You're a Nice Vampire

So I was really hoping to finish my Krakow & Paris (otherwise known as Parkow) pictures and report before the latest Disney one, but it was not meant to be…

Great motivation for going to the gym? Signing up for a race! Great motivation for signing up for a race? Why a Disney race of course! Jana & I were already thinking about going to Disney and the race gave us a great excuse - I signed up for the 13K while Jana signed up for the 5K.

I arrived late Thursday and due to a plane issue Jana arrived early Friday morning. After some sleep, we were up and off to Animal Kingdom. It was hot, but not super crowded. We were able to do most of our favorites and took advantage of the extra magic hours before heading over to pick up our race packet. I do have to mention that after we rode Expedition Everest both of us looked at each other and said "It wasn't as scary as I remember. Stupid Paris!" The Paris Disneyland roller coasters were a bit more intense than their Disneyworld counterparts.

After picking up our race packets and shirts we headed over to Downtown Disney for dinner. Oh my word, dinner took forever! We were wandering through the stores afterwards when Jana glanced down at her watch and realized it was after 11. Both of us deflated after that so we caught the bus and headed back to the hotel.

This entire trip we didn't set the alarm, which was really nice! Not that we slept super late, but it was nice to take it easy in the morning and not rush. Today's agenda was Hollywood Studios and tonight would be the race! It was getting close to time to leave Hollywood (to get ready for the race) and we headed over to Rockin' Rollercoaster to use our fast pass. Afterwards, we had the same feeling of Paris was scarier. Don't get me wrong - it's still scary, it just wasn't as scary as it was pre-Paris. Walking away from Rockin' Rollercoaster we passed by my nemesis, Tower of Terror. I have been too scared to ride it in the past, but that was all about to change. It must have been the adrenaline, or Jana was really persuasive, or something, but before you knew it I was standing in line for Tower of Terror. Our ride operator was perfect - he had the creepy voice and movements down pat. Which resulted in me being scared out of my mind even before the ride started. Oh my word! Well, I did survive. Although I was ready for it to be done and it dropped us two more times. I immediately texted Michelle to let her know I had finally, finally, finally ridden the Tower of Terror. (Don't worry Michelle - I'll still ride it at Disneyland in December. You just might have to hold my hand!!! Hopefully it won't be scarier at Disneyland!!)

We finished up at Hollywood, went back to the hotel for a quick, light dinner before the race. And just like that we were back at Hollywood lining up to start the race. I said goodbye to Jana as the 5K started first. And then finally it was time for the 13K! I don't know if it was the leftover adrenaline from finally doing the Tower of Terror but I ran the first 2 miles, with just a brief water stop! That is definitely a first for me. Could I have pushed myself to 3 miles? Possibly, but at that point I had 6 more miles to go so I settled back into my run 4 songs, walk 1 pattern. I got to mile 7 and basically fell apart, I'm not sure why. Fortunately I only had a little over a mile to go and was able to run 1 song, walk 1 song until I saw the finish line which spurred me on. The park was still open so after drinking water and stretching we went to do a little Midway Mania. By the time we finished the ride and ate it was 2 a.m. and time for us to go home!

Magic Kingdom day! We had tickets to the Not So Scary Halloween Party later that evening so we packed our "costumes" and set off. The park was fairly empty, which was fantastic!! Most lines were 10 - 15 minutes at the most. We were walking back from Pirates when a very large, tall man passed us. It was Shaq himself! Enjoying some family time before basketball season. Pretty soon it was time for the Halloween party. We didn't go all out for costumes, we just got shirts that said "Princess" and a tiara and called it good. A lot of people really dressed up. A girl in front of us waiting to her her picture made with Cinderella's carriage was dressed up just like Cinderella! A little girl waiting in line with us informed the vampire behind us that he was a nice vampire, but then she looked at us gave us a disgusted look and told us we were not wearing costumes. Oops! We tried to time the Dumbo ride so we would be on the ride when the fireworks started but we were one ride off. We were getting into our Dumbo when the fireworks stopped. Oh well. We didn't stay to the end of the party as the combination of the late night and the race had us losing our magic before the clock struck midnight.

Epcot day! The park wasn't super crowded, but it was very hot! And there isn't a lot of shade in Epcot. As part of the food & wine festival, they have different acts come to sing and Boys II Men happened to be there when we were there so we got our Motown Philly on! There were also lots and lots of characters out, with short lines. We finished up Epcot and decided to head back to Magic Kingdom for extra magic hours. Unfortunately Toon Town was closed so we missed out on one of our favorites, Goofy's Barnstormer. Something for next time!

And just like that it was time to go back to reality. See ya real soon!