SAFD: Our post-race celebration wasn’t something we originally planned. After our first marathon in 2013, my sister and I were pretty much a wreck. We made it back to our room at POR well enough, but after an afternoon of showering and resting (we were very new to running and had zero knowledge about recovery) walking was much more difficult than we remembered.
We were not seasoned rD, or Disney in general, pros at the time and had not planned anything. We decided to walk over to the main building at Riverside and check to see if we could get in at the restaurant (it was as far as we were willing to go on that day); if not, we were fine with pizza, chicken nuggets and fries from the quick service. Despite what appeared to be a glut of other runners in our exact same situation, we were able to get in at Boatwright’s after a short wait.
I’m pretty sure I just about ate my weight in cornbread that night before my prime rib even arrived. Didn’t matter, still devoured everything when it did. Now, there may have been some first real food after our first marathon haze over my sister and I, but even the non-runners in our group agreed it was a great meal. We continued going back to Boatwright’s for cornbread and prime rib for our Sunday night, now post-Dopey, celebratory meal for the next few years.
At that point we started having a larger group and stopped staying at POR as our Marathon Weekend hub. As much as I’ve loved our off-site experiences, I definitely still have an emotional connection to those early rD weekends at POR. With our change in location (along with giving too much credence to some less than glowing reviews of Boatwright’s despite always having good experiences ourselves) we’ve also tried some of the more popular celebration spots around Disney (‘Ohana, Boma, Le Cellier) and even tried a couple places off-site.
We were back at Boatwright’s this year on Sunday for the first time in either 6 or 7 years. We missed it and made a point to make a reservation despite staying off-property. It was less crowded than it was on previous occasions. I think increased planning by runners for rD Weekends and celebrations has led to far fewer “I just ran a marathon, I’ve got nothing planned, I need to eat but don’t want to go anywhere” walk ups. It may not be for everyone, but cornbread and prime rib at Riverside still hits the spot for me.