Trip Report *COMPLETE* Remind Me Again Why We Agreed To Do This...Our runDisney 2020 Trip Report

Hello All!

I hope 2020 is starting off well for everyone so far. Kelly and I, along with some friends of ours, just returned from our most recent visit to WDW and I am very excited to share in our different, but amazing, Disney experience.

For those of you who may have been following along with the pre-trip report (feel free to read up on all the planning if you'd like), you will know that this trip was nearly a year in the making and something we had never done before for a couple of different reasons. First, we had never even considered a WDW trip centred around a runDisney event and second, we have never done a WDW trip without the kids since they were born.

So, without further delay, let's get to it!

THE WARM-UP

As I mentioned, the possibility of this type of trip was discussed quite some time ago. I have been running almost obsessively for just over two years now and 2019 was the year in which I finally felt ready to start registering for some races, not just casual runs on my own. With a couple of recent visits to the World in 2017, and a few more in 2018, I really started to take notice of all the dedicated running trails in and around the resorts and learned more and more about the runDisney events and community.

I didn't realize just how big the community really is until I took a deeper dive into a number of blogs, podcasts, websites, and Instagram accounts. I was really intrigued and figured a potential runDisney event would be the perfect way to tie my passion for Disney together with my new found passion for running. Originally, I was thinking maybe 2021 as the point I would commit to my first half marathon but with my progress and after some discussion with Kelly, we decided we might as well see if we could make 2020 work.

With that, in late 2018, we both agreed that we would do everything we could to add the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in 2020 to our travel schedule. I was beyond pumped and while we couldn't really do much of the planning just yet, I was really starting to kick my training into high gear.

We happened to be having dinner with friends of ours, Mike and Kerri, in January 2019 who are also big Disney fans and have kids a few years younger than Ella and Lennon. I've known my best friend Mike since grade 10 when we first started playing hockey together. We served as the best man at each of our weddings and have been very close for nearly 20 years. When the topic of this trip was brought up, we jokingly said that they should join us and to our shocking surprise, they said they would. While Mike has really committed himself to his health over the last five years, never in a million years would I think he'd agree to run a half marathon.

We left dinner thinking how cool it would be if they did in fact travel with us but in the back of our minds, I don't think we actually thought they would come. Days later they committed to coming so long as the timing worked and it was a suggestion from Kerri that the girls run the 5K which Kelly reluctantly agreed to! Once they made that decision, planning was in full swing!

THE ROSTER

Our roster of runners was now set and with all the planning, ADRs and FP+ bookings in the almost 12 months leading up to the trip, this is how things played out...

WHO: Kelly, Matt, Mike and Kerri
WHERE: Boulder Ridge Villas (deluxe studio) - Matt and Kelly
All-Star Music - Mike and Kerri
WHEN: January 7 - 12, 2020
WHY: Because we are idiots to consider running as a vacation

 

[Matt and Kelly]

The bus ride over to AK was smooth as can be. The issue with the broken down bus outside of Fort Wilderness was cleared up and the road were moving as they should be. Kelly was sending me updates that the line wasn't moving overly fast which gave me hope that I still might be able to meet up with them for a trip through the Forbidden Mountain. Mike was not at the park yet but sounded like he was getting ready to make his way over. So far, our timing seemed pretty spot on.

As we were driving over I was starting to kick myself for scheduling AK on the day of the race. Nothing like running 13.1 miles then having to walk the largest of the four Disney World parks for the rest of the day. Good planning, Matt.

At any rate, we arrived after a smooth 15 minute trip and I hustled, while likely looking like I was badly limping the whole time trying to get my legs to work properly, to the entrance fo the park.



AK is such a gorgeous park. I love exploring all of the detail throughout the entire place. I was not excited about trying to make the walk from the entrance to Everest but I found my way towards the Tree of Life, cut through Dinoland and over into Asia.



As I hobbled up to Everest, Kelly mentioned they were just about to enter the final room in the queue before walking out to the loading area. As I already had experience zipping through a line to catch up with the group, I set off through the queue being as quick and polite as I could be. I was very surprised to see how many people were congratulating me on the race. I, of course, had my medal on as I was proud of my achievement and people we quick to pass along nice words and let me by at the same time.

