A Pink Pixie Princess...FINALLY! A 2017 Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend Trip Report!

[JulieODC]

Yay! Joining in!

Soooo jealous of your in and out trip! I really wanted to try it, but it didn't happen on this trip. Next time!

Fun first day! Curious to hear the story about the room location - seems like a pretty good view!

 

[ashley0139]

I am really enjoying your report and look forward to the rest!

 

[pxefig]

Yay! So happy to join in at the beginning! John Wayne is the best airport for Disneyland. My constant issue is that flights from Dallas to SNA are consistently $320, where flights fromdallas to Lax are under $100. And I imagine standing in Disneyland with $200 extra in my pockets and always pick the pain in the booty airport. The one time this worked to my advantage (which I will love serendipity forever for) was when my sister and her family were moving from Seattle to Japan and I was flying home from the Avengers half marathon we were at the same terminal so I had a few extra hours to see my sister and neices and nephews I wouldn't have if I weren't a rundisney addict flying out of Lax.

Hooray for trying In-N-Out! You didn't really review it so I'm not really sure if it's one of those places that's really that great or if it's wonderful because the people who love it really love it and talk it up too much? When I was stationed in San Diego I had it all the time and by sheer luck I live in the only area in Texas they've expanded to so I have one 10 minutes away. I'm a double double with spread amd light onions only girl. I don't think their fries are that great but man, those hamburgers with the crunchy ends and melty cheese are sooooo good!

Hotels at DL I feel are a more difficult decision than WdW. For me, wdw is just a matter of what I want to spend because the staying on Disney property aspect is a given. But DL there are hotels that are just as nice that may or may not be closer so it becomes this huge matrix or cost/distance/price/emotional attachment which makes any decision feel like it could make or break the trip. Ugh. I find overall I am always happy with the Disneyland hotel- I know I am pay more but I know the quality and "magic" are there.

 

[dancingtodisney]

Yah it's another @Ariel484 trip report!! I usually text Rachel every time you start a new one for her to read by now she FINALLY has a profile I can just tag her right in lol @RachelDoesDisney it's an Ariel trip report!!

It's funny actually the amount of times we've referred to your trip reports in the past, especially when talking about rundisney and we just refer to 'when Ariel went and did this' or 'Ariel said that' and my parents are like... WHO IS ARIEL?!

ANYWAY.. back to your trip report! Sounds like a really great start.. I totally agree with sticking to something familiar and safe for a trip by yourself!

That's SOOO cool that you got both C2C medals! So to do that do you need to do two WDW half marathons and the Tink Half??

I'm also not really fussed on those shirts, I've not been massively impressed with a lot of shirts lately... I really hope they up their game! Wine glasses are LOVELY though! I like the challenge I did it shirt

In-n-Out looks lovely and that hat is on point haha

Can't wait for more! Especially the Harvey Bag... I'll try to be patient

 

[roxymama]

Oh yeah, same thing here. I told my family I was going to meet Ariel...but not the mermaid Ariel...like the internet Ariel...bwahahaha

 

[Ariel484]

Here to follow along!

Jealous of in and out. Went last July and wasn't super hungry. Wish I had gone on this trip but it was not meant to be!

When I decided I wanted to go to INB and Harveys, In-N-Out HAD to happen. I'm glad I got to try it!

Excellent choice on eating at In-n-out! I agree about the colors of the shirts seeming completely random! Are the designs or graphics smaller than what other runDisney race shirts normally are?

Yeah, I think they are smaller, too. I really did have a good time overall, but in some ways I definitely think they dropped the ball on Tink weekend.

Sounds like a decent start to the trip. That challenge shirt is very ugly. I don't blame you for not liking it! White is also a bad choice for a race shirt!

YES, those two are definitely my least-favorites. I was surprised at how bad they were since the shirts for Princess were so much better.

Glad you got your In&Out finally! Del Taco is my Southern California love even knowing how bad it is for me!

Oh man, Del Taco is on my list for my next So Cal trip!!

