Savvy's Quarter Wine & Dine Marathon Week

Savvy's Wine & Dine Half Trip
DATES: 11/6/15-11/14/15
TRAVEL: EWR to MCO, Magical Express
RESORT: Yacht Club
PARTY: Me (27)
Mom and Dad (52) - My parents
UJ (50) - My uncle
Sis and ZB (24) - My younger sister and her boyfriend
HIGHLIGHTS: Wine & Dine Half Marathon, Food & Wine Festival, MVM X-Mas Party

PRE-TRIP REPORT

I'm writing this pre-report with much less gusto than I normally would. I'm three days away from a Disney trip, am in perfect health for the Wine and Dine Half, and looking forward to 8 days at my favorite resort. But sadly, I ended a 9 year relationship with my DBF on Halloween. It was a long time coming, but still; it's been a nasty shock to be gearing up for marriage and kids, and now suddenly, I'm starting all over again. It's making it hard to concentrate on much else, Disney trip included.

Regardless, this is a much needed trip, and I'm doing all I can to get some of the initial mourning out of my system before going away. Disney and running are two areas of my life that were largely absent of him; seeing as this trip focuses on both, I hope it will be therapeutic.

Moving on, this is my third Disney trip of the year, but the last two were short, fast-paced weekends centralized around Run Disney events. I have no regrets doing those, but I am looking forward to moving at a slower pace - not to mention enjoying a full-length vacation.

Highlights of this trip include running the W&D half marathon, which is a new one for all of us. I'm a little bummed it's a night race because we waste the whole day sitting around, resting. But whatever. It's a new course, and now that my Coast to Coast medal is hanging safely on my medal rack, I feel a lot less pressure about performing well. I inevitably end up with something hurting during my training, but this time I didn't get all worked up about it. Ideally I'm hoping to PR in preparation for WDW Marathon 2017, but given the size of Disney races, it would probably be easier for me to PR in a race closer to home anyway.

We'll also be attending Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party, which is again a new experience. Of course the first time in four years I'm not there for MNSSHP, they had the Hocus Pocus themed-stage show. I ended up watching that one on Periscope out of desperation.

So I really hope this party delivers; I'm totally your Christmas-music-starting-November 1st kinda girl, but MVMCP seems a little lackluster compared to MNSSHP. The Savvy's arent big on fireworks or parades with Boo to You being the one exception so I basically have free cookies and hot chocolate to look forward to. I suppose that's not true...I will genuinely enjoy seeing the decorations. I really hope some of the resorts have theirs up too before we leave. We only did Disney once around Christmas time, and I was too young to remember most of it.
Sis also registered us for a quick W&D seminar on Sunday afternoon, which is hosted by the executive chef of World Showcase...I think? I just know it's an hour-long, and he'll be preparing a beef dish. For $15 I'm not expecting much.

DAY 0/1 - WELCOME HOME

On Monday I got a nasty surprise when I was eating a Fiber One brownie and bit down on something hard - something which had no place in a diet brownie. That's what I get for trying to be healthier. The thing slipped out of my fingers and down the drain when I went to rinse it off, so there goes my plan of suing Fiber One for millions of dollars and moving to Golden Oak. The darn tooth hurt on and off all week, but I was too swamped to make a last minute dentist appointment. I did have sensitivity from using white strips the week before, so I crossed my fingers and hoped the pain was just that.

I packed slowly over Tuesday and Wednesday night. I dreaded having to walk around Florida in jeans and sweatshirts, but the forecast was in our favor. I threw in mostly shorts, only one pair of jeans and a few workout capris just in case I was thrown off guard like I was at Princess weekend; you only have to freeze your buns off in MK once to learn from that mistake.

On Thursday morning I tossed everything into the car and drove my dog over to (ex) DBF's parents' house. Despite the break up, his mom loves my dog and takes such good care of him. After the stress of the following week, it was nice to have one less thing to worry about. That done, I drove to work, where I had to present a training session I'd been working on to some higher up's, and it went pretty well. So that was good, and it made the day fly by. I drove to my parents' straight from work, followed soon by my uncle (UJ), Sis, and her boyfriend, ZB. We all had pizza and filtered into bed. I showered and was up later than I would have liked, getting about 4 hours of sleep. But hey, I'd take 4 hours of sleep the night before a Disney trip over 8 hours sleep before any work day.

