Suddenly Solo – A Fall Feast 5K TR Oct/Nov 2019 Updated 12/3!

Pluto0809

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Jan 25, 2012
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Hi Y’all and welcome to another one of my TRs! I think most people know me by now so you can skip over this introduction stuff since I basically copied it from my last TR. But just in case there are some newbies here, I’m Ariana and I live outside Atlanta GA with my husband Jim and our five furry butts. Yep, you read that right, we have 5 dogs.

Jim doesn’t factor at all into this trip, he’s more of a once a year or even every other year kind of Disney guy. We actually went twice in 2018 which was way more than enough for him so he didn’t join me on my trips this year. Here’s a picture of the two of us from our January 2018 trip. We do have a trip scheduled for April 2020 which will be all about the Star Wars stuff including the Star Wars 5K for me.




And since I think they are the cutest dogs ever, I’m going to spam you with pictures of my dogs before I go on to talk about this trip.

First up is Sierra, she is a 9 year old Miniature Schnauzer and the apple of her Daddy’s eye. We bought her home as a puppy and is the last dog we bought from a breeder.




Next is Remy aka “The Little Rat”. He’s a Yorkie and was the first to follow me home from the local animal shelter where I volunteer. He was supposed to be a foster over the holidays when the shelter was closed but he never ended up going back. He is extremely high maintenance and even though I love him to death, I’m not sure if I would ever get another Yorkie.



Ellie is our next baby. She is 3 years old and we believe she might be a Schnauzer/Jack Russell mix. She is an absolute sweetheart and never sits still. She is usually outside chasing down the many squirrels that inhabit our backyard. We brought her home from the shelter because she looked exactly like our dog Alex. Unfortunately we lost him to cancer a few months after we got her. Here she is photobombing me at the Atlanta Braves game last month. She loves going places so we took her to Bark at the Park.



At one point in 2017 we were down to just three dogs, Ellie, Sierra and Remy. Ellie, being so much younger than the other two, was driving them nuts wanting to play all the time. So we brought Buddy who is now 4 years old, home from the shelter as a playmate for her. We believe he is a Schnauzer/Dachshund mix because he has stubby legs and a long barrel shaped body.



Unfortunately Buddy did not turn out to be the playmate that Ellie needed. Even though he was around the same age as her, he was more content to lay on the couch then run around and play. By the time we realized that he wasn’t going to work out, he was already a member of our family. So the search continued for a playmate for Ellie. We introduced her to a couple of dogs at the shelter but nothing clicked until Sulley came along. He’s a Schnoodle and turned out to be the perfect playmate for Ellie. Jim and I both agree that he is one of the weirdest dogs we’ve ever had but in a good way that makes us laugh all the time. I mean, just look at how he likes to sit!



I see this upside down grin quite often too. One of my friends said he reminds her of a sloth.



OK, I think I’ve gone on long enough about my dogs. Let’s move on and talk about the actual trip now.

This trip started out as a super quick solo trip for me to run the Fall Feast 5k. I booked a room at Pop Century and was going to fly down Wednesday night and come home Sunday. But when I mentioned the trip to Mom, she quickly jumped on board. She loves Disney almost as much as I do. Here we are on our last Mother/Daughter trip in February 2018.




We ended up getting flights for Wednesday morning and also added an extra day so we weren’t flying home till Monday. I was never able to add that extra night to our Pop reservation and I booked that last night at All Star Sports. Somewhere along the line, I managed to change that Sports reservation to one night in a Deluxe Studio at Animal Kingdom Lodge using an awesome AP rate. This was going to be a surprise for Mom and I also booked us dinner at Boma which was a new restaurant for both of us.

About two weeks before the trip though, Mom called me to let me know she wasn’t sure if she would be able to go. She has a condition called Trigeminal Neuralgia. Basically, it’s a chronic pain condition that affects a nerve in her face. It’s supposed to be one of the most painful conditions out there. For the most part, Mom controls it with heavy doses of pain meds (which of course come with their own nasty side effects) but once in a while she has a flare up. When that happens, she has trouble eating and talking and has to up the pain meds even more which leaves her tired with constant dizziness and migraines. She started one of these flare ups about two weeks before the trip and was still hoping that she could get over it in time for the trip.

