I Am Not Fast: A 2015 Dumbo Double Dare Trip Report!

[purplekicks]

Following!

I love your other trip reports and I'm so happy you are writing another one!

I'm doing this one in 2016 to get my coast to coast along with PHM in Feb! My first races. So exciting!

 

[Ariel484]

Loving your report! I'm excited to see what a race weekend looks like in Disneyland vs. Disney World!

Thank you! runDisney was pretty different in California compared to Florida...good in some ways, not-so-good in other ways.

Well, finding this just made my day!!! I am so excited to read about your experience at DL and your first runDisney event there. I've been to DL once before about 10 years ago and really enjoyed my trip there, but most of it has faded from my memory not to mention a lot has changed there since then.

Gisele!!

You gotta get back to Disneyland! I loved it!

Can't wait to hear how the races went as well. I was just telling Chris he needs to brace himself because once we finish W&D, I'm going to start planning getting a Coast to Coast accomplished soon. So, I'm anxious for all your intel into the DL race experience.

A preview of things to come, Chris! That Coast-to-Coast medal is worth it.

As always your reports are fun, energetic and addicting!! Can't wait to read more.

Thank you so much! It made my day to see this from you.

Feeling the nails even more up close. I love this report. I'm really feeling your excitement. I'm ready to pack my bag and head to Cali right now. Also, loving the beach ball warning.

Thanks! I tried to do a fancy little ombre thing with the nails and it SO did not work. This is as elaborate as I get.

I sort of wanted to take a beach ball...they're just so cute!

I'm here and can't wait to read all about it! One day I will get to Disneyland whether it's for a race weekend or not. Hopefully it is for a race weekend but I do want to go either way. Everything looks great so far.

It was! Different than WDW in a lot of ways (runDisney and otherwise) but we really had a great time!

I'm following along now too! And since I see that your trip reports get glowing reviews now I know that motivation for finishing my next run will be that I can reward myself with some good sit-on-my-behind-time reading your previous ones.

It's nice to read that people like the reports! I love writing them.

And now I'm noticing @ZellyB has trip reports under her name. So many TRs to read...EEEEE!!!

Yes! Gisele writes awesome reports!

Joining in..........looking forward your TR as you have a great gift for combining pictures and experiences into a fantastic story.

Thank you so much!! Y'all are so nice!

I'm here and all caught up! Loving your reactions to my home park! EVERYTHING. SO. CLOSE. Hahaha.

BUT SERIOUSLY! So close! It was awesome!

Glad to hear PP isn't a craphole. I'm staying there for Tink next year.

Nope, not a craphole at all! Definitely didn't have the over-the-top Disney theming that you'd find in a WDW resort, but our room was perfectly nice and the location was great. Will and I will be there in December.

Premier Pass is the awesome, isn't it?

YES!!!! I love it so much! I already know I'll be looking for excuses to renew next year... :Eek:

Following!

I love your other trip reports and I'm so happy you are writing another one!

Thank you!! Glad you're here!

I'm doing this one in 2016 to get my coast to coast along with PHM in Feb! My first races. So exciting!

I'll be at Princess too! That was my first Disney race way back in 2011...you will love it!

 

[Ariel484]

The First Ride

A very important decision! We'd discussed the Matterhorn and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but when we walked through the castle, Snow White's Scary Adventures was right there and a walk-on, so that was ride #1. Technically it counted since this ride is no longer at WDW.

Now...I had never actually ridden this ride at WDW, but I did remember reading about it in the Unofficial Guide way back when I was doing research for my first WDW trip as an adult (my and Will’s honeymoon in 2009). Basically the guide said that they got the most negative mail from readers about that ride and there was a description from a child about "the witch popping out at you" or something to that effect. I remember sort of chuckling about that when reading that section.

Well, karma came back to get me. Within 5 seconds Jess and I were pretty much clinging to one another in fear. That Evil Queen (who did in fact pop out at me MANY times) will haunt my dreams.

WHY IS THIS RIDE SO TERRIFYING?!

