Surprise! I’m at Disney again! I know y’all are probably thinking that I am an absolute Disney fanatic nut. It turns out that you’re kind of right. I’ve thought about it though and decided that it’s not my fault. Here’s my logic behind this…
I’ve grown up on all things Disney. My mom is from Florida. Growing up, I went to Disney fairly often. My first few trips to Disney, I was too young to remember them. However, we have some of the cutest pictures and I know my parents have the best memories from these years! Since my mom is from Florida, we would visit Florida fairly often to see family, and we would just do a Disney day trip. Back in the day, Florida residents got a pretty solid ticket discount which would make our trips reasonably priced.
As I got older, we still went to Disney! In fact, cheerleading nationals were there! In 8th grade, we went to Disney World for UCA All Star Nationals. In 9th grade, we went to Disneyland for USA All Star Nationals. In 12th grade, we went to Disney World for UCA High School Nationals. That’s a lot of cheer nationals at the happiest place on earth!
I didn’t get to go in my college years, though I wish I would have done a Spring Break in Orlando. That would have been awesome! Finally in 2011, I decided that I wanted to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon. I made my plans fairly last minute {This was the race’s 2nd year and was MUCH smaller than it is today.} so my friends couldn’t join me. I asked my momma to come along and we invited her best friends in Florida and one from Texas to come join us.
That year we didn’t get to go to the parks, but we still did a lot of awesome Disney stuff and stayed at a Disney resort. In 2012, I knew that I wanted to make this an annual girls trip, so we planned it out in advance! Julie, Andrea and my sister Emily joined me the second year.
Three of us ran, and Emily cheered us on! We also got the chance to visit Magic Kingdom {It was Andrea’s first trip to Disney!} and Universal Studios to see Harry Potter World.
In 2013, Emily was busy with grad school interviews and work, so Alison joined Julie and I on our annual trip. We planned it out to get even more time at the parks, and since Harry Potter World is amazing, we knew it would always be a staple in our annual trips.
In our 3rd year, Alison, Julie and I ran the half marathon and Andrea cheered us on with her little boy Charlie! He was only 4 months old and was quite the trooper our whole trip.
2014 came along and our group changed just a little bit more. Ashley joined Alison, Julie and I on our adventure! Julie had moved to Orlando and was working at Disney World this year, so we really got to see the ins and outs of the parks. We also had our first character dining experience at Crystal Palace where we met all the Winnie the Pooh characters!
All four of us ran the half marathon that year which was quite different then our running plans the next year. In 2015, Julie and I were supposed to do the 5K, 10K and half marathon. Alison was doing the 5K and 10K, and Ashley was doing the half. Since I was injured and pregnant, I ended up only walking the 5K and the first 3 miles of the half marathon.
I was still able to go to all of the parks using either my scooter or a wheelchair, and didn’t let my severely messed up ankle ruin my trip. It was a very different trip than past ones though. I’ll attribute that to the ankle injury and the fact that I was 17 weeks pregnant!
This trip is VERY different. Not only are we not running the Princess Half Marathon, we invited our husbands! Ashley couldn’t join us this year 🙁 but Alison and Philip joined JP, Chloe, Julie and I in Orlando.
Yesterday Ali and Philip ran the 5K and we went to a character breakfast and Magic Kingdom. Today we’re visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. Tomorrow JP and I run the half marathon and Julie runs the FULL MARATHON on Sunday! We can’t wait to get out there and cheer her on as she runs through Hollywood Studios.
I’ll be sharing pictures and experiences when I get back. Along with tips and tricks to doing Disney with a baby! Happy Friday y’all…have a magical weekend! I know I will 😉
Do you love Disney? When was the last trip you took?