I shared a room with Sis and ZB, and someone's alarm went off at 2:15, so that was it for me. The house was soon like the scene from Home Alone when they're all packing for Paris. Everyone (but me, it seemed) was wide awake, chatting, running around, and lugging suitcases downstairs. UJ had brought coffee cakes for breakfast, but I passed. It was way too early.

We were in three separate cars by 3:30 and had an easy ride to Newark. UJ split off as he was flying out of a different terminal. Dad and ZB dropped us girls off with the bags and brought the cars to a nearby lot. Jet Blue still hadn't opened their check in counters by the time they got back, so we sucked it up and paid the curb-side guy $2 a bag to be on our way. Once through security, I grabbed some Kashi twig-cereal and low fat milk for breakfast.

I hoped to watch Inside Out on the flight, but Jet Blue had a crappy selection of movies. I mostly read my book while listening to Animal Planet in the background. There's not much on at 6 am. The flight was good as flights go, though my free Dunkin' coffee did aggravate my tooth badly enough to make it throb throughout the day. I fought the urge to freak out and kept looking at in the mirror to make sure it wasn't dead or something. Mom slapped my hand away the tenth time I did it.

We landed around 8:45, and as we walked past the window, we saw that we'd flown in a NY Jets-themed plane. It was pretty cool looking but I can't figure out why Jet Blue would have a Jets plane? Sponsorship maybe? I'm sure the NY Jets themselves fly in something a little more luxurious.
Anyway, we had perfect timing meeting UJ and walked right onto a Magical Express bus. After stopping at Caribbean Beach, Boardwalk, and the Beach Club, we were finally dropped off at Yacht Club. I'd been in a sort of indifferent mood up until this point, but I felt myself physically relax the moment I stepped into the lobby. I was home.

We had purposely not done online check in because Dad always asks for a free upgrade. But with two rooms at 8 nights apiece, that wasn't happening. My room was a continuing reservation because bounce back was blacked out the first two nights of our stay. So when the CM said we could stay in the same room the entire stay, and that it was also connecting to Mom and Dad's room, I was more than satisfied. The rooms weren't ready, so we changed into shorts, checked carry-ons with bell services, and had a quick second breakfast at Ale and Compass.

Next up was catching a bus to the expo. The wait wasn't too long, but I'm never doing day 1 of an expo ever again. There was much more merchandise than I'm used to seeing - but ditto for the crowds and lines. There was a gigantic line just to pick up pre-paid merchandise, and since I had ordered a jacket, I shuffled into it. Unfortunately for me, it appears the memory I have of ordering said jacket is not a real one. They had no record of my order, and I couldn't find the receipt anywhere within my email. Even after coming home and searching my credit card statements, I came up with nothing. I must have gotten distracted just before placing the order and forgot to go back and finalize it. At the end of the day I'm not too bummed because the jacket itself was stupid. Sure it says "Wine and Dine Half Marathon" on the chest (small letters), but the main logo is a big picture of a Run Disney sneaker. I mean why don't you put like...I don't know...a wine glass on it? It just kind of felt like people were paying $70 to advertise Run Disney sneakers.

Back in the main expo, Mom and I each picked out shirts for the run from Raw Threads. I have WAY too many shirts from them, but I can't help it. They're so darn comfy and cute. This time I got a gray racerback that says something like "I run for wine - 13.1." Dad being Dad couldn't get the New Balance queue thing to work on his phone and was ushered in to get shoes without waiting. I don't know what it is with this guy, but he has a knack for cutting corners without getting in trouble for it. He's like a big kid. Once he got his new sneakers, we regrouped and left.

We caught a bus to the Poly then took the monorail to Magic Kingdom, which I was thrilled to see had Christmas decorations up. I'll admit it was a little weird to hear Christmas music on November 6th, and in 93 degree weather nonetheless. But I'll take it.

Everyone was hungry, and since Pecos Bills is no longer serving up burgers, we went to Cosmic Ray's instead. We haven't been here in a few years, so it was a nice change-up. Sonny was repeating himself every 20 minutes though, which got a bit old, but I enjoyed the grilled chicken sandwich I got. While eating, Dad got his room text, but mine never came. I hoped they were really connecting.

