Wine and Dine...to the Finish Line! Fall 2017 TR NEW 1/25 The Last Day - THE END!

[2xcited2sleep]

Congrats on a great race! I admire anyone who attempts that on vacation and especially a Disney vacation with all the walking you’re already doing. Your costumes are great!!! I would have wanted a nap too. Steve is hysterical. I hope he didn’t fall asleep in the middle of dinner!

 

[bcwife76]

Playing catch up as usual

Well done with the 5K, you guys are awesome!!! Thinking maybe Steve should have taken a nap after the marathon??? Haha, guess we will see

 

[alohamom]

I always like to finish a race looking like I actually ran the whole thing. LOL

...and this is why we all LOVE you!!!!!

Congrats on finishing

 

[amalone1013]

Did you get to do it that night? We got it towards the end of the party and the line was very short. Last year the line was much longer.

We did it at DAH. Mid way thru on our way by there were only 5 groups or so.

Haha did you end up watching from the area in front of Casey's? We got a nice seat and view, didn't see you guys though but it was very dark!

We were just outside the back. Zack had claimed a wall to sit on for his feet I had thought before, ok I'll be able to see them! But nope! Man was it dark out

We did not attempt Elvis Stitch. Steve and I only got 1 character picture. The rest were just Magic Shots but my sister got the 100 acre wood characters and the dwarves so she was pretty happy about that, although that took up half the party time.

If I'd known pooh would take quite so long i would have skipped probably. I'm just not patient enough to wait very long for characters. Like i always say I want to meet Pocahontas in AK but since she doesnt have a wait time I'm scared to go back there At least we didid Pooh once. And the gravediggers were fun and we walked right up to them

So you know those times when you talk to your spouse and whatever you say doesn't really register, or he/she completely doesn't listen to you?

That's just marriage

 

[chunkymonkey]

It was toward the beginning of our vacation, so I think I was still on vacation high. Plus, there's no shortage of caffeine in that kingdom

True!!

Of course not. Know why?


It's five freaking a.m.!!!

Tell me about it...

You look cute as a button.
Steve however...

..is wearing buttons?



But thank you!!

This is "less crowded"?

Princess 5k had at least half a dozen more corrals and the pre-race areas were packed. At least that day we could still move around.

Someone does not want to run.

How did you know? Did I give it away? Darn.

Wait so this is a Star Wars run? With Rebel spies and all?

If it were a Star War run I'd be much much happier...

Huh. No clue. I thought Jose, too.
But I see you already got your answer anyways.

Who would have known! I knew I've seen that bird before but I just didn't know it's name!

Of course! And I bet you even semi-sprinted a bit.

Fake sprint count?

mmmm… that's high on my list. I wonder if it will ever happen?

We'll make it happen!

I believe you mean "When you talk to a husband"
I am convinced that wives hear everything and husbands hear... well, either nothing or what they want to hear.

Just checking to see if you were paying attention, and yes you're absolutely right!

You 2 look so cute! I give you a lot of credit...There is no way in hell I would run/walk any race on vacation. Not happening!!! You should be very proud of yourselves!!!

Thanks Jenny!!
Yeah, it was a spastic moment when I signed us up. I hadn't even ran the Princess 5k yet and I still signed up for another. It wasn't too bad in the gist of things and we got some t-shirts out of it, hahaha.

Congrats on a great race! I admire anyone who attempts that on vacation and especially a Disney vacation with all the walking you’re already doing. Your costumes are great!!! I would have wanted a nap too. Steve is hysterical. I hope he didn’t fall asleep in the middle of dinner!

Thank you! It wasn't the most motivating moment for me, but I'm glad we did it. I really just wanted to be Snow White, hahaha.
Steve...omg he really just doesn't listen to me sometimes...but he pays for it at dinner...

Playing catch up as usual

Well done with the 5K, you guys are awesome!!! Thinking maybe Steve should have taken a nap after the marathon??? Haha, guess we will see

Thank you!!
Yes Steve should have taken a nap.
Steve doesn't listen to me!!

