WDW August 2015 Trip Report

This summer has been crazy, no getting around it.  From myself working 50-60 hours a week at work due to understaffing, to a tree impaling our roof, a damaged door on a brand new car, a cracked tooth crown, and then our AC completely dying too, Jeff and I were seriously thinking it was time for a vacation, somewhere, anywhere.  Only problem was it couldn’t cost too much, even with my overtime our summer of fun had taken pretty much all of our extra cash.  When the August work schedule came out at the end of July I noticed I had 3 days off in a row, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  The time was ripe.  Originally we thought about heading to Universal, but after discussing we decided Disney would be more cost effective.  After all we already had annual passes, (tickets = $0), Disney offered free transportation through Magical Express (though we had never used it exclusively), we had free plane tickets already thanks to Southwest points and Jeff’s Southwest companion pass,  and last Disney had these great things called value resorts, that wouldn’t break my bank account.  Basically all we had to pay for was a cheap hotel and food.  Sounded good.

So the original plan was the fly down Saturday morning and fly back Monday evening, two full days, two nights.  Then Jeff enrolled in a business class, which had a test Monday night at 5:30… so schedule had to change.  Instead we decided to fly down Friday night, and come back Monday afternoon, it cost an extra night in a hotel… but we were set we were GOING. 

The craziness continues as on the Monday prior to leaving I head to the doctor, I had been having some really itchy bumps that were spreading from my hands, to my arms and legs.  I was thinking allergic reaction… I was told Scabies, a highly contagious bug infestation.  Lets just leave it there.  Working the next day, Tuesday couldn’t happen, ugh.  I applied to treatment cream and hoped it would get better.  It didn’t, it got worse.  Thursday night I decided to head back to the doctor, instead of Urgent Care this time though I headed to my primary care doctor, which I should have done the 1^st time.  Turns out it wasn’t scabies after all, it was a skin reaction, mostly to the cream prescribed to treat the scabies, that I didn’t have.  What caused the original breakout? Will never know.  I was prescribed MORE drugs, this time steroids, and went home HOPING it would get better, but feeling better that I wasn’t contagious. 

Friday finally comes, I go to work, and get off at about 3:30, I head home.  Finally things start moving smoothly as the drive up to the airport, and parking was uneventful.  We flew through Atlanta, and had a quick connection to Orlando.  There was about a 30-minute delay but by the time we got to Orlando we were only about 15 minutes late, arriving around 11:45 instead of the scheduled 11:30 pm. 

Since this was a “cheap” trip we decided for the first time ever, not to rent a car and to attempt to use Disney transportation exclusively.  For a lot of people that’s the norm, but I was a little worried.  From check in, to sitting on the bus (which was about 30 minutes) to the drive, and check in, to the room was about an hour and a half, which I have read is about average.  We were staying at All Stars Sports, and had one stop prior, Coronado Springs. 

The Orlando Airport Terminal Tramway... I love this view.

More Orlando Airport...

ORIGINALLY, when I had booked our reservation for two nights it was at Pop Century.  However, as I previously mentioned we had to change it due to Jeff’s class and flew down Friday night instead, Pop Century wasn’t available for all three nights, so we chose All Stars Sports instead.  This means my goal of staying at all Disney Resorts is increased by one, and I only have one more value left to go.  (four total resorts left, Yacht Club, Grand Floridian, Caribbean Beach and All Stars Music)

I had also previously thought there were no King bed rooms in the All Stars.  After researching I found out that was not true and put in a request by calling in, as well as another first, requesting a reservation request fax in through TouringPlans.com.

We ended up in Building 6, 3^rd floor of the Surf’s Up section (preferred), with a King Bed.  Finally, some good luck. 

All Stars Sports at Night

Lobby

It had been about fourteen years since our last stay at all All Stars (prior to our wedding we stayed at All Stars Movies), and I was surprised in how small everything was, both from check in, food court, resort, etc.    It was nice that it was small as I can tell there would never be a long walk to the main building a bus stop regardless of your room location, I didn’t like it because everything was just really small.

Room itself was clean, you could tell it was recently renovated, and had no problems with the room itself.  So after being up 20+ hours I went to sleep quickly around 1:30 am. 

Saturday

With only two full days it was going to definitely be an interesting trip.  I had set up FP+ for both days about two weeks prior and was pretty happy with what I was able to get.  One thing I really liked about FP+ is that we didn’t even wake up until 10:30 am or so, yet we were still able to get and use three FP+ within just a few hours for some pretty major headliners.  That would have never happened under the old FP system.

So we knew our plans for today was Magic Kingdom, primarily because it had late magic hours until 1am the following morning that was the original plan atleast.  We took the quick walk to the bus stop, and waited.  I noticed immediately the lack of shade over the bus stop, an addition at Pop Century that I can now fully appreciate.  Seriously, add some shade.  We waited about 10 min before the bus arrived, not bad, and arrived around 11:30.  Our first stop was get something to eat, and decided to stop at our traditional MK stop, Caseys. 

