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Ep 19 - Travel tips for a race weekend
201 Plays15 days ago
Getting to and from Orlando for a race weekend can feel like its own endurance event — so we’re sharing all our favorite tips for traveling to a runDisney race stress-free. From when to book flights and hotels, to what to pack in your carry-on, to the one thing you don't want check in your luggage, this episode is all about keeping your trip smooth and fun. We also chat about Erika’s latest half-marathon PR and what it means for her proof of time. In this episode we're trying to make race-weekend travel one less thing to worry about!
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Transcript
Introduction and Stress of Travel
00:00:00
Speaker
Travel can be stressful, especially getting to and from Orlando. So today we're sharing our race weekend travel tips.
00:00:15
Speaker
hey everyone, welcome to episode number 19 of the one more run podcast. My name's AJ. This is Erica. We started this podcast, what four or five months ago, uh, with the goal of helping you get ready for a run Disney race, whether you've never done one, whether you've done several, we're just sharing the tips and tricks and things we've learned. to help you go into a race feeling confident, hopefully no stress, like focused on your training, having a good time, right?
00:00:44
Speaker
That's the goal here. There's so much to worry about that we're trying to like give you the tools to not worry. Right.
Podcast Introduction and Listener Feedback
00:00:51
Speaker
And that really ties into today because we're to be talking about how to arrive stress-free because Erica, as you know,
00:00:57
Speaker
Travel is joke. No. So that's coming up. But first off, we do a few housekeeping things here. If you're new here, one of those is we read a review. yeah If we have any, and we had a dry spell there for about two weeks. We did. But but now then we got a bunch. Yes. We're so grateful to our friends for leaving reviews on Apple Podcasts. So Erica, you got a review that we can share?
00:01:16
Speaker
I do. So the next one that we have is from Princess Zara 9. She says she's new to Run Disney. ah She signed up for her first Run Disney event and was looking for a guide.
00:01:27
Speaker
I'm so glad I stumbled across this one. It's fun, not overwhelming, and helpful. Awesome. Good luck with your first run Disney race. good luck. We're excited for you.
Upcoming Episode Preview
00:01:36
Speaker
Coming up, Erica, next week is is like a big time.
00:01:39
Speaker
Yeah. It's a milestone for us. We're reaching 20 episodes. Wow. Which I'm kind of excited about. Yes. But it's also a big deal because we have a big time. guest on the podcast Yeah. so if you listen to disney podcasts there's no way you don't know rope drop radio is and their' spinoff which is rope drop on deck so rope drop radio is all park staff but doug also hosts roperop on deck which was like their spinoff to focus on all disney cruise line stuff So we invited Doug and Michelle onto our podcast. It's kind of like a cold email ask or whatever, you know, i hadn't met them yet.
00:02:13
Speaker
And just like crossing my fingers, you know, that it was goingnna it was going to work out because they do run Disney ye or they have several, you know, several races. They do those together. Anyway, they reached back at turn, you know, responded and turns out they're just as awesome as I hope they were going to be. And so um we have them on next week. Yes. Like I cannot wait.
00:02:31
Speaker
for that like it's going to be some really good i think the what's going to helpful about it is that doug and michelle have so much park experience they have run disney experience she's a travel agent you know a good one so they know all the things so they can give us some insights on how to do the theme parks and walt disney world in general and whatever as it relates to a race weekend yeah because you know we might have like and we have been we're sharing lots of run disney info they're going to come at it like tons of park, you know, parks focused info, like how to get the most out of both.
00:03:03
Speaker
Yeah. We've always talked about how to get the most out of run Disney. Right. Anyway, that is next week. Any comments on that? No, just really excited about it. I know it's going to be so fun. yeah be really fun It will be. All right.
Travel Tips and Insurance
00:03:14
Speaker
So the topic of today is travel tips for a race weekend.
00:03:18
Speaker
You know a lot about this. i I typically book our travel for us. That's why you say that. And so it's not because you don't know how or whatever. It's just, you know, aye I don't know why. how How did I end up doing all of it? I don't know.
00:03:30
Speaker
I don't know either. You travel a lot for work, so you're just you're just good at it. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess I'm always booking flights and always booking hotels. And I know all the hotel points and all that like call that stuff. yeah So maybe that's how. yeah But I guess, too, I also just love nerding out. Like, you know, where's this resort in relation to this park? You know, like all that stuff. So maybe maybe that's why.
00:03:51
Speaker
couple disclaimers. Sometimes when we have a topic, we just throw a few disclaimers in there just so people don't get confused or mad or anything like that. I think the first disclaimer that's helpful or important is we're not travel agents or travel advisors. We're not in the travel industry.
00:04:04
Speaker
Nope. right So we're not promoting any specific service. We're not sponsored by anybody. We don't plan to be. like We are just providing some tips like as average Joes, right right average run Disney runners, and people who go to Walt Disney World for vacation. Hey, these travel tips have worked for us. Totally.
