Everything You Need to Know About the Castaway Cay 5K

Guest writer Meghan shares everything you need to know about the Castaway Cay 5K! -Nicole

When Corey and I booked our first Disney Cruise, the only thing I knew I wanted to do is the Castaway Cay 5k. As much as I read about participating, I was still a little stumped about parts of the process. Here’s everything you need to know and what I learned about running the Castaway Cay 5k.

First, registering for the run.

This isn’t something you have to worry about until you actually get on the boat. As much as I tried to register to do it ahead of time, it is impossible. You register at Guest Services on the boat at the start of your cruise. While I got on and immediately went to guest services, it’s not that urgent of a matter to participate in the 5k. A man showed up at the meeting location about 30 minutes before we left the ship, went and registered, and got back before we even left the meeting room.

At guest services, just tell the cast member you would like to register for the Castaway Cay 5k. They will ask you your name and room number and print a ticket like the ones for excursions that you will return at the meeting place on the ship the morning of the run.

It’s that simple. The cost of running is included in your cruise fare so there’s no extra charges.

Next, meet before disembarking.

I was early to this event, which is scheduled at 8:15 AM. There is no reason to be any earlier than the stated start time. Even though I wasn’t the only one lined up and they did let those waiting in line into the meeting spot about three minutes early, the cast member didn’t start talking about the 5k until almost 8:20 AM. Your meeting place will be on the excursion ticket that is printed for you by guest services. For the November 2015 cruise on the Dream, it was Evolution, one of the clubs in the district on deck 4. The district is in the back of the ship, or aft. If you’re eating breakfast in Cabanas, the large buffet restaurant on Deck 11 aft, it’s easiest to take the elevators in Cabanas down to deck 4 and the entrance to evolution is right there.

They urge you to move to the front so you can see and there’s enough seating for everyone. It’s a brief meeting that is mostly about the course and where the water stops are.

If you have children that are too young to run– they have to be 10 or older to run– bring them with you to the meeting in Evolution. You will get to leave the meeting first and walk your children to the kids only spot on Castaway Key called Scuttle’s Cove.

If you’re not planning on going back to the ship to change and cool down (which I recommend) there is a place to lock up your items while you’re running. If anything, I recommend stashing some water bottles in there for afterwards or something to cool you down.

Make sure you are at the meeting no later than 8:30 AM. Even if you’ve run the 5k before and don’t need all the information, it is requested that everyone arrive at Evolution and disembark and walk back to the starting line together. Also you must go to the meeting place to get your participant number. If I had run it before, I wouldn’t have been as hesitant to stop and take pictures along the way like others were doing. Being the first group of cruisers off the island made for some very deserted photo ops. You walk as a group back to the start point, which is between Buy the Seashore and Flippers and Floats.

Buy the Seashore

Flippers and Floats

There’s a stationary sign there that says “5k start.” At the start line, there are cups and water. Drink this water! It’s the only cold or cool water you will get along the course.

Now, running the 5k.

They go over the course so many times before you leave the meeting point on the ship because people tend to do it wrong, which is understandable. From the starting point, follow the path out to the airstrip on the island. When you reach the airstrip, there are signs pointing to the left toward the bike route loop. Enter the bike loop and go to the right on the loop. At the meeting, they stress staying in the right lane of the loop. If you’re in a large group of runners, try to stay out of the way because there are bikes on the loop while there are runners. I was not in a group, so I sought shade while on the bike loop. The loop is the only place with shade. There are meter markers on the loop telling you how many meters are left in the loop starting at 5000 meters and the last one telling you there’s 1000 meters to exit. After you do the loop the first time, you go out to the right to the end of the airstrip to the adult only beach entrance and then turn around.

The plane at the end of the airstrip where you turn around and go back to do the loop again.

When you come back to the bike loop, and go back in to the loop and go to the right again and stay on the right. Some folks do their own thing, so it’s not strictly enforced, but they encourage you to do it their way so you’re not flattened by people biking. Once you’ve finished your second loop, exit and go to the left back towards the start line which becomes the finish line. Cast members will be at the finish line handing out medals.

You receive the medal and number as part of the run and can purchase Castaway Cay 5k merchandise at the Buy the Shore store at the start/finish line.

The day I ran, it was much hotter weather on the island than I was used to running in at home, so I power walked the entire thing instead of trying to improve my time. They don’t want heat stroke on the course! While there is a timer, it’s for personal benefit. This is not an officially timed event and there were several people out on the course just meandering along. This is an easy way to get some runDisney bling without the threat of a bus picking you up, especially now that they’ve updated the finisher medal to a much nicer and more official looking rubber medal. It was about 90° the day we stopped at Castaway Key in the morning and there is no shade on the airstrip part. Make sure to grab a sip or two of water at the water station before heading out to the end of the airstrip. The water station is set up at the entrance to the bike loop. That’s the only place to get a cup and water on the course besides the start line. While there are water jugs on the bike loop, I didn’t stop at any of those since I was unsure of when those were filled up. There were some participants stopping at those though.

Once finished, stop back at the cold water. Trust me, it will feel so cold then! I recommend taking the tram, which is right there at the finish line, back to the first stop and going back to the boat to cool down and change for the beach. Also the boat is deserted on Castaway Key morning and a good time to ride the Aquaduck before heading back off the ship. I realize this won’t be the case for everyone’s Castaway Key day, but most days in the Bahamas are very hot and if you’re not used to it and tend to get dehydrated, I would recommend bringing a bottle of water with you on the course. Walking the 5k, I was done by around 10 AM. It was already very hot and made it difficult to change out of my race clothes since there’s little to no ventilation in the bathrooms. The water is a great way to cool down though. It’s clear and on the cooler side. Overall, I wish I had made the trek back to the boat to cool off and change than trying to do so on the island.

There are plenty of medals and participant numbers– I feel like the entire ship could get out there and run if they wanted to, but the group wasn’t nearly as big as I thought it was going to be. While I don’t plan on running it my next cruise, it was such a fun experience and a relaxed run that I would definitely do it again on future cruises.

Have you participated in the Castaway Cay 5k before?

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