COMPLETE- "We're Never Coming Back!...Until October" FEB '14 Princess Half Marathon

[emilyindisney]

Great update. Too funny that you spotted each other inside Test Track. A little alone time is probably a nice thing in WDW. Then you can do what you want uninterupted.

Agreed. I get my camera-pokiness from my dad so it's nice not to be rushed!

There is something to be said for solo time in the parks. I've traveled solo for a couple of the runDisney races when my wife decided to stay home with the kids. I missed her being there but I also had a great time just doing whatever I wanted. I've made some great friends on my Disney running team too so I'm not always alone when I go solo

I don't know if totally solo would be for me but so many people enjoy it so it definitely has its benefits!

My favorite thing about being solo in the parks is being able to take scenery pictures. Yours came out great!

That meet with Snow was adorable, and her new dress looks fab!

Haha, too funny that you saw each other on TT! I'm with you, I much prefer old TT.

Snow was adorable! She's a little blah in the movies, IMO, so I'm always excited when I meet her and she's got a great personality!

That is AWESOME!!! Great half marathon time!!!

Via Napoli is SO good! I have to laugh though.. those boys look like boys to me. I guess I am just old.

Aside from the fact it is REALLY good pizza, that is another reason I love it! Such a good and cheap sit down meal.

I am so sorry you were not feeling great. Being up since 3am.. running a half and then being up all day will kinda take it out of you, wont it.

Park time alone can be a LOT of fun.

And just as alone park time can be awesome... so can alone rest time!

YUM!!!

I didn't know you could opt out. I am not into that part of the refurb at ALL! I could completely leave it. I just want to ride in the car.

That is awesome that she was right there!

I like the actual ride part...but the designed car bit is just weird and what car shows up or doesn't does not make sense to me.

The design part was sort of fun- it reminds me of those screen games they added to the Space queue. Seeing as my car never showed up in the actual ride, the design seemed to have just as much importance as the Space games too, ahaha!

Great scenery pictures in Epcot and and adorable shot with Snow White. That pizza looks delicious!!!

I also still haven't managed to ride TT since the refurb, but it seems like most people have been pretty underwhelmed by it.

Yeah, I don't know, I definitely liked the corny crash dummies!

 

[emilyindisney]

Goodness- I'm embarrassed at how far behind we've fallen in posting! Never the less we've completed the writing and I'm posting our final two updates now. I know we'll want to do some follow up thoughts, and discuss a little bit of our upcoming trip plans before we close things out. Thanks for sticking with us!

Kona Cafe lives up to it's hype!​

I was hoping to sleep in Monday morning, but in reality we had to be up by 7:30 to pack and clean out our room. We got dressed, packed up, said goodbye to our beautiful room, and dragged our luggage downstairs to check into Tragical Express. On the way back we were flying Southwest with a layover in Baltimore. The first leg of our trip was on AirTran and because we were splitting airlines (even though Southwest owns AirTran) DME couldn’t transfer our luggage. I was a little annoyed because the person working the desk didn’t figure this out until after they took and tagged our luggage- VACATION RUINED! WE’RE NEVER COMING BACK! Okay, just kidding. We checked our luggage with bell services instead so it really was no biggie. Once that was sorted off we hopped a bus to the poly, and then the monorail to the Poly.

We sat down at Kona with no wait and ordered Tonga Toast, of course! Mom went for a ham and cheese omelette. Cait and I are big coffee drinkers so we couldn’t resist the french pressed pot.


100_7258 by secondaryhoney, on Flickr


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No more coffee


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Everything was delicious and extremely filling! We finished up with enough time to jump on the monorail for our next destination.


100_7264 by secondaryhoney, on Flickr

Isn’t the Poly so lush and beautiful? I love the lobby the way it looks now, but I’m eager to see how the renovations turn out.

Next stop was the Grand Floridian where we introduced MJ to the Grand life!


100_7266 by secondaryhoney, on Flickr

It was such a nice day out! There was a ton of yard work going on which I suppose makes sense seeing as it was midday and many people were out in the parks.


