Son's Birthday and Rundisney Weekend!! Jan 2024 (Completed 2/11)

[DisneyMountainWoman]

We walk in and see a photographer taking pics at the Avengers sign so we line up... but sadly after waiting a little bit the photographer said that he needs to leave to give room to the spider man show. So we ended up doing our own picture and then we stayed to watch spider man show!

I touched the sign!

We soo had this on our must watch list so very excited to see it!




Man this show is amazing! Looks soo real!! My son was like that must be the real spider man cause who else can jump like that!
The cm said spider man would not being coming down to say hi to people so we head to the spider man ride.



We made it on the score board! Me and my husband are very compitive! We loved this ride. Super fun and also an arm workout, lol.

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[DisneyMountainWoman]

So we do shopping in the spider man store... my sons fav of course. We get this cute shirt! Love the science part focus on it too.

Then my son got this hat which he wears around all the time now.

Then we have some fun in the picture area near the Dr strange area.



Then I spot Dr strange and we go in line again no offical photographer... they are really lacking that in disneyland... my mom took the pic... not the best. But it will work..

Then we were looking for a place to sit and cm said we are clearing this area for a show... we were like show... what is it and where should we stand. Lol. We started noticing a pattern of just stand in the way and cms will tell u to move and now u know something is about to happen.
The Dora Milaje show starts. We have a great front row spot. This show is very cool. I got to participate in it to so I always like that.


Then Black Panther even shows up!!

We next try to figure out what to do next and we spy Shang-Chi!! Wish he would come down!! I did yell hello and I like your rings.. and he responded back so I will take it. Lol.

Wow this area is soo alive!! There is just something to see everywhere.
This is my fav place in all of Disneyland and now in all of Disneyworld parks now.
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[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next mom gets a drink and sits while we wonder with my son... he wants to shop some more and then we see another show!
Yeah black widow!!

Then Captin America!

My son is soo into and soo worries they could get hurt.

After the show I see people starting to wait in a line so I get in place and get 2nd in line. My husband take my son and wonders around while I wait. It was a bit of wait.
And guess who walks out... Iron Man!!! I call my husband to bring my son down!!
And we meet Iron Man!! Soo cool! Soo worth it.



My son cannot look at the camera... he must keep his eyes on Iron man, lol.
Then guess who we see Ms Marvel!! I loove Ms Marvel. I love the series and she was the best part of the The Marvels movie. The series has a great style comic look and love a realistic view of a teenager nerd girl. I may have been her when I was growing up... lol.
We quickly go to her line next. I am soo happy I am wearing my marvels jacket and I show her she is on my jacket. She was soo cute and looved that she was on my jacket too!!

I basically fan girl for a bit... she spends quite a bit of time with me since she can see I am a super fan... yep... I am... lol.

We do the pics and sigs.

Then on showing my back of my jacket...

Then cm asked do u want Ms Marvel to sign it... I said wait I can do that?lol. They said yep... cm had a permanent marker and Mrs. Marvel signed it!! I took a pic of it when I went back to the hotel... so basically I am on cloud nine... my son is so cute cause he is happy that I am happy. Avengers campus is the best!
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[DisneyMountainWoman]

My son says he is about done... he wants the gardian of the Galaxy ride to be his last ride.
Walking in we see Groot in the distance... characters are everywhere here!!

I love all the details....


This ride is soo good!! I originally hated them taking away tower of terror. It is one of my favs but they did such a good job here. But they better keep the orginal in WDW... I like having both


My son has very mixed feeling on this ride. He loves guardians of galaxy but the drops scares him a bit...
Then when walking out of the ride we see Thor!!! They have all the characters!!
They spent such a long time with my son it was wonderful... my son loves Thor.



We head back to the room.
Time to relax and decompress...
Also here is my jacket with Ms Marvel signatures.

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[DisneyMountainWoman]

I went to the hot tub. I asked if anyone else wanted to come to the pool and everyone else wanted to stay... I thought for sure my son would come... he has been talking about the pool but he really wants to play with his new toys.
The pool area renovation so nice.

The new pool bar and snack area. Not open yet but looks soon.

The pool area is gated with pool attendees. They give u a wrist band. They give towels u there. The new furniture is very nice and high end.

Hot tub time! This makes my feet feel soo good after running and walking all day in the parks. Always choose a hotel that has a hot tub if you are going to do rundisney



Spent about an hour here. Chatted with other people doing the run in the hot tub. Not many people in the pool area today. For CA it is very cold..
I head back to the hotel room.
We change and then head to our reservations in Great Maple at our hotel. We check in and the Manger remembers us and starts chatting to us about the race. I loove that kind of personal service.
Here is the menu.

