Oh! My Peanut butter! (a 2013 PHM report)

annmarieda

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
As with many of my Trip Reports I like to explain the title up front. It won't have a lot of significance throughout the report, yet it is relevant.

The time between finishing the ToT race in the fall and the decision to go ahead and run the PHM solo was a stressful one. There was a lot of sadness that I felt over the idea of running the race by myself. Slowly things began to fall into place as Dh agreed to allow me to drag him and our dd along.

If you want to read the PTR for the trip it is located here

All of the emotions leading up to the trip and the craziness of my wacky work schedule would have seemed to have been a recipe for a disastrous trip. However, it turned out to be one of the most relaxed and fun trips in quite some time.

The most stressful moment of the entire trip was when I exclaimed "Oh! My Peanut Butter!!!"

I can only hope that future trips will have no more than this level of stress, since it was so low. I know I have encountered maybe a bit more than the usual trip stress over the last couple years, so maybe it was time for a mellow trip. :goodvibes

So unlike other TR's of mine (especially my fall one I am working on still) this one will be lacking in drama. Hopefully, it wont become too boring to read. ;)

Next up: Introductions
 
This trip was not intended to be a family trip. I was suppose to have gone with a friend. When this fell through, I ended up dragging along only those who I truly had to.

That then would include my husband of 24 years (well, come fall it will be 24), Steve.
IMG_0765_zps5714fb37.jpg


Steve is a software engineer. Steve is currently unemployed. In all of our years together he has never lost his job. However, the company that he worked for decided to do a mass layoff (they let go the entire engineering staff) This news was delivered to us on our first day back from this trip. (what fun) I am certain he will have a job soon though as the day he was let go he had managers from all over contacting him and requesting his resume. He is good at what he does and he enjoys it.

Steve reluctantly loves Disney. I say reluctantly because he will make comments like "I don't need to see/do(insert what ever activity in Disney you want), I have done it all to death" and then turn around and share with others "oh, (insert again whatever disney activity you want) was the best ever. I can't believe how cool that was" :rolleyes:

Since both Steve and I were going, this meant that our 8 year old daughter, Zoe would be coming along too.
DSCF2157_zps8649acd6.jpg


Zoe is in the second grade. She is starting to be much more "diva" and less "princess" This does make me sad, but I do know all to well that kids grow up and they do so quickly. After all, Zoe is our 4th child. Our oldest daughter, Kira is 22. Zach is 20 and Alex is 17. Zoe is spoiled and has gone to disney more times than she can count. In some ways I am grateful to have been able to offer this to her, since we didn't travel when our older children where young. Yet I do not know that she understands just how lucky she is to have been to WDW as many times as she has.

Then there is me. (with my Zoe)
DSCF2102_zps3cb93bfd.jpg


My name is Ann and I too have been blessed to have gone as many times to WDW as I have. Sometimes I feel a tad guilty. Sometimes I feel like I am a bit too frivolous. Yet, I do love WDW and all things Disney. About a year ago I found a new love that has only added to my Disney obsession. Rundisney! I have now done two of their events. (the ToT Ten Miler and the Princess Half Marathon) I now have an AP, and I find myself dreaming of the next rundisney event I can participate in. The next one is the Expedition Everest Challenge. If only it wasn't sold out and I was independently wealthy. ;)

Next Up: When and Where
 
Since this is a recap of the Princess Half Marathon, it is obvious that we stayed over the race weekend. However, we arrived Wednesday 2/20 and stayed until Tuesday 2/26.

We stayed for the first time ever at

Disney%E2%80%99s-Coronado-Springs-Resort-FI.jpg


When the princess expo location was changed to CSR, I knew that I should have us stay there. It was on my "bucket" list of resorts so it seemed like a perfect fit.

Next Up: Wednesday 2/20 - Day 1
 


Characters Seen
Circus Minnie
Circus Daisy
Circus Donald
Circus Goofy
Belle (we will count her since Zoe did get to get her picture taken with her. Not everyone who watches the Enchanted Tales with Belle show does)
Winnie the Pooh
Tigger
Wendy
Alice

Rides Done
Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid
The Barnstormer
Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean (2)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold
Virtual Jungle Cruise
Virtual Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride
Dinosaur
Primevil Whirl
Expedition Everest
The Great Movie Ride
Maelstrom
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (2)
Its a Small World


Shows, Attractions and Events
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Wishes Fireworks Cruise
Finding Nemo the Musical
Princess Half Marathon
Backlot Tour
The Legend of Jack Sparrow
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
Norway Heritage Museum
Italian Street Performer
Moroccan Heritage Museum
French Street Performer
Illuminations


Dinned At
Pepper Market
Gaston's Tavern
Be Our Guest
The Wave
1900 Park Faire
Cooks of Dublin
Ohana
Flame Tree BBQ
Outcountry
Boma
Kouzzina
Starring Rolls
Maya Grill
Kringla Bakeri og Kafe
Via Napoli
Slushie Stand in France
Le Chefs de France
Tomorrowland Terrace
Columbia Harbor House.
 


