April 2019 – Star Wars Rival Run – day 5 – 4/3/19-4/10/19

Half marathon day! Go Heather! Go Ryan!

Sunday 4/7/19

Well, we had trouble settling down Saturday night so we got a nice “nap” in. Heather and Ryan had a rough night also and I felt worse for them as they had to run a half marathon! We walked over and met up with them at the Pop bus stop about 3:20. By the way, we found on our walk by Hourglass Lake that the frogs are really, really loud at 3:00 a.m.! We were doing great, on the first bus out, until the driver took the first right instead of the second towards Magic Kingdom! We did wind up seeing a lot of the backstage parking and construction staging for Studios! Thank goodness for Ryan in the seat right behind the driver, he navigated this panicked man through it all to get us circled around and on the right route. Unfortunately this blew our plans to get Heather and Ryan character photos. I was quite disappointed for them as we tried everything in our power by catching the first bus. So we walked around with them so they could stretch their legs out and then to the corrals. It was so humid that morning! We made our way to the spectator area just after the start and could see the humidity just causing an eerie mist in the field and down where the runners had to make a right turn into it! We warned them to watch out for the serial killer that you just know is in every one of those fog banks! Once we saw them start we took the bus back to EPCOT, it was so humid all the windows were fogged up. Once we got to EPCOT the characters were coming out in anticipation of runners finishing so we were able to get our pictures with all of them before the winners crossed. The first and second runners led wire to wire! We got our spots in the stands and watched the runners finish while tracking Heather and Ryan on our phones. Ryan stayed with Heather through Animal Kingdom but she was really struggling with the humidity, and I don’t blame her! It was rough just sitting there! Teri came to surprise Heather at the finish and found us in the stands, actually Kathy found her! It was so nice to spend some good quality time with her as we waited for our finishers! We saw Ryan crossed and whooped and yelled for him! He came and found us and sat with us for Heather. I know I screamed myself hoarse when Heather crossed! But the best part, the absolute best part was when she saw Teri. She was smiling because she finished, but once she saw her sister, that did it, the tears flowed, from all of us! After meeting up and huge congratulatory hugs Heather and Ryan got character pictures with Kathy waiting and holding their bags for them and I walked Teri over to see Henry and Deedee who had also finished and were enjoying their snacks. It was great to see them after the finish! We met back up with our gang to finish up the photos, none of them had bad lines! They were wrapped up by about 10:30ish and Teri drove us all back to Pop. We got them to their elevator and let Teri get them up to the room for showers and rest and a nap and we walked around Hourglass Lake to home where we rested and took a small nap before heading down, filling our mug, and hopping a bus to Magic Kingdom late morning.

Kathy was finally able to find a Haunted Mansion jersey in the Emporium! She was so happy! We had a nice lunch of delicious all beef hotdogs right off the grill and chips in that grill/picnic area by the Hall of Presidents in Liberty Square. We had been wanting to do that for a past few trips and never got around to it. From there we ferried over to Tom Sawyer Island and the rarely open Aunt Polly’s Dockside for dessert. We had the brownie a la mode and it was so, so good! Two huge, massive scoops of ice cream on a warm brownie! The servers were so kind and pleasant and made it a wonderful experience! After eating we just sat in the rocking chairs watching the Liberty Belle sail and the hustle and bustle across the water. It was so nice! They really need to have that place open more! Heather and Ryan let us know they were there and we arranged to meet up a Pecos Bills. We ferried over and found them and shortly after Melissa and Jenny filtered in with Jenny’s two boys and Robyn and Tonya just after. What a great D-Cot meet we had! Fun pictures, everybody hugging, it was just terrific! Unfortunately it ended way to soon as Melissa and Jenny had rides to get to and the six of us had Haunted Mansion fastpasses. The girls took such good care of me with the transition from sunlight to dark inside while my glasses transitioned. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without them! Since this is Kathy and Robyn’s favorite ride I made sure they rode together while I rode with Tonya. That was very important to me. We then said our goodbyes to Robyn and Tonya for their sad flight home and the four of us went to Philharmagic. After that it was time for our Jungle Cruise fastpass. Oh my gosh did we have a great skipper! I think she laughed at us as much as we laughed at her jokes! I’m sure we made her day! We made our way over to the Peoplemover where we rode for two circuits with the signal, boy do I love doing that! Kathy and Ryan were fading so we went into Carousel of Progress so Heather and I could sing along and they could take a nap. We always sit boy-girl-boy-girl with Heather and I on the inside and our nappers on the borders. They’re so cute, but we’re cuter! Heather, Ryan, and I then used our FP for Space Mountain while Kathy used hers to meet Tiana and Rapunzel. We all needed a snack so we had ice cream at the Main Street Plaza and then got some great pics on Main Street with the Castle as a backdrop and all wearing our medals. We were all fading fast but Heather and Ryan were going to stay for just a bit longer. Melissa came to give hugs goodbye, I just love that girl! We were so tired, so we made our way home after that. I had a gift card from Christmas and Kathy had a gift card from her birthday so we shopped at Ink and Paint and I got a great Art of Animation shirt and Kathy got herself a Mickey pillow pet since she loves my Tigger one so much. Back to our room, got some things around for tomorrow and lights out very shortly after that. We were pooped!

Steps: 24,437

Miles: 11.02

Spin: 5