Disney Loving Peas / Universal Loving Peas

Has anyone ever done a runDisney event? Or been at Disney during an event? I'm thinking of a half-marathon next year (since this year's are all sold out) and would love any information. Seems to be challenging to get a spot - sounds like you have to register right when it opens for registration. Do you run during the day? A lot of the pictures seem to be runners in the dark?

Thank you jediannie - that's exactly the type of info I was looking for!

I was one of the fools who waited in the on-line queue for seven hours last week to get Magic Keys for my husband and me. Looks like I'll be doing more Disney layouts this year!

I'm in the IE. We had annual passes eight years ago, but we didn't use them enough to make the cost worthwhile. Since then, we've gone just once or twice a year. Now, our daughter, son-in-law, and 5-year-old grandson have keys and go often, so we'll definitely get our money's worth joining them.

It is an annual pass at the CA resorts. Not sure if the FL parks call it the same thing.

Maybe this has been covered, but I’ve been looking at the Disneyland/California Adventure Photo package pictures, and while I still think it was worth getting, the Memory Maker package that Disney World offers gives you a lot more. They gave us scenes of the parks, character photos, professional fireworks photos. California had nothing like that. There were a few specialty features added to a few photos the photographers took, but very minimal. Since our trip to Disneyland/California Adventure was a partial family reunion, it was still worth getting the photo package, but I was disappointed that Disney California provided far less.

We all wore Magic Bands. It was a splurge, but made life so much simpler. We never had them come off. We were able to put the mastercard on our disney account, so the whole party could just use their own magic band to buy food or souvenirs. If we wanted to leave the kids in a food line, and do something else, they could pay that way. Everyone paid us back when we got home...but it simplified the parks, disney springs, and even at the resort.
Added bonus: watching my adult kids (19/21/23) and DH choose a magic band before we went was surprisingly fun and helped us get into the spirit of letting our inner child loose.



In really popular areas, there are many photographers, and often we just walked up. We only once stood in line (and this was for a primo view over the Star Wars area and was maybe 10 minutes). The photographer in front of Toy Story land had an insane line and we passed. If we saw a free photographer, we stopped. We also watched for the photographers with the special effects as they were a fun bonus. I would 100% do memory maker again. The cost was for the whole trip, and ALL our magic bands gave us access - the kids would use their bands to get me photos when they were apart from us. But remember - those same photographers will take photos with your phone too if you ask. So you can get the photos without paying. The ride photos are not all that special, and sometimes don't make it to your account too. The best ones were from MK (Tron photos were awesome) and the Epcot Cosmic Rewind photos were OK. You almost have to know where the cameras are to make the most of ride photos, and that was a level of research and effort I didn't have the energy for!

These are some of my favourite photos
Calendar meeting mickey by kirstendrew, on Flickr

My most disappointing photos were from meeting Olaf. I love Olaf...but there is no photographer, just an autotimed box that takes pics! That cannot capture a pose or moment And I didn't take out my phone to have the attendent take some that way, but should have.  

Love that! Adding to my list now. We may be the only ones in our group if we do MagicBands, everyone else is attached to their phones. 



My inner child stays loose and I already know I want a purple band!!! 

We are all in a group together, with my in-laws. Everything is under their name. But when we’re shopping and eating I’ll want to charge to our own credit card. Is that possible without physically pulling it out?


Love your Mickey photos, and the use of Main Character Energy! Oh, I’m sure we’ll wait for the Star Wars one. We also have pics with Chewy from our last trip which are especially awesome because DH is over a foot taller than I am so the juxtaposition was great! So we’ll be looking for him too.  Good to know about the ride photos. Those were the ones I was most interested in seeing. I live for thrill rides, and DH, not so much. So our often opposite expressions are hilarious. I’ll be leaning my head back laughing and he’ll be holding on tight leaning forward with his eyes half closed    If we do end up at MK during extended evening hours Tron is the ride we want to do most. Definitely have to be at fingers ready for the lightening passes!


We are probably the only people left on the planet that have never seen Frozen, I haven’t even heard Let it Go all the way though! But we do have 3 kids that will definitely want those pics so I will pass that info on to their parents. Thank you kitbop !

kitbop I imagine the cost is for the character dining experience. But most of our meals will be relatively “cheap” so we don’t mind splurging for a few. Yak & Yeti was the other one we were considering and couldn’t think of the name. We are planning on going back to the room for a bit in the worst of the afternoon sun & heat, but if we can’t dining in sounds like a great idea. We have a couple of months before most of the reservations open (I read some of the Disney Springs restaurants use Open Table and that’s 90 days IIRC), so I will check out these menus and make some decisions in case reservations are needed/recommended for some of them.

We saw the HDDR last time we were there and it’s one of my fondest memories!

