Disneyland Half Marathon: My 5th RunDisney Half Marathon Experience!

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Tara Lynne

On January 14, 2024, I completed the Disneyland Half Marathon, which was my 5th half marathon – all of which have been RunDisney races! Overall I had a decent experience, but let’s just say it did NOT add up to the races at WDW…

rundisney disneyland half marathon castle pic 1

Normally I would would write up a story version of ::gestures:: alll of this, but I have a LOT to say about my first RunDisney experience at Disneyland, so this time I’m going with pro and con lists 🙂

BIB PICK-UP & FITNESS EXPO

PROS:

Because this is a much smaller race numbers-wise, check-in/bib pick-up and the fitness expo were all in the same building – the little convention center attached to the Disneyland Hotel. This made the process very quick, and it was neat that we were able to walk right over to Downtown Disney from there.
That said, if I had known how quick it would be and how small the expo was, I would have checked into our hotel (the Camelot Inn & Suites right across the street from the main park entrances) first and therefore only had to pay THEIR parking fee instead of also coughing up the money to park in the Disneyland garages. True, it was a reduced rate of $10 (from I think $35?!), but it’s $10 I didn’t really *need* to spend, and only did so because we arrived in Anaheim at about 2:45 PM and I was worried about having enough time to both pick up my bib and wander the expo.

rundisney disneyland half marathon fitness expo

CONS:

The expo was tiny and pretty lame compared to the one at WDW – and therefore not really worth spending more than 15 minutes checking out. I knew it would be smaller, but the only really neat thing about it was the Percy Jackson photo op…and that only because my younger step kid was with us and is obsessed with that series.

HOTEL – CAMELOT INN & SUITES

NOTE: We did NOT stay at an official Disneyland hotel, so what I have to say here – the good and the not-so-good – obviously isn’t a reflection on Disney or RunDisney.

PROS:

This hotel is SUPER convenient if you are ever going to Disneyland and don’t want to cough up an additional $100+ more per night to stay at a Disneyland hotel – it’s literally across the street from the main park entrances.
Furthermore, I got very lucky, having booked this hotel right after I registered for the race and then finding out right before race weekend that it was at most a 5 minute walk to the corral staging area for the half marathon.
The room itself was spacious and the beds weren’t completely uncomfortable, at least.

CONS:

We were ‘upgraded’ to a room on the 4th floor over Harbor Boulevard so while we had a view of the fireworks, the glass on the windows was weirdly cloudy or warped or something and it wasn’t exactly a great one, heh. Admittedly those aren’t really cons because it was a free ‘upgrade’, but I wouldn’t want to stay in one of those ‘park view’ rooms again. The noise from the road (and possibly the stairwell right by our room) was so bad that I barely got any sleep at all…which would be frustrating just about any time, but even more so when I only had about 6 hours TO sleep before getting up a little before 4 AM for the race.
Granted, some of this was surely a problem of thin walls/improper window sealings/etc. But I’m pretty sure that if we’d been staying at the back of the hotel we at least wouldn’t have experienced the noisiness of Harbor Boulevard [being right outside our window].
While the parking fee wasn’t too terrible, I don’t like that I had to hand over my keys in a valet-type situation for a parking situation where I could see my car in the lot. It was inconvenient, especially when we were putting stuff in the car for check-out purposes prior to heading over to Disneyland after I finished the race.

HALF MARATHON START

PROS:

Many [non-Disney-owned and therefore somewhat cheaper] hotels were within <10 minutes walking distance of the half marathon corral staging area, including (as mentioned above} my own! So I was actually able to get at least 45 minutes’ more sleep 😀
Because there were fewer people running the race as a whole, the corrals were of course smaller (numbers-wise) which meant that despite being in corral E *and* them starting about 5 minutes late, I crossed the start line at 5:33 AM. (Meaning even if they had started on time, I would have only waited 33 minutes instead of the 45 I waited the last time I was in corral E for a RunDisney half marathon…seemingly a million years ago, ha)

rundisney disneyland half marathon start

CONS:

This might have been better served in a “pre-race planning” section, but as most of the info for that is never available until the race guide comes out fairly soon before the event, it seems a bit silly to separate it out. Essentially, they needed better-labeled maps in the race guide for where you could enter the staging areas. I had to compare (1) my pinpointed location in the maps app on my phone to (2) the map my partner brought up in Google maps to (3) the graphic in the race guide that only had the cross streets labeled just to figure out APPROXIMATELY how I could walk over to the staging area…and even then was [granted, pleasantly] surprised to walk out of my hotel on race morning and realize that the entry (which at this point had an A-frame sign pointing where to go) was between my hotel and the Tropicana hotel next door. So yeah, the ‘where to go’ maps for pre- and post-race were terrible, haha.
*If* there were any pre-race photo ops or anything of the sort, they weren’t at all visible from where I entered the staging area, and as cast members were very pointedly directing everyone right to the corrals I didn’t feel comfortable wandering around to try to find any pre-race photo ops etc. that might exist :-/
I will say that I saw posts in the big RunDisney Facebook group that the security lines to get into the staging area were terrible for the 10k. One person said they got in line for security at about 4:15 AM and I believe claimed they didn’t get through it until around 4:45 AM. Whatever the issues were for the 10K, they were either (a) for another entrance, (b) they fixed them before the half, OR (c) the security lines were just cleared out if you arrived a bit later, because I walked right through when I arrived at about 4:35 AM through the entrance between the Camelot and Tropicana on Harbor.

THE RACE ITSELF

rundisney disneyland half marathon park pics

PROS:

Having experienced 4 previous RunDisney half marathons at WDW, the park portions of the course I ran often left a lot to be desired – the Princess Half is my personal least favorite course, because while sure! you get to run around Magic Kingdom!…the only other park (at least for the two I ran) was EPCOT and then only the front portion of it. So while there’s a lot to be said about the ‘meh’ organization of the Disneyland half marathon course, at the very least you got to run through a huge portion of both parks 🙂
As for the rest of the course, in this section I’ll just say: hey it was kinda neat to run by the Ducks arena and Angels stadium?
One thing I noticed that was really great was the number of spectators. I’m guessing the frequency of spectator groups along the course was due to so much of the course being on [fairly] easily accessible public property, versus at WDW where you can tell it’s really difficult for spectators to get to most portions of the course due to it all being on Disney roads and there not being publicly accessible side roads and parking lots. So as far as I can tell, if you want to cheer on a RunDisney racer, Disneyland is THE place for this! My amazing partner was even able to take a brief walk from our hotel to a spot on the last 0.1 mile of the course to support me 🙂

rundisney disneyland half marathon anaheim

CONS: (Ohhh where to start.)