We used FP's to ride Buzz, and since dinner was so early and the park so crowded, that was pretty much it for rides. We toured the new hub and browsed the Emporium, then caught a boat to the Wilderness Lodge.

The Wilderness lobby never fails to amaze me. We stayed here once a few years ago, and I absolutely loved it. I can't get Mom and Dad to separate from Stormalong Bay, but somehow I want to make it back to this resort again. Anyway, we had dinner reservations at Whispering Canyon Cafe in about an hour, so we went for drinks at the Territory Lounge. In an attempt to change things up, I ordered a Sidecar Noir, Fireball with orange juice. Woo-fa. That thing had a punch to it. Think I'll stick to wine from now on.

Dinner was less enjoyable. I am not a person who likes shenanigans and/or attention while I'm eating. Despite its poetic name, Whispering Canyon delivers a lot of both; we saw a lot of ketchup transportation, people being put in jail, and one little boy who was repeatedly urged to sit next to a girl his age at the next table - and in my opinion, he was urged far past the point where it was obvious he was embarrassed. I was in no mood and insisted on keeping the little flippy thing on red. Of course when the waitress came over, she wanted to know why we had her on red, and Dad was quick to rat me out as the culprit. At her goading, he reached to flip it over, but I smacked his hand hard enough that everyone got the picture and left me alone.

I know, I'm a killjoy. And I promise, I'm not going to make this report a dumping ground for my post-break up flood of emotions, but yeah sure, that had something to do with my reaction that night. The tolerance meter was at 0. Sob story done, I promise.

I didn't care much for the food either. That's to say, I wasn't feeling gluttonous enough to order the all-you-can-eat skillet, and I didn't like the other entrees. I settled for a quesadilla appetizer which was very yummy but typically not the kind of food I'd eat a lot of. We also got an order of cornbread for the table, and I had a hard time not grabbing more pieces of that. The yee-haw atmosphere got too annoying after a while, so I excused myself a few minutes early and waited for them in front of the lobby fire place.

Our wait for the return boat wasn't too bad, but all the lights along the dock were crawling with insects, as was the boat that pulled up. That was really gross. Once back at MK, we ran to catch a Yacht bus, and after getting my room number, Mom, UJ, and I closed the night down at Beaches and Cream. I was very sad to learn coffee ice cream is no longer on the menu and has since been replaced with cookies and cream. Mom and I should have shared one sundae but ordered one each without thinking, and both were tossed half-finished. We never learn.

Sis texted me, complaining the room was "literally a mile away" and that one of the Resort TV channels had changed. She was right about the room. We were on the very far end of the resort next to the Dolphin and had a solid three minutes walk from the elevator. The new TV channel I did like though. It has nice graphics and played a mix of instrumental Disney songs and Christmas songs. I fell asleep so quickly tonight.

DAY 2 - WINE AND DINE HALF...HALF MARATHON

I woke up around 8 and couldn't remember the last time I slept so well. A quick trip on the balcony showed a view of a little pond and revealed that it was very hot and humid out. Not a good indicator for race conditions tonight. Back inside, I jumped when something came sliding under the door - it was a Magical Express pickup notification! These people were trying to kick me out after a day. A quick call to ME confirmed this was a fluke resulting from our continuing reservation, and we were good to go for actual pickup day.

After showering, Dad, Sis and I took an easy stroll around the Boardwalk and met the others in time for breakfast at Cape May Cafe. We were visited by Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. Everything was delicious, and I ate a little too much, but I was ok with that. My appetite had been absent the past week, and it was nice to have it back again.

UJ went off on his own, and Mom and Sis went off to tour Disney Springs and take a boat ride to Riverside. I was planning to go with them, but despite sleeping well, I was somehow tired again after breakfast. I decided to stay back at the hotel with Dad and ZB. I lounged around with a cup of coffee back upstairs for a while, relaxing and updating the report before meeting the two of them down at the pool. The water was just a tad too chilly, and the hot tub too hot, so I spent most of the afternoon reading my book in the shade and drinking a ton of water. I grabbed a plain chicken sandwich from Hurricane Hanna's for lunch, and later a single scoop cone from Beaches, which I ate on a bench, looking at the lighthouse.
Everyone converged back in the rooms for a very boring rest session before the race. I can't nap, so I was pretty bored. ZB was not running and had relatives in town, so he went off to meet them. The rest of us left at 7:20. Mom, Dad, Sis, and I made it right on the bus, but poor UJ was jogging to catch up just as the driver pulled away from the curb. The Mears attendant attempted to get the driver to stop, but he shook his head at her. You know how they are with the bus rules, no exceptions. I felt so bad, but luckily another pulled up just a few minutes later for him.

