Disneyland Paris Trip Report - Run Disney 2017 Half Marathon

Hi again guys!

So it would appear no matter how hard I've tried, sticking to a schedule the last month or two just hasn't happened, and believe me I'm super sorry!

However I'm back from my Halloween trip to DLP and have a small window before I go back again for Christmas, so I'm hoping I can stay motivated enough to finish up this trip and write up most of Halloween and get it all scheduled!

So Back to where I left off, you can catch up with the end of Saturday, and then that brings us nicely to Sunday morning, and another super early start ready to walk to the start line, today's outfit was the most simple out of the three as I was conscious running more than double the distance in a more complicated costume could be quite difficult, so Aurora was my costume of choice, and to be honest, I was really happy with it.

I got to the corrals a little later than intended, and although I still managed to get quite close to the start of my corral, I couldn't find Steven, so I ran the full 21.1km solo, at least this way I didn't have to worry about holding anyone back or leaving anyone behind, it was just me and the course and I was ready to throw my all into it, one last push.

The corral wait always feels quicker than it actually is, and once again I managed to stay quite warm which was a pleasant surprise, soon we were off, and a whole spectrum of emotions came over me, excitement, fear, exhaustion, relief.

The half marathon course started outside Vapiano/Five Guys the same as the 10 Km the day before, and then went through the studios park, where there was an option to cut through from the backstage near Rockin Roller to meet Spider-man, I decided to skip this one in the hope of finding some slightly more rare characters further along the course, we then went through the back of tram tour where the cute flower set up from the previous races finally had a character present, when I got there it was Alice, so again as she's not a particular favourite of mine I carried on looking for something more unusual, but if I had run slightly quicker or slower I could have met Tinkerbell there instead, which honestly is a little upsetting as there's no other way to meet her in Paris, but hey ho, that's the way it goes, win some lose some.

Carrying on full steam ahead the course looped round backstage and brought us out at th back of Frontier land by Cotton wood creek and the Frontier land station, as we ran towards Big Thunder Mountain, the next character stop came up outside the Fuente del Oro restaurant, this is the first meet I stopped for along the course and I'm so glad I did as to fit perfectly with the Mexcian theme of the restaurants, the three Caballeros, Donald, Jose and Panchito were meeting! This is a meet you can get quite easily in WDW however it isn't one I've ever seen before in Paris, they were really fun and their costumes looked great, a perfect start!



We then ran through the rest of Frontier land towards Phantom Manor where we were able to cut through to town square at the bottom of Main Street, here at the Gazebo Mickey and Minnie were meeting, now this may not sound particularly special but they were both in their 25th outfits, making this one of the very few times you've been able to properly meet mickey in his blue and silver best the queue was quite long but luckily it moved really quickly and I was just so happy to get a photo with Mickey in his blue to match the rest of the VIPs.



Next it was time to run up Main street towards the castle, on the left hand side the pavement was full of cast members who were so supportive, and on the right friends and family of the runners who were able to get access to enter the parks to cheer their runners by collecting a wristband from the expo. About half way up Sophie was waiting for me with Duffy, and though it's such a simple thing that extra support is such a huge boost, thank you again so much Sophie =)

Once we reached the hub at the castle end of main street we took a left into Adventure land and round past the Hakuna Matata restaurant, Timon and Rafiki were meeting but they were due to swap any min so I joined the queue and let a few people in front of me while we waited for the change, why was I so keen to wait for the swap you ask? The Hyenas! Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, they are pretty much never out, and although I've not met Timon yet, I know he'll be meetable on a future visit where I couldn't guarantee the Hyenas would be.



After the Hyenas we ran past the tree house, past pirates and into fantasy land, I believe Chesh or some of his friends may have been meeting outside the labyrinth at this point but I didn't stop, we ran through the castle, which is always one of my favourite parts, and then past castle stage where Scrooge McDuck was meeting in his 25th anniversary blue and silver, and on towards the small world gates.

Outside the gates 2 of the horse and carriages from Stars on Parade were parked up, and with them were Rapunzel and Flynn and Snow White and her prince, I have never met Flynn or Snows Prince before, and as I was dressed as Aurora I decided to take a few mins to get a Princess Squad photo with them, it would have been rude not to right?



We headed down towards Casey Junior and the story book boats and did a small backstage loop where we got to see the finding Nemo float from stars on parade up close, and then this brought us out in the back of Discovery land for the last 2 character meets of the run, and they really did save the best till last!

Outside the Discovery land theatre, previously home to Honey I shrunk the audience, and Captain EO our friends from Zootropolis/Zootopia were taking it in turns to meet, I got Judy Hopps and I was really happy with that, she's probably the one I wanted most, and as a character that isn't normally in DLP it felt really special to meet her, and I loved her backdrop.



After Judy I knew already who was waiting outside the Hyperion Cafe for the last meet (friends in all the right places eh?) so I literally sprinted around the back of Hyper Space Mountain and Nautilus past the entrance to Autopia and straight into the queue for Sadness from Inside out! It's one of those films I've adored from the moment I first saw it, and one of the things I was regretting most about not going to WDW with my friends that weekend was not getting to meet Joy and Sadness, so being able to meet one of them made me so very happy, and I really like sadness because she reminds me so much of Eeyore and I just wanted to give her a big cuddle. I love my photo with her, and it might be one of my favourite ever Photo Pass pictures from DLP1



We then left the park via a backstage exit to the right of Autopia for the portion of the race that isn't on Disney property, I like that they changed the route slightly this year to give more time in the parks and cut out a big section of off property running, the only part I didn't like was the loop of a lake somewhere in Val D'Europe which was also present in the 2016 edition, like really it feels like the never ending lake when you're running around it, yet it looks so small on the map etc, very deceiving.

Credit where it's due though, the support along the course outside of the parks was incredible, so many locals out clapping and also various artists and performers who gave up their Sunday morning to provide entertainment on the course, you guys are the real MVPs, thank you, from not just myself but every single runner, it makes such an incredible difference, especially if you're on your own or struggling.

Once we got back onto Disney property it was a lap of the outside road of the Santa Fe hotel, and a cut through the middle of the Hotel Cheyenne, and this is where I really started to struggle around 17 Km I was just so exhausted and I could so easily have given up, thankfully my friends were right at the end of the phone to remind me they'd disown me if I gave up ;)

After a run round Lake Disney (why does it feel so much longer when you run it than when you walk into the parks from your hotel!?) we headed through Disney village and back into the studios towards the finish, as I ran through the tiny bit of Fantasia Gardens Sophie was again waiting for me with Duffy bear, who she'd even got changed ready for our park day! This girl is my hero, she was so supportive throughout the entire weekend and seeing her so close to the end when I needed someone most really was the icing on the cake!

Just before the finish we ran through the stunt show where we had the change to have a photo with the 25th Blue family of honour car, the queue was short, and weirdly I really wanted this photo so that was my last stop of the morning!



It was then just a sprint to the finish line and that was it, I'd done it! 1 weekend, 3 races, 4 medals, 36.1km covered and a million memories I'll hold on to for such a long time. Getting those final 2 medals round my neck was a moment I never truly believed would happen for me, is it weird to say I was proud of myself? Because amongst 100 other emotions, that's the one that sticks out. Pushing myself to train and to run those races started out as a crazy idea, and ended up being the best decision and best experience, and in truth, I'm a little sad it's over until next September.

So that was the half marathon, at least from my eyes, did you run? How was it for you? Would you like to try Run Disney in the future?

I'll be back soon (no really this time I will) with the remainder of Sunday and Monday and then this trip is all wrapped up, thanks as always for following along!

Hoodsie