I noticed right away that it seemed rather busy, the Main Street Trolley show had just finished, but it wasn’t a mad house like I remember the hub to be.  Both Jeff and I were both pleasantly surprised with how well the hub re-design worked at controlling the crowds during parades, and busy times. 

With it being about Noon, our first FP wasn’t until 11:45, we decided to head that direction, originally we were going to ride TTA first, but noticed it was either down or had a massive back up, so we headed for our FP at Space Mountain first.   Space Mountain was… Space Mountain, very short wait.  Our next FP was Splash Mountain.  Instead of heading back over the hub, we decided to head for the train station in Fantasyland and ride the train to Frontierland.  A great plan, but problem was by the time we got over there… Splash Mountain was down, loaded. 

Alligator at Magic Kingdom

I learned two things pretty quick.  One, Disney is fabulous at handling stranded riders.  It was sunny and hot and the park provided umbrellas and bottles of water to those stranded at the base on the main Splash Mountain drop.  Two, that Disney can pretty much figure out when someone can’t use a FP because of said ride being down, and sends out an e-mail giving you options immediately to use your FP instead at any ride that had available FP without having to actually reschedule.  We decided to use it for Haunted Mansion which had about a 35 minute stand by at the time, one of my all time favorite (if not absolute favorite) ride.  By this time it was about 3, and it was time for our last scheduled FP, Big Thunder Mountain.  After exiting Big Thunder we happened to notice that Splash Mountain had finally re-opened, we figured that as it had just opened it might not have a long stand by wait.  We were right.  Stand by was maybe about 10-15 min?  During that time there were two messages about threatening weather headed towards Walt Disney World… However, it wouldn’t actually hit for several more hours.   So in four hours we had ridden the entire Magic Kingdom Mountain Range, as well as Haunted Mansion and the WDW railroad.  Not bad.  Certainly a LOT better then pre-FP+. 

At Big Thunder Mountain

Best Ride EVER, Haunted Mansion.

New float for the 3PM Magic Kingdom Parade.  Pretty cool.

During the time moving between rides, I had been messaging a few friends of ours that lived in Florida.  One, Adam had just moved from KC to Orlando the previous few weeks, and asked if he wanted to get together.  We made plans to meet up at Port Orleans Riverside for Yehaa Bob later that evening. 

Haircut at Magic Kingdom

Glass Blower at Magic Kingdom

Jeff had mentioned earlier that day about getting our hair cut at Magic Kingdom, and we had decided we would check that out on our way out as we weren’t sure what time the barbershop closed.  Turns out it closes at 6, but at 4:30 pm or so it was still open, and had a seven person wait, turned out to be about a 30 min wait, not too bad.  I love the experience because I can’t think of a single other place you can get your hair cut inside of a park, and two its really not that expensive, $19 for a haircut? Great Clips is $14!  Plus, its just so dang cool.  We both got our hair cut, and they did a great job, I got Jeff talked into getting pixie dust (sparkles), which was pretty miraculous. 

Polynesian Roof during a rain storm

So its about 6pm, too early to head over to Port, so we decided to monorail hop a bit and headed towards the monorail and stopped at Contemporary first, we checked out the shops, and the quick service there, and decided instead to grab food at Port Orleans, which I believe has the best food court at WDW resorts.  Polynesian was second; we timed the walk from TTC to the DVC Polynesian buildings (3 min by the way) since we have reservations for Polynesian for the January Marathon weekend.  Walked over by the completed bungalows, and took a look at the new pool area.  It seemed different then before, more open, not necessarily bad, and I think the whole resort is still one of the most beautiful.   By this time the skies were growing dark, the wind had picked up it looked like it was about to pour… so we headed inside.  Not long after arriving indoors it started to pour, so we found a seat, and relaxed in the lobby for a bit.  About twenty minutes later, realizing the rain wasn’t going anywhere and it was getting closer to 7, we decided to head out.  We bought some ponchos and headed for the monorail…. And waited.  10 min later, we gave up and headed instead for the Ticket and Transportation center to get a bus to Port Orleans… nope no buses there only at Magic Kingdom.  So we ended up taking the express monorail back to Magic Kingdom, and boarded the bus to Port Orleans. 

