Trip Report Quick and (hopefully) Painless Princess Half Visit

Hello friends and fellow Disney travelers,

It's been a long month and half since our last visit, so it's about time we headed back to the World. OK, so, maybe that's stretching things a bit. Yes, we really are about to drive 950 miles each way for 3.5 days of vacation. Crazy? Yup. Guilty as charged.

We went to the World this year to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve. Long after that trip was totally planned, the idea of @MeffysMom doing the Princess Half (Glass Slipper challenge, in fact) came up. So, we looked at funding, decided to forego food and drink for a couple months and BOOM! another trip to the World.

Here's the plans (and a sneak preview of us running from when we went to the 2013 Tower of Terror 10 miler).

But if you need more Brifraz background, check out all the Trip Reports in my signature below - there's quite a few of them.

OK. Our adventure begins on Wednesday night, February 17th when yours truly has to conduct a concert at the high school where I teach. When the school calendar was set-up, we weren't even close to planning this trip, so we are stuck with a departure time of after 9pm. UNLESS...and this is the dreaded maybe good, maybe bad unless - we get enough snow that school gets closed and the concert postponed BUT, of course, not so much snow that we can't leave! To get to the point, we hope to hit the road around 10pm which means an estimated Disney arrival at about 1pm on Thursday.

Thursday in the World will start with a visit to the Race Expo at Wide World of Sports. Picking up our race packets and bibs as well as checking out some of the swag and visiting the KT Tape booth. We have some mid-late afternoon FP+ for Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom, but whether we hit those or not, who knows! We will be going to the Poly for dinner - in fact, the Spirit of Aloha dinner show with a family that I have been friends with the dad since we were in middle school together - they are also Disney fanatics and running some of the races. After dinner, back into MK for a little while depending on how tired we are. And, somewhere in there, we will check in at Old Key West!

Friday morning we will be up very early for the 5K. We shall see how this goes. Back in 2013, my daughter and I had a blast in the 5K and I pushed her pace the whole way. However, just a year ago at a 5K in Washington DC, I made it about 50 yards into a 5K before one of my knees totally gave out and she ran the whole thing while I limped behind trying to keep her in sight. Thus, the visit to the KT Tape booth and hopefully getting my knees professionally taped. After the race, we will stick around Epcot for a while for hopefully a couple rides and a visit to the Rose and Crown. Late afternoon, we will head back to the room for a little down time (maybe even a nap). In the evening, we are going to hit Studios for a few FP+ and the Star Wars Dessert Party (and fireworks).

Saturday morning @MeffysMom will be running the 10K first thing. If she keeps her usual pace, we will actually still be able to go to Animal Kingdom for opening at 8am. And we have late morning FP+ and plan to use them (Everest, Nemo, Primeval Whirl). We are meeting up again with our friends for a late lunch at Raglan Road. The rest of the afternoon and evening are for relaxing at the room/pool.

Sunday is the super early morning for @MeffysMom to run the Half Marathon. Followed by a little more time at Epcot - can't immediately go to rest after a long run! Hope to hit Rose and Crown again, although we hear it can be a little crazy after races. After a return to the room and a nap, we have dinner ADRs at 1900 Park Fare which will be followed by some touring time in Magic Kingdom with FP+ for 7 Dwarves, Peter Pan, and Wishes.

Monday morning we will be hitting the road to head back home. Hopefully on our way at 9am so we can be home by midnight.

That's the plan, folks. Let me know what you think and as always suggestions are welcome!

 

[brifraz]

I am so very sorry for getting behind on this report. We got back late on Monday night and since then it has been a whirlwind of rehearsals and work (and, of course, work drama). So, let's get back to things here!

Friday started with the race and you have already seen those pictures above. Of course, here is the obligatory post-race with our medals picture.

Once the post-race snacks and water were taken care of, we headed right into Epcot. Our first stop was Innoventions for Sum of All Thrills and a visit to the new Colortopia which our daughter really enjoyed quite a bit. Then it was over to the single rider line for Test Track, which meant a relatively quick wait, but no unique cars - which meant another visit would have to happen. We then headed back into World Showcase where the girls got some food from the Boulangerie and then managed to catch some characters. At the entrance to World Showplace, we have now twice found the opening time mini-Characterpalooza. And some good unique characters. We were particularly happy to see Launchpad McQuack!

The last character we got to meet was our good friend Carl in his corner at the Rose and Crown, where I enjoyed some fish and chips with my pint (or maybe it was two).

We spent a good hour or so talking with Carl and enjoying our pints and talking to some of the other patrons of this fine pub. And then it was time to get a little rest. The evening plans included some Studios time and Star Wars fireworks, so we went back to the room and the girls got a nap while I visited the jacuzzi at the Turtle Pond pool (knees having completed their icing time, it was heat time to get things moving again).

