I Am Not Fast: A 2015 Dumbo Double Dare Trip Report!

[Ariel484]

2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend - The Expo, Part 3 (Out We Go)

A few last looks at the expo...the vendors (shirt pick-up is beyond the booths):

Speaker set-up:

And the official merchandise area. The people standing along the side are waiting for a CM to let them in. From what I heard, for most of the expo, the line to get into this area was at least an hour long.

Heading out...more AMAZING carpeting.

Signage.

Back at Paradise Pier! This is the back entrance.

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend - The Expo, Part 4 (The Haul)

The row all the way to the left is Courtney's...mine is in the middle (so clearly we both have similar taste) and then Jess' is all the way to the right.

ADVICE! Check your race shirts closely...I didn't realize until we got back to the room that my half marathon shirt had a flaw in it.

Darn, and now I'd have to take the bus back to the expo to exchange it! ...

I ended up walking back right then (thankfully they had a better half shirt in my size)...this was something way different than WDW race expos for me. We ended up going back to the expo for various reasons probably 4-5 times over the weekend. At WDW I am always one and done.

Anyway...the loot.

Shine bright like a diamond!

Thought this was pretty cute and I LOVED the color of both this shirt and the Dumbo jacket.

Nothing on the back of either of these. Weird sidenote - anything we bought that was on a hanger actually included the hanger. I had 5-6 hangers in my bag between my and Courtney's stuff (should have asked for a second bag) and my bag ended up ripping on the walk back.

East Side to the West Side!

Race pins:

And a few non-race pins.

Up Next - lunch!

 

[pamster]

Ooooh at that DDD jacket and C2C shirt! Great merchandise purchases!

 

[cavepig]

Neat that Paradise Pier had signs up for the races, I didn't see any at Grand Californian. Yeah no line for merchandise when we went, but it was a picked over empty shelved place.

 

[Dis5150]

OH MY! I love that Dooney! And isn't Disneyland fun! I feel like we get more fun stuff done with just walking from one place to another. The Matterhorn has been down for maintenance EVERY time I have been there. I think it's not meant for me to ride.

 

[rteetz]

Love all the merchandise especially the I did it stuff. I was disappointing they didn't have a 10k one in January. Love the pins as well. Everything looks fantastic.

They really take carpets seriously in Anaheim!

 

[huggybuff]

NOTE: The Downtown Disney Starbucks didn't honor the Premium AP discount, but the Starbucks locations in the parks did):

Good to know.

It was 7:15AM...almost 3 hours before the expo opened, and we were behind maybe 100 people in line.

I'm starting to get a feel for how my Star Wars and Tink weekends are going to go.

can't wait to stay here!

You'll love staying at DLH! Trader Sam's, Steakhouse 55...Trader Sam's.

The volunteers actually put these on us, so we had no choice but to wear them all weekend. I thought it would be annoying, but other than it being a little bit of a nuisance in the shower, it didn't bother me too much.

The shower was the first thing I thought of. Glad it didn't annoy you too much.

Part 4 (The Haul)

You're not kidding! That's an amazing haul right there!

 

[Anisum]

Ohhh I love your race pins (and all of your merch really)! Did you guys pre-order the race pins?

 

[Ariel484]

Ooooh at that DDD jacket and C2C shirt! Great merchandise purchases!

Thanks! Little bit of everything

Neat that Paradise Pier had signs up for the races, I didn't see any at Grand Californian. Yeah no line for merchandise when we went, but it was a picked over empty shelved place.

That is so weird that Grand Californian didn't have signs...now that you say that I don't remember seeing any there. I get why Disneyland Hotel had them (because the expo was there) but why would Paradise Pier have all of that stuff and not Grand Californian? Hmm.

OH MY! I love that Dooney! And isn't Disneyland fun! I feel like we get more fun stuff done with just walking from one place to another. The Matterhorn has been down for maintenance EVERY time I have been there. I think it's not meant for me to ride.

I love the Dooney too! Love the colors.

Part of me wants to say that I hope you get to ride the Matterhorn someday...the other part of me says maybe skip it.

Love all the merchandise especially the I did it stuff. I was disappointing they didn't have a 10k one in January. Love the pins as well. Everything looks fantastic.

They really take carpets seriously in Anaheim!

They seem to be stepping up the merchandise efforts for the shorter races, which is definitely a good thing.

Good to know.

We got asked a lot if we had some sort of Annual Pass whenever we were checking out. It was nice of the CMs to do that.

I'm starting to get a feel for how my Star Wars and Tink weekends are going to go.

Yeah, if the merchandise is important to you, you'll want to be there early...

You'll love staying at DLH! Trader Sam's, Steakhouse 55...Trader Sam's.

