11.08.13
After getting back to the room around 12.30am from the Meet Up, Sammy and I got up early and excited for the expo. We made reservations at Kouzzina to give us our strength needed to shop till we dropped! Little did we know how true that would be.
My favorite breakfast is the golden waffles with marscapone and honey mm mm mm! This is usually a quick breakfast too if you make reservations early in the day.
We decided to drive to the Wide World Of Sports where the expo was being held. I was somewhat nervous after the Princess Half 2013 fiasco and had us arrive at 9.15am for a 10am start time. Because we knew our bibs would be there until we got to them we lined up outside the expo/shopping center. There were maybe 30 people in front of us. I was very excited at our continuing luck.
Once inside the expo we made a straight shot for the official merchandise area!
Lucky for us runDisney posted what the merchandise would look like before we entered. Sammy and I already knew what we would be going for. I ended up going semi-nuts with all the great merch! I left with the coral pull over and the white long sleeve, a wine glass, the coral/red Sweaty Band, "I did it!" shirt, and the wine bottle label magnet! Yikes! But how could you say no!?!
(Source: Disney Parks Blog)
(Source: Disney Parks Blog)
(Source: Disney Parks Blog)
Here are some photos from the expo.
Men's 2013 runDisney-New Balance Shoe
Women's 2013 runDisney- New Balance Shoe
Sammy and I ended up purchasing the 2013 Minnie themed shoes. I will say she initially peer pressured me into it, but it wasn't very difficult. All she had to say was that she wanted to try them on... Yup. I'm an easy sell!
Social Media was on fire with this runDisney race.
We stopped by the runDisney booth to look at the medals we would be collecting in the upcoming months. Here is the Glass Slipper Challenge medal.
Glass Slipper Challenge ribbon.
Princess Half Marathon Medal
Enchanted 10k
Bling Bling! We both wish we were doing the Tink 10k. Such an awesome medal!
Walt Disney World 10k
So beautiful!
After we were finished purchasing everything in sight and our arms began to hurt, we left the area where the expo was and went to get our packets.
Time for a photo op! Yup.... I have a champagne obsession. <3
Love this girl! <3
I felt like this side of the expo was crazier than the vendor side. What was great is that they had an official merchandise location here too. Smart to have two locations. I'll bet it helped huge with making sure everyone was able to purchase what they wished for.
We waiting in line for what felt like FOREVER. Met some interesting people though, and that is slightly an understatement haha.
I didn't remember seeing the time clock till the 1/2 for Princess and knew I wanted to get my photo taken in front of it. Elizabeth from Bibbidi Bobbidi Babies ended up noticing me and coming over to give me a hug! She is so sweet and seriously probably the most self-less person I have ever met. She was volunteering at the expo, another showing of how my luck seems to be changing. Although I feel like a douche that I didn't get a picture with HER, she was our photographer for this. :)
After saying goodbye to Elizabeth we headed back to the vendor side to get our shirts and bags. I loved the long sleeve, probably got a size too big but I'm okay with that, it's very comfy. It could potentially be in the running to be my favorite race shirt. We did one more walk through and I needed to get over my star-struckness and just go up and talk to Kelly from According to Kelly. I had seen her last night in her adorable Donald Duck getup at the Meet Up but was a little intimidated, not because she is intimidating herself but I consider her blogging royalty. I walked up to her and she was incredibly sweet and adorable and kind. I am so happy I did get to have a photo with her. <3
One more stop at Sammy's and my favorite booth, Sweaty Bands and we were on our way to Downtown Disney.
Disney sure knows how to get you excited for a 13.1 mile race!
Instead of going right back to the room we went to Downtown Disney. I've never been during the Festival of the Masters. It was another first for me. How gorgeous is this sidewalk painting.
Along our travels we noticed there seemed to be an area where crafts were being done. WHAT!?! We love crafts! We walked into the Michaels craft center and looked around. There were tables lined up with families and couples coloring and creating their own masterpieces.
We opted for the heart-shaped photo frame to customize. It came with Mickey ears too! Sammy was in the zone!
Sammy was putting the finishing touches on her frame.
My finished product! I can't wait to add a photo from the half marathon to it!
It was in the huge courtyard I guess you could call it next to Bongo's Cuban Cafe.
Sidewalk water art as we were walking around!
The artist
My suggesstion is that if you are around the Disney area during this time you take an afternoon and spend it here. I can't believe I've never seen this festival before. It was incredibly impressive to look at the artwork, photography, sculptures and mixed media art being created by these artists. And, to top it off, IT'S FREE! even the Michael's Crafts were $0.
I wish I remembered this artists name. I'm in love with this.
We decided to grab some lunch at the Earl of Sandwich and saw this beauty outside. The line inside EoS was a joke. We ended up leaving and going back to the resort.
Once we were back at Pop Century we began to see signs of the next days excitement. EEEE!!!
In keeping with tradition I chose to have a chicken burrito for lunch the day before the races. Chicken, jalapenos, corn salsa, cheese and lettuce. Moe's should probably give the people rolling these bad boys a lessons. It was more than messy to try and eat.
We then decided after all our shopping to relax in the room. We got our outfits ready for the next day and set our alarms. We had a Jingle Jungle run early the next morning!
