The Running Thread - 2018

[bananabean]

It's Friday and it's time for our Fun Friday QOTD: Well I'm going to post this one for selfish reasons today. We leave Tuesday for a trip to WDW. It will be our first time for Food & Wine as well as MNSSHP. Any tips or must do's for either event is appreciated!

If you can, skip the character lines until later in the evening. I was so insistent that I wanted a pic with Halloween Tigger & Eeyore, that we waited in line for over an hour early in the night. A few hours later we walked by and the line was maybe 5 minutes.

Do the rides first, only trick or treat at one spot, and see a later show & parade.

And have fun!

 

[huskies90]

It's Friday and it's time for our Fun Friday QOTD: Well I'm going to post this one for selfish reasons today. We leave Tuesday for a trip to WDW. It will be our first time for Food & Wine as well as MNSSHP. Any tips or must do's for either event is appreciated!

ATTQOTD: As a perennially AP holder, I have never thought MNSSHP was worth the money or at a minimum, always felt like they should give a better discount for those of us who have already paid to be in the parks year round. That being said, the party is a ton of fun especially if you dress up. I have been twice and this year we are planning on going to our third party. I did not do it when my kids were young and have only done it as adults. For us, it is more about the atmosphere and being at the party than the things to do. All the tips on here have been great. Have a plan for meeting specific characters and catch the parade. After that, I wouldn’t spend too much time riding attractions because you can do that any time.

As for Food and Wine, this Fall will be my 9th year in a row and I also never did it with my kids when they were small. It has always been adults only. Again, we love the atmosphere. People complain about rowdy drunks and crowds on the weekend but I don’t think either have ever bothered me. Best tip is to have a budget or at least understand that the food and drinks add up very quickly!!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I'm hopeful I can PR my San Francisco Giant Race this weekend, but I'm treating it as a prep exam for Dopey to see how my new training plan works during a race.

ATTQOTD: Having gotten to wear my Jedi robes around Disneyland twice, it's almost too much fun to be an adult dressed in a costume wandering a park. If possible, I recommend getting photos with characters from story/movie/etc that your costumes are themed to. The characters tend to make a very big deal out of it especially when they can talk to you.

I've only been to Food and Wine once back in 2012. It was very crowded around World Showcase on the weekend. I would do it differently if another occasion arises if only because I didn't really learn how to properly experience a food festival at Disney until Flower & Garden in 2017. I recommend reviewing the different kiosk menus before you go so you have an idea of what you really want to try. It's easy to forget once you're there.

 

[AntimonyER]

ATTQOTD: We just bought our MNSSHP tickets today. It will be our first party, but we aren't doing costumes, as that's too hard to manage when the party is a surprise that my kids will only find out when they notice we took the turn for magic kingdom instead of our condo that evening.

 

[LSUlakes]

No big tips as I have never done either. I would suggest though to get to MNSSHP early (you can enter at 4) to take advantage of the time given. Food and Wine can/will get very busy in the evening and on the weekends.

We are hitting up MK that morning and then going to the resort for pool / nap time. I may head to Epcot to scan my band to try to get 4 scans for the AP cutting board. But the park time is mostly for the FP+ that morning.