Next up was Pinnochio - also a walk-on, also somewhat creepy. Seriously...the whole Pleasure Island portion of that movie gives me the heebie jeebies.

The order of when we did things after this is a little muddled for me - my pictures imported and sorted in a weird order, so I'm just going to make up a timeline here...let's assume we were smart and just went in order around the park starting sort of on the left side, yes?

I think after these first couple of rides we went to get lunch at Carnation Cafe. I thought it was awesome how the menus were re-printed with 60th stuff.

Some kind of turkey sandwich with fries for me (which were covered in paprika - YUM!)...

...fried pickles and potato/bacon/cheddar soup for Jess. Discounted with our PAPs!

Who would you say is more awkward in this picture...stiff me or somewhat smug Jasmine*? It's a close call.

Another classic!

I was surprised that this was different than the WDW version. Not sure either one stands out as "better" in my mind, but our skipper for this one wasn't the best.*

Continued in Next Post

*I swear I am not trying to rip on the CMs here...I mean, I sure as heck couldn't do their jobs. Just reporting the facts.

 

[Ariel484]

Churro, Splash and Thunder

From there we headed into New Orleans Square.

Sadness.

Of course, I'll get to ride it on my next trip, so I can't complain too much.

Time for Pirates!

This was another mind-fudge for both of us. The first part of the ride is different from WDW (and it was really cool to go by the Blue Bayou restaurant - we had reservations there for later in the week!) but then we floated into the next room and IT WAS EXACTLY THE SAME AS WDW. We were both just like... "wait, did we just get transported to Florida?" It was weird.

And onward into Critter Country, and the first time in a loooong time either of us had gotten paper Fastpasses. We both forgot how to work the machine and it was embarrassing.

The Splash line wasn't very long (25 minutes), so we hopped in. Jess got the big back seat all to herself.

Splash Selfie and a picture of me taking the Splash Selfie...so meta.

I feel like Disneyland's Splash is a little weird. There's pretty much no story line, and we saw 3 AAs that weren't moving at all during the Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah scene, and one that was missing a hand! Wires sticking out and everything. Creepy. We enjoyed it, of course - Splash Mountain is an American Treasure - but WDW's Splash is a little better, I'd say.

After Splash, we headed to Hungry Bear. Jess got the Bumblebee Cupcake.

I was holding out for a churro, so I stuck to water in a super cute 60th cup.

Hey girl heyyyy!

I did get my churro. It tasted...well, like a churro. That is to say, delicious. But the register wasn't working and the CM ended up giving it to me for free! That made it taste a little better.

Big Thunder didn't have a long wait, so that was up next. And it was WAY better than WDW's version! I'm excited for Will to ride it on our upcoming trip - Big Thunder at WDW was his favorite ride as a kid, so I know he'll like this one.

Continued in Next Post

 

[SarahDisney]

I finally have some time to catch up...

*Yes, LAX...I realize people say that John Wayne and wherever else are better/closer, but for me, LAX was cheaper and had better times.

Both times I've done Disneyland I flew into LAX. Part of that is because there are no direct flights to SNA from my airport (which makes zero sense to me because it's one of the busiest airports in America), but I've also never had any major problems flying into LAX and going to DL. Yes, it takes a little longer, but it's not terrible.

verall I felt like there was a TON more helpful signage around DLR compared to WDW for the races, which I thought was odd at first - runDisney as a company runs the races on both coasts, so it’s the same group of people putting on the races at both resorts - why not put that helpful stuff at WDW as well? I have to think that part of the reason for the increased signage is because in DLR, people have to walk to the expo and corrals (no buses to take runners there like in WDW)...so runners really need to be in-the-know when it comes to how to get to places and what roads are closed. Other than that, not sure why it was so different.

This is good to know. One of the things that bothered me about the runDisney experience at WDW was the lack of signage. I really had no idea where I was going or what was flying much of the time. It's good to know there's more out in California!

