Cinderella's Caste

Cinderella's Caste

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Race Recap: Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5K

After spending a week in the happiest place on earth, I have returned to my West Virginia home. I am still badly missing my Disney home though!

We loved Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!
We had a wonderful vacation in Walt Disney World. We ate a lot and I mean A LOT of delicious food and made more magical memories. The Food and Wine Festival as usual didn’t disappoint. Our resort home for the week, Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter was beautiful and quickly became our new favorite hotel on property. We also got into the holiday spirit early by attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom. In addition to that Christmas magic, we started our vacation on a festive note as well by participating in the Run Disney Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K.

The race, which took place at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park, was part of Run Disney’s Annual Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend. We arrived in Disney early Friday morning before the race. The magical express took us right to our hotel and while our room wasn’t ready that early, we changed out of our cold weather clothes and into summer vacation attire! It was actually unseasonably HOT for Orlando in November and the temperatures felt more like Florida summer heat, especially with the humidity! This was quite a change from my previous visit to Disney in February for Princess Weekend, which was unseasonably cold. The extra hot and humid temperatures meant that it would be a very WARM racing weekend.

We arrived at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for the Wine and Dine Race Expo shortly after it opened. However, being there early certainly didn’t do anything to make it feel less crowded. I am not sure what was going on but this expo was by far the craziest busiest Run Disney race expo I’ve ever attended! I thought the crowds drifted to the heavy side for the Marathon Weekend and Princess Weekend Expos, but they had nothing on Wine and Dine! We essentially had to fight our way through the masses of people just to get to the area to pick up our race bibs.

After finally grabbing our race bibs we again fought our way through the crazy expo crowds to pick up our official race shirts. Despite the 5K shirts being cotton and not tech, this year’s Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K shirt might just be my favorite Run Disney shirt yet! The design is adorable and festive, which suited the race’s Christmas theme! The shirts are also bright red, and you know how much I love it when I get a brightly colored race shirt. Yay for no white or grey shirts!!!

The cutest race shirts and bib! So festive!
As for expo shopping, we didn’t spend too much time there due to it being crazy busy as well as us being super hungry. We essentially drove in the middle of the night to get to the airport to catch our early flight and the airplane peanuts we had for breakfast didn’t exactly hold us over well until lunch. Thankfully, I did manage to pick up two new Sweaty Bands headbands. They are THE BEST running headbands for my thick hair. They always stay in place and never move or slide like so many other athletic headbands often do in my hair. Well worth the pricey cost! I am sad I didn’t pick up my traditional Run Disney race magnet or any other official merchandise, but the line to simply pay for the Run Disney items was outrageous!

Leaving the expo when we did also worked out well since I received a text that our room was ready. We got our bags out of storage and took the boat from POFQ to Downtown Disney or as I guess they call it now “Disney Springs.” We had lunch at our favorite Earl of Sandwich and then headed to Epcot later that day. After a yummy dinner at Teppan Edo we opted to skip Illuminations and head back to our room for some much-needed sleep. Run Disney generally always means a super-early wakeup call after all!

Lady and the Tramp ready for Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5K!!!

Our alarm went off around 4 a.m. Saturday morning. We had to be on the bus to take us to the race course by at least 5 a.m. While 4 was still quite early, it was actually “sleeping in” somewhat compared to other Run Disney mornings! We got ready and transformed into our Lady and the Tramp costumes fairly quickly and were out the door and on the bus in no time. Due to this race just being a 5K we didn’t see the need to check a bag and only brought our water bottles and Clif Bars to eat before the race.
Lady and the Tramp! We are cute! Lol!

In true Run Disney fashion, once we arrived to the race start, which was somewhere within Animal Kingdom’s giant parking lot area, the energy was on point. The music was blaring and there were many photo opportunities, including a VERY LONG line to get your picture taken with Christmas Mickey and Minnie. Since we had a Christmas character dinner booked for our trip with Minnie’s Holiday Dine, we decided to skip that long line. We did take advantage of one of the picture areas that was festively decorated for the race. There was a line here too, but it was a much much MUCH shorter one! We also enjoyed the “snow” that they had going near the start line. In addition, we got multiple compliments and “awws” on our Lady and the Tramp costumes. I really think it was our spaghetti plate prop that sealed the deal for people!

After some waiting around and copious porta-potty visits, we finally headed to corral A! Unlike the traditional fireworks starts Run Disney often uses, this race kicked off with snow! How perfect for the Christmas themed run! Although there was snow, the heat and humidity was already INSANE! We were soon off and running and not even 200 yards in I could feel sweat dripping down my face and back. I quickly knew that I was going to regret running in a cotton shirt. More on that later!

Bella Notte!

The first mile was primarily the great Run Disney parking lot tour as we headed toward the Animal Kingdom entrance. While Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K is a family FUN run, we did find it alarming that so many small children were in corral A. It was hard to establish our pace at first due to several people in that corral that frankly had no business being there. I know that sounds harsh, but for safety reasons participants in corral A should not already be walking two feet in. Also the crazy amounts of children had us concerned about tripping and not only hurting them but ourselves as well. Fortunately once we were about a half mile in the crowd thinned somewhat and we were able to keep the pace we wanted without fear of stepping on someone.

Christmas Pluto was so cute!!!

Our goal for the race really was to keep a solid pace as best we could but to stop for characters in between. We knew that would cause our finish time to be slower (Run Disney does not officially time the 5Ks anyway), but we wanted to make this race as fun as possible. This was a good strategy because we still got in some good, hard running while having fun as well. Being in corral A boded well for photo stops as the lines weren’t really that long for us.

