Snowbird Sabbatical-Volunteering at the Marathon and Lynx bus travel to MCO

[szymcl]

I just finished my most fun experience yet!!!

I volunteered all 5 days for the January Marathon weekend! I picked up my credentials the Saturday before at the Sports building, near Animal Kingdom. Then my shifts started Wednesday working in the HP Fieldhouse at ESPN Wide World of Sports.

I got to give out the packets for the Dopey Challenge. This was fun and challenging, as each participant was running in all 4 events, and received two different bibs.

After they got their bibs, they got their photos taken with a cool Disney photographer, so that at the end of the races, they could verify that they had run all 4 races. Believe it or not, some people cheat!

I worked with some fun volunteers, they even lived in one of the condos that I am considering, so I was happy to get their input on that location!

I visited the expo on my break, and then took these cool photos as the it got dark.

I was the second shift, from 2 PM to 8 PM. I was getting over the flu, so I was pretty tired at the end, but this ended up being the easiest shift!
Some people worked 2 shifts! The time went pretty quickly! Tomorrow, I was set to work at 2 AM!!!!

 

[szymcl]

Day 2 and 3 of my volunteering meant I set the alarm for 1:30 AM, and left my apartment at 2:15 AM to get to my check point by 3 AM!!! I will admit I left too early, but I thought there might be traffic, ha, no traffic! I was to check in at the Bambi sign after parking at Epcot. I got there plenty early, and was directed to a tent to get checked in and pick up a jacket and snack and water bottle for my shift. (I forgot to mention that I had received a tshirt for the expo!) All volunteers have to wear the credentials and the jacket for tshirt to identify them. You also have to show photo ID to check in each day. Today, Thursday, was my gear check. I had just randomly picked a bunch of different volunteer jobs to try everything out. This was the first time that instead of a tent to check in, all gear went in trucks. All the volunteers who were veterans did NOT like it! It was very cold, like 44 degrees. I had on a winter coat under my jacket, but no gloves!

Some of us were assigned to the truck, the taller people, and the rest were assigned to the tables to check in the bags and then hand them up to the trucks. I was at a table.

There were plenty of port o lets!

I didn’t take too many photos, I was soooo tired! This is all in the parking lot of Epcot. In the following photo, the Epcot ball is behind all the trees.

This was the 5k day, so the last finisher came back to pick up their gear around 7:30, we were out by 8 AM and I was back home by 8:30, just in time to log in to work by 9!

Next day, I was Heat sheets. Heat sheets are aluminum foil type blanket sheets on a roll.

There is that EPCOT Ball! It was dark in the beginning again, this time I parked at Epcot as before and had to check in at the Pumba sign by 3:15! The Heat sheets are right across from the Medical tent.

They are sheets on a roll and you just spend the first few hours pulling off the sheets and sticking them in the slots of the barriers to they are ready to hand to the runners as they cross the finish line.

You can see our peppy jackets here! I thought my shoulders would hurt later, but nah, I was fine. As soon as the finishers started to cross the lines, we just stationed ourselves and handed out the blankets. Some people said they wished they could have had them at the beginning of the race! This was the 10 K. After all had crossed the line, our group was free to go. It was about 8:00 AM. I noticed the gear check people were still working when I left! Next up the weekend and the mini marathon and the full marathon! I was beginning to recognize volunteers and runners! There were about 12,000 runners for the 5K and 10 K.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I really love how much fun you’re having on your sabbatical. In fact, you’ve inspired me! I live here (general area of Cocoa Beach), moved here a few years ago and I think you’ve done more exploring than I have. I set a goal for 2019 to do more and take better advantage of living here. Winter Garden is definitely on my list. How did you sign up to volunteer for a race? Is it on the runDisney site? I’ll have to go look.

 

[szymcl]

Hi and great that you are going to explore more!!! I love Cocoa Beach area! I have gone twice and finally got out to that bar over the water on the Pier!
To sign up for volunteering, you first have to create an account here, https://www.volunteerambassadorteam.com/
Then you have to watch the dates carefully and sign up right at the time listed. For example for the Stars Wars Mini, which is April 4-7, you can sign up on January 22 at 12 noon. And seriously, you have to sign up right at noon! It is amazing that so many people log on right then to get their spots! A lot of these volunteers do it every race and LOVE it! It is very fun!
Since so many of the spots were at 2 in the morning, I was able to volunteer and still work during the day. I am hoping to do Star Wars! Maybe I will meet you!

 

[aoconnor]

Sounds like it's been a fun experiment so far! If you haven't been to Winter Park yet I highly recommend it. Their main shopping street is Park Avenue, similar to Winter Garden but about 5x the size and perhaps little more upscale. Be sure to take the scenic boat tour (around $14) which will take you through a beautiful chain of lakes past some pretty incredible mansions!

 

[szymcl]

Thanks, yes I am certainly having fun!!! I was only at Winter Park for a short visit. I saw the train station and some of the shops. I just had a half hour while waiting to pick up a guest at the airport. I want to go back and see the Tiffany glass! That boat tours sounds awesome!

