For Easter this year, my family and I went to Whispering Canyon Café, where they were serving an all you can eat  Easter brunch. This got me thinking: a lot of people ask me what I think of the Disney buffets because they’re worried they’ll completely go off the wagon. Surprisingly, if you play your cards right, they can actually be one of the healthier routes for meals at the parks. Hear me out - you can have your Mickey Waffles and eat them too! - and enjoy some of my best practices for handling the two types of Disney buffet.

Firstly, it’s important to note that there are two types of buffets at Disney World. Some restaurants will bring you a platter or skillet of sorts with multiple food options for the table and serve it family style. From there, if you want more of specific items in your platter, you can let your server know. Others are a more traditional buffet. You’re seated, order your drinks, and then get up and serve yourself from the buffet options. Here’s a list of all the different restaurants on property that offer buffets or family-style meals at Disney World:
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• The Wave Restaurant of American Flavors
  
• 1900 Park Fare
  
• Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
  
• Biergarten Restaurant
  
• Boma - Flavors of Africa
  
• Cape May Cafe
  
• Chef Mickey’s
  
• The Crystal Palace
  
• Fresh Mediterranean Market
  
• Garden Grill Restaurant
  
• Garden Grove
  
• Hollywood & Vine
  
• Liberty Tree Tavern
  
• Luau Cove
  
• Ohana
  
• Pioneer Hall
  
• Pizzafari
  
• Ravello (at the Four Seasons)
  
• Trail’s End Restaurant
  
• Tusker House Restaurant
  
• Whispering Canyon Cafe
  

And, in case you’re heading to the west coast, here are Disneyland’s buffet and family-style offerings:

• Disney’s PCH Grill
  
• Goofy’s Kitchen
  
• Plaza Inn
  
• Storytellers Cafe
  
• Princess breakfast at Napa Rose
  

And, of course, some of these restaurants will have characters that come to mix and mingle with you, or one of the mealtimes (i.e. breakfast only)  will be a character breakfast. These can be a little bit more pricey, but are great for either families with children who want to get a bunch of signatures in a short timeframe, or for the kids at heart who don’t feel like waiting in lines to meet characters!

Because you have control over what goes on your plate, buffets are usually options that can be pretty good for calorie counters, Weight Watchers, etc. You can bulk up on lean proteins, veggies, and fruit but still indulge a little on some special Disney treats you won’t get to enjoy once you’re back home from your vacation or, if you are a local like me, usually refrain from having. But that can also be dangerous if you worry about portions, so here are some of my best practices to follow when you’re enjoying a Disney buffet.

1. Make sure you eat something prior to your buffet! I do not mean to snack right before, but if your reservation is scheduled for a late brunch, lunch, or dinner, please make sure you have a meal beforehand with enough time to digest it. I made the mistake of not having anything when I woke up on Easter morning, and our brunch reservation was for just a little bit before 11. Even though we checked in on time, we ended up getting in a little closer to 11:30 because they were so busy, so by the time we got our food, I was starving and was going to eat anything that they put in front of me. Hindsight is 20/20, and I probably should have had a yogurt  or something before I left my house! Plus, after overeating because I was starving, I felt bloated and uncomfortable for the next two days.
   
2. Front load your plate with vegetables, fruit, and lean proteins. This way, you are enjoying something that is healthy without having to worry about over stuffing yourself later. The food isn’t going anywhere, so if you do you want to enjoy a Mickey waffle or a tiny little dessert, this way you can do so without worrying that you’re going to over indulge on it because you are mostly full from of the healthy options that you picked.
   
3. Eat slowly so your body can truly know when it is full. It is very easy at these Disney buffets for your eyes to be bigger than your stomach. Remember, like I said, the food is not going anywhere so if you do really want it later, it will be there. There is no need to stuff your plate to the point of overindulgence when you first get your food if you are at a traditional style buffet, and if you are at a family style one, you can always ask for more - plus, you’ll be the hero of the table when someone else who really wants that extra Mickey waffle gets it and you offer to wait until the next round from the server!
   
4. Drink plenty of water! This is important for any Disney trip and no matter what restaurant you go to, but this is especially important if you’re at a Disney buffet. Make sure you drink plenty of water, so that way you can stay hydrated and don’t overstuff yourself (like I did on Easter, haha!).
   
