There are heaps of details to share about our super-short trip for the runDisney Fairy Tale Challenge. Today’s post is a recap of our visit. You know…the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’m happy to report that there was much more good than anything else, but to be fair, I’ve got to mention a couple of things that were less than magical (so you can avoid our mistakes!).
Walt Disney World – Princess Half Marathon Weekend Recap
Megan, Raymond and I arrived on Friday much later than planned due to a flight delay. The Magical Express line was non-existent and we were headed to Bay Lake Tower in short order. I’d used online check-in days earlier and the text message with our room assignment arrived just as we passed under the Walt Disney World sign. We had booked a studio for three nights. Our room was located on the 4th floor (#7436) just a few doors down from the elevators and one floor below the sky bridge to the Contemporary. I practically skipped to our room (I was so excited to be there!), preoccupied with visions of what our view might be, I scanned my new green Magic Band with “grandma2b” on the back and pushed the door open. At first I just stood there confused and thinking, “What the heck is this? This is not our room…”, then I realized that we’d been Pixie-Dusted! I was looking at a 1-bedroom villa! What a great way to start the weekend!
Since we were running late, we only had time to rest for a minute before heading off to the runDisney Race Expo at the Wide World of Sports complex to pick up our race packets. I’d booked Epcot FastPasses for Frozen Ever After and Spaceship Earth, but soon realized that we’d be lucky just to make our 7:10 pm dinner reservation at Via Napoli. Joseph would be meeting us when he finished work for the day. For the first time ever, we actually shopped at the expo and Megan and I purchased some Disney-esque running wear.
Then we were off to Epcot. By the time we made it into the park, Joseph was at Via Napoli waiting for us and we took off walking as fast as we possibly could. Megan texted the name of each country to Joseph as we passed through it until we finally made it to Italy. We were all so happy to see Joseph after his first month in the Disney College Program. 
We indulged ourselves in a little family hugging and such. He had lots of great stories to share over dinner. Our server was nice, but the overall dining experience wasn’t great – food/service combo was sub par for Via Napoli. We’ll be avoiding this place for the next little while. Full of carbs for the 10K in the morning, we were off to meet someone very special!
If you’re part of an online community of fellow Disney fans, bloggers, podcasters, etc., you’ll know how it is to make friends with like-minded people with whom you have lots in common. Such has it’s been with my friend, Heather Brainerd. We’ve been friends for going on five years and had never had the opportunity to meet face to face until last Friday night. I can’t tell you how happy and excited we were to meet Heather in Epcot! I’m only sorry we didn’t have more time together…we’ll be working on that soon, I’m sure. I was not surprised at all to find that Heather is as beautiful and sweet in person as I expected her to be. (You can find Heather with her son on The Disney Duo Podcast.)
After visiting with Heather, we made a quick trip to Joseph’s apartment in Chatham Square. Very college dorm-ish and barren as neither Joseph or his roommate felt the need to decorate or accessorize their quarters in any way. 
It did feel safe and since Joseph mostly only sleeps there, it also seemed adequate. Joseph and his roommate work very different shifts, so Joseph said it’s very much like living alone. 
This made me a little sad, but he’s having a truly fantastic time there and has made lots of new friends. (Honestly, the place is worse in real life than it looks in pictures.)
We knew on Thursday when his work schedule came out that Joseph would miss the Princess Half-Marathon. He was scheduled to work at 7:30 am on Sunday morning. We decided he, Megan, and I would run the 10K wearing the shirts (Disney snacks!) I’d had made for the half-marathon. Megan and I could run the half in the clothes we’d bought at the expo.
We stayed up way too late talking and by the time the alarm went off on Saturday morning at 3:15, we were crazy tired. Like zombies we made our way to the Corral B. Personally, I’d never felt less like running in my life. (Joseph’s face in this picture says it all!) 
Once we got going, though, we perked up and had a great time. This was Megan’s first runDisney event and she clearly enjoyed the excitement. The Boardwalk was packed with cheering people – more than I remember seeing in the past – and we found them very motivational on our way towards the finish line! Once race down, one to go.
