Last night Holly was away for business so I went out to a local bar for dinner. After eating I wanted to play one of my favorite arcade games: Big Buck Hunter. In this game you use a pump-action shotgun to hunt deer, elk, etc. Something I wouldn't do in real life, but it's fun gameplay.
I walked over to the machine, put my coat down, got my dollar out, and put my dollar in the bill slot. Then I looked at the screen and saw an "out of order" sign made out of a bar tab. The machine won't give me my dollar back. Nuts. Frustrated, I emailed Holly:
"Saw this after I put my dollar in (attached picture of the sign) #firstworldproblems
#firstworldproblems is a popular Twitter hashtag used to indicate you are complaining about something relatively trivial in your overall good life. It pops up every few seconds. Here are some examples:
You get the picture. This led me to look up hashtags #thirdworldproblems and #realworldproblems. Pretty much the same complaints as above. So I thought I'd look up a few charities that help REAL #realworldproblems and share them here.
Obviously there are many more organizations to support. But next time I complain about my #firstworldproblems I'll remind myself about #realworldproblems.
2:30 came way too early this time around. We got up but Dave wasn’t feeling well and thankfully I convinced him to stay in the room. Good thing because he got the stomach virus that was going around. I was a bit panicked as Dave is at all of my races and I was now running late as well. I made it down the stairs and realized I didn’t have my room key so went back and got that. I then made it all the way to the car and realized I didn’t have my Drivers License. I said forget it, I’m too late. I’m going without it! I still made it to Epcot no problem and found the team again. I told everyone the bad news about Dave and we took our team picture and headed to the corrals again.
I was once again running with Jessica, but she was doing the full marathon and I was doing the relay and would have to leave here at 13.1. We were in Corral C for the full and again we didn’t have a long wait until we were off and running. More cheers for Team AllEars from Rudy! We ran into Epcot, which is so cool in the dark with the torches lit around the World Showcase Lagoon.
We stopped for a picture with Panchito ( a caballero). We quickly left Epcot and made our way up to the Magic Kingdom again. We stopped for one more picture with the Three Little Pigs! So cute!
Before we knew it we were through the crowds of people at the Transportation and Ticket Center and back in the Magic Kingdom. Team AllEars cheered us on again by the castle. We quickly left the Magic Kingdom today (no picture stops) and soon back on that congested section by "The Poly". Now it was time for me to turn off. I gave Jessica a big hug and told her to have fun. I was so bummed not to be continuing on. I was having so much fun! I ran towards the relay exchange point, and my relay partner Jamison was waiting there for me. A quick touch of the hands and he was off and I was finished and got the cutest medal ever, Chip and Dale. It was totally worth not doing the marathon for.
I got my picture with Chip and Dale and then got on bus back to Epcot. I got totally lost getting back to The Boardwalk (my hotel), and ended up on I4 (the highway: Off Disney property)! I had no drivers license, wallet, nothing! Thankfully Dave, in his sickened state, managed to direct me back.
It was great weekend of races and I can’t wait to do it again in 2013. This time I will be back to being Dopey!
Why does Disney have to have such fun races that start so early? That was my theme for the weekend. Dave and I got up at 2:30am and got ready to go to the Half Marathon start area. We drove over from our hotel, The Boardwalk Inn, and had no trouble getting into the parking lot. We made our way over to the Team AllEars Meet area and it was great to see everyone. We were all excited and nervous, but for once not freezing. It was a perfect morning. We had a great motivational speech from Deb Wills and then made our way to the corrals. Jessica and I decided to run together and we waited in Corral D with Rhonda, Jill, Robert, and Brad. It wasn’t long until the fireworks went off and we were off and running. The announcer, Rudy Novtny, gave several Team AllEars shout outs and it was awesome!
Team AllEars Half Participants
Corral D Crew
Jessica and I got in our groove of run/walk pretty quickly. We saw the first Team AllEars cheering section right after Mile 1 and it was a great boost. We stopped for our first character picture right around the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC), Darkwing Duck!
Soon we were already entering the Magic Kingdom around Mile 6. It still gets me everytime. Nothing better than running up Main Street, USA with the castle in front of you. We saw the next Team All Ears cheering section, headed by Dave, and they did a great job of cheering us on.
We stopped for pictures with Rapunzel and Flynn, then with Tiana and Naveen. We also go to see Mary Jean and Nancy at the water stop here.
All too quickly we were leaving the Magic Kingdom and heading to the worst part of the course: The Grand Floridian and Polynesian. It is so congested in that section. We then saw Laura and Mary Beth with the Thingamajig! It was awesome.
We ran down World Drive and stopped for one more picture, Ludwig Von Drake. We saw Deb and the rest of our wonderful cheerleaders at Mile 11 and Dave one more time at Mile 12.
When we were back in Epcot other Team AllEars runners surrounded us! It was so cool to finish the race with so many friends. We got our super cool Donald Duck medals and made our way out of the area to recover and do it all again the next day.
We've created our video from the 2012 WDW Fiesta 5K. It''s also on our 5K recap post. We're going to try to keep all videos around the 5 minute mark this year. Hope you enjoy!
