To get the medal... or not... Revisited.

As I mentioned in my recaps, my brother and partner in crime Ernest tried to run the Disney Half Marathon with me and sadly got swept at mile 8.

The End of the Road.

After the race, we had an extremely interesting conversation. As you might recall, I wrote a blog post about being swept and the fact that Disney gives you the medal whether you finish the race or not. (You can find that here) This is a very controversial topic that people feel very passionate about. Obviously, I was very curious about Ernest's experience on this matter, being a first-hand witness and all.

Sure enough, when I got in the car after finishing, there was his medal on the back seat. I asked him about it and he said: "Before I tell you, I want to know how you feel about it. Would you have taken the medal?" Now, Ernest is neither a regular runner nor is he familiar with run Disney and the crazy discussions it generates, so this was gonna make for some great conversation. I answered: "I would not take it. But that doesn't mean it's wrong to take it though. The medal means different things to different people." "Exactly!" he said. "There are so many different reactions to not being able to finish. There really can't be just one right answer."

I was listening to him with a smile on my face because it kind of validates my feelings on the subject which is essentially, "to each his/her own." But then he went on to recount his experience of being swept and taking the bus back to the start line and what he saw and heard... kind of rattled me a bit. Like I said on the other post, there are many reasons for taking the medal.

 I just wasn't ready to hear what some of those reasons were.

So I got swept. Now what?
I know this information is asked about often so it's important to talk about it. Hopefully it will help others. Contrary to popular belief (or unfounded paranoia), being swept by the Balloon Ladies does NOT look like this:

First, the Balloon Ladies don't actually sweep you (or look like Godzilla). They are simply keeping the minimum required pace to stay in the race. There are several cut-off points where Disney does a "hard sweep". Meaning that once the Ladies pass that particular point, Disney -along with State Troopers- block the road with buses and don't allow anyone else to pass. A "soft sweep" on the other hand is people that are swept from the course outside of those cut-offs whether for medical reasons, exhaustion or simply if you don't want to go on. This is not as bad as it sounds though. The Balloon Ladies spend the entire race calling out what those cut off points are and when they are coming up. In the case of my brother it was mile 8. He was actually not that far behind the Ladies so after they passed the cut off, he got intercepted by a police officer on a bike. It's important to mention that the Balloon Ladies also spend the entire race motivating people to keep up with them. They are very nice people and I have to commend them on the job they do. It can't be easy. 

Once the blockade is in place, Cast Members and medical personnel impart instructions and tend to those in need. They clap and cheer those that have been cut-off and even take pictures for those that want a reminder of where they were swept (like the one above of my brother). It takes a while for the buses to fill as runners keep arriving at the cut-off depending how far behind they were. It took about 15 minutes for the first buses to fill up and leave for Epcot, according to Ernest. In his words:

"The trip back felt long as hell. Even though it's a whole different route, it still makes you think about how long you still had to go. Not sure how long the trip back was, maybe 15-20 minutes, there was traffic, It may have felt like longer for me because i was standing and my stomach was still not feeling well (soon after getting on the bus i needed some fresh air, something that is obviously lacking in a bus full of sweaty people).  We arrived at EPCOT and the bus pulled up right behind the tents where there are people waiting to give you your medal and goodies box."

And that, folks, is how you get swept at a Disney race. Another thing I found interesting from Ernest's account was people's reactions during the race when they realized they were behind the Balloon Ladies or close to it:

"My favorite reactions came before reaching the 8 mile marker, when i spent a while running after and around the balloon ladies.  Anytime they passed a set of portable toilets, rest stops or people waiting in line to take pictures with characters, they announced themselves going by reminding people that you need to stay in front of them, and people just started scrambling. "Is that really them?!", lines break up, people come running out of the toilet lines, and a lot of "oh crap how did this happen?!" kind of reactions. Mind you not like angry or upset type of reaction,  they are mostly surprised and laughing at what just happened. From what i saw there's a great deal of people who train well and come ready to run the event yet still fall behind  just because they are enjoying the whole event so much, they stop at every photo op, maybe make a lot of stops or aren't moving at such a quick pace especially when they are in the park areas, then they see the balloon ladies and are all like "what the hell?! how slow was i going?!". You can tell who this lot are because they'll just take off and sprint past the balloon ladies then continue at a quick pace (guess they won't make any stops for a while), something many who stay behind simply aren't able to do after the first half of the race. Some people don't even notice that they've fallen behind, and a few were surprised to find out that the ladies with the balloons were the actual balloon ladies and not just someone in a costume.  Most tried to keep up with them, others just give up like "well i ain't going any quicker than this guess i'm getting picked up"."


