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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
If you've run a race at Disney World...
How far in advance did you book your whole trip? Any particular hotel or resort recs? Did you do the parks before your race or after?
Any suggestions?
I'm either doing Disney Half or Disney Princess next year and the hubby and I wanna use it as a vacation. Any recs or advice would be MUCH appreciated. Thanks!
:::FOLLOW MY HALF MARATHON TRAINING:::
:::Our Adoption Journey:::
Evan James was born 1/24/13 and matched with us 2/20/13. The LOVE OF MY LIFE!!!
:::Our Adoption Journey:::
Evan James was born 1/24/13 and matched with us 2/20/13. The LOVE OF MY LIFE!!!
Re: If you've run a race at Disney World...
We were slackers and probably booked 6 weeks in advance.
We stayed at the Pop Century Resort on-site. The pros are that it's cheap, and fairly new. The cons are that it's loud (it was hard to sleep the night before the race because of kids screaming outside at the pool) and far from everything (meaning long bus rides to the parks). Check which hotels are "host resorts" for the race weekend and stay there--they will have direct buses to and from the start/finish lines. We wound up having to take a cab because you can't transfer buses at 3 am.
I think I flew out Friday night, we did the expo and parks Saturday, Sunday after the race, and Monday and flew home Monday night. If I could do it again, I'd fly in Saturday morning, hit the expo and do a little light park-hopping, race Sunday morning, and then stay for 2-3 days after the race to do the parks. The day before the race we were worried all the walking would kill our legs, but it actually felt good to walk around after we were done with the half.
Make sure to buy the discounted park tickets after you register for the race. They can be tricky to find and buy online, but if you scout for them you and anyone in your party basically gets half off park admission. This pretty much paid for my race entry fee in and of itself.
two years!
after two losses, now happily expecting baby #1 09.16.12
Brie Fit Blog | BFP Chart
I'd definitely recommend staying at a host resort. The shuttle buses from the host resorts left as late as 4am and could get to the start village. Staying at a non-host resort (Pop Century) we had to leave the hotel at 3am. I definitely could have used the sleep! The host resorts do sell out, so I'd book at least 3-4 months in advance.
Due to my work schedule, we flew out first thing Saturday morning and flew home Sunday night. Not ideal. We went to the expo right after we checked in, then went to Magic Kingdom for a few hours. On Sunday, after the race I could have used some down time, but we had breakfast, then I showered and we headed over to Animal Kingdom for a few hours before leaving for the airport.
If we had the time, I would have done the parks on Saturday, maybe rested most of Sunday, then hit up the parks on Monday (or gone a few days earlier to spend more time in the park).
I ran the Disney Princess Half weekend before last, and it was awesome. I highly suggest planning well in advance, because rooms book up fast since there's usually more than one event going on at once. For instance, during the Princess Half, there was also a cheerleader/dance group competition, and I think a couple of other things too.
I'm planning on running the Wine & Dine Half this Fall, and will be staying at Pop Century since that's close to the start (will make the reservation when I register for the race). If you're planning on doing next year's Princess Half, I highly suggest staying at either Old Key West or Port Orleans. You'll be within walking distance of the corrals, so you won't even need to worry about transportation or parking or getting up super duper early.
I live within driving distance of WDW (2 1/2 hours from my house) so I didn't really need to worry about plane tickets, but I'm moving this summer so I figure I'll buy our plane tickets 2-3 months in advance, just so it's less to worry about.
I actually made a YouTube video about my first half marathon experience running the Princess Half. I can PM you the link if you like.
my currently-reading shelf:
<a href="http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/coastiemeg/?action=view
Hi! I ran the Disney Princess Half less than two weeks ago. We stayed at Pop Century, which wasn't a host resort for the race. I would recommend looking into a host resort, because they provide race day transportation. Since we didn't have transportation, I made my husband drive me over to the race at 3 am, because Disney scared us into potential road closures if we left much later than that!
We booked our trip in September, I believe. It actually was a family trip to Disney world with my in-laws and it just so happened that the race was when we would be there, so I signed up. I went to parks on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so I did go both before and after the race. This was my fifth half marathon, and I was able to walk around the parks after the race with no problem. I did see a bunch of people struggling that Monday around the parks with their race medals on. So I guess it all depends on what you think you could do/your body can handle after running.
One thing I would suggest is a rest day on the day of the race, or to maybe not have anything planned until that evening. I went back to my hotel after the race, showered, and went to parks until 10 pm that night. I was exhausted since I woke up at 2:30 am! Also, the day before the race, I went to bed at 9pm (which i think really helped).
