Disney 2015: 10K, Half and FULL!

On Friday I got up at 0'Dark:30 once again and lined up for the 10K. It was cold again and this time I didn't have my family to penguin huddle with! The 10k route ended in Epcot and around the Boardwalk resorts but to get in the extra miles they first had to send us way down the road for an out and back. Fortunately Ana and Elsa were out on a bridge to liven things up. They were even making it snow!

Finally I hit Epcot:

And had a great run around World Showcase:

In 2013 I didn't take into account the amount of walking we were doing in the parks and the toll it would take on my legs. The rest of the crew wanted to go back to Universal on Friday but I opted out and spent the day taking a nap and resting my legs instead. Universal is a TON of walking with 2 big parks to cover and there was no way I was going to do that to myself the day before the half and the full so I sent my Wizard tribe off without me!

I had a very mellow day at Beach club and then in the evening I took the bus to the Magic Kingdom:

And the boat to Ft. Wilderness:

To visit my horse friends!

Well actually I did enjoy visiting all the horses but I was there to meet the crew for the Hoop Dee Doo Review!

The show was once again hysterical:

And we all had a blast!

Play that washboard!

The next morning we were up in the wee hours again for the half marathon:

MK arch!

We ran a RIDICULOUSLY slow half, which was part of my plan for the Dopey challenge. I wanted to run a faster full this year. So by the time we got to the MK the sun was up!

Almost finished!

And look who we met at the finish line with NO LINE for a photo!!

Only one more race to go!

Aunt Karen, Brit and the kids were already at Animal Kingdom so we showered and headed off to meet them. After a nice lunch at Yak and Yeti we hit some cool attractions:

Although the adults opted out of this fiasco.... I've been soaked through way too many times and the day was chilly!

 We had a great Italian dinner at the new Trattoria over at Boardwalk and turned in early.
 On Sunday I was once again standing in the Epcot parking lot in the early morning hours. I was nervous but hopeful. If you can get through the half with no weird twinges or blow-outs you're just happy with that. Last time I ran a 4/1 run/walk interval and this time I ran a 2/:30 interval. Same exact amount of running and walking but a shorter interval. It let me hold a 10 min mile pace pretty much for the whole race. I even got to the MK while it was still dark!

We also had a day of perfect weather! Not too cold at the start and just as the sun came up and wanted to beacon into your eyes as you came down Osceola, the clouds came in and cooled everything off. Don't get me wrong, it was epic for sure, but I felt strong the whole way and nothing gave out! At mile 24ish I passed Beach Club and Jeff and the kids were there waiting for me. I was so excited to be that close to the end and still feeling strong!

Almost to Epcot!

 Finished in 4:19!!! Such a big improvement on 4:45 in 2013. I was so pleased and nothing beats crossing a finish line and getting not one, but THREE gorgeous medals!

After hobbling back to the room and freshening up we headed to the MK for lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and then did a bunch of things we had never done before! We rode the mine train, saw the new Festival of Fantasy Parade which was AMAZING...

 And then met these 2...

 So happy:

 After that we did a Monorail Resort Progressive Dinner. Apps at the Poly:

 Mains at the Grand Floridian: (We sent the kids to counter-service while we ate at Mizners...)

 And then we were going to do dessert at the Contemporary but decided to get it at the MK since we were right there and wanted to grab a spot for the parade. Teddy's not complaining...

Wishes was a perfect way to end the race weekend... what a great time!

DIsney 2015, Expo and 5k...

On Wednesday we woke up and strolled over to the Yacht club for breakfast. It was our Expo day but also our Studios day and for once we didn't need to be there for rope-drop as we had our FP+ all made for the afternoon! Perks of the new system for sure... the Christmas tree was still up at Yacht club and it was covered in HUGE toy boats. Gorgeous!

The race Expo is Huge. HUGE! It's now held in 3 different buildings, some of them on multiple floors. It's a far cry from the first Disney Expo I experienced in 2011. I have to say I never really enjoy the Expo. It's too crowded, I can't take the time to see the things I want to, and I always lose people and it's just stressful. This year I had to check in for the Dopey, Jeff and kids had to check in for the 5K, Jeff had to check in for the Half, and we ALL had to check in for the Castaway Cay challenge. Somewhere between 5k check in and the Half I lost Jeff and the kids for a while and with no phone service on our international cell phones I had a time trying to find them again. Finally we got all the packet pick up sorted and race bags collected but never really got to check out the booths. Someday I will go alone, spend the day, and look at everything!

After that we headed to the Studios...We met Auntie Karen and Brit and started using those FastPasses!

Our Studios day just happened to be the day that they started taking down the iconic Sorcerer's Hat. The construction fences were up but they hadn't started taking down the hat itself yet so we were able to grab one final picture:

And then we just ran around the park hitting all our favorite things and some new experiences we had never done like the Frozen sing along celebration which was hysterical and really fun!

If there's no time for a margarita flight at the Brown Derby Lounge then you MAKE TIME, am I right?