Ernest was surprised (and a little appalled) that in the past people have dressed up as "Balloon Ladies" and wreaked havoc on the course. Yes. It has happened.

I was surprised at how many people fall way behind simply because they insist on taking every character picture and savor every moment. There are many who don't get swept that are always running away from the Ladies simply because they gotta have that pic with Goofy or Minnie or whatever.

Another surprise, although both my brother and I agree it might have been different in other buses or cut-off points, is that he saw nobody crying or frustrated on the bus. Just a lot of "Oh well, next time." kind of reactions.

Hold on to you hats
Here's where it gets interesting and kind of weird for me. As Ernest was giving me the info on what happened post-sweep and he was talking about the different reactions he heard from others, it became very clear to me that, while the reactions were of course, varied, there was a particular group of people that took me some time to process their motives.

Putting all the pieces together, it seems there is a group of people who sign up for these races knowing full well they are not going to finish. They sign up, have fun, take pics, soak in the atmosphere, run through (some of) the parks and do this knowing that for them, it ends on a bus. No finish line. Then, the next year, they do it again.

Excuse me. What?

My brother, once again:

"I think for sure there are, and i don't think this should be a surprise at an event as big as Run Disney or any other big event.  They sign up knowing that there is a big chance that they are not gonna finish in time, or maybe even not being aware of what it means when they say you need to keep a certain pace.  Among those that sign up and don't finish there are likely many categories of people but from what I saw there are two major ones:
There's definitely a lot of people who have tried this more than once without finishing, who, I'm sure, are actually hoping to finish, i don't think they go in knowing that they're not going to finish, but they are content with just making it further than previous attempts. For the lady i mentioned before, she mentioned she had tried the previous year, this time she made it further than last year. So i guess for some, it's just another way (albeit a slower way)  to get to the same goal as many people who want to go finish a race. They're thought seems to be "Every year i go, I've made it further, that's a good thing, and eventually, i'll finish one of these things." 

Another group of people that don't finish, are those who actually signed up just " for the heck of it". I'm sure there's plenty of people that were simply talking with friends one day and said "hey, Disney marathon weekend, sounds like fun, lets do that!"  They signed up, maybe trained a little or not at all, tried to do a race, couldn't finish, yet probably still had a blast.  They are there at the event because it's a fun thing to do, not because they've set themselves any kind of goal. If it's fun enough for them, I'm sure they go back and do it again, maybe they finish, maybe not.  These were some of the people who were in the lines to take pictures with the characters when the balloon ladies went by, and didn't run after them, they were just glad that the line got shorter all of a sudden."

It has taken me a while to process this information. Allow me to put things in perspective here. As mentioned before, if you get swept, Disney gives you the medal anyway. To them (them being the operative word), that belongs to you either way. After all you paid for it and ultimately Disney is a business like any other. Call me naive or even obtuse, but in my head, every person who signs up for a race has at least  the intention to finish it. There was no space in my mind, for the possibility of someone purposely signing up with the intention of getting picked up. Discussing this on the car back to the hotel, I was about to get upset when my brother, who was certainly not upset and is not emotionally compromised as I am over this running "thing" brought me back down to Earth:

"Dude, to YOU it's about goals, and finishing and achieving something. To others, it might just be about having a fun day and nothing more."

Wait a minute, I'm having a fun day too you know. I know I describe my struggle pretty vividly on the blog but I wouldn't be doing this (let alone thinking about doing it again) if it was no fun. I guess they are just having a different kind of fun maybe? I don't know.

What I do know is, this information is gonna bother a whole lot of people.

Think about all the arguments runners have engaged in over the "accept or not accept the medal" debacle. Now add to that, the fact that there is people out there with race medals that knew they were not gonna finish beforehand. I can see the hateful threads now...

Even though it took me some time to absorb, this information does not change my view on this issue. I know what the race and the medal mean to me. I can't expect everyone else to feel exactly the same way. For some people, this is just a race. An event. It's not the life-defining phenomenon that some of us make it out to be. Ultimately, we ascribe value to things and not others. Things become important if you make them important. So if others don't come into this giving it the sacred importance I feel it deserves, it's their loss but I'm not gonna berate you for it.

Before handing this over to you readers to discuss I'll add one more thing. My brother and I don't agree on one thing. Here is Ernest one last time.

