Trip Report * Completed* For the First Time In Forever We'll Have Magic, We'll Have Fun

Hello @Longers @Doc Disney @prfctlyximprct @Tuvalu and my fellow Disney fanatics. Welcome to my 2016 Princess 5K Trip Report!


Who: Me (Lisa) and my younger sister, Tina
When: February 17 -22, 2016
Where: The Poly!
Why: 2015 sucked and we were in desperate need of the magic and protection of the Disney Bubble. And oh yeah, my 50th Birthday!!

How this trip came about:
In December of 2014 my sister suggested that we do something, just the two of us, to celebrate my 50th birthday. Knowing that she loves Disney as much as I do, I suggested a Disney trip. I'd been reading lots of runDisney trip reports so we decided that it would be fun to run in the Princess 5K. Tina had run in a few 5Ks, but until we came up with this idea I had never run a 5K in my life.
Right away I went into planning mode and started researching resorts and planning our tentative itinerary.
Then, in April of 2015 our mom, who has dementia, became very ill and needed surgery followed by a lengthy stay in a skilled nursing facility. At the end of April our dad, who was our mom's primary caregiver, had a sudden loss of his short term memory. Tina and I began taking 24 hour shifts of staying with and caring for our dad. As our mom improved, our dad declined and he passed away at the end of June. The remainder of 2015 was a blur of finding an assisted living community for our mom, clearing out & selling our mom & dad's home and dealing with all the other details that go along with that.
Throughout all of this, the thought of our Disney trip lifted our spirits and kept us going. We decided that along with celebrating my birthday, our trip would also be a celebration of our dad and our wonderful family of four.

Here is a photograph of our family on our first trip to Walt Disney World in the early 1980's.

This is one of our favorite family photographs. Tina was not happy that they put her in that sailor suit, but she was a good sport and smiled anyway!

While we were cleaning out our mom & dad's house we found a box containing all of the maps, pamphlets, guide books, and our mom's notes for every family vacation we took.
We were super excited to find these:




Up next: Our trip begins!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Yay!!! So happy to see you started!! I would have been a nervous wreck about getting to the airport after work...so glad you got out early to make it in time! I have never seen The Kiss Goodnight! I'm so jealous.....we can never stay up long enough to see it!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yay!!! So happy to see you started!! I would have been a nervous wreck about getting to the airport after work...so glad you got out early to make it in time! I have never seen The Kiss Goodnight! I'm so jealous.....we can never stay up long enough to see it!
So happy to have you following along!
I was very nervous about getting to the airport right after work. Luckily I have a great team of teachers to work with and they all helped me so I could get out of school early! I was especially worried because I needed to take everything I needed for the trip with me when I left the house in the morning. I didn't have any time to go back to get anything I may have forgotten. Luckily I had it all!
I LOVE the Kiss Goodnight. Maybe you'll finally be able to see it on your upcoming trip.
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Yay!! I can't wait to read all about your trip! Sounds like your first night in MK was fabulous! I am definitely going to try to stay for the kiss goodnight one of our MK days in June. We'll see if the kids can make it!!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yay!! I can't wait to read all about your trip! Sounds like your first night in MK was fabulous! I am definitely going to try to stay for the kiss goodnight one of our MK days in June. We'll see if the kids can make it!!
Glad to have you following along! We had a blast. How can a night or day at MK be anything but magical, right? Fingers crossed that the kiddos can make it to the Kiss Goodnight! It is one of my favorite WDW experiences.
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm loving your TR so far and can't wait to read more! I'd love to be able to afford a stay at the Poly someday. It looks absolutely beautiful!

Thanks so much! Glad to have you following along. The Poly is absolutely beautiful and so relaxing. We felt very fortunate to be able to stay there. Hope you get to stay there in the future.

I'm enjoying your trip report and pictures, too! (Hope your mom continues to feel better.)
Thanks for reading! We appreciate your get well wishes for our mom!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I wore my fitbit during our trip. On Wednesday I took 20,064 steps.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Our plan for the day was Rope Drop at AK.
Take a cab to Wide World of Sports for the Princess Half Marathon Weekend Expo
Take a cab to DHS and stay until park close.
I'm tired just looking at our plans ;). Let's see if we accomplished it!

After our late night on Wednesday, we were a bit groggy when our alarms went off Thursday morning. But with our first full day of Disney ahead of us we were excited and ready to go.

Here is what we woke up to :D :jawdrop: :inlove:!!!












We had requested a Theme Park View, but didn't realize just how awesome the view would be! All the staring and picture taking slowed us down a bit. We had planned to grab breakfast at Captain Cooks before catching the bus to AK, but decided that if we wanted to make rope drop we should head for the bus. We'd brought granola bars from home and had bottled water from the day before, so we each grabbed a granola bar and a bottle of water and headed for the bus stop.

There were a fair number of people already waiting so we figured a bus should be coming along soon. Well, we figured wrong! Not only was there not a single bus for AK, but no bus for any park! Finally a bus came for MK but still no bus for AK. Here is a picture showing how I felt about our bad bus Karma:



An AK bus finally came and everyone at the bus stop wanted to get on. We made it on and arrived at AK just a few minutes after rope drop.







 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Loved your other trip report. Excited to hear the rest of your fun sister trip! Sounds like it was much needed.
I'm so sorry about your dad.

Thanks, we miss our dad a lot. As you said, we really needed this get away. It gave us a chance to relax and recharge. I'm glad you enjoyed my other TR and hope you enjoy this one as well.

That view is do die for!! I remember seeing the very pointy tip of the castle from my room and wilderness lodge and being the happiest girl in the world. The view can make a world of difference!! The little things :)

We loved the view. We opened the curtains and the sliding door and enjoyed the warm breezes and the beautiful view. It was a great way to wake up and a wonderful way to relax at the end of the day.
 

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