You got better a better pin/lanyard for Tink Weekend. Glad yours was themed! Ours for Star Wars was a generic Disneyland one!

That's lame! I was pleasantly surprised at the pin and lanyard, sounds like I got lucky!

Yay! Joining in!

Soooo jealous of your in and out trip! I really wanted to try it, but it didn't happen on this trip. Next time!

It was so good! But hard to leave the Disney bubble...if I didn't have other stops to make I don't know that I would have gone.

Fun first day! Curious to hear the story about the room location - seems like a pretty good view!

It was, but it was LOUD! I heard them emptying dumpsters and stuff each night around 1AM. I don't think I had one night during the entire trip where I wasn't woken up at least once.

I am really enjoying your report and look forward to the rest!

Thanks!

Yay! So happy to join in at the beginning! John Wayne is the best airport for Disneyland. My constant issue is that flights from Dallas to SNA are consistently $320, where flights fromdallas to Lax are under $100. And I imagine standing in Disneyland with $200 extra in my pockets and always pick the pain in the booty airport. The one time this worked to my advantage (which I will love serendipity forever for) was when my sister and her family were moving from Seattle to Japan and I was flying home from the Avengers half marathon we were at the same terminal so I had a few extra hours to see my sister and neices and nephews I wouldn't have if I weren't a rundisney addict flying out of Lax.

Yeah, I mean - that difference is too significant to ignore. In the past I have used LAX since I could get direct flights there with United, but United is terrible so I don't even really want to fly them anymore.

That's awesome that you got to see your family!!

Hooray for trying In-N-Out! You didn't really review it so I'm not really sure if it's one of those places that's really that great or if it's wonderful because the people who love it really love it and talk it up too much? When I was stationed in San Diego I had it all the time and by sheer luck I live in the only area in Texas they've expanded to so I have one 10 minutes away. I'm a double double with spread amd light onions only girl. I don't think their fries are that great but man, those hamburgers with the crunchy ends and melty cheese are sooooo good!

I did really like it. I don't normally do fast food at all and I thought it was really good for fast food...but I was also SO SO SO hungry so I think anything would have been amazing at that point.

I REALLY liked the fries a lot. I like my fries pretty crispy and was glad that I'd read the tip to get them well-done.

Hotels at DL I feel are a more difficult decision than WdW. For me, wdw is just a matter of what I want to spend because the staying on Disney property aspect is a given. But DL there are hotels that are just as nice that may or may not be closer so it becomes this huge matrix or cost/distance/price/emotional attachment which makes any decision feel like it could make or break the trip. Ugh. I find overall I am always happy with the Disneyland hotel- I know I am pay more but I know the quality and "magic" are there.

Now I have stayed at Paradise Pier 3 times and I do sort of feel an emotional attachment to that resort! I have never had an issue there (except for my loud room location this time) and the rooms there are just SO huge. It's really nice.

My husband has turned me into a hotel snob, so I blame him for this mess!

Yah it's another @Ariel484 trip report!! I usually text Rachel every time you start a new one for her to read by now she FINALLY has a profile I can just tag her right in lol @RachelDoesDisney it's an Ariel trip report!!

It's funny actually the amount of times we've referred to your trip reports in the past, especially when talking about rundisney and we just refer to 'when Ariel went and did this' or 'Ariel said that' and my parents are like... WHO IS ARIEL?!

It's ME, parents!

Oh heyyyyyy @RachelDoesDisney

YANYWAY.. back to your trip report! Sounds like a really great start.. I totally agree with sticking to something familiar and safe for a trip by yourself!

Yes, I'm glad i stuck with what I knew! I laid out the pricing difference for my husband and told him why I was hesitating and he was just like, "no, stick to Paradise Pier." He's stayed there too so I think for us it was better that we both were familiar with it!

YThat's SOOO cool that you got both C2C medals! So to do that do you need to do two WDW half marathons and the Tink Half??

Apparently they were giving both the blue AND the pink to anyone who did Princess and Tink. In my mind, my blue one goes with doing the marathon in January.

