Two Castles & a Dumbo Double Dare for Good Measure-Sep13 *Newx5 2/3-AK Epcot & MNNSHP

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 2  Part 3: Its What a Hamburgers All About

The plan after the race had been to get all freshened up and then hit DCA, but my toe had been giving me issues during almost the whole 10k and I was really concerned about being in pain the next day and even worse, being in pain for our vacation. So I made the executive decision of self-preservation during my walk back to the hotel. I let B know my thoughts when I got back to the room and he was totally on board  besides, we needed to get out at some point that day to run a couple errands anyway so it worked out well. After getting ready, instead of heading out to DCA, we made our way down to the car and back out to the real world. Our first stop of the morning was an early lunch (like 10:30am haha) at one of our favorite fast food spots&In & Out!!! Yes, I know this is my Disney trip report but In & Out deserves its own review too.

For those of you who have never had it, it really is what a hamburger is all about. We both got Double Doubles (mine with grilled onions) and then we always share the fries and a drink. Like always, In & Out didnt disappoint and get 5++/5 stars!!

I wanted to stop and grab something for breakfast before the ½ the next morning so we made a Slurpee run to 7-11 (nothing better on a hot August day!!). Funny story with the Slurpee run. I was craving a Strawberry Poptart after the 10k and had told B when I got back to the room it would be awesome if he showed up at the finish line the next morning with PopTarts. Fast forward a couple of hours and I had completely forgotten about the conversation until I went to grab a granola bar and there right next to granola bars were PopTarts. SCORE  I was getting a PopTart tomorrow at the finish!!! Haha!!!

Lunch done, errands done, Slurpees (and PopTart) in hand we made it over to my intended destination for the next couple hours, my parents house (since we hadn't officially moved in to our new condo yet at this point and were still staying with them.) We had a video game to play!!!

Oh my gosh, I cant even tell you how fun Disney Infinity has turned out to be (and quite the hit to our checking account too). Its more on my level of what I dont get frustrated playing, so its been fun to have a game that B and I can play together. We stayed at my parents until about 2pm before making our way back to the hotel. Honestly, taking a break and resting my foot was probably the best decision I could have made. I was disappointed we didnt get to hit DCA first thing or do Flos V-8 Café for lunch but it helped ensure the next day went well and the vacation too. Plus getting In&Out for lunch, helped too!

Continued Next Post​

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 2 – Part 4: Where is everyone?

Feeling refreshed from the down time, I was ready to get over to the Resort. We went straight to DCA where Pluto was out greeting guests.

I love the old Hollywood outfits the Fab Five received with the re-vamp of DCA. We made our way in to Hollywood to grab Fastpasses for Tower of Terror.

Surprisingly, even with it being Labor Day Weekend there were still Fastpasses and they were less than an hour in to the future! Fastpasses secured, we shrunk ourselves down to bug size to walk through Bug’s Land. Such a cute little kids area and a great shady spot when it is super hot outside!

Bug’s Land connects directly to Route 66 and when I stopped to grabbed a pictures of Luigi’s Flying Tires we realized there was no line. What the what?!?

Of course we hopped in!! We really like the Flying Tires and think they are such a unique attraction – plus B and I have figured out how to really get them going which makes the ride that much more fun. The theming, as with everything in Carsland is fantastic.

We only waited about 5 minutes to get on – woohoo!!

Having no line for the Flying Tires, I was hopeful for a short single rider for Radiator Springs! Got stopped briefly by the dance party they do with one tricked out car!

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[JessM]

Great updates!

I love the sparkle skirt you wore for the 10K! I'm so tempted to buy its blue sister.

I love all the pictures you took of the 10K its looks like it was a great race! I love how much park time you seem to get at the Disneyland races, doing either Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend or Tink Weekend is on my bucket list!

I've never played Disney Infinity but it looks like so much fun, its tempting me to buy a game console just to play lol!

Probably a good call resting your foot, I hope it felt better soon!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Great updates!

I love the sparkle skirt you wore for the 10K! I'm so tempted to buy its blue sister.

