runDisney — The End of an Eventful Marathon Season
Between runDisney seasons, we take stock.
The 2023/2024 runDisney season is now over and, in a few days, training begins in earnest for the 2024/2025 season.
The event calendar for the seasons continues to evolve as the specter of the COVID pandemic has faded and the limitations that had prevented the Anaheim races from being staged for many years have also been resolved. With races being added and demand increasing exponentially, runDisney has, over the past season, struggled with some logistical issues along the way, but, for the most part, the hundred-or-so-thousand Disneyland and Walt Disney World runners have had a terrific experience at the races.
Here is what the previous runDisney season looked like.
November 2–5, 2023 : Walt Disney World Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend
Kicking the season off, this popular, food and fine dining themed, weekend was generally a big success. The only issue seems to be related to runDisney experimenting with the waiting areas for the corrals — probably because of the suddenly increased attendance — leaving people in the rear corrals confused as to what was happening leading up to their start time.
The odd start notwithstanding, the races were a successful start to the season.
January 3–7, 2024 : Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend
This weekend is the Big Kahuna of any runDisney season and it was run brilliantly and smoothly by the runDisney staff. They had corrected the corral issues of the Wine and Dine weekend (I was in the last corral for the marathon and it was fine.) and in everything that they could control, they excelled at.
Sadly, the one thing they couldn’t control was the weather and the Half-Marathon had to be shortened due to the prediction of lightning storms along the course. Folks seemed understanding — safety is of paramount importance, of course — and took it with good humor. It is now known as “The Half of the Half.”
runDisney had, prior to this race, issued new guidelines governing costumes on the race course. While the messaging could’ve been clearer, it didn’t seem to cause much in the way of issues during this successful weekend.
A nice bonus from this weekend was how the settings for each race moved forward through a different era of Disney entertainment. If you ran all four major races (the “Dopey Challenge”), you experienced the history of the company from the 1930s to today.
January 11–14, 2024: Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend
The return of Disneyland races after an absence of seven years was a cause for some celebration. Sadly, they were a bit of a mess.
The staff that mans the west coast races are entirely different than those that work in Florida, so some of the on-the-ground confusion this first year back is understandable; but the poorly thought-out course design that resulted in massive choke-points which, in some instances, slowed people so much that they ended up swept for being too far behind pace was a real blow to many runners.
The difficulties don’t seem to have dissuaded people from trying again, however, as the next race at the Anaheim parks sold out in less than an hour.
February 22–25, 2024: Walt Disney World Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend
In some ways, this was the best run race of the season. The corrals were well-spaced, the race ran smoothly and the on-course entertainment was terrific.
Races themed to Ariel, Rapunzel, Tiana, Anna and Elsa were a tremendous hit with runners.
April 18–21, 2024: Springtime Surprise Weekend
The theme for this weekend was “Embrace the Adventure,” but the adventure was mostly a quest to stay hydrated. The temperatures soared, as did the humidity during this weekend making these pretty rough races, particularly for non-Floridians.
For some reason runDisney decided to put the paid “Club runDisney Gold Membership” runners, as well as the Athletes with Disabilities groups, plus the runners with certain qualifying proofs of time in a single corral. This caused the B Corral to be way bigger than all of the others. While runners did disperse eventually, reports of some harrowing close calls in those first few miles were concerning.
This seems like a clerical error more than a choice and hopefully, it has been corrected.
Now for the upcoming season of runDisney events.
September 5–8, 2024: Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Weekend
A first-time event, this race is the new season opener.
October 31 — November 3, 2024: Walt Disney World Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend
January 8–12, 2025: Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend
And, the final three, with themes yet to be announced.
January 30 — February 2, 2025: Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend
February 20–24, 2025: Walt Disney World Princess Half Marathon Weekend
April 3–6, 2025: Walt Disney World Springtime Surprise Weekend
Hope to see you at the races!
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Kelly McCubbin is a columnist for Boardwalk Times
