Expedition Everest Challenge/40th Birthday Trip - May 2012

[DisneyMom]

Finally getting a trip report started. It may be slow coming as we have renos starting this week, but I will attempt to add to it a little at a time.

Cast Members: Me, almost 40 at the time of the trip. My younger sister (by 11 years!) who I will refer to as DSis. I have two sons - my DS14 wasn’t thrilled about the thought of me going to Disney without him. I think I owe him a trip now. ;) This was my sister’s first trip to Disney (and to Florida). It was my third trip, but the first time without my family.

Trip Length: Very quick – 5 nights – May 2 - 7

Purpose of Trip: I had wanted to start running for awhile and after reading about people’s experiences with RunDisney races and Jeff Galloway’s run/walk program, I thought a Disney race might be the place to start and the Expedition Everest Challenge looked like the perfect opportunity. I started training in January. We considered a family trip but that didn’t work out for various reasons so I asked DSis if she would be interested in going. She had previously told me she didn’t have any interest in running. She wanted to go, so we booked our resort and airfare. Before long, she decided to do the race as well and registered just in time – later the same day, the race was full.

Resort: All Star Sports. This wasn't our first choice. POP would have been first choice, but since ASSp provided race transportation and we were trying to do a budget trip, we decided to stay here.

Stay tuned...I will try to cover our impressions of the resort, park experience each day, dining choices, and the race.

[jtcarr]

I'm in.

[MsInfo]

Me too! One of my goals is to "run" a Disney 5k, so I enjoy reading about people's experiences.

[DisneyMom]

When I said it might be slow coming, I did not mean this slow! I can't blame the renos although we have still not finished everything we started out to do and had someone here finishing up work 4 days before Christmas. That could be another thread altogether - I'll spare you the pain.

I may have lost my followers, but with another week before I go back to work, I am going to try to finish this trip report. I'll start with Day 1 – our travel day.

DSis picked me up bright and early. We had about a three and a half hour drive to get to the airport. We live about an hour and a half from the Maine border and it costs much less for us to fly from the US. Our flight wasn’t until 12:50 EST. I think we left around 7:00 AST, putting us in Bangor at around 10:00 EST with a couple stops along the way. I think we may have arrived even earlier than that, but I didn’t write down the time. I remember having quite a wait at the airport.

Our flights were all on time this trip. We arrived in Orlando at around 6:45pm. We had checked one bag to be picked up by Magical Express so went directly to the Magical Express pickup line and walked right onto a bus. There was a bit of a delay before it left. It stopped at Coronado Springs first, the resort we’ve stayed at the last 2 trips, so DSis got to see a glimpse of it.

Check in went smoothly. I did not do online check in this time. I don’t think there was a lineup at all. I had requested ground floor in the Touchdown section and we got our request. We were assigned Room 139. The location was great – a very short walk to the main building and bus stop. We stopped at Bell Services to pick up the groceries we had ordered from Garden Grocer and were told they had already been delivered to our room. That hasn’t been the case on our last two trips and I’ve never heard anyone else mention that happening. I didn’t know what to do about a tip. Usually I would tip the person who took them to our room. In retrospect, I should have left a tip at Bell Services, but I wasn’t thinking that quickly that night.

Me at check in:
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The room was great. We took a few pictures before we messed it up and started to unpack our groceries. Then I stepped into the bathroom…and stepped in a puddle of water. The pipe at the back of the toilet that supplies water to it was leaking and it smelled musty. Back we went to the main building. We said we would like to have a room in the same vicinity if possible and they were able to meet that request. They gave us new keys for Room 133 and we went down and quickly moved our things to the other room. It did have a slight musty smell in the bathroom as well, but a dry floor. We wondered if maybe the smell had to do with the ground floor and being directly on the cement. It wasn’t bothersome enough to go change rooms again. The red star on Touchdown 10 shows the location of our room - I think it was the second one in from the road. And the red star on the main building is where the bus stop was located. We could basically walk as the crow flies and it was just over a minute. I have a video in case anyone is interested to see how close it is.

