Trip Report *Completed* Roommate Reunion & Hobbling Through the Princess 1/2 Marathon

Hey friends! I've been back for almost a week, and I'm ready to re-live my trip and hopefully remember enough for this to be good. This first post will be mostly text, sorry!

Who: College roommates (and our honorary roommate)
Where: Pop Century with an extra night at Boardwalk with my cousin
When: Feb 22-25
Why: Spending time with friends and Princess weekend

A little background:

This is me, E, M (also my cousin), L and S. And yep, that's a stuffed penguin. His name is Harold, and he was our dorm room mascot I don't know, y'all. We're weird people. Anyway, all of us but L were roommates and she just kind of became an honorary roommate over time. We all moved off campus in the middle of our sophomore year when a tornado hit our campus and destroyed the dorms. Once they were rebuilt, S moved back and the rest of us stayed in the house, which happens to be the house I still live in.

I'm still in the same town, L is about 2 hours one direction in Nashville, then E and S are about an hour the other direction in Memphis. The four of us see each other a few times a year. Then there's M. She's the free spirit, the nomad (She grew up moving around, he dad is air force). She moved up to Washington in 2017 and before she left was the last time the five of us were together. She's my cousin, so I still see her at holidays, but it's harder to get us all in one place!

I wanted to do Princess in 2019, but then I got pregnant, so it got pushed to 2020. As soon as registration was opening, I messaged everyone and said I was signing up! L and E committed and we all registered. M and S never really responded, so we moved forward with our plans with just the three of us.

At some point later down the road, both M & S decided they wanted to come. I was FLOORED that S was coming, but sure enough, she was in. Once she bought her Disney tickets around Christmas, I figured there was little chance she'd back out. M's plan was to stay offsite with her husband because they were traveling the country and camping with their dogs. We had AKL booked for the 4 on-siters and I booked our fast passes when the time came, just hoping I could add Miranda to most of them.

Fast forward a few weeks and M said her husband's job at Google was changing and he might need to work from the office again instead of remotely. Soooo she still wanted to come, but she wanted to stay in the room with us now. AKL only sleeps 4 and there was like NOTHING available anymore. I called Disney because I was getting frustrated searching online. The cast member who helped me was so helpful and somehow didn't get confused. She booked us two rooms at Pop and all but guaranteed we'd be able to get adjoining rooms. Hooray!

So I got M added to as many fast passes as I could. I hadn't been able to get FoP or Slinky, but as I checked over the weeks before the trip, I was able to get us both! Not ideal times, but better than nothing.

Ok I think I'm done with the background and ready to dive in!! Sorry so much text...it's probably all unnecessary

 

[LisaBelle]

Loved all the race pics. Would love love love to run through MK! Don’t think I could handle more than a 5K though!

 

[DisneyMorgan]

Well it really is a small world!! We work together, and I have missed her SO MUCH on maternity leave! She's just a bright spot in the office

She is a sweetheart! I still see her as a little girl, I just can't get over her being married with 2 littles

 

[sheriffwoody]

When we got back to the room, L was still there. She'd come over to our room at some point after we left that morning to sleep some more. I think someone in the other room was snoring and L didn't have headphones. The other two girls had gone to a park (Epcot I think) but L slept until we got back! I think it was around 10.

This is where having two rooms came in handy. We took had two bathrooms to get ready in! E and I briefly discussed napping, but we were both too awake to nap at this point. The plan was to go to Epcot via the Skyliner and get some food and my passholder magnet, then go to MK where we had fast passes.



The Skyliner ride was quick to CBR, but we had a line to get on the Epcot one. We actually had to wait each time, probably around 5 minutes.

We ended up being in a cabin with an instagrammer I follow (francisdominiic). It took me a while, but I eventually said hi and told him I follow him. He was very nice and had lots of questions about the race. I debated offering condolences on the death of his father a few weeks before, but I really didn't want to upset him. I feel like it's usually kind of nice to talk about someone you lost and say their name, but everyone grieves differently, so I didn't say anything.

Aaaanyway, we headed into Epcot! We went right toward France, and I stopped at the Morocco booth first, Mosaic Canteen.