YI'm also not really fussed on those shirts, I've not been massively impressed with a lot of shirts lately... I really hope they up their game! Wine glasses are LOVELY though! I like the challenge I did it shirt

I LOVED the Princess shirts. I thought those were so pretty and was expecting something similar for Tink.

YIn-n-Out looks lovely and that hat is on point haha

#flawless

YCan't wait for more! Especially the Harvey Bag... I'll try to be patient

You're doing a good job so far!

 

[Ariel484]

Oh yeah, same thing here. I told my family I was going to meet Ariel...but not the mermaid Ariel...like the internet Ariel...bwahahaha

The Internet Ariel bwahahahaha

 

[Ariel484]

HIIIIIIII

And now...to a park! Ahhhh…

I was waving to my BFFs around 6PM!

Hi pretty castle!

Snack time!

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you - my first-ever Dole Whip! I’d only ever had the vanilla soft serve. What a special day. This was tasty!

The park was crowded - I hopped over to California Adventure!

HIIIIIII OMG HIIIIIII

Hmm...not a fan. If they do this to the Orlando tower (my favorite ride ever) I will...not be pleased.

I hadn’t made any dinner plans, but I had a couple of places I wanted to check out, so I slowly made my way around the park - didn’t ride anything, just took it all in.

Looooove

Cove Bar was the first place I checked - LOL. Sweet, naive Internet Ariel. Their line was (of course) insane, so I walked around the Pier to Paradise Garden Grill. I’d read a report where the writer got really delicious-looking mediterranean food there...that seemed right up my alley.

“Second thoughts? Too late!”

So I get to Paradise Garden Grill and actually look at the menu - it was TOTALLY different than what I was expecting. I am behind the times, I guess, because there had been a complete menu overhaul at some point.

Not my scene - I mean, obviously I am not a 100% A+ healthy eater (for evidence, see previous post that detailed what I had for lunch!). But I was annoyed that they’d taken something that sounded unique and turned it into another place to get fried $^&@. Oh well.

So I headed back to the entrance to Paradise Pier and on to Pacific Wharf Cafe. Much better.

I got a Turkey Pesto Club to go and headed out of the park, stopping at Sprinkles for a salted caramel cupcake as any basic white girl would (so I’ll turn my nose up at fried corn on the cob, but not a cupcake!). I was back in the room at about 8:30.

California Adventure!

Dinner while reviewing race info (I’d been given a small pamphlet like this when I checked into the hotel and again at the expo). This turkey sandwich was really good, I highly recommend it.

Cupcake! While watching the West Coast version of Stacy (which is a less-insane voice-over-type thing).

Since I was still on East Coast time (and planned on staying on East Coast time for the entire trip), I was in bed by about 9:30 or 9:45 with a 3:30AM wake-up call set.

Up next - the 2017 Never Land 5K!

 

[Anisum]

Congrats on your first Dole Whip! Yum!

I agree with you about ToT. I like Guardians of the Galaxy and am meh about DL's ToT anyway when compared to WDW so I didn't care too much when they changed it but I would be upset to see anything happen to such an iconic ride in WDW.

 

[ZellyB]

Yeah, I wasn't happy with the way ToT looks with the GoG overlay. Although I sure wished it had been open to give it a try.

And, that Cove Bar line, Holy Cow!!! I mean I wasn't planning to go there given what I'd heard about its popularity, but that was all kinds of crazy.

 

[TeeterTots]

Oh my gosh I'm loving everything so far! It's making me super excited to think I could be there next year! Yay!!

 

[FredtheDuck]

Since I was still on East Coast time (and planned on staying on East Coast time for the entire trip), I was in bed by about 9:30 or 9:45 with a 3:30AM wake-up call set.

Hmm, I never thought of doing a race at DLR and staying on east coast time. That would make that early AM wake up a lot less painful! The mental notes are stacking.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

That picture of you and Mickey is gold! Great picture!

I am the same way on healthy eating- balance, right? That cupcake sounds delicious!!

 

[jdd]

Hmm...not a fan. If they do this to the Orlando tower (my favorite ride ever) I will...not be pleased.

