Oh boy, oh boy! Registration is coming up fast for the 2024 Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend! In fact it’s on Tuesday, March 12 at 10:00 a.m., ET! If you’ve been through the registration process before you know that you need to be online and logged in to your runDisney account ahead of that, really no later than 9:45 before the games begin. If this is your first time through, I recommend checking out my post about registration.
I’m registered for the chal lenge already through Club runDisney, and I told myself that for the 2024-25 season, I don’t need to run all the races, I need to save up some cash. But flerdyschnerkenhoopy torp, they had to trot out the Swedish Chef for the 5K mascot, and this child of the 70s cannot resist, bork, bork, bork! So it looks like I get the great joy of joining the masses for general registration on Tuesday to try to score that race. To my knowledge, this is the first-ever Muppet-themed race, so I’m expecting a lot of shenanigans.
Post-Race Party – November 3, 2024 – $110 (remember that if you run the Half Marathon/Challenge, your Post-Race Party ticket is included. This is for extra tickets for guests and those not running the Half).
Some race merchandise is available at the time of checkout, though I recommend you actually complete your checkout first and then go back and buy the merch, if you want. Check out this adorable chef’s hat:
Got questions? I can help! Drop a comment, and good luck on registration day!
It’s only been a week since the 2024 Princess Half Marathon weekend, but it feels like a lifetime. Even though I was on a solo trip (and working in my hotel room most of the time) I had a blast and want to share some of the good vibes!
The Expo was pretty much typical stuff. Lots of photo opps (lucky princesses got pictures with Cinderella’s coach and some hawwwt footmen), merch that sold out quickly, as per usual, and lots of smiles pumping through the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. I was on a very tight timeline for work, so I didn’t really get to explore much. I guess I dodged a bullet on the expo floor as there was a curling iron vendor that was apparently insulting people and holding them hostage for long periods of time. Yeesh. I hope they’re not invited back!
I did purchase my very first Pandora charms (pro tip for next year: buy them at the main expo rather than at the Advent Health Arena where the runDisney merch is – the line is much shorter at the main expo). Pandora only does runDisney charms at WDW for the Princess Weekend, so I think it will be a very long time before my bracelet is at capacity!
It was great to be back at the well-oiled machine of runDisney in Florida. I feel like I am starting to recognize the event staff, and I know everyone working these events knows exactly what is going on!
I had some really fun costumes this time around. Since I was running alone, I knew I probably wouldn’t be getting too many photo stops on the courses, so I got to Epcot early for some pre-race pics with our princesses.
Character photo lines were epically long during the 5K, of course but I grabbed a couple of non-character photos as I “sped” my way around Epcot. I loved the 10K course and had lots of fun running as Mother Gothel. I didn’t see many people dressed as her, so I felt pretty unique.
The Half Marathon was my most ambitious costume – when I attempted to run as Ray from The Princess and the Frog. I am happy to say I pulled it off. The costume worked particularly well in the dark, and I’ve never had so many compliments on my butt before! Of course it may be that people just couldn’t believe that I was committed to running 13.1 miles with a giant glowing beach ball attached to my backside. It honestly wasn’t that annoying. The worst part was that it was attached at the shoulders (via a laundry bag) to a vest. The vest of course was pulled by the ball, with a lovely strangling effect, so I had to keep pulling the vest down to ensure I continued breathing. Yes, I know rule #1 of running in a costume is always do a test run, but, whatever…. Oh, and those incredible Ray eyes were painted by my daughter!
I had the misfortune of drawing corral E, but luckily was in the first wave. I stuck to my 30:30 intervals, and fortunatley never saw the balloon ladies. It was really a great sense of relief when I knew I was “safe”. Starting in the back is always scary, but now I really know that I can make the best of it. I didn’t stop for any photos, but at some point I probably could have. I was just on a mission!
