The Mickey's Not So Scary special fireworks - The Happy HalloWishes Fireworks - were excellent. The fireworks were color coordinated with the villians' soundtrack so the colors of the villians were in the fireworks as the music was playing. The castle laser show also had a special villian's segment they only do for Halloween.
This review is from Madre and Marty eating at lunch, as I will not be eating at this restaurant until January when I am running Dopey!
Be Our Guest Restaurant at the Magic Kingdom was great. Ordering is all by computer, like at the Captain Cook quick-serve at the Polynesian. Food is delivered to your table on a cart under glass. The décor and ambience are excellent. The food was also fantastic. It would be fun to eat there in the evening for a full service experience, but reservations are impossible. The restaurant opens at 10:30 a.m. and by 10:00 the line is already a 30-minute wait from the time they actually open. The wait time is usually 40 minutes during the rest of the lunch service.
Carved Turkey Sandwich - served on a warm baguette with Dijon mayonnaise and Pomme Frites $11.19
Vegetable Quiche - mushroom, zucchini, bell pepper, onion, and chive quiche; served with baby lettuce coated with Champagne vinaigrette $8.99
Festive Halloween cup
Triple Chocolate Cupcake - chocolate sponge cake, chocolate mousse filling, and choclate ganache $2.99 / Chocolate Cream Puff - filled with chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream $2.99
Since I couldn't eat anything from the Food & Wine Festival, Nathan and I stopped at the San Angel Inn for dinner.
We have to order of menu because there are no gluten free or vegetarian options listed.
The chef made me an open faced burrito with delicious black beans, carrots, squash (and peppers and onions that I mostly pushed to the side). There is a small corn tortilla under there somewhere! Paired with chips and salsa, I was very full after finishing!
Nathan just ordered a tortilla soup, which I forgot to take a picture of. He described it as taco tomato soup and thought it was very delicious
We all know that I love to eat my quick service breakfast at the Art of Animation hotel. I ate here twice this trip! It was very convenient to ESPN where I needed to be for the expo and the race.
My usual - waffles, red potatoes, and fruit!
Madre's breakfast - waffles, fruit, and chicken sausage. I think mine looks more filling ... !
Marty got an egg white frittata with tofu.
I didn't get a picture of Nathan's food, but he got a tofu, spinach, mushroom breakfast sandwich with red potatoes.
As we were leaving Epcot, we noticed that there was NO line for the Character Spot. Score! Lots of pictures with some friends, without having to wait in line!
After the race, everyone was lining the streets by sitting on the curbs and resting from the long race. There were people everywhere. By the time that our legs were rested and stretched enough, my sister and I went to go on Tower of Terror. The line was about 30 minutes long, but it seemed like an eternity because we were so sore. The ride, though, seemed extra amazing with extra air and drops. Loved it. I would have ridden it again, but the line was still long.
We all then headed to Toy Story Mania, where the line was about 20 minutes long. Not too bad for this favorite ride, but by the time was finished, my legs were so exhausted that I needed to go home (also because we had to be at the airport by 7am...)
Nathan had purchased a separate ticket into the Villian's Bash because he did not run the 10-miler. He entered at 10pm, after we started running. He went on Toy Story Mania, and then waited for us to finish. He was not overly impressed with the amount of Villains available for pictures, and neither was I after the race. We noticed the Ugly Stepsisters when we were alking around, but did not see much else. As he was at the "party" for over 2 hours by himself, he did not feel like continuing to ride rides by himself and felt like it was a waste of money for him to attend.
I was not overall impressed with the Bash because the lines were still long for tired feet, it was pretty crowded in the streets, and the lack of villains. I'm sure glad that we stopped for pictures during the race...
Also, Hollywood was not decorated spookily, nor were there any other special incentives for being at the party.
A better bet would be to get tickets to Mickey's Not-so-Scary Party, because I heard there were much more Villains and excitement there.
This race was a blast even though it was my first night race and I was already exhausted! From not really getting any sleep the 2 nights prior, to running the 5k that morning, and walking around Magic Kingdom that afternoon, I knew things were going to be interesting. But it all worked out!
Marty, Heidi, and I decided to dress up as characters from Peter Pan. I was Mr. Smee, Marty was Hook, and Heidi was the Croc.
