Barca33Runner's Journal: Thanks For Noticin' Me(Comments Welcome)

Songs of the Week
Free Your Mind-En Vogue-Not even an early-90's guilty pleasure, it's just awesome
Keep On Loving You-REO Speedwagon-Sometimes you see Adam Sandler wearing a cool shirt in Billy Madison and have to go listen to the band. Sometimes you end up liking the songs.
Africa-Toto-I know it's corny and seems like nonsense, but I still get excited when it comes on.
River of Dreams-Billy Joel-Probably blasphemy to list the two Billy Joel songs I'm going to before others, but I'm an 80's-90's kid and I like this one.
I LOVE the joy of this playlist!!!
 
Chelsea Dagger-The Fratellis-I don’t like the Chicago Blackhawks, I do like this song.
I'm just now seeing this but wanted to add that I'm a huge fan of this song and kind of hate the Blackhawks. It was absolute torture to me when they stole the joy for me from this song in 2010. Now that my team has finally beat them in the playoffs, I can listen to it again.
 
Going to be adding a bit of a trip report tomorrow. I realized over the last week how few pictures I took during my vacation. I'm not much for remembering to do things like that and much prefer to just experience things, but even I was surprised at my lack of photos. Anyway, I'll sprinkle in some pics that I have but things might be a little wordy.

Anyone who follows along with Marathon Weekend threads has some idea of how things went. Short summary: Vacation was cold and crowded. Dopey was cold and I was unprepared and got sick (Sicker than I thought at the time, I'm still getting over it. Hence the late trip report). Overall, I'm super stoked to still be perfectly Dopey and, while I'm very disappointed with my performance, had the type of experience that has really energized me to do better.

Will be splitting things into multiple posts. First up is Hollywood Studios and Epcot day summaries (with Mama Melrose, Spice Road Table, and Boma)
 
2018 Trip Report Part 1

This year our trip was from Dec. 28th-Jan. 8th. This encompassed the Thursday before Marathon Weekend to the Monday after. With me on the trip were my mom, my sister, my nephew (8), and my niece (6). One of my sister's friends brought down her 4 kids (friends of my niece and nephew) on Sunday, Dec. 31st. We were also joined by my aunt for Tuesday and Wednesday before she flew back with my niece and nephew (they were supposed to have school) and my dad flew in on Friday to help celebrate my mom finishing the 5K and 10K. So, you could say that we had a full house most of the time and a very full house the rest.

We all arrived Thursday pretty late but uneventfully. We rented a house again. That turned into a bit of an ordeal because of a non-heating hot tub, but we made the best of it and we spent a relatively small amount of time at the house during the trip anyway. We went to bed pretty early we planned on rope dropping Hollywood Studios (myself, mom, sister, nephew, niece) in the morning.

Hollywood Studios

We were in the parking lot at 8:20 and in the park by 8:45 queued up with everyone waiting for them to let us go. Our plan was to head straight to RnRC because we made FP+ for Toy Story Mania because my niece is too small to go on RnRC and my mom is not a fan of thrill rides. Well, you know what happens with best laid plans. We got over to the entrance to the ride and it was down to begin the day. It kind of screwed things up, but what can you do. Eventually it opened later in the day, about an hour down time I guess, but we never had a chance to go on it. Because of the day and the limited number of things to do in the park the wait time was never under 2 hours when we checked. By this time, ToT, Star Tours, and TSM had filled lines so we really didn't have an option for our "fourth FastPass." We chose to get some "breakfast", two Jack Skellington cake pops for the kids and a carrot cake cookie to share for the adults counts, right? I wanted to see the models for Toy Story World and Galaxy's Edge, so we went in and saw that and took the kids to see Star Lord and Baby Groot:
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The guy playing Star Lord tried his best, but the kids were mainly interested in Baby Groot. Must be pretty demoralizing for a CM to be overshadowed by a tiny animatronic all day.

Our first FP+ were up at 9:45 and I was headed with my sister and nephew and went to ToT. My mom and niece headed to Voyage of the Little Mermaid (same concerns as RnRC apply to ToT with them). Their time was for the 10:00 AM show and we had a little time before our window at 10:15 so we went and met BB-8:
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My nephew had begged off ToT the only other time I tried to take him on it, so I was proud he made it through this time:
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Obviously, he wasn't as stoked about it as he is for most rides but he swears he had fun. My niece gave me a flower on the way to breakfast, so that's the little bit of pink behind my ear. It made it until just before we ate lunch at 3 PM that afternoon.

Our other FP+ were for Star Tours and TSM pretty closely behind our first ones. We managed to sprinkle in the Beauty and the Beast stage show (an underrated gem IMO and a huge hit with my niece) before heading to Star Tours where my nephew was particularly chuffed at being selected as the Rebel Spy (so he had to get the t-shirt). We had a Fantasmic! first showing lunch reservation for 3:00 at Mama Melrose, so we were kind of in no man's land for eating. After Star Tours we hit up Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and got one of the giant footlong Carolina pulled pork hot dogs from Dockside Diner to share afterward. It was very good but I can't imagine getting one of those for just myself. Next was our final FP+ at TSM. We were done with FP+ at about 1:30 PM and, as expected, there were no FP remaining at the park the rest of the day when we checked. That was fine, we headed over to Muppets since we were getting close to our reservation. Good thing we did, it had almost a 30 minute wait (which says everything you need to know about the crowds that day.

