*Updated 3/26* Some special princesses get the Disney hookup! Run for a cure!

[donnajean17]

So excited am I to do this trip report that I actually started writing it while sitting in the airport enroute to WDW, just call me a good planner, multi-tasker… whatever.
This is a very special trip, unlike any of my previous 10 trips to the world. First a little about me. I am a 38 year old working mom and wife, living in NH. Always looking for fun time, and able to see the bright side to any situation. (my DH hates that sometimes) I am a TV producer for a local television station and I have a pretty cool job. My DH is 35, I have a DS who is 8 and DD who is 5, but, you won’t hear much about them on this trip as they did not go… Gasp!! I know, I feel like a bad mother and wife, but the purpose of this trip did not involve them, who it did involve was some very awesome women and dear friends from college, 8 of us to be exact.
It started last fall when we learned about another friend who was battling cancer. Both he and his wife are friends of ours, also from college. We went to a very small state school in VT, where everybody knows everybody and we were all quite close. Though many of us spread out across the country after graduation and maybe didn’t stay in touch as well as life would allow, when we did get together it was as if a day had not passed. The bond is strong.
Anyhow, conversations started about how we could support our cancer fighting friend and his wife, we threw around ideas about benefits, fundraising and the like, then somebody suggested doing a walk. Mmmm… interesting. Well the idea of doing a walk evolved into doing a ½ Marathon at Disney. While doing research on walks that benefited Lymphoma (the kind of cancer our friend has) one of the girls saw that the Princess half benefited the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, very fitting we all thought because in 1999 we had actually lost another college friend to Leukemia. So we could do this in memory of her and in support of the friend currently battling Lymphoma. So the planning began, and for those in our group who have never run before (like me) the training began.
Let me pause here for a minute to introduce the cast of characters who will be involved in this trip report.
I am going to refer to them as my BFF’s with their initials, so we have:

BFF CB- she is the fairy godmother of this journey, literally. As a Disney vacation club member and the most generous person I know, she used her DVC points to rent us a villa at BLT at the contemporary! More on that to come. CB is loving, caring and an awesome mom and wife. She lives in NC.

BFF TN- she is my true blue BFF, my soul sister or my “sister from another mister” as we like to say. TN is always the life of the party and knows me better than anyone. She is SAHM and wife and lives in CT.

BFF MS- caring, loving and the most beautiful (inside and out) person I know. MS is cancer survivor herself and is the loving mom of one, she works for a non-profit and lives near me in NH.

BFF AD- she is the real blood sister to BFF MS, and just a few years younger than the rest of us. Though we know AD because of MS, I know I would have been friends with her anyway, she’s that awesome. AD is smart, beautiful and also a great mom to 2. She is in property management and also lives in NH.

BFF TB- she is the crazy one I think. Always having fun and smiling. She is the ‘hostess with the mostest’ and is the loving mom to 3 girls. She is a graphic artist and lives in MA.

BFF CG- she is the epitome of class and style. You know the one who makes wearing sweatpants look good? She is warm and sincere and the mom of 2 boys. She also works in TV and lives in MA as well.

BFF LM- LM is the sweetest, most darling one of us all. A real girl next door type, but in a sincere way. She is an avid runner and athlete. She is a teacher in VT, and will someday make the most amazing mother!

Team Photo
Top row L to R:
TB, Me, CB, CG, AD
Bottom row: L toR:
TN, MS, LM

So that’s who will be in attendance. Yeah!
Let me explain a little bit more about the ‘plan’. As I said BFF CB, is a DVC member and a very generous person. She is a very successful real estate agent (yes even in this economy!) and loves sharing her good fortune in life. So as I said she booked us in a grand villa at BLT, it was like 2400 sf of space, 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, crazy big! Oh and did I mention we had a TPV?! Here are some photos of where we called home for 5 nights.

Bathroom (1 of 4)

Does this view rock or what!?!?!

