I Can Go The Distance - A Princess Half Marathon Trip Report

Well, we just got back from our trip on Wednesday and we had an absolutely great time. This trip was a little different since it included our first ever half marathon and our first stay at a moderate resort. We were really excited to run in Disney’s Princess Half Marathon and to get another reason to visit WDW.

When: February 25th – 29th, 2012

Who: Ashley (me) and my husband, Wes. We got married last October and honeymooned on the Disney Dream with a stay at the Beach Club during the Food and Wine Festival after our cruise.

And now, on to the trip report!

Saturday February 25th – Travel, Travel, Travel and Some Firsts

Today our day started really early. Our flight was at 7:05am so that meant we were awake around 5am. We got up, finished packing last minute items and my Dad came to pick us up to take us to the airport at 5:30.

I love it when your countdown for a trip looks like this!

We arrived at the airport, went through security and were sitting at the gate by 5:49. I say this every trip but it is so nice to live so close to the airport. We boarded the plane and took off for a very uneventful flight. We landed at 8:49 and made our way to Disney’s Magical Express.

The line for DME was non-existent. We boarded the bus at 9:15 and made our way to Port Orleans French Quarter.

POFQ was the second stop after Saratoga Springs. We made our way to the online check in line where the people in front of us didn’t seem to understand what online check in was. I don’t know why the cast members behind the counter didn’t make the people move to the regular check in line but not too long after getting in line, it was our turn to check in.

We checked in and unfortunately our room was not ready. Not too much of a surprise since it was only 10:15am but you can always be hopeful. While I had been waiting in line to check in, Wes went over to the concierge to ask if we could buy my annual pass there. I thought that you had to buy them at the ticket counter in the parks but it turns out that if you are paying in full you can buy them at the concierge. Very exciting. So after checking in, we got in line to buy my first annual pass! I had done all kinds of math to determine whether or not I should buy the annual pass. I am potentially going on 3 trips to WDW this year so mathematically an annual pass was a necessity. I am going to be in Orlando in July for a work conference and decided to add a few days at Disney after the conference. There are also talks about going to Disney in December with my family. So even if I don’t go in December, it still made financial sense to buy the annual pass for this trip. Yay for math! :lol:

 

[crystalight33]

YAY!!!!!!! Congrats on finishing!! Those last few miles were really tough! Kudos to you for pushing through. And good hubby for being (mostly) encouraging . I'm glad he stuck with you to the end and you two made up during the race. Don't beat yourself up over not making your goal time, especially having only gone 4.5 miles before your first half. Again, huge kudos for pushing through to the finish! I have to comment again on how much I like the peeking out from behind things shots. And those margaritas looked awesome! I hope your soreness got better rather than worse. I always am most sore the day after a long run, so I hope you got some good park days after the race .

 

[diddy_mouse]

Big congrats to you!! :sohappy: It is so awesome reading all of these half-marathon and marathon trip reports. I have a huge amount of respect for those who complete the events. And I gotta say, picking a Disney event as your first is probably the best way to go!

That's so crazy that you ran into (ha! a pun) your sorority sisters during the race!

Love the fact that you guys went and hit up the Magic Kingdom after recharging from that morning. Way to wear that medal! :king:

 

[HopLow]

Congrats on finishing the half marathon!!! I was silently cheering you on the whole way through.:lol: I can imagine that emotions run high when you're both physically and mentally stressed and I'm glad that you and Wes got over your argument quickly. Are you getting ready for another RunDisney event?

How awesome is building 4 at POFQ?!?! I am in love with it. We stayed on the opposite side, facing the other courtyard and it was so lovely walking to the bus everyday with that little garden right there. What a super convenient location.

Anyway, awesome TR and patiently waiting for the rest!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

As we go on in the race, you will see how Wes started to forget that when he took a picture of me with the mile marker that he should get the whole sign in the picture. Sometime during Mile 7 I started looking at the pictures we had taken and I mentioned this to Wes that he was cutting off the sign. He said “Oh, I’m sorry. I was only trying to run a half marathon at the time” :ROFLOL: Touché.

That cracked me up!! :lol:

Congratulations on finishing!! That is so awesome!! I don't think you should count the bathroom stop and picture stops! That would get you under 3.

