A Star Wars 4k and Half Marathon Trip Report - Update 11/1 Half Marathon and AK

[DebiPT]

This will be my second go around on a trip report. They have always been so helpful to me, I wanted to start returning the favor.



Little bit about me, I am a physical therapist in New York, although I have only lived here for about 10 months. Up until my move, I lived just two hours from Disney World. I am still adjusting to being so far away . This will be my seventh half marathon (plus a full) which have all been Disney. I love doing runDisney events and I try to keep them stacked up so I am always training for something. I’m registered for the Wine and Dine two-course challenge in November.



We usually go Deluxe resorts for race weekends (I justify the cost as my reward for all the training), but because my family was running the 5K, we were staying for five nights and it was a little too pricey. So this was my first time at Caribbean Beach. My mom and brother were running the 5k with me and I was running the half marathon by myself.



Thursday, April 4, 2019 — Travel Day and Caribbean Beach



I had mid-morning flight out of White Plains, which was the perfect amount of time to drop off my pups at “camp” and get back to my apartment in order to Uber to the airport (parking at HPN is like $35 a day). The flight was also early enough for me to get to the expo and pick up my bibs for the 5k on Friday.



It was an un-eventful flight and my mom picked me up from the airport. We made our traditional Publix stop. There are several Publix between the airport and Disney which are pretty easy to get to. We picked up Gatorade, bananas and watery fruit. My mom still had bagels and peanut butter from Princess weekend. I also grabbed some chicken tenders for lunch (miss these so much in New York).





We made a stop at the Expo to pick up our bibs. It was about 2 o’clock at this point. The expo gives me sensory overload, and feels so inefficient (for me, not for the crowd as a whole) as I need to make three different stops. There were no lines to get bibs. We headed over for my obligatory magnet and pins. There also was almost zero line for merchandise. For this race, my mom also bought the cheer squat package so we had to pick that up as well. Finally, we got our shirts and headed out.












On our way into the expo, my mom checked us in. I don’t know if it’s an issue with her phone but she never gets the text that our rooms are ready. When I check in, I always get it. It’s weird. So we had to head to the Caribbean Beach front desk. I really liked Caribbean Beach. The rooms were nice and spacious, bed were comfortable. Everything was easily walkable. There were several quiet pools. I probably like the theming of Port Orleans a little better, but they are both nice.






My two complaints are as follows: our room was right beside the construction for the Skyline, making it a little difficult to relax during the day. Probably not an issue for most buildings or even the rooms on the parking lot side of the building, but our room was front and center. If you can avoid Aruba until it’s done, I would. Secondly, is also a complaint about AKL and Poly, the quick service food is a little too “themed.” The very specific food every day gets a little old.

Because we hadn’t gotten any word on our room, we stopped at the front desk. This seemingly takes so long. It’s so much information that I obviously live without when I get the text and go straight to my room.

Our room had a beautiful view of the lake. I unpacked, set out my clothes (at which point I realized I forgot my Sport Beans), put the food in the fridge. We then rested a little bit before heading over to get some dinner at the CBR’s quick service counter, Centertown Market. I put my amateur photographer cap on and took pictures on my way over. I got the tacos, which were good! The food here is all good, just too similar to eat everyday.



After we ate, I watched Grey’s Anatomy and then tried to get to bed early.

 

[DebiPT]

Friday, April 5, 2019 — Shortened Star Wars 5k, Magic Kingdom



Those 3 am wake up calls are brutal. But it’s easier when it comes from Winnie the Pooh.



My mom and I got ready and then waited for my brother (he’s local) to meet us at our room. I had shirts made for all of from GlitterEverAfter on Etsy. A little background on my family. My mom had open heart surgery in September and just a few weeks before my brother had a heart attack which required three stents. This 5k and now the half marathon in November are part of their getting healthy program. My mom walked the Wine and Dine 5k last November since it was just 8 weeks after surgery, but this time she had started to train to run (she’s 75).



We got a little nervous when the first bus past us because it was full, but another came quickly. However, it was also packed, and we had to sit apart.



Once we got to the start line, it was organized as usual. I’m not a big Star Wars person. I like them but I’ve only seen each movie once so characters and such don’t necessarily appeal to me.