Speaking of starting in the back, I really would be remiss if I didn’t give a huge shout-out to the Dead Last Start crew. What is DLS? In short it’s a bunch of crazy people who start last, with the Balloon Ladies and see how many people they can pass. Usually they do it for fun, but sometimes they do it for charity, and this weekend, they made a huge impact. You see, sadly, one of the Balloon Ladies lost her son suddenly and unexpectedly just after the Disneyland Half Marathon. The only silver lining was that Trevor Doyle’s organs were donated to four individuals. The Dead Last Start runners created a fundraiser, that last time I checked had raised over $39,000 to support organ donor families. Holy cow. That gives me chills just thinking about it. If you would like to donate in Trevor’s memory, here’s the link:
So.. the dust from yesterday’s Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon registration is hopefully settling a bit. Congrats to those who got the races they wanted. If you were one of the many who were disappointed, I feel you, and I am so sorry. I’ve been there. If you’re up for fundraising, I’ll offer up some fundraising options the week after Princess. But today’s task at hand is… PRINCESS!
The maps have been released, so I’ll share them here, with my very brief commentary. In general I have one over-arching comment. Other than January’s impromptu “half of a half”, I don’t think I’ve ever seen less park time during a challenge that doesn’t include the 5K.
5K
This is pretty standard 5K stuff. What’s new lately is a diversion through the newly-reopened center of World Celebration and a photo op with the “Dreamer’s Point” statue of Walt. There’s also a quick jog past the queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. That’s just a tease of course. Getting a virtual queue for that is as hard as getting a registration for this race.
10K
I have to be honest here. I’ve done plenty of 10Ks at Disney World where we have hit two parks, but unless I have early onset alzheimer’s, I am pretty sure there was way more park time than this.
From the start line the first 3 miles are all highway until we get to the “Studios.” I put that in quotes because if you happen to sneeze while running down Sunset Boulevard, you might miss the whole thing. That’s it. “Rockin’ Roller Coaster on your right, Tower of Terror on your left, Photopass, Photopass, please exit, buh-bye!” 
Then it’s the Narrows of Death to the Boardwalk, and not even a loop of the World Showcase (WTF??), a drive-by of United Kingdom and Canada, and a very fast exit out the usual way…
Sorry, just feeling a little empty here…
Half Marathon
So first of all, I apologize these images are so small. This is all that runDisney makes available. The huge posters will be on view at the expo. For now, you’re stuck with my memory, or alternatively, you can use Google maps, which could potentially be more accurate…
Anyway. We are launched from the start in the darkness into lots and lots and lots (6 miles) of highway running.
We have a euphoric 10-20 minutes in Magic Kingdom.
We return to highway running for 6 miles.
We do not run the World Showcase Lagoon.
We get some medals.
The end.
I’ll be honest, of all the runDinsey races I have run, this one has my head scratching the most. Disclaimer: I never ran Princess Half before, but I have run many runDisney races. I don’t have time to go and research all the past courses. Maybe this is normal. But I’m already feeling a little gypped looking at the courses. I’m not sure if that’s coming from being a veteran runner. I am trying to put myself in the sneakers of someone who has never done this before: that princess/prince is probably excited no matter what they see. I, on the other hand am mapping out every square inch of park time and calculating my value per registration dollar. Probably not the right approach for someone who loves this as much as I do.
*New* Tips
OK, I’ve been ranting about the courses. I apologize. I do have a couple of new tips to share. Hoping someone finds them useful:
Driving in? Stay to the left as you enter Epcot. As left as you can. This gives you the best chance of parking in the lots on the left. Your feet will thank you after the race.
Get there EARLY for great photos there will be Photopass ops with major characters before the race, but the lines will be impossible by 4:15 or so. if you want a really great photo, get there earlier than that and score.
Want to be interviewed on the big screen? Do you have a great costume, story or just want to say hello to the whole runDisney community? Stay to the far right of the corral. I mean farrrrr right, and hug the barrier. No guarantees, of course, but if you’re on the other side, they’ll never see you. 
OK, that’s all my pre-Princess wisdom. With a foot of snow surrounding me, I really can’t wait to get to Orlando next week. Please drop a comment if you’ll be there!
So after two solid weeks of travel I’ve been home sweet home for a week and happy to say I have run zero miles in that time. The weather during Marathon Weekend in Orlando was unsettled and not exactly warm. The weather in Anaheim was downright cold and I feel like I needed to come home, stay inside and thaw out after way too many early mornings shivering at the start line.
So first things first, it was wonderful to finally run a race at Disneyland and feel like a more “complete” runDisney runner. I expected lots of things to be new and different. But I didn’t expect everything to be new and different. In fact the only thing that really felt familiar at all was Carissa Galloway’s face. She was not joined by her usual announcing crew but a southern California local, by the name of Matt Starkey. It was a noticably smaller event with a much, much different vibe.
