*COMPLETE* Never Underestimate the Power of the Dark Side - a runDisney Spring Break TR

[rteetz]

Congrats on the half! It looks like a ton of fun and I love that Death Star challenge medal!

 

[SarahDisney]

I love the Darth Vader picture! You got a lot of good pictures this race. Very cool.

Congrats on finishing the half and the challenge!

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

Congrats on the half! It looks like a ton of fun and I love that Death Star challenge medal!

Thanks! It was a lot of fun and I absolutely love the Challenge medal too! It's basically the reason I bit the bullet and signed up for any races at all. I knew I wanted to participate, but so many factors made me not sure it was possible. However, my persistent self looked into various options and made it work. And it was worth it.

I love the Darth Vader picture! You got a lot of good pictures this race. Very cool.

Congrats on finishing the half and the challenge!

Photopass really does an amazing job with the photos! I'm impressed at how many of them I ended up liking.

And thanks!

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

Sunday, April 23, 2017 (Part 3)

After sitting for a few minutes, I boarded a bus back to Saratoga Springs. Once again, I made it back relatively quickly and showered and cleaned up. Since I was flying home that night (school started back from Spring Break the next morning and I couldn’t take the day off) I then had to finish packing up and making sure I had everything ready to go. I opted to stay in the room until the 11:00 checkout time, so I enjoyed some of the snacks from my race snack box and relaxed for a bit. Right around 11:00, I called bell services to have a cart come pick me up, since I didn’t feel like lugging my suitcase and carry-on bag down to the Carriage House. The check-in at the resort airline check-in desk went quickly, I got my suitcase tagged, left my carry-on with bell services, and then headed to the Springs bus stop since it was time to hit the parks for a few hours!

Where else to go that afternoon for post-race medal photos than Hollywood Studios?! I got to the park and my first stop was Starbucks for a Frappuccino. My parents and sister were already at the park again so I sent a message to them while I was waiting and they met up with me. Once I had my drink, we then headed to ABC Commissary for lunch. My younger sister is a former College Program participant and later full-time Cast Member (why she ever left nobody knows, including her – she’s doing everything in her power to try to make plans to move back to Florida) and her first CP work location was ABC. So it holds very special meaning for her and she always make it a point to go there, even if the people she knew aren’t actually there anymore. I opted to get the cheeseburger for my meal, and it was good. While we ate, we talked some more about the races. I think it was a fun weekend for everyone!

After lunch, this is where my memory of the order of things gets fuzzy (that’s what happens when it’s over 2 months post-trip, haha). We had a FP for Toy Story, but I think before we went there is when we went over to Star Tours for some photos outside the ride.

We used our FP for Toy Story, and then we still had some time before the next one for Star Tours, so I opted to watch the Star Wars stage show again in front of the Chinese Theater and my dad and sister went to see the Frozen Sing-Along.

It was hotter and more humid that afternoon than it had been earlier in the week and I distinctly remember how miserable I felt with the sun beating down on me while watching the show. As soon as it was over I sought out some shade near the shops on Hollywood Boulevard. While I did so, the March of the First Order came by.

The Frozen Sing-Along let out and we all met back up. We used the FP for Star Tours and then headed over to use our final one for Tower of Terror. I have a cute, but also slightly sad, little story from here: when we were in line for TOT, there was a mother in line next to us with her son, who was probably around 7-8 years old. The boy really wanted to go on the ride, but the mom did not, so she asked us if it would be okay if he rode with us. She would wait in line with him but then cut out at the last minute. It was fine with us so we ran it by the Cast Member and we were all loaded together. The boy was quiet throughout the ride and when it was over, my dad asked him if he liked it and he shook his head. He held himself together as we got off, but once we got to the area where his mom was waiting, he went off to her and it looked like he started crying then. Poor kid – I don’t think he’ll be riding it again.

