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A Blast into my runDisney Past!
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Disney Races

A Blast into my runDisney Past!

Oh hello, happy Disney week! That’s right, this Wednesday I’ll be hopping on a plane with Ashley and Alison to head to Orlando! Julie will be picking us up at the airport and we will be reunited and happy and ready for the most amazing girls weekend ever!

I thought today would be fun to take a blast to the past. This is my 5th year to run the Disney Princess half. It’s my first time to run any of the other races.

2011
I had just moved to Pittsburgh and I really wanted to run this Disney race. None of my friends could do it that year, so I decided to ask my mom if she wanted to go with me. Let’s just say that I have the most supportive momma in the whole world. We met up in Orlando and my mom brought her sister, Aunt Dianne, and her best friends! I had a nice little fan club. They took me to the expo, lounged around the pool, woke up early to see me cross the finish line and spent lots of fun time at Downtown Disney with me! We had a wonderful trip and didn’t even go to the actual parks. It was my first runDisney experience and I was hooked. I did decide that the following year, I would be going to at least one park! Full recap here.

# of days at Disney: 3 – Friday night to Monday evening
People who came with me: Mom, Robin, Aunt Dianne, Ginny, Debbie and Trish!
Hotel: Port Orleans Riverside
Parks: None
Costume: Pretty Pink Princess
Race finish time: 2:02:14

2012
After running my first runDisney race, I knew that I needed to plan ahead of time to make sure we were able to do everything we wanted! I made everyone tutus before the race based on the colors everyone wanted. We had a plan. We knew what we were going to do. And we were ready to have fun! We decided to wait to do the parks after our race to save our legs for running. We visited Magic Kingdom after showering and eating post half marathon, and it was quite the long day! A fun day, but a long day! Then we went to Universal Studios to see Harry Potter World for the first time on Monday before heading home. It was an awesome trip and once again, we learned even more tips and tricks to make sure the next year was even more awesome. Full race recap here.

# of days at Disney: 3 – Friday night to Monday evening
People who came with me: Emily, Julie and Andrea
Hotel: Caribbean Beach
Parks: Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios
Costume: Belle…kind of
Race finish time: Apparently I didn’t put it in my blog! I ran with Julie and I think we finished around 2:40!

2013
We kept mostly the same girls this year except my sister couldn’t go because she was in Physical Therapy school. Luckily for us, Alison was dying to go, so she was the perfect addition to our group. I was in year 3 of the Disney Princess half and I knew I wanted to do even more. The girls agreed and we went to Universal, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Magic Kingdom! Needless to say we were pretty pooped, but it was completely worth it. One thing we did learn from the previous year is to take a breather after race day to relax and hang out at the pool! Charlie joined us this year and he was just an angel baby. It was convenient to have the stroller to hold our bags and we took full advantage of the rider baby swap! Full race recap here.



# of days at Disney: 4 – Thursday night to Monday evening
People who came with me: Julie, Andrea and Alison
Hotel: Coronado Springs
Parks: Universal Studios, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Magic Kingdom
Costume: Queen of Hearts
Race finish time: 2:05:46

2014
Last year’s trip was the best year yet. Seriously, I didn’t think it could get better, but this year we may be able to. After some persuading, we were able to get Ashley to come with us! Let’s just say she didn’t regret it because she’s coming again this year! Last year, Julie was actually living in Orlando and employed by Disney. She now knows all the tricks to make your Disney trip as amazing as possible. It was our first year to use the Magic Bands and planning Fast Passes which helped so much! We got on all the best rides and saw all the cute shows. There were a few things that we happened upon…visiting with the princesses…that we’re definitely doing again this year! We also had a character lunch at Magic Kingdom and got to meet all the Winnie-the-Pooh characters! We took advantage of after park hours and were able to fit MK and Hollywood Studios both in one day which was perfect since we were able to see the HS Fantasmic light show!  Full race recap here. 



# of days at Disney: 4 – Friday night to Tuesday evening
People who came with me: Julie, Alison and Ashley
Hotel: Caribbean Beach
Parks: Universal Studios, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot
Costume: Cinderella
Race finish time: 2:01:01

I’m so incredibly ready for this year’s trip. It’s going to be the most amazing Disney trip possible. I’m sad that I won’t be able to ride all the rides, but Baby G is so worth it. Plus Alison doesn’t like roller coasters, so this year we’ll be able to shop and do other things while Julie and Ashley take all the drops, twists and turns! We’ll be visiting all the Disney Parks and both Universal Parks. It’s going to be our longest trip with the most parks and the most races. Plus it’s our last one without little one’s tagging along, so we’re doing it right! Bring it on runDisney…we’re ready for you.

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