2026 Disneyland Half Marathon - 2026/02/01

It's time! Time for the 2026 Disneyland Half Marathon! 

The run today will be a little bittersweet though. All the runners were notified that after this race, all the runDisney races at Disneyland will be going on hiatus. Many people were asking at the expo if anyone in charge had an idea of when it might be coming back. 5 years? 10 years? Never? No one had a good answer. So today, we're going to make the best of it and have the best race and come away with some good memories. 

I think I finally fell asleep around 11pm last night. I set my alarm for 3:15am, but at 2:15am my body said it was time to get up. Short night of sleep, but what can you do. 

I donned all my lucky memorabilia, my new legacy shirt, a Legacy button a Facebook member gave out years ago, and my Mickey bracelet from Alan. 

I always hit up Goodwill in the days before the race to find some warm clothes I can wear and then throw away at the starting line. With temperatures in the 50s and low wind, I skipped the fleece pants and just kept the hoodie. A Flash hoodie seemed appropriate for the race (despite not being Disney) and for $4 I couldn't say no. 

It was a quiet walk to where the race would start. My hotel is about 1.5 miles away, so I took my time. Traffic isn't so bad yet. At 3:50am, the line to park at the Toy Story parking lot (for $40) isn't backed up at all. 

I met up with my friend Ariel at 4am, and together we walked to the corrals. 

Taking the secret (maybe not that secret) entrance right across from the Disneyland Harbor Entrance. 

Before going into the corrals, everyone had to go through metal detectors and have their bags checked. At 4:15am, these were the lines, but they moved us through fast enough. 

Off to the corrals! Athletes only! 

The starting line is hopping! Our race announcers Carissa Galloway and Tetris were interviewing racers, asking trivia questions, and giving out race advice for everyone.  

One more picture with Ariel before she heads to her corral. Good luck with your race today! You've got this! 

Because I submitted a decent race time when I signed up, I was placed in Corral B. 

4:40am and just hanging out. Thanks for the banana Ariel. 

The start of the race was supposed to be at 5am, but 5am came and they were still doing interviews with people in the crowd. People around me were getting a little antsy. 

At 5:03am, Matt Starkey came to the stage to perform the National Anthem. Normally he's up there as a race announcer too, but 30 minutes before showtime, he learned that he'd need to perform the National Anthem! Nice work!

Time for the race to begin! First up is RollDisney! 

After the wheelchair athletes and Corral A left, it was time for Corral B to start shuffling forward. 

Time for me to toss the sweatshirt (all discarded clothing is collected and donated). 

Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto are here cheering for us as we go. 

We're off! 

Despite being in an early corral, the first mile is a shuffle while people work out their paces. You dodge around the people who are already walking, and try to find some open space to actually run. Despite all the training leading up to this point, doing a little shuffle at a pace I wasn't used to, my shins started to complain. Luckily once the real running started, everything cleared up and all was good again. 

Finished with mile 1 and we're starting to get onto Disney property. Disney has placed some of their parade floats along the route as visual points of interest. Not quite a character stop, but it's something at least. 

It's fun to be backstage where they still have some of the history of the park. Like Heimlich, formerly of A Bug's Land, and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. 

Bing Bong! 

Time to go into the actual parks! And we're coming out into Ornament Valley in Radiator Springs! 

Many races have photographers on the race, but Disney has Photopass photographers on the race! And best of all, once you link your unique code to your Disney account, the photos are free! 

Because this is the last race, and I'm just here for fun, I decided that I'd stop for whatever characters I wanted, even if it meant waiting in a line for them. Lightning and Mater are here together, but since it was the first character stop, it did have quite a line for them. I opted to skip it. 

Next we turned towards Pixar Pier. I remember previous years when the whole lagoon was bursting with fountains and color from The World of Color. It was beautiful! Today, the water is smooth and reflecting the lights of Pixar Pier. 

Running past Toy Story Mania hoping to see more characters, but no luck. Just a little further though Joy was there for runner by the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind. 

To Grizzly Peak where we're celebrating the Lunar New Year. Brother Bears Koda and Kenai have been here in the past, along with Carl Fredricksen, Russell, and Dug. No one here today though. 

