Author Archives: jennypersons

Saving Money at Disney Parks: Buying Disney Gift Cards

This is one of my new favorite ways to save a few bucks at Disney Parks! Saving Money at Disney Parks: Buying Disney Gift Cards

With Target’s new Red Card, you can get 5% off everything at Target – this included Gift cards!! Shop Target.com

I have been buying $100 worth of Disney Gift Cards each month since the beginning of the year. By the time we leave, we will have $700 in gift cards, and I spread out our spending each month, so we could fit the $100 into our budget. The gift cards will then be used to pay for food, souvenirs, etc. on our 2.5 week vacation to Disneyworld. So instead of having a $700 bill to pay when we get home, it will already be paid for by our gift cards. And by spreading it out over months, I have been able to fit it into our monthly budget.

Now 5% may not seem like much, but on that $700, it does save $35. While $35 doesn’t seem like alot when you are talking about $700, but that $35 pays for a lunch at one of the parks. Or it pays for 2 Mickey Ears, or it pays for…. You get my drift. It is not a huge savings, but it is still a savings and it is better than paying full price. You rarely get a discount in the park, so you might as well pay with a gift card you got some sort of discount on!

You can also do this to pay for your Disneyworld vacation packages, tickets, etc. (tickets are usually cheaper through other avenues) to get an additional 5% off your vacation!

Target is not the only place that offers Discounts on Gift Cards. My local Fred Meyer has offered a 20% off discount on Disney Gift Cards. They limited the offer to one gift card, but I still was able to get one $50 gift card for $40! Our Safeway often has gift card deals as well!

Most grocery stores also offer Fuel Rewards for buying gift cards. If you can earn up to $1 off a gallon of gas, you could save quite a bit of money on gas, by buying your Disney Gift Cards (you would have to do the Math if the Fuel Rewards is better than Target 5% off!). Watch for double reward offers!

Grocery Stores often offer deals where you get a coupon for free groceries for buying Gift Cards. Our Albertsons and Safeway often offer a Buy $100 in gift cards, get $20 in FREE groceries! I’ll take some free groceries

So pre-buying your souvenirs and food for Disney Parks by purchasing Gift Cards can save you some money. Either by getting a direct discount with a cheaper gift card, Free Groceries, or fuel discounts, it is still better than paying full price at the Parks! If you know you are going to spend the money while you are there, you may as well get a discount or free groceries for spending the money! I love Saving Money at Disney Parks! Any money I can save, will get me to the parks more often 😉

Do you have a favorite way to get a Discount on Disney Gift Cards?

Tinkerbell Half Marathon and Kids Races: Run Disney Review

Here is a post I wrote after I ran the

Inaugural Tinkerbell Half Marathon

& Kids races

My Husband didn’t do the 5K

because it was REALLY expensive

(it included a park ticket, but we already had annual passes – lame!)

Tinkerbell Half Marathon Medal & Coast to Coast medal!!

Nobody does Races Like Disney

This was my third Disney Race,

and at least, race performance wise, it was my favorite

I have LOVED each of them

They were all GREAT races

I got there around 4:45/5:00 (the race started at 5:45)

and was one of the first in my corral

(they had said to be there by 4:45 :P)

So I was near the front of Corral B, which is as close the the front as I will probably ever get 🙂

There was apparently 11,000 women and almost 1000 men there

I ran past Sean Astin – You know the guy from Rudy and Lord of the Rings?

(he then passed me later because he is fast!)

I made use of the earlier Corral and stopped for a bunch of characters

(previously I only did one or two)

because there were smaller lines because not as many people had been through yet

(The later corrals = longer lines)

It still took me at least 15 extra minutes to do the stops,

(I timed it, it was at least 15 minutes)

but worth it!

I stopped at all the characters I thought the kids would like

or think I was cool for stopping and getting pictures with

Jonathan was especially jealous of Jack Sparrow!

(you can’t find him in the parks anymore!)

I even helped a few other people take pictures (’cause I am nice that way!)

The rest of the Tinkerbell Half Marathon went well

I had some stomach “issues” around mile 11

luckily it passed with an extended walking period

(my body/me has issues with port-a-potties)

It also started to get REALLY hot toward the end

The announcers were talking about how it heated up REALLY fast

once the sun came up when I crossed the finish line

I think they may have flagged the race even

(Disney raises flags along the course if it is getting to hot, I think it reached level 1 – there are 3 levels)

There were lots of bands along the race – even an army band!

The Red Hat Ladies set up a HUGE cheering section

They were awesome

The Medal is FANTASTIC!

It is the coolest medal I have

(although all the Disney ones are awesome!)

Tinkerbell spins!

I also got my coveted Coast to Coast Medal!

My Coast to Coast medal is just cool

I am so excited about that one!

It is literally a dream come true

Something that I have been planning for a long time

FINALLY coming to fruition after years of planning it

It was VERY exciting to get it!

Plus I was able to get the green wrist band I HAD to wear ALL weekend on my wrist to get the medal, off 🙂

I was feeling GREAT after the Tinkerbell Half Marathon

Didn’t feel tired or sore

Which means I should probably push myself more

But I don’t like pain, I like not getting injuries, and I like breathing

so whatever – I finished

and had I not stopped for the characters

I would have PR’d

but the race is about fun and fun is what I had!

