Tinkerbell Half Weekend trip report!

Here I am with another trip report already! This one will be short...I was only in CA for a few days and I wasn't really taking a lot of pictures. And there's a bit of backstory as well - better get that done first. My good friend's daughter was in the hospital when I left on Friday (had been there since Wednesday) and things were not looking good. My friend with me and I had a really hard time focusing on feeling happy being there knowing what was happening at home. We found out on Saturday morning that the little one had passed. Her parents had made the courageous decision to donate what organs they could and let her go...she suffered irreparable brain damage. She was 3. I have a 3 year old daughter and they were buddies...her mom and I were pregnant together and I even threw her baby shower for her. It was brutal. And being there (I was on the carousel when I got the news), was the most surreal moment. So my trip was colored with sadness, but I tried to have as much fun as I could. It was especially hard seeing all the little ones' faces light up, knowing little E would never get that, nor would her parents ever see it. So so hard.

Anyway, we flew out on Friday. Took the SuperShuttle to Paradise Pier. I liked the hotel. The room was clean and themed nicely. We were on the back of the hotel, but that was okay...maybe next time I'll spring for the view? Could be worth it. We headed to the expo to pick everything up and buy a few things. We grabbed our park tickets from GET travel and headed over to California Adventure! I loved entering through Grand Californian...I love that resort. It's on my list of must-stays. We had dinner at Flo's V8 and it was yummy! I grabbed a tasty adult beverage at the Cozy Cones and we just wandered the park for a bit. Then we headed over to Disneyland for a bit, which really made it real for me. It's Main Street...doesn't matter if it's CA or FL, when I'm on Main Street, I'm home.

I headed back to the room about 10, because I was running the 10K the next morning. If you remember all my stressing about my Achilles, this was going to be a "let's just see how it goes" weekend, since I hadn't been running at all! I headed out, met a friend in the corral and then we were off. I LOVED just stepping out of my hotel into the start. No 2 am wake up calls here. The race was at 6, I got out of bed at 5:15. Done by 7, back in my room and showered and entering the park at 8:30. First thing I saw? MICKEY. Then Daisy...so I grabbed photos, of course. Met up with my friends and we rode Pirates and some Fantasyland rides. Headed to Steakhouse 55 for breakfast and mimosas (YUM), then back to the parks. I honestly don't remember much of Saturday...my mind was at home. We watched the parade - where Bert was totally flirting with me (you'll see on my last day) and finally headed back to the room for a bit of rest. No one wanted to commit to an ADR a while back, so I knew we'd struggle for dinner, but we ended up at ESPNZone, which was fine. I ate a burger and drank a margarita (not standard pre-race fare for me, but hey! I was just having fun, right?). Back to the room, in bed by 10.










have you guys seen these girls? HILARIOUS!!!! Best character interaction EVER.

Sunday dawned. We got up about 4, all of us got dressed and ready and headed out. Again, I loved it. Today I didn't know anyone in the half, but I was entertained by the announcers and the energy. I went in with the plan to stop for photos as long as I only had one person in front of me, and I got SEVEN character photos! The great part of this is that I ran SO SLOW in the first 6 miles...my slowest 5K and 10K splits ever. EVER. Oh well, it's all for fun, right? Well, my Achilles didn't hurt at ALL, and I was feeling good, so I focused on getting in a zone, and I started thinking about my friend's little one. The last four miles were speeeeedy, and I barely remember them. I just remember feeling very calm and relaxed and peaceful. I know she was watching over me. My finish was emotional...complete sobbing/ugly cry. But I made it through. Went to the room, showered, dressed, back to the finish to cheer on my friends to their first half ever! They finished and then we headed to the parks. I was STARVING by this point, so we ate at Trader Joe's (and saw JMU ) and I called my aunt for a shoulder to cry on. We spent the rest of the day park timing, then headed to CA for dinner at Wine Country with seating at World of Color. Dinner was delicious!!! I had the filet and a couple of cocktails. Dessert wasn't awesome, but that was okay...we can always get dessert! We split up for a bit, since I wanted to try ToT (which was just too long of a wait), so I did Animation Academy, and we met back up for World of Color. Holy COW, was that amazing!!! I loved it. After the show, the girls went back to the room, but I wandered the park some more and then headed back to the room.

Monday morning I was ready first and we were all kind of doing our own thing. I put my bags in bell services and headed to CA for magic hours. ToT was CLOSED - GAH! - so I headed to Radiator Racers. Rode that - it was fun, but why people would wait that long is beyond me! Went back to ToT, still closed, so I headed over to DL. Got there right at opening and won my only victory of the week - the race to Space Mountain! That's right...I was the first one on that day! Woo hoo!

I was still on my own, so I rode Alice and Matterhorn and Pinocchio and Mr. Toad...and some others, I'm sure. I met my friend for breakfast at Jolly Holliday and ate a quiche and a giant cinnamon roll. YUM.

After that, I was hoping to see Mary Poppins, so a CM called to find out her schedule. They must have told him something wrong because she did NOT do what he told me. I only saw her by chance on her way back in, but she was very kind and took a photo with me and chatted me up. And look at that Bert! I told you he liked me.

That was about it. We hit up some shops and then headed to the airport about 12:30. Sad to leave, of course, but it was definitely the first time I ever actually wanted to leave. I needed my kids and husband, ya know?

I hope Princess is much better for me, in terms of my head space. And I hope to actually do more with JMU than just say "Hi"! AND, I had my MRI follow up and I am okay to start running again. I just have to do some planning and work, but I can run and NO boot! So that's a yay!

edited to add: I did get some AWESOME race photos from marathonfoto.com If you want to go look at them, search for me (remember my cousin Lee Harvey?) and then type in "tink" in the race box and the races will pop up. The half photos are much better.