Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

Yesterday we had an awesome day! In looking for area 5K races that I could possibly enter, I stumbled upon Disney's Marathon Weekend. Unfortunately, the 5K was full and so I could not enter. Fortunately, they were holding kid's races and they were not full. I signed up Konnor and Regan to participate in the kids' races. It was a blast!!!!

We got up at 5:30 AM and headed to Disney's Wide World of Sports. We arrived around 9AM and the place was quickly filling with very buff, athletic people (unfortunately, I did not fit in this category)! We picked up the kids' packets and I was so tickled that their racing bibs had their names on them! The races didn't start until 11 AM and so we spent the time running on the track, partying to the music, and taking pictures. Regan's race was first and she did much better than the Turkey Trot, but still wanted to hold my hand the entire time. Disney encouraged parents to run with their children because they were encouraing family fitness. It also helped since there were hundreds of kids running around and I wouldn't have sent her into the mob by herself anyway. We were the fourth and last heat of the 100 meter race and had a blast! Konnor was entered into the 400 meter and he was the third and final heat. He did awesome and had a great time! They didn't have awards because they were encouraging running for the joy of running and just having a good time. Each kid got a medal at the end of the race and also had their pictures taken. It was an awesome time. I want to do the Disney Princess 5K and Kids Fest races, but probably we won't get back up there again in March :(.

Following the races, my mom and I decided to hop on some Disney buses and wing it and see where they took us. Another great thing about Disney is that you can take the buses to just about everywhere on Disney property. We love bus hopping and exploring the Disney area. You can do all of this free of charge as long as you don't enter the parks. Jason and Jean decided they would rather go eat at a restaurant and so they went their own way. My mom and I had packed a lunch for us and the kids and so we hopped a bus from Disney's WWoS and headed to the Fort Wilderness Lodge and ate our picnic lunch. Regan really, really wanted to ride the monorail and so we hopped a bus to Epcot where we could pick up the monorail and take it to the Magic Kingdom ticket center. We then took the ferry to Magic Kingdom. We took another bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge where we got to see Zebras, giraffes, white pelicans and many more animals. We thought we were meeting Jason and Jean at Downtown Disney and so we headed down there to meet them. They had already left so we splurged on a quick snack (I love Disney's Rice Krispie treats!). We then had to take a bus from DTD to Pop Century Hotel where we admired the lobby before we headed to Hollywood Studios where we met Jason and Jean. For some odd reason, the only bus to WWoS is from Hollywood Studios via one of the hotels. Our final bus took us to our car and we hit the road at 6PM. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel and got home by 10PM, tired after a great day! Regan and Konnor had a blast and loved riding Disney buses. We loved just winging it and seeing new sights!