JMUDukz's Wine and Dine Half Marathon Trip Report Day 1-3

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Um. I was 19 minutes slower than I should have been because I stopped to take over 100 pictures. Oops. Easily distracted...But I felt great. It was lovely running weather!!

I skipped out of work early to get another day added to my TR!! (okay, that wasn't the REAL reason, but hey, I have some time on my hands, so here we go with day 2!!)

Friday 8 November - EMH at AK this morning, starting at 8!! Woohoo!! The plan was to get up early, around 630, to get ready and be at AK right at the start of EMH. We did not have FP+ for AK, as we were headed to Epcot for dinner and make the FP+ there, so we wanted to beat the crowds. However, as you may recall from Day 1, sister is NOT a morning person. The snooze button took quite a beating before we finally dragged ourselves out of bed and got ready for the day. It was only a little after 9 by the time we rolled off the bus at the park, so we still had plenty of time. (I want to back up a bit, the CM who checked us in the day before was in the lobby. She greeted us and asked us about our trip so far - this is something that I noticed at AK that I haven't noticed at the Moderate or Values, the CMs seem to remember you and really bond with you - more on that later...).

Christmas has fully descended on WDW by this point. We were greeted with a super cute Christmas tree in front of AK. We stopped to wait in line for pictures with a Photopass photographer. As we waited, I observed so many people just walk right through the pictures. I don't understand how people can be so oblivious to their surroundings to not notice the massive line and photo taking going on, so I finally started asking people to walk around. Most people just looked at me strangely as they changed directions, but the CM was appreciative of my crowd control efforts. As we got up to the front of the line, she was really chatty. We made a comment about her taking the picture from whatever angle made us look the skinniest and she went on to tell us about asking her doctor for liposuction. It was a really random conversation, but she seemed to enjoy the fact that we were engaged with her and we got a few extra poses out of the deal!!

We headed into the park and right to the Safari. The wait was a half hour, but the CM there helped us get FP (which I didn't think we could get, since we had pending FP+ at Epcot later, but he said since the FP+ were at a different park, we were good to go). Tucked the FP away and headed out to Dinoland USA, which was a MUST do for my sister, since she claims its my fault we skipped it last year.

As we wandered into Dinoland, I found some purple sequined ears I just had to buy. Our first stop was Primeval Whirl. Now, I have read in many, MANY of your TRs that PW is to be skipped particularly if you tend to get motion sick. As I stood there and looked at it, I made the (wrong) decision to discard your sage advice and got in line. OOOOHHHH....why did I do that!! The ups and downs and the curves were fun....and then we started spinning. Despite the twists and turns, we could not stop laughing the entire time. Good thing we got a car to ourselves!!

My sister decided to duck into a shop while I hit the ladies room (hang with me, this isn't a TMI story) where I walked into the stall and my newly procured purple ears popped off my head and fell...into...the...toilet!!! AHHHHH!!!!! I seriously had not even owned these for a full hour yet. I scooped them out and washed them thoroughly in the sink (the toilet water was as clean as toilet water can be, so it's only slightly disgusting). My sister had some hand sanitizer, so we liberally doused the ears until they reeked of warm vanilla sugar. Sigh. There's not really a point to this little story, but I had to share my most embarrassing moment of the trip!!

We headed on to Dinosaur, which was an okay ride, I wouldn't wait for it again. After Dinosaur, it was time to use our FP for the Safari. We had an absolutely horrible "driver" on our "safari". She barely engaged with us and didn't stop long enough for us to snap any pics!! The ladies in the row behind us were furious. I was slightly disappointed, but maybe b/c I've been on the ride several times, it didn't ruin my trip. But they went in search of a manager as soon as we got off the ride to lodge a formal complaint.

Love my new lens on my camera!!

Ash and I decided it was time for some grub, and headed out to Flame Tree BBQ. We weren't the only ones with that plan. I would give Flame Tree a solid B+ based on our experience. My chicken was AWESOME and very juicy. My sister's pulled pork was good, but did not live up to Pecos Bill (nothing did, really, that place just rocks). The onion rings we shared were also quite tasty. The service however sucked. The cashier took forever ( we stood for 15 mins just waiting to order, all the other lines went so much faster), as did the food service. The food was only lukewarm (the onion rings were cold, but still good) by the time we got it. But still tasty and I'd highly recommend, just don't stand in the register line at the far end!! I thought I took pictures of my chicken, but apparently I was too hungry to remember at the time...

Next stop was "It's Tough to Be a Bug", which is super cute. It was my first time seeing it, so I was a more than a little surprised when I got "stung". Those of you who have seen it know what I'm talking about!! After the Bug show, it was time to put a serious dent into our cupcake crawl list. I've posted pics of the cupcakes we bought. They were okay, not the best ones we tasted during this trip. But it could be that the carrot cake cookie simply ruined me for dessert for the rest of the trip. Boy, I could go for one of those right now....