Sometimes this time change can even be a blessing ...... I caught this TR of yours before it has 4 or 5 pages! ;)

I definitely want to come along .... your TR are always so fun to follow along! :hug:
 
Yay! I can't wait to hear details. That 6am text message from RunDisney telling me you had already been running for over an hour made me really tired! And I felt lazy at that point. :lmao:
 
I'm here!!! :goodvibes

:wave: Glad that you are here!

Yay! I've been waiting for you to start it! :thumbsup2

I am sorry it took a bit. I came back to about 60 hours worth of work. It about killed me. I got one day off and it was back to a busy week. I can see light at the end of this week though...so I should be able to get some updating done!



Sometimes this time change can even be a blessing ...... I caught this TR of yours before it has 4 or 5 pages! ;)

I definitely want to come along .... your TR are always so fun to follow along! :hug:

Glad you made it here! I know even though there is the time difference, we always seem to have a similar dis schedule. ;)

Yay! I can't wait to hear details. That 6am text message from RunDisney telling me you had already been running for over an hour made me really tired! And I felt lazy at that point. :lmao:

Sorry that you got the early texts.... :rotfl: It was VERY early to start. You shouldn't feel lazy! There is another word that rhymes with lazy and that would be me for not only doing it once... but looking forward to doing it again.
I ran the PHM this year as well. Can't wait to hear your take :)

:welcome: We will definitely have to compare notes. While I can't wait to do it again... I do have some mixed feelings.

First page????

I love boring...

::yes:: you made it to page one! Yes... boring. I had a "boring" trip ;)
 
I mentioned that I had among other hurdles, this trip was faced with a large one.... my work schedule. My job runs in 4 week cycles with the first week bearing the brunt of the work load. This first week is called "ad change". Aside from other issues that caused me to pause when it came to registering for the phm, the fact that the race was during ad change weekend. (a weekend I am usually forced to work in order to accomplish all my tasks) had me unsure of how I would manage work and the race. You see, I do not get any vacation time. Normally, is not a problem though since I essentially get one week off per month. (well, not really... but if I schedule my tasks right it can amount to 7 days off in a row) So I was faced with figuring out just HOW I would be shuffling things around so that I could get everything done for work as well as o to FL.

After some finagling with my boss, we agreed I would start ad change the previous week. (but not on paper) I would still need to do all of my reports while in florida. So monday and tuesday I scrambled to accomplish that which I would have on saturday and sunday.

If you have made it this far you are probably wondering what all this has to do with day one of the trip. Well it means that on Tuesday I was in fact working late and had to hustle to finish packing because we needed to be up by 3am for our flight.

3am, of course, came too soon. However, who can sleep when they are about to go to WDW??!!! We did great getting out the door and while I had wanted to leave by 3:30am we were actually on the road by 3:45am.

As our trip started out, it seemed to be starting out on the right foot. However that was put in question when I was driving and began going over things in my head. You know, the "did I get x? check. did I remember x? check" "did I remember my peanut butter?" OH! My Peanut Butter!!! As I mentioned it was the most stressful moment on the trip. Really, the MOST STRESSFUL. And it was done and out of the way before we even hit the airport. I know previous readers of my TR's might not believe this... but I assure you... this was a boring trip. ;)

As we seemed to have more and more pixie dust floating our way (and it just never really stopped), we found ourselves at the airport by 4:15. 3:45 to 4:15... UNHEARD of! It can take an hour easy at any given time to get from where I live to the airport.

We had decided to check 4 bags. My new piece of luggage that had dimensions listed on the tag and even noted it was carryon compliant...was not :confused: However.. no worries because SW allows 2 free bags per passenger. :cool1:

We got through security and made our way to the gate. We picked up something at Starbucks and then made a last stop at the restroom. I probably should have gone first to get Zoe's preboard because when we came out they were starting preboard. It wasn't a big deal though. I just had to grab her pass and we were let on the plane right away. I just kinda felt bad for the other passengers. It probably looked like we were jumping the line. :rolleyes1 I can't remember why Steve didn't board with us, but in order to sit together I chose a seat near the very back of the plane. Nice and quite, but not a good choice if you want to get off the plane quickly.