00:04:23
Speaker
Not telling you what to do. We're not we're not you know endorsing anything. Yeah. And then the other part of that that ah you know I don't want to like endorse any specific thing or whatever is that we have an annual travel insurance plan. yeah And that is like one of the keys for us to reduce our stress. If we get stuck in a city, flight delayed, lost bags, have to spend the night in the city, or we're out of the country and having a medical emergency, but anything like that. Yeah. We've got this annual travel insurance plan in our back pocket so that like we can go on a trip or go out of town or whatever.
00:04:55
Speaker
Just knowing that, hey, we don't have to overly stress knowing that there is a phone number we can call and we paid for someone to pick up on the other end yeah and help us solve the problem. yeah Does that make sense? But again, we're not going to get into any of that because I think that like gets into like travel industry weird stuff, what yourre you know but you're supposed to say and not supposed to say.
00:05:14
Speaker
Just know that, yes, we we cover ourselves that way. Those are the disclaimers. Do you have any other disclaimers? No. Perfect. All right. That's the nitty gritty, ugly stuff. Let's get into more of the fun stuff. Yes. So AJ, give us some tips for booking travel and making reservations.
00:05:28
Speaker
Perfect. I'll just kind of fly through these comment on any of these that you have a comment or a story. I mean, anything that that's valuable. um but I think generally you want to book things early.
00:05:38
Speaker
So as soon as flights are available or whatever, they're probably going to be at their best price, especially with Disney hotels and Disney cruises and whatever. the The price usually goes up, not down, right?
00:05:51
Speaker
It can go down, but just know that it's it's a good idea to book it early. And one of the reasons you want to do that is because you can always change it. So like, depending on your airline, you might not be able to, Right. right hill a Hilton the Hotel, you might not be able to change it if it's a non-refundable yada yada. But Disney, if you stay a Disney resort, you can change it.
00:06:11
Speaker
yeah You can cancel it completely. You're going to pay a deposit. You'll get that back if you cancel, you know, or unless there's some restricted rate thing, I don't know. But you can get your money back. You can change hotels. You can change type of rooms.
00:06:23
Speaker
You can find out, oh my gosh, it's $50 cheaper per night right now. yeah You can just go on the website, edit your reservation or call them. Perfect. And so here's a tip there is if you think you want to do marathon weekend next year, but registration for marathon isn't open yet, you can book your Disney hotel knowing what, if you know what the dates are. Yeah.
00:06:46
Speaker
And then if you just don't get lucky enough to get in to run Disney, cancel your marathon weekend or whatever it is, because what's going to happen is as soon as everyone gets registered for marathon weekend or whatever weekend, yeah they're going to go,
00:06:58
Speaker
Ha ha, I'm in. Woo hoo. And guess where they go next? To book a hotel. right Right. So then guess what the prices do? They go up. So anyway, I even say book your hotel as soon as you as you know you can.
00:07:12
Speaker
um Disney requires a one night deposit. Just a heads up on that. It also depends on your package. If you got theme park tickets and all that, that might change. But when we go for run Disney weekends, we book, you know, four nights in a hotel. Right.
00:07:23
Speaker
And they it basically require one night. The rest of that is due when you check in. Um, I kind of said this about changing your, your thing. You can always check back for a better rate. Erica, you and I've changed hotels a few times. I don't know if you know this. Yes, I do know this. Oh, you do. We were booked in one hotel and, uh, you know, we were booked at pop century or whatever. And then a French quarter became available.
00:07:44
Speaker
And I was like, whoop Nope, uh, Nope, I'm going to do that. Yeah. Um, if you've got a travel agent they can, I think check rates and stuff like that for you and you don't have to do it. If you're a nerd like me and like to do that and just love going on the Disney website, then, then you can do that.
00:07:58
Speaker
Erica, you have actually booked dining reservations before. I never have. I've never booked a dining reservation in our entire an entire time. I know you can do it 60 days beforehand. yeah Do you have any insights on this?
00:08:09
Speaker
All I really know is that if you're going to book an advanced dining reservation for a sit-down meal, it needs to be 60 days in advance, but I've never done it at the 60-day mark, I should say. right You have any comments on that? Just be on the website early.
00:08:22
Speaker
Yeah, I think it drops at midnight all the time. they go really quickly, even that far out of time. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, depending on the restaurant. Yeah. Okay. um This is a tip I have, and this is maybe like all those were pretty normal.
00:08:34
Speaker
Like everybody probably knows that. I would say I've seen the trend that the nightly rate for a hotel, at Disney hotel, is cheaper after a race than before a race.
00:08:47
Speaker
So what I mean by that is if the race is on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, right Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday beforehand, it's going to be $350 $500 night. And boom, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, the next week, it's like 350.
