I drove over to the Long Beach Airport after work to catch my evening flight with JetBlue over to Orlando, Florida with a layover in Salt Lake City, Utah. While waiting in the SLC airport, I ate a late dinner at McDonald's. I ordered the Quarter Pounder Deluxe meal and had to pay a surcharge to get a bottle of water instead of a soda. This burger is starting to become my favorite burger at McDonald's.
Layover at Salt Lake City
Quarter Pounder Deluxe
I tried to sleep on the second leg of the trip, but as with most cases, I didn't have much luck. I pretty much dozed off here and there. I usually end up with a sore neck whenever that happens.
Friday 4/15
We landed at MCO airport a little after 5 am local time. I was so tired I was looking for the Disney's Magical Express on side A instead of side B. Once I got my bearings straight, I got in line to take the motor coach over to Disney's Art of Animation Resort. It was still dark when I arrived and got off of the bus. The layout was roughly the same as all of the other All Star resorts, but the lobby was much nicer and brighter. It reminded me more of a lobby that you would find at a Las Vegas hotel.
I had checked-in online, but as expected, my room wasn't ready that early in the morning. The lady at the front desk informed me that they would send me a text when my room was ready. I started walking around the place, checking things out. It was pretty cool to see that they had put up a sign with all of the pertinent information for the Star Wars Half Marathon weekend. The sign even told you which number shuttle to take.
Star Wars Half Marathon weekend info
After I was done checking out the place, I made my way over to and hung out in the dining area of the Landscape of Flavors. They started serving breakfast at 7 am. I got their breakfast platter. It was a nice hearty breakfast. I love breakfast food even though I hardly ever eat breakfast. I should eat breakfast more often!
Landscape of Flavors
Breakfast platter
After I was done with breakfast, I found a spot in the lobby to charge my cellphone. When it got closer to 9 am, the opening of the race expo, I decided to head on over. I first checked in my bag at luggage check so I wouldn't have to haul my bag around with me. I then got in line to take the race weekend transportation over to the ESPN Wide World of Sports. While waiting, a bus from the 5k race was dropping participants off at the resort. I tried to get on, but the driver with very limited English pretty much told me that this wasn't the shuttle for the expo. Eventually the correct shuttle arrived.
The race packet pickup procedures were the same as with the Walt Disney Marathon weekend in January. First you go to the HP Field House to pick up your bib. If you're doing the Dark Side Challenge, they'll take a picture of you with your bib. I don't think they care who runs the 10k, but they only want the registrant to be the one that completes the half marathon in order to get the Dark Side Challenge medal. They also put the Kessel Run bracelet on my wrist in order for me to pick up another extra medal at the finish line. You get the Kessel Run medal for completing both Star Wars: The Light Side and The Dark Side half marathons in the same calendar year. Participants taking on the Dark Side Challenge pick up their shirts at a nearby table.
Tagged for the Kessel Run
As I was heading over to the expo at the Jostens Center, I came across two First Order stormtroopers. That was pretty neat. I went through the expo trying my best not to buy anything. I love Star Wars and I love Disney. You put those two together, it would be hard to resist! "You don't know the power of the dark side! I must obey my master!" :)
Nice jacket
I thought I did well. I left only buying the "I did it!" shirt for the half marathon. I didn't like the one for the Dark Side Challenge. The color scheme for the men's version was just too plain. I walked out to the parking lot to catch my shuttle back to the resort. Some of the shuttles were pretty well decorated on the outside.
I did it!
When I got back to the resort, I still have not received a text saying that my room was ready, so I waited some more in the lobby. Then at about a quarter after 12, I decided to ask one of the employees at the front desk to see if there were any available rooms. It turned out that she was able to get me into a room.
I retrieved my bag from storage and started heading to my room. The first thing I saw along the way was the huge swimming pool full of kids. It was pretty cool to see all of the decorations and characters for each particular themed building. I loved the Lion King building. They even played theme songs from the movie.
Very big pool
Rafiki
Mufasa
Hakuna Matata
Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed in the elephant graveyard
Scar
Zazu
After walking through the Lion King area, I finally got to the Little Mermaid area. It was cool! My room was in the Ariel building. On the map it appeared to be the furthest from everything. Perhaps that was why I got a pretty decent nightly rate for the room. This resort was a good example of Disney being really good at their craft. The room made me feel as if I was in the actual movie!
"Why Prince Eric, run away with you? This is all so sudden!"