We order drinks. Mango mimosas.
Bacon Bourbon

Drinks were great again.

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[DisneyMountainWoman]

My mom and me order the same thing... the shrimp eggs benedict. It is soo good yummy. Lole everything is really good. And the portions are so big. U can easily share this if u want.

My son got packakes... they are soo big too. You van get them way fancier than this my son likes no food touching and super plain... lol.


My husband got the special fish taco. He loved it.

So on the reservation we put celebrating my sons birthday and they brought out the seaonsal donuts and a round of sparkling wine for celebrating. So cute. My son loved the extra attention.. we sang him happy birthday.




The seasonal donuts tasted like donut churros!! Soo good!! And they were warm still too!! We all loved them... we offical now have no room left in your tummies.

We highly suggest going to Great Maple. The food, service, and atmosphere is all great. The prices are a little high but that is Disneyland for you and all the meals are soo shareable u could easily split a meal with someone else and save money that way. This restaurant was a great addition to the hotel.
Now we just roll our selves onto the elevators.. love it not having to go far for good for and drinks.
I get everything ready for the run. Do my layout pic. I have a Dumbo themed sparkly outfit.
I go to bed super early again... around 7ish for the half marathon tomorrow!

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[DisneyMountainWoman]

Sunday morning! 3am wake up!
Put on all my gear. I ate my donut! Man do I love Great Maple donuts.
My mom is staying at the hotel this time since there is no point in coming down.
Good news there is a good pic spot in our hotel hallway. So we do our photo spot there



I head down and there is a huge group of runners. Everyone is heading out but I was the only one who did it yesterday... so I end up leading the group. Lol.
We cut through Grand Cal and the security line is super short again.
Then walk through downtown disney with all the other runners. There seems to be way more than the 10k already.
Then crossover to the next security... the line is shorter than yesterday but still long. They seem to have the process better down. I read they open the lines earlies so they are last did not start with a huge backup like they did yesterday. I take a quick pic of the main stage.


Then get in line for my pre race pics...
Again no offical photopasses so have to use my own phone.



Then the bathroom line.. it was long... I am not use to long bathroom in lines... wdw has a lot more bathrooms in the starting area.
Then head to the corrals.
I am not as far in the front this time. I am in D. The corrals are way bigger.
I can still hear and see what is going on upfront but it was hard.
I heard from people farther in the back they heard nothing and saw nothing. That is an issue. Also there is no trash cans so we are just throwing stuff on the ground.. Walt is rolling in his grave somewhere with no trash cans... they all start trying to tell us to push up. I read later that they could not fit everyone into the corrals...so the people were spilling over. Then the race should have started... 5 mins.. 10 mins... 15 mins... we are all wondering what is going on. They then start the race... they did not tell us why it was delayed. They really need to communicate better with us.
Once we get started... we move up quicky... which is actually not good. They are not doing mini waves... they having everyone go all at once!! Eeep.... we get up to the start.


No firworks but I understand why, love this start sign though!
Mickey and Minnie spotted!

And then we go!
Wow it is soo crowded... I mean like more crowded than I have ever seen it for a long time... I stay on the curb to find space.
Then I make it to where my family is at right at the 1 mile marker outside our hotel (Pixar place hotel). Yeah!!


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[DisneyMountainWoman]

One more pic from my family of me running to them.

Selfie with the family!

Then off to the run more!
We hit mile 1 sorry for blurry pic..

Then first water stop and man did it slow down... this is a hint if what to comes later..
We are running back stage now and they have some cool floats out. Love that.


Now we are running the parks!

So running and not seeing any characters again...
Apparently rundisney pulled Dumbo... so only people corral A and B got to see Dumbo... this is unacceptable... we all paid the same fees for them to pull Dumbo so early is not right! If they only had one Dumbo costume then when u need to pull the person for a break then u replace it with another character.
I run through Avengers campus still crowded but get a pic with the Avengers sign.

But no Averngers characters again... this is the only race we can have Avengers characters... this is a huge fail for rundisny again. Sorry for ranting but this is getting ridiculous..
They have a offical photographer... I think it happened around here... it is hard to tell in this pic. U cannot see much of the background.

I see some characters finally in carsland.. McQueen and Mater... super long line and I know how easy it is to get pics with them so I do a selfie and move on.

