I have started typing many many trip reports in the past, and none of them have made it here to be posted because I have serious time management issues.
But here is hoping the 4th (5th??) time is a charm.
A little background info on this particular mini-trip…
A few years back I made a promise to myself that I would run the Princess Half Marathon, never having run more than a mile at one time in my life. A year came and went and I was no closer to accomplishing that goal. I happened to share this crazy idea with my future sister-in-law who actually was a runner, and she was totally on board. So we signed up for the 2014 Princess and there was no backing out.
So who did we manage to get to tag along? This crazy trip wound up including a cast of myself, my fiancé, his sister, mom and dad, my mom, my step-dad and my dad. Talk about a mixed family vacation eh?
Mike and I after I ran the Philly Half Marathon in Novemeber ( I wanted to have one under my belt before the Princess!)
When we planned the trip, I was hoping we would go for a week , but a little something called an ENGAGEMENT managed to change our plans. We needed to save money (and PTO) for wedding/honeymoon, so what was originally supposed to be a relaxed vacation turned into an extended weekend trip.
Okay Kait, let’s get on with it already!
Friday, February 21st
I woke up bright and early around 5am to take my mom and step-dad to the airport. Why we didn’t just take this early flight with them, I will never know. But ours was scheduled to leave later around 1pm. When we were planning the trip I was so worried about snow delaying our departure…. It would turn out I was super worried about the wrong thing! There was a huge line of thunderstorms and severe weather making its way across the country that day, and this would come to impact our travel greatly.
Prior to leaving for the airport, we got word our flight was about an hour delayed. We decided to get to the airport at our original time anyway, just in case it got moved back up.
What a mess! I’ve never seen a southwest check-in line so long and so slow in my life. I know PHL has a bad reputation, but we’ve really been so lucky previously. Thankfully we wound up in line with some very nice ladies who were also gearing up to run the race, so I had someone to talk to and get some of my pre-race jitters out.
To make a long, horrible, travel story short, we waited in this check-in line for 2 and a half hours. Yes, you read this correctly, 2 and a half. Our flight was now 3-4 hours delayed and the airport was a mess.
Passing the time…
We had dinner reservations at Artist Point, so I called to push them back to 9pm and eventually, I think around 5pm, we were in the air.
Once up above the clouds it was beautiful!
I apologize in advance for the craptastic pictures I took this trip. I normally use my DSLR a lot and take some really nice shots. I think the race had me all in a tizzy, so there are a lot of iPhone shots this time.
We landed at MCO and raced down to the magical express.
Love this sign.
We waited all of 2 seconds to board a bus and we were on our way to….
POP CENTURY!
I’ve stayed here before with my mom, but this was everyone else’s first time at this resort. I’m more of a moderate girl myself, but for a short trip on a budget this wound up being the perfect spot. But I digress.
It was getting late (but the actual time escapes my memory) and I knew we weren’t going to make it to the Wilderness Lodge if we took the bus to MK and then the boat. So taxi it was. We had our clothes in our carry-ons so we changed in the lobby at Pop. My mom and step-dad took our things for us and off we went!
Mike (fiancé) had never been to the wilderness lodge before, so we took a stroll around before we checked in to Artist Point.
having fun with hats..
It just felt so good to be back on Disney ground. Mind you, I’d been here in October for a weeklong trip with my dad, and also in August for a quick trip while I was speaking at a conference. 3 trips in a short span of time is not normal for me, so I was feeling pretty lucky!
We eventually checked in and were seated in the center of the dining room. We had read so-so reports of Artist Point, but the menu was up our alley so we really wanted to give it a try. It was pretty late, so the restaurant was fairly empty. You’d think this would mean we’d get extra attentive service, and we did, mostly.
I can’t believe I didn’t take any food pictures. I told you, I was all in a tizzy about this race.
I got the cheese plate appetizer and Mike got the pork belly I believe. We were both impressed and enjoyed them. What I did not enjoy, was my entrée being brought to me before I was done my appetizer. This really shouldn’t happen. I’m going to sound like a major foodie snob right here, but at a signature (read: expensive) restaurant, the timing of my meal should not be an issue. Regardless, they apologized and it wasn’t a big deal.
I got the cedar plank salmon because I wanted to try the “signature” dish of the restaurant. It was delicious and cooked perfectly. I really forget what it was served with but I remember I wasn’t a fan. Mike got some crazy meat sampler plate and there were things that he liked more than others. Man – I am terrible at this! I should NOT be a food blogger.
Regardless, we had a really nice evening and it was great to relax and spend some time together after a crazy travel day!
We grabbed a cab back to Pop and met up with my dad, who we were sharing a room with. We were pretty close to my mom and step-dad, but not at all close to Mike’s family. I was a little annoyed considering we had made the reservations as a group so we could be near each other, but wound up not being a very big deal.
The obligatory towel picture
We made plans with Mike’s sister, whom I was running the race with, to head to the expo the next morning and then we called it a night.
Coming up…..
