Trip Report You Are Braver Than You Believe, Stronger Than You Seem, And Smarter Than ... Nope. Piglet Goes Dopey

Hi everyone, welcome to my trip report. I’ve been reading lots of other reports and have really enjoyed them so thought I’d join in the fun. We’ve been back home for a week now, photos are sorted and it’s about time I got round to doing this.

I did write a pre-trip report (A Dopey Dream) but I’m a bit technically challenged and don’t know how to link it, so I’ll go over a few details.

Who:

3D238753-070D-4D33-9FD3-B60176AD043E.jpeg
A00A438E-80FC-4E1D-BA68-875A160D93E7.jpeg


Me, Sharon aka Piglet. About to celebrate a scary big birthday (50) next month. This was one of the reasons for the trip. Husband, Darren, older than me 😂. Alice, turned 13 while we were there, and Lexi, 10. We live in Milton Keynes, UK and are DVC members. One day I will find a photo of all of us together that isn’t completely hideous.

Where and When:

Saratoga Springs Resort January 1st to January 13th
Cruising on the Disney Dream January 13th to January

Extras bits:

While we were there I just happened to run a couple of little races. 5k, 10k, half marathon, first ever full marathon. Just the sort of thing that normal people do while they’re on holiday.
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5: Monday 6th January (cont)

As we wandered out of Galaxy’s Edge we passed by RotR. We noticed that there seemed to be only a handful of people checking in, and the roped off queue area was empty. This looked hopeful for a short wait when our boarding group was called.

Our lunch today was at 50’s Prime Time. I’d been there before with the girls, but it was Darren’s first time. It was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed our food. I was about to take photos, but when I got my phone out I was told off for playing with my toys at the table 😂. Other than that, we were praised for our behaviour. The girls set the table without being asked, and I got a clean plate sticker. I shared the peanut butter chocolate cake with Alice for dessert. Yum.

After lunch it was time for our last FP, Star Tours. It was actually only the second we’d used that day, I’d booked an earlier throwaway one thinking I would try to get another decent one after Star Tours. I really think the FP tier system at HS on this trip was awful. Anyway, we tapped in and I tried to book something else but there wasn’t anything left for the things we wanted to do. Luckily we had another day planned there.

Star Tours had all new Rise of Skywalker scenes and we all loved it.

It was now time for our second visit of the day to Galaxy’s Edge as we had a reservation for Oga’s Cantina. We checked in a few minutes before our reservation and were directed to wait in what looked like quite a long queue. But it wasn’t very long before our names were called and we were led inside. We were seated in one of the booths with 2 other parties. It felt a little bit awkward, people kind of looked at each other but no one spoke. It probably didn’t help that one of the other groups were also Brits. We were doing our best “pretend they’re not there” impressions. It might have been less awkward if we’d already had a few drinks 😂.

Drinks were quickly ordered. Darren had one of the beers, I can’t remember which, and said it was super strong. Alice had the Blue Bantha, she enjoyed the drink but didn’t like the cookie. Lexi had the Carbon Freeze which was really fun. I ordered the Fuzzy Tauntaun and obviously didn’t read the description properly. I just read peach drink. Wow, what a shock. When you’re not expecting it, the numbness and tingling from the foam is so weird. Once I got used to it, I did enjoy the drink.

Overall we really enjoyed the Cantina. I’m not sure we’d go every time we were there because it was a bit expensive.

3E9DD82E-4782-4FC7-8326-D6BEB9AAD9D2.jpeg
1A3BB5D0-203E-4F2E-84BA-833D2D38BF4C.jpeg
00C0668E-F300-4C16-BADF-058B7071319C.jpeg
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5: Monday 6th January (cont)

So, it was now almost 4 o’clock and our boarding group for RotR was still nowhere near being called. We’d been checking regularly all day and the numbers were going up so slowly, sometimes barely moving. I’m guessing it was a bad day for ride breakdowns.

This meant that we had plenty of time to ride Smugglers Run, which was lucky because the posted wait was 90 minutes. We don’t normally wait that long for a ride, but it was the only way we could ride it.

Some photos while we waited, Darren called the first one Death Star over the Falcon.

