2010 Princess Half Marathon and Flower & Garden Fest Trip!

[Where'sPiglet?]

Hello there!

I wasn't planning on going back to Disney until about 2012.

But let me be tell you... PLANS and LIFE are two entirely different things.

When I started planning this trip, it wasn't because I really wanted to go to WDW. I know, it sounds terrible. But really, I've had the opportunity to go quite frequently the last few years. My most recent trip was in December 2008. The last few trips had been short weekend trips, and I told myself (after each one ) that the next one would be a nice, week-long, relaxing trip. I was tired of the insane pace of a weekend trip and the next one was going to be a week or nothing. HA!

After two years of two (ahem, short) Disney trips each, I didn't go to DLR or WDW in 2009. ALL year. However, this wasn't even the motivation for going in 2010. The motivation was that I felt like I was getting lazy. Really. I wanted to find SOMETHING that would motivate me to get off the computer , out of the house, and getting some exercise. (Do you see where this is going?!?)

Sometime around October 09, I found out about the Princess Half Marathon in WDW at the beginning of March 2010. I talked with a friend of mine who had already done a few Disney half and full marathons, including the Inaugural Princess Half Marathon in Spring 2009.

After some discussion and a bit of hesitation on my part, we both signed up to do the Princess Half Marathon. I really was not totally sure what I had gotten myself into. I wasn't totally out of shape, but I really wasn't in shape either. I used to live in NYC, and walked a LOT, but after moving to the New Orleans, I go places in my car!

I kept this trip largely a secret. I quietly added the little "3/10 All Star Sports" to my signature, but I never added a ticker or mentioned it on here until a few days before I left! I was nervous about this 13.1 miles of walking/running thing that I'd signed up to do! In order to complete the race and get a finisher's medal, you had to maintain a 16 minute/mile pace throughout the course. When I first started training back in October, I was at about a 16:30 pace. I was not so sure about this thing. But I kept training and little by little, that per mile time came down, and by the time of the trip I was confident I could finish in time.

Side note: The photos in this report were originally hosted by Webshots, which closed down and deleted all the photos in December 2012. The photos are now hosted by SmugMug and I've gone through and changed all the links so the photos are now visible again.

This report describes my experience in my first half marathon in 2010 at Disney World. I wrote it partly for myself so I can relive the memories. I also wrote it with the thought that it might help others who will be doing their first half marathon at Disney to know a little bit of what to expect, even though some details of the event may change throughout the years. I hope you enjoy!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Trip Report Index!
The Planning Session
The Plan
The flight
My Thoughts on Coffee
Checking In!
A Brief Photo Tour of All Star Sports
Princess Half Marathon Expo
Princess Half Marathon Stuff
Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom Lodge & Downtown Disney
Princess Half Marathon Start!
Miles 1 & 2
Miles 3 & 4
Mile 5 (TTC)
Mile 6 (Magic Kingdom!)
Mile 7
Miles 8 & 9
Mile 10
Mile 11
Mile 12
Mile 13
FINISH LINE!!
After the Race
Magic Kingdom!
Magic Kingdom EMH
Hollywood Studios
Beaches and Cream
Flower & Garden Fest 1
Flower & Garden Fest 2
Flower & Garden Fest 3 (Chinese Zodiac)
Flower & Garden Fest 4
Flower & Garden Fest 5 (Fairy Garden)
Flower & Garden Fest 6 (Princess & the Frog)
Flower & Garden Fest 7 (Entrance)
Going Home



Cast of Characters...

As I said, I signed up to do this with a friend. She lives in the Dallas, Texas, area, and I'm in the New Orleans, Louisiana area. The last time I've seen her in person was on our October 2007 WDW trips. She was going to be taking this trip with her mom and staying at Old Key West (she has DVC! ) and I was planning to stay solo at All Start Sports.

But then, I was talking to a friend who I've talked with before about taking a girls only trip. She wanted nothing to do with a half marathon, but a WDW trip sounded good, so I was no longer staying solo! We were able to both book the same flight on Southwest and I was able to add her to my ASSp reservation. This trip was looking more fun as the planning went on!

So it was set...
March 6-8, 2010
All Star Sports
3 Day Park Hoppers
ZERO ADRs!

 

[lori1043]

i'm here!!!

 

[coteau_chick]

I get to be the first one to post on your brand new report. I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

 

[coteau_chick]

i'm here!!!

