• Disneyland,
    California,
    United States
  • January
  • 3 miles/5K, 6 miles/10K, 13.1 miles/Half Marathon
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Erin

Sydney, Australia
82 35
2016
"This is the 5K you've been looking for!! "
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Erin 's thoughts:

Disneyland races are always enjoyable in that you'll always get that experience of running in the Happiest Place on Earth! The 5K is no exception. While you don't get that magical "castle run" you do get to run past it, and all the other awesome attractions that both Disneyland and California Adventure have to offer.

Expo: Significantly smaller than WDW, you'll find all the major exhibitors here without the walking! Packet pickup is located underneath the Disneyland Hotel Convention Centre, with gear pick up located in the main expo room (along with the Speaker stage and the general race merchandise). All race bib, pre-ordered commemorative items, park tickets are charity tables are in one place which is extremely convenient, however can become crowded.

Swag: You'll get the cotton s/s race shirt for the 5K (unisex sizing), gear bag and a mini Clif Bar. There's plenty of product samples from painkillers to Clif products to bananas from the exhibitors on the floor.

Course: This weekend's events all start the opposite way from the Disneyland Half & Tinkerbell Half start - heading up Disneyland Drive rather down towards Katella Ave. There's some slight road running before you turn off backstage past the Disneyland Admin buildings and coming out 1 mile in beside It's a Small World. From here you continue through Fantasyland, down past Big Thunder Mtn and Frontierland across the front of the castle and through Tomorrowland before heading over to California Adventure for the 2 mile mark.

Once in California Adventure you'll be running past the Tower of Terror ride, through Bugs Land and Cars Land, looping back up past Grizzly River Run and onto Downtown Disney and to the finish line near the Disneyland Hotel!

NOTE: This course is pre-Star Wars land construction.

Aid Stations: There were two water stops and one medical tent along the course.
There were plenty of portaloos before the corrals and all restrooms are open in the park.

Atmosphere: There was atmospheric sounds being played through the park's speaker system (Star Wars themed of course) and a selected amount of characters were spread throughout the course (some static like R2D2 & BB8). These character stops were incredibly popular and the lines were closed earlier to ensure all runners weren't going to be swept. There was also Star Wars themed projections on buildings which added to the overall theming of the event.

Post-race: Disney are great for herding runners through the finish line area. Once you pickup your medal you're encouraged to continue through to photos, medical and food. Food-wise you do get a runner's box full of goodies plus a water (and Powerade if you please).

Since the race area is central to the overall resort area there's no transportation required to get back.

This 5K is entirely focused on bringing the family together for a fun run around Disneyland and California Adventure. It's generally one that challenge runners enter for character pics without worrying about time, and in this case the characters were the same throughout the three runs. This race had a great theming atmosphere and it was fun to run with so many costumed runners!

2016 additional notes: runDisney has changed the process in getting to the corrals at Disneyland and all runners must clear through bag check prior to entering the corrals. Where previously you could just walk straight to the corral, you must now enter through Downtown Disney and loop back down Disneyland Drive.

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