The Great and Powerful Oz - A Disney Parks Blog Preview Party

A little back story re: the weekend as a whole and how I ended up going to a Disney Parks Blog event!

Princess Half Marathon weekend was a dream come true as all runDisney race weekends are for me.  I really love running and running at Disney throws me over the top...okay maybe it has something to do with all of the costumes and the entertainment...but I think it is really due to all the amazing runners and spectators who are at runDisney races!  Each weekend is unique in it's own way and I always manage to add elements that make it even more special for me and for others.  I am just a value added kind of girl!  It is a great way to live life I think.

In an effort to RSVP for the runDisney social media run on the Friday morning before the Princess Half I and many others found themselves stalking the Disney Parks Blog...for days in hopes of getting our RSVPs in on time and being chosen for that event.  Through a series of events I was not able to achieve my RSVP goal, however I was introduced to the coming of the Great and Powerful Oz along the way.  And low and behold the Disney Parks Blog was going to have an event of their own the same weekend as the Princess Half Marathon.  In fact it was going to the be the evening of the race.  Once again I did not RSVP on time again...I bet you did not see that coming...but other Princess runners did and one of them was gracious enough to offer me a ticket to the event!  Thank yous go to Julie Franklin who had two extra tickets for two lucky runners!  Without you I would not have been able to complete the second leg of my journey that day.  For on that Sunday I was able to run through Cinderella's Castle and go over the rainbow!

The checked us in at the customer service end of the main gate at EPCOT.  If you did not have a park pass they had a one day pass for you to use.  Everyone was issues a wrist band to get into the event space.

My wrist bands were starting to stack up from the weekend!

Here is our group of lovely Princess Half runners! You better believe we were sporting our medals!

The event space entrance was between Canada and the United Kingdom.  We waited in line to get into the building.  It was a rather large event with several hundred people attending. 

Everyone was in great spirits!  We were still on a runners high and going to the movies! Double bonus!

It was definitely a Disney Parks Blog event, but Mickey was going to have to check his camera.
There were no electronic allowed!

There is a reason they call it the fine print!

I could not resist jumping in for a picture! I was reaching for the other wall!
I did not even know the wicked witch was there!

There's nothing like green to take you to the Emerald City!

The movie was fantastic! They gave us punch and some yummy popcorn pretzel snack mix to enjoy while we watched.  I have to say I did not eat anything during the show.  I had my 3-D glasses on and was spell bound by the action.  The movie was a mix of action, fantasy and love story...but it is complicated as all good love stories are!

There was something magical about seeing the movie while I was at Walt Disney World! We were sitting in the back row, primarily because WE RAN 13.1 MILES that morning.  There was a need to be close to the drinks, bathrooms and standing room.  I d have to say that half way through the movie my legs started twitching!  But is was so worth it! I do have to say that every so often I was reminded of where we were...you could hear the band rocking out in the UK.  That's right their was some noise pollution  but it just made me happy because it reminded me I was at DISNEY!

Not only was the Disney Parks Blog showing previews of the movie, but they put together an amazing garden to celebrate it!

Now that is an entry way!

I think Oz landed in the middle of the International Flower and Garden Festival!

Beautiful glass poppies!  I'm getting tired!

5 Princesses going over the rainbow!

 The movie opens tomorrow, March 8th and I the plan is to be in the audience watching with my youngest.  She claims she is not nor ever has been afraid of 3-D movies.  We have a different memory of our movie going experiences with her, but the girl wants to go and I am going to take her!  When will you be watching the movie?

Disney's Social Media Moms Celebration!

That's right folks I got an email this afternoon, one that I was cautiously hoping for, and when it arrived it blew my running shoes right off!  It was a good thing I went for a 15 mile run today and was at the girls dentist office, because it forced me to quietly celebrate with a huge smile on my face!  There was no jump left in my legs!

The conference is at WDW May 9-12th.  The host hotel for this year's conference is Disney's Contemporary Resort!  The conference includes plenty of social media content, socializing with other attendees, time to enjoy the parks with family, and some amazing culinary delights!  The details are not that specific, but in true Disney style it is going to be fantastic!

So now all I need to do is reallocate some resources and see if I can defer a race...oh and I might need some roommates...and then I should be all set!  Bring on the Disney magic!!!

If you all want to follow along the best place is probably over on Twitter #DisneySMMoms!  I will also be posting across my social media! :)

...and to the selection committee I would like to say a special thank you from the bottom of my very strong runners heart! Let's get social!

