My 2019 Wine and Dine Expo Experience

We visited the Expo on Thursday evening (Halloween!). We started out waiting for a Disney bus, but it was taking too long so we took a Lyft from Coronado Springs over to ESPN World Wide of Sports, it was around $10 and quicker than the bus, so I would definitely recommend using Lyft if it’s in your budget, especially for getting to locations that might be out of range of the usual bus transportation.

Upon arriving, we followed the signs into the Arena to pick up my bib.

There was no line to pick up my bib and it was easy since I already knew my bib number, which was provided in an email from runDisney prior to race weekend. They gave me my bib and safety pins and a nice small cloth runDisney bag to keep them in. After that we went into the next room where the runDisney Merchandise for sale was. I had pre-ordered merchandise so I went to the pre-order booth. I only received half of what I ordered and they told me the rest was at the Visa Athletic Center. I stopped to look at the merchandise they had at the Arena and bought the short sleeve technical shirt for the half marathon. I wanted the passholder shirt but they were sold out of my size.

So we treked up to the Visa Athletic Center (did I mention it was super hot that day?) in search of the missing merch and to get my shirt included with the race. The Visa Athletic Center was full of independent sellers that had all sorts of merchandise. I went to the shirt booth (at the very back of the room) and received my shirt. I inquired about the rest of my merchandise and they sent us back to the Arena.

Back at the pre-order booth I went to their solutions booth and asked about my merch. They tried to say it was in the Visa Center and I almost broke down in tears. I told them we’d already been there and they sent us here. Then they realized they did have my merch there at the pre-order booth. So by the end, I had all of my pre-ordered merchandise, my bib, my shirt, and the short sleeve shirt that I bought at the expo.

Overall, it was a pretty stressful first expo for me, as I felt like I was running all around in the heat trying to find items I had already paid for. It all worked out though, and now I know to keep asking when I think information I’m given might be wrong. I definitely recommend allotting a couple of hours to experience the expo, and not being in a hurry, because we were trying to meet up with my in-laws after and that added to my stress.

Did you have a different experience with the Wine and Dine expo in 2019? Have any tips for future expos? Let me know in the comments!

See you on Main Street!

Erin