So 7 Half Marathons in 9 months – Not bad for a new runner

(if you can call what I do running!)

It is hard to say which race course I liked better –

I like the way that they ran us through the parks at Tinkerbell Half Marathon

better than the Disneyland Half

However, I liked running through Angel Stadium at the DisneyLand Half

So if I could take the beginning of the Tinkerbell Half Marathon

mix it with the end (or at least mile 9-11) of the Disneyland Half, I think you would have the best course!

There was no line for food, drink, etc. at the end

(unlike my 10 min wait at DisneyWorld :P)

I got my medals, food, and drinks

and headed for the hotel

The kids were excited to see both of my medals 🙂

It was a very exciting day!

Onto the Tinkerbell Half Marathon Kids Races:

They started at 8:00 at California Adventures. So we left the hotel at 7:15ish. We got there and there was a HUGE line to get in. They had to bag check everyone and it was taking quite awhile. We got through in plenty of time before the races started though.

Our 9 year old was in the mile race, so she started at a different spot than the younger boys. So my Husband went with her and was going to run with her. Her race started first. My Husband said the line was huge, but moved fairly fast. She apparently was not in a hurry and pretty much ran at her own pace. But she finished in a little over 13 minutes, so really not bad! She got her medal and after race treats.

The boys races started in a different place and it was CHAOS over there. There was a BIG difference between this race and the Disneyland half. The Disneyland Half was in Downtown Disney, so they had SECURE corrals staged in the parking lots with employees at the entrances to each age group to keep kids safe and make sure they couldn’t leave without the correct adult (you had claim tags for your kids) and it was very orderly. So theoretically (we used Aunts to help us, so we didn’t have to leave them), you could leave one kid to race with another and then go race with the other kid when it was their turn. Here there were no corrals. They just had signs for the different age groups and people spread about this massive eating area in the park. There was no way you could leave a kid with their age group (in fact they told you not to), so we had no choice but to have the boys go together (they told us to do this). Our 6 year old decided he would just go with 2 year old group. Fine with me, they are first, so we were done sooner!

So once the milers were done – I could see my 9 year old pass by us! – the 1-3 year olds were up. One thing that was better was they got the corrals through the start MUCH faster than the Disneyland half! I think it was because they were a little behind and they had to open the park for business! So they would line the kids up like 4-5 at a time and say 1, 2, 3, GO! and then line up the next set and same thing. They went really fast – which was a nice improvement over Disneyland Half. So in a perfect world, I would take the orderly, and secure corals of the Disneyland half and mix it with how fast they got the kids going from this race and would have the prefect kids races! 🙂 Both of the races were alot of fun regardless and the kids LOVE having their own races!

My 2 year old took his time when it was his turn – my 6 year old was very sweet and stayed with him and tried running with him. The 2 year old however was very distractable. He stopped to look at the flowers (at least twice!) Then he got to the cheering crowd. I didn’t think we would EVER get him away. He walked near them and LOVED having them cheer for him. He thought it was great. He stopped to smile and wave at all the people. They would cheer and tell him how cute he was and he would move onto the next cheering section of people, smile and wave. Yeah, he is a little Ham. I had to move him along – he finally got to the finish line (this was only 100m) and was excited to see Minnie! He loved the all Characters, but is still too chicken to go up to them himself. He is only brave around them if mom or dad is holding him and then he is fine 🙂

So he finally finished, (he started toward the middle of the heats, and by the time he finished they were announcing that the 1-3 year old were almost done!), and both boys got their medals and we found my husband and daughter. We then did bathroom breaks, had a snack, and then headed back into California Adventures for the day.

Tinkerbell Half Marathon

Saving Money at Disney Parks: Discount Disney Parks Tickets

Discount Disney Parks Tickets

With Disneyland raising their prices overnight, I thought I would give you a run down of how we get the best prices on Discount Disney Parks Tickets when we go. Each Theme Park is a bit different, so I will do discounts that work for both, and then I will split them up.

Discount Disney Parks Tickets suggestions for BOTH parks:

1. #1 tip for buying tickets for either park – buy as soon as you plan your trip. Disneyworld Tickets do not expire (until you use them, then you have 14 days) and Disneyland are good only for a calendar year! Avoid price hikes between your vacation planning and your trip by purchasing right away. We saved $300+ by planning our upcoming trip over a year in advance to Disneyworld, and purchasing our tickets before the price hikes. There have been 3 price hikes since we bought our tickets for our trip late this summer! If buying for Disneyland, purchase early in the SAME calendar year: January – April, as most price increases happen in May and June.

2. Check and see if your employer offers a discount on tickets. My husband’s employer has a close relationship with Disney (including a VIP room at Disneyworld because they sponsor a ride). Many employers offer some sort of discount ticket program.

3. Military members get AMAZING discounts. I am jealous of some of the great deals they get on admission. If you served or are serving in the military, check out what discounts are available.

4. AAA often has discounts for members. They are not always the best discount, so check around to see if they are the best price or not.

5. RunDisney – when we ran the Disney Races, they offered AMAZING deals on admission tickets to participants and their families. They were better than the prices from my husband’s work! So consider doing a Run Disney Race – you may have to pay for the race, but the savings on admission tickets could make up for the price of the race! (plus then you get to run a race, and get a shirt and medal!)

