At 7 am, I joined the virtual queue for the official runDisney Merchandise Shop. Lately, I haven't been having any luck with these Disney virtual queues. I managed to only get group 146. My group was called at around 2 pm. Since I had just returned from the Dopey Challenge over at Walt Disney World, I didn't feel like I should be leaving work early just to check out merchandise. I decided to wait until tomorrow since I was already taking time off and spending the day at Disneyland.
runDisney Merchandise Shop virtual queue
Group 146
Friday 1/12
I arrived at the Pixar Pals Parking Structure at about 7:20 am. I was able to park here for $10. Per the email that was sent out, I told the gate attendant that I was here to pick up my race packet. He appeared to be skeptical since I was there in time for rope drop. He reminded me that there was no in-and-out privileges with this type of parking discount. After I parked, I took a picture of where I parked, and started walking towards Downtown Disney District to head towards the Disneyland Park entrance.
Pixar Pals Parking
Where I parked
Cross the bridge on level 2
Since they started giving Imagine Magic Key holders a discount for parking at the Toy Story Parking lot, I haven't been through this side of Downtown Disney in quite some time. It was interesting to finally see the new developments that were announced several years ago. Those plans stalled when they had their quarrels with the city of Anaheim. With the addition of Din Tai Fung, this section of Downtown Disney will become very packed!
Din Tai Fung coming soon
My park reservation for today was for Disneyland which had now become my go-to park whenever making a reservation. Currently, there's just no compelling reason for me to show early and do rope drop at Disney California Adventure. Here were the attractions that I saw, rides that I went on, and the stuff that I ate:
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, my usual go-to ride for rope drop along with everyone else! Per the usual, I headed with the crowd via the Frontierland route. Although the Adventureland route was shorter to get to the ride entrance, the end of the line will head towards the further entrance into the Galaxy's Edge. You'll just end up walking further to get to the end of the line.
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the wildest ride in the wilderness!
- Sleeping Beauty Castle, stopped here to get a selfie with my Dopey medal.
Dopey medal in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle
- Mickey's Toontown
- Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, nice relaxing ride and with a nice catchy tune for the soundtrack. After getting off of the ride, I saw a bunch of those Perfect Picnic Baskets being sold for $25.99. You can also add a blanket for a total of $36.99. I remember when these first came out, they were always sold out and in such high demand!
- Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, nice relaxing ride and with a nice catchy tune for the soundtrack. After getting off of the ride, I saw a bunch of those Perfect Picnic Baskets being sold for $25.99. You can also add a blanket for a total of $36.99. I remember when these first came out, they were always sold out and in such high demand!
- Matterhorn Bobsleds, I never really cared about where I sat, but I somehow managed to get the first seat in the bobsled as a single rider. I think you will get the best ride experience sitting in this seat for this very rough bone-jarring ride!
- Magic Key photo, along the way over to the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride, I stopped here for a quick photo. The photographer added balloons to one of the poses, but unfortunately, his shadow was in the picture.
- Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, I was in car #76. Finally with a decent gun, I came close to scoring the maximum score without the car stopping anywhere along the ride. With my current pair of glasses, it's easier for me to see the high value target on Emperor Zurg. Per the usual, LGM was occupying most of the top ten spots on the high scores board.
- Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
- Space Mountain, it must have been my lucky day! Even though they didn't currently have a single rider line, I somehow managed to get the first seat for this ride as well. These Disney coasters are definitely more fun and enjoyable when you're in the front seat.
- The Tropical Hideaway, even though it was a chilly day, I just had to make a stop here for an obligatory Dole Whip treat before I headed out for lunch and the race expo! After looking over the menu board, I went with the pineapple strawberry Dole Whip swirl.
Menu
Pineapple & strawberry Dole Whip swirl
- Disneyana, I stopped here to check out the Magic Key dance party magnet. I didn't really care for it, so I didn't bother to take one. My house is already overcrowded for me to add more stuff that I really don't want or need.
Magic Key dance party magnet
Grande Pike Place medium roast
Earl of Sandwich
Holiday turkey
After I was done with lunch, I walked over to the Disneyland Hotel Convention Center to pick up my race packet. Unlike in the years past when we went down the parking garage ramp, bib pick up was upstairs in the Magic Kingdom Ballroom with the staircase near Goofy's Kitchen. After getting my bib and my Coast-to-Coast bracelet, I headed down the escalator to pick up my race shirts inside the Exhibit Hall.
