For Disney cruisers, the Castaway Cay 5K is something of a staple on trips to Disney’s Castaway Cay—the private island in the Bahamas. In recent years, however, the race has become a DIY experience. But don’t worry—it’s still free, there’s still a medal, and running is always its own reward. In this post, I’ll walk you through completing the Castaway Cay 5K from start to finish, including your options for the best routes on the island. Read on to learn all about the Castaway Cay 5K!
Castaway Cay 5K Basics
The bottom line for the Castaway Cay 5K these days is that it consists of:
Running 5K on Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay
Asking for a medal
But you’ll want to know the best course to run, along with where to get the medal. That’s why I’m writing this post.
A 5K is 5 kilometers, or 3.10686 miles. I don’t believe any route on Castaway Cay is USATF certified (more below), so your goal should be to either (1) stick to the “official” route if you don’t have GPS tracking or (2) run until your device registers 3.11 miles (or 5km) if you do have GPS tracking.
I’m going to say “running” throughout this post, but whether you walk or use some other method of mobility to get around, everything in this post should apply to you.
Steps for Completing the Castaway Cay 5K
I go into some detail about your options for 5K routes on Castaway Cay below, but I don’t want to bury anything else important about the 5K. So I’ll quickly outline the very simple steps to know about the Castaway Cay 5K before closing with a discussion of possible routes.
First, you need to get to Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island in the Bahamas. This requires a Disney Cruise that stops at Castaway Cay. Second, you (probably) need to make sure you pack clothes you’re comfortable running in. Either wear these onto Castaway Cay or bring them to change into. Don’t plan on going back to the ship in the middle of your Castaway Cay day.
Third, once on the island, you have to run 5 kilometers. Completing the Castaway Cay 5K and earning the medal is now on an honor system. You have your entire day at Castaway Cay to run the course, and you don’t have to record your route or anything to confirm you did it (if you do record, I always recommend Strava).
I discuss possible courses next, but most routes start and end at the Bike Rental Stand, pictured above, and all routes should use the island’s bike path. You should not plan to run a route on the pedestrian areas of Castaway Cay (i.e. by the shops/beaches/restaurants).
Finally, once you’re done, stop by the Bike Rental Stand and ask for a medal. I’m not good at this blogging thing and didn’t think to just take a nice photo of the medal with the Disney Wish in the background, so here’s a dumb-lookin’ photo of me with the rubber medal:
There’s also Castaway Cay 5K gear for sale at the store nearby:
Castaway Cay 5K Quick Tips
Before I get to the routes, I wanted to throw in a few quick tips for making the run a little more enjoyable.
Remember, it’s hot. While temperatures can vary, this is the Bahamas. You probably shouldn’t plan to PR on this course, though I’ve still run some of my best runs on Castaway Cay.
Consider bringing water. While there is typically a water jug with cups at the entrance to The Loop, you just never want to totally rely on something like that. If you think you’ll need water during your run, I recommend bringing your own.
Record on Strava. I’m a big Strava fan for all things running. If you record on Strava, you can see how your performance compares to other people recording on Strava or to your own past performances.
Don’t beat yourself up. This is a run on a pretty sunny course, in the Bahamas, with almost no scenery, including a long stretch on runway, while you’re on vacation…if ever there’s a “race” to not get bent out of shape over, it’s this one. Just have fun and be proud you finished.
Castaway Cay 5K Route Options
There are at least two routes that have been “official” 5K routes on the island, and a third that is probably shorter than 5K but that I’ve heard people say the Cast Members on the island refer to as the “official” course.
The Best 5K Route on Castaway Cay
I’m going to start with the route that I’ve always understood to be the official route. It’s the route I’ve run twice on Castaway Cay as part of the old organized race, and it’s the route I chose to run this time around, too.
I’m calling it the “best” route because it seems to be the most official route and it comes in close to a perfect 5km. On my last run, I had to add a bit at the end to get to 3.11 miles on my Apple Watch, but Strava calculated my total run as 3.15 miles. Here is a different recording of the route on Strava, where it registers a little short at 3.05 miles.
The route is essentially an out-and-back, meaning that you’ll run 1.55 miles from the start, turn around (U turn noted in my below map), and run (almost) the same route backwards. Below is a look at the route, with more explanation to follow.
The start/finish is marked by my blue star at the “R” on Disney’s map—it’s the Bike Rental Stand. The turnaround—at the end of the runway—is marked by a U turn sign, and the green/red dashed lines are the routes out and back:
You can break the route into three pieces, one of which gets run twice:
Bike Rental Stand to/from the runway
The Loop (2X, see important details in this post)
The Runway
Leaving the Bike Rental Stand, you run in the direction of the bike path, away from the beaches etc. You’ll have bikes around you most of this route, by the way, but they’re slow Disney tourist bikes, so unless anyone misbehaves they don’t post a danger. Give a friendly “on your left…thank you!” if you need to.
You’ll quickly see a sign that tells you to turn right:
This will take you to the runway, where you make a left (toward the long end of the runway, you’ll easily see turning right goes nowhere).
