An Unexpected Journey Part 1

*Author's note: This was started in late December BEFORE the Dopey, and I finished it after the Dopey to explain the first sentence.*

So as Jeff and I prepare (mentally and physically) for the Dopey next month… I thought it would be interesting to look at our journey over the last year.  Neither of us ever thought of ourselves are runners, or in my case in anyway athletically inclined.  As a freshman in high school they made us all run/walk a mile, I walked it, in 18 minutes.  I ran track for a short period of time in high school too and was a dismal failure, and of course the tour de force? I had to take a physical ed class in college and chose jogging… Yes folks, you are talking to the only person who has EVER failed jogging class.  Yep.  Me.  Of course after that dismal display I actually did start running at the college track and made it up to about 2 miles before “quitting”.  

Some "before" pictures, which shows WHY we started to run.  On the left is Jeff at Coaster Con 2009, (when it was in Branson/Kansas City), and then me in 2006 at Patriot Opening.

So to get back to this year… we ran our first 5K last January.  But the story doesn’t begin there either.  I actually started jogging (again), about 3-4 years prior.  I didn’t really keep track to be honest I wasn’t doing it (originally) to run any races (remember my prior experience in track…) I did it actually to lose weight.  

 It all started with an old pair of cargo shorts, a t-shirt and a pair of old tennis shoes.  I didn’t even know at this point there was such a thing as proper running attire (except for maybe the shoes part).  I got up to about 3 miles this time, running the streets around where I lived.   Jeff started running with me a bit, but claimed it was “boring”,  until he discovered the Little Blue Trace Trail.  About three years ago we started running there and made it up to about 6-7 total miles.  Again no plans to run an actual race, and by that time a race would have probably been a good thing, as there was nothing to keep us going.  So when school started, and it got cold, so we felt we “had” to quit. 

That winter I found the Sermon Center in Independence which had a small workout room with about 4 treadmills, membership was only $15 a year, it wasn’t a bad deal and kept us going off and on.

So back to October of 2012, we had come to Disney in January every year for about 10-11 years, a few years prior a fellow vacationer had mentioned the Disney Marathon races to us… and we had considered signing up for a 5K for a few months.  After all hadn’t we been running that distance for years anyway?  But there was a big difference between running for yourself and running among a bunch of other supposedly more highly qualified real runners.  We decided to take the plunge though and signed up…

 Our first race finish, the WDW 20th Anniversary 5K

January 2013. That’s where this story REALLY begins.  At that time a 5K was a major thing for us, I still think it is really for anyone, it’s easy to forget but 3 miles isn’t just a short little distance.  We finished that early January morning, at 10:25 a minute, not a bad time overall.  A friend of ours, Mark was signed up to run the Goofy Challenge later that weekend showed up to congratulate us at the finish line. We had asked if he wanted to go out for breakfast that morning assuming that he was also doing the 5K too, finding out he had not, that he had drive from Naples, FL to Orlando, at 6:30 in the morning no less just to see us finish a race was pretty amazing.  It still is.

Earlier that week at the Disney Health Expo (where we picked up our packet), Jeff and I had discussed our plans to expand our running goals.  I had thought the half marathon for the next January was a good goal… Jeff was a little more uh optimistic.  After hearing that Mark completed the Goofy Challenge, Jeff decided he wanted to try that too.  Mind you the Goofy Challenge was a half  marathon followed the next day by the full marathon.  Yikes.  But he wasn’t done.  And Neither was Disney.

For atleast the last few years there was an unofficial challenge named by the fans called the “Dopey” it involved running the 5K right before the Goofy.  For 2014 Disney adopted this unofficial race, kept the name and made it a 5K, 10K, half and full marathon… Why they had to do this, THIS year, is beyond me.  But Jeff being Jeff and trying to tackle crazy insane obstacles… decided we had to try this. And me… being the ever-obedient wife (HA!), DIDN’T AGREE.  In fact, it took about a full two-three weeks of “well you can do whatever you want but I am going to do it” coercing to get me to agree.

So… how do you get to that from a 5K in one year?

Very carefully obviously…

 

Look ma! Running in a Cave!

So our next goal after getting home from Florida was to get some distance into our races so we went right into training for our next race, the Groundhog Run 10K on January 27^th.  Our first goal was to get some training in and make sure we could actually run 6 miles.  Keep in mind we had run this distance before but it had been awhile.   SO we got home, ran that super long 6 miles (well it was long then!), and headed out the next weekend for the Groundhog Run.  I texted out on Facebook that all I wanted to do was finish!  Groundhog Run is a unique race in that it is all-underground, and is a double 5K through the Hunt Midwest Subtropolis caves (the largest man-made underground business complex).  It has the advantage of being a constant 65 degrees, which is a major plus for Missouri in January.  It also has the disadvantage of absolutely no breeze and a mild degree of humidity.  Overall it was a fun run, though it was disheartening to be lapped at mile 2.  We finished at about 1 hour 9 minutes.

