Disney Marathon Weekend

Thursday (Jan 7):

It is almost midnight on Wednesday, July 6. I've got to get up in a few hours to begin our journey to Orlando, FL for the 5th Annual Disney Marathon Weekend. 2:45 AM came way too early! At 4 AM I'm pulling up outside Kerry Page's house on the opposite end of town. An hour and a half later we're aboard a plane to Orlando.

We arrive delirious in Florida and, after spending a good 30 minutes trying to find out what we're doing, we jump onto a shuttle taking us to the Walt Disney Pop Century Resort at the far southern edge of the Disney World property. A budget motel it was--with a bit of Disney gusto: different buildings representing different decades from the 50's through the 90's. Each building had oversize icons representing what was popular during that timeframe: large bowling balls, a 60-foot-tall "Hot Wheels Big Wheel", laptop computer, cellphone, Rubik's Cube, et cetera. We'll just call it a spiced-up Motel 6. Good enough for a bunch of runners who plan to do little more there than sleep!

We immediately note that it is not warm in Florida this particular weekend--in fact, Orlando was seeing record lows while an arctic blast is hitting the rest of the nation. So much for those shorts!

Hours later Karen Evers arrives in Orlando with blood-shot eyes. Her first plane out of DIA had mechanical problems and the second flight was delayed.

Acquiring Karen (and with much to take care of), the three of us scurry off to the Disney Marathon Expo to pick up our race packets before the bulk of the crowd arrives.

At the expo we run into another Colorado Springs runner: Todd Norman. Todd joins the three of us as we then displace ourselves to Downtown Disney for dinner and drinks at Captain Jack's Seafood. The meal was rubbery, yet satisfactory (our stomach's were in such knots we really didn't care). While roaming downtown we run into Jesus Jimenez walking with an old friend of his. Jesus plans to meet us later at the hotel.

We then discover a comfy-looking Irish Pub (Raglan Road) and settle ourselves in for the evening.

[debauchery intentionally omitted]


Friday (Jan 8):

At some odd hour of the morning I recall opening my eyes just in time to see Karen and Kerry dash out the door for the 5K race that begins at 7 AM. Jesus and I opt to sleep in. Later that morning the girls awaken us and Kerry announces that she "won the race"! Kerry was the overall female winner! She even got some TV time I think!

Kerry, Karen, Jesus, and I decide that park day 1 of 3 will be spent at Epcot Center (one of four indepedent theme parks that make up Disney World). The park is partitioned into two main sections: Future World and World Showcase.

Future World is full of attractions--as well as inspiring entertainment and shows, all of which focus on technological advancements, innovation and wonder. The Epcot theme park icon, Spaceship Earth (the giant golf ball rising high above the horizon) welcomed us as we entered the park.

The World Showcase is a series of 11 pavilions that surround the central lagoon. Featured countries are Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada.

The Disney staff (referred to as "cast members" throughout Disney World) that work in each country that make up the World Showcase are actually from that part of the world to add to the overall feeling of authenticity.

We stopped in the U.K. for a beer/fish-and-chips break earlier in the day, a street skit outside of the Campanile of St. Mark's Square in Italy, and finally in Mexico to meet Mexican Donald and drink Tequila flights. Andiamo!

Being the adrenaline-fueled individuals that we are, it should be no surprise that we particularly enjoyed the attractions in Future World--namely "Mission: Space" and "Soarin" (one of Epcot's newest attractions). On "Mission: Space" the four of us took on the roles of Navigator, Commander, Pilot, and Engineer to fly a rocket into Space. We experienced G-forces very close to what real astronauts feel during lauch (~3 G's). The attraction "Soarin" simulates hand-gliding over various terrains simulating the rock of the glider, wind, and even the smell of orange fields.


At the end of the day we return to Pop Century Resort for some quick carb-loading. We then learn that Josh and Lauren Johnson, and Charlie Grumbine (all with the intentions of running only the full marathon) and Ai Lee Kuan (with the intentions of spectating) have just arrived in Orlando. Knowing what kind of partying we would be in for if we tried to track them down and given the amount of partying we had already done, we opted to quickly lock the door and hit the hay!

Saturday (Jan 9):

This marks the first serious race day: a half marathon through various parts of Disney World. Naturally this race has to begin well before the park opens (5:40 AM again), so Karen, Kerry, Jesus, and I are up and stirring at 3 AM--a whole 3-4 hours after we all finally put our heads to rest.

Before you know it we're just outside of Epcot Center listening to loud tech music...at 4 AM in the dark...in humid 31 degree weather. To add to the ambience, throw in some light sleet. We're at Disney World! We're pumped! Break out the white-boy dance moves!

Race begins promptly at 5:40 AM after a stage greeting from Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy--as well as a firework count-down. The four of us are off!

The half marathon took us through the Magic Kingdom and then back to Epcot for the finish. It was barely dawn when we completed--but there is something really cool about running through a fully-engaged theme park devoid of people. Some "cast members" were out greeting us and, in typical Disney style, in a really good mood!

Weather is less than desirable and we shunt the idea of hitting the parks in the afternoon. So the day ends with more exploration of Downtown Disney--along with dinner and drinks at the Rain Forest Cafe with the other Colorado Springer's.