I love all the pictures you took of the 10K its looks like it was a great race! I love how much park time you seem to get at the Disneyland races, doing either Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend or Tink Weekend is on my bucket list!

I've never played Disney Infinity but it looks like so much fun, its tempting me to buy a game console just to play lol!

Probably a good call resting your foot, I hope it felt better soon!

Thank you!! The skirt really is pretty (as is it's blue sister) - I plan on rocking it again for Tinkerbell in January. Just a heads up, you will get glitter everywhere if the blue one has glitter on it like the green one!

I think having so much park time is what made the 10k so much fun. There was so much to look at, it really made the time go by so quickly! Plus, I absolutely love getting to see the backstage areas - that for me is more exciting then running through the normal parts of the parks.

Thanks for the well wishes on the foot. My toe has it's good days and bad days. I still have trouble wrapping my head around something really being wrong because it's just a toe but taking time off on that Saturday really helped. I wasn't in any pain for the 1/2 (which shocked the heck out of me) and pretty pain free for the vacation too.

 

[klacey1]

I absolutely love your race photos! It's so awesome that you can see so much of backstage. Seeing the floats is fantastic.
I have a business trip in LA in March and I was hoping to get to DL, but it doesn't look like that's easy/possible. I really want to see Carsland! Luigi's looks like such a fun ride. And so unique!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

I absolutely love your race photos! It's so awesome that you can see so much of backstage. Seeing the floats is fantastic.
I have a business trip in LA in March and I was hoping to get to DL, but it doesn't look like that's easy/possible. I really want to see Carsland! Luigi's looks like such a fun ride. And so unique!

Thank you! Definitely seemed like they had more on display this year then previous years.

I totally understand your pain, that would drive me crazy if I was in Florida for business and couldn't make WDW work. I'll keep my fingers crossed that something works out for you to make up to DL!!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 2 - Part 5: Slow Down, You're Not Racing Yet!

We made our way over to the single rider line for Radiator Springs and short was an understatement, non-existent was more like it. I swear we got transported to a parallel universe – maybe all of the crowds were over in Disneyland? Where ever they were, we weren’t gonna complain!

Gah, I love this ride – the exterior riding up to the waterfall is just gorgeous!

The Cars animatronics are beyond fantastic – love Mater’s part of the ride (tip, watch the moon after you tractor tip.)

You have two different scenarios in the ride where you either get to see Guido & Luigi or Ramon & Flo to determine if you end up being on the inside or outside race lane.

Even though we were in different cars, B and I both ended up with Ramon and we both won!! That’s unheard of for me, I always end up being in the losing car but it is still so fun nonetheless!!

By the time we got done with Racers, our Fastpass was good for Tower so we made our way out of Carsland.

Continued Next Post​

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 2 - Part 6: Going Down?

The Pixar Play parade had just started and begins next to Tower and it must have sucked all of the people out of the area because this is what we walked in to…guess, we didn’t need our FP afterall!

We had the pre-show to ourselves which gave me a chance to actually stop and take some decent photos.

Between DCA and DHS, DHS has the cooler Tower but I like our drop sequence on DCA’s version better. You get some major hang time at DCA. We were lucky and got seated in the front row. Woohoo, that means no hands in front of our face for a picture. And a cute picture it was, I would love to show you all but it got lost in the Twilight Zone all because of a young “lady” in the very back of the vehicle who decided to be "cute" and put her feet and legs up and over the vacant seat in front of her. They wouldn’t even crop down the picture so it was just B & I because it “wasn’t up to Disney standards”. Looking back, I should have asked to be able to ride again without having to wait in the now bigger line that had formed with the parade finished up in that area. Oh wells – we still had Tower at WDW to get a good picture on!

While irritating, we weren’t going to let it ruin the afternoon mojo we had going on, so we made our way over towards the Grizzly River area to grab Showpasses for World of Color (like a Fastpass but gives you access to one of the 2 shows without having to line up super early for a spot). We got delayed by the tail end of the Pixar Play Parade which gave me a chance to grab a couple pictures of the gorgeous roses that grow in DCA.

