Official 2017 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend Thread

[Jackie Skellington]

I'm in for the Double Dare!

 

[Disneywishes2018]

I registered for my first ever rundisney or rather run anything event. I am signed up for the 10k. My sister and a few cousins are as well. We are doing a girls weekend. No kids and no husbands...yay...lol. I just started running in August where I could barely run down the street without being out of breath and running over 16 minute miles. I can now run 3.5 miles at 13-14 minute miles. Not very impressive times like I'm sure experienced runners have, but I am seriously not a runner. I hope to knock a few more minutes off and be able to run the full 10k before August. Looking forward to this experience!

 

[courtneybeth]

Poster above me, your times are fine! Never compare yourself - and with nine months to train who knows how fast you'll be. Just have fun!!!

 

[Ariel484]

@DisneyWishes14 congrats on your improvement, that's awesome.

If you run, you are a runner. You will love the Disneyland 10K, one of my favorite races I have ever done.

 

[Kathymford]

Count me in with those waiting on registering! I'm thinking just the 10k this year. That might be my thing for the year. Ha.

 

[Frozen2014]

Hi. We have already selected our Disney days and will be there Tues Aug 29 - Fri Sept 1st (so marathon Thurs and Friday). We are not part of the half marathon (but wow...what a neat place to run...and that's awesome for those of you that are running!). Is it ok to ask how the marathon affects crowds? Are parts of the parks blocked off? I assume the parks will be a bit busier?

 

[plutosbuddie]

Hi. We have already selected our Disney days and will be there Tues Aug 29 - Fri Sept 1st (so marathon Thurs and Friday). We are not part of the half marathon (but wow...what a neat place to run...and that's awesome for those of you that are running!). Is it ok to ask how the marathon affects crowds? Are parts of the parks blocked off? I assume the parks will be a bit busier?

Hi! The parks are VERY busy during the marathon times. Streets will be blocked off for the run, extra people will flood the streets to watch the runs. There will be a huge increase in guest count during these times -- really noticeable because Disneyland and California adventure are smaller parks. I would switch your dates and avoid the headache.. It's cool to see but with all the people it's hard to enjoy.

I hope this helps, and I'm sorry to be the one to break the bad news! I hope you enjoy your trip to Disney regardless of everything going on!!!

 

[bevcgg]

Hi. We have already selected our Disney days and will be there Tues Aug 29 - Fri Sept 1st (so marathon Thurs and Friday). We are not part of the half marathon (but wow...what a neat place to run...and that's awesome for those of you that are running!). Is it ok to ask how the marathon affects crowds? Are parts of the parks blocked off? I assume the parks will be a bit busier?

We flew in Wed last year and the parks were wonderful! Went Thursday after the Expo in the morning and had almost no waits. Rode both Thunder Mtn and Splash back to back with no wait. Did everything we wanted in both parks- had a great time. The parks got busy Friday- after the 5K- much longer waits. You should be fine for most of your trip! Have fun!

 

[camaker]

Hi. We have already selected our Disney days and will be there Tues Aug 29 - Fri Sept 1st (so marathon Thurs and Friday). We are not part of the half marathon (but wow...what a neat place to run...and that's awesome for those of you that are running!). Is it ok to ask how the marathon affects crowds? Are parts of the parks blocked off? I assume the parks will be a bit busier?

I don't think your visit will be significantly adversely affected by the race weekend. You only overlap with the 5k which is pretty short in duration and distance. Everything should really be done or almost done for the 5k by the time the parks open to the public.

I would expect the crowding to increase during your stay as the weekend approaches but I think that's as much or more due to it being Labor Day weekend as it is due to the race weekend. I was there from Thursday to Tuesday this past Labor Day and didn't find it bad at all.

 

[Frozen2014]

Thanks for the replies about the parks.

pluttosbuddie, yikes...your thoughts are different from bevcgg and camaker. Although we haven't booked our flights yet (soon), we have pretty much decided on the last week in August. We're from Canada and thus our kids return to school after labor day, and this week works well in terms of camp schedule, etc. I was strongly considering the week of Aug 14th due to not missing Haunted Mansion, but DH and I discussed and the last week really makes more sense. (We've booked both our LA hotel and Anaheim hotel, although they both can be cancelled).