Star Wars Trading Post
Sorcerer's Hat
Disneyland Convention Center
Bib Pick-up in the Magic Kingdom Ballroom
Coast-to-Coast bracelet
The first person that bumped into at the expo was Alan Young. He's one of the few remaining perfect runDisney Marathon runners. He had run all of the marathons out in Walt Disney World since its inception as well as the one and done marathon at Disneyland! On top of that, he's also a legacy runner for the Disneyland Half Marathon. After saying hi to him and grabbing a quick selfie, I continued on to pick up my race shirts.
runDisney Health & Fitness Expo
Exhibitor & Sponsor Directory
Mr Perfect runDisney Marathon runner, Alan Young!
Race shirt pick-up
10k race shirt
Half Marathon race shirt
Double Double Dare race shirt
While there were a lot of photo ops throughout the expo, the number of exhibitors was somewhat scarce. Perhaps Disney was charging too much to have a booth. I found that quite a bit of space inside the Exhibit Hall was for the official merchandise and the queue to get inside. The queue was long enough that the line spilled outside. I went through all of the booths before queuing up in that line. There wasn't much in freebies being handed out. I said hi to the legendary Jeff Galloway and grabbed a quick selfie with him. I then took the obligatory photo with bib in front of the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend backdrop. Initially, I wasn't planning on taking a Percy Jackson photo. However, since there wasn't a line, I took one before turning my attention to the official merchandise.
Queue for the official merchandise
The legendary Jeff Galloway
Obligatory photo with my bib
While the line for the official merchandise was indeed long, it was almost always moving. My wait was roughly 30 minutes. When I got in, I was mainly looking at what was still available without any real intention to purchase anything. I had seen all of the advance product photos, but nothing really stood out where I just had to buy. I considered buying the Magic Key shirt, but it wasn't a must-buy item. After all of these years, I must say that I was disappointed to see that Disney was still not going with sublimated graphics for their clothing. They are still opting for silk screen or heat press. The other item that I wanted to check out were the Coast-to-Coast shirts. The quality of these shirts were just poor. They looked like irregular clothing that you would get at outlet stores except there was no discount. Before heading out, I went back to the top of the stairs to get a photo with another backdrop that I had skipped earlier.
Magic Key shirt
Totally Dared It!
The back-to-back weekends Coast-to-Coast shirt
The "lesser" Coast-to-Coast shirt
Disneyland half marathon sneaker ornament
Photo at the top of the stairs
After I was done with the race expo, I started heading back to my car to drop off my race packet before heading over to Disney California Adventure Park. Along the way, I reminisced seeing the original finish line on Downtown Drive. While I would've liked to keep things the same having run this race 12 consecutive times, I suppose it was a bit narrow.
The original finish line on Downtown Drive
Here were the attractions that I saw, rides that I went on, and the stuff that I ate:
- Toy Story Midway Mania, this is still my favorite ride in Disney California Adventure. While I was able to trigger the high scoring opportunities in just about every game, I simply ran out of gas at the end. I always get tired and can't shoot as fast as I should at the final screen.
Toy Story Midway Mania
Return your 3D glasses
- Knick's Knacks
- Pan-Pacific Pin Traders
- San Fransokyo Square
- Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, I got in line to ride this as I had about 30 minutes to pass before my dinner reservation at the nearby Magic Key Terrace.
- Magic Key Terrace, my reservation was for 4:30 pm. After checking in on the mobile app, it was just a short wait before I received a text to let me know that my table was ready. Per the usual, I was seated at an interior table. In all of the times that I've eaten here, I have never been seated anywhere close to the edge to do any people watching. The menu that I was given was wet. Hopefully it was because they had just cleaned it. To be honest, none of the menu items looked very good. Eventually, I settled for the Route 66 Fried Chicken. I also got coffee so that I could stay awake. For the most part, my table was ignored, so I ended up playing with the bones and reassembled the chicken. I wondered if it was because I never ordered alcohol when I come here. While I settled the bill, I got one last refill of coffee in a to-go cup. This will probably be my last time eating here. The food has been subpar while being on the expensive side with each visit being worse than the one before.
Magic Key Terrace menu
Route 66 Fried Chicken
The aftermath
More coffee
More coffee to go
- Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!