I got to the final room of the queue and met up with Kerri and Kelly. They both gave me a big hug and took a look at the medal. We wanted to talk a lot about the race but we had no time, we were walking into the loading area to be placed on a train. Mike, in the meantime, had made his way to the park and was going to meet us outside of the ride.

Kerri and Kelly were paired together and I was placed with a single rider. Kerri was pretty nervous having never been on this ride. She kinda knew what to expect but wasn't overly sure this was a good idea. I told her if she survived Rockin' Roller Coaster, this would be a breeze!

Easily in my top 10 attractions, Everest didn't disappoint. Such beautiful theming throughout and just a flat out fun ride. Even if the yeti is 100%, he still looked pretty scary as we whizzed by. Kelly and Kerri screaming the entire ride made me laugh and I was very happy to get a surge of adrenaline as the ride progressed. I needed a pick me up and Everest provided it.



We got off the ride and Kerri immediately proclaimed that there was no way Mike would ride when our FastPass window opened up later in the afternoon. She barely was able to make it through and didn't think that she would ride it again. I would try my best to convince Mike but wasn't sure he would give in.

As we left the gift shop we found Mike sitting on a rock just outside the entrance waiting for us. More hugs and congratulations were heaped on him by both Kelly and Kerri and they were quick to make sure they captured the two weary races for their social media feeds.


I was getting a tad hungry and the runners box at the finish line had pretty much worn off. I figured there was no better way to celebrate our accomplishment than with an ice cold beer and a pretzel. I wandered over to the snack stand just outside Everest and to grab my riches. Honestly, a beer never tasted so good!



Not pictured, the plastic cheese that topped it all off! Mike went a different route and ordered a coffee hoping the caffeine would give him the boost that Everest just gave me.

We had a FastPass window open for the Safari so we started to walk back towards Africa. As we slowly, and I mean slowly, wandered through the park, Kelly was quick to spot a "service" dog that made her wonder if we could get away with Lily acting as our service dog on the next trip.


Before we left Asia we found a lonely PhotoPass photog just waiting to snap some pics. Happy with any break from walking, I was happy to stop and grab a few photos before we carried on.





I like this magic shot and much preferred this snow compared to what we were getting at home. The reality that in just over 24 hours, we'd be landing in -40C weather was not lost on any of us as we soaked in as much of the heat and sun as we could!


We slowly made it over to the safari to scan our magicbands and head off for our adventure. It wasn't even noon yet but I couldn't wait to go to bed!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

The four of us were loaded onto the middle of the truck we were taking on our trek through the safari. Mike and I were most pleased with an extended opportunity to sit and relax and we enjoyed our tour. Kilimanjaro will always be one of my favourite attractions and I always take a lot of photos of the animals we encounter as I just think it's so cool to see the types of animals you get to encounter pretty up close and personal.

Lucky for us, they were out in full force during our ride.










Outside of the ride, we were pretty much the only people to stop and notice the Gorilla's that were very much on display as we overlooked their habitat.



The lack of people around also gave us yet another opportunity to provide some work for a lonely PhotoPass photog. We got some great shots of us with the falls in the background.






And what do you know, even more Christmas decorations for Kelly to enjoy!
<a href='https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMylpaUFsc7DT8daDH22Je3XQu-hTWnqASTE5NvkaJPleTS7Php0Zsp69RbVnGPzQ?key=MW1TdkEyWURfaUl4b015VTl2YWY1ejlVMHMxXzlB&source=ctrlq.org'>

With our safari journey over, our next FP+ was about to open for Flights of Passage! We were super pumped to take Kerri and Mike through Pandora to experience this amazing attraction but I was most definitely not excited about the walk to get there!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

And in my haste of trying to capture what the girls were doing at AK as we slogged through our run, I totally forgot that they were able to ride Dinosaur after meeting Chip and Dale.

Kelly said the ride was a lot of fun, as usual, and Kerri got pretty freaked out by the Carnatorus during the photo opportunity!