*I just realized I should explain the term “Lapped” for those non-running initiated.  It means you are running not so fast, and another runner is running much faster, to a point that they are at mile 4 while you are at mile 2.  

A few weeks later on February 9^th, we ran the Sweetheart Shuffle the first of a six race series we would participate in, and another 10K, this time outdoors.   To be blatant, it was NOT warm, I believe it was just below freezing at race time, but we beat our 1^st 10K time by quite a bit at just over 1 hour 4 minutes, giving also Jeff (originally Jeff and I) a good corral placement for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler.   Though it wasn’t planned that way it also became our last 10K for the year.  We had planned to run the Plaza 10K later in the year but nursing school clinicals cancelled out that idea unfortunately.

Nursing clinicals and nursing school provided me with quite a challenge not only in races but also in training.  Not that the idea of 48.6 miles wasn’t a challenge enough, I was also working full time, and taking classes, all at the same time (and in some cases planning ACE events too!) Considering that though I did quite well.

One of our goals was to actually achieve a medal for a race; due to several circumstances this did not occur until our next race, the Sweetheart Run/Walk (4 Miler) at Wheeler Airport in Downtown Kansas City.  It was a rather slow run for us at 42.10 for the entire race time, about 10:30 a mile.

It was about this time that we decided to sign up for our first half marathon.  My thinking was that we needed to get a half marathon out of the way at least at the halfway point.  Kansas City has a three half-marathon series the Heartland 39.3 series, which for 2013 included Rock the Parkway, The Kansas Half Marathon, and Running with the Cows.   We set our sights on the May 11^th Running with the Cows, which is ran quite literally (it felt) in the middle of nowhere, where the cows outnumbered the people in Bucyrus KS. 

Prior to that though we had two more small races both 5K’s.  The first was the Easter Escapade 5K ran at Truman Sports Complex.  Jeff had to run this by himself (part of the reason it was a 5K and not the 10K), and I ran the virtual race.  This was part 2 of the 6 race Healthy Bodies series. The 2^nd 5K was out in Overland Park and was the Easter Egg 5K.  Completely innocuous name but filled with lots of Kansas hills.  Yes folks Kansas has hills. IT IS NOT FLAT. Total race time was 32:54.  Why so slow? Well the day before we had run our first 8 mile run, preparing for the afore mentioned half marathon.  It was our first time ever breaking the 7-mile maximum we had set about two years prior.

March and April were all preparation, pushing from 8 miles, to 10 miles, to 12 miles and finally 13.1 miles the weekend before our first 13.1 mile Race.  I remember at the time thinking how LONG 13.1 miles was, and it’s still definitely a significant distance, but not nearly as daunting as it was the first time around.  One mistake I think I made was directly tied to my fear of the unknown.  I drove out to Bucyrus KS (about an hour from our house) to drive the course.  It seemed SO HILLY, and it terrified me to little bits.  

The morning of the race came, and like ground hog, my goal was simple… finish.  One aspect that never fails to amaze me, is as terrible as the training runs are, race days themselves are actually MUCH EASIER.  I have no idea why.  But it works.  So even though we started out cautiously, I think around the 12 minute a mile or so pace group we reached the turn around hill (out and back course), run up the “never ending” hill into the straight wind and I was worried at that time it would be the end of me.  As we turnd, and headed back crossed into 8 miles, I knew at that point we would make it, it was a great feeling.   I also discovered not soon after that right about 11 miles my feet start to HURT.  At this time I simply blamed it on my older minimalist shoes.  But it seems to be a constant right between 11-13 miles.

That was a great day, perfect weather (though somewhat windy), and I immediately had to have my 13.1 car magnet.  

Jeff wanted me to tell the story behind these photos, so I will.  This is the finish line for Run for Rachael.  We ran together for most of the race (as we usually do).  However, there is "this guy" that Jeff kept noticing at almost every "Healthy Bodies" race we had been in.  He always seemed I guess to show up at the end of each race.  Well Jeff, noticed "this guy" closing in at the end of Run for Rachael and he WASN'T going to let "that guy" beat him.  So he split off running at the end... and did eventually beat "that guy".  I came "straggling" in after trying to keep up with Jeff's blistered sub-8 min mile pace... only a few beats behind him running my own personal "you are not going to beat me, tall lady" race.

If you remember we were also participating in the six run series sponsored by Healthy Bodies in Lee’s Summit.  Realizing I was in Nursing School and may not be able to run all the races I figured it would be a good idea to run the back up race.  The Run for Rachael in Blue Springs.  Only a 5K true, but I really thought the “hills” in Running with the Cows were hills?  Always be a bit worried when you ask the director of the race if the race has hills and they want you to pay first before they answer… Yeah that really happened and oh my gosh that was one REAL hill!  Still we finished with our first 5K under the 10 minute mark, at about 9:45 a mile, gigantic hillzzz not withstanding.