Mediterranean Flatbread with Zaatar, Olive Oil Artichoke, Olives, Mozzarella and Feta Cheese

This was very good! A little hard to eat cause it was pretty big, but I really liked it. It was your basic flatbread, so maybe not worth $9, but I was happy with it.

While E and I were eating (she was stealing some of my flatbread ) L found an activity





I could kick myself for not getting a picture of the completed piece! The CM asked for L's favorite character, which is pooh. She loves Piglet too, so the colors they went with were red, yellow, pink and...something else. I can't remember. As they progressed, the CM noted that the red and yellow made orange around the edge, which could be Tigger! So she added a teeny bit of black for his stripes. It turned out so cute! It's just spin art, but the colors really do make you think of those characters!



We stopped in Japan for a picture. The CM wasn't personable. He didn't say anything, just pointed and gestured. Does anyone know if Disney employees adults with special needs? I've had a few encounters like this and it makes me wonder if they have a program like that. I think that's pretty cool if they do!



L and E wanted to eat in America cause they wanted something simple. Little did they know, Regal Eagle had just opened, so they were actually going to be getting good food!!




I still wanted some festival items, so I skipped this lunch. They both got brisket sandwiches and one of them got mac and cheese, which was AMAZING. I got a beer outside and called my husband back home. Had to update him on the race and let him know my legs were still attached.

Speaking of that, I was sore, but I really didn't feel as bad as I should have considering I didn't train. I'm very lucky! It's a miracle neither of us were injured after that!

While L and E finished their delicious bbq lunch, I headed to China for something I was very excited for at The Painted Panda

• Spicy Beef Shumai – $10.50
• Fortune Cookie: ByeJoe Spirit, Amaretto, Coconut and Pineapple – $11.00

Didn't realize that shumai was so expensive, but DAAAAANG it was good! Definitely my favorite item I tried. Ugh, I want some right now.

That was my second drink in a pretty short amount of time. I was mellow. It was good for me to be mellow when all 5 of us were back together

L and E met back up with me around China. They spotted me while I was stuffing my face.



Goodbye beautiful!



I headed off to get my passholder magnet at the popup Mouse Gear. I don't have a clue what L and E did...maybe bathroom?




Walls...a common sight in Epcot right now. I know you've heard it, but this park is a mess. I know it'll be worth it, but it sucks right now.

I also got a spirit jersey I wanted inside Mouse Gear.

I met back up with the girls at the front of the park and we headed toward the monorail.



Up next: Magic Kingdom fun!

 

[sheriffwoody]

M and S were in Magic Kingdom at this point, but me, E and L wanted to get treats before we did anything else. E got hers at the Confectionary while me and L hopped in line at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor.

E brought hers over to show off




These things are huge!! She said it took her several days and some sharing with her girls to finish it.

We spotted S and M inside the ice cream parlor! We had no idea they were there too, so that was funny. We all had the same idea!




I had a donut sundae, which was a special. I got it with cookies and cream ice cream. The donut was a bit stale, but it was still good. I wouldn't have liked the donut by itself, but it was great in the sundae! I think L got two scoops of ice cream in a cup and the other two got All-American sundaes. We found a table outside and enjoyed our treats.


Showing off my medal again!



After our desserts, we headed toward Frontierland for our first FP. The parade was starting, so we knew we'd get stuck. S, M and E stopped in front of Diamond Horseshoe. Me and L continued on and sat on a bench in front of the shooting gallery to watch it.







After the parade finished up, we made our way to Big Thunder. I LOVE this ride, so I had to ride it with my buddies. L mentioned doing Splash, and I had to break the news to her I hate that it's always down in the winter.




Let's goooooo!





Got some pictures to commemorate the occassion.

Since we'd ridden BTM at the end of our window, our next FP was coming open. Unfortunately I was never able to get M on this one, so I gave her my magic band and send them off to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I mobile ordered at Casey's and found a spot on the hub.



While I waited far too long for my food, I chatted with the piano player. He was very nice!

I sat on the hub for a while and snacked, then almost fell asleep before they kicked me out. At 4:30pm. For fireworks They said they were preparing the area for the special viewing area. What the heck?! That's the best place to chill in the park and they just leave it empty for like 3 hours?! So dumb.