The Grizzle River area is one of my favorite locations in both parks – they did such an amazing job transforming it that you forget you are in the middle of a theme park!

The Showpasses for World of Color and Fastpasses for Grizzly River Rapids are in the same spot and while the FP for Grizzly were close to running out for the day we were able to grab a Showpass for the 10:15 World of Color. The CM had a few 9pm passes left but they were for a not so great viewing section so we stuck with the later show.

It was about 5:15 at this point and the heat was starting to get to both of us. Our dinner reservation at Storyteller’s Café wasn’t until 6:30 so we decided to head over to the Grand Californian to relax in the lobby until dinner. This is one of my favorite spots on Disney property to sit, relax and people watch. We grabbed two comfy chairs almost in front of the grand piano and directly across from the fireplace. There was a CM storytelling to the people sitting around the fireplace and he was so animated and in to his story – a total hoot to watch.

At 5:30 the pianist came out and the very first song he played was the theme from UP. That was it, I was in Disney heaven!

He went through various Disney songs and around 6pm B got up to see if we could check in early. I think our buzzer went off around 6:20 – woohoo, we were starving.

Continued Next Post​

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 2 - Part 7: It's a Pre-Marathon Tradition

Storyteller’s has become a pre-marathon tradition, plus we love the buffet – we’ve never eaten off the actual menu. We got seated at a nice big booth at the back of the restaurant right next to one of the many fireplaces. The ambiance and the décor in the restaurant is just gorgeous.

The buffet itself is not large but the quality of food has always been fantastic.

My plates

(Corn Chowder, Salad and Pasta Salad)

(Carved Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Carrots, Mac & Cheese & More Pasta Salad)

B’s plates

(Carved New York Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Veggies & Salad)

(Chicken, Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Veggies & Fruit)

The desserts here are always so good.

They have serve yourself bread pudding with a vanilla bean sauce. I am pretty sure it’s the same bread that they give with dinner and it is carb overload good!

By the time we had finished up with dinner it was about 7:30pm. We decided during dinner to forego World of Color. As much as I wanted to do it, I was wiped out and still had a ½ Marathon to run the next day. If we weren’t leaving for WDW the next evening, I have a feeling I would have pushed myself more during the weekend and probably over done it– so thank goodness for WDW haha!

Continued Next Post​

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 2 - Part 8: On Three, Turn!!

We decided to head back in to DCA, again through the Grizzly River area, for a little while longer because I really wanted to be in Carsland after dark.

Of course, that meant another Under Sea Adventure – I couldn’t resist, I love this little ride.

By the time we got off the sky had darkened enough to start showing off the beauty of DCA after dark.

We had a fun interaction with the PP at the entrance of Carsland. Every group she had pretend to be driving and would say “When I say 3, turn your wheel to the left or right”. The reactions of guests when they realized they had both turned the same way or in to each other was cute.

Carsland may be beautiful during the day but once the sun goes down it is downright breathtaking.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 2 - Part 9: Ka-Chow!!

We checked out the single rider line for Radiator Springs but it was unfortunately about as long as I had expected it to be that afternoon, so we made our way down Route 66, stopping to take in the neon along the way.

As we reached the Cozy Cone, Lighting was out greeting guests with a relatively short line so we jumped in. Lighting will interact with you as you are taking your picture. Such a cute little touch.

We grabbed a couple more pictures on the way out of the park.

Once again, Harbor Blvd took on the feel of a toned down Vegas Blvd. There was a gentleman on the opposite side of the street with a very negative sign with regards to various religions, beliefs, etc and someone made a remark about it and he got on his bull horn to tell them they were a horrible human being and to have a horrible night. It was comical in a really sad kind of way because he was just epitomizing what he was “preaching”. Yup, not in Disneyland anymore – at least the hotel is directly across the intersection. We stayed up just long enough for me to get organized for the morning and listen to the booms of the fireworks – I had an even earlier wake up in the morning.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 3  Just Keep Running...

It was Odark thirty when my alarm went off on Sunday, September 1st. I wasnt quite as bright eyed and bushy tailed as I had been the previous morning. Pre-marathon jitters had led to a less sleep filled night. Waking up to this awesome site made it a little easier to hop out of bed though!