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My kingdom is in the background- what a view!


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MJ insisted on a picture of us after we made her stop for so many.


DSCN0054 by secondaryhoney, on Flickr

We stopped at the quick service location to rinse and fill up our mugs before heading to the bus stop to catch the next bus. The deluxe resorts have this nifty screen (and station attendant) that let you know how far each bus is. Unfortunately, every bus was almost a twenty minute wait so we ran upstairs and caught the last monorail to MK before it shut down for the morning. At MK we hopped a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.​

 

[emilyindisney]

Lounging at the Lodge

When we first got to AKL we got off in the Jambo House lobby and took a look around. It was beautiful, and very fitting with the theme but quite dark. In fact, it was a bright day outside but you’d hardly know it from inside!

At first we sat out back on a public balcony of sorts and enjoyed the view of the animals while enjoying some rocking chairs. We probably sat here for 20-30 minutes and just relaxed- it was really nice!

We decided to go down and see the animals up close.

MJ's favorite!


100_7271 by secondaryhoney, on Flickr


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Next we went to check out the pool.


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It was huge!

We stopped to view another savanah section.


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100_7281 by secondaryhoney, on Flickr

It started to sprinkle so we headed inside and picked up some Zebra Domes. I think I made a mistake in saving them in my bag for later because by the time I did eat them on our way back to BWV it was a little soft and melty. I got an orange flavored cupcake that was extremely delicious!

After we bought the Zebra Domes and filled up our mugs (again) we stopped in the gift shop and ran into a really nice CM who gave us free pins when he noticed our sets! It was a nice touch of pixie dust as we were getting ready to head home.

To round out the end of our trip, we took a bus to DHS, a boat to the boardwalk and ate lunch at the Bakery for a final time. We got on DME for our airport transfer at about 3:30 PM and were off to MCO.

Final thoughts to come!​

 

[KelleyK75]

It looks like you girls had a fun last day! I am sad to see your TR end, but will look forward to the next one.

 

[emilyindisney]

It looks like you girls had a fun last day! I am sad to see your TR end, but will look forward to the next one.

We did- it was definitely bitter sweet to go home but I can't complain because A) we had a great trip, and B) we're going back soon!

Aww, well thanks! I hope our race experience has you pumped up for your future PHM endeavor!

 

[KelleyK75]

We did- it was definitely bitter sweet to go home but I can't complain because A) we had a great trip, and B) we're going back soon!

Aww, well thanks! I hope our race experience has you pumped up for your future PHM endeavor!

It's always good to have a trip in the works when one ends, so you have something to look forward to. I am currently in the post Disney slump because I don't have anything else planned and don't know when I'll make it back. I am hoping Dec 2015, but that seems so far off.

Thank you, it was definitely great to read your race experiences and have an idea of what I will be getting myself into.

 

[emilyindisney]

It's always good to have a trip in the works when one ends, so you have something to look forward to. I am currently in the post Disney slump because I don't have anything else planned and don't know when I'll make it back. I am hoping Dec 2015, but that seems so far off.

Thank you, it was definitely great to read your race experiences and have an idea of what I will be getting myself into.

Oh, I agree. If I don't have one in the works sometimes I'll plan out a really intricate fancy dream trip just to hold me over. Dec 2015 will be such a great time to go! I'll bet the Christmas decorations are great, and totally worth the long wait.

 

[KelleyK75]

Oh, I agree. If I don't have one in the works sometimes I'll plan out a really intricate fancy dream trip just to hold me over. Dec 2015 will be such a great time to go! I'll bet the Christmas decorations are great, and totally worth the long wait.

Being at Disney for the Christmas season is really high on my Disney bucket list, so I am hoping it all works out. My birthday is Dec 30th, and I'd love to be at Disney for the time between Christmas and New Years, but I keep hearing how horrible the crowds are. I might have to settle for a before Christmas trip. But yes, I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

 

[annmarieda]

Breakfast at Kona looks amazing! I would have to get the pressed pot too!

Wise decision taking the monorail to MK!