Me, I was not so hopeful. I knew that the flare ups usually lasted around a month and there was very little chance she would be able to go on the trip. So I went into last minute panic mode and added and adjusted a lot of the plans. I didn’t cancel anything yet but I knew that it would be a very different trip if I was solo. For about a week I had two completely separate set of plans and didn’t know which one I would end up using.

As you probably can tell from the title, Mom did end up cancelling. Hopefully, she will be healthy enough to go on our February trip. I have some fun surprises planned for her that trip since she couldn’t go this time.

Up Next: Making Disney Friends at 30,000 Feet
 
Making Disney Friends at 30,0000 Feet

Since I rearranged a lot for this trip at the last minute, I thought I would start each day with a brief synopsis of how the day would have gone if Mom had come along. I will put this in purple so you can see where the actual day starts.


Original Plans:
Land in Orlando 10:30 am
Magical Express to Pop Century – drop carry ons with Bell Service or in room if available
Lunch either at Pop or Disney Springs depending on arrival time
Disney Springs for an afternoon of leisurely shopping
Dinner at Boathouse at 5:30 pm
Back to the resort for an early night since Mom’s flight was at 7 am (thank goodness we were flying Southwest and I was able to easily cancel her flight and bank the money for a future flight).


My flight out on October 30th wasn’t until 9 am but with the crazy traffic in Atlanta it was just easier for Jim to take me on his way to work. It certainly saved me money since I didn’t have to pay to park. So I was up at 4 am and we were out the door a little after 5 am which got me to the airport at 6 am.

When I checked my bags at the Southwest counter, I noticed that it was decorated with Lion King stuff. I thought this was a little odd but once I got through security (which was a breeze) and back to the gates I realized that Southwest had decorated every gate with a different Disney theme. Quite the fun way to start my trip. I took a few pictures but I didn’t have my good camera out yet so these are crappy ones from my phone. First up I saw Frozen.




Snow White:



I also saw Mickey Mouse, Beauty and the Beast, Jungle Book, Cinderella, 101 Dalmatians and probably several more that I’m forgetting now. The gate I was at was Lion King which is not very obvious from this lovely picture I took from my seat.



On the way to my gate, I stopped and grabbed some breakfast from Chick Fil A. I find Chick Fil A food just OK, I’d much rather have another chain in my area called Zaxby’s but there something about these chicken minis that is like crack to me.



They are basically a small piece of chicken in a hot buttery biscuit and they are yummy! And you can’t go wrong with hash browns. I was very careful to avoid knocking any of my food over onto the floor this time around.

I relaxed and read for a bit. I was very glad I wasn’t heading to work that day as I got a notice saying there was a bad accident on the highway I travel that had all lanes shut down. I would have had to take back roads to work which would have probably doubled or tripled my commute time.

When I boarded the plane I decided to just grab the first aisle seat I saw so I could get off the plane quickly. I had moved the Boathouse reservation from 5:30 pm to 1:30 pm so I was in a small hurry to get to Disney Springs. There were two ladies in the second or maybe third row sitting in the window and middle seats so I joined them in the aisle seat. I normally keep to myself when I fly by burying myself in a book but I glanced over at the lady sitting next to me and she had a schnauzer on her phone. I couldn’t help but say how cute I thought her baby was and that lead to us exchanging pictures of our dogs. Then I found out they were heading to Disney so we chatted most of the flight about our trips. By the end, we had become fast friends and found each other on Facebook. I’ll just refer to them as S & P for the rest of the TR.

I did get separated from them once we got of the plane as I needed to make a bathroom stop. I was a tiny bit disappointed to see the Disney Store closed because I usually like to do a first glance at the merchandise. But since I was in a hurry anyways, it wasn’t too big of a deal.




