Dani Dishes: Verbal Diarrhea (Disney, Life, Negativity)

On this episode of #DaniDishes, I'm letting go of the mish mash of things that have been weighing down my mind recently: good, bad and indifferent.

Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! :)

My First Run Disney Princess Weekend: #PrincessTweetup, Course Maps & Costume Sneak Peek

I am loving and hating that Princess weekend is mere days away.

How could I be hating this amazing news as Boston is up to 85 inches of snow in the past three weeks?

Well it means my vacations and Run Disney races will already be over for 2015. :P

The wife and I traveled to Disneyland for the first time in January for the inaugural Star Wars race weekend. It was a BLAST!

This would be stop 1 on our first Coast 2 Coast adventure.

Now we head to Disney on Thursday (!!!!!) for the Princess weekend.

I will be completing all three races (shocking I know) - 5k, 10k and Half - while the wife will be going for the #GlassSlipperChallenge (10k and Half).

So on Sunday I will be able to take a pic with all 9 of my Run Disney medals from 2015! Hollah! Boy I cannot wait for that Castle pic. :)

But I am getting ahead of myself.

For those that don't know the Princess race weekend will be our 4th Run Disney weekend. I know - many folks feel like I have done dozens of them, but I guess that means I just talk about them a lot? ;)

I did Disney Half 2013, Dopey Challenge 2014, Star Wars 2015 and now Princess 2015. I think we have our eyes set on Star Wars and Wine and Dine for 2016. Again getting ahead of myself.

We will be heading to Disney from February 19-24. It was actually cheaper for us to stay at Disney an extra night than try and take a flight home after the half (Sunday) or on Monday. Cheaper meaning hotel + park ticket + dogs in the Pooch hotel additional night < Flying home Sunday or Monday. Crazy! So yes spending the extra time in the warmth at Disney was a no-brainer. :)

Am I right?

We have our hotel (Saratoga Springs), magic bands, park hopper passes, dining reservations and Fastpasses locked and loaded!

Dining Reservations (for dinner unless noted otherwise):

Thursday - Raglan Road Irish Pub (Downtown Disney) Friday - Hollywood Brown Derby (Hollywood Studios) Saturday - Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre (Hollywood Studios) Sunday - Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano (Hollywood Studios) Monday - 'Ohana (character breakfast - Polynesian Resort) & Coral Reef (Epcot)

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EXPO

Pending flights we plan on hitting up the Expo on Thursday! I don't have any "must-haves" this time around besides a Glass Slipper Challenge magnet for my fridge. I would love the jacket, but if Star Wars Expo was any indiction - it will be long gone by the time I get there.

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#PrincessTweetup

Now in addition to checking out the parks and running 22.4 magical miles, I will also be co-hosting a meetup/tweetup. Complete with prizes.

My good friend Kat from KatrinaElle.com lives in the area and while she isn't running she was more than happy to team up and share some hugs, high-fives and laughs with me anyway! Oh and everyone that attends as well. ;)

So be sure to join us Saturday, Feb 21 from 1-3 at the carousel at Downtown Disney.

Make sure you are there... or you won't be there and you won't be having as much fun! :P

Oh oh oh and you don't HAVE to have twitter or be running the races to attend. This is an opportunity for all social media friends to meet in person.

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Course Maps

While I am not one to normally look at course maps ahead of time (why take the surprise out of it ;)) I do like to check out what parks the races will go through.

5k/10k

Half

I am looking forward to seeing which characters they bring out for Princess. I know during Marathon weekend there was a whole variety of Disney characters, while Star Wars was solely Star Wars characters.

I've searched the web and stalked friends' photos and it looks like they have princesses and villians, as well as staple Disney characters (Mickey, Minnie, etc) dressed up to match the theme.

Ahhhh yay!! Character stops are one of my favorite pars of the Disney races.

I am very excited to once again be in Corral A for all 3 races so I am once again charging myself with stopping at every character stop no matter the line. :)

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Costume Sneak Peak

I think this is the portion everyone has been waiting for. We know my wife brings it when it comes to costume making. Now we are a tad behind on construction due to those pesky blizzards, but I have some sneak peeks for you all.

You know I love you guys.

Now I won't say what the costumes are, but will let you leave comments with your guesses. :)

5k

10k

Half

Anyone have any guesses???? :)

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Ahh okay typing this all up has made me even MORE excited! I am thrilled to check out another Run Disney weekend.

Will you be at Run Disney Princess Weekend? Have you done it before? What can you share with this newbie Princess?

