Trip Report A Trip Fit for a Princess-2014 Princess Half Marathon Weekend Trip Report

A Trip Fit for a Princess-2014 Princess Half Marathon Weekend Trip Report
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Welcome to another @PartOfYourWorld trip report!!!! This time our adventures will take us on a runcation to a Polynesian Paradise for a weekend that was truly fit for a Princess!

For those of you who haven’t read one of my previous trip reports ...

• Girls Cruise: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...ey-a-sept-2013-cruise-wdw-trip-report.876742/
• Wedding/Honeymoon: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/the-fairytale-dream-come-true-may-2013-dftw-honeymoon-tr.870254/
• Christmas 2012: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/the-many-adventures-of-oswald-holidays-in-the-world-2012.860309/
• Inaugural ToT 10 miler: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...-tower-of-terror-10-miler-trip-report.852913/
• 40th Anniversary:
• Interview with WDW: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...than-this-a-february-2012-trip-report.832800/
• My first report: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...day-oh-my-a-sept-oct-2011-trip-report.814012/)

I’ll start with a little background on the trip…

The Cast:
Myself: Disney crazy fanatic who has been to Disney 19 times (this was my 19th trip) and aspires to one day become a Disney Imagineer!

My husband, Mike: DC comics fanatic, who now has a special place in his heart for Walt Disney World.

We were married in May of 2013 at Sea Breeze Point on the Boardwalk. Here is a picture from our special day!

The When & Where
Friday 2/21-Monday 2/24 at the Polynesian Resort!

Now let’s get running! (see what I did there?)

Friday Feb. 21st
Our morning started bright and early at 3:30 am when we got up to get ready for our trip and head to the airport!!! Mom (@LuvsTheMouse-she was missed on this trip!) and Dad dropped us off at the airport bright and early at 5 am.

It was really nice to just have carry on luggage, so we went straight through to security. We also met a nice gentleman behind us at security and in line for Dunkin Donuts as well who we talked to for awhile about running (he used to run), his work, Disney, and all sorts of stuff. It was really nice to pass the time in a looong breakfast line. So to that guy thanks for helping us make our morning a little brighter!

Before we knew it, we were on our flight and ready to go!

Getting ready to take off!

Our flight left right on time at 640 and we were on our way! It was turning out to be a beautiful morning above the clouds!

After a few uneventful hours (except towards the end it was a bit bumpy) and an entertaining Captain (or does that only go for boats?) who was always speaking over the intercom warning us when there might be a few bumps and trying to get us out of them, while making us laugh. It was great! We headed straight on down to DME!

We couldn’t believe our destination was one of these four glorious resorts!

Boarding our Magical Express!

The only good thing about this ride was seeing this sign and our driver…THE VIDEO IS AWFUL. That’s all I’m saying, except the glass blowing part…I’ll admit that was pretty cool, also the guy that designs runDisney medals. (sorry was not in the front to get a good picture!)

After 2 other stops we were arriving to this beautiful place for the first time!

As soon as we walked off the bus the beautiful smell of the Polynesian wafted through my nose….I seriously love that smell and can even imagine it now….

Walking into the lobby to check in!

And my carpet obsession begins….

This beautiful waterfall may not be here in the future so I made sure to take a lot of pictures on our trip!

Check-in was awesome and we utilized online check in for the first time! It was great because everything was ready! The only thing that I can complain about is that I had a hard time hearing because there was so much noise in the lobby….but is that really a complaint? Absolutely not! We were excited to find out that we got exactly what we requested….Fiji building on the 3rd floor!

Room 3301 to be exact! And we found out it was a corner room right near the stairs! It WAS AWESOME. Couldn’t have asked for anything better!

Our welcome Mickey!

Is this real life right now? Still can’t believe we stayed at the Polynesian!

Sorry for the blurry picture…as you can probably tell I was a little excited and was taking pictures way to fast without a care in the world.

Lights in the closet! How cool is that?

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

We were about 15 minutes early and as soon as we sat down to wait our buzzer went off.

Right away we were presented with bread and salad! The bread was AMAZING

Oh and did I tell you what our view was??? We were at a table right against the window with a direct view of Cinderella’s Castle! I had a hard time getting good pictures though! That means we would be able to watch Wishes!!!!!!

Next up was pot stickers and the BEST WINGS EVER.

We also got a plate of the noodles and veggies, but barely ate any of that because we didn’t want to fill ourselves up!

And my first Island Sunset was presented to me! This stuff was AMAZING. I can’t wait to have another one!

