There's a Great Big MARATHON Tomorrow: Goofy Challenge/Marathon Weekend '15 FINALLY COMPLETE!

[Biggie Smalls]

What's crazy is ariel even has another layer for cold weather. She met with us Wednesday evening in a clam shell looking cape/short jacket. I was a little confused bc like you said she is inside

Lunch at BOG looked yummy and I am going to have to try that next trip- we did dinner this go around.

 

[emilyindisney]

What's crazy is ariel even has another layer for cold weather. She met with us Wednesday evening in a clam shell looking cape/short jacket. I was a little confused bc like you said she is inside

Lunch at BOG looked yummy and I am going to have to try that next trip- we did dinner this go around.

Maybe they can't really heat her grotto? The cape sounds a little strange too!

Dinner is yummy too!

 

[ursalita]

Sounds like you guys had a great day at MK despite the cold and rain.

A parent sat their child on the edge of the Dumbo ride?! I don't even know what to say about that. Wow. People never cease to amaze me.

We've never seen Hall of Presidents and I'm looking forward to seeing it in April. If Congress could only put that kind of effort into their job right now it would be great.

 

[emilyindisney]

Sounds like you guys had a great day at MK despite the cold and rain.

A parent sat their child on the edge of the Dumbo ride?! I don't even know what to say about that. Wow. People never cease to amaze me.

We've never seen Hall of Presidents and I'm looking forward to seeing it in April. If Congress could only put that kind of effort into their job right now it would be great.

I wonder if they didn't speak English so they didn't understand the instruction not too? Or they were just insistent that their child sit on the outside and swapped seats after the CMs looped around? Ugh- people do weird things

Hall of Presidents was a lot of fun and I highly recommend. The attraction does run quite well...which Congress can't always say

 

[rteetz]

I did BOG lunch in July and the masters cupcake had to be the best part of the lunch for me.

That is a cool fact about Hall of Presidents. Its been a while since I have gone to see it.

 

[emilyindisney]

I did BOG lunch in July and the masters cupcake had to be the best part of the lunch for me.

That is a cool fact about Hall of Presidents. Its been a while since I have gone to see it.

There was some other neat displays in the Hall of Presidents lobby with interesting artifacts and info. I'd definitely recommend a revisit if you have the time!

 

[emilyindisney]

Away we go! It’s a Festival of Fantasy!

After the show was over we browsed some shops including the new Memento Mori by Haunted Mansion. At 3:00 we picked a prime spot in Frontierland to catch Festival of Fantasy for the first time! I was pretty excited to see this parade because everyone’s trip report pictures of it look so beautiful! I mean, did you really see Festival of Fantasy if you don’t take as many pictures of it as possible? So naturally that’s what I did (or attempted to with my point and shoot camera.)


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I was disappointed to see that the dragon wasn’t breathing fire that day! She (it?) was still incredibly cool though. Does anyone know if the fire doesn’t work on a regular basis? The parade as a whole is amazing, and couldn’t even be ruined by the child next to me who SCREAMED every character’s name at the top of her lungs until they looked at her. The kid nearly had an aneurysm when she saw Mickey. I forgot about her! I thought Elsa was going to give her a coronary episode!
​

 

[ZellyB]

Great updates! Love how your day is going at MK.

That Space Mountain shot with that guy is so funny. I also have no idea where the camera is, so I always just have a blank look on my face.

Glad Emily was able to get her popcorn fix and I promise, no judging here!

The shots in Gaston's pub are cute, especially the one with Emily in Gaston's chair. He was meeting outside the pub when we were there and his line was really long. We were a little surprised by that, but not after we stood and watched him. He spends a LOT of time with each person and really interacts a lot. It's very entertaining.

You also got some wonderful pictures of the parade. We've not seen that one and it looks like a great one.

 

[ursalita]

You guys got some great pictures of the parade. Like you, I can't wait for the parade because of all the pictures I've seen in TRs. I thought you guys got some great close-ups of the characters.

Too bad you could see the fire breathing. I hope we luck out during our trip.

 

[Ariel484]

Great FoF pictures! I LOVE that parade! Stinks about the dragon and the loud child, but still...Festival of Fantasty!! Yay!