Love the savannah pics! I like AKL. It is a tad on the dark side though but I think the poly is too.

yay for the pixie dust from the cm!

boo on the luggage mix up! Seems wrong that they can't do handle your baggage if you are transferring like that.

 

[courtneybelle]

Not the Tragical Express

I want Tonga Toast!!! SO good.

We had the bus screen at POR and it was awesome! I mean, not so awesome when all the buses are 20 minutes away, but still it's great to know when it's coming.

That's so sweet that the CM gave you free pins

 

[emilyindisney]

Breakfast at Kona looks amazing! I would have to get the pressed pot too!

Wise decision taking the monorail to MK!

Love the savannah pics! I like AKL. It is a tad on the dark side though but I think the poly is too.

yay for the pixie dust from the cm!

boo on the luggage mix up! Seems wrong that they can't do handle your baggage if you are transferring like that.

The inside of AKL is quite dark! It's sort of like going from night to day when you step outside, haha!

It was a bummer but I suppose I now know if there's a next time. Hopefully they can get their system acclimated to the AirTran/Southwest merger and it won't be an issue in the future!

Not the Tragical Express

I want Tonga Toast!!! SO good.

We had the bus screen at POR and it was awesome! I mean, not so awesome when all the buses are 20 minutes away, but still it's great to know when it's coming.

That's so sweet that the CM gave you free pins

Ugh- I want Tonga Toast so bad I've been scouring the web for a good (easy) recipe. I'm sure nothing can beat Kona though!!

That's good to know- hopefully the bus screen will be resort wide in the future. It's definitely a handy tool!

 

[emilyindisney]

Final thoughts:

First off, what a great trip! This was a great intro to the runDisney family of races and has me looking forward to whatever races we do in the future.

Second off, what a great trip report! It was so fun to meet and chat with all you guys! I hope you’ll send me links to all your TRs present and future so I can follow along if I’m not already. I've fallen considerably behind so if I was reading and disappeared don't worry- I'll be back to hear the rest of your adventures!

As promised here are some of our final thoughts on various aspects of the trip.

Accomodations:

Emily and Caitlin- I loved both resorts we stayed at! I definitely had this ‘all-stars are cheesey’ idea in my head before we went but now I consider myself so fond of them. Because they were so compact (which ranks high in my book) I think All-Star Sports rates above AoA. I’m excited to return to the All-Stars in the future. Of course, The Boardwalk was as fabulous as I imagined it would be. What a treat it was to try deluxe- I most certainly see why so many people get hooked. Renting points was a really affordable option for us and I’m sure that’s something we’ll try again. I’d highly recommend both resorts regardless of which end of the price spectrum they’re on.

Fastpass+:

Emily- My verdict is still out on this one and it’s mostly because Epcot was low crowds so I didn’t utilize the system to it’s full potential. I think we had good luck with making our reservations and no technical errors so I can’t complain there. I look forward to testing this in the future on longer, multiple park trips.

Caitlin- Hmmm. I think as a whole, I like FP+. I enjoyed being able to show up late to 2 park and know I could ride the big rides without a long wait. It was a little bit of a hassle to plan around prescheduled times while in the park (like make sure I was a certain place by a certain time) but I guess you had to do that with the old FP system anyways. I am a planner and a hater of crowds, and having FP+ meshes with my personality type which may be why it appeals to me so much. I am unconcerned that you now have to show up at rope drop or stay late to best utilize the system because those are things I would prefer anyways. In my book, for me personally and the way I like to do Disney (my #Disneyside...haha), FP+ is a good thing.

Magic Bands:

Emily- I loved magic bands!!! I liked having two to swap around my color options, and I loved not having to dig through a bag to find the room key when we got back after a long day. Tap to pay was really easy and settling the room bill with gift cards made it so we didn’t have to come home to a bunch of charges waiting for us. I’m pumped to add more colors to my collection in the future. Side question- Has anyone decorated their bands, or bought covers/sliders/etc? Those might be fun to look into!

