Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend pre-race report

ear we go again.... time to earn our fourth set of wings!

We flew down on Friday morning, realizing as we got out of the car at the Disneyland Hotel that I had forgotten to bring the waivers I printed out. AMATEUR! Luckily, Disney being Disney, we were able to reprint them right there at the expo. Still. Lame on my part.

(okay, so this wasn't our counter… but I felt weird taking a picture where there were people waiting…)

We picked up our bibs from the Pixie Dust Challenge counter, along with our preordered pins and necklace. Of course, Wil was in the only line -- not sure how he always gets caught in a line?!?! The pins are handsome... though heaven knows where I'm going to manage to fit them! Might be time for a major pin reshuffle soon…

Even this year's necklace was pretty -- I'll be happy to have it on my charm bracelet.

In order to prevent fraud (from the high-profile cases where people had "cheated" the challenge medal system…), we had our photos taken holding our bibs again. So rather than fiddling with wristbands, etc., they just take every "challenger's" photo and, on the day of the half marathon, check to make sure it's really you.

Then up and over to the expo proper, where we made a beeline for the merch in search of medal pins. We found the Pixie Challenge and Half Marathon pins, but none for the 10K. We asked a castmember if there had been a 10K medal pin (we didn't see them last year, either), and she told us that, yes, it has a lavender ribbon. Oh. We sniffed around a little more hoping to stumble across them, but no joy.
But we bought our pins, let the castmembers ooh and ahh over our collection of race pins, and then went to pick up the shirts and bags. Was happy to see that we still do get a little mesh bag -- I can't remember if we got them last year? Shirts this year were short-sleeved, which makes me a little sad, because I love wearing them as an outer layer over a tank. But Wil (and probably most folks) prefer the short sleeves. Nice bright colors, too:

all the swag...

We wandered through the expo a little, picking up the bookmark, some cheer signs, and some nip guards for Wil. Also stopped at the runDisney booth to take these cute pictures:

my homage to Matt Kumma

After expo, we picked up supplies, dropped the car at the hotel, and headed over to the parks, where we were reminded why we tend to go in the off season... May is crowded! Okay, not summertime crowded, but more crowded than we really like. We kicked off our Disney weekend with an old favorite: a cheese stick from the Corn Dog Castle. Now, they've never been quite as amazing as our first one... which was burn-the-roof-of-your-mouth molten inside ... but I understand why they have been much cooler ever since... But cheese sticks and a seasonal beer in California Adventure is pretty much a great way to start the weekend.

We had picked up a pair of Star Tours fast passes for later in the afternoon, but didn't really have any other needs. Wil suggested we go back to the expo... just in case more 10K pins were there... so we did. I was wandering around a little forlornly when Wil asked if I would hold something for him. Without looking, I took what he was holding... looked down, saw lavender ribbon... A PAIR OF 10K PINS. Apparently they had been returned and a castmember was looking for a place to hang them up. Wil said, "Oh, may I take them from you?" and of course she happily handed them over. LUCKIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.

all three pins!!!

We decided to swing by Trader Sam's just to see if they had the Nautilus glasses Suz had seen from WDW. We walked in just as a couple walked out, leaving two prime seats at the bar. Well, you can't look a gift tiki in the mouth... so we decided to share an Uh-Oa and soak up the atmosphere a bit. Really nice vibe ... lots of grown-ups having fun and getting into the spirit.

Then we headed back over to the park, when I remembered our Star Tours fast passes and we had my favorite ride combo: Vader at the start, Pod Racing on Tattooine, a visitation by Admiral Ackbar, Boba Fett in the asteroid field, and then rejoining the alliance. Not sure why no one else cheered when Ackbar showed up? :)

Then back to the hotel, where we got our stuff ready for the 10K, made an Alerto's run, and ate our dinner on the balcony before going to bed early... alarms were set for 4:45am!