February 28, 2022

Disney Princess Run

 My neighbor, Meghan, convinced me to sign up for a 5K race in Disney World.  It was the Disney Princess Run, where everyone dresses up as their favorite princess for this fun run.  Granted, I had not participated in a race in maybe fifteen years, but how can you say no to Disney?  We left Thursday morning for a long weekend visit.  The race started at 5am on Friday and was through Epcot.  It was amazing!  I had not been to Disney since I was 10 years old.  We have a family trip planned to Disney World for October so this was my reconnaissance mission.  I can't wait to take the kids this fall!!
    
When we arrived Thursday, we took the bus to the Sports Center to pick up our shirts and number bibs.
  
Then we took a bus over to Disney Springs for lunch.  We actually had lunch at two different restaurants because everything looked so good!
   
   
We stayed at the Grand Floridian Resort.  It was beautiful!
  
   
   
   
We had a quick bite to eat at the resort's Tea Room before bed.
   
   
On the way back to our room, we were able to watch the fireworks show in Magic Kingdom just over the water.
    
  
We had to catch the bus from our hotel to the race at 3:45AM. 
   
   
   
Meghan's friend and her boyfriend were also staying at our resort for the race.
   
    
   
   
   
It was amazing going throughout Epcot at 5 in the morning!
   
   
    
   
    
   
After the race, we went to the Polynesian for breakfast.
   
   
   
The pool at our resort was beautiful!  Meghan and I waited for her friends to get ready while we sat by the pool.
   
We took the boat over to Magic Kingdom. 
  
    
I loved the castle!
  
  
    
With the pandemic, you cannot meet the characters.  Disney has these character cavalcades every few hours so you can at least see the characters.
   
   
   
   
We rode on a few rides.  The wait times were pretty long as so many people were in Disney for the race.
   
   
   
   
   
   
My favorite meal was at Be Our Guest.  The restaurant was made to look like the castle from Beauty and the Beast.  There was snow falling outside these windows.  We were able to see the Beast too!
   
   
   
My desserts were amazing!
        
   
    
   
   
I learned a lot about riding the monorail this trip.
  
Meghan had arranged a special event for us on the rooftop of the Contemporary Hotel.  We had an all you can eat tapas followed by fireworks on the roof.  It was a great view of the fireworks.
    
   
I tried all the desserts. 
    
   
  
We spent Saturday at Epcot.
  
   
   
   
   
  
  
We had breakfast in Paris.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
We had a snack in Morocco. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
We had dessert in Norway.