Up next: more MK

 

[sheriffwoody]

I met back up with the girls and we got some castle pictures.






Got some birds in the shot! Our photopass photographer was awesome. And we noticed she was from Memphis! E and S are both from Memphis suburbs.

We headed toward Tomorrowland to ride the Peoplemover. Ran into @Doc Disney and the family on our way over! We took pictures with our medals, but I forgot to put those on my computer, so you'll just have to wait until she posts them




I can't bring myself to care about the new sign. I don't love it or hate it.




That was as far as I could open my eyes




When you're taking a selfie as the PeopleMover speeds up! Eep! Didn't drop it though, whew...




It was a BEAUTIFUL day! Holy moly. The weather was beyond perfect and just what I needed after a super rainy winter. It was also perfect for running, I don't think I mentioned that before.



Obligatory Tron construction. What will I take pictures of when it's done?!



We stopped for more pictures on the way back through the hub. We were headed to Fantasyland!






Up next: a little more MK

 

[sheriffwoody]

We had a slowpass for Peter Pan. I always get this one for L. She loves it! I never ride it when I'm not with her . While we were in line, E and I decided we'd head out after this. We were so tired, we could barely keep our eyes open. I had had NO COFFEE all day! By the time I realized it, I didn't want to get some and risk not being able to sleep as well. We looked for FPs for the other three and eventually I just passed that task off to L. She had to get connected with the other two on the app so that she could make fast passes for the other two, but we got it all squared away before we got on the ride.




Headed back out to the front of the park.




We left the girls and headed to the bus stop. I don't even remember going to the bus stop I was so tired. I guess we didn't wait long or I'd remember it!



We stopped at the cafeteria for food to take back to the room. We both went with chicken fingers. The sweet potato fries were terrible, but the chicken was good. I wish they had better honey mustard for them!




I'd heard great things about the tie dye cheesecake. It was good!

While we were eating, I remembered that I needed to pick up my prints from Epcot the day before. They were at the front desk. Dang! I was so ready for bed, plus I was already in my pjs. I'm on vacation, so I left the room in my pjs...ha! It didn't take me long to get back to the shop and pick up my prints. Once I got back to the room, I finished my food and we watched some Big Bang Theory.

Eventually, around 8:30 or 9, we turned the tv off and I read for like .5 seconds before passing out. We both slept like logs! I don't think I woke up even once before 6am. Didn't even hear the other girls get back, and we left the door between rooms open.

The other three ended up leaving MK and going to Hollywood Studios to check out Star Wars. They rode Millennium Falcon without us! It's ok, I'm glad they got to experience it.

Up next: last day with everyone

 

[sheriffwoody]

Well done and great race photos. If the corrals were the same as for marathon weekend, it felt like you’d already walked a 5k before the race even started, they were so far away.

It is SO FAR. I was complaining the whole time we were walking over

Congrats on finishing the race. Looks like fun. Except for the actual running of course!

Thanks so much! Yeah the running isn't the best...but it is overall pretty fun I guess. The characters and entertainment make it worth it!

Well done with the race! I’m here.

Congrats on finishing!

Loved all the race pics. Would love love love to run through MK! Don’t think I could handle more than a 5K though!

Thanks, y'all!

 

[Swissmiss]

Wow, I cant believe you did so much after the half! But come to think of it, I’ve managed to as well (but not as much as you!) when the weather has been ok but oddly, I think it has rained really hard after nearly all if not all of the DLP half marathons. No rain during the race (or just sprinkling) but in the afternoon there have been some torrential rains! The first couple of years it stopped eventually to enjoy some park time, but the last two I’ve been there on my own and after venturing out for some food I usually decided to go back to the room and out of the rain.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Wow, I cant believe you did so much after the half! But come to think of it, I’ve managed to as well (but not as much as you!) when the weather has been ok but oddly, I think it has rained really hard after nearly all if not all of the DLP half marathons. No rain during the race (or just sprinkling) but in the afternoon there have been some torrential rains! The first couple of years it stopped eventually to enjoy some park time, but the last two I’ve been there on my own and after venturing out for some food I usually decided to go back to the room and out of the rain.