I don't know what was going on with the traffic, but the bus stopped just 30 seconds away from the entrance to WWoS and sat there for 20 minutes. We were finally dropped at 8 pm and somehow found UJ just after bag check. I was happy to see the bag inspection is a normal procedure at all events now.

I was getting excited as we waited around for race start. Run Disney had put up the red warning flag for poor heat conditions, so I'd already accepted I wouldn't get a PR tonight. But it was the first time in quite a while that I was genuinely happy - the crowd's energy and the anticipation for running a new course was just overwhelming.

Dad and I went back for one last bathroom break. As we returned to the main area, a really cold, really strong breeze hit us. The kind of breeze that only in Florida makes me stop and say "Oh no." Sure enough, everyone had their phones out, tracking radar on a gigantic storm. It looked like a giant red glob surrounding the tiny dot that was Lake Buena Vista.

Slightly nervous, we walked toward the corrals and split from Mom and UJ, who were further back. Dad, Sis, and I parked ourselves under a very sparse tree and hoped for the best. Around 9:15, just a few minutes from corral entry time, a guy with a megaphone announced that we were being evacuated due to severe weather. Groan.

The wind was really picking up, and we power-walked nearly half a mile to the baseball stadium. It was obvious that the thousands of people farthest from the stage had no idea an evacuation was happening. We tried to spread the word as we passed, and I called Mom to make sure she'd heard. She and UJ were waiting in line for the port-o-John's and had no idea before my call.

So. The only thing worse than waiting around a parking lot in the heat is waiting around in the few sheltered portions of a baseball stadium in the heat with a few thousand other people. Which we did for about an hour with no way to hear whatever they were trying to announce. I couldn't even see if it was raining, which by the way, it never did. By some miracle we did meet up with Mom and UJ. Everyone was on their phone, causing too much interference for me to follow updates on social media. Disney never misses an opportunity to make a buck, so they even opened the concession stands in the stadium. Regrettably, I did pull out the gummy bears I'd been saving for mile 8 and gobbled them down.

Around 10:15 there was finally a huge cheer and movement for the doors, which we followed happily.

Naturally people were clucking and spreading rumors as everyone walked back to the corrals. I didn't want to believe it when I heard a woman say the course had been cut short. I grabbed my phone in a panic and checked Facebook, which did confirm the race would start at 10:45 with a shortened course, cutting out Animal Kingdom. In an instant, all my happiness just fell away.

Now don't judge me. I'd love to be one of those optimists who remembers we're all here for a good cause and is just happy to be here, but I like to keep it real. I was upset. I was SO looking forward to running through Animal Kingdom. Not to mention how many hours and Sunday mornings I'd given up training. I just really wanted a little morale boost after my breakup, and a half marathon was a guaranteed way to do that.

Anyway, we were finally allowed into corral E, and the hosts announced that the course was in fact being cut by six miles. Six. As in half. There was a large round of booing, and you could tell the poor host was having a bad night. He basically reprimanded us for booing and said to stop yelling at him. And sure he's right, it's not his fault, but he remained cranky as he was doing crowd interviews; he asked this one guy with 13 Run Disney races under his belt which was his favorite, and the guy responded "Not this one." The crowd groaned in response, and the host confirmed all the pixie dust was in fact gone for the night. I can laugh about that now, but not so much that night.

