Wine & Dine Half Marathon Costume Reveal

Happy Halloween! What better way to celebrate than with a little runDisney costume reveal?

The ideas for my Wine & Dine Half Marathon costume have been absolutely all over the place. Since I'm traveling with a group of friends for this trip, our original plan was to run as different characters from Toy Story. Well, that idea got scrapped a while back and after a lot of deliberation in my own head, I finally decided what I wanted to do.

This costume has been sitting in my closet for a while...actually, a long while. You see, about 6 years ago, Jason and I were invited to a Disney themed 16 year old's birthday party with the catch that everyone who came had to dress in costume. So, Jason and I did just that...and our outfits were a huge hit!

I'm still not quite sure how I convinced him to dress up as a Wildcat from High School Musical, but he agreed!

So, with the reboot of an all new High School Musical on the upcoming brand new Disney+, I thought it was due time to pull that old costume out of the closet and finally wear it to a runDisney event. I'm not sure why I didn't think of this before!

Although this costume took a little bit of tweaking from its previous state, and I look a hot mess because I currently have pink eye (seriously), here it is!

As you can see, the inspiration for this one came from the cheerleaders in the middle of this shot.

I used all runner-friendly material for this costume:

• Shirt: BCG Brand from Academy
• Skirt: SparkleSkirts.com
• Jacket: Adidas from Academy
• Headband: Red Sparkle Sweaty Bands
• Earrings: Red Paw Logo from Amazon

The EHS letters were cut from the Silhouette machine on red heat press vinyl and the red/white stripes are pieces of ribbon that were heat pressed onto the shirt. The wildcat logo was printed onto a heat press sheet, pressed onto an old piece of white t-shirt material, then hand stitched onto the jacket (so it's not permanent).

This should be a fun (and hopefully less rainy) Wine & Dine Half from the last one I ran (can anyone say splash & dash?). If you see me out there, don't hesitate to say hello!!

If you're running this weekend, I wish you the best of luck! Happy running!!

Day 3: Magic Kingdom

Continuing with our recent August trip recap, we visited the Magic Kingdom on Sunday followed by Epcot for a half day on Monday.

Before heading to the Magic Kingdom though, we made a stop by Port Orleans French Quarter for the Beignet Dash!

If you missed that recap, head over to the link above to check it out. This was a really fun race on a non-runDisney race weekend and I really enjoyed my run around Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside!

After our breakfast of beignet's at the French Quarter quick service location, we hopped on a bus to the Magic Kingdom.

Our first stop there was Starbucks, of course!

We were also pleasantly surprised to find the parks were relatively low crowds for a summer Monday!

As we passed the purple wall, I realized I'd never taken a picture there and definitely needed to remedy that!

Our first ride stop for the morning was the Tomorrowland Speedway. I realized Brayden had never "driven" one of these cars and I loved these as a kid! So, off we went! The wait was seriously only like 15 minutes! Bonus!

Jason also admitted he'd never driven one of these cars, either! Whomp whomp!

After the Speedway, we decided to make our way to the Teacups. This is a ride I'd never ridden due to dizzy issues, but Jason promised to be nice, so I agreed to go on them.

Brayden LOVES to spin and he was in heaven on this ride!

After the teacups, we headed over to Brayden's next favorite ride, the Carousel! In combination, all three rides took very little time as the wait was super short! We were loving it!

For lunch, we had Pecos Bill and I split an order of the tacos with Brayden. These are so good and definitely my favorite item on their menu!

Mid day, we decided to go back to our resort for a long nap. Brayden was in desperate need of a good nap and we had friends to visit with!

After a nap and a quick dinner with our friends, we returned to the Magic Kingdom for fireworks and post-fireworks fun!

The fireworks were spectacular as always and after they were over, we realized we had about 45 minutes of additional Magic Kingdom time!  

We headed over to Dumbo first and with literally zero line, we rode Dumbo three times in a row!

After our Dumbo adventures, we literally had 10 minutes before park closing, so we jumped in line for the Tea Cups again (yes, I rode it again)!

These post-fireworks memories are seriously some of Brayden's favorite from our last trip. He still talks about riding Dumbo three times and the teacups two times!

 Before heading out of the Magic Kingdom, we stopped for ice cream and a few pictures.