I figured it would be better to keep moving and hopefully not be as stiff and sore! After my marathon a few years ago, we stopped to eat lunch on the way home and I almost couldn't walk after I finished eating. I was only sitting for like 30 minutes, but it was enough for my muscles to say "no more!" Thankfully we seemed to do just enough after the race to loosen us up, but we didn't overdo it. I'm so grateful we had good weather! It would have been such a bummer to try to deal with rain after.

---------

Forgot to add my steps! I can never remember.

Y'all ready for this? 45,469 steps. 22.3 miles. Definitely a record for my apple watch! I think I did 10x my move goal that day

 

[annienevells]

I would have been nervous to say hi to Francis too, I feel like I have been following him forever! My heart really went out to him when his father passed, as it seemed to be a big shock to his family. Very cool that you were able to have a fun conversation.

I also follow you on Instagram and loved your process of designing your hat/ears for the race especially because my dog's name is Gus!!

 

[Billy6]

Awesome stuff as always!!! Looks like you had a great time and experience with the race!!!

 

[Ears to Disney]

YAY! Congrats on the finish! runDisney races are so addicting and fun!

Eventually we headed to the corrals, which were NO JOKE a mile away. I think we'd walked over a mile and a half already that morning by the time we got to the start of the race.

I KNOW! They did this for the WDW Marathon Weekend Half and I was like...seriously??? Way too long of a walk.

So I took a little video for youtube and not a ton of photos, but this next part was THE BEST EVER. Running into and through Magic Kingdom was so stinking magical! My chest was all tight, but not from running, from emotion. WHY? Why is this so magical? I mean you can walk through the park all day long, why is running through there so awesome? I don't get it, but it just is...

I feel like the course was pretty much the same as the Marathon Weekend Half. This totally got me as well! Choked up, running up Main Street. I was super excited and wished that the running through MK would last forever. The second half back to EPCOT was boring since the main event came before the half way point!

 

[sheriffwoody]

E and I woke up around 6 without alarms. We both felt like new women!! It felt so good after two sleepless nights and long days.

The night before, I'd texted everyone the game plan for the morning, and thankfully the other room was up and going when they needed to be. We were out the door around 8am, like I planned. E, S and L were all leaving that afternoon/evening, so they took their bags to the front for airline check-in/bell services.

Meanwhile, M and I hailed a Lyft to take us to the Boardwalk. We could have had Disney transfer our bags, but I just prefer to get my bags safely to the resort myself. I decided to ask the front desk if there was a room ready, knowing full well there wouldn't be.



I waited in a short line to find out that indeed, there were no rooms. But I got my Magical Express paper for the next day, so it wasn't all wasted time.

M and I checked our bags with bell services and headed toward the walkway to Hollywood Studios.





As we were walking, we got word that the other girls were headed into the park. Bag check was long!! We met up in the shop on Hollywood Blvd, where I saw another instagrammer I follow Beth Leung. I mainly follow her on youtube...or used to. I can't remember if I still do. Aaaanyway, I didn't say hi cause we had somewhere to be! We headed toward Toy Story Land.



I can't wait to ride this!!




The line for Slinky Dog was outside of the land at this point, and the park was so mobbed already. Thankfully we had a fast pass! I was so happy to have scored this. Nothing was available at 60 days since we were on such a short trip, but eventually this 8:40am one popped up and I snagged it.



My ride photo never showed up I have always had issues getting the ones that you can't scan for at the end of the ride. Bummer.

We were all hungry, so we headed to Woody's Lunchbox. We stopped off to the side after the ride and tried to all mobile order, but it was down. The line was insane, but we figured that was just going to be the story all over the park. We didn't wait too terribly long. A CM standing there said they turn off mobile ordering if they get too backed up.



I think three of us got the kids portion, the other two got the adult portion. Kids was definitely enough!! This was the smoked turkey breakfast sandwich. It was just meh...but oh well. So far after my first time here, each time after has been disappointing.

During breakfast I got this email from my daughter's daycare director.



Is this foreshadowing? I let my mother-in-law know since she was watching her for two days.

