Star Wars Dark Side 10K - Part 1

I realize that I flake out on writing when I have to write about something huge - like the Star Wars Dark Side 10K race in April.  Yep.  April.  Like over a month ago now.  I've ignored it that long.  It just always seems so intimidating, and I ask myself all of these questions.  What if you leave something out?  What if you ramble on too long?  Do you really want to talk about how your bank closed down your credit card when you tried to buy your annual passes?  Do you only talk about the good things?  My word, how many blog posts will this take?  No one really reads it anyway, so why are you doing this?  

And the list goes on.

So first, I apologize to myself for being a slacker.  Secondly, we're going to go back in time just a little and talk about a few things regarding the race weekend.  Things I liked and things that need a bit more help in my book.

This was my first runDisney race, so I realize that this was all new to me.  I have no idea how past events have been, so none of that clouded my thoughts on how the weekend went.  That being said - all in all - I had a great time, and I'll definitely be attending a future runDisney event at some point.  I think the Star Wars race is a great concept, full of fun people and fans, but I think it requires some tweaking to make it a truly great event.

So let's see if I can actually write up some sort of trip report here based on what I can remember...

First day we arrived in Florida, we took an ungodly flight time (had to get up at 2:40 AM) and landed in Florida around 8 AM.  We hopped the Disney Magical Express to All Star Sports, checked in and linked our credit card to our Magic Bands (first time we've tried this, and there's more on this to come), dropped off some bags with luggage services, and we took a bus to Epcot.

This year, the Nerd Husband and I celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary, so we figured our big gift to ourselves would be annual passes to Disney World.  One of our favorite parks is Epcot, so we figured we'd head on over there and purchase our passes first thing our first morning.  No problem.  Until our credit card company flipped out at the amount we'd just charged in another state, and they put a block on our account.  So we then get out of line, go to call the bank, fix the problem, get back in line, get the same Customer Service Cast Member, and finally get our card to run and get our tickets in our hot little hands.  We get a nifty little Annual Passholder booklet, and we feel kind of special.

It's a pretty early morning, so crowds are low and the weather is feeling pretty darned good.  We know that future world is open, but we're not exploring just yet because we have other plans.  We walk on back to France to Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie.  This is seriously one of our favorite (if not favorite) places to eat in all of Epcot.  We picked up a croissant and a cold ham/cheese sandwich to split for breakfast.  Good times, let me tell you.

After breakfast, we head on out the back door of Epcot because we figure the next thing on our list to get done in the runDisney Expo.  We exit the park and walk on toward the Beach Club resort where we picked up a bus to the Expo.  No problems there; it worked like a charm.

The bus dropped us off at the Expo...or at least a mile or two from the Expo.  Seriously, it was a hike from the bus drop-off to the actual Expo buildings.  It was a little ridiculous, to be honest - especially if you had a race/races to be attending that weekend on top of theme park walking.  Oy.  But we made it with no problems, and the grounds of the ESPN Wide World of Sports are kind of interesting.  Nothing hugely special, but kind of neat to finally see it.  We picked up our bibs with no problem at check-in, and I got my pre-ordered 10K pin.  We then headed out to check out the merchandise.

This is where the disappointment kind of sets in.  The Expo was pretty easy to navigate but also a little strangely set up.  There were at least two places to purchase official merchandise, and neither one of them was remotely close to one another.  The Expo opened Thursday morning, the day before we go there.  We were there around 10:30 AM on Friday...and seriously there was almost nothing worth getting.  I picked up one shirt because this was my first event, so I felt I had to have something.  There were lots of pins left, but there were no car magnets.  No hats.  We found one cool shirt I would have loved to purchase for the NH, but it wasn't his size and it was the only one left.  We later found out they only had that one because it had been returned.  The Dooney and Bourke handbags that had looked so neat on the internet looked...well, not great in person.  That was disappointing as well.  So I got my shirt (and remember my newly acquired annual pass discount), and we just sort of wandered around for the rest of the Expo. 

It was then that we figure we'd grab a quick drink while at ESPN and figure out our next move before heading out.  We went to the little food court there, ordered two drinks, and scanned our magic band.  Nothing.  Actually, something - it said we were "over our charge limit".  *sigh*  More credit card bank issues - yay.  So I finally just use my debit card to get the drinks, the NH spends a good portion of time on the phone with the credit card company, and we finally get everything worked out eventually.  Our credit limit is fine - company isn't sure why the error read that way, and they assure us we're okay.  No block on the account.

From ESPN, we take a bus back to our resort to drop off our stuff, and we decide to just spend a bit of time at Magic Kingdom.  Why not?  We have annual passes, right?  Let's use 'em!  So we bus on over and hit a couple of our favorite rides.  The only ride I remember right now is the People Mover which is kind of sad because it's the People Mover - lol - but seriously, how do you skip that one?!  I love it!  We tried to purchase a drink in the Magic Kingdom using our Magic Bands - again - with more errors.  Finally, someone told us that it could be an issue with how the card was linked to our bands originally, and we could get our front desk to fix it.  Honestly, I gave up and just used my card.  So much easier than the headache of the silly band.

We left the Magic Kingdom early because we knew we needed to get some dinner and hit the hay early for the race the next day.  We decided to grab a bite at Earl of Sandwich at Disney Springs, which suited us just fine.  But man, that line gets longer and longer every year; soon we'll need two locations!  By then, it was nearing bedtime, so we bussed on back to the All Star Sports, got ready for bed, and hit the hay early.

I am so glad we did...because two days of waking up at 2:40 AM will just about kill you.  But when you're running on adrenaline and geekery, you're probably going to be okay.

Next time: the actual "race"

Oh, She's Not Dead. Not Yet.

I've been putting off posting because I have too much to say and just not enough time (or brain power) to sit down and say it.  So I decided a while ago that I should wait, collect my thoughts, and then type it all out for the blog.  Then the brain went "OMG SO MANY MUCH THOUGHTS", and it flipped out.  So I haven't written a thing until now.

It doesn't really hurt anyone but myself when I don't write about stuff, so really - I'm not out much.  lol  But I really want to make an effort to keep this blog going and up to date because it's a pretty good source of hope and inspiration for me.  All too often, we deal with the negative things in life and have to wade our way through the crap of work, mean people, personal issues, and interpersonal relationships.  But here, I'm doing my best to focus on two over-arching things that bring me joy - Star Wars and Disney.  That's a lot of happy stuff right there, so I don't want that die out.

Right now, though, my brain is tired.  I need to still gather up my mental and physical resources to come back here and type out something that makes some sense.  Maybe there's just too much going on in my brain, and I can't fit it all in one post.  So what I'll do is make myself a little list of ideas - things I've been wanting to talk about but not having the time.

• Recap of the Disney trip in April - complete with Dark Side 10K race details (short story - we finished, we got medals, we looked awesomely geeky, my feet hurt)
• Costume ideas for Disney trip in October for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
• Announcement of Star Wars Celebration in Orlando next April 2017
• Which leads to...costume ideas for Star Wars Celebration next year

I'm sure there are other things, but that's kind of where I'm sitting with it all right now.  I might come back and adjust this list or just leave it as is because it's still kind of overwhelming to look at on an early Monday morning.