It was a Horror-ible, and then Not-So-Scary (but exhausting!), October/NovTrip!! Completed 3/13!!!

[Raeven]

I texted Mike asking where he was. It was then that he informed me that he didn't really want to ride FOP. What??? I didn't even care that he didn't want to ride, but I was wishing he had told me that from the start and saved me from all the aggravation of slowing me down

Didn't want to ride FOP?

I don't know how, but I totally missed the area with the Avatar guy floating in water. I don't know if it wasn't open because there really wasn't a line, or if I just walked right by it

It's in the lab room, but it's off to the side. I'm not sure if you always go through here because I've never walked through the queue aside from the AP preview.

Don't flame me, but I thought this was kind of boring. Maybe it's because I'm not an Avatar fan, but the whole sequence and waving around seemed pointless to me. It's kind of like the beginning of Soarin',

I don't really like the video sequence either.

I know it's not Disney, but I like Mike's shirt!

The Harry Potter are is very well-done, dare I say that the area itself is even more immersive than Pandora…shhhhh…don't tell anyone I said that

Truth.

 

[buzzrelly]

It's in the lab room, but it's off to the side. I'm not sure if you always go through here because I've never walked through the queue aside from the AP preview.

I don't even remember seeing a lab room. I'm guessing it was closed because there wasn't really a line the first time, and my second time was with fastpass.

I don't really like the video sequence either.

Right? You stand there thinking it'll be interesting…or funny. It's neither.

I know it's not Disney, but I like Mike's shirt!

He's gotta be all, "anti-Disney."

 

[missjackiemcg]

Don't flame me, but I thought this was kind of boring. Maybe it's because I'm not an Avatar fan, but the whole sequence and waving around seemed pointless to me. It's kind of like the beginning of Soarin', but less entertaining because Patrick Warburton is hysterical.

I thought the SAME THING!!! I felt like an idiot--it did not feel immersive, just silly!

we were beat and decided to call it a day. It's kind of unfortunate that we missed that but I think next year I would plan an evening and a different morning.

While ROL was beautiful--it was also sort of confusing and kind of just meh. We stuck around on a very chilly January night to see it and I kind of wished we had just gone back to the hotel. It's definitely something I'd see once or catch if I didn't have to wait long, but that was about it for us.

 

[MeghanEmily]

What a big day!! It's awesome that you got on FOP twice and enjoyed it so much! I'm like you were with Mike when someone is holding things up at WDW! Nathan is usually pretty good about keeping up, but when we toured with his family or mine and I had places I wanted to be, it was a challenge not to get annoyed!

Your Tusker House breakfast (and lunch! haha) looked great! But you probably didn't miss much by leaving the park early. I liked ROL quite a bit, but it's not a super thrilling show. It's very pretty, but I wouldn't be upset if I planned for it and then ended up missing it. Animal Kingdom is an exhausting park, I find!

Looking forward to hearing about your 10K race!

 

[SweetSerenity]

Hi! I just read your whole report. I really liked reading about Universal Studios, too. Looking forward to more.

 

[mamamelody2]

I always enjoy a good "adults-only" TR and yours doesn't disappoint!
Looking forward to what happens next!

 

[buzzrelly]

While ROL was beautiful--it was also sort of confusing and kind of just meh. We stuck around on a very chilly January night to see it and I kind of wished we had just gone back to the hotel. It's definitely something I'd see once or catch if I didn't have to wait long, but that was about it for us.

Your Tusker House breakfast (and lunch! haha) looked great! But you probably didn't miss much by leaving the park early. I liked ROL quite a bit, but it's not a super thrilling show. It's very pretty, but I wouldn't be upset if I planned for it and then ended up missing it. Animal Kingdom is an exhausting park, I find!

Sounds like we made the right choice by skipping ROL this time around. I'm heading down in April with my mom and kids and may or may not try again. I do have another ROL dining package booked, so we'll see how it goes

Hi! I just read your whole report. I really liked reading about Universal Studios, too. Looking forward to more.

I always enjoy a good "adults-only" TR and yours doesn't disappoint!
Looking forward to what happens next!

Thanks for reading and the nice comments!

 

[buzzrelly]

Saturday, November 4, 2017


These next few posts come with a warning: What you are about to see is a bunch of pics of two old geezers running! Look away if you can't handle it!

If you read my PTR, you know that historically, I am not an athletic person. When I was a kid I was in "special gym," because I was super uncoordinated…a fact that those close to me still get a chuckle about

I have only ever done one other race EVER, and it was the Star Wars 10K in 2016. After I did that I knew I wanted to try a half marathon someday and I must've made it sound super appealing because it was one of the ways I got Mike to agree to this trip to begin with…well, that PLUS all the yummy food I promised him!