Wishes was about to start!

They began to pipe the music through the restaurant it was magical.

I forgot to take a picture of the AMAZING steak, pork, and chicken I had on my plate, but it was soooo good!!!! But the best part was about to hit us….the famous bread pudding! OMG I could have just had this for dinner!!!! We cleaned this plate right up!

I would definitely do O’hana again! Probably not every time because it is pretty pricey, but I would never rule it out!!!!

With our full bellies, we headed back to our room. I packed while talking about my first half marathon and what an awesome weekend we were having. We still had a good portion of tomorrow left!

The best souvenirs I could ask for!

The Daytona 500 was back on and there was about 39 laps to go when I fell asleep…I woke up about an hour later to see one my favorite drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr, in victory lane!!!! What a great way to end a day! We both won (well I won in my mind because I finished!) the biggest races of the year, on the same day in the same state. Ya I think about things like that! It felt great! And with that, I fell back asleep with happy thoughts despite it being our last night in WDW.

Up next is our leaving day

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

oh no! do you know how they're revamping the volcano pool?!

Unfortunately, I have no idea.

 

[lbrad]

Jess - you got some SWEET BLING !!!
So PROUD of you .. your first Half Marathon!!! And in Disney to boot!
Mine will also be in Disney ... just have to get my schedule & my DD's to coordinate for one of these Marathons!
I did the ToT 10 miler 2 years ago with DH & DS ...we had a blast! I JUST HAVE to do The Princess Half!!!
Congratulations
PS - I just started your wedding/honeymoon TR ... LOVE IT !!!

 

[imagination30]

jess - awesome report ! .. seeing your races pics brought so many memories ... from Jan.. cant wait for a possible oct date next year with the tower of terror!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Jess - you got some SWEET BLING !!!
So PROUD of you .. your first Half Marathon!!! And in Disney to boot!
Mine will also be in Disney ... just have to get my schedule & my DD's to coordinate for one of these Marathons!
I did the ToT 10 miler 2 years ago with DH & DS ...we had a blast! I JUST HAVE to do The Princess Half!!!
Congratulations
PS - I just started your wedding/honeymoon TR ... LOVE IT !!!

Thank you!!!!!!! Yes I wouldn't do it any other way than in Disney for a first for any distance! Yes I hope you do the Princess at least once! It's a fun fun race! That's right I did the ToT that year too! Princess Half was on my to do list after the 10-miler. It was just so much fun! The Princess Medal is my favorite I won!
And thank you for reading my wedding/honeymoon TR I appreciate it! I replied too

jess - awesome report ! .. seeing your races pics brought so many memories ... from Jan.. cant wait for a possible oct date next year with the tower of terror!

Thank you again! And I remember reading your report getting ready for the Princess Half race trip and it was making me excited to run! Can't believe it's all over. You're going to have a blast if you do the Tower of Terror 10 miler! That was my first runDisney race and race ever!!! It was so much fun! Definitely do it!

 

[SarahBella82]

Thanks for sharing those nap pictures. They actually made me LOL. My husband thinks I'm crazy. Haha!

 

[FlaggNL]

October is going to be right around the corner I love reading TRs to get the excitement going for Disney! It's always fun to read other's perspective on the parks!

Time is flying by And like you said, it's great to see other perspectives! Even between WDW and DLP

 

[LindsayLoves]

Congratulations on finishing your first half marathon! I did my first full marathon at Disney and I totally agree that it is a fantastic way to experience your first long race, keeps your mind off the pain (to an extent).

I love the photos your husband snapped of you sleeping. Mine only takes photos of me sleeping when I look really dumb, these are much more kinder in nature and super cute (I would never post the ones that have been taken of me). I love the progression...

 

[DisneyMorgan]

Mainly a lurker here But I have read many of your trip reports and they are all fantastic! (Especially your wedding one! I don't even know you and I had tears in my eyes reading!)

Anyway! Loving this report. I have always wanted to do a runDisney race! They look so fun! Maybe one day

 

[Ariel484]

Yay Jess! You did such a great job! We had a blast spectating and were so excited to see you out on the course!!

YES, the Runner Tracking was terrible! I was so confident it would help us know when to expect you and Courtney because it has worked so well in the past, but this year was just awful! I hope they fix it.

Great pictures from the course, loved reading about it! See you in January, yes??

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

JESS! YAY!! I know I said it on FB but congrats on finishing the Glass Slipper Challange!! You and @Howe have inspired me to run the 1/2 next year! The ToT 10 Miler was so much fun, I just wish I prepared better for it. This time, I know better!

