Trip Report COMPLETED- Chickie RUNS Wonderland...and goes MAD!!!

HouCuseChickie · Jan 31, 2020

riverside said:
That security line---I have never seen anything like that!! And that woman--

Congratulations on all those runs!! That is really something to be proud of!!

Thanks for sharing your trip!!

Yeah, I have never seen MCO this bad, and it's usually one of the longer security lines out of the airports we frequent. I still can't wrap my head around the crazy lady!

Thanks! And thanks for following along

RememberWhen · Feb 1, 2020

Your trip report has me seriously considering the 5k in November. My DS8 really wants to (we’ll see...) and we booked a room just in case! Have you ever done the virtual races?

HouCuseChickie · Feb 2, 2020

RememberWhen said:
Your trip report has me seriously considering the 5k in November. My DS8 really wants to (we’ll see...) and we booked a room just in case! Have you ever done the virtual races?

You should seriously consider it! I would love to do this with my kids. Sadly, mine may be grown by the time I get to run with them at Disney. I have one starting high school next year and as much as she wants to run, she’s asked me not to miss school. I think I may do this summer’s. The virtual medals being park themed and me considering a full is incentive.

Songbird76 · Apr 17, 2020

HouCuseChickie said:
I waved good-bye to the marathoners and headed to Pandora.

I've only been in Pandora once, so I got a little turned around. I wound up heading the wrong way, but eventually found the line for FOP. I passed the massive standby line along the way, but thankfully, my FP worked and it was a fairly swift moving FP line today. If you read my Dec 2017 TR, we waited over 35 minutes once we got to the point below, so I really didn't know how this was going to go.

I felt bad because a man a few down from me didn't fit the ride mechanism and had to leave. It breaks my heart because I remember worrying if I'd fit on my first time riding it. His significant other stayed behind and rode, so I am guessing they had a plan just in case this happened. Hopefully, he was able to have some fun on other things. I want to like this ride...I really do, but I can't see 3D very well. I found that if I closed one eye, I could see it a bit better and my left eye was better than my right. That also gave me headaches, so I had to stop.

After that, I went on the safari...since my FP window had opened up.

I know I hit FOP at the very tail end of my window and I'm guessing between the time spent in there and the FP line for the safari, I wasn't all that far out of my window for Everest. I don't recall really waiting for EE, but I do remember it for safari, so that must be where the time was eaten up. Hey, at least I was towards the back of EE.

Well, the man who had to leave FOP would have been given some multipass FPs for everyone in his group so they could enjoy other attractions. My brother did not fit and when we got off the ride, we had to wait for a CM to scan all our bands to give us the extra FPs. So that's good.

I have your same tendency to overanalyze things. I also have a tendency to obsess about awkward moments, like your one with " Heidi" that it will actually keep me up at night for days worrying that someone would call security on me thinking I was irratic or something. Or when I meet new people, I obsess over whether they thought I was nice or if I came across as odd, or arrogant or a thousand other things. I will go over conversations in my head, analyzing all the ways a particular statement could have been taken, etc. So I totally understand you wondering about your use of languange, but from the outside, I wouldn't think a thing except "Oh how nice that someone's cheering us all on!"

My brother ran cross country in high school because he wanted to lose weight. He was always the last runner on the course, and quite a ways behind everyone else, but he finished every race. There was a lady, a mom of a kid from a different school, who would always wait and cheer for him as he went past when all the other parents had moved on because their kids had passed. That was always such a huge motivation for him to have a stranger cheer him on when he wasn't even on the same team as her kid. I'm sure your cheering was appreciated, no matter whether you called them runners or walkers.

Songbird76 · Apr 17, 2020

HouCuseChickie said:
I was glad to at least get in one roller coaster this trip. I think this is probably the only one that also doesn't hold any sentimental value...since my first time riding it was by myself. I probably would have openly wept if I tried riding Big Thunder without the kids.

I popped into some shops on my way out, but I was kind of just done. I did see Kevin along the way.

And I had to get some closer tree pics (of the Christmas variety)...

On my way out, I'd also see my first people coming in with marathon, Dopey and Goofy medals. I felt kind of like old news wearing my shirt from the half. Ha!

