Kellen started 2024 off with an ambitious adventure. The first ten days of January she visited Walt Disney World and completed the RunDisney Dopey Challenge (all four races of marathon weekend!). She then spent four days at Disneyland and ran the half-marathon for the first RunDisney race there in seven years. She shares with Shannon all the ups and downs and several tips for anyone who would want to embark on a similar adventure.
Post trip begins: 42 minutes
The Basics
Kellen had an epic trip to Walt Disney World staying both off-site for one night and Pop Century for all of the Disney World RunDisney Events. She stopped off at home in Montana for one night before going to Disneyland to run again!
She traveled to Walt Disney World with her boyfriend on New Year’s Day and stayed until January 10. She was home for a few hours before flying to California to spend a few days there. Her friend joined her for the weekend with her friend’s mom and son.
Kellen combined incredible touring with the early morning wake-up calls of multiple RunDisney events.
Arrival (January 1)
After leaving early in the morning, Kellen and her boyfriend’s flight was actually early arriving in MCO! After getting their bags, they got a Lyft to their hotel. They stayed at the AC Marriott Lake Buena Vista for the first night of their trip.
After dropping their bags, they called a Lyft to take them to Disney Springs. The hotel was a little bit farther away than they expected, so they opted not to walk as they originally thought.
When they arrived at Disney Springs, they were overwhelmed with how many people were there. It was very busy. Their first stop was Gideon’s. There wasn’t a virtual queue so they opted to wait in line. The expected wait time was 90 minutes.
They picked up some food and drinks while they waited. They only waited for 40 minutes and even made it for Hot Cookie Hour! Their next stop (after dessert!) was dinner at Polite Pig. They love it here and arrived at 7:40 p.m.
When they sat down for dinner, they started losing their energy. They ate dinner and went back to the hotel to get some sleep.
Resort Hopping (January 2)
Kellen got up early to get some work done before getting ready for the day. She and her boyfriend packed up and took a Lyft over to Pop Century. Kellen has stayed there before and loves the convenience of the skyliner.
Their Disney Springs hotel was fine, but Kellen loves staying on Disney property. They arrived at 9:20 a.m. and dropped their bags with Bell Services before hopping in another Lyft to Port Orleans French Quarter.
They had a delicious breakfast of Beignets. After breakfast, they took a water taxi to Disney Springs. They didn’t have much of a wait at all.
Disney Springs wasn’t crowded at all, and it was so nice to be able to explore Disney Springs. They got poutine and wandered around Disney Springs. When they were done, they hopped on a bus to the Contemporary. They’d originally hoped to get on a bus to the Polynesian but the line was so long!
When they arrived at the Contemporary, they got on the monorail to the Polynesian. It was right around 2 p.m., which was exactly what Kellen planned because they wanted to get in line at Trader Sam’s. They were the second family in line and Kellen was so excited.
However, a cast member came out and said that there was already a 2 hour wait because they started taking names at 1:45 p.m. So they put their names on the list before taking the monorail over to the Grand Floridian.
The Christmas decor was still up, so they enjoyed seeing that before walking back to the Polynesian. They got some food from Captain Cook’s while they waited for Trader Sam’s.
Around 2:30 p.m. Kellen received the text that their room was ready. They did get their requested room in the 70s section however, it wasn’t on the ground floor.
While they waited for their names to be called at Trader Sam’s, they enjoyed the lobby at the Polynesian. They went to Trader Sam’s at 4:30 p.m. and it was worth the wait!
They had a great bartender and a wonderful time! They left and took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. When they arrived, they got immediately on a water taxi to Wilderness Lodge. They had dinner at Geyser Point. Kellen’s boyfriend’s family are DVC members and love Wilderness Lodge, but he’d never been there before.
After dinner they went to Pop Century to check in and get settled. However, they realized they’d left a bag at Wilderness Lodge, so they took a Lyft back there to get it. On their way, they went through the lobby at Pop Century and the tree was still up, which was lovely!
Magic Kingdom (January 3)
Both Kellen and her boyfriend woke up early at 5:30 a.m. Kellen got Genie+ with the multiple park option. Right at 7 a.m. she tried to get a TRON virtual queue and they were gone immediately. She wasn’t able to get one.
Because she couldn’t get a virtual queue, Kellen purchased an individual lightning lane for TRON at 9:15 a.m. Kellen had planned to get to Magic Kingdom in time for Early Entry at 8:30 a.m. because the bus was delayed and very slow.