We were out in time to check-in for our reservation. We've eaten at Mama Melrose before, but we'd never done the Fantasmic! package. After nearly getting shut out of Fantasmic! last year despite being there 45 minutes early, we decided the meal was worth a shot. We were very happy with our choice. I saw when booking that adults were $45 for appetizer, entree, and a dessert sampler, but that as of Jan. 1, 2018 they were switching Fantasmic! dining to entree and dessert sampler for $42. I have to say, after doing both of them over the next week (long story), the $45 was a deal (particularly when Fantasmic! seating is at a premium) and the $42 would only be appropriate in situations where you knew you needed it for good seats at Fantasmic!

Anyway, food was very good. I had the Cioppino, but saw the chef special Pork Osso Bucco and had some regrets (which I was able to satisfy on that second trip). When we were done with dinner we had about an hour and a half before we were headed to find Fantasmic! seating. We did some shopping and went back over to the Star Wars Launch Bay (my niece was unhappy about not seeing BB-8) and my nephew and I went to see Chewbacca:
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As you can tell from my shorts, we had not reached the part of the week where the weather really bothered things. Fantasmic! was a little cold, but it was still 60 degrees at that point and despite Pocahontas I really enjoy that show. Oh, how we would long for those temperatures after Sunday afternoon.

I expected to post Epcot Saturday with this post as well, but I got long-winded and will post that next with a little bit of what we did on New Year's Eve as well. Thanks for reading along!
 


2018 Trip Report Part 2

I was super excited for Saturday at Epcot. Partly because I love Epcot and partly because we were going to Boma for dinner that night and we had never been there before. We were getting an early start on things again, this time for an 8 AM park opening. We made or FP+ for Soarin' (because FEA wasn't an option for us 30-day stragglers), so I had my nephew headed toward TT at park opening and my mom, sister and niece were headed to FEA. We were in the park at 7:45, but they didn't let us go past Spaceship Earth until almost right at 8:00. When we got to TT, we were in for about a 30-minute wait. Fortunately, both rides we headed to were open on time this time. They were off FEA a little before we were done with TT (probably because of the design time, multiple queues, and after-ride extras):
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Once again, warm enough for shorts. Those were the days. My niece made clear to me that she wasn't scared on the ride, but they took her picture right after Marshmallow came out.

After those rides were done we met at Mission: Space. Something got lost in translation, so they headed to the ride before us (we had to make a commercial and race our car after all). I figured they went on Green anyway because of my mom and niece, but apparently my niece was just tall enough for Orange so the whole group went on Orange. This was not a good thing for my mom, she ended up with vertigo issues for most of the rest of the day. I don't hate that ride and don't have the same issues with it that many do and I was pleasantly surprised by the updated visuals.

After that we were headed for our FP+ at Soarin' for 9:45. We got sidetracked meeting some friends:
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It was already a 30-minute wait to meet the characters (our first indication of how the crowds would be that day). They're obviously not the first thing your eye is drawn to, but I must point out the awesome Air Max 95s my niece and nephew designed. They design a pair of shoes for me every year for Christmas/my birthday and these were particularly comfortable and stylish for touring the parks. I like colorful and particularly neon, so I'm a good sport about whatever they come up with.

We headed over to Soarin' next. The kids and my mom had never been on Soarin' before (FP+ priorities have always been TT and FEA) and they all loved it. Like I've said before, it used to be a ride that our family (my sister and I) weren't particularly enamored with (mainly because of the lines) but I am on board now. We will probably focus our FP+ on other rides, but it will definitely be the ride we try to open with in the future and we'd probably wait up to an hour for it now. Our next FP+ was for Spaceship Earth at 10:45 and we had about a half an hour so we headed to Journey Into Imagination. This was our second warning about the crowds. We waited the full half hour to get on the ride. I'll always love Figment, but I think they need a revamp on his park presence. Either a full redo of Journey Into Imagination or they can replace it with something else and transition him to a full-time park mascot and work him into Epcot in other ways. He's such a fun character (IMO) and I hate that so many are turned off by his attraction.

It was about 11:00 when we got out, plenty of time to make our Spaceship Earth FP+. This was where the disappointment really started. We got to Spaceship Earth and the queue just to get to the FP+ readers was several hundred people long and they had all the brackets (?) open after the readers. We estimated the line was somewhere around 45 minutes and that was for people with FP+. We don't like the ride that much and the kids were hungry, so we decided to head toward Nemo (our 11:45 FP+) and pick up some snacks while we waited. I went into sunshine seasons and picked up a Key Lime Tart that was pretty darn good (I don't eat breakfast). Nemo turned into a nightmare (relatively speaking) as well. Even though we were there exactly at our FP+ time, it took over 30 minutes to get on the ride.