Because this was our only full day with Joseph, we headed back to Bay Lake Tower to clean up before making our way to Magic Kingdom. We had FastPasses for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Megan didn’t ride since she’s expecting), Jungle Cruise, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. They were spaced out enough to allow us to add an additional three items: Ride Pirates of the Caribbean (to say farewell to the bride auction scene), visit Talking Mickey since he’ll be gone by the time we return in May and Megan and Joseph had never met him, and enjoy lunch at Whispering Canyon Café in the Wilderness Lodge.
Once we accomplished everything on the list, we squeezed in a nap before having dinner at Il Mulino (in Disney’s Swan). We always enjoy eating there and this time was no exception. The service and food are both top-notch. We hurried back to Bay Lake Tower and went right to sleep. We were told to be on the monorail by 3:30 am sharp to get to the race start on time.
Sunday morning, Joseph left right after we received our wake-up call to take a friend to the airport before work. Everything was going well, Megan and I were dressed and I was pouring coffee when (poor Megan!)…morning sickness struck. Though it had mostly disappeared over the past few weeks, Sunday morning it returned with a vengeance. Megan was such a trooper! I had some of those Biscoff cookies leftover from the plane ride and they turned out to be just the thing to settle Meg’s stomach. In a few minutes we were back on track and out the door on time. Megan and I felt much less tired than we had the day before. By the time we reached the Epcot parking lot and walked (felt like miles) to Corral D, there was an hour to go before race time. (Here’s a picture of Megan and I with 25,000 fellow runners!)
Megan and I planned our run/walk/run strategy while we waited. The high temperature on Sunday was supposed to be 89-degrees and we wanted to make certain Megan didn’t get overheated or dehydrated. At 20 weeks along, we would let Megan set the pace according to how she felt. This would give us plenty of time to soak up the Disney magic and all the special touches that make runDisney races so wonderful. 
That’s the beauty of these events – no pressure! When we crossed the finish line, we were ecstatic! We’d done it! Except for a pain in her foot, Megan felt great. Raymond was waiting for us and we spent a few minutes at the post-race celebration before catching the bus back to Bay Lake Tower.
The rest of the day was spent at Animal Kingdom. Megan and I were so tired, we joked that Raymond couldn’t walk slow enough not to leave us behind no matter how hard he tried. While we waited for Joseph to get off work and meet up with us, we did the Maharajah Jungle Trek, rode Na’vi River Journey, Raymond and I rode Expedition Everest, and the three of us had one of the best Kilimanjaro Safaris experiences ever.
Once Joseph caught up with us, we watched the acrobats in Africa for a while before enjoying dinner at Tiffins. 
The four of us split the artisanal cheese selection and charcuterie board before ordering four different entrées. This was unprecedented! At least two of us always end up ordering the same thing. We were all happy with our selections and the portions were generous enough for us to share and sample each other’s food.
A Cautionary Tale: We have been Tables in Wonderland holders for several years. Sometimes we pay for our meals with our Magic Bands, sometimes with cash, and sometimes with a credit card. We’re annual passholders and DVC members and we like to think we know how all of this stuff works. Turns out, we don’t know everything. Raymond gave our Tiffins server the Tables in Wonderland card and I gave her our credit card to close out our ticket. When she came back to the table to inform us that she would not be able to apply the 20% discount because Raymond’s name is on the TIW card and mine is on the credit card, we were taken by surprise. Unless we paid with a card with his name on it or cash, no discount. This made me furious – at first. We are both on the credit card account, but he didn’t have his card with him. Before I could work up a really bad attitude, I remembered the Magic Bands! I smiled at Raymond and said, go ahead and use your Magic Band. That way you’ll be paying for our meal…with THIS credit card! I’d forgotten for a minute what we had linked to our Magic Bands. Now we know for the future and will make sure our form of payment works with the card.
More details about the races, new foods we tried, and unique experiences are coming up soon! What do you want to hear about first?
