We're back with another one of Renée awesome runDisney updates, this time from the Star Wars Half Marathon: The Dark Side at Walt Disney World. 

It was an entire weekend on the roads of Walt Disney World, let's get right to it!! 

Written by Renée Girard

​Star Wars marathon weekend kicked off today at Walt Disney World! The 5k is tomorrow, and we’ll be running in the First Order Challenge on Sat and Sun. May the Force be with all participants!

Check out that bling! The feeling of accomplishment and getting one of these little beauties after completing a runDisney race never gets ol

​We are ready to begin day one of the First Order Challenge in the WDW Star Wars half marathon weekend.

​Looking forward to seeing all of the awesome and creative costumes, like this one, out there on the course. 

​Some people have interesting pre race warmups. I approved of this one! Naps are essential.

​And we’re off!

​Storm Troopers at Spaceship Earth right before the finish of the Star Wars 10k. Day one of the First Order Challenge is complete! On to the half marathon tomorrow...

Good morning from WDW! It’s time for the final day of the Star Wars Half weekend. Have fun, stay hydrated, and may the course be with you!

A few shots of the fireworks going off at the start of the Star Wars Half

Ever wonder how many people participate in runDisney events? This view of the starting corrals is just some of them. Congrats to all!

While Disney always does a great job with their characters during the Star Wars Half , the fan created ones are also absolutely fantastic! Thanks for coming to support the race this weekend!

Happy Earth Day and happy 20th birthday to Disney’s Animal Kingdom! We won’t be at the park today for the festivities but got to run through at sunrise during the Star Wars Half .

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This past weekend our very own Renée ran her 10th Princess Half Marathon and is among a very elite group of "Perfect Princesses". But we already knew that. =) 

Congrats to Renée and all of the runners. 

Written by Renée Girard

It’s just after 4am here on the east coast, and we just arrived at Epcot for the 10th anniversary of Disney’s Princess Half Marathon!

We just took a big group photo of all of the “Perfect Princesses”, aka people who have run the Princess Half every year!

​At the starting line with several thousand other runners way before the crack of dawn.

The Princess Half announcers are on stage and getting the crowd warmed up. We’ll be heading out in just about 20 minutes!

​Always great to see Jeff Galloway in the corrals before a Disney race! 

​Cinderella’s fairy godmother whipped up some fireworks and sent runners out on the 10th annual Disney Princess Half Marathon. 

​A nice morning jog at sunrise through the Magic Kingdom.

Belle and Gaston were greeting runners this morning outside of his tavern for the Princess Half 

Congrats to all who participated in the WDW Princess Half this weekend! We had a blast and will be back once again next year! ​

Earlier in the week it was announced that Disney was cancelling all RunDisney races on the west coast for the foreseeable future. This was kind of known since none of the races for 2018 had gone on sale yet, and the first one of the year was in January. 
​
So as of today, the Super Hero Half Marathon in November may be the last race on the west coast for some time. 

The reasons for this are as extensive as the excuses flying around. Everything from Star Wars Land construction to Disney trying to "stick it" to the Anaheim City Council for them dragging their feet approving the Eastern Gateway and Harbor Bridge. 

Never mind that Disney dragged their feet for more than a decade while they had a very favorable city council in Anaheim. 

So what does this mean for you, the consumer? Because the ramifications of this go FAR beyond race weekends. 

First off, if you think the Eastern Gateway and Harbor Bridge is going to be completed by the time Star Wars Land opens, I've got some bad news for you. 

And it's going to make traffic around the resort during the 24 hour Disney parties look pale in comparison. There simply aren't enough roads, parking spaces, access points, freeway exits and ways to get people to the park. The Eastern Gateway wasn't going to fully address this problem, but it's better than them adding 400 parking spots in the Toy Story Lot. 

And who is going to feel the brunt of all this? The Disneyland front-line Cast Members and park visitors. Disney is still going to get their money, the city of Anaheim is still going to get their tax revenue.

​People are still going to descend on the parks to be "first" to visit Star Wars Land. They are still going to complain on Twitter on how big of a nightmare it is, how Star Wars doesn't fit at Disneyland and how everything is now ruined ... all while waiting 10 hours to get into the new land. 

So with all of this, WHY did Disney cancel RunDisney races? 

Is it because of Star Wars Land construction? Possibly. But as you can see, we got pretty close to it last year during the Super Hero Half. 

It also can't be because it wouldn't allow enough distance running through the park, because during the Super Hero race in 2014 there was just over 2 miles of running through the parks and backstage ... during a 13.1 mile race. 

It can't be because Anaheim doesn't like the revenue they get for the police, traffic officers, permits and other things. 

This is about 2 sides wanting different things, one side (Disney) dragging their feet and one side (Anaheim) not wanting to bow down to the mighty mouse. 

Sure, them cancelling these races may not impact you right now, in fact, many of you will probably enjoy not having runners descend on "your" park 3-4 times per year. 

What makes you think the relationship between Disney and Anaheim will somehow improve by them doing this? If anything, it's going to make it worse. And the next time Disney wants to expand their parks or resort or build a hotel ... good luck. 

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