 Jeff with his 3rd place (age division) medal, for Boots and Daisy Dukes

June was full of several 5Ks,which is about the only type of race found in Kansas City in the summer months it seems.  June 1^st was the Color Run, followed by the June 9^th Boots and Daisy Dukes 5K.  Jeff hated me during this race, as I pushed the pace and he endeavored to keep up (which he did), once we finished he proceeded to tell me what he thought about my pace.  That was before he found out he actually placed 3^rd for his age division, entitling him to a bronze medal.  Overall time was just over the 30 minute goal, at 30:03.

 1)Finishing Firecracker Flight, and 2)Jeff by himself at the Double Road Race

The weekend of June 29^th and 30^th would be our last official races for awhile, but Jeff liked to call it his “mini-Dopey” preparation weekend.  It featured 3.5 races.  So how exactly do you get 3.5 races?  Here is how.  June 29^th we ran the 3^rd official race in our 6 races series, Firecracker Flight, a 5k, thought about doing it as a 10k, SO glad I didn’t.  It was ran near Blue River community college, and featured to date the largest and most difficult hill I have experienced on any race.  It was also at that point the only race we had walked on at that point.  However, with that being said… no one passed us.  Still our overall pace still was only 9:45 a mile, not to shaby.

That evening, we ran another 5K the Glow Run at Arrowhead Stadium, though it was a “fun” run we still ran a decent pace at about 10:30 (and it was PACKED). 

The following day I had a nursing clinical so I didn’t get to participate in the 2^nd half, of the race and a half (hence 1.5) also known officially as the Double Road Race, a 10k followed by a 5K, with only about 20 minutes in between the two.  Jeff still didn’t do to bad and I believe his pace was around 10:30-10:45 a minute for both.  Interesting enough… two Kenyan brothers broke the world record for the Double Road Race at the same race… yep… don’t care to know what their pace was!

With July, the weather started heating up, and with that pretty much the entire Kansas City racing calendar came to a jarring stop.  Jeff and I though, still kept up with our training runs, but they became harder and harder.  I was taking nursing classes during the summer too, which is difficult on top of work and running.

Come August, I had planned a trip to Hilton Head Island with my mom, in the days leading up to the trip I had planned two more runs on Monday and Tuesday, on the treadmill this time due to heat.  The first day was just fine but I felt sore right after running… the next day I found it hard to climb stairs or get in and out of the car… the next day I found it hard to walk period.  BAD.  Thinking back I think I hurt my hamstring, but I’m not entirely sure.  Problem was a week later while in South Carolina I had begun feeling better, and decided to run 3 miles, bad idea #2.  The next day was back to relearning to walk again.  So I took off from running for about two weeks.  Not usually a big deal, but we had thought our races would begin again with the Broadway Bridge Half Marathon, on September 8^th…   Due to my lack of running leading up to the race, we delayed in registering.  We waited too long (and there was notice that it was about to fill up which irritated me) and registration closed… Or did it?

Turns out we were able to get a spot if we showed up the morning of the race, but we were told we may not get a medal.  So we said sure, and planned on getting up Saturday morning to run.  Well Saturday morning came, with its brutal weather forecast, a high of 94 I believe was forecasted, and bright and early that morning we decided not to run.  Of course an hour later feeling bad we hadn’t ran, we went out for a practice run of 10 miles anyway! Oh and the high that day it wasn’t 94, it was 99!  It was the hottest day of the summer!

Broadway Bridge became the only race to date that we had agreed to run and didn’t actually run.  I later heard that the time limit (usually 14 minute mile) was extended due to weather conditions…

So with the weather in September still being warm and humid we started preparing again for the longer distances… After the debacle with the Broadway Bridge Half I was bound and determined to get signed up for another Half Marathon soon.  The Kansas City half marathon was coming up in October, and even though they stated officially there was no cap… I kept watching the KC marathon Facebook site and sure enough due to a record number of registrations for the half marathon they posted they were cutting off registrations soon.  So I jumped in and registered despite the official “no headphones” and terrifying Liberty Memorial Hill. Terrifying is well deserved… Liberty Memorial hill is so famous that its evil twin has a whole race series named after it (Hospital Hill). 

Jeff at Tower of Terror 10 Miler

Of course before all of this… Jeff got to run another somewhat long distance race. Back in February Jeff and I had signed up for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler at Walt Disney World.  We both signed up, but only Jeff got to go.  Why? Nursing School strikes again!  Of the 4 clinical groups for the Fall semester only one group conflicted with participating in TOT, guess which one I ended up in? Yep.  So I got to stay home, Jeff got to run at Disney.  Now with that being said I still ran a 3.1 distance and 10 mile distance on the same day, in 80 degree temps with 90%+ humidity (thanks Kansas City!) but only Jeff got the cool medals for it. :P

 
FREE Beer, FREE BBQ sandwich and Star Wars... really what else could we want for post-race entertainment?