Afterward we were happy to be basically done with the ride portion of our day and ready to have some lunch and explore World Showcase. We grabbed a lunch ADR at Spice Road Table so we could sit down and get the kids something. The adults shared a brie appetizer and vegetable sampler entree because we planned on grabbing some snacks later. It was all really good and it was nice to get a meal for the kids.

On a different day, we would've stretched things out. Done some eat/drink around the world, shopped, watched some country presentations, etc.; but we could see the writing on the walls with the crowds and our ADR for Boma was at 8:20 so we knew it would probably be a better idea to head back to the house and decompress for a while before heading back out for dinner. We went to France and picked up snacks at Les Halles (I got my regular Palmier to take back to the house) and we made a couple quick stops back around World Showcase as we headed out. We had to stop to ride Gran Fiesta Tour because it's just tradition. That sealed the craziness of the crowds. It only took about 15 minutes to get on, but they had temporarily set up a queue that I had never seen before for the ride because there were just too many people. Walking back to the front it was wall to wall in most places with lanes for people going in either direction. I watched a man in a scooter lose control and he would've run people over were it not for their quick reflexes and a trash can/wall stopping him. We were glad to get out of there when we did.

We had a nice few hours relaxing and taking naps at the house before heading back to Boma. I guess I'm not much of a dining reviewer. I don't take pictures of my food so it's not much of a visual experience. All I have to say is that Boma very much lived up to it's reputation and I will look forward to dining there again. I'm sure I could've made a meal just eating soups, and considering I ate two bowls of the Coconut Chicken Curry (not sure if that's the exact name) I guess I pretty much did if I were eating normal amounts of food. But on this night I didn't. My only complaint about the better buffets at WDW is the desserts aren't always the greatest. I completely understand why but, still, not the best.

Sunday we went to Disney Springs at 11:00 and did some shopping before relaxing at the house. The kids friends arrived at 2:00, so they had fun for New Year's Eve. NYE has never been a big Holiday for me, I was in bed by 10 PM because we were rope dropping MK the next day. Back with that recap tomorrow. Thanks for reading along!
 
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Obviously, he wasn't as stoked about it as he is for most rides but he swears he had fun.
He is behaving exactly like I do on TOT-but I own up to hating it once I'm off. LOL! ;)
Sounds like an awesome HS day, where you accomplished so much, despite the crazy crowds! I love all your character shots too. I skipped any of that this trip :(

They design a pair of shoes for me every year for Christmas/my birthday and these were particularly comfortable and stylish for touring the parks.
That is so cool! What a unique tradition.

I love your Neice's ears!!
 
[QUOTE="

Songs of the Week

Free Your Mind-En Vogue-Not even an early-90's guilty pleasure, it's just awesome

Keep On Loving You-REO Speedwagon-Sometimes you see Adam Sandler wearing a cool shirt in Billy Madison and have to go listen to the band. Sometimes you end up liking the songs.

Africa-Toto-I know it's corny and seems like nonsense, but I still get excited when it comes on.

River of Dreams-Billy Joel-Probably blasphemy to list the two Billy Joel songs I'm going to before others, but I'm an 80's-90's kid and I like this one.

Disney Song

Why Should I Worry-Billy Joel-Oliver And Company was the first Disney film I ever saw in the theaters. I know that it is basically forgotten (possibly for good reason) but it will always have a special place in my heart.[/QUOTE]

I have Africa on my playlist. Also Rosana by Toto. Great running songs... Just grooves hard with some cool riffs!
 


I love your Neice's ears!!

She got one pair of ears for the whole trip and, of course, picked out those at the first kiosk at Hollywood Studios. I’m not sure we were even in the park before she got them. I guess it worked out well because she had them for the whole trip and never had any buyer’s remorse.
 
2018 Trip Report Part 3

So Monday brought on Magic Kingdom and what I anticipated would be the worst crowds of our trip since it was New Year's Day. Boy, was I wrong. I think late nights for NYE, cold temps and forecast rain led to a reduced crowd. We arrived at the parking lot at 7:20 for and 8:00 opening and walked on the monorail and were in the park waiting to go back to the rope drop ceremony at 7:45.

We had 11 in our group that day, including 6 kids under 10 so I considered us being on time to be a minor miracle. We watched the opening show and then took a terrible route back to 7DMT and ended up waiting about 30 minutes. Eminently acceptable for 7DMT, especially considering I took a couple kids on Tea Cups while the line was still outside the queue (I know, I was bad). Anyway, turned out to be a pretty good picture:
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Obviously, my niece and my mom take things very seriously. I'll point out that it was 57 degrees at this point and the weather was not bad at all outside of being overcast. This would not last. After 7DMT the group headed to Haunted Mansion, but my mom and I made a detour to Gaston's Tavern for a cinnamon roll and LeFou's Brew (for my nephew, he's obsessed). We finished the cinnamon roll and headed over to HM and didn't wait long for the group to emerge. As I've noted many times before, I'm not the biggest fan, but I still would have liked to have gone with them. Oh well, choices must be made.