We arrived around 7;30, met up with Adam, and got dinner at the Port Orleans food court.  I mentioned it previously, that Port Orleans food court is in my opinion one of the best and we love the build your own pasta.  About 8 we headed over to the River Roost, and there WWIII almost broke out.  It was crazy packed and we waited by a table that looked ready to leave for about an hour.  As they left, a lady behind us, came up and claimed the table saying she had been waiting since no one else had been in the bar.  Uh yeah.  So we gave up the table, and waited and waited.  Around 10 a few seats at the bar opened up and I grabbed them as fast as I could.  Finally able to get my Mississippi Mudslide I was happy.  Around 11 or so, we decided we had enough of River Roost and decided to check out a new adventure.  Being more then a little crazy, we decided to take the bus to Downtown Disney.  Knowing that DD closed at Midnight didn’t change this idea.  So we headed over and found most stores closed, but still got a chance to see all the new changes to DD since our last visit in January.  We did find one shop open on the West side, and I bought at new Star Wars shirt. 

Around Midnight we headed back to the marketplace.  Jeff and I caught the bus to All Stars Sports, Adam had to get a bus back to Port Orleans, he had parked there.  We made it back to our room around 12:30, and went to sleep around 1 or so.  A long crazy day to say the least!

Sunday

If Saturday was crazy busy then Sunday was almost a carbon copy but was quite literally about as perfect a Disney day as you can get.   We woke up again around 10:30, having FP for Hollywood Studios TOT at 11:45, that was our first plan for the day.    Now I am not a fan of TOT, my husband on the other hand, loves it, if there is anyone else in our travel party that likes TOT, I will not ride, but… it was just me and him today so I figured I would suck it up and ride.  On the way down Sunset blvd though we ran into some citizens of Hollywood (characters that provide skits on the streets of Hollywood studios), playing a game with the various guests of stroller bowling.  Strollers in general are the ban of all non-stroller using adults at WDW.  They are so many of them!  And so many abuse them as battering rams in crowds.  Annoying yes. I love how Disney sometimes is ok with making fun of themselves, and this is a great example. 

Stroller Bowling at Hollywood Studios

We made it to TOT eventually,  there was a little bit of a line even for FP holders, it appeared the ride might have been down for a short period.  No matter, it was kind of nice having a few minutes to appreciate all the intriciate theming that went into this amazing attraction.  As far as the ride?  It wasn’t that bad.  THAT bad.

Amazing theming at Tower of Terror

As we hadn’t eaten yet for the day we decided to stop for lunch next, and our favorite place at Hollywood Studios is one that will be going away soon due to the re-construction project… Dockside Diner, and its famous pretzel dogs.  Honestly, it wasn’t as good as I remember.  Our next stop wasn’t for a FP, which wasn’t until about 1:30, but instead was the Great Movie Ride.  Recently receiving a little love by its new sponsor TCM, its always fun.  It was about a 20 minute wait which allowed us to appreciate the updates to the queue line and introduction movie.  I was dismayed to find that the film clip finale had been edited to NOT include Cotton Blossom… I need a hug

More Tower of Terror

Star Tours was next, which is my favorite ride at Hollywood Studios, we had a FP but 100% DID NOT NEED IT.  Complete walk on, our vehicle was only about 50% full, and again I was not the rebel spy.  Some day.  Haing already bought a few Star Wars items the night before at Downtown Disney we checked out the exit shop but didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without.

Mulch Sweat and Shears at Hollywood Studios

Using the Touringplans ap I was able to find out that Mulch Sweat and Shears, a rock and roll tribute band that plays in the streets of America was performing again at 2:30, we stopped at The Writers Corner shop for a bit, a combination book store/bakery/gift shop has some great tables in the back to relax in.  As it closed in at 2:30 we headed around the corner to streets of America to catch Mulch Sweat and Sheers, always a good show!

For this trip I made only one ADR and considering it was only two days long I guess that makes sense, for my birthday at Teppan Edo at EPCOT, since I made it only 20 days previous the only time I was able to get was 4:20 pm, so with it closing in on 3, we headed towards the entrance at Hollywood Studios to take the boat to EPCOT.  Good choice as at this point it was just starting to cloud up, by the time we got on the boat and headed for its first stop, it started POURING.  Since it takes abou 30 minutes for the boat transfer between Hollywood Studios and EPCOT we were lucky enough to miss out on the heaviest rain on the enclosed boat.  Perfect timing. 

When we arrived at EPCOT it was drizzling and with the idea of a dinner in a air conditioned restaurant coming up soon… I bought an umbrella.  We headed into World Showcase and started walking towards the Japan Pavilion.  Since we were still quite early we checked out the department store for a bit, and a little after 4 headed towards the restaurant.

Its been several years since we hade been at Teppan Edo, but I really enjoy Japanese Hibachi, so this was 100% my idea.  Overall great experience.  We were seated with a family of four with two small children, which were relatively well behaved, they were kids, being kids.  Thought about ordering sushi since I really do like it, but since Jeff doesn’t like sushi I couldn’t see myself eating a whole order myself so I skipped it.  Good thing. With all the food we had I was stuffed.  I had shrimp and chicken, Jeff had steak and chicken.  Food was excellent, service was excellent.  I received a free dessert since we were celebrating my birthday and the servers sung to us, it was fun.  Overall it was a pretty inexpensive meal for an EPCOT dinner, around $80 with tip and tax.  No complaints here.

