Before I left Hartford, Stacie and I had decided to embark on a 'magical' journey to Walt Disney World in order to run in The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler...which we will get to in the next post.
First...the theme parks!!
When we arrived in Disney, our first stop was to Downtown Disney. Our flights landed in the early afternoon and we were waiting for Stacie's mom as well, so by the time we were all assembled and checked in and everything, it was late afternoon/early evening.
The last time I was at Disney, I was about 12 or 13 years old and I came with my mom on one of her business trips. We didn't stay in one of the resort hotels (since moms business trip was in Orlando, but not Disney) but we had when I was younger. But since I had been barely a teenager the last time I was there, I had never been to Downtown Disney.
It was fun. The drinks were tasty (hehe) as I had two delicious margaritas (habanero and jalapeno) throughout the evening. We wandered around, got a late lunch, got stuck in a thunderstorm which kept us in a store for a bit, and then got a late dinner.
The next day was time for the Magic Kingdom. Can I just say, I love the Magic Kingdom? I do. There's just something about walking down Main Street USA and seeing Cinderella's Castle right in front of you. It takes you back to your childhood and I could remember visits I had made when I was little.
Stacie and I enjoyed a number of photo opportunities.
We hit all of the important rides: Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, It's A Small World, The Haunted Mansion, Stitch's Great Escape and so on.
By the way, did you know I can read alien?
Anyway, we enjoyed ourselves, even though it was HOT. I did wish that we had one more day at that park. I would have liked to have gone on a few more rides and had a few more experiences, but it's fine.
The next day was for Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM Studios). I had never been here before so I was intrigued by the opportunity. We got a later start than initially anticipated, but we were still able to do everything we wanted: Star Tours, Rockin' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and the show I'd been hoping to see: Fantasmic. Too bad none of my pictures turned out well.
The day after the race, we made it to Epcot. It was the start of the Food and Wine Festival, so we ate and drank to our hearts content. Since it was our first Disney race, we didn't realize that it's cool to wear your medal the day after, so sadly, we didn't do it.
But we got to meet some of our favorite characters...
Belle from Beauty and the Beast (my favorite)
And Aladdin and Jasmin from, you guessed it, The Return of Jafar! Lol...ok, Aladdin is the correct answer, though they were in RoJ too!
We were hit by another torrential thunderstorm again and got soaked. We then headed back to the hotel to pack and get ready to say goodbye the next morning.
After eating at the airport, I said goodbye to Stacie, who headed back to Hartford and I headed back to Dallas. I will see her in a few weeks when I head back to Hartford to run in my very first marathon, and she, her first half marathon!
Till then...
Don't forget to check out my next post about The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler!
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