From Grand Cal to Downtown Disney! After power-walking through, I was at the esplanade...Disneyland Park to my left, California Adventure to my right. I was FLOORED. They were right there...RIGHT THERE!

That's definitely one of the biggest shockers for a WDW vet - it's all right there, which you're not used to. But it's awesome. Every time I go to WDW after a DL trip, I get so frustrated at how far apart things are.

...and then I planned a couple MORE trips. Another Disneyland trip in the spring and a Disney World trip at the end of February. And suddenly the "best option" was something I NEVER thought I'd purchase - a Premier Annual Passport, good for 365 days at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

You're basically one of my heroes now. Having enough trips planned that a Premeir Passport makes financial sense is one of my life goals.
And it's awesome that you got to apply all three vouchers!

Now, I did little-to-no research on Disneyland before this trip - why, I have no idea - but one thing I gathered from a few places is that Paradise Pier is not a very highly regarded resort, and not very *Disney*...basically I was sort of expecting it to be a craphole.

The impression that I've gotten is that Paradise Pier is the crappiest and least Disney of the three hotels. I've never stayed there, but I'm hoping to next year.
Having stayed at some semi-crappy hotels/motels off-site ... I'm actually excited for Paradise Pier. From everything I've seen, it looks like a decent Disney hotel for what you pay. I really don't know why people are so negative about it.

Before I go any further...let me just say that I was really missing MagicBands during this trip! I was so afraid I was going to forget my room key or my PAP at some point and not be able to do anything. Hate all you want, but darn if those MagicBands aren't convenient.

My last trip to DL was in the pre-Magic Band days (2012 ... I can't believe I haven't been there in 3 years!), and even without having experienced any alternative I hated that I had to carry around my ticket and ID everywhere. I was always afraid I'd forget. I love MagicBands, and I do hope they eventually create that option in California.

This was something I really loved about Disneyland - I just felt like this park was crawling with characters. I mean, we weren't even technically IN the park yet, and here was a character! Love it.

Totally agree with this - it's awesome how many characters are around at DL!

WHY IS THIS RIDE SO TERRIFYING?!

It is called Snow White's Scary Adventures...
(Although, personally, I never found it scary)

Big Thunder didn't have a long wait, so that was up next. And it was WAY better than WDW's version! I'm excited for Will to ride it on our upcoming trip - Big Thunder at WDW was his favorite ride as a kid, so I know he'll like this one.

Big Thunder is one of those rides that I find is a totally different experience on the two coasts ... but I agree that DL's is better!

 

[rteetz]

Fun filled day! Snow Whites scary adventures is a good choice. I was too little to remember riding that ride at WDW but I know I have. Disneyland has a lot of classic dark rides which is something I really want to experience.

That's weird that splash had problems. Disneyland usually takes better care of their attractions than WDW.

Pirates was actually never supposed to come to WDW. Fans demanded it tho so they built one in Florida. The Disneyland version is longer and does go through the blue bayou like you said.

Big thunder in Disneyland got huge upgrades last year. It was closed for 14 months and had its entire track redone. WDW is supposed to have a four month refurb next year to bring some of these upgrades.

 

[huggybuff]

WHY IS THIS RIDE SO TERRIFYING?!

LOL. I remember how scary the queue was for me as a kid. I still feel a pang of that come back when I ride it today.

After Splash, we headed to Hungry Bear. Jess got the Bumblebee Cupcake.

That looks amazing! It's definitely going on The List for either January or May.

 

[Ariel484]

I finally have some time to catch up...

Both times I've done Disneyland I flew into LAX. Part of that is because there are no direct flights to SNA from my airport (which makes zero sense to me because it's one of the busiest airports in America), but I've also never had any major problems flying into LAX and going to DL. Yes, it takes a little longer, but it's not terrible.

Yeah, LAX was totally fine for me too. And shorter in the long run since I got a direct flight!

This is good to know. One of the things that bothered me about the runDisney experience at WDW was the lack of signage. I really had no idea where I was going or what was flying much of the time. It's good to know there's more out in California!