Sebastian
King Triton
Ursula
Ariel and Flounder
Nice shower curtain
I think I know why they didn't let me into the room right away. The carpet was a little damp probably from the previous tenants coming back from the pool. It didn't really bother me. I just wanted to take a shower and take a nap. I always feel gross and really exhausted from taking those red eye flights. Before taking a nap, I went through the expo haul and the race shirts. They were all pretty decent. Out of the three, I preferred the Dark Side Challenge shirt the best.
10k shirt
Half marathon shirt
Dark Side Challenge shirt
After waking up from my nap, I walked down to the Landscape of Flavors to eat an early dinner. Honestly none of the food looked very appealing to me, but I eventually decided on the tandoori chicken meal. As I was eating it, a couple of kids were climbing on the chairs and booths all around me. Eventually the mom came by to grab them and scolded them. She told them to leave me alone, so that I could enjoy my meal. I was chuckling inside because they weren't bothering me. They were full of happy energy and just being kids... without destroying anything. :)
Tandoori chicken meal
After dinner, I went back to my room, lounged around and eventually laid out my clothes for the 10k race tomorrow. One of the channels was playing one of my favorite movies, Sleepless in Seattle. I have that entire movie memorized, but I still enjoy watching it every time it is on. After that I watched the ESPN Films' 30 for 30: This Magic Moment. I still remember when I told one of my suite mates back in college that it would be pretty cool if the Orlando Magic won the NBA draft lottery two years in a row and then it actually happened. Anyways it was pretty cool to see what exactly led Shaq to leave Orlando for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Sleepless in Seattle
10k flat runner
30 for 30: This Magic Moment
Saturday 4/16
The 10k race started at 5:30 am. I got ready and got in line for the shuttle to the start line at Epcot at about 3:30 am. When we were dropped off at the parking lot, they separated the herd between those with bags and those without bags. That really helped with the congestion at the bag inspection lines. At a little before 4 am, I got in line to take a picture with Darth Maul because he's my favorite character from the Prequels and his line was the shortest. After a few people got in line after me, there was a Disney employee there stopping people from joining the line. They informed us that we will need to begin heading for the starting corrals shortly and that the same characters will also be at the finish line area. That was fine for everybody within earshot of the announcement. We all know Disney, they have a schedule to keep. However that was not acceptable for one heavyset man. He was ranting to one of the Disney employees about how Disney doesn't care about him, that they only care about taking his money. The Disney representative stayed calm and friendly at all times with his responses, reassuring the guy that he could take the pictures after the race. On my way to the corrals, I thanked them for doing a good job and encouraged them to keep up the great work! The guy was just being plain unreasonable!
Darth Maul
There was that usual walk to the starting corral. I was used to it having run the Walt Disney World races several times. There was a nice long line of portapotties along the side of the road right next to the corrals. I used one before jumping into corral A where I found myself surrounded by the Stormtrooper Crew. I'm part of their group on Facebook, but I've never met any of them in person.
10k start
Stormtrooper Crew
The weather didn't feel particular warm, so I started the race at about a 7:30 min per mile pace. I was hoping to cruise along at that pace. However I started struggling during mile 3. The humidity was doing a number on me and started giving me headaches. I had to slow down and eventually walked to cool down. I don't think wearing a cotton t-shirt helped at all. I jogged and walked the next couple of miles. A good portion of the last mile was on a dirt road leading up to the finish line at the ESPN Wide World of Sports.
10k finish
Click here for my Garmin data.
After getting my finisher's medal, I got a bottle of water and Powerade. Then I got my banana and snack box. While I was pretty disappointed with my finishing time, I had to remind myself that I just don't perform well whenever the humidity is high. Also I had been nursing an ailing left foot and right hip. The left foot was feeling pretty sore for having only run a 10k.
10k medal
I made my way over to the finish area where the stage and photo opportunities with the characters were located. I got in line to take pictures with only the characters from the original trilogy, Darth Vader, Jabba the Hutt, and Boba Fett. They also had Captain Phasma, BB-8, Rathtar, and First Order Stormtroopers. However I still don't know what to think of the new characters. While the new chapter, The Force Awakens, did bring us back to the magic of the original trilogies, it was very much what George Lucas had said. It wasn't original. The more I thought about it, the more it felt like a reboot even though it was a continuation of the Star Wars saga. Maybe I just need to watch it a few hundred more times. I mean even Episodes I, II, and III eventually grew on me. :)
Darth Vader
Jabba the Hutt
Boba Fett
I then got in line for the shuttle back to the Art of Animation resort. The line for the shuttle back to Epcot was super long! There was quite a bit of a traffic leaving the ESPN Wide World of Sports area. Apparently the road was only wide enough for the traffic to flow one way. Good thing we were sitting in some pretty comfy motor coaches.