Upstairs Bedroom

TV/Dresser in Bedroom

Upstairs Sitting Area

Laundry Room

Another Bathroom

Kitchen

Master Bedroom (on 1st floor)

Living Room looking out to view

The race was on Sunday March 7th , so most of us planned on arriving on Thursday March 4th, with one person arriving Friday. For me, I stayed until Tuesday March 9th, so a nice 6 day getaway. BFF CB, was in charge of all the planning, which, even though I am a crazy planner (especially when it comes to Disney) I decided I was OK with. As I said she enjoys sharing her good fortune, which is why she flipped the bill for PH passes and the dining plan, for ALL of us. So overwhelming! Yeah, like I said a very generous person! She just wanted us to get there, that’s all we had to take are of. Now as I said I had never run in anything in my life much less a half a marathon (13.1 miles). So my training started in mid-October. By Thanksgiving I was working out 6 days week and following a 12 pre half marathon training program. It was and still is hard. I never planned on running the whole 13 miles, even before it started I knew there would be some walking in there for sure. I’ve never been in the best physical shape, so I knew I had to listen to my body. Running is hard, very mental and at the same time a very rewarding sport, I knew all of this before I started and I know now that I will be a runner for life. Hopefully getting better as time goes on. By the time the race neared, I had dropped 20lbs, was run/walking a 13 minute mile and had gone up to 10 miles so I was ready as I was going to be for the race.

I was so excited in the days leading up to this trip I could hardly contain myself! The one person who was not excited about this race was my DH. He was supportive and encouraging throughout my training but was really sad not to be going to WDW. He loves it as much as I do, and being an only child, he has a hard time not getting his way. But with kids, the dog and work, he just couldn’t be there and this really was a trip for just the girls. So DH mopped around in the days leading up to my departure, and though he said he wasn’t sad, I knew better. I promise him (and the kids) we would go as a family next year and it would be great. He understood and drove me to the airport the morning of March 4th.

My loving DH (taken last year on our trip to WDW)

UP NEXT: One by One the Pricesses arrive!

 

[Twingle]

Looking forward to hearing more - I'm planning on doing the Princess in 2011!

 

[cmp1111]

Wow, what a special trip! Thanks for sharing!

I don't ever say exactly where I live, but we are nearly neighbors.

I can't wait to hear more about it. Friend trips are awesome.

 

[donnajean17]

Looking forward to hearing more - I'm planning on doing the Princess in 2011!

Welcome!
I definately recommend it! It was an awesome experience!

Wow, what a special trip! Thanks for sharing!

I don't ever say exactly where I live, but we are nearly neighbors.

I can't wait to hear more about it. Friend trips are awesome.

Thanks for joining in!

 

[donnajean17]

THURSDAY MARCH 4th

When I left you last my darling DH was sad that I was leaving but was happy for me too. He drove me to the airport for my 845 flight and I was ready to leave the cold of NH behind!

Flip flops were on!

Darn I meant to paint my nails before I left, guess I ran out of time!!
I was in an aisle seat and thought the middle seat would remain empty (there was someone in the window seat) as I hate being squished up to a total strange. But no such luck. Eventually a really tall blonde woman claimed the seat. She was dressed in track pants a marathon shirt and sneakers. I took this to be a good sign. We got to chatting, and no she wasn’t heading to Disney to run in the ½ but rather to Arkansas to run in a full marathon! We talked running for a bit and we were on the ground in Baltimore in no time.
I had about 2 hours to kill before my flight to MCO left. Since I hadn’t eaten any breakfast, I opted for an early lunch and sat down with my laptop to kill some time/ What?! No free wifi in Baltimore? I was not going to pay 7.95 for internet service so that is when I decided to start my trip report. My first installment was pretty much all written in the airport, and I inserted a few details when I got back.
Finally it was time to board to head south!

The flight to Orlando was typical and arrived a little early actually, at about 230pm. Yipee!!!! I was here! The plan was to meet BFF CB at the DME counter as her flight was coming in at 245. Everyone else was coming in a little later.

I hit the ground running once I got out of the plane. I text’d BFF CB but got no answer. Mmmm… so I found a nice place to seat right near the start of the DME and watched the excited faces as they arrived. BFF CB finally returned my text. She was still on the plane taxing to gate, they were running late, she would be a another 20 minutes or so. So I waited, and as I waited, I saw more happy faces and laughing children heading to get on their DME bus and I found myself getting sad. And I started to cry. I hated the fact that I was at WDW without my DH, DS and DD, I felt overwhelmingly guilty that I was here without them. I tried not to cry to hard, as I didn’t want to make a scene, but I was sad. I tried to remember why I was doing this in the first place and that coming on this trip just confirmed my resolve to everything I could (pinching pennies, working overtime) to make sure that would be coming back soon (soon-like next year!) with the family in tow and that I would all be OK. I pulled myself together just in time to great BFF CB and we headed to get on DME.