We ran towards the Carthay Circle Restaurant then headed back to the Avengers Campus. 

Here Iron Man and Captain Marvel are cheering us on from above. And what's that line for? 

Black Panther and Captain America. Cool! Still haven't stopped for characters though. Maybe I'm changing my mind. 

Running by the Hyperion Theater which has sadly sat empty for years now. I remember the good days when I'd take everyone who visited to see Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular (the genie was awesome), and later Frozen - Live at the Hyperion. 

Here's some characters I'll stop for. Donald and Daisy! 

And do you know why? Because they have though ahead and have figured out a way to get lots of runners through quickly! 

Runners line up on a space, while Donald and Daisy walk all around the stage and pose behind each person. 

Time to cross the esplanade and go into Disneyland itself! Not an official picture stop, but I always like seeing the floral Mickey welcoming you to the parks.

Here we go down Main Street USA! 

I thought in past years, there has been a line to get pictures by the Partners Statue. No one taking pictures here, and when you try to get close, a cast member was admonishing you to stay on the course. This photo is from the edge of the cones and not out of bounds. 

Over towards Tomorrowland, Woody and Buzz were cheering from the Innoventions building. There was no line and a nearby cast member agreed to take my photo. 

The theme of today's race is "it's a small world". In front of the ride (which is unfortunately closed to remove the Christmas overlay) multiple photographers were lined up, ready to take pictures of the runners. 

Backstage we ran by the train and monorail station, and another Disney float. 

In Toon Town, Dale and Chip had a line for photos, but why not stop. 

Through Toon Town, and to Fantasyland. 

Might as well get a picture with the Sword in the Stone. 

Next it's time to head to and through the castle. This isn't my first rodeo and I know that if I want to get a decent picture running through the castle, I need to plan for it. If you're in a pack of other runners, you won't get a clear view of the photographers. I watched for a natural break in the flow of runners and hopped back onto the course. 

Looks pretty good to me! Could be a little more zoomed out to show the castle more, but I'll take it. 

I also decided to pull off to the side and got my picture in front of the castle in return for taking a photo of the group behind me. 

Next, I caught up with fellow runner Kathy in Frontierland. 

Then over to New Orleans Square. 

Where Captain Jack Sparrow and Pirate Redd were cheering on the runners and asking about rum. 

From here, we ran into Star Wars Land. Vi Moradi, a Black Spire Outpost character, cheered from a catwalk. 

Getting a picture by the Millenium Falcon. 

Next it's time to head back stage and then out into Anaheim. The Third Shift Custodial staff has been cheering for us for years, and they're always so enthusiastic. 

Mile 5 and we're passing people who still have a little more time to run through the parks (right before entering Toon Town). I high-fived Jeff Oh right as I took a left and headed away from the parks. 

Then it was over to Ball Road and up the overpass hill. It's a lot less crowded here, as runners can spread out on the wider streets. 

I had hoped to see my friends from Minnie's Moonlit Madness, Craig and Sally, cheering between miles 6-7...

But I think I was a little too early, hitting that section at 6am. 

I didn't think we'd see any more characters on the course, but here in front of the USA Skates store, Wild Wing from The Mighty Ducks is here to cheer us on! 

And the giant inflatables from the Duck Pond are over here too! 

In most longer races where you get a race timing chip, there are timing mats at the 5km, 10km, and 15km markers. runDisney has done something different though. Remember that really long out and back between miles 6 and 10.5 that would be really easy to cut the course? They have put a timing mat at the farthest away point, at mile 8, so if you don't run over it, your results would be suspect. 

One thing that I noticed that I really appreciated was all the safety measures I noticed along the course. These roads are not just blocked off with cones from the cars that could come through. There are physical barriers keeping the cars away from the races. At major intersections, buses and rental van completely block the way. Even running by houses, I noticed the driveways barricaded to prevent cars from coming on to the course. I was impressed by runDisney's dedication to safety. 

One of the great parts of the long out and back is that you can see runners on the other side of the course, and get to see more fun costumes and sometimes even see people you know! I would cheer for any Legacy runners wearing shirts that I saw. And I met Jeff Oh in the middle to get a picture together. 