...and this is why we all LOVE you!!!!!

Congrats on finishing

Aww that is so SWEET of you to say. I'm glad you enjoyed my fake sprint!!
Thank you!!

We did it at DAH. Mid way thru on our way by there were only 5 groups or so.

Very nice!! I really want to go to DAH. I would have to extend my January Trip by 2 days just to do it...hmmm worth it? LOL

We were just outside the back. Zack had claimed a wall to sit on for his feet I had thought before, ok I'll be able to see them! But nope! Man was it dark out

It was super dark! I couldn't see you guys either!

If I'd known pooh would take quite so long i would have skipped probably. I'm just not patient enough to wait very long for characters. Like i always say I want to meet Pocahontas in AK but since she doesnt have a wait time I'm scared to go back there At least we didid Pooh once. And the gravediggers were fun and we walked right up to them

I am soooo lazy to wait for characters and I don't want to subject Steve to it but when my sister's around I sometimes feel like I'm missing out if I don't. I knew that that night I didn't want to do too many character meets because that's all we did last year so this year was mostly rides and a few magic shots! It was such a great evening!

That's just marriage

TRUTH

 

[franandaj]

We caught a bus from the GF to AK. It was a beautiful day - you'd never have known that 3 days ago it was 45 degrees as today was a beautiful 75 degrees.

I keep forgetting that this was the trip where we met up and it was FREEZING the day you arrived and finally started warming up after we left.

Our next FP was for the Safari. It was a really fun safari, lots of animals out!

That's awesome for later in the day!

Watermelon Salad
Watermelon, Mixed Greens, Feta, Pickled Red Onion with a White Balsamic Vinaigrette

Huh. Interesting. I think I would have liked that. I remember having a watermelon salad at Steakhouse 55 about four years ago and one guy in our party thought that was really odd. I guess Chef Marcel was just ahead of his time!

French Fries with Pulled Pork and Cheese

Also interesting, sounds good though.

Steve apparently thought it wasn't enough food so he got the kids chicken meal which is really just a little drumstick. He liked it enough though, LOL.

I can totally understand why he would want a little bit of protein and a leg is perfect.

I bought this jacket which was over-priced but I love it. It's really thin and it's made by Champion so not even really high-end although it was priced like The North Face. I just loved having the logo of Chef Mickey running with a tray of food. It's definitely something that speaks to me, LOL.

Yeah, you live in a place where you can actually wear jackets. I have so many cool jackets and rarely have the opportunity to wear them. It's either not cool enough or so cool that we need full length leather coats. I guess I need to bite the bullet and like Su-Queen just wear stuff when you are not cold.

Sparkleskirts was there and as many of you know it's what I mainly wear to the parks, so they were having a sale of buy 3 get one free and even though they are super expensive, I really love them and they rarely have sales so took full advantage of it .

Huh, never heard of them, but if you like them glad you could get them on sale.

After resting in the room, we got ready to head out to our early dinner at Citrico's which was a 3 minute walk from our room, yay!

I love that about staying at the Grand. While I've dined at all the restaurants outside of Citrico's when staying at the Grand, I think we will need a do over at Citrico's!

After a really nice dinner, we returned to our room and tried to wind down.

Everything you both had looked excellent, it really needs to go back on our list! I'm considering staying there for our October 2019 trip....and planning a dinner there.

I did try on my running outfit just to make sure it looked alright with the bib.

Your outfit is very cute, I like it!

Can you guess who I am? LOL. Wait till you see Steve!

I'm looking forward to seeing it!

 

[chunkymonkey]

I keep forgetting that this was the trip where we met up and it was FREEZING the day you arrived and finally started warming up after we left.

yup that one cold day at Epcot! It was so surprising for us considering we had just come from...Canada, and it was warmer there, LOL.

Huh. Interesting. I think I would have liked that. I remember having a watermelon salad at Steakhouse 55 about four years ago and one guy in our party thought that was really odd. I guess Chef Marcel was just ahead of his time!

Watermelon salad is definitely a thing, but I never really liked the idea of watermelon with cheese until I tried it once and then I decided it was quite lovely!!

