Disneyland Half Marathon/Dumbo Double Dare Expo - August 30, 2013

A lot of my fellow runDisney friends (as well as myself) love going to the runDisney expo on race weekend!  The runDisney expos are where you pick-up your bib and race shirt(s) as well as a venue to shop some of your favorite vendors, listen to guest speakers, and have fun with friends and runners.  

With the weekend being an inaugural race weekend for Dumbo Double Dare Challenge as well as the Disneyland 10K, my friends and I knew that the race merchandise was going to be popular.  My friends decided to get in line for the expo bright and early.  The expo was opening at 10:00am and they got in line for merchandise around 8:30.  I did not finish at the runDisney Meet-Up until around 9:00, so I met them once I was done. 

Party in the expo line!

Apparently, a lot of other people had the same idea.  The line was quite long to enter the expo between the coveted runDisney New Balance shoes and knowing that Dumbo Double Dare merchandise would be limited and highly sought after.

The doors for the expo opened promptly at 10:00 and there was a mad dash for merchandise!  I seriously felt like I was Black Friday shopping.  I knew stuff would be going fast, so when I found the items that I wanted I grabbed 2 sizes at first to try on.  Fortunately, I was in a sports bra from the run this morning and have little modesty in these situations, so I tried my stuff on in the corner of the expo to make my final selections.  Mom, Lena and I saw the line quickly growing, so we hopped in line to check-out.  

After about 15-20 minutes we were done - our friends were not quite as lucky.  They did their shopping fairly quickly as well, but by then the line was longer than the line for Radiator Springs Racers at California Adventure!  They were in line for almost 3 hours to check out - SERIOUSLY!  

Shopping chaos at the runDisney Merchandise area!

Just a part of the 3 hour line to check-out...

Here is a glimpse at my runDisney loot:

 

            

 I never buy the "I Did It" items before I have done it, so mom got my 2 shirts for me :)

DDD "I Did It" shirt

Back of DDD "I Did It" Shirt

           

Magnets and Keychain

Disneyland 1/2 Necklace with 10K, Half, and DDD Pins (per-ordered except DDD pin)

          

 I love Sweaty Bands anyways, so I had to have these

Disneyland Half Jacket

Mom and I decided to go to the next line to pick up my bib.  Yes, another line!  It isn't Disney if you aren't in line for something though, right? 

We made our way through the line into a parking garage for packet pick-up.  Once we were in the pick-up area there were no lines to get your bib.  However, there was a line to get out.  It was warm and very stuffy in there which made for a little cranky Brandi (I haven't really eaten either which made it worse).

I just want to go ride Pirates!  :(

After we got out of the packet-pick up area we made our way into the expo area to pickup my shirts and shop some.  The expo was too crowded for me and mom (plus we were hot and hungry), so we kept the shopping to a minimum.  My wallet is probably happy that we kept our shopping trip quick.  By the time that we were done with everything, my friends were still in line. 

 

LOOOOVE my tank from Endure!

Back design

There were a lot of things that added to the slight chaos of the expo.  At packet pick-up all runners running the 5K, 10K, or Dumbo Double Dare Challenge had to pick up their race packets on Friday since the races were Saturday morning.  This is a lot of people having to do the same thing at once.  It was the entering and exiting the area that was the issue.  Perhaps if they found a location that is easier to get that many people in and out of for next year?  The biggest issue was the merchandise area.  There were people running an "unofficial Dumbo" (registered for the 10K and half marathon separately) that were making a dash for Dumbo merchandise as well as people there to load up on merchandise to resell online.  One of my friends saw someone purchasing over $1100 in merchandise (2 duffel bags full!) and sadly now you can find a bunch of Dumbo Double Dare merchandise on eBay for 10x's the price.  In the future it would be nice to see runDisney limit the number of items being purchased per person or allow per-order (like they do with the race pins). 

Since we were planning on meeting up with Jen and Lena later on at California Adventure, mom and I decided to head back to the hotel to let me shower and drop off our expo items.  

Off to California Adventure we go..... 

**UPDATE** If you missed out on a Dumbo Double Dare "I Did It' shirt or a Coast to Coast shirt, runDisney has them for sale online until 9/16/13.  

Question of the Day:  What is your favorite part of race expos (shopping vendors, listening to guest speakers, finding new races)?

Time to Run,
Brandi