Tag: international gateway

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Disney Marathon Weekend Day 7

THE SADDEST DAY OF ALL

The day you have to leave Disney property is always a sad day. You want to get up extra early and take in as much as you can knowing it will be a while till you get back again (the next trip will probably be next years Marathon, although I did not sign up the day after the race like I did in 2009).

We planned on going to Hollywood Studios today but I needed to go over to Epcot to pickup our free photo from the Disney Visa shoot yesterday. Since Tuesday was early entry day at Epcot, I got up at 7 to be over to the International Gateway for opening at 8. It was strange to not see a sole as I walked from the countries towards Spaceship Earth. On a side note, someone should make a sci fi movie where a giant creature uses spaceship earth as a golf ball and launches it over towards the golf courses by the Grand Victorian hotel. I grabbed the photo and a cup of coffee and enjoyed a slow walk back to the hotel, just enjoying the peacefulness of the mostly empty park.

We decided to take the boat to Hollywood Studios as mom had not had a chance to ride them yet on this trip. A short 15 minutes later and we were at the front gates of the studios. I have never done Rockin’ Roller Coaster so we headed their first. Wow…what a ride. Very short but very intense. The acceleration at the beginning is amazing and it feels like you are being shot out of a canon, 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds. Matt and I stepped of looked at each other and smiled. We didn’t have to say anything to know we both really enjoyed it although as a first ride of the morning it can leave your knees a bit wobbly. We only had time for  a few more attractions and a bit of shopping before we had to head back to the boat.

We had left dad in charge of checking us out and we found him sitting in the lobby in his wheel chair sipping a hot chocolate. He had us all checked out and ready to go, so a quick bite and we were ready for the return trip on the magical express. Turns out the length of stay wheel chair was the way to go as it is free for Vacation Club members and Matt got to use it a bit as well the day after the race. That sounds bad, but dad insisted on pushing him and mom around a bit because it made his back fell better to lean over and walk with the support of the chair.

As I said at the start of the post, this is always the saddest day. We took our seats on the bus and at least I mentally reviewed what we had accomplished the past week and how much I enjoyed the time with Matt and my parents. I still remember the first time we came here when they opened (actually 3 months after opening day). I was in 5th grade and I recall driving away from the Contemporary ($35 a night back then) watching the Magic Kingdom get smaller and smaller through the back window of the car, wondering if I would ever get to come back again. Little did I know how many more times I would return and make some wonderful memories with friends and family.

Maybe it’s not so sad after all. I am already planning next years marathon trip.

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Disney Marathon Weekend Day 3

Part 1

4:45 wake up call and onto the bus at 5:45am. The busses are the nice big tour coaches and heated which is a plus when it is 38 degrees outside. One stop at the Wilderness Lodge to pick up other guests and we were in the Epcot parking lot by 6:05 for the 7am start.

the theme for this years 5K was UP and away based on the recent Disney release. Carl Fredrickson, Russell and Doug were there to entertain the kids with a photo op in front of Carl’s house.

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Carl’s house.

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Lots of eager runners and many still half asleep kids.

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The starting fireworks.

We started at 7 on the dot and ran out into the parking lot, made a sweeping right turn and followed the road to a service road entrance behind Test Track. We ran under test track and entered the countries between Mexico and Norway. The course took us all the way around World Showcase before we exited the park and International Gateway and then reentered at England. we ran down the main walkway past Spaceship Earth to the park entrance the made a right hand 180 to head back past Spaceship Earth before making a left back out the park towards the finish line.

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The finish line after we had gone through and received our medal.

Lots of support at the finish from spectators in the grandstands and many wonderful volunteers all along the route. Thanks to all the volunteers. Even though it was cold and we had to dodge runners in the first mile or so, it was still a PR day and a great warm-up for the Marathon on Sunday.

Part 2

Mom and Dad are arriving today, so we had to check out of the Towers to move over to Beach Club. They were able to get out of Chicago despite the snowstorm last night so we are grateful for that and very excited to see them. Matt and I made our way over to the Beach club and secured a wheelchair to help make dad’s bad back a bit more bearable. The room was ready and our request for first floor accommodations was granted. The bags were scheduled to be delivered in 3 to 4 hours so we decided to go out on the front lawn and play some catch (Matt has the foresight to travel with two mitts and a baseball at all times). We played catch for about 45 minutes, until the webbing broke on my glove (Matt says it is because of the power of his throw, I said it is because I have had the glove since Purdue days.)

They arrived on the Magical Express and we took them to the room to drop off their bags, then on to Epcot which is just a short walk away via the International Gateway entrance. Walked around a bit and did a few of the rides that they were comfortable doing (no Mission Space). The lines were very manageable, again because of the weather.

We got back to the room at 6 to get ready for our dinner reservation at the California Grill which is on top of the Contemporary Resort. We had a 7:30 reservation so that we could view the 8:00 Magic Kingdom fire works from our table. Dinner was excellent as it always is at that location. We did experience a first for us at Disney World… Invisible fireworks. At about 7:45, a nice heavy fog moved in to blanket the Magic Kingdom. By 8 when the fireworks started, we could see almost all the castle but when the fireworks where launched, we could see them leave the ground but no payoff. They pipe the ‘wishes’ music into the restaurant to sync with the show, so it was a bit weird hearing the audio cues but not see the visual ones.

We headed back to Ecpot for Extra Magic Hours (we get to stay in later than the public since we are staying at a Disney resort). It was pretty deserted so ride lines were very short. A quick hot chocolate, then back to the room.

Tomorrow Animal Kingdom.