We headed out and began walking around the rest of World Showcase, checked out the Germany and Norway shops, as well as construction going on in Norway for the new Frozen ride.    Also checked out Mexico and China, but we skipped the ride and movies, having seen them so many times before. 

About 7 we hit Future World, and also checked out a few of the shops there, since Mouse Gears is one of the best shops in Disney World.  I bought a Birthday Christmas ornament (buing a Christmas ornament on trips is kind of a tradition for me).  We headed over to Test Track but it was showing a 50 minute stand by, so we checked out the wait times board nearby and noticed right off the back that Soarin’ had a 20 minute wait.  A 20 minute wait… for SOARIN’?  This is a ride that normally has 60+ mins waits, atleast.  So we high tailed it there.  Obviously a lot of other people did too, but our wait was only about 24 minutes so no complaints. 

Spaceship Earth, yes that's us in the upper right side...

With all of our walking I was starting to notice a small blister forming on my foot, so I wasn’t entirely sure how much longer I was going to make it, I also was thinking about running that night at the resort, so I was eying heading back to All Stars.  Still we decided to ride the traditional Spaceship Earth (which of course was a walk on), and checked out the Art of Disney shop.  It was about 8 now, and Jeff and I talked.  We had the option of going back to the resort and relaxing the rest of the night or heading back and then maybe heading to Magic Kingdom later, since it was open until 11.  We decided that I would decide based on how I felt when we got back to the hotel and put a band-aid on my toe.

Magic Kingdom at about 9:30 pm

Looks pretty crowded...

We headed for the bus stop at EPCOT and quickly made it back to All Stars.  After sitting down for a few minuts, and applying the band aid, I decided that there was no ways I was going to go out running as it was alreay pitch black, so I decided what the hey lets go back out to Magic Kingdom.  We headed back to the bus stop, the bus came literally 2 minutes later, and only a few minutes later we were at Magic Kingdom.  It was about 9:30, so a few on the bus were headed over for Wishes, including a family from the UK.  We talked with them for awhile, gave them a few ideas on how to get over to Universal, as they were told by their travel agent that there were free buses to all the parks.  (ugh!).  Once we arrived at the park we headed right over to Fantasyland, our goal was in the next hour and a half to ride Peter Pan and Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train. Ha.  Just two rides?  Meer Mortals.  Peter Pan is a favorite anyway, but it had a recently re-designed queue line experience that had just opened.  I was completely impressed.  Very interactive, and love trying to watch for tinkerbell flying around, so much better then the old basically amusement park queue line it once was.  I also noticed one of the cast members,  was being very interactive with the guests… “keep moving two by two”.  You have to have been there to appreaciate it.  Great to see.

Tomorrowland the way it should be viewed... at night.

So overall our wait for Peter Pan was maybe about 20 minutes, our next stop was right across the midway at 7 Dwarfs… posted about a 40-50 minute wait, we timed it… it was about 16 minutes.  Like Soarin’ its not uncommon for 7 Dwarfs to have 60+ minute waits.  I still think its short, but overall fun.  So now its about 10:30, so we head to the attraction I had wanted to do the previous day, TTA.  Nothing thrilling or crazy about it, but its fun, and it’s a great way to see Tomorrowland at night.  After exiting, we still had about 20 minuts before park closing so we headed over to Space Mountain, 20 minute posted wait…. COMPLETE walk on.  We had ridden the left side the day before so we rode the right side this time.  Still trying to notice any different, still not noticing any.  Still fun, though I always feel like I have to duck as it transverse the curves, you can just barely see the track structure above your head. 

TTA Peoplemover

So technically after exiting Space Mountain we had about 5-6 minutes left, there was nothing left that we could make it too in a decent amount of time so we just figured we would head to Main Street USA, and do some shopping while the crowds exited.  (yeah crowds… where were those again?).  Instead as we hit the hub I noticed there was a decent, but not crowded gathering around the curbs as if waiting for a parade.  I was thinking… no way.. chcked my TouringPlans ap and sure enough there was an 11 pm Main Street Electrical Parade.  This is my absolute FAVORITE parade, even though its old, hokey, and has a definite 80’s synthesizer sound to it.  I like the sound track so much I used it for my wedding recessional 14 years previous!  With low crowds, in that there was only one line of guests sitting on the curb at the hub, we had a great view.  I loved how right before the parade started all the lights go out on Main Street USA which was surreal, and then as the parade ends all the lights start coming back on in domino-fashion as the parade ends. 

ANDDD.... NO LINE.

