The Long Road to Run Disney

After the race, we walked back to our hotel room and took turns showering. The four of us walked back downtown and had lunch at Burger Republic. I felt a bit queasy at first, but I was able to eat three sliders and a side of kettle chips. Maddy had a chicken sandwich and fries. My husband had a burger and fries. Scarlett had a hotdog and chips. It was a perfect post race meal.

We entered the freshwater building of the Tennessee aquarium first before watching the IMAX film and continuing on into the salt water building.

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I ended the day with 42,896 steps which was a new record for me.
 
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Congrats to you and Maddy! That's awesome that she had such a good experience for her first HM!
Thank you!!! I am so glad to get to share running with her. This race was a great choice for her first half!
Stairs during the end of a race sounds like torture! Good job to both of you!!
Thank you!!! I had no idea going down stairs could feel so brutal!
 
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We spent one more night at Springhill Suites before continuing on to our cabin in Townsend for the next four nights. Springhill Suites had a really nice complimentary breakfast which included biscuits, sausage, eggs, muffins, and oatmeal.

We stopped at Hot Rod's Diner in Maryville for lunch. We also picked up some groceries for the cabin at Kroger.

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Our cabin was in the Shagbark gated community and was rented through Bear Tooting cabin rentals. It was called Creeksong Hollow after the creek which ran right under the front porch. We were able to check-in an hour early at 3pm.

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The girls were really excited about the tennis and basketball court right across from the cabin. There was very little traffic so we were okay with letting them play while we unloaded the car and started dinner.

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After dinner, we played pool. Scarlett also found a checker board and a tick tack toe game with bears and trees. We also ended up having to Google how to get the hot tub out of sleep mode so that it would actually start heating up.

On Tuesday morning, I was able to enjoy my coffee in the hot tub. The squirrels were fun to watch. I made breakfast and we played pool some more.

We did venture out to The Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge so that the girls could pick out their Christmas ornaments for the year. We also picked up a few things at a souvenir shop and got Baskin Robbins cream. Scarlett asked for pizza from a Weigel's gas station for dinner. The rest of us held out for the steaks and chicken kabobs I had bought to grill. The girls spent a bit more time on the tennis court while I grilled.
 
Wednesday and Thursday were the days we had planned to spend at Dollywood. I spent some time on a few Dollywood Facebook groups when planning this trip and I was advised to purchase one Gold Season Pass for an adult which came with free parking, 15% off most everything in the park, and two being a friend tickets and one Silver Season Pass for Scarlett which also came with two bring a friend tickets amd had some Black out dates that did not interfere with our trip. This was a good bit cheaper than four two day passes.

The cabin was a short drive away and we had been able to figure out how to get to Pigeon Forge the day before. We parked in lot C "for cotton candy" and rode the tram to the park entrance. The tram driver said there were over 12,000 pumpkins in the park and I absolutely believe that!

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We waited about ten minutes for the park to open. Then we headed left and straight for Big Bear Mountain which was the newest attraction in the park so it is known for building some wait times later in the day. It was also a kiddie coaster so something to get Scarlett's feet wet on. She loved the kiddie coasters at Universal when she was not quite three, but this one started off fast and scared her.

We hit up several other attractions in the Wildwood Grove area including Mad Mad Mockingbird and The Great Tree Swing (both of which Scarlett loved) and Dragonflier (which was so fun, but scared Scarlett).

We headed around the park and rode The Firechaser Express which was nother kiddie coaster (and Scarlett's favorite ride of the trip). We took turns on The Wild Eagle (which was the only ride Scarlett was too short for) and The Tennessee Tornado (my favorite) before riding Blazing Fury as a family.

The adults and big kiddo had lunch at Hickory House Hollow (barbeque sandwiches, chicken tenders, and fries) and the little kiddo had a Picnic in the Park box which was an Uncrustable, cookies, and a juice box.

Maddy and I rode Barnstormer which was the only ride I would not get back on. Not my thing!

We spent a good bit of the afternoon in the kiddie ride sections.

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We also paid a visit to The Squishmallow store where Scarlett chose a new stuffie.

I was bummed that we weren't able to ride the steam train. From what I understand, the track switch malfunctioned in September causing the train to derail at low speed. The replacement track switch is a special order that has to be made and the train also sustained some minor damage.

We circled back around to take turns riding Mystery Mine and Thunderhead which had not been running when we entered the park that morning.

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Scarlett wouldn't ride these, but she did enjoy watching Buzz.

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We also really enjoyed the pumpkin luminaries as it got dark.

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We left the park at 7 and had dinner at Red Lobster before heading back to the cabin and an early bedtime so we could do it all again the next day.
 
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We started Thursday as a repeat of Wednesday. I LOVE all the Halloween decorations!

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We headed straight for Big Bear Mountain as soon as the park opened at 10am. I bribed Scarlett to ride it with us once with the promise of face paint. She would only ride once so the rest of us took turns getting in a second and third ride before moving on. This is such a fun little coaster!

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The promised face-paint. We took turns on Dragonflier (the green track behind Scarlett in this picture).

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Mad Mad Mockingbird was surprisingly fun and another of Scarlett's favorites.