So, here's my next brush with madness. When I walked to the buses, I read the number for AKL and associated it with being down on the end...which was correct. But my bus stop area was on the left side. My brain saw the bus on the right side that had Animal Kingdom displayed on the front, and somehow I decided that meant AKL vs. AK. So, I hopped on the bus (that I literally ran to catch) and assumed all was good... until we pulled up to Caribbean Beach. I thought maybe we were sharing, but after making a remark about it, the older gentleman across from me confirmed my fears. Of course he had to weigh in on where I was staying after asking where I was trying to get and called me "young lady." Reminded me of when I was in trouble with my grandfather.

So, I took the bus back to AK. In the process, I met a couple with marathon medals who were heading to AK as well. They weren't aware of the cut course. They had a friend who was one of the sweepers, so they hadn't heard anything. Sure enough, after scrolling through their alerts, they saw the info on it as well. Oh well, we parted ways and I found the right bus to AKL.

I grabbed a snack from the store and sat there for a while to charge my phone.

Oh yea...I got this for rounding up to the next dollar when I bought a drink in AK.

I was starting to get serious FOMO again. All kinds of people who ran the marathon were now coming up and taking medal pics at this backdrop they set up in the lobby.

In the middle of this, a woman in costume with her marathon medal was also brought in via wheelchair (not a wheelchair racer), so there was that aspect of it as well. I think I saw her story in one of my FB groups. She legitimately crossed and would not let them sweep her for medical, so a lot of credit to her for pushing. I just hope she didn't hurt herself.

The lobby is so pretty and I needed to get more of a charge on my phone, but it was so pretty outside (to me)...

One last time to soak in the savannas.

I also spoke to this wonderful CM from Namibia while I was out there. I asked her about the animals off of my balcony. I showed her pictures and we discussed behavior, but she wanted to rule out a possibility. I wish for the life of me I could remember what she said they were, but she got an iPad out of a locker and we went through some animal ID pics. She said those striped deer looking animals were so shy that they can only be held in that little area right off of my balcony at AKL. She said that's why they probably approached the area beneath my balcony when I'd been outside for a while and was quiet. I also asked her about the Somali donkeys we saw the last time we stayed at AKL, but she said they no longer had them. Sad...they were a lot of fun to watch.

When I came back in, I also noticed some drumming. I guess this makes up for no drumming at Sanaa.

I was getting pretty close to Tragical Express time, so I grabbed my bags and headed outside to wait. Oh yea...I wound up turning my bell services tag into my temporary luggage tag since the Cheshire Cat failed. I chatted for a bit with a family from Dallas, but then it was time to board the bus.

It wasn't long before I was waving good-bye to Disney.

I wasn't all that sad, but I did see a rainbow along the way to add some cheer.

When we got to the airport, I started chatting with a Dopey runner who was taking a 6 hour flight home after running. We talked about the recovery and how she was worried about cramping up. I suggested if she could get to it, either a foam roller or massage gun and move it into her carry on. Either way, she was super sweet and I hope the flight home wasn't bad.

This was my first time flying Spirit, so I was a little nervous. It's also my first time using ME for an airline where I couldn't check my bags at my resort, so I got a little lost trying to find them. I knew my checked back couldn't exceed 40lbs, which is 10lbs lighter than the norm. I weighed in at 40 on the dot. The rep at the counter didn't share my happiness. My carry on also fit into the sizing bin, so that was good too. I moved on to security...it looked ugly, but I didn't realize how ugly until airport staff treated me like the scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie almost unknowingly cuts the line for Santa. Yeah, the aiprort guy was far from pleasant. So, the line started back here...

They had times listed for the line...I want to say it was a 45-60 minute estimate to get through. UGH! I would at least wind up with a woman and her daughter (from UT, I think) who ran the half. They were super nice and we had a discussion about heat, because Utah does get hot. I was telling her how we were in Moab over the summer and an NPS employee joked about how being from Houston, we were probably pretty comfortable with their temps. She remarked about how they never see this kind of humidity with their heat and how the half was pretty brutal for them. Oh well...it was nice to chat.

The Spirit part of the terminal wasn't awful, but it definitely looked old and there was nothing modern like areas to charge your phone. Oh well, it was how I was getting home. The seats on the plane weren't awful, but I really felt like we were packed in like sardines and a pain that had been growing in my left quad since my final run was starting to get worse. Oh well, nothing I can do. We eventually landed in Houston...a little early actually...so I decided to go to the restroom right after getting off of the plane.