Me as Mr. Smee
Marty and Heidi. AKA Hook and Tick-tock Croc
We got to ESPN around 6:45 and got on the shuttle to Hollywood Studios. Upon arrival, we waited in line to get our picture taken with the logo, and then found a spot to sit and wait. The race didn't start until 10pm, and we didn't have to be in our corrals until 9:15.
Waiting for the race to start
There was a lot of energy while we were waiting. A lot of people were sitting around relaxing, but there were still a lot of people up and dancing to the DJ. I don't know how they had all of that energy to waste!
After a trip to the port-o-potties (ridiculous lines...), we got into Corral E. A little before 10, they led us to the start line by corral. It was a lot of standing, and a lot of walking to the start before even the race began. Once all the corrals were lined up, we were released every 2 minutes to begin.
And we were off! We ran to the first on-ramp, and it was so hard to run on because the surface was not even. It is painful for one leg to be running higher than the other! So we walked up the ramp and came to the Witch:
The Witch
We decided we were going to try and run most of the way between characters, with a few intervals thrown in when they were far enough apart.
Jafar
Jack and Sally were located just after the turn around from Animal Kingdom. While we were waiting in line we saw the balloon ladies and pick-up vans on the other side of the street. We started to get a bit nervous, and as soon as we finished with our picture, we booked it and ran ran ran!
Jack and Sally. Jack was a fun guy
After Jack and Sally we decided only to stop for the characters that we really wanted to see. We skipped over Hook and the Queen of Hearts.
Dr. Facilier from Princess and the Frog
Hyenas from Lion King. Line was too long, but I wish we stopped for this one.
Grave Diggers
We got to the ESPN trail around mile 5. It was so crowded that we had to walk that entire portion. There was just no way we could run.
Once we go to the baseball field (with the scary loud Tesla coil), we could get back to our running.
Of course we stopped for the Big, Bad Wolf because there was no line!
Scared of the Big Bad Wolf!
We made it back to Hollywood and entered through the back near the Stunt Show. We saw Mike from Monsters, Inc. and ran through the costume area.
It's Mike with one "eye"
We ran by Toy Story Mania and stopped to say hi to Lotso. He was very pleasant to us. I guess he wasn't feeling very villain-ish that night. Again, at this point there was no line.
Visiting Lotso as we passed Toy Story Mania
The last mile was a bit tough because everyone was super tired. It was after 1am. It was fitting that Hades was right before the finish line. Super appropriate.
Visiting Hades right before the finish line
3 Cheers for Marty!!!
At the finish line!
Mile Markers (except mile 3)
The race ended backstage at Fantasmic. There was such a long walk to get to the front of the park to where bag check and the "party" was (more on that later). I don't know why the finish was so far away!!!
All in all it was a great race. The weather wasn't terrible, the entertainment was great, and the company awesome! Thanks Heidi and Marty for running with me!!!
My official time.
I don't really care about the time because we stopped for all the pictures. For me, Disney races are about fun, not PRs!
We got to ESPN bright and early, about 6:30 a.m. The fields were already bustling with people, even the sun was barely even thinking about rising. Nathan and I took some pictures while waiting for Madre and Marty to meet us.
The fields were getting crowded with excited racers!
We got to see a beautiful sunrise while waiting for the race to start.
The race began with the Headless Horseman and Mickey. Unfortunately, from where I was standing, I could not see what was going on :( and thus could get no pictures.
The race started at 7:30 with Corral A. Being in Corral E, we didn't start until almost 8. There was a lot of standing around in our tightly squeezed corrals, but then, we were off!
Waiting in our corral before the race
I decided that since I was running the 10-miler later that evening that I was going to take the 5k pretty easy and stop for all of the pictures with characters. Nathan and Madre ran ahead of me to finish the race on their own.
Scar and his lair
Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? Not me!!
Captain Hook and his ship
Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham
Br'er Bear
The Grave Diggers
Most of the race was on a trail through the woods. It was mostly dirt and sand. The last part of the race went on the track, before a bit of grass, and we finished on the sidewalk. I pretty much jogged between all of the character spots, but at times it was a bit too crowded and I had to walk. A lot of weaving around people was happening, but I attribute a big part of this to being in the last corral.
Action shot
My finisher picture!
Since the 5k wasn't chip timed, I tracked it with my phone. Pretty good time for all the lines I waited in!
Nathan and Madre after the race
All-in-all this was a pretty fun race. I liked the characters that were on the course because they aren't ones you ever really see, and didn't so much mind the trail. AND it's always fun to dress up in costume!