On January 5, 2024, I participated in the Marathon Weekend 10K race at Walt Disney World. As a longtime Disney fan who has been a runner off and on through my adult life, this was a life goal, for sure. I had several questions about RunDisney prior to my first race, and maybe this will answer some of yours!
I traveled to Orlando for the race with my 18 year old daughter. We were fortunate to have good weather for both our flights and the race. Our RunDisney experience began the afternoon before our race at the Race Expo at Disney's Wide World of Sports. This was a massive venue run with
incredible precision, distributing bibs and shirts to a huge number of runners in town for the 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, and Marathon, plus various Challenges that include a combination of the above races. Our race, the 10K, was themed to Chip and Dale.
The race course took us from the EPCOT parking lot, on some of the access roads around the park. and into the main entrance of EPCOT. Once inside ECPOT, we ran through backstage areas behind the Seas and Land pavilions, then briefly into the World Showcase, where we exited near the France pavilion into the Crescent Lake resort area. A loop around Crescent Lake took us past the Beach and Yacht Club resorts, the Boardwalk (which was a little slippery in the morning dew!), and back into the World Showcase to complete our circuit around the countries. Finally, we ran past Guardians of the Galaxy and reached the finish line near the Spaceship Earth ball.
I had feared the early starts of these races, and they aren't for the faint of heart. The 10K began at 5 AM, and we were on the bus from our Disney resort by 3:45 AM. But the excitement of the race was definitely enough to carry me through. There was a lot of waiting at the start line, but DJs and characters provided entertainment. The start was remarkably well organized considering the number of people involved!
Although documentation of prior race times isn't required for the 10K,
you still report an approximate pace (14 min mile was ours) and corrals/start times are assigned accordingly. Special RunDisney buses (different from the shuttles to the theme parks) took us to the Race Expo and to and from the 10K with ease.
There are Disney characters next to the race course throughout for photo opps. Sadly, I did not avail myself of these opportunities, because I was afraid that once I stopped running, I would not want to start again! Still, the characters, and the variety of Disney tunes, kept me motivated. One unique experience was "pulling over" to the side near the Mexico pavilion to book a Lightning Lane for the park later that day!
All in all, I really enjoyed my RunDisney experience and can't wait to do it again! Send me an email or give me a call if you'd like to plan your own Disney running trip.