Note that we would be at the parks Tuesday - Friday (i.e. and wont be there on the weekend). It looks like the actual race is on Friday and starts at 5:30am? What time would it end? Is it only during this time that things are blocked off? If so, it's our last day and so extra crowds on this day won't bother us as we would have tried the rides already that we wanted not to miss...but having said that, I imagine people are travelling to Disney for the race, which will draw crowds when not busy with race stuff. And if I understand it correctly, we should avoid visiting the Disneyland hotel on the Thursday (Expo)?

And good luck to everyone. What a neat place to do a marathon.

 

[camaker]

Thanks for the replies about the parks.

pluttosbuddie, yikes...your thoughts are different from bevcgg and camaker. Although we haven't booked our flights yet (soon), we have pretty much decided on the last week in August. We're from Canada and thus our kids return to school after labor day, and this week works well in terms of camp schedule, etc. I was strongly considering the week of Aug 14th due to not missing Haunted Mansion, but DH and I discussed and the last week really makes more sense. (We've booked both our LA hotel and Anaheim hotel, although they both can be cancelled).

Note that we would be at the parks Tuesday - Friday (i.e. and wont be there on the weekend). It looks like the actual race is on Friday and starts at 5:30am? What time would it end? Is it only during this time that things are blocked off? If so, it's our last day and so extra crowds on this day won't bother us as we would have tried the rides already...but having said that, I imagine people are travelling to Disney for the race, which will draw crowds when not busy with race stuff.

And good luck to everyone. What a neat place to do a marathon.

There are actually 3 races that weekend:

Friday - 5k
Saturday- 10k
Sunday- Half marathon

The races start at 5:30-6:00am and the time that the parks will be impacted is dependent on the distance.

 

[Frozen2014]

There are actually 3 races that weekend:

Friday - 5k
Saturday- 10k
Sunday- Half marathon

The races start at 5:30-6:00am and the time that the parks will be impacted is dependent on the distance.

Great....thanks. So basically our only park day that we would only be affected would be Friday (unless people are flying in early and enjoying the parks the days before the races).

 

[Davidg83]

I need to stop going to the website and seeing that the 5k is still open. It's taking everything in me to not add that on to the weekend. I need to save up for Dopey registration in a few weeks!!

 

[kristabelle13]

I didn't have any plans to run this until I opened this thread...now I've made a reservation at one of the hotels on the crosswalk.

With the Canadian discount tix, and the possibility of a TA bib, I'm tempted...let's see how training goes this spring.

 

[kristabelle13]

Y'all are bad (read: good) influences.


Thank you.

 

[Kathymford]

Looks like the kid's races finally sold out ... or they stopped selling. It's always hard to tell. I'm guessing 5k will be next.

 

[camaker]

When I got back from Marathon Weekend on Monday, DW told me she wanted to run a 10k as her goal for this year. Looks like DLH Weekend might be the perfect target! I've wanted to get her out to DL since I made my first ever trip out there for last year's DLH. I'll be in for the challenge and she'll do the 10k.

 

[mrsg00fy]

When I got back from Marathon Weekend on Monday, DW told me she wanted to run a 10k as her goal for this year. Looks like DLH Weekend might be the perfect target! I've wanted to get her out to DL since I made my first ever trip out there for last year's DLH. I'll be in for the challenge and she'll do the 10k.

The Disneyland 10K is one of the best courses that RunDisney puts on. There is lots of park time. Enjoy!

 

[camaker]

The Disneyland 10K is one of the best courses that RunDisney puts on. There is lots of park time. Enjoy!

I agree entirely! Ran it as part of my C2C last year as part of a solo trip. Unfortunately, DW has now decided she can't take the time off for the race because she committed to taking her mother to Ireland for her 70th birthday. Now I have to decide if I want to do another solo trip. Not only that but Dopey plus DL is a lot to lay out in race fees here in such close proximity.

 

[bananabean]

The Disneyland 10K is one of the best courses that RunDisney puts on. There is lots of park time. Enjoy!

Seconded (or I guess thirded? )! I loved the 10k course!