Walt Disney World marathon weekend recap 2025

While I have been at RunDisney’s Princess race weekend every year since 2014, Marathon weekend is not a consistent trip for me. I have found myself going more often than I expected the past few years, though!

I didn’t really think I would go back after my Dopey Challenge in 2020, but this year now marks my 3^rd trip for Marathon weekend since then (half marathon in 2022, and 10k in 2023). To be clear, I did not run the marathon! I am not sure that is something I will ever do again. But I did travel down to Disney to support other people – and figured I’d run the half marathon while I was at it, too!

Jenn over at Fairest Run of All and our good friend Erika were both tackling Dopey this year. While I had thoughts several years ago that I would maybe do it again if Jenn asked me, I have not been in as good running shape lately and so the marathon (and Dopey) was not going to happen. But the half marathon I could do.

The Expo

Even before race day this one had already been a bit of an adventure. I picked up my bib at the expo on Thursday, with the half marathon happening on Saturday. Figured I would be all set to enjoy some parks time on Friday, get dinner, and early to bed!

Then Thursday evening I got an email saying that there may be an error with my bib, and the timing chip wouldn’t work. They told me I had to come back to the expo on Friday to get it fixed.

I have to admit, I am not thrilled about the way this was handled. I know things happen, and I’m very thankful for all of the cast members who worked very hard to help correct things. It’s not even Disney’s fault from my understanding, but TrackShack, the company they use to time the races. Regardless, it’s not so much what happened but how they handle it.

Messaging was somewhat inconsistent. Some runners got different emails. 10k runners were just out of luck and didn’t get their race timed, while some Dopey runners had to get theirs fixed the morning on the 10k. And while I don’t necessarily expect compensation, I had to waste a lot of time going back to the Expo on Friday. That’s not the easiest process, especially when you don’t have a car. And the expo was only open 12-7pm, so you had to go in the middle of your day. By the time you wait for a race bus, get on it, walk all the way down there, wait in line to get it fixed, and then wait for another bus afterward (which stops at multiple resorts) you’re out 2 hours of your afternoon.

Especially in a place where you may have advanced dining reservations, or Lightning Lanes booked that you paid for and have to happen at a certain time. It’s wildly inconvenient, and I’m pretty disappointed that it wasn’t really addressed. Even just saying “hey, here’s a $10 Disney gift card” would have gone al long way. Not that I really needed that, but it’s more that it would have been an acknowledgment of the inconvenience and stress.

I was fortunate that I’d left my afternoon pretty free and was just planning to wander around Epcot after my Team Determination brunch. So instead I did not get to go back to Epcot after being there for about 2 hours that morning, but went back to the expo instead. But at least I got it fixed for the next morning.

Race morning

And when the alarm went off Saturday morning it didn’t feel quite as rough to be waking up at 2:45am when I had company – and when the others in my room were doing it multiple mornings in a row!

Jenn and I got up and headed out to the race bus earlier than Erika and our other friend Kate, as they were in a later corral than we were and so didn’t have to arrive quite as early.

This year had been a cold marathon weekend so far, with the 5k and the 10k both being around 40 degrees and windy. As a runner 40 degrees doesn’t sound too bad, but keep in mind that you are sitting/standing around outside for around 2 hours before you start running. And when it’s that cold and you have wind, it can be pretty brutal.

So I was feeling pretty grateful that it was going to be around 55-60 degrees for the half marathon. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so optimistic, because it started raining not long after we got off the bus and the wind was strong. 55 degrees with windy rain, where the rain is basically coming down sideways, is a pretty miserable time. I was pretty glad I bought a hat at the American Cancer Society fundraiser brunch!

Jenn and I huddled together for warmth and tried to stay behind a truck to block out some of the wind before I got too anxious to not be in the corral and we headed over there. I assured her that I have some slight weather controlling powers, and that the rain would stop soon and the run would be good weather overall. This was in fact the case, with the rain ending around 4:45 and really only sprinkling at one short point after that.

I am not really a “run with other people” kind of person when it comes to doing races. I just don’t want anyone to feel pressure to keep up with someone else, or to slow down their pace. Jenn floated the idea and I told her if she wanted to stay with me I’d be happy to have her, but we were also good to split up at any point.

Running the Disney World Half Marathon

As it turns out, that happened almost immediately, as I get antsy with so many people around me and tend to run faster in the beginning to get a little more breathing room. My anxiety just doesn’t do well running in those large crowds. Jenn was also planning to go a bit slower with the marathon the next morning. We had said earlier that if I stopped for characters I’d let her know and maybe she would catch up with me, but for now I was off on my own. Well, on my own with hundreds of other runners around me.

I didn’t really have a time goal, but I thought if I was feeling good that I might try for around a 2:15 half marathon. By mile 3 I knew that it wasn’t the day for it. I don’t think my muscles appreciated standing around in the cold rain. So when I saw my pace was around a 10:15 at the 5k split, I listened to my body and slowed it down… and started stopping for lots of photos!

We had already passed a number of characters by mile 3, but none that I was super excited about or hadn’t met before. Then I saw Prince John from Robin Hood. I’d never seen him out, and the line was pretty short, so I did my first character stop.

Not too long after that was another rare Robin Hood character, the Sheriff of Nottingham. His line was even shorter, so I had to grab that one as well!

