Ep 2: runDisney 101

Episode 2, runDisney 101, is a comprehensive beginner’s guide to runDisney races, aimed at first-time runners, Disney fans curious about racing, and anyone considering combining a race with a Disney vacation. Jenny and Emily explain what runDisney is, the types of races offered (from 5Ks to marathons and multi-race challenges), where events take place, and what makes these races different from traditional road races—namely the fun, immersive Disney atmosphere with characters, costumes, music, and iconic park routes. They walk listeners through the overall race weekend experience, from very early wake-up calls and corral starts to running through the parks before opening and the excitement of crossing the finish line to earn a coveted Disney medal.

The episode also covers the practical side of runDisney, including how and when to register, budgeting for race fees and travel, choosing the right race distance, pacing requirements, and common beginner mistakes to avoid. Jenny and Emily emphasize that you don’t need to be fast to participate—walk/run strategies are welcome—but proper training, planning, and realistic expectations are key. They share advice on training plans, costumes and gear, race-day preparation, and recovery, and wrap up by weighing the pros and cons of runDisney. Ultimately, they encourage listeners by reinforcing that runDisney is about more than running: it’s about setting a goal, trying something new, and experiencing Disney magic in a completely unique way.

Transcript

Jenny 0:00

Hey Disney friends. Welcome back to our podcast. If you're new here, hi, I'm Jenny.

Emily 0:06

And I'm Emily. Today we're diving into a topic that combines running, Disney magic, and some very early alarm clocks.

Jenny 0:14

That's right. Today's episode is Run Disney 101. This is the Rope Drop and Run Podcast. On today's show, we'll fill you in on everything you need to know before you run your first magical mile at a Run Disney event. So join us as we dive into the miles, the metals, and the magic of Run Disney. Before we start, I want to take a minute to tell you about my good friend Susan. We've been friends since we were three years old. Can you believe it? She doesn't even know anything about Disney, which is weird. So because we know she's gonna have lots of questions when she listens to our podcast, we want to take a moment to define some terms for Susan and for maybe you too, listener, just to keep you all in the loop. So we realized that we used some terms in our last episode that might need some explaining. And so for you and for Susan, the term "rope drop" is a term that Disney fans use to describe the early morning entry at the Disney parks. Basically, you want to get to the park before the parks open so that you're first in line for the entry onto the rides. That's when the rope drops. You get to the attractions that usually have long wait times, and you get there before anybody else. So you don't have the long wait times. In terms of this episode, you can also think of it as the rope dropping at the start of a Disney race. We also use the term "cast member", and you should know that a cast member is a staff member of the Walt Disney Company. Everything at Disney is a show. So when you're in the parks, you're on stage, and the cast members are the people who work there. Everything at Disney is a theatrical metaphor, and that's what helps to create the whole magical experience of the place. So now that we've cleared up some of those terms for Susan, let's get on with the show.

Emily 2:43

This episode is for anyone who has seen those Disney race medals or video clips online and thought, that looks amazing. Sign me up. But where do I start?

Jenny 2:55

Whether you're a runner who loves Disney, a Disney fan, curious about running, or someone who just wants a fun goal tied to a Disney trip, this episode is for you.

Emily 3:05

By the end, you'll know what Run Disney is, what to expect, and whether it might be something you want to try.

Jenny 3:11

Okay, so let's start with the basics. What is Run Disney?

Emily 3:15

Run Disney is Disney's official race series. They host a series of weekends or race weekends where runners and walkers get to race through the Disney parks and the surrounding areas.

Jenny 3:27

Most of the races take place at Walt Disney World in Florida. There are a few races at Disneyland in California, and there are some virtual races you can do at home with the caveat that you have to be in the States even to do the virtual races. I tried to sign up for one and I wasn't eligible because I lived in Canada. The International Disney Resorts also hosts some pretty magical race events, but they aren't included on the official Run Disney event list. You have to go to their specific websites to find out about them. So there's the Tokyo Disney Resort, the Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris. The best bet is to search each park individually. What we can tell from our Google searching is that the race events that happen at Disneyland Paris haven't made a comeback since the COVID shutdowns. But lots of runners are asking about it. So maybe we'll see it come back someday.

Emily 4:32

I would love to do that, though. The Disneyland Paris. Actually, what am I talking about? I think I would love to do all of them. Bucket list.

Jenny 4:40

I want to go to all those parks and run at all. Oh my gosh. Bucket list for sure.

Emily 4:46

There's lots of different events all over the world. And like Jenny said, mostly in Florida and in California. And each of the different events offer different distances. The shortest race distance offered is the 5K, but there are other options: a 10K, half marathon, full marathon. I think there's a 10 miler. The marathon race weekend offers the most options with all four of the main distances. So 5K, 10K, half marathon, and the full marathon. If you're new to running events, just want to be clear a half marathon distance is 21.1 kilometers or 13.1 if you're doing the conversion into miles. And of course, that makes a full marathon then 42.2 kilometers equaling about 26.2 miles.

Jenny 5:33

It's funny how sometimes we say kilometers and sometimes we say kilometers.

Emily 5:38

I know. So in my science class, when I say thermometer, sometimes I say thermometer, just to make that point. But we don't say just to make a joke.

Jenny 5:48

I'm not gonna go down the metric road, but it's funny how we say centimeters and kilometers, but if we go kilometers, we don't say centimeters, right? It's only I don't know what it is. I think it's our parents' generation that got all messed up with metric and they couldn't say the word right and it just kind of stuck. Anyways, we go down a tangent in the metric system. But Emily

Emily 6:10

science nerds.

Jenny 6:11

Yeah, 100%. Emily has given us all the uh different distances. Also, in addition to that, you can run challenge races, which means that you're going for one of the race weekends and running more than one of the races that are happening on that weekend. The biggest challenge I want to say is the Dopey Challenge. It's uh the one that happens at the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend, and you run all four races: the 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon on each of their respective days. So over four days, you're running four races. You can also run the Goofy's race and a half challenge on the marathon weekend, and that's running the half marathon and the full marathon, and a feat in itself. And then at some of the other race weekends at Disney World, there's the fairy tale challenge that's part of the Princess race weekend. You run the 10K and the half marathon to get the fairy tale challenge medal. Springtime surprise weekend, you have the springtime surprise challenge, which is the 5K, 10K, and the 10 miler. So you're running three races on that one. And then for the wine and dine weekend, you've got the two-course challenge, which is running the 10K and the half marathon. And then over the other coast in California, the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend, they have the Dumbo Double Dare, which is running the 10K and the Half Marathon. And then you can get the Coast to Coast Challenge medal, which is just by comp just by completing a half marathon at Walt Disney World and at Disneyland in the same calendar year.

