We left for Disney on Thursday, stopped halfway and spent the night, then got up Friday morning, early, and drove straight to the expo!
There were SO many people there. We realized once we got there that lunchtime on Friday is a BAD time to go. This is when they were having a lot of the kids festivities, and it was wall to wall people. I started getting a little nervous, as I don’t do well in huge crowds sometimes!
We picked up our bibs, and then headed to get our t-shirts and bags, and buy some merchandise!
I was so excited to get to buy some marathon merchandise. I got an “I did it” shirt, marathon sweatshirt and another shirt as well as a marathon mug.
Honestly, I was a little bummed about the Disney merchandise. I thought the I Did It shirt could have been cuter, and wish it said “26.2” on it. The colors were also weird and I didn’t think they went together well. I like my comfy sweatshirt though, but didn’t like that for the marathon they only had white, for the half only black, etc. As for men, Bobby wanted a SHORT SLEEVED t-shirt that said 26.2, and there were none, so he settled on one that just said “marathon" and was a wicking material. I was able to use my Annual pass discount and Disney Visa discount which was nice.
We got into the part with all the other booths, it was so packed I wasn’t even able to enjoy it. We got Bobby some yurbuds, I stopped by the running skirts booth, and we stopped at One More Mile to get our 26.2 car stickers! I also got a free issue of Women’s running magazine, and we checked out a couple of other booths that we could actually walk into. After aimlessly walking around for a few minutes, I realized it was way to hard to even see anything, so we decided to leave. Disney needs to figure out something…either have the expo in a bigger arena, or not as many booths, I’m not sure. But, if it wasn’t so crowded, I probably would have stayed longer and bought more things!
The good news is that the weather was absolutely beautiful! I was hoping it would hold out through Sunday!
After the expo we went to lunch at the Grand Floridian Café and tried to relax. After that, we went to the Wilderness Lodge to Check in and ran into these two, who we met up with while they had a quick bite to eat before they headed to the expo!
We chatted and took some pictures before they headed out.
I am waiting to get some pictures before I do my actual race recap, because if I did it now I would have only a couple of iPhone pictures! but it is coming! I promise!
QOTD: Do you like going to the race expo when you race?
Yes, I love expos! Except I was really disappointed when the 13.1 series came to ATL. That expo was a joke. =(
You were a gorgeous bride! Thx for sharing the pics! =) AND CONGRATS AGAIN on the fabu race!!!
XOXO
thanks so much!
I hate when expos are disapointing. bummer!
I like expos bc I tend to get free stuff!!
yes! awesome!
Aww I love the Disney expo, but agee that crowds give me anxiety. I guess I like it so much because every other race I’ve ever done has a tiny expo or none at all. The weather looked gorgeous!
you need to do a rock n roll race. Their expos are pretty good!
Hi! I find that Disney has odd merchandise every year!! The color combos r usually strange and they always have so much white for girls!! And not to sound like a snob, but I hate the “I did it!” Shirts, or the “I can’t believe I did it!” Shirts, lol. I bought the salmonish colored short sleeve shirt with mickey on it, from the marathon. The prices r pretty reasonable compared to other races, but I totally agree with you!!
We went to the expo on thursday and it wasn’t bad. I was surprised at how crowded things were saturday morning for the half!!! This was my 6th goofy and I’d NEVER seen that many ppl before!! I think in previous years there were 16,000 orso half marathoners, this year they said 27,000!!! That’s a HUGE increase!!! I’m sure that added to the busyness of the expo too!
Looking forward to reading ur race recap and seeing all your pictures!! Geesh, long comment, sorry!
lol! I love the I did it shirt since the full was such a huge accomplishment for me, but thought it was dumb it didn’t say 26.2 on it. The coolor combos were weird though.
wow thats a lot more half marathoners! My friend went later on Friday and said it wasnt as bad as when I went, I think lunch on Friday is the worst time to go!
omgsh yes I was there Thursday and it wasn’t bad at all but then went back after the half on Saturday with a friend cuz she hadn’t gotten her stuff yet…CRAZY!
did you guys see the tshirts on the side by the customization stuff??? i got a super fun long sleeve “I DID IT!” shirt with a huge 39.3 on it and my friend Erin got a really cute short sleeved “I DID IT! 26.2!” marathon shirt
customazation stuff? where was that? I saw the long sleeved, but I hate long sleeved living in the south, we can wear them for like a month. I got the short sleeved I did it but it doesnt say 26.2 🙁
Congrats on your first marathon! Can’t wait to read the recap. I’ve never been to an expo. I’m doing the Disney Princess 1/2 next month, so that one will be my first! I’m not a fan of crowds either so we’ll see how that expo is!
thanks! good luck, expos can be really fun!
The merchandise is sadly hit or miss with colors. Last year for the half, the color was NEON green. Like…BLINDING green. For the full though they had a gorgeous burgundy or deep purple-ish color. This year? The half is what had the ‘better’ color and the marathoners got the ugly puke orange. I have no idea who decides these colors!
Def thought it was way too crowded too. The really need to expand it somehow! There were booths that I totally missed by accident and only knew about b/c I saw friends with awesome gear that I never saw. 🙁
yeah I did the half last year and wasnt a huge fan of the neon green. I bought a shirt though just b/c it was my first half lol!
I was at the expo on Thursday around 6pm, it was not so crowded but they were already out of some sizes. I am surprised that there is not a website selling the merchandise at 15% percent off or something. Lots of the races I enter always have stuff left over that they try and sell online. We were also there Friday afternoon, crazy crowded and like you I would have bought more, although my size turned out to be medilarge, not medium and not large.
last year they sold leftovers online, I got an e mail about it. we would have gone thursday but we couldn’t get there till friday 🙁
Looking for the coffee mug from the disney world 2011 half marathon. They were all out when we were at the expo. I have checked everywhere. Anybody have one they would sell?!!
Hi there…why would you think asking this on a blog post I wrote about my experience at the expo would help you find your mug? Just curious….