge. Having not a lot of training due to injury, this ended up being the right corral for me, based on time. However, I was extremely bummed, because I had enough training to physically run the entire 10k and at least 6-8 miles of the half before needing a walk break. As I have a knee issue, bobbing and weaving is not exactly great either. I spent the weeks leading up to the race moping... I wanted to stop for pictures, blah blah blah. The one thing that got me through this was a group of people on the RunDisneyRun facebook page who specialized in Dead Last Starts. They were amped about starting last. So I joined the group.

In Corral F, wave 2 of starters, we crossed the starting line at 6:10am, 40 minutes after Corral A. With all my friends in Corral A or D, I had major anxiety about making them wait for me. AND BOY WAS IT CROWDED BACK THERE. I ran Princess 10k 2017 from Corral A and clearly had the luxury experience. There were people but it was only as crowded as my usual local races. Starting the 10k from the back was like trying to run through a crowd at Magic Kingdom on Easter (I've never been on Christmas, so best crowd comparison I have). I aimed for 10:30-11:00 miles and from yelling "runner coming through!" at the start, I was able to make it out of the concrete barrier section and actually start moving. I felt like a jerk. At first, I tried "on your left" as I made it further from the starting area but in reality, there were people always on my left and my right and I ended up in the middle. I couldn't complain though, as in the race instructions for "etiquette" the announcers only asked that walkers "move to the side" (they didn't say what side) and for the most part they tried. Of course, there were people just walking in the middle too. I spent most of my time running outside of what was considered the actual course-- the outside of the cones marking the edge of the pavement.

By the first mile, there was a ~10 year old kid just lying in front of the mile marker, I went over his way to check on him but a father looking figure was by him before I made it. It was an odd sight to see. There were also dozens of people to the side just stretching. It looked like a yoga studio started at the first mile. One complaint I will make about this course was that it was DARK in the parts early on (miles 2-3), on the road. The street lights weren't on for some parts and they didn't have enough rent-a-lights. A girl in my group (I came with 8 people to run) mentioned she saw a women trip and fall and perhaps break her nose (her face was scratched, nose bleeding) in this lowly lighted area. I rolled an ankle slighlty (thank god not seriously) as I tried to run around the cones and ended up in a sandy construction area in low light (I accept that if I had fallen and was off the course, that was on me). I was actually thinking in my head "this is a liability" as we ran through the area.

2me2645.jpg


By the time we hit Hollywood Studios I no longer physically had room to run. They set up 4-5 photo stations and one bend and it just became a massive bottleneck. I had to stop and SHUFFLE through a crowd (not walk, shuffle) until I made it toward the entrance of Hollywood Studios. I had about .2 of a mile of freedom to run my pace before it bottlenecked again on the path to the boardwalk. I decided to run very close to the water (and chanted "please no snakes!" over and over) on an incline in the grass. I was one of the few people who did this, so maybe it was a poor choice. However, I met a friend in Hollywood Studios (from Corral A!) who had been doing pictures. She left Hollywood Studios running probably a 10:30 pace and I an 11:00. I ran past her at the bottleneck coming to the boardwalk and beat her by 15 minutes (and she didn't stop for any more photos, so basically the shuffle to the boardwalk cost her 15 minutes). Once you hit the boardwalk it was smooth sailing.

I finished in 1:15 and my Garmin read 6.36 miles.

2eyalie.jpg


The dead last start people put together some statistic for me-- below. Out of ~9,000 competitors, I passed 4,479, nearly half the field. It says "could have been more" because I crossed the starting mat about 4 rows of people in front of the balloon ladies (I could have had more "kills")

2pydxy9.jpg


 
Last edited:




Updating to say I added my 5k race info. I'm going to update these a little at a time as they take a long time to write. Please comment or like the posts if you're reading along. If no one decides to read, then what's the point of me posting them!
 
After chugging some Starbucks (we woke up for our flight that morning at 2am) we quickly rode Midway Mania again and made it to Fantasmic 15 minutes before it started. We had FastPasses, so we assumed there would be special seating for those with Fastpasses, but that was an incorrect assumption. We ended up on the far left (which seems roughly where we would have been anyhow if we were earlier as there were so many reserved dining sections now...) and still truly enjoyed the show.

It's been a while since I used FP at Fantasmic, but there was a reserved section last time I did so. However, they only reserved it until (I believe) 30 minutes before the show started. At that point, they opened up the seating area to anyone. Or I could be confusing it with the dining package.
 
Very interesting 5k report. If people can push the parameters of a situation - like having 3 year olds run a 5k - they will. That's too bad. I'm interested to see how the 10k compares to the 5k (and the half).
 
I would think that if a 5 yr old enters, then Disney would require that child, and an accompanying adult, be in a later corral. I know there are some fast kiddos out there, but I would think it would just make sense to corral them properly. And I feel bad for any child being raced at a pace they are not able to sustain. I don't recall any kids at the 5k over marathon weekend, and I was also in A.
 
Epcot and 5k post completed. 10k post should be up tomorrow evening. Will try to do an update a day now that it isn't the weekend and I have work again!
 
That’s crazy about the super young kids being up in the front corral. I hope the other races didn’t have that problem.

During the last princess 5k I ran (2 yrs ago), there was a young girl, maybe 7 or 8, standing behind me in a character line who was sobbing over fear of getting passed by the balloon ladies. Despite her mom saying there wasn’t balloon ladies for the 5k, she remained absolutely hysterical. 1- that must’ve been a lovely picture and 2- who filled that girl’s head with talk of being swept.
 
Interesting take on the 5K. I was in Corral A and did not see a single child under the age of 8-7 either in the corral or lined up. Granted, I was in the very front of the second wave, perhaps they were behind me. Now during Princess Weekend 2018, I saw a lot of more children running the 5K with their parents but even then, none that were under 5.

This is a prime reason why even for 5k's a POT should be required. Or at the very least a requirement that children must be in further back corral. IMO, it's dangerous for small children to be in a front corral where you know many of the runners run a 7-8 minute mile.
 
I’m with you on the 5K’s. They just aren’t worth the money. I’m only running another 5K at WDW because it’s part of the Dopey Challenge.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top