Avengers or Star Wars?

[RookieLady]

I haven't run a California race. I was trying to interest my husband in Star Wars 2016, and he had reservations about running out of the parks. We are WDW people and love our bubble of Disney. I haven't been to Disneyland since I was 2, so I have no idea what it is like and whether running through Anaheim was really that big of a deal. My husband has more interest in Avengers, although he likes Star Wars also. Avengers would be cheaper, too, because we are doing Wine and Dine and cannot race Avengers this year because of getting that much time for work, meaning we get to wait another year before we take the hit on the cost of another race.

So, for those that have run both, which do you prefer and why? Are there after parties like they are at Wine and Dine? Are they night races?

Thanks in advance.

 

[pxefig]

I'm not a great person to answer your question since Star Wars is the only runDisney half I haven't done. However, I feel the same is true for all Disneyland races- no, you aren't on property, but local bands and groups come out along the course and cheer for you, so it's not some horrible dreary slog- there's lots to look at. As someone who spends the same amount of time on both coasts, I would recommend a WDW veteran to go for Avengers. DL has some really great holiday overlays on their rides that WDW does not do and that time of year really highlights how special having differences between both coasts' parks is.
None of the DL races are night race. They start early in the morning, but the biggest difference there is most of the hotels are within walking distance of the start line so there isn't the 2:30 am getting on a bus cattle call. Plus of you are an East Coaster going west, the time difference works to your advantage because 5:30 am California time feels like 8:30 am Eastern time Both have some sort of party- Star Wars had the Wookie Welcome party and Avengers had a pasta party.
I know I didn't answer your question 100%, but I hope I gave you some more things to think about anyway.

 

[Belle Ella]

It really depends on what you would like to see in Parks. Like the PP mentioned, Avengers will be going on during the Holidays so you can see and run through decorations, etc. However, the Half itself last year was miserable for a lot of runners because of the Santa Ana winds (it's a real thing, and it can be very bad when you're running along a dirt/rock path) mixed with the course itself. I heard the same thing from everyone on that aspect. You run towards ... not the prettiest part of Anaheim, I'll leave it at that. The course for Star Wars was as perfect as you're going to get for a Disneyland race. I think I even prefer it to the Disneyland Half where you get to run on the field at Angels Stadium. The 'view' was on par with Tink, maybe even better, and my favorite part was absolutely no hills! Every other race here pretty much starts with an overpass and I absolutely hate that part, lol. Again, as the PP mentioned, no night races here, and the parties we have are all pre race day things and my general understanding is they aren't really worth it but I have never done one myself.

My vote would probably be for Star Wars, but if Avengers is more his thing and you'd like to see Disneyland during the holidays it might be the better choice.

 

[VAfamily1998]

I haven't run a California race. I was trying to interest my husband in Star Wars 2016, and he had reservations about running out of the parks. We are WDW people and love our bubble of Disney. I haven't been to Disneyland since I was 2, so I have no idea what it is like and whether running through Anaheim was really that big of a deal. My husband has more interest in Avengers, although he likes Star Wars also. Avengers would be cheaper, too, because we are doing Wine and Dine and cannot race Avengers this year because of getting that much time for work, meaning we get to wait another year before we take the hit on the cost of another race.

So, for those that have run both, which do you prefer and why? Are there after parties like they are at Wine and Dine? Are they night races?

Thanks in advance.

Hi! I ran both (I also ran Tinkerbell in 2014) I think I preferred the Avengers course. We got to run through Angels stadium, which I loved. BUT--I've never seen the Avengers movies, so I wasn't really into the theme--I mostly just did it so I could get a second coast to coast medal (I got a Pink one for Tink and Princess--then I did Wine and Dine and Avengers for the regular one) So I liked the theme of Star Wars better.

I actually really like the "off property" parts of the Disneyland races. They have a lot of local marching bands and cheerleaders which I think is so fun!

 

[kirstie101]

I ran both (and also Tink in 2013 and 2014). Both are day races, staring at 5:30 am. Like your husband I prefer the Avengers theme over the Star Wars theme. I'm a big Avengers fan. So are my kids. Star Wars I like but I'm not "into it." However if I had to choose btwn the two races I would choose Star Wars.

The Star Wars course had twice the amount of park time as the Avengers course did. If park and backstage time is what you're interested in than stick with Star Wars. The Avengers course actually had the least amount of park time of all the races at Disneyland. The Star Wars course once outside the parks took us through an area of Garden Grove that I hadn't been through before and I rather enjoyed it. I had a million times more fun at Star Wars than I did at Avengers. However most of that is due to the CRAZY Santa Ana Winds we experienced during Avengers. For me, the Avengers race sucked big time. It was miserable from about mile 4 when the winds started until the very end. So when I look back at both race weekends I have fond memories of the Star Wars Half and very not so fun memories of the Avengers Half. After Star Wars there was a band playing in the finishers area and it was just a fun atmosphere. Due to the winds at Avengers they shut down the finishers area and just hustled everyone out of there so obviously no fun to be had there.