Emily 7:56

Yeah, that is definitely on my to-do list, bucket list. I would want to do a coast to coast.

Jenny 8:01

I really want to do the Halloween half marathon in California at Disneyland.

Emily 8:06

Oh, that would be fun. And they used to have something that after the Disney, this was years ago. I don't think they have it anymore officially, but after you do the race weekend, the marathon race weekend, there was complete the 5K that's on the castaway K. If you're the Castaway Key, I should say, for the Disney cruise line. So you can do a 5K on there at any time, uh, unofficially and get a medal. But that's that's that's another story. I have to say, I just love the challenges, like the idea of doing the challenges. It's just you get to do the back-to-back fun. So it's so addicting. You do one race and you're like, oh, that was so much fun. I want to do more. And you know what? If you sign up for a challenge, you get to do it again the next day. So I remember the last time signing up for the race weekend, we were trying to decide which race to do. Like, do we do the half marathon, the full marathon? And then we were flipping through Disney had put out their t-shirts and what the t-shirts were gonna look like.

Jenny 9:03

Oh, yeah.

Emily 9:04

And I like, oh, I really like that color. I want that t-shirt, and like, oh, and then we'd flip the slide through, like, oh, I like that one too. Like, gosh darn it, I gotta do all of them because I like all of the t-shirts. So anyway, I was so glad I did because when I, you know, we did the the 5k, and I'm like, that's amazing. And got to get up and do it again the next day. So yeah, you do a challenge, you get more races, more medals, more t-shirts, more fun, more magic.

Jenny 9:30

Totally.

Emily 9:30

Yeah, it's awesome.

Jenny 9:31

Yeah, I did not sign up to do that though, because my kids were coming. Right. And I did not want to get up for four mornings in a row at 2:30 in the morning and run. You know, it's it's hard. Uh, you have to you do the parks differently on race days for sure, because you're up so dang early, and uh my kids were there, and so I wanted to have fun in the parks with them too.

Emily 9:54

So jokes on you guys though, because you guys let me bunk in your room and I was getting up.

Jenny 10:00

Well, they didn't. I woke up, but they didn't. It was fine, it was fine.

Emily 10:04

Thank you. But thanks for sharing.

Jenny 10:05

Yeah. So I just did the marathon, which was also amazing.

Emily 10:10

So we really love those Disney races, though. Just addicting. They're like chips. Yeah, once you have one, you just got you can't stop. You gotta keep going.

Jenny 10:18

I know. I can't wait to be at the next start line. People ask us a lot why do we do Disney races so much? What do we love about it? And I would say, or like, why not just run races around here? Why not ra you know, do other marathons or whatever, which we have done. But the difference, what's the difference between a Run Disney event and a typical road race? It's quite literally just that it's more fun. There's so many things that make it more fun, like there's music all the way along now. There, yes, there's music in other marathons too, but it's I don't know, it's just leveled up. Like there's more of it, there's more diversity in the music, it's live music, it's school bands playing. And for that, us, that's really unique because they have these big marching bands. And I don't know, like

Emily 11:07

we come from small town,

Jenny 11:09

yeah,

Emily 11:09

we don't have the big marching bands, but also we can really appreciate uh the fact that they getting they're getting teenagers out at five o'clock in the morning to play their tuba in all of their gear, like just the organization of that. We can appreciate that. So it's like, thank you, guys, thank you, teenagers. Teachers and the people that make that happen.

Jenny 11:29

Yeah, kudos to them. Yeah, well, they're troopers, and we do appreciate that music. It's really inspiring. There are characters all along the race route. I'm just gonna talk like mostly about the marathon because that's the one that I just did, but there are characters all the way along the 26 miles.

Emily 11:47

In all of but there's characters in all of the 5K, all of them, yes.

Jenny 11:51

Uh-huh. But you just see a lot more because you're running for so much so much farther and for so much longer. So you might see Mickey show up at through in Animal Kingdom uh wearing his safari clothes, and then you might see him outside of shades of green wearing his golfing clothes, and then you might see him oh, at the beginning of the race wearing his racing clothes, and like, but it's not just Mickey, like there'll be villains and pirates and all kinds of

Emily 12:17

with the marathon being so long, like you get to see characters that you you wouldn't normally like, not just the big five, you know, Mickey and Minnie and Goofy, etc., but just some random ones like Phineas and Ferb or some of the aristocrats, like some of the old ones, like things you don't necessarily see in the park. See,

Jenny 12:36

that's true. Yeah, they bring out characters that you don't always see. That's absolutely true. There's it's also fun to see the costumes that people wear for their well, costumes their running clothes and see what people come up with. It's really fun. There are photo ops all the way along, like Disney Photopass. Yes, the Photo Pass people, there's people taking pictures.

Emily 12:54

Yeah, yeah, there's photopass people. Yeah, for sure.

Jenny 12:57

There's lots of like the running the people who are running are also just really friendly. Like, I just feel like it's a different vibe at a Disney race. Everybody's excited and happy, and we're all in the Disney bubble,

Emily 13:08

and it's camaraderie.

Jenny 13:09

Yeah, there's a lot of camaraderie. It's uh it's it's different than uh say like quote unquote normal marathon.

Emily 13:16

Although, you know, I just have to say, like, when you're running long distances, I I really feel like there is a really good sense of community, but just like we said about the entertainment, like there's entertainment in a lot of marathons, but this is like a level up. It's just I don't know.

Jenny 13:33

Like it's level up, like

Emily 13:35

it's just even better.

