What you need to know about Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5K



Greetings!  In just a few days thousands of people will flock to Disney World to experience the Food and Wine Festival and the weekend of races that go along with it.  In addition to the Wine and Dine Half Marathon ( that is run on Saturday night), Run Disney also hosts a 5K.

I ran the 5K last year and thought I would make a list of things to know about it.

*The Jingle Jungle 5K starts and ends at the Animal Kingdom.  There will be bus transportation set up for runners and spectators ( if you are staying at a host resort).

*Once you get to the parking lot at Animal Kingdom, there should be characters set up for photo ops, and some holiday displays as well.  When I was there it was Mickey and Minnie Mouse in their Holiday outfits.

*You will see lots of runners dressed in holiday themed attire. Make sure you join in the fun by dressing up.
Me and Christine from We Run Disney
I just loved Christine's Elf costume!

*Runners must be in their corrals by 6:45 am and the race starts at 7:00 am.
*I've noticed that volunteers are now starting to check your race bibs even at the 5K's now to make sure you are in the correct corral.  This is a good thing because the last Disney race I did, I started to walk into the "C" corral because I thought it was the "B" Corral. (Hint: the corral is in Front of the letter.)

*The start line is in the parking lot of  Animal Kingdom and it is also the finish line too. If you have friends or family that want to spectate, there is a set of bleachers set up.


*This race started off in the parking lot for the first mile, then you enter the park through the main entrance. The first mile in the parking lot felt very congested and it was hard for me to really get in the groove to run.  After the first mile, the congestion cleared out a little bit.  I think this is because we were entering the park and people were  now starting to stop for pictures. People were stopping at the Animal Kingdom sign and in front of the Christmas tree at the front of the park.

*Even though this is not a timed race, there are clocks at each mile marker.


*I felt that there were plenty of characters along the course. Ones that I remember seeing were Chip & Dale, Pluto, Donald Duck, and some characters from the Jungle book.

Up until this time, I've only ever done the 5K races that run through Epcot so I wasn't sure how this one would compare. It is safe to say that I think this one was just as fun and I wouldn't hesitate to run it again!

This post is part of a Blog Hop that is sponsored by DisTherapy. Move along to read more posts about Disney's Wine and Dine race weekend!
Virtual Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Blog Hop Directory

20 comments:

  1. Wow. I did not realize they had so many 5K races in addition to the half and full marathons.

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  2. Fun! It's good to know that they do have some races that don;t start in the middle of the night LOL have a great time

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    1. Yes, but I think we ended up getting up around 4:00 am for this race..lol.

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  3. Aw, I wish I was running this race! Is the marathon here yet?? I miss Disney!

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  4. Great information, thanks! I'm thinking of doing Wine & Dine next year and Mike was interested in the 5k option so I'll share this with him.

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    1. I certainly would not hesitate to do this race again! Maybe next year?

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  5. Very cool. Thanks for sharing. This one looks like a lot of fun because it hits another park and I love the Christmas theme as well.

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  6. Can't wait to run this in a few weeks :) Thanks for all the information!

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  7. If we lived closer (that is, within the same time zone), we would do this race as a "holiday kickoff" each year -- I love how Disney does the holidays!

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    1. It certainly was a great holiday race to do. Disney did well with the theming!

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  8. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't sign up for the 5K this year but I'm sure my body will thank me when I'm making it stay awake until 4:00 a.m. after running 13.1 miles. This looks like a really cute race! I've only done runDisney 5K's that begin and end at the ESPN WWoS thus far and running through Disney's Animal Kingdom again sounds like so much fun! It was a definite highlight during the WDW Marathon.

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    1. I actually like the Jingle Jungle 5K better than the trail one at ESPN. Actually the best 5K is the one during princess weekend ( in my opinion).

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  9. Aww, I love that this is Christmas themed! I'm still trying to get a lot of my friends to join the runDisney bandwagon...hoping I can tempt them with a 5k at least! We've never run a Disney 5K, but they always look like a lot of fun!

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  10. I'll admit it- this is the only runDisney 5K I haven't done yet. so I couldn't wait to read your review Meranda. I love running through Disney's Animal Kingdom during the half, so I know I would love this route. PLUS, there seems to be no better way to kick off the Christmas season! Thanks so much for co-hosting the hop- you are a wealth of runner info girl!!

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