It’s time to start recapping the 2014 WDW Marathon
Weekend! In all honesty, I can’t even
believe that it’s over. I trained so
long and so hard to get to those 4 finish lines. Let’s start at the beginning: the expo! With a new year comes a new line of
merchandise. We got “first dibs” at some
items, such as the Vinalmation and (of course) the 2014 New Balance shoes. Knowing that I had to have a pair of those
Cindys, I planned to get to the expo early.
Not crazy early, just early in the day.
We boarded the buses around 9:30 to get to the expo for the
opening. We ran a little late, so we
weren’t there as early as I would have liked, but I made a pact with my hubby
that no matter what, we were going to have fun.
No getting upset over little things like shoes or rude people. That’s not what this was all about.
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| On our way to stand in line! |
We split up; he waited in line for the “virtual queue” for
the NB shoes and I went to the expo. I
was sure to bring my list on my phone to keep me focused and knowing that I got
everything I needed. I started at the
official merchandise and picked up my “I Did It” shirt, jacket, magnet, Sweaty
Bands, water bottle, and lanyard. There
were a few other items that were tempting, but I refrained. I found this part to be easy, with short
lines and enough space to not feel like I was going to pass out. I was able to try on my jacket and shirt in
the corner to be sure everything fit just right. Truth be told, since the 2013 Disneyland
Expo, I have always had that nervousness that it would be a disaster. This part definitely restored a little more
faith in the expo!
Off to the other vendors.
I really have to hold on tight to my wallet here; I love buying running
gear! I grabbed some Body Glide, a new
Sparkle Athletic skirt and Shwings, and got my free art card. I was pretty much in and out of the expo in
less than 45 minutes.
At this point, I thought this would be an awesome experience—well,
I texted my hubby and my delusional self was brought back down to earth. He was still waiting in the long, long, long
New Balance line to sign up for the virtual queue. I met him in line to find that he had at
least another hour wait. We got to talk to
some other runners, which is always a fun way to pass the time. I debated getting started on packet pickup,
but didn’t have the authorization form to pick up my hubby’s stuff. **Lesson learned: I think from now on I will
always have copies of all the IDs and authorization forms so anyone in our
group can do packet pickup—that would have saved us a lot of time** We finally made our way up to the queue and
signed up for our text alert. To my
shock, they were unable to give us a time to come back (I thought that was how
it worked). We were told we would get a
text when our number was up, and we had 20 minutes to get to the booth to get
shoes. If we missed our time, they would
try to “squeeze you in” but there were no guarantees. Well, we were already this far into the
commitment, so we might as well go all the way.
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| Our race swag |
We both then went to the Jostens Center for packet
pickup. Again, everything went super
smooth. I was even able to exchange my
shirts (which is good, because I ordered and women’s XL and ended up needing a
M). I have to give major kudos to
runDisney and Champion! The shirts this
year are AWESOME! The women’s cut is
great, but even more-so, the material is super soft. The designs are also really nice. Good thing, too, since I came home with 6
shirts from the Dopey Challenge. The only
complaint would be that the 10k shirts were a little feminine with the Minnie
theme. Not sure what more they could do,
though, to really change this. I had
pre-ordered pins and a Dopey necklace.
They are great additions to our growing collection!
We had lunch reservations at Hollywood Studios and decided
to try our luck at leaving the expo and coming back for the shoes. We were looking at hours of wait time, and we
wanted to get to the parks. Thanks to
the power of social media, I was able to keep up with a few people who posted
updates on times and when they finally got the text.
So, here’s the honest truth: We saw on a Facebook group that
someone just walked up and purchased shoes without having a number. I’m honestly not sure how true that was,
because they were pretty strict all the times I passed by. I also read others saying they didn’t get the
text or they got it late. I got
nervous/annoyed, and we decided to leave the Studios (yes, we got in a few
rides after lunch) and head back to the expo.
On the bus, we got the text. It was
like a Devine intervention. I literally
walked up to the booth at the 20 minute mark, tried on the shoes, and bought
mine, my mom’s and my sis-in-law’s (because, after all, Disney Runs in the
Family). If I had waited any longer, I
would have missed it. The actual “try on
and buy” process was awesome. Took 10
minutes—I just wish the 10 minutes would have been about 6 hours earlier.
Here is my quick assessment:
the process is okay at best. We
still waited in a 2-hour line, but ended up with no shoes until 6 hours
later. This would work better at
Disneyland where you could, theoretically, get back to the expo in 20 minutes
from a park. If they had just given us a
return time or even a window, I would have been much more impressed with the
process. Also, the registration to get
into the virtual queue was taking way too long.
I realize that New Balance wants to gather data from this process, but
really, who cares where I’m from. They
should have had at least 20 registration stations; they only had 6. That would have moved the line along much
faster. I thought they had learned some
lessons from last year. Clearly they are
trying, just haven’t hit the nail on the head.
So there you have it: the expo! If you were there, how did it go? Did you get the shoes? If you weren’t, would you have waited? I’m interested to see if they tweak the
process at all for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon. Up next: the 5k!