While I admit that the logistics of a half marathon where most of the race has to be on public roads – meaning Disney has to work with the city of Anaheim, which was the reason the Disneyland races were put on hold from 2017 until now – have to be really difficult, the fact that most of the first mile of the race was on city streets, followed by miles 2, 3, and 4 in the parks, then hitting 5 as you exited Disneyland and spending the rest of the time on Anaheim roads…I don’t know, I expected it to be something like this, but it was still disappointing ::shrug::
Despite being warned of the problems with bottlenecking, I don’t know that any number of warnings could have truly prepared me for how often they happened and how bad they really were. The absolute worst was at the first water station – I came around a corner at a run, in that ‘dodge and weave’ zone as I tried to keep the pace I wanted to keep (but was of course having trouble with because I was randomly placed in corral E after having not seen a corral below C for any Disney race since the WDW Marathon Weekend half in 2019)…and then BAM! had to quite literally skid to a stop because there was a dozens-of-people-deep crowd shuffling along as they tried to make it through an already narrow path made even more narrow – and slow! – by the fact that THIS was where they chose to place a water station?! Argh. And there was at least one other in-park water station placed about as terribly after that!
I haven’t bothered to stop for a character photo op during a race for a long time. I don’t want to eat into my time by waiting in long lines, and the last time I stopped for a character that didn’t have much of a line the photopass person took two extremely blurry and unusable photos so it was a wash, anyway. Still, even I recognized that the character stops were often in odd places and badly lit to boot, making them really hard to notice – in fact, I ran by all but two of them and the rest of the ones that I DID see, I only realized after the fact that I had actually passed them by. While this might not be a big deal for ME, I’m frustrated on behalf of those who DO want to pause for photo ops.
And it wasn’t just the character photo ops! The only race photogs who had their places well-lit and obvious were the ones shooting people coming out of the castle. Granted, these were for sure the most important ones, but yet again I ran by the rest of them and only realized was doing so when I saw that the people I was passing were hamming it up for a camera. And while this might have caused me to miss some of the photogs along the course, I still doubt there were many more than a half dozen of them total. In fact, there are just 8 total photos in my photopass account, and only TWO of them are actually from the course itself.
Once we were out of the parks, no character stops, no course photogs, and I saw at least one person eat it BAD when they tripped over the white pavement markers in the center of the roads…not to mention reading numerous comments in the RunDisney Facebook group about others falling because of those, potholes, or railroad tracks. Thankfully for me the rest of the course was whatever because I was just trying to make up some of the time I’d lost in the park bottlenecks and while pausing for more photos than usual, and as previously mentioned the spectators were numerous and GREAT…plus it was neat to run by the Ducks arena and Angels stadium. But otherwise, meh, because at least with even the worst WDW courses, you get at least a bit of time in a park before that last tenth of a mile or so to the finish line.
Some of the mile markers in the parks (including the much-panned mile 3 marker) were in bad places, for sure, but the mile 13 marker was an effing TRAVESTY. As awesome as the spectator situation was for the rest of the race, the fact that they didn’t block off an area around THE FINAL MILE MARKER was *terrible* planning/a really bad decision…and also really disappointing.

rundisney disneyland half marathon 13 mile marker

THE END/POST-RACE SITUATION

PROS:

I was able to get back to my hotel room to get warm (because wow we had a cold snap here in CA and this was in the top 3 coldest RunDisney races I’ve ever run, of 11 total) in just a few minutes after exiting the post-race staging area…though let’s be real, this was entirely by chance, as I had no idea when I booked it that my hotel would be that close to the start/end point of the race. Sad to say, I legitimately have zero other pros for the post-race situation. So much so that I’m calling it a “situation” rather than an “experience”, ha.

rundisney disneyland half marathon post race

CONS:

Maybe other people have better photos, but I don’t have a single finish line picture that shows the finish arch.
No merch tents. No food/drink options other than the Powerade, water bottle, banana, and snack box they hand out (WDW has food and drink carts). No character photo ops that I could find (this is the time I usually stop for them 🙁 ) Not even the little “I did it” signs to hold in front of the RunDisney backdrops. I felt bad that my partner got up to meet me at the end of the race because if I had known the post-race staging area would be this lame, I would have told him to stay in bed, heh. (Note: I do understand that the area they use for post-race staging is much smaller than what is available at WDW, but at least when I was there it wasn’t really crowded at all and it looked to me as if they definitely COULD have had some of the aforementioned things available.)

rundisney disneyland half marathon finish pic — Seriously this is the best image they took of my finish. By far. ::sigh:: (I was flat-out running, too…weird that it looks like I’m walking haha)

IN CONCLUSION…

My official time was 2:39:19 – my third best half marathon time (again, out of five half marathons, and by about 5 minutes, to boot)…which to be honest isn’t bad considering the bottlenecks and my extra photo stops. And this race did teach me something – to allow myself some grace: by actually stopping for some photos (since I had obviously never run through the Disneyland parks before), and by listening to my body, including making a restroom stop but even more importantly, pausing for some additional stretching when my left hip started feeling tight at around the 11.5 mile mark. These things all served as reminders that no race is ever the same, and no matter what, I’m still proud AF of what I accomplished – including finishing 2,959th of 11,186 runners 🙂

Would I do another RunDisney Disneyland race? Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not entirely ruling it out, but I do feel for the people who traveled from afar (vs. my 50-ish minute drive to Anaheim and one night in a hotel that, with parking, cost $300). I think that if you’re a HUGE RunDisney fan and you’ve never experienced a Disneyland race, it’s…let’s say mostly worth it. But to be completely honest, if I had been on the east coast and paid not just the race registration fee + 60 miles roundtrip in gas + one night at a hotel, but instead, the current insane flight prices + rental car or rideshare fees from an airport + more than one night in a hotel…I would have been less in the “I’m glad I had this experience” boat and more in the “why did I do this to myself” boat, heh.

rundisney disneyland half marathon finish

Whirlwind NOLA: Mardi Gras Trip Part 2

Posted on March 25, 2023 by Tara Lynne

I already wrote about the awesome first part of Lundi Gras in my post detailing my absolutely amazing trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras…but now it’s time to talk about what we did that evening, because it was probably the best 6-ish hours of our vacation!

Our hotel was on Canal Street, but future experiences (read: the very next day) and my anxiety about being pressed in among strangers for long periods of time (or well, ok, at all – NOT my thing) made me SUPER happy that I ignored the “advice” I received on Reddit to not bother with stands.

Knowing that we only had these two days and needed to make the most of them, I took a chance – despite the aforementioned “advice” – and booked two spots in the stands at a hotel on St. Charles Ave. My ONLY complaint is that they advertised that there would be local food available for purchase, and I…don’t believe that was the case. (You could go inside the hotel to use the bathrooms, which was a HUGE plus, and also purchase drinks at the bar – and there was also a food cart outside, but it appeared to just have the basic fried chicken, burgers, etc. type options – no big deal, but maybe don’t advertise you’ll have true NOLA food if you, ya know, don’t.)

But hey, at least we got very close seats for these parades!

Anyway, we got to sit in the stands with a great mix of people – locals and tourists alike! – and we made a LOT of friends! (Let’s be real, that’s what two extroverts do, right?)

