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Disneyland Half Marathon 2024

Nessats said:
For those flying to California for this, I recommend checking flights into the John Wayne/Orange County airport in addition to Los Angeles (LAX). I lived in Tustin, about 10 miles from Disneyland, from 2016-2021, not far from the John Wayne airport (airport code SNA). SNA is smaller, easier to navigate, and less stressful than LAX, and a shorter drive to Disneyland. When I flew from California to WDW for previous races, I used both airports, and SNA was MUCH less stressful than LAX.
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Thoughts on Burbank airport?
 
luv2cheer92 said:
I significantly prefer driving to races at WDW over taking a bus and find it incredibly easy (never really dealt with road closures there ever though), so this is good to hear, thank you!
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Yeah, if you're used to driving WDW race mornings, then DLR should be a breeze. I'm hoping they put everyone in Pixar on the Coco level so we're all the closest to the pedestrian bridge.

I stayed with friends that are CMs when I last did WDW races and they drove me in. So they were very aware of routes, closures, and such. I winged it with minimal double checking which roads would close and when for DLR the years I drove in.
 
luv2cheer92 said:
I significantly prefer driving to races at WDW over taking a bus and find it incredibly easy (never really dealt with road closures there ever though), so this is good to hear, thank you!
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Not to hijack this thread but do you stay off property at WDW? Planning on doing that and was wondering what the logistics are for WDW races.

Also, I second SNA airport. Much less stressful than LAX.
 
Because I'm back at work today - after taking yesterday off to deal with the registration mess - I have time to start seriously thinking about this trip (shh, don't tell my boss). I have some questions for the DL experts.

1. How many days should I plan to properly "do" Disneyland? I've been to DL twice, but it was over 20 years ago and it's my friend's first trip so we want to see it all. That being said, I don't want to plan so much time that we're looking at each other and saying "what now?" either.

[Note: Right now we are only registered for the half marathon. I would like to upgrade to the challenge, but I'm not counting on it. So this trip is very much a trip to DL with a side of running]

2. Is one day enough to do the Universal Hollywood park? We usually visit Universal Orlando multiple times each year and are interested in seeing the west coast version. I know that it's smaller and some of the rides are the same (which can be good or bad as we would like to do our favorites, but can skip some rides that we don't like), but I wasn't sure if we would regret only planning one day.

3. How travel time is there between Universal and DL? We would likely be using ride share to get around. We've driven in L.A. before and those drivers are CRAZY.

Those are the current questions. I know that there will be more coming...
 
sandam1 said:
Because I'm back at work today - after taking yesterday off to deal with the registration mess - I have time to start seriously thinking about this trip (shh, don't tell my boss). I have some questions for the DL experts.

1. How many days should I plan to properly "do" Disneyland? I've been to DL twice, but it was over 20 years ago and it's my friend's first trip so we want to see it all. That being said, I don't want to plan so much time that we're looking at each other and saying "what now?" either.

[Note: Right now we are only registered for the half marathon. I would like to upgrade to the challenge, but I'm not counting on it. So this trip is very much a trip to DL with a side of running]
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I usually say minimum 3 days with PH (especially now that PHing is at 11am). 5 days ideal, but I like to not feel rushed. But 3 is enough time to see and do most things with possibly some repeats of favorites. I would highly recommend spending some time over on the DLR forum to get updated on changes since your last visit.

Note that this weekend is happening during regular ride closure time. Holiday season will be over. HMH is usually the first to go down to get its holiday overlay removed. But if it's down, IASWH will still be up.

Fireworks will not be nightly, only Fridays-Sundays, but a projection show will usually happen.

sandam1 said:
2. Is one day enough to do the Universal Hollywood park? We usually visit Universal Orlando multiple times each year and are interested in seeing the west coast version. I know that it's smaller and some of the rides are the same (which can be good or bad as we would like to do our favorites, but can skip some rides that we don't like), but I wasn't sure if we would regret only planning one day.
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I've done USH in a day (and I mean every single ride and show), but before the Nintendo Land stuff. I don't know how that will factor in.

sandam1 said:
3. How travel time is there between Universal and DL? We would likely be using ride share to get around. We've driven in L.A. before and those drivers are CRAZY.

Those are the current questions. I know that there will be more coming...
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Depends what day, time, and how the stars and moons align. It's not a quick trip and it can be longer than one might expect. You're looking at about an hour travel time minimum, though, and as much as two hours if there are no big accidents.
 
dis_or_dat said:
Not to hijack this thread but do you stay off property at WDW? Planning on doing that and was wondering what the logistics are for WDW races.

