Running through Europe's Happiest Place on Earth

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In September 2016, Disneyland Paris held its inaugural Run Disney half marathon weekend and as I’d found out after the fact, I wanted to be a part of the next one, although I had done minimal exercise at this point since moving but I set it as my next challenge. Let’s also be fair though, it was probably also fuelled as a reason to go to a Disneyland park. However, when the bibs went on sale for the half marathon, I was having 2^ndthoughts as it was looking to be quite pricey weekend due to the accommodation costs and although 5km and 10km races were also offered, I wanted to complete the half marathon. So I sat on it for a bit and watched the 10km and 5km races sell out and finally made the decision to just sign up for it because the chance will only come around once. After signing up, I was talking to a girl at work about it who expressed her interest in also going to Disneyland Paris so I invited her along to have a friend to go with (and it also came in handy to share the accommodation costs) and closer to the event, she was able to purchase a ticket to the 5 and 10km races and so we also went halves in the photo pass that we could use for both the races and in the parks. I almost also signed up for the 10km but as I was having a bit of trouble trying to get my medical certificate signed to participate in the half marathon (all European races require a medical certificate to be signed by a GP for half and full marathons), I decided to just leave it at the one.

So on the 22^nd September, at 4am, Stephanie and I headed to St Pancras Station to get the first Eurostar of the morning. We got into Gare du Nord just after 9 and as Stephanie had never been to Paris before and we were unable to check in to our accommodation in Torcy until 2pm, we spent the morning in the city, starting off with a coffee and a croissant. After ticking off the main sites – Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysee and Place de la Concorde – we hopped on the metro to go out to Torcy, which is only 3 stations on the RER from Disneyland Paris, to check in to the hotel. Then we headed to Disneyland – and I was so incredibly excited, finally after 28 years, I was going to a Disneyland Park. However, first we had to officially register for the runs and pick up our race packs and race t-shirt plus activate our photo pass. It was a surprisingly simple process and they had a wall with every participant’s name so new found our names and then headed through Disney Village towards the parks, stopping at one of the stores to pick up the first souvenir of the weekend and a necessity for any Disney visit – my first pair of Mickey ears! As it was the 25^th anniversary, I opted for one of the special edition ears brought out for the 25^th celebrations.

Disneyland Paris is made up of two parks, Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios and we had managed to get a 3 day park hopper ticket for the price of 2 days, which meant we could go from one park to the other whenever we pleased. Once we had collected our tickets from the ticket booth, we headed into the main Disneyland Park to get a couple of hours in before Stephanie had to go do her 5km run. First stop on the agenda, after taking a gazillion photos of Main Street USA and Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant (The Castle of the Sleeping Beauty), was the classic teacups ride. On the way to the teacups, we stopped and caught the end of a show that featured all of the Disney Princesses and it was amazing – I may have teared up a little seeing my childhood up there on stage. We then spent a little bit of time just walking around the park, getting a feel of it before Stephanie had to go off for her 5km race so whilst she was doing that I spent the evening perusing the stores, getting some dinner and then setting myself up in front of the castle for the nightly fireworks at park close. The show was incredible – 15-20 minutes of Disney magic illuminated up on the castle ending with fireworks (there may have been tears through this also – I’ve just accepted this is what happens after being deprived of a Disney park for 28 years and finally being in one). It was then time to leave the park and on the way out Mickey was saying goodbye to everyone from a balcony above the exit which was a bit cute. I then watched the last runners of the 5km race heading towards the finish line before waiting by the huge World of Disney store to wait for Steph to arrive. We then looked in the store and saw all of the things I wished I could buy but didn’t because not only would I need to get it back to London, I’d also need to get it back home to Australia when the time comes. We did spend a good hour in there though before heading back to our hotel for sleep.