 

[rteetz]

Great pictures of the parade, it is my favorite by far. I know the dragon does not breathe fire on days that are windy due to the fire hazard.

 

[emilyindisney]

Great updates! Love how your day is going at MK.

That Space Mountain shot with that guy is so funny. I also have no idea where the camera is, so I always just have a blank look on my face.

Glad Emily was able to get her popcorn fix and I promise, no judging here!

The shots in Gaston's pub are cute, especially the one with Emily in Gaston's chair. He was meeting outside the pub when we were there and his line was really long. We were a little surprised by that, but not after we stood and watched him. He spends a LOT of time with each person and really interacts a lot. It's very entertaining.

You also got some wonderful pictures of the parade. We've not seen that one and it looks like a great one.

We were sort of expecting him to meet outside the tavern but it was rainy (and I don't know if he doesn't have a rain location, or we just missed it!) He puts on a great meet-and-greet though!

You guys got some great pictures of the parade. Like you, I can't wait for the parade because of all the pictures I've seen in TRs. I thought you guys got some great close-ups of the characters.

Too bad you could see the fire breathing. I hope we luck out during our trip.

Maybe the firebreathing was weather restrictions or something like that. Either way, I hope you get to see it!!

Great FoF pictures! I LOVE that parade! Stinks about the dragon and the loud child, but still...Festival of Fantasty!! Yay!

I know!! It's such a beautiful parade! New favorite!

Great pictures of the parade, it is my favorite by far. I know the dragon does not breathe fire on days that are windy due to the fire hazard.

Hmmm...interesting- that definitely makes sense. I don't remember it being that windy but the weather was a little unpredictable so maybe they wanted to air on the side of caution. Oh well!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

HAHA, I think Space has some of the best ride photos just because the camera is in such a random location. Like seriously, nothing's happened yet, so most people are just chillin'. Love it!!

Ha, who knew Disney popcorn had so many uses. Food... rain shelter... the possibilities are endless.

Enchanted Tales is for sure one of those things you need to see at least once. I agree, it is geared towards kids, but I really love all the effects, andit is usually super sweet to see the kids interacting with Belle in the show.

Yup, Ariel is my girl too.

I've only done BOG once, and also for lunch, but really enjoyed it. And yup, your location is attached to that wondrous magic band.

Oh my. I love meeting Donald, but his lighting in Pete's is atrocious. They really need to fix that.

I absolutely LURVE FoF. Every little bit of it. And extra points for the photos with Country Bear Jamboree in behind. <3

I saw FoF twice this just completed trip and the second time the dragon did not breathe fire. I'm not sure of the reason though.

 

[emilyindisney]

HAHA, I think Space has some of the best ride photos just because the camera is in such a random location. Like seriously, nothing's happened yet, so most people are just chillin'. Love it!!

Ha, who knew Disney popcorn had so many uses. Food... rain shelter... the possibilities are endless.

Enchanted Tales is for sure one of those things you need to see at least once. I agree, it is geared towards kids, but I really love all the effects, andit is usually super sweet to see the kids interacting with Belle in the show.

Yup, Ariel is my girl too.

I've only done BOG once, and also for lunch, but really enjoyed it. And yup, your location is attached to that wondrous magic band.

Oh my. I love meeting Donald, but his lighting in Pete's is atrocious. They really need to fix that.

I absolutely LURVE FoF. Every little bit of it. And extra points for the photos with Country Bear Jamboree in behind. <3

I saw FoF twice this just completed trip and the second time the dragon did not breathe fire. I'm not sure of the reason though.

For that very reason I would choose Disney popcorn as the one item I would want if stranded on a desert island, hahaha!

 

[emilyindisney]

Holiday appreciation pictures

We decided to watch the parade from Frontierland so that when it was over we could follow it back towards Fantasyland so we could catch our Seven Dwarves Mine Train FP+. We first rode this in October and honestly- it’s nothing spectacular and definitely not worth the crazy wait times in builds. However- seeing as we could snag a fast pass we figured it was worth another go! This time we walked right through the fast pass line and got right on because they were looking for a party of two to fill the last row- SCORE!

I liked this ride better riding in the back! The scenery is great, especially in the mine, but I still wish the ride was longer. I was beyond unimpressed with this the first time around, but this time was much more fun. I think it was a combination of the back very pretty zippy, and my expectations being much much lower than the first time.

