Two Castles in 24 Hours...Bring it On! A Sept 2013 PTR **NEW 10/14 w/ TR Link**

[klacey1]

Ahh, our tickers do match up! I've never been in September, but have heard the crowds should be low our week. I hope that's true!
EE is definitely one of my top rides in WDW-- I love how far you can see when you're making the initial ascent. What a view!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

I have to agree that Everest is a pretty good ride. I'm not huge into rollercoasters (Haven't done RNR) but I love doing EE.

I used to be able to do all sorts of roller coasters but now I find myself getting queasy much easier and can no longer do spinning type rides. I am not a big fan of RNR mostly because it bumps my head around too much and the last time we rode it gave me a migraine. We will probably ride it in September so we can get the picture but its a one-time per trip kind of ride for me.

Ahh, our tickers do match up! I've never been in September, but have heard the crowds should be low our week. I hope that's true!
EE is definitely one of my top rides in WDW-- I love how far you can see when you're making the initial ascent. What a view!

I love the view climbing up Everest, it is amazing how far you can see and how flat everything is.

This is our 3rd trip in September and we love going this time of year. Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is one of our most favorite things to do, plus the low crowds we have experienced in the past have always outweighed the heat/humidity for us.

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Mini Life Update

Sorry for the delay in my replies and posting. Traveling for work took up much more time and energy than I anticipated. For this trip, the one good thing that came from it is that I was able to squeeze in seeing my horse, Irish...

He has been retired up at a ranch in Southern Oregon for almost 10 years and I miss him just as much as I did the day we took him up there. He was originally a race horse and an injury from his racing days took him out of commission as a riding horse almost 11 years ago. After trying to find a therapeutic riding program who would take him (he is amazing with children but no program wanted to take on potential medical expenses related to the injury) my mom stumbled upon the ranchs website. He could no longer bear the weight of an adult rider but was able to get around fine on his own. I honestly dont know where the time has gone and try to get up to see him as often as possible which isnt as often as I would like. I couldnt ask for a better home away from home for him. He lives in a 30-40 acre pasture surrounded by mares...I always joke that I hope I one day get to retire that good!


January Mini TR - Day Two, Park Two

We had a short wait at the AK buses before we were picked up and dropped over at:

After getting in a couple of Photopass pictures first made our way over to grab fastpasses for:

I couldnt wait to ride it after the rehab. The Fastpass return time was later in the evening, which worked out great because we would be able to ride after dinner. We made our way over to the Land Pavilion, we had a lunch date with Sunshine Seasons. This was a new to us counter service and I cant believe it took us 5 trips to finally eat there. I would put it at my favorite counter service at the parks. B had the pork chop with the cheesy mashed potatoes and I had the turkey sandwich with the cold noodles as the side. I wasnt a big fan of the noodles but Bs mashed potatoes were so good. For dessert B got a chocolate chip cookies and I had the famous strawberry shortcake. Oh man, it so lived up to the hype. I wish I had one now!!

After an extremely satisfying lunch we mossed over to Living with the Land. I love this little boat ride, going through the green house is so facinating. I wish I could grow things - I am the queen of killing all things plant like.

Continued Next Post​

 

[Disneyluvr81]

January Mini TR - Day Two, Park Two Cont...

By the time we were done, we were both getting a little pooped so we made our way out of Epcot to head back to POR to rest up for the evening, but not before bumping in to a couple of mischievous Chipmunks.

Its amazing what coming back to the room for just a couple hours can do to rejuvenate you. Bright eyed again we made our way back over to Epcot for my pre-marathon carb fest meal at Via Napoli.

This was another new to us restaurant and I am so glad we gave it a try. It was beyond phenomenal!! We started off with the fried risotto balls (look...its my one and only food pic AND its even a hidden Mickey).

I took the high road and agreed to split the 3rd ball...I so could have made a meal of them! We shared the Quartro Formagio pizza and it was heavenly. B love, love, loves thin crust pizza so this was right up his alley. Neither one of us had room for dessert but from what I saw getting delivered to the tables around us, it looked really good.

Our bellies now overly stuffed, we made our way back towards future world

where we rode Nemo (I love this little ride - my favorite memory was on our honeymoon where the dolphins were playing around during the final scenes of the ride - I wish I had gotten it on video).

