Our Child-Free Migration Vacation...Plus the Princess Half Marathon! 2/20-2/27

Disneyworld Trip Report: “Our Migration Vacation: 7 Days of Child-Free Fun in the Florida Sun…PLUS the Princess Half Marathon!”

Ok, so you get the title...DH and I are headed back to WDW! We're running the Princess Half Marathon at the end of our vacation, and we're not bringing our kids this time! Oh, and "migration" because we live in the Pacific Northwest...we're heading south for a break from the rain and cold!

Cast:

Myself: Melanee: pushing 30, adventurous Mom extraordinaire, Stay-at-home-Mom, student, runner, singer, UofO Duck fan
DH: Ben: 33, adventurous Dad extraordinaire, Coast Guard helicopter pilot, college football fanatic, WSU Cougars fan, avid hiker/mountain climber

Here's a few pics from our May 2009 trip:

Here's the whole family at the Hoop de Doo Revue:

This is a MOM&DAD-ONLY TRIP!!! This is the first ever for us! Of course we have not mentioned to our kids that we are going. They probably will be mad when they learn we went without them. But we couldn’t take them out of school, and frankly, we needed a husband-and-wife only trip. It might be our first real vacation just us in our whole marriage, so ummmm, IT’S ABOUT TIME!!! So let’s get the party started!

PRE-TRIP:

Backstory:

Hello everyone and welcome to my first trip report in a while! I did the math and it had been 502 days in between our trips to Walt Disney World! That is so long!! It had been exactly 420 days since we’d been to Disneyland. So 60 weeks since we’d last stepped foot in a Disney Park of any kind!! It was weird to know we hadn’t visited one at all in 2010. But life has changed and we live all the way across the country now (literally 2 blocks from the Pacific Ocean). We got totally spoiled from 2008-2009 living on the Panhandle of Florida, visiting 5 times in that period.

Trip Journal:

Surprise!
Back in August of last year, I started to price out what it would cost for DH and me to head to Florida to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary. That fell through and then I came to peace with not going. Then my awesome, incredible, amazing husband surprised me on our anniversary day with red roses, and a really cute card with his present written inside…One trip to run a Disney Half Marathon!! Wow!

Originally I figured we’d just head down to Disneyland, then after researching when the races were, I knew I didn’t want to wait a whole year to redeem my cool gift (which is how long it would be until the Disneyland one). So I asked DH what he thought about us going to Disneyworld for the Princess Half Marathon in February. He said, “Fo sho!”

So I got to work with planning, as any good DG (Disney Geek-adopted from BigTex71) does. First, had to decide when the vacation would happen…before, after or sandwiching the Princess Half Marathon. Well I’ve run a half marathon before, and I don’t walk very well for a few days afterward. So…I figured it made much more sense to trek around the parks for several days and run the PHM on our very last day. I also figured not everyone coming to run the race would vacation before the race so hopefully the crowds would be minimal. So our tentative dates were February 20th-February 27th! Yay! One thing down. Only bummer is that this would be like week 8 of Winter Term for me for school. I just figured I’d have to work ahead the weeks prior. It’s worth it for a trip to Disneyworld!

A Day Off Property @ Disney is Better than a Day at Home!
Next I looked up places to stay and even called a Disney representative because they can search what dining deals there are and if/how you can swing military room discounts, etc. Unfortunately, Disney really couldn’t offer us much. But I was able to nail down a great reservation at an Armed Forces Vacation Club 2-bedroom timeshare for only $369 for the whole week, the same days we needed! And no, no timeshare presentation required… It’s really close by, and got great reviews from other military families we know. When I factored everything in, Disney’s deals didn’t even come close to matching the savings even if we had to rent a car. I don’t get picky when it comes to where we stay, as long as it means I’m going to Disneyworld, I’m pretty flexible. We do a lot of resort hopping while we’re at Disneyworld anyway. Maybe one day we’ll buy into DVC, and then we’ll start staying at resorts.