Jenny 13:37

Uh the guy that I think you might talk about this later, but the guy who stands on the overpass, like that would not be you're gonna talk about it later. Yeah, anyways, it's not boring, even in the boring parts because they can't have entertainment the entire way, that would be way too much. It's 26 miles. But even in the want to say boring parts where there's no live entertainment, they have signs, they'll have posted signs all the way along for kilometers with trivia for you to read. So when you're running by all of where the waste management stuff is, there's all this really interesting stuff, all the facts about how they manage waste and what they do to recycle water, and it's the environmental impact and how they I know it's just really interesting, so it keeps your mind occupied, which is half the battle is keeping your mind from telling your body to stop doing what it's doing because it hurts too much. The legendary, like I also just the scenery when you're you know, you get to see the castle or spaceship earth or like those things. It's that's just so neat. Like it's neat to be able to see these. And running through the parks before they open, and they feel so quiet. Yeah, the music is still playing, and you're running through, and you're thinking this is just it's you're there with thousands of runners, but you still feel like you have the place to yourself. It's really fun. It's just like going to the Disney races with all this entertainment, and you know, you could stop for the characters and stop to take pictures that personally we don't go to try to get like a personal best time. We're not there to shatter any records. Okay, now let's be real, actually. Full disclosure, we're not shattering records anyway. We are we are very much maybe I would say like Goldilocks runners, like kind of mid of the mid of the pack, perhaps. And or or can we even say like you know, you know, the t-shirt that's my race strategy is start off slow and then back off. Yeah. Maybe maybe that's what we're doing. We're starting off slow, and as we age, we're getting a little slower. But hey, you know what? We're still out there. So yeah, we've always said we're gonna do the Disney races for a good time. Not a good time. I mean exactly. That's us though. Okay, so now that we know what Run Disney is, let's talk a little bit what it about what it actually feels like on race weekend. It's really exciting, but personally I always have a lot of nervous energy, you know, like the good kind of energy that's just getting your adrenaline pumping, I guess. There's a lot of anticipation of completing the goal that you've been training for for and planning for, because I mean it is a Disney vacation as well, but you've been training and planning for months for this. So yeah, just a lot of nervous anticipation, I would say. Let's talk about what the race day experience is like. Like, let's go through a race day starting at the beginning. What time do you wake up at? Oh my goodness. You're waking up in the middle of the night. I think we already mentioned this perhaps, but you're getting up at like 2 30 in the morning. Now, if you ask for uh, what do you got, like a wake-up call? It's gonna be Olaf or Goofy or somebody giving you a phone call that that says it's time to get up. And you know, that's always fun. So I guess trying to look on the bright side because 2 30 in the morning, it's really, really early. But also exciting. So, you know, if you can't get up for your race weekend. But you got to because you gotta get on the bus or the transportation, you have to be on it by 3 30. At the latest, three o'clock, probably three, three fifteen. Because the the races start at five. Now they changed the marathon start time to four thirty. Did they? Yeah. And so you've got to be there. Yeah. You just gotta get up so early. You've got to get on the bus early. You want to try to be the first one on the bus, like get to the race start. So there's transportation from the the resorts that will take you there to get to the the start line, which is it's in the parking lot at Epcot, kind of start at the behind the scenes. So you can do transportation from the resorts and also from some of the resorts that have the monorail, that as well. If you're staying off-site though, you would go to the ticket center and there'd be transportation from there. I think so. You'd have to park at Epcot or park at the transportation and ticket center and take the monorail over. So people, yeah, guests that are staying monorail resorts can take the monorail around to the transportation and ticket center and then over to Epcot. And then they also run Disney puts the puts buses on for all the resorts though. Yeah, but if you were off site. Yeah, if you're off-site, you have to get to. Yeah. So give yourself lots of time if you're it's definitely something to check out. Don't assume that it's the same as always, because there have been times like sometimes the monorails run on some days. Like if you're doing, say, the dopey challenge and Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you're you're running. It can be different rules for those different days. Yeah. But they are in good Disney style, they're really good at communicating. So, but just make sure you do check so that you don't want to assume anything that was status quo, because it can change. Yeah. But yeah, 5 a.m. start time or even a 4 30 a.m. And and the last time we went there was the thunderstorm. So they actually even moved it up. There was scheduled for 5 a.m. and they moved the race up to a 4 30 a.m. Is that the half marathon? That was the half marathon day. Remember, there was thought they canceled it. No, they didn't cancel it. Oh, you ran half of it. We well, a little bit more than half. Okay. Give me some credit, eh? I'm just kidding. Yeah, but they they moved it up because of the thunderstorm warnings and and things, so that they could try to fit more of it in. So the official race start time might be five o'clock, but you're in a corral and there could be letters up from A up to like G or H, depending on how many people are in that race. And they let each corral go every three to four minutes. And so by the time you actually start, might not be at 5 a.m. You could be starting at 6 a.m. Almost, yeah.

unknown 19:59

Yeah.