Disneyland Part 6: The Parks Through Pictures

While out at Disneyland for the inaugural Star Wars weekend (recaps 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 here), we also made good use of our days enjoying as much as the Disneyland parks - Disneyland and California Adventures - as possible. We opted for the 3-day park hopper pass and found it was great for what we needed. The two parks are right across from each other and can both be reached by the same plaza.

Talk about convenient.

Many folks told me that Disneyland would be more low-key than Disney World and they were right. We didn't need to worry about booking Fast Passes in advance of the trip. There weren't any shuttle busses that needed to be taken.

It was also different having only two parks to make it through rather than four.

Either way I was ready to enjoy and soak in all the Disney magic.

We bought our 3-day park hopper passes through GET Travel and picked them up at the Star Wars Expo. It felt "old school" rocking a paper ticket to enter the park.

Let's start with Disnyeland.

How beautiful?

And there it was... the Castle!

Now it is definitely smaller than Cinderella's at Disney World, but still majestic.

Mandatory post-race Castle Pic! :)

I was excited to finally break out my Alex and Ani Disneyland bracelet!

We found Mickey's Toontown on the Friday morning was the PERFECT time to walk up and easily grab photots with four classic characters!

I heard someone say they could be getting rid of Toontown, but I really liked the feel of it. The little kids we saw were loving it... and I hit the gym while there. ;)

The wife and I had a great time battling against each other at Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.

I had my booty handed to me.

OOF!

Our other favorite Tomorrowland ride Star Tours (which we definitely used a Fast Pass for more than once) and meeting Thor in Innoventions! He was great and met with each person in the group and took photos with everyone. The kids were just in awe.

And I impressed him with my bling!

Ohhh and how could I forget Space Mountain. The wife felt that the Space Mountain at Disneyland was wayyy better than the one in Disney World. It definitely went faster and felt more like a roller coaster. The carts also held six people (two in each row) rather than the three solo seats at Disney World. It did, however, lack the games you can play while waiting in line for the ride.

Critter County was under construction while we were there so I didn't get to see that at all.

Oh and if you didn't know Disney is Starbucks country so I had to suck it up and drink that while there.

At least they gave me a Mickey on my cup. ;)

But I was happy with my Disneyland treat on the last day - Mickey Pretzel.

It was delicious, but I'm glad I waited to enjoy it on the last day otherwise I would've had multiple. :P

I also appreciated the variety of characters (in addition to the four staples - Pluto, Minnie, Mickey, Goofy) walking around Disneyland for photo ops: Hook, Fairy Godmother, Peter Pan, Alice, Mary Poppins and Cruella Deville.

Cruella was awesome. The person playing the character was doing a spot on job.

Cruella to me: "I asked for black spots. Not black and blue!"

So fun!!

We had gotten Fast Passes for the 10:45pm show of Fantasmic on our final night... and fell asleep before it happened. :( FAIL! Next time for sure!

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Downtown Disney

If you had a ticket to the park, you could actually take a monorail from Downtown Disney to Tomorrowland in Disneyland. We did it once just to say we did. Really I felt Disneyland and Downtown Disney were close enough to walk between, but it was nice to have the option - especially for families, sore race participants or disabled patrons.

I really enjoyed the beer choices at UVA Bar and Cafe. It was an open seating area in the middle of Downtown Disney.

I love when places offer flights so I could try multiple local brews.

We made a couple of trips to this spot including once with AJ and Ivie.

Downtown Disney, like in Disney World, offers a lot of general retail stores and restuarants, as well as, some Disney shops. The wife was able to expand her Vinylmation collection at D Street, while I picked up a new Alex and Ani bracelet at World of Disney.

We dined at Naples Ristorante the first night, which was okay, but a little over-priced.

We also ate at two restaurants at the Disneyland Hotel: Goofy's Kitchen (character dining) and Steakhouse 55.

Goofy's Kitchen was also pricey ($100 for the pair), but I know character dining is usually more expensive -especially for dinner. If we had a morning free, I would've opted for a character breakfast (also cheaper). But it was fun!

We were DEFINITELY not fancy enough to be at Steakhouse 55 and due to budgeting probably not go back there again. The meal for the two of us was around $150 - and neither of us got desserts (1 drink, 1 entree and 1 side each).

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California Adventure

I would compare California Adventure to Hollywood Studios in Disney World. Especially since it had some of the same rides.

Now I will give The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in Disneyland a better scream maker than the one in Disney World. It had more drops and felt like a longer ride than in Florida. Once in the "elevator," they didn't drive you through the building like in Florida so they made up for that with more drops.