08BB6A17-9E66-4549-8E2B-6771C43408CA.jpeg
62016AE2-0093-42FE-832B-10D9F055A149.jpeg
233CEAC9-4038-41CA-B76E-304F2500EFBE.jpeg
ECF79645-312E-4F42-9204-2C9FD55B53FA.jpeg
E398987A-CB39-4C14-A1DF-B82731B791FA.jpeg


The girls were assigned to be pilots, grownups were gunners, and there was a father and son who were engineers. I think we did quite well, I seemed to shoot a lot of things, but one of our pilots (Lexi) was really awful so I’m not sure if I was shooting the right things. Alice kept trying to tell her where to go, but she either didn’t listen, or didn’t care and just played her own random game. She is a bit like that. We all had a lot of fun, but I would really like to ride again because I’m sure we missed lots of details.
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5: Monday 6th January (cont)

By the time we’d finished on Smugglers Run it was about 5.30. We checked the progress on boarding groups and it was still only up to 95, we were 120. Everyone was getting a bit tired and cranky, it felt like it had been a really long day, and we really didn’t want to wait in another long queue. And we had enough of the crowds by this point. So we decided that we would leave the park for a while. We walked out past RotR and noticed that still there didn’t seem to be many people waiting.

We took a relaxing ride on a friendship boat over to the Boardwalk. It had been a gorgeous sunny day but now it was getting later in the day the temperature was starting to drop. So we decided to just hang out in the lobby for a little while. I think I dozed in one of the armchairs for a while, the girls explored and made some squashed pennies.

We checked the boarding group status and noticed that they had started moving much more quickly. So we jumped on a boat back to the Studios. I kept checking on our ride back, and finally just before we docked our boarding group was called.

We were all so excited, all tiredness gone at this point. We raced through the park and straight to the ride, only to be met by a massive queue of people outside the entrance to the ride. Surprised, we managed to locate the back of the queue and hoped it would move quickly. That was not to be, on checking the app I realised that all remaining boarding groups, up to 139, had been called at once.

So we queued before the check in point for the ride. Then we queued in the outside area of the ride. Then we went inside and we were getting hopeful. But we queued in a cave, then another cave, then a bit with some screen type things. Surely we were close. But no, there was another cave. There were a lot of caves, I know it’s themed to the ride but I’d really had enough of caves at this point. Finally we get to the ride.

What can I say about the ride. Wow, wow, wow, WOW. It was amazing. I’d tried to avoid spoilers beforehand, so all I’d seen was the part with all the stormtroopers. The girls were speechless when we finished. I so wish we’d had the opportunity to ride again because everything happened so quickly, it was hard to keep up with what was happening.

Was it worth the ridiculously early morning, the stress of trying to get a boarding group, and the very long drawn out day. Yes, for the first time. I would definitely like to ride again and would put this at the top of my FP list if/when it joins, but I don’t think I’d go to such extremes next time. We absolutely loved it but it was a lot of work for one ride.

We’d joined the queue for the ride at about 7 o’clock, with the long wait it was 8.40 by the time we’d finished. We were hungry. The park had officially closed at 8 and we tried to get food on our way out but nothing was open. So we had to wait until we got back to Saratoga. Luckily there wasn’t much of a wait for the bus and we headed straight for the food court. I had what was probably the best thing I’d eaten there, the caprese flatbread. I cannot remember what anyone else ate because I was so tired by this point.

Over dinner we chatted about our plans for the next day. I was supposed to have an early run, then we were going to Epcot for another busy day with a lunch at Le Cellier. We were all tired and I had a crazy amount of miles to run in a few days. The weather was looking good. So we decided to cancel everything and have a pool day.
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6: Tuesday 7th January

It was lovely not to have to get up to an alarm this morning. I know I woke about 6, thought nope, and went back to sleep until 8. Darren brought us back some breakfast from the food court and we sat on the balcony in the gorgeous sunshine to eat. It was a very lazy start to the day.
6E9A30C9-3740-4AAF-93AF-081A6A999A0E.jpeg


Late morning we got ourselves moving and headed down to the pool.

At this point I’d like to introduce Alan. Alan is a member of our family cheer squad. He travels to a lot of events with us and made an appearance in a promotional video for a local race. So he’s semi famous. (It was a very small part, one of our friends was carrying him round). Alan enjoyed relaxing by the pool.

2FF3FA8F-3C9C-4818-814C-893D9694F891.jpeg


We spent the whole day just relaxing. The girls played in the pool and in the fountains. I sat on a sun lounger and read my book. For lunch we ate pizza by the pool. There were mojitos. It was just what we needed after a few busy park days.

