Dopey Challenge--The expo! (Perhaps the first event...)

I decided not to bring my computer with me to Florida, so my reflections come post-Disney. It's been a week since the 10k; five days since I ran the marathon. I did it! I'm a Dopey! (And it was awesome...)

I'll post here, then, about the Dopey Challenge from start to finish in hopes that my experience might help someone else who is considering doing the series. And while the race series is a 5k/10k/half/full on four consecutive days, there are all kinds of factors beyond the actual races that impact performance. I felt like the fifth event was early start/cold corrals. That required some serious endurance. But it all started with the expo...

This was the closest I could get to Dopey at the expo.

I was flying from Indiana in to Orlando in early January, and I'm a nervous flyer, so I was watching the weather like a hawk. The weather in Indiana was clear enough for our takeoff, but the weather in Florida was... well, cold. I spent the week watching the weather channel, and the predicted temps for the race days kept dropping. I filled my luggage with throwaway clothes for the start lines, and I was grateful that I wasn't planning on any elaborate Disney-style costumes.

Magical Express--Mom at Disney for the first time in 30 years

We got to Orlando's airport at about 2:30 in the afternoon and took Disney's Magical Express over to our hotel (Pop Century Resort). I used the online check-in service, and we had a text message with our room number on my phone when we arrived, so we got to skip the front desk and head straight to our room. We planned to use the Magical Express luggage service, as well. When Disney sent me luggage tags, they sent me just two. I called Disney before we left, and they told me that we could just tell the cast member at the Magical Express reception area that we needed the other two bags and give them our baggage claim tickets and Disney would make sure that they got to our room.

We got to our room. I'm not intending this to be a major review of Disney resorts, but I'll say that our room was pretty great considering the price! Below are some pics: 

 I left my mom hanging out there so that I could get over and back to the expo quickly. Disney provides plenty of transportation to and from the expo. Buses seemed to run about every twenty minutes from our hotel over to ESPN Wide World of Sports, so I went over and hopped on one of those and left my mom in the room. 

I headed over to the only chaotic part of the weekend. To this day, I'm still a little bit stunned that Disney didn't have their act together any better. The expo was nuts. Here's why:

1. ESPN Wide World of Sports is huge, and there wasn't adequate signage. People were there to pick up packets for the 5k/10k/half/full/Dopey Challenge/Goofy Challenge. And some people were there solely to buy out as much Disney merchandise as possible to list it that day on Ebay and suck the blood out of the people who were actually doing the race (issues!). And there wasn't signage directing anyone anywhere. The only direction I could get from people was "follow the people who are in front of you." That's good for race day, but it's not good for packet pick-up when packet pick-up means finding one of six different areas. Advice for someone doing it in the future? Get there early. Or make sure that you show up with lots of patience.

2.  There's one line you have to find (and you really do have to find it--there's no signage) for packet pickup. It's an adventure. And the people are really nice. But you have to have a signed waiver (print it before you leave home or you have to wait in line to do that, too), and you have to have your license with you to pick up your race number. And if you are doing Dopey, you have to make sure you get your picture taken with your bib at the expo. It looked a little bit like a touristy thing and not a requirement, so I almost walked out without doing it, but then I realized what it was and jumped in to get my picture taken. 

3. And then, there are two expos, technically speaking. And you have to leave the place where you picked up your bib to go back into either of the expos. And those aren't labeled, either. 

The Running Stuff Expo

The running stuff expo was pretty sweet. I got a new pair of running shoes (I run in Brooks Ghosts right now) for a sweet price. And I also got a pair of Oofo's  recovery sandals. That was my big splurge. (And they were amazing on the hard floors of our hotel room as I piled on the miles!). But I was really most interested in visiting the Disney Merchandise section. Until I walked out the door and found the line for it... 

The line for the Disney Merchandise Expo

I checked my social media chatter, and people were saying that they waited in this line for an hour or longer just to get into the area with the RunDisney merchandise. And then once they were in the area, the lines were even more out of control to check out. And while I was really interested in snagging some Dopey swag, I was disgusted at the line. No one knows how to do lines like Disney; seriously, if you've ever been in the parks, you know that you can stand in a line for hours and not feel it. But that expo line was brutal. So I left. No Dopey swag for me. 

Got back to the hotel, snagged my mom for dinner, and went to eat in the Pop Century dining area. And when we got back to the room, our suitcases were there... well, two of them. My mom's suitcases didn't make it over from the airport. At this point, it was 6:30 at night. I called the resort, and they said that they knew where my mom's suitcases were, but they weren't at our resort. And they said they would bring them to our room when they arrived. (If you are thinking, "That's pretty nonspecific!", you are thinking what I was thinking.)

I'll do the 5k prep as part of another post, but we needed to get to bed. It had been a long day, and I was wound up about the 5k. I put my clothes out for the next morning (again, details on that later), and I tried to go to sleep, but my mom's suitcases still weren't there. They finally arrived at our room at 11:15 at night. 

Frankly, that's it for Disney snafus for this trip. 

1. The expo was a mess with no signage. 

2. The Disney merchandise at the expo was inaccessible. 

3. Disney's Magical Express luggage service was a little less than magical. 

After that, it only gets better! (And frankly, that wasn't all THAT bad.) More in the 5K post next.

Oh, and in case you are wondering what the early morning schedule for these races looks like, here it is (and they aren't kidding about those times you are supposed to be on the bus):