this was soooooo much fun!! i planned this trip with 2 of my fellow nurse friends and one doc who was doing the full marathon - i took my mother and younger 2 sons (17 and 13) with me and we all stayed at the Dolphin thursday - we arrived in Orlando around noonish, had something to eat and waited for the other girls to get back from MK before heading over to the Expo ...... i found the expo quite congested, but the volunteers were great and moved us thru the lines quickly and the boys loved the area..........we walked around the boardwalk later that evening and just enjoyed the sights and nice weather friday - must have been on a similar route as Pfriese cuz we started the day off at Animal Kingdom as well - thought Expedition Everest was going to do me in but was tons of fun!! then over to MGM for the afternoon, and back to the Dolphin for a pasta dinner at their Italian Rest..............was also planning to get to sleep early, but must have been after 10 before i fell into a fitful sleep - i found it hard sleeping knowing how early my alarm was going to go off sat - on a race bus by 3:45 and off we gooooooooooooo!! the one thing i would definitely warn people about the Dolphin is it is not easy for spectators to get over to the 1/2 marathon route - my mom and one of the girls sister had to be on a bus around 5 to be sure they would get on the route before the roads closed - had we been at a hotel truly "in the park", they could have used the monorail a little later.......and because they needed to be out so early, i decided to be a nice mom and not make the boys get up to cheer me on!! the race was soooooooooooo fun!! i loved the fireworks at the start - i could see fireworks every nite and never get tired of them.........one of my friends and i ran the first 2 miles together, then she caught back up to me around the 10th mile and we ran close to each other to the end............was so great!! i loved running thru the parks and especially thru the castle - many of the disney princes and princesses were at the castle waving us on..............the amount of volunteers was amazing - they did such a great job.........spectators along most of the route as well - my mom and my friend's sister made it to mile 8 to cheer us on then hopped on the monorail and were at the finish line to see us come in!! can't wait to see the pics...........oh ya - my time was 2:08:28 - would have loved to finish under 2 hours but considering this was my first 1/2 since my leg injuries last year i was very very happy!! i felt great after the race, showered and went off to Epcot for the day!! so glad i didn't overdress - wore my MVS (running club) singlet, black under armour fitted shorts and my white Boston Marathon hat - it was so warm especially coming from Massachusetts!! can't wait for next year!!

Congrats D. Not only did you run a good half but,most of all, it was a fun weekend for you and your family. Henry and Marj

Great race! Sounds like you and your family and friends had a blast. Thanks for the report! Jem

You rock!...and clearly had a great time. Thanks for sharing your report. We stayed at the Dolphin the first year I ran this and I can just picture it now. Congratulations and rest up now! CNyrunner

This sounds really great! My DW and I have talked about going back there someday -- we made several Disney trips back in my DS's younger days, but it's been probably 10-12 years since our last time. Doing the half might be a good excuse for the trip. A couple of questions: about how many people run in this event? And isn't this one of those destination runs that fills its quota within days of when registration opens? Is there a lottery to get in, or just first-come?

thanks everyone - it really was so much fun - i think i was grinning the entire race!! and i forgot to mention the next day we spent at Universal Studios Island of Adventure - the boys road the Incredible Hulk - 9 times!! they loved it!! i was so glad i had my mother and 2 of the boys with me!! steve - no autographs or pics with the disney critters - didnt want to stop along the route and the lines afterward were crazy......our friend who did the marathon stopped along the way ...... my mother took some at the finish - i'll have to get her to send them to me and we took individual and group pics with the prof. photographers as well doug - it does fill up but not within minutes - i think we signed up around march or april of last year for this year's run.........not a lottery, just first-come and the Goofy challenge fills up really fast!! wish i had the stamina for that!!

deez4boyz, I had a blast there too. Sounds like we were crossing paths quite a bit during the weekend. Coincidently, DW and I were staying over at the Swan. And your finish time was within 1 minute of mine, so you must have passed me on the course a few times when I stopped for pictures. I'll be posting pictures sometime this weekend, so see if you recognize me. Great RR and thanks for sharing. Paul

Thanks for sharing your race experience with us. Sounds like you had a lot of fun, spending a great weekend with friends and family. Congrats on running so well, it sounds like you have recovered well from your leg injuries! Keep up the good running, John