Then another offical photographer

At least they seem to have a few more with the half...
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[DisneyMountainWoman]

Ohh this photopass pic probably happened before carsland.. bah..lol I just do not know Disneyland as well as Wdw. This one is a good pic actually! That is nice!


Next we run through Pixar Pier. Love this area at night. Soo pretty


Then I see sadness... the line looked short I was about to get into then realized ohh it is way longer than I thought it was going back and forth so I decided to skip sadness... looking back should have probably did it since there were so few real character meet and greets.

Then I see chip and Dale but the cms were yelling no photos just high fives... they were yelling at people not to stop... sorry this is ridiculous... sorry for blurry pic... had to walk and pic.

And then I saw a huge pile up!
Here is a pic for an idea but does not do it justice

Like we went to a full on stop...
I took a pic at the 3 mile marker since I was stuck there...




So this is what happens when a bunch of logistics issues come together that Disneyland could have prevented. Disneyland did not do mini waves... so it had been crowded this whole time... normally by the first mile it spreads out a bit. Next issue it was a tight turn. Next issue water stop at a super tight spot... then to top it off a mile marker which people like to stop at to take pictures... anyone who has done any running could have told them this stop would have been an issue. We were there for about 5 to 10 mins... yep not joking. So for me not a big deal I can do 13 min miles for the half... I am fast enough that I can make it up... but the poor people who are close to the balloon ladies who are at 15 to 16 miles were screwed by rundisney. I read the balloon ladies got caught up in this mess like everyone else and then the balloon ladies had to go a faster pace, like 14 min mile pace to be on the original pace... so people were swept because of this spot. Shame on rundisney. Rundisney if u ever read this u should have gotten help from WDW people instead of doing it all on your own... (rumor is Disneyland event planners said to WDW rundisney they got it and did not use any WDW vets to help run and manage this race which it showed. )

Next I made it out, yeah!!
Crossed the parks. Lots of people out cheering.
Then I make it into Disneyland. And I see a person veer off to the right and I notice a bathroom with no line!! Yeah bathroom time. So quick trip to bathroom and now running through mainstreet. Soo pretty they have the projections going and I looove it!! Yes Disneyland this is how u do rundisney!!

Then I saw Daisy and Donald Duck... the line is soo long and they are not even in special clothes at all so I skip them.

Then I pass Dumbo and I have to do a pic with Dumbo! I have a runner take a pic of me.

Yeah Dumbo! Looks like all the other Dumbo Challengers are doing the same thing, lol.
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[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next running through the castle!! Yeah!!

My pictures kind of suck... my skirt was all off and I did not relize it... lol.


They had pirates and Goofy as a pirates waving to us and Pluto too. To bad they were high up and no offical pics.

I tried for a selfie not bad! Love Goofy pirate!

Then running through Galaxys Edge. Wow you go through soo much of it... way better than WDW. Then I see Ray and Chewbacca!!

Again not a real character meet and great. So a far away selfie. Tried for a selfie.

Then we run a little back stage with another cool float!

And we go back into toon town the last part of the park.
I see Pete and he has a real meet and great. It is kind of long but he is my last chance at a character stop so I stop. Also I have never met him before soo I am very excited to get a pic with him.

Then we leave the parks and run the rest backstage and Anaheim city.

And then I see my family!!! They are cheering right outside the parks!! Love them

Continuing to post.

 

[CandyMouse]

Looks like a fun trip, love your outfits! Great pictures!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Looks like a fun trip, love your outfits! Great pictures!

Yes it was soo much fun. And thank u!

 

[alohamom]

Sad to hear that there was such disorganization and all the other issues but good for you for keeing a smile on your face!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Sad to hear that there was such disorganization and all the other issues but good for you for keeing a smile on your face!

Yeah it stinks they were so not ready for this race... but it is easy to keep a smile on my face cause no matter what my worse day in a Disney park is still better than me working... I just know Disneyland can do better since I ran one of their old races in 2016... so I am hopeful they will learn from this race and improve, but I am not going to sugar coat the areas they sucked at either since these are some of the most expensive races in all of USA.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Now it is just running in the city and there is a big hill. Not much else for a while I just put on my music and pretend this is a training run. I take pics of the mile markers. But the good news it is more spread out on the streets.



I see the pacer group coming in behind me.
I wanted to join a pacer group to help with the boredom so I join the 3:10 group.

It was nice to be in a group. Helped pass the time.


We make it to the Might Ducks parking lot. They had their mascot stuff out.


Then we see Anaheim baseball stadium and we run in zig zags around the parking lot....

