Welcome to one of my favorite Disney race weekends, it is the 25th Anniversary of the Walt Disney World Marathon! I had registered for this race back in April, but due to injuries the doctor pulled me from running. This turned out to be the best because this gave me the opportunity to go to Disney and have a great time!
We arrived on Thursday and our first stop was Magic Kingdom. We couldn't check into the hotel until 4 p.m., so we decided to drive to Magic Kingdom and that was an epic failure! We sat in dead stopped traffic for over 30 minutes before we went through the main gate. Then it was another 20 minutes until we were in our parking spot and then we had to wait for three ferry boats until we were finally at the park. There were so many people in the park, it was really hard to maneuver around. We didn't have any FastPasses until the evening, so we used the time to just walk around and enjoy the park. We were able to grab lunch from Casey's and decided we would take it out to the hub grass to have our lunch with a view!
Welcome to the Happiest Place on Earth!
Ahhhh...I want this medal!
Magic Kingdom's Christmas Tree
Mom and I with the Castle
Cinderella's Castle!
Lunch with a View!
After lunch we decided to take a walk through the shops on Main Street and as we were walking out of our last shop, we stumbled upon the Festival of Fantasy Parade. We stopped and watched the parade and then headed over to the hotel to check in.
I love Mary Poppins and they made a Dooney & Bourke Purse!
Festival of Fantasy Parade!
We decided we were going to try out Hilton's Bonnet Creek Resort at Disney, so we met up with our third party and checked into the hotel. The hotel and rooms are really nice, but my only complaint is there is not enough transportation to the resorts and the marathon weekend activities. What I mean by that, is they have a bus which will take you to the start for the half and the full marathons, but there is no transportation to the expo, 5k or 10k. After checking in, we all changed into warmer clothes and headed back out to Magic Kingdom. We had fast passes for Peter Pan's Flight, Buzz Lightyear and Thunder Mountain. After riding Buzz we headed towards the castle to get our spots for the new fireworks show, Happily Ever After. I love how this show brings the fireworks and the light show on the castle!
41 degrees outside and I am eating ice cream!!!
Ugh...how amazing is this?!
Happily Ever After Fireworks Show!
Tami, Me and Mom after the Fireworks!
Tami and I were the drivers of this runaway party train!
Day one of the trip is officially complete, next stop is Epcot!