After work and dinner, I headed out to LAX for my annual trip to Disneyland Paris. The months, weeks, and days leading up to this trip was quite stressful, wondering whether or not my flight with Norwegian Air was still going to take place. Although I had flown with them last year, they have not been doing well financially for quite some time. An article titled, Norwegian Air is Taking Last-Ditch Measures to Avoid Bankruptcy, was not what I wanted to read just days before my flight! I had checked the flight status all throughout the day on LAX's flight status website which showed that the flight was still set to depart on schedule. So off to the airport, I go!
For this trip, I prepaid for parking at the Renaissance Los Angeles Airport Hotel. I was fortunate enough to get a very convenient parking spot on the 2nd floor just across from the elevator. After parking my car, I boarded the shuttle that took me over to the Tom Bradley International Terminal. I used one of the self check-in kiosks to get my boarding pass. Thankfully I was assigned an aisle seat.
After getting through TSA, I walked over to my gate. It was one of the gates at the very end of TBIT. The last time I had been out here was when I had flown with the now defunct WOW Air. It looked to be where all of the budget airlines are sent. The area looked to be more of a warehouse than an airport terminal. While waiting for the time to board, I bought a 1L bottle of water to bring on the plane since my Low Fare ticket didn't include any drinks or food.
Water
When it came time to board, we were called up by groups. Once our boarding pass was scanned, we then waited for a shuttle to take us out to a remote part of the airport to board our plane. The plane we boarded was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The selection of movies wasn't that great. Most of the ones that interested me, I've already seen. During the flight I tried to get as much sleep as possible. I only managed to watch 3 episodes of It's Always Sunny.
It's Always Sunny Season 12
- Ep 6 Hero or Hate Crime
- Ep 7 PTSDee
- Ep 8 The Gang Tends Bar
Norwegian still in business
Almost there
Thursday 9/19
The plane landed at CDG Airport at about 6 pm. We exited the plane onto the tarmac where we got on a bus that would take us over to one of the satellite terminals. From there, we had to take a long moving walkway over to terminal 1. It was pretty much a mad rush for the lines to get through immigration.
By the time I had gotten through immigration, I had missed the 6:20 pm Magical Shuttle bus. The next and last bus from terminal 1 was at 7:35 pm, so I stopped in the convenience store that was the closest to the bus stop to buy a bag of mixed nuts to tide me over.
Dinner
After boarding the Magical Shuttle bus and leaving the airport, the first stop was at the Newport Bay Club at about 8:30 pm. That stop was perfect for me, so I got off of the bus. From there, I walked over to my hotel over at Serris. Once again I stayed at the Hipark. By the time I got checked-in and into my room, it was almost 9 pm local time. I was feeling pretty exhausted, so it was pretty much lights out after taking a shower.
Friday 9/20
The expo didn't open until 10 am, so I timed it so that I would get there about 10 minutes before. When I arrived at the Disney Events Arena, I saw that there was already a long line of eager people waiting to get inside. Instead of getting in line right away, I first went for a walk around the Disney Village. This year they were queuing people up at the entrance and releasing a bunch of people at a time, so that it doesn't get overly crowded inside.
Once I got inside, I first picked up my bib in exchange for my registration voucher. Then I got in line to pick up my bag full of race shirts. After taking my mug shot for the 36k challenge, I went to the Castle to Chateau Challenge booth to get my challenge bracelet. In addition to the bracelet, they gave me a souvenir button pin.
Bib pick-up
Challenge
5k shirt
10k shirt
21k shirt
31k challenge shirt
36k challenge shirt
Castle to Chateau
Castle to Chateau bracelet
Castle to Chateau button pin
After taking care of that, I went towards the vendor booths where I came across the participant name wall. I found my name before checking out the vendors. There weren't too many vendors. Most of them were promoting smaller regional European races. Run Disney did have a booth promoting all of their races including next year's Disneyland Paris race being the 5th anniversary. I'll definitely have to be back for that race!
Participant name wall
Found my name
Next year, 5th year!
I then checked out the official merchandise. I mainly wanted to see if the design of the Castle to Chateau Challenge shirt had changed enough to warrant a possible purchase. Indeed it had, so I got in line to buy the shirt as well as a run-only PhotoPass card good for 1 bib. They used to only sell cards that was good for multiple bibs. That saved me €16.
Castle to Chateau shirt
Before heading back to my room, I decided to eat lunch at McDonald's. In the past you couldn't pay with a foreign credit card at one of the ordering kiosks because they require a signature. However I decided to give it a try again and discovered that no signature is required if I paid with Google Pay. That made it so much more convenient! I ordered a 280 Original meal. It was a simple tasty burger with tomato and cheese on ciabatta bread. What I was most looking forward to were the fries with the pommes frites sauce!