"The way I see it, the medal isn't a prize, it's a souvenir. It's probably going in a box with all my other souvenirs, and this probably would've been the case even if I had finished. I have two WB10K medals in there somewhere, if they didn't get lost in the move (actually, i think they did).
On a side note, if there are indeed people who don't finish that actually refuse to take the race medal from the people who give them out. I would tell them, take the damn medal, don't put someone who's just doing their job in a difficult position. After you take it you can throw it away if you want. The medal can mean anything you want it to mean, but a volunteer/employee giving it to you doesn't mean anything, except "here's the stuff you paid for". Refusing it would just cause them unnecessary trouble.  This isn't the Olympics, the race medal isn't a placement medal or even a 'finisher' medal, it isn't a prize, at least from Disney's point of view. From their point of view, you get it because a)you paid for it, and b)you participated in the event (well you can't pick it up if you don't even show up, I don't know if you can get it in the mail)."

Here's where I disagree. If you don't'want to take the medal, don't take the medal. I totally understand what my brother is saying about giving grief to a volunteer or Cast Member who doesn't deserve it. It's not their fault and they are just doing their job. However, I have to be fair. If I can't force a person to not take the medal because it's not my business, then you can't force me to take it because it's none of yours. It works both ways. It is also not difficult for Disney to give instructions to these folks to avoid any problems. If, after asking "Are you sure?" , they still won't accept the medal, do not insist further. Let her/him be. That's not hard.

I'm one of the runners who would not accept it if it happened to me. I don't like making scenes and in a time like that, it would be the last thing on my mind but this is important to me and I would definitely insist on not taking it. Scene optional. And no Ernest. They most definitely do not mail you the medal.

So what do you guys think?

The 2016 Walt Disney World Half Marathon

After arriving in Florida and being picked up by my brother, we drove to ESPN's Wide World of Sports to get our race packs. All the while I kept reading Team Run Disney's  Facebook feed about the 10K that morning, and how wet it was. Not that I needed confirmation. I had to hide the waivers under my shirt just to avoid getting them drenched on the way from the car to the Expo. I was a little worried but not too much about rain the next day. Florida weather can be so unpredictable. I was half expecting Saturday to be 90 degrees and sunny.

Flat Frank #1

Well, Saturday was not 90 degrees and it wasn't even close to being sunny. As we walked out of our hotel at 3:30 am to head for the race, we were met with the most fog I have ever seen in Florida. And it would stay that way the entire day. Not even a little bit of Sun. The temperature was iffy. It sure was not warm but I wouldn't call it cold either. This, was not good for me and what I was trying to do.

Even as I sat in the corral, my mind kept wondering towards the fact that I had not trained enough for the Goofy Challenge. I knew I could finish the Half no problem but in what condition? Was I gonna be able to go the full distance the very next day? We were sure gonna find out.

So few people showed up for this one...

As if I was not worried enough, my brother was having his own set of issues. When we woke up, the first thing he told me was "I just threw up." I thought it was just nerves but then he went to the bathroom for #2 again before we left, then again at the gas station we were getting coffee in, then twice in the port-a-potties at the race. Clearly there was something wrong. We didn't know what. First culprit of course is something he ate but we had the exact same thing for both lunch and dinner the day before and I was fine. This mystery might never be solved but the fact remained: he was not well.

It's go time!

 And just like that, our corral was called and it was time to head off. Donald Duck gave the countdown and off we went. Not three minutes went by when my brother told me he had to go again. Mercifully, there were port-a potties not too far away and we stopped. They were crowded but he managed to get in. We started up again. He was having trouble keeping up and told me that as soon we started a run interval he would get the urge to go. This was not good. First mile: 17:06. There was no way we were gonna survive at that pace. Not that early in the race. With every running interval, he kept falling further back. Then he gave me the signal to go ahead and leave him. I was torn. Our plan was to run this together as slowly as we could so he could finish his first Half and I could survive to run another day but this pace was dangerous and he knew what was at stake for me so he told me to go on.

I kept tabs on him through my phone as I had signed up for runner tracking for both of us. His official pace remained in the 19's and then after the 10K update I heard no more. He got picked up at mile 8.

Meanwhile, I was having my own set of issues. A bit of panic had set in regarding my pace and I got a little overeager to try and make up the time. I went as high as the 14s and I felt I was all over the place. Crowding was an issue and I zig-zagged a lot from one side of the course to the other. This would have been fine if it was just the Half but I had a whole other race to run the so this was not the most efficient use of my energy. And then there was the fog... It was so foggy! Everything seemed to be hiding in a haze of gray, giving the whole place an eerie feel. Seemed like a great day to take some moody pictures. 

Can you see Space Mountain?!

...or the Castle?

Then we got to the Magic Kingdom...

A runner kindly took this for me.

Might as well been called the Slow-way while I was passing through.