We get right to the front of the line as we were the only one’s at this stop, which went to the CR, GFR, POLY and WL. We waited, and waited, and watched others come and go, I’d say we waited a good 15 minutes before a bus pulled up for us. We hoped on board and guess what? We waited, and waited, and waited, for a good 20-25 minutes before others got on and we finally left. I love DME, but I had already been on the ground close to an hour and was just pulled away from MCO!! But then again I didn’t have to deal with my luggage did I?

BFF CB (left) and me on board DME

It was sunny out but a strong wind made it chilly. I’d say it was in the low 60’s when we landed.

We headed off to BLT at the CR, but not before stopping at GFR, POLY and the WL. Of course we had to be the LAST stop and of course we had to have had the slowest driver ever in DME history! She was actually training and so there was another driver on board too, but seriously this driver was so slow!!! Slow to drive, slow to move, just slow!! In retrospect it may have just seemed that way because we were so anxious to get there, but I don’t think so!
We finally pulled up to the CR and it was now after 4pm. We checked in and headed up to room 8424 of the BLT. Now BFF CB had never stayed here so it was new to both of us, which was nice. We walked in the door of that villa and I swear I felt like a cast member on the real world! We ran through that house checking every room! Man was it gorgeous! When I calmed down I managed to take this video walking tour of the place.



There were 2 bedrooms upstairs, each with 2 queen beds. I ended up choosing the bedroom that was off to the right as you walked up stairs, because I thought it had a better view of the castle because it was closer. I would learn later when one of the other girls claimed the bedroom on the other side, that she actually see the castle while lying in her bed! Darn!!!!!

BFF CB and I decided to go to the “Top of the World Lounge” to check it out. It was reserved for BLT guests and you could get drinks and food. As we rode through several elevators looking for how to get access to the lounge we noticed the elevators actually talked to you. It was a female voice saying what floor you were on and what direction you were heading. We found it hillarious the way she said “Going Down” she had a really deep voice and it seemed funny. We took some photos as we walked around.

Am I really trash?

Just loungin’

The lounge was cool, we didn’t get anything as BFF’s MS and AD would be arriving soon (they traveled together) and we wanted to greet them. We went back down just as we got a text that they were here! We headed down and greeted their DME bus! Yeah!
We showed them to the room and they were just as excited about the place as we were. When we got to the room, my luggage had arrived! Yeah!!
Then CB decided it was time to get our schwag bags… yeah like bags filled with the most awesome stuff! Stuff like socks, and a travel coffee mug, pencils, all sorts of cool stuff!

A cute water bottle with our names

Even a custom photo album!

Really CB just went overboard. She is just so generous!

At that point we decided to head over to EPCOT, since BFF TN, and TB wouldn’t be arriving until 8 or so and BFF LM even later than that. And BFF CG was not coming until the next day.

We hit the monorail to he TTC and then switched to the EPCOT line. I have never stayed at a monorail resort and I must admit it was nice!! No buses! Though it did take a while to get places I learned, because of the stops you make along the way, but so much better I’d say.

From L to R: BFF AD, MS, Me and CB

It was aboutt 730 when we arrived so we decided to go on Space Ship Earth since there was no line. Is there ever? Which is why I love it so much. It was pretty chilly out and I was glad I brought my fleece with me! We then headed over to The Land to see how long the wait for Soarin’ was. 10 minutes! Wooh! We decided to eat first though as we were all starving. I had never eaten at Seasons food court and I have to say it was quite good. I had the sweet and sour chicken with white rice and Broccoli and CC cookie for dessert. Even BFF MS found something she liked, and she was a vegetarian and a ‘particular’ eater. All in all a good dinner. We did Soarin’ and by then it was close to 9pm so we decided to head back to BLT and meet up with BFF TB and TN who were enroute from MCO. They arrived and it was the same scene played out over again as they took in the awesome place we were staing in. We decided to celebrate and go to the Top of The World Lounge and wait for BFF LM.
We hit the lunge and had a drink (not too many we were still in training afterall!)

From L to R: TB, AD, MS, TN, Me and CB

From L to R: TB, AD, MS, TN and Me

BFF LM did ended up arriving until about midnight and we were all beat. Everyone’s luggage had arrived from DME except BFF TB, which was worrisome because her and TN had come together on the same flight and TN’s luggage had arrived. We called luggage services and found out the luggage had not arrived. They looked into and determined it was still at the airport and would be delivered around 3am! Yikes! BFF TB did not pack anything in her carryon so we had scrape together some sleep clothes. Not a problem.
We all headed off to bed, it was now 1am. It had been a long exciting day.

UP Next: Hurry up the boat is leaving without you!!!