The hubbub of the January Walt Disney World Marathon and Half-Marathon events are over. People who flew or drove to Orlando and plodded the courses are now resting back home and plotting their training for the 2007 event that is a long 10 months away.
…But sneaking in at just six months away is a brand new road event that has West Coast Disney fans excited: The inaugural Disneyland Half-Marathon.
Today, let’s take a look at the event’s course to get a better idea on what to expect.
The biggest difference between the Disneyland and WDW versions is that the California version must, because of the smaller size of the resort, spill the course out onto the public streets of Anaheim. If you are accustomed to the WDW version, where the entire marathon is confined within the resort, I suspect the Disneyland version is going to seem more like a regular road race. Although the WDW marathon traverses on “public roads” around WDW, the roads are all still on Disney property, which means Disney has the ability to control every aspect of the non-park portions of the course.
Event Start
The start of the course is on Disneyland Drive, with the large parking lots to one side and Downtown Disney on the other, where there are very few obstacles and the street is very wide. This area is on Disney property, so they will probably block off the entire portion of the road to vehicular traffic, and set up the starting corrals here. Tents for meeting people, picking up a hot cocoa (well, maybe not in September in Southern California) or buying merchandise will probably all be set up in the RV parking lot in front of the Mickey and Friends parking structure.
Unlike the WDW marathon, I suspect most of the Disneyland participants will be driving to the event, and Disney is probably going to set up some pretty big detours to get cars into Mickey and Friends. Disney is probably the best in the entire world on directing traffic into parking stalls, and they will certainly have a challenge getting everyone parked and ready for the event start because the parking lot is so close to the starting line area. The good thing about that though, is that you probably won’t have to walk too far from your car. If it happens to be particularly chilly that morning, you can spend a little extra time snuggly and warm in your car.
The course heads south on Disneyland Drive, and turns left on Katella Avenue, then turn right and head south along the Anaheim Convention Center. This first portion before you turn towards the convention center hugs the edge of Disney’s California Adventure. However since the course is outside the park, there will probably not be much to see unless they have the Sun Wheel Ferris wheel lit up and running. Chances are they will pipe music loudly from within DCA so runners have some themed music to run to.
Mile markers 1 to 2
After hitting the mile 1 marker by the convention center on Center Drive, the course turns left on Convention Way until it hits Harbor Boulevard, where runners will turn left to head up towards the parks. The course turn quickly turns left into the pedestrian entrance to Disneyland, and runners will soon get their first water station. Soon after the water station is mile marker 2, as the course passes by the Timon parking lot.
Soon after mile 2, the course makes a right turn as runners start heading into the first park, Disney’s California Adventure. Runners get to run along Paradise Bay and past all the (probably closed) midway games.
Mile markers 3 to 5
Enjoy your experience from right after mile 2 to about mile 4; this is the most scenic and exciting part of the course. After a run around Paradise Bay, runners go around the walkway by Grizzly River Run, back through the official park exit, cross the Esplanade (with its water station), and finally enter Disneyland park. From there, the course veers right and heads into what appears to be a backstage service area, emerging back in Tomorrowland, past Space Mountain, Innoventions, Autopia, and the Matterhorn.
The course then banks left and avoids heading into the Small World area and begins to head into what WDW marathoners consider is one of the highlights of the course: Running through the castle. In this case, it’s Sleeping Beauty Castle, then a quick right turn through Frontierland, past the Rivers of America, and back up through Adventureland. This portion has the potential of being a bit of a bottleneck because it is narrow and has some turns and obstacles; hopefully the course will be monitored and coned for safety.
Once out of Adventureland, the course goes all the way by the Central Plaza hub, at which point it finally turns right and runners get to run down Main Street, USA. I suspect there will be official photographers along this area, because having your running pose taken with Sleeping Beauty Castle in the background will make for a really nice photo. Unfortunately, this means runners don’t get to run up Main Street with the castle in the horizon.
No sooner do you find yourself outside of the parks, as the course continues on the tram road, leaving it near the Mickey and Friends parking structure and turning right to head down on Disneyland Drive again.
Mile marker 5 is near the corner of Disneyland Drive and Ball Road, where runners turn right to continue the course.
Mile markers 5 to 12
The next seven miles will probably be as close to a regular road race as any other. The course turns right to Anaheim Boulevard and mile 6, left on Cerritos Drive and mile 7, and finally turns on Douglass road near mile 8 when runners finally have something large to look at: the Arrowhead Pond coliseum, where the Anaheim Ducks hockey team has its games. If you aren’t familiar with the coliseum, there really isn’t much to see here, though; just a large parking lot and a large indoor stadium. Right after mile 9, the course turns sharply right as it nears Angels Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball team. The half-marathon will happen near the very end of baseball season, so depending on how the Angels do this upcoming season, it will either show signs of an exciting post-season or not. Either way, the stadium itself isn’t much to look at.
It’s possible that both sports teams will bring their own “cheerleaders” out in force (unlike football, neither team has official cheerleaders), including their team mascots. Other than that it’s hard to tell what sort of entertainment runners will see along this area.
The next stretch parallels Interstate-5, with no specific landmarks.
Mile marker 12 to finish line
Finally after hitting mile 12, runners again get to enter Disney’s California Adventure, this time running near the Hollywood Tower of Terror drop ride and through the Hollywood Backlot area, crossing Sunshine Plaza and California Soarin’, exiting through a vehicle service gate to enter the backstage area briefly and running along Downtown Disney, reaching the finish line in the parking lot area near Downtown Disney.
What to expect
Although I suspect Disney will manage the public portions of the race just fine, expect some pretty big differences, including what I consider to be a tremendous positive: The public portions of the course will be lined with cheerleaders and spectators. For WDW marathoners who bring supporters with them, this has always been a bit tricky. Which park should your family members go to to see you? Can you drive your own car to a spectator spot? How do you get from one viewing area to another? People are always confused about whether park admission is required to cheer on your family runners down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom (the answer to the last question is no).
With Disneyland’s half-marathon course traveling throughout the public streets of Anaheim, staying at an official Disney resort, while convenient, should not even be a really big concern. If your hotel is along the marathon course, just head out with a cup of coffee in hand to cheer on Dad or Daughter.
One other big difference is that I suspect the majority of entrants will be annual passholders or those who live in Southern California. California is generally a very healthy state, and there are numerous popular local road races that vie for attention all the time, including the Los Angeles Marathon, the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon, and many others. Will Disneyland’s own foray into the half-marathon arena be a success? Will it be distinct enough and magical enough to be able to sustain itself over the years? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, the best news is that the event has not yet sold out. If you are considering giving it a try, I strongly encourage you to go to the event’s Web site and registering. It’s difficult to say if the half-marathon will sell out because it is an inaugural event, so the sooner you register, the better.
If you live anywhere around the West Coast, have a Disneyland annual pass, or earned your Goofy medal this past January by running both the full and half-marathons at Walt Disney World, you really have no excuse: Sign up for the Disneyland Half-Marathon, and we’ll see you in Anaheim come September!