Coming back up to the surface, it was time for final ride of the night...Test Track. We made it all the way to the front of the line when it broke down and they kicked us all out of the line (not sure if it ever came back up that night). While super irritating, they gave everyone Fastpasses to use at a later date. So, with new Fastpasses in hand, we headed out of the park.

I had a super early wake up call the next day and needed to stop by Riverside Mill to pick up the marathoners breakfast pack still (this consisted of a bagel, peanut butter, a very unripe banana and a small bottle of water). I spent the last few minutes before bed putting out my gear and triple checking everything including my alarms. By 10pm we were both in bed but sleep did not really come to me, I was too anxious for the next day...

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[klacey1]

I've never ridden Living with the Land-- really do need to give it a try one of these days!
Sunshine Seasons TOTALLY lives up to the hype for us, too. The Asian station is my absolute favorite (and I usually am not a huge fan of stir frys and that type of food).
I realllllly want to try Via Napoli-- those risotto balls look delicious! We have to ride Nemo every trip. Big Blue World always gets me a little emotional!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

I've never ridden Living with the Land-- really do need to give it a try one of these days!
Sunshine Seasons TOTALLY lives up to the hype for us, too. The Asian station is my absolute favorite (and I usually am not a huge fan of stir frys and that type of food).
I realllllly want to try Via Napoli-- those risotto balls look delicious! We have to ride Nemo every trip. Big Blue World always gets me a little emotional!

It's funny, it wasn't until our 2nd or 3rd trip that we finally rode Living with the Land. It never seemed appealing in the prior trips but I am glad we finally gave it a try.

I love Big Blue World. B and I have a running joke because he could never remember that it was "world" and would out of key sing "Big Blue Sea"...so if you're in Epcot and you hear someone singing about the Big Blue Sea, its probably us, haha!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 3 - 26.2, cause 26 miles was too short!

At O’Dark Thirty my alarm went off and I very quietly got out of bed to head in to the bathroom to get changed and ready. Today was THE day. The day I had been training for months now with my SIL and for as anxious as I had been trying to sleep, I was remarkably calm getting ready. I was able to get down half the bagel and peanut butter in the room and wrapped up the remaining half to take with me to eat at the corrals. I said my "see you soons" to a very groggy husband and headed out to get to the bus.

There was something very surreal and peaceful walking to the bus. There were so many other runners heading out. Some like me who were heading out on their and others in groups chatting as they went. I got lucky with the bus and walked up just as they were starting to load. I sat next to a wonderful woman who was there to do the Goofy Challenge (the Half Marathon on Saturday and the Full on Sunday) for the first time. Any nervousness I had felt getting on the bus quickly washed away as we talked about our experiences, everywhere she had been - she was such a blessing. I was so envious of her, she was planning to do every RunDisney race that year. Something that I tacked on to my bucket list to do one day. The ride from POR to Epcot took forever, there as so much traffic but we made it there in more than enough time and before I knew it, I was was making my way under the Giant Ears...

I had enough time for a potty break before they started sending people to the corrals. I run with a Camelback backpack so was able to go straight through the bag check. My oh my was it quite the walk to get back to the corrals. I love getting to the behind the scenes and seeing things a typical guest wouldn’t get to see:

Fairy Godmother was out taking pictures and giving words of encouragement and just was I passed by her the most awesome guy stepped up to take a picture.

He ROCKED the tutu and fairy wings and good sir, if you happen to be on the DIS and just happen to be reading this I am sending you a virtual high five for being so epic!! After more walking, we finally made it to the corrals.

I was in Corral F...I don’t set any land speed records by any means but I get the miles done. The one thing I appreciate the most about the running community is the camaraderie at running events. I have never experienced bad showmanship or uber competitiveness and have always felt such great support from those around me and the WDW Marathon was no different. I love talking to other runners to hear their stories and where they are from. It helped make the wait go by quickly and before I knew it the National Anthem was being sung (I won’t lie, I got misty...being at my first full marathon all by myself made me very sappy) and the first corrals were let off, each with their own fan fare of music and fire works. We herded our way forward until eventually Corral F was next to go and that is when the nerves and the excitement and the occasional WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!? went screaming through my head. I took deep breaths, got my Ipod ready to go and finally, it was my turn to start on the journey of completing my first Full Marathon.....