Next, I started to analyze park hours and extra magic hours. See, when I know we are staying off-property, I plan around EMH, specifically avoiding parks that have EMH. We also don't park-hop, we just enjoy one park per day. I came up with my outline and laid down ADRs right away. It is SO EASY to get the ADRs you want when it is only 2 people versus our usual 5. Speaking of which, we worked out childcare right around now as well. Luckily, we have a great family who are excited for us and happy to help.

Brand New Dining experiences I have plans/ADRs for:
~ Beaches N Cream (no ADR needed)
~Pizzafari or Restaurantosaurus (no ADR needed)
~Jiko
~Le Cellier
~Raglan Road
~50’s Prime Time Café
~Boston Lobster Feast (@ DH’s request)
~Artist Point
Not new: Crystal Palace (breakfast-DH’s favorite).
I’m really looking forward to all of the dining experiences. I wish we had more time/stomach room for more J

Run Like a Girl!
For the next few weeks, I watched the PHM registration status like a hawk. I knew we’d have to pay for this trip gradually but I didn’t want to end up waiting so long that we couldn’t get in…because it was the reason for the trip in the first place! We missed the first registration price, but I’m glad I waited because over the course of those weeks, DH decided he’d like to run it with me!! *swoon* He’s the best! I love him so much! So when the PHM hit about 65% full, I registered us as a team, and picked Ariel as our princess. I also started searching for cool outfit pieces to wear to make the race even more fun!

A month later, it was time to buy our plane tickets. I was glad we waited on this too because DH learned that he’s got 3 weeks of training in Mobile, AL, which starts…February 28th! The timing couldn’t be better! DH started researching and was able to fix the plane tickets so that his will be paid for since it is work-related. Woohoo!! We just won’t get to fly home together obviously. So we’ll rent a car and drive down to Disneyworld from Mobile, something we are quite familiar with (if y’all don’t remember, we lived there for 5 years prior to moving to Rainy-ville, OR last year).

So in finishing up the details, DH ordered our military tickets through the local morale office, of which he just so happens to be in charge of and it is because of him DisneyWORLD tickets are now available for order. Until recently, we could only buy the military tickets to Disneyland. Did I mention how much I love him?? Somewhere around the same time, I ordered a cute sparkly green skirt and purple running top for the PHM.

25 days out:
We receive our info packet from our resort! YAY!!! Our vacation is starting to feel that much more real. We also file our taxes which is always a nice little bonus.

Another noteworthy subject: running endurance. About 2 weeks ago, DH and I had finally gotten up to running 6 miles. Then DH pulled his calf muscle. PT says he’s out for a few weeks! Yikes! And right in the middle of our training plan. Oh well, this race’s purpose is fun! I’ve gotten back up to 7 miles so far…When I ran the Eugene Half Marathon last year competitively, I’d only gotten up to running 10 miles, and it went really well still. So I know we’ll survive even if the best we do is 7 miles. We’ll do a walk/run combo and take time for character stops and such.

24 days out:

Our WDW tickets arrive!! YAY!!

We officially have all our ducks in a row! Now to just save up $$ for meals and FUN! Today it was actually sunny where we live, and I realized I don’t have any sunglasses or flip-flops. Time to go for a little vacation shopping trip. Another detail I worked out was that I booked a wonderful couple’s massage session! I researched all the different offerings on property, then went to the Niki Bryan Spas website (the company that does all of the Spa offerings in and around WDW). As it turns out, the same 50-minute couple’s relaxation massage costs $80 less just by going off property to the main spa!! I can’t wait to surprise DH with a couple’s message session! He’s going to love it. I plugged it into our itinerary for late afternoon on the second day we hit Typhoon Lagoon. *Note: It turns out I suck at surprises. I was so excited I went ahead and told DH ahead of time. His reply was a great big, mischievous smile and “NICE.”