LOVE the pic with all princes! I would've been bee right there waiting with you! You can't pass that up! And I saw Herc was Gaston's friend hehe

Isn't Ohana delish?! It's my favorite dinner on property! Wolfgang Puck Express looks yummy! I've never been there because we always go to Earl of Sandwich but I would love to try the bacon wrapped meatloaf they have there! And Ashley loves chicken tender so if they're as good as you say they were, she would be in heaven!!

Can't wait to read the rest!!!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Thanks for sharing those nap pictures. They actually made me LOL. My husband thinks I'm crazy. Haha!

haha of course! I figured it would give everyone a good chuckle! I had to post it too especially since Mike went through all that work to get them! lol

Thanks for reading!

Congratulations on finishing your first half marathon! I did my first full marathon at Disney and I totally agree that it is a fantastic way to experience your first long race, keeps your mind off the pain (to an extent).

I love the photos your husband snapped of you sleeping. Mine only takes photos of me sleeping when I look really dumb, these are much more kinder in nature and super cute (I would never post the ones that have been taken of me). I love the progression...

Thank you!!!! I want to do the marathon and will and it will probably be my only one lol. I'd have to agree with you about the pain, until you hit a part where there isn't much entertainment..then you notice it! lol

haha thanks! I figured he put all that work into it I had to post them!

Huge congrats on all that running!!! And character meeting. And aww at the shots Mike took. You look so passed out.

Thank you!!! and yes I was! I was super tired! So tired that I never even moved. I fell asleep and woke up in that same position.

Mainly a lurker here But I have read many of your trip reports and they are all fantastic! (Especially your wedding one! I don't even know you and I had tears in my eyes reading!)

Anyway! Loving this report. I have always wanted to do a runDisney race! They look so fun! Maybe one day

Thank you so much for reading all my reports!!! I really appreciate it!!!

You definitely should do a runDisney race sometime soon!!!!

Yay Jess! You did such a great job! We had a blast spectating and were so excited to see you out on the course!!

YES, the Runner Tracking was terrible! I was so confident it would help us know when to expect you and Courtney because it has worked so well in the past, but this year was just awful! I hope they fix it.

Great pictures from the course, loved reading about it! See you in January, yes??

Thanks Shannon!!!

I hope they fix it too, it was horrendous. I wonder why they didn't keep who they had previously?

About January...since supposedly DCL is going to Norway next summer....Norway is one of Mike's favorite countries and has always wanted to visit there, so when I told him about DCL going possibly he was all for it so if we book that this week (announcement is tomorrow!) then no WDW after our May trip for a whole year plus since we'll be trying to save as much as we can for that trip since it will be pricey. So looks like I will have my sights set on Marathon 2016 instead.

You are going to do awesome with Dopey!!!

JESS! YAY!! I know I said it on FB but congrats on finishing the Glass Slipper Challange!! You and @Howe have inspired me to run the 1/2 next year! The ToT 10 Miler was so much fun, I just wish I prepared better for it. This time, I know better!

LOVE the pic with all princes! I would've been bee right there waiting with you! You can't pass that up! And I saw Herc was Gaston's friend hehe

Isn't Ohana delish?! It's my favorite dinner on property! Wolfgang Puck Express looks yummy! I've never been there because we always go to Earl of Sandwich but I would love to try the bacon wrapped meatloaf they have there! And Ashley loves chicken tender so if they're as good as you say they were, she would be in heaven!!

Can't wait to read the rest!!!

Darolyn!!! Thanks again!!!!!! You should totally do it next year! You'll love it!!! And definitely train! I used Jeff Galloway's training schedule the only thing that sucked is it was ALL treadmill because of the awful Winter we had!

haha they are definitely not one to miss I believe that was our favorite Flynn Rider tooo!

Ohana was AMAZING. Definitely one of my favorites too it is just so much foood!!! Definitely try Wolfgang Puck's Mike is more of a chicken tender person so that's why we went there and heck I was glad we did!!!

More coming now!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Monday Feb. 24th

With all our bags packed, we got up at 7 to get ready for our last day in Walt Disney World

Saying goodbye to our beautiful room….

Our wonderful balcony…

One last room mirror shot..

The beautiful floor in the hallway…

Looking down the hallway…

Towards the exit of the building…

We made our way towards the front of the lobby to have our bags stored by bell services out front

It was now time for our breakfast at O’hana! We were about 10 minutes early and waited until after our breakfast time….

