Character Dining - Goofy's Kitchen

A new experience for us on our latest trip was the character dining at Goofy's Kitchen.  The restaurant is located inside the Disneyland Hotel.  We booked the dinner at the hotel for 6 pm and when we arrived we were a little surprised to learn that we had to line up again inside to even check in with the front of the restaurant.  Once we checked in we had a seat and waited until we were called.  So that whole procedure took a bit of time but you start off your meal with the main chef himself!

Kinda neat!  Being a buffet we were welcomed to begin eating right away and the food the was presented for us at dinner time was plentiful and delicious!  Various kinds of meats, salads, side dishes, chicken fingers, 3 kinds of pizzas and macaroni and cheese.

First Minnie came around to greet us and sign autograph books and pose for photos.  We felt like she spent a good amount of time with us.  She was her usual cute and funny self.  We loved it.

Goofy also came out to visit us at the table which was nice since I know he's very busy cooking!  One of my favorite pictures of the trip was when Goofy went to pose for a picture with Danelle and Kris and he covered up Kris's face.   You could tell that Goofy was sweet on Danelle.

Karly almost missed Goofy's visit since she was up getting food but he played around with her a bit when she came back to the table.

Also Chip and Dale were around that night we were in for dinner.  The food again, was fantastic. There was something there for every pallet.  We had two very good eaters with us that night and they were just stuffed.  After we had decided that we were so stuffed and couldn't eat another bit of food for at least a week, the waiter brought us 3 that ran the half marathon that day a cup cake and a badge to celebrate our accomplishment.  Things like this just stick out in my mind as over the top Disney customer service.  It's attention to detail that you don't find any where else and its partly why we love Disney so much.  The gesture of the cupcake was fantastic.

My little one also especially remembers a dance that all the characters did during our time there although it would appear I didn't take any photos.

All in all the dinner was Aces.

Avengers - Infinity Gauntlet Challenge

This year in November 2015 I was lucky enough to return to Disneyland to try my hand at a challenge race.  The Avengers series of runs takes place in November and offers a 5km, a 10km as well as a half marathon.  Well we signed up for them all.

Again this time we got our bibs and accommodations through Get Travel.  This brought us to a new accommodation at the Castle Inn and Suites.  The accommodations we nice enough and they were able to get our two family clans adjoining rooms.  That was the whole key to the early morning runs with children along on the trip.  We would be able to leave an adult behind with the sleeping babes while the crazy adults went out and run in the wee hours.  Actually having said that all members of the family participated in the 5 km run.  

The 5km run course went through both Disney and California adventure and at some times got quite congested.  Which if you have little ones along they do enjoy the opportunity to walk.  With so many people on the course we didn't get any character photos, the lines were just too long.  After that big family endeavor we treated ourselves to a character breakfast that we had reservations for.  That is just what is called for after an early morning run such as this.  

We enjoyed our time in the park and by early evening it was time to retire for some sleep because we had the 10km run coming up.  It was easy to fall asleep and our plan of leaving sleeping children behind worked perfectly.  The three adults who are serious about running were able to get up, get dressed, have a little breakfast and we didn't wake up anyone.

The nice thing about the Castle Inn and Suites as you could say about most Disney good neighbor hotels is that you can walk to the starting corals of the races.  It was a brisk morning but we didn't suffer too much in the cold.

The start of the 10km was delayed for quite a while without any apparent reason that we could tell.  A few kms into the run and the sun was coming up which made for some fantastic photos!  This 10km was a fun distance, we stopped for lots of non character photos because again the character line ups were crazy!  But all too soon the 10km was done.  It didn't really tire us out, other than the early mornings.  We knew the big one was coming the next day.  In order to rest as much as we could we did some low key things inside the park like watch the Christmas parade and watch Aladdin in the Hyperion theatre.  Both of those were good get off your feet things to do.  After a while I we even went back to the hotel for a little swim and relaxation!

The pool at the Castle Inn wasn't exactly heated.  If I was guessing I would say low 80s but everyone around the pool was from BC or Alberta.  It was very cute.  There was another little girl there in the pool for Karly to swim with.  We had a good chat with everyone hanging out.  Another early morning was coming so we were out of the parks and into bed by 9 pm, okay maybe 10.

  

There's just nothing like the fun of running a Disney Half Marathon!  Literally every miles is magic.  There were bands, cheer groups, costumed cosplay groups, and thousands of spectators that were ready to cheer us all on!  The weather was perfect too.  It was a little cool as we waited in the corals to get going, but once we were out on the course the beautiful California sunshine warmed us.

13.1 short miles later and we were rewarded with our new half marathon medals as well as our Infinity Gauntlet challenge medals.  3 runs, 4 medals and that is some serious Disney bling!  And the best part, we loved every minute of it.  Yes, it was physically demanding but we just keep on planning to come back!  Each race we are a little stronger and a little more prepared both physically and mentally and each time we have a wonderful experience.

We enjoyed the park for a day after the races were done.  We got all of our favorite rides done, lots of them numerous times.  Crowd levels were fairly high.  Not sure if it was all us runners or just a lovely time for anyone / everyone to be at Disney.   

Next up... Tinkerbell in May.

See ya'll there!