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Our bag from Magical Express arrived not too long after we checked in. I can’t remember now if we were in the room at the time or not. We went to the food court and had chicken pot pie for dinner (or supper as we Maritimers say). It was decent food court food – especially as it was some of the last of the day I think. It had been a long day and we had a busy next few days so we went back to the room and called it a night. Next up - Hollywood Studios in the morning.

[DisneyMom]

A couple more items from Day 1 (Weds. May 2) that I remembered and want to add before I move on to Day 2. One, we discovered that our Garden Grocer order was missing a loaf of bread that we had ordered. I texted them and they promised to deliver it as soon as they could. I believe it was in the room when we arrived back from our break the next day. This is the third time I’ve ordered from them and the first time there was any kind of a mix up.

Also, when we checked in, my sister asked them for a Birthday button for me since we were celebrating my 40th (wow that’s hard to say, LOL) which was later that month. They also gave her an I’m Celebrating button. We’ve never had buttons on our trips before so I didn’t really know what to expect. I wore it every day and was really surprised at all of the CM birthday wishes.

[josh]

I want to hear about the Challenge!

[DisneyMom]

I want to hear about the Challenge!

It's coming!

[DisneyMom]

Thursday May 3, we ate a quick breakfast in the room. We had ordered some yogurt, granola, bread , fruit, Kashi bars and a case of water from Garden Grocer.

We left the room at 7:45am and did the quick walk to the bus stop. We only waited 5 minutes or so for the bus to DHS and were the only ones who got on at ASSp. It stopped at the other All Star resorts on the way to the park.

At DHS, we found a turnstile with no one lined up and were first in line.

DSis at the front of the line. I love these front of the line photos.

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We went directly to Toy Story Mania and grabbed fast passes then went through the standby line. We were among the first ones on the ride that day. We then went back and rode Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, followed by Tower of Terror. DSis loved Tower of Terror and I think it was here that we grabbed a FP for it hoping to be able to use it, but we couldn’t fit it in without missing Beauty and the Beast later.

Next up, we rode Great Movie Ride and used our Fast Pass for Toy Story Mania. We grabbed a FP for Star Tours, then went to see Muppets 3D.
Beauty and the Beast was our next stop. We would have missed the first part of the show if we had used our Tower of Terror fast passes now. I didn’t write down show times, but I think it was at 11:30. After the show, we went back and rode Star Tours. I’m ducking when I ask this – but not being a Star Wars fan, what is the difference with the ride since the last refurb?

We went to Min and Bill’s for lunch and both of us ordered the Caesar Chicken Sandwich with Chips. This was delicious! Definitely would return here – in fact we did on another visit this trip, we liked it so much. We ate at one of the tables near the boat.

We managed to get to Indiana Jones just as the show was starting. We missed the preshow stuff and them picking the extras, but I think that was it. This would have been the 12:45 show maybe.

After Indiana, we quickly checked out out the HISTK playground and the Animation building. I love the drawing class but we needed to leave for a break. It was hot! I like January/February better for visiting the parks. And we didn’t want to wear ourselves out before the big race Saturday.

We headed for the busses and ended up walking right onto a bus and were back in our room by 2:05pm.

Walking to Toy Story Mania - almost no one ahead of us.

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And later in the day:

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Next up – Magic Kingdom for the parade and Wishes.

[Momofpirates]

You got a lot done at DHS before your break! I love the pic of the hat with no one else around.

[DisneyMom]

You got a lot done at DHS before your break! I love the pic of the hat with no one else around.

Yes, we did, thanks to Christine!
I love the pic too. Never had the opportunity to get one like that when they used to do the rope drop.

[DisneyMom]

After taking a nice break, we left our room at 4:35pm. We just missed one bus to Magic Kingdom but only had to wait 5 minutes for the next bus to come along. We had great luck with the busses at All Star Sports - no complaints at all. There were only us and two other families on it and it did not stop at the other All Star resorts.

When we arrived at MK, we decided before entering the park to do a loop on the Resort monorail so DSis could see the MK area resorts. We didn’t get off at any of the resorts, just did the loop around and then headed for the park.

We just intended to do a few filler type attractions and having a counter service meal before viewing the parade and fireworks.

As we were walking up Main Street, we caught a little bit of the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Parade.