Oh yes, and the way Wes was sleeping on the bed? Also hilarious.:lol:

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Congratulations to you and Wes!

Any particular runDisney races you are thinking of running?? Seems like theres a lot of us WDWMagicers for the 10-miler you should come do that one!

Glad to see your review of La Hacienda! Went there for the Touring Plans meet on Oct 1 and the stuff they had out was amazing, I can just imagine going to eat there! Those tacos looked soooo yummy! :slurp:

i’m glad you are enjoying the report so far. POFQ was a really great resort. the only thing i didn’t like was the incredibly loud plumbing. i am a heavy sleeper but every once in a while i would still wake up to the sounds of water running through pipes behind my head board. other than that i thought it was a great resort.

Honestly, I don't think we heard any plumbing or loud noises when we were just there at the beginning of February. I mean you hear the shower running and such in someone elses room, but I've heard that at all the resorts I've stayed at, nothing crazy loud though. Sorry you heard all those loud noises

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

YAAYY CONGRATS ON FINISHING THE RACE! :sohappy: I really want to start training to run in one of the half-marathons next year, but that's what I'm afraid of is getting exhausted early on in the race and then hating the rest of it.... Haha! But HUGE kudos to you for finishing! I think that they have gels out there that you can buy and eat along your race that give you glucose so you don't run out of energy (I'm taking a Nutrition & Fitness class in school and we learned that a couple weeks ago ).

Major props to you guys though for getting back out into the parks! I would've just laid in bed until dinner probably but then again it's Disney World!! Haha! I don't know if it was because I was reading your TR so late last night and was slap happy, but that picture of Wes asleep on the bed and you thought he was dead until he started snoring cracked me up :lol:

I'm glad you guys got to try La Hacienda de Angel! I went there over the summer with my mom and we loved it! We were there closer to 9 o'clock so we got an awesome window view of Illuminations.

Can't wait to read the rest! This is awesome

thank you!! if we do another runDisney race I will absolutely be training a lot harder than i did this time around. i think as long as you train, it is possible to finish a race without dying. :lol:

i knew that if we didn’t get moving we would waste a whole day laying in bed. i am really happy that we went to mk after our race. it was a little difficult walking around the parks but i think it helped me to not be in pain the rest of the trip because we kept moving after the race. as i was getting ready, i just kept looking at wes sleeping and laughing. i have never seen him sleep so still.

that would have been great to have later dinner reservations! i bet the views from inside the restaurant are pretty nice. and you get to continue eating chips and salsa while you watch. next time i will make later reservations.

i’m so glad you are enjoying the trip report. more to come!

Congratulations on your first 1/2 marathon! I ran my first 1/2 last year at the Wine & Dine and loved every minute of it..... I know what you mean about the emotional high you get when you cross the finish line! I cried!!!! I would love to run the Princess 1/2....maybe next year!

I also read your Disneymoon report & loved it! Thanks for sharing and again congratulations to both of you!

thanks! congrats on your first half marathon!! it is so crazy to think that a half marathon can make you cry but i really believe it now. i’m glad you liked the disneymoon report! we had a great time.

I have never commented on anyones trip report before, but I felt compelled to say Congratulations on your 1/2 marathon! I could totally relate to your description of how tired you felt and walking like an 80 year old woman afterward. I am not much of a runner but I decided that I wanted to run a full marathon a few years ago, I trained for a year...it was challenging and I was so proud of myself when I finished I did not break any records or anything, but I finished before they dismantled the finish line.

I really want to do the Princess 1/2 marathon, I loved seeing all your pictures. It looks so fun to run through the Magic Kingdom... I am waiting for my daughter to be old enough to do it with me

aww thank you! i am so honored that my report compelled you to comment. that is awesome about finishing a full marathon! i struggled with the half so congrats to you on finishing a full!! just finishing is a really big accomplishment so congrats!

the princess half marathon was great! i think it was a really good first race for me. running through the magic kingdom was so cool.