DRAMA ALERT!

Some of you already know this from my post in the Chit Chat, but this is where things go VERY wrong...and as far as I can tell, I did nothing wrong aside from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The bathroom right across from my gate had a line that was about 4-5 women long, so I did what any normal person does and I got behind the last person in line. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has waited in a bathroom line, so I hate to spell this out, but as stalls opened up...people in front of me went in and the line moved forward. And when I was at the front, I went to the next available stall to open up. I loaded in my bags and then backed into the stall to shut the door behind me. That's when this girl gets in my face and starts going off on me about "didn't you see me standing there?!?!?" So, I explain that she wasn't in the line. She tells me she doesn't need to wait in a line and she was standing there. I repeated that she wasn't in the line and was just up at the mirror. I shut the door...she calls me a privileged white *B* and in my exhaustion and shock that this was all happening, I say back to her to learn the effing rules. I mean, it's not rocket science that there's a line for the toilets, so you get into that line to wait if you need to use one. And even after I said that, I was already thinking...should I have said anything or something different? But I was in the moment.

When I finished up, I looked for her, but didn't see her...so I went to wash my hands. After picking up my bags and I starting to head towards the door, this piece of trash came out of nowhere and slammed into my chest/shoulder with her shoulder. That's when I said "that's it, I'm going to security." I probably should have called the police or something like that, but I was tired and it was the first thing that came to mind. I didn't see anyone after leaving the bathroom so I marched up to the employees at the gate I just came from and told them I needed security and had been assaulted in the bathroom. That's when this insane girl came up, pushed me out of the way and tried telling them that I cursed her out and then "Shoulder blocked her" for no reason. Of course, it's the bathroom, so there are no cameras and nobody in there intervened or offered to follow me to help back up my story. I stopped trying to plead my side pretty quickly because I could tell that this girl was coming off like the dirt-bag that she was. The agent to my left started calling in codes and the other right in front of me gave me a very serious look and told me her supervisor was coming to get me to talk to me.

While I don't really think this was her manager or supervisor, he came and got me and started walking me to baggage. He had a lot of questions, which I answered, and he was periodically radioing things back to someone. They were trying to find out if she was staying in Houston or if this was her connection. I still don't know what was going on and who they were talking to or where they were holding crazy girl, but she wasn't with me. They were pretty confident she was just connecting in Houston, but they stayed with me until I was driving away in the ground transportation bus, just in case there was someone on the ground that could be following me. The bus driver also was super helpful...I guess since I was openly upset. I was too flustered to even find my parking card, but I had a pretty good idea of where I parked. He got a nice tip that evening.

I have played this out in my head so many times...what I could have or should have said and done, but you just never know how you're going to respond in the moment. I will say this...it doesn't shock me that she pulled some kind of crazy with someone. She wasn't sitting near me at MCO, but I think everyone could hear her. She was talking on the phone...LOUDLY...the entire time. She was cursing out everyone she was speaking to and talking about blocking them on various parts of social media. It was hard not to listen in, but all I could really tell is that she was losing it over people not bowing down to her and telling her she was right. Gee...sounds like her same entitled attitude with the bathroom. I'd put her in her early to mid 20s and clearly hasn't learned that the world doesn't revolve around her. At the end of the day, I made it home safely, kissed my babies goodnight (they were already in bed) and relaxed.

Were the striped deer under your window Nyala deer?

HouCuseChickie · Apr 17, 2020

Songbird76 said:
Well, the man who had to leave FOP would have been given some multipass FPs for everyone in his group so they could enjoy other attractions. My brother did not fit and when we got off the ride, we had to wait for a CM to scan all our bands to give us the extra FPs. So that's good.

I have your same tendency to overanalyze things. I also have a tendency to obsess about awkward moments, like your one with " Heidi" that it will actually keep me up at night for days worrying that someone would call security on me thinking I was irratic or something. Or when I meet new people, I obsess over whether they thought I was nice or if I came across as odd, or arrogant or a thousand other things. I will go over conversations in my head, analyzing all the ways a particular statement could have been taken, etc. So I totally understand you wondering about your use of languange, but from the outside, I wouldn't think a thing except "Oh how nice that someone's cheering us all on!"

