Tower of Terror Kids Races (2014)

Well, whoops, I totally spaced out and never blogged about the Tower of Terror Kids Races that we did back in October of last year!

It’s definitely a process to do a Run Disney race.  First, you sign up for a race via active.com, then you have to make sure that you get a “custom” waiver and print it out, because they apparently cannot get you one at the event.  Once you get to Disney World, you have to go to ESPN Wide World of Sports and find the event registration area.  Twist, turn, wait in line, sign in blood (not really but it feels like it’s THAT serious), and then finally get your shirts, race bib, and other tidbits you may have ordered.  Maybe I’m crazy, but it would be so much less stress and hassle to mail or email out the race bibs and pick up the shirts and other items on site.  But, that’s not the system, so please show up the day before the race and give yourself tons of time to get through (or even find!) the right lines.

They also have an expo for the event, which has lots of neat-o venders and even the occasional freebie.  We found free cinch bags that had the Tower of Terror run logo on them, along with another advertisement logo.  And, if you’re lucky, you may even get your hands on an exclusive Dooney and Burke purse themed for the run.  I was not so lucky, but maybe for the Princess Run in February! 🙂

My daughter wore her Rapunzel run costume, which I don’t think turned out the best in the long run.  I couldn’t match the purple tutu to the shade of purple in the shirt/shorts, and part of her corset ribbon broke.  But I hope it was still obvious as to who she was.  She did still have some of the makeup on her face from the Pirate League the day before, so I’m sure that sent a conflicting message about being Rapunzel.  Oh well, she enjoyed herself!

My son just threw on a Luke Skywalker Halloween Costume and paired it with some tan shorts.  Much easier, but, I’m not sure that he was any more recognizable.  I had bought him an R2-D2 backpack to wear with it, just to ensure the reference, but he “forgot” it at the hotel.

There were quite a number of activities around the kids’ race zone, including a mini obstacle course and a station where the kids could use stamp pads and diced fruits to put designs on a chef’s hat.  There was also Mickey out and dressed as a scarecrow for a little while, but, unfortunately, he high-tailed it out of there right after the races concluded (that was bad planning in my opinion, as we tried to wait to get a photo until after the run…).

We did still get a picture with the Scarecrow Mickey’s backdrop.

We personally took part in the kids races.  My daughter did a dash (I can’t remember now if it was 200 or 400) and my son ran the Mickey Mile.  Actually, everyone ended up doing the dash with my daughter.  Even though we were in a confined area, parents and siblings were still invited to run with their little ones.  At first I thought I’d skip running with my 6-year-old, but then I felt the peer pressure of being the only parent NOT running.  Being unprepared for racing myself, I was holding a thick Jedi robe, a purse, wearing jeans – well, you get the idea – I was NOT in running attire.

The set up for the kids races was kind of stressful to me.  Every race started somewhere different, and the kids were thrown to the back end of the ESPN Wide World of Sports.  So just getting to the right place took a lot more time than I had anticipated.  Then, the dashes and the Mickey Mile started one after the other, but the Mickey Mile was another quarter to half mile away from where the dashes were.  But then the Mickey Mile ended right where the dashes were held, so I had to drop off my son and run back to the dash venue.  It was super stressful to get across these distances with such a limited amount of time, and I wish the planning staff had done a better job to consider that families might have kids of different ages doing different races (*gasp!*).

The kids races have a clock going, but they also do staggered running (sorry, that’s probably a bad term, but where they release x amount of runners at a time instead of everyone taking off at once).  And, despite my panicked running like a crazy person, my son ended up being in the first group of runners released for the Mickey Mile, and clocked in at 8 minutes 6 seconds for a terrain run that was a LOT of mud.  Pretty good overall! 🙂

Of course, you all want to see medal that every race finisher gets!

The medals are rubber, and the lanyard around them says the race and date.  The medals are different between the kids races, 5K, 10K, and so on, so that’s makes them extra unique.

We also ordered the commemorative Mickey ears for the event, which are black with the Kids Races medal image as the logo on the hat.  The shirts were cute too, and Donald Duck themed as well.  I will add in a photo eventually, but I seem to be having trouble tracking it down right now.

