Princess Weekend

Mom and I headed out on Thursday evening, arriving into Orlando airport a bit after 9pm.  The Magical Express was at the airport and we were able to get right on.  We arrived at Port Orleans and went to the online check in counter and were checked in and off to our room pretty quickly.  We put our things away and headed to the hot tub before going to sleep.

Day 1 – Magic Kingdom and Expo

We were woken by Stitch on the phone and caught the bus to Magic Kingdom.  We headed out early so we could redeem our “Give a Day Get a Day” vouchers.  We still had about 40 minutes before the gates opened, so we hopped on the monorail to get mom a coffee at the Contemporary before the park opened. 

We headed straight back to the “mountains”.  We were the first ones on Thunder Mountain in the first seat, mom didn’t realized all the curves, etc.  She was shocked and it was so funny to watch her about to pee her pants!  I told her it was paybacks for all the rides they made me go on as a kid.

After we were finished we did Splash Mountain, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Small World within the first hour the park was open.  I am used to having to do Fantasyland first thing with the kids, was nice to try something different. We ate an early lunch at Pinocchio Village House and waved at all the people on the small world boats.

 

We headed over to Tomorrowland doing some more rides over there.  Then we caught one of the small street parades and then headed to get me my Dole Whip….yum!  We took the monorail to the Polynesian and then caught the Expo bus to the Wide World of Sports to get our race packets.

Mom getting some Pixie Dust from the Bibbidi Boppity Boutique booth.

We dropped out stuff back off at the hotel and headed back to Magic Kingdom for some shopping and fireworks.

Day 2

This morning we were woke up by “It’s a Small World” on the phone.  We took the bus over to Epcot and were at the rope drop for Soarin’.  We made our way over as we were almost plowed a few times, we still made it on the first ride.

Epcot Flower and Garden Festival started this week, we were able to see many really cool displays.

 

The fairy garden was my favorite.

 

As we went around the world showcase, I bought some candy from each country to take back to the kids.  It was fun to hunt the stuff down. 

I also bought a Venus Flytrap plant for Braeden.  We recently have been reading “Attack of the Monster Venus Melon” which has been in the paper every Friday.  Generally he read the books, but this was recently put in weekly installments in the local paper, so I have been reading it too.  (Johnathan Rand also writes the Michigan and American Chiller books)  Anyway, he got a kick out of it and brought it to school the next day.  I just hope we can keep it alive.

We to Innovations West and made a video game with me as the start which we were able to email to the kids at home.  They had fun making me jump and run, I was horrified with the result.  We headed back to the hotel and stopped at the Riverside Mill for the pasta dinner.  My sister Amber popped by to pick up a few things and they hung out for awhile.  We packed our suitcases and set everything out for the race in the morning….called to get our 3:00am wake up call and then hit the jacuzzi before heading in for an early night.

All ready to go!

Day 3 – RACE DAY!!!

Started off early, I woke at 2:55 on my own, Stitch woke me with a wake up call a few minutes later.  Got ready and then followed many other freezing princesses in the dark to the bus stop.  Took the bus to Epcot where we were dropped off.  Amber called a few minutes later and told us she was there with a warm car, which we were happy to find.  We hung out in the car about 45 minutes before heading back into the cold for the 20 minute walk to the starting line.

 

Everyone was very friendly and excited….with the exception of the crazy volunteer standing by the bathrooms yelling at everyone that we were going to miss the race, poor mom was just trying to go to the bathroom with about 1,000 others.  She was quite annoying and over the top…..she would never make it as a Disney cast member, lol!

We headed on to the start line, we were in corral C.  There were 13,500 runners, so in the middle corral was perfect for us. They did fireworks at the started each corral and the fairy godmother waived us on.

It was dark and cold and about mile 2-3 it started to get light out.  I was tempted to take my coat off, but decided to hold onto it until mile 5.  They had really pretty mile markers and lots of entertainment on the sidelines.

We needed to take a bathroom break before entering the Magic Kingdom, the lines were still long and I told them to wait and I had a spot in the Magic Kingdom.  We took a back entrance into the park which was cool, then rounded the corner and headed down Main Street.  It was a great experience, the crowds were cheering and we could see the castle at the end of the street.

This is what running down Main Street looks like.

We headed up towards the castle and made a right into Tomorrowland and then through Fantasyland where my secret bathroom spot was at (you may recognize it…but I’m not telling).  Nobody else was in it and it we were quickly in and out until Mom realized she left her camera in there.

We then ran through the tunnel that led out of the castle.  The last few times I have been to Magic Kingdom the tunnel was closed for one reason or another, so that was exciting.  We headed through Liberty Square to Adventureland and then another private exit out of the park.  We stopped for several characters along the way.

 

Once we hit the ramps which were banked and on an incline, mom started to get tired.  We stopped for more photos to give her a rest, I think the last few miles were pretty slow.

Isn’t that the prettiest mile marker you every saw???

We did it!  My first half marathon was finished…I honestly had no clue what time we got until I looked it up when we got home.  I was just happy to finish and not get picked up.  Our time was 3:24, right about what we estimated it would be.  This was only 20 minutes longer for my mom than her last half marathon.  Considering all the stops, that is awesome!

I felt great afterwards, I honestly could have did a few more miles.   I normally push myself when running alone, but the goal was to do it with mom without landing her in the first aid tent.  I can’t decide if my next marathon if I want to do it alone and go for time or do it with my mom again.  I think with a fun race like this, its just better to do it for fun and not worry about the time.  It was a fun experience with my mom and sister that we will never forget.

After the race we headed back to the jacuzzi at the hotel, we soaked ourselves and just relaxed for a bit.  Amber came by with Lochlan who wanted to go down the waterslide.  We went back to the room and showered and then checked out and then took the boat to Downtown Disney while waiting for evening flight. 

We did some shopping and ate at the Earl of Sandwich which was really good or we really were just hungry.  Did some more shopping and then took the boat back to the hotel.  On the boat I was seated next to Santa!  He was a really nice guy, but he was talking my ear off about Santa Claus school and and I was exhausted….been up since 3:00am and ran 13 miles.  Mom pretended like she was sleeping so she didn’t have to talk to him…thanks mom!

We came back the the hotel and took the Magical Express back to the airport, a bit of a bumpy ride but back home a little after 11:00pm.  I was happy to be home, the kids and Ed were all sick and I was happy to be home and I had been missing everyone.  No place like home….