I once again got ready, ate breakfast and got another good luck and I love you from an even groggier husband. What a difference a day makes, there were so many runners heading to Disneyland this morning. I chose extra sleep over getting to the corrals as early as I had the day prior and barely had enough time for a final pit stop before having to get to the Corral. Whoops! Was still able to find a spot of asphalt close to the front of the Corral though.

Unlike years prior, they had the traffic cam going so you could see the runners making the left on to Katella and they had a helicopter recording to. So cool  I hope they continue to do this.

I always try to get pictures of each of the mile markers in any race I do and since this was my 3rd time running it, I was pretty confident in where the first few mile markers would be. I had decided to do a 1min/1min run walk interval for this race instead of a normal 2min/1min in hopes of not overdoing it. Waiting to see mile 1, I had a mini panic attack as I realized I was reaching the 20 minute mark and hadnt come to mile 1 yet. If I was going that slow in the first mile I was doomed to be swept. I honestly think I was so wrapped up in taking a picture of the beautiful sunrise that I missed the 1st mile marker.

As we came around the corner to head backstage to DCA there was mile marker 2 and I was well under the 16 minute mile requirement. So did not need that extra stress so early haha! With missing the 1st Mile Marker I decided not to continue to photograph each mile marker and just enjoy the race, so I apologize that my pictures are going to be on the thin side for this update.

Like with the 10k the day before, we ran through DCA first.

Next up was Disneyland!

My only "character" picture from both races, although its the best character I could have taken a picture with!!

The majority of the miles are out on the streets of Anaheim and Disney does a great job with having spectators along the way. Everything from marching bands, dance squads, mariachi bands and car clubs. MousePlanet was also out supporting their own runners and giving out red vines to everyone!

Before the big run through Angel's Stadium, the race also brings you past the Honda Center, home of the Anaheim Ducks (they'll always be the Mighty Ducks to us...quack, quack, quack...)

Running through Angel's Stadium will never get old. Such an incredible feeling to be out on the field and seeing yourself on the Jumbotron!

The last mile of the race brings you back in the Disneyland Resort and their are so many spectators out cheering you on!

Finishing the race was so gratifying.

Keeping to a the 1/1 intervals and not trying to get done in a personal record allowed me to run across the finish line with a big smile across my face and no feelings of just being done. Yes, my feet hurt and I knew I was sporting at least a couple blisters but considering how hot it had been, I was feeling great otherwise and that was HUGE. Even my toe hadnt given me much issue like it had the day before. I saw B on the other side of the fence shortly after crossing and gave him 2 big thumbs up and then made my way down the chute to get my 100lbs worth of medals (not really but thats sure what they feel like around your neck) and made my way to the family meet-up area. Somehow we totally missed each other so I grabbed a piece of curb in the shade and waited for him to get back to me. For as good as the Poptart had sounded yesterday, I was too hot for it at the finish of the race  dont worry, it was promptly nommed after we got back to the room and I was cooled off  no Poptart left behind haha.

I switched my shoes out for flip flops which is the best feeling in the world but the bag I had put my stuff in for B was too small to fit my running shoes so as we made our way in to DTD, I stopped at the Disney Pin kiosk to see if they could give me a big Disney bag. This turned in to a stroke of amazing luck because hanging on the wall behind the CM were Dumbo pins. I was so ecstatic and was able to get a Dumbo pin!

It was around this time I had come to peace with not doing Disneyland at all after the race. Originally the plan had been to do breakfast in the park and spend a couple hours before heading out. We were going to be at WDW in 24 hours, DL will always be here for us. We got back to the room, quickly got ready, changed, packed up and checked out before the 11am deadline to head up to my parents.

We spent the afternoon and early evening with my parents, DB & DSIL, my Uncle and his girlfriend for our normal Labor Day BBQ. It was so hard not to curl up and sleep in one of my parents LazyBoy recliners  I was hoping if I toughed it out throughout the day I would sleep on the plane that night. My dad had sweetly offered to take us to the airport and by 7:30pm their Tahoe was all packed up and we said our goodbyes to the family and bunnies, it was time to get our WDW vacation started!!!