It was a LONG night, by the way – we arrived at the stands around 6 PM and waited quite a bit for the first parade – Rex – to come by. But WOW, was it worth it! As I already mentioned, we met so many friends – including the Australian couple who was sitting next to us (and who we convinced to check out our favorite brewery, Brieux Carre, the next day)…

….as well as a local woman who was there with her two little girls 🙂

Because by the way – us being tall people, we caught a LOT of throws from both Rex and Orpheus that night – which meant we also got to pass them around to the little kids who weren’t quite tall enough to catch them. Let’s just say that I caught a seahorse plushie from Orpheus that I absolutely wanted to keep, but let’s be real, the kiddo wanted/needed it more 🙂

But that’s the true spirit of Mardi Gras, isn’t it? It’s celebration, it’s giving, and it’s loving the city and the people around you. And when one of the little girls was admiring the hat that I’d made especially for this trip, I realized…what was the point of bringing it home, when I could give it to a child who lived in this amazing city, a child who appreciated it and would hopefully continue to appreciate it for years to come? So…I did 🙂

At the end of the night – and it was a WAY later night than we prepared for, considering we had to get up pretty early the next morning – we realized that we’d had the best experience we could have, well, experienced. We met new out-of-town friends who had never been to NOLA and were able to give them suggestions about the places we loved…and we got to meet a local who was actually part of the Zulu crew the next day, and were able to give her two amazing little girls a great night by making sure they got the throws they wanted and passing on my hat to a kiddo who was super excited to perch it on her adorable little head 🙂

Needless to say, as much as we enjoyed the next day, I think our Lundi Gras experiences were the highlight of our trip!

Whirlwind NOLA: Mardi Gras Trip Part 1

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Tara Lynne

For Christmas 2021 I surprised my partner Dean with a trip to Maui for his big present, and while I knew I would be hard-pressed to outdo that, for Christmas 2022 I surprised him with a trip back to what we affectionately call “our place”: New Orleans, of course!

But not just ANY trip to New Orleans – a whirlwind 3 night/2 day trip for Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras!!

So unfortunately, our trip did NOT get off to an auspicious start – before I even got through security at the local airport, the connecting flight was delayed by 30 minutes. This was the first time I had flown Southwest since their holiday meltdown, and when we flew to and from Hawaii with them in March 2022 we had experienced delays (albeit minor ones), so I wasn’t feeling super great about actually getting to NOLA in a timely manner.

In the end, I was right to be concerned. I was supposed to land in New Orleans at 11:10 PM….but it was after 1 AM before I arrived. I’d already planned on collecting my bag, grabbing a rideshare to the hotel, checking in and going to bed…but there’s a big difference between a just-after-midnight and a nearly-2-AM bedtime at my age, haha.

But hey, no need to let that ruin a vacation as a whole! We were up and at ’em by mid-morning on Lundi Gras, and hoping to grab some beignets at Cafe Beignet on Canal…unfortunately, the line looked like a 30+ minute wait, and as my layover had happened in one of those airports that had next to no food options later in the evening, I was STARVING.

And truth be told, I also wanted bergnerts. Begnets. BINYAYS. (Okay listen you had to be there.)

Luckily, we found “Hot Benny’s” on Canal – which to be honest didn’t have the local feel we love, and also had very few drink options outside of hot/iced coffee type drinks, but the bergnerts were great and my iced latte hit the spot…plus, there was basically no wait, even on Lundi Gras 😉

After that, it was back to the hotel to stock up – aka grab a mixed drink from the bar – before we meandered through the French Quarter on our way to our favorite brewery, Brieux Carré!

Now to be fair, I knew that the Krewe of Red Beans was parading through this area starting at 2 PM, but also, I will never pass up a 90s Power Ballad or one of BC’s delicious schwarzbiers…so it was a fun midday break with great beers while we waited for Red Beans to make its way through the Marigny 🙂

After Red Beans, it was time to make our way back to the hotel to freshen up and head to the Zulu Lundi Gras Festival! This is where Dean and I parted ways for a bit because his aim was seafood (and I can’t eat most shellfish, unfortunately) and my aim was making sure I saw the the Zulu King and Queen arrive…but hey, I got some amazing King Cake bread pudding along the way!

I also met some awesome people who hung out and chatted with me while we watched the Zulu King and Queen give their speeches. I’ll just say that I had some incredible experiences over the two days we were there, and this was absolutely one of them.

That’s just part one of our amazing first of two days in NOLA for Mardi Gras…stay tuned for more fun, because we LOVE this city and it’s always an amazing time when we experience it 🙂

Red Dead IRL: Saint Denis/New Orleans, Part 1

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Tara Lynne

New Orleans has always been one of my favorite places to visit, so I’m sure you can imagine how excited I was to see so many familiar places copied over into RDR2’s Saint Denis. From the moment I first rode through those streets as Arthur Morgan, I knew I had to go back to NOLA and place as many of them as I could in real life.

And hey, this is me, so ya know, why not do it in cosplay?

Also me being me – that is, super type A – I did a TON of research prior to going on this trip. Not just a lot of googling and searching through every Red Dead subreddit that I could find; I also talked to people I know who live in (or are frequent visitors to) New Orleans, poured through an old NOLA guidebook that I own, and even went back through photos from my past trips there.

I definitely didn’t get to map every single spot that exists both in game and in real life, but I added the following locations – plus a few other fun photo spots – to a Google Map for sharing purposes.

Starting from the ‘top’ of the French Quarter and working your way down through it, here’s what I found:
– LaLaurie Mansion – Bastille Saloon
– 1041 Royal Street – Doyle’s Tavern
– Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop – Random building
– Jackson Square – Tailor, statue, etc.
– Napoleon House – La Riviere Cafe
– Latrobe’s – Lemoyne National Bank
– New Orleans Police Department – Lemoyne Supreme Court
– Ochsner Urgent Care French Quarter – Barbour & Crosby Real Estate

Next, a few quick stops in the Garden District can be sandwiched between visits to Lee Circle and St Stephen Church.

– Confederate Memorial Hall in Lee Circle – Quincy Harris Memorial Hall
– Seven Sisters – Random homes in game
– Women’s Opera Guild Home – Random home in game
– Morris Israel House – Random home in game
– Commander’s Palace Restaurant – Random building in game (on edge of Saint Denis)
– St. Stephen Church – Larger cathedral in St Denis

Despite spending the better part of a day wandering around New Orleans, we still didn’t even get to make stops at all of the places I marked on my map…but hey, that just means I have an excuse to go back to “Saint Denis” and finish my explorations, right?

I’m still in the process of gathering decent screenshots of the Saint Denis versions of these buildings, as well as marking them on a game map, so stay tuned for part 2 of my Saint Denis/New Orleans comparison!

A Last Minute (But Awesome!) Day at Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival

Posted on November 18, 2017 by Tara Lynne

Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2017

I’ve been to Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival many times throughout the years…in fact, I’d have to sit down and really think back to figure out the exact number of times.

In the past, I went to eat my favorite samples (escargots from France, fried goat cheese with honey and pistachios from Greece, and the cheddar cheese soup from Canada)…but more than anything, I went to drink, because all those extra Food and Wine Festival booths allowed for a great change of pace for someone who has gone Drinking Around the World as many times as I have.

To be honest, the past couple times I went to the Food and Wine Festival I wasn’t all that impressed with the food samples. They changed the way they served the escargots, the fried goat cheese just wasn’t as good, and while the soup was fine, by itself it wasn’t worth braving the crowds and long lines that have plagued the festival much more than they used to.

I also remember hearing complaints about the portions not being worth one’s money, and while I personally didn’t actively complain about this, I also didn’t disagree. So imagine my surprise when I visited Epcot this past weekend – on the second-to-last day of the 2017 Food and Wine Festival – and experienced not just large portions but also cast members who kept things flowing so that we never waited more than 5 minutes to order (and rarely more than a couple minutes to get our food).

