Solo trip, 5k and the Fort in January

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

In but gotta go back and catch up

Should have said back in....

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

It's noon o'clock somewhere.....that has a nice ring to it.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

It's noon o'clock somewhere.....that has a nice ring to it.

That should be a song.

[SCTigerCock 171]

That should be a song.

GREAT Idea Ray!!! I'll be sure to copyright it, bet nothing like it has been used before!!!!

I'm a geniaus in my own mind!

:clint:

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Why yes, Jason, noon is the appropriate time for a cocktail when you are on vacation!

Maybe I shouldn't post the Epcot pics I took of you? Oh never mind, it was after noon. :jumpforjoy

Great update! Glad you escaped my site for a good meal and some solo time.

(Of course, now that I've adopted you, you may not get so lucky next time)

I can think of worse ways to spend a trip

I concur with Munch the Punch.

Modified to reflect the presense of EPCOT's World showcase entails any guest to use the timezone of their choice to advance world peace. Also known as "It's 12:00 somewhere" rule. Or "Beer Me".

That is all.

:doublebeer:

Nice job hitting BOG for lunch. We all love that turkey sandwich.

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip.

Glad you got to meet so many Fiends!

TCD

BOG for lunch was a big hti with me and I can't wait to get back there this summer.

... and Adam now has pants on

Well that takes all the fun out of it.

Page 3? Page 3? Seriously what else could I have been doing that prevented me from not reading and responding until page 3?

Ok no one has said it yet on here so, I will Carol :yourock:

Every time I read something on here it seems like she is volunteering to take something for someone, pick up something for someone, sharing her equipment, her site (and she doesn't even have a list of rules you must follow) and sharing her awesome knowledge as well as great trip reports.

Ok back to your report Jason....glad you were able to take this trip and meet up with some Fiends. Now I will be back, but must admit I may go pack to page one periodically. I mean after all that is where Jack Sparrow is hanging out.

I hope you are anjoying page one. I took that one just for you ya know. :rofl3:

In but gotta go back and catch up

I hope I gave you enough time to catch up cause this report is moving on.

It's noon o'clock somewhere.....that has a nice ring to it.

That should be a song.

GREAT Idea Ray!!! I'll be sure to copyright it, bet nothing like it has been used before!!!!

I'm a geniaus in my own mind!

:clint:

I caught that. Nicely done. Now to steel back my report and move us along.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

After chatting with my wife for a bit I decided to head over to Hollywood Studios to see if the Osbourne Lights were still lit up as I have never seen them. As I waited for the bus by the outpost I looked over and saw something I had to take a picture of for TCD. I have since seen he got one of his own but I am sharing it anyway.

I was not happy to see that. While I am a relative new come to the Fort i like it without hotels in view.

When I got to Hollywood Studios I had some hope I met get to see the lights.

The tree looked nice.

I really like this picture of the entrance.

While I was there I got some photopass pictures but realized quickly i had less than 1 hour before park close. So i quickly headed back towards the Osbourne lights but they were not lit up. So I decided to attempt my two favorite rides at Hollywood Studios. I headed over to Star Tour and had a short 5 minute wait to get on. Finally got the Millenium Falcon, Pod Racer, and Leia scenes so I was stoked.

I then headed over to Toy Story Mania figuring there would be a huge line. Boy was I wrong. It had a 30 minute wait listed and I was on in under 20. I had a lot of fun and had one of my best scores. Of course I forgot to get my camera out so I can't prove it.

And with that I was done at Hollywood Studios. I hopped on a bus back to the Fort, grabbed my cart and headed down to Trail's End to have some dinner. Had a great time but again I was hungry and forgot to take pictures.

Once i finished eating I headed over to Stef's and hung out till around 11:30 before heading back to the site and bed.

The next morning starts with pood forn so I will pick it up from there in the next installment.

[bord1niowa......Curt 79]

Boy am I lacking, only got in on page 3! That's quite the setup Carol has! You had all the comforts of home. Thanks for allowing Jody and I to "squat" on your site. Sorry for keeping you up so late gabbing the first night. When your eyes were closing, I didn't know if it was being up early or just the jello shots. lol See you in July!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Nice job at Hollywood Studios!

You got a lot done in a short amount of time.

Were the Osborne Lights not lit up because they were done for the season?

I think they stopped around the 7th of January this year.

TCD

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

You did a lot in an hour!

Nice job taking video, etc at the welcome home party BTW.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

So sorry you didn't get to see the Osborne Lights!

Sorry it took me to page 3 to join.

I had a solo day a couple of trips ago ... loved it! It's so awesome being able to go where you want to go and see what you want to see.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

The next morning I got up and wanted to try something I had not done yet. Trail's End for breakfast. I love a big breakfast and I was hoping for a nice one close to home so to speak.

It was great.

Plate one

Plate two

I have to say I loved everything I tried but my favorite thing was the Egg's Benedict. Instead of serving the poached egg on Ham it was served on barbecued pulled pork. That was awesome. I highly recommend it. The BACON was nice and crisp too.