And everything was fine! This will never get old folks. You turn right on Main Street USA and suddenly you forget everything and a huge grin shows up across your face. It truly is magical, even with all the fog. You go through Tomorrowland and Fantasyland and then you reach Cinderella's Castle which was lit up but you could hardly tell in the fog. Anna and Elsa were waiting for us there. Here, Disney was giving runners the choice to go through the tunnel and take pictures or run through the side of the castle for those who could or would not wait for the queue formed up in the tunnel. I decided to wait it out and took my pic in front of the Castle. A luxury I have never dared to take. I also took a bathroom break in Fontierland. Thinking back now, it sure was gutsy of me to take my time like that during my run through the Magic Kingdom but I guess I just felt I had made up enough time back or something.

My daughters are so jealous!

As I exited the park, on a downhill ramp right after seeing the the train, I tweaked my knee. I seem to have trouble while going downhill the most with the knee and it took me a while before I felt it was OK again. It was at this point you reach the 10K mark and a hydration station right before leaving the service entrance to the Magic Kingdom. There I had a gel and met Mary, a fellow Team run Disney member who was volunteering during the Half. It would not be the last time I would see her thankfully.

Thanks Mary!

Then came the time to head back down towards Epcot. This part was uneventful and while there was plenty of stuff (dj's, characters etc.) I was back to focusing on the matter at hand. After spending a while on this section, I realized I had stopped getting updates from Ernest so I texted him and found out he got picked up. His day was over. I was feeling pretty good and the knee was behaving even with the little mishap at mile 5. So, right before mile 11 I did the math and saw that I could take it easy. I walked almost the entire rest of the way.

Best sign on the course

That's not to say it wasn't a hard decision. Both the runner and the competitive person in me went into a bit of a fit at this point. If I were to keep going hard, I would have posted a somewhat decent time, and by that I mean less than 3 and a half hours. Way less than that maybe. By walking, I was "dooming" myself to finishing with my worst time ever in a Half Marathon and officially over the time limit. So, while this would seem like a no brainer to most people, I was having some issues. Thankfully, cooler, more logical heads prevailed and I kept walking from there to Epcot.

Fog... fog everywhere!

So hard to photograph such a huge thing...

Once in Epcot however, the fast-approaching finish line got me going and I ran the "victory lap" around the square in Future World and through the finish line. Official time: 3:40:58. My worst ever.

We live to run another day... hopefully.

I wasn't really upset with the time, even though it is the worst by a lot. Taking it easy and saving myself for the next day was my main objective. My problem with the race was how inconsistent I ran. Sometimes I was slow, sometimes too fast. If I would have kept a more consistent pace, it surely would have been more efficient and maybe I wouldn't have had to walk in the end. Of course, all this frustration was mainly due to the fact that I still had a marathon to run. The very next day I might add.

So, I got my medal and walked to the parking lot where my brother was waiting for me. I apologized for leaving him behind but he was actually pretty unscathed by the whole thing. I think he was just happy that his stomach was feeling better. So we had lunch a Panera Bread which, I had never tried before and then to the hotel to get ready for the next day. This folks, was not over. Not even close.

2015: The Year in Review

I was 2 seconds away from naming this post "The Year of the Knee" because that's exactly what it turned out to be. But then my other "Year in Review" posts wouldn't match with this one so I resisted the urge. Just remember the unofficial title.

It was promising...

Back in January, I called 2015 the year of the athlete. After completely crushing all expectations in 2014 by both running my first marathon that January(Disney) and a positively huge Half Marathon PR in November (Philadelphia) you could say I was riding pretty high. You know how people say that you shouldn't go grocery shopping while hungry? Maybe it applies to planning future goals while being in a "runner's high" as well.

The Machine

I decided that it was time to aim high and finally try a tri. I have triathlon in the brain folks. I've had it for a long time now. This was gonna be the year and to prove it I bought The Machine and started cycling. I also talked about cross-training and to crown the Year of the Athlete, I would start 2016 by running The Goofy Challenge, which I signed up for.

First "big" ride

However...

In all this goal planning (which included some lofty mileage goals) I seemed to have forgotten that I had gotten into some serious trouble with my right knee and that even though the doctor cleared me to run Philly, it was essentially a patch job and I would have to return and deal with it. I didn't.

During the race in Philly, the knee was a total non-issue. Hardly felt a thing. So I guess I just thought I was gonna be OK but...

In March, I ran the Puerto Rico Half Marathon and while the knee did not give me much trouble, the bonk during the final 2 miles as the Sun (and heat) reared it's head let me know there was some work to be done.