00:09:02
Speaker
three fifty Does that make sense? Like it plummets, I think, because they know everyone's checking out on Sunday or Monday. All that to say, consider. You don't have to. Yeah. And we don't always.
00:09:13
Speaker
But consider instead of coming in early and doing a bunch of theme park days and whatever beforehand, yeah maybe come in when you need to be there and then stay ah two days, three days afterwards. it might save you some money.
00:09:25
Speaker
That's honestly what I'd recommend anyway. Why is that? I mean, you don't want to go in the parks before the races because you're just going to make your legs tired. and So I would say that if you have the flexibility, just plan on going to the parks after the races, not just for the price, but also just because it'll be good for you to walk after and keep everything moving. and That's right.
00:09:44
Speaker
ah Hopefully it'll be a little bit less crowded. Yeah. You could go hard in the paint on a theme park day after the race and not worry as much. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You're going to be tired and lose some sleep and whatever. Yeah. But if you go hard in the paint and do a 12 hour day in the parks, to your point, on Thursday before the race, yeah that's not good. And those theme park tickets are getting more and more expensive every day. Yeah. So like you're, you might go to the theme park, you're, you know, one of parks.
00:10:07
Speaker
before a race and then you're like ah well i can't stay out late but i really want to get my money's worth right you know so you fight that battle yeah do it after yeah you could you could do it after perfect then you could take your uh medals to the park yep medal monday yes get your picture in the park Um, last tip here is in terms of booking is if you don't want to deal with any of the travel stuff, use a travel agent.
00:10:30
Speaker
Perfect. I think they'll all tell you, and we've, we have experience with it is that they'll, and it's true is that Disney pays them, you know, you don't pay them and they pay them after you travel or whatever, and they get the commission straight from Disney. So when I book something with a travel agent or whatever, doesn't cost me anything. If I book it directly, you know, whatever I'm paying the same exact price. Yeah.
00:10:50
Speaker
If you, you don't like all this stuff, get a travel agent. Perfect.
Booking Flights and TSA Tips
00:10:54
Speaker
All right. So AJ, give us some tips for flying. um Dive in again, if you have any thoughts on this. um I'm just going to say our preferred way. So we live in Atlanta. yeah Our preferred airline is Delta because Delta is a hub in Atlanta and it's reliable and they have a million flights a day out of Atlanta. yeah If you live in, what's American Airlines hub?
00:11:18
Speaker
I don't, I can't remember. no idea. We don't even fly them. but Because it's not. There are many. If you live, where is their hub? don't know. I think Chicago's United, America, Dallas, Dallas. I think it's Dallas. No idea. Anyway, if you live in another city with a different airline, that that's their hub and they have direct flights to to Orlando, then that might be your way to go.
00:11:37
Speaker
We choose our airline based on the fact that it's our hub. It's reliable. Yeah. All that, whatever. Like yeah here's another thought though. Like even if you're not in Atlanta, Delta has 16 flights. I looked it up today. Yeah.
00:11:51
Speaker
16 flights a day from Atlanta to Orlando, which means if you have a connecting flight yeah in Atlanta and you're flying Southwest, I looked, they have three flights a day from Atlanta to Orlando, right? So if you have to go through Atlanta, which is a major hub for a lot of, or a major ah transition point for a lot of airlines, you may, ah if you can't get direct and you have to go through Atlanta, consider going Delta. Yeah.
00:12:18
Speaker
just because they have so many options. it's like every hour. Right. And we've had that before. We weren't able to get on this flight for whatever reason. They had ah you know some issue, travel, of what do you call it? Weather issue. yeah And they've just put us on the next one. Totally. So um we liked we like we like Delta. You like Delta, right?
00:12:33
Speaker
That's my favorite. I thought so. Um, we've found that early morning flights are better, not because we love getting up or, well, actually I do love getting up early in the morning. You don't know. Here's the thing with early morning flights is that less things have gone wrong.
00:12:47
Speaker
Right. So by the middle of the afternoon, that flight that was delayed at 11 has now been pushed to two. Well, guess what happened to that flight that was around two. It's now been pushed to whatever, a whole bunch of people that were so supposed to be on this nine 30 flight are now on the 1150 flight. Right. Right. And so it just like, um,
00:13:05
Speaker
what am I thinking? The word, the snowballs. Yes. Right. It just yeah snowballs throughout the day. Yeah. You know, so we've found that early morning flights just have less chance of that. Yeah. Right. And it's one more morning to ah practice getting up early.
00:13:18
Speaker
That's very positive of you, Erica, especially for not being a morning person. Right. Yeah. Well, you told everyone a few weeks ago, practice getting up early for races. So look here you go. I agree with that. I mean, I genuinely do. I was just surprised to hear you say it.
