Disney 2014: The Race

We inadvertently planned our trip at the same time as the Disney Marathon Weekend and as I had heard about how much fun the Disney races are, Matt & I decided to sign up! Of course we were on vacation so we didn't want to worry about running too much so we signed up for the 5K Family Fun Run. It was a nice distance for us as we didn't have to worry about training and only had to moderately watch what we ate, especially relative to those running the half and full marathons! 

Our race was that Thursday morning and the start time was at 6:15. We had to be in the corrals no later than 5:45 so to give us plenty of travel time, we set our alarm for 4:30. Yes. We woke up at 4:30 AM on vacation. It wasn't easy but I'm so glad we did it!

The area we arrived in. Picture was taken later that day from the monorail

Starting line!

Our corral, C!

Excited to run that morning

We got to the start of the course with plenty of time to spare and there were tons of people already there-- the race was full with 10,000 runners! Of those, 7,000 were doing the Dopey challenge. What is this challenge? Over the marathon 4-day weekend, there was a 5K, a 10K, a half marathon, and a full marathon. The Dopey challenge consisted of all 4 of those runs, back to back. It is definitely not for me but I am very impressed with those that did it! 

Anyway, they had some fun DJs playing music and getting everyone energized. Finally race time rolled around and fireworks went off as each corral was told to go. 

The course was a great one as we ran through Epcot's World Showcase and a bit of Future World. I didn't get any pictures while running but there were several characters along the race route for you to stand in line & get your picture taken with. Also, several of the runners had dressed in fun costumes so that was fun to see.


Our time wasn't that great (about 31 minutes) but given how crowded and twisty the race course was, we were OK with it.

Right after  finishing, turning to look back at the finish line

Besides getting the amazing opportunity to run through World Showcase, our favorite part was the amazing celebratory brunch we had at Kona Cafe!

After getting back to the room

Matt with his spiffy race shirt & medal

My pineapple & macadamia nut pancakes

Matt's Tonga Toast

So I would definitely do a RunDisney race again! It was awesome running through a park and it was a lot of fun. But next time, I would probably try to schedule it at the beginning of the vacation as it was a little stressful worrying about the race, even if it was a relatively short distance, in the days leading up to it. The way we tour Disney World involves a lot of food and walking, two things that aren't ideal pre-race. Thankfully we were both OK and didn't sustain any injuries. Most importantly, we were able to have fun and make some unique memories on this trip!

And this is my last Disney trip-related post. Thank you for letting me share it with you. I loved getting to relive these memories and I hope you enjoyed getting to see some of the things we got to do :)

Now back to your regularly-scheduled programming about our 'real' life. Yay grad school!

Disney 2014: The Parks

Well obviously we had to explore the four amazing parks! Matt & I had a great time as always enjoying the attractions, shows, and walking around. You never know what fun details you're going to find :)

We were happy to see the Christmas decorations still up!
They were removed about halfway through our trip so it worked out well.

Wishes & Christmas castle- gorgeous :)

Enjoying  our favorite activity- wandering World Showcase

Love Italy with its decorations

In the line at Toy Story Midway Mania

Then my favorite, Tower of Terror

The Osborne Christmas Lights at Hollywood Studios

Now these are bathrooms at Magic Kingdom, themed
to the movie, Tangled.

Another day at Animal Kingdom!

DiVine :)

At Epcot, Matt got picked to be Sir Galahad

They re-vamped Test Track and we got to design
a very fun truck 

Gotta love Gaston :)

My niece & me before we ate at
Be Our Guest- inside the Beast's castle.

Disney 2014: Room & Food

My family & I just got back from an amazing, magical trip to Disney World! It was a lot of people going-- Matt & me, my parents, my brother and his daughter, my grandfather, and my aunt and uncle. We didn't try to tour the parks together but got together for meals. It worked really well and we were still able to make a lot of good memories together!

As Matt & I had last been to Disney for our honeymoon, it was so fun to go back and relive some of those memories. It had only been 2 and a half years, but life changes quickly and I was so glad to get to go back!

I took a lot of pictures so we will spread the pictures out in several posts. Here I will share our room and the amazing food! My parents are Disney Vacation Club members so we were able to get a Grand Villa at the Boardwalk Villas. It has 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, a full kitchen, and a nice living room. It was perfect for my family and the view couldn't be beat!

Our bedroom had 2 queen beds. Nice for spreading things out!

The 2 secondary bedrooms were upstairs with the master
bedroom, kitchen, and living areas downstairs

Oh the view...

And if you read my honeymoon posts, you would know we ate amazingly well. This trip demonstrated that once again! From an All-American BBQ to Indian cuisine to seafood, we were able to get it all. Plus who could forget the amazing pastries and other desserts :P

At the Boardwalk Bakery, just a few steps from our room

Their strawberry cupcake was amazing!

Our first night dinner- Hoop Dee Doo Review

All-you-can-eat chicken, ribs, sides, and strawberry shortcake!

On a separate night, we went to 50's
Prime Time. Matt's fried chicken.

And his delicious apple crisp!

Raglan Road's Shepherd's Pie

Raglan Road's Fish & Chips

We split their famous bread pudding for dessert.
Highly recommend it!

Another famous dessert- the Magic Kingdom's
Dole Whip!

We had an adults' only dinner at Sanaa- an Indian-themed restaurant at a resort.
This was their bread service with several types of Indian bread and chutneys, hummus, etc.

Matt ordered the butter chicken & short ribs

I really enjoyed their rack of lamb

And a very large & delicious dessert platter for the table

One morning we had a special breakfast treat- Kona Cafe! My POG juice (passion fruit, orange, guava juice) and pineapple macadamia nut pancakes

Matt's Tonga Toast

We had to try the cronut-- very light & tasty!

The dessert trolley at Be Our Guest.  I would
recommend the strawberry cupcake :)

So now that we're all starving, I will sign off so we can grab a snack salad. And go run a few miles. Oh maybe that's just me...