It's no secret that Team Tizzel participated in events during the 2012 WDW Marathon Weekend. Dave took part in the 5K and Holly in the 5K, half marathon, and marathon relay. Over the next few posts we'll cover the races and our Team AllEars events.
The first Team AllEars meet of Marathon Weekend was over at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort for the Yehaa Bob Show. We landed in Orlando around 6:30, got our bags and rental car, drove to Disney, picked up supplies at Hess, and got lost driving to Riverside. We finally arrived by 8:00 which gave us time to say hi to some of our teammates. This is always manic first few minutes since you're in a room with a 100 people you've met in-person or online and want to try to catch-up with everyone before the show starts.
Bob's show is always fun. He's energetic and "forces" interaction. He always says "You'll never see these people again". In our case he's wrong. YMCA, Hokey-Pokey, Conga Lines, the Green Grass song...... Enough goes on to help you look like an idiot. Now this is all fun, but it amps you up. Wake-up time for the next morning's race is 4:30. After leaving Bob, checking in at Boardwalk, and unpacking, we had a hard time falling asleep. We were lucky if we had 4 hours sleep.
Wake-up call comes. Time for us to get ready and Dave to put on the components of The Duffy outfit. Since we smashed our fundraising goal of $3,000 he needed to carry a Duffy stuffed bear, wear Duffy Ears, and put on a sailor suit. We added a few extra touches to the outfit: The Duffy plush got a bib, Dave had the Hidden Mickey added to his backside like Duffy, and we put a Team AllEars logo on a Duffy hanger we put on his back. It was in the high 40's at start-time so tights were appropriate.
We got to Epcot around 5:40 for a 6:30 start. We met up with the rest of Team AllEars and caught up with our friends and gathered for a group picture. RunDisney signaled for us to go to the start at about 6:15. This is when we found out the race now had a 3-phase start due to the expanded field (3,000 more participants added this year). That meant they let so many people into the start corral and then closed it up. Holly and I were at the back of the TAE pack and luckily begged our way in. This allowed us to walk with many of our teammates.
After singing the National Anthem we were off and walking. As we approached the start line we saw race announcer Rudy Novotny on stage with the Three Caballeros (the guys on the medal). Rudy and Dave conversed on Facebook before the race and Rudy had visited teamtizzel.com so he knew whom to look for. As we approached the start we made sure Rudy saw Dave waving Stuffed Duffy. Rudy acknowledged us and the rest of our crew with one of many Team AllEars shout-outs. Great start to the race.
The Fiesta 5K was a 3.1 mile race around Epcot. Mile One is through a parking lot and a tiny bit of backstage. Mile 2 continues backstage, then enters World Showcase by Mexico. Mile 3 starts at the International Gateway, jogs backstage a bit, then takes participants through the rest of World Showcase and Future World, with some backstage at the end.
Mile One: During the first mile our grouping of Team AllEars members remained pretty tight and we had some time to talk and catch-up with our friends. Right before passing into the true backstage area we could see a vehicle graveyard. On one side there's an old Epcot parking lot tram and on the other side an old Jungle Cruise boat. We've wondered why they would dump that boat 3 miles from Magic Kingdom.
We started maybe 2 minutes after the gun so our clock time is pretty accurate. Nice relaxing morning stroll.
Mile Two: Once we got to the onstage portion of World Showcase we splintered off from our group. Time to take photos. Epcot at this time of morning is beautiful. This is also when the character photo opps start. In China we stopped for Mulan and Shang (her love interest). In Germany we stopped for Dopey, Snow White, and Prince Charming. The Duffy outfit was getting alot of attention while on line and we made a child smile when he hugged and cradled Stuffed Duffy while on the character line.
Mile 3: On the backstage route behind the UK Pavilion we saw our friend Nancy whom was volunteering as a course marshal. We made our way through The World Showcase into Future World. Mickey was by Club Cool and he wound up being the last character on the course. Dave was a little miffed they didn't have Duffy out for photos. As we approached the finish line we saw the Team AllEars cheering section and stopped again for a few quick hellos. After receiving our medallions and getting our photo snapped we went over to the Team AllEars cheer section and joined in welcoming the last participants.
We had a great time at this event. We had a lot of opportunity to visit with friends, see Epcot in sunrise-light, catch a few rare character pictures, and show a big Team AllEars presence to set the tone for the rest of the weekend.
We wanted to post sooner, but this has been one BUSY WDW Marathon Weekend. The Races, expo, meets, and parks have kept us pretty active.
We're proud to show you the following photo:
Dave was in full Duffy outfit for the WDW Fiesta 5k. That means we met our fundraising target of $3,000. We're excited to tell you Team Tizzel raised over $5,900 with more coming in!
Thank you all for your support. With your help this year Team AllEars raised over $67,000 to help those with breast cancer. This brings our three year total to over $143,000. Today's team meet was very emotional and showed us that cancer touches everyone in some way. We are proud to be part of this great running/Disney community.
The 5k was fun and Holly had a great time in today's Half Marathon. Tomorrow, she'll run half of the marathon in the Chip and Dale Marathon Relay Race. We'll have more details posted over the next few days.
