"Only Half Crazy" Half Marathon Weekend 2012: Day 1

[floridamom]

Cast: Me, DH, DD9, DD7; traveling with friends who also have two DDs

Our family has held APs for about 5 of the past 6 years, so we are frequent Disney visitors. Our friends (despite living in the same area as us) have only taken their kids twice, for four days total. Back in September I convinced my friend to train for the Disney Half Marathon with me. It was my first half, and her second. She left all the planning up to me, and we decided to stay at the Contemporary Resort, largely for convenience to the race, but also because my DDs have been asking to stay there for the past year.


Day 1:


My friend and I left home around noon Friday and by 1:30 we pulled into the parking lot at Downtown Disney. We went to guest services so she could buy her FL resident “3 Days for $99” passes and then had lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. We figured that this would be our larger pre-race meal, since dinner would be a bit on the later side once our DHs and DDs got into town this evening. We each had a pizza and shared a salad- yum. It had been a few years since I had eaten there, and the seating area seemed to be larger than before. Maybe it was just my imagination, but in any event, it was a very good Downtown Disney dining experience.

After lunch we drove over to the Wide World of Sports to pick up our race packets and check out the Expo. There was a long line just to get into the parking area, which was a grass lot which seemed to be for overflow, so we were a bit nervous about the crowds. But inside everything was super-organized and we got all of our race materials very efficiently. Since this was my first big race, I enjoyed browsing through all the vendors’ stalls at the Expo—that part was way more crowded than the check-in area. I had to chuckle when I saw shirts that said "13.1: Because I am only half crazy."

I looked at all the RunDisney items, but ultimately passed on buying anything, in part because we already got a long-sleeved technical t-shirt with our registration, but also because I am a bit of an athletic attire snob and the Champion stuff didn’t knock my socks off. Their ladies' shirts all seemed short and boxy to me. I had pre-ordered and picked up a special pin, so between that and the race shirt, I did not feel like I was walking out empty-handed.

Race bibs and bags in hand, we headed over to the Contemporary Resort to check in. At this point I must comment that we had the most beautiful weather our entire weekend. Having lived in Florida for 12 years, I realized that this is the type of January weather that makes people pack up and move down here. (That, and the proximity to a certain mouse!)

I had booked a Garden Wing Deluxe room with an AP discount back when the rates were first released. I had hoped to get a tower room, but at the time no discounts were available and I could not justify paying rack rate. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when CM Joey at check-in told me we had been upgraded to the tower!! But it gets better. Our upgrade was for the 12th floor Atrium Club level! (Ok, so I had to check online to see what rack rate would have been for that room and it was $695 per night- and we paid $269 .) The only downside was that my friend was working with another CM and had been given her standard Garden Wing room keys—no upgrade. (She had made a request in her reservation to be near us.) Well, Joey went above and beyond, spending the next several minutes searching until he found another tower room - yay!

We took a few minutes to get settled into our respective rooms, then had a drink at the Atrium Club. (I know, more serious runners would probably have eschewed beer and wine the night before a race, but we had to celebrate our good fortune!) Afterward we headed out to meet the rest of our families for dinner (off property).
We returned just in time for some yummy cookies and fireworks from the Atrium Club balcony. Our friends had NEVER seen Wishes before, and with the music piped right in next to us, I think they have been spoiled forever!

Since at least a couple of us had a 3am wake up for the race, we soon headed back to our rooms for some rest.

[MizMissy]

Wow, nice upgrade!! Great start for your trip.

I can't believe your friends live that close and rarely visit Disney and have never seen Wishes.

Here's hoping the rest of your trip is just as great.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Nice upgrade, thanks for the report

[wildernesslady]

That was great luck with your upgrade. I hope the rest of the weekend went as well.

[yjgirl32]

Wow what an awesome upgrade! Thanks for sharing.

[faline]

Congrats on your upgrade! Isn't it nice to be able to watch Wishes right from your room?!!

[jillluvsdisney]

Nice upgrade!

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.