91BBAA52-18CD-4F4C-A10D-329E3F0F50CE.jpeg
675CF709-4B61-419F-83C5-F9D82B91E349.jpeg
0D0C51DF-2339-4A2A-8548-254C72891170.jpeg
46DE550E-9645-409F-9992-9EE72B930224.jpeg
667489B2-85D6-4EAF-A6DA-E8E296909633.jpeg
26945BE2-7118-4984-A9AE-0F35E7DE41F0.jpeg
1403A99C-7AAD-47A0-A879-F22F06F4000D.jpeg
167742E5-B9CB-4631-B3ED-BB1F172FFA46.jpeg
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6: Tuesday 7th January (cont)

I’d managed to get a last minute ADR for the Turf Club that evening, so after our time by the pool we showered, changed and headed over there.

Dinner was delicious. We shared some calamari to start. I can’t remember what everyone else had, I know I had scallops and so did Alice.

6FC08C4D-6B23-42F2-BBE7-F57E1D19B3B3.jpeg


For dessert I had, according to my notes, a chocolate cherry thing. It was yummy.

3B5572E0-02E5-4CAF-8486-D7C8AC0F8458.jpeg


The girls shared the seasonal gelato trio. Vanilla, gingerbread and peppermint. They loved them. I thought the gingerbread was really good but the peppermint was like eating frozen toothpaste.

4B523F80-4982-4773-8795-E5F7277944AD.jpeg


Lexi had a cupcake from somewhere, it might have been dessert from the kids meal.

EBB5C74D-08D9-4061-A1F3-00661995B46F.jpeg


After dinner Darren and the girls played pool in the bar. There may have been some dozing in a chair by me.

8A924790-9829-4917-8177-C417EF095519.jpeg
10239C88-CC9F-433C-8E4D-56FAC05DF98E.jpeg
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I’m really enjoying your report! The kids are adorable and it seems so lovey to take a trip with big kids (mine are 7 and 2, currently).
Thank you. They are a lot of fun and we have such a good time together. It’s much easier in parks as well, they can go on rides by themselves, but I do miss them being little sometimes.
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday 8th January: Expo day

It was finally here, the official start of Marathon Weekend.

E6A66BB6-8DC1-4F60-8CFD-3FC573953062.jpeg


The nerves were finally starting to kick in now, I’d been quite relaxed up until this point. I am not very good at doing new things, I get quite anxious about it. And this was a very new experience for me. And I really was starting to think I was a bit crazy for doing this. In January 2019 the furthest I had run was 10k, now here I was a year later planning to run almost 50 miles in one weekend. Brave, or just completely Dopey?

But there was no way I was backing out of this. I had run 5 half marathons in a year. I had trained hard for 6 months, with long runs Saturday and Sunday for the last 3 months. And I was running in my happy place. I could do this.

It was a nice relaxing start to the day. We left Saratoga at about 7.30 and had a lovely walk along the river to Old Key West.



CF4A0A03-9165-4C82-A680-DC4ABFCBBBA0.jpeg
348BB0D1-989E-474B-BB42-0A1B41B9BB7E.jpeg
54DA3A03-A37E-43D0-A7E5-202D263C8C07.jpeg
5B2A22AA-C01F-4CFA-A73C-A2F1E15C8B60.jpeg
219DDEAD-CAB5-4924-9263-EAE551E6CFDC.jpeg


It was still quite chilly first thing in the mornings but it was looking like it was going to be a lovely day again. In fact it looked like it was going to get warmer towards the weekend, something I wasn’t really looking forward to running in.

I really don’t like these signs. I try to pretend that 🐍don’t exist, they freak me out so much.

DE8FA6F6-F1C2-4B2E-8036-27B86E9DD177.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • E6276128-3003-4648-A75B-2876D809E939.jpeg
    E6276128-3003-4648-A75B-2876D809E939.jpeg
    97.8 KB · Views: 43

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday 8th January: Expo day (cont)

Some more photos from the walk over

341EE676-0FEC-464F-81E7-87356831442D.jpeg
BB63B366-2B11-4BAD-BEBE-434C6FEAE41F.jpeg
C51D88AE-94CD-4BA2-9C99-AFB9C0612C85.jpeg


We wandered through the resort towards Hospitality House because we had a breakfast reservation at Olivia’s.

We love Olivia’s, it’s such a laid back place to eat, and we’ve always had excellent food and service. Today was no exception.

We ordered a mix of crab cakes, omelettes and of course Mickey waffles.