So just 12 days later, and about 50 degrees cooler (THANKS Kansas City!) we were lined up outside Crown Center, prep’d for the Kansas City Half Marathon.  I was terrified, for the Cows I had ran a 13.1 distance just prior, for this one the longest run I had gotten in was 10 miles. (mind you several times) Plus, that stupid terrifying hill at 4 miles… I was worried.  We started REALLY slow, cautiously.  By the time we had gotten through “THE HILL” and hit 6 miles (about Westport) we realized that we could speed up easily, at 8 miles, I kept waiting for the wall to hit… it never did.  Due to our slow start we still ended up finishing at a time of 2:34, not great, but we crossed the line at a 8:20 pace, meaning there was probably a whole lot left unused.

What’s the old saying? There is always next year…

Jeff sprinting across the finish, I am right next to him on his left, just outside of the photo.  Jeff with his 2nd place finisher medal.

A week later, we were ready for the 4^th of our 6 race series, the Halloween Hustle 5K.  JUST a 5K, how funny that sounds compared to how terrifying that distance sounded in January.  The run was set up at Unity Village in Lee’s Summit MO, and our goal was a sub-9 time.  While running I was worried that time just wasn’t going to be possible… There were a fair amount of hills…as we found out after we crossed the finish line not only was it possible but we beat our goal considerably with a 8:40 a minute pace.  A 5K just became a sprinting run.  Jeff again proving that less women need to run, picked up 2^nd place in his age category… I came in 6^th.  If I had been one year younger I would have been 2^nd too, but oh well. 

Everyone has heard the saying about ignoring the 800-pound gorilla in the room right?  Well that’s what I have been doing for oh the last 2-3 pages.  See back in July there was a little race series (yep another one) that Jeff had become interested in… called the Space Coast, in Cocoa Beach, FL.  (Near Kennedy Space Center hence the name), it’s a series that if you ran the race 5 years in a row you got a special “milky way” medal.  For Jeff (ok both of us), it’s about the bling.  The Space Coast was a combination half and full marathon run at the same time.  We had wanted to do the half, but waited too long… so I posted on Facebook, should we try the full?  26.2 miles?  Could we do it?  No matter what we signed up… Now with it being October the realness of that distance was facing us dead on.

The race date was set for December 1^st, the weekend after thanksgiving. We flew down to Florida the Friday after Thanksgiving we were nervous. I had wanted to get a 20 mile run in before trying a marathon and whether it was I didn’t go out early enough in the day (my fault), or day light savings time causing the sun to set to early (uhh… the folks in the 18^th century that came up with that idea), I will blame both.  Space Coast check in and registration were at the Kennedy Space Center. It was completely disorganized… but we got our stuff, and of course took the whole tour of KSC, including the new Atlantis Space Shuttle experience. 

Somewhere between mile 21 and 25 on Space Coast...

Sunday… why are all Marathons on Sunday?  Bright and early we were up, I had picked up a bagel at the Dunkin’ Donuts the day before, so I was ready to go…Our plan was run 5 miles, walk a mile, then run 4 miles walk 1 the rest of the way.  That was our “plan”.  Yep you know how that goes.  The first five miles were extremely easy, it was slightly humid, but it was cloudy so there was no sun to really fight.  We then walked our one mile, and began running again… however, at around 8-9 miles… Jeff had this “fabulous” idea… lets run the rest of the first half of the marathon! It was so easy!  That’s where I should have put my foot down and said no.  But I didn’t.  I went along with it.  Yeah we know where that ends.  BADLY.  At about 17-18 miles Jeff began dying off, I wasn’t doing to bad though (I will be honest at the higher miles running is easier for me then walking), and so began our 8 mile er argument. 

 Sprinting for the finish, that's Jeff's shoe in the lower right corner.

One thing to know about Space Coast it is a double out and back course.  Meaning you ran out 7 miles, turned and ran back, then went out the other direction 7 miles, and came back.  VERY VERY BORING course.  Yep it’s the Ocean, but after 26 miles of Ocean, even that gets extremely boring.  First turn around was straight and to the point.  2^nd turn around, was around mile 20, and was a complete joke.  We see what we think is the turn around ahead and we are joyful, only it isn’t the turn around.  There is a turn and it keeps going, then we think we see the real turn around ahead, but it isn’t’ again!  Finally the 3^rd turn, ahh the real turn around! Thankfully that was about the 20-mile mark, so I felt some satisfaction that we were making progress.  Jeff wasn’t doing so well still, and we managed a 1 mile walk/1 mile run for the rest of the race.  My first thought after receiving my medal, and towel… Sitting Down never felt so GOOD! 6 hours 15 minutes after we began… Again not a good time at all… but we did it.

So after accomplishing the ultimate running feat of running, and after being recorded accomplishing the amazing feet of climbing stairs AFTER running 26.2 miles (thanks Mark), what did we do? We went to Disney World! Well. Ok. Not a park.  We went to Beaches and Cream, the ice cream holy land.  After all what’s the point of running that far, if you don’t get to eat some of the calories you just burnt?  (26.2 miles = about 2700 calories for me, quite a bit more for Jeff).  Overall, though the next day or two I sort of had to relearn walking again. It wasn’t to bad. 