We need more Half Marathons in Puerto Rico

It wasn't all bad

After the Half, things were looking pretty good. My wife and I both started to make changes in our eating habits that have been very positive and I finally started cross-training by doing P90X3. The short, but tough workouts are a good complement to a runner. I also found out that I enjoy cycling as much as I enjoy running. Even did a 40 mile charity ride that included the steepest hill ever and survived. I felt I was on the right track and finding balance. I even PR'ed at the 5K distance even though I hardly raced this year.

5K PR... those are hard to come by

Trying to do P90X3...

The past starts to creep up on you

By the summer though the wheels started coming off. I noticed my knee wasn't recovering after my runs and the pain became more prevalent more often. Afraid to put the Goofy Challenge in jeopardy, I decided to stop cycling and focus on running so I parked The Machine for the rest of the year. Then, I went on a mini vacation to take our girls to the Frozen Summer of Fun in Disney World and the 2 long walking days took a toll on the knee. It swelled for the first time through all this and that's when I really felt like it was serious. Obviously, any possibility of a tri this year went out the window as well.

I got to see 2 awesome friends while at Disney World

By this time, it was do or die with the Goofy Challenge so I have been training as best I can but it's been slow and painful. I missed some crucial long runs and fell short on others so I will go and just do my very best.

I know all this sounds a bit grim but overall, I have to say that I'm quite happy with my year. Things didn't exactly go as planned for sure but think about this: Here I am, trying to figure out how to pull off the Goofy Challenge. Here I am, thinking about the steps I have to take so I can continue running and hopefully cycling and swimming and accomplishing the goals I have set for myself.

Here I am realizing that this has truly become important to me.

What can be better then that? At any other time in my life, this could have been an excuse to stop. "I got bad knees. Can't do it." The old me would have said. Just seeing it written like that makes me shiver. I want to keep going. So I'm going to tentatively call 2016 the Year of Recovery. I want to do what I can to deal with this and if it means surgery or even an extended resting period so be it. I'll come back even better than before then. 

So here's to a good year and hoping for an even better one in 2016. Hope your 2015 was good as well and that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Silence... and a giveaway!

Sorry...

I know I've been out of it for bit but I can't seem to help it. It's the way it has been with me forever. When things get tough, I go quiet. This of course, is kind of stupid since the whole point of a blog is to share, especially the tough times, so that people can avoid the pitfalls and offer support where needed but, that is just the way the cookie crumbled and here we are.

First, there's the knee... again. There are no two ways about it. After Goofy, I'm gonna have to stop running, get it checked out and dealt with in some way or another. it is not gonna go away on it's own. I have wasted too much time giving it time "to rest" with no results whatsoever. In fact, I seem to get better when I'm running regularly. Something I have realized way too late and now I'm a bit behind on my training plan. I'm slowly catching up but it's gonna be close. No doubt about it. Do not worry though. I'm not harboring any thoughts of regular running as a recipe to get better. There is definitely something wrong and it will be taken care of... just not right now. If I ever intend to do a triathlon (a boat I missed again this year thanks to the knee) this will have to be solved for sure. Half-Ironman for my 40th birthday? We will see...

Secondly, there were a bunch of personal problems. This was the part that sent me into blogging hibernation. They were dealt with but I was sure going around depressed for a while there. At this point in my life, there are very few things that will push my buttons to the point of depression but oh boy, were they pushed. It happens. Not often but it happens.

Through it all, I ran. Maybe not with the same passion or determination and I surely missed a few here and there but I ran. Like so many times before I realized that running has become an important part of my life and that running actually helps deal with all the hard stuff. Even if it hurts -and it hurts- it is better than not running at all.

Ok, enough with the sad talk! Next week, as part of celebrating my return to Disney Marathon Weekend and (hopefully) tackling the Goofy Challenge I will be giving away... something. I'm not saying what it is yet but, it is something that helped me a great deal on my first marathon, especially in preparing for it and now I want to give the chance to a couple of people of having that same opportunity. So tell your friends, be on the lookout and get ready. The Fat Runner is going to do his first giveaway next week!

Kamikaze WDW - Disney's Hollywood Studios

Here's parts I and II of this trip just in case you want to catch up.

Here's another interesting tidbit from our trip (read the previous post for the first): I've been to Orlando to visit the parks countless times. Of all those times I have been here as "the head of the family" with my daughters three times. Three times and we have visited the same two parks every time. Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. There's a demographics lesson for you. Know your audience folks. Princesses and Disney Junior is where it's at. Hopefully, I'll be able to remedy the fact that my daughters have yet to visit Epcot and Animal Kingdom at some point in the future but for now, we came here for the Frozen Summer of Fun so here we are!

