Orlando: January 12, 2013

Our day started around 3:30am with the Disney World Half Marathon.

After the race, Maggie and I wanted to head back to the hotel.  We completely missed the resort buses near the finish line, and walked over to Epcot to take the monorail back.  We walked to where we thought the monorail entrance was, only to find it was the exit.  After walking back around, we realized that we actually needed to go through the Epcot bag check in order to get on the monorail.  There was no line when we had first passed by, but in that 5-10 minutes a very long line had formed.

We were hungry by the time we got back to the Contemporary and stopped at the Contempo Cafe for Mickey Waffles.  It was a tasty post-race treat!

Pat met us at the cafe, and then headed to Hollywood Studios while Maggie and I showered and took an hour-long nap.  We eventually pulled ourselves together and headed out to meet Pat at the park.  My feet were aching but I did not want to miss out on the Tower of Terror.

We only had a few hours at Hollywood Studios due to early dinner reservations back at the California Grill, on the top floor of our hotel.

We picked up a Fast Pass for Tower of Terror and jumped in the Single Rider line for the Rock n’ Roller coaster.  I sat in the very back and the ride was more intense than I had remembered.

By the time we got out, we were had just 5 minutes to wait until we could ride Tower of Terror!  This was the ride I missed the most over the past year.

We got some water and Pat and I split a banana.  We missed The Little Mermaid show last year, so it was on our short to-do list.  We hadn’t missed much.  My guess is that this show was introduced in the 1990s and had not been updated since then.  It was a good show, but was definitely outdated compared to newer shows like the Lion King and Nemo the Musical at Animal Kingdom.

After the show we realized we either had time for the Muppet Show or one more ride on Tower of Terror.  Since we had already ridden ToT once, we walked quickly to the Muppet Show.  It turned out we were just in time for the next show, with no wait!

We got out of the Muppet Show and decided we had just enough time to use our last Fast Pass on Tower of Terror.  We were cutting it close on time, but it was worth it for one more ride.

I led a quick walk out to our bus, and it was a good thing I did – I ran a bit to make sure the bus would wait for us.

I was especially excited for our pre-race dinner because we were going to be meeting up with a friend of mine from high school and her boyfriend!

I loved the views from the California Grill.  We had a great view of Magic Kingdom and the Grand Floridian.

I had put a flag on our reservation ahead of time that I would be eating vegan.  When I first asked our server what I could eat, he told me I could order anything on the menu and they would make a vegan version of it.  I also told him that I wasn’t allergic to dairy, that I just do not eat animal products – I didn’t want the kitchen to worry about being extra careful due to a potential allergy.

I ordered the only vegetarian item on the menu – the pumpkin-fig ravioli.  The server came back and said that they could not make that vegan and asked me to please choose something else.  All of the other dishes were meat-based.  I asked him what he suggested I order, and he began to suggest various types of meat.  Apparently he did not understand what vegan means!  I explained that I did not eat meat either, and he said he would be right back.

When the server came back he said, “Don’t worry, the chef will make you a surprise!”  I did worry a bit.  I thought, please don’t make it mushroom base.  This is what I got:

Not all mushrooms!  The flatbread pizza was very good.  So was the rice, which I think was butternut squash.  I ate a bit around the mushrooms.  The salad looked dry (no dressing), so I skipped that.  I like a good salad, but I need dressing.  It was expensive for what it was, but still a good meal.

After dinner we headed out to a balcony to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks at 8pm.  They even played the Wishes music at the hotel.  I’ve said it before, but I seriously wish every day could end with fireworks.

Back in our room, I iced my feet in our tub.  It was painfully cold, but my feet did feel some pain relief after soaking them.  I was nervous about the marathon the next day, mostly because my feet were already in so much pain.  I was wondering what I was thinking to have signed up for the Goofy Challenge.  I went to bed a little bit later than I had planned, but was probably asleep a little after 9:30pm.  I was not looking forward to another 3:30am alarm!