"Less build up and more thrill" - the wife

It was awesome and worth a Fast Pass.

There was a whole Frozen Fun zone, which was interesting. We saw an adult DJ party one night and it just left me confused. Haha. Apparently I'm not one to mosh or rock out while at Disney. :P

"A bug's land" offered a lot of cute rides mainly geared towards kids, but that didn't stop us from testing them out.

Cars Land offered our favorite ride of California Adventures - Radiator Springs Racers. We didn't have time to wait in the line (45 min) or get a Fast Pass so we opted for the Single Riders line and lucked out. We ended up waiting maybe 5-7 minutes and were scooted right up to the front. I am not one to have to be next to the wife on the ride especially if it cuts wait time and it was worth it. Totally awesome ride. Think Test Track but 1000 times better.

We also hit up Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, which looked sweet and innocent, but definitely whips you around.

And then there was Paradise Pier.

That Ferris Wheel. While I heard the Ferris Wheel - or Fun Wheel as it was called - was a quick ride (about 2 minutes to make a rotation), I also heard it was sort of scary as the cars move while the wheel turns. Ummm no thanks. I passed. But it was pretty to look at.

World of Color was also down while we were there. :(

The wife is a roller coaster junkee so she talked me into going on California Screamin' and oh boy did I scream. To make it up to me we then waited in line for Toy Story Midway Mania (which didn't offer Fast Passes - boo!)

And after searching the parks for two days, we FINALLY spotted Donald Duck on the final day at Paradise Pier! YAY! Donald is the wife's favorite character!! :)

I did enjoy that California Adventures offered some yummy adult beverages. :)

We took a moment to enjoy some of the Pixar Play Parade from the comfort of the Sonoma Terrace.

(First set of Parade pics from one of the four times we caught the Parade)

I also enjoyed my other Disney treat at California Adventure - Disney Ice Cream.

Also delicious, but not as good in my mind as the pretzel. But again glad I saved it until the last day.

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We did find that with the park hopper pass we could have Fast Passes in both parks in the same day. That was AWESOME and wicked helpful.

Ohhh and I had the pleasure of meeting blog readers Casey and Leah while entering California Adventure one day! It was a cool treat. :)

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Which park do you prefer: Disneyland or California Adventure?

Disneyland Part 5: #RebelTweetup

Do you love the Twitter? Do you have people you feel more connected to online than in your real life?

Do you wish you could meet them in real life?

Yes to all three for me...

... and that is how the #RebelTweetup was born!

Whenever I head to an out of town racecation I try to set up a meetup or tweetup or run-ins with folks I have been chatting with online. It is awesome to chat with folks in 140 characters or through Facebook.

But sometimes I would like to hear what their voice really sounds like. Ya know? Or see a picture bigger than a teeny tiny avatar!

So when the wife and I decided to head to Disneyland for the inaugural Star Wars race weekend, I enlisted my good buddy Linzie of Sharp Endurance to co-host a tweetup with me!

That's my Boo! :)

And if getting your Twitter friends from all over the country - AND CANADA - isn't enough... we handed out prizes! Oh yeah, that's right!

Big thanks to ShowerPill, SparklySoul Headbands, Zensah, Orange Mud, and Pro Compression for offering up some sweet sweet prizes to our participants.

We <3 ShowerPills!

For those that don't know here is how a tweetup works (at least in my world):

Step One: Pick a sweet location

Thanks Trader Sam's (located at Disneyland Hotel)!

Step Two: Invite everyone you know and love on the Twitterverse

My heart was so happy!

Step Three: Periodically throughout the established tweetup event time, tweet out how folks can win the prizes. We had folks find Linzie or I to show off the tweet or answer the tweeted question to win the prize.

Step Four: Take ALL the selfies!!!!

^^Feel free to click on the person's name below to follow them on Twitter!

Erika = @SuperErizzle

Julie = @AngryJulie

Amber = @EpicBeerGirl

Carlee = @CarleeMcDot

Alicia = @Alicia_Orozco

 

Kathy = @kathy03csi

Gillian = @FindingMyWeigh (Yay Canada in the house!)

Victoria = @Vfreile

Step Five: Sit back and feel your heart fill with love and your smile grow from overwhelming happiness!

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This was two hours of awesome conversation, hugs, smiles, laughs, beer and Run Disney chatter!

Thank you to all that took time out of their vacation or Saturday to come hang with Linzie and I. We appreciate it more than you know!

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Have you ever attended a tweetup?