ATTFFQOTD:
Food and Wine: (1) set a budget. DH and I enjoyed trying different foods, but they are spendy. (2) Identify must have food beforehand. Check out the menu and pick your top 3 not to miss, be prepared to walk by others and see what they have and want to try it, but do not plan to try it all. We did achieve one drink at each stop while our kids, then 3, were napping in the stroller- I am not sure I recommend this race. (3) Bring ID if you plan to purchase alcohol. I made the mistake of leaving wallets in the room and planning to pay by magic band and was refused alcohol in Japan- THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN JAPAN, and the girl at the counter agreed it would not. After a brief conversation she served my husband 'forgetting' to ask for ID. I get it, the Japanese love rules. Someone told her she was supposed to ID everyone, and then she felt she definitely could not serve us as she already knew I did not have ID. (4) do not plan on kids liking the food booths. Kid approved food was hard to come by. There were a few places that had the power packs, but not a lot. Bring snacks for the kids from elsewhere. (5) Make a non-food plan for the kids. Their favorite part was the little playground they set up at the festival, which I have heard exists this year, but I am not sure where so check the map! Also we loved looking for Remy but the sticker books were just a toy for them, and the free food and wine sticker passports were just as entertaining. (6) Keep a move on unless the kids demand to stop. With 2 adults and a stroller send a parent into line and have the other continue on. Use the cup holder or whatever in the stroller for adult stuff and use a hook for kids drinks as it was nearly impossible to find a place to set food down and the kids won't want to stand there anyhow.
MNSSHP: (1) Lines are long, do not promise kids you will see anyone specific. We waited for zero special characters. Kids really wanted to stop for Moana, but there was no chance we would have made it in the 2 hour line. (2) It is a LOT of candy. We do not have candy at our house so needed absolutely nothing. We also did not want to deal with TSA's food checking nightmare. One adult had a candy bag, we got the kids the teal bags. We still had a gallon ziploc bag of candy, and the kids were more excited about the sticker craft the allergy tokens were worth. (3) The parade was great, I was concerned they would be frightened of some of it (they are terrified of so many scary parts of books and movies), but we explained that the grave diggers were just silly and they liked it (4) dance it up. If there is a dance party, take advantage (5) Bring something that glows with you. DH got the $4 pack of 100 glow sticks from Amazon and we let them crack them, connect them in chains and necklaces for all the adults and the stroller. We do this for most park evenings, not just Halloween but this was great entertainment while waiting for the parade. (6) do not plan on a breakfast ADR for the next morning. My kids stayed up significantly later for this than any other park night, it the one time I have not rope dropped the next day and it was the correct choice. (7) make sure everyone can easily potty in the costumes. we saw lots of problems with this.

A lot of useful info here!

• Don't do any other park that day, use the morning to relax or do some resort hopping.

• Grab dinner somewhere at on the monorail loop before the party. Only eat counter service or snacks during the party so you aren't wasting your time in a restaurant. I recommend The Wave myself and then walking over.

• You can enter starting at 4 even though the party starts later.

• Skip the parades and do attractions at those times to take advantage of the shorter lines.

• Don't waste your time in line for candy or character meets.

• Do HM at least once after dark.

We've been talking up the trick or treat to DD for way to long now. She would riot if she did not get to trick or treat in Magic Kingdom at this point lol.


A lot of good advice from everyone and I appreciate it! We will do the F&W festival upon our arrival Tuesday afternoon. Crowds should not be to bad on that day. Speaking of crowds, per touring plans, each park we plan on going to has a crowd level of 1! I hope it looks like it did for the DAH event we went to but imagine it will be a little busier. Back to food and wine, I planned out character stops as we tour the world showcase and plenty of snacks for the kiddos with a ride here and there for them. After what will take us 12 hours to drive, leaving at 2AM Tuesday morning, Mom and Dad may need a adult beverage lol. We spend another day in Epcot, but it's only till lunch time so I'm not expecting much that day.
Regarding MNSSHP, I agree with the character thing, we will meet a few, but I told DW to not mention a certain tropical female character because I've heard the line is looonnnnnggggggggggg. My initial thoughts mirror what a lot of yall have mentioned which is rides first, then parades, shows, characters on the back half.

I am normally way more prepared for Disney trips, but this was my week to read up on both and have a plan and I just did not have the time. I appreciate everyone's input!

 

[LSUlakes]

Hope he gets better quick! How long are you there? We go down next Friday for the weekend.

@AFwifelife we check in Tuesday the 11th and come home Sunday the 16th. That Friday, we will be at MK till 12:30 ish, then heading to the resort for a swim and/or nap. Eating at our resort QS (POFQ) and plan to get back to MK around 6:00 PM for the party. I know getting their early is suggested but we also plan to stay till midnight so, some rest it probably best. Saturday we rope drop AK and then plan to be in DHS by 1:45 PM. Let me know if your plans have us crossing paths and we can plan for a meet up. Hope yall have a safe trip!