Yep, it was everywhere. It really made it feel like the race weekend was more of an "event" at Disneyland compared to Disney World. I think that was inevitable with the resort being so much smaller in California, but seeing the signage everywhere was great.

That's definitely one of the biggest shockers for a WDW vet - it's all right there, which you're not used to. But it's awesome. Every time I go to WDW after a DL trip, I get so frustrated at how far apart things are.

Yes! I loved it! I feel like it will make me super impatient with the WDW buses when I get back there.

You're basically one of my heroes now. Having enough trips planned that a Premeir Passport makes financial sense is one of my life goals.
And it's awesome that you got to apply all three vouchers!

I'm very lucky that I get to take these trips, for sure.

The impression that I've gotten is that Paradise Pier is the crappiest and least Disney of the three hotels. I've never stayed there, but I'm hoping to next year.
Having stayed at some semi-crappy hotels/motels off-site ... I'm actually excited for Paradise Pier. From everything I've seen, it looks like a decent Disney hotel for what you pay. I really don't know why people are so negative about it.

Honestly, it was a perfectly nice hotel. Room was clean and seemed in good shape. The over-the-top Disney theming wasn't really there, but it was still cute.

People are negative about MANY things when it comes to Disney...it gets old to read about after awhile.

My last trip to DL was in the pre-Magic Band days (2012 ... I can't believe I haven't been there in 3 years!), and even without having experienced any alternative I hated that I had to carry around my ticket and ID everywhere. I was always afraid I'd forget. I love MagicBands, and I do hope they eventually create that option in California.

Same here! I especially like having the bands for race weekends...it's so nice not to worry about remembering to put the key card in my skirt pocket.

Totally agree with this - it's awesome how many characters are around at DL!

We were loving it!

It is called Snow White's Scary Adventures...
(Although, personally, I never found it scary)

I guess I am just a wimp! That Evil Queen/Hag just kept jumping out at me! EEK!!

Big Thunder is one of those rides that I find is a totally different experience on the two coasts ... but I agree that DL's is better!

It was way different. WDW's is a...nice ride, in my opinion, but this one was a must-do, for sure.

Fun filled day! Snow Whites scary adventures is a good choice. I was too little to remember riding that ride at WDW but I know I have. Disneyland has a lot of classic dark rides which is something I really want to experience.

Yes! We didn't get to do all of them, but we got to ride most of them.

That's weird that splash had problems. Disneyland usually takes better care of their attractions than WDW.

I was surprised by that as well. We didn't get on Splash again for this trip, so who knows...maybe it was fixed the next day and we just didn't see it.

Pirates was actually never supposed to come to WDW. Fans demanded it tho so they built one in Florida. The Disneyland version is longer and does go through the blue bayou like you said.

We really liked it! Great rode.

Big thunder in Disneyland got huge upgrades last year. It was closed for 14 months and had its entire track redone. WDW is supposed to have a four month refurb next year to bring some of these upgrades.

I'm looking forward to the WDW version getting some love! The extra effects were great.

LOL. I remember how scary the queue was for me as a kid. I still feel a pang of that come back when I ride it today.

I'm telling you...it's that sneaky queen/hag!

That looks amazing! It's definitely going on The List for either January or May.

I didn't try it myself because it's supposed to be lemon-flavored (and I am not a fan of lemon), but Jess liked it!

 

[Ariel484]

4 Mountains in 1 Day!

It seems we walked through a store...

Jess had pointed out that we were halfway to conquering all 4 Disneyland mountains in 1 day, so the Matterhorn was next!

The ride broke down while we were in line, so I think whatever the quoted wait time was, was extended by 20 minutes or so. Woof.

But yay! We did get to ride!

This one hurt me. Seriously, my back was sore when it was done!

Again, I'm not sure of the order of things...I think we went back to use our Splash fastpass after this.

First, and definitely not last, appearance of my RBF (Google it!) I am an expert.