655F139B-8793-4AB3-AA2A-472A4A39D696.jpeg


Our server was so sweet. When she realised we were from the UK she chatted to us about wanting to visit. We get this quite a lot but usually it’s about wanting to visit the major tourist places. London, Stonehenge, castles, which are all amazing. But this server wanted to visit all the Agatha Christie type villages where all the murders were. Obviously she knew all villagers in England didn’t go round murdering each other but was pleased to know that these quaint little villages really do exist.
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday 8th January: Expo day (cont)o

After our breakfast we made our way over to the bus stop. We only waited a few minutes before a bus arrived and we pulled up to WWoS at just after 10. The Expo had just opened and it was looking pretty busy. I’d read reports of people queuing for hours before it opened to get particular merchandise, but I wasn’t looking for anything specific, that time just fitted in with our day better.

We headed over to the main Disney merchandise building, which was in a huge arena. First task was to find some bathrooms, and just like any sports complex there was a huge queue for the ladies. 2 cubicles!!! We then attempted to find the way in to the main area. I found what looked like an entrance with someone at a check in area, but nobody was waiting. I asked the security guy and he said that was just for those who had pre-purchased and directed me around to the main entrance. We started walking, then I remembered that I’d ordered a Magic band. Can’t believe I’d actually forgotten about that, I think it was the anxiety of doing new things. Anyway, my passport was checked to make sure I was the person who had ordered and we were let inside.

Wow, I was in heaven. Disney and running clothes ❤️, two of my favourite things.

F4C82E17-AFF8-4782-AAAA-D47E6C83DF5A.jpeg



It didn’t seem too busy in the merchandise area, but either side of the big hall were two massive taped out queueing areas and they were packed. Unfortunately one end was for pre-orders and the other for purchases so I had to wait twice.

A9096D50-46F0-48B5-98EC-1342705E3B78.jpeg


I picked up my MagicBand, even though a lot of people were waiting it seemed like the pickup was very efficient and the queue moved quickly.

F70B6404-07D0-49A5-A639-9AD76DDA0623.jpeg


Then shopping!!!! I had to restrain myself here, I could have spent so much money. I ended up with two hoodies and two tanks.

CA19F100-0623-48F4-B3BD-6E60321C22EF.jpeg
00ABFA91-A4A1-459F-9DC5-B58A4E969D4E.jpeg


Alice got a hoodie

D500E9A3-E722-4D35-9FBB-9FA7E1CC9082.jpeg


I tried to persuade Darren to get this T-shirt but he wouldn’t 😂
9D322570-7B6D-4468-B4B9-4AFC33AFFD31.jpeg
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I always get so jealous seeing the merchandise for WDW RunDisney events ... DLP’s merchandise is always pathetic in comparison ☹
That’s really surprising, you wouldn’t think Disney would miss that opportunity.

The only race merchandise I’m used to is the included T-shirt with sometimes the option to buy a hoodie. So runDisney merchandise was incredible.
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So, it’s been a while since I’ve updated this trip report. The last few weeks have just seemed so surreal and it’s taken some time to adjust to the new normal. I’ve gone from running a half marathon with thousands of other people three weeks ago (15th March) to schools closing on the 21st, and then our country going into what is pretty much a lockdown on 24th March. Coincidentally this was the same day that Disney+ arrived in the UK so at least we have plenty to watch. And we are still allowed to exercise outside once a day, so I am running (a lot).

With everything that’s been happening I’ve really not felt like updating, I’ve not even been keeping up with reading other trip reports. But I started reading again in the last few days and it’s making me happy to see a little bit of Disney again. So I’m pushing myself to carry on with my report.

When I left off we were at WWoS for the race expo.

Wednesday 8th January: Expo day (cont)

So after my little shopping spree we headed over to another large building to the race registration area. The photo below is the main registration area and surprisingly looked pretty quiet.

9428DE50-F47D-492B-9B24-CCC0BB150CD7.jpeg


The Dopey registration was in a separate area from the main registration so we headed over there. The hall was set out with lots of booths according to race number. I’d already printed and signed my race waiver and this had my bib number on it so that I knew where to go. I already knew that I was in corral C (they go up to H) for the half and the full marathon, which is pretty good. In most other races I’m a middle of the pack runner, not fast, not slow, about a 10 minute mile average. But I’ve realised that by Disney race standards I’m considered quite a quick runner, and when I was picking up my Dopey bibs I seemed to be in the area with a lot of proper looking runners and it felt a little bit intimidating.