20 Days Out:
Tomorrow we’ll actually be in our vacation month. What an amazing feeling. To tell you the truth, when we moved to Oregon, I figured we wouldn’t realistically be visiting The Happiest Place on Earth while we were here. Plane tickets for 5 are so expensive and I figured now that we live on the West Coast, we would choose destinations such as Hawaii, San Francisco or other warm places to visit while we were here. Disneyland, maybe. But here we are, as our vacation gets closer and closer, and it’s really going to happen! Brings a tear to my eye.

The closer we get to vacation, the more well aware I am that I need to start working harder on the curriculum for this term. I need to be a week ahead before we head out or I’ll be worried about school while we’re there. That is NO BUENO. No worrying while at WDW!! So starting today, I’m hitting the books hard.

See you in the next installment!:wave:

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Day 6: Magic Kingdom: Camera Nightmare, Expo and a piece of the Wilderness

The Lawnmower Tree

Ok, so in my head I have a count of "Lessons Learned" from just this day:

Lesson Learned: #1. Always double and even triple check to make sure your camera has its memory card and extra batteries

Lesson Learned #2. Visit any RunDisney Expo on its first day, right at opening if possible

Enter Lesson Learned #3. Trail's End Restaurant closes between 2-4 to clean up and prepare for the dinner hours. Completely closes, bar too. So that was a bummer. We are stopped in our tracks a bit. Do we wait, do we go back to the Magic Kingdom? Well either way, we enjoyed the boat ride over there on this hot day. The breeze coming off the water in our boat was just perfect. We decided to hop back on the boat and head for the Magic Kingdom. Either we'd eat at the MK or come back later.

I have to say, even though it was forced by our own mistakes, riding the boats around this afternoon was one of my favorite moments of the day.

And so we arrived again at:

The place was just packed beyond what we've ever seen it before!! We thought we'd get some rootbeer floats to hold us over til we found a place for dinner but the line was way out the door and down the street!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

SweetPee, this one is for you!! :wave:

Oh man! I soooo miss my Pop Princess Dooney! Ugh! Now I reeeaaally wanna go home so I can at least give it a hug! I love that folks think of me when they spot the Disney Dooneys. That's just like the utmost in cool to me. See, now when the new bags hit eBay and disneystore.com I need to order a set of every design. If Tracey questions the charges I can just tell him, "Look, people have expectations and I can't let them down. You know? I have a rep to protect here." :lol:

I love your choice of shirts at the Expo! That rocks!

I need to go google "spiro". What is that? I'm intrigued.

The banner for the Princess Half with the glittery shoe and the birds holding the ribbon shoe strings is so neat. I would totally hang that up in my house.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Day 6: Magic Kingdom: Camera Nightmare, Expo and a piece of the Wilderness

We proceeded over to Tomorrowland and got some FP for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. At this point, the crowds and the fact that we'd been together 24/7 for the last 7 straight got to us a bit. Ben and I decided to go our separate ways for an hour or so. He just walked around Fantasyland to see what was up with Pooh and the other rides, and I saw Carousel of Progress. I loved it. I love singing along

Then I got a bucket of popcorn, one of the souvenirs I get on every trip. The cool thing that I noticed when I added this bucket to my collection...since Disney changes their styles so often, even though I have 6 buckets, none have the same color lid. I enjoyed sitting and munching while I people-watched for a half hour or so.

Then we met up again, refreshed and ready to take on the crowds. Ben proceeded to wipe the floor with me on Buzz. I couldn't for the life of me find my laser! It was a bit underwhelming after riding TSMM. Always ride Buzz first, then TSMM so you aren't disappointed! Our favorite part is where you enter the star tunnel, we always go around and around continuously!

After Buzz, we decided to head over to Space Mountain since we still had FPs. They were way past the return time,so to be honest, I felt weird trying to use them. But the CM let us in anyway, and I read later that this is a sort of unspoken allowance that they let slide almost always. This ride was much smoother! (Alpha side?) For some reason the FP side was more fun (maybe because my stomach wasn't filled to the brim). We just laughed and laughed as Ben sung along to the funky/cheesy space music.