We had dinner at Rancho Del Zocalo (or as Jess kept calling it...Rancho Del Tacos).

We both had the beef soft tacos...I subbed out the beans for sauteed vegetables. Soooo good!

We were both so full after dinner, and we were starting to feel the time change...it felt like it should be bedtime! But we soldiered on...one mountain left!

This is me looking at Jess like "...you aren’t going to puke your dinner up on me, are you?!"

She didn't! Yay!

I think I liked Space a little better here at Disneyland...it just felt crazy! Jess said that she thought the music really added a lot...weirdly enough, I think I was way too focused on holding on for dear life to notice the music! I guess that means I need to ride again!

And with that, 4 mountains in one day - complete!

We also went on Buzz...it turns out that no matter the coast, I am terrible at this.

By now we knew it was time to skeedaddle. We'd gotten a ton done that day and my feet and back were sore! So dumb with the races coming up!

But really...how could we resist? It was a brand-new-to-us park with really short wait times (mostly 10-15 minutes). It was really a great day!

We headed to Main Street and ran into the first crazy crowding we'd seen all day (and a preview of what was to come as the trip went on) - Paint The Night was going on. We had plans to see the parade later in the trip, but we were right in the thick of people who'd been watching it as we tried to leave. We saw the last few floats and it looked AMAZING!

We eventually made it out of the park and headed through Downtown Disney - knowing us, I'm sure we stopped in stores on the way. We kept joking about how the bus ride to the resort was going to be so long, and what if there wasn’t a bus even waiting for us?! This was an ongoing joke we had for the rest of the trip. We were seriously loving the fact that we could walk everywhere.

Then it was back to the room and to bed...we had an early morning planned!

Coming up next - The Expo!

 

[rteetz]

Looks like a fun filled day! Can't really do four mountains at MK unless you count mine train which is more under ground. I have only heard good things about paint the night.

I also think that it's so cool that everything is in walking distance.

I'm interested to hear about the differences in the expo.

 

[huggybuff]

By now we knew it was time to skeedaddle. We'd gotten a ton done that day and my feet and back were sore! So dumb with the races coming up!

Eep. I hope it didn't impact your races!

First, and definitely not last, appearance of my RBF (Google it!) I am an expert.

It seems we walked through a store...

ARGH. This pic is torture! I'm so hungry right now.

 

[pamster]

I admired your picture of the ultimate Premier Pass, because this will be the closest I'll ever get to one

Loving your trip report so far! You took some really awesome shots, especially of the Donald and Minnie statues with the castle in the background. Matterhorn is one of my least favorite rides at DL due to the ouch factor. I might be jumping ahead of the TR timeline, but did you ever get to ride Storybook Land Canal Boats during this trip? As far as I can recall, it's a DL original (not replicated at WDW).

 

[Keels]

I'm so jealous of your PAP!! I thought about getting one, but after crunching the numbers I just couldn't justify it when I can get my WDW AP with a Florida Resident discount. Wah!!!

I'm so glad to hear you're loving DLR. And seriously - I was blown away by how close the parks are to each other! Even the husband and our friends who had never been were shocked, but in a good way!

 

[ZellyB]

Wow! That was an action-filled day. Hope the sore back and feet won't create problems for you at the races, although I'm sure you rocked them regardless. I always end up doing too much at Disney before a race, so no judging here.

Love the ride shot of you shooting the selfie along side the actual selfie. So meta indeed.

And I can give you a run for your money on the RBF. People walk in my office all the time when I'm working on something and they're like, "Is everything okay?"

Loving how you can walk everywhere as well. What a nice change from navigating WDW, and lots of fun to ride some different rides.

All set to hear about the expo...

 

[Ariel484]

Looks like a fun filled day! Can't really do four mountains at MK unless you count mine train which is more under ground. I have only heard good things about paint the night.

I also think that it's so cool that everything is in walking distance.

I'm interested to hear about the differences in the expo.

We really did have such a great day. We were both just SO EXCITED and happy the entire time...everything was just so new.