Anyway, this was also when I realised I’d made a bit of a screw up with my registration. For the half and the full you need to submit a proof of time from another race and runDisney assign a corral based on that. However, for the 5k and 10k you are asked to estimate what pace you will be. I knew I was going to take it easy in these races so I’d given a really slow pace rather than the pace I can actually run. So I’d been placed in C (the last corral) for the 5k and E (the next to last) for the 10k. I was a bit disappointed to be starting so far back but told myself that it didn’t matter where I started I could still just run my own race.

After picking up the bibs I had my photo taken holding them. They do this so there is proof that the same person has run every race in the challenge. Then picked up all six of my race tshirts.
 

Anotherfaceinthecrowd

Well-Known Member
Day 2 cont.

We still had a bit of a wait until our Jungle Cruise FP, so we browsed through the Emporium for a while, (I know it’s not very Disney but I always want to call it the Emporium Galorium). The girls had some Christmas money to spend and wanted to get some ideas. I discouraged them from spending saying they should wait a while, they still didn’t know about the cruise and I didn’t want them to regret spending their money too early. Then Jungle Cruise, with an excellent skipper.

By then it was time for our lunch adr at my favourite character meal, Crystal Palace. We checked in, only waited a little while, and were taken to our table. Food was usual buffet food, but character interaction was a lot of fun.

View attachment 448155View attachment 448156View attachment 448157View attachment 448158View attachment 448159View attachment 448160View attachment 448161View attachment 448162View attachment 448163View attachment 448164
CP is always our first stop for breakfast day after landing, near empty park to get obligatory pictures in front of the castle
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday 8th January: Expo day (cont)

So after picking up my Dopey bibs I had to go to the main registration area to pick up my bib and T-shirt for the Castaway Cay challenge. The girls still didn’t know about the cruise, so we made up an excuse about why I needed to stay inside and Darren took them outside to get some drinks.

There was only a short wait for the pick up but when my turn came I found out that I had made another mix up with race registration. There is a 5k on Castaway Cay at 9 am which is open to all cruise passengers and I’d assumed that I would be running this one. So I’d registered Darren and the girls for it via the cruise website thinking we could run it together. Although Alice would probably race off leaving us. But it turns out that for the Castaway Cay challenge there was a separate 5k much earlier at 7am. I was a bit disappointed that the rest of the family wouldn’t be with me and to be honest I wasn’t very keen at the thought of getting up so early on the cruise. Maybe I would just run my race then run the regular one with the family. What’s one more 5k after all the other miles I would be running 😂.

After that I went outside to join the family for our drinks. It was a beautiful sunny day, the weather was really starting to warm up after the cold start to the week. In fact it was forecast to gradually get warmer throughout the rest of the week, something I was a little bit worried about for the races.

We were pretty impressed with WWoS, the sports facilities look amazing.

5368B924-CAEE-47E7-A370-B10D44F1F2A0.jpeg


FF008386-7133-4FF8-A8CB-6DD288447506.jpeg


6EDC8954-0B6A-4EC3-BFFC-DFB4A0F349AF.jpeg


22958235-CD88-461D-BD5A-43DE0DAA9B04.jpeg
 

Piglet_the_brave

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday 8th January: Expo day (cont)

We wandered over to another enormous building where all the outside vendors where exhibiting. I’m sure each of these buildings had a particular sports purpose but I’m not a follower of team sports so I have no idea what. It was very busy inside.

B0ED9DC3-A0D4-42A5-8766-FCA429BC8228.jpeg


The girls wanted to stop for a photo

6CD0704E-E08F-4C50-9CF0-2E60A27F5980.jpeg


There was so much cool stuff

F740F176-B39C-499D-AB36-FDAB74C25114.jpeg


But I’d already spent a lot on the runDisney merchandise so I ended up just getting a little running pouch, like hot one below but red polka dots. It clips magnetically over a waistband and I love it, have used it loads since coming home.

C0E6546F-E604-402B-992F-6646A20524BB.jpeg


It was 1.30 by now, we’d spent a lot of time at the expo, and the girls couldn’t agree on what to do for the afternoon. I checked MDE for FP+ availability and actually found one for Soarin so Lexi wanted to go to Epcot. Alice wanted to go to Hollywood Studios but unsurprisingly I couldn’t find any availability there, she said she would just like to go and walk round there. I also managed to get an ADR at Trattoria al Forno for early evening. So we decided to get a bus to the Beach Club, I would take Lexi to Epcot and Darren would take Alice to Hollywood Studios.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom