I was relieved that we managed to get in to Orlando Tuesday
night so that we could be there right for the start of the expo. Not because I desperately wanted the
Disney New Balance shoes (as awesome as I think this year’s are), but because
I’ve become quite obsessed with the track jackets that Disney has. So that is always my first stop upon
arriving at the expo.
Staying at All Star Sports was nice because they had the
special events bus that took you to the expo, as well as the normal bus that
travels to ESPN. We actually took
the normal bus, which got us there earlier than the other one would have, and
we were pleased to see that the expo had appeared to open earlier than we had
anticipated. We wanted to get in,
get our usual stuff done, and head out to enjoy our day in the parks.
First off, let me say that I thought the expo was decently
arranged. I have done two Wine and
Dines and one Princess at WDW prior to marathon weekend. Both Wine and Dines have been at ESPN,
and neither have been an issue.
The Princess last year was at Coronado Springs, which I thought was
quite a failure. There just wasn’t
enough ROOM the way they had it organized there. So I was quite happy to be back at ESPN. They had a few areas set up just for
race pick up items, a separate building to get a ticket number for the New
Balance shoes, and a whole arena for vendors. Personally I thought it was
pretty well arranged. The only
thing I can truly say is that they could have used more direction signs,
because many people seemed lost.
 |
| Modeling my new spring jacket! |
We swung by the merchandise area, which was still pretty
dead when we got there. I wasn’t
overly impressed by the selection this year, not that it kept me from buying stuff! I got a Dopey track jacket, but it was very simple and not
really up to the standards that I had expected from Disney. Just a small left chest logo, nothing
on the sleeves. I bought it since
it was the inaugural one and had said I was getting it prior to arriving, but
was a little disappointed in the design.
I also bought a marathon one, as it had a little more personality with
some white detailing on it. They
also had a red Dopey jacket that was a little thicker, more like a spring
jacket. It had a hood that
zippered into the collar when not in use.
I got that, too, since I actually don’t have any great spring jackets. I ended up using it a lot on our trip,
since the temps were so cool, so I think it was a good purchase.
They also had the usual “I did it “
shirts, a marathon hoodie (no Dopey, though, which made me sad), a nice coffee
mug, a water bottle, magnets, and different style tech shirts for the
races. I saw the Run Disney Tutus,
but those are definitely not my thing.
Once again I was also disappointed that they didn’t have any 5k
merchandise. My husband comes down
and always runs the 5ks with me, and I would love to get him a nice 5k tech
shirt, or SOMETHING, commemorating the race. But they never have anything.
The packet pick up was sorted by race type (IE Goofy, Dopey,
Marathon only, etc), but I had done the Runners World Challenge, so I had my own
place to go. The line was only
consisted of a few people, and it was nice that they had a few people walking
around outside their pick up booth who were talking to us, asking how we felt, about our training, etc. It made the wait go faster. My husband went off to pick up his 5k
bib and Chear Squad stuff, and met me back there. I was happy to get everything in one spot, except my
commemorative pins, which I went to pick up at another nearby booth.
After that we headed to the main expo area with all of the
vendors. My husband needed to
purchase some clothes as his suitcase was still missing (the Tampa airport
still hadn’t gotten back to us about having his luggage, even though they were
the ones who called US), as well as running shoes for the 5k. The Champion section had some nice sales, so he got a
decent amount of clothes for a good price, and he found a pair of Asics that he
liked as well. I also prepaid to
get my medals engraved at the expo.
I think it takes some of the hassle out race day if I don’t have to
worry about having money on me to get a medal engraved at the end of the
race. You just walk up, give them
your name, and they find your payment info and get you done quickly. We wandered a bit, but decided it
was time to leave and enjoy some time in the parks. I had fastpassed some things at Hollywood Studios for that
day, so we wanted to make sure we had time to go back to All Stars before
heading out to there.
Overall I thought expo day was easy, and I was pretty
pleased with my purchases. I was
slightly disappointed with what Run Disney had to offer for merchandise as far
as clothing, but I also enjoyed finding a water bottle and coffee mug. Luckily I had enough money put
aside just for the expo, so I was able to buy everything that I wanted. I was also happy we got there early,
because we really didn’t have to wait in any long lines and were able to get in
and out pretty easily. It was
starting to pick up when we left, so our timing was good. However, if we had wanted the shoes, I
guess we would have needed to find our own ride there about two hours before we
had actually got in line to leave our resort. Glad I’m not that into those!
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my 5k report!
In case you missed it, Part one of my Dopey series:
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