Yes I know it's past due F&W TR w/ review of Wine and Dine Half Marathon

[hhhmickey]

Yes...I know this is late. No, I haven't spent much time on MO in the past few months. Yes, I have missed you guys! Sometimes the business of life with a wife, three kids, and a job gets in the way of Disney fun. We will be back in WDW next month, and the excitement is mounting. After reading a couple of great TR's recently, I decided to bite the bullet and do TR's for our two most recent trips. I hope to get those done before our trip next month!

The primary purposes for this trip were for DW and me to run the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon, and also to experience the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT. In all our previous trips to WDW, we had only spent a few hours on one day at F&W, so we were really looking forward to a couple of days in EPCOT during this time of year. As for the run, we were signed up for the relay, and DW was running the first leg, a 4.8 mile run, and I would run the remaining 8.3 miles to complete the half. This would be our first trip without kids since joining DVC. It was actually on our last trip without kids (May 2008) that I participated in the Florida 70.3 triathlon that we took the DVC tour. One direct and two resale purchases later, we are loving DVC and our WDW trips!

Friday September 30

We left mid afternoon for the drive from Alabama to Walt Disney World. Our typical drive with the kids is anywhere from seven to eight hours, but we managed to make a little better time on this trip. We spent Friday night at the Hilton Garden Inn Lake Buena Vista. Since we were arriving late, we didn't want to burn the points. The hotel was fine; it was simply our launching point for the long weekend.

[riley70]

Better late than never, bring it on! This will help us prepare for this year's F&W Fest!

[jrbdad]

Always enjoy your TRs. Looking forward to it. Thanks for taking the time.

[hhhmickey]

Saturday October 1

After a quick breakfast at the hotel (and No, the Mickey waffles you make here do not compare to the ones in WDW), we checked out and headed to Jambo House to check into our studio. This was early morning, so we had no expectation the room would be ready, and it was not. The plan for today was to spend a little time in the parks, go to the race expo to pick up our race packet, get some rest, do the half-marathon (which didn’t start until 10 pm ET), and then attend the post race party.

We met up with some friends who are big Disney fans and were also doing the run, but had not been to WDW in several years. We let them dictate the touring schedule. Coincidentally, this happened to be the 40th Anniversary celebration of Magic Kingdom opening. Anticipating big crowds there, and also because our friends wanted to ride Tower of Terror, Rock n Roller Coaster, and the new Star Tours, we opted for a morning at DHS. We arrived at DHS about an hour after park opening, but wait times were not bad at all. We did not take many photos on this trip, and what we did take, were all with my iPhone.



We rode ToT (my favorite ride in WDW),







RnRC,



and Star Tours all standby. While three of us were riding ToT, DW went to Toy Story Mania to get FP’s. The return time was mid afternoon, and we ended up giving the FP’s away. On a side note, but of equal importance, one of the best sweet snacks in all of WDW is the soft carrot cake cookie with cream cheese frosting at Beverly Sunset; had to carbo load you know.

Having accomplished all we wanted to do, other than ride Toy Story Mania, we left DHS and headed to Port Orleans Riverside for lunch. If you have not been, there is a great QS create your own pasta bar at the Riverside Mill Food Court (the carbo loading thing continued). There are several different pastas, sauces, meats and toppings. We enjoyed lunch and cooling off for a while. After lunch, our studio was still not ready. We decided to forgo rest at this time, and hit another park, since our friends didn’t know when they would be back, and they were leaving the next day. According to my Touring Plans app on my iPhone, we did not want to be at MK, at least if we didn’t want to fight crowds.

We decided to go to AK. We managed to ride Kilimanjaro Safaris and also Expedition Everest.



At this point, the ladies took a bus to Jambo House, while the men headed to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and the race expo.

[hhhmickey]

Arriving at the sports complex, we had a looonnnnggg walk to get to the expo. It was mid afternoon by this time, and thankfully, the crowds were relatively light. I’m not sure what it was like earlier in the day, but Disney’s race organization at this point was top notch. We were in and out of the packet pick-up area in no time, and spent about 30 minutes meandering around the expo looking at running goodies. Realizing we had been on our feet for most of the past eight hours or so and knowing we still had a run that night, we headed back to Jambo House for a little R&R.

