rm0530

I recommend being online right as it opens. Have your credit card out and ready to input into Active. If your mom is computer savvy, you should each sign up individually at the same time--you can't sign up multiple people at the same time. I've read stories of family members registering themselves and the race would fill-up before they could finish registering other members.

I've read somewhere that Walt ran out of money when building and didn't have the resources to make the castle any bigger. Not sure how accurate that account is though.

We had 3 days at DL/DCA back over Labor Day weekend. We thought the quick service food quality was way above FL's standards. We didn't mind paying a little more when everything seemed better. We wondered if the close proximity of the outside locations has encouraged DL to step up their game or risk losing food business to the walkable restaurants outside the gates.

I'm here and ready--we were there Wednesday through Sunday. Great weather!

I'm here and ready--we were there Wednesday through Sunday. Great weather!

The sun was setting, so the lighting was low, and I was walking when I snapped this blurry photo of Miss Piggy and Kermit. Which is too bad, because the costumes were awesome

I think they are Princess Peach and Yoshi..

I've also seen rumors about other reasons for no ToT next year...a half in Paris and Star Wars half at WDW are the 2 big ones floating around right now. Wine and Dine also goes through DHS so construction would mess with that too.

The only one I can think of would be Universe of Energy. We haven't experienced it in a few years but I remember them doing a big ordeal about how long the ride was and once you're in the car, you're stuck for ~30 minutes. We won't be taking our 2 year old on that one

We flew out early Monday morning--our best day crowd wise was Friday. I feel we still had a good experience with all of the race crowds. Carol should have a positive experience going during a slower time :)

The ticket says no early or late arrivals allowed. I had read that there is a 15 min grace period after it ends but we did not test it. We didn't actually need to use too many--most of the busy attractions had a singles line or the fastpass return window was only an hour after getting each pass so we just wandered around doing other stuff for the next hour.

We flew out there (from Atlanta) this past weekend for the half marathon on Sunday. We found 3 park days was plenty of time to cover everything. We used Super Shuttle and had no issues. We stayed at the Hilton by the convention center and just walked everywhere.

Even though it was Labor Day/race weekend, the lines weren't horrible. Toy Story was 20-30 minutes and we were able to do the Racers in Cars Land twice using the singles line and waited ~15 min. I enjoyed having the paper fastpasses and the two parks aren't linked so essentially you could hop back and forth collecting them.

World of Color was really great! Wasn't overly impressed with the Magical! firework show though.

Let me know if anyone has any questions :)

The link on active.com lists $40: http://www.active.com/framed/event_detail.cfm?CHECKSSO=0&EVENT_ID=2130166

I love me some runDisney events but this is insane.

Oh fine, I'll come out of lurking and respond  :raspberry:  It's been a great report so far! We were on the Freedom this past October. It was our first Royal and have done 4 DCL. We prefer to stick with DCL but still had a nice time!

Your balcony is amazing! We usually book last minute and are not able to select our room. Your view and space is really making me want to book our next far in advance and select an aft balcony. Love it!

I have :) --I've done all 5 Florida races--Everest 5K, ToT 10miler, Wine and Dine 1/2, Donald 1/2, and Princess 1/2. 

The Donald and Princess have the same course. You start by Epcot, run to MK (passing the transportation center and Contemporary resort)--you go through Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, run through the castle, Liberty square, and exit through the back gate by Splash. You go back to Epcot, run through Future World, and finish in the parking lot. The in-park time is very short and most of the race is on main roads. There are some characters and photo-ops along the course.

The race starts at 5:30am and they like you to be in corrals about an hour before. Bus transportation begins at 3am--very early morning! If you're in a lower corral letter, you'll be waiting about an hour or so until the higher corrals leave. You need to have a proof of time from a 10K to request a higher corral. The higher you are, the less crowds you will encounter. I've heard of crowding issues in the lower corrals due to a high % of walkers. You have to maintain a 16min mile or will be picked up and removed from the course. Also the higher your corral, you will experience smaller lines for character photos along the course.

If you are new to running, I feel the Princess is tailored well for this. All sorts women of various age ranges and fitness types are at this race. Many choose to dress up in costumes and just make it fun!

If you're interested, be prepared to register on the day it opens, July 15. The races are becoming very popular and many sell out on the first day. My favorite race thus far has been Wine and Dine. You go through 3 parks--AK, Studios (running through Osborne Lights), run along the Boardwalk, and finish through Epcot. There is an after party in Epcot with the food and wine booths.