Eep. I hope it didn't impact your races!

ARGH. This pic is torture! I'm so hungry right now.

It didn't impact them TOO much, thankfully...just made me nervous. Sorry to make you hungry!

I admired your picture of the ultimate Premier Pass, because this will be the closest I'll ever get to one

Loving your trip report so far! You took some really awesome shots, especially of the Donald and Minnie statues with the castle in the background. Matterhorn is one of my least favorite rides at DL due to the ouch factor. I might be jumping ahead of the TR timeline, but did you ever get to ride Storybook Land Canal Boats during this trip? As far as I can recall, it's a DL original (not replicated at WDW).

I never thought I would get a Premier Pass either! But it's definitely the right choice for me for this year (lucky me!).

Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I'm glad I went on Matterhorn, because it's a classic...but yeeeeeouch!!

We did get to Storybook Land Canal boats eventually, just not on that first day.

I'm so jealous of your PAP!! I thought about getting one, but after crunching the numbers I just couldn't justify it when I can get my WDW AP with a Florida Resident discount. Wah!!!

I'm so glad to hear you're loving DLR. And seriously - I was blown away by how close the parks are to each other! Even the husband and our friends who had never been were shocked, but in a good way!

Hey, if it doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense. The walkability of DL was SOOOO awesome. I really loved that.

Wow! That was an action-filled day. Hope the sore back and feet won't create problems for you at the races, although I'm sure you rocked them regardless. I always end up doing too much at Disney before a race, so no judging here.

Yeah, I mean...how can you resist when Disney is RIGHT THERE?!

Love the ride shot of you shooting the selfie along side the actual selfie. So meta indeed.

Really though.

And I can give you a run for your money on the RBF. People walk in my office all the time when I'm working on something and they're like, "Is everything okay?"

I know EXACTLY what you mean. It is a fine art that I have been perfecting since elementary school ("why don't you smile more?"). You cannot teach RBF...you are BORN with RBF.

Maybe I just don't feel like smiling all the time, okay?! You know how it is.

Loving how you can walk everywhere as well. What a nice change from navigating WDW, and lots of fun to ride some different rides.

All set to hear about the expo...

Yes! It really made me feel like we had so much more park time, and getting a park hopper (if I hadn't gotten the AP) would have been a no-brainer. Everything is just super easy.

 

[Ariel484]

Day 2: Thursday, September 3

2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend - The Expo, Part 1 (We Love Merch)

I hadn't done a ton of research for this race weekend, but I did enough to know a few things...
- Bring sunglasses for the half marathon (YES, SO GLAD I KNEW THIS!)
- After mile 3 or 4 of the half, no more parks (Ugh...)
- We could WALK to the corrals from our hotel (Meaning we could sleep a little later than at WDW races...PRAISE JESUS)
- The official merchandise situation at DIsneyland races is CA-RAZY!

So with (4) in mind, we were up by 6 or 6:30 on this day (though it felt like 9 or 9:30 to us). Gotta get on the bus to Wide World of Sports!...

...PSYCH!

Some of the signage in the Paradise Pier lobby...

We crossed the street and headed to Downtown Disney. We could see the starting line of the 5K off in the distance!!

After a visit to Starbucks in Downtown Disney...

(thought this art in Starbucks was cool - NOTE: The Downtown Disney Starbucks didn't honor the Premium AP discount, but the Starbucks locations in the parks did):

...we were at the Disneyland Hotel, the site of the expo.

A CM asked us if we had arrived for Dooneys and pre-order pick-up (half marathon weekend jackets) or the official merchandise. We were there for the merchandise line, so we were sent upstairs, given wristbands by CMs, and were assigned a square of carpet to sit in, inside one of the Disneyland Hotel conference rooms. It was 7:15AM...almost 3 hours before the expo opened, and we were behind maybe 100 people in line.

Seriously.

For a variety of reasons, we decided it was worth it to get up early to be at the expo before opening. And clearly we weren't the only ones.