00:13:31
Speaker
Okay. Here's probably the best tip I have for travel and it doesn't depend on what airport and all that, whatever. Right. Is the TSA pre-check thing you can apply for it you know, lasts for five years or whatever. They basically do a background check on you.
00:13:44
Speaker
It is totally... worth it. Yeah. $85 or something like that. Like it's totally worth it. And you might say, oh no, but I'm coming through, you know, whatever little airport, you know, know, I don't know. What's a small airport like Kansas. I don't know. You know, somewhere small.
00:14:01
Speaker
yeah of Where are you flying into? Yes. Yeah. When you want to leave Orlando, right. That's when you need the pre-check. That Orlando airport is a zoo. Yes. A nightmare. And then especially if you leave when everyone else is leaving off a run Disney race weekend, yeah which is either Sunday evening or Monday morning. Right.
00:14:21
Speaker
You are hosed. Oh, yeah. yeah In the um security line. Right. Right. Pre-check, however, i don't know why everyone doesn't have pre-check. I don't know. Just walk all the way past, like walk past everybody. Right. All the way down to the end on the left side. Just go all the way down there and walk through security. Yeah.
00:14:39
Speaker
Anyway, that's my PSA for pre-check. Much easier. Now, it's very helpful in our airport. Atlanta is the, whatever, the highest trafficked airport, highest trafficked airport in the country. So we get to benefit from the pre-check on both ends. Yeah. But if nothing else, you want it in Orlando. Yeah, for sure.
00:14:54
Speaker
For sure. Moving on. Yeah.
Race Essentials and Packing Tips
00:14:56
Speaker
So another really important thing to consider when you're traveling is you want to carry on your race stuff. Do not check it in your luggage no because if your luggage gets lost or something happens to it, your running shoes and your costume, but mostly your running shoes and all the stuff that you need for the race, they're going to be lost along with it. So normally we pack a bag with our stuff and then we each bring a carry on that has at least one pair of running shoes.
00:15:22
Speaker
bare minimum outfit, fuel, whatever that we might need. So I treat it as if I was getting off the plane and going straight to the race and my bag, my other bag was going to meet me at the hotel. Exactly. Right. Like that's how I treat it yeah is that, and that we've never had a problem with our bags. We have not now. Right.
00:15:40
Speaker
But when I am on the flight and i see my bag, I know I can run the race. Right. Right. you know i mean? The whole reason I'm going. Exactly. And so, yeah I do. I do agree with that. Exactly.
00:15:52
Speaker
The other thing that's important is on the way home, you want to protect your medals and carry them on. Don't check them. They tend to scratch pretty easily. Yeah, you really want to find a good way to protect your metals. yeah And you just don't want to stress over that. You like you earned those things. right you know You don't want to get that little note in your luggage that says TSA went through your bags. right You know what i mean? and And then you just freak out yeah because maybe you did tuck it in there really nicely, but then TSA had to go through your bags for security check.
00:16:18
Speaker
Totally. And your metals are in there. you know So yeah um they do not have a problem going through the security checkpoint. Right, right. I actually took all my medals from my race season one time. Remember this one? Yeah. When we had our photos taken. Yeah. Yeah. You had yours.
00:16:31
Speaker
Oh, actually I had all of ours. That's what it was. Yes. It was like this 30 pound bag of medals. Yep. So we, what we did is after the whole race season, we had a nearly perfect season. Yeah. We wanted to get picture with all of our medals at the park.
00:16:44
Speaker
So all those race weekends all year, five of them or whatever. Yeah. I come rolling through the Atlanta airport with yours and mine. It was the heaviest backpack of all time. Yes. yeah And we got a question on, i don't remember, I don't think it was on the way there because I was surprised no one asked on the way bear not on the way back. They were like, what is this exactly? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah totally. um Just a practical tip, and this is this is true for travel, but it's also really true for running. Mm-hmm. You want to hydrate yeah a lot while you're flying, if you're flying, because the altitude and whatever, like it really does kind of dry you out, mess you up, whatever. yeah So be drinking lots of water before, during, and after your flight. Like that' that sounds dumb, but it's pretty important.
00:17:27
Speaker
I carry a corksicle in the, whatever they call it water bottle holder of my backpack. yeah You know what I mean? I always have that. And I know you can't go through security with water, but I fill it up as soon as it gets to the other side. Totally. And if you're really smart, little electrolyte mix in there.
00:17:42
Speaker
um Stay hydrated. And then avoid getting hangry by having snacks. yeah Something about you sit down on the plane and all of a sudden you've never been so hungry in your entire life.
00:17:53
Speaker
Is this true true for you? Oh, absolutely. It's crazy to me that like I could eat a meal in the airport. Yeah. Be totally satisfied. And then you get on the plane and it's like you haven't eaten in 10 And you're like, when are they bringing the pretzels?
