Fall brings many events to Orlando from the Halloween events of Not So Scary and Horror Nights to Epcot’s International Food and Wine Festival. One of my favorite events is the Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend. In 2014, I ran the Jingle Jungle 5K, which was my first RunDisney race, and in 2016, I ran the Inaugural Lumiere’s Two Course Challenge, which saw the former Saturday night race move to Sunday morning and add in a Saturday morning 10K. This year I decided to keep the streak going and signed up for my fourth Challenge Race to run both the Wine and Dine 10K and Wine and Dine Half Marathon for a total of 19.3 miles. This would be two more notches on my 30 by 30 plan, that I now have to rethink due to Disney canceling all the West Coast races for the foreseeable future.
This would be a smarter decision if I was capable of staying on a training schedule. I am not. I draw up really pretty schedules and charts in my bullet journal, then never make it past the first run. (Sometimes I don’t even do the first run.) So November 3rd saw Jay and I heading to the Expo for packet pickup and the last time I went running was during Hurricane Irma. Treadmills for the win.
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]When the Wine and Dine Half Marathon was a night race, it ended at Epcot where the Food and Wine Festival was still open. When it moved to a morning race last year, they added the Post Race Party in the evening starting at 10:00 p.m. I didn’t make it last year because I was exhausted from the run and didn’t feel like driving back to Epcot to go to a party by myself. [/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”true”]
[/lgc_column]Party admission is included with the Half Marathon or Challenge registration, but has to be purchased separately for anyone else. I was determined to change that this year. For weeks I had been debating if I should buy Jay a ticket to the party or simply sign him up for the race since I was looking at spending $80 for just the party or $199 for the party and the race. He was game for either, but as time ticked closer to the start date I never had the spare funds to swing registration so we decided to just get him a party ticket at the Expo.
Silly Chelsea, things never go according to plan.
We arrived at ESPN Wide World of Sports early Thursday afternoon and headed for the Field House. I’m used to everything always being in the same place, but RunDisney seems to like messing with me at the moment. Packet pickup was still in the Field House, but you went left instead of right and everything was upstairs. The only thing downstairs was the Official RunDisney store. I remembered to print my waiver in advance this time, but had forgotten it at home and had to stop and reprint it. Picking up my Bib was a breeze and we started to head out of the building, until I noticed a sign that read “Last Minute Registrations”. I stopped dead in my tracks and I swear it was like my ears perked up like a puppy. I looked at Jay, “Wanna run with me?”
Apparently registering at the eleventh hour for a RunDisney race actually is fairly simple as long as the race is not sold out. They had us sign him up on our phones like normal and then he just showed them his driver’s license. They had preprinted waivers to fill out and bibs ready to go, just without his name on it. Instead of having a detachable part for shirt pick up, there was a sticker for them to cross out. The whole thing took about ten minutes. My only complaint is he got put in the last start corral, but I really shouldn’t have expected anything else. That was probably all that was left. I’d have to move back to run with him, but that was a small sacrifice to make.
I decided not to bother going downstairs to look at the Official RunDisney merchandise since I never actually buy anything, and we headed outside. We stopped into Will Call to pick up Jay’s Post Race Party ticket and $15 gift card, which took no time at all. I grabbed a brochure for the Post Race Party and I was super excited when I saw how many characters would be out. It also listed The Adventurers Club as entertainment and I found myself intrigued. The Adventurers Club was an old part of Pleasure Island, and my friends frequently talk about it like I should know what it is.
We then headed to the J Center to get our shirts. I picked up my three long sleeved shirts, and Jay got his one. I knew mine would fit but I had Jay try his on over his shirt to be sure. We rounded the corner to head toward the exhibit booths and found none other than Mickey Mouse waiting for us. We hopped in the extremely short line and it was our turn in about five minutes. Mickey was so excited when I told him it was Jay’s first RunDisney race!