Continued Next Post​

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 3 - 26.2, cause 26 miles was too short cont...

Before I head in to the marathon I have to admit that 2 nights before we left for WDW I had a total panic attack meltdown when the weather reports basically confirmed my worst fear for the day...record breaking heat and humidity. I love Disney in September and am used to doing training runs in hot weather but every training run my SIL and I did together that was slightly humid killed me. And I was freaking about the marathon to the point that at 8pm that night I went running out to Kohls to do something no one doing a distance run should do - bought new running clothes...in fact, I brought with me 4 different outfits because I was so freaked out on what to wear. So as they let out our corral that was still the biggest fear running through my mind. But, I turned on my Ipod (I had made a running list specifically for the marathon) and told myself I was going to keep my 2min run / 1 min walk pacing like I had been training for and thats exactly what I did and before I knew it the first 2 miles were behind me and I was quickly approaching:

Which brought us to mile 3. I will apologize in advance, I took no pictures with characters. I was so worried about the time it would take to finish that I couldnt bring myself to stop for any of them. Now a 7 minute wait for the porta potties right outside the TTC - now, that I did! Mile 3 - 4 was my slowest mile at that point. The one thing that surprised me the most in those first couple miles was how many runners (both men and women) took off down in the bush to *ahem* relieve themselves. I had never seen that before and to me it was kind of funny. Mad props to those brave enough to go in to the bushes. Knowing my luck if I tried it, I would find the one alligator waiting for an early morning snack!!

Mile 4 lead us through the TTC and we made our way to the dreaded water bridge. Oh man, it got so congested through here and slowed everything down. Back up on the other side we had a great view of the Contemporary and this beauty:

Mile 5 led us to a left turn that would take us in to the Magic Kingdom. I wont lie as soon as we hit Main Street and this came in to view:

I was fighting back tears. I was so proud of myself at that moment that here I was, a non-runner for most of my life and I was running down Main Street with thousands of runners of all ages, shapes, abilities in the Walt Disney World marathon. A part of me still couldnt believe I was actually there.

Up Main Street we went and made a right at the hub to head in to:

And continued on to pass:

Which lead us to Fantasyland and sadly pretty much the most of New Fantasyland that I saw the entire trip (yup, that would be foreshadowing).

Through Fantasyland we got to the point most of us were looking forward to doing....running through the castle.

They had trumpeters out and people all around cheering and once again everything slowed to a crawl and we bottle necked through the castle. They had photographers set up in front of the castle where you could get your picture taken and that is the one photo stop I regret not stopping for.

Back out to Main Street, we once again hung a right and made our way in to Liberty Square where we hit Mile 6.

Passed the sadly closed Splash Mountain and back towards the backstage areas to head out of Magic Kingdom.

By Mile 7, we had officially left the Magic Kingdom and were on the road towards the Grand Floridian. Up until this point I was doing okay with the weather. Before the sun came up, with the humidity it was so strange. It wasnt cold at all but you could see your breath...I had never experienced that before. Once the sun was up and things started heating up - well, thats when things started to go down hill for me and my I can do this...this aint so bad mantra I had been chanting in my head was slowly being taken over by OMG I dont know if I can do this.....

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[rosanab1031]

Loving your posts!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Loving your posts!

Thank you and I hope you are having or had amazing first trip to the World !!!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Day 3 - Just Keep Running...

Miles 7 and 8 took us on the road passing the Grand Floridian and as the miles increased, so did the temperatures. This path led us to the Richard Petty Raceway - a part of the course I had been looking forward to since I decided to take on the Marathon. My mom has always been a huge Nascar fan - so getting to run on an actual racetrack with super spiffy cars...sounds pretty sweet.

Oh no, there was nothing sweet about these next mile or so...from the steep tunnel just to get on to the track to the wicked hot concrete...the Richard Petty Raceway was quickly dubbed the Super Hot Concrete Death Track of Doom...trust me, look at the sign the next time youre there....I should have copyrighted the phrase before Disney jumped on it. But seriously, it was so hot out on the pavement and I went from wilting to being downright miserable and exhausted. We hit mile 9 inside the track. Unfortunately, not much relief came as we left the Track of Doom behind...can you guess which park we were making our way towards next??

