Hello and welcome to yet another Walt Disney World trip report! For the first time in forever, I ran the Princess Half Marathon, and you know I have to tell you every single detail about it. Read all posts in the report here. Onward!
Since I was coming from my parents’ place in North Carolina, I wasn’t able to get a direct flight to Orlando, and that meant I didn’t arrive in Florida until mid-to-late afternoon. Luckily my connection went smoothly, all my planes were on time, and I was in an Uber on the way to Pop Century in short order. I was even able to help a fellow Princess traveler find the ride share pickup area. Stupid lack of a Magical Express!
One advantage of a later arrival was that my room was ready for me immediately. I wound up in a fairly nicely placed room in the ’70s section, with one minor hiccup: we were given a handicap accessible room.
This wasn’t a huge deal – I’m all for inclusion and it’s not like the handrails and such get in the way – but it changes the layout of the bathroom. For some reason accessible rooms don’t have divided bathrooms, with the sinks and mirrors in one portion and the toilet and shower in a separate room behind a closed door. There’s just one big closed-off space behind a sliding barn door.
If I were alone on this trip, it would’ve been a complete nonissue (and in fact that happened to me once before, although the setup was different), but with two people in the room it meant only one person could perform ablutions at a time. We made it work, but it was a bit annoying.
Anyway, I dumped my stuff in the room, changed around my clothes and my face and my bag for park-readiness, and hopped on the Skyliner to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I was on a mission: a drink and a show.
See, last trip, I saw the Frozen singalong show for the first time, and despite being lukewarm on Frozen generally I really liked it. My Disney buddy Becky suggested it’s even better after a couple of drinks, and I was determined to put this theory to the test!
And so my first act upon entering the Studios was to proceed directly to BaseLine Tap House, where I got a beer flight and a soft pretzel to enjoy while people-watching.
I followed this up with a twilight walk through Batuu and a green milk with tequila – which I actually thought tasted better than a regular green milk? But then I’m one of the weirdos who prefers the green milk to blue, so what do I know about taste.
Then it was time to put the hypothesis to the test at the Frozen singalong! Unfortunately I think all the carbs from the soft pretzel preemptively soaked up any buzz, so I ended up watching the show as a mostly sober person with a mild headache. It was still pretty good, although the royal storytellers from last time had better improv. Oh well. I’ll just have to try again sometime.
The Studios were otherwise pretty busy, and a quick scroll through the listed ride wait times didn’t yield any reasonable results. But wait – I caught a lucky break! Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway was listed as down in the app, but as I walked by I happened to overhear someone say they were just now opening the line again. I jumped into the queue and was at the preshow in like 10 minutes. Score!
As I exited Grauman’s Chinese Theater, I noticed a PhotoPass photographer who was receiving no attention whatsoever. “I can be in photos!” I declared, although if I had been more clever at the time I would’ve said I ought to be in pictures. Or maybe I shouldn’t have. Either way.
Unfortunately, I can see why this particular spot was not hoppin,’ as it’s simply not well lit enough for nighttime photography. You can barely see the lights of the theater in the background. Not that I helped matters much with my all-black outfit. At least I got some sweet CGI balloons out of the deal.
I took one more look through the listed wait times and noticed that Rock ‘n Roller Coaster didn’t look too bad, so I headed over there and communed with Aerosmith for a few very speedy/largely upside down minutes. By the time I had finished the park was closed, and anyway Erika had texted me that she had arrived!
The Skyliner line at the Studios station was not bad at all, and I met Erika at the Everything Pop food court in short order. We grabbed some dinner at a table outside before heading back to the room for a good night’s sleep. Got to get to the expo early in the morning before all the good merch is gone!
Just kidding; all the good merch was gone by day two. 😛
Don’t forget, you can follow FRoA on Twitter @fairestrunofall and on Instagram @fairestrunofall. If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment or email fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!
I’m pretty sure all the good merch was gone by hour 2, lol. I don’t even care anymore. I ended up getting a pin after the half marathon in the tent they had set up with “whatever is left.” Much less stress that way!
And darn that pretzel! We’ll just have to try again sometime 😉 I also really like the green milk with tequila. As did my porg, who was definitely dancing during the Frozen sing-along.
All I want is a freaking mug, and I’ve been completely shafted 2 races in a row now. It’s an affliction!
Next time I’ll go straight to the tequila and then try the singalong. >D