Trip Report Princess Half Marathon 2014 - #3 RACE DAY!!!

Early Sunday Morning we headed for a bus at 2:45am dressed and ready for our very first Half Marathon.  

on a bus heading to the Princess Half Marathon at 2:50am

The first pic of the day came from the bus at 2:52am.  That is early.  The bus we were on filled all the way with just a stop at Pop Century.  They use charter buses for the runDisney events, so it is not your normal Disney bus.  We had heard to many stories about people being late for the race because of the lines for buses and we did not want to risk it so we left on the early side.  We were not on the first bus from Pop.  But we were on the second.  It is easy to see how you could be late with so many buses coming at the same time.  

By 3:50 we had arrived, settled in and got a picture.  It is a good .25 to .5 mile of a walk from where the bus drops you over to the pre-race staging are.  

Taking a picture around 3:50am

There were a few princess out to meet and a DJ spinning some tunes.  Not sure how people were capable of dancing at this hour and knowing they were about to run 13 miles in Hot and Humid Florida.  The temps were in the high 70's at 3am.  By noon it would hit 90 not a normal February day.  

In the corral and waiting at 5am

After lots of waiting and watching the masses roll in.  they announced we could head towards the corrals.  We were in corral G.  It was another mile of walking on the way to the corrals.  There were several groups of porta potty's along the way.  So you don't have to wait in one of the 20min lines back by the staging area.  We brought a couple water bottles that we planned on tossing once the race started and we also brought a bath towel to sit on.  We tossed that over the corral fence once it was packed and we had to stand.  There were lots of sweatshirts and socks and gloves piled up along the start.  If it had been cold we would have used the towels to stay warm waiting for the start.  They collect all the discarded clothing and donate them to a charity.  

As the race kicks of you slowly meander forward as a corral.  They do a good job of enforcing the corral assignments.  Which is important because it keeps corrals from getting over crowded.  We did see a few people from corrals ahead of us back in our corral so they could run with a friend.  You are allowed to move back wards but your friend can not move up to be with you.   

After only about 20minuets we were the next corral.  

They do fire works for each corral!  We were about smack dab in the middle of the corral.  

Our first mile down, 12 more to go.  Just a touch over a 10 min mile.  We wanted to go fairly quick in the begging of the race to stay ahead of the masses.  There are a few bottle necks that later in the morning become packed and you have to walk through.  Even with that plan we stopped at the very first porta potties.  There was no line and the ones around the 5K mark were packed!  We had been in the corral for over an hour and drinking lots of water.  

This picture sums up the weather.  No it was not raining.  That is fog reflecting the flash back.  A beautiful day for a race.  

From the Hub!

Wish we could have gone on a quick spin.

Back through the castle is one of the biggest bottle necks.  It is also a spot where it is super easy to run and you have a bounce to your step.  If you can't find the energy to run through the castle you signed up for the wrong race.   There are tons of photographers along the rout and you can pre-order the pictures for just one bib number.  So along as Doug and I were together we were both in it, but no pictures of just Doug.  This was the professional Picture.  

Here is the picture Doug took on his camera.  Not quite as nice as the one we payed for.

As you run through the Magic Kingdom you enter near Town Square, then hang a right down Main Street U.S.A.   You then turn into Tomorrowland from the hub.  From there you head towards the teacups and back through the Castle.  Once through the castle, you head across the bridge into Liberty Square and turn towards Frontierland.  You exit the park as you near Splash Mountain.  All along the way are characters.   Mickey and Minnie had a line that was easily over 30min long.  We skipped them, Tiana had just a couple people to wait for.  We stopped at the bathrooms at the Adventureland Breezeway.  It is the last real bathroom until you get to Epcot.   The bathrooms by Cheshire Cafe and Mickey's Star Traders are usually packed and have a line.  If you can make it to the other side of the park the line is much shorter and there is nothing like a real bathroom.  

Back out of the park and the excitement dies down and the legs start to realize you are running.  Up until the Magic Kingdom it was 100% adrenaline.  Not sure there is an easier 6 miles to run.  The remaining 7 is long and somewhat boring.  There is tons of things to see and characters to meet a long the way, but it is tough to compete with the Magic Kingdom.  

We saw some characters we don't normal get to meet.  We mainly focused on the types like that.  If we stopped at every thing we would still be there.  

In this crew only one does a regular meet the other 3 are extremely hard to find!  

Almost every Mile marker had a little line like this.  We never stopped to get a picture with one.

The at were we just were.  The mile 10 marker is actually right below us.  The clover up to the overpass is long but not steep.   There are a few more over passes before the end of the race.  All the hills in this race are man made which makes them hurt just a little more.  