Also interesting, sounds good though.

It's really tasty! Good for a nice munch-y snack.

I can totally understand why he would want a little bit of protein and a leg is perfect.

I guess the watermelon salad did not cut it for him!

Yeah, you live in a place where you can actually wear jackets. I have so many cool jackets and rarely have the opportunity to wear them. It's either not cool enough or so cool that we need full length leather coats. I guess I need to bite the bullet and like Su-Queen just wear stuff when you are not cold.

Haha Chunkysis agrees.

Huh, never heard of them, but if you like them glad you could get them on sale.

I had never heard of them until I ran the Princess 5k last year and was looking for an outfit and all the Disney runners recommend sparkleskirts, and my friend Betsy wore them all the time at the parks so I decided to try one just to be sure and now I am hooked.

I love that about staying at the Grand. While I've dined at all the restaurants outside of Citrico's when staying at the Grand, I think we will need a do over at Citrico's!

I think that is a good idea! We went from never eaten anything at the Grand to eaten at every restaurant there in the past 2 years, and it's really quite a culinary destination.

Everything you both had looked excellent, it really needs to go back on our list! I'm considering staying there for our October 2019 trip....and planning a dinner there.

We really enjoyed it! I think staying there in October is a good idea.

Your outfit is very cute, I like it!

Thank you!

 

[franandaj]

So remember when I said how easy it would be to wake up and run the 5k the next day?

Yeah, so I LIED.

I can't ever imagine where waking up before 8AM is easy.

Bah, I look like I could be Drizella and Steve just looks more like Sleepy than Dopey!

You look great! Steve does look quite Sleepy.

But it was a lot harder than I thought it would.

That's too bad. I can't run, haven't been able to since Jr High, shin splints. Now I even get them after prolonged walking.

And making pouty face selfies:

That's awesome! Love your pouty face. I don't do that well, although I actually made one (that will be in my next update) and I didn't even realize that I was doing it. I actually thought I was smiling, but I was too upset with myself.

That first mile was tough!! I felt like my body was rebelling against being made to run after being in Disney for 5 days.

That would do it! I would think you would need to do the run on the 2nd or 3rd day, then go all out!

BTW, who is this bird? I keep thinking it's Jose Carioca but it's not.

I know you've already found out, but yes, she is Clara Cluck. She was in a lot of the old black and white cartoons.

Oh man, this race was more difficult than the Princess 5k even though I was recovering from a fractured ankle before. I guess the lack of prep and the fact that we were already in Disney for a week just did not make me feel motivated to do anything remotely athletic.

Plus you were on a cruise the week before! I gained 6 lbs on my last cruise, but we were a little more decadent in our eating than you were but still, cruises don't help 5K training.

We walked back to the GF. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep. Steve on the other hand...he was all up and awake and wanted to do something. I told him he could do whatever he wanted while I took a nap, but I warned him that we had a really long formal dinner that night, and that he should get some rest.

There has been some chatter about husbands not listening to what their wives say, but that isn't only restricted to husbands. I will try to tell Fran what we have planned and she may or may not listen to me. Then again when she is given the choice of a nap or something else, often times the nap wins, but not always.

So...what does Steve do?

Coming up...more DISMeets and does Steve make it through dinner?

It should be interesting to see how he fares....are you dining in the Queen Victoria room or is this the Special F&W Dinner?

We really enjoyed it! I think staying there in October is a good idea.

At first I was hoping to stay at OKW because I really want the Jacuzzi tub in the one bedroom, but I suppose I need to make an update to my March trip in my next IRL update!

 

[chunkymonkey]

November 4th: Welcome to Christmas Town...

So while Steve was at DHS going on RnRC multiple times, and doing some solo turns on TSM, I took a nice nap and woke up much later and got ready to meet Steve at MK. I most definitely thought he would be way to tired at dinner that night, but that was all his doing, right? LOL.

I hopped on the monorail and headed to MK. I realized that pretty much overnight...MK had now transitioned over to...Christmas. It was literally Halloween two days ago, but that was two days too late for Disney, so now it is Christmas.