 

[szymcl]

Days 4 and 5 of the Marathon weekend meant parking at Typhoon Lagoon! On Saturday, for the mini marathon, I parked at 3:30 am for a call time of 3:45 AM. I checked in at the Volunteer tent and then found bus number 22 that would take me and my team to Mile Marker 8.3 for the food stop.

Our food was little packets of energy beans!

We set up tables, wiped them down, opened the boxes of beans (wearing gloves) and then had about an hour to hang out before the people started coming through.

I walked down to the Disney Car Care Center for a cup of coffee and walked by a water/gatorade stop. That looks like a lot more work than beans!

I was pretty refreshed after my coffee, so I headed to Disney Springs after my shift, and then took a boat to Port Orleans.

I LOVE Port Orleans, my family and I used to stay here (mostly at Dixie Landings) back in the day before DVC. But I am getting off track! Day 5 was the Marathon!!!!

I had the late shift, so I checked in at Typhoon Lagoon at 7:30 am and got on a bus that took me to Epcot to the start finish line. I was “Bonus Medals”. So that meant we were in charge of distributing the Dopey medals (for running all 4 races) and the Goofy medals (for running the half and full marathons)

Some of us stood at computers and entered in the race bib numbers to make sure the runner popped up with a matching photos. I had this job. The others were in charge of actually giving out the medals. This was a great job! The runners were so happy to have finished!

This day was the most fun yet!! I have run a few mini marathons, but was actually very glad to NOT be running, yet outside and enjoying the day. It was warm and sunny. It might have been the hardest day? We were constantly busy entering in the numbers and the runners were just so appreciative. I flew home to Indy the next day, and ran in to several runners at the airport. Disney does a great job, almost everyone had a great time. The volunteers are just great and so happy to be helping out!


I can’t wait to sign up again!

 

[szymcl]

Adventures in Bus Travel! This entry should probably go in transportation, but here goes. Since I started my sabbatical, I thought I would be driving back and forth to Indiana more often, but aside from a few rides that I made with family members, I have mainly been flying back and forth every 2 weeks. For the most part, I have been using Lyft to get to and from the airport. It can vary from $28- $55, depending on the busyness of the time of day. For my latest trip to MCO, I noticed that there was a Lynx bus pick up at Disney University, which is just about a 7 minute walk from my apartment. I researched the routes, and did a trial walk over to the stop to see how many people got off and on.

As you can see in the photos, the buses were not very crowded and they were quite clean and pleasant.

The route I chose, (there were a couple choices) on a Monday, was bus # 56, which went to the Kissimmee Intermodal Station, and then a transfer to #407 which then took me to the airport. It cost $4.50, for an all day pass, which I bought on the bus with correct change. The trip took 2 hours, which is about 70 minutes longer that the Lyft or Uber, but for me, I could work on the bus, so time wasn’t a huge factor. For this first time, I only had my computer bag, but I think I would be fine rolling a suitcase. The bus drops off at the airport close to the Magical Express bus stops in Terminal A.

The first stop after Disney University, was at the Ticket Transportation Center, so I’m sure this method could be used for some hotels? Like Swan and Dolphin, or some offsite hotels that don’t have Magical express, but do have TTC transportation options.

I will definitely be doing this again!!! I actually liked it better that Uber/Lyft, it just seems a bit more anonymous and maybe a bit safer. The only caveat would be that the buses don’t run super early in the morning, or very late at night. So as long as my flights are coming in or leaving between 8 am and 9 pm, I am pretty sure the bus will always work for me. Once in a while I take a later night flight. I will have to stick to Uber/Lyft for that.

 

[szymcl]

I'm back! I am doing another Snowbird Adventure. Not exactly a Snowbird Sabbatical, more like a new direction in life. After deciding it was time to buy my snowbird place near WDW, my husband and I were just getting ready to close on a Townhome in Windermere in February. Well, we found out that the condo association had some lawsuits pending against the builder, and we were able to walk away. Fast forward another month and my daughter found out she was pregnant with twins! She lives in the Cocoa Area, so our house hunt area changed!
We searched and found a wonderful rental condo on Cocoa Beach. The home prices are so high right now, that renting seems to be the way to go. We both still work, but with the pandemic, remote work is the norm, so we are happily working from a beach front condo, while going back home for meetings at least once a month.
We have the lease from Aug-April, and may extend. Meanwhile, we are experiencing the drive to WDW, about 55 minutes, and we were able to buy our first Florida resident Annual Pass!

We celebrated when we picked up our pass at Disney Springs with an Irish Beer flight at Raglan Road!
Now the fun is just beginning, we took a quick trip to Hollywood Studios Saturday to see what life was like with the LL. We didn't use it, but found that the lines were overstated for the most part. We rode the Galaxy's Edge and MMRR with a much shorter wait than advertised. But...Slinky Dog was just as long as stated! I think as the day gets hotter, more people buy the LL!

Can't wait for more adventures! In between the baby sitting!
Santa and Mickey and Minnie said hi!