After breakfast I met with RunnerEd to and hi Momma to head over to Wild World of Sports to register for the 5k I was doing the next morning. I had never been over there so I was looking forward to checking it out.

We headed inside to print out our waivers and check in. They had lots of printing stations.

I then headed over to the far side of the room to check in. Here's some pics of the room in general

My check in booth

I quickly looked to see how many people had registered and the highest bib number for the 5k was 10,400. I have since learned about 25,000 participated in the Marathon. That is a ton of people.

Now a lot of you have probably figured out by now I am not the type who is usually doing things like 5k's. In fact I was participating in this one in memory of someone. See over the summer my wife's cousin lost his wife. He had been doing the runs at Disney for a few years and last year was the first time she participated. She had so much fun they had already signed up to do it again this year when she passed away. She was the same age as me. I decided pretty soon after it happened that if he still wanted to come down I would support him in any way I could. I wasnt going to be able to pull off the half marathon but I could definitely do the 5k. He had some of her family and some of their friends come down as well but most of my wife's family are teachers and would not be able to take the time off to come down. So i did. We didn't see each other a ton that weekend but we had dinner as one big group at Ohana's (later on this day) and I saw them at the 5k. It was a tough weekend but he handled thing as best as could be expected and had plenty of family and friends with him to help him through.

Sorry for that hijack of my own report but I figured a little backstory would be good.

Now that I was checked in I headed over to the Expo to meet up with Ed and Momma.

On the way over

And then I hit the Expo......Oh for the love of Fuego! That's a lot of people.

I am not much for crowds but Ed and Momma were in there somewhere. We finally managed to meet up and we then headed back to the Fort. I decided I wanted to head for Epcot.

So I hopped a boat to the Contemporary and then the Monorail to the TTC and then switched to the Epcot Monorail. It may have been faster to just get a bus up front to Epcot but I was planning ahead for later and I love to ride the monorail (sorry Lou but it does keep me off the buses)

Ahh Epcot my favorite park of them all.

I proceeded to walk on to Spaceship Earth and then headed over to check out the wait time for Test Track. I decided to just ride it as a Single RIder so I was on in about 15 minutes. I was was with a nice family who laughed when I apologized in advance for screaming like a little girl.

Little did they know I really am a big scaredy cat.

I think in my head I was saying why oh why do I do these things to myself.

As the ride was ending the family told me I wasnt to bad of a screamer but I think they were just being nice.

I headed over towards the World Showcase as I was warm and needed a tasty beverage to cool off with. I stopped for a couple of minutes to talk to Sil on the phone and I will I was leaning on the railing I noticed something in the water.

Turtle!!

Had enough Turtle pics? I hope so cause thats all i have.

I made my way around the world showcase to France to grab a Grand Marnier Slushie

According to Facebook Brent was jealous of several friends all in Epcot at the same time while he was at work. I offered to buy a drink for him

He was very grateful for that drink and it was melting so I drank it as quick as the brain freeze would allow.

Once done I started heading towards England and Canada. Off Kilter was playing and I figured I would sit and listen. Of course that meant I needed a beverage so I stopped and bought Brent :rofl3: a Bass Ale.

He still wasn't happy though so I decided to drink that one too. Couldn't let it go to waste.

As i started to drink it headed toward Off Kilter they wrapped up there set. I realized I needed to start heading toward the Poly for dinner with Sal and his family. SO i drank the Bass in record time for me and started heading up front. I decided to stop into Mouse Gears to try and find a present for Silvia. I didnt find anything for her but did fine a Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar air freshner that is now hanging in my work truck.

While I was in Mouse Gears the alcohol hit me all at once. I am not typically a big drinker. It was suddenly warm in there. I headed out to catch the monorail to the TTC on the way I grabbed a really nice picture.

I hopped to the Resort monorail at the TTC and headed over to wait for people for our Ohanas reservation. I was about 45 minutes early so I grabbed a bottle of water and browsed the shops. About 15 minutes before our ressie I get a text saying they are going to be late. I proceeded to inform Ohana's who was kind enough to put our ressie on Hold till everyone got there. They ended up being about 50 minutes late but we had no problems and has seats pretty quick once checked in. I was meeting a whole bunch of people I didnt know and forgot to take any food pics. Sorry Dave.

After Ohana

I headed back to the Fort and stopped by Stef's to say hi. It was late though and I needed to get to bed. I had to be up at 4:30 for the 5k.

We will pick this up from then later.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Boy am I lacking, only got in on page 3! That's quite the setup Carol has! You had all the comforts of home. Thanks for allowing Jody and I to "squat" on your site. Sorry for keeping you up so late gabbing the first night. When your eyes were closing, I didn't know if it was being up early or just the jello shots. lol See you in July!

I was happy to have you guys. I think the closing eyes was a little bit of Jello Shots and a little bit of no sleep. Looking forward to seeing you guys in July!

Nice job at Hollywood Studios!

