The final half of the year was meant to be a bit of fun, an extravagant birthday present for Georgia. This was something that was hard to persuade Georgia of as our alarms went off at 5am in order to make the start line…….
The Trip
My first experience of Euro Disney took place in early 1995. Mum had booked us on a coach ride that took around 10 hours to navigate Essex picking up people before even heading to France. We picked up lots of merch on that trip as they were soon to rebrand or had already to Disneyland Paris, so merch was yellow stickered.
Fast forward twenty plus years and it is a lot easier to get to Euro Disney, albeit there is far less Mighty Ducks merchandise. Believe it or not, they’ve put a tunnel between the UK and France under the sea, sounds implausible to be honest.
Unlikeliness aside, we booted the kids off the train at Sawbo and continued into London for our mythical train. By mid afternoon we’d arrived at Disney. After a trouble free journey we made our way to the Newport Bay Club hotel to check in.
We’d booked the hotel, Eurostar part of our trip with Sports Tours International, who’d be great ahead of time, making it all very convenient. Unfortunately the first Disney experience didn’t live up to the Disney you’d expect. First we had to traipse through the hotel to a hidden away secondary check in. Then our park tickets weren’t with the booking. A call to STI sorted it, though when we went back to the same desk, the service couldn’t have been more dismissive if they tried. Having done Disney in the states, this was well short of the expected standard. Even on social media the Paris team just don’t get it, continuing the crap experience and not understanding the issues or sentiment, instead asking us to email for a response in 15 days. More on Disney’s approach to social media later…..
The Expo
Rubbish first Disney experience to one side, we had a race to run, which meant a trip to the expo.
Being on the Disney campus the expo was easy to find, directly on our walk from the hotel to the parks. Number pickup was easy, we’d entered just the half marathon so got the accompanying t-shirt.
It’s at this point we should address the “just the one race” thing. Disney is famous for running challenges and when they brought a running event to Euro Disney in 2016, they brought the challenges, plus added some extras to entice people even further.
The following combinations were available:
5k
10k
21k
31k (extra t-shirt and medal)
36k (extra t-shirt and medal, might have also got the extra 31k stuff as well)
Castle to Chateau challenge – you’ve already completed the corresponding American event and claim the double. And yes, complete with extra t-shirt and medal.
In the states there is also a marathon event, so you can add this to the list. Therefore if you complete the entire US weekend and the Paris weekend you walk away with 11 medals and a complete set of sportswear. I say walk, the medals are heavy, choose to walk with all of them around your neck and you will cause long term issues.
As this was our first Disney running experience we opted for the half marathon, our personalised numbers and t-shirts were a nice red colour. Throughout the weekend you’d see people in various colour codings depending on their races.
Everyone knows that a race expo is a license to just take my money, yet we walked out of the massive gazebo having spent relatively little. We had opted for a Photopass that allowed you to get all of your race photos and ride photos in one package. This was about 70 Euros for two runners and seemed like a good idea as they’d be lots of photo opportunities. The package promised that photos would be available from the Monday morning, just a day after the event.
Other than a lanyard for Georgia we didn’t pick anything. In truth the expo was a let down, the only thing of interest was seeing a route map, something Disney had kept shrouded in mystery for some reason. In the US the events are partnered with New Balance, we had seen some folks in Disney exclusive trainer designs. Not for the first time in its existence, Euro Disney felt like the poor relation of its American counterparts.
The Disney
Race numbers chucked back into the hotel room, it was time to do a bit of Disney. Our accommodation package included two days of park tickets, with the race on Sunday it made sense to use these on the Friday and Saturday. We wandered up to the main Disneyland park, underneath the grand hotel. Just as we were about to present passes I felt a pinch on my arse. It wasn’t Mrs H, she was next to me. I turned to see who this over enthusiastic Disney employee was, turns out James Bosher was also in town with the family for the event. They were splitting the 10k and half between child care.
As we walked into Disney the daily parade was going on, this meant the park was also quietening down as the evening began. Unfortunately some of the rides were out of action, but we made our way to the futuristic area (guessing Disney was inspired by the Crystal Maze) & Space Mountain. In the decade or so that has passed since my last visit to the park, Disney have acquired most of the film industry & Space Mountain now had a Star Wars theme. I’m told that Star Wars is held in the same regard by sci-fi fans as the Three Man and A series are regarded by mainstream fans. The theming shenanigans hadn’t impacted the ride at all, which was a lot of fun. We then made our way across to the Buzz Lightyear space zapper ride & whilst not one to be competitive, it would be remiss of me to not let you know I was far more successful at zapping aliens than Georgia.