With the parade over, and with it being around 11:30 we decided to head for the entrance, the day was over, all the parks were closed now, and I was terrified that there would be a huge wait for the bus back… Nope.  I even had a seat on the bus back.    Looking back on the day it was a huge success, actually the whole trip was.  On Sunday alone though we visited three different parks, used only two fast passes, but rode atleast 6 E-tickets, (TOT, Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Soarin, Seven Dwarfs and Space Mountain), plus several other rides, had a great meal, and overall it was still a very relaxing, if long, day. 

This is just so surreal...

Just because I love it so much here is a YouTube video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnziycJZT0I

Monday

Under the original plan, we weren’t due to fly out until 3:30, allowing a few hours of park time.  Under the new plan, due to Jeff’s test, our plan was to fly out at 12:50 pm, with  Magical Express pick up at 10:05 am.  I had discussed with Jeff the night before about getting breakfast at the All Stars food court prior to catching Magical Express, since I love my breakfast (Jeff not so much).   We woke around 8 am, got packed, and headed to the food court.  As I mentioned before All Stars Sports is SMALL, and so is the food court, it was re-modeled a few years previously, which you can tell, but still.  Overall though it wasn’t mobbed, and it was easy to get food and find a place to sit.  Food was okay.  About 9:45 we headed out to the bus stop, for our ride to Orlando Airport.  I won’t go into the details of flying back as it was rather boring, though I thought it was interesting we flew into Chicago Midway on the way back, since I would be back to this same airport in exactly six weeks for the Chicago Marathon.

Prior to takin this trip I had never had a trip to Disney that was this short,  I wasn’t sure what to expect, and had only been once before during this time frame and that was during Free Dining.  Overall, we ha a great time, had good experience with Disney transportation, and overall had great CM experiences.  The only negative that I can think of was All Stars, and it wasn’t really a negative, I am just not a huge fan of value resorts, having been completely spoiled by DVC these last few years.  

Looking forward to November, and the F&W ½ marathon! 

Dopey again Year 2!

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What is the saying "This &^%$ is about to get real?"  From last year I had learned that the ½ marathon portion of the Dopey is really an omen for the marathon on Sunday, basically how I felt after the half would determine how I would do on Sunday.  The goal was nice and slow, to preserve as much stamina as I could for the next day.  Now I had brought with me two pairs of running shoes, a newish pair of HOKA Clifton’s and a pair of Saucony Guide 8’s.  Since the Clifton’s were light weight and I had yet to try them for a long run, I thought running in a shoe I was more familiar with, the Saucony’s, would be a good idea for the next two long races.  The weather was still chilly on Saturday morning for the race, but since this would be double the distance of the previous 10K I decided to suffer with the cold, and wear my Lulumon running skirt and pink tech shirt, with the pink sweatybands hat and pink compression socks, I was definitely VERY pink.  I also wore my Spacecoast jacket thinking I could take it off on the course and wear it around my waist. I also brought along another emergency blanket to cover my legs, in a kilt-like fashion while we waited for our corral.  

It turned out the wait was not long after all.  We had left with plenty of time, or so I thought, leaving for the bus around 4:15, the bus was there when we arrived with plenty of space, and we technically should have arrived about an hour before the race start.  Didn’t happen, traffic was inching along on Buena Vista drive, and what should have taken 5 minutes ended up taking about 30 minutes.  Thankfully World Drive itself was relatively traffic free, and we made it to the drop off at about 5:15. Since we were in a corral far far away, Corral K to be specific, we had a significant amount of cushion time to get to our corral.  For the two shorter races, the 5K and 10K it was a short jaunt to the corrals, for the longer races, the ½ and full, there was about a ½ to ¾ mile walk to the corrals, which I like to call the cattle call, as there are thousands of runners traversing this dark wooded pathway towards EPCOT center Parkway.  The forecasted high temperature for Saturday was in the mid-60’s, making the start for the ½ marathon still a little chilly, but compared to the warm and humid start the previous year, is preferred.  You can always put more on but only can take so much off right?

I have to say after this race the WDW ½ marathon is becoming one of my favorites, long enough that you get to enjoy the best parts of a WDW race, in that you get to run through Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, but not so long that it wastes your entire day like the Marathon does.  It probably also helped that this year we had run already 9 half marathons, as opposed to only 2 the year before, so half marathons were becoming more routine, and less of a challenge.  The half marathon starts on EPCOT center drive, and heads out straight for the first 2 miles on standard concrete roadways.  Right around mile 2, the course turns right onto an exit ramp and onto World Drive towards Magic Kingdom. This section is somewhat congested and the slanting road way doesn’t make the turn simple.  Once on World Drive it is an enjoyable next few miles, we passed the Magic Kingdom Toll Booth (mile 3), went through the Ticket and Transportation Center (mile 4), and then headed under the water bridge, on our approach to Magic Kingdom.  The actual turn into Magic Kingdom is not through the main gate as you would expect, but passes under a Railroad crossing and into Magic Kingdom through the backstage areas, the turn into the backstage area is approximately Mile 5.

