So this is absolute nutsy bo-bo crazy town, but I’m leaving tomorrow to run the Walt Disney World Marathon, coming home on Monday and then heading out again a week from Friday to Disneyland to run the Star Wars Half.

I still can’t believe it’s happening. Ever since I was a little girl and incredibly obsessed with Disney, I’ve thought about what it would be like to go to both parks one right after the next. Can’t believe it’s happening. I’m literally sitting here getting the excited shivers like a 6 yr old.

So since I won’t be able to blog much before Tuesday, I thought I’d jot down some quick thoughts on the difference between the coasts when it comes to Run Disney!

I’ve only done 2 race weekends at Disneyland in comparison to my 11 or so at Disney World, but I grew up going to Disneyland at least every year so I feel like that park is more “home” to me than Disney World. I won’t go into comparing them for vacations, but for running, here’s how they stack up:

Disney World in Florida is HUGE and the Run Disney events at Disney World are HUGE. You know how they say everything is bigger in TX? Well, you can apply that to Run Disney in Florida. The expos are huge, the races are plentiful, and the eating and entertainment options are almost unbelievable in their scope.

You also have far more options. Although with the edition of Star Wars they’re catching up, you have 4 major race weekends in Florida to California’s 3 and Florida is the only place to run at night. And Wine and Dine is just so amazing. Oh, and there is no option for a full marathon at Disneyland.

Also in Florida, because of the sheer acreage of the place, you are always running on Disney property (albeit not always in a theme park). Not true in California.

Oh, and because everything is bigger, it’s far more exhausting just to get your junk and get around. The transportation to the Expo can take up to an hour and there’s far more walking in general. The parks are SO MUCH bigger that you will have a much harder time not wearing out your legs before your race at Disney World.

Disneyland in California, on the other hand, is quaintly small. Almost tiny in comparison. But I find that charming. (to read a trip report from my Dumbo Double Dare experience click here)

Everything is smaller there EXCEPT It’s a Small World. My boys and me from our trip there last summer

The smallness allows the expo to be just a few steps from your hotel room (quite literally if you’re staying at the Disneyland Hotel) and the theme parks are just a couple short blocks from that. Nothing at Disneyland is far away from anything else.

I also love the Downtown Disney area and how you can hop back and forth between there, Disneyland Park and California Adventure, multiple times if you wanted to.

Race weekend’s here feel far less stressful to me. The proximity of John Wayne Airport (SNA) is amazing (20 minutes from curb to hotel) and it just starts out feeling less manic. Does anyone EVER feel relaxed at MCO? I don’t.

You can also find very budget friendly accommodations in the area and even the “off property” hotels are incredibly close so you can definitely save some money in the lodging department.

Now, the downside – because the footprint of the parks in CA is so much smaller, you don’t run IN the parks much (although reading this from Greg at Why I Run Disney makes me think we’re in the parks or backstage areas a lot more for the Star Wars half – can’t wait!). What this means is a lot of time on the roads of Anaheim. Now I don’t mind this much (remember, I’m a native and know these roads well!) but it may make this race feel somewhat more like a local race than a Run Disney event. Again, that’s not all bad – the locals that come out to support us are amazing and you see far more high school marching bands and the like (the Polynesian Dancers are the best!).

And if you wanted to make a vacation of it and don’t want Disney the whole time, you’ve got, you know, ALL OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA to explore should you chose. If we were to do this, a race weekend in Disneyland followed by a few days in Huntington or Newport Beach would be lovely.

So which one should YOU do? Depends on what you want! I still think Disney World feels more “official” and Run Disney is more of a presence there but Disneyland’s events are growing every year so it just depends on your personality. If you made me choose, I think I would choose Disney World just because it was the home of my first Run Disney experience and the beginning of it all. But then again, Disneyland was my first park, so that’s awesome, too. Don’t make me choose!

And the next couple week’s, miraculously I don’t have to! My bags are almost packed and all my stuff is ready to go. Getting on the airplane in the morning to run 26.2 miles and have a great weekend with people I love!

Catch you when I get back.

Oh, and happy running.

Jen