A Procrastinator's Super Late 2011 Marathon Trip Report!

Hi All! As I await our trip in November, I spend a lot of time reading others trip reports and I really enjoy them. It immensely helps to pass the time before we embark on yet another trip to our favorite vacation destination. I had always planned on writing a trip report on our Disney Marathon, but life got in the way and I didn't get around to it. I keep receiving emails about next year's marathon and it brings about mixed feelings. On the one hand, I am happy to not have to put in the grueling miles of preparation to prepare for it but also pangs of jealousy for those that are doing it because it was such an awesome experience.

So to relive the experience and to psych myself up for the next trip, I decide to write this much delayed trip report. I think it will be mostly pics with a short narrative as so much time has passed. I hope you enjoy!

On to the report!
Cast of Characters: My husband, Dan and myself, Kristi
Stayed at Coronado Springs from Jan 7-14, 2011

My short backround story to our madness begins in October of 2009 when I read Hollybelle's Marathon Trip Report. I thought it sounded like such a great time that I somehow convinced my husband that we should do it in 2011. Keep in mind that I have never been a runner. I could barely run a mile when we started training. We started with the Couch To 5K program. We entered a few 5ks then a 5 miler. In August, I injured my knee and it looked as though the marathon was in jeopardy. Luckily my husband is a PT and rehabbed my knee. We continued training with me back to running in October. In December, we had worked up to a long run of 15 miles. That was the longest run we were able to get in before the marathon, so we were a little worried but figured we would just go, have fun and make the most of the experience.

We took a later flight on Friday from Atlantic City to Orlando. The plane left around 6:30 pm. We landed in Orlando around 9 pm. The line for Magical Express was pretty long.
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I was surprised because we usually land in the early morning and are able to get right on the bus. We waited about 45 min before we were able to board the bus. We were starting to get pretty tired and hungry. We were looking forward to seeing Coronado Springs since this is the first time we would be staying at this resort. We were the second stop and starving by this point.

We checked in at a empty registration. We had done online check in but I guess that didn't matter since we were the only ones.

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By the time we got there, checked in and dropped off our luggage, the counter service was closed. There was a menu stuffed under our door for a pizza place that delivered. Dan talked me into letting him order pizza. Unfortunately it would take 45 min for the pizza to be delivered. That meant dinner at midnight! Yay! And we had to be up and on a bus around 3 am to cheer on my friend who was running the half marathon.

The pizza delivery guy would call Dan on his cell when he arrived at the front of the resort. I wandered around taking some pics while waiting.
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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We made it to DHS a bit after rope drop. We went straight to Toy Story to get fast passes. We had a bit of time till our time, but it wasn't to bad. We headed back to the Great Movie Ride which was a walk on.

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We then headed for RNRC and TOT. I love the TOT theming but I am not crazy about the ride. I am not one for big drops. I sucked it up though and went on for Dan. I did not take any pics at TOT or RNRC. What is wrong with me? I must have been stressed out before riding and after getting off. :p We rode TOT first since there was no wait and RNRC after that (which I do like).

I then needed a calmer more peaceful experience and the Beauty and the Beast show was just starting. Ahhhh, this is more my speed!

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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
By now it was finally time to use our Toy Story fastpasses. We both love this ride although Dan always beats me! We moved through the fastpass line quickly and were soon competing against each other on the Midway. As usual, I was beat badly.

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Dan is obsessed with planes and flies model planes so of course he wanted to pose with the balsa model.

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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Before leaving we went to visit The Muppets. I have loved the muppets since I was little and I remember watching the original TV show on Sunday evenings (I think it was Sundays).

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We had evening ADRs for dinner at Boma. I think that DAK had evening EMH that night. Our plan was to head over to DAK after noon and hit attractions that we hadn't done on Monday and then head over to AKL for dinner. I think our reservations were for 7:30 pm.

The sky provided a much better backdrop than Monday's gray sky!

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We spent some time wandering around the Oasis area. I love to photograph birds and other animals.

White ibis

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Roseate Spoonbill

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Black Swan

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White Ibis

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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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By now it was starting to get late in the afternoon. I still wanted to go on the Pangani trail which was only open till 5 (it was about 4) so we headed in that direction.

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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Finally we arrive in Africa and hit the Pangani Exploration Trail.

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I probably took about 100 pics of this meerkat. I will limit it here to two!

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The gorillas were camera shy today.