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Our first stop was the Swiss Family Treehouse. I had never visited it on my previous trips. The views were great and we snapped a few pictures.

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We grabbed a fast pass for Jungle Cruise next. This is one of my favourites – I love the corny jokes. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean next and then went to Columbia Harbour House for supper. I had the shrimp basket and enjoyed it. This was my first time eating here. We ate upstairs. It was very quiet, but the windows were covered because of construction going on. We peeked, but you couldn’t people watch while you ate.

After eating, we rode Jungle Cruise with our fast passes and then took the train from Frontierland to Main Street.

We walked to the Hub and found a spot on the curb in the centre, on the side facing between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. DSis held the spot while I went and got Dole Whip floats for both of us. The parade was fun and as soon as it finished we got up and made our way behind the Partner statue to watch The Magic , The Memories, and You! show on the castle. This was my first time seeing it and it was really cool! As soon as that was done, we picked our way through the crowd to Main Street in front of Casey’s to watch Wishes. It was a good location. We looked for Tink flying and did not see her. Does she fly before or after the fireworks? I thought it was before, but I’m pretty sure she never flew.

As soon as Wishes was over, we made our way back to the entrance and to the bus back to our resort. I don’t have any timing written down for this, but I don’t remember any long waits. As I stated before – we had excellent luck with the busses this trip.

Next up – a rope drop at MK.

[marshallj]

Great TR. More please.

[DisneyMom]

Great TR. More please.

Thanks for reading! I can't work on it this weekend, but first of the week I'll be back at it.

[beachta1]

Great TR! Can't wait to read more about your trip and especially about the race. My boyfriend and I have been talking about running the marathon in 2014, so feedback about your race experience will be great!

[nolarookie]

Great photos and tr!

[DisneyMom]

Great TR! Can't wait to read more about your trip and especially about the race. My boyfriend and I have been talking about running the marathon in 2014, so feedback about your race experience will be great!

Can't wait to tell you about it. It was one of the most fun experiences I've had. Kudos to you on trying the marathon - I could not do that distance I don't think.

[DisneyMom]

Rope drop at Magic Kingdom is one of my favourite WDW experiences. I love the opening show!

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We left our room this Friday morning at 7:45am and just missed one bus to MK. No worries though as it was only a 5 minute wait until the next MK bus came along. This bus had people on it already and did not stop at the other All Star resorts, so I’m not sure if it had already been to them or where it had come from. We arrived at MK at 8:15am.

We stood to the right of the train station to watch the show and then entered through the right tunnel.

We grabbed a FP for Space Mountain as it wasn’t running yet and then headed over to Fantasyland where we rode Peter Pan, Pooh and Snow White. It was my first time seeing the new Winnie the Pooh queue – that was a nice improvement. It was also my first time riding Snow White and I wanted to make sure to fit it in as it was closing for good at the end of that month. So it was also my last ride on it.

Space Mountain was up and running again when we went back to Tomorrowland so we rode it with our fast passes and then rode Buzz Lightyear. I like this ride, but I can never tell where I am shooting. I maxed out the points one time on my last trip, but have no idea how that happened.

Next, we headed over to Frontierland and rode Splash Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain was down for refurbishment, so no rides on that this trip.

Our next stop was Haunted Mansion and then we went to Sleepy Hollow for lunch to try the waffle sandwiches. DSis got the ham, prosciutto and swiss one while I tried the sweet and spicy chicken sandwich. We ate in the seating area beside Sleepy Hollow and both thought the sandwiches were yummy. DSis was the only one though who remembered to take a picture before we started eating.

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After lunch, we took a quick look around Storybook Circus and what we could see of the construction going on for New Fantasyland. Neither of these had been started on my last trip in January 2011.

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We went back to Tomorrowland to see Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. I love this show and the audience interaction it includes.

We needed to leave soon to take a break before going to pick up our race packets at Wide World of Sports. On the way out, we stopped at Main Street Bakery for a treat. We both thought the ice cream sandwich sounded good so we each ordered one. Oops! We didn’t know they were so big. We should have just ordered one to split. We did our best to finish them off though and came close. Delicious!