YAY!!!!!!! Congrats on finishing!! Those last few miles were really tough! Kudos to you for pushing through. And good hubby for being (mostly) encouraging . I'm glad he stuck with you to the end and you two made up during the race. Don't beat yourself up over not making your goal time, especially having only gone 4.5 miles before your first half. Again, huge kudos for pushing through to the finish! I have to comment again on how much I like the peeking out from behind things shots. And those margaritas looked awesome! I hope your soreness got better rather than worse. I always am most sore the day after a long run, so I hope you got some good park days after the race .

thank you!! the last two miles were the absolute worst but we made it! wes was really great with encouraging me. i don’t think i would have been able to do it without him pushing me to keep running. i am glad you like the peeking pictures. they still crack me up as i look through my pictures. the margaritas at la hacienda were delicious! especially after running a half marathon that morning. my soreness was actually the worst the day of the marathon. after that my feet still hurt but the rest of my body felt almost back to normal.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Big congrats to you!! :sohappy: It is so awesome reading all of these half-marathon and marathon trip reports. I have a huge amount of respect for those who complete the events. And I gotta say, picking a Disney event as your first is probably the best way to go!

That's so crazy that you ran into (ha! a pun) your sorority sisters during the race!

Love the fact that you guys went and hit up the Magic Kingdom after recharging from that morning. Way to wear that medal!

thanks! i don’t think i would have done any other race if it wasn’t a runDisney event. it was just such a great fun atmosphere that it helped me have the motivation i needed to finish the race.

love the pun! it was crazy that we saw each other at all during the race so that was really nice.

i wasn’t sure if i should wear my medal or not but it turned out that lots of people were wearing their medals. people were still wearing them on wednesday when we left. i wore it on and off for the rest of our trip.

Congrats on finishing the half marathon!!! I was silently cheering you on the whole way through.:lol: I can imagine that emotions run high when you're both physically and mentally stressed and I'm glad that you and Wes got over your argument quickly. Are you getting ready for another RunDisney event?

How awesome is building 4 at POFQ?!?! I am in love with it. We stayed on the opposite side, facing the other courtyard and it was so lovely walking to the bus everyday with that little garden right there. What a super convenient location.

Anyway, awesome TR and patiently waiting for the rest!

thank you! i was so upset that we got in an argument and tried not to let it affect me but after being so physically and emotionally exhausted it was pretty difficult. i am so happy that we were able to get past it and finish. i don’t know what our next runDisney event will be but i really want to do another one. i don’t think i can squeeze any more trips in this year so maybe the WDW half or the princess half again next year. we might do a Disney cruise next year though so our next runDisney event may have to wait until 2014. ugh…i just want to go on too many trips!!

building 4 was great. that cut through to the buses was awesome.

That cracked me up!! :lol:

Congratulations on finishing!! That is so awesome!! I don't think you should count the bathroom stop and picture stops! That would get you under 3.

Oh yes, and the way Wes was sleeping on the bed? Also hilarious.:lol:

:lol: i am glad you found that funny because wes was actually a little offended when i told him that he was cutting off the sign. i mean, i just thought that he would know to keep the sign in the picture the whole race but i guess his mind was elsewhere.

thanks tammy! i like your idea of not counting the bathroom break or the stop for pictures! i will have to tell wes that we actually did finish the race under 3 hours! :lol:

Congratulations to you and Wes!
Any particular runDisney races you are thinking of running?? Seems like theres a lot of us WDWMagicers for the 10-miler you should come do that one!

Glad to see your review of La Hacienda! Went there for the Touring Plans meet on Oct 1 and the stuff they had out was amazing, I can just imagine going to eat there! Those tacos looked soooo yummy! :slurp:

Honestly, I don't think we heard any plumbing or loud noises when we were just there at the beginning of February. I mean you hear the shower running and such in someone elses room, but I've heard that at all the resorts I've stayed at, nothing crazy loud though. Sorry you heard all those loud noises

thank you! we don’t have any specific runDisney event in mind. i wish that i could go for the TOT 10 miler this fall but i don’t know that i can squeeze in another trip. this Friday we find out if we are going to hawaii to stay at aulani and after we know that, we will know whether or not we are potentially going in december with my family. we have a whole lot of what ifs right now along with potentially going on a Disney cruise in 2013. its so hard when i want to go on so many trips for different events and with my family and wes’ family!

those tacos from the appetizer menu were absolutely delicious! i don’t know if it was because i was a little buzzed from the margarita or because i had ran a half marathon earlier in the day, but i was in love with those tacos! :lol: i highly recommend trying them!