My one rule this year was that I would try different samples, and having someone to share them with allowed me to order a lot more than I have in the past…

epcot food and wine festival 2017

Clockwise from top left:
The Cheese Studio – Savory Caramelized Onion and Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Tart
Flavors from Fire – Smoked Corn Beef with Warm Crispy Potatoes, Pickled Onions, and Blonde Ale Beer Fondue
Refreshment Port – Croissant Donut
Australia – Lamington
Brazil – Pao de Queijo

I also got to taste the Grilled Beef Skewer from Earth Eats, the Loaded Mac-n-Cheese from Active Eats, and yes, the Croissant aux Escargots from France. While none of my samples were bad, the only ones that really stood out were the Croissant Donut (I’ve had “cronuts” before but this one was the best ever, trust me) and the Grilled Beef Skewer (it was a pleasant surprise, especially as it featured apricots and feta).

Overall, I was really happy with the food this year…which does a good job of making up for the fact that the drink options were average at best. In fact, nothing that I drank was particularly memorable; mostly I’m just sad that I missed out on trying the Chilled Coffee from Belgium and the Mmmhops Pale Ale from Block & Haus (yes, “Mmmhops” – it’s from the Hansen brothers’ brewery, and yes, I’m as shocked as you probably are that this exists). But hey, there’s always next year!

Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2017

RunDisney: What I’ve Learned & How I Got Hooked

Posted on November 10, 2017 by Tara Lynne

For what seems like half my adult life, I’ve had friends who participated in RunDisney events, but even though I’ve been running on a regular basis since 2004, I never really thought about participating myself.

In fact, I didn’t even run my first 5k until 2012, and while I really enjoyed it and ran several more throughout the years, I never really planned on doing longer races. Between that and the expense involved in traveling to Orlando on top of the cost of the RunDisney races themselves, I couldn’t really justify doing any of them.

Of course, fast forward several years and here I am, once again living in the Orlando area. And yet if it weren’t for the Star Wars Half Marathon weekend, I’m still not sure I would have entered a RunDisney race. But this is me we’re talking about here – obviously I couldn’t pass up doing a Star Wars themed race! I actually wanted to do the 10k, but by the time I heard about these races at all that one was already sold out. (Seriously, that’s RunDisney Lesson #1: Register as early as possible!)

Thankfully the entire weekend wasn’t sold out, and I was able to run the 5k. Honestly even with the money I paid to run the dang race, I’m still surprised I dragged myself out of bed for it…there were a lot of 5k’s I would have liked to run back in Greenville but could never bring myself to sign up for because they started at, say, 8 AM on a Saturday. (I’m just not one for getting up that early on the weekends.) The race time for the Star Wars 5k at Disney was 6 AM…with participants required to be in their corrals by 5:30 AM.

I live 45 minutes away from Disney. It was a very, very early morning.

But I’m getting ahead of myself! The day before my race I had to go to Wide World of Sports to pick up my bib, and because I didn’t read everything they sent me when I registered, I had no idea that there was a whole expo going on during bib pick-up hours! Tons of running gear and RunDisney merchandise, on-site massages, even freebies here and there – I never thought I’d walk into a marketplace for runners and have to spend the entire time reminding myself that I’m a broke artist who can’t afford $100 compression running tights or an $80 shirt that says “Running + Wine” on it. Talk about RunDisney Lesson #2: You’ll want to buy a lot of stuff, so save up that money! (Or if you can’t/don’t save up money, maybe don’t go wandering through the expo.)

They even had RunDisney vacation planners there! Now, you can’t simply register for the races – they’re there to help you plan a full RunDisney vacation , which I learned only after talking to one of them for about 20 minutes. However, I’m still glad I spent that time talking to them, because if I hadn’t I wouldn’t know RunDisney Lesson #3: If a race is sold out, there’s a chance you can still get in if you book a vacation package with it. In fact, that’s how I was able to register for the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February – it was sold out online, but I booked two nights at one of the All Star resorts and was able to snag a race spot along with that. Now I’m just trying to convince myself it’s worth the expense because I’ll get to sleep about an hour longer and not have to drive home right after running 13.6 miles.

I’m sure you’re wondering how this is all worth it, when RunDisney race registrations cost three to five times more than your average race registration. The thing is, I know that for most people it’s probably one of those “you won’t understand until you try” things. That’s how it was for me, anyway, even though for years now I’ve had several friends telling me how fun these races were…which I guess makes that RunDisney Lesson #4: You have to experience a RunDisney race firsthand in order to understand it [and likely – possibly inevitably – get hooked].

The excitement was palpable the morning of the Star Wars 5k. There was music, a fun announcer, participants dressed up in fun outfits (and sometimes even costumes)…it was impossible to not be excited. And then along the race course there were photo ops with characters and tons of photopass employees snapping pictures of the runners…not to mention the fun of running through Epcot at dawn.

And if that’s not enough to convince you, at the end you’re handed an actual medal! (No other race I’ve ever run has given out participation medals, and the RunDisney ones are AWESOME!) Not only that, there’s plenty of free bottled water and gatorade, fresh fruit, and snack boxes…and then even more photo ops, both in front of a RunDisney background and with more characters…and in my case those character photo ops were a huge plus because yes, they were Star Wars characters!

My one regret from my first RunDisney race was that prior to the run, I didn’t know RunDisney Lesson #5: They don’t time their 5k’s. So just keep in mind that if you want to know your race time one of their 5k’s, you have to clock it yourself.

As much fun as I’ve had running races in the past, none of them even come close to how amazing that Star Wars 5k was…and not just because it was Star Wars. I loved it so much that when I got home later that morning, I immediately signed up for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend (which took place just last weekend) and the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in January 2018. For Wine & Dine, I had to sign up for the Two-Course Challenge, as that’s all they had left. This meant running a 10k on Saturday 11/4 and then a half marathon on Sunday 11/5, which seemed crazy at the time and unfortunately still seems crazy now, as I ended up with a bum hip prior to the race weekend and was only able to run in the 10k, anyway.

I keep trying to tell myself it’s okay that I listened to my body and didn’t overdo it by running the half last weekend…and anyway, I’m registered for the half marathon – and only the half marathon – in January. I have over two months to heal and train, and if I’m honest with myself, I need that time in order to run the best race I can for my first half marathon EVER 🙂

With the Wine & Dine 10k, I also got to run through another park, as both Hollywood Studios and Epcot were part of the course. And despite the problems I’ve been having with my hip and the fact that the RunDisney courses are far more crowded than most of your average local road races, I ran my first official 10k in 1:13:03. (Although that’s the official RunDisney time; my personal ‘stopwatch’ on my phone says 1:13:00.18!) And as a side note, that brings me to RunDisney Lesson #6: People will cut you off – a lot. Most of the time they aren’t doing it on purpose, but it will happen. People will also pass on the left. I passed on the left. If you’re running in one of these races and care about your time, you will inevitably cut someone off (hopefully not on purpose!) and/or have to pass on the left. If you don’t care about your time, don’t get too frustrated or yell at people for mistakenly cutting you off or for passing on the left. (I personally did not get yelled at for cutting anyone off, nor did I yell at anyway, though I did definitely get frustrated a couple of the times it happened…and yes, I did pass on the left and get yelled at for it.)

