2017 Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend

[WIFriendofFigment]

The race retreat was expensive, but I found it to be worth every penny. It was so nice having a warm tent, private bag check, bathrooms and food before the race (bagels, bananas, oranges, coffee, soda and water. There was peanut butter, cream cheese, jelly and butter for the bagels and also toasters to toast them.

I didn't find the walk to the corral any worse than the main staging area. It's a looooooong walk no matter what!

After the race I really enjoyed being able to get out of the sun. The breakfast buffet was pretty good. They had scrambled eggs, turkey sausage patties, roasted potatoes, oatmeal w/ toppings, yogurt with toppings, muffins, bagels, bananas, oranges, coffee, tea, chocolate milk, soda and water. There may have been Powerade, but I don't remember. My only complaint is that there was cheese on the scrambled eggs and they also provided more shredded cheese on the side.

I loved watching the live feed of the finish line. I was hoping to watch the very last person cross the finish line, but I was just too tired.

There were characters for photos - Aurora and Philip & the fairies from Sleeping Beauty. They also had a backdrop with some props.

The gift was a hand towel with Princess Half Marathon on it.

I agree that the race retreat was worth the cost for us. DH was definitely feeling a little woozy after the race, and it was good to know that we had food and a place to sit out of the sun waiting for us. The food was pretty good too.

I was not, however, prepared for port-a-potties in the dark in the AM. I'm glad my phone has a flashlight. They must assume everyone has one?

Just got home tonight - ran my first 5k. Definitely a great race to start with! We had a fabulous time and got some great pictures! Didn't stop for any characters, but the photopass ones were very fun.

Thank you so much everyone on this thread for all the info, suggestions, advice, and support! As a newbie, it really helped to know what to expect!

I second this wholeheartedly. I so appreciate all of the help here as a newbie as well. Thanks everyone!!!

I like how this is the measurement for how going to the expo is at Princess.

We went on Saturday because that was the earliest that we could fly in, and I was surprised to find that there was still a decent selection of things. I know a few things I found were dumb luck b/c they were probably returns in my size that showed up, but I didn't feel like I really missed out on a whole lot by avoiding the craziness of the first day.

We had some photos taken where my bib was blocked - any idea if I would be able to get those photos? Pre photopass, you could scroll through the thousands of images to try to identify missing pictures.

I was also wondering if there was a way to report pictures as not me. Someone had an additional digit in front of their bib number that was in a shadow a few times, making it look like my number, so her pictures are showing up in my photos. I hope there's a way for her to get her photos!!!

 

[run.minnie.miles]

Ahh!! I'm a little late/behind on this thread, but I'm so glad to hear so many had a great race. I had such an amazing experience too! We're at WDW until tomorrow, and I'm actually impressed my legs are still working!

 

[joan4mickey]

Great race!

The corral releases were bizarre. When was the decision made to cut them all in half like that?!

They changed about three years ago. They used to let each corral go about every 4 minutes. I do like the smaller corral and every two minutes although I think there is more time between corrals the further back you go.
Curious...what did you find bizarre?

Well I am home now but had a great weekend and enjoyed talking to lots of participates and hearing their stories. As a solo traveler I do try and talk to others

 

[pluto377]

Just wanted to check in that I had a great experience at the 5K. Went to the expo Thursday evening around 5pm and experienced no crowding or other issues. The race on Friday was great. Course was crowded, but not terrible. In case anyone is reading this for next year, we stayed offsite in the Formosa Gardens area and left our house at 4:30am. We were at Epcot and parked just before 5am. Unfortunately the race coupled with all the park walking I did the week leading up to the race means I seem to have pulled a muscle in my back/hip. It's still painful and I'm hoping it improves soon.

Planning to sign up for the GSC next year (or whatever they're calling it!). I had always wanted to do the Goofy Challenge, but after having 3 kids it's just not going to happen so I'm hoping GSC is attainable.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice on this thread!

 

[bcarey2k]

For the 5 and 10 they had four releases per corral. I really liked it and would have been happy with more than two releases per corral for the Half.


I am an interval person and I try hard to be good about it but omg some of the other intervalers and walkers just about drove me nuts. Was comfortably jogging behind this man with a nice pace who suddenly stopped to scratch his leg and I nearly ran into him. I didn't touch him but did say "whoa, yikes!" as I maneuvered. And he kept saying "I had an itch!"

My shoelace came untied in the lane leaving Mk and I had to just wait until the next water stop for there to be space to tie it. No way was I going to go across the cones or into the grass. And it was then (in the one lane area out of MK) that the 3 hour pace group came through and drove me insane. They had the same interval as I do but they made NO effort to move to a side st all. When someone at my interval is messing up my intervals I know it's bad lol.


I ended up running without music the whole weekend which was weird but better than expected.

They used the same release strategy at the Paris race last year too.

 

[sidrich]

They changed about three years ago. They used to let each corral go about every 4 minutes. I do like the smaller corral and every two minutes although I think there is more time between corrals the further back you go.
Curious...what did you find bizarre?