Their plan was to go immediately to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train but it was down. They went to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain already had a long wait. They opted to get on the PeopleMover and it had no wait. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, TRON, and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh were all down!
Kellen’s boyfriend wanted to go on Astro Orbiter so they did that next because there was no wait. They got coffee and a donut before going to their 9 a.m. Lightning Lane for Haunted Mansion. As soon as she tapped in for Haunted Mansion, she got a 10 a.m. lightning lane for Pirates of the Caribbean.
After Haunted Mansion, they went to their Individual Lightning Lane for TRON and were off by 9:55 a.m. The line was continually moving for the Individual Lightning Lane. When they got off TRON they went to Pirates of the Caribbean to use their lightning lane.
After Pirates of the Caribbean, Kellen started stacking lightning lanes for Hollywood Studios with a 4 p.m. lightning lane for Tower of Terror. They stopped for a very early lunch at Pecos Bill.
During lunch, they checked out wait times and realized Magic Kingdom was very crowded. They opted to leave due to the crowds so they went to the RunDisney Expo.
Around 11:45 a.m. they arrived at the Expo and it was so busy as well! It was the most crowded Kellen has ever seen. They were there for 2 hours just to get the bib and shirts. Kellen wants to get photos so they opted to come back when it was less crowded.
While at the expo, Kellen got a lightning lane for Toy Story Mania at 7:40 p.m. There weren’t many lightning lanes left to book at that time. At 2:30 p.m. they went back to Pop Century to eat and rest for a bit.
After resting, they arrived at Hollywood Studios and it was very crowded as well. They used their lightning lane for Tower of Terror without any wait at all.
They went to their reservation at Oga’s Cantina at 5:50 p.m. This was surprising because it was 10 minutes before their reservations. They had a good time. While they were at Oga’s Cantina they mobile ordered Woody’s Lunchbox for dinner. They had dinner and went to their Toy Story Mania lightning lane.
Because Hollywood Studios was so crowded, they went back to Pop Century and were in bed by 9 p.m.
5K and Epcot (January 4)
Kellen’s alarm went off at 3 a.m. and did some stretching. She was at the bus by 3:50 a.m. and got to her B corral at 4:45 a.m.
Kellen hadn’t done a 5K before so she didn’t know that there wasn’t a spectator bus. If you want to support your racer as a spectator, be sure to be on the bus with them. This is also true for the 10K.
Because the 5K is a shorter race, the character lines are a lot longer than other races. Kellen opted to stop for Goofy and at Spaceship Earth to get photos. She also waited 40 minutes to meet Dopey after the race.
The line to get on the bus to the resort was very long. Kellen waited about 30 minutes to get on the bus but was back to her room by 7 a.m. She did get Genie+ again and booked Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure lightning lane for 4:15 p.m. This was a big priority for Kellen.
She also got boarding group 76 for Cosmic Rewind. Kellen wasn’t sure at this point if she wanted to ride Cosmic Rewind because of motion sickness.
After arriving at Epcot, they went right to Moana’s Journey of Water. They went over to Finding Nemo and only waited about 8 minutes. Wait times were very high and they even checked Rise of the Resistance and the wait time was 295 minutes, which is outrageous.
Kellen and her boyfriend started walking toward the World Showcase and went to Mexico. They walked right on Gran Fiesta Tour. Kellen booked a Soarin’ Over California lightning lane for 12:15 p.m.
They left Mexico and went to Norway where the Frozen Ever After wait time was 75 minutes. They decided it would be worth the wait. While they were in line, the posted wait time jumped to 90 minutes and then again to 110 minutes. They were committed but the queue was very long and chaotic.
They ended up waiting an hour and 42 minutes for Frozen Ever After, which was rough but Kellen loves that ride. Their next stop was to use their Soarin’ lightning lane. They were warned that it would take a while even with the lightning lane, but they ended up only waiting 20 minutes.
Kellen says she prefers Soarin’ over the world to Soarin’ over California. While they were in line, their boarding group was called for Cosmic Rewind at 1:43 p.m. They were there by 2:27 p.m. and waited about an hour to get on the ride. Kellen opted to wait in line but didn’t ride the ride.
When her boyfriend got off Cosmic Rewind, they went to the World Showcase and got some snacks in France. They walked right on to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at 4:15 p.m. which was lovely. When they got off Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure they were so tired that they hopped on the skyliner and went back to their room.
They were in bed by 6:30 p.m. which was very unusual.
