Disney Land and Sea – Trip Recap (Part One)

Posted on March 2, 2016 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

I’m back and brimming with excitement about all the things Raymond and I did and saw on last week’s whirlwind land and sea vacation! Today’s post is a recap of the land portion of the trip’s (mostly) highs and (very few) lows with many more details to come in future posts about specific events, restaurants, and more.

Disney Land and Sea – Trip Recap

Plans for this trip started about a year ago when I was talking with my Disney Exchange co-hosts about the great time I had during the 2015 Glass Slipper Challenge and how I couldn’t wait to do it again. This led to Dave and I starting to plan a trip where we could all meet up and do a runDisney event together…naturally, this led Nick to talk about Nick…with specific emphasis on exactly WHY he could not, would not (with a fox, in a box) run. EVER. Yes, he does have an actual medical excuse for being a non-runner, but we quickly wore him down and convinced him he could be a fast enough walker to successfully complete the Enchanted 10K. Once he agreed, we would not, could not (in a house, with a mouse) let him back out. Fast forward to February 19th, 2016.

Raymond and I got up at 3:00 am to catch a 6:30 flight to Orlando (with a layover in Dallas) and arrived around noon with a plan to check in at Bay Lake Tower, grab a quick bite at the Contempo Café and head to the race expo where we’d meet up with Nick, Dave, and Dave’s wife, Anne. And that’s exactly what we did! We had time to pick up our packets and knock around the ridiculously crowded expo for a while. Dave was feeling crummy, so, after a while, we all went our separate ways and agreed to meet up at the pre-race area for the 10K in the morning.

Raymond and I headed to our dinner reservation at Kona Café where we had an awesome meal and made friends with the young couple sitting next to us (Kellie and her boyfriend). They were so sweet! Knowing 3:00 am would come quickly, we called it a night.

And just like that, the alarm went off and I ~~sprang eagerly~~ crawled miserably from bed feeling like I hadn’t slept at all. The monorail was unexpectedly not running for the 10K, so I waited in the long line for a bus and amused myself by Periscoping the other people waiting with me. One uneventful bus ride later and I was posing for some pre-race photos with Dave and Nick. We headed to our respective corrals and the race was as fun as we hoped it would be. Once I finished, I headed back to Bay Lake Tower to get ready for a fun day in Magic Kingdom.

Dave, Nick and I had booked FastPasses separately, but at overlapping times for Big Thunder Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. First up, Big Thunder – we had a great time and were all together at the very back of the train. We then enjoyed the Country Bears doing their thing…after which we agreed to meet up after lunch for our next FastPass – The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Turns out the dwarfs must have been as under the weather as Dave was feeling at this point and the ride was down, so we used our replacement FastPass for Pirates.

Note: Raymond and I decided that day on the Skipper Canteen for lunch since our first visit was so delightful. Not so much the second time around – at least not for me. Maybe the Canteen isn’t going to be as successful as we’d originally thought. A shame, but my food was just not very good at all. The service was still great.

Here’s where the plans we made as a group went unfortunately awry for the rest of the weekend. I’m sure there will be a great discussion about what transpired at this point on Episode 64 of The Disney Exchange (released date 3/6/16). Long story short – When it came time to use our last FastPass of the day, Pooh was also experiencing technical difficulties and Dave’s flu-like symptoms were getting worse – So Dave and his family decided to leave so Dave could take a nap with a plan to meet us later. Nick, Raymond and I eventually did get to use our FastPasses for Pooh and his Many Adventures before the three of us headed to Epcot for the remainder of the afternoon where we had a fantastic time watching Nick pose for pictures (this is seriously entertaining), meeting some excellent new friends (Hi Rebeca, Patty, Derek, and Lauren!) enjoying refreshing adult beverages, listening to British Revolution in the UK Pavilion, and people-watching. (Unfortunately, Dave was really sick and out for the rest of the weekend.)

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Maglio

Nick was meeting friends for dinner in Mexico and Raymond and I had an Il Mulino reservation at the Swan that evening. Our dinner was great – I can’t say enough about Il Mulino’s service, menu, wine list, and bonus after-dinner Limoncello. Once again…3:00 am loomed large, so we called it a night as soon as we finished eating.