Next, we had our first FP+, which were for 8:55. One group headed to Peter Pan's Flight and I went toward Space Mountain with my sister, nephew and one of the other kids. I took the following "Hey dummy, the camera's over here" photo:
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Lines were short all over the park, but we headed back toward The Little Mermaid to meet the rest of the group. We beat them to it so we rode twice to use our time efficiently. Afterward, we had planned to hit Dumbo and Barnstormer; however, the weather had started to turn so we decided to head back to Gaston's to get the kids something to eat (again the LeFou's Brew addiction). As much as I would have liked to eat another half of a cinnamon roll I resisted. Instead I took my niece and nephew out back to meet Gaston. The CM was particularly on character and had a very good banter with everyone:
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My niece insisted on wearing her very fancy new Anna dress for the day and Gaston had a few questions about why Anna, and not Belle (his future bride), was her Princess of choice.

Our FP+ for Space Ranger Spin was next. I was able to hit 999,999 for the first time and amaze and astound my nephew. We went over to Peoplemover after that and all took a leisurely ride. At that point the weather was really starting to turn. It was noticeably colder (under 50) and now constantly spitting rain/misting. Our last FP+ was for Splash Mountain (best laid plans again), so we headed toward Frontierland. I wanted to get a corn dog from Sleepy Hollow, so I made a detour and rejoined the group at Aladdin's Carpet Ride. It was then time for the group to get lunch. They chose Pecos Bill's. We discovered where everyone at the park was hiding.

Seriously, Pecos Bill's was hiding the crowds that I had expected to see all day everywhere. It was insanity. We couldn't find a table for 2 of us, leave alone 11. This was the part of the day where I got a little salty. So many of the people at the tables were not eating and were just camped out avoiding the weather. It was beyond frustrating. Eventually we found some very nice people who offered to let the kids sit with them and we ate standing up until a couple more spots opened up. It wasn't fun at all. I've had some bad GI issues when eating there before, so I was glad that I wasn't having anything; it was still very frustrating that the kids couldn't eat without chaos.

We were really getting worn down by the rain afterward, but we were determined to hit Splash Mountain (and my sister's friend had booked us for Tiana's Ice Cream Social a few days earlier). Anyway, I've never seen Splash Mountain open with a smaller line. We walked on for our FP+ and then my nephew and a couple of the other kids insisted we go again. My sister and I drew the short straws but we made the best of it:
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We were so wet. It was raining and about 45 degrees. And we were going to eat ice cream. We had firmly decided that the Ice Cream Social was the last event before we were leaving. It was just too cold and miserable (and we had achieved quite a bit while we were there). The ice cream was fine and Princess Tiana and Naveen were very good with the kids. By the time we boarded the boat for our VIP viewing for the Festival of Fantasy Parade all of the adults were having fun with the absurdity of our situation. And then things got better. The parade was supposed to start at 3:00 and we noticed it was 3:10 and still nothing. They made an announcement about the delay of the parade and then 5 minutes later, "Cancelled, but here's the Rainy Day Cavalcade":
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It's a bad picture (maybe the VIP viewing wasn't so VIP:scratchin), but you can almost make out Captain Hook, Smee, and Jiminy Cricket. Unfortunately, that picture is closer to the full parade than none of it. There was another line of rain coat wearing "dancers" and a covered vehicle with about 7-10 more characters. On a different day maybe it would have been upsetting but, on this one, it felt appropriate.

After we were done we headed for the exits, but not before we were stopped by one of the managers of the Ice Cream Social. Our group was refunded all of our money. Not something we asked for or expected, but it felt very appropriate for the experience we had and took the bad aftertaste that would have inevitably risen from the situation when we remembered how much we paid and were outside of the happy absurdity of it all.

Overall, despite the weather (or maybe because of it) we had a very full MK day. Was there stuff we would have liked to have done that we didn't? Of course. But, in all honesty, I think we had more fun and less frustration than we would have if it was 70, sunny and the crowds were what I expected. We would have been leaving just as early, but probably wouldn't have accomplished as much.

Back tomorrow with Animal Kingdom (which will be short, we had the day I anticipated at MK). Thanks for reading along!
 
I was able to hit 999,999 for the first time and amaze and astound my nephew.
OMG! I swear my best score ever was 53,000, I really don't understand what I am doing wrong. AND I am obsessed-like multiple rides each visit, and i never get better. You are my hero!

Also I can not believe you achieved that much with that many children either! Lol!
Your Mom makes 7DMT look like a terrifying roller coaster ;)
 
You guys got so much done on your MK day, although it looks pretty miserable by the end! You are real troopers to ride Splash not once, but twice on a day like that. BRRRR! I'm glad they refunded you your money. That seems appropriate all thing considered.
 