Suzy had texted me while we were still waiting for the race to start to let us know she was on her way to the Magic Kingdom.   I wasn’t entirely sure how easy spectating would be in Magic Kingdom due to the reserved “Cheer Squad” sections, that you had to pay for.  Still Suzy found a good spot on Main Street USA and got a photo of us going by! Not an easy feat with how congested Main Street was.  The course then turned right into Tommorowland, and turns again and heads towards Fantasyland.  I was surprised Dopey wasn’t around as a character meet by the new Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train, I mean you would think right?   Suzy was there again as we ran through the castle and got a pic of us with the castle behind us, a photo we had missed on last year’s run.  Another photo op we had missed last year was with the steam train and engineer on the Frontierland crossing, which is about Mile 6.  We missed it once, we weren’t missing it again!  There was very little wait and we got our photo and went.  

Here the course exits Magic Kingdom and begins its journey back to EPCOT, we passed the Grand Floridian, and Polynesian along with the Wedding Pavilion on Floridian Way.  Floridian Way is BY FAR the most congested portion of any WDW race I have ever encountered.  It’s a 2-lane road, with one lane open for car traffic, leaving only one lane for runners.  We ended up in the grass A LOT, as in many cases people were walking shoulder to shoulder along the course.  URG.  We turned back onto World Drive and the runner/walker traffic spread out with three lanes instead of just one, opening up the course for our trip back. There was a “free” GU booth which we stopped for (free flavored sugar yeah!) and then it was home free for the half.   In the last few miles the sun had begun making its presence known, I had shedded my jacket and wrapped it around my waist, and ended up sweating a little, but overall was not to bad.  We again crossed the finish line for a 3^rd time (the finish line is the same for all four races), got our medal, headed towards the Dopey tent once more, and again it was just a pass through.  I know a lot of people stressed about this, how it was different then previous years, but the way I looked at it, I wasn’t stressed about it.  Try taking my Dopey away from me and watch out. J We got our free snack box, banana and powerade and again headed for the bus to take us back to OKW.

Since the races were getting longer with each day we didn’t make it back to the room this time until about 11AM, I began to ice everything down, I bring a box of sandwich bags and get ice from the hotel and make my own ice packs this way.  I know many take ice baths, and I’m sure they work but I just can’t get myself to sit in a bathtub full of ice water… so ice packs it is.  I iced down anything that was even remotely sore, for me ankles and Achilles which are always my two trouble spots. 

After relaxing a bit we took showers and I started snacking on the snack boxes provided, pretty good this year, goldfish, tortilla chips and cheese, and my favorite squeeze packages of cinnamon apple sauce, yum.  Our decision for food today had been discussed a little over the previous days. I knew I didn’t want to do too much walking, so our tentative plan was to take the OKW boat to Downtown Disney and get good carb-loading food options at Wolfgang Puck’s Express.  I really chowed down, mac and cheese, and chocolate brownie, I knew I would need all those calories and then some on the next day, not to mention the 20 some miles I had already ran.  After eating we did do a little shopping, Jeff got a Dopey 48.6 mile cell phone case for his Iphone 6+ (to add to his pile of cell phone cases he already has), checked out a few of the other shops including Art of Disney and the LEGO store and headed back to OKW.  Following my rehab plans from the previous year my next stop was the hot tub, One nice advantage to OKW is that each quiet pool has it’s own hot tub, both Jeff and I spent about 20 min. there, and then headed back to the room.  The ice earlier and heat later seems to have worked well these last two years, and certainly helped ease a little of the soreness I had so I think that is our plan going forward.

Over the last week I had followed the weather forecast for Sunday.  If I had a choice I would have preferred warm weather on the shorter races and cool weather on the long Marathon, because if it turned out to be the predicted warm and sunny we would be miserable for the last half, as it takes approximately 6 hours for us to get through a Disney Marathon.  The forecast was a high of 78 and various chances of rain and cloudiness.  I knew I couldn’t expect temperatures to change much in 24 hours, but I was hoping for cloud cover, which helps immensely!  I laid out my running gear one more time, and this time was a little more serious, no more worrying about the temperature at the start, and more thinking about the temperature around noon. I decided on a semi-translucent Nike tank top, a black lulumon running skirt, compression sleeves, purple sweatybands hat, and SPI belt which I filled with cliff shots, and a second pack of Spark.  I also gave Suzy a bag of pretzels to hand to us around Animal Kingdom, as I found that I probably was having probably hyponatremia (low sodium) on previous marathon races.