Now I want to give the Disneyland team some grace, because a race has not been held there in seven years, but it felt like they hadn’t spent much time talking to the runDisney team in Florida, or anyone who had organized Disneyland races in the past. This year’s events were critically understaffed, the castmembers unprepared, and there were some GLARING safety misses. I imagine there was a hell of a post-mortem meeting on Monday morning.
I don’t want to focus on just the negative though, because there was really lots to love about the race weekend. The 5K started inside Disneyland Park! We were lined up along Main Street, which was lit with projections, and the whole street lit up with fireworks at the start. Unfortunately that was the only time we saw fireworks the whole weekend, which is pretty understandable, considering the other races started in a parking lot in a downtown area ringed by hotels.
The 5K course was entirely contained within the two parks (and some backstage areas), so it was basically all fun and new to me. Unfortunately there were VERY few Photopass photgraphers on the course. A lot of the photo stops for the whole weekend were the type where you had to pass your phone to someone and hope for the best. And those safety issues I was mentioning –at one point we were running thorugh a completely dark corridor (wasn’t quite a tunnel, because there was no roof). Like almost pitch black. I saw so many people taking tumbles over the weekend, with unannounced hazards everywhere. Not once did we ever hear “Caution, runners….”
The 10K and Half were staged along a street and in a parking lot, which had their own issues, all self-inflicted unfortunately. The first challenge was security. Disneyland has yet to invest in the high-tech scanners that allow most bags to pass through without a hand-check. So every single bag going in had to be hand-checked. To make matters worse, many of the metal detectors they brought in were not working, so the backup at security was lengthy. I heard that later they relaxed the process because otherwise they never would have gotten everyone through before the start time.
Apparently I actually got there too early because the corrals were not open, and I was told I needed to walk all the way around the perimeter of the enormous parking lot (which was fenced in) to enter the staging area. I was not particularly thrilled about any extra walking since it was already a long cold walk from my hotel that I would have to reverse after my race. To make matters worse, I was passed by other participants who had walked all the way around and were told to turn around and walk back the other way. WHAT???? This is going back to my point about the cast members being unprepared. Frankly it felt like no one really knew what was going on. I trudged forward and entered the staging area, and did get a nice surprise. 
I literally had a front row view of Carissa and Matt introducing Daisy and Donald (who overslept and showed up in his pajamas). In Florida, I would never have the opportunity to be anywhere near the stage, so this was a bit of a treat! After their intro, the corrals were open, so I trudged all the way back to where I had come in and found my way to the last corral. Boo. We were such second-class citizens back there, there weren’t any speakers. With no fireworks, or anything, I didn’t even know when the race started. For real. One thing I did like was that they pretty much let the entire corral go at once – none of these interminal wave 1, wave 2, wave 10, etc. Even being in the last corral, I was over the start line by 5:25, which is good, because I think my toes were starting to freeze off!
The 10K was totally duck-themed, which I loved. Apparently I missed seeing Ludwig von Drake on the course, which I am a bit bummed about, but oh well. I didn’re really have time for character stops anyway. There was a bit of street running, which is to be expected. Overall, I have the same feedback. Not enough photographers. Not enough volunteers. Not enough safety precautions.
The biggest complaint you’ll probably hear from anyone about the weekend was the now infamous mile 3 water stop during the half marathon. Traffic ground to a halt and backed up as the volunteers couldn’t keep up as they placed a water stop in a very confined space, presumably to contain the paper cup waste to a small area. The problem got worse as the morning wore on, but I probably got through in 3 minutes, according to my Garmin. I did grab a photo, for posterity.
Mile 3 Water Stop
The rest of the half marathon was a bit of a different story since there were several miles of street running after the parks. Even though I heard a host of complaints, honestly it didn’t bother me much. Running in the parks was always confined and a bit dangerous. It was nice to be able to spread out and let down the concentration factor a bit. Most of the streets we ran were in industrial neighborhoods. I’m pretty sure we weren’t bothering anyone at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning. 