Also, I second SNA airport. Much less stressful than LAX.
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I go back and forth, sometimes onsite, sometimes offsite. I usually drive in either way. Did the buses once and hated it compared to driving. Driving in is sooo easy. Not really anything to it, just drive to Epcot. I typically like to get there early and sit in my car for a little bit. It's nice to have a warm place to sit for a bit.
 
luv2cheer92 said:
I significantly prefer driving to races at WDW over taking a bus and find it incredibly easy (never really dealt with road closures there ever though), so this is good to hear, thank you!
Click to expand...

I second this! I drove to the races last year (MW2022) and we found it so much less stressful than taking the buses to Epcot. We also liked being in our own space, blasting our own music through the speakers

(And I also took a nap in the rental car while my DW started the marathon 😄 )
 
DopeyBadger said:
Sometimes people will say something like, "I just ran in 100% humidity and it was rough." If it were 100% humidity at 70F, then that's a 70F dew point and 140 T+D. Those are "bad" conditions for racing. But 100% humidity at 40F real temp is 40F dew point, and isn't that bad at all (T+D of 80). The T+D calculation takes into account the real temp and the humidity (as dew point) for conditions for running. Then, I use this adjustment chart for my pacing.

View attachment 739839

So if it is 60F with a 60F dew point, or 70F with a 50F dew point, they're both T+D 120 to me. In both cases, I adjust by 1%. So if the goal pace was 7:03 under ideal conditions, then under a T+D of 120 it would be 7:07. Things really add up towards the warmer end when you get into "bad" racing conditions. I personally prefer not to race when the T+D is much greater than 130, which is something like 65F temp with a 65 dew point. While the adjustments are not perfect, they are a good starting point for finding your own personal adjustment data.

Back in 2018, I had a brief window of two weeks where we experienced a wide range of T+D and absent of fitness changes could see with my own data the changes in pace based on the T+D.

View attachment 739840

Hope that helps explain some of the benefits of the methodology.
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Ever since I started paying attention to dew point I've had a much better understanding of how good/bad it is outside for running. It makes me think of the WDW Marathon weather this year, there was so much concern about the humidity (even yellow flags, wow) but then the first four hours or so were beautiful running weather, since the actual temperature was on the low side. Humidity is my worst enemy (I am from MN) and I was afraid the weather that day would really wear on me, but it ended up being better than I could have dreamed of.

I have been to DL in January and I LOVED the weather. As long as we don't get flooding rain!
 
As for flights, I couldn't find many flights from MCO to Southern Cal, and it seems like all of them go straight to LAX. I found a Delta flight for $200/pp, which I thought was good enough, so I just booked it and be done with it. On my way out, since there's nothing non-stop, I'll just look for the cheapest flight out of any of the airports around.
 
Disneyhanna said:
Ever since I started paying attention to dew point I've had a much better understanding of how good/bad it is outside for running. It makes me think of the WDW Marathon weather this year, there was so much concern about the humidity (even yellow flags, wow) but then the first four hours or so were beautiful running weather, since the actual temperature was on the low side. Humidity is my worst enemy (I am from MN) and I was afraid the weather that day would really wear on me, but it ended up being better than I could have dreamed of.

I have been to DL in January and I LOVED the weather. As long as we don't get flooding rain!
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The first 4-5 hours were beautiful, the last 2ish were brutal for me, that sun was relentless at that point, it warmed up quick between 10-11 or so. Definitely felt the "yellow flag"
 
Grabnar said:
Never been to DL/DCA. How many days should I plan on going? Currently planning on being there from 1/11-1/15
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I think three park days is a good amount for a first visit. One full day per park, and a day to hit everything you missed or do things again. I recommend park hoppers for that length. I have done one day tickets before (exhausting) up to five days (rode Guardians - Mission Breakout 9 or 10 times that trip). I enjoyed five days but would say that's comparable to people staying like 10+ days at WDW, it's fun but I probably would stick to shorter trips in the future.
nekonekoneko said:
That's been my next question, how to get to/from the airport. I'm not sure if there's reason for me to leave the Disneyland area. I guess if there's anything closeby but just off property, I can use ART to get around. Do I really need a car? I found uses for a car at WDW, but nothing yet for DL.
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I never use a car, especially if I'm staying close it's way faster (and cheaper) to walk. If you fly into SNA the ubers/lyfts are so cheap and quick. Maybe 15 minutes if it's not rush hour, I did make the mistake of flying in at 4PM once and it took almost an hour but was still only $25 or some ridiculously low fare like that despite the length of time. If you are flying into LAX I would still uber, I'm not sure on costs these days (years ago I think I paid in the neighborhood of $50 one way) but it's around an hour ride and not too expensive. It's a pain to sit in LA traffic though, which is why I would pay a premium to fly into SNA. If you're staying for a longer trip there's obviously tons to do in California but if it's a long weekend trip primarily for the races I would skip the car. Even when I stay in LA I just use uber as you couldn't pay me to drive in that traffic, and ride shares are plentiful. Parking and gas are so expensive too, something to consider.
 
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