Back at my room, I got cleaned up and got my race gear ready for tomorrow's half marathon. Then I lounged around in my room, watching TV and eventually took a nap before lunch time. I decided to head over to Disney Springs for lunch. It looked like everybody had the same idea as the line for the Disney Springs shuttle was very long.
Half marathon flat runner
I walked around a bit to look at my choices. I decided to go to my favorite restaurant, the Raglan Road Irish Pub. I like this place because I like the food and the live entertainment. I started things off with The Four Provinces flight. Then I ordered the Full Irish breakfast as my meal. I could eat this for breakfast everyday! I finished it off with their Raglan Road IPA.
The Four Provinces flight: Guinness, Smithwicks, Harp, Kilkenny
Full Irish breakfast
Raglan Road IPA
After lunch, I took the shuttle back to my resort. As I was approaching my room, I saw a familiar person. It was my friend that was going to room with me for a night. She had originally told me that she would be here at 4 pm, but her plans had changed. Coincidentally it was good timing on my part as I had her wristband. I think she was just about to text me to get a hold of me. After she dropped off her stuff in the room, I went with her to the expo so she could pick up her race packet.
After getting back to our room, we relaxed for a little bit and then decided to go find something to eat for dinner at Disney Springs. Eventually we decided on Morimoto Asia. It was pretty crowded inside, but we were able to find a couple of seats at the bar upstairs. I ordered the duck ramen and it was surprisingly good! Having eaten so many bowls of tonkotsu ramen, I think I have gotten to the point where I don't like it much these days, so this was a much welcomed change.
Duck ramen
Sunday 4/17
The half marathon started at 5 am. Since the race started 30 minutes earlier, we had to get to the start earlier. We were in the shuttle line by 3 am. There were significantly more people at the starting area for the half marathon. The same characters were there today. My friend wanted to get a picture with Darth Maul, so we got in that line. It turned out that we barely had enough time with just that one picture. Just as with yesterday, they were warning us that there are no guarantees. They definitely had a schedule to keep. Once it's that time, the characters needed to be transported to the finish area. Once my friend got her picture, we headed to check her bag at gear check, and then we headed to the corrals. It was definitely more crowded today. It wasn't as crowded once we reached the fork where the faster corrals went right while the others went left.
Just like the 10k yesterday, we started at the Epcot parking lot where we ran about a mile before going inside Epcot for about a 3/4 clockwise loop of the worlds. We then ran through the Boardwalk and headed towards Hollywood Studios. It was pretty dark inside the park. I pulled over near mile 4 to take a picture of me sitting on the Emperor's throne. After completing the short run through Hollywood Studios, we made our way to the Animal Kingdom. We covered a great deal of the parking lot before entering the park. After navigating through Animal Kingdom, we then headed towards the finish line at the ESPN Wide World of Sports.
Emperor's throne
Half marathon finish
Click here for my Garmin data.
The left foot has been getting better. I was having more trouble with the right hip. I took the race slow enough to minimize the discomfort, but fast enough so that I could make it back to my room to shower before I needed to get myself to the airport. I got my half marathon medal and then went through a separate chute to get my Dark Side Challenge medal and the Kessel Run medal. They had to check my photo first to confirm my identity before giving me the extra medals. After collecting all of my medals, I got a bottle of water, a bottle of Powerade, a banana, and a snack box.
Half marathon medal
Dark Side challenge medal
Kessel Run medal
I made a beeline for the shuttle back to my resort. They fixed the traffic issue from yesterday as there were no problems whatsoever today. As I was walking back to my room, my friend called out my name. I was thinking that she would have beaten me back to the room since she had finished before me. She must have been in the bus right behind that one that I took.
Our flights were both at about the same time. However since my shuttle was scheduled to leave earlier, I was first to take a shower. I then got all of my stuff packed and ready. I then headed to the bus stop to catch my ride to the airport on the Disney's Magical Express motor coach. Next stop was a 4 day work conference out in Denver, Colorado.
Time to head to Denver for work!
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