Jenny 20:00

But don't worry though, because at every start line they have or every every wave of corrals that go, they have fireworks. They have a countdown and fireworks to send you off on your way. So everybody gets a fireworks little starting. A little send-off. Yeah, you have the big ones at the beginning, but then every corral gets their own little poof of fireworks. No, they're I they're all the same. Are they? Yeah, they're all the same size. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I always felt like the ones at the beginning were bigger. It's probably just because they're, you know, it's oh my goodness, it's actually starting. But no, yeah, they they're all the same. Yeah. So your time starts when you cross the line and off you go. What's the early morning start like, Emily? It's a little bit of hurry up and wait because, like we said, you have to get there. You have to get in your corral. You know, you're getting up at 2 30 or whatever time, early, early, early, early, and getting the transportation and racing there and getting in your corral, and then you wait. And you and you have to wait for a while. And it can be a little bit cold too. Yep. Depending on the time of year, because you are there before sunrise. So sometimes you, you know, you might have to dress in layers and take an extra sweatshirt that you tie around your waist. Or I've been there in for marathon weekend in January for the marathon, and it was minus two degrees Celsius that morning, and it was snowing. Wow. Yeah. And I had layers, I was ready for it, but there were a lot of Floridians that were not, they were wearing their singlets, shorts, like they were freezing. Yeah. When the sun comes up, it's wild how the temperature can change by 20 degrees Celsius. But yeah. And we treated ourselves in previous years to the race retreat where you can that was a pre-COVID lovely thing. Yeah, they don't do that, or at least the last time anymore. They don't do it anymore. No. I wonder if they'll ever bring that back. Anyhow, well, we will update you if they do on that race retreat. Yeah, the race retreat was awesome because it was this tent, giant tent with private porta potties and oh yeah, and hot breakfast and like cold cold breakfast before and then hot breakfast after. And then they gave you a little some kind of goodie bag, and you could leave your uh you know your your bag with your extra shoes or whatever that you wanted to put on afterwards. You could like drop a yeah, it was like a VIP tent basically. It cost extra, of course, but it was so worth it because you had a place to sit down while you were waiting before you went to the corrals. Anyways, we're talking about something that doesn't exist anymore. No, it's true. Sadly. We'll move on, I guess. But you know, like we we say hurry up and wait, but at the same time, we've the cast members are just awesome. The people who work for Disney, they are a special breed, I think, because they are there. You're you know, you're half asleep, maybe you're excited, but uh you know, it's so early in the morning, and they're the cast members just pumping you up, but not only pumping you up, they are organizing tens of thousands of runners and like just the crowd control is amazing. I'm all like, you know, shuttling people through these various different ways and like getting the waves of corrals to go and how they move these crowds of people is is I think pretty fascinating and impressive. It's impressive how many people there are working, like there's so many volunteers and they're working nice all so happy and friendly and like encouraging and yeah, just like just so wonderful. And it's four o'clock in the morning, and you're like, Oh, how can you be so cheerful? It's so cold and dark and it's just amazing. So that's really fun. There's this one fella that I saw on the last time, and I wish I got his name. I just wanted to thank him because he made my day every day. Like he was just, you know, welcome. Who's ready to run? I don't know. It just was it just really pumped me up. Put you in a good spot. What do you find uh how about running through the parks? What's your favorite part of running through the parks? I oh, so many. I love when you run into the magic kingdom, which is the first park you run to after you st sort of start running through. I'm talking about the marathon running through the Epcot at the start, you go to the Magic Kingdom. Okay. I love when you come from the backstage area into Magic Kingdom over sort of at the side near the entrance, but you're coming from backstage and you turn right up Main Street USA and you see the castle. And there's all the people cheering because the cheer squad, you could be part of the cheer squad if you sign up for if you have somebody that's running, you want to go cheer them on, and you can get access to the park at some crazy early morning hour so that you can be there on Main Street cheering people on. I just love that part. Yes, actually, running up Main Street USA, which of course leads you to the castle, which is absolutely my favorite part. Like a little fun fact about Emily is that my my happy place, if someone says, think of your happy place, my happy place is going like the archway going through the castle. And I think I mentioned this on the last podcast, but there's that whole mosaic scenery of Cinderella and and her story. And I just I don't know, it always just brings like little tears to my eyes as I go underneath the castle and come out the other side, and there's a crowd of people that are cheering you on coming out the other side. That's pretty special. I like also running through Animal Kingdom when you're going past the Expedition Everest.

unknown 25:55

Yeah.

Jenny 25:56

And if you're lucky enough that you're running fast enough, you can jump on the ride. We've done that before and done the marathon or sorry, done the roller coaster at kilometer 27 or something. Yeah, I think it's even, yeah, maybe even further than that, like 30 or something, 30 kilometers. It was getting up to 30, yeah. Yeah. But we just timed it just right. The park. Because most of the for most of the races, the parks are closed. But by the time you're getting to the Yeti, you're yeah, you're getting into the kind of the later half of your you're definitely the later half of the marathon. And it the it just opened. It was like nine o'clock or I think, or maybe eight o'clock. I I can't remember, but the ride had just opened and we just timed it right. We're like, look at each other. Hey, I go over to the cast member. Hey, can we go on that? And she said, Yeah. So like, let's go. And then all these runners followed us onto it. Yeah. Oh, made the best ride picture. Totally did. And you know the fun part, like if you use we have a gar I have a garment, and you're, you know, you can follow your your run afterwards and all the pacing of how it went. And so then it goes like, you know, do do do do do slow running. And then there's this one spot of like an extra kind of two kilometers or so, and it's like our pace when it went like pace. I remember being we were on the I remember being on the ride and going, going to you guys, look at my garment. I don't I don't know if I looked because I was just hanging on to my hat. No, because I was worried my hat would fly off. Yeah, our pace was amazing on that. We had extra, we went beyond the the marathon distance because of that ride. Like that kind of cheats anyway. Another spot that running through the parks that I just absolutely loved because was when we felt like an absolute rock star because of the acoustics. When you're in Apcot, there's a spot when you're going past that big store, I think it's called Connections, and you're going it's like a little underpass. I don't know what you'd call it, but it's a covered area, Breezeway, perhaps. But just the way that the acoustics are with the people who are cheering, just spectators who are cheering. And it's not like the crowds where it's that huge, but it sounded like the roar of being in a stadium and you were at like thousands of people and they're cheering you on just the way it happens, and you just like, oh my gosh, it just filled us with so much extra energy. Do you remember that? Yeah. Oh, I love it. Especially because it's at the end of the race. Yes. And you're really you're hurting. You're really hurting. So it's so great to have release. I I was hurting anyway. I don't know. I don't know who isn't hurting at the end of a marathon. If there's somebody that is not hurting at the end of the marathon, I want to know about it.

unknown 28:42

Yeah.