I’m sure that I’ll learn more lessons when I run in the half marathon and the Princess half marathon early next year, but for now I’ll leave you with RunDisney Lesson #7: Be prepared for some fun outfits/costumes. And if you’re so inclined, definitely wear one yourself! I personally probably won’t wear a crazy costume, but I have tried to wear fun yet comfortable running outfits for both of my races…and I’m still trying to come up with some more fun outfits for the next two. Any suggestions?

My Personal “Most Fun Cities” List

Posted on November 25, 2016 by Tara Lynne

Recently timeout.com made a list of the most fun cities in the world. This list included 18 cities, and I’ll admit, I’ve only been to about a quarter of those places.

Still, I don’t really agree with some of their choices, and while I sadly have to limit my list to North America and Europe, I can’t pretend that I’ve yet been able to satisfy my dreams of visiting Great Britain, Norway and Sweden, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, Japan, Australia, and Thailand…at the VERY least. That said? I know I’ve been lucky to travel as much as I have. Privileged, even. So this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for the chances I’ve had to explore this world and I hope that I’ll have more of them 🙂

But I still have my own opinions about the most fun cities out there, and I also don’t think 18 is a high enough number…even if I were to include every city in the Time Out article. Again, this is coming from someone who has been to many Caribbean islands, almost 3/4 of the states in the U.S., and a dozen European countries. I’m sure there are likely Asian, Scandinavian, Middle Eastern, African, and/or Australian locations that should be added…but I stand by my personal North American/European selections for now.

While I do believe that some of these cities are more fun than others, I couldn’t possibly put them in any order that I’d be 100% satisfied with, so instead I’m just going to list them alphabetically 🙂

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
My sister and I spent several days in Amsterdam in 2007. It was a long time ago, but on my first day there I knew that this was one of those cities I would be obsessed with returning to at some point in my life. We experienced art, we experienced history, we experienced food, and we experienced partying…partying in ways that can’t be described, ways that you can only experience in Amsterdam.

Berlin, Germany
Berlin was one of those places that I considered a stop on the way to somewhere better, and to be honest, even after spending several days there I was ready to move on. (It didn’t help that a lot of our time was spent doing things like walking up and down the Berlin Wall, visiting a nearby concentration camp, and other such unhappy historical things.) Anyway, what’s important is that after I moved on, I couldn’t get Berlin out of my head. I still can’t. It is, like Amsterdam, one of those places I’m dying to visit again.

Boston, Massachusetts, USA
I’m from New England, so I had to include a New England city, of course! While I’ve had amazing times in Providence, Rhode Island and in many little New England towns scattered throughout Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine…Boston is always the place that stands out. The breweries, Boston Common, the Freedom Trail, Cambridge but also its *nightlife*, and of course Fenway (especially if you can see a Red Sox game). And honestly, combine the breweries and a Red Sox game and some of that nightlife and you can’t help but have a great time.

Budapest, Hungary
There’s a lot to love about Budapest. The crazy public transportation, the confusing money, the castle on its hilltop (and the cellar wine tastings that can be found up there), the thermal baths, the beauty combined with a lively vibe that you almost wouldn’t expect…add all of that together and I can’t imagine not having a good time in this gorgeous city.

Charleston, South Carolina, USA
There’s literally nothing better than a random weekend in historic downtown Charleston. I’m not big on shopping, but doing it here is a total blast, mostly due to the open market – but there are also some great art galleries/stores spread throughout the historic district. There are carriage tours, walking tours, even tours by car that will tell you everything you want to and more about the city…and at the end of the day, there’s “The Original” Pub & Brewery Tours of Charleston, which offers the best historical pub tours and brewery bus tours in the city, as well as other events throughout the year. I’ve been on three of their tours and I can’t speak highly enough of them! (P.S. Charleston has great beer and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!)

Chicago, Illinois, USA
After several trips to Chicago the best thing I can say is that I still don’t feel like I’ve experienced enough. The museums, the lakefront, and the Miracle Mile are all great; but that’s nothing compared to a Wrigleyville party, a pizza pot pie and some wine or beer paid for in cash at Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder, a night at Second City, or a baseball game. Chicago is easy to navigate and there is something for everyone and I know I’ll return again and again.

Denver, Colorado, USA
Denver is another place that surprised me when it came to mind as I made this list. But then I realized that it’s close to a major airport, close to amazing skiing, and has its own fun draws as well. If you’re up for a toke, for instance, pot is legal…but the last time I was there the most fun thing was to map out a brewery tour that left from my hotel and circled back around to it. The best thing? This tour allowed me to walk no more than a half mile at a time (and even that longer distance only happened twice between stops), visit (in the end) half a dozen Denver breweries, and just generally lead me on a fun tour of the city. There is so much to do in and around Denver that I can’t imagine anyone not loving this place.

Dublin, Ireland
I’ll admit, I visited Dublin just once…and it was over 16 years ago. But the fact that it hasn’t faded from my memory even after all this time is what says a lot. I was awkward and shy in high school, and I’d only just started coming out of my shell when I ended up in a college that shoved me right back into that shell…only thankfully, around that time I had the opportunity to go to Ireland for spring break as part of a study program (including a scholarship that paid for most of the trip), and I fell in love with Dublin the moment I stepped off the bus from the airport. It was March, it was dreary, and it was beautiful. The Guinness brewery was a ton of fun, the Temple Bar area was great, and everywhere I went, people wanted to talk to me. I don’t mean for that to sound stuck up; I was used to being in the background, feeling awkward at the least and anxious at the worst. But suddenly, in Dublin, I felt *alive*. I felt like I was part of things. And that memory has never left me.

Greenville, South Carolina & Asheville, North Carolina, USA
I think I would be remiss if I didn’t include Greenville, because despite growing up in Connecticut and living in Massachusetts, Virginia, and the Orlando area off and on, Greenville is the one place I always go back to. Sadly, while I can’t admit that it deserves an entry all its own, by combining it with Asheville (which also doesn’t deserve an entry all its own), everybody wins. Greenville has some great restaurants, bars, and breweries – and if you’re a Red Sox fan, seeing their farm team (The Greenville Drive) at Fluor Field is a must. Combine that with even more breweries in Asheville, the Biltmore House (which has a winery and a tour that includes samples), and the generally picturesque surroundings, and you can have an amazing long weekend and still not experience everything that this area has to offer.

Key West, Florida, USA
You know what the most surprising thing about Key West is? Technically, you’re *not* supposed to have open containers on the streets! But you know, just don’t be stupid and you won’t have to worry about that 😉 That said, there are tons of other awesome things to experience here…the Southernmost Point, the Hemingway House, Blue Heaven for brunch (great Bloody Marys!), Cuban Coffee Queen if you need a pick-me-up, Sloppy Joe’s or the Green Parrot for late-night bars, and Fort Jackson if you want a good beach. Most of the historic district is walkable, there’s plenty of other stuff to do, but let’s not lie – Key West is mostly about the party.

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Does. This. Even. Need. An. Explanation?
I could say gambling, clubs, great restaurants, no open container laws, champagne brunches, shows, and more, but…
The answer is no. You really only need pictures. (And I’m only going to include one picture each from my last three Vegas trips – just FYI, I’ve been twelve times!)