We entered Animal Kingdom at the first mile and quickly saw our first character. We continued running through Animal Kingdom, which was very scenic, but also VERY HOT. Animal Kingdom always feels ten degrees hotter regardless and this race was no different. It was on this second mile that I really started to regret running in a cotton shirt as it was offering no breathing room and I began to feel overheated. I was determined to continue the fun though and we forged along taking in all the sites and stopping for a few more characters.

So many cute character opportunities! Loved the Christmas theme everywhere!

Generally I am always sad when the parks part of Run Disney events is over, but I was pretty thrilled as we exited Animal Kingdom and headed out a backroad. While still hot, the air instantly felt more breathable! We stopped for a few more characters, including Pluto decked out in his Christmas finest as well as Santa Goofy and Winter Donald! We also saw the backside of Expedition Everest which was really cool. It’s not a real mountain?! Say What?

While mile two through Animal Kingdom felt like it took a while (probably due to us being so HOT), our last mile flew by and I couldn’t believe we were about to round the corner to the finish shoot. I was having a great time, but very overheated at this point and eager to finish! We held onto our spaghetti plate prop together and put on our best smiles as we crossed the finish line looking all sorts of Lady and the Tramp cute. This was quite a task, however, as my smile was likely fake due to my overwhelming sudden need to throw up as I neared the finish line. And I immediately did end up projectile vomiting after crossing the finish line. I flat out couldn’t help it. I think it was a mixture of the heat, plus my suffocating cotton shirt, and the race adrenaline that all contributed to my finish line nausea. Fortunately Run Disney is always prepared and I was immediately caught and greeted by the sweetest woman who held a bag for me to puke in. I commend her for doing that job because that’s one job I couldn’t handle! Yuck!

After I got that out of my system and rehydrated with some Powerade I felt instantly better. Lesson learned from this race: even when it’s just a 5K don’t run in a cotton shirt, especially in such hot temperatures! We grabbed our Run Disney snack boxes, which are always a lovely touch, and got on the bus back to our hotel. It wasn’t even 8 a.m. yet so we were very excited to shower, refuel, and take a nap!

Showing off our adorable race bling!
Overall the Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K was an awesome, fun race! We had so much fun running together and I am so glad we chose to add this taste of Run Disney to our family vacation. There were much more character opportunities in this race compared to the Frozen 5K, which made me very happy. We stopped for all the characters except for the ant from A Bug’s Life, since we don’t really like that movie. The snow and characters in their holiday attire all contributed to the festive theme. The Christmas music they had pumping throughout the course, which I believe was from the old Jingle Jungle Parade at Animal Kingdom was also a nice touch. It was a cute event and a race I would do again in the future. Our race medals were also completely adorable!

I think this race is fun to do on its own or as a morning pre-cursor to the Wine and Dine Half Marathon, which traditionally takes place that same evening. I understand due to weather this year’s Wine and Dine Half was actually half of a half, so I’m glad so many runners took the chance to do the morning 5K too.

Did you run Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K? Let me know if you enjoyed your race experience! 

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Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Wine & Dine Weekend Costume Reveal

Get excited because we are going to DISNEY WORLD!!! Yes, we will be back at the house of mouse this Friday and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

After over six months of planning and organization there were days I thought this vacation would never get here. I was wide awake and ready at 6 a.m. to make our dining reservations 180 days out and on that day I started an every 10 days Instagram countdown. My countdown, which recently turned into a daily one after hitting the single digits milestone, helped keep me motivated and excited for our trip. Despite the huge list of trip prep I have left to do before we leave I know that magic awaits and I can’t wait to be back in our happy place for a week.

While we aren’t taking a usual runcation as this trip is serving as our main vacation this year, if you know me you know I just couldn’t resist a TASTE of Run Disney. Since we will be arriving the Friday of the Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend we will be kicking off our first full day in Disney World by running the Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K in Animal Kingdom. It’s a Christmas themed race and again if you know me you know that I am essentially Buddy the Elf when it comes to the holidays. I am looking forward to a morning run through beautiful Animal Kingdom and enjoying a holiday themed race at my favorite place on earth! As this is primarily a vacation we opted not to do the Wine and Dine Half Marathon, but we wish those of you doing this race the best of luck! Also good luck to those of you who will be joining us Saturday morning for the 5K! We hope to see you there!

And that leads me to the point of this post, what you’ve all been waiting for. Drumroll please: Our Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K costume reveal!


Yes, we will be dressing up as our favorite cartoon dogs from one of our most cherished Disney movies, Lady and the Tramp! I can’t even take credit for this idea as it was actually Daniel’s! Yes, I am almost as surprised as you that he not only agreed to run in costume again but also came up with the idea! If you are doing the 5K just look for Lady and the Tramp and say hello!

Closer view of just our costumes!
Most of our costume is DIY from random pieces I gathered. My brown skirt is from Sparkle Athletic. I’ve worn their skirts in several Run Disney events and highly recommend them especially if you are into dressing up but want to be comfortable while you run as well! My visor is also from Sparkle Athletic.

Let me know if you will be doing any of the Wine and Dine Weekend festivities! We are looking forward to being back in Disney as well as taking in all the Christmas fun that makes this an extra special time to visit Walt Disney World. We plan to see the Osborne Lights at Hollywood Studios hopefully more than once since sadly it will be the last year for this display. If you’ve never experienced this, it’s a must-do! We also will be attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and doing the inaugural Minnie’s Holiday Dine dinner!

I plan to Instagram our adventures so be sure to follow me @lilrunner1485. I will be tweeting regular updates as well @lilrunner. In addition, we plan to Periscope as much as we can this trip, so hit me up there at @lilrunner!

See ya real soon!