Wine and Dine Half Marathon Race Weekend!

Happy Halloween, my friends!

(My boys in their matching Mickey Mouse Halloween shirts)

I hope that everyone is enjoying autumn! Here in Indiana, we had unseasonably warm weather… until one day it became unseasonably cool. It felt like it went from summer to winter, and we missed fall completely!

Speaking of fall- this Friday is the Disney Fall Feast 5k! I LOVED this fun run through Animal Kingdom theme park last year, and I am sad not to be running it again this year. The course ran through most of Animal Kingdom park, including Pandora- The World of Avatar, which I had not yet experienced. Running through this beautiful land early in the morning before the sun rose was truly magical.

(Bib and t-shirt for the Disney Fall Feast 5k)

(Photo from my early morning run through Pandora- The World of Avatar at Animal Kingdom)

The characters on this course were amazing as well- I loved getting my photo with Timon (The Lion King), Flik and Atta (A Bug’s Life), Meeko (Pocahontas), and Clarabelle Cow (from Mickey Mouse cartoons). I skipped Lady Cluck, who was also on the course.

(Timon)

(Atta and Flik)

(Clarabelle Cow)

(Meeko)

As you can see from my shirt, I was eating for two, and 16 weeks pregnant when I ran this race. This was a great race to do while pregnant because there is no time limit, and so I felt no stress to rush through the race. I enjoyed walking, rather than running, through Pandora- The World of Avatar- so that I could take everything in on this beautiful early morning.

(The race began outside of Animal Kingdom- here I am excited to get into the park, which we entered after Mile 1)

(Pandora- The World of Avatar at Animal Kingdom)

If you enjoy running, or even walking, and you love Disney, then runDisney races are for you! The atmosphere at these races is truly incredible- everyone supports one another, and there is just so much camaraderie at these races. I have never experienced anything quite like a runDisney race!

(Chef Mickey welcomes us to race weekend!)

(Disney is home)

The day after the Fall Feast 5k, Saturday, is the Walt Disney World Wine & Dine 10k, which I also ran in 2017. This was a wonderful course as well- last year we ran through Hollywood Studios and Epcot, as well as some of the Epcot (Crescent Lake) resorts; however, due to all of the construction at Hollywood Studios at the moment, I have seen that this year the course will not run through Hollywood Studios.

(10k bib and tech shirt)

(My favorite part of the 10k may have been running through Hollywood Studios, which was decorated for Christmas and playing Christmas music)

This race IS a timed race, and so I had to pick and choose my character stops- I chose to stop for the Three Little Pigs (Silly Symphony), Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (the very first character Walt Disney created- this is a SUPER rare character, and so the line was insane- probably 20 minutes- I knew that this may be my last character stop of the race, but Oswald was worth it!), and I had time for Koda and Kenai (Brother Bear) in Canada at Epcot because there was basically no line for these two. I do regret not having time to stop for Vacation Genie (Aladdin) at the Boardwalk Resort, but his line was long, and I didn’t want to be swept from the course, which you will be if you do not maintain a 16-minute mile average. I am holding out hope that Vacation Genie will make an appearance at the 2019 Disney Princess Half Marathon!

(The Three Little Pigs)

(Oswald the Lucky Rabbit)

(Koda & Kenai)

I did make time after my race to stop for Chef Mickey and Chef Minnie as well- the lines for the post-race characters are typically long, but I love this photo and so it was well worth the wait. It was nice to cool down and enjoy my snack box while waiting for this fun character photo opportunity!

(Post-race photo with my medal!)

This was the third race weekend I had attended, but the first Wine and Dine weekend. Previously, I had ran the Disney Princess race weekends in 2016 and 2017. I love all things pink, sparkly and girly, and so the Princess races are right up my alley. However, I also love food- Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday- and so this race weekend proved to be just as amazing as Princess! I rode the bus both mornings to the courses with a kind young man, Jeremy, who I had so much fun talking to. He had previously ran in the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend (in January), as well as Star Wars Dark Side race weekend (in April), the two race weekends that I had yet to run, and so we compared my Princess race weekends (in February) to the two that he had ran. Again, everyone is so, so nice, and even if you go solo, as I had, you always meet kind people on the buses, in your corrals, and even during the races themselves! I also had a young lady that I chatted with on Facebook ask some of our Facebook group if we'd like our PhotoPass photos from the race weekend, as she got them for free as an annual passholder. I offered to pay her a bit of money for doing that for me, but she declined and simply asked me to pay it forward next time I had a chance. Like I said, fellow Disney runners are so, so kind.

(Standing in Corral A with thousands of my fellow running friends!)

The one downside to these races is that they begin EARLY- every race (except the Kids Races) begins at 5:30am. You are told that you must be on a bus by 4:00am for these races, as it does take some time with all the traffic to travel to the start line. I’m up at 4:15am for work anyway, and so this wasn’t a huge deal for me, but if you are running multiple races AND trying to maximize your park time, this could get very exhausting very quickly. I recommend either doing a shortened park day, or even a resort day, the day before each race you are running! On Friday, the day of the 5k, we enjoyed the pool and waterslides at our resort, Caribbean Beach Resort, for most of the day!

(When it's still dark AFTER the race is over and you have your medal, it must have been an early morning!)

Keep in mind also that all Disney resorts are host resorts for every race- this means that free transportation to the Expo and the races is included with your stay! There are often special drinks for runners at the resort bars, and I’ve often seen ‘runners packs’ for sale in the gift shops and quick service dining locations for that early-morning energy boost!

(A fun fall-themed drink at Gurgling Suitcase bar at Old Key West resort)

I want to wish a WONDERFUL race weekend to those running in this year’s Wine and Dine Half Marathon Race Weekend! I will certainly be checking out everyone’s Instagram stories, vlogs, and blogs so that I don’t feel quite as left out! Have fun guys, and Happy Travels!

(My 5k 'I Did It' PhotoPass photo)

(My 10k 'I Did It' PhotoPass photo)