Sis and I were cranky and anxious to just get this thing over with. It was too hot for Dad, so we said our Good Lucks and Goodbyes just before our fireworks, which went off at 11:15. Sis set us off at WAY too fast a pace at 9:00 min/mile, which is a minute faster than our average. The heat was overbearing, so we didn't last long at that pace. Honestly, I was so exhausted that I don't remember most of the course. It had been changed to run us directly to Hollywood Studios, and I didn't focus on much else other than trying not to vomit. I do remember seeing the green army men, and one obnoxious DJ who was joking that we'd "taken a short cut and were missing a lot of cool stuff in Animal Kingdom." What the ...fudge? Seriously. I wanted to punch him. And passing the 8 mile marker after less than 30 minutes made me feel like such a cheater.

Things got a little more exciting once we made it into Hollywood Studios. It's always such a cool experience going through a park when it's closed, and you have to love the volunteers and cast members who are standing there cheering you on. Marathonfoto also got some nice shots of us with Tower or Terror and Rock'n Rollercoaster in the background. Then came the really redeeming part, running through the Osbourne lights. This was something I haven't experienced since I was very young, and we were sharing the space with just a few other runners. Between the lights themselves and the music, this was truly a spectacular scene. We slowed down to a walk to enjoy the moment and take pictures. I really, really enjoyed this.

We exited the front of the park and followed the path we normally take back to the Yacht Club. They had these neat colored lights sitting on the water, which added to the ambiance and provided necessary light. We crossed the bridge by Swan and Dolphin and looped by Yacht, where Sis made a quick detour to get a good luck kiss from ZB, then moved past Beach and into Epcot's backstage. After a quick detour through Future World, we were approaching the finish. I felt a mixture of emotions here: happiness, disappointment, but mostly exhaustion and relief that it was over.

We high-fived chef Mickey as the announcer called out both our names and crossed the finish line. We got our medals, some much-needed chill towels, and our snack boxes. While we had all agreed to meet by the changing booths, we knew we were the first ones in and decided to sit on the pavement just past the exit chute to find them as they came out. I felt so sick as we sat there. I chugged my water and attempted to down all the Powerade, but the sugar repulsed me in my current state. We just picked at the snack boxes...I'm sorry to complain, but they're a lot worse than they used to be. And since the cost of registration continues to come up, I think I'm entitled to squawk about that a bit. I only at the small bag of corn chips.

After sitting there for 30 minutes and beginning to worry that we hadn't seen Dad, I realized we were sitting at the finish chute for people who hadn't checked bags. Which of course, all three of them had. With a groan, we pushed ourselves up and walked over to the changing tents, where we quickly found Dad and UJ. Sis waited around a while but left to find ZB, who'd been waiting over an hour for her at the after party. Mom showed up almost an hour after I finished. I didn't mind that, but I lost the rest of my energy while waiting.

I have to admit, Run Disney did a great job with the evacuation and re-coralling process. Moving 14,000 people to and fro is no easy task.

But.

The process of getting into Epcot for the after party was an EIPC disaster. Crowds were herded like cattle into and through the free beverage chutes, then again for security and another bag check. It literally took us 40 minutes to traverse this quarter mile into the park. I was SO exhausted and cranky, I skipped my free beverage and just wanted to go to bed. Once in the park, I waited another 20 minutes to use the bathroom because a lot of women had decided to skip the designated changing tent and do a full change in the stalls. Mom and UJ went off to ride Spaceship Earth and get food from the party.

Dad and I were both done. Despite promising Mom I'd stop somewhere for food, we walked straight back to the hotel. The lines were crazy at every Food and Wine booth. Exhaustion trumped hunger. We trudged back to the room, where I showered, snacked on some Goldfish, and collapsed into bed just as Sis and ZB came back.

I slept really, really soundly.

DAY 3 - FOOD, FOOD, FOOD

I could have slept in, but we had breakfast reservations, and I had to re-check us in for our continuing reservation. I threw on some comfy clothes and made the mile walk downstairs. I first made a quick stop to the concierge to see if we could push breakfast back, but they had no open reservations. I texted everyone to apologize and confirm breakfast was 9:40 at the Captain's Grille, then moved onto the front desk to check us in. They had to take my credit card again and reset all three of our Magic Bands.

Mom didn't want a big meal, but everyone else was prompt meeting downstairs. Normally Captain's Grille is one of your best bets for a walk-up meal, but there were a ton of people waiting to get in this morning. We were sharing the hotel with some sort of doctor's convention, and a lot of them seemed to be here this morning. We had to wait 20 minutes to get in the door.