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As we left Pangani, we saw that the last safaris were about to leave. We booked it through the line and got on the last truck out. There were a ton of animals out. I think they knew it was bedtime because they were lining up at the outskirts of some of the enclosures in groups. Probably waiting for the keepers to open the gates for dinner!

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More KS coming tomorrow...
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm back! Been busy and haven't had much time to update. Hope somebody is still reading! :lookaroun:lol:

Continuing on with KS!

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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We went to see ITTBAB again. The previous showing that we had been to we were seated very close to the front and it kind of detracted from the show.

I just love the details in the Tree of Life!

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After ITTBAB, we headed to Asia to see how long the wait was for EE.

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The wait was still 30 min with no fastpasses available. I wanted to leave for our reservations soon because I didn't know how long the bus wait would be as it was getting close to the park closing. We took as stroll over to Dinoland and back two front of the park, just enjoying the sights. We saw a beautiful sunset on the bridge between Asia and Dinoland.

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PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
Love the pics from the Safari!! The elephant and lion pics came out great! :)

We are possibly trying Via Napoli for the first time next week. I'm really looking forward to it because I LOVE pizza. I eat it probably 2-3 times a week (I know, that's not really healthy but eh, what can you do right?) lol
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Love the pics from the Safari!! The elephant and lion pics came out great! :)

We are possibly trying Via Napoli for the first time next week. I'm really looking forward to it because I LOVE pizza. I eat it probably 2-3 times a week (I know, that's not really healthy but eh, what can you do right?) lol

Thanks derelicte19! And that pizza was sooooo good! We are pizza fanatics too! :slurp: Their specialty fruit cooler drinks were awesome too. I had the blood orange one....YUM!
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Here a few last parting shots from AK before we head off to Boma!

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I am really disappointed that they took away evening EMH for AK. AK is such a beautiful park at night and it takes on a whole different look and feel in the evening. The lighting around the park is awesome. They have so many beautiful light fixtures and lighting effects. EE looks especially awesome at night. I really hope they bring EMH back to this park.

We hopped a bus to AKL for our dinner at Boma. It was our first time eating there and I was a little nervous but also excited because I had heard good things. I am not always an adventurous eater, but I think I have matured in the past decade or so :lol:. I will always try new things, but I don't always like them. We were both very impressed with Boma and are going again on our next trip in Nov. Sorry, no food pics but everything I tried was quite yummy!
I thought I took a few pics of the lodge, but nothing on my camera card. Was I really that stupid:brick:? Maybe because it was already dark? Duh! Next trip there will definitely be pics!!

After din, we had to find a way back to CSR. Since all other parks were now closed, our only option was to hop a bus to Downtown and then hop another bus back to CSR. Ugh....next time we will take a cab! It took about 1.5 hours to get back to the hotel. Lesson learned!

The next morning was our last full day at Disney. I really hate when trips start coming to a close. When we awoke, we had the dreaded Magical Express envelope hanging on the door. We got an early start because today I was determined to make it to the standby line for TSMM so I could see Mr. Potato Head and the rest of the queue.

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We made it around the time of rope drop and headed right to TSMM. The standby was not too bad. Wait time was about 30 min but I don't think we waited that long.

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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Finally! Mr. Potato Head!

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As usual, Dan kicked my butt. We grabbed some breakfast at Starring Rolls. After breakfast Dan wanted to go on RNRC but I just wasn't feeling up to it. We did a little shopping and then hopped a bus to MK. We hadn't had a whole lot of time over there and I had wanted to spend most of the day there.

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Bye Bye DHS! Hopefully we will see you soon!

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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
My memory is a bit fuzzy on what we did once we got to the MK so this day will be mostly pictures.

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One thing that I do remember doing was going to TSI for the first time. We had never been there before and really wanted to check it out. It was pretty neat. Not something we need to do every trip, but there were some great picture taking opportunities.

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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tom Sawyer Island

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After TSI, we must have wandered around and did some attractions. Next time I have to take better notes!

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Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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As you may be able to tell by my avatar, I love carousel horses so I have to take a few parting shots of some horses!

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We had dinner reservations at Kona Cafe, so we hopped on the monorail and headed to the Poly. We had been there many times for breakfast, but never for dinner. Dan had the Teriyaki New York strip and I had the shrimp and scallops. The food was excellent! I am glad we finally made it here for dinner! For dessert I had the banana chocolate creme brulee. Yum! Wish they had the Bananas Foster Bread Pudding here though! I think Dan had the pineapple upside down cake which he also liked.

After dinner, we headed back to MK for some night time fun!

We wanted to visit Toontown before it closed for the night as it would be our last time to see it ever.

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