00:18:06
Speaker
Right. You know? And you're just like, you know, and then they bring you the little sun chips or whatever it is. And you're like, I need 12 of these. Right, right. This is not enough. yeah So i pack snacks. Yeah, totally. healthy snacks is usually helpful. It just keeps you from getting hangry.
00:18:20
Speaker
This is one that drives me crazy when I see people traveling with like 10% battery on their phone. I'm like, look, there's chargers everywhere now. Right. Yeah. You know, like bring a battery bank or whatever.
00:18:32
Speaker
But all the flights now have a ah USB. Right. Right. Right. And you're not going anywhere. Yeah. You're not moving. Right. Just plug your phone in. Yeah. Anyway. Good. PSA on that. All right. Perfect.
00:18:43
Speaker
So the other thing that we like to do is that we either fly or drive to our destination the day before we need to be there. Yep. So we typically always need to be to the expo by Thursday for race weekend, because usually we're doing multiple races. yep We have always had good luck, except for one time, things were a little crazy.
00:19:04
Speaker
Yeah. So we learned the hard way. Yes. We flew in on a Saturday for a Sunday race and it was, we're in Atlanta. It was, wasn't even trying to get to Orlando.
00:19:14
Speaker
was trying to get to California. That's right. You remember what happened that day? Yeah. There was like a problem with the plane. We had to get off. We got onto a different plane. We got, we I think we landed like an hour before the expo closed, right? Yep. Landed. Landed. Landed, yeah. Then we had to walk to like where the Uber was.
00:19:32
Speaker
Yep. Wait for one of those. yeah We were so stressed. I think we told the Uber driver or the Lyft driver, we're like, We need to be there now. Right. and We need to go now. Like whatever you like go.
00:19:43
Speaker
Yeah. know Yeah. And then. Did we take our luggage with us to the expo? No. So we didn't want to because we had a lot. Right. And we'd never done the California races. This is when the California races first came back. We had no idea what the expo was like. Yeah.
00:19:57
Speaker
No clue. Never been to that race before. Right. And I just didn't want to risk that. anything with the luggage where they're going to say, well, you can't bring that in here. And then we can't get in on time. right So we did the Uber dropped us off at the hotel.
00:20:10
Speaker
And then it was like, okay, we could wait 15 minutes for an another Uber right or walk the 15 minutes to the, you know what I mean? yeah And the idea for me of like, let's walk there and be moving sounded better than standing on the curb waiting for an Uber.
00:20:25
Speaker
But by that point we had like 30 minutes or something. It was, I mean, stressed out. Yeah. outs yeah And I was like, i remember thinking we did this to save $250 on a hotel. Right. That's why we did this. Yeah.
00:20:37
Speaker
Yeah. And I'm like, I would pay a thousand dollars, a thousand dollars just to be at the expo right now. Just getting there. So stressed out like that did not help with anything. So now we go or we come in early. Yeah. I don't think we've ever gone the day, like whatever day we need to go to the expo, we go the day before that.
00:20:54
Speaker
Right. Yes. So if our first race is on Saturday, we'll go on Thursday. Correct. Yeah. Anything else on flying? That was all flying stuff.
Transportation Options to Disney
00:21:02
Speaker
That was all flying. So next let's talk about getting from the airport to Disney itself.
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah, this is pretty easy in my opinion. There's, you know, there's really three options that I can think of unless you have like friends in the area that could pick you up at the airport and drive you or whatever. The three options are you could take a bus.
00:21:17
Speaker
Mirrors Connect provides a bus. You pay for it. You could take a Lyft or an Uber, right? or you can rent a car. Those are, I think, the three good ways. There is a train or bus, something that goes to Disney Springs. Don't mess with that. Like don't don't even mess with that. Yeah. um The Mirrors Connect shuttle, I think it's $16 or $18 a person each way.
00:21:36
Speaker
It works good if there's like two of us, yeah maybe three of us. Our daughter Taylor's gone with us. That's when it's economical. yeah And yes, you might have to stop at another your resort before you get to yours, right? right But it's easy, yeah right? They're playing a movie on the thing. The the guy takes care of your luggage, whatever. it's it To me, small crowd, easy. yeah If you've got four people or more,
00:22:00
Speaker
economically it doesn't make sense anymore. Get an Uber and get dropped off directly. Right. I mean, unless you have a problem with, you know, taking a Lyft or whatever, then that's out. I think the big thing we've learned, and we've done it, but the big thing we've learned is that we don't run a car right anymore at MCO because one, it's just a pain at MCO.
00:22:19
Speaker
That's Orlando Airport. It's just a pain. You know, the lines are always really long down there. The just getting over to the garage isn't easy. And so it's just kind of a pain. Yeah.