i can’t believe you didn’t hear the plumbing. we heard it all the time. it wasn’t that bad or annoying but it was noticeable. maybe only some of the rooms hear it. we were on the first floor so maybe that makes a difference. what floor were you on? maybe if you are on the upper floors you don’t hear it as much.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Monday February 27th – Hollywood Studios and a torrential downpour at the Magic Kingd

This morning we were up around 7:45. I was a little sore but I felt pretty good considering the half marathon was just yesterday morning. We were going to Hollywood Studios and we wanted to get there in time for opening. Before we went to the bus stop, we went to Floatworks to get ourselves some breakfast and to refill our mugs. I went with a croissant and Wes got a crumb cake. I love croissants, especially the ones at WDW. Wes really loved his crumb cake, too. There was a layer of cream cheese in the middle that he said really made it extra tasty.

We got to the bus stop and it was actually pretty crowded. I was surprised since the overall crowd level for the day was just a 4 out of 10. We took a seat to finish eating our breakfast and waited for the bus. There were two really cute little girls at the bus stop that were wearing these ballet outfits with the princesses on them. They were running around dancing. The one girl, she was probably 4, she started showing the guy next to us her autograph book and he was telling her if they had seen those characters too. It was a really cute interaction and then the guy said “I like your dress” and the little girl goes “it’s a costume” and she pulls down the top of her dress and starts showing the guy her chest. :lol: It was so funny because the 4 year old didn’t realize that little girls shouldn’t do things like that. The poor guy just started laughing and looking away. We couldn’t help but laugh, and the little girl’s mom was laughing too telling her to stop pulling her shirt down. I hope for those parents sake that the little girl learns to stop flashing people. :ROFLOL:

A bus for Hollywood Studios got there and it seemed that only a handful of the people waiting at the bus stop were going to HS. It was actually really nice that everyone else was going to another park because we got a seat on the bus. We were off to HS!

We arrived around 8:45. The park was opening at 9am so we got in the long line to enter the park.

Again, I was surprised at the long lines of people waiting to enter the park. Our plan for this morning was for me to walk ahead and get some fastpasses for TSMM while Wes took his time to get there. I handed him my camera and told him to take a couple of pictures as he walked to meet me. I went through the turnstiles first and then Wes handed off his park pass and I was off. Wes took these pictures as he made his way to Pixar Place.

I briskly walked to TSMM expecting that there would be a long line to get fastpasses, like there has been every other time we have been to HS for park opening. I got back to Pixar Place and was shocked that I could actually walk right up to a FP machine and get fastpasses. I commented to the cast member who was working the machine that the park wasn’t bad at all this morning and all I got was silence. :lol: Ok, then. I got out of the FP line and saw Wes taking a picture of the Pixar Place sign. Our FP time wasn’t until 10:20. The standby line for TSMM said 50 minutes but we figured that it wouldn’t actually be that long since the park just opened so we got in line.

We literally walked through the entire queue and up to where you pick up your glasses. When we got up there the cast member asked us how many and then sent us up the right side of the line. We managed to bypass all of the line waiting on the stairs. Sweet. We had entered the park at 9 and were riding TSMM by 9:12.

It was a great game but Wes won.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Wes had the best score in our car!

Way to go Westin!

I was pretty bummed that Wes beat me by so much but we still had our fastpasses to use later so I would get another chance to beat him! After TSMM, we decided to go check out Star Tours. We hadn’t seen the attraction since its refurb so we were really excited to see the new features.

As we walked to Star Tours, we passed by one of those booths where you can get your face painted. Wes keeps saying how funny it would be for a grown man to get his face painted as a tiger and just walk around the parks like it’s no big deal. I said it would be so funny to go to a nice dinner at Le Cellier and when you order your steak, order it “raaaaare” :ROFLOL: I thought that was so funny. Every time we passed by another one of the face painting booths I would say this joke again. It never got old. :lol:

I love this show!! This week’s episode was especially AMAZING!

We arrived at Star Tours and the wait was non-existent so we got in the standby line and walked to where you load the attraction.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

It was great that there was no one in line because we really got to take a good look at all of the new details in the queue. I really like the part with the robot looking through luggage. I thought that whole room was really cool. And the robot who scans people right before you head to the loading area really sounds like Patrick Warburton. I love Puddy from Seinfeld. Does anyone know if that is him? (Edit: It is him! I just saw it posted on his IMDB page.)

