6.2 MILES UNDER THE SEA: WINE AND DINE 2018 RECAP:
Leading up to the race training was a mixed bag as I promised myself that this year I’d do at least one run a week outside and for the most part I did though up to the final few weeks it was hot, humid, and I made the mistake of listening to podcasts instead of music which I’ve since learnt while great for walking to the bus stop isn’t so great if I want to move fast….
Now that we’ve brushed passed my training commentary here is to actual race weekend reporting
Like last year we arrived at about 1130am ish Thursday (about an hour and a half after the expo opened to the public) and for the fourth time in as many run Disney weekends the layout of the Expo had changed and for the first time HP Field House was no longer in use and so we headed to the Arena where there were three roped off queue lanes: Bibs, Merchandise, Exit
We went down the Bib lane first and there were fun little character silhouette and Ratatouille quotes posted on the wall to give some Disney magic to an otherwise boring stadium corridor
So…. With last years Wine and Dine and Dark Side I put a 12-13 minute projected pace and was in coral D and so I figured if we put 13-14 (as opposed to 14-15 or 15-16) we’d be in E which would give us plenty of cushion for stops however much to my shock we as well as other people on my run Disney message board thread were in F…. maybe there weren’t as many walkers/slow runners…maybe there was something lost in translation when our registrations which were made on Active were moved over to Disney’s site…anyway it is what it is (that said for 2019 I’m going to put 12-13 again and urge my running buddies to do the same)
Once we got our bibs and safety pins (so glad Disney hasn’t decided to ditch pins like Lakeland Runners Club has) I was glad that we were funneled into the room with merchandise instead of having to go out and back in (not that I suspect there was a line but still)
They had Passholder items which by noon they were already almost completely sold out for the weekend (as I’ve heard the majority of pins and the 5K I did it shirts were also apparently on their last batch by this time) …..as far as things we wanted I had did the 10K magnet/pin bundle again like I did for Dark Side and I think I’d continue to order this for all future races so long as it’s available… my sister got the bundle with a shoe ornament, mickey figure and a logo magnet which she was able to swap out for a 10K one….
Outside of the pre-orders I got the race headband (again like Dark Side weekend specific and not race specific) as well as the 2018 one which they only had as the thinner elastic ones for Dark Side) I wish I also got the water bottle instead of assuming I'd be able to pick it up at the outlet like last year as reports said they were sold out by noon Friday
Also, in the Arena they had some photo ops…. We decided to skip on the line to meet Chef Mickey as we’ve been there done that, and we can meet Mickey on the regular and besides normally characters at the expo aren’t photo pass photographers. They did however have a photo pass area with a Lady and the Tramp inspired backdrop (the 5K theme was Lady and the Tramp Afterall…still have slight FOMO about that one)
We then went over to JCenter to get our shirts and just grab a pamphlet about Disney Springs discounts though most of the places we’d go had stuff pretty on par with what we were getting for being an AP and while BoGo at Sprinkles would have been tempted there were other treats on or radar for the weekend
Since like I said this isn’t a trip report, I’ll gloss a bit over events leading in and out of the race just, so people know what to do or not to do.
We headed to All Star Movies and as we pulled in got a text saying the room wasn’t ready and so we grabbed a quick lunch at French Quarter… we had received a text with a room assignment while we were there (Fantasia unit this time which was one of the non-renovated rooms but thankfully no TV issues and no construction happening in the morning while we were trying to rest a bit after the race)… deciding to pop by Animal Kingdom first for our FP+’s we finally checked in unpacked relaxed for a hot moment and checked out Trader Sam’s (my first time and I highly recommend) as well as the Christmas Display at Contemporary (it was November 1st ) and then grabbed a lite bite back at our hotel for dinner.
As far as Friday we rope dropped Epcot road Soarin did the Bon Voyage breakfast at Boardwalk (also recommend) and then went back to the park till about 230 ish before hopping toward Disney Springs to walk around a bit, see Nutcracker and the Four Realms and grab a pre-race dinner at Blaze. Highlight of this was finding out that they still had the Redd Funko Pop available at Pin Traders! We were back in the room by 830 and according to my fitbit I was asleep or at least in a state that it registered as sleep by 10.
Now it was Race Day and I was up at 2AM per usual and had a breakfast of a bagel thin with peanut butter and Powerade before heading toward the bus area at about 255am. There was a bus parked another pulling in and about a dozen people waiting to board. We boarded at 3 and by 319 my sister and brother and law had made it on the bus as well with us pulling out at 330.