I'm noticing a patter here, and I like it.

The shower was the first thing I thought of. Glad it didn't annoy you too much.

Yeah, other than the shower I didn't notice it at all!

You're not kidding! That's an amazing haul right there!

Ohhh I love your race pins (and all of your merch really)! Did you guys pre-order the race pins?

I pre-ordered the pins when I signed up for the races. There were other non-pre-order pins for sale as well.

 

[Anisum]

I pre-ordered the pins when I signed up for the races. There were other non-pre-order pins for sale as well.

Good to know. I like those much better than the ones that look like mini-medals.

 

[Ariel484]

5K Outfits - Complete!

All of that shopping caused us to work up an appetite...lunchtime!

We checked Surfside Lounge in Paradise Pier first. I forget why, but we opted to skip it.

More helpful signage!

Instead, we headed across the street to the Grand Californian. Eventually we found their counter service location, which is near the pool.

I ordered the beef nachos - SO GOOD! Great chips, tasty beef, fake cheese...so delicious.

I decided I wanted a side of fries and they gave me this giant basket. I had maybe 25% of it.

Jess went with a hotdog.

After lunch, we headed back to Disneyland. We needed one last item for our 5K outfits - personalized Disneyland Mickey ears. I wasn’t sure if this was something that was done at different stores around the resort, and if there were only certain hours that we could get them, so I wanted to make sure we got them this morning. Turns out you can get them at a number of stores, but I digress.

All aboooooard!

We got our ears from The Mad Hatter and just did the classic gold script (got a pair for Courtney as well). I remember thinking they were cheaper than I expected them to be...maybe due to my PAP discount! Awww yeah.

I also picked up a pair of 60th Minnie ears...couldn't resist them!

Apparently we made it to the hub before leaving the park, because I have this picture. #twinning

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

Good to know. I like those much better than the ones that look like mini-medals.

Oh I agree. I normally don't get the medal pins (because I get the actual medals after the race, sooooo...why get the pins?) but I did get a couple this year.

 

[Ariel484]

California Adventure

And with that...it's time to park hop. Better get on the bus to California Adventure...

...

Ears in hand (or on head, as the case may be), we hopped across the esplanade. Pleased to make your acquaintance, California Adventure!

Mind-fudge - Buena Vista Street reminded me a LOT of Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood Studios.

The layout of California Adventure also reminded me of Hollywood Studios...it just was not coherent to me at all. I felt like I didn't really get my bearings in that park until closer to the end of the trip.

Sticking with the "first ride should be something not in WDW" theme, Monsters was the winner today!

So along with the real version of "mind-fudge," I would say the terms we most often used on this trip were "RBF" (except not the acronym), "could you not" (our favorite phrase ever), and the word "cute." We probably said some form of the word "cute" a thousand times that weekend. Normally one of us would declare something "cute." And then the other would go, "so cute." And once Courtney arrived, the third would say "maj cute" (as in shortening the word "majorly"). If there was a drinking game to this - drink every time you hear the word "cute!" - we would have been hammered the entire weekend.

All of that to say...Monsters Inc. was incredibly adorable. Some may even say it was *cute.*

We stumbled blindly through the park. I was really resistant to using a map during this trip in either park, for some stupid reason. I think I felt like I should have just automatically known where everything was. The whole "familiar, yet different" thing, I guess. Also, I am stubborn.

Oh Tower. This is 100% my favorite ride in WDW, and yet I never actually went on the California version. Next time!

We wandered through Bugs Land ("CUTE!")...I thought the exit sign was hilarious.

Bye.

And then we found…

Real talk: I am pretty anti-Cars. I couldn't even make it through the first movie (I think I gave up after 30 minutes). But this land is freaking incredible.

I sort of figured out how to do sunbursts with my camera before this trip, so that's why there are so many of them in my pictures (the fact that the sun was unrelenting helped with that). Also, I like taking pictures at weird angles, in case you didn't figure that out.

And we came upon...

Fastpasses were gone for the day, and we figured that 35 minutes was the shortest wait time we were going to see this trip, so we bit the bullet and hopped in line. I'm glad we did, because we actually didn't get on the ride again this trip.

We were able to take the last turn to enter the loading area of the ride, and it broke down! After hearing how amazing this ride was, there was no way I was getting out of line after waiting allll of those 35 minutes, so we stuck it out. I think with the breakdown our total wait time was closer to an hour.

So close!

We get extremely goofy when we are on these girls trips together (that's how you know you're with true friends, in my opinion - you aren't afraid to let your freak flag fly!) and I'd like to think we weren't annoying anyone around us...but we did end up in a row with this poor teenage kid who was a solo rider and had been in the queue behind us the entire time. Hope we didn't bug him!