Saturday was very similar, a nice lie in followed by some time in both of the Disney Parks. The Aerosmith Rock N Rollercoaster hasn’t aged brilliantly, with the ride being more uncomfortable than thrilling. After some time enjoying Disney on a Saturday we exited the main park to find some food to fuel us for the race on Sunday.
The Race
Although the race route wasn’t well publicised ahead of time, I’d found it via public Strava entries & could see the general gist of the route. Disney for the first few km, then an out and back to some local partner hotels, before finishing back in the Disney parks for the final couple of clicks.
Despite being issued with the nice red race t-shirts, we opted to go ahead with Um Bongo vests, both because it was the only bit of IP left in the world not owned by Disney & also because whilst the shirts were nice, they did not appear to be overly breathable. A 7am race start meant an early alarm call & a breakfast made up of whatever we could find that seemed like a good idea from Starbucks. Being Disney there isn’t even a general shop anywhere to be found, so donuts would have to do.
The early race start meant we had a slight quandry for what to wear beforehand, especially with bag drop being at the expo way before the line up for race pens. We opted for the chic of bin bags & after dropping out bags wandered to the loos & then onto our pen, which was an optimistic pen A for some reason!
We didn’t start in the first wave though as we made another dash to the toilets & although A was then empty, B had been released so we shuffled in with those guys. There was a good camaraderie within the starting pen, this wasn’t your typical running race after all. We chatted with a group of ladies from the UK who were running their first half, a chap from the UK who was completing his Chateau challenge & had brought his 1.2kg of Florida medals with him & an ultra runner from Devon who was taking it easy.
The camaraderie extended to finding mutual hilarity in those runners trying to push their way forwards through the wave of at least a thousand or two people, or circumventing the barriers and trying to edge in later on, only to incur the wrath of the race team. Despite aspirations to a 2:05 kind of time over the dinner the night before, it was clear that that wasn’t the purpose of a Disney half. If you want to run a pb, or a fast race, find one of the many other events that festoon the racing calendar. The whole point of Disney appeared to be a good time, not necessarily a fast time.
We might have been in the second wave, but we didn’t cross the start line until 7:26. Completely fair and to be expected though, the routes through the parks are at times a bit narrow and with Disney characters to pose with, there is reason to realising people in smaller sub waves.
Once underway, it did feel pretty cool, even a touch magical. Initially we started through the MGM park. Having been hemmed in for a while, I suddenly felt like I needed to make a stop, recalling what our serial Disney guy (I think he was Mr Ice from The Incredibles) had mentioned. The park was functional, all the toilets were open around the parks. As we brought up the first km in the French zone of MGM, I joined a reasonably large group of runners making a dive for the facilities.
Once running again it we got to see all of the rides operating, sans passengers as we circled around MGM and then through the massive studio style lot out to the front entrance.
Disneyland Park was next, in fact we were within the parks or round the back of them, weaving around the Disney campus with access that Joe Public could not dream of. We stopped for an official photo in front of the castle & then took some photos ourselves. Very early on we’d realised that this was the point of the Disney events. If you PB at one of their races, it is either your first race, or you’re missing out and should have signed up to any other race in the calendar.
It wasn’t until about 8km that we left the Disney campus & started out on the ring road that would take us to the non Disney hotels. We wouldn’t be returning for another 8km, so as we exited the staff parking lot & service roads, it was time to enjoy the nice wide open road for a bit.
After another kilometre and a half I felt that I wasn’t enjoying this road quite so much, I turned around and realised that we’d be slogging it out uphill for an age, one of those subtle hills that slowly draws the life from you by being not noticeably steep, just enough to make it hard work.
The one saving grace to this appeared in the form of runners enjoying a downhill in the opposite direction, but we appeared to have a few km before we would get to experience that.
If you weren’t a runner & were doing this for the Disney fun, these next few kilometres really would have sapped the fun out of it for you. Within the parks the Disney experience was great, once we exited, nothing what so ever. An enterprising local DJ had set up en-route to provide some classic Euro pop, but no characters, no real interest until you headed back into the park. This is something that could easily be fixed by having some characters available around the entire course, keeping the event feeling special.
Instead of characters, we were treated to hills. At the top of our long & slow climb we could see more runners streaming back, but instead took a left, down a hill towards the non Disney hotels. This was a nice down hill, a little busy, but good for the momentum as we were well over halfway through the race. The issue here was, what went down would have to come back up as we could see from the pained expressions of those further into the race than us.
At the bottom of the hill we had a loop of a little lake that all of the hotels looked onto. For a brief moment the route went off road & onto a bit of trail, all readying us for what looked like a delightful climb. I’d got chatting to a fellow Brit, whilst Georgia decided to not push it up the hill & instead maintain effort rather than pace. Once at the top of the hill we had a small distance to cover before a U turn that would begin our return to all things Disney (and yes, a bit of downhill).