It's still no Indiana Jones from Disneyland but a solid ride nonetheless!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Loved reading about the run!! It sounds like the course may have been the same as Princess. Also you remembered a lot more about your day than I do from this past weekend Sleep deprivation just puts me in a fog and I don't remember anything. ha! It was fun reading this and feeling like I was there! Also your time was awesome for how far back you started. We were also in F and it was so congested, there was almost no point in trying to run.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Loved reading about the run!! It sounds like the course may have been the same as Princess. Also you remembered a lot more about your day than I do from this past weekend Sleep deprivation just puts me in a fog and I don't remember anything. ha! It was fun reading this and feeling like I was there! Also your time was awesome for how far back you started. We were also in F and it was so congested, there was almost no point in trying to run.

Thanks for such kind words! How did the run go for you this weekend?

Not having had any experience with other course layouts, I really wasn't too sure what to expect but I thought the course was a lot of fun. From what I've seen and read, it sounds like some alterations were made this year because of some of the construction going on but I can definitely say it made for a much more interesting and fun run that I am used to when pounding the pavement here at home. I know there are definite gaps in some of the stuff I can recall about the race and the course, especially when I was off on my own. I was just trying to focus on getting through from mile to mile, crazy how you can be running for such a long time and remember very little. Seeing EPCOT in the distance snapped me back into being more aware of my surroundings.

F was definitely congested! The first little while was tough to find a rhythm and it made for some very tight quarters in places like the TTC or the underpass to MK but it definitely opened up on the stretch outside MK. I was quite pleased to finish in the time I did but it gives me something to work towards eclipsing in my next race.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Thanks for such kind words! How did the run go for you this weekend?

Not having had any experience with other course layouts, I really wasn't too sure what to expect but I thought the course was a lot of fun. From what I've seen and read, it sounds like some alterations were made this year because of some of the construction going on but I can definitely say it made for a much more interesting and fun run that I am used to when pounding the pavement here at home. I know there are definite gaps in some of the stuff I can recall about the race and the course, especially when I was off on my own. I was just trying to focus on getting through from mile to mile, crazy how you can be running for such a long time and remember very little. Seeing EPCOT in the distance snapped me back into being more aware of my surroundings.

F was definitely congested! The first little while was tough to find a rhythm and it made for some very tight quarters in places like the TTC or the underpass to MK but it definitely opened up on the stretch outside MK. I was quite pleased to finish in the time I did but it gives me something to work towards eclipsing in my next race.

It went well! We didn't train for it, so we just walked a lot to get through it. We did intend to train when we signed up, but it just didn't happen. My friend and I have both run halfs before but it's been several years and we struggled to find motivation to get back into it! I agree, it's much more interesting than running at home! Especially on the treadmill.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

It went well! We didn't train for it, so we just walked a lot to get through it. We did intend to train when we signed up, but it just didn't happen. My friend and I have both run halfs before but it's been several years and we struggled to find motivation to get back into it! I agree, it's much more interesting than running at home! Especially on the treadmill.

Congrats on making it through! Are you planning on sound any more races soon? I’m signing up for my next race this week. Looking forward to having something to focus my training on for the next few months.

 

[Swissmiss]

Congrats on making it through! Are you planning on sound any more races soon? I’m signing up for my next race this week. Looking forward to having something to focus my training on for the next few months.

I so agree with this. It’s too easy sometimes when weather isn’t great to say “but I’m not in training” but when I have a race on the horizon I am much more likely to curse having to train in bad weather, but I‘ll do it.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

I so agree with this. It’s too easy sometimes when weather isn’t great to say “but I’m not in training” but when I have a race on the horizon I am much more likely to curse having to train in bad weather, but I‘ll do it.

I’ve known I wanted to run this race for a while and I suppose I’ve still be training for it but once it’s officially booked and the countdown begins, that’s will flip the mindset and should help keep me motivated. I really want to run this upcoming race to post a good finish time so we’ll see how things go.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Congrats on making it through! Are you planning on sound any more races soon? I’m signing up for my next race this week. Looking forward to having something to focus my training on for the next few months.

