2010 Princess Half Marathon and Flower & Garden Fest Trip!

I can't remember what woke me up. I don't remember if Lori called, or if I set my phone alarm, or if it was the Jammitors, who were setting up their equipment for a little concert.

Regardless, I love the Jammitors, so Lori and I stood around to watch them. They changed up their stuff to be a garden theme:

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After the concert ended, we went in to Mouse Gears to find that magic amount of stuff that will still fit in the luggage that is already packed, yet satisfy the "oh my goodness I'm LEAVING WDW and I don't know when I'm going to be back so I MUST impulse shop on my way out of the park!" Don't laugh. You know you know what I'm talking about! :rolleyes1

The Garden Fest had some merchandise kiosks set up around the park, and I had my eye on a Mickey garden gnome plant pot. If I had been staying in the park longer I might have bought it at first sight and had it sent to the park exit for pick up later, but I was concerned I would be leaving before it made it to the front. If I was staying at WDW longer, I would have totally taken advantage of the feature they offer to ship your in-park purchases to your resort. I've done it before and I love not having to carry stuff around!

At first, I saw this and wanted it, but I had no place for it while living in an apartment:

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I got the far more practical plant pot, as seen with one of my plants in it:

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I wanted a LOT of stuff in Mouse Gears. I was restrained and didn't buy too much, but it was still time to make our way back to the resort.

On the way out, we passed by a few more topiaries. Unfortunately, I did not make it to ALL the special topiaries and features in the park. It was just too much. I never did make it to the UK or Canada Pavilions. According to the map, I missed "Water Wise Herbs and Vegetables" and "English Tea Garden". The tea garden is the one presented by Twinings and it says you could sign up for a 20 minute guided tour; you can "discover the history and art of tea blending as you stroll". I also missed the Peter Pan topiary and the "Lush Xeriscapes". When I lived in Denver, they would talk about xeriscapes on the news sometimes, since Denver has such a dry climate. Xeriscaping is gardening with plants and layouts that require very little water to thrive. It would have been interesting to see that. However, I really did see almost all of the Garden Fest, so I have no regrets.

On the way out, we saw the Lion King topiaries. This was a series of topiaries at the base of Spaceship Earth.

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They had a great set up at the entrance to Epcot. Since we had come in from the International Gateway, we missed it coming in. They had a sign for people leaving on the back side of it, but we stopped to enjoy the entrance side too.

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I can feel the leaving disney letdown in your report. That is a feeling that really stinks everytime, no matter how long your trip is or how many times you have been there.

I am going to have to find that pot! I love it and have never seen it before. I do see a gnome in your future though, bring a bigger bag next time.
 
I can feel the leaving disney letdown in your report. That is a feeling that really stinks everytime, no matter how long your trip is or how many times you have been there.

I am going to have to find that pot! I love it and have never seen it before. I do see a gnome in your future though, bring a bigger bag next time.

Is the letdown that obvious? :rotfl:

I think the pot and gnome are special merchandise to the Flower & Garden Festival.

As for bringing a bigger bag, I always pack an extra duffel bag in my luggage on the way down. :rolleyes1
 
We made our way to the bus stop for our last resort bus ride of the trip. :sad1:

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When we got back to the resort, we had to visit the gift shop! :rotfl:

I saw this cup and it reminded me of a lot of my friends, especially since this trip was one month after the Super Bowl! (Now it's one month TO the Super Bowl. Oops! :rolleyes1)

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Since it was the end of the trip, we HAD to have another Mickey Bar! We got one and then took it outside to the pool area and found some of those recliner seats to sit in.

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After we finished our snack, I set the alarm on my cell phone and took another short nap! :rotfl:

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I set the alarm to go off a little before the time we needed to meet the town car to take us back to the airport. We got up and went to go get our luggage from the luggage room. We were just finishing up readjusting our stuff to fit our new purchases from Mouse Gears when the town car pulled up.

In short time, we were seeing this:

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It's REALLY not the same to see it out the back window with the defroster lines affecting the view. Actually, I think the main problem is the fact it's getting farther away instead of closer. :mad:

We got to the airport and saw the inside lines and decided to check in outside. Maybe it was my lack of sleep, or maybe I was still a little doped up by the "perfection" of Disney's presentation, but this box tickled my funny bone:

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I got a quick picture of the WDW sign that is outside the airport gift shop.

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I had checked in from Pecos Bills and had a boarding pass in the early Bs; I think B4. Lori had done Early Bird and got an A something pass. She got on the plane and took a window seat. Sometime between the time she boarded and I did, someone sat in the aisle seat of the same row. Naturally, I took the middle seat. I was really hoping to get a nap in. This was NOT meant to be!

The lady that sat in the aisle seat was very friendly. She was heading to New Orleans for a business trip and was asking some questions and we got to talking. She was telling us about a prior trip and about a guy she met on the trip and how he texted her a picture of his, well, you know. She showed us the picture! :scared1: I was trying to sleep! :rotfl2: She kept talking to me - and nudging me! :furious: - telling me that if I slept on the plane, I wouldn't get a good night's sleep once I got home! I kept telling her I would be fine, but she was persistent, and there was no other seat to move to. :headache: Obviously, she doesn't know me very well! :lmao: I can sleep just fine, thankyouverymuch!!

I was SO HAPPY to see this:

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And this:

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My husband met me in baggage claim and we went home, where I slept JUST FINE before going to work the next day. :thumbsup2

Would I do it again? Well, I did do a 2nd half marathon in Disneyland over Labor Day weekend. My time for that half marathon was about 5 minutes different (more :guilty:) from the Princess. I did finish and I EARNED that Coast to Coast medal, which is beautiful!

I would like to go back and do the Princess again, but I'm not doing it this year. Maybe next, but it's more likely that I will go in 2013. I would like to turn it into a longer trip if possible; the weekend thing is just too short to really enjoy the parks, especially when so much time is eaten up with the Expo, the event, and the resting from the event.

Yes, I said the resting. When I did the Disneyland half, I made SURE to take a nap afterwords! The end result was a much more positive park experience overall!
 


Bethany, you finished your trip report! :banana:

Thanks for sharing it all with us. It made for great reading (and seeing)!
 
Loved the story of the lady on the plane :rolleyes1:rotfl:. Now I want to go again asap. I have no patience can you tell. Makes me wonder about going during during that time with all the flowers. Great job and as usual I loved the pictures.
 


Bethany, you finished your trip report! :banana:

Thanks for sharing it all with us. It made for great reading (and seeing)!

Yes, I finally did! I had considered doing another one, but it's so time consuming that I think I'll pass!

You're welcome and thank you!

Loved the story of the lady on the plane :rolleyes1:rotfl:. Now I want to go again asap. I have no patience can you tell. Makes me wonder about going during during that time with all the flowers. Great job and as usual I loved the pictures.

:lmao::rotfl: I want to go again too. I think I'll wait until Fantasyland is mostly done.

Thanks!

Great Report Bethany!!!!!

Thanks for sharing it and congrats again on finishing it!

Thank you!
 

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