After a very emotional and long read about the race itself (you can read that here), I thought I’d take a minute to write something MUCH shorter about the weekend in general. (whoops, just finished the post and came back to tell you, it’s not actually that short. Sorry.) Where we stayed, what we ate, you know, the FUN part of a Runcation!!
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| “Runcations” with great friends are THE BEST! |
Transportation (discount ahead!)
Instead of using Magical Express, this time I used a car service to get from MCO to my resort. I had a great experience with Vinnie from Magic Ride Transportation! Instead of spending my precious vacation minutes waiting in line and than riding a bus, I was picked up in a gorgeous SUV and whisked off to Wide World of Sports for my blogger meet-up! Vinnie was even kind enough to take my bags onto Kidani Village and leave them with bell services for me. Very luxurious and started my weekend off to a great start!
I actually emailed them and asked if they could please offer something to my readers, and guess what? They said yes! So if you call and make a reservation and tell them that you heard about them here, they will upgrade you from a sedan to a LUXURY SUV FOR FREE!! Woo hoo!!! I hope some of you can take advantage of it!
Click here to make your reservation with Magic Ride Transportation! And ask for Vinnie to be your driver. He’s fun.
Resort
Kidani was a GREAT choice for Marathon Weekend. It’s my third time staying here and I just love how peaceful it is. For race weekends we’ve stayed at Beach Club, Boardwalk, Yacht Club and Port Orleans Riverside and I really think this is my favorite. Although it’s lovely to be at an Epcot area resort hotel due to the convenience (and it’s mandatory for me for Wine and Dine!), there’s just something so restful about the whole Animal Kingdom area.
Sara and I shared a one bedroom villa which was lovely because we both had our own bathroom and plenty of space.
Stuff We Ate
On arrival night, Sara and I ate at Jiko and just WOW. I LOVED it there. Such a beautiful restaurant and the service was impeccable (I like using that word;). They have an amazing wine list of only African wines and I can’t tell you what we had, but I know it was good!
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| Got to chat with my sweet cousin, Kimberly, and her friends briefly. Not long enough! Seeing friends and family at Disney is THE BEST |
Saturday afternoon we strolled Epcot, saw friends and family, and shared a lovely pre-race meal at Via Napoli with our friends, Sarah, Beth and Elisa. Sara and I are both very boring eaters the night before a marathon, and we both ate simple but it was GOOD simple. I had spaghetti and marinara and bread and the portion size was perfect. This is my second pre-race meal here and I will be back!
After the race, we decided to eat and drink around the world (slowly and not literally – we only managed drinks in a few countries;). But we also visited a place we’ve been before that is quickly becoming my favorite out of the way spot at Disney World, Tutto Gusto in Italy at Epcot. We’ve been twice and been able to get a table both time. It’s small, it’s quaint, the service is amazing and the food is fantastic. This time we opted for wine flights and a dessert flight and it was perfection. Seriously LOVE this place.
@Jenlefforge Cronuts cure all. Fact.
— Tabetha Wells (@IRunOnWater) January 13, 2015
She is so wise.
If you read the race report, this was NOT a great race for me. But it WAS a great race weekend. I needed some time away, and time with great friends eating and enjoying one of my favorite places was just perfect.
Race Retreat
I know it’s expensive, but I just love Race Retreat. I’ve done a review of it before so I won’t go into all the details, but having a warm place before and a place to relax after and clean up and feel HUMAN again was lovely. Sara and I didn’t even go back to the resort – we had brought Shower Pill wipes and we a change of clothes so we just changed in the changing tent and went on our way. The lockers at Epcot made it easy to stash our stinky running clothes.
The food was good, the coffee was hot and the temperature was lovely. Worth every penny.
I’m already making my plans for next year! If you’ve never done Marathon Weekend, you really should. Registration for next year will be here before you know it, and as we know, it will sell out quickly.
Were you there this year? Where did you stay? Would you do it again? Would love to hear from you in the comments!
Happy Running!
Jen
I’ve never been to AK but I have only heard fabulous things about it. We stayed at the contemporary and we loved it. We stayed there once before when we were kids and weren’t very fond of it as it wasn’t as “disney-ish” as the other resorts. As adults we have a new appreciation for it and love the convenience and all the room we had. It’s hard to try other resorts when you have your favorites. We will be trying a new resort for princess though!
I’ve never been to AK but I have only heard fabulous things about it. We stayed at the contemporary and we loved it. We stayed there once before when we were kids and weren’t very fond of it as it wasn’t as “disney-ish” as the other resorts. As adults we have a new appreciation for it and love the convenience and all the room we had. It’s hard to try other resorts when you have your favorites. We will be trying a new resort for princess though!