Me with my arms up in our ride photo blocking my dad and the boy:

After our ride on Tower of Terror, it was getting to be close to 4:00 or after, and I needed to give myself enough time to make it back to Saratoga Springs to catch my Magical Express bus. I didn’t want to risk cutting it too close, so it was time to head out. But first, a quick Photopass picture with my sister and our medals on Hollywood Boulevard.

I got back to Saratoga Springs and grabbed a Mickey bar from Artist’s Palette.

I then collected my carry-on bag from bell services and waited for the bus. Good-bye Saratoga Springs!

Once the bus arrived, the whole trip to and through the airport went relatively smoothly. The hiccups, however, came once we were actually boarded on the plane. We ended up having to wait between 20-30 minutes before departing since there were passengers from connecting flights who had been delayed and they needed to get there. I understand them wanting/needing to do this, but it was very frustrating for someone (aka ME) who was not going to be getting home until around midnight and had work the next morning. I would have taken an earlier flight had the price been lower but by the time I booked, the one I ended up on was by far the cheapest. To make matters worse, once we actually got back to Milwaukee, the airport, that is normally deserted late at night, was packed with incoming flights (end of Spring Break travelers I assume – lots of flights coming from Florida) and it took an additional 30 minutes or so to get baggage. And then I had to check in for my shuttle ride and wait for the shuttle to get there, which took another 15 minutes or so. By this point it was approaching 11:15-11:30, and I had been awake since 3:00 am - needless to say, I was downright exhausted and the frustration had me close to tears.

Anyway, that’s probably more than anyone needed to hear about the travel. But frustrations aside, I did eventually make it home, even if it was after midnight with another early alarm for work the next morning. The trip overall was great and we all had a lot of fun. My next visit can’t come soon enough (not sure when it will be, but within the next 10 months since I need further use out of my annual pass) and I already can’t wait to run Disney again!

 

[ZellyB]

Great job on your races. Love all the photos you got during the half. Sorry that the GI upset made the end not as fun, but congrats on getting through it and looking good the whole time.

I think that challenge medal is so great. I love it. Nice way to finish out your day at the Studios. I hate to hear that little guy didn't like ToT. It's my favorite ride, but one of my daughters also wanted nothing to do with it when she was around that age, but now loves it, so there's hope yet for him.

Sorry for the difficult travel home. I really hate flying because of all of those types of frustrations that just seem inevitable anymore, but what can you do? I guess just suffer through.

I really enjoyed reading about your trip and your races. Congratulations!

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

And with that, my very first trip report is complete! You can probably see why I've never done one before - it takes me forever to get it updated and only 2 and a half months to finish. Haha. But thanks so much to everyone who read and commented and stuck with me. It was fun reliving my trip and my race experiences!

I will be changing the thread title to complete and I'm sure this will be moved to the "Complete" section of the boards. Thanks again everyone!

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

Great job on your races. Love all the photos you got during the half. Sorry that the GI upset made the end not as fun, but congrats on getting through it and looking good the whole time.

I think that challenge medal is so great. I love it. Nice way to finish out your day at the Studios. I hate to hear that little guy didn't like ToT. It's my favorite ride, but one of my daughters also wanted nothing to do with it when she was around that age, but now loves it, so there's hope yet for him.

Sorry for the difficult travel home. I really hate flying because of all of those types of frustrations that just seem inevitable anymore, but what can you do? I guess just suffer through.

I really enjoyed reading about your trip and your races. Congratulations!

Aww, thanks!

It's definitely one of my favorite race medals to date. Now I just need to get myself a medal hanger to actually display it since right now it and all my other medals are sadly tucked away in a box still packed up from when I moved.

Relatively speaking, my travel frustrations were nothing compared to what others go through, and compared to some of my previous travel experiences, but I agree. I love visiting new places but the flying is the absolute worst part.

Glad you enjoyed reading! Thanks again!

 

[SarahDisney]

Looks like you had a nice Star Wars filled day to celebrate your Star Wars races! Awesome!

Sorry to hear about your transportation issues ... that's always rough, especially when you need to be at work the next day.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us - I enjoyed reading all about it (and seeing the great pictures!).