The day started... late. Everyone was pretty tired the night before and I told Mayline to allow the girls to sleep as much as possible so they could rest. These girls... at 5:30am they are usually up and about whether tired or not so I figured that with their level of exhaustion they would sleep all the way to maybe 7:30am but they went past that. Probably for the first time in their lives. After a record-breaking dressing and combing session we swallowed some breakfast and headed for DHS.

We literally walked through the gate to catch the start of the Frozen Royal Welcome parade. The main objective of this day was simple: Catch all the Frozen-related activities happening in the park. So, while late, we were off to a good start. Disney, being well... Disney, made sure to create the proper ambiance for the parade by making it snow along the parade route. You don't see that everyday. Especially during a hot, Florida, summer day.

So that got the girls amped up and after hearing Let It Go for the first time of many this day we headed over to the Animation Courtyard for some character time with some of the girl's big favorites.

This part of the day was Angelica's show by the way. "The Kraken" ran all over the Animation Courtyard leading the way to the characters she wanted pics with, which were all of them. At one point, we saw the line for Doc McStuffins to be shorter than the one for Sophia the First  so we switched. She went ballistic. I would've never guessed that this would be her reaction to the characters. Worst case scenario: she would be afraid. Best case? She would "tolerate" getting her pic taken with them. She ended up the bravest of the three. That's kids for you.

Next off was Olaf's Summer Cooldown over at the Main Stage. Here I made my best Queen Elsa impression.

And here is a tiny Cast Member for your viewing pleasure.

So Elsa can conjure snow flakes. So what? I can conjure cast members... apparently. Olaf's Summer Cooldown is essentially a dance-along and it was pretty fun. We did the Twist, threw around some beach balls and of course endured a rendition of Olaf's Ode to Summer. The streaming jets of cold mist at the end were extremely welcome. It was a pretty hot and humid day. 

I was a bit disappointed by Disney Jr. Live on Stage. Whether because of changes or technical issues, some of the effects on the show were missing and I think it took away from the experience. That didn't stop the girls from enjoying it of course but my gut feeling is that next time we come here, we'll be skipping this one unless they update it with something like Miles from Tomorrowland which is big at my house. Kids grow up. It happens.

Lunch was at Pizza Planet. I was warned that this place looks nothing like it does in the Toy Story films but the girls insisted and I obliged. I tried the Meat Lover's pizza. Nothing to write home about but you know, it's pizza. Can it ever be bad?

From there we did our first round of Star Tours. I say first round because the girls LOVED it so much that we went again later in the day. After all the girly stuff, after all the Princess stuff, after all the Frozen stuff... they are my daughters after all. I was so proud. Of course, that lasted all of 15 seconds. We went straight from Star Tours to the Frozen Sing-along.

This is the "main attraction" if you will, to the whole Frozen Summer of Fun. It is done in the stage where American Idol used to be. Here's the short version: Princess Anna summons Arandelle's official historians to tell the extremely truncated version of the events in the film. Think of the film, take out everything except the songs and you're there. Of course everyone is encouraged to sing along. Do I have to tell you that my girls enjoyed this attraction? Anna and Elsa can pop up a million times and it will never get old for them. Plus, they got to sing their tiny lungs out. My favorite part? When one of the historians mistook Kristoff for Justin Beiber. 

Then came the highlight of the day for me. My friend and coach extraordinaire Katrina Pilkington and her husband Gary drove from Tampa (she'll soon be moving to Las Vegas) to meet us at the park. It was absolutely amazing to finally meet someone who has inspired and motivated me so much in person. As much as I loved meeting you Kat, hopefully you'll get to see less of me next time we meet. Wink wink. By the way, Mayline thought you were taller. That's what happens when you have a bigger than life personality.

Mini-Coach Summit

Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania were waiting for us and we knew from previous experience this was a favorite for the girls. The best part here was when they all decided they had beaten my score by combining everyone else's so I guess I was the loser.

Which brings me to another attraction I was sad to see not working properly. Voyage of The Little Mermaid was missing all of the water effects. Again, maybe it was just broken but this and Disney Jr. Live on Stage were reminders that DHS is a park in a state of transition. There are big things coming here and the Frozen stuff is basically masking all that has been closed. Hollywood Studios has always been one of my favorite parks and I can't wait to see it 100% functional again.

We also ran into Minnie Mouse all dressed up for beach summer fun and dancing the afternoon away! Veronica and Maria did not want to dance with her for some reason but guess who was total game for this? Oh yeah. Time to "release The Kraken!"