Discount Disney Parks Tickets for Disneyworld:

1. If you book through Disney, they often have package deals that give generous discounts on Admission tickets

2. Hands down: the BEST place to get discount tickets is Undercover Tourist. They have the best prices and are TRUSTWORTHY!! They are an authorized seller of Theme park tickets and highly recommended. There are many scams out there that seem too good to be true, then they probably are. Stick with Undercover Tourist for great service, and the best prices! They also have great prices on Universal Studios, Sea World, and Legoland!

3. Check Mousesavers.com for up to date discount offers – if a special on tickets is being run anywhere, mousesavers.com will have it listed!

Discount Disney Parks Tickets for Disneyland:

1. Since we live on the West Coast, many grocery stores offer Park Hopper tickets in their Gift Card Malls. Watch for sales when they offer free groceries for buying a certain amount of gift cards, or you can often earn Fuel Rewards for purchasing the tickets.

2. Check Mousesavers.com for Special Ticket offers. Disneyland is often running promotions, like buy 4 days, get the 5th free or Adults get in at kids prices, etc.

3. Check Costco. Our Costco often offers discount tickets – both CityPass and Disneyland Park Hopper – in store at certain times of the year. They are rarely (or never) online, but you can often find them in the store.

4. We’ve bought from getawaytoday.com as well. They also offer discounted Character meal vouchers, which is usually how we purchase ours!

5. If you plan on seeing other sites on your vacation, purchasing a CityPass can be very cost-effective! They are often available at Costco, or on their website.

6. You can also now get your Disneyland tickets fromUndercover Tourist!

Saving money on Disney Tickets is the hardest place to save money on your Disney Parks Vacation. You can save on airfare, hotels, cars, food, etc., but the tickets are nearly impossible to get a big discount on. Remember that if you see a deal that is too good to be true – it is! There are many scams and never buy off ebay or craigslist. Disney is cracking down on scams and counterfeits, so but from a REPUTABLE place. You don’t want to spend hundred or thousands of dollars, only to find out you’ve been ripped off.

So you may not save hundreds of dollars, but there are a few ways to save a couple of extra bucks when buying your Disney tickets. Buying ahead of time will not only save you money, but time waiting in line to buy the tickets when you get to the park. Time you could be spending riding Space Mountain (over and over, in my case!)

Did I miss any? How do you get your Discount Disney Parks Tickets?

Disneyland Raises Ticket Prices …. Again!

Disneyland Raises Ticket Prices:

In what is becoming a once or twice (gasp!) event, Disneyland quietly raised prices overnight.

There was no warning this year. They just did it.

In previous years, you could find out a day or two in advance and quickly go buy the tickets for your trip, even if months in advance.

I am afraid those days are over. If you know you are taking a trip to Disneyland, especially later in the year, buy them as soon as possible.

Disneyland Tickets are only good for the Calendar year, so, if you are going April or earlier, you will probably avoid the price increase. However, if you are planning on going May or later in the year, I HIGHLY recommend buying you admission tickets early in the year, to avoid the price increase, as they usually raise prices in May or June.

At Disneyworld, they do not expire (until you use them for the first time, then you have 14 days to use them up!) We actually bought ours for our upcoming trip last April, knowing there would be a price increase, and we knew we were planning this big trip. Well, our tickets are still good and we have missed 3 (YES 3!!!) Price Increases. The same tickets for our trip, would cost us $3-400 more if we bought them now, then when we bought them last year!

Moral of the story. Buy your tickets as soon as you plan your vacation. Buy Disneyland in the same calendar year though! But Disneyworld, you can buy at anytime (like we did!)

Annual Passes (regular, not SoCal) have gone up almost $200 each, from what we bought them for only a few years ago! That is a HUGE increase! (we bought them before the annual increase the year we bought them!)

It makes me sad that regular families are getting priced out of Disneyland. I posted this on facebook, and one of my friends mentioned that these constant increases are simply making it that he family will never be able to go. That just sucks 🙁

With our 4 kids, we have to be creative in how we pay for the trip and afford it. I am going to have to be even more creative to be able to afford it.

However, it does make me happy that they are getting rid of one of the Southern California Annual Passes. The parks are already full a majority of the time, so it they can curb a little of the local traffic so everyone can enjoy the parks not so incredibly full, I say yay! 🙂

With this price increase, I am planning a post tomorrow on how you can save on park admission!

Here is a breakdown of the new prices:

2014 DISNEYLAND RESORT ADMISSION PRICES: Disneyland Raises Ticket Prices

1-Day 1 Park
- $96 Adult, increased by $4
- $90 Child, increased by $4
1-Day Park Hopper
- $150 Adult, increased by $13
- $144 Child, increased by $13
2-Day, 1 park per day
- $178 Adult, increased by $3
- $165 Child, increased by $3
2-Day Park Hopper
- $217 Adult, increased by $7
- $204 Child, increased by $10
3-Day, 1 park per day with Magic Morning
- $226 Adult, increased by $1
- $215 Child, increased by $6
3-Day Park Hopper with Magic Morning
- $265 Adult, increased by $5
- $254 Child, increased by $10
4-Day, 1 park per day with Magic Morning
- $250 Adult, increased by $0
- $235 Child, increased by $5
4-Day Park Hopper with Magic Morning
- $289 Adult, increased by $4
- $274 Child, increased by $9
5-Day, 1 park per day with a Magic Morning
- $266 Adult, increased by $1
- $250 Child, increased by $6
5-Day Park Hopper with Magic Morning
- $305 Adult, increased by $5
- $289 Child, increased by $10

2014 DISNEYLAND RESORT ANNUAL PASSPORT PRICES

SoCal Select Annual Passport – $289, increased by $10. Monthly Payment option, $16.09 (SoCal Resident Only) $159 to add parking.

