Can You Take Our Picture? - 2018 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Volunteering Report

I don't remember where this billboard was, but it was on the marathon course (I want to say outside Animal Kingdom?)

Happy new year! Hard to believe, but it's 2018 already, and time for the 25th Annual Walt Disney World Marathon! This is the biggest race of the year for Disney, and this year they had over 97,000 runners participating in one or more races over the course of the week! Fun Fact - 363,000 runners have run the Walt Disney World Marathon. In 2003, the Perfect Program debuted, with 152 runners who had finished every single Marathon. There are only 76 people who are still considered Perfect. 45 of them are Floridians. Amazing!!!

With our typical stop at Circle K and Subway, we arrived at ESPN around noon. We picked up our credentials for the 1/2 and full marathon, then ate our lunch. At 1pm, we signed in for our Expo shift and were assigned to Shirt Exchange, which you know is our favorite spot.

Probably the only time in Florida you see so many jackets!

Friday's weather

Hubby and The Kiddo hard at work (yes, she's wearing a scarf...)

Our spot was different this year; rather than being at the back of the arena, we were along the right wall. It worked out well, because people would be able to get their shirts then come to us to swap (if they needed to, and they always need to), then head right back up the stairs and exit.
 

Our view to the left for the evening

Our view to the right for the evening - Jeff Galloway!

We all had our break at about 5pm, before the Expo got really busy. Same meal as always: sammich with chips and a cookie. We couldn't bring any food with us back to the Expo floor, but there was a fridge in the break room, so we could stash our extras there and pick them up after our shift.
 

Disney Dinner - Ham Sammich, chips, freshly-baked cookie and baby food

On the way back from dinner, I was able to meet Jeff Galloway again. He's so skinny!

I'm not a stalker, I'm not!

Once our shift was over, we bundled back up into our jackets, checked out, got our leftovers, then headed to Wawa. The Kiddo was starving so she got a Cheese Quesadilla and some Mac & Cheese. We checked in at the hotel and she discovered that - even though she asked for no pico de gallo, they gave her pico... So, she had to settle for just the pasta (we kept the quesadilla and returned it the next day).

Weather when we left

We woke up Saturday to even colder weather. It was 39º when we got up! And according to the Weather Channel, it wasn't gonna get much warmer (great for runners, bad for us).

Brrrrrr!

Feels Like... too damn cold!

We stopped by Wawa for breakfast (and got a refund for our quesadilla), then camped out at the Volunteer Tent until we were bused over to Epcot. We've been in this spot a few times now, and it's a really good spot because it's right by the finish line. And because they had to bus us there before they closed the roads, it gave us plenty of time to do nothing until the runners came though (screaming fans don't have to do set up or anything... we just scream!). The Team Leader requested that we worked in pairs, and this time around Hubby and the Kiddo decided to be a pair, which left me to be paired up with a stranger. I was paired up with a lovely young woman who complained about everything, wasn't happy with the weather, wasn't happy about the tee-shirt and just generally seemed dour.  I decided to walk through Epcot, and I guess she thought she had to come with me since we were paired up? Lord, help me...

Not bad for a little Samsung point-n-shoot

I could only handle so much of her, that I cut my wandering short, and we headed back to our spot. I took a quick pit stop and tinkled in the Cast Member bathroom, and took a selfie so you could marvel at the beauty of dressing for the weather in Florida!

Seven layers (seven? Yeah, seven...) plus CuddleDuds under the jeans

We were expected to be back at our spot by 5:45, so I hung out with Hubby and the Kiddo for a bit, complaining about my partner, who was standing over at our spot. The Kiddo nicely offered to swap partners with me, so she went that way, and I stayed with Hubby. Near our spot were two Walt Disney World security officers, Victor and Hayley.

Victor & Hayley, keeping everyone safe

The first runner came by at about 6:46am, while I was finishing my Little Debbie breakfast at the table.

I think this was the first runner? 6:46am

I didn't get a lot of good photos at this point, for two reasons: It was dark, and I wanted to keep my hands warm!

I chatted with Hayley a lot, while it wasn't busy, and I leaned a lot of interesting info about Disney Security. It seemed like there were a LOT of security staff coming to work that morning, and I learned that each park has a specific office for security - there isn't a general security office where everyone checks in, and then disburses to each park. They also increase security for events like this, which is why it seemed very busy. There were a lot of other questions I asked, but I'm not going to share those answers because no one needs to be privy to that info, and honestly, I was surprised she answered! (If anyone from Disney is reading this, I really didn't ask anything that would compromise any sort of safety! It was all stuff I'd already read on the internet that I was curious about. Hayley was a great representative of your company, and you should definitely give her a raise!) 

Hayley is an awesome staff member!

Cast Member (in blue), The Kiddo (hood up) and a Security Team Member (yellow)

The next bajillion photos are just costumes I was able to get photos of and wanted to share.

Anna, butterfly and Fair Bert

Dudes in skirts! Cinderella, Provincial Belle and Ariel

It's a great view

Break Time for the Kiddo...

... and the Hubby

Victor (Security) would run with racers if they looked like they needed encouragement

Beast, Belle (and possibly another Belle? another Beast?)

Disney Guest Services costume!

A very well-crafted Queen of Hearts

Pink and Blue Fairies

Dwarves (I wonder if "Doc" is the Doc to the kiddo in the wheelchair?)

Team in Training Coach with a Cheshire Cat

CDA and Roz

This coach lost a bet, so he had to dress like a princess

They stopped for Starbucks!

