We’re thinking about going next year around this time… The orginal plan was to go on the 24th of april but then i saw the run disney event the weekend before… And i’d love to run at least one event in Disney…
But we will travel on friday from The Netherlands and arrive around 2 o’clock in the afternoon… With a 5,3 and 1 year old…
Will it be to much to do the challenge and run on saturday en sunday? Do you think i can pick up my bib in time on friday? Or should i just let it go and plan my vacation from the 24th?
We’re planning on staying at AKL… Is there transportation to the ESPN location from there??
If this is your only chance to run it is up to you. I usually go to the world that week and the weather is usually great. I am concerned that since Easter is the weekend before crowds may be impacted?
I’m from Connecticut and I would be exhausted from the travel day. You’re coming from overseas and will have jet lag I’m sure.
If you’re going to run one race or the challenge, I would suggest you get in by the Wednesday before so that you have some time to adjust to the times. Disney races require getting up at 2am and on a bus by 3am so you can go sit and wait until the race starts at 5/6am. If you’re getting in at 2pm on Friday and then collecting your bib (which might be cutting it close). You’ll need to be sleeping again by 8pm so that you get SOME rest before the 10K.
If you HAVE to come in on Friday, then perhaps think about running the Half and not the challenge. It may give you a bit more time to adjust and get some sleep so you don’t hurt yourself during the race.
Otherwise, I don’t think you’ll have fun and enjoy it much. And that’s quite a bit of money to invest, too.
Easter is usually a busy week. Although the 3rd week of April is always my school vacation I stay away from wdw if it is school vacation week (although a couple of years ago it was busy but not 10s). The crowds would be much lower the following week.
@darthdopey thanks for your input… The last time we traveled we experienced that we were up at 4 o clock because of the jet leg… And indeed went to bed by 8 o clock the night before… That’s why i thought i might be possible… Did you do a challenge before? How is it like? Is it very hard?
I’ve done one official challenge so far (I’ll be running the Dark Side Challenge in less than two weeks) and I completed 3 races (I like to call it the Grumpy because it was unofficial and no extra bling) back in 2015 during Marathon weekend. I enjoy doing the 5. 10, and halves.
But they can be pretty difficult with little training and little sleep. Although the courses are generally flat with only a few little inclines.
The races start around 5am/6am, but you need to be there on the first bus (3am) if you want to get pre-race character photos and get to your corral for a good spot. So you’re really waking up around 2am.
And that’s 2 nights in a row if you’re running a challenge.
I won’t lie: it severely impacts your park time because you really need to be back early. That means no dinners that start past 6pm, missing the late night parades and fireworks, etc.
Since you’re coming from abroad, I figure you will be here for a long while, so hopefully, you’ll be able to make up for it on other, later nights.
Oh and race registrations open up at 12 noon eastern sharp. You need to have an ACTIVE.com account and have it open and ready when the links on RunDisney.com go live.
Also too just be aware that race weekends draw huge crowds and the parks will be much busier on those weekends as well. If you are coming for two weeks that probably won’t be a huge deal, but if your time will be limited you may want to keep that in mind.
Thank you so much! We’ll be there for 2 weeks and the race will be at the beginning so i hope i can make it up… I’m a huge disney fan so i noticed that adrenaline also keeps me going for a while I will be training over here and done the 10K before with a time of 1.02. But i’ll be thrilled if my first half will be at Disney…
Will the crowds also be huge the weeks after the running events? Thinking about doing pool time at the race dates with the family and maybe going to one of the waterparks and really start touring the parks from monday…
Good luck in 2 weeks with the Dark Challenge would you like to tell me how things went? Is the course the same as the other challenge you did or will this one be different?
Thanks Outer1, we have 2 weeks so i hope thats enough…
Normally the majority of races will leave at the end of the weekend. Some will tack on a few days after the race, but won’t be as crazy. With two weeks you should have more than enough time to do all the things you want to.