Jenny 28:43

So running through the parks is pretty special. But believe it or not, running through the backstage areas can be pretty neat too. Yeah, totally. Like, we've already commented about the different entertainment, but they have DJs at various different spots. And I remember this one guy that, like, it because you're running along the highways that are in between the parks, right? And so there was this part on the highway where there's an overpass, and that's where they had the DJ set up. He's DJing from the top of the overpass. Yes, DJing from the top. And he has these giant Mickey ear. Hands. Mickey hands. They're big, big white hands. And they're, I don't know, he's just like waving and pumping his arms to the music, and he's like, and he's saying stuff into his microphone, like, you know, it's just blasting out at you, and it's so fun rending under that overpass. Like some of the classic, well, what I enjoy, the classic songs like Neil Diamonds, Sweet Caroline. So everybody, everybody is singing it, no matter like what age they are as they run through. Or another spot was the uh black-eyed peas like gonna have a good time. And again, everybody was singing it and arms up, and yeah, yeah. It helps to have music for sure. Yeah. We talked a little bit about the characters on the course, like we see the characters in the backstage areas. I was just trying to think, are there characters in the parks? I can remember running through Hollywood studios and stopping for some. Oh, yes, yeah, and Tomorrowland. Yes. So there are characters in the parks, but they also have like tons of them out in the backstage areas and when you're running out on the highways around Disney property. And so, like some of my favorites are the pirates and the villains. And do you remember the uh G.I. Joe from Toy Story when we're on the highway and there's a part where there's a hill, and the G.I. Joe character was standing on the hill, but he's in character and he's yelling, like, let's go, soldier. Yeah, but it's not G.I. Joe, it's one of the Green Army men from Toy Story. He's standing at the top of that hill and he's barking out at everybody, Come on, soldier, get your knees up, let's go, let's go. And he walked. Power up the hill. The first time we did the marathon, we were able to stop and take a picture with him. And then I feel like the next time, or at least the last time we tried to stop and that guy wouldn't let us. He's like, Nope, keep going, you keep going. He wouldn't let us stop and take a picture. It's pretty funny. Yeah, that's really good. Yeah, so do you take a picture with the characters or not? Do you keep running or do you stop? Like with some of those characters, there's lineups to take your picture. Or like, so do you want to wait in the lineup or maybe just take if you wanted a picture, you could always just kind of do a selfie run by. But if you want to like, you know, get up and hug them or what have you, like a formal picture, you've got to wait in a bit of a lineup. Yeah, and depending on who the character is, where you are on the course, how far you are in the race, what corral you started in. Yeah, what corral you started in the lineups could be long enough, you know. The first few times we ran the marathon there, we stopped all time all over the place. We stopped at every mile marker, we took pictures, we were riding the Yeti. In our last marathon in January 2024, we were afraid of the balloon ladies. And so we didn't stop for pictures with characters. Well, we started in a later corral. Well, yeah, that's true. So that puts you back a little bit further. And we'll give you in a future episode some tips and tricks, so a little bit deeper dive. But yeah, if you're starting in a in a later chorale, then there's more people ahead of you, and then therefore the lineups to those characters are longer because more people just got there in advance. But a few of our friends started in an earlier corral, like I think corral B, and by the time they're going by the characters, probably because there's more serious runners, but also just not as many people were in the lineup, so the lineups for the characters were shorter. So you can hit more characters if you have shorter lineups too. But anyway, we talked a little bit about the spectators as well, because I mentioned them on Main Street USA. But you can find cheer squad areas along the route outside of the parks, too, because they have cheer squad area at the finish line. And I believe there's a cheer squad area. I feel like it was when we were running uh coming up to where the Polynesian is or something, there was a cheer squad area over there. Well, they have them, like you said, in the parks. But so if you sign up to be like an official part of the cheer squad as a like a family or friend of somebody who's running, then you have special access to some of these spots. And I think even like at the finish line, they've got bleachers. Yes. And so that the cheer squad can, you know, you can be a part of those. Like they're basically prime viewing areas, I guess you could say. But if you're not a part of the cheer squad, you can still be at different locations and cheer on your people as you go by, like all along the boardwalk, um by the beach club or the boardwalk. You you can just go out and be on the on there and cheer, or in the parking lot areas of the different parks. You just want to be able to look at the map to see does the does the race actually go past here or not. But you can in the parks too, like if your person is running in a later corral and it's gonna be running through the parks when they're open, you can just wait in the park and wait for them to run by. But don't worry if you don't have anybody that you know, if it's just you and your running buddies or or just you there and you don't have a of your own group of spectators, your own little cheer squad, lots of people are cheering for you anyway. There's all the cast members that come out like going through Apcot. I always thought it was neat because you're going past all the different countries, and so the people that you know from Mexico or from Japan or Canada are all out there cheering you on, or or running past the bibity bobbity boutique. I remember the those cast members cheering us on, and also just strangers cheering us on, just you know, everybody is is great. I always wonder if the people who are cheering on the runners realize how important they are and what an impact they have. I and what I have this idea that they don't realize it, but unless they are runners themselves. I personally find it really helpful to have people cheering. Me too. Me too. So so there you go for all of you people who like to cheer people on. Thank you, spectators. You've lifted me up many times. Well, we've run through the parks and the backstage areas, and we're coming up to the finish line. What's that vibe like? Oh my goodness, and everything hurts, and you think, can I do it? Can I do one step more? And then you come, you're you're in the backstage part, or you've gone through Epcot, and then it starts to kind of narrow because you're gonna go into the backstage area again, and you come around this corner, and then all of a sudden, there is a group of a choir of gospel singers in that last one kilometer, and they are singing their gospel songs and dancing, and it's like, oh yeah, I can do so amazing. Yeah, it totally lifts me up, and that's where I'm dying. Like, oh god, I can't make it another step. And there's that gospel choir singing, Hallelujah! And I'm going, Yes, I can do this. And then you round the corner past them, and there's the finish line. And there are the bleachers with all of the people cheering, and there's the guy who's announcing who's as the people you your bib sets off a little thing so they can see who's coming, and sometimes and they'll say, Here comes Emily from Canada or something. Right. Yeah, and uh you make it, you make it smile on our faces, but it's just huge. Yeah, well, it's a great experience. Yeah, that race day. Absolutely it is. Okay, so it's a fun day, it's a fun race. Yes, it's a long race, but it's a fun one. So you might be thinking, okay, how do I sign up for this? The registration for the races happens online on the Run Disney website. Usually they open up the registrations about nine months ahead of the race. It'll open on a specific date at a specific time. I think it's usually 10 o'clock in the morning, but there will be a specific date. So, for example, the wine and dine that's in October from the 22nd to the 25th, 2026. Uh the registration happens or opens on