-> 1:30:57 for the half--a PR by 3 seconds.


Sunday (Jan 10):

Serious race day number two is upon us. This time a full marathon through more parts of Disney World. Up again at a God-awful hour, we frantically throw on our apparel in time to catch the shuttle back to Epcot.

We're one person short this morning: Jesus, sporting a rolled ankle, reluctantly decides to skip the race and take on the spectator roll instead. We pick up Josh/Lauren Johnson and Charlie Grumbine for this race. Lauren decides to run with Jesus' time chip in her pocket.

Weather feels colder today (~29 degrees)--but no precipitation. Much of this race felt like Deja Vu for thoseof us that did the half marathon the day prior.

It was nice to run in some daylight for a change. The experience of the theme parks and cast characters along the way helped pass the time. The course took us through all four Walt Disney World Theme Parks starting at Epcot, continuing on to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios--and finally back to Epcot.

Lauren runs well (for being out of the running circle for a while)--and manages to give Jesus a 1-second-better marathon time that she gave herself. ;) Josh rocks it with another Boston Qualifier, Charlie suffers mild hypothermia, and Kerry/Karen run well (given they ran a strong half the day prior).

The Goofy Challenge runners got three finisher medals and three long-sleeved tech shirts: one for the half, one for the full, and one for completing the challenge.

We wrap up the evening with a trip to Planet Hollywood, back to Raglan Road, and finally Jellyrolls (a piano bar in the Disney Boardwalk area).

[debauchery omitted intentionally]

We've got two days of our trip left and more theme parks to visit!

-> 3:48:59 for the full.


Monday (Jan 11):

Running completed. Today, the eight of us decide to hit the Magic Kingdom (the original of the four theme parks).

The Magic Kingdom is broken down into a series of lands: Fantasyland, Liberty Square, Frontierland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, and Main Street USA.

We made the most of the day, experiencing as many attractions as we could, including: Swiss Family Treehouse, The Enchanted Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Haunted Mansion, and The Hall of Presidents.

We probably had the most fun on the "Mad Tea Cup" (where we attempted to load 5 adults into one tea cup and spin the thing as fast as we possibly could) and Space Mountain (a 180-foot-high indoor-mountain roller coaster in the dark).

We stuck around for the Electric Light Parade and the nightly fireworks show (synchronized to music played throughout the entire theme park). We end the day with dinner back in Downtown Disney on Fulton's Crab Boat.


Tuesday (Jan 12):

For our last day at Disney, we opt to check out Hollywood Studios (once called MGM Studios): Animal Kingdom and the waterpark will have to wait until next year! Karen checked out yesterday and Kerry, Jesus, and I have to split at ~2 PM to head to the airport.

Our plan: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Aerosmith's Roller Coaster, and Star Tours.

The Tower of Terror Legend:

Classic stars of the silver screen sought rest and relaxation at the grand Hollywood Tower Hotel during the Golden Age of Hollywood. In the late 30's, during a gloomy Halloween night, 5 unlucky souls were riding down the Hotel's maintenance service elevator when a violent storm struck the building--and they were never seen again. Black scorch marks still scar the Tower of Terror facade where lightning left its autograph.

This "falling elevator" adventure is a ride on the "fright elevator" beyond the eerie boiler room in the hotel basement. The elevator randomly falls and ascends--every experience is different and randomly selected by the Tower itself--so there's no way of knowing which direction you'll go!

The Aerosmith Roller Coaster:

This is an electromagnetically-fueled roller coaster that took us from 0-60 MPH in 2.8 seconds--producing G forces of 4-5. To contrast, Space Shuttle astronauts feel only ~3 G's on liftoff. Each roller coaster car contained 125 speakers and 24 sub-woofers blasting various Aerosmith hits. The ride was indoors in the dark and all that could be seen were illuminated street signs. Word has it, the electrical engineers of Hollywood studios were worried that if two elevators in the Tower of Terror were released at the same time one of the Aerosmith roller coasters was launched, the electrical load would take down the entire theme park electrical grid! So, an independent electrical substation was installed just for the roller coaster.

This ride, needless to say, blew our hair back!

Star Tours:

We boarded a Starspeeder 3000 (a large hydraulic-powered simulator) for a "relaxing" tour of the Moon of Endor. The ride was hardly "relaxing" as our absent-minded droid pilot sends our speeder careening out of control through the solar system--nearly slamming us into the Death Star. Josh is a total Star Wars geek--as he was quick to point out the accuracy of this simulation!


We filled some time checking out the animation studios and Josh and I had a cigar with the "bad people" over in the smoking area.

Eventually time runs out and we have to split for the airport. All good things must come to an end. There is a lot more that we could have done in that theme park given more time. Pop Century took care of getting our bags checked--so all we needed to do was get to the airport.

At DFW we were desperately searching for chicken nachos. We belly up at Chili's, order a few drinks, and then discover they don't have any nachos. Thumbs down to Chili's.


We load up on alternative Chili's food and bring it on the airline to COS. Slightly liquored up, I'm sure we made plenty of friends on the way home...


A trip to remember...