A number of us from DisBoards participated in the
Disneyland Paris race(s) this past weekend. While we each have our own views of the good, the okay, and the ugly, here is my race weekend recap.
Good:
*On course support by the cast of Disneyland Paris. Every area we went through had cast members out cheering. Main Street Stores cast with bubble wands? Check. Star Wars ride cast with light sabers? Check. Cast members out with Mickey hands in lots of other areas? Check. Disneyland Hotel cast out cheering? Check. The fire department mugging it up for photos and cheering? Double check.
*The course. All three courses went through a lot of both parks. In fact, we went through the Behind the Magic Tram Tour area with all of the props and through the Lights, Motors, and Action stunt show set each race.
*The medals.
*Rare characters out.
*Expo. Once you managed to get inside I thought it was decently organized with good line control. It is not an expo the way we think of them in association with WDW races: very little race specific merchandise beyond the Castle to Chateau shirt, a race weekend shirt and the various “I did it” shirts and only the sponsors had booths there were no vendors.
*Being able to walk to the start line.
*Smaller field than WDW. One of the runDisney people I was speaking with Saturday as we walked over said these races are on par with Disneyland races.
*Security. Once you passed security for the day you did not have to go through it again as long as you did not leave the secured area. That was wonderful.
*The concierge staff at the hotel for printing vouchers for me.
*The woman with the “Best Parade Ever” sign on Main Street during the half; she had placed herself about 20 paces after the woman who had the sign we all hate to see on Main Street.
*5k and 10k are both untimed.
Okay:
*The course. There were more twists, turns and curves in the courses than a belly dancing python has.
*Waiting to start. While it was nice that they had the warm up leaders tied to the theme (the trainer for the Avengers for the 5k, Pain and Panic from Hercules for the 10k and Cruella’s boy toys for the half) the people who plan the routines have to keep in mind that when we are packed like sardines in a corral we do not have space to do jumping jacks. Also, they were way too scripted and had no room to improvise, so listening to the same verbal patter for 40 minutes became very annoying very quickly.
*Finish line layout. The area was hard to navigate as it twists and turns. I found the water station and the food stations completely by accident Friday night. They needed more garbage cans.
*Challenge Medal pickup. You had to walk back to the expo tent, at the start line, to pick up your challenge medals. Since the tent was sort of on the way back to the hotels it wasn’t too bad as it worked as part of the cool down, but it was more chaos than I really wanted to deal with at that point.
Bad:
*Providing the vouchers needed for the expo. Bib and merchandise vouchers were supposed to be provided 2 weeks prior to the race per communication we received over the summer. We received merchandise vouchers Tuesday night, bib vouchers Wednesday morning and the expo started Thursday afternoon. The lines to print the vouchers on Thursday once the expo opened were hours long.
*Location of the Castle to Chateau area within the expo. If you had not read the race weekend material you were not aware that you had to double back after picking up you bib to get your bracelet.
*The course for the half marathon. Once outside of the park there were some drum and music groups up until the 11k point, and then except for 2 cheer groups between 11k and 13k there was nothing until the finish line. Additionally, the first 7k of the course was super slick due to misty rain (nothing rD can do about that), but we had 2k of cobbles in grass, grass, small gravel and very rutted trail while outside the park.
*Corralling method. There is no reason why I, a 3 hour half marathoner, should be in a corral ahead of someone who submitted a 1:40 POT. There is no reason that children were in corral A for the 5k.
*Food options outside of the park. Unless you wanted to spend E30 for a buffet at your hotel your food options were limited to what you found in the park or the restaurants in Downtown Disney.
*Strollers in the 5k and 10k. Not talking mobility ones for young children either.
*No time clocks on course.
*Being passed on the right when there was less than 12 inches of space between myself and the edge of the course by runners. Seriously? I am on the right hand side of the course!
My times were not great, but I finished.
@LSUlakes:
5k time: 49.43
10k time: 1:43.20
Half time: 3:08.19. Between the slick pavement, twisting my ankle on the grassy cobble stones at the 13k point and the end of a head cold I’m happy with this.
@DopeyBadger I will get you my break down either later today or tomorrow.
All said and done, the below picture – taken from the runDisney Paris Facebook page – is a perfect example of the magic and opportunities runDisney races provide.
They are both zero drop, but the Solstice has a lower stack height. I would not be able to do anything more than like a 5K in them, though, or my feet/legs/everything would be hurting.
