On Friday, November 6 I took at 4:00 flight to Orlando. It was the cheapest flight I could get last minute for that weekend. Free! I was able to use my Southwest Airline miles for this flight. I tend to wait until the last minute to book many of my flights. Sometimes that works for me, sometimes it doesn’t. It is definitely a gamble, but it worked in my favor this time. I landed around 7:00 and was unable to go to the Wine & Dine Health and Fitness Expo and pick up my bibs because the Expo closes at 7:00. Knowing that ahead of time, my plan was to go straight to Disney Springs to purchase some accessories for my costume.
I got my rental car and went straight to Disney Springs. I was unsure where to park so I kept following my way around towards the end of the area and parked near Cirque du Soleil. I had to go all the way to the Marketplace but was fortunate to find the Sassagoula Steam Boat Company that transports people from the West Side to the Marketplace.
It was a nice ride and I had the chance to take some fun night time photographs of Disney Springs (it will always be Downtown Disney to me), along the way.
When I arrived at my dock I headed straight for the Disney Days of Christmas Shop. I needed to purchase Christmas Mickey ears to go with my costume for the Jingle Jungle 5K through Animal Kingdom. I had seen my friend Jennifer Taylor wearing them on Facebook and knew those were the ears to complete my outfit!
After my purchase, and some additional holiday decorations for home, I walked straight across to Earl of Sandwich. I had to get some dinner; but I wanted something light. I opted for the tomato soup and it was the perfect choice. I got my soup to go and continued to my favorite shops, the Co-op. I wanted to check out the new Alex and Ani bracelets, the cute items at Tren-D. Then the new Pandora charms at Cherry Treey Lane, and searched for a cool new phone case at D-Tech.
After shopping I found a cozy spot just outside the Co-op to sit down and have my soup and window shop. I felt like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany’s!
I had to head to my hotel so I could check in, get groceries and lay everything out for the race in the morning. I stayed at the Comfort Inn on Palm Parkway this time. I usually stay at the Clarion; but I wanted to try this hotel out for a change. I liked the hotel. It was priced similar to the Clarion and what I liked about it was that it was a little bit quieter than the Clarion. It wasn’t as close to the highway and the hotel room door was off of a hallway internally in the building; rather than facing out to the public. My parents stayed there two years ago when they came to Florida to surprise the kids during marathon weekend. I like the location because it is always a 10-15 minute ride (max) to the race start.
The rooms were clean, quiet and had a fridge, microwave and coffee maker. All the essentials I need for race weekends so that I could make my tea and oatmeal in the mornings prior to the race. I laid out my gear for the morning and set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. and hit the sack.
I made the best of a late night flight into town, got to see some sights, get some good food, do a little shopping and got to bed a a decent hour to prepare for a very long day the next day with theANDORA_NA race in the morning and the Wine & Dine Half Marathon at 10:00 at night. Stay tuned for the 5K recap!