We had a FP for Star Tours next, but I knew E couldn't do it, so she and I split off and headed for One Man's Dream. I wanted to watch the Onward preview!!



It looks SO GOOD! Some of you may remember that I lost my dad back in 2016, so the storyline of this movie is probably going really get me. When they said the line "what would you do for one more day?" I just about burst into tears. Ok I did burst into tears.

After the preview, we stopped in some stores to look for gifts for E's little girls. Then we headed toward Star Tours. We wandered around the Muppets area while we waited for the other three girls to get out of Star Tours. I almost bought my husband a shirt! They have some really cool short-sleeve button downs out right now, but they're like $85, which is a lot to spend on something he'd only wear at Disney.

L had changed hers and E's fast passes for Alien Swirling Saucers to one for Toy Story Mania (I think), and it was time for them to do that. I wish she'd just changed them all, but oh well. Neither of them wanted to spin, but I'd rather have done mania, I just couldn't find a FP for it everytime I looked.

Me, S and M wandered Galaxy's Edge for a while.



S really wanted to try the blue and/or green milk. Since I've had blue, I got green this time.



Not a fan!! It was too floral.



I drank it anyway Not going to waste $8!! That stuff is stupid expensive.



We watched a show in the land with Kylo Ren.



Up next: more HS

 

[sheriffwoody]

I talked S into doing a picture here. She's not big on pictures, but I twisted her arm!



Photographer: "look tough"




I won't be intimidating anyone in the streets, that's for sure.



Using the force.



The market area was smaller than I thought. Maybe we didn't see it all?





Once we were all back together, we saw that Minnie and Mickey's meeting was only 20 minutes, so we headed that way. Unfortunately when we got there, the CM said it was 40 minutes. Ugh! Everything was super long, and we didn't really have the time to wait in a bunch of lines. Instead, we hopped over the the Commissary for snacks. There was even a long line there! I have never seen people in there...cause it's nasty.

I didn't get anything, but L got this cool cookie



She said it was very good!

While we were sitting here, I got an email with our family photos! So I had fun looking through those while everyone ate.

It was finally time for our Alien's fast pass, so me, M and S headed that way.




After this, we needed to head out of the park so S and E could get back for the Tragical Express.




We said our goodbyes outside the park. I honestly got teary eyed!! And I'm not really that sentimental.

After E and S headed to the busses, the rest of us headed for a boat. L's flight was quite a bit later, so she was going to do some more park hopping. M and I wanted to see if our room was ready yet and have some pool time, so we all headed for the Boardwalk. L got off the boat with us to say goodbye, then she hopped back on to continue on to Epcot.

When I got up to the desk, the CM looked and said our room had just been marked as ready! So she got us the room number and off we went. I got the text quite a bit later...not sure why it took so long.

I didn't bring a swimsuit, but thankfully M brought three So we headed down to the pool. We went by the bar first...



Eventually we headed over to the hot tub. We left our stuff there and went down the slide once. The cracks in that thing hurt my butt! So I only did it once. We got in the hot tub for around 15 minutes. It felt so nice!! Then we headed back up to the room to get ready for Magic Kingdom and after hours.

As I was getting ready, I realized that I didn't have my blue jeans I ended up calling Pop Century and they got in touch with Mousekeeping to check our room. They found them there, so they said they'd get them to the front desk for me. Ugh! If they weren't my best pair of jeans, I would have just left them. I also knew I'd need pants when I got back to Tennessee, cause it was cold.

I got ready and M was still curling her hair, so I went on down and called a Lyft back to Pop Century. Yes, I could have taken the Skyliner, but time is money!

The line at the Pop desk was soooooooo long. My goodness. I wish they had a line for people who are only going to take 1 minute or less When I finally got up there, I just told the lady what I was there for, she found the jeans immediately and off I went.

M and I decided to go to Epcot for some food before going to Magic Kingdom, we I headed to the Skyliner yet again.




Cabin to myself over to CBR!

I found M right inside the International Gateway and we headed toward UK. I like the fish n chips, and M actually lived in England for a while in her childhood, so she was game. Since M left her id in the room on accident, I got us drinks outside Rose and Crown, which she got the food.