If you guessed Animal Kingdom, well, youd be right. However, we still had miles 10 through 13 to go before getting through Animal Kingdom completely. One of which led us past their oh so fragrant recycling plant/dump/something stinky. That was one part of the backstage I could have gone my entire life without experiencing haha! Animal Kingdom is where I hit one lowest points of the whole morning....I hit my wall before I even hit the 1/2 marathon mark and it was devastating. Something about the denseness of the foilage we ran through and the humidity coupled with the fact that I was trying my darndest not to cry made my breathing very laboring which scared the heck out of me. But I pressed on, I knew B had planned on seeing me at Animal Kingdom so each crowd of people we passed I looked hopefully for his smiling face.

We got outside of Animal Kingdom and we were heading out to the parking lot and no B, which made the funk I had gotten myself in to even worse. But then, we turned another corner and there in the crowd was B and the tears I had been so valiantly holding back burst and I ran up to him sobbing. I had warned him that if he saw me on the course I might cry but it wasnt necessarily going to be bad tears so his first question as I sobbed in to his shoulder was Are these happy tears to which I sniffled and shook my head "no" into his shoulder. His next question was Are you hurt and again I shook my head no and answered truthfully, I was so hot and didnt know if I could go on. He looked me square in the eyes and told me how proud he was of me, and that I had this and that the next time he saw me I would be crossing the finish line. I gave him a big (sweaty) hug and started back on my way, filled with more confidence then I had just a couple mins previously.

A funny aside from Bs point of view...he had had quite the stressful morning just trying to get to Animal Kingdom. He got on the bus to Animal Kingdom almost an hour and a half earlier than the tracking app was predicting I would be there. There were several other on the bus to see runners and a couple families going to the park. He knew things were going bad when the driver was forced to make a left at the Wide World of Sports as he had never been that way to get to AK. He knew that WWoS was close to the edge of the property and soon they were passing the Welcome to WDW Sign but going away from it. They almost all the way to the Gaylord Palms before the bus finally turned around. He said you could tell the driver was kind of panicky and was on his radio getting directions to get back. B finally made it back to AK and only got to his spot a couple minutes before I passed by. So while I had my marathon stories - B has his story of the runaway bus!!

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 3 - Just Keep Running...cont...

Shortly after I met up with B, I hit mile 14 and I was finally further along than I had left. Miles 14 - 17 were relatively uneventful with not much to see. What was interesting within these miles was it was the first time we were running with normal traffic passing us on the side coming out from AK. It was cool to get the honks and cheers of the drivers as they went by. Right before Mile 17 is when we entered Wide World of Sports

and something very magical happened to me...I hit my second wind. Three things happened:

1. We got wet sponges shortly after mile 17 and OMGOSH were they beyond refreshing.
2. The sun finally went behind the clouds and I had a couple miles under cloudy skies.
3. Remember...Dreams Come True the fireworks soundtrack from Disneyland came on my Ipod.

It was funny reading other people accounts of Miles 17-20 through the WWoS because most people hated this part and I absolutely loved it. Most of the miles were switch backs through the various sports fields all culminating on running the outfield of the baseball field used by the Atlanta Braves for Spring training. Ive run through Angels Stadium for the DL Half and was very much looking for to running the field again...except unlike Angels Stadium the outfield in WWoS was gravely clay type material that didnt make your footing feel very sure. Still it was fun to see myself up on the JumboTron.

Notice, the smiles!!

Exiting the WWoS brought us to Mile 20. The Mile that Disney had been making a big deal about for months. It was the 20th Anniversary so Mile 20 was supposed to be a big surprise for everyone. First that came in to the line of site were the large puppets used before World of Color at DCA.

Okay, well I guess thats kind of cool since its a West Coast thing and Im sure new to a bunch of people. Continuing on it became painfully obvious that this BIG surprise was a total wah-wah. So what, was the Mile 20 Surprise you ask...it was this...