Princess runners visit Cinderella after the Princess Half Marathon

What would the Princess Half Marathon be without Princesses?  On that note we were off to Magic Kingdom to thank a few Princesses!  Cinderella herself was receiving visitors and we were thrilled to share our day fit for a Princess with her!

Marcia had to see Rapunzel! She was dressed as Rapunzel for the half!

Lena and I were dressed as Aurora for the half!
Jen was out of luck...Snow White was not receiving visitors!

The lovely Cinderella! I ran as Cinderella for my first Princess Half in 2011!

So what does it look like when a bunch of Princesses visit the Princesses?  Well check this out!

The whole room was filled with Princesses of all ages! It was fantastic!  We even met a couple of our other Princess friends waiting to see the Princesses!  (Nicole it was great to see you here there and everywhere.)  It was crazy Princess amazing!  Congratulations to everyone who volunteers, supported runners and raced Princess weekend!  

Princess Runners dash to Magic Kingdom to greet Mickey Mouse and show off our bling

After an amazing race day four Princesses set out to find Mickey Mouse at Magic Kingdom! Hello and thank you were in order for an amazing race weekend!

Mickey was his fantastic self of course and the perfect host throughout the weekend! The photographer was so sweet! She really played along and enjoyed the moment with us!

Thank you goes out to all my Princess pals race weekend! You ladies made the weekend fabulous! Lena, Jen and Marcia you are tops in my book!  Minnie hugs for all of you!

runDisneyPrincess Half Character Stop - How to Video

I had a great idea for the Princess Half Marathon...I would try and shoot video of a character stop for anyone who wanted to see how simple they are.  Of course the act of shooting the video actually made it more complicated!  The camera guys did not quite grasp what I was doing, but rolled with the punches just the same.  As long as the line kept moving and so did I they were not phased by what I was doing. runDisney runners are crazy!  Why wouldn't one of them shot a video of the photographers taking their picture!

That's right Mr. Disney Staff Photographer in your blue shirt...I am taking a video of you taking a picture of me!  runDisney runners are a crazy and strange bunch, but we have a lot of fun along the road!

So let's see the video already!  Wait...check it out!  There is my camera taking the above picture of me!  Is anyone getting dizzy yet?



What do you think? Does it look easy, crazy, worth it?

Royal Family 5K - Princess Half Weekend - runDisney 2013

Anyone who knows me and my runDisney habits knows I never just run the big event race weekend...I run all the races!  Princess Half weekend was no exception!  Not only was I running the Princess Half on Sunday, but I was also running the Royal Family 5K Saturday morning!  And since Mickey and Minnie were on the bling I felt right at home wearing my Minnie Mouse outfit (ears, dress and shoes)!

I had a big decision to make with this race...I thought I could probably really run it and do well time wise, but those of you who know me also know that I can not resist a good character photo op!  So I did a little of both and finished about 5 minutes off my PR. Okay...talking with Kellie Nickerson before we started convinced me that no matter how fast I ran there were other ladies in the race who would always out kick me.  She did not need to say it...she is amazingly sweet and sincere...you could just look at her and the other ladies up at the start and figure that one out!  This was my first time running a runDisney 5K without my daughter.  She was not along on this trip otherwise she would have been out there with me!

After the race I headed back to the resort and took a moment before getting cleaned up to shoot a video recap of the 5K and preview of the half.



 The 5K was a lot of fun, but only 3.1 miles of it...so let's get onto the main race! 13.1 miles of runDisney fun and entertainment!

If you watch runDisneyTv's 5K video you might even recognize me running around EPCOT! Watch for Minnie at 1:30!

Princess Half Expo interview with runDisney Nutritionist Tara Gidus

There are always amazing speakers at the runDisney race expos and the line up at the 5th Anniversary Princess Half Marathon was no exception!  I was lucky enough to catch Tara Gidus, the runDisney nutritionist, after her presentation to ask her a few questions!

She has such great advice! I definitely needed more time to get her opinion on all kinds of nutrition questions!  Snacks between meals...supply and demand...replenish after a run...carbs...peanut butter English muffins!  It is so fantastic that runDisney has provided experts in their fields to encourage and support the athletes running their races.  That's right folks...I called us athletes!  We may be recreational runners for the most part, but not only are we runners we are also athletes and athletes need a good nutritionist to advise them along the way.  Tara's nutritional advice can be found on the runDisney blog at runDisney.com.