UGH! Agreed, I really hope they don't do this in DHS. Not sure why they feel the need to change things to the current fad movie, when the classics have so much more staying power.

 

[Dis5150]

Yay! A trip report! Sooo jealous of you getting In-N-Out! I am a nor-cal girl and I love me a double/double with cheese, plain, extra crispy fries and a vanilla shake. Sadly they aren't even close to me here in Arkansas.

Your pictures of California Adventure are great! That coaster is my fave! DD26 and I rode it like 10 times in a row when she was DD16. We figured out where the camera was and made awful faces. Then we would run off the ride to see our pics at the end. I don't know why we thought this was hilarious but lol. We are thinking about Superhero's/Avengers in 2018 instead of marathon weekend in 2019 to get our coast to coast and see all the new stuff they have added since 2005!

You are braver than me. I would not drive in so-cal traffic! My DH grew up in Lakewood/Long Beach so whenever we would visit his family he would drive because that traffic was terrible! But glad you had a good experience with it.

I love your view from your hotel! I have only ever stayed at the Grand Californian so I loved seeing that pic!

 

[Sailormoon2]

Hmm...not a fan

Did you eventually ride it, for comparison purposes?

 

[rteetz]

Caught up!

If and when I get to DL, In N Out will be on my list of things to do. I love those beach ball pillows at Paradise Pier.

I still can't believe that was your first Dole Whip. Definitely not a fan of the look of the guardians tower.

 

[Ariel484]

Congrats on your first Dole Whip! Yum!

Thank you!

I agree with you about ToT. I like Guardians of the Galaxy and am meh about DL's ToT anyway when compared to WDW so I didn't care too much when they changed it but I would be upset to see anything happen to such an iconic ride in WDW.

I think I'm one of the very few people who DOESN'T like Guardians (I tried to watch the first movie twice and both times ended up not finishing it because I got bored - and I LOVE Chris Pratt, so I really wanted to like it), so in all fairness, I wasn't gonna like the change from the beginning.

Yeah, I wasn't happy with the way ToT looks with the GoG overlay. Although I sure wished it had been open to give it a try.

Oh me too - if it was open I totally would have tried it. I did think there were times where the colors looked nice in certain light, but mostly I would just stare at it like... "*** did they do to Tower of Terror??"

And, that Cove Bar line, Holy Cow!!! I mean I wasn't planning to go there given what I'd heard about its popularity, but that was all kinds of crazy.

AHHH I know. Last year at DL they took my phone number and texted me when my table was ready, so no line-waiting necessary. I think they got rid of that.

Oh my gosh I'm loving everything so far! It's making me super excited to think I could be there next year! Yay!!

DO IT!!

Hmm, I never thought of doing a race at DLR and staying on east coast time. That would make that early AM wake up a lot less painful! The mental notes are stacking.

Yes!! The bad thing was that I never made it to see fireworks or World of Color, but I was definitely the most well-rested I have been for a runDisney race weekend, so I felt REALLY good for the races.

That picture of you and Mickey is gold! Great picture!

Thanks, I love that one! That's my current Instagram avatar.

I am the same way on healthy eating- balance, right? That cupcake sounds delicious!!

Exactly! It's like when I get a drink at Starbucks with whipped cream, BUT - skim milk. It totally cancels out.

UGH! Agreed, I really hope they don't do this in DHS. Not sure why they feel the need to change things to the current fad movie, when the classics have so much more staying power.

Yeah, like - I know they have to update things in the parks. I can see from their perspective that it's a no-win situation - they don't want the parks to get stale, so inevitably something has to go. But I just feel like ToT in Orlando is the PERFECT ride - there are drop rides like that at a lot of amusement parks, but none of them have the story like ToT does. It's a great example of what differentiates Disney from other theme parks.

Yay! A trip report! Sooo jealous of you getting In-N-Out! I am a nor-cal girl and I love me a double/double with cheese, plain, extra crispy fries and a vanilla shake. Sadly they aren't even close to me here in Arkansas.