Well I am home now but had a great weekend and enjoyed talking to lots of participates and hearing their stories. As a solo traveler I do try and talk to others

Wait- they had multiple releases for the same corrall? That sounds new at least compared to Princess last year. How did that work- "First half of Corrall F!" "Second half of Corrall F!" That sounds confusing.

 

[Ariel484]

Wait- they had multiple releases for the same corrall? That sounds new at least compared to Princess last year. How did that work- "First half of Corrall F!" "Second half of Corrall F!" That sounds confusing.

That's exactly what they did for the half. As @JulieODC mentioned earlier (great to meet you!! ), we were next to one another in Corral F and I thought I heard something about multiple waves but I felt like the speaker near us wasn't very loud? I also heard them say they delayed the start but not the reason (traffic?).

Anyway...I think the first few corrals went off as normal. I think the "mini corrals" started with E. I quickly lost track of where they were when the mini corrals started and when Julie and I actually began, we didn't get fireworks. Bummer! They did the mini waves for the 5K and 10K in January, so I was expecting it for the 5K and 10K this past weekend, but they didn't do that for the marathon...so I was thrown for a loop when they did this for the Princess Half! I did think it helped ease the congestion for the first couple of miles, though.

I was also a little bummed that they didn't have any Disney characters up with the race announcers for any races during the weekend. Oh well.

 

[txdisneygrl]

This was my friend and I's first half. Despite very crowded parks, we had an amazing time. I knew it would be busy, I still wasn't prepared. Oops. We both loved the race so much!!!!!
I tried to have good race etiquette but I also know I failed at that a couple of times- so sorry to everyone for that. I think I am hooked... I want to do it again next year! My friend and I are talking about Rebel Challenge though so I will have to decide.

I also may have caught myself pricing out Tink and trying to convince my Mom to go on a Mother/Daughter trip so I can get the pink C2C...

 

[bumbershoot]

I ran with the 3:00 pace group from about mile 2 until we entered MK and it was quite a drawn out group. I didn't train for intervals but since 3 hours was my goal time, I thought it would be nice to stay with a group for a bit. While I loved the intervals, the group seemed to have a tough time sticking together, and at some points people were running/walking about 5-6 people abreast. I ran at the back of the group and another runner commented to me that the pacer was weaving, and it was causing the group to spread out more.

I lost the group in Magic Kingdom to stop for photos and a real bathroom, so I wasn't sure how many people stayed with the group.

Glad to know you weren't in the group by the time I saw them. It was a big group and she wasn't moving side to side at all in cone alley. And since the group wasn't single file they caused big clumping.

Wait- they had multiple releases for the same corrall? That sounds new at least compared to Princess last year. How did that work- "First half of Corrall F!" "Second half of Corrall F!" That sounds confusing.

It all just worked out. They had people holding runners back for the second half; no big deal. I was stopped to be among the first in the second half of I and it was very calm and not confusing.

I also heard them say they delayed the start but not the reason (traffic?).

Traffic. Not a long delay though.

I also may have caught myself pricing out Tink and trying to convince my Mom to go on a Mother/Daughter trip so I can get the pink C2C...

So I thought I was done with rD. Was going to focus on local stuff and rock and roll. But now rnr has broken my heart with not running Vancouver this year.

And my cousin LOVED the 10k and wants the challenge of the half. And wants me to go. Augh.

While I finished it all, and today except for my back/rib (hurting before the trip) I actually feel really good, I can see where my lack of training (injuries and lame excuses) caused excessive slowness in me. I barely finished the half faster than my "dying of the plague but fully trained" Half in 2014.



ETA...the rest of my thought. If she's going to "make me" do Princess then I'm trying to "make her" do Tink so we get the pink ribbon. It'll be new for both of us but she doesn't like to fly. And at princess I pay for the hotel with Dvc and that's not happening in Anaheim so....





Anyone else notice the runners with balloons as part of their costumes? The woman at the 10k (she started behind D) had some people panicking! Balloons shouldn't be allowed as costumes lol.

 

[joan4mickey]

Sorry about the corral confusion. The first three corrals each went with fireworks. That's really all I can speak for as I was in C. But I was saying the corrals, at least the first several, are smaller than they used to be. I used to start in B and even with a sub 2 hour half submitted time I am now in C. Not a big deal. No matter how they release there is still going to be bottlenecks as the course is just narrow in areas.
The pacer in Corral C knew what he was doing but seemed clueless about the course and didn't know a thing about identifying princesses but I reminded him he has 13 mile to learn. Too funny...he called snow-white superwomen.

 

[FFigawi]

Anyone else notice the runners with balloons as part of their costumes? The woman at the 10k (she started behind D) had some people panicking! Balloons shouldn't be allowed as costumes lol.

I know @Keels will agree with you. Someone's maroon balloon kept hitting her, and others, in the face during the marathon in January.

 

[Bree]

I know our 2:30 pace group really tried to have proper race etiquette, but it didn't always happen because people just won't move over to the right if they are a slower runner or walking. There was also the issue with groups of people stretching across the entire course instead of rows of two.

The only bottle neck problems for me were in the first 4 miles. The further along I went the less crowded it was. Even the run through MK was a breeze.

