Gearing up for the race was a little different than usual… this time, my husband was running with me! He’s run one 5K at Walt Disney World before… but running really isn’t his thing. Someone’s gotta watch the kids, right?

The race was scheduled to start at 8 PM, which is totally different and was honestly a nice change. We spent the morning in the parks and after a quick rest at our hotel, made our way to the corrals!

We were staying at Sequoia Lodge on Disneyland property, and the walk was quick and easy. The races all start and finish in relatively the same area, right near the expo, so it was very easy and convenient to find where we were going.

I really liked the course, and then I really didn’t like the course. Looking back, I am kind of “meh” about it.

I loved the fact that it was totally new to me – no matter where they sent us, I had never run through there before, so it was very exciting. Starting the race was pretty slow and congested through backstage, but pretty soon we had open space.

The first section was through Disney Village (their version of Downtown Disney), and over towards the parks. There were lots of people spectating, so it was a great way to kick it off.

We made our way over to Disneyland Park, and came in right around Phantom Manor – this was cool because that ride looks SPOOKY at night! We continued through Adventureland and then came out of Disneyland in the back around the 2K mark.

We made our way through backstage over to Walt Disney Studios, where we ran through the Backlot Ride (which we had ridden earlier in the day), and then got to run through the set of the stunt show… which was actually pretty cool. We spent a lot of time in this park, getting to run through Toy Story and right past the Ratatouille ride as well.

One of the coolest features of runDisney Paris races… the finish line was actually IN the park! Once we turned that last corner – Mickey and Minnie were waiting!

Once we were finished, the volunteers gave us our medals, and we walked through the finish chute!

There were tons of different snacks and drinks offered at the finish line, which was a pretty cool change… there was water, a fruit drink, AND chocolate milk. We got bananas, chips, and the good ol’ runDisney Snack box.

The course… was pretty good.

The characters… were cool, but not for us.

The company… was perfect.

Can’t wait to come back and do it again next year!!!