The Fab Three (not even the Fab Four) up on a pedestal and a snazzy mile 20 marker. That...was...it!! Honestly after having a great past couple miles it set me off in to a fit of giggles as I passed under it. Seriously, Disney needs to learn to tone down their hype because it was disappointing. That was okay though, it meant I had just passed under mile 20 and now had less than a 10k left to go...I got this, right....right?!?!?

Back out to the roads we went to head towards Hollywood Studios and one of my favorite moments of the whole marathon happened. It was either right before or after Mile 20, Sweet Caroline was blasting from speakers and everyone around just started singing at the top of their lungs. Nothing like singing Sweet Caroline, BUHM, BUHM, BUMH after you have completed 21 miles of a marathon. Closer to HS, the Green Army Men were out screaming words of encouragement.

I watched not 1 but 2 different runners drop and give them 20 when told to do so. I was so envious of those brave individuals...I knew if went down, I wasnt getting back up, haha!

We hit Mile 22 before heading backstage in HS. I was back to feeling pretty sucky as the sun had come back out in full force and it was just plain hot again. Shortly after getting in to HS they had sweet, sweet angels passing out chocolate to all of the runners. Man, a mini Krackle bar has never tasted so good haha! We hit Mile 23 inside the Streets of America
and Mile 24 outside park as we headed down the path that brought us by the Boardwark, Beach Club, Swan, etc. No more smiles for these pictures...

By this point I was walking only. My feet were hurting terribly and I knew I had to have at least a few blisters. Somewhere along the resorts there were young girls passing out ice to us runners as we went by and I was beyond grateful. I wish they could have followed me with a bucket the final miles to the finish. Shortly before Mile 25 we hit Epcot and the home stretch. The finish line was so close yet so far...

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[rosanab1031]

Thank you and I hope you are having or had amazing first trip to the World !!!

It was wonderful! We were there June 2-5 Can't wait to go back!

Glad B was able to survive the runaway bus and meet you for the confidence boost

 

[Disneyluvr81]

It was wonderful! We were there June 2-5 Can't wait to go back!

Glad B was able to survive the runaway bus and meet you for the confidence boost

Yay!! I am so glad your first trip was magical.

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Quick Life Update!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled trip report to announce that WE ARE GOING TO WDW IN FEBRUARY 2014!!!

I was able to get signed up for the Glass Slipper Challenge during the Princess Half Marathon Weekend. This will be our first time going in February and my first time running Princess. Since I am doing the Tinkerbell 1/2 at Disneyland in January, the draw of having a super cute, pink Coast to Coast Medal was just too strong.

The tentative plan is to either arrive on Thursday or take a red eye to come in early on Friday and stay through Tuesday and most likely we will stay at Port Orleans Riverside again. I say tentative plan because my inlaws threw out the idea of a big family trip to WDW next year and if that actually happens, our trip for Princess weekend will be super short and may be a solo trip for me. I love that when we leave in September we will have one more trip to look forward too!!! Never thought I would get to go to WDW 3 times within an almost year period! So excited!!!

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 3 - A 26.2 Mile Journey Comes to an End

Shortly before mile 25 we entered Epcot near the Friendship gate. It brought us backstage before we started heading through the World Showcase. I was surprised by how many spectators were still out and about around Epcot and how nice and understanding the normal guests were. I honestly don’t remember much of going through the World Showcase and we were suddenly heading towards Spaceship Earth to head back towards the Backstage area and Mile 26.

I was so surreal passing mile 26. It felt like I would never get there but then suddenly, there I was at mile 26 and I didn’t know what had happened to the 25 miles before it. Epcot’s gospel singers were out singing each runner on as we headed out to the parking lot and this glorious site came in to view....the finish line!

I took out my ear buds and decided no matter how bad I felt I was running to the finish line and that is exactly what I did. What’s funny is that B was at the begining of the chute heading to the finish line calling my name and I was completely oblivious. He said I looked exactly how I was feeling - I was locked on target...my next stop was across the finish line and that is all I could see. I love that the photographers actually caught the tunnel vision look!

I took off as quick of a run as I could muster and right before the finish line I got a big high five from Minnie Mouse (unfortunately no pics of that but they did catch it on the video). Which brought an even bigger smile to my face. As soon as I passed over the finish line the tears came flooding out and I know I was ugly crying as I made my way to get my medal and I wasn’t the only one. But this time they were happy tears, I can’t believe I did it tears and just overwhelmed by everything tears.