Fair Mary and Fair Bert

Scrooge McDuck and Launchpad McQuack!

Darkwing Duck and Gizmo Duck

It's 40º, but these folks stopped for Mickey Bars!

After my own heart, he got popcorn!

And it wouldn't be a trip to Epcot without some BEER!

Elsa, Minnie, Goofy and Donald

I think he was supposed to be a Bob's Barricade

Flamingos!

Here come the balloon ladies

Provincial Belle

Cops and Robbers (one looking very "Village People"-esque)

Team in Training coaches encouraging the Back of the Pack folks

Giant Round of Applause for this guy! He finished!!

The last runners (walkers) came through around 9:15, so we packed up and followed our team leader back to the bus.

Team Leader walking us out

It hadn't warmed up very much... I think it was about 42º or 43º.

I. Am. Still. SO. Cold.

As we bused out, we got a good view of some backstage areas.

Journey Into Imagination cars behind Livin' with the Land

Soarin'

Japan Pavilion

Small food vending booths

We checked out at the volunteer tent then stopped at McDonald's for lunch before crashing at the hotel.

We all ended up napping hard, and ended up rolling out of bed in time to go get dinner at TGIFriday's, only to go back to bed - tomorrow is gonna come really early!

Indeed, the alarm went off WAY too early, and after checking out of the hotel and getting munchies at WaWa, we were back at the volunteer tent to check in. It was warmer than yesterday, but it didn't feel like it.

I was also fighting a battle with Hubby and the Kiddo. Both of them wanted to 'call out' from volunteering today. Especially because our role today was at a water stop. It was really cold yesterday, and they both felt really crappy, but I was basically forcing them to work today - we signed up for something, and we have the great work ethic. Also, I knew that if they were thinking of quitting, there would be a lot of volunteers who had already quit, so Disney was already low on volunteers.  They weren't happy with me, but they begrudgingly came to volunteer.

Almost 10 degrees warmer than yesterday

We were bused over to Hollywood Studios, and our spot was a behind-the-scenes road located by the Tower of Terror and Fantasmic!.

What runners will see as they enter DHS backstage

Not counting all the complaining about how cold they were and not wanting to be there, there wasn't too much problem this time around! Historically, our biggest sniping fights happen setting up water tables... maybe we were just too cold.

We claimed the tables near the 23rd mile marker, for totally selfish reasons; I like photography, I like taking photos of people, and I like taking photos of people for people. So, my thinking was that, since I was right there... here let me take your photo!

We set up the two tables on the left

I. Am. SO. COLD.

Like all water stops, there were actually two Team Leaders; one for water and one for Power Ade. The water Team Leader was the blonde in the photo below (I can't remember her name), and she was fun. Really upbeat, really supportive for the runners and the volunteers. She wasn't afraid to get in there and pick up trash or fill cups or hand out cups. Thumbs up for her!

Team Leaders

Artsy

I headed over to the bathroom before runners got there; we were able to use the Fantasmic! bathrooms, which were HUGE!!  These bathrooms were up the little hill from our water stop, and was also across the road from the mile 23 fuel stop - they had CANDY!

Runners will pass us, and go up this "tiny" hill to DHS

Where they'll get Maltesers, M&Ms, and Twizzlers

Potty break (also open to the runners)

Back at the bottom of the hill, there were a bunch of Streetmosphere actors lined up for a photo op, so I had to get a shot of that!

Later they brought out one of the vintage cars!

As the first runners began to come through, the sun began to come up. Perhaps our spot wasn't the best... we were under a lot of trees, and would be one of the last spots to get sunshine. So each of us would take turns moving where there was sun. Hubby would go stand in the sun and cheer while Kiddo and I gave out water, then she'd swap with him, then I'd swap with her, over and over. Eventually, sun made its way to our table.

Because we were the last tables, we of course ran out first (runners will often take a cup, then take another cup at the end, to carry with them for a bit).

Almost out of water!

Once we ran out of water, we moved the table, which gave runners access to the Mile Marker sign, and, coincidentally (wink wink), gave me access to the runners. There are a drastically fewer number of photos taken today, versus yesterday, but I took drastically MORE photos. Just with other peoples' cameras (mostly phones, of course). But I did get a few of my own to share.

Chimney Sweeps

At least 10 other people did push-ups at the Mile Marker Sign!

Hours (and hours and hours and hours...) later, the end was in sight. The Balloon Ladies came through, then the bike riders waving their orange flags, and then it was over.

Balloon Ladies

If you see this flag, you are behind and could get swept at any time

Tables were folded up, cups were trashed, while runDisney came through and picked up the Mile Marker signs.

It says "Full PaPo Mile #23 #4".  I wonder what PaPo means?

The Mile Marker number is a huge magnet and comes off, stores on the back!

Artsy

Much warmer today (also much later in the day)

By the time we got on the bus to go back to the volunteer tent, it was 60º, so it had warmed up considerably, compared to yesterday. Luckily, the race was almost over, so it wouldn't affect the runners too much.

Since we'd already checked out of the hotel, we had nowhere to go. We sat in the car, thinking about lunch, and decided to go to Steak 'n' Shake. We went to one on 192, down past Medieval Times and Give Kids the World area, and it was... well, it was pretty gnarly. The floors were sticky, and I'm pretty sure people do meth in the bathrooms.

The burger was tasty as hell, though!

Bacon Single Steakburger and Fries - $4!

On our way out of town, we gassed up at the Wawa (a different one than our usual one, if I remember correctly) and headed home.