On the Wednesday before the weekend, I headed down to Disney World in the evening after work. The plan was that I would stay with my friend Kelly and her husband Franklin that night and after the Expo on Thursday I would move to my own room. We did it last year and it worked out great. This year, because of work, Franklin was not going to get there till Thursday evening, so it was just the girls for the Expo.
Kelly likes to get to the Expo early and wait for the doors to open. I know we would have to wait either way, so I was fine heading there early. We took an Uber to ESPN and got there a little before 8 and there was already a short line outside. Last year we spent the time outside, so I brought a blanket for us to sit on. The moment we got comfortable they started moving the line inside. Since the official merchandise area is in a new building, there was room to have us wait in a room inside.
We chatted some and we both brought things to work on. When we left the room to use the bathroom, you could see the empty Expo. It was fun to see it empty with all the items there.
There was a DJ there for awhile and the music was too loud. And every time he talked to the group, you could not understand a word he said.
The Expo was supposed to open at 10, but they let us in about 9:30. I had seen the Disney blog about the merchandise and had an idea of what I wanted to see. We did a once through and grabbed items that interested us. They had tables on the side, so we grabbed one and went through everything we grabbed and tried things on.
The pre-purchased items could be picked up in the same area so we took turns picking up our items and putting things back that we didn't want. It actually worked out well. The per-purchased items were to include a magnet, a shoe ordainment, and a figurine. Well it turned out that we got two ordainment and two figurines. We came to a conclusion that maybe the ordainment and figurines from the Light Side in Disneyland were ordered before the race was canceled and they couldn't cancel it. Therefore they were part of the Dark Side items. We don't know for sure if that is true, but that was the only thing we could figure.
Noticed that they had an artist section set up. I went over and looked at the drawings and saw the
Millennium Falcon. I had the artist write "Never tell me the odds." on it and went to pay for my merchandise while I waited for that to be done.
After we paid, we got in the Dooney line. When I saw pictures on the website I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. But seeing them in person, I did like the clutch. They were selling Passholder shirts which I fell in love with. Kelly was a Passholder and was able to get herself, her husband, and me one.
I picked up my personalized Millennium Falcon and we headed out of the merchandise area. We saw that they had characters setup for pictures. As we waited in line for Jabba the Hut, Kelly went to get a drink and came back with this AT-AT. OMG it was awesome. It moved and opened up. It was almost as nice as the toys my mom wouldn't buy me when I was a kid. I had to have one!
We got our pictures taken with Jabba.
And then with the Storm Troopers.
We had done everything we could do in that building and headed to the building to pick up our bibs. As we left there were more photo opportunities. There was the Viper probe droid.
We went in to get our bibs. Along with the races for the weekend we had to pick up our medals for the Star Wars Light Side virtual race that we did. They gave us a box which contained the medal, and "I did it" magnet, and a little BB-8 that light up and made noise when a button was pushed.
On the way to the main expo they had the runDisney icon out.
In the Expo area they had more cool photo ops.
I couldn't find my Rock Tape before I left, so I decided to have them tape my knee and buy a couple of roles. After I passed the Sweaty Band booth and saw that they had a bunch of holiday headbands in their clearance area. Yes please.
We made it around to the shirt pickup and got our race shirts. I asked the people at the runDisney booth when and if they expect to have Star Wars Light Side back. They said that there was a new hotel being built in the parking lot where the finish area usually is and that they wouldn't be back till the construction was done. Knowing that I don't know where they would put the finish area if that parking lot is gone. But I did notice on one of their brochures that they are still having the Star Wars Light Side virtual run for next year. It is the only Disneyland race that they made virtual.
While there the topic of the virtual summer series came up. Kelly said that they signed up for it to get in a few longer runs through the summer. Granted, they do track through the summer, so 3 miles is a longer run for them. I thought since I probably will do more biking through the summer then running, this would get me out to do a few runs through the summer, so I signed up. Plus the medals are so super cute!!
I also stopped at the Roo Sports booth. I had bought one the week before at the Ukrop's 10k
and noticed that the earphone hole was fraying. They were super nice and exchanged it without question. I also talked to the owner about how the corners of the pocket poke out and she thought it was a good idea to do something about that. If they do, I'll defiantly buy another one.I finished up the last row of the expo and noticed that there were people trying on compression sleeves. I was interested as I had tried different brands and they were always too tight for me. I got measured and tried on a man and woman sizes. They were comfortable so I bought a pair.
Both Kelly and I were exhausted and ready to head back to the hotel. We got back and dropped off our stuff. We had lunch at the hotel and she went off to Epcot and I went to check into my room. I moved my stuff into my room, showered and rested. When Franklin got in, I met him at the bus stop. Since it was pretty late, the plan was that he would jump right on the Expo bus to get his bib. I met him to take his carry on items from the plane to his room so that he didn't have to carry them around the Expo.
It was an early night for me as I would have to get up early for the 5k.
Continue reading about the Star Wars Dark Side weekend with the 5k.
I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0
Wow sounds like they really did it up for the expo! So did you end up getting the Dooney?
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