Run Disney Run!

(This is a blog I wrote from last year.  Unfortunately I got the flu right before the race.  Bad flu. Thought I was dying flu.  So my girlfriend and I signed up again this year but we have not spoken about as to not to jinx it.  That works.  Right?)   Cross your fingers in 4 weeks we will be doing this!!!

Okay,  I have finally done it!!   After several years of debating I have finally decided to run my first 5K at Disney World!!!   

Let me tell you though,  either I've been under a rock or am just not too bright. (Let's just assume the latter)  I had no idea until a year or so ago how freaking POPULAR the Run Disney events are.   Last year I tried to sign up online for one of the runs about a month after registration opened.   DUMB DUMB DUMB.   Apparently I am the last fool on earth who didn't know that most of the races at Disney sell out within hours.  

I started looking at blogs and asking questions about why and how a certain race I was trying to book was full.  Let's just say after several scathing replies I was so glad my real name wasn't visible.  Jeez!  These runners take this seriously!!!   OK.  Do not assume you can get registered for a Disney Race days after it opens.   Duly noted.

So, this year I'm smarter.   The race my Bestie and I wanted to run in February opened in June.  The day registration was open I was on my computer at the designated time ready to roll.   After several hours of being shut down and frozen up I finally got us registered for the Princess Half Marathon Weekend in February 2015.   And no, we are not running the half just the 5k.   I love Disney World but don't want to die there in a puddle of sweat.

Now all I have to do is figure out my perfect running outfit.  Oh yeah,  and train to run. (yikes)   

These are the pictures I'm imagining will be me a the race....

But in essence will be more like this....

Show Your Disney Side Halloween Style

I have thoroughly loved this years Disney's theme "Show Your Disney Side"!!

And boy have I shown my Disney side!!  Two good trips within 4 months of each other! Wow! Both were totally different but fantastic in there own way. (which is exactly why I love Disney World)

You can read about my earlier trip this year with "10 Magical Days in Disney Parts 1&2 on my blog.

My second adventure this year was a much anticipated Fall trip for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.  As Halloween being my favorite holiday my boys and I took it to a new level this year.  Every year that we go I (and everyone else)  dresses up like a Disney character.  I sported a Tinkerbell costume for many years since she was my favorite.  You know Tink, not quite a Disney princess but pouty and temper tantrums galore.  More like me......

But with the years passing rapidly an aging Tinkerbell is not so cute so for the last few years I've been more of a well, Witch.  No particular Witch.  Just a Witch.

So, to incorporate my love of Disney and Zombies we did this:

And let me tell you we had more comments and compliments than we could almost handle.  Cast members were telling us how much they loved our costumes and everywhere we went people were yelling "zombies"!!  My boys don't like a lot of attention but they were loving it like rock stars.   Their costumes were last minute old t-shirts out of suitcase cause they didn't want to dress up.  I think when they saw Mom in her zombie attire they were like "why not"??? 

Madame Carlota was at her best outside the Haunted Mansion.   Telling stories and talking with guests in line.  It is a treat if you can catch her there at night.  She is a riot!

This was the first time we caught the Cadaver Dans.  An amazing sounding group of dead gunslingers in Frontierland.  The boys and I got a nod from them for being fellow un-dead.  Think Barbershop Quartet.  But Dead.....
  

And don't forget to bring your trick-or-treat bags!  If you don't bring one Cast Members are passing them out at the the front gate.  I heard that Disney brought in 220 tons of candy for this years Halloween festivities.  Yum!

So, If your skeptical about paying for Disney's Not So Scary Halloween Party (DNSSHP) trust me, do it once.  It will be well worth it!!

10 Magical Days in Disney Part 2

I know nobody likes a lengthy blog but in this case I just had so much to share!

So day 6 of 10 The Mr. (babies daddy, Hubby etc.) arrived via plane and Magical Express bus.  We started our new reservation at Beach Club Resort that day so he wouldn't have to step one snobby toe on a value resort.  What a snoot!  But, he's good for a laugh.

Beach Club Resort.  Wow. Where do I start??   The lobby is fantastic.  Totally like an old time beach club.  Beautiful fresh flowers everywhere, Staff members dressed like little sailors.  Some older man strolling around looking like Thurston Howell the III.  I'm guessing he was staff unless he takes traveling to another level....

And there we were.  The Clampetts.  Me, clutching my giant stuffed pig I have to sleep with along with about 6 other pillows and my favorite cooler (cause I'm cheap and wanted a few adult beverages that I didn't pay $10 each for)  I think the staff was offended because I said "no thanks" to their offer to carry my pillows.   At other resorts I make 15 trips to the car and it's really no big deal to me.  The cool part was I looked around and there were plenty of other "Clampetts" trying to unload mini-vans and with crap tackier than ours!

the view from Beach Club

Ok,  on with the resort!   The decor was so beautiful one of my boys said "Mom, this may be too fancy for us"   I said, "It's Disney fancy so we can handle it"!!  A short walk up the stunning staircase and we were at our room.  Standard??  Wow, nicest standard we've stayed in on property.  A lovely balcony with table and chairs that faced the beach and Boardwalk.  The beds were queens and so comfy.  The sofa was a demi/quasi pull-out?   Turned into a twin.  Perfect!    Once we gave the room a looksi we decided to roam around and wait on our luggage to arrive from Pop Century.  If you ever change resorts during your stay at Disney the staff are kind enough to get your luggage to the next resort.