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We did a little bit of shopping on our way out and were at the bus stop at 2:08pm. A bus arrived at 2:14pm and we were back at the resort at 2:35pm.
It was a very productive morning and we still had some good times ahead. Next up, we pick up our race packets and the race becomes more real. Then we have plans to go to Fantasmic at DHS in the evening.

[DisneyMom]

Tomorrow is the race!

Before we ran the race on Saturday, we needed to pick up our race packets at Wide World of Sports. You could do this on Friday between 12:00pm and 7:00pm or on Saturday from 10:00am to 4:00pm. There was a course talk scheduled as well several times during the packet pickup windows to give some information about the race.

After a short rest in our room, we went back to the bus stop and boarded a bus for Wide World of Sports at 3:45pm. This was a marked stop at the All Star Sports bus stop. We stayed at All Star Sports because they provided race transportation (Caribbean Beach and Animal Kingdom Lodge did as well). I understood that there would be busses going every half hour or so to packet pickup. I’m not sure if there was a charter bus that went there as well since this bus seemed to be a regular thing and not just for the race. Either way, it got us where we wanted to go.

When we arrived and walked up to the buildings, there was a course talk in progress. We asked if we could listen in on that before we got our packets as we didn’t want to wait for the next one. We were able to do that. They just provided some general information on how things would work and answered any questions that people had. I don’t think we heard anything much that we didn’t already know. They had a sample clue posted outside the room as well – but no answer! That was a bit of a tease because it wasn’t a simple clue.

Course talk:

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After the course talk, we went upstairs (I think) to what I think was the concourse of the stadium. This is a picture on our way:

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They had tables where you picked up your packet. The packets were grouped by race number. Funny side story: Prior to leaving for Orlando, we got a notice that we could go online and find out what our race number would be. Exciting! I checked mine and guess what it was?? 666! Good think I’m not superstitious. I was most worried that I’d get a lot of annoying comments from people about it. The guy who gave me my race packet was one of them. I think there were only two though, so it wasn’t too bad. On the concourse, they also had a booth with some merchandise you could purchase – shirts, hats, pins etc. We had not ordered the Expedition Everest pins when we registered and decided to get them here. They also had some different Run Disney medals that you could look at.

There was an area set up where you could take pictures and there was a large board for all the racers to sign their names/team names. We had registered as individuals, not a team, so we didn’t have a team name. We signed the board and took some pictures, then went back downstairs to pick up our T-shirts and the bag used to check anything before the race that you wanted to be able to have in the park after the race.

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Continued in next post...

[DisneyMom]

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Between the packet and the bag to check your stuff in, you received your race number, pins to put it on your shirt, a temporary tattoo, candy, map, instructions, a button (like the birthday/celebration buttons) that you could write on to say how many times you had run this race, a sticker with your race number to put on the plastic checking bag, a bracelet for the after party and a T-shirt . My T-shirt was too big. You had to pick your size when you signed up for the race and there were none to trade with when you picked them up. It’s a nice souvenir though.

After picking up all our stuff, we did a little shopping in the gift shop. My DS12 had asked me to get a certain Vinylmation which I wasn’t able to get, but at this gift shop, I found a Chicago Bulls Vinylmation (his favourite team) and also got an ESPN T-shirt for my DS14.
We went back down to the bus stop at 5:00pm and a bus for All Star Sports pulled up at the same time! We were so lucky with the busses. It left 5 minutes later and we were back at the resort by 5:20pm.

We rested up again for a bit and then left for Hollywood Studios at 6:55pm. The bus came at 7:10pm and stopped at all the All Star resorts. We were at DHS at 7:30pm.

We did a little shopping first. DSis wanted to get something Muppets related for her husband and we thought the gift shop near the Muppets 3D movie would be our best bet. They had surprisingly little Muppet merchandise and from talking to the CMs, there would not have been much better selection elsewhere.

Then, because we loved the sandwiches at Min and Bill’s so much last time, we decided to eat supper there again – and we got the same sandwich again – Caesar chicken. This time, we remembered to take a picture, but not before we started eating, so I will spare you the half eaten sandwich picture.

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When we were done eating, we took a few pictures and then headed over to Fantasmic, which started at 9:00pm. I forget what time this was, but would guess around 8:30pm. This was my first time without the dining package. I think all of the seats there have a good view. We were near the back in the second section from the left when you are facing the stage.

