Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Expo

We flew in purposely on Tuesday night so we could go to the expo early on Wednesday morning.  After the disaster the Disneyland expo was, we wanted to get there early.  But after flight delays, we didn't arrive to our hotel until 2:30am, so getting up and being at the expo when it opened at 10am wasn't really ideal.

We did still get there on the early-ish side, arriving around 11am.  There was a long line for the New Balance shoes, but neither Pam or I had plans to wait for those.  I don't run in New Balances and it's a lot of money to spend for just kick-around shoes.  Plus, I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of the designs (ducks as people throw things at her).

We headed straight to the HP Field House where packet pickup was being held.  But, instead of going directly to packet pickup, we first went to the runDisney merchandise.  I wanted to get there before everything was sold out!  The HP Field House had a smaller selection of merchandise, so we also visited the merchandise at the Jostens Center.  I am happy to report that I got everything I wanted and was able to (slightly) control myself.

First thing on my list was the Dopey jacket.  Fortunately, they had one in my size and I am obsessed with it.  It's super soft and fits perfectly.  I love the logo as well!

I also picked up 2 Sweaty Bands (look at the self control) - both for Dopey, one red and one purple.  I debated getting a Goofy one and a marathon one, but I didn't.

As I thought I would, I picked up a waterbottle (I love that it has Donald, Mickey and Goofy on it!) as well as a Dopey magnet.

Also included in my haul was an "I Did It' shirt (which was technical) and a Coast to Coast shirt.  I don't want to wait until Disneyland in case that expo is a disaster again (but I won't wear it until after DL).

Rounding out my purchases was a Dopey mini medal pin and a Dopey necklace.  I kinda love the necklace because I can wear it to work everyday, since wearing my medal everyday is a little impractical.

After we made all our purchases (which were split between the HP Field House and Jostens Center merchandise, but I lumped together for ease), we got our numbers.  I liked that they did 2 bibs for Dopey since they tend to get beaten up pretty easily.  I also picked up my pre-ordered pins (1 for each race!) and 5 of my shirts.  We had to pick up the 5K shirts in the Jostens Center.

Number pickup

We then headed to the Jostens Center to pick up the 5K shirt, make the remaining runDisney purchases and walk around.  They had exhibitors both in the Jostens Center and around the stadium.  I liked that they spread it out, but it was still pretty crowded!  We made our way through the booths, but didn't buy much.  I didn't love any of the Raw Threads stuff enough to buy and Sparkle Athletic didn't have any black skirts, so that saved me some money.  I did pick up a handheld water bottle in case I decided to carry water with me on any of the races (I did - more on that in the recaps).

We may have (i.e. definitely did) gone back on Friday to take advantage of the race photo deal MarathonFoto was offer: $65 for a $100 gift certificate.  I figured I would want at least a couple of photo's from each race, so this was a good deal (all the Dopey photo's are only $115 for the digital downloads).  We missed it the first time around.

Overall, I thought the expo went smoothly.  I like the addition of vendors in the stadium which eased some congestion in the Jostens Center.  The number and shirt pickup went smoothly and everything was easy.  So much better then at Disneyland last year!

I'll be back with my recap of the 5K tomorrow!