Even with the heat, I did it, I finished my very first marathon ever. Took me about an hour + longer than I had been training at because of the heat and I finished it in 6 hours, 59 minutes and 56 seconds...talk about timing! But I finished it none the less. I was the first person in my family to complete a full marathon (my SIL has since competed her first too and I completed my 2nd with her...only 3 weeks after WDW, which is a whole other story in and off itself)!

With the heat and humidity Disney was being overly safe with all of us as we made our way to the family reunion area and no one could pass a certain part of the chute without a bottle of water (which they were oh so nicely opening for us). Once out in to the family reunion area I made my way over to the first bench I could find, which just so happened to be right next to the ice tent. I gave B a call to let him know where I was and while waiting struck up a conversation with a female runner sitting next to me icing her knee. She had just finished the Goofy Challenge and was on the same page with how hard the heat and humidity made it. She told me that right around Mile 25 1/2 a random stranger offered her a margarita from the stand and she said it took all her willpower to not take him up and just stop. She actually had to pull up to call her husband to get the strength to finish the race and her DH did what every great and supportive spouse would do, gave her the same pep talk Brian had given me shortly after mile 13. B soon found me and after exchanging goodbyes and congratulations/you’re amazing with the other runner, B and I slowly made our way over to the resort buses. Once again we were lucky and only had a very short wait to get on a bus and sitting down in AC never felt so good! I couldn’t wait to get back to the resort, get out of my clothes and take a seriously cold shower!

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[Disneyluvr81]

Day 3 - Its Time to Celebrate a Birthday

My first marathon officially behind me, the first thing I did when getting back to the room was to get out of my running clothes and assess the damage to my feet and body from being out for almost 7 hours. Considering some of the other runners I saw, I fared better then some but still had awful blisters on my toes and a nasty heat rash (this took longer to heal than the darn blisters). I surprisingly didn't get sunburned either but got a wicked capri tan on my calves haha! Once freshened up and thoroughly cooled off, I realized that I was absolutely starving. We didnt have any plans until dinner that night so we slowly made our way over to Riverside Mill. I once again got a cheese pizza and B got either a BBQ type sandwich or a burger...I honestly cant remember...I was thoroughly entrenched in marathon brain, haha! The one thing I do remember is my Mickey Ice Cream bar....seriously if they had one of those at each mile, I am sure I could've knocked my time at least in half.

I would like to say our afternoon got more interesting but once our bellies were full it was back to the room for a super long nap. It was so hard getting up to get ready to go to dinner that night and had we had a reservation at any other restaurant, I probably would have said, lets just cancel. But, today was Bs actual birthday and we were going to he and Is favorite restaurant. One thing I can say about my recovery is that while I had bad blisters and the heat rash I never stiffened up and got that geriatric walk that so many of us long distances runners get after a long run and even had a couple other runners comment at how fluidly I was moving. It helped to take the sting away from taking almost 7 hours for the marathon (which, I know, I know...just finishing a marathon is an accomplishment in and of itself but I was so embarrassed telling people how long it took me).

So where was Sunday night, January 13th taking us....Epcot and Teppan Edo!!! This is the one restaurant that we have eaten at every single trip...its our must do. On the way to the buses, I had to take a medal pic to show off to all of my friends and family back home.

After a quick photopass stop, we made our way back to Japan.

Another tradition for us, well me, is to pick a pearl in Japan and that is exactly what we did while waiting for our ADR time. I got a beautiful white pearl and they now have these great little glass jars that you can purchase to keep the pearl in. I dont remember them having those in 2011. While I was picking a pearl, B was checking out the Gundam model (his newest obsession) and ended up purchasing 2 new kits. Purchases in hand, it was finally time to get our nom on and I can proudly say I took the stairs both up and down from Teppan Edo.

Dinner was excellent as usual and we got sat with a family where the father had done Goofy and another couple close to our age. I got the shrimp and steak for my entree and B got the chicken and shrimp. Since it was Bs birthday he was treated to complimentary Chocolate Ginger Cake and a pretty awesome chefs hat.