It felt like we took the long way to Epcot but we were finally back stage.  

No wait for Sofia!!!!

In EPCOT!!  the end is near.  

We made it.  

A picture with our new bling just after the finish line.  

After we got through the post race area another shot to show off the metal.  We got purple drawstring bags and a box of food to refuel.  

One last picture before we jumped on the next bus back to Pop Century to Shower, pack up, and move to Wilderness Lodge.

If you like shaky video then this video is for you!   

There was lots of great entertainment along the way and lots of water stops.  I wish the food stop would have been more then just Gel.  I would have liked a banana.  Over all everyone was friendly and a few times we had to run around a group of people walking 6 or 8 wide.  Not sure how so many people that walked so much got in front of us at the start.  I figure people must lie about their times and hope Disney is not going to check everyones times.   Overall at that point in time we could not wait to do it again!

Next up see how we recover while trying to vacation.  

Trip Report 2013 - #10 - Disney Dream 3 Night Cruise Day 3 - CastawayCay

Day three has arrived and we find our adventures in the port of Castaway Cay!

View zoomed in from Cabanas

Castaway Cay(pronounced Key) is Disney's private island in the Bahamas and it is the cleanest beach you will ever set foot on.  We love our days at Castaway Cay and were really looking forward to sharing it with the kids.    We started our day by getting to Cabanas nice and early and enjoying a Mickey waffle(or two).  This is a few from Cabanas zoomed in a bit.  As you can see we did not have great weather for our day.  

It is Samantha's 8th Birthday today so we had her wear her birthday button.  She was overly excited about this.  The year before her little brother and sister got to celebrate birthdays in the parks.  She was waiting for this for over a year.  We are "mean" parents and only let the kids wear birthday buttons on the actual day.  Lots of people wear their birthday buttons for their whole trip.  I feel like it is even more special when it is just on the day!

We were among the first to be off the ship. Yep, I even rope drop Castaway Cay.  There was a small crowd of people on the stairs heading to the gangway on deck 2.  As soon as you are off the ship they hand you towels and today as a special treat we got ponchos.  You can grab as many towels as you want but you do have to carry around what you take.  As far as I know this is the only place to get towels, so don't walk by thinking you will get them later.  We always like to walk rather then take the tram.  About half the people get on the tram.  If you are heading further in on the island the tram is good but we were heading to the snorkeling area and it is about the first thing you come to.  

If you need a stroller, wagon, or wheel chair they have beach friendly ones.  It is first come first serve so you may need to be there early.   

First official stop on Castaway is a photo spot with Mt. Rustmore.  You can see the Dream in the background.  Years ago you could see the whole ship. The vegetation has gown to block the view.

Jim with the kids.  He forgot to tell them it was a goofy picture.  

All the foot prints you see on the beach at this time are ours.  That is why you get up and off early.  The sand is sooooooo soft and Disney makes sure it is perfect for your day.

Getting geared up to snorkel.  We rented equipment from Disney.  You can bring your own but according to Doug I was already over packed.

Sam did not even make it in up to her waist.  Here Alden is refusing to listen to Doug on how to move in flippers.

Doug basically drug Alden about 100 yards out.  They finally started to see some fish and Alden got excited and tried to talk to Doug and swallowed half the ocean.  They promptly came back to shore.  Snorkeling is not our kids thing.  

Meanwhile the girls and I headed over to the Pelican Plunge area of the beach.  We got a good spot close to the water slides but not to close.

The water was warm even if the air was cool.  If you want a beach day with big waves then Castaway is not it.  They have breaks that stop the waves so you have nice calm water.

Pelican Plunge is the location of two water slides and some other features.  The open slide is slow the closed tube slide is super fast.  The kids did the slower one a few times.  They have to swim out to the platform to go on the slides.  There is no height limits but they have to be able to swim out there.  They have life jackets available  to wear.

Michelle took a picture of the navigator on the water proof camera before we got off the ship so she could keep track of character meet and greets on the island.  

Alden sharing his stories of adventure on the slides and just how brave he is. He may embellish a little but he is usually entertaining.   

Why not get sand in every crevice?  I am always amazed when you don't find sand allover the ship.  They keep the ship so clean and Ship Shape.(haha)

This is the entrance to the private cabana area.  You have to be staying in a concierge room or be a gold or platinum member of the Castaway Club to have a chance of booking one of these.  They are nice but pricey and we seem to be ok with just a couple of beach chairs.