We chose to fly JetBlue for this trip because they had the best prices but we had to fly out of Long Beach instead of Orange County, which is about a 45 minute drive in good traffic. Luckily, Sunday evening of Labor Day weekend equaled good traffic. The line to check in was short and thankfully both of our bags came in under the 50lb mark!! Security was a breeze, there was literally no one there so we were in and out in less than 5 minutes. We had only been to the airport one other time back in 2010 and the gate was this small, old cramped building with no real food options. Boy were we shocked when we got past security to an actual terminal. It was gorgeous!! Quite a surprise!

We only had about 25 minutes to kill before they boarded and I used this time to get caught up in my trip journal. Long Beach is an interesting airport in that they dont have the gates that the plane pulls up to, you have to go out on the tarmac to load. At least with JetBlue, they load from both the front and the back of the plane so getting on the plane was speedy. Since it was a red-eye, each seat had a packet with ear plugs and a sleep mask a nice and surprising little touch. I realized at that point that I had forgotten to pack a blanket with my neck pillow so ended up purchasing one when the flight attendants came through a little bit later in the flight. The flight to Boston was uneventful and try as I might, I couldnt sleep so I ended up putting on Up on my Ipad and did doze on and off during the movie. B didnt sleep much either, which is funny because he can sleep anywhere but the last 2 red-eyes to WDW he has barely slept. Landing in Boston meant we were that much closer to DISNEY WORLD!!!

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 4 Part 1: When in Boston

Landing in Boston meant it was officially Monday, September 2nd - WDW DAY!!! Boston was a new airport for us. I'm weird and love flying in to new airports. I like getting to see how differently they are all setup, decorated, the different food vendors and more importantly the area around it that you can see during take off and landing. I was so hoping we would have a Dunkin Doughnuts in our terminal - we don't have them near us at all and always stop when we can at airports. Sure enough, it was right next to our departure gate!

We were in Boston, I couldn't possibly get Dunkin Donuts without getting a Boston Crème doughnut, right? B got a hot chocolate and just a plain old boring doughnut. They were all very good though and helped fill the grumbly in our tummies.

The sun was finally coming up so we were able to see our plane, always a good sign when your plane is already parked at the gate waiting for you.

Behind the plane parked at the next gate, I was so surprised to see a Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked just past the runways - so freaking cool!!

Boarding again was quick and efficient and we departed a few minutes ahead of schedule, yay!!

Unlike the flight to Boston, I slept almost the entire way to Orlando so the flight went by super quickly and before we knew it, we were touching down in Florida! Haha, this is what happens when you are still a little tired and waiting to get off the plane...

Since we were in row 7, we got off quickly once the doors were opened and made our way up to the Atrium and fake-o-rail!

First ride of the vacation hehe!! We got the back car all to ourselves.

Such a scenic ride to the main terminal.

I am guessing we hadn't gotten off on this side before because I don't remember seeing this beautiful mural at the tram stop before.

First dose of Disney!!!

We double checked our ME paperwork to make sure we didn't go to the wrong side and made our way down the escalators! Seriously, I am the type of person that could get lost in a brown paper bag - I have zero sense of direction!

I love that you don't have to stop at the desk anymore and can go straight to the snazzy new kiosks with your ME paperwork.

There was absolutely no one in line and we walked right to the waiting bus. We were surprised at how not hot or muggy it felt. Usually you walk out and it just hits you but it had been so hot and muggy in Southern California that Florida actually felt nice (this would become a reoccurring theme for us this trip). Unfortunately it wasn't a ME bus but at least it was a DCL bus.

There were also quite a few people already on board, which meant no front seat or epic Welcome to Walt Disney World shot! No big deal though - we were still on the bus to DISNEY!!!

We departed quickly after we boarded the bus and before we knew it were were driving under the best sign anywhere!!!!

Continued Next Post​

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 4 - Part 2: 'Ohana Means Family...