Now about 8 months ago, we had spoken with a sales rep at the local running store in Kansas City, Garry Gribbles.  We had been told that it would be impossible to run the Dopey and even more crazy to do it only a month after our first full marathon.

I was concerned with this bit of advice, but honestly I am glad we did the Space Coast Marathon.  There is just no way to know what to expect with a Marathon until you do it.  While all the races of shorter distance are almost entire physical… Marathons are a big portion mental, you fight yourself, and fight the urge to give up when the distance seems just too long, but continue on because you know somewhere inside that you will be able to do it, despite the pain and fatigue.

Two weeks later was Nursing School graduation! Yeah! The same morning we had the final race of our 6 race series, the Candy Cane Course in Blue Springs.  Another 5k (because it WAS right before my graduation), it was 28 degrees at race start.  It was a slow run… because when its 28 degrees, and there were flurries the night before… yep its going to be slick.  Running this race was best described as “Left, Right, Left, Right, sllliiiidddeee….” And as we weren’t wanting to break anything before Dopey, (or graduation, though showing up in a cast at Nursing School graduation might have been kind of fun), we went SLOW, about 10:25 a minute slow.  Despite our slow speed Jeff came in at 4^th place, and I again came in at 6^th place.  The winning time was somewhere around 8:25 a minute or so, which is VERY slow for a 1^st place runner.

Geauga Lake Carousel Sign

Here are a few photos from the Geauga Lake Carousel sign ...

Star Wars Weekends 2011 Trip Part I

Well we just got back from our quick summer trip to WDW. Unlike the previous trip in January whose trip report was pre-empted by Microbiology I am bound and determine to finish this one. I am also bound and determined that it will not be 20 pages long. It started several months ago, when Jeff and I considered doing a trip to both Disney's Flower and Garden Festival and Disney's Hollywood Studios Star Wars Weekends. When April came around F&G festival was out but Star Wars Weekends looked like it was a go. I won't bore you with the details of planning, but eventually plans were set to fly down Thursday night and come back Tuesday Morning on Southwest Airlines and that we were going to be staying at Pop Century. As a side note, since the original trip was going to be over Memorial Day weekend (it was changed to the week prior for a variety of reasons), we also made plans to celebrate Jeffs birthday, since his birthday is May 28th.

The flight down was completely uneventful, as was the rental car pick up. That was a breath of fresh air compared to January when we had left my bookbag in the rental car! I didn't see it again for about a month. We had rented a mid-size this trip, because of said book bag issue, and ended up with a Jeep Patriot, not bad for $62 for five days including tax! Our problems didn't really begin until we checked into Pop Century or tried to. As in the past we decided on online check in. There was a massive line for normal check in, but no line at all (as in no sign, or separate queue), for online check-in. After checking with guest services, we got checked in, to make my point brief though it wasn't the warm and fuzzy experience I was hoping for. We were assigned a double bed room, which was another minor irritation, but set up to change to a king bed the next day. Next order of business was getting something to eat. We ended up splitting a pizza and two orders of breadsticks, the food was good. The food court... not so much. It was a little bit more disorganized then I would have expected, and they had closed all the soda refill stations except one. A lot like Worlds of Fun, not at all like Disney. After a sour 1st day, I was hoping the rest of the trip would get better...

For our first day, we had debated on what to do... Star Tours, the reboot, was due to have its grand re-opening ceremony today (Friday), but with the lack of a 12PM Star Wars parade, and the fact that everyone was expecting massive crowds (as in so crowded they were expecting park closures), we decided in the end to skip it. It made it an even harder decision when I heard George Lucas was to be in attendance... Overall though it probably wasn't to bad of a decision since everyone I spoke with said that no one except the press could see anything anyway. So we decided on Magic Kingdom for that day..

In the past we have seen a few of the MK Main Street USA "Citizens", but this was our first time meeting up with the Mayor of Main Street USA. Walt's original plan was Main Street USA was to be a re-creation of a real working turn of the century main street. In January we stopped at the Barber shop there (yes a REAL working barber shop) Here is a photo since again we lacked a trip report...

Believe it or not the haircut was only about $14 or so, and they did a really good job!

Since it was about 11AM by the time we got there (issues with getting Annual Passes processed slowed us down), so our first stop was something to eat, and we decided on a new tradition for us, Casey's. While eating hot dogs and corn dog nuggets (with cups of saurkraut on the side), we had a visitor...


After eating we strolled over to Adventureland and checked out the brand new entry way into this extremely well-themed Magic Kingdom land...


We rode Pirates, and then headed over to Big Thunder were we grabbed a fast pass for only an hour later.... We rode the WDW Railroad for a full loop, and then it was time for the wildest ride in the wilderness!

I love Disney, I wouldn't say that they don't care about safety, but they arn't like Six Flags or Cedar Fair with are so liability oriented... its nutty. Disney still allows riders to take their cameras with them on the ride!

Taking the time to smell... the cactus blooms on they way down the Big Thunder Mountain exit.