Arriving at the staging area at TTC I’d went through bag check and used the port a potty and my brother in law had grabbed his bib from emergency late pick up by 355. There were four character spots, Sebastian and Lumiere to the left of the DJ and Mickey/Minnie and Donald/Goofy to the right. We wanted to wait for Sebastian, but I heard the CM at the end of the line saying that the lines for him and Lumiere were over an hour each and there was no guarantee of a meet and greet because they left at 5 but would be back post-race. Mickey/Minnie also looked insane, so we waited in line for Goofy/Donald. Five minutes later we heard the CM telling people entering the line there was no guarantee (we’d already moved up quite a bit by this point so we weren’t worried) and we wound up meeting them by 436 and were in our coral by 449 (corals open at 430 so we were in a good place) FWIW I was on bus one at all my 10Ks and met Emile in 2016 at 426 (they already pulled Remy and this was staged at Epcot), Chip/Dale at 409 and Donald at 433 at last year’s Wine and Dine and Vader at 351 and Kylo at 413 for Dark Side (I stayed at Pop instead of movies this weekend)
We waited for our coral and for a moment I was worried they did away with mini waves as they didn’t constantly announce how many would be going off like they did at Dark Side but it was easy to figure out there was going to be 13 like there was for that race making us in wave 11 of 13 and by the time we heard the last wave going off we were about .40 miles in.
This was the third different course in as many Wine and Dine weekends and it was very narrow and more importantly uphill for the majority of things which sucked as even though I made sure to do more outdoor runs (a thing I regretted doing leading into last years race) I never made it out to the lake where there is a decent side ramp and so that messed with things considerably.
During the first mile there was a screen over an overpass showing company clips but otherwise it was pretty bland my split via fitbit was 14:25 just moments after the marker was Lightning McQueen and Mater it was a cute backdrop with not too bad a line but Cars isn’t really my favorite and so I continued to go…a few minutes down the road there was already a second character stop… Captain Barbosa and Jack Sparrow in contrast to the Cars line this one was insane and I’m sure a good amount of people who hopped in the line from our coral got picked up on the sag wagon… I hope it was worth it but to each their own, anyway we soon reached marker 2 in with a split of 15:09. Now the fun REALLY started as just passed the mile marker and a video screen playing clips from The Little Mermaid, we reached what I have heard referred to as the onramp from hell and I see where it got its moniker. It was steep, it was narrow, Sarge was meeting with a photo pass photographer and a line of maybe a dozen runners but I just needed to get out of this cluster and press on. A DJ Van ushered us toward marker 3 with a split of 15:58 and an overall 5K split of 48:51 I really wanted to make it to 5K in 46 or less but I wasn’t feeling winded or in pain after all the uphill ness so I’d clock it as a win!
Moving on to the back end of the race and the park time that was almost approaching as we neared the Epcot bus loop and spotted Chip and Dale in their Food and Wine Festival waiter outfits just moments before reaching mile marker 4 backstage before entering the park with a split of 16:20. While on this backstage strip we reached our FIFTH character stop which side note there were only five stops on last year’s course (six if you count the TOT Bellhops) and the lines were not as crazy as they seemed to be this year…you’d think the more stops the more spread out runners would be…back to this stop it was Oswald and while we both would of loved to of stopped for him and also knowing that it was all park from here so chances of being swept weren’t as bad we still felt that we didn’t build up enough cushion to stand 20-30 minutes in a character line on course especially when we still had all of World Showcase to run through and we were sure there would be more stops along the way.
As we made it toward the back of the park we reached mile marker 5 16:31 just as we were rounding into France from the international gateway and if you thought the lines for Pirates and Oswald were bad the line for Remy had them beat and while back in 2016 we missed out on meeting him due to him needing to help back in the kitchen we weren’t going to touch the insanity and plus I’m sure once the Ratatouille ride opens he’ll possibly bump Aurora or Belle and meet on a regular basis. A few moments later in Italy was Jiminy Cricket we pondered for a moment waiting for him in case he was the last stop, but we decided to keep going. Personally I was holding out just in case Mushu was in China or the Caballeros were in Mexico….they weren’t….and so we looped back down the ‘spine’ to make it to the exit of the park and mile 6 15:59 There was a marching band as we rounded the corner and crossed the finish with an unofficial fit bit time of 1:43:17 and an Official time of 1:42:52 which beat my 2016 time by a minute six seconds.
After we made it through the finish shoot, I waited to take the I Did It picture posted above while my sister went toward the reunion area to find her husband and we soon made it back toward where the characters were waiting with a posted wait of an hour for Sebastian and 40 mins for everyone else…. It took us about an hour to get through both Sebastian and Lumiere as we got in line just past 8AM and were on the bus back to the resort by 915 and in our room by 931
After the race we spent some time at the Magic Kingdom where I got to take some of my favorite pictures this trip over in New Fantasyland by the Little Mermaid ride
But the perfect ending to the weekend was on Sunday when it was announced that runners got BOGO mimosas at the mimosa bar that was introduced this year at the Food and Wine Festival Center
All and all another great year and I’m all for doing it again in 2019 though I fully expect the crowds to be even more intense with it being the 10th anniversary of the half as well as the Expo opening on Halloween and the impending opening of Black Spire Outpost….
Next race up is Gasprillia (at least as of this recap) so let’s see if after running 9.3 miles I say let’s crush a half or if I say a 10K is plenty.
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