10K and Animal Kingdom (January 5)
Kellen’s alarm went off at 2:45 a.m. and she and her boyfriend took the 3:30 a.m. bus to the corral. He read a book while she went to her corral. She was in corral B and was on her way by 5:08 a.m.
She stopped for the Hippo from Fantasia and one of the 3 Cabellaros for photos. The 10K was done by 6:30 a.m.
She was done, got coffee, and they were on the bus back to Pop Century. They got cleaned up and got on the bus for Animal Kingdom by 9:10 a.m. Kellen opted to not get Genie+ today.
After arriving, they went right to Kilimanjaro Safaris. They waited about 40 minutes and it was a wonderful safari. A lot of the animals were out, which made it very exciting.
When they got off the safari, they went right to Gorilla Falls. It was very busy so they went through quickly before getting lunch at Yak and Yeti.
After lunch the line for the noon showing of the Festival of the Lion King was already really long. They opted to get in line that early for the 1 p.m. show. They waited a long time but it was worth it. Kellen loves the Festival of the Lion King and her boyfriend hasn’t seen it.
The lines for everything was very long – well over an hour. After the Festival of the Lion King they went to the Maharajah Trek and it was okay but not much activity.
They went to it’s tough to be a bug next and her boyfriend really enjoyed it. They decided to leave Animal Kingdom at this point. It was about 2:15 p.m. when they went back to their room.
When they got back to Pop Century, they cleaned up and went to Epcot via the Skyliner. They went to get photos and wandered the World Showcase.
When it was time for their 5:40 p.m. dinner reservation at Via Napoli, they were seated right away. Kellen highly recommends the Limoncello Pistachio drink. While they were at dinner, Kellen got the notification that the half Marathon was shortened due to weather.
The Half Marathon was shortened from 13.1 miles to 7.1 miles. Kellen was debating running the extra 6 miles. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do.
After dinner they walked to Spaceship Earth and rode that with a short 15 minute wait. They got back to Pop Century early to prepare for the next day.
Half Marathon and Rest (January 6)
The race was scheduled to start at 5 a.m. but with the weather forecast and the shortened route, the start time was move up to 4:45 a.m.
Kellen got up early at 2:30 a.m. Everything started promptly at 4:45 a.m. Kellen was in corral C and she was on the course shortly after 5 a.m.
It hadn’t yet started raining so characters were out but the lines were very long. Kellen didn’t stop for characters because she did not want to run in the rain. She was able to cross the finish line just as the rain was starting.
Because of the rain, she went quickly to the buses to get back to the resort. The rain and lightning did cause them to shorten the course even more after Kellen finished.
Once the rain cleared up, Kellen went back out to run in order to complete the full half marathon. She didn’t have any other plans for this day, so they opted to go to the Expo.
Kellen focused on recovery today. She did ice baths and went to bed by 8 p.m.
Marathon and Hollywood Studios (January 7)
This was the last of Kellen’s early alarms. She woke up at 2:30 a.m. and got Genie+ and Standby Skipper. She was able to request late afternoon and early evening lightning lanes for Hollywood Studios.
At that time, Kellen also set an alarm for 6:55 a.m. to get Rise of the Resistance. They also had a Roundup Rodeo reservation for 8 p.m.
There wasn’t rain in the forecast so Kellen was excited and optimistic about that. However, once she hit Magic Kingdom, it started raining really hard. This caused her to have even more blisters. She had blisters pop at mile 17 and mile 24, which was incredibly painful.
It was a difficult race but her boyfriend was there with Mickey ears on when he met her at the finish line. He said she looked better after this race than she did last year after just the marathon. They went back to the room and Kellen took an ice bath.
Her boyfriend got them lunch from the food court and they went to Hollywood Studios. They arrived at 3 p.m.
Kellen notes that Standby Skipper changed her life. They had lightning lanes beginning at 4:10 p.m. with Tower of Terror. Rock N Roller Coaster has a very long wait time. They were on and off Tower of Terror at 4:18 p.m.
Standby Skipper got a lightning lane for Toy Story Mania at 5:05 p.m. While they waited, they got drinks and photos taken with Sulley.
Unfortunately Toy Story Mania went down so their lightning lane was converted to an anytime experience. Standby Skipper. had also gotten them lightning lanes for Slinky Dog Dash so they went there next at 5:05 p.m. The standby wait at that time was 110 minutes but they only waited 5 minutes.
Kellen was able to book an individual lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance at 7 a.m. for 5:25 p.m. That was their next stop and they walked right on with a 90 minute standby wait time. After Rise of the Resistance they went to Muppet*Vision 3D.