5. If it is a character meal, is that to your advantage. This will help you eat slowly, especially because you probably do not want to have food in her mouth when the character approaches your table and you’re about to take photos. Usually, the cast members will let you know what route me characters cake so you know to keep an eye on them and to be at your table. if your cast member does not tell you this, you can always just ask.
   
6. Lastly, don’t deprive yourself. If you walk in to the (expensive!) buffet and tell yourself you aren’t going to have any of the Mickey waffles or a mini cupcake, then you’re setting yourself up for disappointment if you do decide to indulge. Just start with one after enjoying you healthy options first - in my experience, frontloading your plate with the healthy stuff really does help me cut back on the not-so-good - and that way you can enjoy it without any guilt.
   

Which Disney buffet is your favorite? Characters or no characters? Let’s chat in the comments!

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The Star Wars Rival Run Weekend was one for the books! Even though this was my fifth half marathon, I faced a few challenges for this race that definitely kept me on my toes. Whenever I get a cold, it starts with a sore throat… which I woke up to on Wednesday morning. Thankfully it never progressed beyond that (thank god for Zicam and cough drops!), but I was also worried about my knee on top of it since I hurt it about a month prior (don’t laugh, but I hurt it doing a BollyX video, which is basically bellydance meets Zumba) to race day. But I took a page out of Han Solo’s book - “Never tell me the odds!” - and pushed through it anyways!

I’m going to do my best to make sure these character locations are accurate; they’ll be approximate, though, as I don’t recall exactly where along the mile they were!

Characters: Rey on a Takodana backdrop
Marker: Kylo Ren

What I remember above all else is how humid it was at the start! I was in Corral F and in the second wave of it, so we started around 5:58 a.m. based on when I started my Garmin (the first corral started at 5:30, so we didn’t wait too terribly long once they started sending them out). The course hasn’t changed from last year, so it was nice going into this half knowing exactly what to expect. You run past the Magic Kingdom sign, which is pretty neat, but it’s a pretty straight forward run. What I do like is seeing the fireworks go off from the other corrals, though - not only because I enjoy viewing them, but it’s nice to get a gauge for how many people I’ll have behind me.

Characters: None, but you could pose in Emperor Palpatine’s throne!
Marker: Darth Sidious/Palpatine

I actually always have to give runDisney kudos for how interesting they make this stretch. Running down Bear Island Road to get from Transportation and Ticket Center to Animal Kingdom could very easily be a 2 mile boring run through the woods down a service road, but instead they totally jazz it up. You start with red lights (in the nearly pitch black dark, otherwise) and a recording of Vader’s breathing and some taunts from the Sith Lord, so it gives the illusion of you running from Darth Vader. Combined with other light effects it is pretty cool! Plus as you go further down, there are more lights plus some fire and explosions with the sounds of Ewoks and blaster fire to make you feel like you’re running through the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi.

Characters: Ewok, plus a trash compactor photo op
Marker: Boba Fett

Towards the end of this Bear Island Road stretch is the Ewok photo op plus where you turn to start moving into the back of Animal Kingdom. As you get closer, you start to see some greenhouses and also where they keep the elephants and rhinos when they aren’t roaming the park and need some care! This part is always exciting, too, because you know you’re getting closer to Animal Kingdom.

It was around this point that the knee injury I had started flaring up, but nothing serious. On top of it, my cough drop that I took at around 5 a.m. before we started had worn off… but my Clif block, however, held me over until I wanted to use the other cough drop I had in one of my pants pockets! Don’t try that at home, kids; I do intervals of running 30 seconds and walking for 60 seconds when I do a half marathon, so I only did so for my 60 second walk break to avoid accidentally choking on it! 

Characters: First Order stormtroopers and Resistance Fighters in Animal Kingdom
Marker: Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover, not Billy Dee Williams)

Jambo! This is where you end up entering near Harambe and move through there, to Pandora (always super pretty to run through, especially if you’re speedy and catch it while the sun is still down; I catch it during the sun rise which is breathtaking) and then past the front of the Tree of Life. This year, they had some Resistance fighters encouraging you to keep running so you could get them some intel on the First Order, which was pretty neat!  ​

Characters: 501st Legion stationed as you went behind Everest, plus a Wampa photo op in the Animal Kingdom parking lot
Marker: C-3PO

You hit the fifth mile marker in the back of Animal Kingdom, where you are then greeted by the 501st and Rebel Legions! Of course, I always stop for these guys - they’re my friends! - and they’re always so excited to be there. After a quick hello and gently teasing the handlers (“Hey, so like, are you guys with Disney?”), I moved through to proceed to the Animal Kingdom parking lot, where it wraps the mile up with the Wampa photo op (to recreate the scene from Empire Strikes Back where Luke snatches his lightsaber from the snow). ​

Characters: none
Marker: General Grievous

This mile is largely uneventful; you have to go uphill to get to Osceola Parkway, which is a fairly boring stretch of highway but at least it’s not super long. The sun was rising and I was cursing myself for forgetting to bring sunglasses, but all was well! Overall, though, a rather uneventful mile. Since I was starting to get kind of hungry and really needed a cough drop again, I took the time to munch on some Goldfish and then soothe my sore throat to prevent both from becoming an issue.

Characters: Chewbacca
Marker: Count Dooku

Not long after the Mile 7 marker is a photo stop with Chewbacca, which makes the highway stretch a little more interesting! Along the long stretches, they’ll have big screens up playing the Star Wars movies, so at least there’s that for entertainment along the way!

Characters: none, but you could pose on a speeder bike!
Marker: Leia

Characters: Maul right before you entered Hollywood Studios
Marker: Darth Maul

I have never been more excited to to see the giant Tower of Terror ad that looks like the elevator dropping on the highway than I was to see it partnered with the Darth Maul sign. Even though my watch was still saying I had run about a quarter mile longer than the posted distance (which felt like a cruel joke), I felt like I could see the light at the end of the tunnel! My knee was really starting to hurt again now, so I took advantage of the medical tents offering some Biofreeze… only for a majority of the glob I grabbed to fall into the asphalt (my own fault for trying to rush). RIP, little blob of Biofreeze. But I had enough to know that it would hold me over for a while.

I think I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Darth Maul’s photo op with Tower of Terror in the distance, because that meant I was finally in the park!

Characters: The 501st Legion in the Fantasmic courtyard (where you enter the park), First Order stormtroopers in the park
Marker: Darth Vader

Right after Maul’s photo op was the mile 10 marker, and then when you enter the park via the Fantasmic courtyard, the 501st and Rebel Legions have more troopers there to take photos with! I stopped to see Kylo and Hux (especially since I troop with Kylo often [she’s fantastic and has every single variation of Kylo!], and have with Hux before!) and I was super excited to see Ahsoka there (she’s my favorite light side character, you guys, so I ran over!). Not only was it nice to say hi to some familiar faces, but it gave my knee a bit of a break that it definitely needed. It was a total bummer with how much it hurt, but I just kept run/walking as best as I could.

After that, it was down past Tower of Terror I went! This threw my plan of just taking it easy from there on out right on out the window, because Photopass gets pictures of you as you run through the parks… and I didn’t want to be pictured walking for some reason (probably my sheer determination to not give up). ​

As you headed to the main drag of Studios, they had four stormtroopers - two to take a photo with, and two others patrolling the area. We also got to run by the newly renovated parking area and where the Skyliner stops are going to be, and it looks really nice!

Characters: Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger at the end of the Boardwalk
Marker: BB-8

Characters: The 501st Legion as you exit the park
Marker: Luke Skywalker

 (The road to mile 12 felt rough… especially because I hit mile 12 on my Garmin .36 miles before the marker (again, likely due to weaving through so many people). But thankfully, it was just through Epcot, and since my knee was yelling at me for not taking it easier in Hollywood Studios or along the Boardwalk, I made the decision to only run if there was a Photopass photographer and to just enjoy the scenery of Epcot. What’s nice is that with Flower and Garden going on during this race, you get to see a lot of the topiaries! It’s also cool to see the cast members from different countries cheering you on as they wave flags from their home countries. There was a really cute moment passing the China pavilion when a guy yelled, “Ni hao!” to the three women working there and they got all excited, yelled “Ni hao!” back, and then it was just a chorus of people yelling “Ni hao!”  ​

Characters: First Order stormtroopers as you finish!
Marker: Rey

I had long forgotten about my sore throat thanks to my knee pain, and medical was awesome at wrapping some ice around it very tightly at the end of the course. After grabbing my cooling towel, water, and snack box, I met up with my dad and fiance - who crushed his goal of a sub-2 hour half - while we waited for my mom to cross the finish line not long after I did (we ran the first four miles together, but we parted for her to stop at the bathroom; we finished within minutes of each other but could never find each other after that because of how crowded these races are!). Despite my knee pain and sore throat, I felt pretty good and otherwise strong. I listened to my body while out there, and it paid off!

