A One-Time Only Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge Trip Report

Hey everyone! I am back from a trip to WDW to partake in Marathon Weekend and more specifically to take on the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge! This trip did not go entirely how I thought it would but it is over now and its time for a recap. My pictures especially for the races are a little lacking from my last marathon report. I just wasn't feeling it this trip. Cast of characters is just me (Kristy) and husband Dan.

Here is a link to my pre-trip report if you are interested in the backround - http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/goofy-challenge-pre-trip-report.857764/


The days leading up to this trip were very stressful. The Thursday before we left our gas furnace died. Luckily we have a fireplace and were able to keep warm with that and space heaters. We needed to get estimates and have it installed in less than a week. I didn't want my friend who was staying to take care of our animals to have to worry about keeping a fire going. Funds are stretched here already and a new furnace was not in the budget. Ugh. We had the new furnace installed on Wednesday and we left on Thursday morning. Talk about cutting it close! Along with having a furnace installed, my husband calls me on Wed while I am at work and tells me that our one horse is sick again. He had an issue in the past, which we thought had been dealt with and it resurfaced the day before we leave. STRESS, STRESS, STRESS! Call in to the vet but it is after hours by now. It is not a life-threatening issue but one that I don't want to be unattended to while we are gone. Needless to say, I was having second thoughts about this trip with all the problems we have been having.

We left our house around 3:45 am and arrived at our off-site airport parking about an hour later. We had a 6:30 flight out of Philly. We found a great parking service that will take you to the airport in your own car, drop you off and then pick you up in your own car when you come back. For an extra fee, at pickup, you can leave straight from the airport and they will get a ride back to the lot. Very convenient!

We finally arrived for the flight and there were a lot of other runners on this flight as well. We were all pretty quiet due to the early hour I think. In no time, we were boarding and then waiting to taxi.

I was still pretty stressed having not heard from the vet yet. I just didn't have the normal Disney excitement. I tried to sit back and enjoy the ride. We did have a beautiful sunrise!

Soon we were passing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel system. Looks neat from the air.

Starting to descend into the Orlando area, I see the Port Canaveral area! Kind of need another cruise! (at least I think it might be Port Canaveral)

 

[Kristia]

As soon as we land, I checked my phone for messages. Still no call from the vet. Ugh. We arrived at Magical Express and were able to get right on the bus. Unfortunately, it was nearly full so we were toward the back of the bus. No passing through the gates picture this time. We were the 3rd of 4 stops on the bus. We went to PORS first, then to Yacht Club and finally Beach Club.

For the first time we rented DVC points through David's Vacation Club Rentals. It was great and worked out just like we had bought straight from Disney. We did get our tickets through Undercover Tourist though. I can't believe I didn't take any pics when we first got there, but I didn't really have time. As soon as we got off the bus, someone whisked us right to the Check-In desk. We had done online checkin so most things were already taken care of. Our room wasn't ready yet so we were told that they would text us as soon as it was ready.

It was MUCH warmer in FL than Jersey which we expected, so Dan went to the restroom to change into shorts. I took that time to call the vet and was finally able to get though. Antibiotics prescribed and paid for over the phone. Arranged for friend to pick them up and get him started on them. Ahhhhhhhh.....I was finally feeling some of the stress leaving! I could enjoy vacation now. And while I was talking to the vet, I got a text saying our room was ready! We had only been there about 10 minutes.

We were Room #555 at BCV. The room pics were actually taken the day we left. Forgot to take them before we messed it up!

We had a standard view room and this was our standard view....Nice!

We could also see Canada.

So far so good! More coming tomorrow!

 

[Ariel484]

Woohoo! Tip reports galore!

I'm so sorry you had so much crap to deal with in the days leading up to your trip. Glad you get the furnace and antibiotics taken care of quickly, and I hope your horse is okay! Pretty BCV room. We have used David's before too and like them!

Yay more please!

 

[Kristia]

Woohoo! Tip reports galore!

I'm so sorry you had so much crap to deal with in the days leading up to your trip. Glad you get the furnace and antibiotics taken care of quickly, and I hope your horse is okay! Pretty BCV room. We have used David's before too and like them!

Yay more please!

Why do things always have to start happening right before trips? So far he is good, thanks! He had a sinus infection 3 months ago and the vet said if it came back he may need to be scoped to see where the infection was coming from. Horses have huge sinuses! Luckily since it has been a while since the last one she wanted to just go double strength on the antibiotics. Definitely more to come!