I'm going to sign up for a 5K soon I think, just to have something to work toward. I honestly don't know if I'll ever do a half again. I swore off long distance like 5 years ago, but then did the Princess half Maybe when LP is a little older and doing long runs on the weekend isn't such a pain, I'll try another half.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

I'm going to sign up for a 5K soon I think, just to have something to work toward. I honestly don't know if I'll ever do a half again. I swore off long distance like 5 years ago, but then did the Princess half Maybe when LP is a little older and doing long runs on the weekend isn't such a pain, I'll try another half.

Good for you! The more I run, the more I enjoy having something to look forward to. Yes, it’s been nice to develop this routine and feel so much healthier over the last couple years, but having something to work towards makes it that much easier to stay in the routine.

If you do get back into distance, fingers crossed that we might be on the same runDisney course some day!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

I'm going to get back into the report at some point today but first, please help me in wishing Kelly a very Happy Birthday!

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

Happy Birthday Kelly!!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

We started to make our walk from the Safari over to Pandora for our Flights of Passage FP. When we were booking our FastPasses before the trip, Kelly and I were most pleased to snag a 1230 FoP FastPass with no hiccups whatsoever. We really wanted Mike and Kerri to experience the ride without waiting in a to hour queue as it's clear one of the best, if not the best, attractions on property. This, of course, was before we experienced Rise and while my takeaway from that ride was much different than Kelly's, Rise definitely gives FoP a strong run for its money.

We decided to enter Pandora by cutting through Africa and walking past the Festival of the Lion King building. We were not moving particularly fast as you could imagine and by now everyone was getting pretty hungry for some lunch. Even with my beer and pretzel, I was eager to add a little more fuel. It was decided we would grab some BBQ after our tour through Pandora.

As we walked, we enjoyed the detail of the Park around us.


We entered Pandora and the floating mountains immediately caught Mike and Kerri's attention. Having watched Avatar on the plane ride down to Orlando, the scenes were quite fresh in their memories and it made a big impression. I know they were both more enamored with Galaxy's Edge but that didn't take away from soaking in the sights and sounds surrounding them.




It was busy, as Pandora typically is, and as we got the FP line for FoP we also noted a 120-minute standby wait. Thankful we didn't have to brave that line, even if the queue is phenomenal, we scanned our bands and started to make our way into the building.


The FP line was as short as I've ever experienced. We flew through towards our line placement.


Within 5 minutes of entering the FP queue, we were already awaiting our room linking room assignment for our flight. The people around us were pretty excited, as were we. Kelly was not a fan of the movie but she loves this ride and how could you not? The only thing that always gets on my nerves is the pre-show spiel from Dr. Stevens and all the "ummms and ahhhs" he rattles off while he's talking.

Sidenote: I did see a post from Joe Rohde about this a couple of weeks after our trip and he explained that they encouraged the use of um and ah to make the experience more lifelike and not as polished. I admit I am the king of the umms/ahhs so I can definitely relate, I've just never seen this deliberate use in any other Disney attraction so it kinda stands out and not in a good way.

Back on topic, we were placed in our link rooms to begin the pre-show process and suffer through Dr. Stevens.


Oddly enough, we didn't end up going through the entire preshow. We skipped about half of it, including the linking process which was kind of weird but moved us through to the loading area very quickly. Not sure why that happened but within minutes we were ready to take a seat on our banshees for the flight.


Mike and Kerri were both kind of nervous, especially when the restraint was lowering on their backs to keep them in place but by this point, it was too late.

The ride, as usual, was amazing! The entire thing is just visually stunning and I made sure to try and see it from another perspective.


It's honestly a neck and neck battle between FoP and Rise as to which attraction takes top spot. Perhaps I'll reserve judgment right now until I am able to experience Rise one or two more times. Both are fantastic.

Mike and Kerri agreed that ride was amazing. They weren't sure their youngest would be a big fan if/when they come back which sounds very much like our Lennon. For whatever reason this ride freaks her out. Hopefully that will have changed by the time we return!

As we exited the ride building, we were all starving. We wandered around APndora for a few more minutes checking out the area and while we did, we placed a mobile order for Flame Tree BBQ, Kelly's favourite quick service in all of WDW. Mike and I decided to walk over to pick up our food while Kelly and Kerri ran to the Starbuck to grab a drink and meet us in the dining area.

