I ran in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle and through the Disneyland hub without fear of being told to “please walk” as I participated in a pre-dawn 5K race for Disneyland cast members that serves as a fun employee perk and a good excuse to get a little exercise.
The Disneyland Cast Member Friends & Family Holiday 5K was held at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure on Saturday, Nov. 18 in the hours before the Anaheim theme parks opened to visitors.
ALSO SEE: Disneyland lamppost falls and injures 3 visitors during high winds
I’d never run in a 5K before and now I can say I have — even if I walked 98% of the route.
I broke into a brisk 10-yard jog about 10 times during the race to be able to say I “ran” in the 5K — but I can safely say I still have never run an entire 5K. Another goal for another day.
But I was not alone. The vast majority of my fellow 5K racers were walkers and rollers. The actual runners who didn’t show up early enough for the race had to weave their way through the pack to reach a pace beyond speed walking.
ALSO SEE: Disneyland tightens pin trading rules to rein in ‘pin-sanity’
Our four-person team arrived at the Mickey & Friends parking structure just before 4 a.m. and there were plenty of people who had been there long before us. Long lines awaited at the parking booths, security gates and tram stop.
It was still pitch black as the crowd swept into the side gates of Disney California Adventure and headed toward the starting line in Hollywood Land. With the promised showers passing to the north of Los Angeles, most racers threw caution to wind and opted against rain gear.
The throng of racers lined up along DCA’s version of Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood Land and stretched back toward the front gate along Buena Vista Street.
The main drag of Hollywood Land looked like Main Street USA during fireworks — crammed shoulder to shoulder with an endless sea of runners in the red race t-shirts handed out…
Read the full article here