January 2018 Trip Report Part 4

My aunt flew in late Monday night so that she could fly home with my niece and nephew on Wednesday. That meant our party for Animal Kingdom was 12. Because of the cold weather, and the realization that rope-dropping for Pandora was going to be much harder during the Holidays than it was on a random day in September, we decided to get a little extra sleep and head to the park to get there at 9:00 (opening) rather than trying to get there at 7:45-ish. I wasn't particularly happy with this decision, but there were only about 5 of us who could've gone on FoP and no one else was into the idea that we could get more done earlier even if we didn't do FoP. Oh well.

Anyway, we aimed for 9:00 and were into the park at about 9:30 because of the traffic and crowds. It wasn't raining, but it was cold. I was flabbergasted at the crowd going into the park and it was bad all day. I led the group through Pandora and back down the boardwalk toward Festival of the Lion King, our first FP+ at 9:45 for the 10:00 show. I knew this would be essentially our only view of Pandora and, other than going back and walking through by myself while the rest of the group waited for Tricertop Spin, it was the only time anyone saw Pandora. Not sure anyone really registered much other than the line for FoP extending all the way back to Festival of the Lion King and being listed as a 270-minute wait.

Festival of the Lion King was a great choice to open the day. It's a fun show, it was warm, and the kids all had a great time. When we came out the weather hadn't really improved much. Might have been a little warmer, but not much. Our next FP+ were immediately following as part of the group needed to get to Finding Nemo: The Musical and some of us headed to Expedition Everest. We got the group over to Nemo just in time for them to get seated and then we doubled back to Everest (I'm the only one in the group who knew my way around). Everest was already a 90-minute standby wait, which signaled to me just how bad the crowds were since I had heard about and seen (in September) EE as a virtual walk-on early in the day while the Pandora rush is in effect. Here's the only photo I have from the day:
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My mom was in the group at Nemo, but she and my aunt certainly have some great reactions. Mom-eyes closed on everything, aunt-completely nonplussed and unimpressed. I should note, this was the first time my aunt had ever been to a Disney park. The day we had certainly wasn't the greatest advert.

The downside of getting on EE in under 5 minutes through the FP+ line was that the Nemo show hadn't even started when we were done. So our group made a detour to Dinoland USA, when my sister took my nephew and one of the other kids on Primeval Whirl. I wasn't particularly feeling a 40-minute wait for that ride, so I went and looked around some shops and stayed warm until they were just getting on the ride. The wait was closer to 30 minutes, which was nice, and it was time to head back to find the rest of our group and head to Tusker House for our 11:55 reservation.

Tusker House was the worst experience of our trip and one of the clear instances where Disney mismanaged the crowds. When I walked up to the podium to check-in I heard a woman ask if her pager was still working because it was already 11:45 and their reservation was for 11:15. This was for a table for 2. I was concerned. Unfortunately, my concerns were well-founded. We were not seated until 12:45. It was hard to imagine how they had lost control of their reservations by that much so (relatively) early in the day. I'm guessing they had a bit of a Pecos Bill's situation and had people overstaying their welcome to stay in the warmth, but I'm sure they also overbooked and seated too many walk-ups because of the crowding as well.

After we'd finally been seated, it was two tables of six instead of one for 12 which led to all kinds of disagreements among the kids about where everyone wanted to sit. Eventually, the food and character interactions ended up being to the normal standards. Tusker House is one of my favorite spots and I'm willing to give them a pass on this particular experience, but we were also rushed throughout our dinner (they'd clearly gotten the memo about how far behind they were). It felt like we got the raw end of the deal on both our wait and our being rushed through to try to get things back on schedule. I feel bad complaining, but it wasn't the relaxing break during the day that I was hoping for and somewhat expected. No pics this time. I was taking pictures for someone else in the group and didn't take any of my own.

Our final FP+ was after lunch at Kilimanjaro Safari. I had scheduled it for 1:15-2:15 thinking we'd have plenty of time after lunch, but if we hadn't rushed through lunch we probably would've missed it. As it was we made it just in time. For such a cold day there were a surprising number of animals out and about. I'm not sure about the measures taken to ensure that or whether it's normal for most of the animals to be out in 50 degree weather, but none of the animals appeared to be under duress.

I was pretty salty about the whole day at that point. This was the Holiday at Disney crowd I was dreading and between the weather and our somewhat lackluster experiences on the day I was ready to cut my losses. We stayed until about 5:00. Took the kids over to Dinoland, USA. I temporarily cut out to go through Pandora again, but caught back up in time to be the next volunteer for Primeval Whirl. After about 30 minutes in the playground we ended the day with It's Tough to be a Bug. That attraction lives in infamy for our family as the attraction that made the kids want to leave without doing anything else, but now it's terribleness is kind of a running joke.

I know it probably sounds like I had a really bad time, but it's all relative. There are certainly much worse things than a crowded day at Animal Kingdom.