As we arrived, our food was ready for pick up so we walked up to the counter, grabbed our trays and found our way to the tables behind the ordering counter. We ended up finding a table right beside the water with a gorgeous view of Everest. Solid backdrop for our lunch.


A few moments after we sat down, the girls returned and we were ready to dig in. Kelly and Mike both ordered the pulled pork sandwichs, Kerri ordered a BBQ salad and I went with the pulled pork and cheese fries. Kelly and I also shared an order of onion rings.


Everyone was very satisfied with their meal with the exception of Kerri. She wasn't thrilled with her salad and really regretted not just grabbing something else. For what it's worth, those fries are amazing value, especially if you're on the dining plan (which we were not on this trip). That is one heck of a snack credit.

With lunch wrapped up, we had one last FP waiting for us, another trip on Everest. Try as we did while we sat and ate, we couldn't convince Mike to make the trek. Even Kerri decided to pull out this time which made Mike's decision even easier. If Kerri had done it before and was not going back, no chance Mike was riding! Too bad, they were missing out. They decided they would tour through Dinoland as Kelly and I went on the ride. They would meet us near the exit after we were done.

On our way back towards Everest, we spotted Kevin from Up roaming around. This was the first time I had seen Kevin walking around, it was pretty cool!


We got to Everest and scanned our bands before entering the line. At this point, I was really starting to slow down. The run was really catching up to me and I was feeling so very tired. So much so that the ride itself was a bit of a blur. It almost felt like I was walking through the park in a fog.

Thankfully we got the picture to prove we did indeed ride!


Even in the picture I look like I'm barely awake!

When we finished, we met up with Kerri and Mike to plan our next stop. Mike was definitely feeling the same way I was so we ended up deciding that we would watch the next Festival of the Lion King show and then we were going to head back to the hotel for some rest. We were on fumes.

I have very little recollection of walking over to the theatre but when we arrived we were seated pretty quickly and we waited for the show.


The show was to start in about 10 minutes and being in that dark theatre was helping put me to sleep. At least twice I nodded off waiting for the show to start. When it did, it was spectacular. What a fantastic live performance and one that we will most definitely ensure the girls attend next time we are back.


Even with the music and dancing and all the other hoopla, I was still fading away and so was Mike. We left the theatre and decided it was time to wrap up our park time. Kelly was going to stay for a little then head over to Disney Springs to do some shopping before we all met there for dinner. Just before we left the Harembe Theatre area, I noticed this near the water...


It's always so fun to pick up on new details you've never noticed before.

Mike, Kerri and I walked to the park exit and back to the bus stop to head back to our resorts. I said goodbye to them as I entered the line for WL and waited for the bus. About 10 minutes later I was heading back to the resort. Fairly certain I dozed off at some point on the trip but I was awake when we arrived back at the hotel. I shuffled back to my room, took off my shoes and fell in bed.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Happy birthday, Kelly!!!

 

[Swissmiss]

Happy birthday Kelly!

 

[John Dulmage]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KELLY!!!

 

[PacNWTigger]

Happy birthday Kelly!!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Safe to say I crashed pretty hard when I returned to the room. Very rarely do I nap mid-day but I just could not keep my eyes open. I was drained. I fell asleep for about 45 minutes and awoke still feeling very tired but a bit more refreshed. My dogs were barking still so I decided to make a trip down to the Boulder Ridge pool area and soak in the hot tub for a little while before getting myself ready to meet Kelly and the rest of the crew at Disney Springs.

The pool area was not heavily populated at all and for most of my time there, I was the lone user of the hot tub. I LOVE a good soak but there was something about this one that made it even better. With the run finished and being at my favourite resort in WDW, it didn't get much better. I was happy to lounge for a while and relax.


As I was melting away some of the tension from the day, Kelly had left Animal Kingdom and made her way over to stroll around Disney Springs. One thing she has always wanted to do but to this point had not indulged, was to get a Sprinkles cupcake. Seems like we've either gorged ourselves at the restaurant we just left or have run out of time during our previous DS trips. This time as she walked around solo, she had no reason not to stop in.




From what she messaged me, she was very happy to finally experience a treat from Sprinkles. And it was a good snack to curb her hunger before dinner later that evening.