My current pace is about a 12-minute-mile, which is very slow by most standards, and I can only run doing the Jeff Galloway, run-walk-run method. At the time of these races, I was doing 1 minute running, 30 seconds of walking. I have just recently started increasing my running time at the gym so I'm now just running and taking every other walk break, instead, and I've been feeling pretty good doing that

Anyway…back to this race day…

We laid everything out the night before and set our clock for 3:30am. Since we were staying at the Poly I think we could have walked over to the start of the race, but when we walked out that morning, there was a bus already sitting there and since I wasn't sure how to get there by walking, we just took the bus.

We were walking towards our corral by 4:24am...


Neither of us had submitted proof of time so we were put in corral D/F, which I'm assuming is either the last or close to the last corral.





The view in front of us at 5:45 am. This was our first glimpse of the starting line..we had been slowly walking (shuffling) forward since the first group had started at 5:30am.




We finally had our start at 5:48am, but even then it was wall-to-wall people and we weren't really doing much running yet...




It's hard to see the number, but we hit the mile marker for mile 1 at 31:37, but that's because we started about 20 minutes after the first group. We weren't THAT slow!




Mile 2…awesome selfie




Mile 3….Mike's sweaty head close up



We (finally) got to DHS at 6:51 am…We ran up through the back road by TOT and the first thing we did was hit the restrooms. Mike had been miserable up until this point because he needed a "bio break," and I talked him out of going over to the woods because I've heard horror stories of snakes and things.

He was much happier after he took care of business


This is where we started to see Photopass photographers. I have no idea why I kept doing this with my arms, but almost every single photo has this pose I guess I just feel awkward getting my picture taken so I felt like I needed to pose





Mike was seemingly oblivious


Continued in next post...​

 

[buzzrelly]

6:52 am-running out of DHS...







I had to stop and try to get a picture of the moon that was simply AMAZING…even though my picture stinks and came out blurry



Yay! Mile 5 at 7:06 am...




Running past the boardwalk with my signature pose!



This picture cracks me up! Clearly I wasn't ready for my close-up. I don't know what's worse, knowing they are taking my pic with my super-awkward pose, or NOT knowing and getting THIS:


We ran into EPCOT through the back of France and we could see the building of the new Ratatouille ride...



Holy-moly, this just looked so beautiful...





Continued in next post...​

 

[buzzrelly]

It was honestly such a relief to get to EPCOT because at this point we knew we were almost done and were going to make it. Another terrible shot of me, but a cool shot of EPCOT so I wanted to include it...



EPCOT selfie...







Running out of EPCOT, I loved the look of SSE from this angle...




Mile 6!



Big finish now!



I am really kicking myself for not putting my phone down and having a better finish photo





Mike did it!



I did it, too!

​

Continued in next post...​

 

[buzzrelly]

We both did it!


We crossed the finish line at 7:24, so almost 2 hours after the race started, but about 90 minutes after we actually started. We didn't stop for any characters because we were started in one of the last corrals and by the time we saw any characters there were already crazy, long lines. We only got one warning about the balloon ladies when we were in DHS, they were about 10 minutes behind us. We weren't worried because there were a lot of people between us and them, but we also didn't want to wait for characters and risk getting swept.

We had a fun time and I would definitely do this again. I'll give more of a comparison after I report on the half, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

We got on a bus back to the Poly fairly quickly and by 8:46 were at Capt. Cook's eating breakfast. We decided to split the Tonga Toast and bounty platter between the two of us...




This was my very first Tonga Toast and I was so excited to try it after reading so many great reviews. It was good, but I don't know that I LOVED it. I think Kona Cafe serves it with strawberry sauce or something and that might be better. I was glad we split it though, because it was really filling.


Walking back to our room, I tried taking some artsy shots of our medals...






After we showered and changed, we got on the monorail and found ourselves back at EPCOT...



We made it to our first fastpass, SSE...



and then we went over to a ride I cannot believe I've never been on...




I really liked this and I'm glad we went on because I hear there's rumors that it may close soon. Not sure how real those rumors are, but just in case!


After Figment, we went up to the DVC member lounge and had some drinks and relaxed for a little bit. It's nice up there, but the one thing I wish they had was a restroom. The guy checking us in at the bottom of the stairs warned us there weren't any so he must be used to people thinking there would be some.



Continued in next post...​

​

 

[Raeven]

This was my very first Tonga Toast and I was so excited to try it after reading so many great reviews. It was good, but I don't know that I LOVED it.