This brings us to the low point of the day which I know sounds bad. It wasn't too bad I guess but sometimes, especially with kids, the only way to know you're gonna get burned is to put your finger in the fire.

Oh, the two oldest were gonna scream for real in a bit

The two older girls wanted to ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I was hesitant but they insisted. I explained what the ride was and how it worked. As we walked up to it I pointed at the fact that people were screaming inside the building. They bravely kept walking. A part of me thought: "well, they loved the Mine Train and they went crazy for Star Tours so maybe this was not gonna be so bad." Well, that part of me was wrong. As soon as the ride was over, Maria was trembling in terror (how fitting) and Veronica was outright crying. It took a lot of soothing to calm them down. Yeah, they're not gonna be riding this one anytime soon. To this day, The Tower of Terror is a touchy subject around our house, so don't bring it up. Me? Some of you may know that Tower of Terror is programmed to act differently every time and this particular turn was my favorite ever. It was the first time I felt truly weightless while riding it. Which is probably what scared the girls more than anything.

We are in the last row. The very last girl on the left, screaming and crying and laughing nervously is Veronica, then my Mom looking amused at her reaction followed by Maria, holding on for dear life. Quite the scene.

Fearing some permanent damage, we quickly went back to Star Tours for some badly needed happy memories. Did I mention how happy it makes me that they love this ride so much? 

After that we had dinner at ABC Commissary where everyone had Cheeseburgers except me, who was feeling adventurous and tried the steak. It needed a bit of salt but otherwise it was pretty good. ABC Commissary actually has a pretty decent and varied menu. I have tried different dishes here over the years and have always been happy. Definitely recommend this one if you are looking for Quick Service option in DHS. Quick side note: For the sake of order and peace, I sat everyone down and went to order by myself. The order was too big for me to handle and just when I resigned myself to doing two trips, the Cast 
Member who gave me the food happily offered to help me carry the trays to our table even though it was not his job. This is a Quick Service restaurant after all but that's Cast Members for you.

It was during dinner that it started to rain. Really hard. Thunder, lightning... it was pretty bad. it was at this time that I started fearing that we were gonna miss Fantasmic! and the Frozen Fireworks Show. Or rather, that it was not gonna happen at all. And basically, that's how our day ended. After a couple of hours of waiting it became evident that the rain and lightning was not gonna let up and my brother reluctantly went out in the rain and bought some ponchos, which did almost nothing because it was raining so hard and we ran to the buses and eventually our room. 

And so it was over. We almost got to do everything we set out to do. We missed Fantasmic! and the Frozen Fireworks although it was not our fault and we didn't get to see Frozen Fever which was no biggie as we had seen it when we saw Cinderella at the Theater. Everything else we had set out to do in this Kamikaze trip to Disney World, we accomplished. Oh yeah, I would have loved to catch Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular one more time since it's scheduled to close but that was a personal thing so it was never part of the official schedule. No joke, it took me about a week and a half to get rid of the felling of exhaustion after we returned home. It was just so crazy but looking back I wouldn't have done it differently. We made some wonderful memories on this trip and the girls... The girls are still talking about it weeks later. Sometimes, I'll be driving them to school and they'll ask me if we can talk about the trip. Tower of Terror and all. 

Yup, I'd say it was worth it for sure.

Kamikaze WDW - The Magic Kingdom

There's a logic to the madness. You can read part I and part II of this story to know what's going on.

We made it out of Puerto Rico by beating a tropical storm, got to Orlando and managed to settle into our hotel room. Now, it was time to get down to business. After a not-so-good-night's sleep (the girls were still on an adrenaline rush from it all) we woke up on Friday and had a good, strong breakfast to get ready for the day ahead. When we exited the hotel to wait for a bus to the Magic Kingdom we were pleasantly surprised to find one already waiting for us. So, on to the Happiest Place on Earth!

Here is an interesting fact about our day at The Magic Kingdom: We spent the entire day, from morning until the fireworks show that night, in Fantasyland. Yes, the entire day. Not only that, we didn't get to do everything there was to do there, including PhilharMagic and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh among others. I have to admit, I wasn't too sad to miss It's a Small World.

So, what did we do? Well, after the requisite pictures at the entrance and the oohs and aahs of walking towards the castle, (which never gets old by the way. Plus it was my youngest daughter's first time in Disney) we headed straight for Fairytale Garden to meet Angelica's favorite princess: Merida!