00:22:30
Speaker
But even whole nother thing on that or a whole like separate point is that like Florida's like toll roads everywhere. Right. So now you're going to not like just factor in. Okay. So you got a good rate on your car. Just factor in that you just going to cost you whatever, 10 or $12 in tolls to get there. And then you're going to have that on the way back.
00:22:48
Speaker
yeah And so I just don't like dealing with it. And then once we get there, if we're staying on property, which we do, if you're staying on property, guess what you're doing with that car the whole time you're there? Nothing.
00:22:59
Speaker
It's just sitting there. You know, so then you're like, well, we should make good use of our car. yeah And you like go off site and like go to the store. And then you get there and you come back and you're like, that wasn't worth it. We should have just stayed here. Yeah. Anyway, ah that those are my my ground transportation tips.
00:23:14
Speaker
If it's small crowd, take the mirrors. Mirrors can Connect is what it's called, that bus. So what if people want to drive? Do you have any tips for driving? Yeah, I don't love to drive, but we're in that weird distance from Atlanta where like sometimes it just makes a whole lot of sense to drive economically, you know, or time-wise or whatever. So if you're driving from really far, bless you, because I don't even like the seven hours from for for us, you know, from Atlanta.
00:23:39
Speaker
I guess if you're not from Florida, just know, like I just said, there's toll roads, you know, when you get into Orlando. um Here's a tip, is that if you've got like um whatever your state's carpool lane, toll road, pass thing, if you've got that, it might work in Florida. yeah So like we have a peach pass in Georgia and it works in Florida. So whatever amount we've prepaid on that, it just deducts from that. yeah If we've got our car, I believe South Carolina is the same thing.
00:24:08
Speaker
Um, the sun pass website, I saw it. It's got like a whole bunch of, you know, Hey, if you live in this state and you got this pass, okay Like it works. that's okay So just know that if you don't want to do the toll by plate, which it charges you like an administrative fee every time you do that, or um like some of them don't even have a place where you can stop anymore and throw the coins in, but you if you don't want to deal with the coins or anything like that, just know that you can most likely use your pass from your your state.
00:24:31
Speaker
Good. parking at a disney resort is free so if you're driving in you've never been or whatever just know that if you're staying in a disney resort you can park i mean you're just that's what you're gonna you're just gonna park the car and leave it but just know that it is free parking is free at the race and the expo so if you just want if you like your space and your car and you don't want to ride any buses you don't have to yeah you know if you want your car or you have your car all the parking there is free The only place it's not free is at the theme parks. If you're not an annual pass holder or whatever, it doesn't matter if you're staying at a hotel. yeah If you want to drive, I'm pretty sure that's true.
00:25:08
Speaker
okay I might need to fact check myself on that one. okay I don't think, whew, I should have done my research for the podcast. I'm not cutting this out. I don't know the actual answer to this. If you're staying at a Disney resort, I do not believe theme park parking.
00:25:22
Speaker
Like if you go over to the Magic Kingdom wherever it is included, I don't think don't think it is. Okay. No, you don't think so either. we've We've always had to pay for it. If we had our car, unless you have an annual pass, you've right. and I think even then it might depend on what pass you have. Okay.
00:25:35
Speaker
You know what I think? Just don't bring your car. Yeah. Don't bring it. I do have something to add about the car. Okay. I'm ready. Um, if you drive and if it's within your power to do so, do not plan on driving home immediately after a race.
00:25:49
Speaker
Yeah. We had to do that one time. Was that after the marathon or the half marathon? We've done it after they're a half marathon. Yeah. Yeah. So we had to check out of the hotel, which was pretty much, I think we were waiting for Taylor or Addy or somebody. Somebody. To finish the race. And so we basically had to check out like the minute we got back from running the race. it was like a rinse off and go. Like I was already had the bags out packed in the car. i have the hotel room by the time you guys finished showering. Right. Yeah.
00:26:17
Speaker
And just like sitting still for several hours locked up in the car is not, it's not good for your legs. You don't want to do that. So I think we had to get back for work or something like that. Yep. But if it's within your power to not do that, I would suggest not give it 24 hours before you, before you get in the car. Yeah. If it's out of your control, obviously that's a bummer.
00:26:37
Speaker
But even if you're driving to Miami or something from there, like just sitting still with your legs in a locked position like that. Yeah. It's not, it's not wonderful. not good. No. Okay. So AJ, let's talk about Disney resort hotels.
Benefits of Staying at Disney Resorts
00:26:51
Speaker
This is the ultimate way to reduce stress. If you're going to go to Disney for a run Disney weekend, you should just stay on property. Yeah, we we think so. I realize that it's more expensive and all that, but they've designed that bubble yeah to be pretty convenient and great.