Caitlin- I also loved magic bands. Ditto on the two colors, and boy Disney made it easy to take more of my money with the option of using them to pay! I love the convenience of it though, and thought they were so comfortable that I sometimes consider wearing mine while out and about at home, but I can’t decide if that would be a little weird….

runDisney:

Emily and Caitlin- The world of runDisney is a strange, magical place, isn’t it? They attract a whole different group of runners as compared to the average road race which I found to be both a positive and negative. The runDisney ‘culture’ is very different from some of the other running groups I’m part of and it can be very interesting to read different people’s take on things. Overall, we had a great race experience and I’d happily recommend PHM weekend to another runner (or soon to be runner looking for some fun race motivation!) I won’t return in the coming years, but that’s because I hope to be out running different runDisney races!

Pin trading:

Emily- I cannot wait to get back to WDW so I can swap more pins! I’ve probably bought 10-12 more online to beef up my trading collection in anticipation since we’ve gotten back. Here’s what my board is looking like these days:


photo (8) by secondaryhoney, on Flickr

Caitlin- I am both sad and happy that I did not get into pin trading before this trip. I’m sad, because I love trading-few things are as exciting as suddenly finding a pin you love or have been looking for-and I wish I could have done more of it on previous trips. However, my wallet is happy that I didn’t discover this earlier since I can’t seem to control my urge to buy more pins! My board currently looks like this:


photo (7) by secondaryhoney, on Flickr​

 

[rteetz]

What a fantastic trip! I loved reading your trip report and can't wait until you do another one. I will be competing in my first rundisney event in January. I'm doing the 10k during the walt disney world marathon weekend. Since it's my first ever running event I thought I would ease in and start with the 10k and in the future I can go to the half or even full if I wanted to. My aunt is doing the princess half marathon too. I can't wait to experience it. Once again what a great trip it was fun following along.

 

[emilyindisney]

What a fantastic trip! I loved reading your trip report and can't wait until you do another one. I will be competing in my first rundisney event in January. I'm doing the 10k during the walt disney world marathon weekend. Since it's my first ever running event I thought I would ease in and start with the 10k and in the future I can go to the half or even full if I wanted to. My aunt is doing the princess half marathon too. I can't wait to experience it. Once again what a great trip it was fun following along.

Aww, well thanks!

You're going to LOVE the 10k! I'll bet marathon weekend is going to be SO exciting- I hope you'll share what you think of everything via the boards or by a TR!

 

[rteetz]

Aww, well thanks! You're going to LOVE the 10k! I'll bet marathon weekend is going to be SO exciting- I hope you'll share what you think of everything via the boards or by a TR!

Yes I plan on doing a TR for that trip!

 

[disneyhorselover]

Aww, well thanks!

You're going to LOVE the 10k! I'll bet marathon weekend is going to be SO exciting- I hope you'll share what you think of everything via the boards or by a TR!

Also, (Everyone keep your fingers crossed for us!) we might be there that same weekend for Goofy! ....maybe....

 

[emilyindisney]

Yes I plan on doing a TR for that trip!

Also, (Everyone keep your fingers crossed for us!) we might be there that same weekend for Goofy! ....maybe....

Maybe we'll be able to compare notes

 

[KelleyK75]

I really enjoyed reading the TR. You girls are so fun, and it made me excited to set that goal to do the PHM. I'll look forward to your next TR. I haven't ever done a TR, mainly because my sister is one of those people that doesn't like her kids pictures posted on the web. Without the pictures of the kids with the characters, I am not sure how exciting I can make it. But if I decide to do one from this most recent trip, I'll let you know.

 

[DisneyJo]

I've just read your whole TR and have to say you girls are amazing to complete all those runs and all those early mornings. You did a great job

It also sounds as though you had a wonderful sister/daughter/Mom trip

 

[annmarieda]

Accomodations:

Emily and Caitlin- I loved both resorts we stayed at! I definitely had this ‘all-stars are cheesey’ idea in my head before we went but now I consider myself so fond of them. Because they were so compact (which ranks high in my book) I think All-Star Sports rates above AoA. I’m excited to return to the All-Stars in the future. Of course, The Boardwalk was as fabulous as I imagined it would be. What a treat it was to try deluxe- I most certainly see why so many people get hooked. Renting points was a really affordable option for us and I’m sure that’s something we’ll try again. I’d highly recommend both resorts regardless of which end of the price spectrum they’re on.