A nice big aid station was available shortly after 15km & at this point we stopped for a brief walk, grabbing drinks & snacks. Rather than continuing round the ring road, immediately after the aid station we swung a left & started running towards the Disney hotels. Here there were some folks cheering & handing out chocolates, I picked up a mini Toberlone to enjoy as a post run snack. After the deluge of jelly babies foisted upon us over the course of the London Marathon, this was a definite win!
The first hotel we came to was Santa Fe, now a Cars themed lodging, so we posed for a picture. No characters of note here, but the hotel’s staff & guests were out to applaud the runners.
By this stage we had just 5km to go, which was a relief as the weather had turned & drizzle was greeting us. Thankfully we’d chosen to not run in the official event t-shirts as the morning had been a muggy one to begin with & now we’d have been getting properly soggy.
From Santa Fe we snaked through the Disney hotels, emerging at New York & then around the lake of our Newport Bay Country Club. Through the Disney Village retail area & back into MGM we went, an increasing crowd helping to maintain energy levels as the finish line approached.
As we ran through the backstage lot experience for a second time & the ruins of fake London our pace naturally kicked on a little bit. That said, I could have done without Georgia upping it even further as we passed the Rock N Roller coaster, suggesting a sprint finish!
We crossed the line, were awarded gargantuan medals & given some foil wraps. It was time for a post run goody box of snacks & drinks, plus some more photos.
Back to the hotel we wandered, thankful that we’d been lucky & given a later check out time (not all runners were this lucky apparently). The early start time meant we could even sneak a McD’s breakfast in en-route, bonus!
The Eat
It would be fair to say that the food at Disneyland Paris isn’t great. I had one of the worst steaks I’ve ever eaten at Planet Hollywood (complete with price tag), the pasta chain that worked nicely for us in Copenhagen wasn’t so good here as runners descended on it.
Breakfast for the run wasn’t the easiest to come by as there are no general stores in or around Disney. We opted for Starbucks cookies & donuts, which worked quite nicely.
At least there was a Five Guys, which meant we could indulge after the run.
The Photos
After being promised photos online from the Monday, a little bit of online research showed that would be very unlikely. Once more Disney excelled themselves with their lack of understanding of customer service. Their Run Disney Facebook page went unanswered for days, the only posts appearing were to shill next year’s event.
When you engaged with the Disneyland Paris Twitter team, you’d be directed to the event account, which stopped being active.
Photos eventually arrived later in the week, even then the collection was incomplete, or not recognising where multiple runners were on a photo pass. Disney set the expectations, but then failed to deliver to the expectations or even engage with decent information. For a £70 service, this was very disappointing.
Once complete, we had a decent set of photos, which at least proved to be decent value when you added in the ride photos. Again though, as with the lack of characters from 8km onwards, there were no photographers once you left the Disney estate. It really wouldn’t have been hard to add a couple, encouraging some fun around the course, which is the idea with these specific events.
The Conclusion
The Paris version of the Run Disney event was good, but were I to do another event I think a trip over the Atlantic would be worthwhile. Unfortunately too much of the Disneyland Paris experience makes it feel like the poor relation of the American parks. Likewise the event itself was good, but the Disney experiencecould have been a lot better. For me there is no excuse when it comes to a bad customer experience, especially one that was face to face such as our check in. We had spent a lot of money to stay in a Disney property & in no way did it feel special.
The medal was huge though, huge & heavy. Barring one of the silly medals White Star Running gave away at the Dorset Invader, it is the largest in the collection & really is a nice medal.
Perhaps the only way to return would be to sign up to every race, bringing home the five medals & t-shirts (and probably a bit of a limp). I liked the concept of the race & it was nice that for the majority of runners it was all a bit of fun (those sweaty try hards trying to jump into the earlier waves probably should have just chosen another race). Half Marathon number 35 was never going to be a personal best for either of us, a 2:20 that included plenty of posing for various photos around the way, taking in the Disney experience.
We might have not had a perfect Disney experience, but the event was excellent value for money. The entry fee was €77, about £60 at the time of purchase. This puts it in line with the major UK events. That included the massive medal and a nice t-shirt, plus the chance to run around Disney parks, which is a cool way to spend a Sunday morning. The organisation of the race day itself and the expo were excellent, everything on race day was seamless. We bought our hotel and Eurostar package through Sports Tours International and I couldn’t fault them. Despite the photopass shenanigans, we got a huge number of photos for the price and our ride photos thrown in.
The half was also my last one of the year, with the intention to drop down to 10k’s over the next few months before returning to the half marathon distance in 2019. As races go, this was a nice finish to the year, plenty of fun on the way round, all things Disney, a perfect half for Georgia’s birthday.
Run for the Eat 