Marathon Weekend Trip Report - 1/7/12 - the rest of Race Day!

1/7/12 - RACE DAY!


Take a look at my post about the race for the full "run" down.


I left off with me meeting back up with my family in Florida.  Dad, Step-mom, Step-sister & my Niece.  Sis's Husband is going to pick up my Nephew from school after the band returned from playing in band at the 1/2 Marathon, it was against school policy for him to just stay with us at the park!


I get to pick what we're going to do, I'm HUNGRY!  The banana and protein bar sample didn't last me long right after the race.  I checked the Runkeeper app on my phone and see that the 1/2 Marathon I should have burned almost 2000 calories!  No wonder I'm so hungry.  We head to Pecos Bill's for lunch.  I get my normal chicken wrap and decide to get the fries instead of the apple slices and a bottle of water.


Dad gets a call and Sis's husband and my Nephew are at the front of the park.  We let them know to come to Bill's.  As they get settled in for their lunch, Dad, my Niece and myself head on over to Big Thunder Mountain for a quick ride.  We wait for everyone else to finish up their lunch.  


One of the first rides we all do is Pirates of the Caribbean.  With 7 of us, we take up the first 2 rows in a boat.  They must have just topped off the water supply in the ride, as we wind up getting SOAKED!

We work our way around to ride some other rides and attractions.  Haunted Mansion, Mickey's Philharmagic and on into Tomorrowland.  My Niece and Nephew decide to ride the Speedway... twice!  


While we are waiting for them to ride, we are almost bombarded by birds.  There is someone nearby us that has decided to do the stupid thing of feeding the birds.  Worst of all the gulls.  They're first to swarm in, then some sparrows and another bird that I'm not sure what it was.  We move out of the area, as we don't want to get pooped on by the birds.  


After the Speedway and birds incident, I decide that I'm sore enough in several places, that getting beat up on Space Mountain isn't going to really matter much at this point.  I ride with my Niece and Nephew. 

 At this point, we're close enough to our reservation time for Dad, Step-Mom and myself say good-bye to everyone else and head out of the Magic Kingdom to head over to Epcot.  We take the Monorail to the Ticket & Transportation Center to catch the Monorail to Epcot.  We don't have a long wait at either stop, which at this point I'm glad!  


We're early enough that we decide to head over to the Canada pavilion to catch an Off Kilter Show before dinner.  They put on an excellent show as usual.  We then head back to The Land pavilion to wait for our reservation time.  We're still earlier than our 20 minute window and the let us know we may have to wait a while.  It turns out that we only wait a few minutes before our restaurant buzzer goes off.


We had not eaten at the Garden Grill at The Land Pavilion before.  It's a family style serving.  You get a salad, beef, turkey and fish with side dishes and a dessert all served family style.  This meaning that they bring out dishes and you load up your own plate with what ever you want, as much as you care to eat.  Much of the meal comes from the pavilions own gardens and sustainable fish tanks!  Many people don't give favorable reviews, but we all enjoyed the food very much!


This is a rotating restaurant.  As it turns, your view changes to different scenes in the Living with the Land tour that is in the level below.  It takes about an hour for one full rotation.


This restaurant is also a character meal, meaning that characters come and visit your table throughout your time there.

Pluto showing off for us!

Kipp and Chip

Kipp and Dale

Kipp with the one and only Mickey Mouse!

As a celebration of my 1/2 Marathon finish, I received a card signed by Pluto, Chip, Dale and Mickey with a special cake!

After dinner, we ride Soarin'.  By this time, I'm wiped out!  I'm thinking we headed over to Mouse Gear for some shopping and then went back to the Resort.  I'm rather fuzzy at this point as to what we did.  I'm pretty much exhausted at this point of the evening.  Once back to the resort, I went to the food court and grabbed a few sodas for us.  It was lights out shortly after that!



Thanks for Reading!  Regards,


~Kipp

Lighter, Stronger & Faster for 2013! Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon - January 7, 2012 FINISHER