2015 Running / Sub Meet-up?

[Amy]

Well hello there Metalfan ~ always great to put a face with a name! I'm envious that you live relatively close to the magic of WDW. That would be awesome if you could honeymoon in Europe and go to DLP! Better start saving those pennies

[Amy]

I had so much fun at the marathon this year. I'll see if there's anyway to convince the wife to let me try doing the Dopey in 2015. You never know.

I wonder if they will have something even crazier than the Dopey by 2015? Let's see, what would it be called...the Dumbo?!

[wewantsdaredhead]

Metalfan: You can absolutely do this!!! You can walk/run and, like Amy said, take some pics of Norwegian Daisy and Canadian Donald and you are DONE.
Let that big ball behind you be your motivation--its at the end of all the races I have run there.
LET'S ALL DO IT!!!

I had so much fun at the marathon this year. I'll see if there's anyway to convince the wife to let me try doing the Dopey in 2015. You never know.

Were you at the same marathon as me?
Didn't you think it was insanely HOT!!??

[cy1229]

I had so much fun at the marathon this year. I'll see if there's anyway to convince the wife to let me try doing the Dopey in 2015. You never know.

I wonder if they will have something even crazier than the Dopey by 2015? Let's see, what would it be called...the Dumbo?!

I've been sitting here trying to think of the craziest Disney characters... All I've come up with are Maleficient (and I wouldn't call her crazy so much as insane and evil) and Cruella De Vil. The Cruella sounds like a good name for some combination of events that supercedes the Dopey!

Ok, so far, we have the following "in:"
Amy (come on, you know you're going) and F1gment as Head Cheerleader?
NaCler
WWDRH and Mrs. WWDRH
Metalfan and Future Mrs. Metalfan
Jrcohen
Cy1229 and Mr. Cy1229 I'm sure he's going to love being called that!

Come on you guys, who else? Can't you see how fun this would be?

[jrcohen]

I had so much fun at the marathon this year. I'll see if there's anyway to convince the wife to let me try doing the Dopey in 2015. You never know.

Were you at the same marathon as me?
Didn't you think it was insanely HOT!!??

I did think it was humid, the heat wasn't as bad. Of course coming from Austin, TX where I've lived for the last 16 years (South Florida before that) I guess I'm used to it. But it definitely was more humid then Austin. You could see the moisture coming up off of the canals and water throughout the parks. The "fum" was more just the realization that I was running with 30,000 people through WDW and stopping to take pictures. Definitely different then any other marathon I've done.

[NaCler]

cy - It is usually the 2nd weekend in January... so January 10th-ish 2015. I'm excited about this. I think we could make this a big event.

[cy1229]

Hey, it looks like for the 2014, running clubs get a discounted entry. Should we form a Subsonic Running Club? Click here, scroll down to running club info.

http://www.rundisney.com/disneyworld-ma ... ion/#proof

Also, there is a minimum pace for the 5k - 16 minutes per mile, recommended 15 minutes per mile training pace. Just FYI.

[cy1229]

If you subscribe to AllEars.net newsletter, you got a list of tips for saving money on / for a WDW trip. It will be a couple of weeks before they have a link to the archived newsletter so I'm posting the tips here for now, and then when the archive is available I'll take them down.

Take a look at the tips we've collected on saving money before and during the vacation. We plan to share as many of these bright ideas with you as we can -- in fact, it will take at least two installments to cover them all. I've tried to sort them into some kind of logical categories, so get ready to take notes on Part 1 of Money-Saving Magic: Tips from AllEars® Readers:

====================
PLANNING
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Tom Galloway: Research! Utilize the excellent menu feature here on AllEars.Net. Know what the different restaurants or service counters offer so that you know they serve something both you and your kids like. With the costs of an entree, you definitely don't want your child to tell you they don't like what you ordered. Make a list of the places in each park that satisfy all of your needs. Then, if possible, actually make choices before you go. Stick with what you know works, especially for your kids.

Katharine Marshall: Take advantage of all the discounts -- we use the military and annual passholders' ones regularly. We also stay Sunday through Thursday to avoid "weekend" rates and bonus! -- parks are usually less full weekdays.

Cari: The best tip I've ever read is the "Five Dollar Savings Plan." It's pretty easy: during the year, I try to pay with cash as much as possible. Any time I get a $5 bill as change, it goes into the Mickey Mouse bank on our bookshelf. You'd be surprised how fast it adds up!
Tammy W.: We travel in the fall or mid-January when rates are the lowest. If you request a Disney Vacation Club information packet, it lists the cheapest and most expensive times to travel.

Susan: My cardinal rule for Disney vacations is to have everything paid for before we leave. I bring a coupon folio with cash for tips for our full service meals, the boys have their spending money, my sister and I have our money. Meals, transportation, park entry, it's ALL paid up already, so we feel like we're staying for free and I know when I get home I won't be facing a mountain of debt. How does this save me money? NO INCIDENTALS, NO SURPRISES. Do I spend more money than others do on their trips? I'm sure I do! I've seen some miraculously affordable plans. But I always come in on or under OUR budget, and to me the workable budget is almost more important than the dollar figure itself.
Melissa Weis: Did you know that the cost of booking a vacation with a Disney travel agent is the same as booking a vacation yourself directly through Disney? Sometimes it can even be cheaper, as the agent will watch for discounts to help you get the most value for your hard-earned dollar.

