Still coming off the high of our great weekend at the happiest place on earth.

This time with my momma was so special. I loved getting to spend quality mother-daughter time together as well as watch her complete her second half-marathon!

We arrived to Orlando on Saturday morning and hit the ground running. After she picked me up from the airport, we headed to Perkins (classic) for breakfast and then over to Disney's Contemporary Resort to check-in to our room.



I was a happy little Disney lover when we stepped into our room. I have stayed at several of the Disney properties but had never stayed at one of the big 3 deluxe resorts on the monorail line (Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Contemporary). The proximity and ease makes it SOOOO worth it.



The monorail literally runs through the middle of Disney's Contemporary Resort, so that made it super easy to get places. AND our room had a theme park view. So we could watch Magic Kingdom's Fireworks from the comfort of our balcony. #magic

After we checked into our hotel room, we then headed to ESPN's Wide World of Sports to pick up mom's race bib and attend the race expo.





As with everything that Disney does, this whole experience was great! Considering that roughly 20,000 people participate in the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend races (not counting all of the spectators, volunteers, and staff), Disney runs a smooth production. After we picked up her race bib and packet, we picked up my chEAR squad gear and headed over to the race expo.



The expo had some great booths, including food, accessories, shoes, clothes, gear, merchandise and more. We had a really nice time walking around, drinking champagne, and shopping!




OH and we ran into James Colon from Katy High School! #ItsASmallWorldAfterall




After the race expo, we headed back to the hotel to unload our goodies. We then hopped on the monorail and headed to Magic Kingdom! Thanks to FastPass Plus, we were able to ride a few rides and we finished our day by eating a Dole Whip and a Mickey Premium Bar.





Side note - for a Christmas present, KK got me an Annual Pass! and I was putting it to FULL use this weekend.

We finished our night with dinner at The Wave Restaurant in the lobby of our hotel and then we were off to our room to watching the fireworks and go to bed - KK needed to rest up before her race in the morning!

Sunday morning came early and KK was up and off to the starting line before 4am. The race route starts at EPCOT, runs to and through Magic Kingdom, and then makes it's way back to EPCOT for the finish line.



Since I was part of the chEAR squad, I had entry into the Race Retreat near the finish line, offering breakfast, coffee and a nice warm place to relax before KK came across the finish line.







I was tracking her location based on her bib number and was able to gauge when she would be finishing. She was set to finish around 930am, so I headed out early to stop by the Race Retreat and then hang out in the spectator stands and watch as everyone came across the finish line. As the emotional person that I am, and even knowing that my mom wouldn't be coming across until 930a, I sat at the finish line from about 745am and just watched and cheared for everyone else while I waited for her. I had tears in my eyes the entire time and the feeling of inspiration is unexplainable. Although everyone is welcome to participate, a large amount of the paritcipants are women and the feeling of girl power, just makes me so happy. Moms and daughters, sisters, best friends ... just all of these amazing women who set this goal for themselves and accomplished it. Old, young, fit, not so fit, handicapped, and not. It just made me so happy.




After I saw Karen come across, I was so happy and then ventured down through the crowd to meet up with her. We found each other and got to share in her post race celebration!



We made a pit stop in the post race craziness, and saw Amanda Kondrat! What a fun surprise!



We then headed to the bus and headed back to the hotel! It was time for KK to sit and relax. Once we got back to the hotel, we rested and let KK shower and put her feet up.



Around lunchtime, she let me know that she wanted to rest and continue to hang out at the hotel. So I ventured out by myself and headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios. I rode Rockin' Rollercoaster (thank you again FastPass Plus) and got another mug for my Starbucks You Are Here mug collection! I then caught the bus and headed over to Disney Springs and walked around a shopped a bit more. I have a love-hate relationship with the World of Disney store because it is ALWAYS crowded, but you can find basically anything that you want there, so I always try to stop by when we are in town. I also made a put stop at the Trophy Room for a little souvenir for T.

I went back to the hotel and then KK and I ventured into the lobby for some dinner and another Mickey Premium Bar ;-)

We then went back up to the room, watched the fireworks at Magic Kingdom from our balcony, then watched the Oscars and went to bed!

Monday morning we packed up, checked out of the hotel, stored our bags and then headed over to EPCOT. My flight didn't leave until 430p and there were more adventures to be had! It's safe to say that we covered a lot of ground in the 3 days that I was there!




After our fun day at EPCOT, we then headed back to the hotel to get our luggage but made a quick pit stop at the Polynesian resort for one last Dole Whip. Because ... Dole Whip.

As you know, I am a huge Disney nerd and love to talk Disney all day everyday. If you're interested in planning a trip to Disney, feel free to view this post or reach out to me.