Disney Weekend

Last weekend in Disney World was so much fun! After departing Atlanta around 3am we arrived at our hotel by 10am Friday.  Luckily they let us check in that early, so we could already get settled in our Fantasia-themed building.  We stayed at Disney's All-Star Movies Resort which is part of their group of 'value' hotels -- it's nice since you get the perks of staying on the Disney property (bus transportation and not paying for parking at the parks) without paying an arm and a leg.

Beth and I then headed to the half marathon expo event to get our number bibs and check out the free stuff. We were able to take the bus transport straight to the Wide World of Sports where it was being held, and then made the rounds to all the different vendors.  Even on Friday it was already a mad house in there, but we still had a lot of fun and wound up purchasing additional Disney paraphernalia.  I got a coffee mug with the run logo on it (note: don't put those event mugs in the dishwasher. oops!), and Beth got the same logo on a wine glass.  The vendors were so much fun though; we got free boxes of rice, yogurt to eat along the way, luna bars, and much more!

Disney's Princess Half Marathon Expo

Then we got back to the hotel and prepared to leave for a day in the Disney parks.  We had two days of park-hopper tickets for Friday and Saturday, so we wanted to make the most of our time.  Sunday morning was the half marathon, and we planned on just hanging out at the hotel and Downtown Disney to rest instead of taking on another park!

Friday our goal was Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom! We rode a few rides in the Animal Kingdom first; I hadn't been there since the park first opened, so it was fun for me to go back. I'd also never been on the Everest coaster, so that was the highlight for me.  The safari was fun too, but once you've been on the real thing then the Disney one is only good for triggering memories :)

Animal Kingdom

That evening we stayed in the Magic Kingdom until right around midnight. The rides were wonderful, as always, but so was the firework show -- one of my favorite reasons to stay in the park late.

Magic Kingdom

Saturday we dedicated to Hollywood Studios (MGM) and attempted to fit in Epcot also, but with 6pm dinner reservations in Downtown Disney we just didn't have time.  I hadn't been to MGM since... well, since it was actually called MGM, so it was great to go back! My favorite ride of the day was definitely the Toy Story 3D arcade game ride; worth the wait!

That night we were in bed by 10pm since our alarms were set for 3am for the half marathon. We could hardly fall asleep we were so excited! I'll post soon with race details! :)