My lame-o attempt to get a picture.

After Space Mountain, we headed into Fantasyland again to find that everything was being mobbed!! Pooh was still down and Peter Pan's Flight was now 60 minutes...Mickey's Philharmagic had a line way past the queue which we've never seen before, and It's a Small World was 45 minutes. We didn't have the heart to check Dumbo. Yuck. Oh well, next time we'll do it all with the kids! We went to Hall of Presidents instead, which was something we didn't want to miss on this trip.

We LOVED it! DH had no idea that the curtain would open to reveal all of the presidents and being a lover of all things American History, he leaded over to me and whispered, "This. is. so cool." as I watched his jaw drop and remain there through the roll call. Great show!

We saw Patriotic Mickey doing his meet n greet in the staging area/queue for HoP but we had to go into the show before our line would get to him (missed him by 2 people!). And I would have gotten a picture of him but my camera batteries died!! :hammer: I was SO not on my game with my camera!!

Our plan was to head to Adventureland, get FP for Jungle Cruise and see the Tiki Room/get a Dole Whip. But the crowds were just making DH's head spin and I knew if we pushed it any longer, this day was not going to be magical to say the least. So we went back to the entrance and hopped a boat back to Fort Wilderness for dinner. We did not return to the Magic Kingdom that day.

Lesson Learned #4. Never, ever wait until your last day to tour your favorite park. At least if your day is a letdown, you have other days to pick up where you left off, and you can do a do-over. But for us, no luck. I was so mad at myself for this planning scheme!! Magic Kingdom is my favorite, and my theory was to save the best for last, and since the fireworks were at 8pm I figured we'd be able to last until them no problem, and still get home in order to get to bed at a decent hour to get up early for the race. It did not work that way. We were at the end of the vacation and our stamina was low and the crowds were so thick that day! That 3am wake-up call the next morning was sort of looming. Had we done MK earlier on in the week, all of those problems would have been non-existent. Well, I guess that means we have to go back and do a do-over...:drevil:

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Awww...I'm sorry! In the video where you guys were walking into PotC you went like skipping ahead and you can hear Ben say that which made me laugh. It was so random and cute and funny just watching you hearing him say that.

Haha that's right he does say that!! :lol::lol: I love him. You know what I love about that video? That really IS the way I enter Pirates, just about every time!

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Oh man! I soooo miss my Pop Princess Dooney! Ugh! Now I reeeaaally wanna go home so I can at least give it a hug! I love that folks think of me when they spot the Disney Dooneys. That's just like the utmost in cool to me. See, now when the new bags hit eBay and disneystore.com I need to order a set of every design. If Tracey questions the charges I can just tell him, "Look, people have expectations and I can't let them down. You know? I have a rep to protect here." :lol:

Oh yes, you must. :animwink: He'll just have to understand how much your fans mean to you.

I love your choice of shirts at the Expo! That rocks!

And to be fair, Disney did have some pretty great ones, they were just all GONE! All the more reason to get to the Expo early!

I need to go google "spiro". What is that? I'm intrigued.

It's just a shoe brand, the one sponsering the PHM this year. Ben LOVES his shoes! He's got flat feet, so when he finds a great shoe, that's a big deal!

The banner for the Princess Half with the glittery shoe and the birds holding the ribbon shoe strings is so neat. I would totally hang that up in my house.

LOL Me too! It was soooo pretty and princessy!

Ok, back to it! Almost to the Princess Half Marathon portion!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Ok, back to it! Almost to the Princess Half Marathon portion!