Dad ordered a small meal because his stomach was bothering him, but the rest of us got the buffet with omelets. I barely ate anything after that exhausting evening, so got myself two plates this morning, focusing on a good deal of protein. There's protein in bread pudding, right? Cuz I had a lot of that. :rolleyes:

After changing back upstairs, we met with Mom and walked into Epcot. Mom and UJ wanted to look in the art gallery, so we went there first. Despite Mom's protestations, Dad was obsessed these 1,000 piece puzzles. I agreed to buy him one for Christmas, mostly as an excuse to use the Shop Disney Parks app for the first time; it was a convenient, albeit addicting little thing that allowed me to scan the puzzle, enter my credit card info, and arrange to have it ready for resort pickup tomorrow. Not so different than regular resort pick-up, but once you've entered your credit card once, you just take a picture and go. A little dangerous.

We had our Food and Wine seminar in less than an hour and were still a little sluggish. So after a quick stop by the Land to get Mom a pretzel, we walked around the Festival Center. By 12:45 people were lining up to get first pick of tables, so we filed in and chatted with the people behind us about the race last night. One woman said that someone had died at a Rock 'n Roll Half in Georgia yesterday because of the humidity; I guess we really shouldn't be complaining about a shortened course.

They let us into the seminar, and we snagged a table for 6. We were quick to grab our glasses of wine, toast, and prepare to drink, when someone pointed out the wine was there to accompany the meal. This is why we can't do nice things.

Resigned, I set my glass down and listened patiently as the emcee introduced the executive chef of Epcot and an author/official Disney food blogger. Unfortunately, those two barely spoke the whole time they were cooking, and we were subjected to the emcee's phony, public-service-television spiel for the majority of the session. They began passing around the dish for us to sample, quinoa salad and "Patagonia salmon." I lost count of the number of times they said the word "Patagonia." That aside, the meal was tasty, and I did really like the wine, which was one of the festival whites. For $15, the seminar was a pretty good deal. But Dad and I spent way too much time muttering sarcastic comments and were probably too immature to appreciate it. I may or may not have finished Mom's untouched wine.

Next up was using our FPs on Soarin'. UJ made his own FPs so he went off on his own, and Mom headed back to the pool. Sis and ZB ran off somewhere after the ride, so that left me and Dad. We decided to head back but hit a few Food and Wine Booths along the way since they were pretty empty. We started with the frozen chocolate almond truffle from the Chew Lab, which was basically chocolate mousse firmed up for a few seconds in liquid nitrogen. What was cool was that we got to watch them scoop it out and toss it into the nitrogen, then top it with a whiskey caramel sauce and some sort of crumbly stuff I couldn't identify. The truffle itself was delicious but too rich to finish.

Dad also grabbed a truffle butter filet from Canada, which was to die for. At the last minute I got a cheese plate from Ireland and gobbled up the Dubliner, which is one of my guilty pleasures back home. I wrapped the other two pieces up to bring back for Mom and Sis, and we walked back to Yacht. We changed into our bathing suits and spent the next few hours at the pool. At some point I got a sangria from Hurricane Hanna's, but they've switched over to a box sangria and - pardon my language - it really sucks. It's watery and just makes me super sleepy.

After showering and changing we walked back to Epcot an hour before dinner reservations at Rose & Crown. They went inside to get drinks; I didn't care for the rowdy crowd or the idea of having another drink, so I snagged one of the little tables outside for everyone. Poor Mom was ridiculed by the bar tender when she asked for a Coors Light, so she walked down to one of the F&W booths until she found a suitable beer.
I wasn't particularly looking forward to this meal, but it never occurred to me they might have Indian options on the menu. I decided to take a risk and get the chicken masala, and was even persuaded to order the recommended Riesling to go with it. The meal came with veggies, rice, naan, and some sort of white goop I managed to avoid. And you know what? I think this was my favorite meal of the trip. Sis and Mom were a little turned off by the smell of the curry, but I had to force myself not to eat the whole thing. The wine was good too.

And in true Savvy style, everyone split up again. Mom and I walked around the countries for a while and rode the Three Caballeros. I fought some feelings of sadness as the night went on, something I unfortunately got in the habit of doing almost every night on this trip. I think it was realizing I had no one to check in with at the end of the night, and not having anyone waiting at home for me.