I kind of miss the awesomely 80s-ness of the previous intro video :lol:

Don’t look so excited, Wes.

We rode Star Tours and all of the new scenes are really cool. I really like the Rebel Spy part at the beginning. We exited the ride and decided to go on it again since there was still no wait.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

This time around, we had the same beginning and end sequences. I was kind of bummed that we got some of the same sequences. I actually started to doubt that there was even a different beginning or end and that the middle was the only thing that changed. It was another fun trip through space, regardless of which sequence we were given. I am excited to keep riding to see all of the different sequences that are out there.

After Star Tours we still had about an hour until we could use our FP for TSMM so we decided to go ride the Tower of Terror and Rock n’ Roller Coaster. We decided to walk around Echo Lake so we could explore the park a little bit.

My grandma’s name was Gertrude so I really like that the dinosaur is named Gertie. As we were over there I saw the name on the ship and it was the S.S. Down the Hatch. My grandma would say down the hatch whenever she toasted her drink. This was the first time I had ever realized that here was Gertie and down the hatch. Weird!

We got to the Tower of Terror and the posted wait time was 40 minutes. It seemed crazy that the wait could be that long since there really weren’t that many people in the park today. We decided to try our luck and get in the standby line. Having to wait in line was actually nice because I got to take a lot of pictures of the queue.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Our wait time actually ended up being only about 20 minutes. We were seated in the back row of the elevator and I sat next to a lady who was riding for the first time. She was really funny because she seemed really nervous. She was asking me if it was really scary and I told her that it wasn’t that bad. She couldn’t find the seat belt when we sat down and started freaking out a little bit. I told her to try the other side and she started laughing. :lol: Before the ride started she told me that she always tells her son’s to be brave and here she was freaking out about Tower of Terror.

The ride was good as usual. The only bad thing was when we went in the elevator shaft, it wasn’t completely dark so we could see that we were about to drop. I guess the elevator doors up top were still open so the light was coming through. It kind of took away from the fear of the ride, which I think the lady next to me appreciated. :lol: Other than that, it was a really fun ride. As we were leaving we saw the lady meet up with her husband and two little boys who seemed really proud of their mom for riding.

Next up was Rock n’ Roller Coaster. I love this ride but the wait was a little long. So Wes and I decided to go in the single rider line. It’s not like we can really talk on the ride anyway so we were fine splitting up. The single rider line was so fast. I was seated in the very back of the limo. I hate being in the very back because I feel like you get really jerked around a whole lot more. It is pretty cool though seeing the front of the limo start to turn upside down before you get to that part. Wes ended up being in the limo right behind me so I didn’t have to wait long for him to exit the ride.

It was time for us to use our Toy Story fastpasses so we headed back to Pixar Place. I got Wes to pose for a couple fun pictures on our way.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We got to the entrance for the FP line and there was a family right in front of me. I was holding out my fastpass to try to enter and the family couldn’t find there’s. They were digging through their bag trying to find their fastpasses and were blocking the entrance to the line. I was trying to show the cast member my FP so I could get moving in the line but he was paying attention the family. Finally they found their fastpasses and we could move into the line. I just don’t understand why people feel the need to block the entrance to the FP line as they riffle through their stuff to find their fastpasses. Move aside and let people who are prepared with their fastpasses in hand to go in the line while you take your sweet time. Good-ness. :lol: Enough of my rant.

We moved through the line and again were told to go up the right side of stairs. Awesome! It was time for a rematch!

And how did I do….

Westin won again. Wop wop.

I guess I would just have to try to beat him next time. Next we decided to go see Muppet Vision 3D. We decided to walk through the Streets of America to get there. As we were walking, we got into another little fight. This is a trend with me and Wes to get into fights over stupid things. :lol: When I walk, I tend to not always walk straight. So while we were walking to MV3D, I started walking slightly crooked and ran into Wes. :lol: It sounds so stupid and frankly it is pretty sad that I can’t walk straight. So I ran into Wes and then he said “why did you run into me” and I said “no, you ran into me!” :lol: We are so dumb. We started walking really far apart so we wouldn’t run into each other again. The fight didn’t last long because Wes then ran up and posed for this picture.