I am getting a lot of Blizzard Beach parking vibes.

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[DisneyMountainWoman]

Ohh I see a person on the side giving away donuts! Yummy I need to fuel

Getting close to the end mile 12!

After that the pacers say hey if you are feeling good go and run faster to that finish line. Me and another runner who has been next me decide to do that. Love still feeling good enough where I can run fast at the end.
Quick selfie at 13 mile marker.

Then I see Jeff Galloway and Chris Twiggs my coach. I do a quick selfie.

And I run to the finishline!

Finishline photos!!



And I finished!!!

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[DisneyMountainWoman]

Here are the medals!!!
They are sooo pretty I love them soo much.
They keep them in the packaging now to protect them from scraping.


So I unwrap them and put them around my neck. Then I go through the food and drink gauntlet where they give Bananas, drinks, and rundisny box. It is hard to carry everything, lol.
So again I look and there are no photopass photographers for the iconic I did it pics... Disneyland in 2016 had them for the 10k... again another fail. So I go find a place to do a quick selfie. It is hard since I am carrying so much stuff.


Then me and another runner take turns taking pics of each other with our medals. This is a theme at this race...

So now time to head to my hotel.
I see the line to get into security... f*ck! Super long and slow line. Actually longer than this pic this was just when I decided to take a pic of it.

They have park goers and runners just trying to get to their hotel all mixed together.
I now wait in line for 30 mins... if you have ever ran and then have to just stand in a line for a while it hurts... like my whole lower body just hurts... this is painful... I hate all things Disney at this point. They could had a seperate line for us runners or u know just had busses that take us to the other side so no security line at all... I know crazy. All the runners around us hates this... all the park guest hated it since we were clogging up the lines. Disneyland u made everyone grumpy.
So I eat my banana and drink my water while I wait and had to throw it away. Had a runner I was chatting with save my spot. When walking to the trash can I spot one of my fav rundisney YouTube runners. They do full course videos so are wonderful to put on when you are training on the treadmill. They are Mousegen!

I chatted with them for a bit. They made me all happy again. Yeah!
Then I finally made it through security!! I was walking fine before waiting in line... but now I am all cramped up and I am walking like a sad penguin now... lol.
So I walk through Disney Downtown and cut through Grand Ca and finally make it to my hotel.
Making it to my hotel was like a breath of fresh air. No CM said congrats to me on my run while walking that whole time till I made it my hotel. They were all saying it when I came in. I loove Pixar Place hotel. They go extra mile.
My mom met me in the lobby and we went up.
Soo happy to just sit down now and shower!!
I clean up, and eat some snacks from the rundisney box.

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[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next I scheduled brunch at Storybook Cafe at GC. So we head next door. I am soo excited about this... I am soo hungry! And we have great memories from this restaurant when we came here for my sons 2nd birthday.
And I see pocahontas while walking to the restaurant. Characters are everyone here in Disneyland... I love it.

We get seated. And we meet chip! I love chip and Dale they are always so fun. My son loves them and gets Chips signature.



I get a pic with chip with my Dumbo Medal.

Now time to eat!!


Food!! After running a half marathon... buffets are the best! Like I just want all the food. I look around and I see a lot of other runners, so if u ever feel weird going to character breakfast as an adult go when all the runners are here...we out number the kids. Lol. I also needed to get mickey waffles of course... my son agrees.

Then I get mimosas.


These blueberries on it are such a cute extra side.
We love the food here. We had nothing bad here... they have all the classics of what u want from a brunch.
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[DisneyMountainWoman]

Dale next. Again they are soo cute doing fun interactions. My son is loving it.



Then minnie mouse next.



Then next mickey mouse.



I have meet mickey mouse and show him my medal!!


Then I order another fun mimosas. Celebrate time.

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[DisneyMountainWoman]

It took a little bit to see Pluto.




But Pluto was a hit as always!
Then we do my sons birthday cupcake! He looved it. I did a video of it, here is a screen shot of it. My son is super happy.


Then we head to the the Grand Californian special entrance. Love the short security line and walk right into the park. I have a pre made DAS ticket... while eating we found out genie plus is down park wide and is messing with DAS stuff but not completely. I cannot make new DAS but we can at least see the ones that were pre-made. Yeah!
We scan in to Soarin which is right next door. Man I am good at planning things out.


This ride is such a classic.
Then since I cannot book anything yet we go to the near by play area. Redwood creek area. The cast members had cute little stuff animals.


I am tried... so I sit while my son goes play and my husband follows.

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