Back at the hotel, it was about 500pm and I was back in the room showering and getting ready. Before meeting the rest of the group I needed to make my way to the front desk to confirm and pick up a print out for our Tragical Express back to the airport the next morning. I also needed to stop in at the gift shop to pick up the package we had sent there from DHS a few days before and grab three bottles of my favourite peppermint foot rub to take home. I had just run out a few days prior to leaving for WDW so the timing was perfect. And no, it wasn't all for me. We planned to bring one home for both my mom and Kelly's mom as well.

By the time I had finished getting ready and completed the final few tasks, I made my way to the bus stop to hitch a ride to DS. It was completely dark now which made for an amazing setting as I waited.


Sitting and waiting at that bus stop just reinforced why I love WL so much. It was so calm and peaceful. It really doesn't get much better than that for me. Thankfully the calm setting came in handy as the wait for a DS bus took forever. Everyone was already back at DS waiting for me but I wasn't getting there anytime soon. 20 minutes later I was finally on the bus heading over. I arrived close to 630pm and had to figure out where to meet everyone.

I found out there were at the World of Disney so I made my way over there. I made a tough decision to bypass my favourite DS store, Uniqlo, mainly for the fact that a new location has just opened up here locally so I didn't have to rely on visits to the States for my Uniqlo fix. Instead, I found my way over to WoD and was looking forward to checking out the recently refurbished space.



The new store layout is very nice! Looks like they did a great job with the refurbishment. To my surprise, I was able to spot Kelly very quickly and soon after Mike and Kerri. Kelly was nice enough to have bought the Skyliner Mickey Funko Pop I was eyeing up earlier in the trip and a few other goodies to take back home. Mike and Kerri had done some souvenir shopping as well and it looked like I caught up just as everyone had already paid. I did wander around for a bit to check things out before we were ready to head out.

Kelly and I wanted to make our way over to the Marketplace Co-op to look around and to order a couple of custom-designed phone cases, one for her and one for my mom. Mike and Kerri wanted to wander around as well so we decided to split up and meet outside the Boathouse for our 815 dinner reservation. We went our separate ways to enjoy Disney Springs for an hour or so before enjoying one last good meal together.

The Marketplace Co-op has to be one of my favourite stores to visit at the Springs. Such cool stuff from household goods to designer Disney apparel to some really cool artwork. We looked around for a while before placing our phone case order which we would return to pick up before heading back to the resort for the night. Outside of placing that order, we left empty-handed but there were a few ties that had really caught my eye. Oh well, maybe next time.

Disney Springs was packed! People everywhere which made it pretty tough to get around. The atmosphere around the Springs was pretty great though and it was a very nice evening so the slow walk around was pretty fun. I admired the Satr Wars Lego set up outside the Lego store but too many folks were crowding around taking pics to I had to look on from afar. We looked through a few more stores as we walked and tried to get some ideas for different restaurants to try during our next visit.

We ended up outside the Boathouse around 800pm and waited for Mike and Kerri.


I was super pumped to try out this new spot for us as I have heard nothing but amazing things, especially from listening to the WDW Radio Show podcast. Lou Mongello will not stop raving about this place so he had really hyped it up in my mind. As soon as Mike and Kerri arrived I went to check in. There was quite a long line just to check in and I figured we'd end up waiting a little longer to be seated. Waiting in line did give me a chance to check out the interior of the place which looked amazing.


We were told they were about 15 minutes behind which was no big deal. They would send a text to let me know when our table was ready. We waited outside near the amphicar launch which brought back a lot of good memories from the year we took the girls on a ride in one of the cars. We all really enjoyed that experience and it looked like there were many others doing the same thing that evening.
<a href='https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNlSjV1WVzk1fNZFqFRuRzsnVoWA47GrjZgPPSmfORjv82sIYlVNnq9NmPk8L2k8A?key=MGtxWDBkRzhtV1pHak5PZmdoeVhOVHBYcmRIa1NB&source=ctrlq.org'>

At about 830 I received a text that table was ready so off we went, ready to celebrate what had been an amazing week with what we hoped would be an amazing meal!

 

[MickeyCB]

Happy Happy Birthday Kelly!!!