I kept referring to it as "controlled chaos." You can see the squares in the carpet in the picture above - as I mentioned, we were each assigned a square to stay in. Because we had wristbands (green, if I recall correctly - later groups had different colors) we could leave the room to get snacks, make bathroom stops, etc. We just had to come back to our square. Someone near me compared the whole "stay in your square" method to being back in kindergarten, but really, as nuts as this all was (because let's face it - we were all a little nuts to be there that early), everything really was handled quite calmly. People behaved and it was fine.

This was our spot in line. We had about 2.5 rows of people ahead of us. Who knows when they got there!

Later in the morning:

We did each hop out of line a couple of times to hit the bathroom and grab snacks.

Yum!

I took my camera with me during one of my bathroom stops...the Disneyland Hotel had amazing carpeting. And artwork (which I didn't get any pictures of)...can't wait to stay here!

Mickeys galore!

So we sat, and we waited. Mostly we just played on our phones (come on, Disneyland...free wi-fi please?!) and chatted. Eventually we got good news from one of the CMs - they were going to start letting us in at 9:30, 30 minutes before official opening!

Up next - we're in!

 

[ZellyB]

That whole stay in your square thing is sorta crazy! But, I can see from the later picture why it makes sense. People can get nutso sometimes at these Expos, but I didn't realize that there was a different level of crazy for the DL expos. Is it bad that that section of your post reminded me of the Seinfeld episode about "I don't have a square to spare?"

That carpet is beautiful though, so at least it was pretty where you were hanging out. I can't wait to see what goodies you scored!! I love me some runDisney merchandise. I'm such a sucker for marketing.

 

[rteetz]

That's a lot of people waiting for that merchandise. It definitely is controlled chaos. However after seeing some of the merchandise I can see why.

At least you were able to leave for bathroom and snack stops.

 

[Ariel484]

That whole stay in your square thing is sorta crazy! But, I can see from the later picture why it makes sense. People can get nutso sometimes at these Expos, but I didn't realize that there was a different level of crazy for the DL expos. Is it bad that that section of your post reminded me of the Seinfeld episode about "I don't have a square to spare?"

I didn't either, until I read about it in a couple of the Disneyland race weekend threads here. It was so different from WDW!

That carpet is beautiful though, so at least it was pretty where you were hanging out. I can't wait to see what goodies you scored!! I love me some runDisney merchandise. I'm such a sucker for marketing.

It was! And the CMs had a little water cooler set up for us...it wasn't that bad at all, just crazy that that is what we had to do to ensure we could get what we wanted.

That's a lot of people waiting for that merchandise. It definitely is controlled chaos. However after seeing some of the merchandise I can see why.

At least you were able to leave for bathroom and snack stops.

Yeah, I don't regret doing it...especially since we weren't used to the time change yet, it wasn't like we FELT like we were getting up crazy early. And we got what we wanted!

 

[Ariel484]

2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend - The Expo, Part 2 (In We Go!)

Eventually it was line 1's turn to get up and go. People applauded. Then line 2 went...and it was our turn.

We were led out of the conference room, down the stairs and through the lobby. Into the expo we went...our line snaked around the official merch area, our wristbands were carefully checked, and then we were IN!

Courtney had sent us a list of the stuff she wanted from the expo (she wasn't due to arrive on-property until this evening after working half a day...we knew she'd never get the stuff she wanted if she waited, IF she even made it to the expo before it closed), so I ran around and grabbed stuff for her and myself. And by "ran around" I mean "calmly walked and casually looked and easily grabbed." As insane as it was that we got up so early, and waited over 2 hours to get in...this was really quite nice. The area wasn't crowded at all and we had a pretty big selection of items to chose from. Two things that I really wanted (a race weekend-specific coffee mug and a race weekend hoodie) weren't there (as in, they weren't made for this weekend ), but otherwise, I had no problems getting stuff I wanted in my and Courtney's sizes.