The next morning, Steph had her 10km race so she was up at the crack of dawn whilst I had a little bit of a sleep in (my early morning was the following day) and met her at the World of Disney store with her back pack just before the parks opened. After she had changed and freshened up, we then headed into Walt Disney Studios, which is a smaller park to Disneyland but still really cool. Upon entering Walt Disney Studios, you walk through a massive back lot shed which is decked out like Hollywood with all of the quick service food restaurants and come to the classic Partners statue of Walt and the most popular character he created, Mickey Mouse. To the right of the statue is a cute little Monsters Inc area with scream monitors so you can help power Monstropolis with your own screams. Once we were all screamed out, we wandered around the park and just taking it all in, seeing all the different areas and what’s available before deciding on what rides to go on. I really wanted to go on the Twilight Zone’s Hollywood Tower of Terror but Steph wasn’t too sure of it as she’s not a huge fan of drop rides (I was ready to change that) – I still had a bit of time to convince otherwise. Our first ride of the day was Les Tapis Volants – Flying Carpets over Agrabah, which as you may have guessed is based on the flying carpet from Aladdin and you can control the carpets by going up or down whilst they go around and bizarrely has a movie theme to it with Genie as the director to the side of the ride. Afterwards, we spotted Mickey Mouse so hopped in the line for a meet and greet – it was adorable. The character interactions are amazing, no matter what age and we had a lot of fun. I was complimented on my shiny ears so I obviously had to show Mickey my glittery Mickey bag (RIP bag – the zip broke shortly after coming back home so I no longer have it) that I had bought especially for this weekend and he loved it! There was love, there were kisses and then after we got a few photos, it was time to wave au revoir to Mickey. We then walked through Toy Story Land, which is the cutest little area with themed rides and oversized toys to make you feel like you are also the size of a toy. I loved the concept of the rides here – they had a Slinky Dog spinning ride, a parachute drop ride for the army men and the only ride I went on in this area, the RC Racer rollercoaster, which was a half-pipe type coaster where you got higher and higher each time whilst sitting in RC from Toy Story. Steph opted to stay off this one so waited with my bag and afterwards we went on the Studio Tram tour because I enjoy behind the scenes stuff like this. It was so much cooler than expected though as you start off going past all different props from movies just lying in the middle of nowhere before getting to a sound stage and stopping, where there’s then explosions and water everywhere before continuing on through to a set of London in ruins and dragons from the film Reign of Fire. The commentary for the ride was by Jeremy Irons (voice of Scar from the Lion King) so that was quite cool. Being a very busy weekend, the lines were pretty crazy so we went and had lunch to sit down for a bit.

After lunch we headed back over to the Disneyland. First on the agenda was Alice’s Curious Labyrinth, which of course is based on Alice in Wonderland and takes you on a journey through Wonderland and features the characters along the way. In the middle is the Queen of Hearts castle which you can go into and up, where you get a pretty good view of Fantasyland and the Castle. We then spent a bit of time wandering before heading to find a spot to watch the Disney Stars on Parade, which was amazing and definitely brings out the child within as you’re waving to all of the characters and just hoping for one back – yep, I was definitely that girl, fangirling to all the characters who went past. There was everyone you could imagine in this parade, either dancing on the streets or on their designated float. The parade went we went on It’s a Small World (we had wanted to go on the before the parade but unfortunately, it had been temporarily closed), another classic Disneyland ride that I had to tick off the list. It was cute, I enjoyed it but damn, that song gets stuck in your head mighty quick. We then made our way to the back corner of the park as when we were in the Queen of Heart’s castle I saw a gigantic book which looked really cool so we had to wander over there to look at what it was. Turns out it was more a little kid’s section with a mini roller coaster and a story book boat ride hence the gigantic book. We went on the boat ride, Les Pays des Contes de Fèes, which is depicts all the classic Disney tales we grew to love with miniature models. Afterwards, we headed over to Discoveryland (Paris’ version of Tomorrowland for those familiar with Disneyland) to hop in the line for Hyperspace Mountain, which is an inside pitch-black rollercoaster apart from a few lights here and there with a Star Wars theme. It was so much fun! Whilst we were waiting in line, Stephanie was telling me about her time in Tokyo Disneyland and how much fun Space Mountain was and how glad she is that they don’t have upside down loops – well, turns out the Hyperspace Mountain at Paris is the only version to include inversions including a loop. We then went on Les Mystères du Nautilus, a walk through the various rooms of Captain Nemo’s submarine based on the movie 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea. We then got some food and headed over to the Buzz Light Laser Blast, which I am actually quite awful at because I can never seem to get many point at the end, I’m unsure if I’m an incredibly bad aim (which is possibly likely) or it’s more the targets being difficult. For those that have no idea what I’m talking about, basically you ride around in a little cart with a little gun and there are targets to hit everywhere to defeat Zurg. It’s cute, a bit of fun but points wise, I am awful at it. Afterwards, we then went to get food and then headed over to the Castle, where a crowd was already forming so Steph could see the Illuminations show and to be fair, I was pretty excited to watch it again. And it still gave me all the feels it had the night before only this time I didn’t bother taking videos and photos as I had done, I just let it all sink in. Then it was time to leave the park although we did linger for a bit where Mickey waves at the exit because it was adorable. After another quick look in the World of Disney store, where I bought my Disneyland magnet to add to the collection as well a Christmas bauble, we headed back to the hotel. By the time we got back to our hotel room it was close to midnight so it was a quick shower and bed for me, who had the alarm set at 4am as it was my turn for an early morning. I could barely sleep I was so excited yet nervous as to what was about to come. What was I getting myself into?