What I did like about Avengers was the theme and characters. Got a great pic with Hawkeye. I have never done the DL Half, and I'm a big baseball fan, so running through Angels Stadium was a highlight for me. And despite the fact that the Santa Ana River Trail did nothing but blow dirt in my face, I liked having that landmark to break up the race. So after we were out of the parks the three things I knew I would be running by/through were the Crystal Cathedral, the river trail and lastly the stadium. Having 3 "things" in mind like that made the out of park time go faster. For Star Wars the only thing after the parks that I knew I was heading for was Garden Grove main street. So mentally that made it a little harder for me, it made the last miles seem longer.

Both races had an awesome group of Cosplayers in the middle miles that were very memorable. Awesome barely describes it really. They were great. The Avengers ones even toughed out the wind to stay out there and cheer us on. For both groups the costumes were just amazing. They made the middle of the race a lot of fun.

The off property parts of the races are still well supported with bands, cheer groups and people cheering you on everywhere. A lot of these were not out during Avengers due to the winds so thats another reason I enjoyed Star Wars more as they were out in full force for Star Wars. But dont worry about running off property at Disneyland. Its still fun. You're not gonna be bored. Theres going to be something to look at.

My one complaint about both races is that ALL the characters on the course were theme specific. During Tink you dont just see fairies and Peter Pan and such. You see a random mix of Disney characters. I wish they would add some of this into both Avengers and Star Wars. That way in Star Wars I would have more fun at the character stops since Star Wars isn't my thing.

So I guess to sum it up I would say I think Star Wars is the better course/race. I think if you choose Avengers as your one Disneyland race you'll be a bit disappointed. Or maybe not disappointed but I just think Star Wars has more to offer. Also Santa Ana winds are more likely to appear in November than January so that sways my opinion too.

 

[frisbeego]

I ran both Avengers and Star Wars. They were the first 2 races I've run at DL.

Course: I preferred the Star Wars course. It felt like the time in the parks was either longer or extended for SW. For Avengers, it felt like we ran through the parks right away and then were on the streets quickly. I am not an Angels fan, so running in the stadium was akin to running in the stadium at WWOS for me. To me, it's more of a bottleneck than something to appreciate.

Party: Hands down, the Avengers pasta party was one of my top 10 Disney experiences. I thought the theme was well done. You got to meet the 4 Avengers. My son was dressed as Falcon, and the Avengers reacted awesomely to that. Admittedly, I did not go to the Wookie party so I don't have a direct comparison.

I enjoyed both races immensely, but I prefer Avengers.

 

[kim3339]

I liked the SW course better than Avengers. Like what's already been mentioned, you go through Garden Grove which we've never been done before and I really enjoyed it. Possible cons to that course could be, depending on how you like your courses, there is a long section on Harbor and you run up it and back down. I didn't mind it, but some people don't and if you're in the back of the corrals you start to see people coming back up when you still have awhile before you get back there. Also depending on the weather, there's a section where you're running back to Harbor and if it's sunny, you're running directly into the sun which could be a pain. I didn't dislike Avengers, I just liked SW better. You get the stadium which is fun and go over by the Crystal Cathedral which is a So Cal icon and was nice to see up close. Like Kirstie mentioned, there is a long section on the trail, I didn't mind it but some people do. It was nice b/c the 1st mile was were the cos players were at and the second you could finally see the stadium and it gave you something to run to; it was broken up really well.

I think it really comes down to which themed race you want to run and like Jess mentioned, what you want to see in the parks. SW is on MLK weekend so you might have that built in day off of work on Mon, but there are crowds in the parks. Sun has been really busy the past 4 years. HM may or may not be down, b/c they're taking down the NBC decorations (down this year, but regular HM opened during that weekend in the past) and IASW mostly likely will still be Xmas, but everything else is regular DL decorations. If you run SW in '16, you might still be able to catch some of the 60th decorations; the 50th stuff lasted into the following year a little last time. Avengers was the 1st weekend of Xmas and really busy. I think that weekend was more crowded than SW, but you get to see all the Xmas stuff.

Weather and time of the year doesn't really matter ~ I was in capris and a short sleeve both weekends and shorts during the day. There was 1 Tink a few years back(now the SW weekend) where is was colder for the 5k, but fine during the day. Again like Jess mentioned, you could have Santa Ana's in Nov and colder weather in Jan but honestly, it's CA and you really never know until sometimes the week of if there's going to be weather. But that being said, that's another thing to keep in mind is where you live and travel. Depending on where you live, if you have a lot of snow, it might be easier to come out for Avengers. I've done WDW in Jan a few time and W&D last year, and coming out from CA I've always had to look in Jan where my layovers would be so I wouldn't get stuck or cancelled while W&D was awesome, b/c I knew it wouldn't be a problem if my layover was in a snowy place.

 

[spideymike]

I'm an East Coaster too from Cleveland and I did the Avengers 1/2 last year. I thought the race was good despite the winds. The crowds outside of the parks were great and I have to give the marching bands a lot of credit getting up that early to cheer us on. I haven't done Star Wars 1/2 yet, but that's on my to do list for next year for sure. I did love DL in November since I FINALLY got to see the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay of the Haunted Mansion and it was FANTASTIC. The race time at 5:30am didn't bother me at all since the time change worked to my advantage.

I do think that the add-on of a Captain America 10K and combo Infinity Gauntlet challenge is awesome. I'm glad they added that.