The above is so me, too, but especially the bolded parts. After the race, I went back to my hotel, ate and showered, then took a two hour nap. I woke up refreshed, so I decided to head on over to Epcot and hung out there until close. It was nice to walk around with my medal and get congratulated by the cast members, and to stretch out my legs. I think I was less sore the next day because I walked around afterward. And I also went to bed around 9:30 the night before, but could just as easily have gone to bed earlier if I weren't so excited.
my currently-reading shelf:
<a href="http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/coastiemeg/?action=view
It was awesome getting congratulated everywhere you went! Even at the airport later that day, we bumped into other racers (we were all still wearing our medals) and they came over to congratulate me.
I booked the first week of December for the Princess in Feb. Rooms were already filling up at that time.
My cousin works at Disney so I got a great deal on the resort and she gave me some good advice. The less expensive resorts are a great deal if you're on a budget, but you have to expect them to be more crowded and when it comes to transportation, you often have to wait longer for that reason. That said, my friends stayed at one and they were very happy with it. The cheaper places also sell out faster.
Because I was going with my family and it was the first time for my 2 daughters, I stayed at the Beach Club. It was wonderful. There were only 3 of us on the bus on the way to the race. When my friends got there, their bus was packed!
The meal packages often go on sale and they're a great deal. You just have to keep checking to see when they're on sale. For $29/day, I got a restaurant meal, a quick service meal (both included dessert), a snack, and a refillable mug you could use at the resort for your entire stay. My first restaurant entree alone was $25, so it's well worth the price. We also ended up randomly getting upgraded to the Club level unexpectedly. I would probably not pay for that upgrade, but we got continental breakfast, snacks and appetizers and drinks in the evening all included and that was really nice.
I highly recommend doing parks after the race. I went 3 days early and it was a huge mistake for me. I spent way too much time walking all over the parks in the days before the race and it really hurt my race performance. I'm planning on doing another race, but I will be flying in the day before the race for the expo and staying a few days afterwards instead. I was sore and had some knee pain afterwards, but I was able to walk around the parks fine and to be honest, I think moving around helped me from being even more sore.
EDIT: One last thing ... I ended up doing the Retreat because my friends wanted to go all out. I ended up very glad I did because I think I would have frozen after the race otherwise. It was chilly and I was shivering. They provided breakfast, private potopotties and changing area, private bag check, and brunch after the race in a climate controlled tent. It was $99, but it was a really nice things in terms of comfort. I would have had to leave immediately after the race if I hadn't had that convenience.
I agree! I flew home two nights ago, and I wore my race shirt. Even then I bumped into other racers and we congratulated each other.
Buuut, be forewarned that wearing your medal could get you publicly called out. We were eating somewhere in Frontierland that afternoon, and one of the servers rang a big bell and made the entire restaurant stand up and clap for me.
It was cool, though. Some of the characters came up and congratulated me and took pictures in the middle of a parade!
two years!
after two losses, now happily expecting baby #1 09.16.12
Brie Fit Blog | BFP Chart
Not gonna lie, I would love that. I'm an AW, though, and don't embarass easily, so I would dig getting called out like that.
my currently-reading shelf:
<a href="http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/coastiemeg/?action=view
We book pretty last minute, about 4-5 weeks out. We stayed at the Royal Plaza, which is not to far from Downtown Disney, etc. It worked out fine, because the hotel had so many of us runners ask about a shuttle that they decided to put one together last minute for us. BUT the DH and I already decided that if/when I do the Princess or WDW Half again, we would like to stay at a host property to make the trip easier.
I agree with everyone about getting out there after resting, showering, etc.! I think it really helped me recover better! I still called it an early night but that was just because the time difference had kinda hit me :-)
2011-2012 Races
10/29/11 LA RockNRoll Min Half (5K) 42:58
12/4/11 Vegas RockNRoll Half 3:14:53
1/7/12 WDW Half 3:13:42
1/15/12 RnR AZ 2:55:27 (PR!!)
1/29/12 Tinkerbell 1/2 3:22:37 (To many picture stops!lol)
Me:32 DH:33
IFV w/ DE Only Option (On Hold For Now)
:::Our Adoption Journey:::
Evan James was born 1/24/13 and matched with us 2/20/13. The LOVE OF MY LIFE!!!
Usually August is when the new pricing comes out for the next year. I think you can call and book now for 2013 with 2012 pricing and they will adjust it later. Don't hold me to that though!
I just ran the Princess and it was amazing! I stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter which was a host resort so it made things a lot easier getting around. We flew in early Friday morning and went to the expo that afternoon. We spent Saturday and Sunday in the parks and flew home Monday afternoon.
I wish we could have stayed a few more days after the race to enjoy the parks, but it was all the time we had to get away. I felt I couldn't really relax and enjoy everything until after the race and then there wasn't much time left. But it still was a fun trip!