SoCal Annual Passport – new sales suspended. YAY! (unless you are from SoCal, then this may suck, but for everyone else, YAY!)

Deluxe Annual Passport – $519, increased by $20. Monthly payment for SoCal Resident, $35.25. $159 to add parking.

Premium Annual Passport – $699, increased by $30. Monthly payment for SoCal Resident, $50.25. Includes Parking and No Blockout Dates.

Premier Passport – $1,029, increased by $50

Disneyland Resort parking new prices are:

- $17 for Auto / Motorcycle, increased by $1
- $22 for Oversized, increased by $1
- $27 for Buses, increased by $1

FREE Disney Stick Figure Family Decal

I meant to put this cool Freebie up earlier,

but between taking my son to Urgent Care to get X-ray’s

and finding out he broke his Clavicle,

and the last soccer games of the season

I completely forgot!

Disney will send you a FREE Disney Stick Figure Family Decal right now!

Head over to buildyourdisneyside.com

and Create your own Stick Figure family.

My kids had fun making theirs

They will even mail it to you for FREE!!

How SWEET is that?!?!

You can also just print it,

which I am wishing I had done now 😛

Maybe I’ll go to it again,

and print it out 🙂

You can only get one per household mailed,

but you can print as many as you’d like!

I am pretty excited to get ours!

My Shirt (which is hard to see in the picture)

Is a “Run Disney” shirt

2 of my boys both wanted all pirate,

but then the older one didn’t want to look exactly like his younger brother

so he changed his and was happy

but they both still had to have swords 😉

I was a little bummed that you couldn’t customize the toddler figure,

so we just made him a child instead

because his siblings wanted to customize him too!

Disneyworld Half Marathon – Run Disney Review

Last year,

I ran the Disneyworld Half Marathon.

My Second Disney Race.

My first at DisneyWorld.

and the first on my Coast to Coast Journey!

Here is the trip report I wrote after my trip

with my beautiful cousin, Rachel!

We left Thursday evening and drove to Seattle.

Tickets were about $200-250 per person cheaper

So figured it was worth $500 to drive up there.

Our flight left at 1am on Friday morning.

We had a layover in Minneapolis,

Then onto Orlando.

We had the seat between us empty on this flight,

so we actually got a little sleep 🙂

Probably almost 3 hrs of sleep total (from both flights)

We arrived there around 11:30am Friday, East Coast time.

Got on the Magical Express which took us to the Pop Century Hotel.

Our room was in the 50’s area,

(last time, we stayed in the 70’s)

with the Bowling pin pool from our window.

Pop Century Hotel

We took quick showers and changed clothes,

grabbed some sandwiches from the food court,

and hopped on a bus to the Expo to get our race packets.

I had never been to the ESPN World of Sports Center before.

There were LOTS of people there!!

but getting our packets wasn’t too bad.

DisneyWorld Half Marathon Expo

But the expo center was PACKED!

I was surprised that it was a smaller expo than Disneyland Half,
or so it seemed.

Disneyland there was more room/booths/etc.

I was getting a bit overwhelmed with the sheer amount of people in that room!

DisneyWorld Half Marathon Expo crowds

We didn’t stay too long,

long enough to get our goodie bags (with our race shirts)

Buy our Coast to Coast shirts.

where they gave us special coast to coast backpacks for FREE!

While we were signing up, I looked over and

Olympian Jeff Galloway, was just standing there!

I wasn’t sure it was him because I assumed he would have a HUGE line around him,

so Rachel and I walked over to him,

got pictures and chatted with him

I use his walk/run method 🙂

He is a tiny man!

I think my arm was bigger than him!

I was SO excited to meet him!!

Jeff Galloway and Me!! DisneyWorld Half Marathon Expo

After the expo,

We dropped our goodies off at our hotel and headed to the Magic Kingdom.

We walked to the Contemporary Resort,

To eat at Chef Mickey!

Where we had dinner with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto!

It was one of my FAVORITE meals when we were there last December.

and it was just a DELICIOUS this time!

YUM!

It was fun with all the characters

We had a GREAT time!

I am glad we indulged in going 🙂

Rachel also got to see Cinderella’s castle all lit up with the Christmas lights

which is an awesome site!

After Chef Mickey,

We headed to Downtown Disney to get gifts for the kids.

The BIGGEST complaint about Disneyworld,

is that it takes FOREVER to get anywhere 😛

Disneyland is MUCH nicer about that because it is all so close together and you can just walk!

Anyway, I think we ended up back at the hotel and in bed around 9pm.

I called Joseph and the kids.