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We rode Firechaser Express again with one of the longest waits of our trip and then took multiple turns on The Tennessee Tornado. The 0 minute waits here were awesome. You could literally walk right on.

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We watched the Wings of America bird show which was a huge letdown compared to Disney's show at Animal Kingdom. We also split two pans of cinnamon bread.

We did not ride the two water rides during our trip nor did we ride Drop Line. I did ride Dr. Doom's Fearfall at Universal, but this looked SO much faster.

One ride we did not ride on Wednesday was Lightning Rod because the waits were 45-60 minutes when it was running. We wanted to be sure and ride it on Thursday. I took Scarlett on Rockin Roadway while Jamie and Maddy stood in a 30 minute line.

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When they got off the ride, they told me that it had a Rider Swap option so we got back in line. I road with both Jamie and Maddy so we all rode it twice. This was the fastest coaster I've ever been on! So fun!!! I'm so glad we were able to ride. This one is going down for a revamp of the magnetic launch mechanism at the end of October. When it comes back online, it will be a different, possibly tamer beast.

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We rode Tennessee Tornado a couple more times each, Firechaser Express again, Wild Eagle again, Mystery Mine again, and The Great Tree Swing again. Maddy also found a cool t-shirt showing all the big coasters on clearance for just $9.99.

By this point, I was STARVING so we got pizzas at Lumberjack's pizza. It was actually really good.

We rode Thunderhead again and took Scarlett on Whistlepunk Chaser and Lumberjack Lifts.

We repeated a few rides in the Country Fair kiddie section; Shooting Star, Dizzy Disc, The Scrambler, and The Flying Elephants. Scarlett also talked her daddy into buying her a big bucket of cotton candy.

We walked back through the luminaries. Our final ride of the trip was Mystery Mine which is much cooler after dark. We exited the park about thirty minutes prior to park closing.
 
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All in, we spent a little less than $3100 on this seven day, six night vacation. Our biggest expenses were the cabin rental at $848, Dollywood passes at $429, the hotel room at $225 after Hotels.com rewards points were applied, and Aquarium tickets at $170. Rock City tickets were only $117 and the race registration was a bargain at $119. We also splurged on a few nice meals.

Running a race at Disney is still definitely something I want to do, but I am also painfully aware that our money currently goes much further at other destinations. A few of my husband's friends have recently been on cruises which has gotten his interest as a potential future trip.

My husband is also needing two surgeries. One on his right hand to address trigger finger in his middle and ring fingers. Our insurance has approved this, but the co-pay will still run us about $1500. He also has a fatty growth on the back of his neck that is benign, but still irritating. Our hope is to get both surgeries done during the next calendar year so that they fall under the same deductible. These surgeries will limit our travel at least through the end of 2024 and possibly into 2025.

I keep pushing Disney out, but I am currently eyeing either Wine & Dine 2026, Marathon Weekend 2027, or Princess 2027 as any of these would fall during Maddy's senior year of high school.

Running wise, I'm already looking at local races to see what we might do next. Meridian is our closest city, but there isn't a lot to choose from. Meridian is also getting rough. There was a mass shooting downtown just last night with five people shot, one of whom has already died. Jackson has more to choose from, but is farther away. It's hard to justify driving that far for just a 5K. The Run Through History 10K in Vicksburg is on my bucket list, but Maddy always seems to have a tennis match on the same day (in March). I will keep it on my radar until the tennis schedule comes out.
 
Those are some great pictures! You really seem to have packed a lot of stuff in your visit.

And coffee in the hot tub sounds divine 8-)
 
Congrats on your race! Looks like it was a great trip.


I admit I'm slightly surprised to read this - not that it's getting rough, but I always thought Meridian wasn't great?
Thanks!!!

I guess I should say that it is getting rougher. It has been steadily getting worse since Hurricane Katrina when the public housing system absorbed so many people (apparently including members of two different gangs) that were displaced from New Orleans. The current mayor and police chief are doing nothing to deter crime or to bring in or hold on to the industries they do have. The Magnolia Marathon is not taking place this year. I honestly don't know if that is because of road construction or the increase in shootings.

Thankfully, we live in Newton County where things are definitely not as bad. However, it is rural and we only see one or two 5K races here each year.
Looks like a fun trip! Congrats to Maddy on her first half!
Thank you! I think we chose a great race to be her first!
Way to go to you both!
Thank you!
 
We have both taken a little over a month off from running. And I do literally mean ZERO miles. :sad2:

I mentioned this to Maddy's friend's mom at the Thanksgiving lunch at the school a little over a week ago. She told me to try starting back with a mile a day steak and see how long I can keep that up. I thought it was a great idea, but I didn't actually decide to follow her advice until yesterday.

While Maddy was at tennis practice yesterday I ran a mile around the track at the college and then walked a bit more. That mile was done at an easy-ish 12:15 pace. It was a really beautiful day to be outside.

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Maddy joined me for today's mile which was ran at an 11:49 pace for me and a 9:59 pace for her. We also put up our little Christmas Village.

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I'm going to see if I can keep up this streak at least through the end of the year and then figure things out from there. I just need some sort of goal to motivate me to get out the door.
 

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