Expo Wednesday

Thought I'd put a few thoughts on Wednesday here as well. We decided to go to the 9:00 showing of The Last Jedi at Disney Springs. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and while I'm not entirely thrilled with the new movie I'll watch it any chance I get. There's enough that they got right that I can be entertained before obsessing over the things they got wrong. We decided to get lunch afterward and because it was raining pretty steadily we just ran across to Bongo's to see if they had seating. They did and I was really impressed with the Cuban sandwich I ordered. I get Cuban sandwiches for lunch a lot of the time when they're on the menu and theirs was very good and quite fairly priced for the portion (and considering we were in Disney Springs).

After lunch on car headed back to the house and all of the runners (my mom, sister and I) along with my aunt, niece and nephew went to the Expo. The Expo has been rehashed in a lot of places. Disney should have done better and with the opening of the new arena probably will do better next year. That's where I'll end my analysis.

This day also happened to be my birthday. I had planned an ADR for Sanaa and the adults in the group headed there for an early dinner after we got back from the Expo. Flights were all cancelled for my aunt, niece and nephew, so we added my aunt to the reservation and worked out with the babysitter that there would be two extra kids while we were out. Sanaa also lived up to it's reputation. The bread service was amazing and all of our entrees were excellent. I had the butter chicken with cilantro-coconut vegetables and was very happy, although I would have tried virtually everything on the menu.

It was back to the house to get a little sleep before the 5K after that. Dopey recap tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
 
usker House was the worst experience of our trip and one of the clear instances where Disney mismanaged the crowds. When I walked up to the podium to check-in I heard a woman ask if her pager was still working because it was already 11:45 and their reservation was for 11:15. This was for a table for 2. I was concerned. Unfortunately, my concerns were well-founded. We were not seated until 12:45. It was hard to imagine how they had lost control of their reservations by that much so (relatively) early in the day.
This is exactly what happened to us on the Friday for our dinner reservation. We were seated 75minutes late. However, we were told it would be that long when we checked in, and as you hypothesized, because I asked, it was because people already inside were prolonging their stay (presumably becasue of the cooler temps). Disney really needs to either put a time cap of 2 hours on your reservation-which they inform you of at the time of booking-or start taking far fewer bookings. I love TS too but this left a bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended!).

It's actually quite funny how sedate your aunt looks on EE, especially since the kid in front of her looks asleep!
And I'm definitely with you, that these crowds on the whole were like nothing I had ever experienced before (we typically visit end of August and Wine and Dine) and although I'd still rather be at Disney, man do they impact your experience.
 
January 2018 Trip Report Part 5

So, we finally made it to the races. Even in a year where I knew I hadn't prepared myself well to run I was still excited for the races. When I got out there each morning the weather did little to justify this excitement. It was just straight up cold. After we were running each day it felt pretty good, but the waiting was very difficult. I completely understand the necessity of being out there that long because of the size of the event, but it's still rough. As you'll see, I attributed the weather as a primary factor in me contracting a bad cold that affected my last two races pretty negatively.

5K

The 5K went fine. I was being very cautious with my pace for the 5K and 10K because I knew I needed something in the tank for the last two races. I finished in 34:12. I wasn't surprised that there were very few photos of me and that the few I had were not very good. I was running in crowds basically the whole time and I refuse to break pace or potentially ruin someone else's photo by jumping in front of them. If it looks like a photographer has a clean shot of me on the path I'm running I'll sometimes flash a thumbs up or something, but I try really hard not to ruin other people's photos and was not all that concerned with getting any new ones this race. I also didn't stop for a medal pic. It was crowded and I wanted to find a place to get wrapped in mylar while we waited for my mom. Saw @DopeyBadger as we headed to the viewing area and he was headed out and confirmed that he had achieved the first part of his goal to PR all 4 individual races. My goals were just to finish this year, but I was cheering for him to achieve his much loftier goals. My mom finished and we headed home.

We spent the day at Disney Springs and returning to the Expo. I had ordered my mom the 25th Anniversary Dooney and Burke Purse for Christmas/her Birthday and we weren't going to let that go unclaimed. We started by doing a little shopping in Disney Springs and having lunch at the Polite Pig. It was the first time we tried the food there and we were quite impressed. Very timely and a nice selection of barbecue. I'd definitely eat there on future trips when looking for a quick-ish DS meal. The Expo was much nicer the second time around. There was about a 5 minute checkout line for Official Merch, but no waits otherwise. I picked up the purse for my mom and then got a shirt for myself in official merch before heading to the vendor floor. There I purchased a belt with bib clips (I don't like safety pins and those button things weren't any better, I can never get them centered) and some Balega Enduro Quarter Socks. I rarely rave about things, but I'm loving the socks.

My mom and I went back to Disney Springs that afternoon and watched Downsizing. It wasn't bad, but I can't help but feel there was a better movie in there somewhere. It felt like two different movies and that they couldn't decide which one they wanted to make. We were back to the house and I was asleep by 9:00. No matter how hard I try I can never seem to get to sleep as early as I'd like during Dopey.

10K

The 10K was a lot of fun. Once again, I erred on the side of caution with my pace and finished in 1:10:52. I had a couple of decent photos during this race (for me):
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My mom had her best 10K ever. She walks her races, but she has lost quite a bit of weight in the last year so these were her best times in the 5K and 10K since she started doing them a couple years ago. She was really happy so I was happy for her.