Anyway. We didn't last too long and went back to bed.

DAY 4 - MK AND STORMALONG BAG

I wanted to get out for a run this morning but slept until 7:30 instead. UJ was going off on his own so the five of us went down to Ale and Compass for a light breakfast. I got rice krispies, coffee, and noshed a bit of a chocolate chip muffin with Mom. I had chosen a bad sock/sneaker combination and decided to jog all the way back to the room to change into something more comfortable while everyone else finished. We had to jog to catch a MK bus, and I finished my coffee on the drive over.

We arrived just as a ferry pulled up, and security was performing noticeably thorough bag checks, so it took a little while to get in the park. A few more Christmas decorations were up, and there were some official-looking people walking around, apparently planning for the Christmas parade taping. My app showed a 15 minute wait for Haunted Mansion, though the sign said 20 by the time we got there, and in reality it ended up being 30. A woman I dubbed Plastic Surgery Face managed to sneak her family past ours in the line, which was a bit annoying, as it was when people spent too much time playing in the cemetery.

Moving on. We used our next FPs on Peter Pan, then walked into the Tiki Room. Sorry, I do miss the "New Management" version with Iago and Zazu. This is one of my favorite attractions, and I know the original version gets points for being a Walt original, but it's not very relateable for modern audiences.

We used FPs to get on Pirates. Dad went back to the hotel to jump on a few conference calls while Sis and ZB joined the Standy By queue for Big Thunder. Mom and I browsed the Main Street shops and got fudge and a cake pop (yum) from the confectionary. We also watched the artist make glass-blown ornaments; the most amazing part of that is how easy she makes it look. Here I am still babying a 2nd degree caramel burn I gave myself a few weeks ago, and she's pulling molten glass out of a huge oven and rolling it around into different shapes as if it were clay.

We met Sis and ZB back at the Jingle Cruise to use our last FPs of the day. This overlay was super cute and well done, and while I really enjoyed the tarantula with the Santa hat and beard, Sis almost lost it when the thing jumped. As for the ride itself, I loved the added decorations and appreciated the modified speech from the skipper...though it does get a bit old doesn't it?

Mom went off to get lunch from the Harbor House. Us three hopped on a Boardwalk bus and pursued lunch there. They each got a slice of pizza from the pizza window, but at $7 a slice, I thought that was stupid expensive, even for Disney. I went into the bakery and got a two-cheese focaccia, which was basically pizza on focaccia bread. But at $11 even after passing on the side, I guess I'm the one who came out looking like a dummy. I carried it back to the room with us and ate it there while updating my report. Dad was just jumping on his call next door, so I followed Sis and ZB down to the pool for a few more hours of relaxation.

Seriously, I love Stormalong Bay so much. I'm not the kind of person who can spend an entire vacation on a lounge chair, but a few hours here every day is gold.

Mom came back after a while and split a Beaches sundae with me. I'm not sure if they changed the type of plastic bowls they use, but all this trip I noticed the hot fudge was warping them. The one we got today actually had holes melted into the bottom, with the ice cream leaking out. We don't like to complain, so we made due with a few extra napkins.

At some point someone had an accident on the water slide, so the main pool area was shut down for about an hour. It reopened just as Dad made it down. We didn't last much longer as it was actually starting to get dark, which was a first for me. We usually visit before the Daylight Times switch over.

We went back up to shower and change for dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse. Our aunt had sent us a gift basket with champagne and a Mickey Mouse mug for each of us, so we pre-gamed with those before heading down to Crews's Cup. I wasn't wasting money on that gross sangria again and went with a cabernet instead. Once seated at dinner, we got a bottle of Merlot for the table; I was a little giggly by the end of the night.
I ordered the filet and was hoping to get the truffle fries, but they've since been replaced with malt vinegar fries. Our waiter assured me they're not overly vinegary so I tried them, and was very happy that I did. The steak was so good it was ridiculous, and the sides we got were amazing as well: truffle mac 'n cheese and squash and brussell sprouts. For dessert ZB and I split the chocolate peanut cake with caramel gelato. It was good, but the gelato was really more butter scotch than caramel, which I didn't care for.

We called it a night and went to bed after dinner.