She beat me I didn't get to be first but I was second.

 

[lori1043]

heeheeeee!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

i'm here!!!

I get to be the first one to post on your brand new report. I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

She beat me I didn't get to be first but I was second.

Yay! I have readers!!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

So the plan for this trip was largely to go with the flow, to not have a plan.

But we still needed to have a planning session.

So my friend Lori (the one I was sharing a room with, not the friend I was running with, and not the Lori who has commented on this TR already ) and I decided to get together over beignets one day in January to plan.

These make it easier to plan a Disney trip. I promise!

Lori brought me a notebook to plan with. She had one for herself too; I think hers had a butterfly on it. Thanks again, Lori!

We sat and discussed what we wanted to do on the trip aside from my doing a 13.1 mile half marathon.

Now remember, we weren't really going to have a plan. Yet this is what we came up with after a few hours of a fried dough and powdered sugar powered planning session:

Food Wish List:
-Mickey bar
-pizza (yes, I know - I'm the only one that even remotely likes WDW pizza)
*Beaches and Cream*
-ice cream sandwich (the REAL kind not the one in the plastic wrap!)

Ride Wish List:
DHS
*Toy Story Mania
-Rock n Roller Coaster

AK
*Everest
-Primeval Whirl

Epcot
*Test Track
*Soarin'
*Spaceship Earth
*Garden Show!

MK
*Space Mountain
*Splash Mountain
*Big Thunder Mountain
*Haunted Mansion
-Buzz Lightyear
*TTA
-COP
-Pirates
-Fantasyland
-Tiki Room
-Small World
-Jungle Cruise

Things to Buy:
-Toy bus set
-book (not for me, for someone at work)
-coffee mug (not for me, for a friend)
-snow globe

 

[jwhtewolfd]

checking in!

 

[Ms Marigny]

I'm here too!

Oh boy, oh boy- a trip report! I'm so excited!

Love the pic of the beignets! (drool....)

 

[TigerKat]

I'm here too!

 

[lori1043]

Umm, there's another tpe of ice cream sandwich not in a wrapper???


Where and what???


Lori

BTW- love the quick list of rides to get done!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

checking in!

I'm here too!

Oh boy, oh boy- a trip report! I'm so excited!

Love the pic of the beignets! (drool....)

I'm here too!

Hey y'all!

Yes, that picture of the beignets this morning while I was drinking my coffee just about had me running over to the French Quarter. I restrained myself.

Umm, there's another tpe of ice cream sandwich not in a wrapper???


Where and what???


Lori

BTW- love the quick list of rides to get done!

Yes, yes there is!!

This is a "stock photo" of mine from a prior trip. (So were the beignets. Shhh!)

It is 2 chocolate chip cookies almost the size of a small paper plate, with 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream in between!

Not to be confused with this:

(Source: http://www.icecreamsource.com/assets/images/Uploads/NestTollCookie_lg.jpg)

The two places I know of to get them are the Main Street Bakery and also Sleepy Hollow (also known for funnel cakes) in Liberty Square.

 

[jwhtewolfd]

sleepy hollow funnel cake.....drool

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Since I didn't do a pre-trip report, this will be the last post that has that "pre-trip" information. The next post involves an airplane!!

My friend that I was running with (Morgan) and her mother were going to be getting in on I believe Thursday and staying until Monday evening. They had more time to get stuff done in the parks, but Lori and I were getting in Saturday morning and leaving Monday evening. We figured we should have some sort of idea where we were going to go each day in order to get it all in.

Here are the plans we created (over beignets )

Southwest from New Orleans to Orlando, Saturday, March 6, 2010.
Leave MSY (NOLA) at 6:35am and get into MCO (Orlando) at 9:15am.

Lori's husband offered to get us a towncar in Orlando so we could save some time not using the Magical Express. (Thanks again!) We planned to not check any bags on the way there so we could skip baggage claim; we would go straight to the hotel and check in, drop off our bags, and hit the ground running.

Our first stop would be the Race Expo. I was required to attend this to pick up my race information, turn in my "I won't sue you" paper, and get my bib and tracking tag thing. This was at the Wide World of Sports from 10-6. We planned to go first thing. Lori didn't have to go, but she decided to come with me just to see it.