My sister and I were headed back to Hollywood Studios with her friend and her friend's children. I hadn't planned on going, but having an AP and wanting to meet everyone at the DIS meetup I decided to go. It was a pretty standard Hollywood Studios day. We did the Mama Melrose Fantasmic! dining package again. This time I had the season chef's special Pork Osso Bucco that I had seen the last time. It was one of my favorite meals of the trip.

After lunch I headed over to Hurricane Hanna's for the DIS meetup. It was so nice to meet everyone. I tried my best to be sociable, it's something that is very difficult for me. Everyone was very nice and I'm sorry that I don't remember everyone I met. I'm going to err on the side of not mentioning anyone by name so as not to forget anyone. Social interaction is also kind of a blur for me, so remembering names is not a specialty for me either. I'd like to apologize to everyone as well, I know I was coughing quite a bit. I was very careful to try to direct it into my elbow and away from others, but I'm pretty sure my cold was starting to take over at that point and I'm hoping I didn't negatively impact anyone else's race.

Afterward I headed back to HS hoping that the group had decided to forgo Fantasmic! after our Toy Story Mania FP+. They were all looking forward to the show and I couldn't begrudge them. I was cold and ready for some sleep and if we had another vehicle I definitely would have gone back to try to get some sleep and maybe stave off getting sick. As it was we watched Fantasmic! sitting three rows in front of Brazilian football legend Ronaldo. As a football fan this was awesome, as a Dopey runner I would have rather been sleeping. We headed home and waited for my mom to arrive with my dad (he flew in to celebrate her races). I didn't get to sleep until 10:00.

Half

When I woke up I knew I was in trouble. My sinuses were completely stuffed and I was coughing a lot. Still, the race had to go on. I don't remember a lot about the Half. I finished in 2:55:20, which is my slowest Half ever outside of my first rD race in 2012. Worse, I was exhausted and basically completely sick at that point. I did make a stop for the Castle pic. I don't think it looks nearly as bad as I felt:
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After returning home I took a 3 hour nap while my parents and my sister went back to the Expo. My sister was Perfect Dopey as well, but she hadn't gotten the perfect bibs. The second year she accidentally entered her birth date off by one day. I think that caused the system not to recognize her. Anyway, runner relations fixed it for her and she had a sticker for her bib to make sure she got that extra ribbon when he finished the Marathon (obviously the extra medal ribbon wasn't important, but it's a cool accomplishment and felt like it deserved recognition).

My grandparents came in that afternoon to have dinner with us. We went to Disney Springs and ate at Raglan Road. That cuisine fit my dad and grandparents, they tend to be less adventurous than the rest of our group. I had some french fries, but I wasn't feeling great and didn't want to have anything that would negatively impact the Marathon. I was in bed at 8:00 and asleep by 9:00. Like I said before, never as much sleep as I know I need during Dopey.

Marathon

The Marathon ended up being the longest 7:30:04 of my life. I was exhausted from the first step and never found anything approaching a groove. By mile 10 I was ready to call it quits and get out of there. Going through Animal Kingdom I was walking 20+ minute miles and getting pretty emotional about everything that was happening. I wasn;t processing things well. I kept going, just kept putting one foot in front of the other. As much because I didn't know how to quit and how to get back to Epcot as it was because I didn't want to give up. Being Perfectly Dopey has become something very important to me and I wasn't ready to throw it away just yet. I nearly stopped at a couple med tents on the way to WWOS, but there wasn't any relief in sight so I kept going. After entering WWOS I had decided to call it quits. I figured they'd be equipped in that area for me to find a place to sit and wait for a ride to Epcot. Things didn't work out that way. First, @ZellyB stopped and talked to me while i was slowly winding through the complex and even as I told her I was done I felt like I was letting more people than myself down. Despite knowing that (and texting with my family who was also encouraging me) I stopped at the med station at mile 19 and thought I was done. I sat down and they offered me some water, but generally treated me more as a nuisance than anything. The first person to actually talk to me was @Keels. That anyone recognized me and took the time to talk to me during that time was incredibly kind and that two DISers had been so kind was more than my pride could bear. It wasn't just these chance meetings, I know deep down that I never wanted to give up and was just disappointed with how things were going, but I've never been so physically exhausted in my life and I needed the reminder of how much finishing meant to me. I could hear the disappointment for me in their voices and I knew my own disappointment in not finishing would have been even worse. I got up and was determined to finish.