View across the crowd from where we sat:

Fantasmic.jpg

There was new preshow entertainment going on – a trivia game I think- that hadn’t been there on my last trip. I think it was a good addition. Overall, it was fine doing it without the dining package except it was a lot more difficult getting out afterwards. When you have the package, you are at the far right facing the stage and can exit quickly the same way you got into the theatre. We were at the bus stop at 9:50pm, the bus left at 10:00pm and we were back at our resort at 10:20pm.

Tonight we need a good sleep because tomorrow is race day and we will be up VERY late. The race doesn’t start until 9:30pm.

[beachta1]

I forgot how late the EE race starts, I feel like I would have stayed up really late the night before and had bed time during the day. I can't wait to hear about the race!

[DisneyMom]

I forgot how late the EE race starts, I feel like I would have stayed up really late the night before and had bed time during the day. I can't wait to hear about the race!

I think this year it isn't starting until 10pm. So if you were in one of the later waves it could be 11:00pm or after before you start. I'm not sure why they start it so late.

[DisneyMom]

Race Day

Today, we were starting the day with a Rope Drop at Animal Kingdom. My sister had never been to the park before, so it was a good chance to get familiar with it before the race tonight and to cover the attractions that wouldn’t be open at the after party.

We left the room at 8:00am and ran to the bus stop as we could see Animal Kingdom busses there. There were three of them. We made the second one and the third one left without stopping. We were the only ones on the bus and it left right away and didn’t stop at any other resorts.

When we got to the turnstiles, we about one that was covered, and a cast member named Ron opened it for us. We talked to him for a while about why we were there – the race and my birthday – and found out that that day it was his birthday. It was Ron that opened the park.

Animal Kingdom still had a rope drop. We were held at Discovery Island and chatted with another cast member while we waited there.

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Once they dropped the rope, we headed for Safari. We saw lots of animals, but I do miss the poacher story. Once off, we walked through the Pangani trail and then went back to the Tree of Life to see It’s Tough to be a Bug. I love this one! I’m not sure which 3D is my favourite, but I think it may be this one.

We had a Tusker House reservation at 10:20am, so we made our way to Africa to check in. We had to wait for a bit outside, longer than I remember waiting on our other trips, but not too long. This was my third time doing this as a late breakfast. We like the food and the character interaction here and it seems to fit well with how we tour. We were done here by 12:00pm.

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We took some pictures with and of Everest and then got in line for Festival of the Lion King at 12:10pm for the 12:30pm show. I remember it being really hot and they had fans outside the theatre with misting water spraying. I prefer travelling in January/February when it is cooler. We had seats quite close to the front in I think the Elephant section. The Elephant is to our right in our pictures.

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After the show, we walked to Dinoland and rode Primeval Whirl. Dinosaur was supposed to be open during the after party and we planned to ride it then, but because there was no wait, we decided to ride it before we left and have that out of the way for later. We walked through Asia after riding and Expedition Everest was down. We had not ridden it in the morning on purpose – saving it for the after party. Now I was wondering if that had been a good decision.

We got to the bus stop at 2:15pm. There was a bus there and it left right away. We were back in our room at 2:25pm. Animal Kingdom is very close to the All Star resorts.
I took the time now to get all of the pressed pennies at All Star Sports for my boys. They had collected pennies on our last trip, so these could be added to their books. I looked around the gift shop some as well and took some pictures of the resort, although I didn’t go too far from our room – mainly the pool area and main building.

Next on the agenda was resting up for and getting ready for the race!

[cegreenf]

Having signed up for this year's Expedition Everest Challenge, I'm very excited to read the next part of your trip report! I have a few questions about the race, but I will wait to see if they are answered in the next segment first :)

[Brandie]

I want to do the Expedition Everest Challenge next year! Can't wait to hear all about it!

[DisneyMom]

I haven't forgotten about this, just been really busy at work. We just had a big storm with high winds too and our power was out for just over 2 days. When it came back on today, our DSL modem doesn't work and a replacement will take 3-5 business days to come. So no Internet except my phone. I will be back to finish!