I am not sure you have me sold on All Stars but I am definitely excited to stay at BWV!!!

Fastpass+:

Emily- My verdict is still out on this one and it’s mostly because Epcot was low crowds so I didn’t utilize the system to it’s full potential. I think we had good luck with making our reservations and no technical errors so I can’t complain there. I look forward to testing this in the future on longer, multiple park trips.

Caitlin- Hmmm. I think as a whole, I like FP+. I enjoyed being able to show up late to 2 park and know I could ride the big rides without a long wait. It was a little bit of a hassle to plan around prescheduled times while in the park (like make sure I was a certain place by a certain time) but I guess you had to do that with the old FP system anyways. I am a planner and a hater of crowds, and having FP+ meshes with my personality type which may be why it appeals to me so much. I am unconcerned that you now have to show up at rope drop or stay late to best utilize the system because those are things I would prefer anyways. In my book, for me personally and the way I like to do Disney (my #Disneyside...haha), FP+ is a good thing.

I think that come fall the fp+ system will be even better than it was in Jan/Feb. I too am a planner and can't wait to pick our fp's.

Magic Bands:

Emily- I loved magic bands!!! I liked having two to swap around my color options, and I loved not having to dig through a bag to find the room key when we got back after a long day. Tap to pay was really easy and settling the room bill with gift cards made it so we didn’t have to come home to a bunch of charges waiting for us. I’m pumped to add more colors to my collection in the future. Side question- Has anyone decorated their bands, or bought covers/sliders/etc? Those might be fun to look into!

Caitlin- I also loved magic bands. Ditto on the two colors, and boy Disney made it easy to take more of my money with the option of using them to pay! I love the convenience of it though, and thought they were so comfortable that I sometimes consider wearing mine while out and about at home, but I can’t decide if that would be a little weird….

I am a huge fan of them! I have one pink that I decorated with sparkle nail polish and some "gems". For fall I am considering purchasing the covers that dvc central sells. They are pretty fun... but I also like painting over them so who knows what I will do. I still am subscribed to the decorating your band thread on Dis.

And...on wearing them at home - have you seen the video with the woman who wears hers and then smacks into her door because it doesn't just unlock when she passes her band in front of it?

runDisney:

Emily and Caitlin- The world of runDisney is a strange, magical place, isn’t it? They attract a whole different group of runners as compared to the average road race which I found to be both a positive and negative. The runDisney ‘culture’ is very different from some of the other running groups I’m part of and it can be very interesting to read different people’s take on things. Overall, we had a great race experience and I’d happily recommend PHM weekend to another runner (or soon to be runner looking for some fun race motivation!) I won’t return in the coming years, but that’s because I hope to be out running different runDisney races!

So you are doing ToT? No phm next year? What about marathon weekend?

Pin trading:

Emily- I cannot wait to get back to WDW so I can swap more pins! I’ve probably bought 10-12 more online to beef up my trading collection in anticipation since we’ve gotten back. Here’s what my board is looking like these days:


photo (8) by secondaryhoney, on Flickr

Caitlin- I am both sad and happy that I did not get into pin trading before this trip. I’m sad, because I love trading-few things are as exciting as suddenly finding a pin you love or have been looking for-and I wish I could have done more of it on previous trips. However, my wallet is happy that I didn’t discover this earlier since I can’t seem to control my urge to buy more pins! My board currently looks like this:

Before our January trip I had debated getting a grab bag from ebay just so my dd could start. Now after reading how much you both enjoyed it makes me want to revisit the idea.

Also, (Everyone keep your fingers crossed for us!) we might be there that same weekend for Goofy! ....maybe....

So would that make two race weekends we might both be at? So cool!!!