They had a lightning lane for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway but it was down by the time they got there. Toy Story Mania was back up and standby was 85 minutes but with their lightning lane they only waited about 15 minutes.
As soon as Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway came back up at 7:27 p.m. they were able to get right in. Kellen is so grateful for Standby Skipper.
At that point it was almost time for their Roundup Rodeo reservation. They got there at 7:50 p.m. and were seated shortly after 8 p.m. They really enjoyed it. Kellen said that the mac and cheese was delicious and her boyfriend really liked the brisket.
They really enjoyed it but there was too much food. It was too bad they couldn’t take it to go. They got out of their dinner right at 9 p.m. which is when the park closed. They got back to their room and were in bed by 10 p.m.
Animal Kingdom (January 8)
They took a slower morning and noticed this morning that the Christmas decor was starting to come down at Pop Century. However, it was still up at Animal Kingdom.
They got on the bus to Animal Kingdom at 8:30 a.m. and were at Animal Kingdom by 9 a.m. They got coffee before heading to Na’vi River Journey. They only waited about 35 minutes, which was a long wait for that ride.
At 10 a.m. they were in line for Kilimanjaro Safaris. The wait was about 30 minutes. They went to the train to go to Conservation Station. They did the 11:35 a.m. Animation Experience, which was lovely.
They went to Dawa Bar next and got drinks. The cast member was very nice and allowed them to try a lot of different drinks. They also got snacks at Mr. Kamal’s.
After their snacks, Kellen had her boyfriend go on the single rider line for Expedition Everest. He loves this ride and she doesn’t. The line moved so quickly that she had him go through twice.
When he was done on Expedition Everest, they went over to DINOLAND. They took photos before going on DINOSAUR. The lines were much better and crowds didn’t seem as bad.
After they went on DINOSAUR, they hopped to Epcot. Kellen took some photos with her medals and went on Living with the Land. They only waited about 10 minutes.
Around 4:45 p.m. they went on Journey into Imagination before waiting in the single rider line for Test Track. The standby wait time was 55 minutes but they didn’t want to wait that long. Even the single rider line was a 20 minute wait.
They got quick service food at La Cantina de San Angel and it was fine. While they were there they walked right on Gran Fiesta Tour.
After dinner they wandered around the World Showcase enjoying the pavilions. They were back to their room at 9 p.m.
Magic Kingdom (January 9)
Kellen got Standby Skipper and Genie+ for today. She wanted to be sure to maximize their time in the morning because storms were expected that evening. Kellen was able to get a boarding group and an individual lightning lane for TRON to ride it during the day and at night.
Standby Skipper for a 9 a.m. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as well. Kellen was planning to go directly to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train but instead they used the Early Entry time to take photos and get a coffee.
The crowds were much more manageable today. They went to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and then got some breakfast before using a lightning lane for Haunted Mansion. As soon as they got in line, Standby Skipper got them a 10:05 a.m. Lightning Lane for Pirates of the Caribbean.
They went to Pirates of the Caribbean at 10:10 a.m. and Standby Skipper was able to get them a lightning lane for noon for Space Mountain. Kellen went to Aloha Isle for her favorite Dole Whip flavor: Tropical Serenade.
It was only 10:30 a.m. and they were able to do so many things. Standby Skipper really made it a great experience. On their way to Tomorrowland, there wasn’t a wait for Under The Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid, so they went on that.
They were called for their boarding group for TRON and were able to get on with very little wait. It was so nice to be able to do so many things so quickly.
Their next stop was Space Mountain. They used their lightning lane at 11:55 a.m. and with a standby wait time of 55 minutes, they only wanted 10 minutes. They walked right to Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor and used a lightning lane.
While they were in Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, Standby Skipper got them a Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin lighting lane for 12:50 p.m. However, before doing that, they used their individual lightning lane for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
They went back to Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin shortly after 1 p.m and as soon as they were off, they got a lightning lane for Dumbo the Flying Elephant. They walked right on. After that, Kellen’s boyfriend wanted lunch so they stopped at Columbia Harbour House.
After lunch, they waited about 10 minutes for it’s a small world. They had a 5:40 p.m. lightning lane for Jungle Cruise. While they waited for that, they took the monorail to Epcot. They wandered around Epcot and then came back to Magic Kingdom around 5 p.m.
At this point, it was starting to rain. Jungle Cruise was down due to rain, so they went to Pirates of the Caribbean and then waited out the rain in the gift shop. They grabbed some dinner at Casey’s Corner before going to the PeopleMover.