Look at the power of the peeking picture! A peeking picture actually saved us from continuing to fight! :ROFLOL: It was then my turn to pose.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We are so dumb. :lol: Our fight was quickly resolved and we were on our way to Muppet Vision 3D!

We went into the theater and sat in the front row. The show started and then all of a sudden after one of Fozzie Bear’s first jokes, a cast member ran in front of our row to the microphone/control box, turned off the show and announced that we all needed to exit the theater. Everyone just sat there for a minute and a ton of people said “What?!”. The cast member just repeated herself for everyone to exit. It was really strange and there was no explanation given for why we had to exit. We were pretty bummed. I was more upset for Wes because he really loves the Muppets but I figured that we could try again later.

We only had a short amount of time to kill before we needed to check in for our lunch reservation so we checked out the Muppet store real quick.

I love this little guy.

We then made our way to the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater to check in for lunch. I love this place and added this reservation as a last minute addition to our trip. Wes doesn’t love it so much but he is a trooper and was willing to tag along with me.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We checked in at 11:53 and were seated right at 12:05, which was our reservation time. I just love the theme of this restaurant. We went there when I was a kid and I think that this restaurant just really screams Disney World to me. It brings back lots of great memories and whenever I don’t go there on a trip, I feel sad for having missed it.

I had just had a hamburger yesterday for lunch so I decided to try something different and get the Reuben. I have always wanted to try a Reuben so I figured that now was as good a time as any. Wes went with the chicken sandwich.

Both were really good. I don’t know that I would order the Reuben again since I really like their hamburgers but it was a good sandwich. We decided to skip dessert and head back to the resort. We stopped for a quick picture and then went to look for any Boo merchandise that we could find for Wes’ sister.

Ugh…I don’t even know why I straighten my hair in WDW because it’s always a frizzy, wavy mess. Does anyone know of any good products to use to keep away the frizz in Orlando?

We had no luck with any Boo merchandise so we left the park. As we were leaving we saw a bus for POFQ waiting at the bus stop. We decided to run to the bus so we wouldn’t miss it. Again, our running wasn’t really necessary. We ended up being the only ones on the bus. It was a very peaceful ride back to the resort.

We got back to the resort and decided it was time to lay out by the pool. The sun had finally come out and the temperatures were in the low 80s so it was really great pool weather. We quickly changed into our bathing suits and went to find the pool.

There weren’t that many people at the pool so we were able to find a set of chairs in the sun. Wes took a nap and I dozed in and out of sleep. We ended up getting to the pool around 1:30 and I guess that they have their pool party starting at 2. So just as I was falling asleep some cast members came out to get the kids energized. It was pretty funny because the cast members were more into the games than the kids were. :lol:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

I walked around the pool to take some pictures while Wes kept napping. I tried to get a picture of the slide without any kids in it but they just kept coming. Each time one would go down, they would go back up the slide so the same cycle of about 5 kids were going down the slide non-stop while I was standing there. I gave up and just took a picture, kids included.

This dude is a little creepy looking.

I woke Wes up and told him that we should go back to the room to get ready for dinner. Wes’ Grandma, her boyfriend and his Great Aunt were in WDW using up some DVC points that they were either going to use or lose at Old Key West. Wes had called them earlier in the day and we decided that we would meet them at Downtown Disney for dinner at the Earl of Sandwich. So we got back to the room and got ready to go meet them at DTD.

I was excited to find out that POFQ had its own stop for the ferry. I thought we would have to walk over to Riverside and catch a ferry there but we were in luck.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We didn’t have to wait long for a ferry before we were off to DTD.

We got to DTD a little early so we could do some shopping. Once we arrived we decided to give his Grandma a call to let her know that we were here so they could drive over to meet us.

I ended up buying a couple things at World of Disney. I got this really cute Mickey and Minnie wedding photo album and I also got a scrapbooking kit. I just looked through the scrapbook kit the other day and it has some really great stuff in it! I got the deluxe scrapbooking kit that had Disney parks pages and stickers. It has some great park specific pages and stickers that you can’t really find anywhere else. In case anyone scrapbooks, check out that one. I can’t wait to use it.

We were still looking for any Boo merchandise they might have but we came up empty handed. They really have nothing good with Boo! We ended up getting a Boo pin because that was really our only option for Cara’s friend. We had the items I purchased sent back to our room so we wouldn’t have to carry it around the parks. We were giving the pin to Wes’ Grandma so she could take it back to Cara.