It was still a little chilly so I did still bring another emergency blanket, wrapped over my bare shoulders. We left about 10-15 min. earlier this morning for the bus due to horrible traffic the day previously… it was worse, but again due to our outer rim corral assignment (K) we made it with plenty of time, and didn’t have to wait around long.  I had also made the decision to change out shoes, as I mentioned previously the ORIGINAL plan was HOKA’s for the first two shorter races and Saucony’s for the longer two.  I had worn Saucony’s the day before for the ½ and seriously felt like I was wearing bricks on my feet afterwards.  So I decided to take a chance and run the marathon in my lighter HOKA Clifton’s.  GOOD CHOICE.  The moment I crossed the starting line I could already feel how much lighter my feet felt, and that was only with a 2 oz. difference between the two types of shoes.

The first 8 miles were basically a repeat of the previous day, but I began to notice around mile 4 my right ankle telling me it was there, it wasn’t necessarily pain but it worried me, with over 22 miles left to go.  It was about that time that I began to feel really stupid about doing a fast 7 mile run right before leaving, because it had felt a little sore then too.  Overall I didn’t find the first 8 miles as congested as on the half, but I had made the decision no to do as much swerving on Grand Floridian drive as I had the day before too to help my ankles and avoid the rough mud and grass. It was right after mile 8 that the marathon and ½ marathon courses diverge.  The marathon headed us onto the WDW Speedway, the sun was out at this point, but overall the temperature was holding steady in the low 60’s and I hadn’t started sweating, good signs. 

Exiting the Speedway at mile 9 we started heading towards our next park, Animal Kingdom, I generally consider the next 3 miles the 2^nd most boring portion of the WDW marathon, as it weaves through the back areas, water treatment plant, and a massive Animal Kingdom backstage area.  At this point, I knew if it was sunny and hot it would mark the beginning of a miserable 2^nd half or 13-15 miles, thankfully it was anything but, the sky had become overcast, was threatening rain with a slightly cool breeze and comfortable temps.  As we passed mile 11.5, we picked up a “free” banana, and I also applied some “free” bio freeze to the sore ankles.  I also noticed how many runners were surrounding the medical station, laying down or sitting, or stopped stretching out.  I was thankful that I seemed to be in better shape at the moment, and hoped both my body and the weather would hold out!  I also texted Suzy at this point to let her know we were about to enter Animal Kingdom’s backstage.  I almost immediately received a text back saying she was waiting near Kali River Rapids, I was unsure where this was on the course, having only run once through Animal Kingdom on the previous year’s marathon, but I made a point to really watch for her. 

Animal Kingdom is probably the shortest distance of almost any park that the Marathon transverses, literally you enter at about mile 12.5 and exit before 13 miles, weave through Asia and Expedition Everest, past Dinosaur and out of the park near Primeval Whirl.  I knew when we crossed by Everest we had missed Suzy, so I stopped, called her quickly, while doing so noticed the hundreds of runners passing by and crowds surrounded the course would make finding her at this point virtually impossible, and we would waste a great deal of time doing so.  So I texted back and said we would continue on.  Turns out I had no reason to worry as she found her way to the front of the park, about a half mile further on, and was able to catch us then!  A nice side note is that we were able to pick up my baggie of pretzels for later on in the race.

A lot of people dislike the next 3-4 miles, which heads pretty straight down Osceola Parkway towards EPSN Wide World of Sports.  It is pretty flat, boring, and right out in the sun with no shade.  I know at some point if we continue to run Dopey that I will experience how truly hellish this strip of road can be, I mean no shade around 11a.m. or so?  Thankfully our experience was completely different.  We mixed our 2^nd pack of Spark about Mile 14, and not soon after it began sprinkling.  I was thankful; even if it did rain the rest of the entire race, way better then hot, sunny and 80 degrees!  I had done several practice runs in misty to pouring rain conditions, and two half marathons in the pouring rain, so rain no longer scared me.  It obviously scared those running around us… people were “stop the rain!” and I was like “NO!, I like the rain!”  The streets weren’t really slick except for the paint dashes and overall it was pretty nice running experience.  What really terrified me was waiting next, ESPN…

In 2014 we also ran the Dopey, and though Dopey wasn’t my first full marathon, it was not a great marathon experience.  I quite literally felt like I was running in a near collapse haze during EPSN, which adding to the shear boringness of EPSN (its 3 miles of empty fields) makes it my least favorite part of the Disney marathon.  By the time we had reached mile 17 and the entrance into EPSN it was downright raining, it felt quite good actually, yet they were also giving out cold wet towels in ESPN, which felt nice too, being able to wipe down my face. 