Apparently our buzzer wasn’t working because someone came out looking for us…oh well. We were seated at a lovely window seat looking towards the Fiji building where our room was!

MMMMM breakfast bread

Our breakfast came right away!

Can you believe I had four of these yummy Mickey Waffles?? NOM NOM NOM

We finished our breakfast and saw none of the characters yet, we didn’t have much to do so we hung around and waited since they were headed our way. Mike didn’t want his picture with them so it was just me. Lilo was first to stop by!

Waiting for Stitch to stop by…

Yay!

 

[coachwnh]

Great job!!! Enjoyed the pictures. Not sure I could ever stop to take pictures as I ran. I may not get the legs going again.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Gazing out the window wishing I could go back to our room after…

Pluto finally made his way over!

Admiring my new shiny medal !

Mickey was taking forever to get over here!

Yay finally!!!

I wanted to show off my fancy new medal to the Mouse!

Since the monorail wasn’t stopping service until 1130 we hopped on the monorail for a ride! I mean we had to go on some ride right?

Entering the Magic Kingdom Station!

Monorail Red

Hi Magic Kingdom!

Space Mountain! I will see you in May!

We had a car all to ourselves!

 

[coachwnh]

Monday Feb. 24th

With all our bags packed, we got up at 7 to get ready for our last day in Walt Disney World

Saying goodbye to our beautiful room….

Our wonderful balcony…

One last room mirror shot..

The beautiful floor in the hallway…

Looking down the hallway…

Towards the exit of the building…

We made our way towards the front of the lobby to have our bags stored by bell services out front

It was now time for our breakfast at O’hana! We were about 10 minutes early and waited until after our breakfast time….

Apparently our buzzer wasn’t working because someone came out looking for us…oh well. We were seated at a lovely window seat looking towards the Fiji building where our room was!

MMMMM breakfast bread

Our breakfast came right away!

Can you believe I had four of these yummy Mickey Waffles?? NOM NOM NOM

We finished our breakfast and saw none of the characters yet, we didn’t have much to do so we hung around and waited since they were headed our way. Mike didn’t want his picture with them so it was just me. Lilo was first to stop by!

Waiting for Stitch to stop by…

Yay!

The the hidden Mickey on the poly lobby tile!

 

[coachwnh]

Gazing out the window wishing I could go back to our room after…

Pluto finally made his way over!

Admiring my new shiny medal !

Mickey was taking forever to get over here!

Yay finally!!!

I wanted to show off my fancy new medal to the Mouse!

Since the monorail wasn’t stopping service until 1130 we hopped on the monorail for a ride! I mean we had to go on some ride right?

Entering the Magic Kingdom Station!

Monorail Red

Hi Magic Kingdom!

Space Mountain! I will see you in May!

We had a car all to ourselves!

When will you be there in May?

EDIT: Dumb me. Nevermind. I see

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Contemporary!

Construction over at the Poly

When we got to the TTC we hopped on the monorail to EPCOT to get a glimpse (or more like a tease)

Hello World Showcase!

After our roundtrip tour we walked back to the Polynesian…the line for the express and ferry to MK was insane!

Beautiful Polynesian Resort flowers

I love the little Poly tiki with the Construction hat

Even more beautiful flower

Peeking through the hole in the construction fence!

This is my roof incase it rained

Look at my handsome husband

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Mickey in the rug!

Just playing around in the arcade!

We still had time before our DME was to pick us up so we wandered over towards the Grand Floridian passing a few survey markers on the way!

The gates to the Wedding Pavillion were open and I wanted to check it out, but we were hestitant because we weren’t sure if we could. We hung around a bit and saw a few other people wander in so we followed. As we were peaking inside a custodian came over and opened the door and let us in! It was the first time I had ever been in there and it was just jaw dropping gorgeous in there!!!!

Love these!

Personally, I’m happy we chose Sea Breeze Point since I think that fits our style a bit more, but this would have been our second choice! It was so nice to be able to see inside since there was nothing going on! We wandered around the “island” and took more pictures.

A nice gentleman took our picture for us! Of course he should have took us up and down…..oh well.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

We continued on our way into the main lobby and wandered into all the shops.

Stopping to drink in the details.

We found a quiet balcony on the second floor (possibly a smoking area) and went to sit for a while just to relax. Of course I was on my phone instagramming or something.

Our view while we sat

Do you see what I see?

We leisurely walked back to the Poly and we couldn’t leave here without having one of these! (I like mine as a float better but it was still AMAZING)