February 10th, uh, 2026. So coming up really soon. Marathon weekend next year is January 6th to 10th, 2027, and the registration for that weekend opens March 17th, 2026. Just to give you some examples of dates that the different race weekends open the registration on. So you log in on the Run Disney website, make sure that you've created an account and make sure that you've logged into your account ahead of time, and then you have to be ready because some races can sell out in minutes, like literally, especially the shorter ones, the 5Ks and the 10K's. They're really popular. Choosing the right race is important though. So, like just be mindful of what distance you're going to choose. So, our advice would be to think about your current level of fitness, how much time you would have to be able to dedicate to training, the type of experience that you want, who you might be running with, like who your group is. And even if you're traveling with people who are not running, perhaps. So, are the people that aren't running are you are they doing like a we're gonna do rope drop and be park warriors? Or because as a runner, if you're doing the marathon, you may need to balance the park warrior part to the running part of it. You so you just have to kind of keep all of those things in mind. What's the slowest pace you can run for a Disney marathon or event? A 16-minute mile, which converts to 10 minutes per kilometer, which you can walk, but it's a it's a pretty good walking pace. It's a brisk walking pace. Yeah, for sure. But what happens if you don't run that pace? Well, they're the balloon ladies. I say that kind of, you know, but actually they're really nice. And I've heard them being interviewed, and I've heard lots of people talk. Talk about them on other podcasts, and they say they're actually really encouraging and they really push you and motivate you and like try to get you to like they're not the bad guys, but please know that the balloon ladies are these two, sometimes three women who have balloon a balloon each tied to them and they cross the start line. They are the last people to cross the start line. And they are the ones you have to stay in front of because if you fall behind the balloon ladies, you will get swept off the course. So those balloon ladies are going at that minimum pace of 16-minute mile. Right. Interesting. Okay. Well, anyway, what does it mean to be swept off the course? It means you're going to be moved off by run officials who will bring their motorcycles out and basically say, Everybody get on the bus, and they'll escort you onto a bo bus and take you to the finish line. But again, we are told we haven't experienced this yet. Yeah. Knock on wood. But we are told it's it's still lovely that the all the race Disney people are lovely and they they are still really encouraging, like, congratulations, you you did this far, and you still feel really good about it, is from every account that I've heard. So it's it's okay. It's just if you can't make and there's guys on bikes, guys, girls, I don't know, people on bikes that are biking ahead of the balloon ladies, and they're going into places like into the washrooms, and they're going to the lines where people are waiting for character photos, and they give you a warning. They say the balloon ladies are one minute behind us, or two minutes behind us, or whatever. Get going, get going, you know. Like it's not like it's gonna be a surprise because there is a little bit of a warning line before the balloon ladies come. So just to switch gears a little bit, let's think about the finance part of things, like some budgeting basics. The race fees can be pretty expensive, they vary from $120 US dollars to run a $5k to about $250 for a half marathon. The most expensive fee is the Dopey Challenge and it costs $736 this year. American. American dollars, yeah. And then you want to you have to budget for your race fees, you also have to budget for your travel, for your park tickets, for your hotel, any costumes and running gear. If you forget something though, in your planning and say any gear or little gels, nutrition, again, kind of a topic for another day. There's also the race expo. So we talked earlier about making sure you sign up, and that's months in advance, and that you do online, but you also have to register, and that's at either Florida or California, wherever the race is going to be held. And you have to register the day before the actual race. But for me, the race expo, that's that was really exciting. That's where the you know it's all starting to become real. So you you go and you pick up your race kit and you get your bib. Is that what you mean by register? Mm-hmm. So to pick up your race kit. So you you go, I guess, yeah, for a regist, I guess you're registering online, but you're picking up your race kit. Right. I don't know what's the right word for that. Signing in? I don't know. Pick up yeah, it is kind of a you have to you have to bring your waiver, signed waiver, and then you have to go pick up your bib, your race kit. Yeah, whatever they're gonna give you. So you have to get your bib, but you have to do that a day before, at least the day before. But the race expo is starts a few days before. And also at the race expo, that's where you can buy merch if you want, a little extra merchandise. So you get a t-shirt or a long sleeve t-shirt, I guess, with your your race event, but you maybe you want a little extra socks, shorts, jackets, hats, yeah, etc. And they have merch that's tailored to that race weekend. So wine and dine race weekend merch, specifically, not just the race t-shirt. But then, like other race, large-scale kind of races, they also have other booths and other companies that might be there, say some of the more local athletic stores or shoe companies, or even some massage therapists, or they remember we did that foot analysis thing? Yes, yeah, that was pretty cool. And that was gonna give you some kind of orthotics or something. If you I don't know, that was Fit to Fun, I think was the name of it. But that was neat. It did, yeah, it did. Or you could get um gels or nutrition, like the various different like food things that you might have. Or if you didn't bring it with you, you can always pick it up there. And they had a lot of different brands of it. Oh yes. So lots of different things. So if you've I don't know, if for some reason you've forgotten something, or just checking out new stuff. Yeah, socks. Like I want to say, it's kind of like a typical race expo. Yeah. With specific merch for that race weekend, like Disney merch. And they even have also at the race expo, they've got uh special guest speakers. So one of their head people at Run Disney, their their head coach is Jeff Galway, and he'll do a special guest speak, like he'll he'll do a talk. Yeah, about his run-walk-run method, about the data that he's collected on runners, on how he's coached. Uh yeah, like coaching tips. He gives lots of coaching tips out to people that day about how to hydrate. I'm not, I can't remember all the things, but yeah, I remember him talking and giving us all tips, making sure we weren't running too fast too soon. And it can also be fun for your cheer squad to go with you too, because they have a little station where they have a poster, a poster making area. So the people that are gonna be there to cheer you on can make you a poster and they can hold it up while they're cheering for you, you know. Go, Denny, or whatever. Yeah. Um holding this poster is hard too. I got up early to watch you run. Yeah. Worst parade ever. Yeah. We're recording this on the weekend of the Disney World marathon weekend. And so something came up on Run Disney on my Instagram that said the Dopey merchandise is only gonna be accessible to dopey runners on the first day of the race expo. Really? So that you couldn't have all kinds of people going in and like resellers going in and buying the stuff up and reselling it. Only Dopey people could get it on the first day, and then after that, it would be open to everyone to buy. But I think that must be in response to the merch selling out and people in the dopey not being able to get it. Apparently, that has become an issue. Like they even had a separate area to get the merchandise rather than all the kiosks and where the guest speakers are. They were in two different locations because getting the merchandise was so popular. And I think like you're talking about people just buying it up and to then resell it. It is, and uh yet there's also a virtual queue to get in to the part of the expo where you get the