Oh, I remember the fun days of the Star Wars races. Disney had some fun characters out, but the 501st Legion who were out on the streets of Anaheim went really above and beyond! They were amazing! Every race here, we see these Storm Commando Troopers reminding us that this is not the race we're looking for.  

But they were popular, giving hugs to all the racers going by. 

Mile 10! 

Judy saw me before I saw her. Hi! She's a Legacy Dumbo runner, doing both the 10k and half marathon, every year since they've offered it. 

Almost there! 

Mile 13! Just 0.1 miles to go! 

Running towards the finish line, I was thrilled to get a call-out from Carissa Galloway. "Legacy Runner - Michael Flowers!" 

Made it! 

And I'm pretty happy with my time too. My pace at the beginning was slowed down of course for the early shuffle and stopping for pictures, but picked up to the low 9 minute mile range towards the end. 

I was feeling really good! All the training I've done over the past year, all those miles, have really paid off. 

I wasn't sure if we'd get something special or not, but we've received an extra lanyard for a few years not that says Legacy Runner on it. I was happy to see this sign directing me to a special spot to get my medal. 

Year 15 in the books! 

When I looked at my phone, it made me smile to see a video from Ian and Alli, cheering for me all the way from Florida. 

Then it was off to the recovery tent to pick up water, powerade, and a snackbox. 

And lots and lots of bananas. 

In the recovery area, I looked around briefly and found my fellow legacy runner friend Michael who I never was able to catch. He ran a sub 2 hour half marathon today! Congratulations Michael! 

I may be done with my race, but there are still thousands of racers still to come. I always appreciate the people who come out to cheer, so I headed back to the course to cheer for all the rest of the runners. And yes, for the next 2 hours, I was yelling and screaming for runners I didn't know that they were doing a great job and giving them congratulations. Anyone wearing a Legacy shirt definitely got a call-out. And if you were wearing a costume, I'd yell out the characters name and cheer. 

Wow. Congratulations. 

Love all the it's a small world themed costumes. 

Adorable. 

Good thing it wasn't hot today! Impressive!

I yelled "Diablo you're my favorite!" 

As I was cheering, I looked down and noticed my phone had turned off. My battery had somehow dropped from 100% this morning to 3% now. I wasn't able to take any more pictures, saving my battery to text people I'd be meeting up with instead. That meant I couldn't take any more pictures of all the awesome costumes I saw. 

There were some really fun costumes too, and not just the characters you'd immediately recognize. Darkwing Duck was one. I saw a few fun Hades outfits, a Lorax, Lady Tremaine, Jaq and Gus Gus, Phineas, Ferb, and Perry. I even identified Elena of Avalor (how's that for a deep cut)! 

And I loved seeing my friends running by too. Jeff came over for a picture, and showed me that he even brought his original medal from the inaugural Half Marathon from September 2006. 

Jeff and Lauren came to join me as the race wrapped up. We watched as the balloon ladies (who act as the official minimum pace keepers) walked behind the very last finisher of the race all the way to the finish line. 

And race announcer Carissa Galloway was very emotional as that last finisher came through the finish line. Thank you @rundisneydpt for capturing it on video. 

Carissa Galloway shared a few of her thoughts as the race wrapped up. This final runDisney Disneyland race until who knows when. 

Afterwards whoever was manning the DJ booth picked a totally appropriate song from Wreck It Ralph with questions that all of us are wondering. 

Owl City - When Can I See You Again

It's been fun but now I've got to go

Life is way too short to take it slow

But before I go and hit the road (You know)

I gotta know, 'til then, when can we do this again?

Oh-oh, oh, oh, when can I see you again? Oh-oh, oh, oh, when can we do this again? 

Thank you @rundisneydpt for capturing it on video.  

After everything was done, I met with Judy and Ariel in the finishers area. It's been a long day and I'm ready to get back to the hotel to shower and have some breakfast! Hopefully we can meet up later outside the parks! 

And now that the race is over, how many Legacy Runners still remain? Before today, there were 211. After today, there are 180 Legacies left. No one knows when or if this race will continue, but I know many of us are hoping it comes sooner than later.