Dear friends,
This is going to be a long report so I will use titles so you can choose what you want to read J.
Trip to Florida – Jan 3rd 2007
We had to bring our kids to my parents, they didn’t come with us since we were going to run both on Saturday. At the airport we found out that we received a Company Upgrade to business class for our flight from Brussels to Washington DC. That was nice to relax a little before the weekend. Our flight from DC to Orlando was ok, one of our suitcases didn’t make our flight. United Airlines would bring it later that evening to the All Star Sports Resort. We arrived there around 8.30 PM with the Magical Express. Our missing suitcase arrived at 1.45 AM. We picked it up in the morning. On Thursday we went to MGM for a while and headed to the Expo around 3.30 PM. We met Dave Lawrence and went to the expo with them. We had to wait in line a while to get our numbers but it went pretty smooth after all. Later that day we went back to MGM to see the Osbourne Spectacle of dancing lights, very nice by the way.
5K fun run
I enjoyed the 5k fun run this year. The course was new so we had no idea what to expect. The Pirate theme was fun too with the pirates stranded at the MGM Parking lot. I noticed immediately that it would be a warm weekend this year, very different from last year. After the 5K and some pictures with Peter Pan and Pocahontas we went back to the hotel to take a shower. At 9 AM I had an interview with the Belgian Radio 1. This was broadcasted on Saturday morning. Around 09.30 AM we went to Animal Kingdom for our annual Kali River Rapids Cruise, grin, grin
Kali River Rapids Cruise
We met Stan and Sheila at the entrance of Animal Kingdom. We were joined by the husband and children of Julie Miwa, Robert and his wife Linda, Mark Druckenmiller and Scott King. With 11 people we started our first cruise of the day. It was nice and warm so getting wet wasn’t too much of a problem, luckily for some passengers. Right after the start there was some kind of fountain. Sheila got a little wet there. As soon as our boat arrived at the river rapids our boat started spinning a little and stopped at a great place for going down. Sheila took a wave and got soaked… again. I guess this is not her ride. Mark, Linda and Robert, Scott and Stan got wet too but I think Sheila was worse. When we got close to the harbour again the two elephants on the side sprinkled some water on us. Julie Miwa had arrived at the park and was pushing the buttons. When Mark Druckenmiller decided to leave the boat his sandal slipped off his foot and fell in to the water. He had to buy new fancy Mickey Flip Flops J.
When Julie joined us, it was time again for another cruise. After all, she was using the elephants to get us wet. Our second cruise was very similar to our first. Everybody got wet, especially Julie and Sheila … again. The Captain and his wife got the dry seats, as usual. Grin, Grin. Ellen and Eileen Druckenmiller joined us a little later but didn’t feel prepared for a cruise… they had no poncho with them.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at Animal Kingdom and did some fun rides, especially Expedition Everest is great.
Friday evening we went to Pop Century for our annual Friday evening meeting. A lot of people showed up, maybe they were attracted by the Belgian chocolate and beer I had brought. We met Mike, Dave, the Druckenmiller family, Robert and Linda, Julie Miwa and her family, Tom and Colleen Laux, Charles and Maggie Cohn and Stan and Sheila. It was a lot of fun again. It was time to go to bed early.
½ Marathon Report
On Saturday we got up at 3 AM and took the bus to the start. It was nice and warm, just a little to humid. Isabelle was doing the race also and had to start at 6.30 Am in waive C. I don’t think the waive system worked out like it supposed to be. I didn’t see any corrals for Waive A-1, A-2 and A-3. It was just one big corral I think. We took around 6 AM. It was fun to run again in Disney, especially when you see the Castle coming up. I missed the Disney Cruise Line people on the course this year. I remember they had a lot of fun at the parking lot at the ticket & transportation centre. Close to the short tunnel under the canal a wheel chair came close to me, hit a cone and flipped over. I felt bad and was thinking about helping the guy back up when I saw to medical people on bikes coming up. Running through Main Street is always fantastic and gives a lot of energy. On our way back I saw Isabelle, we did a high five and went both on, she on her way to Magic Kingdom, I was on my way back to Epcot. I also saw Scott King on this part, we ran a while together. I got back to the finish in 1 hr 40 minutes, the speaker even yelled my name “Here is Bart from Belgium” when I finished. It was time to change our wristband at the Goofy Experience tent. I went back to the hotel, took a shower and went back to the finish line to see Isabelle finishing. I saw the Druckenmiller family a few minutes before Isabelle got back to Epcot. Isabelle didn’t get her medal when she finished because they ran out of medals. We had to stand in line for a while at the information tent to obtain her medal. I am glad she still received it. It would be a bummer to run the race and not getting a medal. The rest of the day we stayed at the hotel, resting for another big day. Around 3 Pm we just went over to the expo to hear Elise speaking about her book concerning marathons in the USA. It was fun to see her, she even mentioned the Disney Deads. We met each other afterwards and took a picture together.