Third day in a row for a 3:00 alarm and I was ridiculously tired. The kind of tired where you feel like you weigh a ton and are nauseous. I carried my Cliff Bar and a bottle of water with me and felt like I was twice my age as I shuffled slowly over to the Contemporary to catch the monorail. This would be my 8th half marathon and I’d heard the inner voice that was berating me many times before, “What were you thinking! This is a stupid plan! You should be sleeping! You are too old for this nonsense!”. I told the inner wimpy me to shut up and tried not to look as miserable as I felt as I rode to Epcot with the other runners. I knew from previous experience that I’d perk up as soon as the race started. Unlike the day before, I had no Nick, Dave and Anne to keep me company, so I ate my breakfast, engaged in a moment or two of lonely self-pity, and made my way with the many thousands of other runners to the starting corrals.

Sure enough, once it was my turn to get going, my body and mind decided to cooperate. The weather was great and 13.1 miles suddenly didn’t seem like a dreaded chore, but more an excellent adventure. I did take a couple of walk-breaks around mile 10, but overall felt wonderful during the entire event. Raymond was waiting for me a few times along the course and at the finish line, which made me happy! We spent a few minutes in the post-race celebration area before heading back to clean up…we were meeting Nick and some of his friends at Disney Springs for the afternoon – Starting at noon with pre-lunch snacks and drinks at Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar followed by lunch at the Boathouse where, yes indeed, we got to sit at the boat table!!!! I’ll tell you all about it soon in an upcoming post.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Maglio

Up next, Part 2! The sea portion of our vacation aboard the Disney Dream.

These Disney Fans – What’s Next?

Posted on October 2, 2015 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

For those of us who cannot resist our love for all things Disney, planning what we’ll do next (Disney-wise) tends to absorb much of our free time…or maybe it’s just me. It might be crafts, Disney holiday decorations, upcoming Disney movies on our to-watch list, whipping up a Disney recipe at home, anxiously awaiting the newest episode of The Muppets or our favorite Disney podcast, booking ADRs (Advance Dining Reservations) or FastPass+ attractions for our next Walt Disney World vacation…no matter, we just love the anticipation and the planning! I’m not going to lie…the planning, for me, is almost half the fun.

So what about our family (a.k.a. The Fam)? What are we cooking up, planning for, and looking forward to in our Disney lives? I’ll tell you!

These Disney Fans – What’s Next?

Now that Megan and Grant (our daughter and son-in-law) are happily married and back from their Disney honeymoon, we can return to our regularly scheduled Disney planning. Personally, I’ve got a lot on my mind. It’s October – one of my most favorite months of the year. I’m working on our Halloween decorations and Junior’s costume (yes, my friends, in the absence of children at home, I still buy Disney Halloween costumes…for our dog.). My countdown calendar for our next Disney vacation is dutifully ticking off the days and as the weather gets (slightly) cooler, I’m daydreaming about my Disney future.

Our annual Thanksgiving Day Disney movie will be postponed this year. Raymond, Megan, Joseph and I have gone to see a Disney movie on Thanksgiving Day for as long as Megan and Joseph have been alive. This year, embracing our empty-nest status, Raymond and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving at my sister’s house in Tennessee with my family…without our kids. Everyone’s okay with this, but the movie thing is bothering me more than eating turkey and dressing apart from my offspring. Luckily, we’ll make arrangements to see The Good Dinosaur (Pixar; premiers on November 25th) the next weekend. Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiers on December 18th – that one we’ll see right before Christmas. I, for one, am very excited!
Last Call for Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Again with the parental independence, we’re leaving the kids behind on December 26th. Raymond and I are taking a few days at Walt Disney World to relax, take in those awesome Disney holiday decorations, and bid farewell to the Osborne Lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Will they appear somewhere else in the future? Nobody seems to know. Better safe than sorry, we’ll at least get to see them in their current location one last time.
Disney Food! We may be weird (okay, I’m pretty sure we ARE weird), but we plan our Disney vacations mostly around our dining reservations. Does anyone else do this? I mean, we always book Disney dining reservations at the earliest possible time (180 days in advance) then mostly plan our park days so our restaurant choices won’t be a major inconvenience transportation-wise. Planning meals so far in advance gives us lots of time to look forward to the deliciousness. Our December plans include Jiko (Animal Kingdom Lodge), 50’s Prime Time Café (Disney’s Hollywood Studios), Todd English’s bluezoo (WDW Dolphin Hotel), Shula’s Steak House (also the Dolphin), Biergarten (World Showcase in Epcot), Flying Fish Café (Disney’s Boardwalk), Whispering Canyon Café (Wilderness Lodge), and Narcoossee’s (Grand Floridian). Don’t ask me what we were thinking booking all of that for a 5-day stay, but we’re going to give it our best shot. Especially since quite a few of those will be new to us and a couple will be repeats from a LONG time ago. Check back for reviews – I love doing restaurant reviews!
Disney Springs – I realize that a bunch of Disney fans are sad about the Downtown Disney transformation. We’re not those folks. Our favorite things are still there and a number of new shops and restaurants have been added since our last visit (February, 2015). I’ll be so stoked to see the final form of this corner of the World since it’s been under construction forever!
The Disney Exchange meet-up and Princess Half-Marathon Weekend, 2016 – Sure, I’ve got to run a bunch of miles between now and then to get ready for the Glass Slipper Challenge, but it’ll totally be worth it! Nick, Dave and I will spend three days ~~bickering~~ discussing our love for Disney in person! We’ll be having Disney Exchange meet-ups, posting to Facebook, Tweeting live, sharing Periscope and Blab broadcasts, and creating general mayhem as we do what we always do – argue, debate, give each other a hard time, and laugh hysterically. I cannot WAIT!

