runDisney | Poor Unfortunate Soles

Going to the parks after the 5k gets its own mention because the day involved a never-before event for me, and if you know Disney and myself, you know how rare those events are. I met Thor! And he was awesome! I personally love character interactions- they are always different. Angela and Dara are all ridesridesrides all the time, so I had to beg to have them hold still long enough to stand in line. But you know what?

Hems totally worth it! I do believe the word Angela used to describe her emotions after meeting him was, “Twitterpated!” He gave each of us a hug and I made some sort of inane comment about it, which led to this exchange:

Me: Oh my gods, Thor just hugged me!
Thor: Yes, I have read all about human’s perchance for germs.
Me: Well, you probably missed the concept if you are willing to hug random people who wait in line to meet you.
Thor: [a beat] Fair enough.So very excited to be able to meet him again at the Avengers Half Marathon!

The day also included a visit to Trader Sam’s, possibly one of my favorite places on Earth! It’s kind of like Adventures Club and Jungle Cruise and Enchanted Tiki room all rolled into one. So much fun! I won’t go into too many details, because the surprises are part of the fun of the adventure, but going in there for a drink is certainly worth your while. It’s so popular that they are making an East Coast counterpart at Disney World.

Uh-oah, uh-oa, uh-oaoaoa!

Now, Disney 5Ks, like everything else at Disney, are pretty darn expensive. And the Neverland 5K is the only one I think it wrth spending the money on. It starts inside a theme park, and it’s the ONLY Disney one on EITHER coast that does. The term “magical” gets thrown around so much describing Disney things to the point where the word loses some of it’s strength, so I won’t use it. But walking down Main Street with all the lights on, seeing all the runners and costumes and the DJ getting everyone pumped up, it was … well, it was magical okay?!

I’m walkin’ right down the middle of Main Street, USA

And then the race starts not with a gun shot, but with Tinker Bell flying around the castle and a fireworks show. No, not a single burst of fireworks- I’m talking a whole fireworks synchronized to music extravaganza. I’ll admit, I cried. It was all so overwhelming and exciting. That moment before my first-ever Disney race will never be matched- it’s just the perfect moment frozen forever.

Obligatory blurry fireworks photo

Another thing I love about this race is that is done entirely between the two theme parks. Disney property the whole time, baby!

Starting line selfie- pre-race tradition

There’s a lot of backstage parts, which is always neat to see, and lots of cast members at those parts, cheering and seeming genuinely excited for everyone.

Running + picture taking= BLURRY

At Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom I didn’t see a whole lot of character stops, and the ones I did see had such amazingly long lines that I just didn’t have much desire to stop. However, right by California Screamin’ they had this cute little set up. Everyone was just standing in front of it, but I guess we are boundary pushers- I think in 3D and we actually got in it for our photo.

Everyone I saw after us followed our lead. Trendsetters. Keep your eye on me!

And right around the corner from the finish line were these crazy kids- the line was less than a minute- I guess it being so close to end people wanted to just be done?

Another great aspect of this 5k was finishing in a theme park. They had the lights and fountains from World of Color were going, the atmosphere was one of PAR-TAAAAY. It’s just another part of the Disney experience that comes with the price tag!

We hung out and soaked it all in, took about a million pictures, but then quickly realized if we left right THEN we could still be ready in enough time to make early morning extra magic hours!