I had been doing fine – better than I thought

leaving them for the weekend.

But when the 18 month old

got on the phone and was like

“momma, momma”

It made me cry! 🙁

I had a hard time getting to sleep,

Which I didn’t think I would, since I had VERY little sleep on the planes.

Excitement for the race

and anxiety being away from my family,

I just couldn’t sleep well 🙁

We got ready and headed for the bus,

at 3:30am (we had to be on a bus between 3-4am)

The line was REALLY long for the bus,

but they were EXCELLENT

and it moved REALLY fast,

because they had LOTS of buses

Disney KNOWS how to do this!

We got dropped off at Epcot and made our way to the corrals.

At these big races there always seems to be like a mile just to get the start line 😛

We saw a guy peeing in the bushes on the way there,

Even though there were literally HUNDREDS of porta potties.

Lame!

We got to our corral and actually didn’t have to wait too long for it to start.

It started at 5:30am

FIREWORKS went off!

We weren’t expecting that, but it was AWESOME!

There were 3 people dressed as Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and Tinkerbell

They were all guys!

There guys in kilts

a guy dressed as Tarzan – no shirt, just a loin cloth and a monkey on his back

So MANY costumes

More than Disneyland Half, I think!

DisneyWorld Half Marathon

waiting for it to start!

I think we got started around 6am

It was a bit cold

Perfect for running I think

but I should have had gloves because my fingers were FROZEN!

They did fireworks for EACH corral start!

Around mile 1, there were TONS of guys peeing in the bushes

I have never experienced this in my other races!

No wonder they do women focused races 😛

There were TONS of porta poties though!

(the website showed OVER 22,000 finishers!!)

I attempted, right before the 5k mark

to stop and take a picture of the Magic Kingdom sign

Well, my fingers were so cold/frozen,

I couldn’t use the buttons through the running band

so I took it out, but I still wasn’t able to get my fingers to push the phone buttons properly

I did eventually get the picture

and it took me forever to get it back in the arm band because my fingers were just not working right 😛

I WOULD have had a record 5k time for me

but I wasted at LEAST 3-4 minutes on the stupid picture

My 5k time was 37 minutes

DisneyWorld Half Marathon – running through the parking lots!

Running into the Magic Kingdom was AMAZING and Magical!

I was so excited to run down main street and through Tomorrowland,

then Fantasyland, through Cinderella’s Castle

and out through Fronteirland.

It was just so much fun to run through!!

In front of the Cinderella’s Castle

They had characters everywhere

including Darkwing Duck

Who I have NEVER seen at the parks before!

(to this day, I am still kicking myself for not stopping and taking a picture!!)

They had these stilt walkers a couple different places on the race
there were BRAVE to let all these people run around them!!

I was crying when I crossed the finish line

I finished and this and it had been a long planned event/want of mine to do!!

I accomplished it!!

The nice thing about the Disneyworld race compared to Disneyland
is you are on Disney property the entire time,
so the entertainment/landscape is nicer
than just seeing Anaheim 😛

DisneyWorld Half Marathon Medal

I got my medal

Stood in a line for like 10 minutes to get food

(I have NO freaking idea why it took so long!)

then wondered around, trying to get a phone line,
and figure out where the family meet area was because it wasn’t clearly marked

so it took another 10 or so minutes to find Rachel 😛

The line for the bus back to the hotel was long

but again, it went FAST – lots of buses to get the job done quick!

Got back to the hotel

took hot shower
and

we both laid down for a rest

(I couldn’t fall asleep – what is wrong with me?!?!)

We packed up

Got some lunch in the hotel food court

and boarded the magical express back to the airport

I had NEVER sat on the tarmac until this flights
(considering I have been on like 100 flights!)

They told us it was because the air traffic into Atlanta was too busy?

Whatever, they should KNOW that when planning flights 😛

So we sat there a little over a half an hour on the taxi way just waiting

We were worried about missing our connecting flight

we only had an hour layover

We got into Atlanta about 11 minutes late (according to the pilot)

and then there was no one on the jet way to open our plane door,

so it took another few minutes just to start to get people off

and we were in the BACK of the plane

When we got off, we found our flight

and BOOKED it over to the next terminal

There was luckily a train waiting!

We made it to the gate just as they started to board!

We made it into Seattle a half an hour early

Got the car and started on the trek home

got some Arby’s for dinner

since we hadn’t eaten since lunch east coast time and it was now 10pm west coast!

There was some BAD fog on the way home!!
SCARY!

But there was hardly any traffic
and Rachel just drove slowly and carefully

and we made it home

a half an hour earlier than I had planned even 🙂
Left late Thursday night from Oregon
got back VERY late Saturday night
(or maybe it was early morning on Sunday?)
Basically a 48 hr journey!

So it was a once in a lifetime, whirlwind trip

It was AMAZING!

I LOVED IT!

I am so glad Rachel could go with me

and we could fulfill this Disney dream together

I would LOVE to do it again one year

just not when I have little kids
(too hard on this mommy to be away from them!!)

But seriously, other than that

it was an absolutely fantastic trip

full of lots of memories

and I am so happy and grateful I could do this

especially with Rachel 🙂

Happy 30th Birthday’s to us!

Rachel MADE these!! Aren’t they AWESOME?!?