We headed back for the car with one last stop for the traditional photo with the medal backdrops outside. We were about halfway home when Jay finally had it sink in what he had just gotten himself into. I don’t train because I’m semi-lazy and my work schedule makes it hard to make time for running, but at least I know what I am capable of on a RunDisney course. Jay hadn’t been for a run since the Color Run 5K in March, and that was his first race ever.
“I have to keep how short of a mile?”
“A sixteen-minute mile.”
“Oh, I can do that.”
“Except you have to go faster if you want to see characters.”
“How much faster?”
Cue evil laughter.
Friday was an easy day that involved a much-needed trip to the grocery store and seeing Thor: Ragnarok. (Two thumbs up, highly recommend.) I laid out all my clothes for the race, and duck taped the apron to make it short enough to run in. Then I went to bed around ten to try to get some sleep before my alarm went off at 2:20 a.m.
No alarm should ever go off that early, but such is the RunDisney life.
I arrived at Epcot around 3:45 a.m. and went straight for the buses. Security laughed at me because apparently my Running Buddy isn’t big enough to count as a bag. Call me crazy, but if it’s big enough to hold a pocket knife, it should count. The ride over to the Ticket and Transportation Center went quickly, and I was there a few minutes after 4:00 a.m.
All the character lines were HUGE. I hadn’t seen them this long since Wine and Dine last year. Even Darth Vader’s line wasn’t as long as Mickey and Minnie’s. I jumped in line anyway since I didn’t have much else to do and I thought being in line would be warmer than being in the open air. It was freezing, and I was grateful I’d swapped my shorts for capris, but wished I’d found my space blanket.
The characters were being pulled at 5 a.m. to go to the Finish Line. My theory is that is so people would go to their start corrals on time. My friend Andria joined me and we caught up on things before we bailed the line around 4:55, a.m. since there were still about forty people in front of us. We headed for the start corrals with some other friends of hers and split off to go to our respective corrals. I made a swing by the bathrooms and went to Corral D.
There are two gentleman who are the Commentators for all the RunDisney races, and a woman who joins them sometimes. I’m really curious what they do the rest of the year. Their names are Rudy, John and Carissa. (Yes, I had to look that up.) They’re really funny and good at keeping the crowd’s energy up, but they say things that would get regular Cast Members eaten alive, like jokes about drinking at the Finish Line. My favorite thing I heard this year, I think it was Rudy who said it, but I could be wrong, was, “When you see couples crossing the finish line together, and they’re holding hands and you think ‘Aww, that’s so cute!’ That’s really just him making sure she doesn’t finish without him.”
They did the same thing with the start corrals for Wine and Dine that they did for Star Wars in having less corrals and sending people off in smaller bursts. I still don’t care for it, but it matters less on the 10K than it does the Half. I started at 5:53 a.m., thank you runner tracking. It didn’t take long before I was annoyed with the Chef’s Hat falling off my head, and I stuffed it in the pocket of my apron until I got to the parts of the course that would have Photopass Photographers.
It was the exact same course as the Star Wars 10K back in April, meaning the first three miles or so were basically empty, open road. There was a marching band cheering the runners on at the first turn, and then the first characters were somewhere between the second and third mile markers. I didn’t recognize the music playing until I saw them, but I don’t hear “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” too often. It was the Three Little Pigs! They’re rare so their line was fairly long, and I kept going. I met them way back during my College Program and got hug attacked by the Big Bad Wolf himself.
The course made the turn onto the ramp to Hollywood Studios, that I affectionately refer to as the “Death Turn” because it’s one of the only hills on the course and it’s at a terrible angle. Halfway up the hill was the 5K marker, and my time came in at a pace of just under fourteen minutes per mile. My Fitbit Charge 2 and Pokémon Go don’t get along so I’m reliant on RunDisney’s tracking text messages to gauge my time. At the top was a Green Army Man barking orders to keep running and taking photos. For some reason he’s always on a hill, and I’ve just learned to dislike the Green Army Men so much because of it.