Dolewhip is on my list, and so were the Mickey Bars as a “must have” snack. But even though it may be unique to DW if it’s not delicious it’s not must have in my book! I’m going back and forth about the popcorn. We’re both love popcorn, especially caramel, but are also both diabetic so we are trying to limit those type of items to meals when we are also have lots of protein, or for food we can’t get elsewhere. I’ll have to think on it some more. I think we’ll be with the whole family for HS so we are unlikely going to be able to pick but I’ll try and steer us way from Docking Bay 7, thanks! I was looking at, what was it, Holga’s Hut for lunch if we are over in that section. And if we’re alone then considering Brown Derby, if that’s the name, for dinner.

My group does not like to plan much in advance (hello? Disney!) so I’m planning on having recommendations for a to avoid to insert into the conversation when we are deciding. That’s the best I can hope for. I wonder if they let you bring food from other quick service restaurants into other quick service restaurants. That way we can eat with them, but can select a less generic fare than most of the children will want.

Thank you dawnnikol! I’m a bread fiend too so that just got added to my list. And sandwiches are my preferred lunch so I’ll look into that as well. Maybe with enough options picked out of good eats in each of the parks we can get a great meal even with the families of picky eaters and food intolerances and non-foodies!

Did the vinyl stay stuck? That could be fun. But I’m disappointed about having to use the cc on our room. DH’s parents are treating all of their kids to rooms and park tickets (and plane tickets if we wanted) and I definitely don’t want to accidentally charge something else to them! We are also considering gift cards, so maybe that will solve the problem. Just less convenient.

We are making it a whole road trip so we’ll be in Jackson, MS on the 4th of July (no idea what we’re doing there yet), Atlanta for a couple of Braves games before we hit DisneyWorld July 7th-13th, then a day trip to Tampa for a baseball game then Universal on Sunday, then Biloxi for Beau Rivage and Mary Mahoney’s on the way home. We haven’t been on a real vacation or road-trip since COVID so we’re itching to get on the road!

I never would have picked July because I’m so sensitive to the sun, heat and humidity but we have a lot of children in different school districts going so needed to work around that.

Thank you, when I get to the planning Universal part I will definitely take you up on that. We only have one day for both parks and all we know right now is 1) good luck with that and 2) our priorities are both Harry Potter sections and the Marvel section. We are switching to a hotel less than a mile from Universal when we finish with Disney. Will go there after the baseball game in Tampa, then be there for Universal and The Kennedy Center. 

I didn’t even think about the Kennedy Space Center until I saw it on the DISBoards yesterday so we changed the trip home last night and decided to do that on Monday instead of staying in Beau Rivage and gambling. Now we will just stop in Biloxi for Mary Mahoney’s lunch on the way home. We’ve been to the space center in Houston, no way could we miss that when we realized how close it was. 

We have the cooling towels (have you ever used them straight out of a cooler with ice and melted ice? Heaven!). The scooter will have a fan or two but I’ve also read good things about neck fans. I’m not sure I’ll love them actually sitting around my neck, but I’m willing to at least try it. Have you used one of those? Oh, batteries are not on my list let me go add them right now!

We are staying at the Beach Club Resort, so right next to Epcot, I am excited about that! So we can walk/scoot there. I am trying to find out of the Skyliner/Gondolas accept scooters and if so that’s how we will get to Hollywood Studios from Epcot International Gateway. And I think we’re going to hire a special Taxi for our day at Animal Kingdom. I remember the buses from last time and I understand they’ve only gotten worse. Add in needing room for the scooter when that’s limited on the bus, I’d rather save time and pay for a taxi. This is definitely a place where time is money! Last time we stayed at The All-Star Sports’ Resort while they camped at Fort Wilderness. We were babies back then and it was cheap and we loved it, except the bus to get to meet up with them. It wasn’t too too bad, but I hated worrying about them having to wait for us. 

I have an over the door hanger for the shower, and remember reading about them for a cruise, but that’s a good idea for the room. Room organization really impacts my stays so thank you for that! I think there is supposed to be a long counter in our room but I need to verify that. I have a slim 4 ft table I am actually considering bringing as well. I expect my back and SI joints will be on fire so I’m trying to avoid bending over when I don’t have to. 

dawnnikol
Right!?! Talk about my worst nightmare! Shows you what I’m willing to do to spend time with these people.

In all seriousness, we originally told them no because of the heat and humidity. But MIL kept making suggestions when she called like the scooter, added time so we could have a day’s rest between parks, going back to the room in the middle of the day (which we did last time in May and it was a lifesaver), doing non-outside activities like spas (still not open, right?). Anyway, I could tell how important it was to her, and realizing this was likely to be our last big group trip we decided to just deal with it the best we could. I figured worst case scenario and I keep getting faint, or actually fainting (happened in DFW in the 80s so I don’t have high hopes), I love to read and can hang out in our nice room while he spends time with his family. Maybe look for a local scrapbook, jewelry or knitting store.

I didn’t even consider the possibility of the Skyliner being down! Will make backup plans for sure. I hope it’s not as I love gondola rides. What time did you get out there, how long before early opening, to be on the first bus? Our plan is definitely to be at the parks before they open. Cooler and less sun to deal with. Also, with such a big group I suspect it will be slow going for us so it will give us time to do more.

I’m adding all of these notes to mine, I am going to be so well prepared, thank you!