00:27:06
Speaker
You know, you pay for it. I get that, but it's- That's worth it. Yeah, I agree with you. um So some tips. If you arrive early ah before your room is ready or before it's even check-in time, Still go to your hotel. We've had success where, yes, they let us check in and we got in early. yeah you know Our room was ready. So yeah, sure, absolutely. you know They'll let you have a room if it's ready. yeah um But if not, like you can leave your bags there and just make sure you tip the bellhop people whatever. But we've done this several times yeah where we dropped our bags and that just gave us...
00:27:36
Speaker
okay, our bags are good. I'm hungry. Let's go eat. I think we've gone and sat by the pool. i think we've gone to a theme park. I think you just go, go do whatever you want. Right. where You know what I mean? Especially if it's not, if you took our tip from the last section and it's not expo day, you know, and all that, whatever, you just got time to breathe. Right.
00:27:55
Speaker
So you can drop your bags, just a friendly reminder, tip, tip your, your folks. um We found that arriving early or late, either one is less stressful. We found that if you arrive between, tell me if you agree with this, like 11 a.m. and like dinner time, everyone's arriving during that time. Right. Right. Because check-in is three o'clock. Yeah. So like everyone is like cramming that lobby or whatever. Right. And it comes in waves.
00:28:21
Speaker
But we've found that if we can get there early before 10 a.m., 11 a.m. before that time. Right. We just walk right in. drop our bags, go get some lunch, go do whatever we want to do. yeah Or we've had pretty good success where we just roll in pretty late.
00:28:33
Speaker
Yeah. You know, it yeah sun's down, everyone's at the fireworks, you know, and we just roll in and they're like, yeah, your room's ready. I mean, your get your room's guaranteed by three or whatever. So like, anyway, we've found success with that.
00:28:45
Speaker
If you don't know what preferred rooms are, like in Disney language or whatever, just know that those are closer to the lobby, closer to the pool, closer to the Skyliner or transportation.
00:28:56
Speaker
So if you don't want to walk, ah Eric and I usually don't book preferred rooms because we don't mind walking. We don't generally have our kids with us. We don't even have, our like our kids aren't even small anymore. So even when they are with us, we're like, you're fine.
00:29:08
Speaker
Yeah. Just walk. yeah yeah So just know that you know your standard rooms are going to be a little bit further away. But if you are like trying to you know reduce your steps or you're trying to you know be close to everything or whatever, just know that a preferred room.
00:29:22
Speaker
That's what that means yeah is at a Disney resort. Um, anything else on hotel stuff that was pretty short section. Cause I mean, really you stay at Disney hotel. going love it. You can use your magic band, obviously to open the doors and whatever, but that's not really a tip. That's just a feature. Anything else? Yeah. Tips.
00:29:37
Speaker
Um, I'd say another great thing is that you can have groceries delivered to your resort. So we've talked in previous episodes about having waters or snacks, um, delivered. And so usually you can do some sort of Instacart or grocery delivery.
00:29:49
Speaker
they'll um just deliver your groceries to the lobby. Usually you don't even have to be there, but I typically like to go and yeah and meet them. um If you're not there, they'll leave them with the bellhop. So. Perfect. Yeah. We've, we've done that a lot of times. Yeah.
00:30:02
Speaker
Yep. You can get a, whatever, a 24 pack of water bottles for the same price as a water bottle in the park it seems like it doesn't yeah yeah oh my gosh yeah and so yeah that that some of the uh resorts i think like the all-stars i think have started they have an amazon um locker yes yes yes amazon lockers yeah you know so if you need stuff delivered yeah i have not used that though so i can't really speak to it so if you don't want to be stressed out on a travel day what should somebody just avoid altogether oh i've got a couple things you just just avoid just uh don't bring your family
00:30:36
Speaker
We definitely don't bring our kids. No, I'm just kidding.
Avoiding Stress on Travel Days
00:30:39
Speaker
I'm kidding. We love bringing our kids. We do. um Obviously, you know the more people in your travel party, the more strut. That was the joke there. Yeah. Okay. No, ah my two thoughts there are if you try and cram in a theme park day on the travel day, I feel like that's um like a recipe for stress. Yes.
00:30:57
Speaker
Not disaster. You probably have fun. But your nerves are high and you're dehydrated from the flight. Right. And, you know, grandma's upset about this. And, you know, so-and-so is trying to save their legs because they were running the marathon. Like, you know what I mean? Right. And then you throw in a theme park day where you're trying to, like, get lightning lanes. We're here to have fun.
00:31:15
Speaker
Have fun. Yeah. Yeah. I brought you here to have fun. You know, like right to me, that's one. And then the other one, we've said it before on the podcast, like avoid Disney Springs. Not, I mean, I'd love to say that there's some really great things about Disney Springs. i just don't know what they are.
00:31:31
Speaker
It, I've never left there and thought, wow, you know what? I had a great experience. Right. I've always left there and thought, why in the world did I come to Disney Springs?