I know. I been just itchin' for the PHM part. ((squeals)) :sohappy:

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Day 6: Magic Kingdom: Camera Nightmare, Expo and a piece of the Wilderness

Last few notes:

So we rode the boats back to Fort Wilderness where we encountered an HOUR wait at Trail's End! "Whatever!! You can't beat the Bermans!!! We'll wait", we said (well not literally...literally we just said we'd wait). And guess what, somehow they found a table for us about 15 minutes later. The buffett was awesome as usual! Sorry I didn't take pictures, I was sooo hungry I guess I forgot! I also love their sundae bar! I was so tired at this point I was getting a little loopy and while standing in the sundae bar, the guy in front of me dropped a gummy bear in the caramel to which I cried out, "Oh no, bear overboard! He's drowning!!" (for some reason in a British accent). He actually laughed! No one ever gets my jokes. :lookaroun

Anyway, we had a great dinner, a highlight of our trip. Again like I said, we love it out there. The sun was setting as we rode our boat back to Wilderness Lodge. We thought about going to the Polynesian to watch Wishes at the beach, but I bowed out and gave Ben the signal to go ahead and head back. We really needed to rest up for the 13.1 miles we had to run the next morning! So with a heavy heart I gave up Wishes in leu of sleep.

So even though parts of this day were a downer, I was still SOOOOO excited because the next day I'd be running under the Magic Kingdom sign, through Cinderella's Castle and who knows where else, inside EPCOT and meeting all sorts of characters! Thinking of that instantly brightened my mood!

So finally I've gotten to it!! Next up will be my account of the magical hours within and surrounding the magical Disney's Princess Half Marathon!! :sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

 

[dreamlady85]

Loving the TR! Your pics are really gorgeous. What kind of camera do you use? Can't wait to see what characters you met during the PHM!

 

[HollyBelle]

Hooray!!! It's Princess Half Marathon time. :sohappy:

 

[Ariel484]

Lesson Learned: Visit the Expo on Friday, and as early as you can! Saturday around Noon was a madhouse! We parked in a grassy area quite a ways from the entrance and hoofed it over there. The midday temperature was around 83 degrees so by the time we got over there we were sweating our tails off. To tell you the truth, it felt great!

Preach. The expo was overwhelming.

SweetPee, this one is for you!! :wave:

Ha, I also gave her a purse shout-out! I'm really curious to see the race from someone else's point of view! :wave:

 

[Ariel484]

...I did find a great booth sponsered by www.rawthreads.com with all sorts of cute Princessy/Castle Half Marathon t-shirts! I bought this one and I love it. It's organic, soft and stretchy and I love that it has an extended hem. I also loved the printing of course. To be honest, I never spend $36 on a t-shirt, but I liked it that much and wanted to bring something special home from the Expo.

(It says, Race You To the Castle~13.1)

THANK YOU for posting this link! The official merch was just meh...and the line was huge. I wonder if you and I were there at the same time?? The shirt you picked is super cute! I might need to copy you and order one for myself! :sohappy:

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Loving the TR! Your pics are really gorgeous. What kind of camera do you use? Can't wait to see what characters you met during the PHM!

I use a NikonCoolPix Camera, L110. It really was a nice upgrade from my p&s. I also use some editting software to tweek the contrasting and lighting usually. It helps sharpen up the pictures a bit.

Hooray!!! It's Princess Half Marathon time. :sohappy:

Yes! And I will try to get to that today, and not keep everyone waiting!

Preach. The expo was overwhelming.

Ha, I also gave her a purse shout-out! I'm really curious to see the race from someone else's point of view! :wave:

THANK YOU for posting this link! The official merch was just meh...and the line was huge. I wonder if you and I were there at the same time?? The shirt you picked is super cute! I might need to copy you and order one for myself! :sohappy:

You should! It's a really nice company! The shirts are a little expensive but high quality. If you do get them, just wash them carefully, cold water only. I noticed the screen prints aren't made to withstand hot water washing (read the tag before washing).

 

[Ariel484]

You should! It's a really nice company! The shirts are a little expensive but high quality. If you do get them, just wash them carefully, cold water only. I noticed the screen prints aren't made to withstand hot water washing ( read the tag before washing).

Great, thanks for the tip. I agree that $36 is a little pricey, but how many times does one run the Princess Half at Disney?! :sohappy: Hmm, I'm sure that's how they want us to think so that we can justify the price! But I am definitely planning on getting one, thanks again for the heads up!