You got a lot done in a short amount of time.

Were the Osborne Lights not lit up because they were done for the season?

I think they stopped around the 7th of January this year.

TCD

I think they were done for the season. I had figured they were done but with all the Christmas stuff still up I figured it was worth a shot. I knew I had a couple of other things I wanted to do and if it was crazy I could always hop over to Epcot.

You did a lot in an hour!

Nice job taking video, etc at the welcome home party BTW.

Thanks Aaron. I was happy to take the video at Jordan's party. It was the least I could do for him.

So sorry you didn't get to see the Osborne Lights!

Sorry it took me to page 3 to join.

I had a solo day a couple of trips ago ... loved it! It's so awesome being able to go where you want to go and see what you want to see.

It was nice being able to just pick and choose but I look forward to going back in July with Sil. I have more fun when she's around.

[SCTigerCock 171]

They must cap the 5K at 10,400. Once you told me about it, I check the week prior and it was sold out. I was going to get both Tony and I registered since we are doing the Cooper River Bridge run this year. We will find something healthy to do, promise.

And after seeing the crowd on Thursday, I can't imagine Friday when we thought about going over. WOW!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Welll....awwww. Sorry about your family losing a member but I am glad you could support him by being there!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Yet another reason to be a Fort Fiend: One might buy you a couple adult beverages while they are at Epcot (you being at home or work) and make sure the drinks do not go to waste.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

They must cap the 5K at 10,400. Once you told me about it, I check the week prior and it was sold out. I was going to get both Tony and I registered since we are doing the Cooper River Bridge run this year. We will find something healthy to do, promise.

And after seeing the crowd on Thursday, I can't imagine Friday when we thought about going over. WOW!

I know one of Sal'd friends tried to register a month or so before and it was sold out then. They definitely have limits on how many people can do this. I believe all three races sold out.

Welll....awwww. Sorry about your family losing a member but I am glad you could support him by being there!

Thanks Nicki.

Yet another reason to be a Fort Fiend: One might buy you a couple adult beverages while they are at Epcot (you being at home or work) and make sure the drinks do not go to waste.

Just make sure they know where to send the pictures to!

[SCTigerCock 171]

Hope you'll share your transportation thoughts to/from the race. Tony was talking about doing one down there late this year or next year, but I am hesitant with transportation since we won't have a vehicle of our own.

TIA

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Damn. I wish i could have been there to help Brent out too.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Hope you'll share your transportation thoughts to/from the race. Tony was talking about doing one down there late this year or next year, but I am hesitant with transportation since we won't have a vehicle of our own.

TIA

It ended up that the event had steady bus transportation to and from the Fort picking up where the Magic Express drops off by the Outpost. Coach buses that ran their routes pretty frequently. I had no issues getting to and from the 5k via this transportation.

Damn. I wish i could have been there to help Brent out too.

Would have been great to raise a toast to him together Aaron.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Glad to see that they still have real BACON at Trails End. I'm going to have to eat some this April.

Good for you to do the 5K!!!!! I did the couch to 5K program early in 2011 and ended up running the Vegas Rock n Roll Half Marathon in December of that year. Then I quit. I need to get back into it! It's a great (almost) free form of exercise, even though I'll never really see myself as a runner. My Jason and I plan to do the Everest Challenge in 2013. All Fiends are invited!!!!

I love Epcot too. I haven't had one of those slushies, but they are on my MUST DO for the next trip.

And for the second time.... you said you weren't a drinker :rofl2:

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Quick question I forgot.... Was the Fort one of the suggested resorts for the race?

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Glad to see that they still have real BACON at Trails End. I'm going to have to eat some this April.

Good for you to do the 5K!!!!! I did the couch to 5K program early in 2011 and ended up running the Vegas Rock n Roll Half Marathon in December of that year. Then I quit. I need to get back into it! It's a great (almost) free form of exercise, even though I'll never really see myself as a runner. My Jason and I plan to do the Everest Challenge in 2013. All Fiends are invited!!!!

I love Epcot too. I haven't had one of those slushies, but they are on my MUST DO for the next trip.

And for the second time.... you said you weren't a drinker :rofl2:

I thought I proved I wasn't a drinker in this one. I honestly know I had to much to fast on an empty stomach. That's why I went straight for some water when I hit the poly

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Quick question I forgot.... Was the Fort one of the suggested resorts for the race?

To be honest I don't know if it was but I do know a lot of people were staying there for the races

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

The reason I ask is because The Expedition Everest Challenge says they only provide transportation to/from host hotels to the event. I wouldn't think the Fort would ever be a "host."

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

The reason I ask is because The Expedition Everest Challenge says they only provide transportation to/from host hotels to the event. I wouldn't think the Fort would ever be a "host."

I know when I was checking on the princess next month there was a list of host hotels. According to eh list I see online for the Everest Challenge. It is only All Star Sports, Caribbean Beach, and Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Other races weekends show more Host availability and the Fort is listed on some of them.