Take note, they DO have photographers on staff for the races, but they are NOT the same as the Fast Pass photographers!  You have to view and purchase the images online, but the service is run by an independent contractor and is not part of your Memory Maker.  I did not care for that end of it, but it is what it is.

Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Review

We had the chance to go down to Orlando for the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend and participate in the kids races.

For no logical reason, other than I like the print, here is the Dooney and Burke design created for this race:

If you’ve ever thought about being a part of a runDisney event, I don’t know if I would recommend this one as your first experience.  We had actually done the Tower of Terror race weekend as well, in October, and found it to be a completely different race environment overall.  The January marathon weekend is very intense, and busy, to say the least.

You know how Disney puts on reservations that you should plan to leave 90 minutes early to get to your destination on time?  That always seems like an overly cautious warning to people, so they don’t throw a fit on the Disney Cast Members if there’s construction or a traffic jam (or a very very very late running bus system).  Well, that actually is a true warning for the marathon!

Getting from Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort, near the Magic Kingdom, over to ESPN Wide World of Sports, which is under five miles away, it was ridiculous!  104 minutes total to get through traffic, because the half marathon was inexplicably moving through the main roads of Disney World.  I understand that 13+ miles is a lot of road to cover, but I do not understand how side roads, back roads, service roads, and employee only roads weren’t utilized to their fullest.  Instead, exits were blocks off (we couldn’t even use the main entrance for Hollywood Studios because it was shut down!), the Disney property highways were shut down, and there were more cops watching the runners go by than there were cops directing the traffic that was stuck in this mess.

I’m sure if I was participating in the marathon or half marathon, I would feel differently about the routes and traffic, but as somewhere there to let their kids do a for-fun-run and have a weekend vacation, it was a ridiculous set up.

The Marathon Weekend is clearly an event placed to keep guests flocking to the parks after the extremely busy Xmas season ends.  And it is very effective in doing that!  You could tell when the bigger races were over, because you’d be drowning in people, no matter what park, restaurant, or resort you were at.  It was definitely not the kind of crowds we were expecting for this time of year…

Aside from the crowds and horrendous traffic, though, it was a very well organized event.  My daughter did the 400 meter dash and my son did the Mickey Mile.  Of course, Kairi had to have an Elsa inspired run outfit:  complete with cape to blow in the wind while she, well, walked slowly to the finish line. >.<

The ESPN Wide World of Sports was full of vendors and free samples.  You could make race signs for free and get caricatures created for no cost (other than a lot of your time standing in line).  Everything started promptly on time, and all of the races, except for the diaper dash, occurred in waves, so people trapped in that miserable traffic had a chance to not miss their race time.  They also made the start of the Mickey Mile closer to the other kids races, which was a great improvement from the October set up – which was mad dashing back and forth across ESPN’s huge back lot.

For their entry fees ($20 each, if I recall correctly) they received:

• a blue runDisney shirt
• race bib with their first name printed on them (the Mickey Mile one had a tracker on the back, even though no tracking/timer services were offered)
• finisher medals (Mickey Mile has Mickey ears on the medal)
• Mickey Mile runners got a finishers certificate to write their time on (even though they were not formally timed at all and ran in waves)

and for another $15 per kid, we bought the ear hats with the kids races logo on them

Here’s a close up of the Mickey Mile Medal.  The other Kids Races medals are the same image, just without the ears on their medals, and the green circle is blue.  The 5k and under medals all appear to be made out of rubber.  And bonus points if you can figure out what Disney character my son decided to be for this race.

They also have photographers everywhere, but it is NOT part of the PhotoPass system.  I’m not sure why it’s not, but the photography staff appear to be a third party, and they sell you photos on their website.  That kind of urks at me, because they don’t seem to clearly make that information available upfront.  So, if you bought a $200 Memory Maker package in hopes of getting race photos as well, you will be severely disappointed.

So, while I love runDisney events in general, if you are not running in the marathon and just want a race for your children, I would completely avoid the Marathon Weekend.  Other races that aren’t as all-park consuming would be a better option.  So, Expedition Everest Challenge, Wine and Dine races (EPCOT is usually packed for this event, but the other parks aren’t bad), or the Tower of Terror races (not currently listed for 2015’s line up though) would all be less crowded options.