Pain and Panic Cross the Finish Line!
Recently returned from participating in the Everest Expedition Challenge 2011 and we had a blast. I dropped by work early Friday morning for a couple of hours and then off to the airport for my much anticipated weekend. As usual my plane was delayed, but my teammate had graciously waited for me on the other side of the airport security checkpoint. It was wonderful seeing my friend again, it has been almost five years since I last saw her and sadly it was for a funeral, so this was a long overdue weekend. :hug:
Being a Disney aficionado I knew my way around and zipped her down to Magical Express for our ride to AKL. My friend has never been to Disney, so this was a real treat to show a newbie around. We procured a partial savannah view room, and while we did not have many animal sightings from our balcony we greatly enjoyed our room just the same. After checking into our room we hopped a bus over to ESPN Wide World of Sports Center for registration. Honestly, not a lot at the Sports Complex yet missed the bus back so had to wait around a bit for the next one. Back to the AKL with plenty of time before ADR’s at Jiko. We toured the AKL and grabbed a table by the pool, where I introduced her to zebra domes (YUM!) from Mara, and just relaxed catching up on events over the past several years. Dinner was amazing and by this time we have settled back into our friendship like we were the day we graduated High School (um, 20+ years ago). Both being tired from a long day, we retire back to the room still chattering away.
An early day for both of us yet softened with yummy breakfast at Boma before jaunting off to EPCOT. We successfully procured timely Soarin’ fastpasses then off to several other activities in the park. I must say I was not expecting Captain EO (replaced Honey I Shrunk the Audience), and I was disappointed. I hope Disney replaces this soon, as we had a short time at WDW and I hate we spent it on this attraction. We really enjoyed the day, especially all the additional topiaries throughout the park for the Flower Festival. We even stumbled upon time for a quick photo with Donald in Mexico. Yet due to our evening event, we had an early dinner scheduled in Italy. Wonderful supper, I will definitely return to Tutto Italia. One note, my friend was very complimentary on how Disney handles folks with allergies. She has a severe allergy to shellfish and each restaurant had the chef or manager come to our table and walk us through the menu and made sure she had a wonderful worry-free meal. Two thumbs way up on that one!:thumbsup:
Sadly leaving EPCOT, back to our room for a quick change and then off to AK for our Challenge! This was SO much fun. I am a hiker, not a runner, but I attempted some light training prior to arriving at WDW. While my teammate runs, she is a slow runner and thus a perfect teammate for a cubicle sloth like myself. We arrived an hour early, as requested by Disney, but never felt bored waiting for it to start as they had opportunities for pictures and entertainment. The race began at 8:30, at least the first wave. There were seven waves, starting five minutes apart. The race begins in the parking lot of AK, and that is where the first mile is run. We started with the second wave and I guess the adrenaline of the race simply pushed me ahead as I had a pretty good start. Several folks do the run/walk/run, so I was completely comfortable with my pace. Around the one mile marker we encountered our first obstacle, jumping hay bales. This was hilarious, I never realized how high hay bales can be but we safely made it over without totally embarrassing ourselves and kept on moving. Throughout the race additional waves would start and the serious runners zoom by in groups but the course was rarely congested for long periods of time. Both the runners and volunteers are constantly encouraging all participants which really helps keep you moving
Shortly after mile maker one we crossed into the park and ran around the Tree of Life. Probably at about a mile and a half I saw King Louie and, of course, I had to stop to get my picture taken. As we jumped back on the course a ‘real runner’ zoomed by and asked if we got to deduct our photo op from our time, I quickly replied “Oh, this is not about the time, I am here for the medal!”. We ran out to the end of the train station and before the course doubled back we saw the second obstacle, tires. Here is where we saw a faceplant (thankfully not hurt) so when we actually approached the tires, we were very careful. The last mile was actually rather easy, yet shortly before the end of the race portion you pass through the third and final obstacle. The choice is to either climb the rope wall or crawl under a net. We both wanted to climb the rope wall. This slowed us down a bit, as it was very crowded, but we still are good with our choice. Just not sure if we hit the ground for the crawl choice, if we ever would have gotten back up. :D
We both cross the race finish line (back in the parking lot) to be immediately handed our first scavenger hunt clue. Just when we think we are at the end of the ‘running’ portion, our clue directs us back to the front of the park so we take off again and run to the front of the park. My fabulous teammate solves the first clue and we are given our second clue which directs us to Camp Mickey-Minnie, so we take off running again! Now I must admit, we received some help here. Okay another runner gave us the answer, but honestly, if we had not been given the answer we would still be standing in Camp Mickey-Minnie trying to solve the clue. So, we paid it forward and helped another couple. Off to Africa, running again, where my teammate solved the next clue. Then off to entrance of Asia and finally I pulled my weight as a teammate and quickly solved that clue. After the fourth clue they gave us the final one and I was able to come through again for my team and we ran on to the Finish line – Everest Expedition! :joy:
As we crossed the finish line we were handed our awesome medals. Needless to say we were exhausted, but still managed some time at the after party. They had entertainment, characters and a few rides were open. My teammate was not feeling really well, so we opted not to ride anything, but definitely got our pictures with Goofy & Pluto and Mickey & Minnie. We both had morning flights, thus early ME pickup, so we returned to the AKL and fell fast asleep. It was sad to say goodbye the next morning, but we both agreed we will make this an annual event. :mickey3:
Thank you Disney for an amazing weekend! I am now starting to train for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon in early October, maybe the relay or maybe take on the entire course. No, I still don’t run, but Jeff Galloway has a great training program I think is manageable and I will do anything to spend a weekend at WDW!:mickey:
Great account of a super-fun weekend
Thank-you so much for sharing your experience! My husband and I are runners and so are our daughter, her husband, son and his wife. We have all wanted to run at Disney at some point. We keep putting it off because we live in Michigan and it would be a $1000 weekend for each couple with air, food and hotel. We are DVC members, but they never include a DVC resort as an official race resort.
We decided the other night that we WILL run Everest next year! It sounds like you had a great time! I'm running for the medal as you did, haha! I would love to know what kind of questions they ask in the scavenger hunt.
My daughter and I decided many years ago that we had to run the Princess 1/2 together, but college athletics, injuries and 2 grandsons :) have delayed our plan. That will be the next Disney run.
Thanks again for your great account of the run. It confirmed our decision to participate.