Marathon report
Same story again, getting up at 3 AM and bus to the start. We met our friends again at the D-tent. Charles Wait was there very early. It was nice and warm again. I went to the start around 5 .10 AM. Around 6.02 AM we took of. I was never able to run my usual pace. The weather was certainly one of the factors. It was a little misty out there and the sun had problems breaking through. I was close to Animal Kingdom when the sun really started burning. I usually have a hard time after Animal Kingdom and this year was no exception. I had to walk for a while on the long road to MGM. I saw Stan and Sheila at the bridge, close to the McDonalds and I saw the Hashers around mile 20. I took a famous red cup there this year, the first time since I run this race. When we finally made it back to MGM I was happy to eat some chocolate. I also noticed that the blue wristband for the Goofy experience was gone. I got so “mad” about thinking what could happen without this wristband and I actually picked up the pace again. I didn’t do as good as I expected but made it back to the finish in 3 hr 46 min. I guess the weather was against me this time but it was a lot of fun again too. They checked my result from the half marathon and gave me my medal without too much problems.
After the race we went back to the hotel, took a shower and stayed at the pool for a while. It was hard to see people arriving from the race and not knowing how to go down a few steps without too much pain. After a trip to Downtown Disney where we met Mike we went to the Wilderness Lodge for our annual Bragathon. A lot of people showed up, proud wearing the medals. We heard that several water stops were closed later in the race because the ran out of water. This is not how it should be and I hope they will do better next year. In the evening we had dinner with Julie and her family. Her children Nico and Dominique are great and we enjoyed having dinner with them.
Monday WDWDW II
On Monday morning Mark Druckenmiller picked us up to go to the Boardwalk. We walked twice around the lake with a lot of our friends. Everybody was feeling ok, except Linda was feeling a lot of pain and didn’t join us for the two laps. After this meeting Isabelle and I went to Epcot. We did Soaring and the New Nemo ride. I liked this ride. At 11.45 AM it was time to go to the UK to start the second annual WDWDW. We started with a nice Guinness beer and went all our way around the world. Alvaro gave a Certificate to me as the Captain of the Kali River Rapids Cruise, Stan received one for being the Captain of the Pink Fairy Boat. It was a great group and we had a lot of fun. When we arrived in China, Julie and her family had to leave to catch a flight home. It was sad to see them going. We really enjoyed the time with them and the kids were so nice. We sat down at the American pavilion when Tom, Colleen and Maureen joined us for the rest of the WDWDW. It was fun and I can’t believe how fast it all went by. We got back in the UK around 8 PM. With a Bass beer and some fish and ships it was time to watch the firework Illuminations… still my favourite Disney show. After the fireworks it was time to say goodbye too everybody. It was a great weekend again and I am sure we will all get together again next January.
Tuesday
This was our last day in Disney. We went to the Magic Kingdom. When we came out of Space Mountain, a woman came up to us and gave us the Dream Fast pass. We received fast passes for the 9 big rides in Magic Kingdom. For some rides we didn’t need them but for Peter Pan, Winny The Pooh and Thunder Mountain it was a pleasure to have these with us. We ended the day with fireworks again, Wishes is still a very nice show too. We went for diner to BOMA at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The food was very good and we enjoyed walking around the Lodge there.
Wednesday
Time to leave. We were looking forward to go home again to see our kids. Back to the airport with Magical Express, flight to Washington DC was smooth. Our flight to Belgium was very nice too. Due to a strong tail wind we made it home in 6 hr 30 instead of 7 hr 30. This meant we got home early and saw the kids before they had to leave for school. We were happy to see them again. Thursday afternoon a storm passed over Belgium, very strong winds, lots of rain… very different from where we all came from.
Conclusion :
We had a blast again last week, so much fun, so many good friends. I will sign up again for Goofy 2008. Looking forward to read more race reports of all of you during this new year. Thanks !
Bart and Isabelle from Belgium