We had a pretty uneventful flight. I do think the plane itself could have used a bit more maintenance. The restroom in the back of the plane had some issues. When we landed, we were not even off the plane before the back was opened up and a maintenance crew boarded in order to fix the restroom issues.

On the ground, but not exiting the plane very quickly left is with little time to even get a bit to eat once we were in St. Louis. We basically used the restroom and were ready to preboard. (this time not only did I get the pass in a timely fashion but Steve accompanied us)

Yet another uneventful flight. Zoe and I watched a movie and shortly after we were on the ground.

Not long to get off the plane and soon it was time to have our first monorail ride of the trip.

IMG_0756_zps771604e4.jpg


Zoe loves to have her picture taken in front of the shops in the airport. Why not? We had arrived so early (for us) We had time.

IMG_0757_zps9cb05f48.jpg


We made it to DME by 4:30pm. By 4:45 we were on our way to CSR. We were the first stop and at 5:15 we were at CSR.

I have been to CSR to eat, so I was familiar enough with the main building. Yet I had never noticed the mickey in the lights being cast on the wall. So cool!
IMG_0760_zps232b8a01.jpg


Steve and Zoe hung out while I checked us in.
IMG_0759_zps8d599044.jpg


I had requested the cabanas, but upon check in was assigned building 5 of the casitas. I kindly asked if there was anything in the cabanas. A couple clicks of the mouse later and a reassignment of keys...and we were in cabanas 9109, which is on the first floor and since I had booked a water view room, this is what we got.
IMG_0764_zpsd61c6ddb.jpg


I had a bit of reports to file for work, so I did that while Steve and Zoe checked out the surrounding area.
IMG_0761_zps2b974700.jpg


We then went to Rix cafe to get our mugs. At that point we decided that we were super hungry. We had not had anything serious to eat since our trip to Starbucks. We decided on PM.

Steve and I both ordered the half chicken with rice. SOOOO GOOD!!!
IMG_0762_zps4bd0aad5.jpg


Zoe had a kids meal. Since she did not want anything off the adult menu, we paid oop for hers as well as for a cup of soup for Steve.

The server was super nice and accommodated us. The new system is a a bit tricky when paying oop vs. dp credits. Since we had our mugs she brought us water bottles :cool1:

Desert was also yummy. Steve had a slice of cheesecake. Zoe had an icecream sundae and I had a raspberry bar.
IMG_0763_zps5d75a3a0.jpg


After dinner we decided to try out the pool since it was steps away from our door. It was nice and we were the only ones in the pool.

After our swim time we finished unpacking, got ready for bed and were out by 10:30pm.

Next Up: Thursday 2/21 - Day 2 Part 1
 
Sounds like you needed a trip full of pixie dust after the last one, and with all the work you had going on! Looking forward to reading about your PHM experience! :goodvibes
 
Stringbean&Wingnut said:
Glad you had a fairly uneventful travel day!!

Your meal at Pepper Market sounds really good! :goodvibes

Wish I could multi quote from my phone... But since I just have a couple replies...

Travel day is usually uneventful- but tiring. When we landed I wasn't even all that tired. Course we arrived so early, so maybe that is why I wasn't too tired

The meal at pm was good. I am not sure if it was because we had not ate all day but I think it was the best chicken EVER!
 
afnaechiquita said:
Sounds like you needed a trip full of pixie dust after the last one, and with all the work you had going on! Looking forward to reading about your PHM experience! :goodvibes

I did need a low key trip, that is for sure. However the previous trips- while they had ups and downs- were good trips. Maybe this one just wasn't long enough to have drama find me ;)

I have another day to get through before I start on race weekend events. I promise to get there though!

Btw- happy late bday. I popped over to your tr.... And need to get caught up. For your trip only being a tad before mine it is well under way :)
 
I did need a low key trip, that is for sure. However the previous trips- while they had ups and downs- were good trips. Maybe this one just wasn't long enough to have drama find me ;)

I have another day to get through before I start on race weekend events. I promise to get there though!

Btw- happy late bday. I popped over to your tr.... And need to get caught up. For your trip only being a tad before mine it is well under way :)

I think you missed a quote there ;) I have no active trip reports nor recent birthdays!
 
Wow - another Disney trip under your belt. :cool1: Sounds like departure went off without a hitch! Looking forward to reading more!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top