​After the race, we treated ourselves to a breakfast feast at Port Orleans! Even with a massive Mickey waffle, bacon, and some beignets, I still had a pretty good calorie deficit at the end of the day and that’s the beauty of a long run, haha! ​​

All in all, regardless of pain, I had a total blast on this course. Star Wars Half has such a chill vibe despite the crowd size, especially compared to a race like Princess Half Marathon, that I will always recommend it first and foremost. Sure, it was humid, but when I ran Princess it was hot and humid, too! That’s just Florida and something you need to be aware of so you don't push yourself too much if you aren't used to it. Plus, if you’re worried about not being able to stop for characters due to time, the 501st Legion is a great option to not sacrifice a lot of time waiting in a long line.
​
Have you run any of the Star Wars races? What did you think? Let’s chat!

I am so excited about the Rival Run Half Marathon this year! This race falls on my dad's birthday weekend this year and I ran it last year when it was still pegged as the Dark Side Half... so naturally I chose the light side this year (sorry, 501st Legion friends!). 
That being said, race weekends can be a little overwhelming... so let's simplify everything and check out some of what the expo has to offer, shall we?

You pick your bib and gEAR bag up at the expo, which you should do above all else! This is also when you get your official race shirt and any pre-order merchandise you've received (a separate window). This all goes down at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex!
Hours are...

• Thursday, April 4 from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Friday, April 5 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Saturday, April 6 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The Arena and Northwest Pavilion, aka the first main building when you enter the complex to your right, is where you can pick up your bib, check out the official runDisney merchandise, and enjoy some character meet and greets. After that, you'll want to take your bib over to the VISA Athletic Center (there's a pathway with some step and repeat style photo ops with pics of the medals, so be sure to grab a photo on the way!) so you can pick up your race shirt and then check out the rest of the expo and what all of the vendors have to offer! Just don't forget your photo ID. Forgot your waiver? It's okay - you can print it out and sign it at the expo before picking up your bib.

Staying at a Disney resort? They'll be offering transportation to and from the expo and the races - just check the posted signage for the exact times and pick up locations.  This includes Shades of Green and the Swan and Dolphin. You should find the info in the lobby! 

Thursday, April 4

• 11:00 a.m. Pre-Race Yoga
• 11:30 a.m.  Meditation for Runners
• 12:00 p.m. Foam Rolling and Stretching Presented by AdventHealth
• 12:30 p.m. Yoga for Race Recovery
• 1:00 p.m. Ask Jeff with Jeff Galloway
• 2:30 p.m. Make-A-Card Station Supporting Make-A-Wish Foundation
• 3:30 p.m. Runner Pints and Pours
• 4:00 p.m. Animation Academy
• 4:30 p.m. Runner Pints and Pours

Friday, April 5

• 10:30 a.m. Pre-Race Yoga
• 11:00 a.m. Meditation for Runners
• 11:30 a.m. Yoga for Race Recovery
• 12:00 p.m. Foam Rolling and Stretching Presented by AdventHealth
• 12:30 p.m. Meditation for Runners
• 1:00 p.m. Junior Activity Zone
• 2:00 p.m. Ask Jeff with Jeff Galloway
• 3:30 p.m. Make-A-Card Station Supporting Make-A-Wish Foundation
• 4:30 p.m. Runner Pints and Pours
• 5:00 p.m. Animation Academy
• 5:30 p.m. Runner Pints and Pours

​Saturday, April 6

• 10:00 a.m. Yoga for Race Recovery
• 10:30 a.m. Meditation for Runners
• 11:00 a.m. Foam Rolling and Stretching Presented by AdventHealth
• 11:30 a.m. Ask Jeff with Jeff Galloway
• 12:30 p.m. Junior Activity Zone
• 1:30 p.m. Runner Pints and Pours
• 2:00 p.m. Animation Academy
• 2:30 p.m. Make-A-Card Station Supporting Make-A-Wish Foundation

The merch this year looks way less fluorescent in person than it does in the photos, which I’m grateful for! It’s still very bright and colorful but not obnoxiously so, and it’s nice to see colorful Star Wars merch! Thursday evening it seems they had plenty of everything except some of the jackets; I find that those usually sell the fastest regardless of which race weekend it is.

There are some really fun photo ops this year! You’ve got the aforementioned medal step-and-repeats, the massive course map photos, some Photopass photo ops where you pick up your shirts, and some character opportunities where you pick up your bibs (including Han in carbonite!).