Disneyland Halloween Half Marathon Weekend 2024

[pharmama]

You can complete you own registration, pay, and then go back and register her without needing another queue to get through. It all depends on if you’re ok with running alone if it sells out after you finish paying for yourself, but before you finish your DD’s registration. Some people are “we all run, or none of us do” and some people are “we’re ok if some of us don’t get to run”

Awesome- thanks again. Did not realize I wouldn’t need another queue so very good to know. I was originally thinking I was going solo anyway and, as mentioned, she is not 100% sure she’ll even be able to go so I may just focus on mine first. Thanks so much for the quick and super helpful responses!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Booked my hotel today. Found some "good enough" prices. I've concluded that paying extra for certain hotels for race weekend is absolutely worth it. It all comes down to that very short walk back to the hotel at the end of the day.

Just realized this ISN'T Labor Day weekend and that's real dumb. Still considering JUST doing the 10k and no parks. I need that medal.

This is the first time in a long time that I'm considering not running the half marathon. I definitely want the 5K since Chip and Dale are awesome, but the other themes don't excite me a whole lot although I love Disneyland 10K races so I might do just the 5K and 10K.

 

[eminemilie]

I’m so very tempted to sign up for the 5k and 10k. also tempted to do the half but I was hurting after the 5k and 10k this last time and I’ve never done a half before

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I booked a hotel (well, a motel, really) about a week ago when I had decided to sign up for this.
The cost is just over $400/night with the taxes and fees.

Now, I'm thinking I don't want to do it; the cost/benefit analysis has me leaning towards it not being worth it for me at this time.

I only have about a week to make a firm decision.

Pros:
Yay, more runDisney medals (although I'm ambivalent about the theme)

Cons:
Cost - flight, ground transit, lodging, park tickets, race entry, food, merch, ...
Need to train (in summer!); Sept in Cali can be quite warm
Really early mornings
Time of year - I teach; early Sept is a terrible time to travel

 

[Naomeri]

I booked a hotel (well, a motel, really) about a week ago when I had decided to sign up for this.
The cost is just over $400/night with the taxes and fees.

Now, I'm thinking I don't want to do it; the cost/benefit analysis has me leaning towards it not being worth it for me at this time.

I only have about a week to make a firm decision.

Pros:
Yay, more runDisney medals (although I'm ambivalent about the theme)

Cons:
Cost - flight, ground transit, lodging, park tickets, race entry, food, merch, ...
Need to train (in summer!); Sept in Cali can be quite warm
Really early mornings
Time of year - I teach; early Sept is a terrible time to travel

If you’re ambivalent about the theme, I would skip it. The only thing worth overcoming all your cons is if you’re absolutely in love with the theme. Save your money for a race that excites you

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

If you’re ambivalent about the theme, I would skip it. The only thing worth overcoming all your cons is if you’re absolutely in love with the theme. Save your money for a race that excites you

I agree.

The other part of the decision is that I wasn’t feeling well during the Disneyland weekend and fell short of the goal. I got swept at mile 11 in the half, so missed out on the Dumbo and Coast to Coast medals.

However, I’m not sure the C2C is enough to overcome all the cons for the September weekend. I may try to do a redo of both January weekends, maybe in 2026, although I had a lot of travel issues, so that’s not ideal either!

 

[MissLiss279]

I booked a motel for a reasonable cost right when the races were announced, but now I think I will probably not be doing it so will cancel soon.
It was kind of funny when I booked online. Sometime later (that day, a couple days later??) they called me and asked me what was going on. I think they had an influx of reservations. I kind of wonder if they were going to raise their rates after that.

 

[fatmanatee]

Castle Inn realized how good their location is for these races, price is over $300 higher than it was for my January stay, which was a holiday weekend! Nice hotel btw, no complaints. Plenty of parking. Not as good an option if you're looking for something more budget-friendly now. Sounds like some other hotels on that stretch might not have caught up just yet.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I’m so very tempted to sign up for the 5k and 10k. also tempted to do the half but I was hurting after the 5k and 10k this last time and I’ve never done a half before

To some degree, soreness is part of the equation one has to deal with after these races. After my first Disneyland Half Marathon in 2011, I was in complete shock of the runners with their Goofy medals because I could not even fathom running 1 mile that day given how sore I was, let alone twice the distance I ran yesterday.

All that said, you can prepare to some degree for that soreness by doing back to back runs as part of your training. I used to wonder if I could handle back to back races with a Half Marathon as one of the distances, but the Star Wars race weekends made me want to try it.

I only have about a week to make a firm decision.

I understand that feeling. I really want the 5K. I go back and forth on the other two.

Castle Inn realized how good their location is for these races, price is over $300 higher than it was for my January stay, which was a holiday weekend! Nice hotel btw, no complaints. Plenty of parking. Not as good an option if you're looking for something more budget-friendly now. Sounds like some other hotels on that stretch might not have caught up just yet.

I'm showing Castle Inn and Suites at $210 before tax per night. I almost booked there the other day before finding a closer place where I could live with the price increase for staying closer. But Castle Inn is a great option.

 

[fatmanatee]

I'm showing Castle Inn and Suites at $210 before tax per night. I almost booked there the other day before finding a closer place where I could live with the price increase for staying closer. But Castle Inn is a great option.

Actually might be right, looked again and it’s 225 for me now. This is through Expedia, where I had booked it previously. Might not have been logged in before. So now it’s about 130 more in total, but obviously difference comes down if I look for a better deal.

 

[Novatrix]

PSA for those who have stayed at the Castle Inn before. If you call the hotel directly to book, they have a $20/night less expensive room rate for returning guests.

I just booked a just-in-case queen-queen room for $199/night pretax ($233/night post-tax) room. It really was a great location for the last race weekend.

 

[Popo]

Hotel will change prices. With that in mind I wanted to see how race weekend affected those prices, at his time. I made a list of hotels which seemed to be popular among runners over time. I compared three time frames, now (early March), Labor Day weekend, and race weekend. The days checked Wednesday through Monday.

 

[The Expert]

I am Club rD but not registering for these races. I did, however, jump into the link to see what preorder merch there is.
A LOT!! I'll post some screenshots.

Here are the bundles and prices. Next few posts I'll grab shots of the pics.

 

[The Expert]

Commemorative weekend bundle $109

 

[The Expert]

Spirit Jersey $79 and Loungefly $78 (sold separately)

 

[The Expert]

Adult jacket and short sleeve tee bundle (unisex sizing) $135

 

[The Expert]

Womens Jacket & short sleeve bundle (women's sizes) $135
NOTE what looks like watch openings on both sleeves!

 

[The Expert]

Magic Key bundle (unisex sizing) $155

 

[The Expert]

Weekend Event Pin Bundle $280
Includes (13) Pins: Weekend Logo Pin, Event Logo Pin (Chills & Thrills Challenge, Half Marathon, 10K & 5K), Medal Replica Pin ( Chills & Thrills Challenge , Half Marathon, 10K & 5K), I Did It Pin ( Chills & Thrills Challenge , Half Marathon, 10K & 5K). All pins are approximately 1.75"

NOTE that these pin sets are also available as race-specific and challenge-specific bundles! Pricing is $65 per bundle.

 

[The Expert]

Jumbo Pin $40
Jumbo pin featuring multi-character artwork and event logo. Approx. Size 3" x 2.35"