Princess Half Marathon Weekend at Walt Disney World; Part: 3

By Nick

Part 3 : Saturday, February 20th 

I'd planned on getting up at 3am to get ready and catch the first bus at 3:30am for the Enchanted 10K, but woke up at 2:30, and after laying there for 5 minutes realized getting 20-25 more minutes sleep was an exercise in futility, so got up, dressed and headed to the lobby at 3:15.

The bus arrived promptly at 3:30am and my 10K adventure officially began!

I arrived and met up with my Disney Exchange Podcast co-hosts Lisa and Dave, as well as Dave's wife.

 

Me, Lisa, Dave and Anne 

I ran into my friend Charissa, who I hadn't seen in a few years, in line for a portajohn of all places! What are the odds?!

We said goodbye to Lisa who was in Corral A and Anne who was in B. Dave was also supposed to be in A, but he came back with me into Corral E as he was coming down with what would turn out to be a flu.

Way back in E, the race didn't even begin for us until 6:10am, despite the 5:30 start time! The first 3 miles were out on a road, so not exciting, but once we got to the backstage area of Epcot, time seemed to fly by!

The weather was beautiful, and it was my first time seeing the sunrise over World Showcase!

 

Then we were around the Boardwalk and Yacht and Beach Club area, back into Epcot, and before long we were crossing the finish line!

A much more in depth account of this, my first runDisney event can be found here.

I headed back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, showered and headed to the Magic Kingdom.

I found Lisa and Raymond at the Plaza Restaurant and we headed to The Haunted Mansion before meeting up with Dave, his wife, and their kids Dannielle and Gabe at the Skipper Canteen, where Lisa and Raymond made a reservation for lunch.

We went to use our FastPassses for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

 Front: Nick, Anne, Gabe- Middle: Lisa and Raymond- Back: Dannielle and Dave

As I was getting on Big Thunder, imagine my surprise to see my friends Amber and Ryan getting off the ride, out of the seat I was stepping into!

My wife's cousin Jill had forgotten her Magic Band at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, so she and her husband Zach had gone back to get it, while Ryan and Amber joined us in Country Bear Jamboree. It was their first time seeing it, and it's always a lot of fun to see newbies reactions to the songs!

Afterwards they joined Dave, his family, and me for lunch at Columbia Harbour House before departing to meet up with Jill and Zach at Space Mountain, while we met back up with Lisa and Raymond, who had gone to lunch at Skipper Canteen at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which was down. We got a FastPass to replace it and went to Pirates. Afterwards we went to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. And met back up with Jill, Zach, Amber and Ryan. This was also down!

Dave was feeling worse and worse, so decided to head back to his resort to rest before our planned meetup at Epcot later in the afternoon.

5 minutes later, as the rest of us were talking about our next plan, Pooh came back up. I texted Dave to let him know, but he and his family had already left the park, and he was too drained to come back.

Following that, I headed over to Bay Lake Tower with Lisa and Raymond and hung out while they changed for dinner. They then treated me to my first beer in 6 weeks at the Outer Rim Lounge.

We arrived at Epcot a short time later and rode Spaceship Earth before heading back to the United Kingdom Pavilion for more adult beverages.

Dave texted me that he wouldn't be able to make it as he was down for the count.

Along the way, we stopped for photos, and the photographer asked if I wanted to do a princess pose, as I was wearing my Enchanted 10K shirt. I asked what exactly it was I needed to do and he walked me through it.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Princess Pose:

Then, Lisa joined me in her Prince Pose.

We got our beers in the U.K. and watched the really excellent band, The British Revolution. The most entertaining part of the show was the woman in the blue shirt dancing. She was, as Lisa put it, dancing like nobody was watching.

We then headed to the France Pavilion for even more adult beverages, where we were met by friends Rebeca, Patty, and Derek.

I said goodnight to everyone, and went to La Hacienda de San Angel for dinner with Jill, Zach, Amber and Ryan.

Now, I hate to end this on a down note, so I will say the negative part up front. Our server was so-so throughout the meal, but was downright obnoxious at the end, when he messed up our bills and then was very insistent about receiving a proper tip. Honestly, it has turned me off to what had been one of my favorite restaurants in Walt Disney World!

The positive was at least the food was good and the company better.

At least we managed to have a few laughs as we exited Epcot for the evening!

Part 1 can be found here and part 2 here.