Panda Brownie

Cotton Top Tamarin Cupcake

Elephant Cupcake - this was the best of the 3

At this point, I left my sister to head back to the resort while I grabbed a taxi to head on over to the Expo. The W&D Expo was different and much bigger than the ToT Expo. It was in two buildings. The first building was bib pick up, some cute photo ops, and the runDisney W&D race merchandise booth, which was REALLY picked over by the time I got there (and the Expo started at 10, I got there by 1, so stuff must have FLOWN off the shelf). I grabbed a shirt, paid (forgetting to ask for my AP discount) and headed into the second building to get the rest of my packet and do some shopping. I bought a glass of champagne to celebrate (I'm so fancy!) and sipped as I walked around shopping. I ended up with a W&D hoodie and a motivational shirt. I loved the message and I so need to get this saying tattooed on my forehead!!

As I was on my way out of the Expo, I saw a booth for transportation questions. The woman working there was from MEARS, which I thought was great, since they provide most of the race transportation - I assumed she would have some answers. I had two questions. 1) Since I wasn't staying in a host hotel, and was planning on taking a taxi to the race, where would the taxi be able to drop me off; and 2) would there be taxis available at 4am to take us back to the hotel? She answered (and I quote) "the taxis will drop you off where the buses drop off the other runners". To clarify, b/c this was different than the procedure for ToT, I asked if she meant at the start line and she said YES. She also reassured me there would be PLENTY of taxes, tons of them in fact, at Epcot after the race. As you'll see when we get to race day, she was clearly making up the answers as she went, b/c nothing she told me turned out to be true.

After a quick nap at the hotel, we headed out for our evening at Epcot. The weather was so perfect, it was warm enough for shorts and flip flops, but not hot enough to sweat. PERFECT. Crowds were decent considering it was the last Friday night of F&W Fest. We hit up Soarin' then Test Track, were our purple and gold star monster truck beat everyone else's vehicles!! Looks like we might have an alternate career in car design!!

We had an ADR at 7 at Coral Reef. We got there a little early, hoping to get squeezed in earlier than our ADR, but that didn't pan out. However, it was worth the wait, as we ended up next to the aquariums! We both had drinks; I can't remember what my sister ordered, but it lit up, which amused her to no end. She said it was really good. I had a nice craft beer, which was also quite tasty. Lobster was the theme of the night for me, as I started off with the lobster bisque and moved on to the lobster orechiette. Ash had steak and potatoes. There was a scuba lesson going on during our meal, and one of the instructors came to the glass. He was dancing and having a good time. I started dancing too, not realizing he could see us in the restaurant, and he would mimic my moves!! Hilarious!! We also realized this meant the fish could see us eating their kin, so we felt a bit guilty. Only a bit though, as the food was REALLY tasty. I don't think Coral Reef will be on the "must do" list, but the food was good, the ambiance was great, and I highly recommend it, particularly if you want a last minute reservation, as it seemed to have a lot of walk up availability. We skipped dessert (by this point, we had several cupcakes waiting for us back in the room!) and headed into the WS. We hit up Karmel Kuche to score some caramels and caramel corn to take home to our mom and I bought an apple pie apple to take home (home home, not AKL home!) with me. Those things are awesome. If you haven't tried one and you like apple pie, do yourself a favor and pick one up. I personally prefer the Mickey shaped one from Goofy's kitchen!! Yum!! I cut it up into pieces and then eat a piece each day my first few days home. Helps me get over the post-Disney blues!!

Fish are friends, not food!!

Nah. They're better as food....

We bailed on Illuminations and headed for the buses ahead of the crowd. When we got back to the hotel, we went into the gift shop, which is very small at Kidani. However, we met the nicest CM there. I wish I could remember her name, but I do remember she was from Nevada. She totally hooked us up. They were running one of those specials where you can buy a reversible tote bag if you spend X number of dollars. I asked her if I could bring back my receipts from the Expo so that I could buy one of the bags. She told me not to even worry about it, she'd just let me buy the bag!! Again, although most CMs go out of the way to make you feel that Disney magic, I really think there's some extra pixie dust in the air in the Deluxe resorts!!

Saturday November 9 - RACE Day!! Woohoo!! Wine and Dine is another night race, so I started off the morning by sleeping in, followed by a trip to DTD for lunch at Wolfgang Puck's. Yum!! I love that place. Today pizza was calling my name, so I listened and had the quattro formaggi but with tomato sauce. And a creme brulee!! Delish!! Probably not the recommended pre-race meal, but hey, sometimes you have to live on the edge!! DTD was hosting the festival of the masters, so I walked around after and checked out some of the booths. There was a group of teenagers doing chalk art on the sidewalk, they were REALLY impressive!!

After lunch, I headed back to AKL, stopping at Jambo House, where my sister and two of my running ladies had independently decided they wanted Mara for lunch. My sister had a burger, and my friends had the flatbread and the falafel sandwich. They are really enjoyed their meals. We topped it off by sharing the caramel apple filled cupcake, which was good, but not really memorable. We parted ways; my friends were stay at AS Sports. Ash and I decided to check out the gift shop and we found it!! A hidden Minnie Seatbelt bag!! WHAT!!! OMG.MUST.HAVE. They're now available on line, but at the time, they were brand new releases only to WDW. The super nice CM from Nevada was working at Jambo that day, so we chatted about my addiction to seatbelt bags. She mentioned that the Trend in DTD carried them as well, so I decided to wait to see if there were other sizes (and I ended up finding them on Main Street as well, where I bought the large tote!!). We headed back to Kidani to rest before the race.