The last 7 miles were incredibly painful, but I ran in places and kept my pace under 16:00 for that stretch. I wasn't re-energized, but I was determined to give everything I had left. I crossed the finish line walking for the first time in my life. I could no longer feel my feet and knew I had some blisters from all of the walking (my feet shift in my shoes a lot more when I walk than when I run). Here is the pitiful sight:
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I knew I only had minutes left before I collapsed. I was shivering uncontrollably and shouldn't have been as cold as I felt. I skipped pictures and eventually found my family. My blubbering while walking to the car wasn't one of my finer moments but I knew I was in a bad way and just wanted to sit down so badly. Eventually we found the car and headed back to the house. I tried to replenish as much hydration and had a little to eat before crashing. I spent the rest of the day trying to sleep as much as possible and recover. We had a dinner reservation at Boatwright's (our tradition) for 5:40, but I had developed a migraine to go with my cold so I missed going with them. They brought me back a big batch of cornbread (my favorite) and the crawfish etouffee, so I ate well anyway.

My flight was at 7:20 AM the next morning (not a lot of time for celebration), but I needed to be back at work as soon as possible. The only upside was that got to pick up McFly and head home for a good night sleep before work the next morning.

I'll be back with a post tomorrow with some fallout, conclusions and resolutions heading forward. I think I'd write this just for my own satisfaction and curiosity even if no one was reading, but I can't thank everyone who has followed along enough for the support!
 
Ok I teared up reading that marathon recap. You have no idea how happy it made me to see your post that you had finished. I was heartbroken for you when you told me you were done. I know we all get caught up in pace and time and photos but what you did is really what endurance races are about. The mental fortitude and determination to finish what you started. Congratulations, you PERFECT dope!!!
 
Post-Marathon Weekend Reflections

After returning home from Marathon Weekend I had little to no pain in my legs. I could easily go down stairs and sit down and stand up with minimal pain as soon as 5 hours after the race and things never got worse. Outside of my lingering illness (that I'm still getting over), this was by far the best I've felt after a marathon. This seems very strange. My working hypothesis is that my exhaustion from being sick didn't allow me to put forth the type of effort that I normally do and that my muscles were not taxed. My only pain was immediate during the race from being on my feet too long, but it dissipated quickly after being able to spend some time off of my feet.

None of this makes me feel any better about how things went on Saturday and Sunday. Illness is no excuse and I knew before I left for Florida that I was in for a rough four days because of my poor preparation. Things may have gone worse than I expected, but I can't imagine I would have been as ready to quit if I felt I was truly prepared and it was only illness holding me down.

I've had quite a struggle the last few years finding my motivation and not getting down on myself. It's pretty well documented in this journal. I started out with very lofty goals and gradually lowered my standards each time I realized I wasn't going to reach those goals. I've never come to a crossroads on running; I know that it is important to me and that it is something I enjoy. My happiest times were when I was in the best shape and continuing to improve. The last few years I have settled into old habits: resting on my (uninspiring) laurels, procrastinating, deciding I'd procrastinated for too long and just deciding to wing it. Turns out it works even worse for fitness than it did in academia.

This journey started as a quest to become happier with myself, more comfortable with my appearance, to find some self-confidence and, ultimately, to use all of those things to be better able to communicate with people. For a time it seemed to be working and I was asking myself the relevant questions on the whats and whys of my running. More recently it became "Can I finish Dopey?" That was the only question I was asking myself when I chose to skip a workout (or a week of workouts). I had also clearly developed an unearned confidence about the answer to that question.

So this year proved, the answer is no longer "It'll suck, but yes" (the default answer I've told myself the past couple years). Beyond that, why should I have ever been satisfied with such an answer? I delayed posting my trip report because I was really a bit ashamed of myself. I could see in my pictures that I wasn't at all happy with my appearance and that the pounds I was putting back on were starting to tell in more ways than just my diminishing times. I was embarrassed and that is the opposite of the feeling that I'm looking to achieve.

I don't know what the solution will be, but I'm quite sure that philosophizing, bargaining, and trying to think my way to easy fitness is not the answer. I know I can do this and that the most important thing is to do the work and no longer make excuses. It's all simple, there are no shortcuts, and it's all up to me. I'm pretty sure I've said this all before, but I've got to keep reminding myself until I put this knowledge to use.

I have some major redemption that I'll be attempting when I head back for Dopey #6 next year. I'm not putting time goals on anything yet, but my first goal is that I'm not going to get to November and December next year thinking "well, it's gonna suck but I think I can finish." I've done that for too long. My first step on that road will be training for a new Half PR and PoT at the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon on May 20. I've already started my training and I hope to document as much as I can here to help stay accountable. I don't know that it will be all that interesting but, once again, I know it's something that will help be helpful for me even if no one is following along.

Thanks for the support!
 
I had a couple of decent photos during this race
Great 10K finish with the double thumbs up :)

She walks her races, but she has lost quite a bit of weight in the last year so these were her best times in the 5K and 10K since she started doing them a couple years ago.
Congrats to her!

I did make a stop for the Castle pic.
Fantastic castle shot!!!

I know I can do this and that the most important thing is to do the work and no longer make excuses. It's all simple, there are no shortcuts, and it's all up to me.
You KNOW what you need to do! This marathon's struggles sounds like it might be the catalyst for a significant change in your overall approach! I sincerely hope you are able to continue valuing your self-worth enough to see this new attitude through! You deserve happiness and health :)
 

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