Thursday, January 11th, 2024 - Disneyland, Expo (Part 2)
I made my way towards the Disneyland hotel for the runDisney Expo, meanwhile Steph and G stayed behind inside the Disneyland park. It was around 9:20-9:30 when I was on my way. When I got close to the Disneyland hotel I found a runner couple with jackets on that seemed like they were headed towards the expo. I asked them if they knew where they were going. They helped me out by pointing the way, and then I just followed them.
Got inside the Disneyland hotel and followed the sign towards the runDisney merchandise section. It was around 9:35am at this time and my BG was predicted to be called around 9:50am based on the app. I rounded a corner and saw some familiar faces in the hallway. It was
@The Expert and
@StarGirl11. Said our hellos and
@The Expert shared her experience with the expo thus far. Eventually we parted ways and
@The Expert pointed me towards the general area I should head. When I got outside I saw a line of people had formed and figured I was probably in the right place. So I asked a person with a nametag and they asked which BG number I had. I said BG13 and they put me in a line with BG1-15 in it (or thereabouts). He also had a second line going with 15-30, and then anyone >30 was told to come back at a later time and enjoy their morning.
I chatted up some people in line and we waited from about 9:45am-10:20am. It was around 10:20am, that an official runDisney person came outside, saw the line situation, and then proceeded to talk loudly (sort of yelling) at us. He was adament that us standing in lines meant absolutely nothing. A waste of time and gained nothing in terms of getting inside the runDisney merch section sooner. Leave, go do something else, enjoy your day. Be anywhere other than standing right here. I mean, I get it. He wasn't wrong. But us runDisney runners, and Disney fans specifically, have never seen a line we didn't want to join in on. But by the time he told us all this, they were already calling like BG8-10 or so, so I figured I might as well stick around the area. In hindsight, I probably could have saved some time by getting our bibs right at opening instead of standing in a line for nothing.
Around 10:30am was when I was notified my BG had been called. I made my way towards the runDisney merch entrance and saw
@lookingforsunshine and friends. Nice to see her again! Got inside the entrance, but my phone wouldn't scan despite my brightness being at 100%. After about a minute or so of attempting to scan it, the person just let me in. Stood in a line for a while. Saw
@xjillianpaige in line! Then saw
@lookingforsunshine again. Don't remember exactly when I made it inside the merch area, but it couldn't have been more than 10-15 minutes.
I didn't come in with any expectations on the merch. So I just kind of perused the options and picked and chose things I liked. Ultimately, I got a black t-shirt with "We're back", a pair of blue tights, a 5k pin for G, and a white tank top. I think that was it. According to my texts, I was done with runDisney merch around 11:15am.
After I exited the merch area, I made my way upstairs to bib pickup. The lines were super short (maybe 2-3 people ahead of me). The person for the 5k was initially confused about me not being G, but then caught on that she was my daughter. Other than that, it was uneventful. Got the bibs and headed back towards the merch area to get our free race long sleeves. That was quick and easy, and then packed my backpack with everything. Then I found the line for pre-purchase. That ended up being the longest line of the expo, but even then it only took 10-15 minutes. Saw
@Novatrix while I was waiting for my Disneyland
Loungefly for G. Sadly my backpack couldn't carry everything, so I carried the loungefly in my hand. The exit for the merch area was weird. They were counting people for capacity considerations, but it made things less flowy because they ushered us towards a single exit, instead of the multitude of other acceptable exits. I get it, but it just seemed inefficient for my use of time. I texted Steph around 11:40am that I was headed back to Disneyland park. I met up with Steph and G at around 11:55am. So all in it took about 2.5 hrs from the moment I left the park to returning to the park. I feel like this is less time than a WDW weekend typically takes, so that was a win.
While I was at the expo, G and Steph were having a good time inside the DIsneyland park. They got a Grogu!
They rode the carousel!
They tried to become king!
They rode the Teacups!
They checked out the submarines!
And they ate a dry ice frozen Mickey bar!
So they stayed busy while I was gone!
Right as I entered the park, I walked towards the castle, and just happened to see G and Steph getting their picture taken. So I joined up with them, and got ourselves a castle pic!
Steph had big plans for our first ride back together. She wanted to do the Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes. Steph thought it looked fun. Turns out, it's fun depending on where you sit. If you're sitting next to a child, then you'll probably have an ok experience. If you sit in front of a child, then they'll keep wacking your paddle with theirs and get you all wet. If you sit behind a child, then they'll keep wacking your paddle with theirs and get you all wet. So G successfully got the stranger Dad in front of her all wet, and her known to her Dad behind her all wet. So yea, that was fun. Also got splashed some river water in my eyes and was convinced I had just contracted several different ailments. There was a funny joke by the cast member. They told us all to smile and look like we were having fun so that she could get some new suckers to do the canoes. It was like a mix of physical activity, water ride, and Jungle Cruise.
After the canoes, we saw the Haunted Mansion ride was up again. I think the line ended up taking 45-50 min. The ride was still overlayed with Nightmare Before Christmas. To me, this was a highlight of the trip. The overlay of NBC on HM is just phenomenal. Got to see the Hatbox Ghost in person and confirmed it would be a tricky good cosplay to attempt some day.
After HM, I think we headed towards the frontier area and got lunch at the Golden Horseshoe. They had buffalo chicken strips, and G/Steph got plain chicken strips. This was a good meal.
I think we headed through Star Wars Galaxy's Edge for a walkthrough. Very similar to the WDW GE. G got another stuffie. She asked me what it's name was, and the first thing I saw was "Nom". So I was like it's "Nom". But that's just "name" in Spanish. So go me...
After GE, we made our way towards Toontown. Along the way, we saw a new age Ariel. I had a hard time discerning whether this was a cast member or a cosplay guest. It's hard at Disneyland because the characters don't always have handlers or photopass people taking pictures. Ariel was just meandering about, and she looked bored/lonely. So I convinced G to go say, "Hi". They chatted for a bit and then took some pics together.
After meeting Ariel, we made our way into Toontown!
Next post - Thursday, January 11th, 2024 - Disneyland, Expo (Part 3)