As they were waiting for their Individual Lightning Lane for TRON, they did Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor again. They watched the fireworks and then did TRON at night. They really enjoyed that.
After that, they went back to Pop Century after a fantastic last day.
Departure (January 10)
They packed up, got breakfast, and saw some characters outside Pop Century on their way out. Their flight was at 2:30 p.m.
As they were traveling home, Kellen got notice that a portion of her flight to LAX was canceled. She had to rearrange her travel schedule that caused her to have to lose some of her time at home.
Disneyland (January 11)
Because of her travel schedule being changed, she was only home for a short time and flew into Ontario, California rather than LAX. It was a long ride to her hotel, but other than that, it was fine.
She was staying at Hotel Lulu. It was just about a mile from the park and took about 15-20 minutes to walk.
Kellen got to her resort early and got some work done. She’d planned to go to the Expo later but because she was there early, she went that evening. She went about an hour before it closed. It wasn’t busy at all, which was lovely.
After the Expo, Kellen stopped to get some water and snacks at a drugstore before going to bed.
Disneyland (January 12)
There was a lot of street noise that woke Kellen up early. On her way to the park she stopped at a Starbucks but the line was very long so she waited a while.
She went over to the parks at 8 a.m. which was park open. Kellen’s friend, her son, and her mom met them there. While she waited for them, she just enjoyed seeing Disneyland and taking some photos.
Indiana Jones Adventure is Kellen’s favorite ride, so she went straight there. Kellen hasn’t been to Disneyland and is so excited to be there. They really didn’t wait at all for Indiana Jones Adventure. Kellen opted to not get Genie+ because there are so many single rider options and she planned to use those.
Kellen really loved the changes to Indiana Jones Adventure and it was so much fun. They went to Pirates of the Caribbean next and Kellen loves the Disneyland version of this. There wasn’t a wait at all.
After that, they went to Haunted Mansion and it had the holiday overlay, which was really fun! There was a 13 minute posted wait time so it was a walk on.
They got an order of the classic Mickey beignets. Kellen liked them but didn’t think they were as good as the ones at Port Orleans. She really liked the sauces you can get at Port Orleans.
At 9:30 a.m. there was a posted wait time for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad of 25 minutes. They only waited about 10 minutes. Kellen says this version is better than Disney World.
Their next stop was to go to ToonTown and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. While they were in line, however, the ride went down. A lot of people left the ride, but they opted to stay because they were so close to the front.
Kellen really likes the queue at Disneyland. They wandered around Toontown a little bit more before going to ride Matterhorn. They opted to wait in the single rider line.
Kellen doesn’t mind Materhorn and it doesn’t cause her motion sickness. She suspects this is because it has more light. It is very rough though. The single rider line was only a 10 minute wait.
After that, Kellen got garlic cheddar pretzel bread at Edelweiss Snacks. After that, they waited 20 minutes for the Finding Nemo submarines. Kellen says this is a good napping ride.
Their next stop was Space Mountain. This ride does make Kellen a little bit motion sick, but she likes Disneyland a lot more. There was a 25 minute posted wait time that increased the whole time they were in line. They ended up waiting an hour.
After that, it was time for lunch. Kellen got the Beef Birria Toasted Cheese and Cherry-Vanilla Macaron at Jolly Holiday Bakery. She opted to not mobile order and just waited in line. It took about 15 minutes.
When they were done with lunch, they went to Snow White’s Enchanted Wish. They waited about 15 minutes. They went to Pinocchio’s Daring Journey and also waited 15 minutes. Storybook Canal was their next stop before leaving Disneyland for California Adventure.
Once they arrived at California Adventure, Kellen’s biggest priority was to meet Baymax. She was wearing her Baymax ears and was ready. When she arrived, Hero was with Baymax, but when she got to the front of the line, Hero was gone.
After meeting Baymax, Kellen went to the Lucky Fortune Cookery for some delicious food. Kellen says everything they got was incredible.
They went to Radiator Springs Racers next. The standby line was very long and they were told that the single rider line was 45 minutes, so they decided to keep moving to go to Pixar’s Pier. They waited about 45 minutes for a non-swinging cars on Pixar Pal-A-Round.
They went to Avenger’s Campus next and rode Web Slingers via the single rider line. They only waited about 10 minutes. Kellen really liked it!
They went to Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! and used the buddy pass system. This is like the single rider line but with a buddy. The posted wait time was 30 minutes but they only waited 5 minutes.
It was getting colder so they got hot chocolates from Starbucks to keep their hands warm. They got in line for Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! and waited about an hour. Kellen says this is very intense!