merch. Because the lineups were so big, I guess they had to do virtual cues for that. So I guess what we're saying is plan ahead when you're going, you know, consider the race expo as an event, absolutely in your whole planning schedule. All right, so we have a bit of advice for you. Our advice is that you should have some running or racewalking training under your belt before you sign up for one of the longer distance races. And so the next big question is about training. If you were thinking of signing up for one of the longer events, you should consider your current level of fitness, experience, and time commitment you have. Most experts would probably advise you should be able to run or run walk for an hour or so when you first start a three to four month marathon training plan. If you have never done a long race before, considering doing at least a shorter race for some experience before you challenge yourself with a half or a full marathon. But don't get discouraged. It's totally doable. Just start training earlier if you're starting from off the couch and work up to it. The goal of completing a Disney race is a really good incentive to get you going. That's what I did way back when you first suggested we do a Disney marathon. I think that was in 2011. It was we you suggested it like the year basically the year before. And I didn't think I'd be able to do a marathon, but you had already done a marathon, right? Yes, I had. I it was maybe my first or second marathon. You no, I remember cheering you on at the Ottawa marathon. It was Ottawa, and you came and sort of jumped in and ran with me a little bit, and you were like, just imagine you're running through the castle. Oh, I remember that. I was trying to take your picture. So yeah, so I was like, I wanted it to be a good picture. Yeah, that's funny. But at that point, I hadn't done any races, except for maybe the odd Terry Fox challenge or something like that, where you know, you you bike it or something like that. I hadn't done any races anyhow. So anyway, I just started to do a like one of those couch to 5K programs using an app on my phone. And there are lots of those apps, like uh, you know, to get you off the couch, I guess they say, the couch to 5K programs. I really like the Nike running app for those. That's personally. Me too. I love the Nike running app. You weren't running when you started, but you were still active. Yes. I wasn't like coming just off the couch. I was swimming and doing some other things. I w I wasn't running, but I was doing a lot of a lot of other things. I just remember when I started, I was really impressed with myself when I got up to that eight kilometer distance. And I didn't think I could even do that much when I first started. So I really recommend, you know, starting off slow, doing a run walk. Also, I signed up for the local half marathon just to make sure I could do a half marathon before the marathon and I got some race experience as well. We also joined the running room clinic that year, too, right? Yes. Yeah. That's helpful too, to be a part of a clinic like that where you have weekly seminars or workshops and learn about different aspects of running long distances. And it just gives you the time. Like I think for me doing that first marathon, it was at least nine months of training for me to go to do the marathon. But you more because you had more of a background already, you'd already been running. I think your official was probably more like four or five months training for the marathon. Would you say that's January? We would have started in September. Mm-hmm. Okay, but I started because I did the half marathon in September. So I started even like in the spring. I basically, yeah. Anyway, you don't have to be fast to do a Run Disney event. Slow and steady. That just helps you avoid injuries. And you can be fast to do a run Disney event if you want if you are fast, you are. But it's true. I mean, I don't know. I'm just sitting here listening to us and thinking, like, it's not all about running slow. Like some people do actually want to be in Corral A and get a PB. Right? Because then there's Charles who runs the marathon and he's back at the hotel room having a nap, having had breakfast, had a nap, a shower, and then we get back hours later. Hours later. Yeah. It's true. It's true. You can be fast. Uh-huh. Yeah. So you don't, but you don't have to be, and that's the point. Is that I want to say, like in a Run Disney event, there are more new runners, more people who are doing it that are well, there's everybody, and and they'll say that they are inclusive. They are a running event that's inclusive for everybody. So, yes, there are the fast runners, and yes, there are the mid-range runners, and yes, there are people who are doing a marathon for the first time, or maybe just the the people who are getting more value for their dollar because they're out on the course longer. But they're really, the really the Run Disney events are for everybody fast or slow and everything in between. So, yeah, you don't have to be fast. Take your time, slow and steady. That's the best way to avoid injuries. Do the walk-run strategies also. Follow a training plan. Like whether you're fast or slow, definitely follow some kind of training plan. Like Ryan Disney follows Jeff Galloway, and he is famous for the run-walk method of doing a running interval and a walking interval. And there's different amounts based on what your overall pacing is, like run for three minutes and walk for one, or various different combinations. We did the running room, and that's based on John Stanton's also a run-walk method. And so he does 10 and ones, which is what we did for our our other marathons. But when we were training for the goofy and the dopey, we changed that to five and ones, and that seemed to work really well. That was run for run for five minutes and walk for one. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that really I really like that. But you can search the internet for other ones. There's Hal Hidden. Hidgen is is really popular and has lots of options for marathon training that will fit or half marathon training that will fit your schedule. How many times do you are you able to run per week? What are your goals? Are you going to be one of those faster runners or are you kind of just going to finish? Jenny Hatfield and Katherine Schweitzer also have a few posted online. And these training plans, you can get them either in how many miles per week you want to run or how many kilometers, or some of them are even just based on time frames. But definitely our advice is don't just swing it. Don't just kind of come up with your own plan. Now, okay, caveat is if you're an experienced runner and just have never done a run Disney, but you know how to train for a marathon, great. Follow your training plan that you've already got experience with. If you're just starting out though, we strongly recommend that you follow a training plan by somebody, one of the experts, one of the magazines that have like running magazines. You can there's so many out there. Yeah. We've already mentioned a few that are really good ones. Yeah, follow a plan. If you're a beginner, we think that you should be running a minimum of three days a week. Slow is better, slow and steady. It really does avoid injury. Getting rest is really important as well. Don't overdo it. Stretching is really important. Hydration is really important. Big one is that we recommend that you join a running group. It's way more fun. You're running with friends or you're making new friends. Especially when you're out there for hours and hours training, you've got people to talk to or not talk to. Like, especially when you're running those really long training runs of 30k and you just don't feel like talking, but you're with a group of people and it just being with the group keeps you going. Totally. Because there are times where even like even starting the run can be like, oh, it's it's when you're when you're training for the Disney race weekend in January and you're in Canada and you have maybe freezing rain that you have to train, you you might just want to stay cuddled up in your bed. But knowing that your groupmates are gonna be out there waiting for you, then then that gets you going. I've done that before on a freezing rain training run with Fern. And we were literally covered in ice, our bodies were ice, like eyelashes and everything. Oh, you know, when it's everything, yes, but our jackets were covered in ice, like we would run, our arms would move and the ice would go crunch, crunch, crunch. And