 

[Barca33Runner]

ATTQOTD:

Looks like we will be ships passing in the night @LSUlakes. I fly down with my sister, niece and nephew on Sunday morning. We are attending MNSSHP that night after lunch at Sanaa so that we can do quick service and snacks at the party. We aren’t going in costume, but we will all be wearing Haunted Mansion themed shirts for the evening. We like to hit as many attractions as possible, so candy trails, fireworks, parades, shows and character meets will all be as an if they happen thing rather than something must do or that we plan around.

We are hitting up HS to check out Toy Story Land on Monday and then fly out Tuesday morning. I’m just a little excited.

 

[LSUlakes]

ATTQOTD:

Looks like we will be ships passing in the night @LSUlakes. I fly down with my sister, niece and nephew on Sunday morning. We are attending MNSSHP that night after lunch at Sanaa so that we can do quick service and snacks at the party. We aren’t going in costume, but we will all be wearing Haunted Mansion themed shirts for the evening. We like to hit as many attractions as possible, so candy trails, fireworks, parades, shows and character meets will all be as an if they happen thing rather than something must do or that we plan around.

We are hitting up HS to check out Toy Story Land on Monday and then fly out Tuesday morning. I’m just a little excited.

Marathon weekend it is then.

 

[flav]

I am also curious as to how much faster people find they do based on race day excitement.

My average training speed includes warmups and cool downs, endurance speed for long runs and various intervals at various speed (for example, I might have a 2min interval at my 5k speed somewhere in my half marathon training plan).

Come race day, I try to run at the pace for which (not at which) I trained.
One way to determine that speed at the beginning of a (12-16 weeks) training cycle is by doing a 3k test on a threadmill.

That is where pacers may help achieve goals... They are definitely more consistent than me at maintaining a pace: There is the excitement of the beginning, the distractions (pictures, spectators), the tiredness (even boredom), the caffeine intakes (I have to restrain myself after taking a gel sometimes).

 

[LSUlakes]

East Coast posters, pay attention to Florence. Latest EURO run has her right off the coast of South Carolina on 9/13/18 at what appears to be a well organized storm. Obviously a lot can changed and already has with this storms projections.

 

[Wendy98]

ATTQOTD: I love MNSSHP. We have been as a family and then I went with dd (11) last year. The family year, costumes got a little hot for the kids, so choose wisely (Looking back, a plush Olaf costume was not going to do well in Florida). Bring a bigger bag or backpack to dump your candy into. You will get SO much candy, especially at the end of the night. If there is a "must see" character, line up early. DD and I got in line for Jack and Sally last year around 4:45 (I think they came out at 5:30). There were people waiting before us, so no clue what time they got there. Even though the park was still open for everyone, you had to show your wristband for the special characters. A few years ago, we got in line early for the 7 Dwarfs and that took a long time. Party night isn't the night to eat at CRT or a long TS meal. DD and I actually did The Plaza and were in and out in about 35 minutes, but I would do QS if you have to eat something

Food and Wine is just ok to me. Much more fun without kids. It is very crowded and lots of drunk people. When I went last year with DD, we didn't even go through F&W. However, there was a super loud, drunk group of guys on Soarin with us. I was worried about getting puked on. A few years ago, DH and I wondered through F&W during the afternoon while kids had downtime in the room . We had a drink or 2, but the lines were long and there weren't many places to just sit.

Crowd levels sound awesome right now! Post Labor Day has been my dream, but these dumb school and activities schedules say "no way".

 

[run.minnie.miles]

East Coast posters, pay attention to Florence. Latest EURO run has her right off the coast of South Carolina on 9/13/18 at what appears to be a well organized storm. Obviously a lot can changed and already has with this storms projections.

I leave for Savannah on 9-15.... fingers crossed for no flight delays! (Or hurricanes for that matter...)

 

[AntimonyER]

I leave for Savannah on 9-15.... fingers crossed for no flight delays! (Or hurricanes for that matter...)

Ha, I LIVE there, so I am right there with you. REALLY don't want to make it three years in a row.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

Ha, I LIVE there, so I am right there with you. REALLY don't want to make it three years in a row.