I guess I was wrong, I technically have 2 food pictures for this trip report!

By the time we finished dinner, Illuminations had started and we got out of the park before the mass exodus of crowds. I was so tired by this point, all I wanted was our nice comfy bed...which is exactly what I got and even with the nap earlier in the day, I was out like a light!

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[klacey1]

Congratulations on the marathon! Honestly, I can't imagine what an intense, emotional experience that must have been! Good for you!!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Congratulations on the marathon! Honestly, I can't imagine what an intense, emotional experience that must have been! Good for you!!

Thank you so much!!! I never expected finishing a half or full marathon to be so emotionally intense. For me its just a culmination of everything but more happy tears than anything else. Heck my SIL and I both got a little sappy the first time we did either 17 or 19 miles when we were training together because it was so hard and so fulfilling all at the same time.

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Hi Everybody! Sorry I have been MIA! Our condo is officially hitting MLS this week and between getting it “model home” ready and all of the traveling for work my DIS time has been greatly reduced!

Day 4 - Our Last Full Day

Monday was our last full day in the parks and we tried to squeeze in as much as my beat up body would allow. Again, surprisingly I wasn’t very stiff at all from the marathon the day before but my blisters were killing me. I very carefully bandaged up the blisters and donned my comfy tennis shoes for the day (which ended up working better than flip flops). Our first park of the day was my favorite park - Magic Kingdom!

I honestly can’t remember if we made it in time for rope drop this morning - my marathon brain is thinking we took it easy today and didn’t hit the park at opening. Our first stop was to grab Fastpasses for Space Mountain but the line was short enough that we just walked through the standby line. We grabbed Fastpasses for a little bit later in the morning though. I was super proud of myself that I was able to not only get in to but back out of the dang rockets without getting stuck, haha!

I think because I am spoiled with Disneyland’s Space Mountain because this version is just okay. Our old bodies can’t take the bumps like they used to but it is still a fun ride none the less and I am bummed it is going to be down periodically during our September trip. (Which, rant ahead....I was so super sad panda about Jungle Cruise being down in September. I LOVE WDW’s version and that is a must do ride for me...better not be down in February too!! )

After Space we hit up another intergalactic attraction and helped Buzz Lightyear defeat the evil Emperor Zurg. Well, Brian did, I more distracted him with my horribly inaccurate shots. I wish they would adopt Disneyland’s guns...for anyone who hasn’t ridden DL version, the guns are not stationary on the vehicle so it makes it easier to point at things, although sadly doesn't improve my accuracy.

Successfully defeating Zurg we hopped aboard the TTA....oh how we miss the People Mover here in Disneyland. That was (and still is) one of my favorite rides. We lucked out, kinda, and when we went through Space Mountain the ride was down and all of the lights were on. It was so cool to see it like that.

Unfortunately for us - Space never came back up while we were in MK so we headed on over to Liberty Square to take on some hitchhiking ghosts. I love, love, love the ghosts at the end of the ride. So creative and innovative! We made our way towards Adventureland without first staring longingly (and silently shedding a tear) for the closed Splash Mountain.

We had just enough time to sail around the Caribbean. The new mermaid scene is hauntingly sad but I like it and hope they do something similar to our Pirates. We were able to grab a couple photopass pictures outside the ride (I love when there are photographers there)

Then it was off to Main Street...we had a lunch date at The Plaza, someplace we hadn’t eaten since our first trip in 2007. While we were waiting to be seated, there was a Photopass photographer in the area and he was able to snag a couple of great pictures with the fireworks going off from the castle show.

Shortly after, our buzzer went off and it was time for lunch. I had a Reuben Sandwich and I know B had a chocolate shake but neither of us can remember what he ate so it was obviously nothing memorable. Service was good and it was nice to be in air conditioning. Oh and I lied, I have one more food pic (birthday cupcakes count, right?!?!)

Brian was so stuffed from his lunch and shake that it became my civic duty to ensure no cupcake got left behind. A little too much frosting (and I am a frosting kinda girl) but overall it was a very tasty treat. Our bellies full, we headed out of the MK and over to the Monorail...we had another park calling our name!!

Continued Next Post​