Of course our next stop was my favorite, Haunted Mansion, which had just received another major update, this time to queue line, becoming a Next Generation Queue Line, or interactive queue line pretty cool.

A "play" organ, those waiting in line can touch the keys and the organ then plays part of the Haunted Mansion soundtrack.

An interactive "bath tub", every one in awhile it squirts water at those waiting in line... That felt pretty good actually as it was about 93 degrees!


After Haunted Mansion we headed over to Fantasyland, and after I rode the carousel there (of course), we rode a ride that I don't think we have ridden in probably 10 years... Dumbo the Flying Elephant.


Dumbo had a 45 minute wait, for what as you can see is basically a carnival ride. So why did we ride it? For this view...

The New Fantasyland under construction! After the ride on Dumbo we ambled over to Tommorowland, and rode TTA, before heading out. It had been a HOT day, and we were both pretty exhausted...


After a stop at the Ticket and Transportation center, we stopped for our annual visit to our brick... 11 years old and still looks good!

We ended up back at Pop, and after doing a quick room change, (see previous nights issues), we settled down for a break from the days heat (it was REALLY hot). About 6PM Jeff was checking the WDWLines App on his Iphone and for the sake of argument checked the wait time for Star Tours... it posted a 45 minute wait... WHAT?! only 45 minutes? What are we waiting for lets head to MGM. err Hollywood Studios.

So breaking our original plans (which was to hit Hollywood Studios at opening the next day), we took the bus to the park, and headed immediatly for Star Tours. It was about a 45 minute wait... the queue line was amazing, the ride which basically now had 56 different ride possibilities (the beginning, middle and end, had about 20 different possibilities). For our 2 rides that night we visited the Death Star, Hoth, Coruscant, and Tantooine. if you have no idea what I am talking about... Shame on you. Go watch a few Star Wars Movies.

After riding we decided to check out Jabba's Hutt, the obligatory Star Wars gift shop for Star Wars Weekends. Since it included several one of a kind collectibles (from what I had heard atleast), it was supposed to have a massive line just to get into it. Our luck we found was holding, the place was pretty much dead. We exhibited significant self control, compared to previous experiences. We walked out with one collectible pin, a book on lightsabers, and a "I was There" 2011 Star Tours Opening Weekend t-shirt. Later on that night I did succumb and buy a build your own lightsaber. What can I say... I am weak minded.

Since there were no plans for the evening, we basically stumbled into the nightly showing of Hyperspace Hoopla, about 15 minutes before showtime. Our view wasn't that great, but even with our lousy view it was enough to make sure we came back later in the weekend for a close up spot. Amazing!

After taking a bus to the park we were worried about how long it would take to get back... Amazingly, and I DO MEAN AMAZINGLY, there were 3 buses in immediate sequence that showed up and hauled the long queue of people waiting back to the resort within just a few minutes of us lining up. It was a relatively quick trip back to Pop, and we went straight to bed... We had a date again with MGM and Star Wars Weekends early the next morning...

Saturday Morning, 6AM... yes we were up and getting ready for another fun filled and sweat filled day at Star Wars Weekends. Originally the plan was to be at the gate an hour before park open to catch the Storm Trooper mini-show, and to get to the front of the (supposably) extrodinarly long line for Star Tours. Since we had ridden Star Tours the night before the importance of early entry wasn't as important. Still we were there at about 7:45, a few minutes before park opening. I found out though they actually opened the gates at 7AM so I missed the Storm Trooper show... but did get a photo with one of the many storm troopers milling around the gate area...



I was trying to look angry.. you know to match the "theme"... didn't work so well. I kind of just look irritated.

Even though the lines never appeared, MGM was prepared for said lines... here is a look at the extended queue lines prepped... I give them credit, they were PREPARED.

With Star Tours not being top priority we moved onto our (who am I kidding MY) #2 priority, Darth Vader. We headed for his queue line, and after standing there, with already 5 people ahead of us, we were advised he wouldn't be out until around 9AM. Keep it mind this was an hour away... So we decided to bail and come back closer to 9AM, and instead headed to Toy Story Mania. A ride that usually (almost always) has a 60+ min wait, had a queue line that looked like this.

EMPTY! Though you have to love the queue line. Its themed to all those old games and toys those of us of the pre-computers generations grew up with. Candyland on the floor, view finder reels, gigantic tinker toys, building blocks and dominos.

After a quick no wait line, and ride, we checked out our favorite exhibit at MGM, One Man's Story (a tribute to the life of Walt Disney), and then headed back to Darth's queue line. It was now about 8:45, and the 5 people in line had turned into about 40 or so. So we got in line... and waited, and waited, Vader then came out... and begin his photo shoots. For being a bad guy he is pretty popular! I am not suprised for a bad guy, he is pretty dang cool. After all he was #1 on my character meet list. Our wait was about an hour, not bad considering.