IN 2014 we had run the marathon at a 2:1 (2 mile run, 1 mile walk) pattern until mile 13, when we switched to 1:1, at this point we were still at 2:1 and feeling good, well at least decent.  Was EPSN still boring? Absolutely, but I didn’t feel at Mile 20 the need to lay down and die, and that made for a MUCH BETTER experience.  Exiting out of EPSN at mile 20, we looked over towards the entrance (its out and back for a short period) and saw the balloon ladies coming. Last year this freaked me out, this year I became the consoler, as several ladies around us seeing the same thing became concerned, I knew at this point we were 3 miles ahead of them and even if we had to walk the next 6.2 miles we would be fine and explained this to those who were concerned around us.  I think it helped. 

Also at this point I dug out my pretzels and began inhaling them, I think after 4 marathons I might have found a good option for low sodium at this point in the race, as I never really ran into a wall during Dopey this time.  At mile 21 we started our walking mile and I took the opportunity to text Suzy again, I had texted her last about mile 14, and thought the Beach Club area would be a good vantage point and allow a reasonable amount of time for her to get there and get a spot.  Suzy had texted me that she was there now, and I was just updating her as to our position.

Right after 21 the marathon exits onto World Drive, and was my mental “I got this” moment last year. This year I was still feeling pretty good, though Jeff was a little fatigued, so we ended up walking about a ½ mile up the overpass hill, and past the 22 mile marker (which by our plan we should have ran).  As the road turned into the Hollywood Studios at EPCOT Resorts Blvd, we began running again, and it also began raining again, so none of the street of America performers met us in the Hollywood Studios backstage area as they did in the previous year.   We headed into the old Backlot Tour area next, and ran through the old costuming tunnel; in the previous year this was a simple dark tunnel, which was nice on a sunny day.  This year, most likely due to the Backlot Tour be axed, the costume tunnel featured strobes, fog, colored light DJ the whole nine yards.  Pretty cool.  Mile 23 was right at the exit of the tunnel and the course then turned onto the Streets of America.  The rest of Hollywood Studios went by as a blur, and soon we were exiting the gate and headed towards Boardwalk and our final destination EPCOT!  Funny enough as we were exiting the park, an EPCOT bus was parked waiting for riders, and there was a split second though about climbing aboard and taking a ride for the last 2 miles!  Those would have been some FAST split times!

Mile 24 came up quickly and it was about this time, with only 2 miles to go that time seemed to stop and the distance seemed to crawl by…  We meet up with Suzy at Beach Club, she was sitting there with a long time spectator of the WDW Marathon, she also had two cold bottles of Coke, 100% calorie fully loaded, (and found out later it should have been flat), but tasted great!  We rested a few minutes but soon enough we off running again. 

Jeff and I had been talking and he was filling tired, and my feet hurt like crazy, Jeff wanted to walk Mile 25, but we compromised and walked part of the mile, and ran about the last ½ (my feet hurt less when I am running).    I had learned from the marathon in 2014 that Mile 25 seemed to take forever to reach,  this year I knew exactly where it was, in the France Pavilion.  I shared this little nugget with runners along the way, since by that time you just want to finish.   As we entered World Showcase you could see all the way across to Mexico, and it seemed like an eternity to reach.  As we moved forward we crossed into China, and Mulan and Mushu were there together, I had thought at the time it was a regular park Photopass stop (EPCOT was open to the public by this time), but it turned out to be a Marathonfoto, and it was a great photo!  We also caught up with another runner dressed up as Lilo (from Lilo and Stitch) we walked with her for a bit, before she split off at Germany for a beer.  A tradition for marathon runners is to make stops along the course, whether it be at McDonalds on Osceola Pkwy for a McFlurry, A ride on Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom or an adult beverage in EPCOT.  I think one of these at least is a must try for next year.:)

We started running again right after Mexico, on the bridge heading for Future World, by this time the rain had stopped and the sun was out, it was getting pretty toasty but with only ½ mile left it was a non-issue, but thinking back it would have been HELL if more of the race had been in that weather.

Soon enough we crossed through Futureworld, and the turn for the exit out of EPCOT was approaching, we passed the hallelujah choir, and then ran down the chute for the finish line.   It was a great feeling, and for the 2^nd year, I still have to say that though Dopey is expensive, it is worth all $500 of the registration fees.  Looking back I think this year was by far a better experience, as I wasn’t hurting near as much as I was the previous year. We received our Marathon medal, and then headed for the Dopey tent for our Dopey and Goofy medals.  The cast members verified us against our original photo from the expo, confirmed we had completed all four races and received all our finisher medals.  Our next stop?  The Bus, we had advised Suzy that we were heading immediately for the bus back to OKW.    The previous year, once back in our room we were dead to the world until the next morning, this year we still took a nap, but were able to get up get something to eat and relax in the hot tub later that evening.  I believe overall our training was improved over the previous year, and offered a better experience.  OF course the weather worked out for us too!  So the question this year of whether we would come back for year 3?  Not much to question this year, we will be back for more in 2016!