As we were checking out, Wes got a call from his Grandma that they were here so we made our way to Earl of Sandwich to meet them. It was really nice to get to have dinner with them. It is kind of funny that even though they live in Maryland and we live in NC, we were meeting in WDW. It was nice timing that they were down there the same time as we were. And it is also great that they love Earl of Sandwich as much as we do. :lol:

Wes and I both decided to get the Hawaiian BBQ because it is oh so good and we got a chocolate pudding to split for dessert.

I love that sandwich! I really love the combination of pineapple, ham and BBQ sauce. It’s strange that Wes likes this sandwich because he doesn’t like pineapple so he picks it off. Not sure what the point is of getting it if you don’t like pineapple but whatever floats your boat.

After dinner we said our goodbyes and were off to the Magic Kingdom. There were EMH tonight and I really wanted to see the Main Street Electrical Parade at 7pm. We left DTD around 5:20 and caught a bus to the Contemporary. Our plan was to catch the first bus we saw to one of the MK resorts, and the Contemporary/Polynesian bus was the first one to arrive. The bus stopped at the Contemporary first, so we got off there. We decided that instead of taking the monorail, we would just walk. We figured that walking would probably be faster.

Right after I took that picture. It started to rain. So much for my straightened hair. Luckily Wes had brought his backpack that had our ponchos in it. We put on our ponchos and then continued our walk to the MK. The rain started out light and then the sky opened up and it was a torrential downpour. I was wearing flip flops so my feet and flip flops were completely soaked which made it really difficult to walk without slipping. I decided to just take off my flip flops and walk barefoot so I could walk faster and try to get into the park and out of the rain. We made it to the bag check area and stopped for a minute to let the security guards check our bags. There were a bunch of people waiting under the bag check area since it gave them cover from the rain. I put my flip flops back on before we went in the park. I am not sure what Disney’s stance is on people walking around barefoot but I figure that it is a no-no for liability reasons.

We made our way through the tunnels under the train station very slowly, as there were even more people huddled there trying to stay out of the rain. It was pretty crazy with all of the people standing under any cover they could find. I needed to go to the bathroom so we walked to the left and went to the bathrooms located next to the Main Street vehicles.

My hair was a mess and my flip flops were soaked but my clothes were dry thanks to the poncho. I was wearing my rainbow flip flops and whenever they get wet, they start to dye my feet brown. Does anyone else have this problem? I first noticed this on our honeymoon cruise when it rained one day. The flip flops dye my feet brown and I can’t get it off! I wanted to mention this in case anyone else had this problem and knows a good solution for getting your feet clean afterwards.

I met Wes back outside and we tried to decide what we wanted to do. It was at this point that Wes pointed out that if we had taken the monorail we probably would have missed all of the rain. Dang it. If only we could turn back time. The rain was letting up a little bit so we figured that we should start moving and get away from the crowds under the Main Street awnings. We made our way to Adventureland since we hadn’t gone there yesterday.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

First up was Pirates. It looked like the rain had cleared a lot of people out of the parks so there was no real wait. After Pirates, the rain had stopped so we put away our ponchos. Next, I wanted to see the “new” Tiki Room which was actually back to the original Tiki Room before the new management took over. Confusing. :lol: I liked the “new” show a lot more than the Under New Management show. It was really cool to be able see the original show.

It was almost time for the parade so we decided to go find a spot to watch. We walked towards Main Street and it looked like the rain didn’t get enough people to leave the park for us to find a spot. We went into Liberty Square to see if we would have any more luck. The place was pretty crowded and everything was still wet. Wes went over to talk to a cast member that was standing inside the area with the Liberty Bell to ask if we could stand there. He said he thought so but it wasn’t his area. There were announcements saying that the parade had been delayed due to weather. We stood there for a little bit and then it started to rain again. We got out our ponchos again and continued waiting. We talked to the cast member a little bit and he said that they wouldn’t cancel the parade but they would keep pushing it back because the path for the parade was too wet for the floats.

