Star Wars Light Side Expo 2017 (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

Last Wednesday I flew into Las Angeles.  I met up with my friend Kelly who is from Ohio and nicely our flights landed right about the same time.  We took a Super Shuttle and headed to the Disneyland Hotel.  Kelly always stays there, but this was my first time staying there.

We settled in and headed to dinner.  We went to Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen.  We went there for dinner last year and had a great meal.  I'm glad that we went back again this year.  

 

We split the Garlic Cheese Bread and Jambalaya.  I'm glad we decided to split the meal as the bowl is huge and we ended up with the perfect amount each.

The next morning we got up early and headed down to the expo.  By early I mean we got down there a little before 7 and the expo didn't open till 10.  Kelly likes to beat the crowds and I really didn't care and was up way before that because I was still on East Coast time.  It was either hang out in the hotel room, or downstairs with a bunch of other crazy people.

When we got down there there was already a line.  I asked the people in the front what time they got there and they said 6.  They moved us into a conference room where they had tape on the ground to show lines.  Kelly brought thank you cards for Christmas and work and I brought my laptop and watched some shows on Hulu.  The time actually went by really fast.

The line wasn't too long most of the morning.  We think this is because they started a VIP program where you pay and you get early entry into the merchandise (plus a few other things).  We really were not interested in paying for that, plus the other things conflicted with what we had planned.  A bit after 9 you could tell a lot of people had started to flow in.
 
A little before 10 they started to move us to the expo.  We were the first group that were let into the official merchandise area.  Kelly and I split up the list and she went to the pins and I went to the sweaty bands.  As I was walking through things I could feel the amount of people that were being let in.  It was starting to get crazy.  I could feel the anxiety in the air and it started to get to me.

Kelly and I ducked down in a corner and started going through to see who got what and split up our loot.  We put things back that we got double on and took one more sweep through the merchandise.  It was getting so chaotic in there that I just started grabbing things I might like.

Once everything was purchased we went back up to the room to drop off everything and head back down to get our bibs and look at other expo booths.  We went to the lower level and got everything we needed there.  The Dooney bag, our bibs, and pre-purchased merchandise.  The pre-purchased merchandise included a jacket and a bundle that included a ordainment and tumbler.  The jacket and tumbler were different then anything that they had at the expo but the ordainment was the same.  I ended up returning the jacket as I didn't like it as much as I did of one that I found at the expo.

We headed back upstairs and Kelly got our knee and back taped at the KT booth.  There was only a couple people ahead of us, which is a rarity.  When we went back on Saturday the line was insane.  There wasn't too much else that I saw interesting.  We took a few pictures at different booths.  Got some freebees.


The coolest thing that I got was a drawing done that was personalized.  I saw Kelly at the booth and I went in to see the drawings.  They had the same thing at marathon weekend last year.  I ended up talking to one of the artists there and he was telling me that there were a handful of artists did the drawings and a couple of them are there to personalize.  I ended up picking out one of the pictures done by the artist there that I was talking to.  He helped me decide what to put on the picture and made it really special.


We got our shirts and made our way back to the hotel room.  We saw Pluto on the way back.


Here is some of the loot that I got. I didn't get a good picture of it all but will have more of it in my vlog. 

 

We went to dinner at Marri's Pizza & Italian Restaurant.  It's right off property and a place I go to every time I go to Disneyland.  I usually stay at the Best Western right next door.  I actually met my friend Candace there a few years back (another story for another post).  

We headed back to get ready for the 5k the next morning. 

Also, check out my vlog for the Expo!

Have you ever gotten to the expo early?  Have you ever stayed at the Disneyland Hotel?  Do you have favorite restaurants that you go to every time in Disneyland?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.