Disney – Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Weekend

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RunDisney Halloween Announcement

We were so excited when RunDisney announced a new race weekend for Disneyland California last year. Once we saw the theme, we knew we had to participate. 

For some background, a typical RunDisney race calendar begins each year with the traditional first race of the season, which historically was Wine and Dine Race weekend in November. This is followed by Disney World Marathon Weekend and Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend in January, Disney World Princess Weekend in February, and Disney World Springtime Surprise Weekend in April. 

RunDisney threw us a big surprise when they announced that the RunDisney Seasons would now begin with the Inaugural Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Weekend in September 2024. 

SIDE NOTE– Just this week, they announced the dates for Disneyland Halloween and Disney World Wine and Dine for the 2025-2026 season!!

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Halloween at Disneyland

We have always wanted to go to Disneyland during Halloween because it’s our favorite time of the year. We heard they go all out for Spooky Season decorations, food, and merchandise. And they do! Honestly, Disneyland GOES ALL OUT, and it almost puts Disney World to shame.

Once we realized that we could also earn our first Coast to Coast medal for running a race at Disney World and Disneyland in the same calendar season – it was a no-brainer to make this dream happen and set another spectacular running goal.

Running at Disney

When you decide to run a RunDisney event, you have to do your research and act quickly, as these races sell out within hours. I have blogged about the whole registration process here. You have to plan ahead, and in this case, we made plans and reservations in December 2023 for a race in September 2024.  

Mark and I have now participated in 7 in-person race weekends and know that Race-cations are entirely different than Vacations. It was a delicate balance to plan this trip so that we could experience Disneyland for the first time while also being successful in the races.

The Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Weekend featured many events, including a 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon, Yoga, Kids’ Races, and the Thrills and Chills Challenge. We signed up for the Thrills and Chills Challenge which involved running the 10K on Saturday and the Half Marathon on Sunday.  

Go big or go home – we chose to do the Thrills and Chills challenge so we could be eligible for the Coast to Coast medals.  We had previously run the Springtime Surprise 10 miler to qualify.

Traveling to Disneyland for RunDisney

Mark and I traveled from Tampa, FL, to Santa Ana, CA, several days before race weekend to give ourselves plenty of time to account for any issues or delays and adjust to the time change and environmental changes. We arrived on Wednesday, Sept 4, and you can read about our travel day and first day in California here.

Luckily, we adjusted well despite the record heat wave in Southern California that week.  We have lived in Florida for almost 10 years, and when we say it was brutally hot, that is honestly saying something. 

Thursday, September 5, was our first full day of Race-cation at Disneyland Park, and you can read all about it here! It was also the first day of the race weekend Expo. We left the theme park during the hottest part of the day to attend the Health and Fitness Expo at the Disneyland Hotel. 

We joined the RunDisney Merchandise Virtual Queue at 7 AM that morning, and our group was called around 1 PM.  It was a quick walk from the theme park to the Hotel Convention Center. 

Disneyland Health and Fitness Expo

When we arrived at the Disneyland Hotel Convention Center, we went straight to the official RunDisney Merch area to queue. We waited in line for about 25 minutes before being ushered into the private shopping area. Compared to other weekends we have attended, we were so impressed by the quantity and variety of Merchandise they had for this race weekend. They often sell out of certain items first thing in the morning, but this expo still had everything by late afternoon.  

We typically don’t buy much of the merchandise from the expo because the races are so expensive. Sometimes I will collect stemless glasses or corksicles and, of course, ears if I like the design. This time around, I just picked up the official race weekend ears, and I am thankful that I did because they were the only item to sell out the entire weekend! 

Overall, we were really impressed with the Health and Fitness Expo at Disneyland.  You do have to go to three different areas to collect your gear, but that is no different than Walt Disney World’s Expos.  They had sufficient signage directing you to the various ballrooms and convention rooms to collect your Bibs, Coast to Coast bracelets, race shirts, gear check bags, and the official Expo vendors and Official RunDisney Merch.  

Pro Tips for the Expo

Pro Tip– You must collect your Coast to Coast wristband while you collect your race bibs.  Do NOT forget it, and be prepared to wear the wristband for the entire weekend. Do not lose it! They will put it on you at the Expo and officially cut it off of you at the finish line when you collect your medal!

Pro Tip #2: Look for the race bib pins in your gear check bag. The staff told us they were in the bags already, but when I looked, they were not. So I asked for extras and was thankful that I did. There would have been nothing worse than waking up at 2 a.m. and having no way of connecting your bib to your shirt. No one wants to scramble and panic that early in the morning! 

They also had a whole area with staff waiting to answer questions and show maps of the entire event so you could get your bearings before the 3 AM race chaos. The maps were so helpful and showed us exactly where our Hotel was in proximity to the start and finish areas.  We stayed at the Candy Cane Inn and it worked out perfectly – the details are here.