 

[TheMouseFan]

I'm in!! I'm always excited to read all of these race reports. I've always wanted to try running, but I've had both of my ankles reconstructed and I'm not sure how well they would hold up. I was really tempted when they announced the Tower of Terror 10 mile race last year. Maybe that can be my motivation to get started slowly and see how it goes. Anyhow, I can't wait to read more!

 

[Kristia]

I'm in!! I'm always excited to read all of these race reports. I've always wanted to try running, but I've had both of my ankles reconstructed and I'm not sure how well they would hold up. I was really tempted when they announced the Tower of Terror 10 mile race last year. Maybe that can be my motivation to get started slowly and see how it goes. Anyhow, I can't wait to read more!

Thanks for reading! Can't hurt to try and train. Start slowly and see how you feel. All the races require a 16 min/mile minumum pace so even if you can run the whole thing, you can run/walk, do a very fast walk or a slow jog.

 

[Ariel484]

I'm in!! I'm always excited to read all of these race reports. I've always wanted to try running, but I've had both of my ankles reconstructed and I'm not sure how well they would hold up. I was really tempted when they announced the Tower of Terror 10 mile race last year. Maybe that can be my motivation to get started slowly and see how it goes. Anyhow, I can't wait to read more!

Disney also puts on 5K races (3.1 miles), which are great for newer runners: they are un-timed (no worries about your pace), a bit more relaxed, and are a more manageable distance. Hal Higdon and Jeff Galloway have good beginner running plans, and a lot of people (myself included) started out using Couch-to-5k. I'd maybe check with your doctor first considering your surgical history and DEFINITELY get fitted for shoes at a running store. Good luck!!

 

[Kristia]

After dumping our stuff in our room we headed straight to the expo. Expo transportation for Beach Club was located at the regular bus stop and the bus arrived just as we were walking up. We shared Marathon Weekend Event Transportation with YC, S&D, and BW. After making a pickup at BW, we were on our way to the Expo.
In 2011, I remember the buses dropping us off close to the entrance of WWoS. This time they had bus stops set up in the parking lot and we had to walk quite a distance to the entrance. The whole time we were walking, I was trying to peek at other people's bags to guess what colors the tech shirts would be.
Finally we arrive at the entrance!

First stop was the HP Field house to pick up our bibs.

They had Marathon and Half Marathon participants bib pickup in one area and Goofy Challenge and 5k participant pickup in another area. There was no line at all for picking up our bibs which was awesome! We also received our prepurchased Goofy Challenge pin. We had been placed in corral G, because we had not submitted proof of times. We made our way to runner relations (there was quite a line here). We ran a really good 10k in Nov so we brought that print out with us and were moved to corral C. It was super easy to make the switch.

We then made our way to the Marathon/Half Marathon Bib Pickup area where they also had B-tag activation/check to make sure you chip is working. They also had a RunDisney merchandise booth in that area.

We stopped in the merchandise booth but it was so crazy. One of the cast members told us that there was a bigger booth at the expo. Thank you! Not hangin' around here! We went over to the expo got in line to pick up our tech shirts. I think it was around this time that I checked in with @Ariel484 to see if she was close. She was on ME so it looked like we would be missing each other today. Bummer! Finally we get up to the volunteers to pick up our shirts. Dan gets his XL ones, no problem. I had ordered LG (should have gotten MD but didn't feel like waiting in exchange line). There were 2 other people in front of me and our volunteer staffing the LG had disappeared. We waited about 5 minutes without moving. Apparently on Thursday at 11 am, they couldn't find anymore large shirts. What? Really? I think we waited about 15 minutes and then they finally found some. I didn't really need anything else at the expo (or so I thought) so we just picked up some items at the official mechandise booth and then got out of there. It was really busy in there and tough to move around. We also picked up my free art card that we received in our igift bag.

Dan and I both got this shirt although I really hate getting the "I did it!" shirt before I actually do it!

I also picked up a Marathon vinylmation and a Goofy Challenge headband (no pic).

These are the tech shirts we got. I really like the colors this year.

 

[Kristia]

Before heading back to the resort, we stopped for a little photo shoot.

 

[Ariel484]

Yay me! I also don't really like getting the "I Did It!" shirts ahead of time...but I know I would totally regret it if I didn't. I wish they had this stuff available for purchase afterward online or something. I like your little photo shoot, very cute!