Next Stop was the queue line for the Disney characters dressed up Star Wars style, Jedi Mickey, Minnie Leia, Darth Goofy and Stormtrooper Donald. They all swamp out, 20 mins on/off. So we had Darth Goofy and Donald. Jeff was excited Goofy is his favorite character! This worst part of this was the 30 minute wait in the direct sunlight... Even at 10AM it was already exceptionally hot!

Our last character greeting was a quick one, I had discovered while waiting in line for Goofy and Donald that there was an Anakin Skywalker, character. Anakin, is my absolute FAVORITE character in the Star Wars universe, so the moment I heard this my antenna went up and I was bound to find him. Found out he was in a grouping with other Jedi Masters, so he didn't have his own line. Like the Disney characters you didnt' really know who you were going to get when you got in line. When we got to their meeting location we decided it was worth the chance, it was only about a 10 minute line. We were the last people to meet Anakin... We also meet with Mace Windu, the Jedi Master played by Samuel Jackson. (notice this was NOT Samuel Jackson, if it was it wouldn't have been a 10 minute wait!)

Playing it up with Jeff, who was wearing his Birthday Button... Jeff was told with 44 years of training he would be a Jedi Master soon. :)

A more straight on view... did I mention before Anakin Skywalker is my favorite character?



We were both pretty hot at this point, (I can't even imagine the people in the character costumes YIKES!), so we decided an airconditioned ride would be the ticket. So we stopped next door and rode the Great Movie Ride, which was only really a So-So Movie Ride. It seriously needs an update.

The Star Wars Weekends parade was one of the major attractions that I knew I wanted a good view (at 5'3" good view means front row), of, so I knew we had to stake out our spot about an hour before. Well we did, in the 95 degree heat, direct sun, hot pavement... we waited the 60 minutes to parade time... You ask was it worth it... 100% absolutly! Here are some photos...

Leading off the parade is this X-Wing/Pilot float, with Jedi Mickey on board!


The 501st, a group of Star Wars fans that actually own their own Storm Trooper/Empire uniforms, and volunteer for these types of special events.
The 501st is also known as Vader's Fist, as it is commanded by Darth Vader.

Emperor Palpatine (Palpatine with a "T"), flanked by the Imperial Guards.

I was sweating buckets in shorts and a t-shirt, I can't even imagine these guys... BTW these are Stormtrooper Tie Fighter Pilots.

Regular Stormtroopers.

R2-D2!

One of the "stars" at the 1st weekend of Star Wars Weekends, Anthony Daniels. He played C3PO in all 6 Star Wars films.

Chewie... with Wickett in front of him (Ewok). Behind them is Jedi Master Mace Windu.

Quite easily the coolest character to come out of the prequels, Darth Maul. To bad they killed him off in the 1st movie.


Boba Fett, I have found it absolutly amazing that characters with such brief screen time, and even shorter lines can become so popular. Boba Fett I think had three total lines, his famous being "He's No Good to me Dead" From The Empire Strikes Back.

The Lord of Darkness Himself.

Even though the heat was worth it for the parade, I was still pretty worn out by the end of the parade, and was SO GLAD I had followed everyone's advice on the Star Wars Weekends websites I had visited prior to the trip, to make a lunch ADR. We had to change the time the night before since the parade was at 12:45PM instead of the previous years 11:45. So we headed towards 50's Prime Time Cafe for our lunch reservation.

The theme to this restaurant is basically you are in mom's kitchen, so no elbows on the table, and eat all your vegetables, or terrible things can and DO happen. I won't say anymore... I plead the 5th :)

Food was good though, and was filling, even though it wasn't exactly a quiet meal, it wasn't obnoxiously loud, and was a good time, in an air-conditioned environment. It hit the spot!

Refreshed, full, and cooled down we were ready to hit the park for an hour or two longer now, and we finished up with a few of the characters we still wanted to meet.


Padme Amidala (Anakin's wife, Leia/Luke's mother), was next... Perfect that she was right there on the front of my shirt too. Amazingly right before the trip I had found a lady that designed Star Wars shirts for girls and women! To think it took only 33 years for someone to realize women liked Star Wars too.


Jeff's one pick, Darth Maul, from Star Wars I (or the 4th one depending on your view), Phantom Menace. Jeff borrowed Maul's famous stare, for his portrayal of a deranged doctor in our own Worlds of Fun's Asylum Island. So of course he had to repeat his portrayal... I think its a great photo.


Me with a Tusken Raider... (Sand People), from Tantooine. They were doing a pretty good acting job, my expression shows I was a bit intimidated! (For those who need a reference, refer to Star Wars: A new Hope, were Obi-Wan refers to the Sand People stating "The Sand People are easily startled, but they will return soon, and in greater numbers")


Last I really wanted a photo with C3PO and R2D2, so we headed back over to Jabba's Hut (also the gift shop) were they were situated. Again this was a rotating character situation, and Leia was taking photos when we arrived. I was hoping that she would switch out by the time we got up there, as Leia... well for some reason she is just not my favorite character. Luke, (or a stand in for Luke, as obviously this is NOT Mark Hamill) was who we meet. I was happy, and by this time (it was about 5PM) I was dead tired and really didn't want to wait anymore.