Overall Impression of the Expo

The Disneyland Health and Fitness Expo was well put together and offered a variety of food and drinks, many vendors and merchandise, plenty of areas for photo opportunities, and even had Disney characters roaming around. Even though it is much smaller than the Walt Disney World Expo, it was packed with entertainment and excitement and the perfect way to prepare for race weekend. 

As I mentioned, the Race weekend consists of the Expo starting on Thursday, the 5K on Friday (which we didn’t sign up for), the 10K on Saturday, and the Half Marathon on Sunday.  You must attend the Expo at least one day before your first scheduled race.   We chose to get the Expo completed on Thursday so we would know our corral placements and could enjoy Friday as a park day. You can read about our day at Disney’s California Adventure here.

Disneyland Haunted Mansion 10K

We woke up at 2 AM on Saturday, questioning all our life choices, and got ready for the 10K.  The 10K is 6.2 miles with a minimum 16-minute mile pace. The Disneyland Haunted Mansion 10K race had Corrals A-F. Mark was in Corral C, and I was in F. 

We arrived at security just before it opened early, at 3 AM, and it was a breeze and moved quickly.  Once we were through security, they held all the runners until about 3:30 before allowing us to go to the port o-potties, food truck vendors, and gear check in the family reunion area. It was a little troublesome that they made runners wait that long to use restrooms; if you are a runner on race morning, you understand the dilemma! But once we were released to the event area, it was easy to figure out where to go and to find your corrals.  

It was a cooler morning with low humidity, but it was expected to change rapidly after sunrise.  So I needed to get to the front of the corral and keep up my pace for the earliest part of the race. The high temperature of the day ended up being 104!

Disneyland Halloween 10K Race Course

The pre-race entertainment was great.  They had a lot of Halloween and Disney trivia, along with great music and commentary from the RunDisney race announcers.  Plus, they had awesome character performances with the Haunted Mansion and the Nightmare Before Christmas. They only had one main screen for the entertainment but they did have a lot of speakers so we could hear, even in the last corral.

Honestly – this was the best race course we have ever experienced at a Disney race.  Running through Disneyland and California Adventure with little peeks backstage was an absolute dream.  Everything was lit up; they had incredible and rare characters throughout the course, with excellent signage and visuals with non-stop music.  It’s the first time I have ever run and haven’t listened to headphones. There was just so much to see.  

As usual, when I am in the back of the pack, I don’t stop for character photos, but this was the first time I felt like I didn’t even need to because there was so much entertainment everywhere. I highly recommend a 10K at Disneyland – it was incredible! 

Disneyland Halloween 10K Post Race

Unlike Walt Disney World, there isn’t much to do after you cross the finish line. No characters, merchandise, or celebratory drink sales exist, so you collect your medal and snack box and head out. They offered a couple of finisher photo backdrops, but the lines were long. So we returned to our hotel, The Candy Cane Inn, and ate the complimentary breakfast, showered, and napped until the afternoon! 

Downtown Disney & Rise and Run Meet Up

After a long nap in our ice cold room, we emerged into the day’s record heat to attend something we had been looking forward to all week. We were seeing our running “family” at the Rise and Run Podcast meet-up.  

OH YEAH – WE HAD AN EARTHQUAKE! After the 10k, we got back to the room and were showering and relaxing.  I went to step out of the shower and felt like the floor moved under me.  I chalked it up to my legs being weak from running 6.2 miles, but NOPE, there were two different earthquakes that day. What a day!

When I first started training for the 2023 RunDisney Princess Weekend at Walt Disney World in 2022, I started looking for information and motivation about running at Disney. I came across a podcast called Rise and Run and found a group of running friends who got together weekly and talked about running races at Disney, Disney vacations in general, and their training ups and downs. 

I binged about 70 episodes before I caught up in real-time and was so grateful for the motivation they provided me.  This podcast has been inspiring and has helped me get consistent with my training. It also helped me through my failures and successes and has grown to mean a lot to me.

Rise and Run Podcast

We discovered that the ring leader, Bob, lives just down the road from us. We run and train in many of the same places in the area. He is a retired military veteran, so Mark and I love to see another veteran positively impact our love of running and Disney. We have been hooked on the positivity of this community ever since.  

One of the beautiful things this group does is the tradition of race weekend meet-ups where all the listeners can get together over a race weekend, eat cookies, socialize, and make new friends.  After losing our community in 2023, we had room in our hearts to find a new place that inspired us.  We have attended one other meet-up in the past but knew we wanted to say hello to all our Disney World friends who made the trek out to the West Coast and meet new Disneyland friends, too.  So, we decided to plan our trip around being able to pop into the meet-up and say hello.  

Ready for the Future

Again, it was the hottest part of the day, yet look at this group photo. So many wonderful people stopped by, and it was very motivating and lovely to talk to others who had completed the 10K. Plus, chat about the excitement and anxieties of running the Half Marathon the next day. 

