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My 2025 Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Experience
Last year, I had the thrill of running my very first Disneyland Half Marathon during Halloween race weekend, and it was also my very first coast-to-coast medal. The experience was so incredible that I knew I had to come back in 2025. This year, I returned to race again—and I proudly earned my second coast-to-coast medal!
✨ If you want to read about my very first Disneyland race weekend in 2024, you can check it out here
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Travel Day to Disneyland
Our race weekend adventure began bright and early with a 7 AM flight out of Tampa. We had a quick layover in Dallas-Fort Worth before landing at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, which is such a convenient airport for Disneyland. After picking up our rental car from Hertz, we made a quick stop at Target for fuel and hydration supplies—an essential stop before race weekend.
From there, we headed to our home base, the charming Candy Cane Inn, a Disneyland Good Neighbor Hotel we also stayed at last year and absolutely loved (you can read my full review here).
The Expo & Race Weekend Festivities
Once we were settled in, we walked over to Downtown Disney and made our way to the Disneyland Hotel for the Health and Fitness Expo.
Like last year, the weekend kicked off with the Expo, and I loved the energy in the building. Bib and race shirt pick-up was smooth and organized, and I couldn’t resist browsing all of the exclusive Brooks shoes and Halloween-themed merchandise. There’s always such a buzz around runDisney weekends—it feels like the start of something special the moment you walk in.
Disneyland really went all out for the Halloween Half Marathon weekend. In addition to the half-marathon, there were a 5K, 10K, and yoga for runners who wanted to mix up their race experience. This year, I stuck with the half-marathon only, but I loved seeing the excitement from runners participating in the other events as well.
We stopped for drinks and appetizers at Trader Sam’s and Palm Breeze Bar, which was the perfect way to kick off the weekend. We ended the night by grabbing an Earl of Sandwich to go and enjoyed a cozy evening back at the hotel.
Corral Placement
One of the highlights of this year’s race for me was getting Corral D placement, which is my best spot yet! It felt like a truly personal accomplishment after running in so many races over the past few years.
The half-marathon is 13.1 miles, with a minimum pace of 16 minutes per mile and a time limit of 3 hours and 30 minutes. The Half Marathon had corrals A through I, and I was placed in D. That gave me about a 25-minute buffer from the balloon ladies (the official last to start), for which I was extremely grateful. They released the waves of entire corrals at once every five minutes until all the runners were out on the course.
Race Day
The weather was absolutely perfect this year—cool, crisp, and comfortable for running.
The race course was filled with everything I love about a Disney race: energetic music, plenty of characters, locals cheering us on with creative signs, and even adorable dogs along the route. The Anaheim community really came out in full force this year, and honestly, their support made the miles fly by even faster than last year.
This year was extra special because for the first time, Mark didn’t run with me—he was there solely to support me. Seeing him at the finish line, cheering me on, meant so much. And of course, he made sure I had the perfect reward afterwards: a well-deserved In-N-Out burger!
Celebrating at California Adventure
After the race, we spent the evening at Disney California Adventure soaking up the Halloween atmosphere, riding rides, and celebrating an incredible race weekend. There’s something about ending a runDisney weekend with Disney magic that makes the whole experience feel complete.
Total for the day:
Steps – 40,678
Miles- 19.48 miles
Reflecting on Two Amazing Years
I am beyond grateful to have been part of both Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon weekends. The community, the magic, and the memories are something I’ll always carry with me. I’m especially thankful that I got the chance to earn not just one, but two coast-to-coast medals.
It makes me sad to know that after January, Disneyland races will once again be going away. I’ll treasure these memories even more, knowing how special these two weekends were.
As for what’s next? We currently don’t have any races on our 2026 calendar—after completing more than a dozen races over the last few years, we want to make room for new adventures. But I know without a doubt that we’ll be back to runDisney again. Disneyland, I hope to see you real soon.
I’ll be blogging soon about the rest of our Disneyland trip, so stay tuned!
How do you become a balloon lady? HA! I would be last to finish anyway, so why not own it and hang out with these ladies.. LOL