Excuse my confused look in the pic above. I indeed was confused considering that last decor we saw was Halloween! But it was really great to see both sets of decorations that week, and the Christmas ones are awesome.

It was a little cloudy that morning, so the Castle looked like it was hidden behind some mist...

My first order of business was some food as I woke up quite hungry so I headed over to Columbia Harbor House and mobile ordered the Mac and Cheese with Shrimp. The mobile order was a bit of a mess here, as I think they gave my order away to someone else because I ended up waiting longer than usual, and finally I asked the CM, and she had another one prepared for me.

It was quite tasty, but very rich with all the cheese, and butter breadcrumb. It definitely hit the spot though and I ended up finishing the entire thing. #carbsforlife

Steve had made his way into the park so we met at BTMRR which was our first FP. We wore our medals, because, why not?

Check out Steve's mighty yawn. Tired yet?

Oooh I was so looking forward to him passing out tonight...that's what you get for not listening to me.

Here is Steve with feigned excitement, however my excitement was all real:

When we got out we realized the Festival of Fantasy parade was just about to start so we ran to Peco Bills and Steve got condiments from the fixins bar. Why? I asked. It's because he kept all the corn chips in the snack box that we got in the runners bag so we just made a simple deconstructed form of nachos.

Wow Steve is resourceful in his tired state! He also just really loves nachos so he gets them whenever he can.

We enjoyed a wonderful parade view leaning against a pillar for support, enjoying our makeshift nacho dip.

After the parade we exited over by Adventureland so I could get some Dole Whip goodness. Also mobile ordered, because that is the only way I will order Dole Whip from Aloha Isle now. #nolinesforme

Our next FP was for Jingle Cruise! One plus for turning over to Christmas so early was that we could enjoy Jungle and Jingle Cruises that week.

I always wonder about the wrapping paper they use, must be some super industrial strength plastic paper or something to hold up in all the wet conditions!

I had been texting @kastoney all morning and we finally got a chance to meet! She had just arrived to WDW for her week of glorious F & W. We headed over to Fantasyland because we had a 7DMT FP and we met up right there. We also got to meet her hubby Jason and the one and only Casey!

So happy to finally meet you and your family Kari and looking forward to making history in May. Epic Girls Trip history, that is

Thankfully Steve did not doze off when meeting you Kari but if he seemed a little off, now you know why.

Our last FP was for Mine Train. Steve even had the energy to show off his medal on the ride pic.

We ended our MK afternoon with some photopass pics as we exited the park.

Look at him, all smiles, you'd never think he got up at 5 and ran a 5k and was park hopping all day did ya?

I asked him all morning, Are you tired? Don't you want to rest?
And him being stubborn and not wanting to admit he was kept saying he was OK.


Coming up, our boozy Food & Wine feast at Victoria and Albert's.

Does Steve fall asleep?

​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

It is so amazing how quickly they can transform the park and put up all the decorations! Super cool that you got to experience two holidays in one trip! Oh dear, Steve’s yawn does not bode well for a boozy dinner. How fun to meet Kari and her family! Great pics of you and Steve with your medals!

 

[annie170]

I'm the person who always wonders how many people worked through the night to take down Halloween and put up Christmas decorations. Can't wait to see the yuletide magic in December!

How nice you were able to meet Kastoney! I've read a few of her dining reports.

Looking forward to reading about Victoria & Albert's!

 

[missangelalexis]

The castle looks so spooky behind the fog!

Love the DIY nachos!!

Nice parade photos!

 

[amalone1013]

When we got out we realized the Festival of Fantasy parade was just about to start so we ran to Peco Bills and Steve got condiments from the fixins bar. Why? I asked. It's because he kept all the corn chips in the snack box that we got in the runners bag so we just made a simple deconstructed form of nachos.

I love it!

Also mobile ordered, because that is the only way I will order Dole Whip from Aloha Isle now. #nolinesforme

I wish they would add gift card payment to it! We felt spoiled Labor Day weekend using mobile order and magicband charging, because we never really do that. I always have gift cards for dining and so often we've been at the Dolphin.