Outside was the amazing pool I've only seen from passing by in a boat.  The bottom is sand and there are rocks surrounding it to give you a east coast beachy feel.  Climb up the wrecked pirate ship and hurtle your self down the enclosed water slide.  I loved it!  I must have done it 20 times in a row one afternoon!  There is a nice kiddie section which was separate with big piles of sand the kids could build with.  

The funny thing to us was that we don't need housekeeping every day. We are just not that needy or picky.  Good housekeeping to us at a value resort was finding a bag of towels on your room door after a long day at the parks.   At Beach Club on the days we didn't have housekeeping someone would call us and ask if everything was alright?  Was housekeeping not to our satisfaction?  TWICE A DAY they would call concerned!  That was rather amusing to us.

Having the ability to walk from our room straight to Epcot or take a boat from the lighthouse to Hollywood Studios was a fabulous perk of staying at Beach Club.  It made it easy if we were trying to hit 3-4 parks for shows or fireworks.  And then an easy walk or ride back to our room.  Very nice!!  Of course like most Disney resorts there was a campfire with marshmallows to roast and a beach side movie.  All of these things combined made for some great memories!

Waiting on a boat at Beach Club                                             Lighthouse

Never too tired to dance with my                             boys

The Mr. and I

The Mr. getting his annual 3rd degree burn...

Can't contain his excitement!

Why is everyone taller than me???

So Handsome!!!

Rainforest Cafe   Volcano!!

My fellow Disney nut

Absolutely!!

10 Magical Days in Disney

For those who thought I must have had a horrible time at Disney and couldn't even bring myself to discuss it (hence my hiatus from blogging) Never fear.

 Or, maybe there are those of you who thought the Mr. finally did it. Snapped from all of the magic and pixie dust I was constantly throwing at him. You know, offed me.  Pushed me out of the side of Dumbo in flight. Or maybe stood silently as I choked to death on yet another Dole Whip. Perhaps left me at Epcot World Showcase thinking I was in Europe......   All those are possible of course.  Waiting in lines can make you think about all kinds of things....

Nope.  Believe it or not none of those things happen.   We had a freaking fantastic zippity doo dah time.   Seriously.  So good in fact that I have been wallowing in a post pixie dust frame of mind.

It finally dawned on me that we have been back a month and I should probably do some blogging, cleaning, work?

It only took 20 some odd visits(and 54 meltdowns) for me to finally get our Disney World vacation down to a science and please everyone.   I am the best freaking mom/wife on the planet.  Yes, I said it.  Well, as far as vacations go anyway.  Cooking and shopping are different stories for a different day.

10 days.  5 days with my fantastic teenage boys at Pop Century.  My 16 yr old made an app for our phones specifically for our vacation.  Very cool..  It had Fast Passes set up for certain days. Hours of every park for every day including extra hours.   Water parks for the hot ones. (ironically it was 95-98 the first week so that was a good thing)  All the ins and outs of transportation depending where we were at.  All the rides/attractions that we say we are going to do but forget about.  It was all on there.  We had a great time together.  And, if anyone knows about teenage boys that's saying something.

Again,  I can't toot Pop Century's horn enough.  I know there are haters out there but for the value and kitsch you can't beat it. Your not going to be in the room for that long.  And I'm certainly not going to hang out in our room with boys (think stinky feet and several different scents of  body spray all going at the same time)  Can someone say Pepe Le Pew'?

Don't forget to decorate your window at Pop!!

Interestingly enough, this(an adult Big Wheel) was                                                                                  what lured my 15 yr out of the room.....

I think I have about 473 pics of my feet at Pops pool from over the years.

During the first 5 days we were lucky enough to experience not one but two major events going on at Disney World.   First, we were there over a Star Wars Weekend.  For Star Wars lovers like ourselves it was great!!  (note our Star Wars themed window.  There were so many great windows!)  I can honestly say we had a good time. The costumes! The characters! Parades! Light Sabers as far as the eye could see!!!   Everyone who likes Star Wars should experience Star Wars Weekends once. 

    Would I do it again?  Hmmm,probably not just because it was CROWDED!! And it happened to be 97 degrees that day. Let me tell you people who are in full Storm Trooper and Wookie outfits aren't too fresh.... When we left Hollywood Studio's one evening there were so many people lined up at the entrance gate with sleeping bags, tables, camp chairs, cots etc. to wait for the NEXT DAY.     

