Welcome to Disney Alaska! ~ Our first Disney endurance race (race day!)

[pjstevens]

Thought I'd start this before I forget it all. (Maybe I'll finally get around to do Disneyland TR too).

Day one, Thursday, January 7th. Dale (dh) was out delivering papers (at 4am) and his car died! We had to leave for the airport around 7:30 due to the heightened security and now had to deal with a non working vehicle. Thank goodness for a wonderful mechanic, two blocks from our house. Dale had the van towed there and fortunately our DS (Dale-Ross) was able to help him finish up the papers. He got home with just enough time to shower and get the car loaded.

We got on the road shortly after 7:30 when I realize I have NO gas whatsoever. First stop WAWA for gas; then D&D for coffee (and a breakfast sandwich for hubby who never did get to eat). Finally we are on our way to the airport. Thankfully we live so close to Philly that we were there in no time. Our ds, Tyler, had gone up with us, and would take our car home, as he was staying home to help with the 'babies'. We unloaded everything to check in at the curb with Southwest and get in line. Tyler leaves and I realize that I'm holding Dale's laptop (or so I thought). We are in line to check our bags and I don't have dh's laptop, I have a car repair kit (has flairs, fix a flat, jumper cables, etc) in the case! Well, I'm thinking I better just give it away to someone who is dropping off someone at the curb, lol. Dale figured we'll just throw it into one of our checked bags and maybe keep it in our Owners Locker. Good thought (or so we thought).

We get up to the security check point and what do we see???



Absolutely NO ONE in line at all! So much for allowing hours to get through security! We stood around finishing our coffee before heading in.



We had an uneventful flight to Orlando and were picking up our car by 2pm and on our way to the Boardwalk Villas.



Up next, getting a room you absolutely do not want!

[dismagiclover]

I'm in. I was there for Marathon weekend too and Disney Alaska is right! Can't wait to hear about the trip!

[liznboys]

Hi Patricia, I'm in too! I was with Jenny (above) this weekend doing the half. It'll be fun to hear how your weekend went...

[pjstevens]

We arrived at BWV (our first time staying here.) Let me just say, one perk I miss is the valet parking. The lot at the Boardwalk is way far away (if you don’t get a close spot, you may even end up across the street). I was so excited to see that the Christmas decorations were still up! I was really hoping for this, but not counting on it.











Check in was quick (again, no one in line) and in no time we had our KTTK cards. We had booked a studio preferred view room. Off we went to our room. We were up one floor (kept forgetting the lobby was on floor two, lol) and walked and walked and walked down the hallway until we finally got to our room (and there were still more rooms past ours!)

Very pretty room; lovely view of the pool we would NOT be using this weekend, lol.





As hubby went down to find out where our Owners Locker was, we looked around. I thought the bed looked awfully low, compared to the ones at AKV. DD (Aubre) says, “Wow’, we have a big shower!” Right then, I knew we were in trouble! A large shower in a studio only means one thing, we were in a handicapped room. Right then, I was NO WAY!!! I WANT, no I NEED a bathtub! I want to be able to soak in a tub after doing the ½ marathon! I got on the phone right away and said I wanted a new room. (I explained why). It took a little bit, but soon they relocated us to a room (much closer to the elevators than the first room). Got into our new room and WOW!!! This is what I had expected!









Then we walked out onto our balcony to see what view we had this time and were blown away that we had an ENORMOUS balcony compared to the other room!!!



And the view was beautiful







We got settled and decided to head out to pick up our packets for the race and for volunteering for the full and also to grab some lunch and stop at Target. We’ve become pretty familiar with Disney since DD did the College Program in 2007 and really don’t bother with directions (lol). We did a lot of driving in circles at times this trip, lol, but we always got to where we needed to be.

As soon as we got on the road, hubby says do you have our paperwork to pick up the packets, ugh NO, I don’t!! How could I leave without that.

We had a nice lunch at a Chick fil a and then off to Target for some snacks, drinks, etc. It’s easy finding your way back to Disney cause all roads lead Home it seems!

Next up, do we make it back ‘home’?

[dismagiclover]

I'm so happy to see your pictures of BWV. We actually own there, but I've never been there That is where we're planning on staying for the Marathon next year. I hope the decorations are still up for us then. They look lovely. And what an awesome view! That is almost Boardwalk view!

[pjstevens]

Originally Posted by dismagiclover

I'm so happy to see your pictures of BWV. We actually own there, but I've never been there That is where we're planning on staying for the Marathon next year. I hope the decorations are still up for us then. They look lovely. And what an awesome view! That is almost Boardwalk view!

The Boardwalk was beautiful, but if we have anything like this years temps, I would not stay there. I'll explain more later on.

Our home is AKV and we will most likely stay there next year. The only time we used the marathon transportation was the day of the race, other than that we drove everywhere.