Disney Expo & Animal Kingdom!

Due to being exhausted Friday evening, we decided to just wake up early on Saturday and hit up the expo as it opened at 10am. So I have never been to Disney World and was extremely excited when I first saw the 'welcome to Disney sign' - as you can see from below photo we had to pull over to get a picture.

Expo was held at the ESPN world of sports, which as expected was quite a large complex 

 Getting ready to enter into complex

 I learned that the Atlanta Braves holds their spring training here, hence why there was so many Atlanta Braves signs and gear- Atlanta Mickey!

 So every other runner had the same idea to get to the expo as it opened, we had to walk quite a distance to get to the back of the line as we waited for the doors to open. After about 10 minutes we were finally getting closer to entrance.

View of flag football games that were going on while we were waiting in line

Once we got inside we overlooked the whole expo- quite large!  They had a few ladies dressed up like the ladies from the Bibbidy Boppity Boutique who were sprinkling 'princess dust' on those who wanted it. They even had a station set up down in the expo offering 'princess makeovers'- I opted out for both, but it looked fun!

 

Disney had their own section with 'official race gear'- I didn't purchase anything due to being pricey, but I thought these Minnie ears were adorable and hilarious at the same time. What this photo does not show is that attached to the back of the hat is a pale pink veil- I did see quite a few of these on the race course too. 

 We walked around in search of packet pick up and in the process I saw this Giant gecko!! If you're just now starting to read my blog, you will pick up that i absolutely LOVE to take pictures, especially of random objects / animals / mascots- I apologize in advance for all the photos later in the post.

Packet pick up was crazy- lots of runners + elderly volunteers that like to overexplain thus taking forever to distribute our packets. When I had registered for this race awhile back, (waaaaaaaaaay pre-injury) I had put a 2 hr expected finish- apparently not a lot of people there that day had that same goal because I was in and out in no time, but had to wait another 10-15 minutes for B to get through hers.
I told myself going into this expo that I didn't need to waste money like I always do, and to only buy something if I felt like i actually needed it vs. just wanting to walk away with something. I purchased one skinny white headband that said 'run' and a motivational bottle cap magnet 'Mind over Miles' that I will put up at work from Jill @ Lift your sole- Both were only $3! I think the bottlecap idea is so neat and I would LOVE to go crazy and make a ton for my desk and fridge- future project?!?!

Before heading out, Bs parents had wanted to see Survivor's past winners Jenna & Ethan. Apparently Jenna is from Pittsburgh (which is where B and fam is from)and a mutual friend of Jenna and Bob (B's dad) had told Had told them both about eachother, so she seemed excited to meet him.

Bart Yasso was at the booth next door autographing copies of his book- would have felt awkward asking him for his photo w/o purchasing his book, so I opted for this photo w/ B instead.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

So for animal kingdom the first part we looked at some animals, then we headed to the show Its tough to be a bug in the Tree of Life (see tree below), went on a mini photo op spree of different Disney characters, and lastly went to Dino-Land. This is so unlike me, but I didn't do any research on the parks before going, so it wasn't until the day after that I realized how awesome Mt. Everest was, or that there was an animal safari- something to check out on next trip to Disney- in the meantime, here are my photos.

my first black swan sighting!

Babirusa- a pig deer- never heard of this animal prior to the visit

right by my foot

Tree of Life

Kangaroo!!! Also a first for me seeing this

Now here comes B and I's pretending like we're little kids and getting pictures with all the Disney characters we saw....

Raccoon from Pocahontas 

Jungle book!!

"its just the bear-necessities...." 

chii chiii chip and dale... rescue rangers! 

Safari Donald

We each kissed goofy on cheek afterward and he went into a 'passout tizzy' 

Being lady like with Minnie

Last stop...

Don't remember why we had wanted to come to Dino Land- mainly rides for kiddies, but we managed to get in a ride on this-

I sat in the back and was able to control how high or low the triceratops went, while B and her mom sat in the front and controlled if it tilted forward or not.

Afterward we all agreed that we were hot and tired and ready to head back. Of course B and I venture to the pool again for a swim, hitting up the bar for drinks- opted for beer today vs. fruity drinks. 

 On way to hot tub I finally caved and got a photo with this magnificent tree- its not everyday you see a pink tree.

obsessed with these type of trees, aren't they gorgeous?!?!

 After some hottubbage we go back to room, make dinner, then crash around 8:30pm. Early  night for us considering we had to get up at 3am for our 5:53 race start time! (yikes) 

Very excited to do my race recap and include all the character pictures from along the way- have a busy day planned today @ Magic Kingdom and then I head home Wednesday and immediately begin the moving process from one home to the next- I'll try my best to be speedy and get it up asap.