Our day was winding down so we could relax for the evening before the half marathon tomorrow. We made our way back down Main Street USA and stop to appreciate the holiday scenery.

I also tried to appreciate the balloons:

I still need a little practice (a blue sky wouldn’t hurt either!)

The Dan’s were out in their holiday garb so we stopped and listened to them for a few minutes.

One more picture at the end of Main Street:

We had a FP+ to meet Tink on Sunday after dinner but we decided to make one last stop and do that now. Her line was super short and we were going to have to rush from dinner to make our FP+ on Sunday anyways so this worked out better.

I’m bummed that our picture didn’t turn out very well but we have the photopass ones so its all good!

Tink wasn’t what I expected at all! It always made me a little mad that she’s supposed to be all sassy in the movie but always seems like she’s so nice and sweet in person. However, it turns out Tink was quite sassy and was very quick to correct us after we asked for pixie dust. Apparently Terrance is the dust keeper, not her. We apologized- we’re clearly not up on our fairies at all!

After Tink we headed back to the resort to chill out and relax for the night.

We had a resort food court dinner. I had a make your own salad-which turned out to be sooo good!

I had plain pasta and some chicken. I was in a plain mood and figured this would be decent pre-race food.

We laid out all our stuff for the half marathon and tried to figure out who we could add some extra layers to our costumes to accommodate for the cool weather tomorrow. Once we had everything laid out we hit the hay with an early alarm set for our first race tomorrow!

​

 

[emilyindisney]

Walt Disney World Half Marathon Part One (Mile 1-5)

Saturday morning we were up at 3am- bright and early to get dressed and run the Walt Disney World half marathon (and the first leg of the Goofy challenge!) It was going to be cool- real feels in the 30s-40s before the start of the race and we had a long time to stand outside before we started running. I normally feel funny about wearing race shirts to the race but I utilized the red half shirt underneath my costume so I could have some sleeves. I broke a worse rule-I wore the black marathon shirt underneath my costume for the same reason. I now realize that this is the reason that I had 2 of the worst races I’ve ever had-that’s what I get for angering the running gods! But on the plus side, I was warm, my costume looked good, and I completed the Goofy challenge-so alls well that ends well, right?

We took our usual pre-race selfie in the room:

Usually we reserve this selfie for the corrals, but our costumes would be hidden this morning!

We bundled ourselves in sweatshirts and garbage bags and headed out. We stopped in the food court, which was open with coffee and a number of grab and go options-I was very impressed by this. We got some hot water for our oatmeal cups and headed to the bus stop. We got on a bus at 3:30 and almost immediately pulled out. I was very impressed with the bus situation. There had to have been five or six buses sitting at Movies just waiting to pick runners up. It was great!

Once we got dropped off in the Epcot parking lot where we went through bag check (because we run with hydration belts aka running fanny packs.) We found a spot behind a section of bleachers to sit down and eat our breakfasts.

It wasn’t too bad sitting there because we were in a group of people and out of the wind. At about 4:30 we got up to make our way to the corrals, use the bathroom, etc.

On the normally mundane march to the corrals, we got to see something really cool-a NASA SpaceX cargo launch! It was pretty easy to see, a huge bright flare in the sky that we watched for a few minutes before it just disappeared (into space, I’m assuming…). See, there are perks to being awake at insane hours!

We were in Corral J so it was about a 30 minute wait of slowly creeping forward before it was our turn. Soon we were under at the start line…

And we were off! Normally, we run our entire races, as opposed to having planned intervals, but we knew we wanted to take it easy on our legs before the marathon. Our plan for the half was to run at a comfy pace and take a short walk break right around each mile marker. We also figured we’d walk the hills if we felt like it. Following this plan, and being caught up in the excitement meant that mile one came up before we knew it!

We needed to make a bathroom stop so we pulled over at the first ones we saw. With that taken care of we kept moving and came up on mile two.