00:31:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I guess I've walked away with Gideon's cookies and was pretty happy about that, yeah but it was still a pain. Yeah. it should its It's crowded and and it's loud, like all all those things. So if you just avoid those two things, if you just don't even want any...
00:31:56
Speaker
Any stress, or you're just trying to keep your stress levels down, don't even walk into Disney Springs. It will it will it will raise your blood pressure. That's my opinion. Okay. If you have any, the listeners, friends, if you have anything that we missed, like totally share it because we're always willing, ready, and happy to learn something new because we're not experts in this at all. We're just sharing some of those things for either, those of you that are new, never done this, right?
00:32:24
Speaker
Never been to Disney. Woo, man. Like go listen to rope drop radio or, you know, like you, you know, you, you gotta, you know, or book that travel agent because it can be a lot. So, um, anyway, but if you do, like, if you have any suggestions and you want to share them on any of our email us to them or, uh, any of our platforms, YouTube or Instagram or anything, we are not saying we're the experts. We're saying here's some of our tips. And if you've got tips.
00:32:49
Speaker
And we can all benefit. That'd be awesome. yep Erica. Yes. That was the list of all the things I could think of yeah for reducing stress on travel. You know, what we didn't cover was how to reduce your stress when you're at Disney. That's a whole nother thing. Oh yeah. Right. This was your travel.
00:33:04
Speaker
Yeah. So do you have anything else before we move on to just some training updates and wrap this episode up? yeah I think that's it. Okay. Perfect. So let's talk about training stuff. We did a bonus episode last week on your amazing race that you had, but we need to give it a little bit of a moment here, I think, yeah because you went after and a half marathon here in Atlanta, you went after ah what our Disney friends know of as a proof of
Proof of Time and Marathon Training Encouragement
00:33:34
Speaker
time.
00:33:34
Speaker
Right. Right. You went after that and was hard fought. And how did it go? It went good. I wasn't sure the morning of, or really the week leading up to it, um if I was going to be able to do it.
00:33:48
Speaker
Because as y'all know, if you've been listening, I had injured myself and I wasn't able to run for three weeks. um So for sure, we were still going to do the half marathon, but I didn't really think I was going be able to to meet that time that I wanted.
00:34:02
Speaker
um The good part is that I did. yeah and beat it by 13 minutes, almost to the millisecond. um So I got a new PR. So I have a new proof of time. Yes.
00:34:12
Speaker
So that was very exciting. For those who may have not, we talked proof of time pretty early in our podcast journey. What is the proof of time and and how is that going to benefit you in the future? Yeah, totally. So for Disney, um your proof of time is just showing them that at a legit race that you have run,
00:34:29
Speaker
a certified course that you can run that race within a certain amount of time. So for Ren Disney, their half marathon ah needs to be done in two and a half hours. um And so if you can provide proof of time that you've done that, um you will be likely placed in a better corral. So usually somewhere, usually i would say see or above is what ends up happening depending how quickly you run.
00:34:52
Speaker
Um, you do not have to have a proof of time, but you will probably be placed in a further back corral. Um, so it is beneficial. Of course I've said this before, but if you're kind of new to running, you may not think of things like this, but that proof of time would need to include bathroom stops. Um, if you're running, it doesn't need, it would include character stops, things like that. So, um, so yeah, so i was just trying to get a new proof of time to be able to submit for next year's run they expire yeah with run disney so you know for this upcoming marathon like it has to be within the last two years or whatever so uh for your next next next race season this one will apply right because it's too late at this point but that's right yep so you've got your proof of time yeah way to go and like not even knowing if you were going to be able to do that yeah the race i'm impressed
00:35:35
Speaker
Well, so now I'm like, man, if I could have kept training for those three more weeks, I bet I could have done it a lot faster, but that's okay. Next time. Yeah. Still a journey. You're, you're, that's right yeah, you're getting fast and strong.
00:35:47
Speaker
Awesome. Cool. That was a great race. So, ah training is the, uh, the mileage is getting high. Right. So if you're doing marathon training out there, hopefully this podcast is something you can listen to while you're, while you're out there. Hopefully, um, your training is just going good.
00:36:00
Speaker
If you've got questions or whatever, shoot them our way. Um, just know you're not alone. You can do it. You know, we believe in you for sure. Erica, that is all I have for this episode. Any final thoughts before we wrap it up?
00:36:12
Speaker
Nope. Okay. Join us next week. We have rope drop radio, uh, Doug from rope drop radio and his wife, Michelle from rope drop on deck. They are going to be with us next week. So next week is going to be a big time episode. We're going talk all things theme park.
00:36:25
Speaker
Join us next week for one more run.
00:36:33
Speaker
Thanks for joining us for this episode of One More Run, the podcast. If you like what we're up to, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram. You can find links to all of that at AJandErica.com.