Got us a table by the water. So peaceful!



They gave us ONE fish. ONE. It was too busy to go back up and complain, and I just wanted to eat at this point. But I did email Disney after I got back to complain. The description still says two, so I think the complaint is justified.




Had a couple of girls take our picture and we took theirs. You can usually find people to do that for you!

Earlier, I'd found us a FP for Soarin, so we headed that way.



I kind of wanted to watch the new Awesome Planet movie, but we really just needed to get the MK for After Hours. I didn't tell M about the new film, but she would have LOVED it. She's a total hippie. She was moving worms off the sidewalk on the way to Hollywood Studios so they wouldn't dry out She also used to hike alone all the time, and the outdoors is the main reason she moved to Washington. It's honestly a miracle she's alive after all that hiking alone.

We took the monorail over to MK. It went pretty smoothly! Every time I took the monorail to MK this trip, we used the express, so I didn't visit any of the monorail resorts.

Up next: After hours!

 

[sheriffwoody]

I would have been nervous to say hi to Francis too, I feel like I have been following him forever! My heart really went out to him when his father passed, as it seemed to be a big shock to his family. Very cool that you were able to have a fun conversation.

I also follow you on Instagram and loved your process of designing your hat/ears for the race especially because my dog's name is Gus!!

Yeah it seemed very sudden! It honestly throws me off how vocal he is about it I deal with things so differently. I do usually make a post about my dad on his birthday every year though. It's hard but therapeutic to put your thoughts out there!

I love that your dog is Gus! That's such a cute name.

Awesome stuff as always!!! Looks like you had a great time and experience with the race!!!

Thank you!! Yes it was a blast.

YAY! Congrats on the finish! runDisney races are so addicting and fun!

I KNOW! They did this for the WDW Marathon Weekend Half and I was like...seriously??? Way too long of a walk.

I feel like the course was pretty much the same as the Marathon Weekend Half. This totally got me as well! Choked up, running up Main Street. I was super excited and wished that the running through MK would last forever. The second half back to EPCOT was boring since the main event came before the half way point!

Yeah it looks like it was the same course! After the MK part I was like, where are the sweepers? They can take me now

 

[Tuvalu]

Was L’s cookie possibly the s’mores cookie (that I didn’t get to have)?

 

[k8einwdw]

All caught up! Congrats on finishing the race!

 

[fractal]

M and I didn't have bags, so I made her be my instagram photographer for a minute




Our first FP of the trip was for Kilimanjaro Safari. When we got back there, it was down!! What?! I don't remember ever seeing the Safari down. I'm guessing an animal was in the road or something, but they had the whole thing shut down.

We waited about 10 minutes and they opened the line back up.





We got the back row. I took on the roll of "make sure everyone else has the best experience possible" since I go all the time. I made E and L sit on the outside so they'd have better views. Then I remembered that E is going to be back in like 2 weeks with her family





It was a BEAUTIFUL safari. The light was amazing. Also the back row was super duper bouncy.







It was such a perfect safari. We didn't see any elephants, so that was the only sad thing. But most of the other animals were active! The lions were sleeping, but we could see them well.

We had a little gap before our next FP, so we decided we'd go ahead and do dinner. It hadn't been that long since lunch, but this was as good a time as any. I wanted Satuli Canteen, and the girls trusted me.



Took some photos on the walk over





I got the beef and chicken with the noodles and the green onion vinaigrette. It was very good! I figured this was a good nutritious dinner before the race the next day.



Pandora was looking beautiful!

Next we cut back across the park to Asia.




More photos on the way of course.



Up next: More AK

Just started reading but wanted to pause and express my love for your AK pics! Awesome!

and congrats on finishing the run!

 

[riverside]

When they said the line "what would you do for one more day?" I just about burst into tears. Ok I did burst into tears.

I'm doing the same after reading this

I have never seen people in there...cause it's nasty.

Amen!! I couldn't agree more!!

Congratulations on the race!! That's so exciting!!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Was L’s cookie possibly the s’mores cookie (that I didn’t get to have)?

It was! I probably should have tried it. I've heard a lot about it!