Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend 2025

[StarGirl11]

Sure yes, I have been running Disneyland for years and I get that. But I still think they really lacked in mileage this last time. And what they lack in mileage in the parks needs to have entertainment made up for in the city, IMO. So, I just choose to run the race I like the most, which is the 10k. Which also could have used SO MANY MORE Characters during it, but I digress.

I did say it needs more characters and needed other improvement. I pointed out the mileage specifically I saw it said so many times. And I absolutely get the other areas need improvement. Idk why there wasn’t last year. First year back issues maybe.

But I digress.

Like tbc I’m not defending the other stuff. Just pointing out the skewing of the mileage issue.

Like personally on the course if they take out the Santa Ana portion I’ll be delighted. I want to see it changed. Going 6-7 miles an hour on that trail in my chair is not the definition of fun. And part of the reason why I’m changing out for my cycle for my own safety.

(Cause lord knows I spent too much time with people with delusions of grandeur on how fast they were compared to me last year and trying to argue with actual race staff about their own safety.)

 

[nekonekoneko]

And down goes Fraiser Yoga!

Only Dumbo and the Half left.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I wonder if the race problems from last year's event dissuaded some people from going again.

Possibly. I tend to think that this year being the return of Disneyland races and the element of the back to back Coast to Coast may have played a role as well. There's always higher demand for inaugural races, and while not a new race, pent up demand definitely existed.

The timing makes it hard to do Dopey to Dumbo compared to this year. Wonder if a lot of people had to choose between Halloween and January and chose Halloween (I probably would have, had I been considering between the two). I know I am giving rD in DL a few race weekends before I decide to register again.

I think that played a part. We're talking about a subset of runners who think it's "normal" to run Dopey and then a decent enough amount decided we should travel cross country less than a week later to run 3 more races.

What happened with the hlaf last year? My DW never said anything about it, and I didn't hear anything from all the other runners as we were moseying around the parks.

There was a snafu during the 10K with a CM over by Small World telling runners that you had to be at mile 5 within 10 minutes or you will be swept which caused a lot of panic. I think he just had bad information, but still.

The mile 3 bottleneck during the half was bad. A water stop, mile marker, and very narrow course all within feet of each other. Just poor planning. Character stops were a very mixed bag. Many had selfie only stations. Some characters were out for the faster corrals and long gone at the end. Many were selfie only, which a lot of people didn't like. There were zero characters in Avengers Campus for any of the races, and Rey and Chewbacca were only out in Galaxy's Edge during the Half up on the stand above the landspeeder space.
In Galaxy's Edge, a line of people were waiting to take photos in front of the Millennium Falcon and the CM was telling people to not wait in line for the photo while not doing anything about the other people waiting in line for the photo. Race photographers were few and far between.

I felt like park time was pretty normal for a Disneyland Half. But it's a bit of an adjustment after having run at Disney World since 2018 and doing the last mile or two in Epcot and now doing that last mile or two in the streets of Anaheim.

 

[nekonekoneko]

Ok, that makes sense. I understand that with DL being so much smaller, that the half has to spill out into the city But things like bottlenecks can be preventable. Like why the courses in WDW don't go through Pandora, because the paths can get a bit thin in there.

But the characters and the photographers are something Disney can control. And with how much money we're all paying for these races, that shouldn't be something they're skimping on.

 

[fatmanatee]

I'd be surprised if they repeat that water stop. It has to go *somewhere* though... maybe between the parks, or on Main Street, like they did for the 10k? Doesn't make for as appealing a run down that path though.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Ok, that makes sense. I understand that with DL being so much smaller, that the half has to spill out into the city But things like bottlenecks can be preventable. Like why the courses in WDW don't go through Pandora, because the paths can get a bit thin in there.

But the characters and the photographers are something Disney can control. And with how much money we're all paying for these races, that shouldn't be something they're skimping on.

I am soooo interested to see if they make any changes to photopass (and characters) in these upcoming races. That was my biggest complaint, I love getting running photos and character photos and I was so severely disappointed by both the quantity and quality of photos in DL. CMs weren't well trained at taking photos, the photo backdrops/sets were dreadful, and they had more CMs out there discouraging photos than taking them It seems like an easy fix to me, but who knows if they will do anything. People keep registering and selling out the races after all.

 

[nekonekoneko]

People keep registering and selling out the races after all.

Which goes back to my original question as to why the HM and Dumbo are still not sold out as of right now?

 

[The Expert]

I am soooo interested to see if they make any changes to photopass (and characters) in these upcoming races. That was my biggest complaint, I love getting running photos and character photos and I was so severely disappointed by both the quantity and quality of photos in DL. CMs weren't well trained at taking photos, the photo backdrops/sets were dreadful, and they had more CMs out there discouraging photos than taking them It seems like an easy fix to me, but who knows if they will do anything. People keep registering and selling out the races after all.

^^^ THIS RIGHT HERE! ^^^

 

[Disneyhanna]

Which goes back to my original question as to why the HM and Dumbo are still not sold out as of right now?

Part of me wonders if the change in registration date is part of it. I imagine many people have to take off time to register, and switching the date last minute means maybe they can't make the new date/time work. If it sells out tonight or after lunch time on the west coast, that could be part of it.

 

[disneyrunnergrl]

I had zero intention of registering this morning… and then the half didn’t sell out. And here we are in for the half and I guess another coast to coast since I’m running the marathon in January.

 

[fatmanatee]

Decent amount of comments on the t-shirt glitch on instagram, I'm baffled that they haven't figured out how to fix that. Had the same issue LAST year for DL and thought I was going crazy, a year and a half and several race registrations later and it's still a problem?

And one person complaining that they're part of a group of 17 trying to get in the 5k for someone's birthday and 10 of them got in... not including the birthday girl. Oof.