We saw Fantasmic and then headed back to Beach Club and Bed, as we had an early morning ahead of us.
We woke up on Thursday morning and it was FREEZING out. SO darn cold. We should have ditched the costumes and just bundled up but we didn't quite realize the extent of the freezingness out there AND we are Disney geeks so we got Ana and Elsa'ed up and set out for the race start. We got there at 5:20 for a 6:15am race start and it was so cold and so windy no one knew what to do. Thousands of runners were huddled in this massive Penquin huddle trying not to be the penquin on the outside of the group. We stole a garbage bag and then I "borrowed" this massive blue table cloth from a VIP area and we wrapped it around the 4 of us with the kids in the middle. After that the 2 of them were OK and at least stopped shaking. I wanted to run with that tablecloth but Jeff made me put it back. Finally the race started and we were able to MOVE. I swear my feet were still frozen when we hit World Showcase!

Running through Epcot... check out Sasha still wearing the garbage bag!

Had to get a pic... The funniest thing about the freezing morning was that everyone yelled at Sasha and I because of the temperatures! "Elsa, what have you done?!? Stop the eternal winter!"  "Ana, can't you talk to your sister and have her warm things up??" It was pretty funny. So our costumes were well-themed in more ways than one!

We crossed the finish line, got our medals, and RAN to the warm bus!

After some hot showers and hot coffee we strolled over to the IG at Epcot. This was park entry 5 minutes before 9. There were 8 people in front of us!

We met up with Auntie Karen and Brit and rode a bunch of stuff in Future World..

Teddy and his Test Track car!

We had a blast, toured around World Showcase, then went back to the resort for a nap before heading back in to Epcot. Kids and I stopped at our favorite place to pick up Illuminations dessert!

We had an awesome dinner in Mexico and then had fun playing in different pavilions.

Love World Showcase at night!

Finally it was time to stake out our spot in Canada. I had to run straight to my bed after fireworks as I had another early morning ahead of me...

Disney 2015.... Harry Potter and arriving.

For 10 years we shielded the kids from all things Harry Potter. We made sure that no movies would be watched during sleepovers and that no books would be read without us. WE wanted to be the ones to share it with the kids first. So for their 8th and 10th birthdays this year, they got books one and two. They actually had to be DRAGGED To the couch to listen as they didn't think they would like it. But after 3-4 chapters they were HOOKED! We are now about halfway through book 5 and we read once chapter out loud after dinner on any night we're all together. So on this trip to Orlando, it was finally time to visit Universal! We landed at MCO and headed straight there as we decided to stay on-property for one night so that we could get early entry the next morning. As a bonus we scored "buy 2 days, get a 3rd free" tickets so we ended up with 3 potential days of Universal! We decided to use our free day to head to the parks on our arrival day even though we knew lines would be long. We figured we could at least explore the shops. Sasha wasted no time in leading us straight to the back of the park to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. She was so excited!

First stop: the London Waterfront, where we found number 12, Grimmauld place, and Kreature even peeked out at us from behind the curtain!

 We also saw the Knight's Bus!

 Then it was into the Leaky Cauldron for a very late lunch... We tried butter beer in all of it's forms: hot, regular and frozen. YUM!

 Then on to Diagon Alley. Absolutely immersive and incredible...

 We headed to Ollivanders and saw the wand show but the kids did not want to be assigned a wand, they wanted to pick their own! Into the sprawling, rickety shop we went... there were about a million different wands and the shelves went all the way to the ceiling!

 Wands chosen!

 The wands actually interact with the world around you. You can explore all of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade and there are many spots where if you stop and do a spell correctly, things happen. It's pretty cool...

 After exploring the shops and getting some ice cream, we decided to take the Hogwart's express to the other park. This is one of the coolest, most innovative things any theme park has even built. It's a ride, in that as you move from one place to another you see things outside your window that tells a story, AND you see things unfolding inside the train in the hallway outside your compartment, but it's also a ride in that it actually transports you physically from one park to the other.

 Here's the train!

 All aboard!

 Once in Hogsmeade it was getting dark, but we were still able to explore, ride a few rides and have a great evening. Then it was home to bed.

 The next day we went back for early entry. The crowds were light so we got to really explore Diagon Alley and ride the Gringotts bank ride which I have to say is the coolest combination of motion and 3D effects ever. Teddy got very good at his "Aquamenti" spell and was able to turn the fountains on for all of us!

 That's better!

 We rode the train to the other park, did a bunch of stuff on that side, had lunch at the 3 Broomsticks, and then rode the train back to Diagon Alley mid-afternoon. It was getting hot and crowded and we were ready for a break. We stopped at one last place, the establishment of my 2 favorite characters..... Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

 Then it was off to the World... Hooray! So good to be there!

 We checked into Beach Club, had a nice swim in the pool and relaxed for a bit. Then we took the bus to Downtown Disney to meet up with Auntie Karen and Brit. We ate at the Irish pub, Ragland Road. We'd never eaten there before and had always wanted to. It was great. Awesome food, good dancing, and our table was right in the middle of all the fun!

 Some of us didn't make it through the evening though... ah well, touring the wizarding world, and an Irish beer flight will do that to you I guess....

 After that it was back home to Beach Club. I was surprised that so many Christmas decorations were still up all over WDW when we got there on the 6th. I think they try to keep them all up for the races. No complaints here... they were beautiful!