Zachary was already asleep. My parents chose to take the boat back to the Poly because my mom was struggling with the monorail ramp. Tom and I needed the convenience of the monorail with a sleeping child in a stroller. It wasn't easy pushing a stroller up the ramp post-race but I did it! My legs were really hurting, especially my right thigh. But I also realized that "walking it off" was a good strategy.
Once we were back at the Poly, I headed off to the laundry room to do some much-needed laundry. Again, thanks to the DIS I knew to pack lots of quarters and I had travel-sized laundry detergent. Zachary had not only peed through an outfit (and on my outfit!) but the antibiotics he had been taking for his ear infection were messing up his GI tract. We were going through 2-3 outfits a day for him! I left a sleeping Zachary in his stroller with my parents in the hotel while Tom took the big kids to the Volcano Pool for a swim (crazy!).
The laundry room was nice, as these things go. Enough machines and a separate sitting area with vending machines and a tv. I had my iPad so I was all set. I met a nice guy doing laundry who was planning to run the full marathon the following day. We chatted quite a bit until I got a phone call from my parents that Zachary was awake and inconsolable. They brought him over to the laundry room to hang out with me. Once Zachary calmed down, my step-dad took him back to the room to get ready for dinner. My mom helped me fold the laundry and we headed back.
During my laundry time, my step-sister called to let me know that she had landed at MCO. She was going to head to her hotel (something off-site - maybe a Hilton with a convention center?) and then meet us at California Grill. Tom had gotten the kids ready for dinner (not quite up to my standards but I let it go - and I don't think there are any pics of it anyway!) and we were running a little later than I had hoped. We had an ADR for 7 and my sister was going to make 8. I had read that it's better to ask forgiveness than permission with these things so we were taking a chance.
We arrived at the Contemporary and headed to the check-in area for California Grill. Wendy (my sister) wasn't there yet and I made Tom negotiate for an extra person. One advantage of early ADRs is that it wasn't a problem (I can't imagine that going from 7 to 8 would be a problem since you need a table for 8 anyway
). We were taken upstairs where we waited a short while (we were just about to sit on the sofas when they called us). Wendy had arrived just as we were being seated. Our server was very chatty and nice. My family made fun of me for befriending her.
One thing I love about TIW vs. dining plan is the flexibility. I would choose appetizers over dessert for most meals. We started with a bottle of champagne to celebrate my race. Then we had some delicious wine and sparkling water. My sister and Tom only wanted sushi. I ordered fish (can't remember what!). The food was wonderful. The kids were extremely well-behaved, especially considering how tired we all were.
A lovely, lovely meal. We saved $50+ using our TIW card. Not that the meal was cheap!
But well-worth the price. I was quite pleased with my choice.
We saw some of Wishes from the restaurant before we left. It was nice seeing it from there. We took the monorail back to the Poly and crashed!!!
Amanda
Such an inspiration. I guess everyone should do it at least once. I am hoping to do it one day. 
And to have a character handler that was a jerk makes it even worse. 
Even so, I doubt my abs EVER looked that good! 
According to my family I'm *the* expert so you would think I would know these things. It does make me feel better about our whole CP experience. I know it's silly but it makes more sense now.