They left the park and Kellen walked to her hotel. It didn’t take long at all.
California Adventure (January 13)
Kellen and her friends got up a little late and got to the entrance right around 8 a.m. She got a coffee as she entered the park.
Kellen was starting to notice that crowds were picking up. The lines for security were very long. Park reservations were also sold out for today.
Today it was just Kellen, her friend, and her son. Her friend’s mom opted to stay back today. At 8:30 a.m. the posted wait time for Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! was 30 minutes. After waiting for more than an hour, they still didn’t get to ride, so they opted to leave. It was a bummer and a rough start to the morning.
The posted wait time at that point for Radiator Springs was 120 minutes. They went through the single rider line and only waited about 30 minutes, which was nice. The ride went down as soon as they got off.
At 10:50 a.m. the line to meet Baymax was already very long so they kept walking through Pixar Pier. Kellen went to Goofy’s Sky School and only waited a few minutes for the single rider line. Then they walked on to the Jumping Jellyfish.
Kellen’s friend’s mom joined them and they did The Incredicoaster. After they rode without Kellen, they talked her into riding with them. Kellen says it was okay.
After that they went to Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta. Kellen really likes it there. It’s easy and delicious.
To get a bit of a rest, they went to the Animation Academy and learned how to drive Lightning MacQueen. After that, they went to Webslingers. They were almost at the front of the line and the ride went down. Unfortunately everyone was evacuated.
For dinner, they mobile ordered snacks from both Pym Test Kitchen and Tasting Lab. They got the big pretzel and drinks. Everything was delicious.
Once Webslingers was back up, they waited 5 minutes to ride in the single rider line. Then they walked over to Disneyland and they rode on Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion.
At this point, it was getting close to 8 p.m. and Kellen decided she needed to leave. She was getting anxious about running the next day.
Disneyland (January 14)
Kellen was hoping to run the Disney’s Dumbo Double Dare Challenge, but she was only able to get a half marathon reservation.
Her alarm went off at 3:45 a.m. It was nice that she didn’t have to be up quite as early as in Disney World. She walked to the race start from her hotel. It was a little different in Anaheim because Disney does not own all of the land where they run like they do in Orlando.
The first 4 miles or so are very interesting because you’re running around the parks and then through the parks. However, the next 9 miles are just through the streets of Anaheim. It was difficult mentally.
This was the first RunDisney event in many years, so it was different. Kellen thought it was fine, just different from Disney World.
Kellen does say that if she were to run again in Disneyland, she would consider just doing a 5K or 10K because they are all in the parks.
Kellen took photos after finishing the race. She went to her room, showered and cleaned up, and got to Disneyland around 10:30 a.m.
Everything was busy today. There weren’t any park reservations and lines were very busy getting into the park. Kellen says there were a lot more roaming characters today than any other day.
They started with the garlic cheddar pretzel bread at Edelweiss Snacks and the single rider line at Matterhorn. Then they went on Alice in Wonderland. Kellen’s friends went to ride Space Mountain via the single rider line, but they closed down the single rider line because it was already very long.
Kellen ordered an alien macaron from Alien Pizza Planet. This was delicious. Then they went to Indiana Jones Adventure. There was not a single rider line but because it just came back up there was no line at all.
When they got off Indiana Jones Adventure they got some beignets. Then Kellen went to Rise of the Resistance. She purchased an individual lightning lane. She didn’t wait at all.
After Rise of the Resistance, she walked to the Disneyland Hotel. She wanted to get a sweatshirt she couldn’t find anywhere else and was told it was there. Thankfully it was worth the long walk because they had the sweatshirt. Kellen wanted to get the sweatshirt embroidered, but she took the tags off and they wouldn’t do it without the tags – even though she had the receipt.
She went back to California Adventure. Her friends did a few things and Kellen was starting to get really tired. She did Webslingers and Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! before going to Disneyland.
At Disneyland she did Pirates of the Caribbean and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. She then mobile ordered a dole whip and exited the park around 8 p.m. The parks were very busy and Kellen was very tired.
She had a very early wake-up call in the morning so she wanted to get some rest. She and her friends got an airport hotel. They picked her up at 12:45 a.m. to get to the airport hotel.
They checked in, Kellen rested for an hour or so before it was time to get on her flight.
Departure (January 15)
After a few hours at the airport hotel, Kellen’s flight left LAX at 5 a.m. She was delayed a few hours on her way home and got home around 3:30 p.m. She went to bed early and slept all night!
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