After not many hours sleep, I woke to the alarm and got into active wear to head back to Disneyland at ridiculous o’clock to run the half marathon. Although I didn’t dress up like most people I did buy a top off Amazon to wear for the run with my rose tights to sort of be in a theme of Beauty and the Beast – my tank had ‘Run like Gaston is trying to propose to you’ and I was so desperately hoping that Gaston would be one of the characters either out on the course or even, roaming around the park during the day so I could get a photo (spoiler – this did not happen). Also armed with my Mickey ears, which I was worried would be a pain to run with but they managed to stay on my head during without any issues, I arrived at Disney Village and after a quick espresso to wake myself up and a quick toilet break, I headed to my corral to wait to be let out into the course from 7am. Being a half-marathon the course took us 21km around both parks and then outside the surrounding area of the parks before doing a final run through Disney Village and ending just beside Walt Disney Studios. It took about half an hour until I went over the start line and we ran through a portion of Walt Disney Studios first where I ran straight past Alice from Alice in Wonderland doing photos before connecting with the Disneyland park in Adventureland, which I had not yet been to explore so it was a nice introduction with no crowds. Here, they had a Day of the Dead theme set up, which I naturally assumed was for their upcoming Halloween celebrations but now know it was actually for the release of Coco, which I’m devastated that I didn’t take more notice of it at the time and only realised after seeing the movie. Also in Adventureland, I stopped briefly for some character meets with Kuzco, Kronk and Yzma from the Emperor’s New Groove (love them!) and also Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, the hyenas from the Lion King. And then off I ran to the front of Disneyland where Mickey and Minnie were in their 25^th Anniversary clothes doing a meet in the gazebo at the beginning of Main Street USA however, as the line was ridiculously long and I already didn’t have a lot of faith in my running abilities, I didn’t stop so ran on down Main Street USA towards the castle. It was absolutely magical running down here with barely anyone else around – this is also where I did a quick FB live and got some lovely words of encouragement from friends and family back home so thank you very much for that. The course then took me around to the back of the castle and straight through the middle walkway of it where I was hoping for a photo out the front but alas, the photo pass crew didn’t manage to get me one here. I then had a meet with Scrooge McDuck before waiting in line to meet princesses. Although the line was slightly longer than the previous stops I had made, I had to stop as I hadn’t yet met any princesses and here were Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (these guys have quickly become my favourite characters at a Disney park – every time I saw them and every photo I see of them, they are absolutely adorable. Find me a guy that looks at me the same way as Flynn Rider looks at Rapunzel any day!) as well as Snow White and Prince Charming. Although it was short and sweet, enough time for them to have a laugh at my top and a quick photo, it was nothing short of amazing. When we were able to view and download our photo pass photos from the weekend a couple of weeks after the race, this photo was actually missing from my selection and I was absolutely devastated – thankfully though it was retrieved and added not long after so that made me extremely happy. Continuing on the run through FantasyLand and Discoveryland, which was really cool as all the rides were going however there was no one riding them due to the park not yet being opened but it definitely gave it that magical feel. In Discoveryland, I made a quick pit stop to get a photo with Sadness from Inside Out pulling our sad faces, which also made me sad as this would be the last character meet since the course was about to take me out of the parks to the boring parts of the run. Considering I hadn’t done a whole lot of exercise since leaving home and I’d never been much of a runner anyway even when I was fitter, I was pretty damn pleased with my efforts at this point as I’d managed to run the entire way (except for my couple of stops with characters) up until the 12km point, where I started slowing right down and walked with a lady from the States who had done marathons in the US and had flown over to Disneyland Paris to get her Castle to Chateau challenge medal for completing a half marathon in both California and Paris. She was quite handy to have especially when it came to the balloon lady’s, which before coming into the race I was aware that you had to keep a certain pace or risk being taken off the course but I had no idea how actually scary balloon ladies were. My main goal of the half marathon was to get to that finish line myself and so when the balloon ladies very quickly caught up to us after we’d gone around a massive lake, I was running and quickly walking at intervals to ensure they didn’t over take me for at least 5/6kms before being back on Disney property where the terrifying balloon ladies disappeared and I tried not to collapse as I finished the last 3/4kms through Disney Village to the finish line, where the street was lined with people cheering and Mickey and the gang cheering on the last stretch. I tried to do another FB live here as I ran to the finish line but alas, this doofus didn’t press the button to start it so didn’t actually record anything. But I had finished - I had achieved my goal and I had completed my first half marathon, which is pretty damn good for a non-runner like me if I do say so myself - from memory, my finishing time was 3 hours and 34 minutes, which I am 100% ok with as I wasn’t running for a time, just to finish. Sore, delirious and on a high, I collected my medal (which is absolutely stunning – I love it so much) and a food pack containing water, powerade and a banana, I then sat down on the edge of a garden bed and waited for Steph to come find me as my legs were shaking and I needed to sit and stretch it out.