 

[Kristia]

Yay me! I also don't really like getting the "I Did It!" shirts ahead of time...but I know I would totally regret it if I didn't. I wish they had this stuff available for purchase afterward online or something. I like your little photo shoot, very cute!

I was so glad that I did get it after I read on Facebook that most of the Goofy stuff was sold out by Friday! The whole time I was running the marathon, I kept thinking about that darn shirt and that I better not have jinxed myself!

 

[Kristia]

I forgot to post a pic of our Goofy bibs....

Now it was time to hop on over to the Magic Kingdom! We had a dinner reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern tonight. We hadn't been here since our honeymoon in 1995 so we were really looking forward to it!

It was a beautiful day at the MK! It was nice and warm. Such a nice change from cold NJ! Wait a minute.... maybe it is a bit too warm. It was probably about this time that I started to stress about how hot the run was going to be!

We had a bit of time before our dinner reservations so we decided to check out the new Fantasyland area. We went in through Storybook Circus first. We didn't feel like waiting in any lines right now, so we just took a walk.

Magic Kingdom seemed quite crowded today!

 

[Kristia]

Be Our Guest Restaurant

The details are amazing. We weren't able to eat here this time but hopefully next time!

We went into the little shop near Gaston's (name is escaping me now). Gaston came in and was inspecting the merchandise especially the t-shirts with him on them. It was hilarious. He was not amused with the "still single shirt". He said "That hurts!" Very cool. Wish I had my camera ready!

 

[dreamfinder]

I was so glad that I did get it after I read on Facebook that most of the Goofy stuff was sold out by Friday! The whole time I was running the marathon, I kept thinking about that darn shirt and that I better not have jinxed myself!

It was. Poked my head back in on Friday, and almost all of the Goofy row had been filled with Donald merch. (Which then looked like some of it was 30% off Sun after the full at the reunion area) runDisney - Get a way to fulfill orders after the fact. I keep saying it wouldn't kill them to keep samples of each, and just take orders at the expo.

The eternal question - buy it now and jinx it, or wait and not get it......

Great start to the report.

 

[Fievel]

We bought the "I Did It" shirts as well for the first time. We took them to the room and immediately hid them, refusing to look at them until we had actually earned them. It's sort of a catch-22. You don't want to buy them before the race, but you know it's your only option.

 

[LindsayLoves]

I'm reading along - from the title I take it that you won't be doing another Goofy in the future?

 

[Kristia]

It was. Poked my head back in on Friday, and almost all of the Goofy row had been filled with Donald merch. (Which then looked like some of it was 30% off Sun after the full at the reunion area) runDisney - Get a way to fulfill orders after the fact. I keep saying it wouldn't kill them to keep samples of each, and just take orders at the expo.

The eternal question - buy it now and jinx it, or wait and not get it......

Great start to the report.

So glad we got them!

We bought the "I Did It" shirts as well for the first time. We took them to the room and immediately hid them, refusing to look at them until we had actually earned them. It's sort of a catch-22. You don't want to buy them before the race, but you know it's your only option.

Yeah I know what you mean. We didn't get them for our first marathon and they were sold out at the end. Didn't make that mistake again!

I'm reading along - from the title I take it that you won't be doing another Goofy in the future?

Probably not! It was killer although if I didn't have a cold and the heat wasn't so bad, I might think differently.

 

[Ariel484]

I love your MK pictures! The colors are so pretty. That's so funny about Gaston...I think that store is called...Bonjour Village Gifts or something?

Looking forward to heading about Liberty Tree Tavern! That's a place I always think about making an ADR for, but then it gets bumped for something else. I'd like to check it out eventually though.

 

[Kristia]

I love your MK pictures! The colors are so pretty. That's so funny about Gaston...I think that store is called...Bonjour Village Gifts or something?

Looking forward to heading about Liberty Tree Tavern! That's a place I always think about making an ADR for, but then it gets bumped for something else. I'd like to check it out eventually though.

Thanks! Writing more now!

 

[Kristia]

The wait time for the new Little Mermaid ride was about 45 min so we decided to get fastpasses.

Fastpasses for this attraction are located near Mickey's Philharmagic. Return times were after 6 pm so that worked perfectly for us since our dinner was scheduled for 5 pm.

We had time for a visit with our favorite ghosts before our ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. Posted wait time was 15 min, but we walked right on!