I was so excited to be staying at the Polynesian and having it be the first ME stop was even better. Only one other family got off the bus with us and as we crossed over towards the Great Ceremonial Hall a CM walked up to us and asked us we if we were the Kelley ‘Ohana and presented us with cute little leis. What the what?!?! We’ve taken ME to WL staying club level before and never been greeted getting off the bus. I was so surprised. The CM walked us through the GCH, which smelled so good – I don’t know what scent they pump in there but it made me smile every time we walked through.

The CM gave us a little mini tour as we made our way back to the Hawaii building – the grounds are just gorgeous! I didn’t get pictures as we walked but don’t worry, there will be lots of pictures to come!! Check-in was super fast and even though it was not even noon our room was ready! WOOHOO!!! We were on the 3rd floor in a garden view room at the VERY end of the hallway.

While it was a little bit of a walk, we loved having the exterior staircase right next to our door - made getting out to the buses or monorail super quick! The rooms have recently been renovated and are just stunning! Oh my gosh, I was so in love!

We were also blessed with quite a few towel animals. I loved the elephant in our bathroom – someone packed their angry eyes, haha!

We also got welcome chocolates – our traveling Lucky and Snowflake were prompt in checking them out.

I wish I could tell you if they were tasty but we ended up saving them for my mom. We were both starving at this point so we made our way down to check out the club lounge first.

Seriously, I could have sat in there all day with that view. Totally blown away – I mean, I had seen many pictures leading up to our trip but they honestly don’t do it justice.

They had out a few afternoon snacks plus juices – one of which became my obsession….Pog Juice! Disney seriously needs to serve that everywhere – I could drink it by the gallon!

Continued Next Post​

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 4 - Part 3: Bring on the Dole Whip!

We decided to take the scenic route back to GCH and met our first little friend of the trip.

The newly finished fire pit area.

The pool wasn’t super crowded at all and looked awesome. We seriously fail at pools though and didn’t ever end up making it down there.

Back in the GCH, we palled around in the lobby and checked out Boutiki before heading over to our lunch destination.

Capt Cooks was a new to us restaurant. We were really looking forward to trying it and it didn’t disappoint.

We both got bottled water to drink and I got the Hawaiian Flatbread and I would give it a 5 out of 5 stars. My mistake for not realizing it had onions on it but they were easy to pick off.

Brian got the Kahlua Pork sandwich with house made chips. You can’t tell from the picture but there is quite a bit of Kahlua Pork underneath the veggies. The house chips being fried wontons instead of potato chips were a nice touch too. He gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Although I was bordering on been full, I could not pass up the self-serve Dole Whip. Before lunch, my goal had been a Dole Whip of Matterhorn portions. My stomach won out over my lofty goals and I got more of the size that I knew I could finish. 5 out of 5 stars!!!

We didn’t have any set plans for the afternoon because I wasn’t sure if we would be up to going to a park or too pooped. Seriously though, there was no way we’d be able to stay away from Magic Kingdom with it being right across the lagoon and I was right. Brian was anxious to make his first pin trade of the trip and I was ready to be “home”! Out of all of our previous trips, our short trip in January was the first time B pin traded and he was hooked. We made a quick stop back at the room to sunscreen and as luck would have it, our luggage got delivered…woohoo…it made it to Florida with us!! We used the exterior stairway and followed the path in front of the buildings to head towards the MK boat. So gorgeous!

One day, we’ll stay in a Theme Park view room!

We lucked out and there was a boat waiting at the dock as we walked up! No wait for us this afternoon!

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[wiigirl]

Great update!

 

[JessM]

Ok I fell way behind but I'm all caught up!

I love all the DCA pictures! I've never been there and I really want to go someday, hopefully for run disney race someday.

Carsland looks truly amazing in every photo I see I really hope to get there someday! The Grizzly peak area looks beautiful too!

Congrats on finishing the half! It sounds like a great race!

I can't believe you took a red eye after the race! You must have been so tired. Dunkin Donuts is great, we have them everywhere where I live I can't imagine not having them around!

The poly is so pretty! Its amazing what Disney can do!

