Disney Day

Let's be real, I was feeling a little left out with so many of my friends heading to Disneyland for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend. Obviously I have an AMAZING "excuse"... I'll be in Oregon for the Eugene Marathon, but still... runDisney events are ALL about the people for me - and I've got some AWESOME ones I consider friends, so I was a bit bummed. [PS I wrote a blog post about my favorite parts of Disneyland races, if you haven't read it yet, check it out here.]

Super sweet Jillian and I had been texting a couple weeks ago. She would be out for the event (she works with runDisney) and was kind enough to invite me to come up and hang out with her Wednesday night before I flew out for my race. She mentioned she was excited about seeing World of Color for like the 26th time before it was updated for the Diamond Anniversary. I meekly told her that I had only seen it once. For the sake of our friendship I knew we would be hitting up the show :)

I had to work until 4pm Wednesday afternoon, so once I got off, walked the pup, and filled up my gas tank, I was on the road. There was a bit of traffic, but I finally got up to Disney around 5:30pm. After parking my car in the Buzz & Woody lot (we pay monthly for our annual passes and my pass has parking added to it) I jumped on the bus and was headed towards the parks. Although I was meeting Jillian and a couple of her friends at Trader Sam's I made a quick pit stop in the Disney entrance area to grab my picture #WITHOUTSHOES (Have you posted yours yet?! If you don't know what I am talking about, check out my blog from Wednesday.).

Trader Sam's was fun; I got to meet some of Jillian's friends who she had worked with in the past. After they finished their drinks we decided we would head over to the parks. Disneyland was closing at 7:30pm and DCA was closing at 8pm so we made the executive decision to go to DCA since we wanted to watch World of Color at 8:30pm. We had 3 things on our list - 1. Ride Screamin', 2. Get cones for dinner, 3. Watch World of Color.

Screamin' closes fairly early because they have to get the water area ready for the show. We decided we would jump in line for the ride before we grabbed food. Screamin' is one of my favorite rides in DCA (the swings are a close second) so I was totally fine with this plan.

Yes, Jillian told me to bring my ears - so we both rocked them!

Snapped this before BLAST OFF! Was surprised how well it turned out.

We made our way over to Cars Land for Cozy Cones. I saw they had a beef chili, bacon mac and cheese, or chicken verde, so I opted for the pretzel bites in a cone (after I got them I did see they offered a veggie chili option - NEXT TIME!). When we were walking over to grab our dinner, we noticed it was just about time for the neon to light up down Route 66. Neither Jillian or I had watched it turn on before, so we hung out for an extra few minutes (this is how Ivie and AJ got engaged and now I TOTALLY get the magic of it all).

We are BEYOND BLESSED!

Radiator Springs!

Flo's Cafe once the neon turned on

Radiator Springs once it started getting a little darker

The Cozy Cone Motel!

Once our bellies were full we made our way over to the World of Color. One of Jillian's friends had the hook up (they worked for the parks and knew one of the girls in the VIP area so got us in a great section) which meant we didn't have to worry about not having fast passes. The show was good (honestly, fireworks are more my jam, but I it is still a sight to be seen!) and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Think Bellagio in Vegas mixed with Disney

They even project clips of the movies onto the water

Photo Credit: @JillianKMF's Instagram

Who doesn't love colorful lights?!

Mickey's Fun Wheel is FUN!

Like I mentioned, the parks were closing early (something to do with the big wigs wanting to see all of the new 60th anniversary stuff) so since we weren't able to go into Disneyland to watch the fireworks we decided on the next best thing... Watching them from Jillian's hotel room! We couldn't hear the sound for the show, but we were able to see the fireworks. Let me just tell you - THE SHOW LOOKS AWESOMESAUCE!

SO PRETTY!

It's funny to see how far away from the castle the fireworks really are...
I've only ever watched them from Main Street, so the different
perspective was definitely cool to experience!

There are even fireworks in the headboards at the Disneyland Hotel!

After the fireworks were done, Jillian's friends left and we got ready for bed. YAY for sleepovers! No, there weren't any pillow fights but there was plenty of chatting about boys, traveling, cooties, and the like ;) Jillian had to work at 9am on Thursday morning, but we still wanted to try and get in a run before then, so we got up and moving around 6:30am.

The sky was awake so WE were awake!

Jillian is still rehabbing her hip, so I left everything up to her (pace, distance, etc). We ran passed the start line for the Tinker Bell 10K and Half, which was fun (I ran the half in 2013, my first sub-2 half marathon). We took a couple short walk breaks and stopped to say hi to a couple folks along the route, but in total we were able to get in a little over 2 miles.

I will take running with friends over running fast ANY DAY!

As we were running by the park gates we saw a family taking a photo in front of DCA. We offered to take their picture and in exchange asked if they would grab one of us - obviously Jillian and I had to document our run together!

Just the adventure I needed!

Another Mickey head, this time WITH SHOES :)

On the way back to the hotel we just HAD to stop and grab a Jamba Juice! I had seen on their Twitter earlier in the week that they had just released Colada Fruit Refreshers (with coconut water) and I was stoked to give one a try. I ended up deciding on the Tropical Colada and it was DELISH!

It tasted like summer in a cup!

Since Jillian had to get to work, I grabbed my bag, gave her a hug, and made my way back towards the park to catch the bus to my car. We have already decided we will be scheduling some sort of race-cation for 2016 (Megan and Krissy - you in on that?!).

Oh yeah, how could I forget this part of the story... After the fireworks ended the night before, I asked Jillian what I should do with my car (it was still in the Toy Story parking lot). One of her friends was friends with someone who works in security. He texted his friend and the friend said that obviously they don't prefer cars left overnight, but realize that it happens (for example, someone gets a little too tipsy in the parks or at Downtown Disney and has to take a cab home). He said my car should be fine for the night (but in the future I should give someone the heads up when I am parking if I know it will happen again).

On the way back to my car I was the ONLY ONE on the bus. I think it was because at 7:30am everyone is heading TO the parks, not AWAY from them. (Although Jillian joked and thought it was because I turned down the offer to use her shower and everyone was staying away from my stench.)

It was like a princess carriage ride all for ME!

Didn't have a problem finding my car in the parking lot... 

I had a BLAST at Disney with Jillian (and her awesome friends), but coming home to this wiggly butt also put a smile on my face. Even though I won't be at Disney for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend I am super grateful I was able to go up and experience some of the magic and enjoy a few hours with an amazing friend!

Do you suffer from FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)? How do you combat it?