My friend Jen and I got back from Walt Disney World this week. We were there to participate in the last runDisney Expedition Everest Challenge. I have always been curious about this race, and since it was the last time it was being run, I knew I wanted to try to go. We were able to make a girls trip out of it, and so off to Orlando we went!
We arrived Friday around lunch and after meeting up at the airport, hopped on Disney’s Magical Express.
We arrived at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, which was one o three host resorts for the event. I was excited to stay here because it was my first time, and also because they just refurbished the rooms and added in queen beds.
I loved the look of the rooms, they reminded me of the rooms at the Polynesian.
After getting settled in, we headed over to the food court for some lunch before going to packet pickup for the race.
We then hopped on a bus to the parking lot of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
The packet pickup in a word was….underwhelming. However, I was expecting it. Knowing that this was the last Everest, runDisney of course wasn’t going to put a ton of resources into it, I get it. Also, having not run this race in the past, I have nothing to compare it to as far as size of the packet pickup of years past.
There was one kind of shirt (an I did it shirt with the map on the back) then a generic runDisney hat and maybe a lanyard if I remember correctly. New Balance was there with the latest runDisney shoes, and that’s about it.
We picked up our bibs and our shirts, and since there was honestly nothing else to do, we headed back to the buses.
I know there was a lot of talk about the lack of well, anything at packet pick up. I see both sides. After being at the amazing expos runDisney usually puts on, it was almost comical to be at this packet pickup. However, the other expos are in conjunction with massive race weekends with a 5k, 10k, half, and sometimes full marathon. Also, there are kids races and challenges, so of course the expos are much larger because of the huge number of participants.
With that being said, I do think a little more effort could have gone into it, but oh well, it isn’t being run anymore so there honestly isn’t really a reason to get upset about it. The race was fun (more on that later) and that’s what matters!
QOTD: Have you ever been to an outdoor packet pickup/expo?
*I entered the Runner’s World Cover Contest, you can vote for me here. Thanks so much for your support. 🙂
Oh how weird that the packet pickup was outside AND so small! Looking forward to the race recap!
I ran it 2 years ago and the packet pickup was at Wide World of Sports like the other races. It was much bigger than what this year’s apparently was, just not as big as the other races. I guess you’re right–they didn’t put much into the last year!
Weird! All Disney expos I’ve been to have been inside. I haven’t done the race so I don’t know what it was like in the past.
The Caribbean resort looks so nice – I love that food court! I can’t wait to stay there in November!
Wow, yeah I would have been a little caught off guard by that! So are all of the rooms redecorated at the CBR (not including the pirate rooms), or just certain villages? Glad they’re redecorating! They Nemo decor seemed a little dated.
They are redoing everything except pirate rooms to my knowledge. I think they are pretty much done.