- Soarin' Around the World, this was my last ride for the day before heading out. Apparently, you can ask the cast members at the entrance for a single rider pass. I wasn't aware of that! I'll have to keep that in mind for my future visits.
Soarin'
- Humphrey's Service and Supplies, I came in here to see if they were selling anything that could improve my Russell outfit. All I could find was the same old kit for little kids. I did come across Smokey the bear plush which upon the first glance, I thought was Duffy.
Smokey the bear
- Elias & Co.
Stitch attacks snacks
My MagicBand+ goes off at all of those Disney100 displays
World of Disney
Saturday 1/13
I left the house at about 3 am and pulled up to the Toy Story Parking lot on Harbor Blvd at about 3:20 am. Contrary to what we were told, the gatehouses were not opened right at 3 am. Once they were open, I noticed that the 2 lanes to my right were moving faster. Once I got closer to the front, I saw that there were 2 cast members taking parking fares in that gatehouse for those 2 lanes while the lane that I was in only had 1 cast member taking fares from both lanes. Per the instructions, standard parking rates applied where regular parking was $35. With my Imagine Magic Key, I had a 25% discount at this lot which dropped the price to $26.25. They had us park near the EV charging stalls. Most people knew to walk over to use the nearby restrooms before heading over to the start line area. It was a chilly morning, so I grabbed my mylar blanket and headed up Clementine St. There was quite the bottleneck at the metal detectors. I was told that the northern security entrance had significantly less foot traffic.
Long lines for metal detectors
Once I got through, I headed over to the stage area to check things out and to grab some water. Instead of water in cups, they were giving out water bottles. I went to use one of the portapotties one last time before heading inside corral A. I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I didn't bother making my way up near the front of the corral. I bumped into a couple of familiar faces while waiting for the race to start.
10k corral A
Tony as Lumiere
Latino Heat!
My legs felt great from the get go. I was able to get around some slower runners right before making the left turn onto Harbor Blvd. I covered the first mile in 7:20 which was a bit faster than what I had wanted. Since I only wanted to be under 50 minutes, I eased off on the pace. I ran the second mile in 8:02 taking me through Avengers Campus. I followed that with a 7:54 for my third mile as I crossed the Disneyland Esplanade to enter Disneyland. I crossed the 5k point in 23:50 which was faster than my WDW 5k time last weekend. I pretty much was chasing a lady dressed up as Minnie Mouse for that entire 5k.
The next mile took me through Adventureland towards Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Back when it was first built, I was hoping to run through it during a Star Wars race. I finally got that chance today. However, a lot of runners that are fans of Star Wars are still hoping that that race would return. The ground was a bit damp, so I wasn't getting very good traction with my shoes. I ran through Sleeping Beauty's Castle and reached the fourth mile in 8:16 which was my slowest mile. I was going to come up short if I had continued at that pace, so I consciously made an effort to speed up a tad for the last 2 miles. It helped that Brian had caught up to me so I had someone to chase. He was faster than me, but he was stopping for character photos. The fifth mile had me running through Mickey's Toontown before heading out to the backlot roads. I covered that mile in 8:03. I tried to speed up in that last mile. Once I exited onto Disney Way, I tried to empty the tank and follow a couple of speedy ladies to the finish line. I covered that last mile in 7:53.
10k finish: 48:27
Click here for my Garmin data.
10k finish line
I was very pleased to see that I was starting to get some of my speed back and finish easily in under 50 minutes. I got my finisher medal and waited in the finisher chute for my friend as I knew he wouldn't be too far behind me. We then continued on while collecting a mylar blanket, post race drinks, snack box, and a banana. On the way back to our cars, my friend told me that he had lost one of his gloves while waiting in line for the metal detectors. Well, during that walk, he was able to locate his missing glove. Later that day, he informed me that runDisney had done away with AG awards. They used to be very generous with those awards, going 5 deep!
10k medal
10k post race snack box and drinks
New awards policy
Sunday 1/14
Once again I pulled up to the Toy Story Parking lot on Harbor Blvd. However, this time I didn't even get the chance to make that right turn towards the gatehouses. While parking, I noticed that there was a steady stream of cars entering at the Clementine St/Katella Ave entrance. If I'm going to park here again, I will probably have to keep that in mind. Today, the main restroom wasn't open. Only the 2 individual restrooms were open. Eventually, just as I was done and walking away, they got a cast member to come over and open the main restroom.