After meeting Luke we headed out and back to Pop Century. I took a nap when we got back (I was EXHAUSTED). We stayed in the rest of the evening, I did jog a bit while there, for some reason all the walking and sweating wasn't enough exercise...
That let me check out not only the timeline of events Disney has set up at Pop Century along Hourglass Lake, but also check out the construction of the new value resort, Art of Animation. We chilled out the rest of the evening.

To be Continued...

2011 Disney Trip! Pre-trip report I

For the last 3 months I have been concentrating on things like the extensor digitorium longus (muscle of the lower leg), the basilar artery (in the head) and my favorite Corpora Quadrigema (in the brain). Yes folks I have been studying and living Anatomy class for my quest for a nursing degree. I still have 3 weeks left, but as I have a solid A I feel pretty good taking a few minues to think about one of my favorite things... Disney.

Ahhh Happy Place. nothing like a disney inspired zen moment to forget about the hours, and hours, and hours and even MORE hours of studying. That's a week. *cring*

So where are we? Oh yes. So on Jan 14th for the 9th time in a row (almost) Jeff and are will be heading from cold Kansas City, to wonderful, warm and fuzzy Orlando, FL. We will be there for 9 days until Jan 23rd. Now usually we go down there the last week of January and this year we are moving it back a week to MLK day/week. Why? Well the answer would be school. Yes next semester the "fun" continues with Microbiology. *double cring* just the name is scary.

Four years ago in 2007 Jeff and I bought into DVC or Disney Vacation Club, Disney's version of a timeshare. At disney its all point based (instead of week based) and we started out a little atypical, we started out with on 25 points. Last year we finally made it up to 100 points with a 50 point add on at BLT, that's Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary, not the sandwich.

Yeah I know you where thinking about it.

Prettttyyyyy... but you know this is only concept art....

I guess one of those times concept art really does live up to the real thing...

So 11 months out, this last February I went to work early to make sure I could call Disney at exactly 11 months out at 9:00:00 mins to reserve a coveted reservation. BLT studio MK view.

Yes a room with a view. Supposedly.

See this wouldn't be a Jennifer Lovesee trip report, or trip in general without something for me to stress about. REALLY! Five min walk to Magic Kingdom, Monorail stop on my doorstep, no money that I have to pay when I check in, seriously I would have to find something to stress about. Otherwise it just wouldn't be me.

So what is it? Well see Disney in their infinite "wisdom" had categorized MK views as 3rd floor and above. 3rd floor rooms are more like parking lot views with a castle in the background. I am checking in on Sunday of MLK weekend, yes I am worried about getting the worst view possible. Could it happen? Yes. I am trying to make myself not worry about it. Its not working.

So to keep my mind off of that I am thinking about other aspects of the trip. First item on my agenda that we finally crossed off just a few days ago was the flights. Two months ago I booked the return flight from Orlando to KC on Jan 23rd using free tickets that we had on Southwest. The outbound flight I had been watching, and watching and watching. Southwest and I have a love/hate relationship you see. I love their policies, their refund/rebook policies, free baggage, etc. I don't like the fact that the seem to love to play with your mind with flight prices. $133, YIKES, $119 a little bit better but still high. Then last tuesday it FINALLY dropped under $100, to $90 I grabbed it. $90 per person for a round trip flight to Orlando. Pretty decent. Especially when one considers it is on a holiday weekend.

I will still be watching though. Should it go down in price again. If it does I will happily take a credit back... southwest are you listening?

So my standard practice after I book the flight is to book a car. Now some people go to Disney and depend on their transportation. I have considered it, I even almost did it, but I J U S T C A N T G I V E U P M Y C A R. Ugh got that out. Seriously I know the minute a try to rely on Disney transportation only I will be stuck at a park waiting an hour for the bus like we did at Port Orleans This summer. I Know This, I will not tempt fate, plus $160 isn't bad for a car for 9 days right? I also expect that to go down to. Right Alamo?

Now in the past I would have also been considering hotel options. Well I still have to consider hotel options but only for 2 days. See BLT is a 7 night reservation. The first 2 days we are going to Universal. I will admit it. Not only am I am a overstresser must rent a car fanatic, but I am also a Harry Potter fan. My name is Jennifer and I am a Harry Potter fan. Ok not nutty enough to show up in costume on premier day. But I might still be there on premier day... Yeah I have a problem.

So right now Jeff and I are considering options. We are considering Royal Pacific a Universal Onsite hotel, $219 a night though, UGH. Yeah it is only 2 nights but still with tax that's like $500. Still it does give you front of the line access to all the major attractions at Universal and early entry so I have been trying to look at different options. One of those has been getting Jeff a Universal Annual Pass.

$299, but that brings the room down to $139, and then Jeff can use it instead of buying 2 different tickets (he is going down on a business trip in a week and can use it then too), so its not a big difference in overall ticket price... That's what we are thinking about now. Check back later to see what happens!