Ah man! I'm a little relieved they aren't close to me because I would eat it alllll the time!

Your pictures of California Adventure are great! That coaster is my fave! DD26 and I rode it like 10 times in a row when she was DD16. We figured out where the camera was and made awful faces. Then we would run off the ride to see our pics at the end. I don't know why we thought this was hilarious but lol. We are thinking about Superhero's/Avengers in 2018 instead of marathon weekend in 2019 to get our coast to coast and see all the new stuff they have added since 2005!

I can totally see how that would be fun with the camera! I'm always surprised at the low wait times at that ride...I WANT to love that coaster, but I cannot do the launch. I did ride it once in 2015 and liked the entire thing EXCEPT for the launch - I had to, like, sit and recover for a few minutes after (I can't do RNRC either). This time I watched it go a few times trying to convince myself that maybe it wasn't that fast, but I chickened out.

The great thing about doing Avengers would be that I think you'd get to see the parks decorated for the holidays! If you go during that weekend, definitely make sure to ride Small World Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday!

You are braver than me. I would not drive in so-cal traffic! My DH grew up in Lakewood/Long Beach so whenever we would visit his family he would drive because that traffic was terrible! But glad you had a good experience with it.

I was surprised at how okay it was to drive there! Maybe I got lucky??

I love your view from your hotel! I have only ever stayed at the Grand Californian so I loved seeing that pic!

Gand Cal is the only one I haven't stayed at yet - some day! I loved walking into that lobby because it feels the most like WDW.

Did you eventually ride it, for comparison purposes?

No, as far as I know, it wasn't open that weekend. If it was, I would have ridden it!

Caught up!

If and when I get to DL, In N Out will be on my list of things to do. I love those beach ball pillows at Paradise Pier.

Yes, definitely go! It's good and cheap!

I love the beach balls too...I think I could have taken one home for like $60-$80

I still can't believe that was your first Dole Whip. Definitely not a fan of the look of the guardians tower.

HAHAHA I know. Like I said, I'm kind of a picky eater!

Overall (again, I know I'm in the minority) - I'm just not a fan of Marvel, period. So I'm especially not a fan of Marvel in the parks! It just seems weird. (Yet I'm okay with Star Wars in the Studios...not in DL park though. That's the biggest travesty of all!)

 

[BigEeyore]

You are already on page 3 of your TR? You are in turbo TR mode!
Isn't traveling to the west coast from the east the best? You get there and have a full day, and it is perfect for rD races since 3am feels like 6am!
That is pretty neat that you can rent a car right from downtown Disney for just half a day! So much better than trying to uber off property. I have never had In n Out before - so much hype over a burger place! Did it live up to your expectations?
The new InknBurn HQ is a little underwhelming . I'm sure there is more to it than just your pic shows - did you get to go behind the scenes at all?
I guess the expo wasn't crazy? My only rD experience at DL was for Star Wars in January and the line just to get into the merchandise area was insane!
The race shirt designs are cute, but I agree that the colors are weird. I do like the I Did It shirts you got (now wondering why you returned one...such suspense!). Side note - I always buy the I Did It shirt because I'm a sucker for having the race course on the back of the shirt, but I kinda wish it didn't say "I Did It!" across the front. Like if you are wearing a race shirt it can be assumed you did in fact finish the race. Anywho...
Great picture with Mickey! I love me some Disneyland (I was born in SoCal and actually worked 2 summers at DL) so I am looking forward to the rest of your trip!

 

[roxymama]

Ok, I need to watch the original Guardians movie still because I've yet to see it before I get too far behind on the hoopla.
You will see that Dole Whip was high on my priorities for my DL day...mmmmm....I really do enjoy those. So would you go back to soft serve or try the DW again? I do want to try the citrus swirl in WDW next time too.

I've realized I NEVER ATE A CORN DOG ON MY TRIP!! Your fried food board reminded me of this. I guess all the fried foods looked better on the youtubes than they did once walking around inside the park. I still feel shame for forgetting.