So as far as official runDisney merch at WDW vs. official runDisney merch at Disneyland, I'm not sure which coast does it better. With WDW, I know I can arrive at most races the afternoon of Day 1 of the expo (notable exception being Princess weekend, from what I have heard - I assume Star Wars will be similar) and still get what I want...but it's crowded in the official merch area and seems a little nuts. AND I have to take a bus to Wide World of Sports (you know, for real). This experience at Disneyland was its own kind of crazy, with having to get up early and wait so long,* but once we were actually IN the merch area, it was downright pleasant. I think Jess even said so to one of the Cast Members. We got what we wanted, grabbed our own little corner to assess and try things on over our clothes, traded things out, and then headed to the next room, which was filled with registers - zero line. I was able to apply my Premium AP discount (20% off - woohoo!) and that was that!

*And from what I have read from people that went later, it WAS necessary to be there this early to have a selection of sizes and whatnot to choose from.

Other thoughts on the official merchandise:
- In addition to the items I mentioned above, lack of Coast-to-Coast items was disappointing - they only had a short-sleeved tech shirt and a pin. I would have bought a hoodie if they had them, and I could have sworn that hoodies were offered in earlier years...?
- GREAT that they finally have "I Did It" shirts for the 5K and 10K!

After the merch experience, we emerged from the Disneyland Hotel and went out front. We still had a few things to pick up.

Bib pick-up is in an underground parking garage in the Disneyland Hotel. This is also where pre-ordered purchases could be picked up.

This is the bib pick-up area. I thought it was funny (and impressive) that they rolled out "carpet" to cover the floor of the parking garage.

We grabbed our 5K and Dumbo bibs pretty quickly - no significant lines yet. When we got our Dumbo bibs, we also got Coast-to-Coast wristbands!

The volunteers actually put these on us, so we had no choice but to wear them all weekend. I thought it would be annoying, but other than it being a little bit of a nuisance in the shower, it didn't bother me too much.

And I got my race weekend pins in a big envelope.

After getting our bibs, we had our pictures taken with them for verification purposes (for Dumbo runners only) and got into the Dooney lines. There were two - one for pre-ordered purchases (me) and the other for people buying them that day (Jess buying for Courtney). The pattern was not very popular this year, I think for the reason that I totally loved it - it was very race weekend-specific with all of the distances printed on it - so I wish I hadn't pre-ordered. There were plenty of bags there in stock and I wouldn’t have had to pay fees for mine! In fact, I just saw a picture on Facebook of the leftover bags for sale in Downtown Disney. OH well

I did manage to save a little cash in the end - I actually ended up picking out my bag, then getting in a second line to return the bag and re-purchase it - this time applying my Premium Annual Pass discount (again, wouldn't have had to do this if I hadn't pre-ordered). It saved me about $50!

LOVE! Especially since there is also diamond stuff on it.

Speaking of love...Jess was eyeing the pre-order jacket. I teased her a little bit because it reminded me of the pre-order jacket from the January races, with the giant pair of shoes on the back...neither of us had been a fan of that one (no offense to anyone that actually does own that one ).

January jacket:

Disneyland jacket (Sleeping Beauty Castle on the front, which made it a thousand times better, in my opinion):

At least these shoes aren't crazy glittery!

Jess ended up asking a CM if there were extras she could buy and was told to come back and check on Saturday before the expo closed...fingers crossed!

And with that, we had to go BACK UP to the expo to get our race shirts.

We picked up our 5K shirts and then our Dumbo bags (which had the 10K, half marathon and Dumbo shirts). All shirts are short-sleeved, with the 5K shirts being unisex cotton fit and the rest of the shirts being tech fabric in (in our case) women's cut. We both ended up exchanging our 5K shirts for smaller sizes, which was easy...but seriously, runDisney, any time you want to start making the 5K shirts in women's cuts, that'd be great. K thanks.

Love ALL of the shirts this year! Especially since they have "Diamond Celebration" printed on them (have you picked up that I LOVE all of the diamond stuff? ). I think the half shirt is my favorite...it's just classic.

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