I really wanted to see this parade since I haven’t seen it since I was a little kid but I just wasn’t feeling it after the terrible weather. The original plan was when we got to the park to find a really great spot for the parade and wait until it started but the rain really messed things up. It was so gross out and everything was wet that I just decided to bail. Wes really doesn’t care about any of the parades or fireworks so he was fine with us not staying to watch. I wish that we could have seen the parade but the weather was just not cooperating. I am not sure if they ever did have the parade that night.

Since the parade was delayed and people were still waiting for it, we decided to go to the Haunted Mansion and then Fantasyland while the crowds were distracted. The Haunted Mansion was great as usual. First up in Fantasyland was a pleasant voyage on It’s a Small World.

Having fun, Wes?

We got stuck at the end a little bit because of the boats backing up so I got to take a bunch of pictures to pass the time.

Wes was super excited to be stuck!

After we were finally released from It’s a Small World we went to Peter Pan. I love this ride but the wait is always ridiculously long. Luckily, because of the rain and the parade the wait time said 30 minutes. It actually ended up being only about a 10 minute wait and we were off to Neverland! I love this ride. It really reminds me of being a kid because I used to love this ride so much when I was little. We then wanted to see Mickey’s PhilharMagic. It looked like it was closed because there were ropes blocking off the castle starting at the carousel. I have never seen this before because normally I am on the other side of the castle watching the fireworks. I asked a cast member at the rope if PhilharMagic was open and she said yes so we went on in.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Wes was over the picture taking at this point.

Mickey’s PhilharMagic was wonderful. It is such a cute show with great songs. While we were in there you could hear Wishes going on outside. We left the theater and the ropes were still up blocking the walkways to the castle. We saw some guys in t-shirts that said “Fireworks” inspecting the area. Very neat. We walked over to ride Snow White’s Scary Adventures since it looks like it won’t be there the next time we go. I’m not a huge fan of this attraction but I am kind of sad to see it go.

We were getting a little hungry at this point so we decided to head to Tomorrowland for some tasty treats. We went to Auntie Gravity’s and I got a Diet Coke float and Wes got an ice cream. I had never had a coke float from there before and it was really good.

As we enjoyed our goodies, we walked through the shops. Does anyone else think this hat is a little creepy?

I love Walt but something about that picture of him on this hat is just weird.

Since we were in Tomorrowland and we were finished with our snacks, we decided to go for a ride on Space Mountain. This time we were in the back of the car so I wasn’t as scared of getting decapitated. After SM, we went for a ride around Tomorrowland on the PeopleMover. I love Tomorrowland at night.

After the PeopleMover we realized that we were really tired. It was only 9:30 and the park hadn’t even closed yet and we were already tired. I was really bummed that we weren’t going to make it to the close of EMH at 1am but we were just too tired. We were still a little hungry so we decided to go get a snack from Casey’s Corner. I took some pictures as we made our way to Casey’s.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

I decided that it would be bad to eat a whole hot dog by myself this late at night so Wes and I decided to split a hot dog meal. While Wes waited in line to order I walked around a little bit taking pictures.

Found this hidden in a corner. I didn’t check to see if it works but it looked pretty cool.

I wandered outside and took some more pictures.

I went back in to check on Wes and he had our hot dog meal. We found a nice seat outside that wasn’t wet and took a seat.

Mmmm. :slurp: So wonderful!

As we were sitting there enjoying our time together, four teenagers sat at the table right next to us. They started talking about how high they were and dropping the F-bomb along with some other fun words. Ugh. This is why teenagers bother me. Why do you have to pretend to be so “cool”?! You are at WDW. Get over yourselves and just act civilized. I don’t mind the foul language because I can talk like a sailor at times too but when you are at WDW with children around, you need to watch yourselves. I felt bad because there was a family with little kids right behind us and I am sure they could hear everything the teens were saying. They were really starting to annoy me so we finished our meal and instead of just sitting there and enjoying ourselves, we decided to leave the park. It was unfortunate that our night had to end with this annoyance but overall we had a really nice day. I was bummed that the weather wasn’t too great for our time at the MK but we ended up making the best of it. We left the park a little after 10.

We caught a bus back to POFQ and first thing I did was soak my feet in the bathtub to try to get the dye from my flip flops off. I scrubbed them three times while soaking them in warm water and couldn’t get the dye to completely come off. I was too tired to care so I gave up and went to bed around 11.

Up next: Last full day in the parks