My Coast to Coast Shirt, Disneyworld Half Marathon shirt, Medal & race button, and my Coast to Coast Backpack

If you ever get the chance,

I highly recommend doing the Disneyworld Half Marathon

If I ever do a Marathon,

I want it to be the Disneyworld one

and maybe I’ll do both the Marathon and the Disneyworld Half Marathon

in the same weekend…

(the Goofy Challenge)

HA! Maybe not!

All Star Music Disneyworld Hotel Review

Three Cabelleros pool

Next up on my hotel reviews

All Star Music Disneyworld Hotel Review

We got an advertisement from Disney in the mail
and there was a picture of a piano pool on it.
My kids WANTED to stay at the hotel with that pool!
So we obliged them when booking our last trip.
The sad thing is,
As I was searching our pictures
I could not find one picture of the Piano Pool
that we took.
*sigh*
must have overlooked taking one 😛

We found it VERY similar to Pop Century
But give higher points to Pop Century for better outside themeing

The Food court,
again like Pop,
is your standard food court fare.

I have heard people complain about the buses here
but I actually found them LESS busy that Pop Century
We never had to wait for more than one bus
where at Pop, we often had to wait for a second bus
(possibly due to less scooters being boarded?)

During the busy times,
Each of the All-Stars run their own buses
and since they are smaller than Pop,
there are less people to cram on a bus!
Making them much less busy/full
Sure when it is not as busy
they do share a bus
but I didn’t really find this a problem

The rooms are exactly the same as Pop
We had a room near the lobby
(and did not pay for preferred!)
which was REALLY nice
less walking back to our room at night 🙂

And yes,
My kids got to swim in their Piano pool!
The bigger main “Three Caballeros” pool
was fun too
(it was closer to our room, so we swam there more)

We again checked in quickly
and mousekeeping was excellent
especially since we all got sick on this trip 🙁

Would I choose this hotel or Pop?
Hmmm…
I think it depends on what themeing you want
or what pool my kids decide they want for the trip!
I would happily stay at this hotel again
but I did enjoy the overall themeing of Pop Century more
but I think you can’t go wrong with either hotel!

All Star Music Disneyworld hotel Review

Swimming in the Three Caballeros pool

Three Caballeros pool looking toward the main building

Disneyland Half Marathon #1

Disneyland Half Marathon medals – Half Marathon, kids races, and 5k

After I had my 3rd baby, my cousin got me into running. I have never gotten very fast or even very good – I always seem to have continuing Asthma problems with it – but I kept trying and I did about 9 Half Marathons in the span of having my 3rd Child and my 4th.

1 Month after having my 3rd baby, I discovered the DisneyLand Half Marathon. Now, if I was going to run ANYTHING, this is the race that I wanted to run! It was of course too late to run this one, baby #3 was born mid-July, and the race was Labor Day weekend – yeah, no way – not only was it sold out, but I had never even run before. Plus we had a trip to DisneyWorld planned for that December (already planned and paid for)

So I set a goal to go the next year, and convinced my sister-in-law she should do it too 🙂 I then discovered the Coast to Coast Medal, which led to us getting Season Passes, 4 trips to Disneyland in a year, and a quick trip to DisneyWorld for me… I also managed to do 4 other half Marathons in preparation for this first Disneyland Half Marathon!

Yeah… my grand ideas cost us alot of money 😛 But it was a FUN year. I was turning the 30, so I figured I would make it a year long celebration!

This post is about the FIRST Disney Race I participated in! I will be posting about my experience at all the Disney Races I’ve done, but thought I would start with the first 🙂 (so stay tuned! They are coming soon!!!)

So a year after setting this goal, we had our first Disneyland Half Marathon trip! We started by flying from our home here in the NorthWest, to go to Washington DC to visit with my family who lives there. Then we flew to LA, to spend a week at Disneyland, culminating in the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend and us getting annual passes (I then ran the Tinkerbell inaugural Half Marathon, took a 30th birthday trip, and ran the Disneyland Half Marathon again). This is the post I wrote (on our private blog) right after the race..

My Husband and kids took park in the Kids’ races and the 5k, which I will discuss later in this post!

So a year after I set my goal, the time had finally come – I was so excited!! I was up at 4:15 to get ready. Our hotel was close enough to just walk, so Amelia (my sister-in-law) and I got to the race area about 5/5:15. There were TONS of people there – not a big surprise. I was in Corral E and Amelia was in Corral F – the last corral was Corral G.

Amelia wanted to run by herself, which I totally understand because I prefer to run by myself too. Not sure why, I just like the zen of being by myself – maybe because it is so rare for me to get “alone” time. So we both went to our respective corrals. My corral left about 25 minutes after the start of the race.

The race was AWESOME! Well, at least the first 5 miles and then the last couple of miles – the in-between, not so much 😛

There were characters all over for the first few miles we ran in the parks – we ran in the parks for the first 1-5ish miles. I stopped at mile 2 to get a picture with Phineas and Ferb, because I knew it would get me lots of cool mom points, and their line was short! I also needed to fix the laces on my shoes – they were too loose! I didn’t stop for any other character because the lines were really long, and I do much better if I don’t stop during races – for some reason, it is not good for me to stop!

