Disney Part 3: Final Day

The Dopey Challenge was over. The medals were earned.

The running was done.

*Tear*

So what is a girl to do with one final day left in Disney????

Why hit up as many parks as possible and show off the bling!

After enjoying a celebratory dinner and beer with the parents and wife on Sunday (January 12) night...

... it was time to devise a game plan for the final day of vacation.

Originally, we thought we would go to Harry Potter world on the Monday, but between park tickets and having to rent a car - the price tag was too rich.

We opted instead to add a 5th day to our Disney park hopper pass for just $12 a person. #WINNING! ;)

The goal was to sleep in.

And we did.

Until 7:30am!!

HEY, after getting up between 2am and 4am the previous four mornings that WAS sleeping in.

I made sure to sleep in my ZENSAH compression socks so when I woke up my legs were sore, but strong after having run 48.6 miles.

We got ready. IE I loaded up my backpack with my 5 medals and wore my Dopey medal. Oh I also allowed myself to rock the Dopey Challenge "I Did It" t-shirt. :)

We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel before heading to Hollywood Studios. Our goal was to knock out the Toy Story ride right as the park opened to avoid the inevitable hour long wait that the ride averages.

I ran shuffled through Hollywood Studios to arrive at the Toy Story ride with a manageable 15 minute wait. Woo!

Toy Story is an amazing ride that most folks have to Fast Pass to get into in a timely manner. We had had a fast pass on a previous trip, but the ride was shutdown for some reason. Redemption time.

Now last year when we rode this I crushed the wife's score and she was pissed. I mean she is the "gamer" not me.

She was ready to kick my butt. Well...

WINNER DANI! :)

After the quick visit to Hollywood Studios, we were back on the bus and making our way to Magic Kingdom. It was time to catch up on the rides we missed during the previous trips.

I immediately headed to Cinderella's Castle to show off the bling.

After having the wife snap my picture, some other folks came over and asked to take pictures of the medals.

I even found Dopey. ;)

And I learned that I need to do some extra strength training before my next trip.

While we stopped to get some lunch, my friend Kitty found us. She lives in NYC and I in Boston so we don't get to see each other too often. She had OWNED the Goofy Challenge (Half Marathon & Full Marathon) and was glowing.

We decided to meet up for a beer and Fireworks in EPCOT later that night. Woo! :)

The wife and I grabbed a now annual picture in front of the Castle before jumping on the monorail.

Since we stayed at the Pop Century Hotel, we didn't get to use the monorail at all during the stay so we made a special trip. We didn't really have a destination until we decided we were thirsty for an adult beverage. :) Off to the Polynesian we went.

I stayed at that hotel on my first trip to Disney back in fourth grade and loved it. It is outside of our price range, but we could handle a drink on our budget. :P

After a little relaxation, it was time to move on to our third and final park of the day!

EPCOT

We took our time walking around the park and hopping on all of the rides that didn't have a wait. It was most since many of the runners/families had headed home earlier in the day. We even got to hop on Test Track with a minor 10 minute wait time. SCORE!

While we decided where to grab dinner, I caught a character area in the center of EPCOT and dragged the wife inside. It said there was a 5 minute wait. I wanted to know who was in there. I hit the jackpot.

Mickey

Goofy

Minnie

All admired their personal medals! And ignored the random cameltoe I was rocking. How nice of them?

As my phone started to die, we found a little corner behind the character meet and greet to juice up our phones. I wanted to have enough battery to capture the fireworks.

Tori grabbed dinner in England, while I got a salad in the USA. ;)

We headed over to Germany to meet Kitty and her friend for the Fireworks show.

It was beautiful, but only lasted 12 minutes. I'm not sure why I thought IllumniNations lasted longer than that, but was sad. Right after the show ended they steered us towards the exit so it was already time to say adios to Kitty.

We headed back to Pop Century to grab a nightcap by the pool with a social media friend Steffany and her husband. It was a blast, but I regret not snapping a picture. Oops! Blogger fail. We will just have to meet up another time. :)

We begrudgingly headed back to our room to pack so we would be ready for the 6:55am Magical Express back to the airport ... and real life.

The day was exactly what I needed. I shook out the lactic acid from my legs by walking around the parks, spent time with friends, beat my wife in Toy Story again and just enjoyed every single minute of it.

Now how long 'til we go back?