Lunch at McDonald's
280 Original
After finishing my meal and dropping off my race stuff in my room, I headed back out to buy some food and drinks at the nearby Auchan supermarket which was located inside the Val D'Europe shopping mall. I've always had a difficult time getting ready for night time races as I never know what to eat before a race. In the past I've had problems when I ate my regular dinner as it's my biggest meal of the day. So for this race, I decided to just eat a bag of pistachios. While waiting for the race, I laid out my flat runner and got caught up on the news in the rest of world. There's so much that they never show you back home in the States.
Food from Auchan
5k flat runner
As the start of the race approached, I got dressed and headed out to the starting area that was located adjacent to the Disney Event Center. Normally I would go through Newport Bay Club to get there, however this time Avenue Paul Séramy wasn't closed off. I decided to go that way instead. I guess that was a bad choice as there was a lot of foot traffic in the Disney Village. By the time that I had reached the starting corrals, it was already pretty packed.
Corral A
When corral A was released at about 30 minutes before the start of the race, it was practically a stampede. Not sure why, but people behind me were pushing even though they can clearly see that I had nowhere ahead of me to go. It did space out a bit once we got up to the start line. In the corral with me was a guy dressed up as my favorite Star Wars bad guy, Darth Maul.
Darth Maul
5k start line
As we waited for the start of the race, a girl next to me noticed that my shirt was an INKnBURN shirt and started talking to me. I believe she was from the Netherlands. She took a selfie of us and said that she would post it on the INKnBURN France site on Facebook.
INKnBURN runners
The 5k wasn't a timed race, but still I wanted to average about 8 minutes per mile. My Achilles tendinitis hasn't fully cleared up yet, so I didn't want to over do it. The course was pretty similar to last year's, so the first few turns were just as treacherous as I remembered especially with so many slow runners ahead of me. It wasn't until about a third mile into the race where I could finally open up my stride. I didn't get to race Paula Radcliffe's daughter this year, but my calves were actually cramping up during the finish stretch!
Huffin' and puffin'
5k finish line
5k finish: 24:11
Click here for my Garmin data.
After getting my finisher medal, I got some drinks and continued down the finishing chute. Further down the chute, I received some snacks, a snack box, and a banana. The chute ended at the exit of Walt Disney Studios Park where they were taking finisher photos.Relive 'Disneyland Paris 5k'
5k medal and post race snacks
After taking my photo, I walked back to my room where I ate the contents of the post race box. After I got cleaned up, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. It was such a quick turnaround for the next race, so I had to get as much rest as possible and hope that I don't oversleep my alarms.
Snack box
10k flat runner
Saturday 9/21
I left for the race a bit earlier today so that I wouldn't be stuck behind so many slow runners. Avenue Paul Séramy was closed off today, so I went through Newport Bay Club in order to get to the starting area.
While waiting in corral A, my friend and I saw a lot of people hamming it up. People were trying anything and everything to get some screen time!
10k start line
I went out at a decent pace for the first two miles. However then I felt a sudden drop in energy. The last 4 miles were quite the struggle. I was looking for any reason to take a walk break which included picture stops. The right leg felt especially tight during the last mile.
Ariel
Cinderella
10k finish line
10k finish: 55:03
Click here for my Garmin data.
It felt like this year with my current injuries, that my Disneyland Paris races were mostly "git 'er dun" type of races. I would've liked to have run better races, but this was the best that I could have done with the Achilles tendinitis and arch discomfort that I had been dealing with for the past several months.Relive 'Disneyland Paris 10k'
It was the same routine as yesterday after crossing the finish line and getting my medal. After getting back to my room, I proceeded to eat all of the post race food for breakfast. I then got cleaned up and relaxed in my room for the majority of the day. I ended up taking a long nap.
10k medal and post race snacks
Snack box
After getting up from my nap, I cooked a quick late lunch in my room. It was just a simple plate of fusilli pasta with bolognese sauce.
Pasta lunch
In the evening, I was feeling pretty tired, but hungry. So at about 7 pm, I walked over to the McDonald's inside the Val d'Europe shopping mall to pick up dinner. There are 2 McDonald's inside this mall. This was the one located closest to the Place Toscane entrance. Using one of the kiosks, I ordered a Best of Royal Deluxe meal. Unfortunately the employee was calling all of the numbers in French, which I never learned. The only numbers I knew were the numbers called out by the chair umpire during the French Open. I kind of had to guess. Fortunately there weren't too many customers there, so I was able to guess correctly. I took the food back to my room to enjoy.
Best of Royal Deluxe
After finishing dinner, I laid out my flat runner before attempting to get some shut-eye. Once again I was to wear one of my favorite Disney shirts. It just happened to be approximately the same color of the Genie.
21k flat runner
Sunday 9/22
I didn't sleep very well, so I was dragging and wasn't expecting too much from today's final race of the 36k Challenge. Once again I headed over to the starting area via Newport Bay Club.