We took our bathroom break and headed to the corral. The weather seemed lovely at this point. The announcers were doing their usual thing but it seemed off. They were as talkative and they were showing a lot more clips from the movies than interacting with the crowd and such. This was my 10th event and they always seem to run like clockwork so it seemed weird when they brought up the Make-A-Wish person with only 5 minutes left, and then at 5:32 they started showing another Star Wars clip. That’s when they came out and said due to weather we were evacuating the area, but maybe we would be back by 6. Since we were barely out of the corrals at 5:45 this seemed unlikely. We were told to follow the directions from race officials, but once we left the corrals there didn’t seem to be any around. Some of the crowd went toward Epcot, some went toward the pre-race area, some people just stopped and sat at the tables. We could see people getting on buses so we headed that way and I’m glad we did, some people on our bus stood the whole time.



We waited for about an hour. I napped. And then someone came onto the bus and announced that we would go at 7:15, mass start and the course would be shortened. For anyone else that ran and wondered, our bus was specifically told to just jump in the race at the buses after the wheelchairs went through, but we chose to walk back to the start line.



It was chaos, but we had so much fun. It was raining and everyone was packed tother so tight. I loved running through Epcot in the light. We held hands and ran across the finish line. My brother and I would later debate about who “won.” But I’m sure it was me.




After the race, we took a group picture with our medals and then headed for the buses. There was a CBR bus at the ready. And we were back to the resort about 9 am. My brother had to get to work soon so we went to the quick service for breakfast for my Mickey waffles. I order them from the kids menu, but they gave me FOUR waffles (this would be different later in the weekend).



My brother headed to work and my mom and I took a nap.



I had a few fast passes for MK in the early afternoon. We drove over because we were headed to my nieces play later in the evening. I didn’t make fast passes at the 60-day window and I had very few options. I went to use my FP for Thunder Mountain, but right before I got in a car it shut down. Like no, wait for a little bit and then send everyone away. The cast members immediately got everyone out of line. They gave us FPs on the way out that we were told we could use for anything.



Now, I do know that usually these are limited but I they said we could use them for anything so I thought maybe it was different one for some reason or maybe that had changed. So we walked over to Mine Train since I thought I could use it there. Well, you know, I couldn’t. Not for Mine Train or Peter Pan. I just wish I would have known that since my second choice was Splash Mountain and I walked right past it. So we headed back to Splash Mountain. My mom won’t ride any of these with me so I went alone.



My second FP was for Peter Pan and my mom will ride that with me. And then we headed out to my nieces play.



While we were out I found online that CVS sells Sport Beans, which means I wouldn’t have to brave the expo again to get my beans. Once back at CBR, we headed to the Grab and Go, which is open until midnight. CBR has two quick service places, one table service restaurant, a poolside bar and a grab and go. The grab and go had a few hot items (sandwiches and pizza), cold sandwiches, bottled drinks, pastries (more importantly cupcakes), and a few snacks.



I picked up a pizza slice and some chip, which were OK.





We ate in the room and headed to bed.

 

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[DebiPT]

Saturday, April 6, 2019 — CBR pool, Hollywood Studios



Today I got a little sleep in. Shout out to those who do Dopey — not just for the actual distances — but for getting up at the early hour four mornings in a row. I was super excited because my good friend Charlotte was headed down from Gainesville to spend the day with me. It was going to be mostly a chill day.



We headed to the pool and just hung out for awhile. I was trying to limit my time in the sun to get dehydrated for the next day. After a few hours at the pool, we headed to the Centertown Market. This time I got the pulled pork sandwich which was very good.







We headed over to DHS for a bit before Charlotte had to go back. We were able to do Muppetvision, which I love. “A salute to all countries but mostly America.” When Charlotte had to leave, my mom came over for our Midway Mania FP. Before our FP time, we went into Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream to keep cool and watch the trailer for Dumbo. On a side note, Dumbo reminds me of one of my dogs Jeter so I think this movie will make me cry.



Toy Story Mania is a bit of a pre-race tradition for me. Not my best score. I really would like to beat 200,000, but I was really feeling the day in sun.



We headed out on the buses. Across the board, the bus system worked really well. I never waited for long, nor were they ever really crowded.



I wanted to head back to the room and maybe fall asleep early. We order pizza to be delivered. It was OK. I probably ate one too many slices. I set out all my gear, and packed my little race belt with my Sport Beans. I learned a little trick from one of my running friends to open the packs before putting them in my belt. It lets me push the air out to make more room and then I’m not fiddling with trying to open them on the course.



And I did fall asleep early, however we had the NCAA tournament on and the game got exciting and I woke up. I never got fully back to sleep before my 2:30 wake up call.