Those towel animals are the cutest I think I've ever seen!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Great update!

Thank you!!!!

Ok I fell way behind but I'm all caught up!

I love all the DCA pictures! I've never been there and I really want to go someday, hopefully for run disney race someday.

Carsland looks truly amazing in every photo I see I really hope to get there someday! The Grizzly peak area looks beautiful too!

Congrats on finishing the half! It sounds like a great race!

I can't believe you took a red eye after the race! You must have been so tired. Dunkin Donuts is great, we have them everywhere where I live I can't imagine not having them around!

The poly is so pretty! Its amazing what Disney can do!

Those towel animals are the cutest I think I've ever seen!

Thank you! Yeah, taking the red eye probably wasn't the best idea in hindsight. I've never had trouble with my ankles swelling after a long flight before and they were swollen for the first few days of this trip - definitely not something I would do again after that many miles!!

I loved our towel animals at the Poly - our angry eye elephant made me giggle everytime I saw it!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 4 – Part 4: We’re HOME!

The boat ride over to MK was beautiful and the breeze out on the water was welcome!

Our first stop after going through bag check was at Guest Relations so we could switch out our current Premier Passes to the RFID passes. It took a little bit longer than expected because the girl helping us hadn’t done it before – I felt bad for the line growing behind us because there was no one there when we walked up. I have to say, I loved using the RFID passes and mini rant here, was SUPER disappointed we didn’t get picked as Magic Band testers. I was so hopeful when I heard Poly was on the list and we were both super jealous every time we saw someone use one. I can happily say, we got to customize our bands for our February trip yesterday – can’t wait until we can start making FastPass+ reservations too!

Passes switched over it was finally time to head in to MK. Seriously for as little sleep as we had gotten I was a hyper little child walking on to Main Street.

Our first stop was in to the Photopass center to get our Photopass+ card – I appreciate it being right at the beginning of Main Street at WDW as opposed to the end of Main Street at Disneyland. Makes it a lot easier to instantly start using the card and we definitely got our money’s worth on this trip!! The park was surprisingly not crowded at all and as we made our way down Main Street and stopped for our first PP pictures of the trip.

Space Mountain was going to be down quite a bit during our trip so that was our first destination of the afternoon.

The posted wait was 20 minutes and while we typically wouldn’t wait that long, being in the cool air conditioned queue sounded too good to pass up so we hopped in line. Silly wait time sign, we didn’t even wait 10 minutes before boarding our space shuttle!

We loaded to the left and I think the left is more bone rattling and B thinks the right is more bone rattling. I wish they could incorporate the soundtrack in to the cars like our Space.

Surviving our trip to space, we came out to a much cloudier sky – we forgot how quickly those afternoons thunderstorms seem to move in.

Our first trip to the Magic Kingdom of the vacation wouldn’t be complete without at least one ride on the People Mover – one of B’s favorites. We’re both still bitter they took ours away at Disneyland.

I love the views from the TTA!

The skies continued to darken and we made the decision to start heading back to the front of the park since we hadn’t brought ponchos or anything with us if it started raining. The drops started coming down as we hit Main Street but it was a welcome relief. The harder rain held off until we made it to the Monorail platform and was done with by the time we got off at the Poly.

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 4 - Part 5: Scenic Dinner Walks

We were not doing the DDP for the trip and we realized after we got back to the room that we completely forgot to get the Tables in Wonderland card when we were at Guest Relations so after a little down time and a quick change for me we were heading back out to the Magic Kingdom for our second Guest Relations stop of the day. We decided to take the Monorail back over to MK and were lucky enough to get the Ironmanorail!!

This time we got through the line super quickly!

Dinner was at Chef Mickeys so we used the extra time we had given ourselves to walk over to the Contemporary. I love this walk  besides it just being a pretty walk, nothing beats having a Monorail cruise over your head!

With time to kill we made our way up the concourse to check out the shops and B checked out the CMs lanyards to pin trade.

Contemporary Bunny!!

Our ADR was a 6:15 and there was no one waiting when we came up to check in.

We got our picture taken and then sat for no more than 5 minutes before getting called.

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