RunDisney for Kids: Races at Walt Disney World

RunDisney for Kids: Run Disney is huge! They literally have a race for every member of the family at any distance. Today I’m going to be sharing my opinion of the Run Disney kids races specifically.

We went all-in on the Star Wars Rival weekend. Each member of our family was participating in a race. Since our seven year old was doing his first RunDisney 5k we decided to sign our five year old up for the kids run. He of course wanted his brother to join him. At $20 a piece will felt it would be a reasonable investment in fun. Everyone in the family was going to walk away with a medal.

These runs are held out at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. If you haven’t been it is quite the venue. In addition to the race expo, they have food carts, drink stands and a shop to keep you occupied. They have a baseball stadium and a full track and field complex ( where the kids run took place). It was also very easy to get out to the expo. We drove. My parents took a bus from our resort the Caribbean Beach Resort and took another bus to the Contemporary after to grab lunch.

Here are the details of RunDisney for Kids.-

There is a diaper dash for kids 12 months and under

A 100 meter dash for kids 1-4 years old

A 200 meter dash for kids 5-8 years old

and at the star wars race they had a 1 mile run.

Each run is $20 and comes with a medal when the kids finish and a cotton tee shirt. They also get their own race bib which serves multiple purposes. The kids’ races are sponsored by Go Go Squeeze. They provided free Go Go Squeeze pouches ( which we love) and entertainment in the infield of the track. In the infield, they had a DJ, some soccer games going, hula hoops, and a few tents with coloring pages.

The races were great and the kids had a great time. However, I’m going to give you my honest opinion. On this day in April, it was blazing hot. The kids run start at 10:30 am. Our race began at 11:30 am. There was not a stitch of shade around the track, except for the stands. This was a great place to send my parents as they came to watch the run.

In all honesty, Disney did a great job managing the race. It was a parental nightmare for me. To say that a lot of children were participating in this race would be an understatement. As a parent, you have the option to run with your children or let them run alone. We thought the boys would be big enough to run together. At 11:30 am all the kids in the 200-meter race were put into a race corral. My husband stayed at this end of the field with the children. I walked to the other end to watch them finish. He described this corral as a “kiddy mosh pit”!

The race is let off in waves. So about 12 kids take off together down the track. If your kids are not paying attention they could be at the back of the pack and you could be there FOREVER! Luckily my husband urged the boys to go towards the start line. He was then able to text me when they were on the track.

The kids have a tag on their race bib that acts as a claim tag at the end of the race. They were not let out of the finisher chute without an adult showing that tag to a volunteer. So for that reason, I think it would be super helpful to have two adults to manage the kids, otherwise, neither of you will be able to watch them run.

Mickey was on the track high-fiving the kids as they finished the race and there were a couple of photo pass photographers on hand to snap pictures of the kids as they finished. When the kids finished they had bananas and water just like the finish of any big run. My kids thought it was awesome.

Pro Tip: Make sure the kids bib is visible for the photopass photographers to see. This is how the pictures will get linked to your memory maker account if you have one. We only got a few pictures of one of the kids and none of the other. You have to link these bibs to your memory maker via the My Disney Experience App. There are detailed instructions on the rundisney site, each race has a different code to enter so go there and check it out!

Are we glad we did the kids Run Disney event? You bet. Would we do it again? Probably not. It was a one and done event for us. Our kids are at the age that they could both handle a 5k despite the cost and early wake-up time. I think we would enjoy running the 5k with our kids more. The event felt like organized chaos. My kids loved it.. but I would enjoy running a 5k with them more.

RunDisney for Kids: Have you done the kids races? Do you love them or is it a hard pass? Let me know down below or tag me @adventuresbydrennon on instagram and share your RunDisney adventures/