Greetings. My name is Christopher Schmidt, a former Disneyland Cast Member, ongoing passionate Disney fanatic and absolute runDisney disciple. The 2016 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend is fast approaching. Every runDisney event is an opportunity to enjoy an added, semi-exclusive, layer of Disney magic. Unfortunately, what lies between guests and their spectacular experience is an often daunting Health & Fitness Expo hurdle. With the proper approach, mostly shaped by timing and attitude as much as anything else, you may sail through the potentially troubled waters and absolutely enjoy yourself.

To experience total enjoyment at Disneyland, very little is required of you. A bit of patience and some disposable income, sure, but as far as fun and fulfillment go, you almost have to try to have a bad time. These festivities are very well attended. Participants also have to get up obscenely early in the morning. But everything else, from decorations to the course design, music and amenities, every Disney detail is carefully crafted to maximize guest enjoyment. All you do is show up and let an unbelievable experience embrace you.

Then, like a hurricane on the horizon, we have the runDisney Health & Fitness Expo. No amount of exceptional Disney-patented planning and organization seems to mitigate the potential Expo pitfalls. Whether it’s merchandise, bib-number retrieval, pins or the improperly-sized participant t-shirts, tales of Expo woe persist beyond any capacity to rectify them. Considering Disney’s guest-centric priority structure, that is saying something.

Every single participant in every race throughout a runDisney weekend is required to attend the Expo. There is no other way to pick up your bib, shirt and sundry swag. Each half marathon attracts a minimum of ten thousand entrants. The Disneyland Half Marathon alone draws almost twice that. Throw in the 5Ks, 10Ks and Kids Races, and you are talking about a lot of needy humans passing through a crowded space in a limited amount of time.

Try to avoid limiting yourself one single, rigid window of time in which to get your stuff. If you arrive at the Expo during high tide, faced with resolute human gridlock, your best option is to come back later. The poor Cast Member assigned to direct people who refuse to read the huge, boldly printed signs is not the person responsible for the chaos or your plight. Do them and the spirit of the event a favor by not yelling at them. Do yourself a favor and remain flexible. Come back later. Chances are there will be fewer people. Worst case, if you can’t come back, joining the current crush of humanity will help prepare you for the corral experience that awaits you at your race in the morning.

Once you commit to the Expo try to enjoy yourself. Negotiating the admittedly crowded convention hall can get frustrating. If you let it, matters can get off to a positively unpleasant start. So don’t let it. Remember you are surrounded by people with whom you share a pleasurable interest; people who are purposely engaged in an activity that you all enjoy. Then, packing the floor and lining every wall are booths bursting with stuff to make your run easier and the whole weekend that much more spectacular. Some of it is free. Grab some cranberries and a CLIF Bar, try on some new shoes (these are not free), shop for authentic runDisney merchandise–if there’s any left (see below). Let the crowd take you where it will and explore the place. At the very least, count the manifold blessing that you aren’t running yet and the Expo is inside a thoroughly air-conditioned building.

Packet Pick-Up — Your race bib is your #1 Expo priority. Yes, the Expo repeatedly runs out of commemorative pins, which is infuriating–and is why you should order one online when you register–but you can still participate in your race without one. Try to handle the packet pick-up first. This is particularly important for half marathon participants as the Expo continues to close astoundingly early on Saturday afternoon, and is not open at all the morning of your race.

Bibs are claimed on the lower level of the Disneyland Hotel Exhibit Hall. Find your way there by paying attention to signs and helpful Cast Members. Following the herd will draw you directly into the Upper Level Exhibit Hall, where you will find acres of fine goodies and gear and the incomparable Jeff Galloway. Once relegated to this sprawling room, it can be difficult to make your way out and there is almost no indication how to get to the lower level, or that you are even supposed to. Even as a veteran of dozens of these specific functions, I still sometimes lose my bearings in the upper hall.

Packet Pick-Up can be a breeze, or it can be a logjam. Naturally, it depends on when you arrive. The setup is beautiful: clearly delineated entry and exit, a wide-open floor plan, separate stations for each race, even clean accessible restrooms. Again, problems arise during those periods when too many of us arrive at once. When pick-up does develop a line, the good news is it moves fairly well, assuming you already have your waiver and aren’t simply in the line of people taking photos of the huge Disneyland cutout at the bottom of the ramp.

A signed waiver and photo ID are required to retrieve your race packet. If you do not print a waiver ahead of time at runDisney.com, there is a station on the lower level for doing just that. I have always had success here on the occasions I admittedly arrived without my paperwork.

