About the Event:
The Disneyland Half Marathon will be held yearly in September at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It is open to all runners and walkers who can complete 13.1 miles in 3 hours, 30 minutes - a 16 minutes per mile pace.Disneyland Half Marathon
Date and Location:
The event is held in September at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The start/finish is in Downtown Disney, near the Disneyland Hotel. The start is at 6 am, with shuttles delivering racers to the start between 4 and 4:30 am. There is a 3.5 hour time limit for the half marathon.2006 Disneyland Half Marathon Photos
Registration:
Register online. Cost was $80 in 2006. Packet pickup at the Health and Fitness Expo at the Disneyland Hotel and Convention Center, Friday and Saturday before the race. Registrations limited to 12,000 and sold out quickly the first year.Register for the Disneyland Half Marathon
The Course:
The course is relatively flat except for a few dips and climbs over the freeway. The route passes through California Adventure theme park, Disneyland theme park, and Angels Stadium as well as zigzaging through parts of Anaheim east of Disneyland on streets closed to traffic. Racers must maintain a 16-minute mile pace or will be stopped and picked up at 4.4 miles (after the theme parks), 6.8 miles or 10.3 miles (after Angels Stadium).Rewards:
The medal is huge and gorgeous, and is given to anyone completing the course (without getting picked up for falling off pace). A long sleeved technical shirt is given to each entrant at packet pick-up. Entry to the theme parks is not included, except during the race itself, before they are open to the public. The medal will remain the same each year, other than the date.On-Course Support:
There were 9 beverage stations on the course with Powerade and water and one Energy Gel Stop (nothing left when I passed through it) and 3 medical stops. There were bands and dance units each mile of the course, as well as Disney Cast for photos inside the parks. The course is closed to traffic, with the elapsed time shown at each mile marker. You receive a map and great race booklet in your race packet. The event is chip timed.Walker Friendly?:
The inaugural event in 2006 was only moderately walker-friendly. Walkers were rarely, if ever, mentioned in the greetings and announcements, only "runners." Those finishing in the last 30 minutes found slim pickings for food, inattentive finish volunteers, and the shuttles stopped running before they had time to recover and have photos taken. Those falling off the 16-minute mile pace before Mile 10.3 were bused to the end, do not finish or receive the medal.Review - Inaugural Disneyland Half Marathon 2006:
It was worth it for the medal. That is one stunning medal. But was it "The Happiest Race on Earth" as the medal claims? Not for me. My walking buddies got a thrill out of stopping for photos in California Adventure and Disneyland with Goofy and other Disney Cast Members. I was completely focused on making the 3 hour 30 minute cutoff time so I could take home the medal. I have been slow this year due to leg pain and knew it would be close.I hate the starting line format. The start is at 6 am, but you must catch a shuttle to it at 4 am at the latest. That's 2 hours of waiting around parking lots with nowhere to sit (although they do sell breakfast items and coffee), the last hour of that standing up in a corral separated by fencing from the portajohns. It is possible to walk in from a nearby hotel and get into the corrals 30 minutes before start time, a much better option. Be sure to use the portajohns before you get into your assigned corral, or you have to climb over the fencing.
Dress for hot weather. Wear a shirt to keep warm that last hour in the corrals, one you don't mind tossing. Enough water is provided on the course, but indeed the last tables were running out of cups, so I always carry my own water bottle just in case. They needed more portajohns per stop, as they were full to the brim and had run out of toilet paper, and had no hand gel.
On course entertainment was great, with bands and dance teams each mile. It was nifty to have the race go through the theme parks and Angels Stadium.
The Finish area needs improvement. They should channel the finishers through each station to ensure each gets a medal, heat sheet, and timing chip removed without bypassing or backtracking. The event needs to stock a full selection of food until the final finishers are done, 30 minutes after the finish cutoff. Shuttles need to continue to run later.
2006 Disneyland Half Marathon Photos