21k start line
Just like yesterday, only the first 2 miles felt comfortable. The rest of the race was a grind. The groin muscle decided to join in on the list of sore body parts. Besides taking a lot of walk breaks, I also stopped for almost all of the photo ops with Disney characters.
Running through the castle
Jane and Tarzan
Jasmine and Aladdin
Bo Peep, Woody, and Forky
Kristoff and Ana
During the last couple of miles, a group of guys dressed up as Toy Story aliens overtook me and they were all squeaking with every single step! It thought that that was pretty funny, but I could see it getting pretty annoying really quickly especially over 13 miles!
Toy Story aliens
The final stretch
21k finish line
Half marathon finish: 2:18:11
Click here for my Garmin data.
While I wasn't very satisfied with my finishing time, I did have fun covering the distance and continuing my legacy status. As I get older, I have found myself being more appreciative with the opportunity to continue with this hobby. Nothing is guaranteed in life.Relive 'Disneyland Paris Half Marathon'
After getting my finisher medal and the usual post race goodies and drinks, I started heading over to the Disney Events Arena to pick up my challenge medals. There was quite the crowd to navigate through as part of the race course ran through the most direct route over to the arena. After collecting my 3 challenge medals, I got my picture taken before I started heading back to my hotel room. Along the way, I was fortunate enough to bump into my friend who had just finished her race. We briefly exchanged race stories before going our separate ways.
21k medal
21k medal and post race snacks
Castle to Chateau medal
31k challenge medal
36k challenge medal
Castle to Chateau
Back at my room, I ate the contents of the snack box in lieu of a proper lunch. I got cleaned up and proceeded to veg out in my room for the rest of the day. I was feeling pretty wiped out, so I had no motivation to go out at all.
Snack box
For an early dinner, I cooked the rest of the pasta. I was fading in and out as I watched some TV, but I managed to watch two movies before succumbing to sleep.
I've heard a lot of good things about A Beautiful Mind when the movie first came out in 2001, but this was actually my first time watching it. Most likely I didn't watch it sooner because I'm not a fan of Russell Crowe. It indeed was a good movie about schizophrenia. It definitely appealed to the part of me that went on to a bachelor's degree in psychology back in the day. As for Aliens, it's still my favorite out of the entire franchise. Needless to say, the movie still holds up really well after more than 30 years!
Early dinner
Monday 9/23
As I prepared for my flight home, I saw numerous news reports about Thomas Cook Airlines going out of business. Yikes! They're a 178 year old company! Such news does not bode well for budget airlines such as Norwegian Air. I was crossing my fingers that they would stay in business just long enough for me to complete this trip.
After I checked out of my room, I walked over to the Chessy Gares Nord to wait for the Magical Shuttle over to the airport. Normally I could bring my duffel bag with me onto the bus, but this particular driver insisted that I put it in the storage bay.
Waiting for Magical Shuttle
After arriving at terminal 1 at CDG Airport, I made my way over to the ticket counter to get my boarding pass from one of the self check-in kiosks. Although I didn't have any bags to check, I still had to stand in the bag-check line in order to exit. Apparently they set it up that way because they wanted to make sure the carry-on bags weren't too heavy or too big. They put a tag on my bag that indicated that my carry-on was in compliance.
Before heading to my gate, I decided first to have lunch at McDonald's. I ordered their McFirst McPoulet using one of their kiosks. It was pretty much a better tasting version of the McChicken sandwich.
McDonald's at the airport
McFirst Poulet
I was assigned a window seat for the flight home. For transatlantic flights, I don't prefer a window seat as my lavatory usage is pretty much at the mercy of those in my row. For this trip it was especially so since my row-mates were able to sleep for pretty much the entire duration of the flight. I wasn't at all sleepy, so after watching the movie, The Aftermath, I ended up watching a bunch of other TV episodes. The acting was decent from Jason Clarke and Alexander Skarsgård, but it took a bit of effort to get past the weird facial expressions from Keira Knightley. She's always doing that thing with her mouth. The story was mainly about a couple dealing with relationship issues in the aftermath of WWII. I felt the story ended quite abruptly as if the writer had a time limit.
- The Aftermath
- Ultimate Spider-man Season 4 Hydra Attacks: Part 1
- Fresh Off the Boat Season 3
- Ep 2 Breaking Chains
- Ep 3 Louisween
- Ep 4 Citizen Jessica
- Friends Season 10
- Ep 1 The One After Joey and Rachel Kiss
- Ep 2 The One Where Ross Is Fine
- Ep 3 The One with Ross’s Tan
The Aftermath
After landing in LAX, it was time for the mad rush to get through customs. It was rather quick and easy to get through as a US citizen without any checked luggage. After getting through, I decided to walk back to my car over at the Renaissance Hotel instead of waiting for the shuttle to come around.
See you next year for year 5!
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