Michelle G: It all begins at home. Every Sunday I do my grocery shopping. I always use coupons, and whatever the value of the coupons are I take out in cash and put it in my Disney travel case. If I feel I cannot take out that much this week I will take out half the value of my coupons. Then when I reach about $50 I buy a gift card for Disney with the cash. I do this because if I leave it, I know it is there and I will tend to spend it!

Mary Ann W.: I always book 'room-only' reservations. I find it's the best deal. This vacation I'm using my friend's Disney Vacation Club. I'm paying her $11 per point, which lets me stay somewhere (Animal Kingdom, Kidani Village) I never would have wanted to stay for the price. We're staying in a one-bedroom villa for $315 per night, no tax. That's better than a 40 percent room-only discount! We usually don't skimp on anything when we vacation so if we can save a buck on the big items like tickets and hotel we consider ourselves lucky. I also shop for airfare, from New Jersey well in advance. Three of us are flying from Trenton for a grand total of $353! Advanced planning is everything.
Kris: My fiance and I stayed at Walt Disney World as part of a business thing, and were able to get a "ConventionEars" ticket for 6 p.m. admission, which we used on our day of arrival. It was half the price of a regular admission, and Magic Kingdom had Extra Magic Hours until 2 a.m. that night, so we got a full day for half-price! Make sure to look into ConventionEars if you're at WDW for business.

Bitterchickey: Buy tickets in advance (as soon as you know you're going). We usually have about a year between trips, and with four travelers, I'll buy one ticket a month, for example. If the timeframe for the next trip works out, we upgrade the pre-purchased tickets to annual passes when we arrive at the resort. Ticket prices rise every year, but a ticket you buy at today's prices does not begin the expiration countdown until it is used for the first time at a park; so you could buy a ticket today, and hold onto it until that dream trip finally happens!
wsbombie: If you do not visit often enough to have an annual pass, the 10-day non-expiring ticket is the way to go for savings. You can get the non-expiring ticket with either hopper add-on or just for one day/one park.

Here's a link to the archives, in case you're interested in more, and want to subscribe to the newsletter: http://allears.net/ae/archives.htm

I enjoy reading the "Magic Moments" that readers send in, explaining how CM's made their trip or experience special.

Thought I would post these so we all can get busy saving for our 2015 Marathon Meet-up!

[Amy]

Hey, it looks like for the 2014, running clubs get a discounted entry. Should we form a Subsonic Running Club? Click here, scroll down to running club info.

http://www.rundisney.com/disneyworld-ma ... ion/#proof

Also, there is a minimum pace for the 5k - 16 minutes per mile, recommended 15 minutes per mile training pace. Just FYI.

We will have to be walking faster than a 16 minute mile if we are going to be stopping to take character photos!

[Epcotmaniac]

I always wanted to run at a Disney Event so I am in. 20 months are enough to train and save money.

[NaCler]

They list a 16 minute mile pace so that people do not feel like they can just hang out for 3 hours since they signed up for the 5k. The Mickey Miles Podcast did a thing about the 5k and they said that they have never heard of anybody being swept off the course and have never even seen the "sweepers" on the course before. Plus, there are corrals that go off at different times, so as long as we are not in the last corral, we should have no problems at all. The last corral is for strollers.

[wewantsdaredhead]

They list a 16 minute mile pace so that people do not feel like they can just hang out for 3 hours since they signed up for the 5k. The Mickey Miles Podcast did a thing about the 5k and they said that they have never heard of anybody being swept off the course and have never even seen the "sweepers" on the course before. Plus, there are corrals that go off at different times, so as long as we are not in the last corral, we should have no problems at all. The last corral is for strollers.

I would say that if you see strollers beware, but I think they banished strollers. But that might just be this year because of Inaugural Dopey...?
Like NaCler said---dont worry about getting swept. He and I were in the last corral (except for strollers), we certainly didnt set the world on fire...we walked some and we still finished in plenty of time.
Plus...you will have plenty of friends out there to help with motivation and keep you moving and away from Norwegian Daisy. Isn't that right, NaCler?

[Amy]

They list a 16 minute mile pace so that people do not feel like they can just hang out for 3 hours since they signed up for the 5k. The Mickey Miles Podcast did a thing about the 5k and they said that they have never heard of anybody being swept off the course and have never even seen the "sweepers" on the course before. Plus, there are corrals that go off at different times, so as long as we are not in the last corral, we should have no problems at all. The last corral is for strollers.

I would say that if you see strollers beware, but I think they banished strollers. But that might just be this year because of Inaugural Dopey...?
Like NaCler said---dont worry about getting swept. He and I were in the last corral (except for strollers), we certainly didnt set the world on fire...we walked some and we still finished in plenty of time.
Plus...you will have plenty of friends out there to help with motivation and keep you moving and away from Norwegian Daisy. Isn't that right, NaCler?

Well obviously we are going to have to have two groups ~ one that will be cool and stop for character photos, and one that will be uncool and march straight from start to finish

[Epcotmaniac]

Team Cool

[Amy]

Team Cool

Hooray!