We had already had a pretty full day, but there was still lots of fun in store. After some quick shut-eye, we were all back up preparing for the race. We’d had a big lunch, so dinner consisted of bananas, pretzels, bagels, peanut butter, water and Gatorade.

Race bibs pinned on, check, timing chips secured, check, official entrant wrist band on, check, clothes for post-race party, check, preloaded gift card for post race party, double check! We’re off!

[hhhmickey]

The Race

This portion of the TR will give details of the race…if you’re not into that sort of thing, you may find this a bit boring…you’ve been warned!
Prior to, and after registering, I had read some really bad reviews of the 2010 Wine and Dine Half-Marathon. I was hopeful Disney had addressed some of the problems from the past year. My experience at packet pick up and the Expo earlier in the day were both positive, so I felt good about the prospects of the race itself.

There were several official host resorts for the race; however, Jambo House was not one of those. Nevertheless, there were numerous and sufficient transportation options. Disney was very detailed in their travel logistics. Since the post race party was in EPCOT, we decided to take our personal vehicle there and catch a bus to the race start. We drive our own vehicle most of the time in WDW anyway. Disney was very efficient in loading busses to take participants from EPCOT to WWoS. We were immediately both amused and entertained by some of the race attire. Needless to say, it didn’t match my moisture wicking running attire. Mickey, Minnie, and various princess costumes were abundant. In addition, some of the more “homemade” costumes were hilarious, and sometimes very meaningful. While in line, we met people who travelled across the country to meet up with one another to run the race; friends, brother, sisters. There were husband and wife teams, father/son, mother/daughter, etc. We were already having lots of fun!

With over 10,000 runners registered for the marathon, race logistics, as you can imagine, can be a challenge. I thought the travel logistics were well managed. All runners initially went to WWoS, which was the start point of the race.

DW and I after arriving at WWoS before the race start.



There was live entertainment, but for the most part, it was just a bunch of people sitting around waiting on the race to start. At some point (I believe around 8 pm ET), runners who would complete the second leg of the relay were transported from WWoS to AK. At AK, they also had entertainment and a live feed from the race start at WWoS. There was a good bit of time to kill just sitting in the parking lot here, but there’s not much that can be done about that. I should mention that we caught a break with the weather. After a pretty warm day, a cold front pushed through and made the temperatures very pleasant for the race, and also for the next couple of days touring F&W! At the transition area, detailed instructions were given about the hand off from runner one to runner two. At this point, it was just a waiting game. I passed the time stretching and trying to stay loose, and thinking about the run and the party!

[AZeno]

Wait, wait..... I've got to go pour myself a cup of coffee. I want to be able to settle in and enjoy reading about your visit to the F&W festival, I can tell it's going to be a great trip report. I'll be right back.

[hhhmickey]

Before we knew it, the gun was blasting to start the race. DW was in wave two, and I anticipated that I would have about 55 minutes until she arrived since she would start 10 minutes after the first wave. The first leg of the race carried runners through AK, and as runners began to arrive at the transition area, the excitement was growing. DW came through right as expected time wise, and after a quick hug and kiss, I was off! The first several miles were along Osceola Parkway as I headed towards DHS. There were several bands, characters and DJ’s along the road providing entertainment. It was a big boost entering DHS as I encountered the ToT, which I had ridden just hours earlier. The race took runners all through DHS before finally spilling out onto the path that leads from DHS to EPCOT. Runners followed the path aournd Crescent Lake all the way past the Beach and Yacht Club before turning left just prior to the International Gateway. The race continued along the outer edges of Epcot before finishing in the shadows of Spaceship Earth!

After finishing, runners go along a path where you receive your finishers medal, have a photo taken, and are given a goody bag with a bagel, peanut butter, bottled water and other goodies. DW had already been transported back to Epcot from the transition point at AK, and was waiting for me just outside the finish area. Special bags with your race number can be transported from the start at WWoS to the finish at Epcot, but we kept our bag in our vehicle since we were parked at Epcot. DW had already retrieved our bag, so we quickly changed clothes. There are two tents set up at the finish (one male and one female) for changing.