Day 2 – expo and exploring WDW outside of the parks.
But here is hoping the 4th (5th??) time is a charm.
A little background info on this particular mini-trip…
A few years back I made a promise to myself that I would run the Princess Half Marathon, never having run more than a mile at one time in my life. A year came and went and I was no closer to accomplishing that goal. I happened to share this crazy idea with my future sister-in-law who actually was a runner, and she was totally on board. So we signed up for the 2014 Princess and there was no backing out.
So who did we manage to get to tag along? This crazy trip wound up including a cast of myself, my fiancé, his sister, mom and dad, my mom, my step-dad and my dad. Talk about a mixed family vacation eh?
Mike and I after I ran the Philly Half Marathon in Novemeber ( I wanted to have one under my belt before the Princess!)
When we planned the trip, I was hoping we would go for a week , but a little something called an ENGAGEMENT managed to change our plans. We needed to save money (and PTO) for wedding/honeymoon, so what was originally supposed to be a relaxed vacation turned into an extended weekend trip.
Okay Kait, let’s get on with it already!
Friday, February 21st
I woke up bright and early around 5am to take my mom and step-dad to the airport. Why we didn’t just take this early flight with them, I will never know. But ours was scheduled to leave later around 1pm. When we were planning the trip I was so worried about snow delaying our departure…. It would turn out I was super worried about the wrong thing! There was a huge line of thunderstorms and severe weather making its way across the country that day, and this would come to impact our travel greatly.
Prior to leaving for the airport, we got word our flight was about an hour delayed. We decided to get to the airport at our original time anyway, just in case it got moved back up.
What a mess! I’ve never seen a southwest check-in line so long and so slow in my life. I know PHL has a bad reputation, but we’ve really been so lucky previously. Thankfully we wound up in line with some very nice ladies who were also gearing up to run the race, so I had someone to talk to and get some of my pre-race jitters out.
To make a long, horrible, travel story short, we waited in this check-in line for 2 and a half hours. Yes, you read this correctly, 2 and a half. Our flight was now 3-4 hours delayed and the airport was a mess.
Passing the time…
We had dinner reservations at Artist Point, so I called to push them back to 9pm and eventually, I think around 5pm, we were in the air.
Once up above the clouds it was beautiful!
I apologize in advance for the craptastic pictures I took this trip. I normally use my DSLR a lot and take some really nice shots. I think the race had me all in a tizzy, so there are a lot of iPhone shots this time.
We landed at MCO and raced down to the magical express.
Love this sign.
We waited all of 2 seconds to board a bus and we were on our way to….
POP CENTURY!
I’ve stayed here before with my mom, but this was everyone else’s first time at this resort. I’m more of a moderate girl myself, but for a short trip on a budget this wound up being the perfect spot. But I digress.
It was getting late (but the actual time escapes my memory) and I knew we weren’t going to make it to the Wilderness Lodge if we took the bus to MK and then the boat. So taxi it was. We had our clothes in our carry-ons so we changed in the lobby at Pop. My mom and step-dad took our things for us and off we went!
Mike (fiancé) had never been to the wilderness lodge before, so we took a stroll around before we checked in to Artist Point.
having fun with hats..
It just felt so good to be back on Disney ground. Mind you, I’d been here in October for a weeklong trip with my dad, and also in August for a quick trip while I was speaking at a conference. 3 trips in a short span of time is not normal for me, so I was feeling pretty lucky!
We eventually checked in and were seated in the center of the dining room. We had read so-so reports of Artist Point, but the menu was up our alley so we really wanted to give it a try. It was pretty late, so the restaurant was fairly empty. You’d think this would mean we’d get extra attentive service, and we did, mostly.
I can’t believe I didn’t take any food pictures. I told you, I was all in a tizzy about this race.
I got the cheese plate appetizer and Mike got the pork belly I believe. We were both impressed and enjoyed them. What I did not enjoy, was my entrée being brought to me before I was done my appetizer. This really shouldn’t happen. I’m going to sound like a major foodie snob right here, but at a signature (read: expensive) restaurant, the timing of my meal should not be an issue. Regardless, they apologized and it wasn’t a big deal.
I got the cedar plank salmon because I wanted to try the “signature” dish of the restaurant. It was delicious and cooked perfectly. I really forget what it was served with but I remember I wasn’t a fan. Mike got some crazy meat sampler plate and there were things that he liked more than others. Man – I am terrible at this! I should NOT be a food blogger.
Regardless, we had a really nice evening and it was great to relax and spend some time together after a crazy travel day!
We grabbed a cab back to Pop and met up with my dad, who we were sharing a room with. We were pretty close to my mom and step-dad, but not at all close to Mike’s family. I was a little annoyed considering we had made the reservations as a group so we could be near each other, but wound up not being a very big deal.
The obligatory towel picture
We made plans with Mike’s sister, whom I was running the race with, to head to the expo the next morning and then we called it a night.
Coming up…..
Day 2 – expo and exploring WDW outside of the parks.