A tip for families and supporters: if you don’t want to follow your particular runDisney participant all over the Expo, while they are retrieving their bib seek out the “Runner Tracking” station on the upper level. A fun game is to count the number of people who get out of line when they realize these aren’t the waiver printing computers.

Your packet is the key to the runDisney kingdom. Inside is your race bib, voucher for your gEAR bag and the pins you should have ordered. Pull out your bib to confirm your starting position, but don’t dawdle. Those who put off getting their shirts do so at their own peril.

(Laura’s Note: If you are participating in the Dumbo Double Dare, make sure you get your photo taken with your bib number before you leave the packet pick-up area.)

Shirts and gEAR Bags — as soon as you get your packet head back upstairs. The volunteers handing out shirts won’t give out gEAR without the proper voucher from your packet. runDisney has established a shirt-exchange table. This is a grand courtesy, but again, the more common sizes are hard to come by as fewer people are handing them in. Don’t walk away until you’ve scrutinized your own gEAR.

10K and half marathon tech shirts are beautiful and make an exceptional collector’s item, taking a tiny bit of the sting out of the registration fee. For the 5K you get a regular t-shirt. They’re nice too, featuring delightful Disney themes and artistry, though not sure how far yet another sleep shirt goes toward mitigating the cost of registration. Shirt sizes run small, except for that year they were inexplicably huge. Throw yours on really quick when you get it. Then stand there until your 14-year-old does the same. In your hotel room a mile away, on the wrong side of Disneyland’s bag check at 7 p.m. on Saturday night is not the place to find out your daughter’s shirt doesn’t fit, and that she’s never going to wear it.

Samples and Shopping — once you’ve got your bib and a correctly sized shirt you have fulfilled what can be thought of as your Expo responsibilities. You are now free to wander about, shop and ease into the experience. So many of us keep a rigid checklist, if only in our heads, and move compulsively from one specific demand to the next. After I checkoff that race-bib box, I try to make a point to slow down. Try to check your own box as promptly as your own neuroses will allow, and invite your own enjoyable experience to commence.

I find the pull of the Disney Parks almost overwhelming at this point, and don’t tend to linger. I am thankful for the occasions on which I did browse around a bit, and unless you have children who already smell Disneyland popcorn, I recommend you do the same. On two successive runDisney weekends I discovered and became a dedicated consumer of Chocolate Mint CLIF Builder’s Bars and Dannon Active fruit fusion. The sample offerings alone are worth your time. Expo vendors probably wouldn’t mind if you buy some stuff, too.

runDisney Merchandise — longer, slower and more baffling than the line for Storybook Land Canal Boats, shopping or rather waiting to shop – for Official Event Merchandise is a true test of one’s esprit Disney. Limited supplies, sizes and cash registers are just a portion of the problems associated with this annual aggravation. The problem itself is anchored in recursive overwhelming demand. Interested parties know the items sell out, so they have no choice but to descend upon the Expo the instant it opens, and create their own habitual nightmare. This is blasphemy, of course, but if you don’t insist upon the ultra-exclusive stuff, and you wait even a few hours, shopping at the Expo can be both pleasurable and almost similarly rewarding.

Almost everyone tries to hit the Expo first thing. It makes total sense, as you want to leave the rest of your day/weekend open for the parks, pools and pomegranate limeade. Consequently, the Expo is busy early. Try to stop by any other time. It’s best, even, to arrange your day so that you aren’t committed to conducting your Expo business at any set time. Swing by the Disneyland Hotel and Expo at random. If it looks busy, come back later.

f you aren’t looking to put a bunch of extra miles on your feet, settle in and listen to one of the helpful, knowledgeable speakers. If you are not familiar with Jeff Galloway and his astounding distance running techniques, prepare to have your life and perspective on exercise forever changed for the better. Mr. Galloway draws a crowd himself, which may not be the mayhem cure you’re looking for. His wisdom will serve you well if you can get close enough to listen. Then once he’s done, the hall tends to empty out a bit. If you can beat those people to the merchandise lines, you may be able to breeze through.

The bottom line, make extra time, and take your time. Time is a precious commodity at a Disney Resort and, true, there is not a minute to be wasted. The difference between starting your runDisney Weekend off on the right foot and hurtling it down the road to frustration and disaster is a simple matter of budgeting. If you have to sacrifice an attraction or two, to make a second or third pass of the Expo, your children will never forgive you, but you open a far wider window for further enjoyment. Do that, and enjoy yourself on purpose.

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