Just before entering the post race party at Epcot, runners have the option of selecting a beer or soda, and maybe even wine (can't remember exactly). The beer is standard domestic fare (I believe it was Bud Light and maybe one other option). Nothing too exciting, but it was cold and wet, so we grabbed a beer and headed into the party. We met back up with our friends and immediately went to Soarin’. Looking back, this was a mistake because we were ahead of most of the crowd at this point, but that didn’t last long. Nevertheless, our friends wanted to ride, and we basically walked right on. For the party, Soarin’, Spaceship Earth, Test Track, Nemo, Living with the Land, and Mission Space were all open.

After riding Soarin’, we headed towards World Showcase. Up to this point, most of the problems I had read about concerning last year’s race were non issues. Everything had been well organized and efficient. However, some of the problems I had read about the post race party still had not been addressed. I was very surprised at just how crowded World Showcase was! In my opinion, the primary reason was because none of the pavilions were open; only the F&W kiosks outside. The restrooms were open, but none of the restaurants or activities inside the pavilions were available. This led to very long lines! Also, at this point, it was already about 1 am, so we were tired anyway. We managed to snag a few different items to eat, grabbed a couple of drinks, and headed to our vehicle. It had been a long, but very fun day.

Overall, I would give the Food & Wine Half Marathon a solid B rating. I have done numerous races over the years, so I have a good base to compare this to. For a relatively large race, organization, planning, transportation, and logistics were top notch. Certainly not the best I have seen, but far from the worst. The course was solid. There are a couple of long stretches of relatively flat highway, but Disney did a good job of mixing in entertainment so it was not completely boring. If you are a Disney fan, and a fan of running, what could be more fun than getting to run in the parks? However, there were a couple of areas in DHS, and also on the path between DHS and Epcot where things got very tight. The finish area was nice. Based on what I had read the beverage distribution when entering the post race party was much improved. We had no problems and no wait there. Hands down the area for biggest improvement is the post race party. Disney should open the restaurants of World Showcase and give party goers more options, even if it’s condensed menus. That should help the long lines immensely. If you are looking for a marathon or half marathon experience where the run itself is the single focus, the Disney Food & Wine Half would not be my first choice. Having said that, we did enjoy the run. We even enjoyed the party despite the crowds, but it could be so much better. Both DW and I would do this again, but it would not be on my must do repeat list.

[FrankPhillips]

Originally Posted by hhhmickey

The Race

Ahhhh Ha! Here's to my SECOND favorite team: War Eagle!
(cough.... rolltide.... cough)

[hhhmickey]

Originally Posted by riley70

Better late than never, bring it on! This will help us prepare for this year's F&W Fest!

Thank you! I figured better late than never also! I hope to go back to F&W this year, but not sure at this point.

Originally Posted by jrbdad

Always enjoy your TRs. Looking forward to it. Thanks for taking the time.

Thanks John!

Originally Posted by AZeno

Wait, wait..... I've got to go pour myself a cup of coffee. I want to be able to settle in and enjoy reading about your visit to the F&W festival, I can tell it's going to be a great trip report. I'll be right back.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Deirdre

It's not late. It is just in time to make ressies and plans for F & W 2012 !!!

That's what I say!

Originally Posted by TikiTwinsMom

Looking forward to more!

Thanks TTM!

Originally Posted by minniekissedme

Hi HHH!!! Hope all is well and good to see the report!

Thanks Bob, and I hope all is well with your family as well!

Originally Posted by Brian5581

Excellent report, Chris! Thanks so much for taking the time. I for one don't find it to be late at all...

Looking forward to more, of course.

Brian, I knew I could count on you to forgive my tardiness!

Originally Posted by Tammy

Loved your report!

Thanks Tammy!

Originally Posted by FrankPhillips

Ahhhh Ha! Here's to my SECOND favorite team: War Eagle!
(cough.... rolltide.... cough)

Frank, you're a good sport!