I promise it won't be another week before I get Friday finished up and move on to the rest of the weekend!

 

[brifraz]

After that R&R time in the room, it was off to Studios for a night of Star Wars goodness. Actually, it started with the rides on Tower of Terror and Toy Story Midway Mania (both thanks to FP+). But then, it was Star Wars time. Starting with a ride on Star Tours - after the now standard opening scenes with the Millenium Falcon and Jakku, we got a section that we have not had before - Boba Fett, an asteroid belt, and then meeting up with the Rebel Fleet as heroes. Glad to have a different experience!

Then over to the Star Wars Dessert Party (the full name of which would be too long for one post). We really liked the food selections at this one and I, for one, was very glad to have some savory choices (cheeses, C-3P0 crackers, hummus) to go with the desserts. The special mixed drinks were really enjoyable as well. I know these parties are expensive and often not really worth the actual dollar amount, but we basically got dinner, 3-4 alcoholic drinks each for the grown-ups, quite a few desserts, and great seats for the fireworks show - maybe it was a decent value? And we also enjoyed the front row seats for the evening dance party (which was far better than I would have expected - decent mix of music and constant character interaction).

Dance Party

Some desserts (including the Darth Maul eclair, which I thought was pretty entertaining)

And, gratuitous fireworks pictures over the Chinese Theatre.

Post-fireworks, we headed back to our room to get some rest before another very early morning for @MeffysMom to run the 10K.

 

[farrellbarrel]

Yayy running Princess! It is my dream to run and I love living the dream each year through TRs! Cant wait for more!!

 

[Nubs70]

I agree the Star Wars fireworks were spectacular last night...though I was not enjoying dessert or able to hear the music, I had a perfect view from the window in my room at Pop Century (50s section).
I watched them at the bus unload area on the sidewalk to the Boardwalk. Sight line directly from over the entrance to left of the Chinese theatre. Could hear the music pretty well. I think that area is the best place to view the fireworks.

 

[brifraz]

Good Saturday morning! That's the 5:30am view of the start of the 10K. While @MeffysMom (AKA Provincial Belle) was running, we visited with a Princess.

And we thought it was pretty cool that we got to meet a character at 6am. But, somebody else was getting a few more meet and greets!

And then finally got to the finish. All those meets didn't make for the best race time, but...really, it's a Disney race!

After the race, we headed over to Animal Kingdom for a quick half day visit. We started with the Safari and a big good morning from one of the residents.

Then we hit FP+ for Expedition:Everest and then over to see Finding Nemo:The Musical, which is one of our favorite shows on property. Always an enjoyable show and while this time we were seeing quite a few cast members who were new to us, it was still a great production. We then hit FP+ for Primeval Whirl and headed out of the park for a little bit of rest before our lunch at Raglan Road. But, of course, I had to (and no brifraz trip report would be complete without it) get a picture of the construction progress going on around the River.

Lunch and the evening will be coming at you later!

 

[brifraz]

After a break at the room, we took the boat to Disney Springs to meet up with my old friend for lunch at Raglan Road. Honestly, Raglan Road is one of my favorite places on Earth to eat - not just at Disney. So, I was quite happy for this lunch. I had the chicken pie that was the pie of the day (along with the soup of the day) and washed that down with the Irish Whiskey flight and the house stout. And Provincial Belle decided that the only way to recover from the morning race was with the Sunday roast and a stout of her own.

After lunch, we did a little shopping around Disney Springs and, while they were not purchased, somebody enjoyed checking out some specialty ears inspired by a couple of runners from the 5K - amazing how they got them made so fast after seeing us just 36 hours earlier.

Since the next morning promised to be a very early and exhausting experience, we headed back to OKW and just relaxed around the pool and at the Gurgling Suitcase. One more picture of the medal enjoying its day had to be taken.

Not sure that I will get Sunday posted today (just a week late), but I will try to get it up soon!

 

[brifraz]

I hope you are ready for some pictures. It's Half Marathon time. Only a few of these are my shots - the vast majority being taken along the race route by @MeffysMom, but these will give you a very good idea of what it is like along the race.

While she was racing, the two of us were first cheering along the road, then taking the monorail to MK and cheering in front of the castle, and then monorail back to Epcot for the finish. It was quite a good time and our racer had an awesome morning, which I'm sure you will realize as you go through the pictures.

So, let's start at the beginning. The runners were corralled near the exit from Epcot Enter Drive to Backstage Lane and the crowd was lined up on Epcot Center Drive across from the parking lots (about halfway from Backstage Lane to the Epcot exit. So, from where we stood...here's the start of the race!

The course went along Epcot Center Drive (where a marching band was entertaining the runners) and then turned onto World Drive to head to Magic Kingdom. Along the way, they had some Princes to meet with the Princesses who were running.

