Wow! So much happened last week it’s hard to know where to start. Of course the biggest news was the 2023 Marathon Weekend was a smash success, but that story deserves its own post, so we’ll get to that later. Somewhere between my late-night flight and my rush to get early access to the Expo, the dates for the 2023-2024 season were announced!
Of course, the biggest news is the return of Disneyland races. I am particularly excited about this (along with most of the west coast, I am sure) since I’ve not had the opportunity to race there yet. About the time in my life when I thought I had the resources to travel cross-country to run a race was exactly the time runDisney discontinued them. I’d given up on the idea, and the thought of the coveted “Coast to Coast” medal was just a wistful regret.
To be clear there will be only one Disneyland race weekend next year (there used to be more), and it’s the weekend immediately following Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. I’m pretty sure I’ll be passing on Marathon weekend / Dopey to finally get the Disneyland Half under my belt, but I want to be perfectly clear that registration for these races will be brutal, cutthroat, and possibly just not nice. They will sell out in seconds. You’ve been warned.
The other Disneyland race point I want to highlight is that the Florida race registrations are the usual 9-months ahead of time. The Disneyland registrations are scheduled earlier. The races are in January, 2024 but registration is just a few weeks away in February, 2023. This is an 11-month lead time. If participating in this reboot is important to you, you need to get these dates on your calendar now.
In keeping with recent schedules, registration for most races starts about 9 months before race day. Club runDisney members get access one week ahead of general registration. Those who want to run virtually get access about 3 days after general registration. As a reminder, registration starts at 10:00 a.m. ET, and it’s a very very good idea to be online at least 15 minutes early, on as many devices as you own / have access to.
So here is the official breakdown:
So mark your calendars, friends! These dates are important.
Check back soon for the full recap on Marathon Weekend!
Disney Park Runner 