it was actually getting kind of dangerous because it was so icy. So we ended up stopping and calling his wife, and we were out in the middle of nowhere, and she came and found us and brought us home and made us lunch. Hey, but you at least got some mileage in least, right? Yeah, yeah. We got the other half in the next day, but uh it was wild. We were ice people. Yeah. We talk a lot about training for the marathon, but I also just wanted to jump in there and say that all these things are important, whether it's a 5k or a marathon. And joining a running group to run your first 5K can be a thing too. Yeah, absolutely. Learn how to run. Get off the couch and do your go from zero to 5k. It's nice to have other people around to guide you for anything. It's addicting. The endorphins will get you. Yeah. Well, training gets you to the start line, but we also have a few race day tips, just a few, that we would like to share. One of the most fun parts of a Disney race is the costumes. So we want you to think about your costume if you're going to do one as being fun, but also functional. So keep in mind that you gotta be able to run if it's a long distance race. You gotta you know, we want to avoid chafing, and that's I guess the biggest thing. Is it gonna obstruct you in any way? Is it gonna obstruct other people? You have to carry it, it's gonna cause you to overheat or something. The Run Disney does have a lot of rules, guidelines for people's safety. So you gotta follow their rules. Don't try anything new on race day. So, like shoes, make sure you've worn them before. Just get a good pair of socks. You just again, if you have brand new shoes, sometimes they can give you blisters, and that can really hurt. Training with heat and humidity in mind, especially coming from Canada, we're training in the winter months, so that means snow, ice, eyelashes freezing together. It's a totally different experience when we're working out our hydration and fuel. So going from that kind of training to a warmer climate can be a thing. Uh, you gotta figure out what your fuel is gonna be in your hydration. You've got to go with what you've practiced. And also it is Disney World or Disneyland that you're gonna be visiting, right? And I don't know about you all, but balancing park days and race days is also in you know something to consider for sure. Most people would say stay off your feet as much as possible before a big race, especially the day before your race. You want to have nice fresh legs and feet to start. But you know, it is Disney, so good luck with that. I was never very good at staying off my feet. Really hard. It's actually good to go walking in the parks after the race, but before the race, it's challenging to not go to the parks and rest. Yeah, totally. A tip that I have that I kind of swear by this one is having all of my gear laid out the night before. And I kind of lay it out like a person on the bed. So like what my clothes are, my shoes, my socks, my race, bib, but make sure that everything, all the pieces are there, and then I kind of pack it all up and I have it ready to go so that when I fall out of bed at 2:30 in the morning, I just put it on. I don't have to worry about missing any pieces. After the race, uh it's you know, you obviously want to get some rest and fuel and get you know good meal, but you also I totally recommend to keep moving, don't just totally stop. So walk it off afterwards, stretch, rest, but do a little bit of walking as well. Yeah, keep moving, even if it's at a sloth's pace, like that guy from Zootopia. Yeah, what's his name? I don't want to call it the DMV guy. Yeah, go to the parks, wear your medals proudly. You'll get so many people will congratulate you. You feel so good. Yeah. There's the debate. Are you a person that wears your medals after or not? I totally do because when else are you gonna wear them? I know, right? Yeah, and you wear your medals and everybody, all the cast members. Can we say how great the cast members are again and again? Yes, we love it. How they cast members congratulate you and make makes you feel so good. Okay, well, before we wrap up this episode, uh let's just talk about a few mistakes that first timers could avoid. Rapid fire, not following a proper training plan, overdoing park days before the races, wearing brand new shoes or costumes, ignoring pacing requirements going into it, not practicing your nutrition, that's dangerous. And trying to do everything on race weekend. Alright, let's end with a quick lightning round of questions. Do I need to be a serious runner? Well, depends on what your definition of serious runner is. Do you need to be a professional runner? Not necessarily, but do you need to take it seriously? I recommend. Respect the distance that you've signed up for. Yeah. Yes, I agree. Can I walk the races? Or can you walk around Disney, say a 5K? Yes, you could walk any of the races as long as you can maintain that minimum pace. Is it minimum or maximum? I don't know. As long as you can keep the 16 minute per mile pace, you can just move. Are kids allowed? It depends on the race distance. For the 5k distance, yes, kids are allowed. Five years of age or older, then they have to be accompanied by someone who's 14 years or older. Participants in the 10K race have to be a minimum age of at least 10 years or older, and they can be accompanied by someone who's 14 years or older. In the half marathon, you need to be at least 14 years or older. In the marathon and the goofy and dopey challenges, therefore, because that's including the marathon, you need to be at least 18 years. So with a short answer is kids are sometimes allowed a race. It depends on the race. I just want to sneak in there that when Charlie, yeah, when Charlie was a baby, yeah, he was nine months old. I wore him in a baby Bjorn in the 5k. And nobody kicked you off. Nobody kicked me off the course. Wow, you're a rebel. I know. So are the medals really that good? Yes. You should see the ones for this race weekend. They're so good. They're getting better and better, I swear. Yeah, like they've got all these movable parts and pieces that there's they're like little collectible works of art. My last dopey metal, it had glowing gems. Like you could press a little button and the gems would glow. Yes. You can I think this dopey metal has something that lights up in it too. Yes, the metals are that good. And now for the one of the most frequently asked questions Are Run Disney races actually worth it? Yeah, of course they are. But what are some of the pros and cons? Okay, well, it is a unique running experience for sure. It's a fantastic community of runners and Disney adult Disney fans, Disney fanatics. And for me, it's a really good way, really good motivation to train. Some of the cons are the cost, which is a thing. The early mornings and the crowds. Yes, it is crowded. Yeah. And you know those parts of the races where course narrows ahead. Yeah, there are some pinch, there are some pinch points, which also, you know, if you're going for a personal best, it it can be a little challenging for sure. Because it's there's crowded areas for sure. Who is Run Disney perfect for? Our Run Disney event is perfect for people who love Disney and want a race that's focused on fun rather than competition. Who might want to think twice about doing a Run Disney event? Well, if you want a quiet, performance-focused race, this might not be your thing, and that's okay. All right, Jenny, I think we've covered the basics. Any final thoughts? At its core, Run Disney is about more than running. Yeah, it's about setting a goal, trying something new, challenging yourself, and experiencing Disney in a totally different way. If you've ever thought I could never do that, just know that there's a lot of people out there that thought the same thing. Yeah, including this one right here. Fair warning though, it will get you even more hooked on Disney and on running too. Thanks so much for listening, everyone. If this episode helped, feel free to share this episode with a Disney loving friend, a running buddy, or anyone who's ever thought about doing a race. We'd love to hear from you too. Leave us a comment or send us a message and share your experiences with us at rope drop and run at gmail.com. That's it for this episode of Rope Drop and Run. Tune in next time for our advice on how to plan a Disney vacation from Canada. If you like what you heard, follow us on Instagram at Ropedrop and Run. Please subscribe, leave us a review, and we can't wait to chat with you next time. We'll see you at the castle or the startline.