Are you making Disney plans? What are you most looking forward to?

Speaking of Disney

Posted on September 10, 2015 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

There are a lot of serious discussions going on. All day, every day. Debates on what our country would be like with either Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton as our commander in chief, talks about investment strategies during a volatile market environment, opinions traded on how and why Cait Jenner’s voice as a woman may or may not be important to our society. There are serious conversations about whose lives matter and what’s wrong with our country’s law enforcement system. Chats by the water cooler about who may or may not be going to hell based on how someone has judged another’s lifestyle choices. Heavy stuff, all of it.

We’re constantly bombarded with some very serious subject matter. I do have opinions (lots of them), most of which I keep to myself unless I’m in the presence of a voting booth, the charities of my choice, my investment professional, or my closest friends and family. The media thrives on bad news, violence, war, and economic woes. I can only take so much!

Nick and Lisa in Epcot

When I need a break, I gravitate towards like-minded friends among the Disney fan community. Where we have lively discussions and debates – on a subject we love to think and talk about! Disney everything.

I’ve been a fan of Disney-themed podcasts for many years. News, planning tips, reviews, rumors – Disney topics both broad and narrow, funny and serious, full of rants, laughter, anger, and excitement – I was totally hooked and still am. I listen while I run, clean house, lounge in the backyard, commute to and from the office. For so many years, it never occurred to me that one could interact with these passionate Disney podcasters, much less become one.

Nick in Podcast Mode

Dave’s Happy Face

After I was fortunate enough to be invited as a guest on some of my most favorite Disney podcasts, I started thinking about how much easier it is to talk about Disney than write about it. What if I could talk about Disney with a couple of friends on a regularly scheduled basis? I knew just who to call! My buddy Nick Maglio was an obvious choice to join me in a new endeavor…he loves Disney as much as I do and has the most amazing Disneyana collection I’ve ever seen! I called Nick and put a bee in his bonnet (as we say in these parts). While he was thinking it over, I reached out to another Disney friend, Dave Hodges. Dave lives near Orlando and had just ended a podcast he did with his daughter (The Dis Life).

Dave doing some show research

The planets aligned – Nick said yes, Dave said yes, and The Disney Exchange began. I thought blogging about Disney was (and still is) a LOT of fun. Podcasting about my favorite topic is even more so! Everything’s better (and easier) when shared with friends. Podcasting is no exception. The Disney Exchange gives us the chance to exchange thoughts, ideas, and opinions on a wide variety of Disney topics. We don’t agree on much, argue frequently, debate hotly, and laugh a lot. Best of all? We have fantastic, wonderful, lovable listeners from all over the world. We appreciate every download and every interaction on Twitter, Facebook, Blab, Periscope and on The Disney Exchange website. We’ve made new friends, shared ideas, found other new podcasts to listen to and are enjoying ourselves beyond belief.

Speaking of Disney

If you’re a Disney podcast fan, I’d love to know…

What are your favorite show topics?
When do you usually listen?
Do you listen for information or solely for fun/entertainment?