Sorry so long! Let me know if there's anything I didn't cover!

Whoa!

 

I haven't seen a post from you in a long time!

 

So that son of yours must be a year and half old now, right?

 

I didn't know they were using MB's on the DCL ships.  It would be great if they did away with the KTTW cards and gave everyone MB's.

 

I hope that all is well with you and your family.  Are y'all Gold Castaway Club members yet?

 

TCD

Haha, I'm still here, just lurking around! You're right, he's 16 months. Sure does keep us on our toes! We would love to plan a Fort visit soon. We were at WL during Princess 1/2 weekend and came over to get a GAG but that's been the extent of our Forting in two years No Gold yet, this was our 4th.

I agree, it would be nice to ditch the keycards, especially since the bands are waterproof. It would help eliminate the need to search for your photos on the walls since the facial recognition system isn't 100%. Would also have helped prevent DH from forgetting little man's keycard in the light slot when trying to meet me on the island after the 5K. Got down to the gangplank and had to trek back up to deck 9...ouch!

 

How do they handle keeping track of your kid?  Disney has some kind of bulky wristband.  And they provide Wave phones that can be used on the ship.  Is there a way for the kids club to communicate with parents?

 

TCD

We were on the Dream last month. The kids are now using yellow magic bands instead of the previous style. They have a scanner like the touch-to-pay ones in the parks and the band was scanned on arrival/exit of the clubs.

We were told we could keep it at no cost at the end of the trip as a souvenir but they will reuse if you decide not to take. The bands did not serve any other purpose on the ship.

We have a little boy, he's 11 weeks. Being a mom is hard but rewarding! He'll be almost 6 months when we go on the Dream for our 4th anniversary cruise. I can't decide if we are brave or just plain crazy for cruising with an infant! I talked my parents into coming with so we will at least have a back-up babysitter.

It's hard to believe I found the fiends while planning our 1st anniversary trip to the Fort--time does fly!

Wonderful report; it's been great seeing your girls grow up over the years! I'm sad y'all won't be back down for a while but it looks like you ended on a good note! Now we just need another cruise TR from you :jumpforjoy

How wonderful for the girls! Whatever they chose will be exciting but I know you will miss them! Hopefully you can continue your trips and continue writing for us.

I'm looking forward to a new report--We haven't been to WDW since President's Day weekend last year. We have since had a baby and sold the pop-up we only used 3 times. We will be going back on the Dream in May and visiting in Oct/Nov for the races. No idea when we'll get back to the Fort though

And what is going on with those parade floats??

Here's the second show at AP on the Fantasy. These are placed at each seat when you come in for dinner. We had a red and green crayola marker. You have about 5 minutes to draw before the servers come around to pick up the papers. They rush them off to the back and then come to pass out the menus. The menu is a little different--one family appetizer for the table (nothing safe for baby so my server had to arrange for a salad) and you select one main entree.

Mickey comes on to explain the show and then cartoons play until the main course.

If I remember right, the show started between entree and dessert. The screens in each section only show the drawings from the people in that section. They start off showing just our drawings dancing around

and then proceed to mix our drawings in with the cartoons

At the end of dinner, the servers bring your drawings back for you to keep and they have added a gold sticker that says 'Official Disney Animator'.

Did you dine in AP again and were able to see the second show with the drawings? I don't know if they do that on the Dream. If not, I'll hijack again and post pictures of that.

Yep, you can go to the guest services desk in the atrium and they will put the credit on your account.

Thanks! I haven't been around much during the summer. My days are often filled with eating and naps, I can't complain too much. I took zero notes during our Fantasy cruise and not too many photos, so not much material for a TR. The few tweaks they made from the Dream were great.

One of the new adult areas, Satellite Falls, was wonderful. A waterfall comes out from the black seam you see with random intervals. Nice cushy chairs with shade--we stayed out there for 6 hours on our first sea day.

This splash pool and covered areas are new too. It's not 18+

OK, you can have your TR back now

Here's my mini TR:

Notice the vantage point of my DH taking the picture--still in bed! I came back bragging about just having run 3 miles in straight humidity (while 13 wks pregnant, no less) and he bragged that he made it to the breakfast buffet before they closed...

The two CMs organizing the race said they were staying for 45 minutes and then had to leave for other events. I don't know what happens with medals if it takes you longer than that :panic:

I saw the cat in May while walking to the start line for the CC5K. I thought our family pets were spoiled..living in the Bahamas can't be beat!