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
I’ve been lucky to have not one but two amazing trips to NOLA. The first time was during Mardi Gras season – not over the holiday itself, but as it happened we were there when the Saints won their first ever (and so far only) Superbowl…and the second time was for Halloween, which was a complete blast, if not quite as epic as my trip there in February 2010. Regardless, there’s so much more than Bourbon Street (although that’s quite a party) and the French Quarter…there’s Frenchmen Street if you want some great music, the Garden District if you want to see gorgeous houses and other historic sites, Tipitina’s for even more great music…and one more quick French Quarter shout out, Napoleon’s for the food and the Pimm’s Cups. The people are friendly, there’s history and nightlife…what more could you want?

Orlando, Florida, USA
Walt Disney World. Universal Studios Orlando. Church Street. Lake Eola Park. Some of these things surely sound familiar to you while some of them may not, but all of them are amazing. Is Orlando historical? No. Is it beautiful? Not really. But if you want to have some fun, you can drink around the world in EPCOT at Disney, try brews in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade at Universal, hang out in the Church Street Station area, or even just take a walk around Lake Eola Park and check out some of the bars and restaurants in that vicinity. But hey, let’s not lie, you’re more likely to come here for the theme parks qwe454or a convention 😉

San Francisco, California, USA
I think the best part about San Fran is that you can visit all of the touristy places and also fit in a few less likely stops in just a few days…and in those few days, there are plenty of fun options that don’t involve the touristy stuff. But really, how can you convince yourself not to visit Haight-Ashbury? Or if you’re a geek, find George Lucas’s house with the faux robot out front? And don’t even get me started on hanging out in Alamo Square to get a picture of the Full House house in the background. If you’re a baseball fan and can afford the drinks, the Giants stadium is gorgeous (with a great view) and they keep the alcohol flowing. Then there’s the usual stuff like Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz, and of course the Golden Gate Bridge. I honestly can’t even imagine visiting this city during Pride; it would probably be the most amazing experience of my life. Everything about San Fran is fun and welcoming and there always seems to be some sort of party going on.

Vienna, Austria
There’s these sausages you can buy. They hollow out a small loaf of French bread, pour some sort of life-changing mustard sauce in it, and then insert a cheese-infused sausage. And it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted. It’s the perfect late-night snack, or hey, you can have it for lunch (with a cold beer) in the middle of the day…all while exploring the gorgeous sites of Vienna. The Spanish Riding School, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and the Schonnbrunn Palace, just to name a few. There’s also the infamous Vienna Schnapps Museum, and, if you’re looking for nightlife, the area they call “The Bermuda Triangle“. I sincerely believe that there’s something for everyone in Vienna, and when I explain it to people I call it “the other Paris” – where people are more friendly, accommodations are cheaper, and you can actually experience the local festivals without fighting to be there in every way possible.

Maybe this is too little too late, and above all please excuse me for using so many pictures of myself. One never knows how one’s friends will take to being featured in a blog entry, after all 😉

I’d love to hear some input on the best Middle Eastern, African, Asian, and Australian cities, so please feel free to leave a comment. There are a lot of places on my “to visit” list, but it can’t hurt to make that list longer and hope for opportunities! For instance, I didn’t list any cities in Alaska or Hawaii, which are both must-sees in my opinion, but sadly don’t include a “most fun city” (at least in my opinion). Like I said, though, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

A Wonderful Day of Food & Wine at EPCOT

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Tara Lynne

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I am so lucky to have the friends that I do. Last weekend I got to visit EPCOT, which was cool in and of itself because it’s Food & Wine Festival time right now…but even more exciting was the fact that I got to see my friend Melissa run one of the official Food & Wine cooking demos!

We started the day at Disney Springs – it was only a brief stop, but I got to visit the Star Wars and Marvel stores. The former had so many awesome things for sale that I can’t wait to go back if I ever have money to spend (ha) – the latter seemed a bit thrown-together, but man, I do want that Avengers Dooney & Bourke purse that they had on display! (Oh, and this set of BB-8 Mickey Ears is an eventual necessity. Yes, the shirt and purse are already mine.)

From there we went to EPCOT, and wow was it crowded. I blame this on it being the second to last weekend of Food & Wine and the Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend. Thankfully we still got to ride the new Soarin’ (I didn’t even know it was changed to Soarin’ over the world – or if I did, I’d forgotten about it), *and* wander back and forth through the World Showcase, sampling food and drink. (A lot of drink.)

But of course the highlight of the day was seeing Melissa’s presentation! She made vegetarian ‘chicken’ pot pie with cheddar drop biscuits. Sadly they ran out of the pot pie portion of the meal before they got around to our table, but we did get a whole ton of biscuits and extra wine, both of which were delicious 😉

Sorry not sorry for the picture dump – I’m just really proud of Melissa! She was on the College Program when I was a Restaurant Guest Service Manager for Sunset Ranch Market at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and she was one of the best CP students we had. She returned to school, got her degree, held leadership positions at restaurants outside of Disney and Orlando, and then returned to WDW and rocketed up to where she is now. She’s a hard worker who deserves everything that comes her way. (Oh, and her husband Adrian, who also worked for me at SRM, is pretty great, too!)

After the demonstration, we wandered a bit more, got more drinks, and even eventually went on Test Track. Food-wise, I tried the Greek cake (which was not as good as the fried goat cheese with honey and pistachios, sadly) as well as the Escargots Croissant (again not as good as the single-bite escargot pastries they used to have). Thankfully the pierogies from the Poland installment were still the same!

Oh, and I’d forgotten that they let you “build” your own car for Test Track now, and that you compete against the others in your group. Brian and I with our car “CHEVROLET MECHANICORE TANK OF DOOM” went up against Melissa and Adrian’s “Lisa Frank DOMINANT” and Andrew and Merrilynn’s “Clifford the Big Red Car”. Every single one of our vehicles looked ridiculous (though I think the others looked way crazier than MECHANICORE, but no matter how balanced they tried to make their cars, it turns out that power is what really wins in the end, and we dosed MECHANICORE with a lot of that. (Oh, how sadly appropriate that is right now…power is what really wins in the end. Ugh.)

Anyway, I hadn’t been to Disney since this past January and it was a welcome Sunday getaway from the “real world”…that being a shitty Walking Dead episode and a shockingly horrid presidential election.

But hey, “Forward always. Always forward.” Until the next adventure, I remain, your pansexual SJW female entrepreneur buddy,

Tara Lynne

Not a Con 4.0: VEGAS WARS

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Tara Lynne

Soon after the very first Ice & Fire Con in April 2013, a group of friends and I planned a trip back to the convention’s first location, Ravenwood Castle. It took place in October of that year – about halfway between Ice & Fire Con 2013 and 2014 – and even though the “attendees” (and now the location) have changed, Not a Con continues to be an annual tradition that I wouldn’t miss for the world.

(Although I guess technically it’s being replaced by Beach City Con next year, but I swear we’ll have a winter Not a Con to make up for that!)

We held three Not a Cons at Ravenwood; in 2013 we went with a pirate theme (for the most part, anyway); 2014 was A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones; 2015 was Harry Potter. While we didn’t go all-out with the theme this year like we did the first three times, that was mostly due to the fact that Not a Con 2016 took place in Las Vegas. Still, we threw a bit of Star Wars into the mix and therefore dubbed Not A Con 4.0 “Vegas Wars”.

So what do you get when you mix four nights in Vegas, a Mirage hospitality suite, ten amazing people, and a whole lot of crap…s?