Funny thing, when I came back to the airport on Monday, the design on the scrim had changed to Galaxy’s Edge but I didn’t get another picture.

There was a bit of a line to check in for the Magical Express and of course I got behind a family that wanted Disney to pick up their bags but didn’t attach the yellow tags nor had they saved the baggage claim slips. The mother was trying to give the CM the receipts from when they paid the baggage fees. They were quite annoyed that Disney couldn’t magically find their bags for them. After what felt like forever listening to them argue with the CM, they stormed off to go and pick up their bags and I was able to scan my MB and get in line for Pop. My new friends S & P showed up in the line right next to me (they were headed to Coronado) so we chatted a bit more and made plans to maybe meet up in Epcot the next day.

It was about 11:15 am when I boarded my bus and headed off to Pop Century. I was happy to see my main guy on the bus next to mine.




It was also around this time that I got my room ready alert. I was in building 2, 3rd floor, room 2338 in the 50s section.



Building 2 is the one with the rooms that start with a “2”. See the part that juts out the back on the opposite side of the pool? My room was one short from being the very last one on that back section.

I was excited to see the Skyliner as a walked to my room. I was also able to see it from my room which I thought would be a good thing since I could see if it was running before walking over there.




I know most people have probably seen the new Pop rooms by now, as a matter of fact, I posted quite a few in my last TR. But I took more pictures this trip so you get to see them again.













I freshened up a tiny bit and then headed right back out to catch a bus to Disney Springs. I took some room views when I left. This first one is looking to the right towards the end and the 50s parking lot.



Looking straight ahead, I could just catch a glimpse of the Skyliner and the lake through those trees.



And to the right, one of the dreaded roundabouts used by Mousekeeping and Bell Services. I’ve had bad experiences with noise from these in the past but luckily I never heard a thing this trip.



At the front of my building was a huge jukebox. I’m not sure if I ever got a picture of it from the front but I did enjoy reading the made up bands and song titles each morning while waiting for the elevator.



And finally here’s a view from the base of the jukebox looking out over the bowling pin pool and towards the main lobby.



Up Next: Shopping and Lunch at Disney Springs
 
Here!

sorry your mom has to cancel. :(

cute pups though. :)
 

I wonder about people sometimes... they mess up and expect others to fix it. :sad2:

But you’re there and looking forward to more! :)
 
Following along! Your puppy pictures are adorable, as always :) So sorry to hear about your mom but at least you had a back up plan!
 
Joining in of course!

Sorry to hear mom couldn't join you :( Glad you have something planned for February though.

Cute that the airline counters were decorated!

Glad you made friends on the flight and got there with no issues!
 
Great start to your trip report! I never cease to be amazed at how you reach out from your introverted comfort zone to make new friends! So great that you made new Dis friends on your flight. Anxious to see if you ended up meeting up with them in the parks.... popcorn::
 
So sad your Mom didn't get to join you, but February isn't TOO far away!! I'm sure you're both looking forward to it so much!!

Nice that you made some friends on your flight :)
 
Joining in! We were in WDW at the same time and also ran the 5k!

Sorry to hear your mom wasn't able to join you. Hope she is feeling better now.

Awesome how you made friends on the plane like that!
 
I still need to read your record 7-updates-in-one-shot finish on your other TR but wanted to get in here from the beginning!!
 
Hopping over from your last trip report . Looking forward to reading this one . Sorry about your mom Hope she is feeling better .
 
Great start to your report! I am sorry to hear about your mom and hope she is doing a little better now. I am glad to see the Pop pictures as I am staying there for the first time in 18 days and that is the exact section I requested! How fun that you met fellow Disney-philes on the plane and I love the decor on the Southwest gates. :)
 
I am glad to see the Pop pictures as I am staying there for the first time in 18 days and that is the exact section I requested!

We arrive on 12/18 - maybe we'll see you around the food court :hyper: And I agree, great to see all the POP pics - thank you!
 
Joining in!
I’ll definitely follow along but I may not have much time for comments. “Real life” has been getting in the way of Dis time lately.
 




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