I swear we didn't just eat cupcakes the entire time, even thought it seems that way....

These zebras made me giggle

I headed out to the race around 7. There was another couple heading that direction as well, so we decided to share a cab. Really nice people, from Kentucky, although now I can't remember their names! Well, this was quite the adventure. As we turned into WWoS, there were two cops on bikes riding on the shoulder next to us. As the shoulder narrowed, one of the cops cut in front of our cab who managed to hit the brakes but the commotion knocked the cop off his bike. Meanwhile, the cab behind us almost hit us!! Needless to say, the cop was pissed!! He pulled our cab over and proceeded to yell at the cabbie for honking his horn. All our cabbie kept saying was that he didn't speak English which the cop wasn't buying (which was a good call on the cop's part, the guy spoke perfect English up until that point). Fortunately, the man from KY spoke up and said it was the cab behind us (which may or may not have been the case, it all happened so fast!) so the cop let us go and pulled THAT cab over!! Holy drama! So we continue on and now we're stopped by volunteers who told us cabs were not allowed any further, we would have to go to Epcot and take the race shuttles!! Now, at the expo, I had specifically asked the rep from MEARS where the taxi should drop us off, and she specifically told me that the cabs would drop us at the start line, just like the buses. Now shame on me for not doing my research and discovering she was WRONG, but I figured she'd know what she was talking about, since she was the one answering questions regarding transportation. We asked if we could walk, and they said no. We asked how far it was to the start, and they wouldn't tell us b/c they told us we couldn't walk. We had a quick debate about jumping out and walking anyway, but it was dark and we would have had to walk in the grass and we concluded we would probably twist an ankle or something, so off to Epcot we went, where the saga continued, as our cab driver totally disregarded the signs for the race, insisting he was taking us to the buses. YEAH, the RESORT buses!! Not the race buses! So we're standing in the parking lot of Epcot, it's almost 8, we're in a panic and we have no idea where to go. We started in the direction of the park entrance, when we found a security guard who pointed us in the right direction. We finally reached the buses and there were thousands of people in line in front of us!! The panic hit overdrive as the three of us were certain we were not going to make the start. Fortunately, the lines moved really quickly, Disney efficiency in action and we were on the bus and on our way to the start, arriving shortly after 8. Checked my bag and hopped into the potty line, where my friends found me. Woosaa!! Made it, ready to go, let's get this party started!!

So I won't bore you with the details of the race, but overall, it was a good race. I took off fast, which had me worried that I was going to hit the wall halfway through the race. I shouldn't have worried, although I ran hard for the first 4 miles, as soon as we hit AK and I saw Rafiki, well, any thought I had of a new half marathon PR went out the window. I felt really good for the first 11 miles, the last 2 sucked as my piriformis issues flared up, and sciatic pain started radiating down my left leg. Overall, I finished 19 minutes slower than I had expected. I was kind of pouty about it, until I looked at my phone and realized that I took over 100 pictures DURING the race!! Who does that?? At one point, as we were running into Epcot, I was having my picture taken with the illuminated Lumiere. I didn't like the first one, so I asked the CM to do it again. She looked at me like I was crazy...Um, oh YEAH, I'm kind of in the middle of something, aren't I?? Oops. So I guess that is where the time went. But I finished, so did my friends, we got our medals and headed into F&W Fest. Our first treat was the orange dole whip with creme de cacao. Oh my. Yes please!! We sampled a few other things (nothing memorable) and I had another cider and black from the UK. YUM!! I love those!! There characters (Belle/Beast, Tiana, Aladdin/Jasmin, Pinocchio/Gepetto) were out, so my sister and I had our pictures taken (she already had hers taken with most of the characters, as apparently Epcot was pretty empty during the race, but we got a few together to make Mom happy!!).

Running through the lights was AWESOME!!

This guy made my night

We stayed until they kicked us out at 4am. We headed out to the taxi line to find...NO TAXIs!! WHAT!! The MEARS woman led us astray AGAIN. People were calling their off site hotels to see if they would send cars. Ash and I was debating jumping on a bus to AS Sports with our friends and waiting in their lobby until we could get a cab from the hotel when a "random" non MEARS cab pulled up. It wasn't allowed in the taxi line, but my sister hustled over and we were the lucky winners of the random cab (probably not the best idea we've ever had, but at this point, we were so tired and my feet hurt, so it seemed like the best option). The people who had been standing in line behind me were also staying at Kidani, so we invited them to share the cab (safety in numbers!). The ride home was uneventful, although I swear they moved our room as the walk down the hall seemed to take 10x longer. We finally crawled into bed around 6. In hindsight, we should have stayed up to watch the sunrise over the savannah, but exhaustion prevented that thought from forming completely and we just sacked out.