 

[ShoeCello]

The mile 3 bottleneck during the half was bad. A water stop, mile marker, and very narrow course all within feet of each other. Just poor planning. Character stops were a very mixed bag. Many had selfie only stations. Some characters were out for the faster corrals and long gone at the end. Many were selfie only, which a lot of people didn't like. There were zero characters in Avengers Campus for any of the races, and Rey and Chewbacca were only out in Galaxy's Edge during the Half up on the stand above the landspeeder space.
In Galaxy's Edge, a line of people were waiting to take photos in front of the Millennium Falcon and the CM was telling people to not wait in line for the photo while not doing anything about the other people waiting in line for the photo. Race photographers were few and far between.

Wow, this is the first I've heard of this bottleneck (I didn't run that race and wasn't paying too much attention to the boards afterward). Was it literally a standstill for minutes, as others have said? That sounds inexcusable in terms of course planning and entirely predictable.

I'm doing DL Halloween HM and DL 10K in Jan, and I hope that the course issues are sorted out by then. I am curious if the path from HM to Galaxy's Edge will be open in time by the Halloween races, or if the route will skip GE this time (or enter through Frontierland and exit through the side closest to Fantasyland).

 

[accm]

Wow, I'm shocked that the half and challenge are still available almost 3.5hrs later. I'm wondering if with the minimal park time at DL, if there's just not as much of a demand for a half there.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Wow, this is the first I've heard of this bottleneck (I didn't run that race and wasn't paying too much attention to the boards afterward). Was it literally a standstill for minutes, as others have said? That sounds inexcusable in terms of course planning and entirely predictable.

I'm doing DL Halloween HM and DL 10K in Jan, and I hope that the course issues are sorted out by then. I am curious if the path from HM to Galaxy's Edge will be open in time by the Halloween races, or if the route will skip GE this time (or enter through Frontierland and exit through the side closest to Fantasyland).

Yes, it was a standstill. You rounded a corner and could tell something was amiss. The fears of someone being injured went away quickly, but we all just slowly shuffled our way. I think that mile was 3 minutes slower than the previous and subsequent miles on my watch.

Given that the 10K in January is Star Wars themed, I would be very shocked if the race did not go through Galaxy's Edge. I think most of the issues are easily fixable.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

The longer it stays open the more tempting it is! But I would have to fly in Sat morn, and then fly out Sunday night. So it really doesn't make sense for me. If iam going all that way I would like a longer trip. This is the longest I've seen a race take to sell out, I wasn't around before when they didn't sell out the same day.

 

[fatmanatee]

Wow, I'm shocked that the half and challenge are still available almost 3.5hrs later. I'm wondering if with the minimal park time at DL, if there's just not as much of a demand for a half there.

Need to clarify this in defense of the DL races: it's a lot of park time. You hit almost every nook of DL and DCA, and the path from 1.75 to 4.75 is the longest stretch of in-park running of any RD race on either coast. The problem is what comes *after* 4.75. It's long, it's boring for the most part, and unlike at WDW, where RD can add character photo-ops every mile to reduce the monotony outside of the parks, DL hasn't done much of anything outside of their property (and it's possible that they just can't, for some reason). You can run the 10k and get a very similar experience without that back half. I consider it the best RD course for that reason. The half costs 85 dollars more and from a pure race perspective for a lot of people, it's tough to argue the value of the extra cost if they continue to do the bare minimum with the back half. It's definitely possible that after some early enthusiasm over the return of DL races, some are content to just run the 10k.

(FWIW if I do this weekend again I'd do both races. I like the park time even if it can be repetitive and I don't mind the Anaheim portion of the half)

 

[StarGirl11]

Need to clarify this in defense of the DL races: it's a lot of park time. You hit almost every nook of DL and DCA, and the path from 1.75 to 4.75 is the longest stretch of in-park running of any RD race on either coast. The problem is what comes *after* 4.75. It's long, it's boring for the most part, and unlike at WDW, where RD can add character photo-ops every mile to reduce the monotony outside of the parks, DL hasn't done much of anything outside of their property (and it's possibly that they just can't, for some reason). You can run the 10k and get a very similar experience without that back half. I consider it the best RD course for that reason. The half costs 85 dollars more and from a pure race perspective for a lot of people, it's tough to argue the value of the extra cost if they continue to do the bare minimum with the back half. It's definitely possible that after some early enthusiasm over the return of DL races, some are content to just run the 10k.

(FWIW if I do this weekend again I'd do both races. I like the park time even if it can be repetitive and I don't mind the Anaheim portion of the half)

Yeah I was thinking of pointing this out as well. I think people’s view of the park time for WDW is just skewed because we’re on property the whole way. And DL is so front heavy with the parks. Because it honestly kind of has to. Like sure you could put a bit towards the later half and they have before but majority has to be done early because they only have so many places they can start from within their control. So they can’t exactly have us run to the parks like in FL

 

[matt and beth]

Had Dumbo in our cart and closed the safari app. Honestly, California is a pain in the **** to get to from the Midwest/Eastern side of the US and the hotels seem like a struggle. With WDW DVC and way cheaper flights, we think we will stay in our lane. Plus the reviews weren’t too exciting last time.

Slightly jealous of those going though. Hope everyone has fun and safe travels, with PBs

 

[marty3d]

How are the half and Dumbo still open? It’s like the runDisney gods are trying to tempt me to sign up again.

 

[Tall Todd]

Whelp.... Saw a FB post that races were still open, I looked at flights, and registered. I didn't really plan on this at all but Fate is interesting sometimes. First Coast to Coast, and more importantly first visit to Disneyland!!!
So add me +1 to the half.
Now to read a million pages on Disneyland and running there.