Well, one of the best Vegas trips I’ve ever had, that’s for sure.

While I used to visit Vegas more often, the past few years I’ve limited my visits and instead made sure that when I do go, I go all out. This time around, I hadn’t been out to this crazy city for almost two years (the last time being over New Year’s 2014-2015), and thanks to the fact that my friends were willing to go along with so many of my crazy schemes, we stayed in an amazing suite *that had a pool table*, I got to spend an evening riding around in a limo, we all took a day to laze and drink at a pool party, see the Chainsmokers perform, and then we wrapped up the trip by experiencing an absolutely perfect VIP table at HYDE Bellagio (with a view of the fountains and all).

Oh, and yes, we played (or watched other members of our group play) a lot of craps.

So without further ado, I bring you the basics of this Vegas trip, because to tell any more would be to forsake that infamous rule, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”…

NOT A CON 4.0: VEGAS WARS

THE THEME
Star Wars…sort of

THE CAST
“Auntie Tara” a.k.a. the one who got stuck with a $14 charge when someone touched the mini bar in our suite
“Brian E” a.k.a. Chocolate King
“Katherine” a.k.a. The Newb
“RJ” a.k.a. The Responsible One
“Jasmine’s Brian” a.k.a. The Quiet One
“Jasmine Venusaur” a.k.a. The Slot Queen
“K2D2” a.k.a. The Napper
“Frank” a.k.a. Poop Trousers
“ASHURISAN” a.k.a. The Best Selling Author of “If I Did It”
“Ser Dunkin Keith” a.k.a. The White Castle Culprit
* With special guest appearances by: *
PHYLLIS JAGER
&
CHUCK MALCOLM

THE LOCATIONS
Basically everywhere on the Las Vegas Strip but mostly…
– The Linq
– Harrah’s
– Any “Shoot to Win” Craps Machine
– The Mirage (specifically suite A22)
– Sephora at The Shops at Caesar’s
– Mon Ami Gabi at The Paris
– That shady casino across from The Mirage
– The Las Vegas sign
– Fremont Street
– Some Brazilian Steakhouse
– A horrible California Pizza Kitchen
– Chuck Malcolm’s ledge at Hakkasan
– The Rockhouse at The Venetian…or the Palazzo…whatever, I can’t remember
– The Drunk Canadian Tour Guide’s Luxor Experience
– HYDE Bellagio
– Cravings Buffet at The Mirage

THE EVENTS
Drinking
Gambling
Drinking some more
Gambling some more
A couple decent meals
Drinking some more
Gambling some more
Awful late-night snack decisions
The Bathtub Incident
Drinking some more
Gambling some more
Oh and dancing, there was dancing too
(And a lot of walking. Like almost too much walking, even for me.)

All I have to say is that this was definitely one of my best Vegas trips ever – certainly in the top three – and that I can’t wait to plan another Vegas trip, OR another Not a Con…though next time I think we’ll continue our trend of visiting different places. Let’s just say that I’m still pushing for Not a Con 5.0 a.k.a. SKI KHAAAANNN 2.0 in Colorado in early 2018 😉

Travel Tuesday: My Las Vegas Bucket List

Posted on September 20, 2016 by Tara Lynne

Okay, I’ll admit it – most of this list is copied from my old blog. But hey, I have more Vegas trips under my belt…and another one coming up soon. So here’s my Vegas bucket list so far!

Also, I apologize for some minor formatting issues. Sometimes WordPress hates me ::sigh::

1) Stay up all night
This is one that I’ve actually accomplished several times over 😉 I’d say the most epic time, though, was in May 2011 – when I woke up at 9:30 AM and somehow stayed awake until my 2:30 PM flight the next day! Those last several hours were rough to say the least, but I made it! (That said, probably the second most epic all nighter was with my best friend Jenna, because we both caught flights on the east coast at like 6 AM and stayed up until 7:30 AM Vegas time the next day…and a lot of those wee hours of the morning were spent hanging out with a guy who just hangs out on the Strip playing the saxophone and hearing his crazy decades worth of Vegas stories.)

2) See a show
Another one I’ve experienced more than once! I saw the Cirque du Soleil Beatles show, LOVE, and Peepshow back when Holly Madison was in it. Both were epic, though Peepshow was a lot more, you know, Vegas 😉 However, they were trumped by Absinthe, which I saw on my New Year’s Vegas trip 2014-2015.

3) Spend someone’s 21st birthday in Vegas
This was actually my second trip to Vegas – I took my baby sister there for her 21st! We were joined by our other sister Christy, our cousin Katie, and our good friend Lauren, and to this day it is still one of my favorite trips ever (yeah, not just one of my favorite VEGAS trips – one of my favorite trips EVER 😉 )

4) Visit Vegas over Halloween
Some day…some day…

5) Visit the Hoover Dam

When I took my baby sister to Vegas for her 21st birthday, the Hoover Dam was the one thing we did to prove to my parents that we weren’t just in Vegas to party…haha.

6) Get a tattoo

I finally accomplished this on my last trip to Vegas! My friend Natalie and I had quite the adventure finding a tattoo parlor that had been suggested to us and that turned out to no longer be open…but we tracked down one of the artists at another shop and I finally got my number 13 on the back of my neck 😉

7) Stay in a suite

This is another two-timer! Most recently we had a suite at the Mirage for my 30th birthday, but it was definitely most exciting the very first time 😉 That said…I’ll be doing it all over again next month with some amazing friends, many of whom have never even been to Vegas, and I can’t wait!

8) Spend New Year’s Eve in Vegas

Thanks to my lovely friend Natalie (who convinced me to meet her, our other friend Natalie, and their friend Gabby in Vegas for New Year’s), I finally accomplished this over New Year’s Eve 2014-2015. I don’t think I’d do it again (it was a bit crazy even for me), but I did have an amazing time!

9) Visit Red Rock Canyon

Kind of a random decision, really – but another time where I thought, “I’ve seen so much of what Vegas has to offer, maybe I should get outside of the city and explore a little bit.” And what better time than during my 30th birthday trip? (Well, minus the fact that it was freezing cold that day…)

10) Get a table/do bottle service at a club

This activity has become kind of a staple, because I’m old now (heh) and like to be able to, you know, sit down once in a while. Even when I’m out clubbing in Vegas 😉 I got hooked on this the first time I did it, for sure.

11) See a Vegas wedding

Okay, so *technically* it was a vow renewal, but since it was a full-blown Elvis-themed vow renewal at one of the infamous Vegas chapels, I’m counting it! I actually attended this just this past weekend – the cousins of my good friend Natalie did it – and it was hilarious and a blast and such a cool way for them to celebrate their 15th anniversary!

12) Go to one of the big pool parties

So I had attended a sort of pool party at Bare at the Mirage many years ago – but I wanted to check out one of the named ones! Though we went on a Thursday and it wasn’t nearly as insane as it is on the weekends, we rented a bungalow at Wet Republic and it was amazing…and after my upcoming trip I’ll be able to say I did a cabana at The Linq pool party as well!

13) Spend MY birthday in Vegas!
In 2010 I went the week after my birthday, but in 2012 I planned a big 30th bday trip with some awesome friends. It was my best birthday ever and the perfect way to spend my 30th…I’d do a Vegas birthday again in a heartbeat, for myself or anyone else!