The only good news about that stupid ramp is what comes up, must go down. Running downhill is my favorite. I made the turn into the Backstage Entrance to Hollywood Studios and found myself entering the Fantastmic amphitheater just behind Tower of Terror. I started to run down that hill as well and saw the longest line I had seen all day, and had to make it almost to the bottom to see who it was. I stopped dead in my tracks: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit had finally made his Walt Disney World debut!
For those unfamiliar with Oswald, he was Walt’s first character before Mickey Mouse. Walt found out he didn’t own the rights to his own creation, Universal did, which led to the founding of the Walt Disney Studios and creation of Mickey Mouse. Way to go, Universal, you created your own worst enemy. In 2006 Bob Iger was able to purchase the rights to Oswald back from Universal and the character began making regular appearances at California Adventure in 2014. As far as I know, November 4th was his first ever appearance at Walt Disney World and, despite scouring the internet, I haven’t been able to find any proof to the contrary.
I turned hard to go back up the hill, and almost ran into someone in my haste to get in line. I had almost made it to the back when I remembered that the course would repeat the next day, and Oswald would likely be out again with a much shorter line. I turned and kept going. I had made it past the entrance to Tower of Terror before I regretted my decision, but it was too late to turn back. For someone who doesn’t care enough about time to train, I hate stopping. It’s so hard to get going again!
I was in and out of Hollywood Studios in under ten minutes. As I headed out the front, I passed a group of people wearing Wizarding robes and carrying signs for the Hogwarts Running Club. I love the Hogwarts Running Club to begin with and the fact that they’re willing to get up that early on a Saturday to cheer people on is just amazing.
The course headed to the Boardwalk on the tiny, congested sidewalk. As I rounded a corner, I saw a bunch of people stopping to take a photo of the full moon over the Tower of Terror. Once again, I should have stopped but kept going since I didn’t want to deal with taking my phone out of my pouch and getting it back in.
Next to the Atlantic Dance Hall they had a group of four women on microphones cheering people on and posing for photos. I think they were supposed to be from a vineyard. Near the end of the Boardwalk was Genie in his Hawaiian shirt and Goofy hat. I think they bring him out for almost every race now.
The course headed backstage at Epcot behind France and brought the runners out beside the U.K. pavilion. I got a good look at some of the construction going on, and I’m curious to see what happens with the Ratatouille ride. I made the left turn that took me past Canada where Koda and Kenai from Brother Bear were out. I knew they were on the schedule for the Post Race Party so I continued. I really need to learn to care less about time and more about characters.
I made the turn by Spaceship Earth to go backstage towards the Finish Line and there was a Gospel Choir in the usual place singing their hearts out. One last corner and I could see the Finish Line, and I started running as hard as I could. I crossed the Finish Line with a time of 1:30:29 and a pace of 14:34 a minute. Not great, but not bad at all. I went to get my medal and they were doing that annoying thing where they just hand you the medal instead of putting it around your neck. IT IS AN EXPERIENCE DISNEY AND YOUR VOLUNTEERS KEEP RUINING IT. I appreciate their volunteering, and I get that it’s more work, but come on, do it right. Did Leia hand Luke his medal in Star Wars: A New Hope, or did she put it around his neck? I was waiting for the one girl who was actually putting them on people’s necks and the guy standing next to her kept trying to hand me a medal so I finally just took it because it was so awkward. When you add in Jay’s registration, I spent over $500 on these races. I WANT MY MEDAL ON MY NECK NOT IN MY HAND.
So I put my medal on my own neck and moved down to get my free cooling towel, snack box and Powerade. I should have taken a water too, since I finished the Powerade before I even made it to the character lines. I jumped in line for the Chipmunks since they’re my favorites after Mickey and Minnie and I wanted to save the mice for when I was with Jay. I finished off everything in the snack box before it was my turn for photos. Chip and Dale were proud of me, and Chip liked that I had a chef’s hat like them. Then I made my way back to my car so I could go home and take a nice long nap before getting everything ready for the Half Marathon.
Check out Part Two where Jay and I take on the Wine and Dine Half Marathon, and we see exactly how hard it is to run a race with only two and a half days notice!
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