Star Wars Rival Run Weekend

This was my second Disney Run Weekend and they are well worth the trip.
As obvious by the event name, this weekend was Star Wars themed. Four events, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K, and kids races. There was also a challenge to run the 10K on Saturday and the Half on Sunday. If they tell me “challenge” I am all in!
All Disney events start with an expo which is pretty good. You have to visit to pickup your bibs and race shirts. You get a race shirt for each event you ran.The 5K was a cotton shirt. The 10K, Half, and challenge shirt was a tech shirt.
This year Disney also offered a virtual Half Marathon that you would complete prior to the weekend to qualify for an additional challenge medal. So if you completed the virtual run and are running the half on Sunday, you pickup your virtual run medal at the expo.
The expo has the standard running vendors on site that are at most events but also has Run Disney where you can purchase event shirts as well as other Run Disney merchandise.
With all Disney runs they start at 5:30 in the morning. If you stay on Disney property they provide a shuttle bus to the start and from the finish as well as to and from the Expo. The bus to the starting line has an early show time. For the half you had to be on the bus by 3:30 AM, the other two runs were 4:00 AM. So sleep may elude you at a Disney event. I ran all three events so that was three days of getting up at 3:00 AM to run then spending the day at parks. I ran the Dopey two years ago, so I knew what I was getting myself into this time.
The starting area is well organized with a DJ playing music and and also at times there are hosts making announcements, trivia questions, “jokes”, interviewing runners, and just keeping the crowed entertained for the one to two hours you are waiting for the start. There were also several Star Wars characters available for photos. Everyone has to pass through security. If you have a bag or anything that appears to be a bag no matter the size you have to go through bag check to have it inspected. There is a gear check station to leave your stuff. There was also a food truck and a place where you could purchase some food/drinks (didnt visit so I dont know what was offered). There are lots of port-o-johns and some water available. I noticed someone filling there camel back from the water at the site, that was smart. the water out of the faucets has a funny taste or at least I thought it did. Teh water they handed out was bottled. They do use the corral start system and they also split the corrals into mini corrals so for the half there were 8 corrals but they had 20 starts. Each start began with fireworks.
The course is a combination of the roads outside the parks and also one or more of the parks. The 5K started in the Epcot parking lot then ran thru part of Epcot to then finish in the parking lot. The 10K started in the Magic Kingdom parking lot, run up the road to Hollywood Studios, ran thru part of the park, then to Disney Boardwalk, into Epcot and then finish in the parking lot of Epcot.
The Half started in the Magic Kingdom parking lot, ran to Animal Kingdom, thru that par, then to Hollywood Studios, thru the Boardwalk, thru Epcot and finish in the parking lot.
All courses are FLAT. The only thing that might qualify as an incline is when you have to circle around to go on the overpass over the highway. Lots of turns in the half course but it is an easy course and i am sure if you didnt stop for photos you would have a good result. I stopped about 20 times for photos and only added about 8 minutes above my PR. But I was in corral A so the lines for photos were only no to five runners deep so I never had to wait long. I did the 5K with my wife (started in corral D) and we walked most of it. We stopped for a picture with Chewbacca and it took about ten minutes to wait in line. On Half day, there was no one in line when i passed the same photo stop, but i started in Corral A that day. So the later corrals the lines for photos are longer. If you are running multiple events you can probably be choosy the first day and if the lines are long, catch them on the next day or Sunday since many were like me and if i passed one were i had already had a photo, i just kept running.
They also had star wars characters at various places on the course, large monitors showing star wars movies, speakers all over the course playing star wars music, and some props to stop for photos. The half also had about a quarter mile stretch where they had battle sounds playing, laser lights and strobes flashing, and flames making feel like a battle in Star Wars. At most character stops, Disney had photographers stationed to take pictures. They are also very willing to take them on your cell phone. I had purchased the photo pass prior to my visit ($30 savings) . You just link your bib to your photo pass and they photos will be available for you to download. Most of them were available that day but even today (2 days after) new photos are showing up. The photo pass will also give you photos in the park.
The finish line area, you finish, get your medal, cool towel, they have an aid station, pick up a snack box, banana, and then stop for a finisher photo. They also have characters available to take additional photos.
Disney runs are great fun events. Most don’t run them for a PR. I stopped for most every photo stop. The miles fly by even if you run at a casual pace due to to all of the photo stops and on course entertainment. Awesome volunteers, lots of water on all courses and powerade was on the half as were sport beans.
Swag – Great shirts, high quality themed medals, snack box, powerade, and a banana.
This was my second Run Disney event and I am already planning my next.
Highly recommended events. I am sure I forgot something but the if you are going and dont live locally, I recommend staying on Disney property so you can use the bus transportation to the races, expo, and parks. We flew in and used lyft and it was only $30 each way, big savings over renting a car.