Just thought I'd finish up a quick blog entry talking about the rest of my trip after the marathon including some final thoughts about the race weekend.
We woke up Monday morning with some pretty exciting plans for the day. Our good friend Shane and Steve are getting married at WDW in October. They invited us to go with them over to the wedding pavillion to meet with their wedding planner. In addition it was check out day at Animal Kingdom Lodge. As a surprise to Joelle I booked us one night at the Polynesian hotel. This meant we were not able to make our breakfast meet with Team AllEars at Kona Cafe that morning. We ended up packing up and checking out of Animal Kingdom Lodge and heading over to the Poly. We quickly checked in and went to our room to throw our luggage in there before heading over to the wedding pavilion Wow, what a room. By now we have stayed at quite a few Disney resorts but by far the Polynesian has the best and biggest rooms. I've always thought it would be my favorite resort, but this one night stay cinched it. I want to come back someday.
After checking in and dropping off our luggage we walked over to the wedding pavilion. After stopping by the front desk we found out that the time for our appointment was a bit mixed up. Instead of 9-12, our appointment wasn't until 1. Not a big deal as we didn't have any huge plans that day. We decided to hop in the car and head over Disney Hollywood Studios. I hadn't got much time all weekend to ride many rides so no one had an issue with me heading over there and getting some rides in. I think I ended up riding Tower of Terror and Rock-n-Roller Coaster. After that we went and grabbed pictures with the Wreck-it Ralph characters. I don't remember doing much other than that. We did walk around a bit and had got some lunch.
After touring a bit, we headed back to the Wedding Pavilion to make our appointment. I think at this point I expected to be a lot more tired than I really was. My legs were sore, but it wasn't horrible. I also hadn't gotten much sleep all weekend but it hadn't caught up to me yet.
We were quickly met by Shane's wedding planner and they brought us back to a small room and started to the process. It was actually really interesting. Basically you plan your entire wedding with the exception of food tasting (though we did have a cake tasting) in one sitting. I'm not sure if anyone got bored but I found it pretty fascinating It took about 3-4 hours and by the end of it I think Shane had most of the details worked out. Our wedding planner did say that the next DVC (Disney Vacation Club) property that was to be build would be the Poly. Now if I was rich, I'd invest in that. :)
After the marathon wedding planning session I think Joelle and I just bummed around our resort. We ended up getting dinner at Captain Cooks and then decided to hang out on the beach on the Poly watching Wishes from a hammock. It was a very relaxing way to end a very busy trip.
After we watched Wishes some of the Nerd Herd was heading out to Jellyrolls down on the boardwalk. It is a dualing piano bar. I had never gone before but we ended up having a blast. Cover was $12 but the piano players were really talented. Julie, Erinn, Christine, Sara and Erinn's friend ended up showing up. We stayed until probably midnight. By then I think the races were catching up to all of us and we were turning into pumpkins. After wishing a very happy night to the Herd I headed back to our room and crashed out.
The morning we leave seems to usually always be a bit rough. Joelle likes to sleep in a bit (who can blame her) and I usually have a few things I want to do before heading out. Sometimes it's watching the opening show at Magic Kingdom, sometimes it's hitting a park to get in a few more rides. Due to some poor communication we missed the opening show but we did get checked out. We had a few hours so we headed over to the Magic Kingdom anyway. We played some Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and I got to ride Space Mountain.
Shortly after that we headed to the airport and headed back to Colorado.
Ears Up!
We woke up Monday morning with some pretty exciting plans for the day. Our good friend Shane and Steve are getting married at WDW in October. They invited us to go with them over to the wedding pavillion to meet with their wedding planner. In addition it was check out day at Animal Kingdom Lodge. As a surprise to Joelle I booked us one night at the Polynesian hotel. This meant we were not able to make our breakfast meet with Team AllEars at Kona Cafe that morning. We ended up packing up and checking out of Animal Kingdom Lodge and heading over to the Poly. We quickly checked in and went to our room to throw our luggage in there before heading over to the wedding pavilion Wow, what a room. By now we have stayed at quite a few Disney resorts but by far the Polynesian has the best and biggest rooms. I've always thought it would be my favorite resort, but this one night stay cinched it. I want to come back someday.
Lei time! I do love the poly....
Pictures at HWS with Vanellope and Ralph!
We were quickly met by Shane's wedding planner and they brought us back to a small room and started to the process. It was actually really interesting. Basically you plan your entire wedding with the exception of food tasting (though we did have a cake tasting) in one sitting. I'm not sure if anyone got bored but I found it pretty fascinating It took about 3-4 hours and by the end of it I think Shane had most of the details worked out. Our wedding planner did say that the next DVC (Disney Vacation Club) property that was to be build would be the Poly. Now if I was rich, I'd invest in that. :)
Yes, if you want to pay $2400 you can arrive in a white coach to your wedding
After the marathon wedding planning session I think Joelle and I just bummed around our resort. We ended up getting dinner at Captain Cooks and then decided to hang out on the beach on the Poly watching Wishes from a hammock. It was a very relaxing way to end a very busy trip.
Yay Stitch!
After we watched Wishes some of the Nerd Herd was heading out to Jellyrolls down on the boardwalk. It is a dualing piano bar. I had never gone before but we ended up having a blast. Cover was $12 but the piano players were really talented. Julie, Erinn, Christine, Sara and Erinn's friend ended up showing up. We stayed until probably midnight. By then I think the races were catching up to all of us and we were turning into pumpkins. After wishing a very happy night to the Herd I headed back to our room and crashed out.
Our awesome room!
The morning we leave seems to usually always be a bit rough. Joelle likes to sleep in a bit (who can blame her) and I usually have a few things I want to do before heading out. Sometimes it's watching the opening show at Magic Kingdom, sometimes it's hitting a park to get in a few more rides. Due to some poor communication we missed the opening show but we did get checked out. We had a few hours so we headed over to the Magic Kingdom anyway. We played some Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and I got to ride Space Mountain.
Shortly after that we headed to the airport and headed back to Colorado.
Messed up pupils at the airport from touching my eye after applying a Transderm Scōp patch on Joelle
Some final thoughts about marathon weekend in general. I really enjoy this weekend as I have so many friends I've made over the last three years that I get to see. Doing the Goofy is fun, but it ends up making the weekend a really full weekend. I pretty much felt like I was go go go all weekend long. We did have some friends down and did some really special things as well. To really do your best on the Goofy it takes a lot of downtime to rest. Next year if I go back I think I'm going to go with a different plan. The plan is to backload the trip like I did this time and not plan hardly anything the first few days. I am planning on doing the 5k with some friends but then I think I'll skip the 1/2. I haven't done just a marathon yet and I think I really want to focus on a good marathon race. Of all the race weekends, I think this is probably my third favorite (just talking about the RunDisney portion of it). Wine and Dine is still my first, I think it's an excellent time of year and it's a great race. Tinkerbell out in Disneyland comes in second due to crowds and weather. I'm not 100% sure I'll be back next year, but I think it's pretty likely. I just hope overall if I do come back that we have better weather.
Thanks to everyone who followed along with my posts about race weekend. I've got some fun things coming up including the 2013 Princess Half Marathon as well as training for the Fruita Half Marathon. I'll be having some more Sanitas updates soon including a triple lap with Mike Kelly. Look for those soon!
Ears Up!
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