Oh no! We are doing a girls' trip for my mom's 60th birthday and really looking forward to it!! I think we have a pretty good schedule, but let me know if you have any great recommendations!

(I was looking at the weather and it looks hot! Will be tough to run in!)

 

[Bree]

I’m worried about DH flying home from NYC on Friday. We have our anniversary dinner on Saturday at Victoria & Albert’s. I’ve been waiting almost a year to be able to dine there.

 

[AntimonyER]

Oh no! We are doing a girls' trip for my mom's 60th birthday and really looking forward to it!! I think we have a pretty good schedule, but let me know if you have any great recommendations!

(I was looking at the weather and it looks hot! Will be tough to run in!)

I am sure you will have a great time! The Olde Pink House is my wife and I's favorite restaurant, I recommend that to everyone who asks.

 

[Kazrak]

East Coast posters, pay attention to Florence. Latest EURO run has her right off the coast of South Carolina on 9/13/18 at what appears to be a well organized storm. Obviously a lot can changed and already has with this storms projections.

Oh, lovely. I fly into Atlanta on 9/11, hopefully home on 9/14.

This is really just what I needed.

 

[FFigawi]

I’m worried about DH flying home from NYC on Friday. We have our anniversary dinner on Saturday at Victoria & Albert’s. I’ve been waiting almost a year to be able to dine there.

If the weather starts to look bad, most airlines will waive their change fees and let him book an earlier flight out.

 

[YawningDodo]

Answer to Wednesday's question -- I wear my Garmin from waking up to going to bed, taking it off for showers. I tried wearing it to bed a few times but it bugged me too much while I was trying to sleep, plus I feel like having it off for 9 hours per day is better for my skin. I like the "Move Bar" feature throughout the day, though I'm still bad about listening to it when I'm at work.

I mostly wanted to drop in on this thread to brag about actually making it out for my run yesterday. I'd slept terribly the night before, ended up sleeping in, and didn't do my morning run. I came home from work feeling terrible (stressed out, jittery, just generally bad) and had the thought that I could still do my run. Well! It's funny that running has actually become not just something I look forward to, but that I know will make me feel better. I ran in 81 degree heat (yeah, there's a reason I do mornings) and I chose a hilly route, but I was feeling so good after the first couple blocks that I managed the pace I normally hit on cool weather runs over a flat route. Go figure!

In less thrilling news, I got stung by a wasp on the back of my thigh just above my knee today. I was initially really worried since last time I got stung I had a big local reaction, but this time it's already died back down. Fingers crossed that it doesn't reverse course and get nasty, because I really don't want to miss tomorrow morning's run for a stupid bug that couldn't keep its stinger to itself.

 

[Smilelea]

ATTQOTD: We're in the same boat. We leave the 19th for our first time during F&W and MNSSHP. We hit Moonlight Magic @ HS that night and the party on Friday. I've loved reading everyone's tips - very fitting for us too.

F&W - we plan to visit Epcot for a few hours upon arival on Wednesday but will then head out to HS. We don't really have anything we just have to do. My family isn't very adventurous when it comes to eating so it will only be me if we do try anything. Although, DH is interested in trying the maple bacon funnel cake.

MNSSHP: We plan to take our time Friday, sleep in, etc. We will mosey on over to the park about mid morning. We have ADR at CRT at 2. We plan to jump in line for Moana very early because that's a must for our two. Our focus is M&Gs and parade. I told DH to save the trick or treating for later. The boys will want the candy but won't really care about the actual "treating". They do care about the characters. We will probably have to find a place to duck in during fireworks. YDS is terrified of the noise. I want to see the Sanderson Sisters Show but that's something else we can do when the boys pass out. Costumes are Toy Story themed. ODS is Buzz with a pajama buzz shirt and white basketball shorts. YDS is Woody with yellow t-shirt, simple vest and blue jean shorts. DH and I are Mr. & Mrs. Potatoe Head with brown t-shirts that have felt faces. We're going as cool and comfortable as we can.