On your marks... it’s a race to Magic Kingdom
I’M proud to say that I’ve completed the London Marathon a few times, but I’ve never done anything quite like the Disneyland Paris half-marathon.
The race begins at 7am. I joined thousands of others on the start line and before long we were heading through a backstage area before venturing past all the amazing rides.
Then came the best bit: we ran through Magic Kingdom as the sun was slowly rising and we were greeted by Mickey Mouse and Minnie.
One of the quirks of doing this race is you can pose with various Disney characters along the route. I was adamant that I wasn’t going to stop and I hurtled past Jack Sparrow and Goofy. But then I ran through Magic Castle and just couldn’t resist a snap with Snow White and then with Rapunzel. The race also takes you out of the park and into the French countryside, and we were cheered on by locals in a number of pretty villages.
Unfortunately, one person who wasn’t cheering me on was my husband James, who had managed to sleep through his alarm call.
So once I had finished the race (in a not unrespectable time of one hour and 44 minutes), I wandered back to our Disneyland hotel for a Character Breakfast. Here you can get photos with Pluto and the gang, so my young daughter Ella was in heaven.
After eating, I even had enough stamina to head straight back to the park and experience some of the rides until we had to leave for our return to St Pancras on Eurostar that afternoon.
Disney organises similar running events at its parks in the US. That sounds like a good excuse to pack my trainers and head off to Florida…
The Disneyland Paris Magic Run Weekend will return on September 20-23, 2018. For information visit run.disneyland paris.com/bookings.