Here we gooooo!

My face is under there somewhere…Jess was smarter and pulled her hair back.

Final verdict - this ride was GREAT! It was *cute* and just so well-done. Ditto to Cars Land as a whole...

...having said that - I'd be disappointed if Disney brings a toned-down Cars Land/Radiator Springs Racers to Hollywood Studios. I am all for having different experiences on each coast. But maybe that's just me.

Continued in Next Post

 

[rteetz]

That food looks really good! I want some nachos now.

Love the ability to park hop so easily.

Cars land is one thing I really want to see in person I've heard so many good things.

You are really pushing through these updates!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Wow I had so much to catch up on- I loved it! So this totally made my lol!! Oh, Jasmine!

Who would you say is more awkward in this picture...stiff me or somewhat smug Jasmine*? It's a close call.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Oops, posted before I was done! Anyway, I loooooove your merch so far! Great taste!
One of my high school friends ran the Disneyland half this year, and she was telling me how much I would like it. I was like, "I know! I've already been running it vicariously through DIS-ers!" Thanks so much for sharing your trip. It really is a blast to read!

 

[IrishMel21]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
But first, the Dumbo in the room...
The Night Before

Day 1: Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Travel Day!
The Ticket Saga
Jess Arrives and we check in at Paradise Pier Hotel!
Hey Girl.
The First Ride
Churro, Splash and Thunder
4 Mountains in 1 Day!

Day 2: Thursday, September 3, 2015
2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend - The Expo, Part 1 (We Love Merch)
2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend - The Expo, Part 2 (In We Go)
2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend - The Expo, Part 3 (Out We Go)
2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend - The Expo, Part 4 (The Haul)
5K Outfits - Complete!
California Adventure

Day 3: Friday, September 4, 2015

Day 4: Saturday, September 5, 2015

Day 5: Sunday, September 6, 2015

Day 6: Monday, September 7, 2015

I am LOVING your trip report so far! Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[Ariel484]

That food looks really good! I want some nachos now.

Get some!!

Love the ability to park hop so easily.

Yes, that was really fantastic. In a way it was no great with the races coming up, just because I did think we walked a lot more, but not having to take a bus was really awesome.

Cars land is one thing I really want to see in person I've heard so many good things.

It's really fantastic. They did such an amazing job with it.

You are really pushing through these updates!

If I don't...I will forget it all.

Wow I had so much to catch up on- I loved it! So this totally made my lol!! Oh, Jasmine!

Oh Jasmine!

Oops, posted before I was done! Anyway, I loooooove your merch so far! Great taste!
One of my high school friends ran the Disneyland half this year, and she was telling me how much I would like it. I was like, "I know! I've already been running it vicariously through DIS-ers!" Thanks so much for sharing your trip. It really is a blast to read!

Thank you!

I LOVE reading and writing the race reports - thank you for the kind words!

 

[Ariel484]

I am LOVING your trip report so far! Can't wait to read the rest!

Thank you!

 

[Ariel484]

Courtney Arrives!

Alright, one last small update - then it's time for the races!

And more walking...

Hmm, you seem somewhat familiar.

It sort of pained me to see how much cleaner the screen was here in Disneyland than in Disney World. Yowza. Also - I would really prefer that they keep the "California" version of the film in California. Soarin' Over the World makes sense to me in Epcot, but why not keep the DCA version as California? Weird.

After Soarin', it was snack time.

I couldn't really capture it on the spires, but I loved how Carthay Circle was blinged out for the 60th.

Clarabelle's! Yesssss.

Jess' is the one with the Mickey sprinkles (chocolate ice cream dipped in chocolate) and mine is on the right (vanilla bean dipped in chocolate with chocolate chips). They were trying to get us to try some special they had going on...mango ice cream with chamoy and tajin. NOPE. It did not appeal to either of us!

And after our snack...it was time to head out. Why? Courtney was almost here!

She was texting us from her shuttle...stuck in rush hour traffic. Boo! But she was getting close, so we headed out of the park.

And we found her in the lobby! We said "hey y'all" and more excited shouting ensued.

We headed up to the room and then over to the expo so Courtney could pick up her bib and shirts (so this was expo trip #3 of the weekend for me). She had a couple other things to grab there before we headed out.

By then it was dinner time! The Earl is always a solid choice.

Courtney sighting!

I know I had the club. That's what I always get. It was tasty.

From there we headed back to the room and got all of our stuff together for the next morning.

Flat Mouseketeers!

We set multiple alarms for the next morning - 4AM! Such a luxury compared to WDW races...over an hour of extra sleep.

2015 Disneyland 5K recap is up next!