Once I had feeling to my legs again and not feeling so stiff, we headed into Walt Disney Studios to go on Tower of Terror because I had definitely earnt this ride. Despite her objections the day before, Steph ended up joining the queue with me and we waited to go on. It was awesome! The theming, the short video before heading into the next area to wait for an elevator and the actual ride itself was awesome. Being the end of the RunDisney weekend, today was probably the busiest in both parks so the wait for the rest of the rides in Walt Disney Studios were well over an hour and close to 2 so we had lunch before heading back to the Disneyland for the afternoon. For some reason, my ticket wouldn’t let me in so after explaining to a cast member, who was trying to tell me my ticket was no longer valid (it was), I was allowed in. We headed straight to Adventureland as it was the only area we hadn’t yet been to yet. Here, we wandered for a bit before walking around Skull Rock and going on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was really cool. Although the ride came before the movies they have incorporated Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow character into the animatronics of the ride. There’s also Captain Jack’s restaurant which is in the ride so you see all the people dining as you go past in your boat, which is pretty cool. By late afternoon, I was ridiculously tired and sore so we spent our last hour or so in the park taking it easy and before leaving the park to head home, took our last photos out front of the castle. Again, we didn’t get to go on many rides as the wait times were ridiculous and every time we went to a fast pass machine, they were closed but such is life when you go to Disney on an event weekend. However, before we were due to leave, we did a bit of last minute shopping and although I had told myself all weekend I wasn’t going to buy them, I couldn’t resist buying a couple of the trading pins. I ended up getting the Up house and a limited edition Beauty and the Beast gold book pin, which as I realised a few weeks after getting back home opens up and has a photo of Emma Watson as Belle from the live action movie so I was pretty pleased with my purchases. Our last ride before leaving was the Pinocchio ride, which is adorable and takes you on the story of Pinocchio – I particularly liked the ride operator’s buttons for the ride, which were in the shape of a book. Disney, your theming and detail is definitely on point.

Just before 5pm we collected our bags from the luggage storage that Steph had dropped off our suitcases to when she had come in to meet me after the run and off we headed to catch the train back to Gare du Nord. When we changed from the RER back to the metro, I definitely had a brain fart moment and was almost mugged as I stupidly had my backpack on my back without thinking and felt someone opening the bag by the key ring. Thankfully, a man next to me also noticed what was happening and as I turned around, he pushed the guy’s hand away and was unfortunately, subjected to some verbal abuse which I felt bad for but couldn’t thank this man enough. Although it shook me up a little, it was also a wake up moment to not get so relaxed despite how comfortable a place may feel. By the time we got back to Gare du Nord, we were able to check in to the train, go through security and at this point, I couldn’t wait to board so I could sleep the journey home away. We were on the last train of the night back to London, which meant we didn’t get back until 10/10:30pm and from King’s Cross, Steph and I parted ways to catch the tube back home.

It was truly a magical weekend. I’m so glad I signed up for the half marathon and tried something outside my comfort zone whilst visiting a place I’d only ever dreamed of. As we went during an event weekend, the park was so busy and we didn’t get to go on every ride there however, I do plan on going back before coming home so I’m not too worried about that. It truly is the happiest place on Earth and I’m so glad I got to have this experience.

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Photos

Eiffel Tower
Bonjour!

The Disneyland Hotel
The entrance of Disneyland Park - one day I will stay here

Classic Disney shot
Mickey ears and Sleeping Beauty castle - what more could a gal want

Illuminations show
This was amazing - all of the classic Disney stories projected on to the castle with water, lights and fireworks. Projected on here is the Up house.

The Partner's Statue
Walt Disney Studios

Monsters Inc
Supplying Monstropolis with all of the screams

Alice's Labyrinth
Looking out over Fantasyland from the Queen of Heart's Castle in the maze

Stars of Parade
Crush from Finding Nemo

Stars on Parade
Rapunzel and Flynn Rider

Near the start line
It's showtime

The Emperor's New Groove
Kuzco, Yzma and Kronk

Squad Goals
Joining the crew with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider plus Snow White and Prince Charming

Running to the finish line
Pretty sure I'm filming Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy cheering me on the sidelines in their active wear

Tinkerbell just in front of the castle
The park is decked out in blue and silver for their 25th anniversary celebrations held last year

My most prized Disney merch
I've even kept my bib number