In addition to a great social event, this meet-up may have changed my life.  I am a person who looks for signs in life, and I have felt a bit lost and aimless over the last year, but this meet-up might just be necessary for my future self.  While I can’t currently announce what it is, I am excited to say that a couple of people in this photo are helping change the direction of my life, and I’m set to run down a new path very soon.  Stay tuned <3 

Downtown Disney Splitsville

After the life-changing Meet-up, we grabbed a quick bite at Splitsville for dinner. We enjoyed sushi, salads, burgers, and cocktails, took some carbs to-go, and turned in early for the night. Once again, we were about to Rise and Run at 2 AM! 

Total for Day Four:
Steps – 23,944
Miles- 11.21 miles

Disneyland Hocus Pocus Half Marathon

We finally made it to the big event! The half marathon is 13.1 miles, with a minimum pace of 16 minutes per mile and a time limit of 3 hours 30 minutes. The morning of a half marathon is always full of nerves, but the potential for life-threatening heat added another level of anxiety.  

We arrived early again and were through security by 3:15 a.m. This time, they allowed runners to get to the restrooms and gear check early. All the monitors in the area displayed the weather warnings for the day, and it was already Yellow for caution. It was humid and warmer than the previous day, so hydrating was the only goal besides remaining calm and listening to your body. I shook off the nerves and focused on my mental game.  

The Half Marathon had corrals A – I.  Mark was in A, and I was placed in H – so FINALLY, not the very last corral.  It gave me a 5-minute buffer from the balloon ladies (the official last to start), for which I was extremely grateful.  The high for the day was set to be 107, and there were wildfires in the area, too.  That meant I had a lot of hard work to do before the sun came up.  They released the waves of entire corrals at once every five minutes until all the runners were out on the course.  

Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Race Course

The half-marathon course was similar to the 10K in start and finish areas, and we ran through both parks.  But for this race, the additional mileage was through the city of Anaheim. The first 6 miles were incredible because it was still dark, and both parks were lit up and super magical. They changed the course a bit from the previous day, and this was our first experience seeing Cars Land, and it was breathtaking in the dark. I am so glad this was how I saw it for the first time- such a great memory. 

After leaving the parks and heading out into Anaheim, the sun started to rise, and it was time to get serious.  The heat, humidity, and smoke snuck up quickly. Many people weren’t thrilled to have over half the course on the roads of Anaheim, but I was honestly excited about it.  

It felt more like a local race at that point, and maybe it’s because we are used to running on the highways of Walt Disney World, but it was nice to see locals in their front yards and outside of their businesses cheering everyone on. There was a lot of race support on the roads from locals handing out food, water, and ice, holding signs, cheering, and letting you pet their dogs for encouragement.  

Crossing the Finish Line

Besides running through Disney parks, the highlight of this race was definitely running through Angels Stadium.  I have chills right now just thinking about it.  They had all the runners displayed on the big screens as you ran through the stadium, and the official announcers were even there calling out and encouraging your name as you passed by.  It was an epic experience at mile 10 and gave you a massive boost of confidence near the end. 

It was becoming unbearable with the heat at this point, so most people were walking.  I thankfully had purchased a cooling towel, and it was a lifesaver.  At every water stop, I drenched the towel and wrapped it around my shoulders, neck, and face, and it made a big difference. Near the end of the race, the volunteers were handing out full bottles of water and Powerade instead of the tiny cups, and that showed they knew how serious the heat was getting.  

Setting a PR

Despite the odds, I ran my fastest half marathon to date.  I crossed the finish line about 10 minutes before they called off the race and took the weather alert to red because of the heat and nearby fires.  I have never been more proud and relieved than receiving these medals for which I worked incredibly hard.  When I found Mark in the crowd, we were both entirely overcome by emotion, and this race weekend meant so much to me.  

We didn’t find out until later, but sadly, one of the runners passed away at the finish line.  Making this accomplishment seem even more precious to us. 

We slowly walked back to our hotel, grabbed breakfast from the lobby, showered, and immediately went to sleep for most of the day.  When we woke up, our only goal was to hydrate, stay out of the heat, and reward ourselves with the only meal I wanted while in California.  In and Out Burger!  Mark grabbed us burgers, fries, cokes, and milkshakes, and it was one of the most incredible meals I have ever had in my life.

We lounged in our room all day and watched Disney movies while falling in and out of sleep.  We only had one more full day left, so we wanted to rest up and ensure we could handle the heat for one more day.  This was an experience of a lifetime and can only hope to possibly make this a new spooky season tradition. Stay tuned for our last day in California, where we split the day between both parks! 

Total for Day Five:
Steps – 34,829
Miles- 16.84 miles

Disneyland Halloween Swag

Here is a look at all the swag we got from the Disneyland Halloween Race Weekend. Included in our registration for the Thrills and Chills Challenge: We each received a race shirt and medal for the Haunted Mansion 10K, a race shirt and medal for the Hocus Pocus Half Marathon, a Thrills and Chills Challenge shirt and medal along with our Coast to Coast Medal. 

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