So I need to take a moment here to explain that I had been battling one injury after another during training-I went to PT for weeks, did the minimum amount of training I could get away with (to avoid worsening my injury, and even saw a podiatrist in desperation a week before we left. The day we were scheduled to leave, all my previous injuries seemed to be under control, and I was feeling good-then I tweaked my calf muscle in my last shakeout run. I was hoping it was a fluke, but low and behold, at about mile 2 of the race it started hurting...and never really stopped. At that point I kind of realized I wasn’t going to have the dream race that I’ve had in previous Disney events, but what else was I going to do besides keep running?

We passed the pirate ship photo opportunity (with Jack Sparrow) but didn’t stop because we’ve done it before and the line was long. Right after the ship we came up on the magic kingdom gates!

Soon after the gates (and at the corner of the speedway) was mile three!

It was fun to run by the speedway knowing we’d be running on there tomorrow!

Coming around the speedway we found that Wreck-it Ralph and Vanelope were out. Their line was long too (a general theme of this race which came as a surprise to us) so we kept running. Next we saw Jack and Sally out with Zero flying around on the trees! Their line was crazy long (and we met them in October) so we kept moving. Before we knew it, we were at the TTC! There were lots of cheering crowds here and unfortunately they were standing a couple people deep in front of the mile marker four sign. Oh well!

Mile five was just across from the Contemporary Resort but it was on the other side of the guardrail so we kept running ready to get to Main Street USA!​

 

[rteetz]

I agree that the mine train should be longer.

I really want to run the half and the full but can't run the full yet because I'm not 18. I am eyeing up the half for next year tho. Donald is probably my favorite character so I need that medal.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

It's funny but I too enjoyed the Mine Train better on the second go round. Being a proponent of back is best, I'm not surprised that made a difference. I imagine much lower expectations played a role as well.

It seems that since Tink moved to Main Street, her wait time has dropped a lot.

 

[ZellyB]

Yay! The race is on.

It looks like your day at MK wrapped up nicely. I also agree about the mine train. It's a fun little coaster, but so short.

The shots with Tink are super cute though. Glad she was sassy.

It was definitely chilly starting out for the half and I think given the circumstances it's understandable why you wore the race shirts. It eventually turned into a perfect day for running, but sitting around waiting for the start was cold!

Sorry to hear about the foot problems, Caitlin, though. I had a tough training season as well and that stinks. Running what should be a fun race in pain is not a situation anyone should have to deal with.

Love your costumes. You guys look adorable. And, you know I'm with you on the character lines. CRAZY!

 

[disneyhorselover]

I agree that the mine train should be longer.

I really want to run the half and the full but can't run the full yet because I'm not 18. I am eyeing up the half for next year tho. Donald is probably my favorite character so I need that medal.

The half is a great race! I really like the course, and the race shirt is one of my favorites!

It's funny but I too enjoyed the Mine Train better on the second go round. Being a proponent of back is best, I'm not surprised that made a difference. I imagine much lower expectations played a role as well.

It seems that since Tink moved to Main Street, her wait time has dropped a lot.

Glad it wasn't just me. I didn't intend to have high expectations when I rode it the first time (all the reviews said it was very tame and short) and STILL got off thinking "that was it?!"

Yay! The race is on.

It looks like your day at MK wrapped up nicely. I also agree about the mine train. It's a fun little coaster, but so short.

The shots with Tink are super cute though. Glad she was sassy.

It was definitely chilly starting out for the half and I think given the circumstances it's understandable why you wore the race shirts. It eventually turned into a perfect day for running, but sitting around waiting for the start was cold!

Sorry to hear about the foot problems, Caitlin, though. I had a tough training season as well and that stinks. Running what should be a fun race in pain is not a situation anyone should have to deal with.

Love your costumes. You guys look adorable. And, you know I'm with you on the character lines. CRAZY!

Tink was definitely sassy...she was none too impressed with us for never having seen the fairy movies!

Even if that superstition was why I had a tough race, having the shirt on was SO WORTH IT! I agree that it was nice running weather...if I'm wearing all of my normal winter layers! (None of which made the trip to FL, unfortunately haha)

Thanks...this was the first time I've really had a long term struggle with injury since I've started running and it was definitely a lesson in humility and adjusted expectation..
Sorry to hear about your injuries as well, I followed them a little bit in your PTR/the marathon thread.

Wearing a costume definitely adds a little entertainment...mostly spectators cheering for our character names! The biggest perk is definitely having our picture taken by the rundisney photographer though-I feel famous!