They had many of the rides running through the park and some characters riding on them. They had employees out cheering everyone on – it was fantastic! Something about people out there supporting you and cheering you on really keeps you motivated and going strong! Just part of the magic of the Disneyland Half Marathon.

Running through the Castle was pure magic – it REALLY slowed down through the castle though! Running through the backstage was cool and saw lots of the floats and where they fix stuff!

After we left the parks around mile 5, it got rather boring and not as exciting. They did have some cheer squads and bands, which was cool, but the scenery of Anaheim left much to be desired!

It got fun again around mile 9-10 when we got to run in Angel Stadium and run the bases and see yourself on the jumbo screen… That was pretty cool!

After Angel stadium, I knew I was going to finish in plenty of time, and it was getting HOT! So I slowed down and walked much of the rest of the race. I knew I didn’t want to be too sore, because I still wanted to have fun in the theme parks, so I made the decision not to push it, plus I do not do well in the heat and I was starting to see my hands swell.

So I finished the Disneyland Half Marathon in about the time I did my other Half Marathons. I apparently have a certain time I hit! I am not fast at all, but I finish and that is all that matters to me – my goal is to just finish and enjoy the ride it takes to get there!

The Disneyland Half Marathon finish line was filled with characters. We got our medals and I saw lots of people getting their coast to coast medals – next year baby! I am excited about that!!! You could then get your picture taken, but the lines were long, so I skipped it, knowing I am too cheap to pay for it anyway 😛 Got food and water – they gave us cooling towels too. The food was good for refueling, but not as yummy as many of the local races I’ve participated in.

I couldn’t get a line out to call my husband and there were SO MANY, MANY people, so I kept walking to Downtown Disney and finally was able to call my husband about a half hour after I finished the Disneyland Half Marathon. I waited there, in the shade, for Amelia too.

She met me in Downtown Disney and we walked back to the hotel. My Husband and his other sister, had taken the kids to Disneyland for the morning, so we showered and took a quick 15 minute nap. They came back to the hotel and we had lunch and went swimming and I sat in the hot tub 🙂 I then put the 14 month old down for a nap and fell asleep with him too! Then I was ready to go. I was feeling great – not sore or anything 🙂 Which was my goal! We went into Disneyland and rode a bunch of rides and had a great evening!

5K and Kids Races

These take place, Saturday, before theDisneyland Half Marathon. The Kids races are probably the best deal that Disney had because they are CHEAP and they get a medal and a t-shirt! Here is what I wrote after their races:

My Husband and his sister, Mary, got up early on Saturday morning and ran their first 5k!

I was so excited for them, and my Husband was excited it was a Star Wars Theme, because of the new Star Tours ride. He got a Star Tours themed medal and t-shirt!

They did a great job and they both said it was a lot of fun. Lots of characters were out and the lots of Star Wars characters! Just an easy going, fun race!

Once they were showered and dressed, we headed to the kids races. They were near the Disneyland hotel

The problem with the kids races, is they ask you to be there early, but then you just wait around… and it was HOT and you are in the sun on blacktop! They needed to put tents up over the corrals where they have the kids waiting. That would have helped ALOT! Then EACH of the kids had their own corral, but luckily we had aunts that could help us wait with them in their respective corrals. Otherwise, I am not sure what we would have done – one of the kids would have had to wait by themselves, which I would not have liked (or as I learn at a later race, they can just go with a younger sibling, which no one told us :P).

Once it was finally the 1 year old’s turn, he was crabby and not too happy about having to wait around and be in the same area without getting to explore. It seemed to take them FOREVER to queue up the babies and get them running. Once it was finally his turn, I put him down to run, and he just wanted me to pick him up. He was hot and tired. So I basically walked him to the finish line. He got down just before the finish because he was so excited to see all the characters at the finish line! He got very distracted by Donald and Mickey (they had all the major characters at the finish). Then he got his medal 🙂 I couldn’t leave with him because I left his claim tag with my Husband, who had just run back to be with our 2nd oldest for his race once the 1 year old completed his. So I had to have Amelia run me his claim tag so we could hurry and watch the 2nd oldest run his race. At least they were keeping the kids safe by not allowing anyone to leave without a claim tag!!

Then it was the 6 year old’s turn (2nd oldest kid) turn. My Husband ran with him. First, they were queuing them much faster than the babies (thank goodness!) Apparently, the kid in front of our son tripped, causing Jonathan to fall. But Jonathan just got up and kept running his heart out! I was so happy he just got up and finished – he was pretty scrapped up too – his knee and elbow were bloody. Joseph said he cried a bit, but then finished the race. He gave Mickey a high five at the finish line and got his medal!

I was supposed to run with the oldest, but there was a mis-communication and My Husband ended up running with her too. She was way into running and was excited to see all the characters at the end

We celebrated with lunch at Rainforest Cafe, which was right next to the races. We got a VOLCANO! Yeah, the kids love that place. The food is alright and the atmosphere is fun – plus I get free gift cards to pay for our meals 🙂

I HIGHLY recommend running the Disneyland Half Marathon if you ever get the opportunity. It is an awesome weekend!

Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel Review

Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel

Roger Rabbit Pop Century

I am busy planning our trip to DisneyWorld right now and

I thought that I would write up reviews

of the other hotels we’ve stayed at

while at DisneyWorld

(we’ve visited ALL the deluxe resorts, but never stayed, until this upcoming trip! Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas & BoardWalk Villas, here we come!)

First up:

Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel Review

I’ve stayed at Pop Century twice now

I would readily stay there again

The theming is so much FUN!

Life size Foosball,

Larger than life characters,

Mr & Mrs. Potato Head!!

We loved the Themes of all the different buildings.

We just walked around the hotel one night,

to see all the different Larger than life

items around the hotel.

The kids loved it!

We loved it!

It is a great hotel!

We have stayed in the 70’s rooms,

with the life size Foosball outside our room

and in the 50’s rooms.

(I stayed here on a quick girls’ weekend to run the Marathon)

Both seemed similar distances to the lobby

My daughter loved the flower pool,

and my husband was partial to the computer pool 🙂

There was also a goofy splash area for the kids,

and a playground that they enjoyed while waiting for the magical express

to take up back to the airport.

The pools are nothing extra special,

but my kids thought the themes of 2 different pools were great!

Check in was quick!

They had lots of Cast Members available to check us in

and help us with whatever we needed.

We also had water delivered from Costco to the hotel

and they delivered it to the room for us!

I also enjoyed the magical express

and all our luggage magically appearing in our room. 🙂

Anytime we called mousekeeping

or the front desk

We were helped out with what we needed immediately

and they were always willing to help us with whatever we were in need of.

The rooms are comfortable,

a bit on the small side

but we are rarely in our room anyway!

I like that they have added refrigerators

to the room.

We use them for snacks

and breakfast in the mornings. 🙂

I would compare them to a hotel like Holiday Inn Express.

Nothing fancy,

but clean, comfortable, and nice rooms.

They have a fun theme too!

If you are rarely in your room,

(I mean you are there to go to the parks after all!)

then these hotels are a really great way to save money!

The food in the Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel food court is pretty good.

Standard Food court fare, nothing spectacular, but good

and they do have frozen coke,

that you can get in your refillable mug

Which I rather enjoyed 🙂

We tried the Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel famous

“tie-dye cheesecake”

but didn’t find it to be anything special.

Just cheesecake with alot of food coloring.

My biggest (only) complaint

would be the buses!

The Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel is so large

The buses were often packed VERY full

or you would have to wait for the next one.

Which I found a bit annoying

I really disliked waiting around in line for another bus!

(It may have been all the scooters that caused the main problem)

I want to spend my time at the parks, not waiting around for another bus.

Other than that,

We LOVED the resort!

We would happily stay here again!

In fact,

As I was looking for some pictures for this post

my 3 year old

(who was not born when we went here)

was saying

“That is so cool! I want to go there!”

GREAT for little kids 🙂

You will enjoy your stay at the Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel

View from our room in the 70’s building

Big Wheel at Pop Century Disneyworld hotel

Mickey phone outside the elevator banks in our building. I have a mickey phone that looks like this!

Jungle Book – Baloo and Mowgli

Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel

Playdoh can!

Pop Century Disneyworld hotel Yo-yo stairwell

Giant Yo-Yo stairwell

Giant jukebox next to the bowling pin pool

Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel

Lady from Lady and the Tramp

Pop Century Disneyworld hotel - Potato Heads

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head!! How cool!!

Rubik’s cube stairwell in the 80’s buildings

Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel

Personal Misting Fans for Disneyworld

Personal Cooling Fans

I just bought these Personal Misting Fans for Disneyworld off Ebay:
Personal Misting Fan

For our trip in August because I know it is going to be REALLY hot while we are there

I didn’t want 6 huge misting fans to carry around, plus these are only $2.99! And each kid will get their own Personal Misting Fans for Disneyworld

I figured we could hook them all together by the carabiners and easily carry them around the parks with us.

And for $3, We can easily just toss them if they quit working or it is not the end of the world if it gets lost.

They are also much cheaper than the fans they sell in the Parks!

So hopefully they will work well! What do you do to keep cool at the parks?

Personal Misting Fan – $2.99 with Free Shipping! I think they will work well for Personal Misting Fans for Disneyworld and you can’t beat the price. Considering my kids will either ruin or lose them, I am thinking they are a good deal 🙂

Disney Parks Addict

Mother of 6 with a "slight" addiction to Disney!

Author Archives: jennypersons

Saving Money at Disney Parks: Buying Disney Gift Cards

Tinkerbell Half Marathon and Kids Races: Run Disney Review

Saving Money at Disney Parks: Discount Disney Parks Tickets

Disneyland Raises Ticket Prices …. Again!

2014 DISNEYLAND RESORT ADMISSION PRICES: Disneyland Raises Ticket Prices

2014 DISNEYLAND RESORT ANNUAL PASSPORT PRICES

FREE Disney Stick Figure Family Decal

Disneyworld Half Marathon – Run Disney Review

All Star Music Disneyworld Hotel Review

Disneyland Half Marathon #1

Pop Century Disneyworld Hotel Review

Personal Misting Fans for Disneyworld

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2014 DISNEYLAND RESORT ADMISSION PRICES: Disneyland Raises Ticket Prices

2014 DISNEYLAND RESORT ANNUAL PASSPORT PRICES

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