 

[DebiPT]

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[DebiPT]

Sunday, April 7, 2019 — Race day! And Animal Kingdom



Today was the day! Another early start.



I ate my breakfast while I got ready and then headed toward the bus at about 3:15. Again the first bus to come by was full, so the runDisney person called another bus into action and there only ended up being three of us on it.



While on the bus, I got a text from one of my friends/co-workers who I was supposed to meet at the start line that she wasn’t going to bring her phone to the race. We had set a tentative spot to meet (at the banners with the letters), but I knew it still might be chaos if we couldn’t contact each other. Luckily, at the last minute she decided to bring it because when I got there I realized the banners with the letters are only at the finish line (I have no idea what they are even for). I knew I had seen them at other start lines, but it must have been at the races when the start and finish line are the same.



We texted each other and met up. Since they started releasing the corrals in mini-waves, I wanted to get to the corral as quickly as possible. We got pretty close to the front and then took turns going back to the bathroom.



My training has certainly suffered since I moved to New York and I’ve struggled with a little “bagel” weight. Especially with 98% humidity, I wasn’t planning on setting an PRs, but I was hopping to better my time a little from the Princess Half. I guess, I did. I bested it by 48 whole seconds. Unfortunately, that’s still an hour off my PR so I have a little work to do before the Wine and Dine in November. I knew I probably wouldn’t get swept, but I wanted to make sure I finished within the 3:30 time limit. It’s just an ego thing.



I’m not a big Star Wars fan, but this is a good race. There is a service road you start down where there are lasers and explosions going off in the woods to make you feel like you are in a “war.” It’s also a great course that starts at MK parking lot, heads down to AK and then across to DHS, along the boardwalk and around the countries of Epcot before the finish line.



I started out pretty well. I have a difficult time figuring out my pace during actual races as it’s difficult to start my watch at the right time and it will pause during bathroom breaks. I actually follow myself so I will get official texts with my pace a few times during the race.



I really enjoyed the run through the service road and of course through AK, but that stretch along Osceola Parkway before DHS is always a tough one. I was really trying to push hard. I started to feel very nauseous during the second half, particularly when I would run hard. I couldn’t figure out if it was dehydration or my pizza from the night before.



It gets difficult when you run as slow as I do right now because I slipped back into a mostly walking crowd, which made it difficult to navigate the course. Hopefully, I can keep a faster pace in November. I made it to DHS right on the 16-minute pace (there is a 15k mark right before you enter DHS, so you get an official text) so I knew I need to keep pushing through the last few miles. I had to stop a few times in DHS at water fountains to splash a little cold water on my face. The water you get on the course is lukewarm.



I always get nervous running along the boardwalk because I’ve slipped on it so many times just walking. Finally, I made it through Epcot and out through the finish line at 3:29. Whew, just made it. My mom was sitting in the cheer squad section.



I was feeling very hot at this point and I’ve had a history of heat illness so I grabbed a bag of ice to put on my neck. Because I wasn’t feeling so great and I wasn’t super interested in any characters, I met my mom at the bus for CBR. At this point, the sun was out bright and shiny so it was nice that there was a bus waiting that we could get right on.



My mom had gotten me a rose and Star Wars balloon at the cheer squad tent so I took some pictures with that and my medal. I showered and put on my pjs while my mom went and got me some Mickey Waffles (she’s the best!). Oddly this time, I only got two waffles. I napped for a bit because my friend Trinette would be coming down to spend the evening and next morning with me!




Trinette got there around 3 and we headed to AK on the bus. Only took about 30 minutes to get from our resort to Expedition Everest where we had FPs. I don’t think I’ve ever sat so close to the front (second row) and didn’t realize how far out you went on the “broken” track. Weird.



We had about an hour before our Na’vi River Journey FP so we started to look for somewhere to eat. I wanted to do a counter service restaurant, but I also wanted to sit inside. So we decided to see about Yak & Yeti wait time. It was only 15 minutes so we decided to wait. We got a nice table by the window.



We split the Pork Pot Stickers and the Coconut Shrimp. I got the Teriyaki Shrimp and Steak with rice and then I got an extra side of plain rice (I was pretty hungry). It was all really good.




We had to hurry up at the end to make the tail end of our FP time. I have never even seen Avatar but I can still appreciate the quality of Pandora. By that point I clocked about 20 miles for the day so I was ready to head back and just chill.


Before we went back to the room, we stopped at the Grab and Go, and I got a Minnie Mouse cupcake. I do love my cupcakes. For the rest of the evening, we just chilled and watched Law & Order.