We found ourselves with some idle time on a recent holiday road trip and came up with the very unoriginal idea of having a "Favorite Things" post. You can tell by some of our choices we put a lot of thought into it...
Song
Holly picks Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory because it's a great song to take with you on a long run.
Dave picks Enrique Inglesias' I Like How it Feels because of its modern club-anthem feel. Jersey Shore meets soccer's World Cup
TV Show
We both agree The Amazing Race is still the best TV show on the air. We'd love to be on this show, but fear the stress of it all would cause of us yell and freak out too much. Some other shows we like are Modern Family, The Middle, Once Upon a Time, American Idol, and Mad Men.
Movie (animated)
We rarely go to the movies. This year we saw two animated films and Winnie the Pooh beat Pixar's Car's 2. The Pooh movie had the charm of the original films, and added an extra layer of humor to entertain non-Pooh purists. The credits were fun at the end with the stuffed characters acting out scenes of the film.
Movie (non-animated)
The Muppets was awesome! We grew up watching The Muppet Show and this movie captured all the fun of the original TV show while keeping it fresh for today's audience. We added a plush Walter (muppet in the blue suit) to our home and he recently entertained many motorist between Illinois and New York. We'd love to see more of 80's Robot.
Honorable Mention in this category is The Hangover 2
Here's an example of some Muppet genius:
Video Game
Holly's selection is Disneyland Adventures for Xbox 360. This game recreates walking around Disneyland. You interact with characters and move around using the Kinect motion sensor. While this is good for the games and in the "rides", it's a pain to walk around the environment. One reason why this is at the top of Holly's list is the Peter Pan's Flight segment. Players hold their arms out and fly through London As they journey to Never Land.
Here's a video of it we found on YouTube:
Now for something completely different. Dave's pick is Assassin's Creed: Revelations. The series is based in The Renaissance and you play an assassin. But keep in mind he's a good guy. In this edition the player gets to explore Istanbul in a rich game environment. Dave loves the open-ended play and the cool knives and swords. As a bonus, our version came with the original game, which Dave never played.
Gadget No explanation needed: Holly picks her iPad 2 and Dave picks Holly's old iPad 1 since it's now his. Having these items have made traveling so much easier. Dave uses his to backup and edit photos from his cameras. We can watch preloaded movies, Netflix, and our home DVR by using Slingbox. Plus, we now have the HDMI adapter so we can watch things bigger when traveling.
The Kindle is also on the favorite list. Another device that makes traveling easier since there's no need to bring bulky books on vacation.
Food - Snack
One of our favorite new snacks is Pop Chips. Very low in calorie and fat, but full of flavor. They come in many varieties.
Food - Entree
Dave chose the Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin at Flying Fish Cafe (WDW - Boardwalk Resort).
Holly chose her entire 40th birthday dinner at Victoria and Albert's in Disney's Grand Floridian Resort. The run-down of the food can be found HERE.
Beer
We both really like beers from New Glarus Brewing in Wisconsin. Our neighbors introduced us to one of their fine beers and we've branched out from there. We agree on the fact that their Coffee Stout is the best product they offer, and unfortunately, they now only offer in the variety pack. Another favorite of ours (if you've been following along for a few months you'll guess this) is Left Hand's Milk Stout.
Disney Pins Holly picks The Orange Bird Hidden Mickey set. She thinks he's cute and it's a nod back to the early days of Disney World. Dave picks the Casey Jr. Disneyland Hidden Mickey set. He thinks the ride is a fun piece of Disneyland history and has a hard time finding any of them in WDW.
Vinylmations
We don't own Holly's favorite figure yet - hoping to rectify that soon. Holly likes the Park Series 7 Space Figment. She loves Journey to Imagination, and Figment. This was a great choice to include in the Park Series. Dave enjoys finally owning most of the Star Wars Series 1 set. The Boba Fett and Lando figures are cool and he'd love to get the Ghost Obi-Wan chaser.
Disney Trinket
Dave picks his retro WDW cocktail glasses from the artist Shag. Holly picks her Duffy the Disney Bear along with the assortment of outfits. One day he's partying in Mexico, the next he's playing Buzz Lightyear.
Races (non-Disney)
Obviously Disney races rank in our favorites. Not just because the races are in-and-themed Disney, but because of what we have gained as members of Team AllEars Running. You can't beat making new friends while helping others.
Dave's favorite non-Disney race of the year was the Reggae 10K in Negril, Jamaica. He's a big reggae fan and getting to have a six mile course with reggae blaring was just pure fun for him.
Holly has picked almost all of her races: Omaha Marathon for the Personal Record (PR), Boulder Marathon for the beauty and challenge, Chicago Marathon for having a great time running with Team AllEars friends, Reggae Marathon because it was really fun, and WDW 2011 Marathon because she ran with her TAE friends Rhonda and Jessica and got to share in Jessica's first marathon experience.
We hope you've enjoyed this review of our favorite things. Be sure to stay tuned over the next week since WDW Marathon Weekend is finally here! We may have a few unorodox photo posts live from the parks and events and we plan to have at least one update on our final fundrasing total.