In the Magic Kingdom parking lots, Jasmine (keeping warm in her cloak) and Aladdin were saying hello to the runners and
I'm not totally sure where they were, but Jack and Sally were also on the way into Magic Kingdom.

Meanwhile in the Magic Kingdom, we were watching the sun come up on Cinderella Castle. And then, soon enough, there was @MeffysMom coming up to the castle. As she approached the castle, there was a brief snow squall behind with Elsa and Anna leaning down from the back parapets of the castle. Then through the castle for the obligatory celebration picture!

After that, it was out of the Magic Kingdom via the Frontierland Parade gate and headed back to Epcot- which meant quite a few more characters along the way!

Now, this next one is a little perplexing, but there was a 'faux' wedding going on along the parade route, so naturally a picture had to be taken!

And then a few more friends! (yes, there are a lot of characters along this course!!)

As she crossed the finish line, it was time to gather up the medals (we had brought the 10K one for her) and off to the Glass Slipper Challenge tent to pick up that medal and get the professional pictures taken. Once we had reunited, it was time for some of the snacks from the goodie box and a delicious malty beverage to help the body recover from the run. Our plan was to keep things moving so as not to get too sore too quick, which meant we were going to head into Epcot for the rest of the morning.

On the way in, we did have to make a short pit stop for a little recovery time.

But, soon we found ourselves in Epcot and heading to Test Track to wait in the (gasp! horror of all horrors) standby line! It was far and away the longest line we had all weekend at about 40 minutes, but it meant that cars could be designed and enjoyed on the ride! The rest of our Sunday and our departure Monday coming soon to a Trip Report near you.

 

[brifraz]

Almost forgot to mention our pre-race quick meet up with @TrolleyFollower91 who recognized @MeffysMom from her costume pictures back at the beginning of this report. Glad we posted those! Great to meet a WDWMagic friend. And...of course, we were so ramped up for the race that we forgot to take a picture.

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Almost forgot to mention our pre-race quick meet up with @TrolleyFollower91 who recognized @MeffysMom from her costume pictures back at the beginning of this report. Glad we posted those! Great to meet a WDWMagic friend. And...of course, we were so ramped up for the race that we forgot to take a picture.

@Tuvalu was so disappointed we didn't take a picture! And that we only referred to each other by our username! It was so good to meet y'all, and great to see your pics!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Now, this next one is a little perplexing, but there was a 'faux' wedding going on along the parade route, so naturally a picture had to be taken!

Hahaha I was so confused by this. At first I thought it was a princess dressed up in wedding attire, and then I decided it was just a wedding party?

On the way in, we did have to make a short pit stop for a little recovery time.

I love this picture. So many emotions!

 

[brifraz]

OK - it seems like Monday is the day that I actually have a few minutes each week to put together some trip report action for you, so...another week later in real time and we are just a couple hours later in Princess Trip Report time.

After our extensive line time for Test Track, we needed a little refreshment, so back to our favorite haunt, the Rose and Crown for a pint and some chips. The medals seemed to enjoy the pint quite a bit.

Then it was back to our room to get refreshed and for the girls to get a short nap. We then caught a bus to Disney Springs where they had some Post-race activities going on. I got pictures of both girls in front of their race signs.

We then bussed over to Grand Floridian for dinner at 1900 Park Fare. Figured a buffet would be a good idea after the long morning! This has to be our 10th or so trip to this dinner and we have always had a great time with the characters - especially Anastasia and Drizella, so we were a little shocked when they were not there! But...it meant that we got to meet characters new to us, Perla and Suzie.

After dinner, we headed into Magic Kingdom where we had FP+ for the Mine Train and Peter Pan followed by reserved seating for Wishes. Given how tired we were, having that area to relax as we waited for Wishes was a very good thing!

After the castle show and fireworks, it was time to head back to the room to get packed and ready to head out - but, first a quick stop at the Gurgling Suitcase for a nightcap and some french fries!

 

[brifraz]

OK, FINALLY wrapping up this Trip Report with our last morning in the World.

Up early and got the car all packed up. That left us with about an hour to spend in Animal Kingdom before we would need to hit the road northward. Of course, that means, a quick hit of rides!

First up was a family ride of Everest and then the girls decided to do it a second time while I documented the secret rocket launching from the mountain.

Then, we headed to Hester and Chester's and split up for our last ride of the visit. Perhaps this is a bit backwards, the grown-ups went on Triceratops Spin while our daughter went on Primeval Whirl (which is one of her favorites).

And that was it. Next up was 15 hours in the car, most of which on I95 northbound. But, all worth it. We had a great short trip and definitely made the most of our time in the World. Thanks for riding along with us.

Now, we have an unknown amount of time before we head to the World again. This summer, we are driving across county and are hoping to spend a couple days in Disneyland when we get to the West coast. See you then!