Wine and Dine Disney Half Marathon Weekend Part 1

Time for my third and final Disney half marathon of 2017. This race weekend is special though because my family is here to participate with me. Dad wanted to celebrate turning 60 with a Disney half marathon to prove he could do it at 60 and it seemed perfect to the do food and wine half marathon. So the whole family went down to participate in the weekend. This is my dad and I's 3rd Disney half marathon and our goal was to set a PR for him. My mom was doing the 10k, which was her first race ever. My brother was doing his first half marathon and his wife was celebrating her first time in Disney. We all had different goals, but it was going to be a fun weekend celebrating Dad's birthday and the races.

I adore planning Disney vacations so I spent the three months before the trip planning it out. We didn't want to spend much money on hotels since we planned on spending limited time there, so we picked an All Star resort. In hindsight, I would upgrade to Art of Animation for the better beds, but oh well. I knew that I wanted to go to a water park and we had two days for going to the parks and a free admittance to Epcot from the race. It was not going to be a relaxing weekend, but doing Disney as a Mader is never relaxing. 

Thursday: Typhoon Lagoon and Disney Springs

I desperately wanted to go to a water park since I hadn't been to a Disney water park in probably 15 years. Typhoon Lagoon was the only one open so it was easy to make the decision on which to go to. We went here often as when I was younger so I was curious to see how it stacked up against my memories. My mom, dad, and I flew in early on Thursday morning and drove directly to Typhoon Lagoon. It was surprisingly empty so we could walk onto pretty much all of the slides. Since I haven't been to Typhoon Lagoon since I was probably 12, I remember the slides being fun and the wave pool being incredible. As a 31 year old, Typhoon Lagoon was fun, but the slides were not very intense. I enjoyed them, but I was surprised by how tame they were. However, I was not disappointed by the wave pool. The waves were good sized and I was able to ride the waves for about 20 feet. I might have taken out a person or two, but honestly I had no idea where I was going. I would start as far out as I could and then ride the wave in. The wave pool makes going to Typhoon Lagoon worthwhile and I will go back sometime. 

The family raft ride is a little different as an adult. Plus the three of us barely fit in this tube. 

We checked into All-Stars, cleaned up, and went to the expo for packet pick up. Packet pickup is always at the Wide World of Sports. It wasn't too crowded and we were able to grab our packets and explore the expo for a little bit. Thankfully I escaped the expo without wasting any money!

Then it was off to Disney Springs for the rest of the day. Disney Springs has changed so much since I was there two years ago. There is a new large shopping area and several parking garages. The restaurant area remained the same though. We had a late lunch at Typhoon Lagoon so we decided on a smaller dinner at Earl's Sandwiches. I highly recommend this place for a quick eat. Then we just enjoyed walking through Disney Springs. The best part of Disney Springs is listening to the musicians placed throughout the area. That night there were 5 different groups playing and each had a different flair. It is worth going to Disney Springs just to grab a drink and enjoy the music. Then it was back to the hotel to try to get to bed early since mornings were going to be super early from here on out. Corey and Bethany flew in that night.

Friday: Animal Kingdom

Amazingly, for this trip I was the most excited to visit Animal Kingdom. When I was here in April, the Avatar area wasn't open. It had gotten rave reviews and I couldn't wait to see it. I had spent about a month checking the Disney app trying to get a FastPass for the Avatar Flight of Passage ride and I am so happy I did (took 30 days of checking but it worked). We got to the park before it opened at 9 to find it opened earlier than that. It is nice when the app and hotel have the wrong time posted. We were in the park before 9am and went directly to the Avatar area to get on the second Avatar ride, the Na'vi River Journey. We didn't have a FastPass for this one so I thought we should get on it first thing. We walked onto the ride (YES!) and enjoyed the ride. It is a float through boat ride but the Avatar effects are beautiful and the Na'vi animatronic at the end was incredible. It looked so lifelike and moved so fluidly. Disney is getting very good at this. The line for Flight of Passage was over three hours and growing, which is probably why we were able to walk onto Na'vi River. I have never been so happy to have a FastPass. 

One day I will see the real Everest, but until then, this works

Dinosaur Ride

We enjoyed the rest of the day at the park hitting the rides and the Finding Nemo show (so cute). Finally it was time to ride Flights of Passage. This ride is like Soarin on steroids. The premise of the ride is that you are a tourist using the Avatar technology to project your consciousness on to another being, in this case a Na’vi riding astride a banshee – and feel everything it feels. It was the best ride I have been on. You sit like you are on a banshee and you can feel the banshee breathing under you. The views of Pandora are incredible and all of the elements make you feel like you are riding the banshee on an adventure. I cannot wait to ride it again. The only problem I had with it is the 3D glasses are huge and they struggled to stay on my face (I have a very small head).  We also enjoyed the restaurant in the Avatar area. The food was very healthy and looked fun. It was also surprisingly good. The chocolate dessert was rich and delicious. I recommend eating there, although all of the food at Animal Kingdom is very good. 

Stunning scenery (and a good looking couple)

Hanging out in Pandora

I love my parents (and that they secretly love Disney as much as I do). 

Floating mountain behind us

We found a banshee!

We took an afternoon break for my mom, dad, and I to enjoy some pool time while Corey and Bethany did their packet pick up. I really wanted to see the Avatar area at night and the new nighttime show, so I convinced them to go back with me. We got back in time to see the Festival of the Lion King. I forgot how much fun that show is. The only downside was that Bethany and Corey had just gotten drinks to enjoy during the show, but drinks were not allowed inside. We chugged a beer and frozen margarita just in time to get into the show. Nothing like brain freeze to enjoy a show. We had a delicious dinner of bbq and pulled pork. Animal Kingdom really does have incredible food. Then off to enjoy Rivers of Light, the Animal Kingdom nighttime show. The show is a mix of floats on the water, lights, and water screens. It had nothing to do with Disney, which I am normally ok with, but I didn't like this show. It was windy so I couldn't see the projections on the water screens and I expected more from the floats (I really wanted fire). I know you either love or hate the show and my family just wasn't that impressed, but we were happy that you could bring food in (yum Mickey bar). 

Tree of Life at night

Finally it was time to head to see the Avatar area at night. Sadly all of the photographers were packing up so we don't have good pictures there at night, but the area is beautiful. There is just enough bioluminescence to make the area look interesting. We were getting tired so we did a quick walk around and finally it was time to head home. Three of us had a 3am wakeup call the following morning to do the 10k. 

Not a great iPhone photo but you can still see the beauty