I always wonder about the wrapping paper they use, must be some super industrial strength plastic paper or something to hold up in all the wet conditions!

This is an excellent question!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I hopped on the monorail and headed to MK. I realized that pretty much overnight...MK had now transitioned over to...Christmas. It was literally Halloween two days ago, but that was two days too late for Disney, so now it is Christmas.

It really is like they switching it overnight! It's kind of cool to see both! And it makes me want to go that week again!

It was a little cloudy that morning, so the Castle looked like it was hidden behind some mist...

I like it, it's a cool different pic of the castle.

Here is Steve with feigned excitement, however my excitement was all real:

too funny! I know that feeling though!

When we got out we realized the Festival of Fantasy parade was just about to start so we ran to Peco Bills and Steve got condiments from the fixins bar. Why? I asked. It's because he kept all the corn chips in the snack box that we got in the runners bag so we just made a simple deconstructed form of nachos.

VERY resourceful! I am not sure I would have even thought to do that.

I always wonder about the wrapping paper they use, must be some super industrial strength plastic paper or something to hold up in all the wet conditions!

Wonder if it is actually more like outdoor table clothes or something....

I had been texting @kastoney all morning and we finally got a chance to meet! She had just arrived to WDW for her week of glorious F & W. We headed over to Fantasyland because we had a 7DMT FP and we met up right there. We also got to meet her hubby Jason and the one and only Casey!

YEAH!!! Hopefully we will get to meet them all in Februrary!

Coming up, our boozy Food & Wine feast at Victoria and Albert's.

Does Steve fall asleep?

I have this image of Steve literally asleep in his plate... ala little kid asleep in there high chair with spaghetti sauce all over them.

 

[missjackiemcg]

BTW, I have not forgotten you and the MNSSHP SoTMK card. I have the Orange Bird one! PM me your address and I will get it out to you sometime next week! I have not even finished unpacking yet, LOL.

Thanks again for this!!

Excuse my confused look in the pic above. I indeed was confused considering that last decor we saw was Halloween! But it was really great to see both sets of decorations that week, and the Christmas ones are awesome.

It's incredible how fast they turn the seasons around!!! And people think we're bad at Hallmark LOL

When we got out we realized the Festival of Fantasy parade was just about to start so we ran to Peco Bills and Steve got condiments from the fixins bar. Why? I asked. It's because he kept all the corn chips in the snack box that we got in the runners bag so we just made a simple deconstructed form of nachos.

Because Steve is obviously a nacho genius!!! Also, was guacamole back on the toppings bar?! Last time we were there we had to pay extra for it and got the tiniest little cup...not worth it!

 

[HumblePie]

I love your Snow White t-shirt. I almost bought it and for some reason decided not to and have regretted it ever since. Can't find it anywhere now. I will have to live vicariously through your shirt, I suppose!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Thanks for posting. Enjoyed the read!

 

[cheryllarsen]

New
I also love your Snow White t-shirt!!

 

[MeghanEmily]

But it was really great to see both sets of decorations that week, and the Christmas ones are awesome.

I love that! I'd really like to go that time of year someday to catch both.

It definitely hit the spot though and I ended up finishing the entire thing. #carbsforlife

Mmmmm carbs!! I'm so with you there.

Steve had made his way into the park so we met at BTMRR which was our first FP. We wore our medals, because, why not?

I feel like it's a rule that you need to wear your medal after a Disney race. I did! My mom and Nathan forgot to wear theirs and felt totally jealous over the attention mine got.

It's because he kept all the corn chips in the snack box that we got in the runners bag so we just made a simple deconstructed form of nachos.

This is one of my favourite Steve moments.

She had just arrived to WDW for her week of glorious F & W.

This sounds like heaven.

 

[kastoney]

Man you had me so confused. A. I don't think I even knew this report was out there. B. Christmas. and C. I'm in it! Seems like a lifetime ago. But so glad we got to meet and will do so again soon!