It is lunch time.  The storm looked like it was heading in so we packed up and headed to eat at Cookies II   They have a buffet lunch in 3 different locations on the island.   We got our drinks and a table as they were opening up lunch.  We got the basic burger, hot dog, and some sides.  They also have ribs and chicken.  There is soft serve ice cream as well just like on the ship.  

About 10 min after we sat down to eat the rain came and people came flooding in to escape the storm. It only poured hard for about 20 min.  So we stayed out of the bad weather and all our stuff stayed dry.  

We were done with the beach so we went to check out the other things on the island. 

Clair played for a little bit in the splash park while Grandpa watched her.

They have a couple maps posted along the way in case you get lost.

A little beach soccer.

Some more shuffle board.

This is the In-Da-Shade area.  Alden attempted to shoot some hoops.

This is the main family beach area after the storm.  It cleared out lots of people.  This beach is closer to the ship so it fills up first.  We like to head down by the slides because there is less people and you are closer to the slides.  

We timed our heading back to the ship so we could catch a dance party.

Who doesn't like a dance party with Mickey and Minnie on the beach.

The kids outside the post office.  If you want to mail a post card from Castaway you can.  Ours took a couple months to make it to friends and family.

Along the path back to the ship we had lots of photo ops of the ship.

Aft

Sometimes when you are on the ship you forget just how huge it is.

Debbie, Mike, baby Lila, Greg, John, and Sandy got off the ship later.  In time for lunch.  Greg and John snorkeled some and I think they all did the slides.  They all had great things to say about the beach.

Once back on the ship we went to the pools and Nemo's Reef.

They were fairly empty.  It was windy up on that deck so we did not have much company.

All alone.  

Still alone.

The only annoying kids in the pool were my annoying kids.

Doug and Jim road the Aquaduck a few times with each kid.  

A couple people finally joined us!

When there are very few people ridding the Aquaduck it makes getting this picture easier.  

The view from our balcony after a full day of water and fun.

Back in our stateroom we found the worst thing the stateroom host could have possibly left, the disembarking information.  The customs form and special luggage tags for the customs area.  Our bags will be in the Daisy area of customs.

Once we were cleaned up from our day on the beach we hit the princess gathering.

Samantha got lots of attention from all the princesses because it was her birthday.

Snow White took lots of time with the girls since they were wearing her outfits!

Pretending to sleep.

Sam's bow kinda blends in with the Christmas decorations.

Tiana got the spot in front of the grand stair case today.

Ariel taught them how to curtsy properly.

Doug and Alden looked on from above.  Where else can you meet 5 princess in a row like this? Nowhere.  This is why we love our Disney Cruises.

To do something special on Samantha's birthday we set up a special hair and pixie dust thing in one of the shops.

They put her hair back with several special little hair clips and then dusted away.  I think we may find glitter on her head until she turns 10.

Clair got to have the special treatment as well.  

Tonight dinner is at the Royal Palace.  The Royal Palace is the most upscale of the Disney Dinning halls.  The waiters wear very formal attire. 

The kids menu is so cheaply made it did not even come with color. (haha)

The bread arrives in a neat little carriage. 

Clair showing off her sparkly face and make up.  

Doug and Alden got the escargot.  They ate it so fast that I didn't even get a picture of it.

Some tasty Prime Rib.

Happy Birthday was sang to Sam from the whole dining crew.

I got a strawberry shortcake off the kids menu.  Feel free to always order what you want and as much as you want.

After dinner we skipped the show.  Doug and I have seen it before and the kids really wanted to supper sloppy science in the Clubs.  They made flubber!  They really barely spent any time in the clubs.  While they were in the club I got our bags packed and in the hall with our special Daisy tags. 

About halfway though the science experiment we got a call on our wave phone letting us know Clair wanted picked up.  Clair did not want to do the flubber thing and was just playing on her own.  She found a friend to play with and when that kid got picked up she decided she wanted out as well.  This is her "resting" on the floor.

Soon the see ya real soon meet and greets started and Clair and I meet a few while Doug waited to get the other after Flubber.  

You will notice Clair is free of her wristband for the kids club.  When you check out the last time they take it from you.

Chip and Dale were up to their usual tricks.

Daisy and Clair by the elevators.

The sloppy science kids had now joined.  They got little bags for doing the experiment.  

Now Sam and Alden made the rounds.  Alden is still concerned about Donald's lack of pants. 

We were the last ones to meet Captain Mickey before the show started.

That worked out great because it left us right in front.  It is kind of a crazy sort of time waiting for the show to start because you really can save a spot for the show because it is where all the lines are for the characters.  

After words they shoot off confetti Mickey Heads.  Alden joined the clean up crew.    Now it is off to bed.  We were totally exhausted.