We ran to the Honda Center where the Anaheim Ducks play. Here I was educated that the appropriate response to the song “Sweet Caroline” is not “bah, bah, bah…” but “quack, quack, quack…” Who knew??? Just past the Honda Center was Blizzard Beach. I mean Angels Stadium. Oof. They didn’t properly prepare us for the torture of the winding course that was hidden in the parking lot behind the stadium, like an extra room or two in an E-ticket attraction queue that you’ve already been standing in for an hour and a half. They tried to make it more cheerful with a band, some representatives from the Tournament of Roses Parade (who looked quite splendid in their sharp white suits) and a bunch of classic cars, but we all saw it for what it really was. Just another damn Blizzard Beach.
Finally, I want to give a shout out to some of the spectators who really cheered us up along the way. Unfortunately I didn’t grab any pics. There were some black stormtroopers holding signs demanding the return of the Star Wars races, and someone set up their own character stop on the sidewalk that looked like the house from Up. Bravi, and thank you for bringing some joy to the city streets!
I know a lot of this sounded negative. Overall, it was a great experience, but the west coast does have a lot of work to do before their next races to bring it up to the level we deserve (and pay for). These were just my experiences. I also heard some other horror stories, particularly from athletes with disabilites – but those aren’t my stories to tell since I didn’t experience them first-hand. I am confident they can learn from this, but they need to hire a whole lot more people and be willing to admit where the mistakes were made.
If you were at the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend and want to share your experience, please drop a comment!
Hi runners! It’s been a minute. I just finished up my very busy season at work, and between that and training for Dopey, I haven’t had much time for writing. There has been a lot of news that’s come out in recent weeks. I decided to combine it all into a single post with all the important dates happening in the next season. Some of the 2025 races haven’t been confirmed yet, and I will at Proof-of-Time deadlines as they become available.
For informational purposes only, all dates & events subject to change.
Downloadable version below.
January, 2024
January 3, 2024 - WDW Marathon Weekend – Expo Opens
January 4, 2024 – WDW Marathon Weekend – 5K
January 5, 2024 – WDW Marathon Weekend – 10K
January 6, 2024 - WDW Marathon Weekend – Half Marathon
January 7, 2024 - WDW Marathon Weekend – Marathon
January 11, 2024 - Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend – Expo Opens
January 11, 2024 - Disneyland – Yoga
January 12, 2024 – Disneyland – 5K
January 13, 2024 – Disneyland – 10K
January 13, 2024 – Dinseyland Kids’ Races
January 14, 2024 - Disneyland – Half Marathon
February, 2024
February 6, 2024 - Club runDisney Gold/Platinum Registration – Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Weekend
February 13, 2024 - General Registration – Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Weekend
February 22, 2024 - Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend – Expo Opens
February 23, 2024 - Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend -5K
February 24 2024 - Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend -10K
February 25 2024 - Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend – Half Marathon
February 26 2024 - Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend – Yoga
March, 2024
March 5, 2024 – Club runDisney Gold/Platinum Registration – Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend
March 12, 2024 – General Registration – Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend
March 26, 2024 - General Registration – Summer Virtual Series
April, 2024
April 2, 2024 – Club runDisney Gold/Platinum Registration – 2025 WDW Marathon Weekend
April 9, 2024 - General Registration – 2025 WDW Marathon Weekend
April 18, 2024 – Springtime Surprise Weekend – Expo Opens
April 18, 2024 – Springtime Surprise – Yoga
April 19, 2024 – Springtime Surprise –Â Neverland 5K
April 20, 2024 Springtime Surprise –Â Adventure is Out There 10K
April 2, 2024 – Springtime Surprise – Hakuna Matata 10-Miler
April 2, 2024 – Springtime Surprise – Splash
June, 2024
June 1, 2024 – runDisney Summer Virtual Series opens
June 11, 2024 – Club runDisney Gold/Platinum Registration – 2025 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend
June 18, 2024 – General Registration – 2025 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend
July, 2024
July 9, 2024 – General Registration – 12Ks of Christmas Virtual
July 23, 2024 – Club runDisney Gold/Platinum Registration – 2025 Princess Half Marathon Weekend
July 3, 2024 – General Registration – Princess Half Marathon Weekend
August, 2024
August 20, 2024 – Club runDisney Gold/Platinum Registration – 2025 Springtime Surprise Weekend
August 27, 2024 – General Registration – 2025 Springtime Surprise Weekend
Disney Park Runner 