The next event was the Magic Kingdom's 24 hour party!  Totally awesome!!  Started at 6am on a Friday and ended of course 6am on Sat.  We hit the bus stop at 5:15 am along with about 300 other people!  It was crazy!!   We opened the park and stayed a good part of the day then we cheated a little.  We went back to the room slept and got back to the park at 2 am to take some great pics of things most people don't see at that time!  

Of course we were zombies for the next couple of days but it was worth it!!

Line for bus headed to MK 5:15am

                                                                           

Proof that my boys will dance with their mom at 4 am (who gets to say that)!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our wonderful Disney trip!!

Fork In The Road

I am so excited today!  I finally sat down and made our next reservations for Disney World!  


Since getting our annual passes last summer it has honestly been rather difficult to get to DW as often as we thought we would.   With teenagers schedules it seemed this year nothing was timed right.

I had every intention of going to DW  for my beloved Atlanta Braves Spring Training but my teens school schedule had not one day available during that time. And the older they get the more schools tend to frown when Mom takes them out for no good reason.....  And of course our spring break is along with everyone else's this year and the room rates were rather high.  This has always equaled out to high volume crowds.  And we aren't fans of that.

So,  I had to bump our trip back again to the end of May.  Which is about 4 months later than I thought we would go.

So, if you are considering an annual Disney World Pass and don't live close to Orlando you might want to sit down and figure up how many times are you really able to go.   Which I did rather vaguely.......

Whatever.  Any month for me in Disney is a good month and we are staying somewhere on property we have never stayed. ( And we have stayed at a lot!)   
Drum roll please........

Beach Club Resort!!

My guys have never been big Epcot fans but, I have always loved riding the boat past the cute paths connecting Epcot with Yacht and Beach Club.  

So I am looking at this like a new adventure outside our Disney comfort zone.


This is how my resort changing decision started:

My darling husband Archie Bunker had declared last year (while we were at Pop Century) he would not stay in a 200 sq ft room with music blaring and a lifeguard tooling around on a Big Wheel any longer.  He was finished. Cooked. There was not an ounce of pixie dust or magic to be found on him....

In fact he was so adamant that we did not bring it up again for months.

But,  he did admit last week if maybe just maybe we stayed elsewhere on property that wasn't so zippity doo dah he might go with us.

Hopefully Beach Club will be nice and relaxing and right up his stuffy, snobby alley.  And, he can see his favorite ESPN Club right across the water at Board Walk and boat on over whenever the magic leaves him.  

Now, the boys and I love love love Pop. Inexpensive, great music, decent food court and the only resort with DEDICATED BUSES. (buses that go straight to the park, not stopping at other resorts etc)  For those of you who don't know about this it is kind of a big deal especially for regulars.  My 15 year old has the transportation schedule down to a science.   And Pop just has a vibe that gets me all Disney excited.  

So cross your fingers folks.  This is a fork in the road for us.  

New Walt Disney World Resort Drink Mugs for 2014 | DIS Blog

New Walt Disney World Resort Drink Mugs for 2014 | DIS Blog

Snow Days or Disney Days?

As I sit here on the TN/GA state line watching the snow fall for the second time I am thinking about sunshine and Main Street USA.

We've have had snow twice now in a few weeks.  That is 2 times the amount we normally get.  My husband mentioned this morning that since school has been out I should hop in the car and head on down to Disney World.  

I wish I was that spontaneous!  I used to be.  Sometimes I am but as a Mom I'm just thinking too much.  Will school be out the rest of the week??  Will the boys miss any crucial assignments????  Who am I kidding?  Their teenagers.  Every assignment is crucial.  

Hmmmm.  I might just have to think about it real hard today.

Cure for Winter Blues Disney Style

Wow!   What a cold winter we've had in the south!   This year I have stayed inside and drank more hot tea and cocoa than I have in my life!

It's got me thinking that I need a trip further south in the near future.  Disney World anyone??

Updates this week have reported Typhoon Beach water park in Disney being closed to cold weather.  Yikes.  I couldn't strip down and jump in a pool right now if you paid me.  And I have been seeing lots of posts and pics with people wearing jackets and long pants at all the major parks.  Every day!   What??

So if your like me and need some warm weather to shake those winter blues here are a few things going on at Disney that might tempt you!



We've got baseball pitchers and catchers reporting this month for the Atlanta Braves down at Disney's Wide World of Sports!    Warm weather, hot dogs and baseball are one of my favorite ways to start the season!  And Champion Stadium can't be beat.  While everyone else is still shoveling snow and wearing parkas you could be relaxing and watching one of America's favorite pastimes!

International Flower & Garden Festival starts March 5th and runs through May 18th.  Disney always has such wonderful gardens and topiary but during the festival they pull out all the stops in that department!   You will see the most beautiful flowers and arrangements all done up Disney style!   There are also plenty of outdoor food kiosks and entertainment during this time so you don't miss a thing!