As always, thanks for stopping by! If you’ve taken the time to download an episode or two of The Disney Exchange, thanks for listening. We would sincerely love to hear from you on any of our social media locations or please drop us a line at info@thedisneyexchange.com

Five Things I’ve Learned From Running

Posted on May 15, 2015 by greenlisa9989@yahoo.com

In just a couple of months, registration will open for Walt Disney World’s Princess Half Marathon Weekend events. I’m excited about it! I’ll be returning again for the Glass Slipper Challenge in February, but this time I won’t be running alone. Nick and Dave, my buddies (and co-hosts) from The Disney Exchange Podcast are planning to be there and we’re inviting you to come along for the running or at least a meet-up. So if you’re thinking about a 2016 runDisney event or a February Disney vacation – we want to see you there!

For today’s Friday Five, I want to talk about running. (You can read about why I run in this post.) I’m now in my 18th year of running (Yikes! I sound ancient!) and while I’m certainly no expert on the sport of running, I have learned a thing or two about me, and life in general, by continually putting one foot in front of the other and while I’m certain there are other items that could be on this list, I’ll just share some random thoughts on…

Five Things I’ve Learned From Running

1. Body Type Means Nothing. I have a long torso, short limbs and on a tall day I reach 5 feet, 4 inches in height. I don’t look like a runner – at least not to me, since I think of tall, skinny people as having the perfect running physique. Thinking this is silly – I’ve passed plenty of taller and thinner runners in many events and I’ve had my butt kicked by people who were shorter and heavier than I am. Never let body image issues hold you back – if you want to be a runner, you can be.

2. There Will be Pain. Running’s a lot like life – There will be perfect, beautiful days of complete happiness. And there will be pain and crushing disappointment. If there’s a common running ailment, I’ve probably experienced it at least once, but that’s not the pain I’m talking about. There’s physical pain with running, sure – sometimes it’s the “good” pain of knowing you’re really working hard and are pushing your limits for speed or distance, but there’s also emotional pain. Probably the most important and useful lessons I’ve learned from running involve overcoming negative emotions. When my inner voice is telling me to quit (“you’re tired, you’ve gone far enough, it’s too humid for this today, let’s get something to eat, this shirt’s rubbing my arm, you can run again tomorrow”), it’s hard to convince myself to keep going. In the early years, negative thoughts kept me from doing my best much more often than physical pain or injury.

3. Running requires no eye-hand coordination. Tennis is not for me. Golf just brings the rage. Running is as easy as walking (maybe not at first, but it gets better). While I may be unable to throw or catch or hit a ball with any kind of sports equipment, I am extremely competitive. Running lets me compete against myself everyday. Then, I can enter races if I want to see how my hard work stacks up against others. Training hard pays off and that’s never more evident than when I push myself running. Running relieves stress and gives me time to think, plan, and focus on the day ahead. There are also great places to be explored, one step at a time.

4. Nike’s “Just Do It” is the best motto! There are millions of excuses for why staying on the couch is the best decision of the day. Believe me, I know from personal experience for the first 33 years of my life. Running isn’t always easy or fun, but I’ve only ever regretted NOT running. I’ve never gone for a run and when I came home thought, “I wish I hadn’t done that”. I’ve run in sleet and rain, in the heat, the cold, the dark – it’s not always easy to walk out the door or climb on the dreaded, boring treadmill, but reminding myself to “Just Do It” seems to do the trick. This also applies to many other unpleasant tasks in life!

5. Support is a critical element to success. As with nearly everything we do, having someone cheering you on makes running better. Without the support of my husband, Raymond (Thanks, Honey!), I could never have accomplished many of my goals. He got the kids to school solo every morning for years so I could go to the gym, he’s been my coach, my bicycle mechanic (and custom-builder), my time-keeper, course explorer, pep-talker, well-wisher, travel-buddy and, with rare exception, has never missed a big race. Hearing him say, “You’re doing great!” at just the right moment has helped me push myself harder on more occassions than I can count. Whether it’s a group of work-out friends, your spouse, your mom or dad, your children or your coworkers, find a support system to keep you motivated. When all else fails, one good support person can make all the difference!

Fellow runners!!! Is anyone going to Princess Half weekend? What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from running?

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Tag Archives: The Disney Exchange

Disney Land and Sea – Trip Recap (Part One)

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