 

[emh1960]

Wow! Love your TR. Congrats on your Anniversary and the Marathon. We were there the same time, and were at the same parks some days! Looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Day 7: The Moment We've Been Waiting For...The Princess Half Marathon!!!

Ok, here goes!! I'm so excited to write this part~

Pre-vacation: Princess Half Marathon Training; I have to admit I'm a bit cloudy on this part. I was in Physical Therapy for IT Band issues so I didn't get to really vamp up my training until about 8 weeks prior to the race. And even then so, school kept me so busy I was lucky if I got 3 runs in a week, and the longest "long run" I got in was 7 miles. It took me so much time to get ahead on my school tasks in preparation for vacation that running lacked a little. I bought my green sparkle skirt from http://www.team-sparkle.com (also represented at the Expo) and my purple Puma running tank from somewhere online. I bought the tiara at the Expo. I carried my smaller P&S camera and my iPod Shuffle, but that was it. No gels or anything since they were available on course.

So let's see, we went to bed around 8:30 the night before and I set my alarm. I slept until about midnight and then proceeded to wake up every 20-30 minutes thereafter until I just couldn't stand it anymore and got up to make coffee at 2:45am. It does not matter what it is for, I do not sleep well the night before a race! As I'm getting the coffee ready, I mentally ask myself, "What on earth am I doing getting up this early??? It's like, the middle of the night it's so early!!" But once I've got a cup of coffee in me, my spring is back in my step. Also remembering that the Disney busses started running at 3am made me feel less weird for being up so early. I also kept reminding myself that this race was the very reason that brought us to Disneyworld this time and then...it didn't seem so early after all.

We got in the car at about 3:45 am. It was probably the first time this whole week we left according to our schedule. We arrived OP about 5-10 minutes later, along with a gazillion other people. The traffic wasn't too hard to handle though. But it is soooo hard not to freak out thinking the traffic will keep you from getting to your corral after they warn you over and over and over again that if you aren't in your corral by 5:30am you won't get to start. I've literally had that happen before(thankfully never a Disney race) Now THAT would be a nightmare!

So we got parked and Ben and I pinned our bibs on and started toward the Family Reunion area. They had huge spotlights shining up into the sky and the DJ was blasting something, probably Party in the U.S.A. We didn't really know where we were supposed to go. It was warm enough (60s) that we didn't need to check anything. But finally we found where the crowd was inching toward and stepped into the mob. We crept very slowly toward the corrals. We'd come early, but to be honest, it took longer than the 20 minutes the directions tell you it will take to walk to your corral. I don't think the 20 minutes takes into account the crowd being so dense you will barely be walking forward. It was like getting out of the MK after Wishes on a crowd level 10 night.

I think part of the problem was that they'd parked rows of Port-a-Potties along the walking route. The lines for the Port-a-Potties reached out into the crowd and the crowd would get stopped by the people just standing there. Eventually we walked past the graveyard of Backlot Tour busses(they're still there Holly!)

It is kind of weird that they just leave them there, and then walk all of us past them.

There were Port-a-Potties right before the Corrals (Hallelujah!) and we stopped quick for a last potty break. Then we proceeded to Corral D. It was great to finally get there. We were ready!

Here are two of my favorite t-shirts or team names I saw that day:

So in the Corral, we took a few pictures ourselves.

The start was awesome! We stood there for about a half an hour but the energy was up, the DJ was hoppin' some techno versions of classic Disney music, and before we knew it, the announcer introduced the Fairy Godmother! She was so funny! It was all so fun, it didn't feel like 5 am in the morning!

Corrals A-C started and then we moved up to the front. I couldn't wait! I loved that they started off every Corral special, and Fairy Godmother would say a different rhyme along with different fireworks for each one. Before we knew it, it was our turn!