My brother ran cross country in high school because he wanted to lose weight. He was always the last runner on the course, and quite a ways behind everyone else, but he finished every race. There was a lady, a mom of a kid from a different school, who would always wait and cheer for him as he went past when all the other parents had moved on because their kids had passed. That was always such a huge motivation for him to have a stranger cheer him on when he wasn't even on the same team as her kid. I'm sure your cheering was appreciated, no matter whether you called them runners or walkers.

Songbird76 said:
Were the striped deer under your window Nyala deer?

Yes, I have heard they usually give people in this situation a decent FP set up to make up for the missed attraction.

I have a funny feeling that a number of people revisit this stuff in their minds after the fact like this. Oh well, it's done and like you said, I'm sure they just thought it was nice to have someone there cheering for them.

I understand where your brother is coming from with this. I too find it very motivating/encouraging to have strangers cheering. I know there are faster runners and coaches out there who don't understand the whole slower runner thing, but most people I've encountered are of the "your race-your pace" "show me a fake runner" "slow is a 4-letter word" philosophy.

They could have been Nyala. She said it was the only spot at AKL that had these, but I can't remember what she said they were. The pictures I'm seeing in my online searches look a lot like them.

AuntAng · Apr 19, 2020

Loved your report! I have been considering doing something similar in 2021 but am so on the fence. I’ve done one half (Star Wars 2019) with a friend and we’re supposed to do Wine and Dine this year, but between COVID and a work commitment of mine, that’s looking pretty unlikely. Or, if it happens, it will be the race, after party, and that will pretty much be it. Which stinks.

So, I’m thinking about Marathon Weekend, but I’ll likely be alone and suspect the FOMO will be strong if I don’t do the full. Plus I’m not sure I’ve got a full in me right now (full by 50 for sure, but I’ve got an almost 3 year old and between him and the current situation, yikes). And being at WDW without my boys is always a downer, but being all alone? There would definitely be a few things I’d have to skip to avoid tears in public. At any rate, I really appreciate your experience (down to the awkwardness at the meetup—which I fully intend(ed) to do if I’m on my own)!

HouCuseChickie · Apr 20, 2020

AuntAng said:
Loved your report! I have been considering doing something similar in 2021 but am so on the fence. I’ve done one half (Star Wars 2019) with a friend and we’re supposed to do Wine and Dine this year, but between COVID and a work commitment of mine, that’s looking pretty unlikely. Or, if it happens, it will be the race, after party, and that will pretty much be it. Which stinks.

So, I’m thinking about Marathon Weekend, but I’ll likely be alone and suspect the FOMO will be strong if I don’t do the full. Plus I’m not sure I’ve got a full in me right now (full by 50 for sure, but I’ve got an almost 3 year old and between him and the current situation, yikes). And being at WDW without my boys is always a downer, but being all alone? There would definitely be a few things I’d have to skip to avoid tears in public. At any rate, I really appreciate your experience (down to the awkwardness at the meetup—which I fully intend(ed) to do if I’m on my own)!

Thank you!!!

I saw some W&D spots open the other week and I was really tempted. I love that this year's theme is villains. My husband even started talking about how much he'd like to go back at this time of year, but we don't really have a good plan with the kids at this point...so, it's not going to happen...at least, not this year. With Star Wars being canceled and there being no clear picture for when the parks will reopen and what this will look like, I know people are worried about the upcoming races. Fingers crossed for you guys that all goes as planned, because this year's looks like it should be a fun one!

It was a really strange feeling not doing the full. I hadn't trained for it and I wasn't mentally ready for it, but the FOMO was real. It's also very different when the kids aren't part of the trip. There are times when it's nice to be kid free, but I don't dare set foot in Crystal Palace without my younger one. I'm still happy I attended the meetup and would do it again whenever I get to attend another rD event. It may also be a bit less awkward if I'm able attend anything semi-locally with some of these people. Thanks for reading along!!!

Trip Report COMPLETED- Chickie RUNS Wonderland...and goes MAD!!!

HouCuseChickie

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RememberWhen

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HouCuseChickie

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Songbird76

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Songbird76

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HouCuseChickie

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AuntAng

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HouCuseChickie

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