Let me tell you guys, this moment made all the planning, hassle and worrying worth it. When Angelica saw Merida, the look on her face... Merida started talking to her but Angelica was completely stricken in awe. Then she started to touch her hair. It's as if she was saying "You are real! Look at your hair!" Of course, I was too busy enjoying the moment to do stuff like, you know, take pictures. Thankfully, Disney came to the rescue here. I paid to include Memory Maker in my vacation package so they took care of that for me. My wife also lapsed out of her own personal coma to take some pics of the girls afterwards trying out the bow and arrow. They loved it! 20 minutes into the trip and it had already payed for itself. Everything from here on was pure profit.

And folks, we did some stuff. From Merida we went to the Mad Tea Party, Dumbo, the Carousel and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I was a bit concerned that the girls were gonna find it too scary but they absolutely loved it. Angelica stayed with Grandma for that one though. Not tall enough.

On Dumbo my wife took this picture which I thought was priceless. Can you see why? My wife was calling Angelica and this was the result.

From there we made a short stop by Rapunzel's tower for something I had promised the girls we'd do...

Everyone around thought it was pretty cute. We even got some applause! Veronica actually wanted to wait to see if she would come out. I promised we would meet her later.

By then, it was time to head over to The Crystal Palace for our reservations with Winnie the Pooh.

Here, things got a little weird. Veronica, who is usually fearless, did not want her picture taken with any of the characters here. I don't know why. Not a Winnie the Pooh fan it seems.

The Festival of Fantasy Parade was next. I tell you, these girls simply can't get enough of the princesses. They cheered for every single one they saw in the parade. Thankfully we were saving the best part for later.

After the parade, we could tell the girls were exhausted. It wasn't part of the plan but we felt it best to head over to the hotel, have them sleep a couple of hours, then regroup and return to finish what was left on our schedule. Frankly, I don't think we were gonna be able to go through such a long day without a break. 

So they slept, then they overslept. It was raining so there was no point in waking them up so I waited until it passed to do so. I was forced to rearrange some fast passes and we ended up missing the one we had for Cinderella and Rapunzel but since the girls were able to rest, we managed to get all we wanted to do even with the extra lines. Besides, this was the most important part of the visit: Meeting the Princesses.

After we got back in the park, we first met Anna and Elsa. My own little Anna (Veronica) and Elsa (Maria Rosa) were speechless. I enjoyed seeing their faces as the sisters from Frozen took the time to talk to them. Not that my girls said much. They just pretty much nodded at everything they were told. The look on their faces say it best I think.

Cinderella and Rapunzel were pretty much the same experience in that my girls were just in awe. These are the "regular" princesses after all. By that I mean that when they are not playing Frozen, Maria says she is Rapunzel and Veronica says she is Cinderella. We were really lucky and happy that these two were together in the same experience. Veronica managed to tell Cinderella about how much she loves her shoes. Even at the Princess level, girls talk about shoes it seems.

 I should point out, that Angelica became a total character groupie! We literally had to restrain her from running over to the characters and giving them hugs while it was some other person's turn. She might have ruined a couple of pictures... I would grab her hand and explain we had to wait in line and she would cry and give me this face like "But Rapunzel is right there! Why do we have to wait?! I mean she is right within my reach Dad! I don't get it." Such is life. When our turn would come up, my brother would joke that it was time "to release the Kraken".  She was sneaky too. She would wait until just the right moment to escape my grasp.

From there we went to Enchanted Tales with Belle, where my oldest got to play the part of Maurice, Belle's father. I wouldn't mind more character experiences like this one. It was interactive, the kids loved it and you get to take pictures. It was one of my favorite moments on this trip.

 

Then, we rode on Journey of the Little Mermaid which is a classic "Dark Ride" It's so full of color and so many things going on. Everyone loved this one. I forgot to take any pics here though...

Finally, we missed Celebrate the Magic. The show where they project all sorts of stuff on the Castle from different Disney films. It started just as we were exiting the Little Mermaid ride and were taking a restroom break. We were just caught out of position I guess. The projection can only be seen from the front and Journey of the Little Mermaid is behind it. So while that was happening we made our way to a better spot so we could watch Wishes.

If Wishes causes the jaws in adults to unhinge, what do you think the effect is on a child?  Plus Tinkerbell "flew" right over us! This is one of those "moments" that parents live for. Veronica kept looking back at me like "Is this really happening?" I did not want it to end. Sadly, it did.

Of course, after that "moment" was over my body quickly reminded that we were on the tail end of a very, very long day and while the girls had been able to sleep during the afternoon, I hadn't. My feet were destroyed. In fact, I they hadn't hurt this much since running the marathon. The walk back to the room was painful. I was actually concerned I would have trouble getting up the next morning. I was exhausted. But the memories... no amount of pain will take those away.