I hadn’t looked at the map before this race. Most of the half marathon routes have been pretty similar year to year. I figured if there were any differences I would be surprised and it would keep things interesting. Well, the course was quite different so they definitely kept me on my toes!

Unfortunately, I would not say that it was different in a good way. Rather than running through the gates of Magic Kingdom and to the TTC around miles 3-4, we went off to the side and towards the Polynesian. We then took the walking path from the Poly to the Grand Floridian, and then eventually to Magic Kingdom.

There were a few things that bothered me about this. The path is rather narrow (especially compared to running in the road). Particularly by the Poly, the road was uneven and rough. It was very narrow because they were still doing some construction in that area. But the biggest issue for me was that it was just not at all well lit. Between all of these people packed together, uneven or unusual surfaces with some of the bridges, not being able to see well, and everything being slippery from the rain, I was pretty nervous and felt rather unsafe for this portion of the race.

I was very grateful once we were closer to the Magic Kingdom and lighting was better. It had also started lightly raining again at this point, so I didn’t see any character stops. I was pretty bummed to learn that there had been a spot by the Grand Floridian for Marie from Aristocats. We had Aristocat costumes and I really wish I could have gotten that picture! But it was not to be.

One thing that was cool was that they floats for the Electrical Water Pageant were out on the lake, and they were playing the music for it as we ran by.

Running through Magic Kingdom

And then we were entering Magic Kingdom and it was time for my favorite part – running up Main Street! It just feels so magical with the castle right there, and the crowds on the side cheering. I knew my ACS group would be there so I kept an eye out and waved to them.

In the past when I’ve run through Magic Kingdom we’ve always gone towards Tomorrowland first, then Fantasyland, then through the castle, and then up Liberty Square, past Frontierland, and out a side exit. But this year we started by going left, through Adventureland! I liked that because I’ve never run through Adventureland before.

While running through Frontierland the Hitchhiking Ghosts, who had been out at the Halloween Party this year, were up on the railing. They are so entertaining and it was fun to see them there.

We then came up past the Tangled bathrooms, by It’s A Small World and Peter Pan’s Flight, to go up through the castle. So if you’ve done this race before, don’t worry – you still get to run through the castle with the new route!

I was surprised that it seemed like there weren’t as many characters in Magic Kingdom as I’ve seen in the past. I didn’t stop for any in the park. The ones I remember seeing were Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean, Flynn Rider, Mickey and Minnie, and Louis from Meet the Robinsons. I thought about Mickey and Minnie but their line was the longest one I saw all race.

Back to Epcot

We ran out of Tomorrowland and then to the TTC on our way back to Epcot. I stopped for a few characters here. First up was Big Al, the country bear.

Then I saw Piglet! I love Winnie the Pooh so I figured it was worth a stop.

About a mile after Piglet I saw Tigger, and of course I needed a picture with him too.

Around mile 10 I spotted Robin Hood, and since I got the other characters earlier, and I wasn’t going for any time goal anymore, so why not another stop?

There is an incline right after mile 10, and then another at mile 11. The one at mile 10 felt great, actually. I guess running all of the hills of Pennsylvania has helped with that. Mile 11 was less fun but still not bad at all.

You get back into Epcot shortly after mile 12, but it’s a little disappointing now because you don’t spend much time in Epcot. You don’t go through World Showcase at all – it’s basically sneak in up by Figment, loop around to Spaceship Earth, and then out by Space 220. I would love to have a little more time running through Epcot.

It seemed that the character stops were all done, but there was one more right before mile 13 – Darkwing Duck! Although I’d met him before, he’s such a fun character I decided to make another stop here.

And then – on to the finish line! While it may not have been a great time, and my body wasn’t feeling as good as it has in the past when I’ve run half marathons, I still did it with a pretty respectable time and lots of character photos.

Post-Race

I got my medal and then headed for the next important thing – a beer from the beer tent. Jenn never did quite catch up with me, but she finished about 10 minutes after I did and found me at the beer tent.

We did a character photo with Pooh Bear (I’d gotten Piglet and Tigger, after all) and then danced around by the DJ for a bit while waiting for Erika and Kate to finish.

Once we were all done with the half we had to get one more group picture with our costumes! Here are your Aristocats:

Overall, I will admit that while the race was fun, it did not necessarily make me eager to do many more Disney races. I will probably always want to go for Princess, as that race weekend is very special to me. But there are a lot of things that make this a less than ideal experience. Between the bib chip timing issues, the narrow and frankly dangerous course, and the general poor job at organizing people in corrals, I may focus more of my running elsewhere.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love RunDisney. It’s a magical experience, and it’s really the people and the friends who make it. But it is VERY expensive. And for that price, I’m not sure I need to go for multiple race weekends a year.

But there were lots of good things about it, and my group of aristocats made it more than worth it!

Characters at the Disney World half marathon

To the best my memory, these were the characters out on the course. Some of them switched out and when I heard about it from others, I’ve noted that here.

• Cruella
• Mary Poppins and Bert
• Penguins from Mary Poppins
• Baloo
• King Louie
• Prince John
• Sheriff of Nottingham
• Marie
• Barbossa
• Flynn Ryder and/or Rapunzel
• Mickey and Minnie
• Louis from Meet the Robinsons
• Big Al
• Piglet
• Tigger
• Robin Hood
• Donald and Daisy (in western outfits)
• Shaker
• Meeko
• Darkwing Duck

Have you ever run a Disney race? Which characters would you want to stop for?