But you don’t run down the entire runway yet. About 1/4 the way down the runway, you’ll see the entrance to The Loop on your right.
Head in here.
You can see on the map there’s a short straightaway before the loop itself. Signage and traffic flow dictates you run counter-clockwise (so, turn right to start the loop). Take one lap around the loop, exit via the way you came in, and turn right to run up the runway. (Important: If you’re thinking “oh but I thought it’s two loops?” JUST KEEP READING this section and the next section on the “short” route.)
The runway isn’t long, but it’s always brutal. You’re running straightway on mostly unshaded pavement in the Bahamian sun. Once you get to the end, you’ll see this plane with a U turn sign.
Congrats, you’re halfway done!
Sidenote: A mentioned earlier, this entire route tends to record on the shorter side of 3.11 miles. You should be at 1.56 miles since you’re halfway. If you want to add some buffer so that you don’t wind up running past the finish line (into pedestrians) trying to hit 3.11, you can turn right here and add as much distance as you want before turning around.
Now you go back and do the route almost exactly in reverse. Why “almost” exactly? Well, when you get to The Loop, you’ll still go counter-clockwise, so it’s technically not a perfectly symmetrical route. That tiny note aside, it’s just the reverse of how you got to the turnaround.
Run back down the runway to the loop entrance. Take a left off the runway and run the short straightaway to The Loop itself. Run The Loop counter-clockwise. Exit via the straightaway. Back at the runway, turn left and cross the runway to head back toward the path to the Bike Rental Stand.
Once you cross and then exit the runway, you’ll come to the first/last turn, this time a left back to the Bike Rental Stand. Congrats, you’ve run the Castaway Cay 5K! Go to the Bike Rental Stand and ask them for a medal!
Now, I want to talk about the two alternative routes…
The Probably Short Alternative Route
Look, I want to be clear—I don’t care if you run 5 meters or for 5 minutes or for 5km or 5 miles. You do you. But one of the most popular routes I see people talking about is probably short of 5km. I don’t want you to run your race and look at your GPS and be shocked to see it pretty well short.
This route is very similar to the “best” route I described earlier, but you do the following:
Run from the Bike Rental Stand to The Loop
Do two laps around The Loop
Run to the end of the runway
Run from the end of the runway back to the Bike Rental Stand (without a stop at The Loop)
This is almost the exact same as the “best” route just with the second loop done immediately after the first. It winds up short because you’re only doing the small straightaway into The Loop twice (once in, once out), as opposed to four times. If you add the straightaway as part of your two loops, then you’ll wind up with the same distance as the “best” route.
The Loop straightway is about 0.1 miles. The Loop itself is about 0.8 miles. So in the “best” route, you get:
(From Bike Rental)
Straightaway into The Loop — 0.1 miles
Loop 1 — 0.8 miles
Straightaway out of The Loop — 0.1 miles
(Runway)
Straightaway into The Loop — 0.1 miles
Loop 2 — 0.8 miles
Straightaway out of The Loop — 0.1 miles
(To Bike Rental)
For a total of 2 miles for your two trips to The Loop.
But on the short route, you get:
(From Bike Rental)
Straightaway into The Loop — 0.1 miles
Loop 1 — 0.8 miles
Loop 2 — 0.8 miles
Straightaway out of The Loop — 0.1 miles
(Runway, then to Bike Rental)
For only 1.8 miles for your single, double-loop trip to The Loop. Again, if you just add the out and back on the straightaway in between your two loops, this is the same distance as the “best” course.
Additionally or alternatively, you can always add distance at the end of the runway by running a bit down the Serenity Bay Cabanas path. Just turn right instead of making the U turn right away (you can’t miss the path).
The Castaway Cay Challenge Route
Disney sometimes offers the “Castaway Cay Challenge”. This is a special Castaway Cay 5K on a specific cruise immediately following the Walt Disney World Marathon, designed for runners who ran one or more of that weekend’s races.
The challenge comes with a special medal, and it’s run on a different route than the typical 5K. I don’t recommend this route because (1) it doesn’t start/end at Bike Rentals, and (2) the exact start, finish, and turnaround aren’t marked.
I’m not sure the route (which isn’t marked outside the challenge race) is USATF certified. I don’t believe it is, and my guess is it just works better for a popular 5K because it’s more spacious. Here’s what this route looks like:
This route starts on the runway, not at Bike Rentals, and it replaces the second trip around The Loop with an out-and-back along what I’d call the Serenity Bay Cabanas Path. So you:
Start at the southeastern intersection on the runway
Go to The Loop and take one lap, exit and turn right on the runway
Go to the end of the runway but turn right instead of turning around
Go to the end of the Serenity Bay Cabanas path and then turn around
Turn left back onto the runway, skip The Loop this time, and finish where you started
The downside of this route is that the start, finish, and turnaround aren’t marked. But if you’re using a GPS device to measure your own distance, the upside is that you’ll be finishing with a clear sprint down the runway. This is definitely better than the Bike Rental finish, which can be at a crowded spot (and if you add extra distance after Bike Rentals on that route, you’ll wind up in a sea of non-runners).