I've had it at Kona Cafe before and it was good, but not the greatest.

I really liked this and I'm glad we went on because I hear there's rumors that it may close soon. Not sure how real those rumors are, but just in case!

You've never been on Journey Into the Imagination

 

[SweetSerenity]

Congratulations on your race!
The original Journey into the Imagination with figment and the dreamfinder was one of my favorite rides as a kid. I always secretly hoped Disney would convert back to the original. It was wonderful and iconic, and I'm glad you experienced Figment just in case they do close it.

 

[disneyAndi14]

First, so glad you got to ride FoP such a great experience

Second, you look awesome running, more power to you! Hubby looks great as well. Congratulations on your finish and cool hardware!

Third, the Tonga Toast at Kona is better, I have had both. The strawberry compote is delicious!

 

[kastoney]

Hi Kelly! I fell woefully behind but am all caught up now. Congrats on the 10K!

 

[buzzrelly]

You've never been on Journey Into the Imagination

Isn't that crazy? I've also never been on the Riverboat in the MK

Congratulations on your race!
The original Journey into the Imagination with figment and the dreamfinder was one of my favorite rides as a kid. I always secretly hoped Disney would convert back to the original. It was wonderful and iconic, and I'm glad you experienced Figment just in case they do close it.

Thank you!

I can see why people love Figment

First, so glad you got to ride FoP such a great experience

Second, you look awesome running, more power to you! Hubby looks great as well. Congratulations on your finish and cool hardware!

Third, the Tonga Toast at Kona is better, I have had both. The strawberry compote is delicious!

Thank you! I'm sure you're right…I'lll have to try the original Tonga Toast the way it was intended before I make up my mind.

Hi Kelly! I fell woefully behind but am all caught up now. Congrats on the 10K!

Welcome back! And thanks!

 

[MeghanEmily]

These next few posts come with a warning: What you are about to see is a bunch of pics of two old geezers running! Look away if you can't handle it!

We ran up through the back road by TOT and the first thing we did was hit the restrooms. Mike had been miserable up until this point because he needed a "bio break," and I talked him out of going over to the woods because I've heard horror stories of snakes and things.

Bahah this was me for the first mile or so of the 5k! I didn't think I'd need to go before we got in our coral, but by the time we started running, I could tell that was a bad call on my part! Those restrooms in World Showcase were a welcome sight!

I had to stop and try to get a picture of the moon that was simply AMAZING…even though my picture stinks and came out blurry

This is pretty much every photo I took during the 5K at Marathon weekend. But still good to have them to bring back the memories!

Holy-moly, this just looked so beautiful...

Running out of EPCOT, I loved the look of SSE from this angle...

Epcot is soo beautiful before the sun comes up! Great shot!

We both did it!

Congratulations!!

We decided to split the Tonga Toast and bounty platter between the two of us...

Mmmm breakfast...good call.

 

[emilyhuff]

Another update, another awesome shirt! Love the Mr. Tom Morrow shirt!

Congrats on the 10k! The medal is so cute! I can't wait to hear about the half! I did the Enchanted 10K last year and wanted to die afterwards, I don't know how people live through more than one race in one weekend, lol!

 

[buzzrelly]

Bahah this was me for the first mile or so of the 5k! I didn't think I'd need to go before we got in our coral, but by the time we started running, I could tell that was a bad call on my part! Those restrooms in World Showcase were a welcome sight!

Yea, we didn't make this same mistake the next day, but we almost missed the start of the race because of this!

Congratulations!!

Thank you!

Another update, another awesome shirt! Love the Mr. Tom Morrow shirt!

Thanks! I love that store!

Congrats on the 10k! The medal is so cute! I can't wait to hear about the half! I did the Enchanted 10K last year and wanted to die afterwards, I don't know how people live through more than one race in one weekend, lol!

Thanks! You'll have to wait and see if we did, indeed, survive!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I talked him out of going over to the woods because I've heard horror stories of snakes and things.

I was super surprised during the Marathon weekend 10K how many people use the woods!?! It was very early on in the race, too, so I was really taken aback, and I hadn't even THOUGHT about the wildlife!!!

I have no idea why I kept doing this with my arms, but almost every single photo has this pose I guess I just feel awkward getting my picture taken so I felt like I needed to pose

I did, too!!!! What's with that!!!?? Once I saw my 5K pictures, I tried to be more aware of what I was doing during the 10K pics I was dressed as Buzz, so there was a lot of saluting or using my arms like wings....not sure those turned out any better LOL If I ever start my TR, you'll be able to let me know which was worse!! LOL