14) Rent/ride in a limo for no reason

Since I’ve visited Vegas with sizable groups of friends several times over the years, we’ve actually taken a lot of random rides in limos – often doing so ends up being the same price as (or cheaper than) taking a cab, when you’ve got 8 or more people and you’d have to split up anyway. But there was one time when five of us outright rented a limo for the evening kind of “just because” – visited the Vegas sign, and downtown Vegas, and then had it drop us off at Encore so we could go to XS for the night. Champagne was included (well, a bottle of it was) and it was a blast! (Not surprisingly.)

15) Go on one of the helicopter rides/tours over the Strip

16) Get a picture with the Las Vegas sign

I’ve actually visited the Vegas sign twice, but honestly it’s hard to get a decent picture there! I hope to return to it on my next visit, for sure 🙂

17) Two words: Champagne Brunch.

Seriously, if you’re in Vegas on a weekend there is no reason to NOT hit up one of these. They have them at most hotels, though some have better food (Mandalay Bay) and some have freer-flowing champagne (Planet Hollywood).

18) Visit Lake Mead
(Okay, technically I’ve done this, but I’m not really counting it as I just went to an overlook. One day, when I’m in Vegas and the weather is nice, I’d love to go out here and boat on the lake for a day!)

19) Check out “Old Vegas”

I mean, why not? Cheap[er] drinking. Cheap[er] gambling. It’s kitschy and while you don’t need to spend a ton of time there, it’s fun!

20) Play blackjack!

To me this is just the quintessential Vegas game – so again, this almost always happens when I visit. Sometimes I even win 😉 (Okay, USUALLY I win if I’m at a table with the right people. If you’ve ever played Blackjack you know what I mean. I prefer Binion’s because hey, $5 buy in, but I’ve won the most money at Planet Hollywood. Twice.)

21) Introduce Vegas to someone who’s never been before.
Out of the 11 times I’ve been to Vegas, at least four of them, I got to show this ridiculous and amazing place to friends who’d never before visited, and honestly, that makes the experience even better than it already would have been 🙂 (And since I’ve never had a bad trip to Vegas, that’s saying a lot!) As a special note, the following picture was taken on the last morning of my second Vegas trip, and I was the only one of the five of us who’d been there before…

Not-So-Honorable-Mention

People who’ve thought/assumed that I was a prostitute. One time a guy who I thought I’d just been having a polite chat with asked me how much I went for (“$1,000 an hour?” Hey, I guess he aimed high?) and another time I was playing computer poker at a casino bar at 5 AM and this guy was offering to pay me more money than I care to mention to go back to his room with him. It got to the point where the bartender had to ask him to leave because my increasingly firm refusals weren’t making any difference. Oh, Vegas. (Also, if you want to know what one guy’s idea of a $1,000 an hour prostitute is, this is me the night I got that little “compliment” ::rolls eyes:: Oh and the person behind me is my friend, not the guy who thought I was a prostitute. Heh.)

Like I said, I’ll probably add more to this list as I finish the last few goals that I have yet to accomplish…but these are my general suggestions for awesome things to do in Vegas. I could never live there, but obviously it’s one of my favorite places to visit…and I already can’t wait to go back!

Geek Saga Entertainment

Geeky Podcast Episodes, Op-Eds, & More!

Category Archives: Travel

Disneyland Half Marathon: My 5th RunDisney Half Marathon Experience!

On January 14, 2024, I completed the Disneyland Half Marathon, which was my 5th half marathon – all of which have been RunDisney races! Overall I had a decent experience, but let’s just say it did NOT add up to the races at WDW…

Whirlwind NOLA: Mardi Gras Trip Part 2

I already wrote about the awesome first part of Lundi Gras in my post detailing my absolutely amazing trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras…but now it’s time to talk about what we did that evening, because it was probably the best 6-ish hours of our vacation!

Whirlwind NOLA: Mardi Gras Trip Part 1

For Christmas 2021 I surprised my partner Dean with a trip to Maui for his big present, and while I knew I would be hard-pressed to outdo that, for Christmas 2022 I surprised him with a trip back to what we affectionately call “our place”: New Orleans, of course!

Red Dead IRL: Saint Denis/New Orleans, Part 1

A Last Minute (But Awesome!) Day at Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival

I’ve been to Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival many times throughout the years…in fact, I’d have to sit down and really think back to figure out the exact number of times.

RunDisney: What I’ve Learned & How I Got Hooked

For what seems like half my adult life, I’ve had friends who participated in RunDisney events, but even though I’ve been running on a regular basis since 2004, I never really thought about participating myself.

My Personal “Most Fun Cities” List

Recently timeout.com made a list of the most fun cities in the world. This list included 18 cities, and I’ll admit, I’ve only been to about a quarter of those places.

A Wonderful Day of Food & Wine at EPCOT

Not a Con 4.0: VEGAS WARS

NOT A CON 4.0: VEGAS WARS

Travel Tuesday: My Las Vegas Bucket List

Okay, I’ll admit it – most of this list is copied from my old blog. But hey, I have more Vegas trips under my belt…and another one coming up soon. So here’s my Vegas bucket list so far!

4) Visit Vegas over Halloween
Some day…some day…

15) Go on one of the helicopter rides/tours over the Strip

18) Visit Lake Mead
(Okay, technically I’ve done this, but I’m not really counting it as I just went to an overlook. One day, when I’m in Vegas and the weather is nice, I’d love to go out here and boat on the lake for a day!)

On January 14, 2024, I completed the Disneyland Half Marathon, which was my 5th half marathon – all of which have been RunDisney races! Overall I had a decent experience, but let’s just say it did NOT add up to the races at WDW…

I already wrote about the awesome first part of Lundi Gras in my post detailing my absolutely amazing trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras…but now it’s time to talk about what we did that evening, because it was probably the best 6-ish hours of our vacation!

For Christmas 2021 I surprised my partner Dean with a trip to Maui for his big present, and while I knew I would be hard-pressed to outdo that, for Christmas 2022 I surprised him with a trip back to what we affectionately call “our place”: New Orleans, of course!

I’ve been to Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival many times throughout the years…in fact, I’d have to sit down and really think back to figure out the exact number of times.

For what seems like half my adult life, I’ve had friends who participated in RunDisney events, but even though I’ve been running on a regular basis since 2004, I never really thought about participating myself.

Recently timeout.com made a list of the most fun cities in the world. This list included 18 cities, and I’ll admit, I’ve only been to about a quarter of those places.

NOT A CON 4.0: VEGAS WARS

Okay, I’ll admit it – most of this list is copied from my old blog. But hey, I have more Vegas trips under my belt…and another one coming up soon. So here’s my Vegas bucket list so far!

4) Visit Vegas over Halloween Some day…some day…

15) Go on one of the helicopter rides/tours over the Strip

18) Visit Lake Mead (Okay, *technically* I’ve done this, but I’m not really counting it as I just went to an overlook. One day, when I’m in Vegas and the weather is nice, I’d love to go out here and boat on the lake for a day!)

4) Visit Vegas over Halloween
Some day…some day…

18) Visit Lake Mead
(Okay, technically I’ve done this, but I’m not really counting it as I just went to an overlook. One day, when I’m in Vegas and the weather is nice, I’d love to go out here and boat on the lake for a day!)