After the Expo, we figured we would need to go back to the hotel to drop the stuff off and catch the bus to Animal Kingdom. We hoped we could make it to AK in time for lunch, and then do the 2 rides on our list before hopping to Epcot to work on our list for that park. We would do dinner at Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club and also watch Illuminations.

On Sunday, March 7, I would need to be up insanely early to catch a bus to the race. All Star Sports was a designated "host" resort for this event, and they had bus transit to the Expo and the race, as did a handful of other WDW resorts. I needed to be on the bus no later than 4am. My plan after the race was to go back to ASSp for a shower and a nap before meeting up with Lori later in the day at the Magic Kingdom.

Lori's plan for the day was to hit rope drop at a park (Epcot I think) and then meet up with me at Magic Kingdom. We planned to stay in MK to watch Wishes and then it was EMH that night until 12 or 1.

On, Monday, March 8, we planned to hit rope drop at Disney's Hollywood Studios (abbreviated MGM ) to hit Toy Story Mania and Rock n Roller Coaster (the two things on our list) before heading to whatever park we missed things on our list at.

We decided we could stay in the parks until no later than 4:30p because the towncar was scheduled to pick us up at 5:30 for our 7:40p flight back to New Orleans. We had full intentions of sleeping on both the flights TO and FROM Orlando, as we knew this schedule was a little, um, busy.

 

[A&Bmama]

But let me be tell you... PLANS and LIFE are two entirely different things.

AMEN to that!

The motivation was that I felt like I was getting lazy. Really. I wanted to find SOMETHING that would motivate me to get off the computer , out of the house, and getting some exercise. (Do you see where this is going?!?)

Umm, this sort of starting to resemble someone I know...

Sometime around October 09, I found out about the Princess Half Marathon in WDW at the beginning of March 2010. I talked with a friend of mine who had already done a few Disney half and full marathons, including the Inaugural Princess Half Marathon in Spring 2009.

Wow, you are much braver than I am! I can't wait to hear more about it!

 

[A&Bmama]

Lori and I were getting in Saturday morning and leaving Monday evening. We figured we should have some sort of idea where we were going to go each day in order to get it all in.

Wow quick trip. I would love to be close enough to do quick trips.

[On Sunday, March 7, I would need to be up insanely early to catch a bus to the race. All Star Sports was a designated "host" resort for this event, and they had bus transit to the Expo and the race, as did a handful of other WDW resorts. I needed to be on the bus no later than 4am. My plan after the race was to go back to ASSp for a shower and a nap before meeting up with Lori later in the day at the Magic Kingdom.

Run a half Marathon then walk around parks all day? Can't wait to hear how that went. Did you mention if you got the dining plan? You must have burned some serious calories!

[On, Monday, March 8, we planned to hit rope drop at Disney's Hollywood Studios (abbreviated MGM ) to hit Toy Story Mania and Rock n Roller Coaster (the two things on our list) before heading to whatever park we missed things on our list at.

We decided we could stay in the parks until no later than 4:30p because the towncar was scheduled to pick us up at 5:30 for our 7:40p flight back to New Orleans. We had full intentions of sleeping on both the flights TO and FROM Orlando, as we knew this schedule was a little, um, busy. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

I wish I could sleep on a plane but I'm too busy praying...

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Wow quick trip. I would love to be close enough to do quick trips.

Run a half Marathon then walk around parks all day? Can't wait to hear how that went. Did you mention if you got the dining plan? You must have burned some serious calories!

I wish I could sleep on a plane but I'm too busy praying...

I didn't exactly "run" the half marathon. I did a combination of walking and jogging.

No, I didn't do the dining plan. It doesn't make sense for me financially; I spend less paying out of pocket because I simply don't eat the amount of food that is on the Dining Plan (including the Quick Service Plan).

I must have burned some serious calories, but I still somehow managed to gain weight. The amount I gained from that trip is off, but I'm still working on what I heard the local news refer to one day as the "Creole 15" - the weight you gain after moving to Southeast Louisiana. I just WISH it was only 15!

I usually sleep on plane trips. I sometimes even pull an all-nighter the night before just so that I will be knocked out on the plane. I didn't do that this time because I knew what kind of weekend it was going to be.

I didn't sleep on the plane this time. Either way. More on that little issue later.

 

[portocall]

Boy you have been busy! One less thing to do on that to do list of yours And if you haven't figured it out already, I am here.

 

[DisneyTiger]

I'm here Finally. Can't wait to hear all about your secret trip