Being in the Magic Kingdom after the crowds had died down was seriously magical. We literally had the best night ever!

Up next: EPCOT!

Day 2: Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom

As the days draw shorter and shorter, I am realizing that our next WDW trip is seriously coming up (and fast)! Since I'm still not finished recapping our August 2019 trip, it's about time I get right on that!

Our first full day began with breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. In order to get there in the easiest way possible, we called up a Lyft from the app on our phone. The amazing part about the whole thing is we could designate a pickup location directly from our resort building, eliminating an 8-10 minute walk to the front of the resort! Bonus!!

As an added bonus, this was seriously the most extra Lyft experience we'd ever had (and still have had). This driver had ice cold water bottles for everyone, Disney facts signs, snacks, and...he was wearing a bow tie. We felt like we were on Disney transportation!

After breakfast, we took the boat over to Hollywood Studios to check out Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy!

Several friends told me they didn't know this existed and it's honestly kind of tucked behind Rock n Roller Coaster, like a little hidden gem. It's SO cute!

While waiting for the next show to start, they had a group of entertainers dressed in fun race car attire to entertain the kids. They had games, bubbles, and music for dancing! Fifteen minutes didn't seem that long after all.

Once we got inside, we were able to sit on the second row and I'm not kidding you - this expression was seriously on my toddler's face for the ENTIRE show.

I don't think he moved. Or wiggled. I'm not sure about you, but that's absolutely unheard of for my toddler!

Overall it was a super cute show and well worth it! We will definitely be back!

Another attraction we missed on our previous visit was the newly revamped Disney Jr Dance Party. First, we had to take a picture with Pluto! :)

The Disney Jr Dance Party was yet another hit, but I honestly think it was just a little too long for a 3 year old. He loved the music and songs from all of his favorite Disney Jr. shows, but I think it could have been cut a bit shorter as he became restless at the end. He did love being able to get up and dance!

This show was fun for us, but Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy was definitely the highlight of the two!

The next stop on our journey was Animal Kingdom. Brayden and I snagged a drink and a quiet corner to attempt a nap while Jason rode single rider on Everest.

Did a nap happen? Nope. Oh well!

We also took a little time out to see Lion King and walk through Pandora.

This little walkway near Lion King is one of my favorite ways to get to Pandora!

Jason loves the Night Blossom - it's his "must do" every trip.

We somehow snagged fast passes for the Navi River Journey, so we also took a ride on that.

After a hot day in the parks, a little ice cream was necessary. I ordered this Simba's Sunset Dole Whip and while it was ok, I think I'll just stick with a traditional Dole Whip next time.

We found a quite secluded spot to sit and eat our ice cream and it was really nice. I love little alcoves like this one, quiet and sort-of hidden away from the hustle and bustle of the parks.

Our last ride for the day was Kilimanjaro Safaris.  Brayden loves giraffes and they were out in full force!

Remember that attempted nap? Well, he totally fell asleep in his stroller and we managed to keep him asleep on the bus ride back to Old Key West, too!

All that fun tuckered him out!

For dinner that evening, we decided on Olivia's because I'd heard rave reviews about their Buttermilk Chicken. I also managed to snag this reservation at the last minute which worked out perfect for us!

This restaurant is so cute - I would seriously return here again just for dinner! 

The walls are lined with photos of their DVC Members, dating back to the 90's. It was fun to look at frames, photos, and the years on each one!

Dinner began with rolls - YUM!

Jason and I both ordered the Buttermilk Chicken and agreed it was delicious!

Brayden had his own version, minus the white gravy.

Ok - y'all know my love for Ohana and their bread pudding. Well, imagine my surprise when I saw that Olivia's served Banana Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster Sauce? 

Yes, I'll add that to my order now, thank you!

Although the banana bread dessert was good, it wasn't as striking as the Ohana dessert like I'd hoped. It's definitely worth trying, though!

After a really long day, we decided to spend the evening relaxing at our resort and enjoying the swimming pool.

Brayden loved swimming and although we missed out on fireworks that evening, we were still close enough to hear/see them from our resort!

If you made it through this entire day's recap, I thank you for sticking around! We had a blast sharing this quick trip with Brayden and can't wait for upcoming one!

Next Up: Magic Kingdom