Toy Story Parking, Harbor Blvd entrance
Today, the walk through the metal detectors was quicker without much of a bottleneck. Per the usual, after getting through, I headed over to stage area to get a better look at everything in that area as I was a bit rushed yesterday. There were backdrops for each of the medals, but just as with years prior, there were no photo ops with Disney characters. The legacy group photo was scheduled for 4:15 am over at the corral E balloon. Instead of heading over for that photo, I opted to get in line to use a portapotty before heading to my corral. I was in the corral at about 4:30 am. Since I was feeling under the weather and more fatigued than yesterday, I decided to hang out at the back of the corral. Still, I bumped into a few familiar faces as we waited for the race to start. For reasons unknown, the start of the race was delayed by about 10 minutes.
Half Marathon corral A
Da going Coast-to-Coast as well!
That first mile was very congested. I feel like runDisney needs to do a better job at organizing the corrals. They would do well to emulate how NYRR does their races. I might have used a bit too much effort running through that congestion, covering the first mile in 8:06 when I intended to run it closer to 9 minutes. With a bit more space around me, I eased off on the pace for the next 2 miles (8:43, 8:34). As I entered Disneyland and reached mile 3, I pulled over to take a much needed walk break. I was already feeling pretty pooped with about 10 miles to go. I decided to take out my phone and record my run down Main Street, USA. It was a much different experience than a WDW race. Here, the entire street was empty while at WDW, they have half of the street lined with cheering and screaming spectators.
Running down Main Street, USA
While most people do not like the miles after leaving the Disney parks, I kind of liked running down those wide open roads. It was good to get a shoutout from my friend, Nadia, as I ran down Cerritos Ave near the 10k mark. It was still dark out, so I didn't think that anyone out there would recognize me. I took a walk break as I neared mile 7 while coming up an underpass on Lewis St. As I made the right turn onto Ball Rd, I ran past a couple of spectators. They reminded me that this race was in Anaheim, that unlike Orlando, Disney was going to make me run the entire distance! I took a walk break once I reached mile 8. I would continue to take walk breaks after reaching each new mile marker until I got to the finish line. I thought that I could still manage to come in under 2 hours, but after my slowest mile (10:05) at mile 9, I knew that that goal was slipping away. It was good to see Goofy Joe out there on his handcycle. We would end up crossing the final line not too far apart from each other. As I was running along Santa Cruz St and making a right turn onto Stanford Ct, I was hoping to see my friend, Dennis Kato, at that corner. Unfortunately, he wasn't there. He used to be there every year with his sign letting runners know just how much we had paid per mile to run this race. Just up ahead near the mile 12 marker on Anaheim Way at Lewis St, there were a bunch of people dressed up as characters from UP. I believe they were friends and/or family members with a fellow Disneyland Half Marathon legacy runner.
UP!
Half marathon finish: 2:01:01
Click here for my Garmin data.
Half Marathon finish line
I was so happy and relieved to make it to the finish line and resume my legacy status here with this race! For the most part, I liked the new changes. I still wish that the parking fees would not be collected like at WDW. After checking my Garmin data at home, I realized that being sick probably didn't allow for enough oxygen to get to my muscles. My heart rate was way higher than normal!
As I was headed down the finisher chute, there were volunteers spotting which type of bib each finisher had. They directed me to the left side of the chute to pick up my half marathon medal with the extra legacy lanyard. I also was identified to pick up the Dumbo Double Dare challenge medal with the extra legacy lanyard. Finally, I came up to the guy cutting off the Coast-to-Coast bracelets. Once that was cut off, I was given the Coast-to-Coast Challenge medal.
Half Marathon medal
Dumbo Double Dare medal
Coast-to-Coast medal
Back side of Coast-to-Coast medal
After getting my medals, I picked up a mylar blanket, a couple of post race drinks, snack box, and a banana before meeting up with my friends. We went over how our races went and snapped a couple of selfies before we started heading out and walking back to our cars.
Post race snack box and drinks
All I wanted to do was to get home, take a hot shower, and go back to sleep! My friend parked at the GardenWalk today and it only cost him $16. Assuming that they're still going to make us pay for parking at one of the Disney lots, that will probably be where I park next year to save some money. Per their webpage, it's $4 per hour, $30 maximum. The first hour is free with validation. It would make sense to make a stop at Starbucks to get the ticket validated. That might be the only place open early enough to get validation.
runDisney support vehicle, do not pass!
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