LOL I think Fairy Godmother said the word "Hydrate" about a hundred times. She's right though!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfysutw8qB8

And our official Start!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QECBBsj69Ak

Oh gosh, watching those^^^^ videos gets me all choked up!!!

Here's another of my favorite videos posted on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVDsxono62Q&feature=related

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Wow! Love your TR. Congrats on your Anniversary and the Marathon. We were there the same time, and were at the same parks some days! Looking forward to the rest of your report!

Thanks and Wow! That's really crazy! Did you write/are you going to write a TR?

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Day 7: The Moment We've Been Waiting For...The Princess Half Marathon!!!

The first mile was pretty uneventful. Stepping on that starting line is forever etched in my brain though. It was a dream coming true!

Ben and I ran together, pacing ourselves and weaving in and out of people. Before we knew it, we reached Mile 1! I have to apologize, my pre-sunrise pics aren't that great.

Again, getting to Mile 2 was also pretty uneventful. It was really fun to be running with so many other people! I didn't wait for these gals to get out of the shot, I just took it. Speed Demon Ben wasn't into stopping for pictures. This was his first Half Marathon so I got the gist that he actually wanted to see how well he could do.

Between Miles 2 and 3 I started to see something lit up in the distance. As we got closer we saw that it was a playful band of pirates! We didn't stop though, their line was huge!

This was cool...to be honest, I wasn't sure where we were OP. We'd parked somewhere weird, then walked somewhere weird...but then I saw it...the Monorail!! Awesome! It was so great to see it speed right past us.

Next up was...the Magic Kingdom sign! I had really been looking forward to running under this!! Awesome!! Ben did stop briefly to get a picture for me

As you can tell from this picture, day was slowly beginning to break

Then we approached Mile 3! These were the three most effortless miles I've ever ran!

Ben running

Up ahead I heard some music and saw something going on. A character sighting! It was Elvis Stitch and Lilo! I really wanted to stop but the line was really long and I knew DH didn't want to. So I just snapped a quick picture.

Elvis Stitch Rocks!

 

[HollyBelle]

I absolutely LOVE your Ariel inspired ensemble!

 

[disneygirl1]

I am fianlly all caught up... Devon had a basketball tournament so I pretty lived in a gym this whole weekend causing be to get behind on your TR. :shrug:

Awesome update... My friend Jen was an extra in the Indiana Jones show when we went in December. She said it was a blast! :ROFLOL:

Oh and don't I know the horrors about forgeting an extra SD card for my camera. I made that mistake in 2009! Ending up paying over $40 for one at MK one night! I was seriously on the verge of tears handing over the cash for it!

I had never been to FW until our December trip when we went to hoop dee do. I have to say that place confusing the heck out of me, all the different internal buses. Geese if I ever stayed there I'd be lucky if I ever found my way out of the that place! :lol:

Yay!!! :sohappy: For starting the Princess 1/2 marathon portion of the trip! I been so waiting for this! Your outfit for the run was adorable. Very Ariel like!

Can't wait fo read more!

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Day 7: The Moment We've Been Waiting For...The Princess Half Marathon!!!

There were also guys and gals in Hawaiian gear cheering and dancing like it was a big beach party. They gave us all high fives.

Then before we knew it, we passed Mile 4! And check it out, the Monorail track was right above us!

We rounded the Speedway and then ran through the TTC parking lot and down under the arches there

They had some awesome Japanese drummers there!! Loved them!

TTC Monorail station:

Then we proceeded to run down the hill and under an overpass where they had a DJ set up. He was pretty funny...he goes, "You know, I'm so happy to be here at the Princess Half Marathon! Only the bummer thing is that you will forever remember me as the guy who was talking to you right before you ran up that terrible hill!"

Up the other side they had acrobats on a huge trampoline doing all sorts of tricks. Then we reached Mile 5!

At this point we passed the Contemporary and rounded toward the Magic Kingdom!! What an awesome feeling! We were almost there! (to the MK, not done by any means of course!)

And the monorail kept running above us. I just waved and waved at the passengers!