Balloons should never be allowed! Did anyone else see the woman with the enormous buzz light year wings? She must have been hitting people with them left and right.

 

[sidrich]

That's exactly what they did for the half. As @JulieODC mentioned earlier (great to meet you!! ), we were next to one another in Corral F and I thought I heard something about multiple waves but I felt like the speaker near us wasn't very loud? I also heard them say they delayed the start but not the reason (traffic?).

Anyway...I think the first few corrals went off as normal. I think the "mini corrals" started with E. I quickly lost track of where they were when the mini corrals started and when Julie and I actually began, we didn't get fireworks. Bummer! They did the mini waves for the 5K and 10K in January, so I was expecting it for the 5K and 10K this past weekend, but they didn't do that for the marathon...so I was thrown for a loop when they did this for the Princess Half! I did think it helped ease the congestion for the first couple of miles, though.

I was also a little bummed that they didn't have any Disney characters up with the race announcers for any races during the weekend. Oh well.

Huh- I wonder what prompted that decision? Presumably if they wanted smaller groups they could have just made corrals smaller when they designed the corrall placements (and it sounds like that ALSO happened) but dividing a corrall into bits seems to imply the decision was made after corrals were assigned? Or maybe they thought if they used smaller corrals they would run out of letters!

I was in F last year and we didn't have fireworks- I think they stopped after D- but then I was so excited I lost track and thought we were being sent off during the start for corrall E for a moment and couldn't figure out why no one was running! I don't even think Fairy Godmother started us off I think it was Galloway.

 

[courtneybeth]

Yes! I saw a few runners with balloons and it freaked me out because I didn't want to get hit and I think it makes people worry about the balloon ladies.

 

[LindseyJo22]

This was my friend and I's first half. Despite very crowded parks, we had an amazing time. I knew it would be busy, I still wasn't prepared. Oops. We both loved the race so much!!!!!
I tried to have good race etiquette but I also know I failed at that a couple of times- so sorry to everyone for that. I think I am hooked... I want to do it again next year! My friend and I are talking about Rebel Challenge though so I will have to decide.

I also may have caught myself pricing out Tink and trying to convince my Mom to go on a Mother/Daughter trip so I can get the pink C2C...

Parks were so busy! We ended up being in Disney right before Marathon weekend on a non running trip and thought it was just the holidays. But now we know - apparently run weekends are just crazy!

I also was trying to figure out how I can manage to get to another Disney race before January next year...sadly I just don't think it will happen since we have all our points spoken for, but I may still be Googling just to see

 

[joan4mickey]

I thought the DJ at the staging area was really good pre-race. I don't remember him from past years.
And the lack of the Fairy God Mother or any other characters at the start was sad. I honestly thought there were fewer photos ops on the course. Usually Tiana is in New Orleans Square and I don't remember seeing Woody In Frontierland. I don't remember the course going off to the right there and back over the Splash Mountain bridge? Was it that way last year? If not this was the first. I understood why there was no train at the track crossing as it is under construction. And I really liked the music around mile 7 in years past with the groovy van. This year was just some guy talking as we went by. And no character stop past GF near the MK parking lot before the gas station??? And just one character in Epcot. In years past the Fairy God Mother has been near the soda place, just before bridge. Mickey was out when I finished.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

Thank you again to everyone on here!

My dd (15) had an amazing run thanks to all your tips and advice. She did stop multiple times for photos and a bathroom break which I think she would not have done otherwise. Her time was actually pretty good considering all the stops (2:50)-- which was still less than her first half at Tink last year. If she hadn't of stopped she might have been able to PR but, she's very happy with photos especially the one with the four Princes. She was so excited to be in that line that she kept texting me it didn't matter how long it took.

Best part is - she had a great time and got her Coast to Coast. So many people were pumped to see her wearing it around the parks and stopped to congratulate her.

Her only "complaint" about this run was how crowded the course remained throughout the entire run. She started in Corral L - so that was going to be a given especially with all the stops she made.

 

[bumbershoot]

I was not, however, prepared for port-a-potties in the dark in the AM.

I can't remember what the situation as for Retreat January 2014 but in general I go for the potty with the klieg/parking lot light over it. Helps with the blindness.

I know @Keels will agree with you. Someone's maroon balloon kept hitting her, and others, in the face during the marathon in January.

Ugh.

Balloons should never be allowed! Did anyone else see the woman with the enormous buzz light year wings? She must have been hitting people with them left and right.

She posted a pic on a princess Facebook page. Breezy little "sorry" to anyone she might have hit with her wings. I refrained from commenting. But if that guy who starts dead last and counts his "kills" (people, mainly women of course, he passes) posts there again I WILL comment. I saw him and his shirt in the line for beer and there were several of us (strangers) talking about how offensive that is.

and I think it makes people worry about the balloon ladies

It absolutely did.

She started in Corral L

Started in L, multiple characters and a bathroom stop, and she finished in 2:50? I'm just going to go cry now lol.

 

[Ariel484]

I thought the DJ at the staging area was really good pre-race. I don't remember him from past years.
And the lack of the Fairy God Mother or any other characters at the start was sad. I honestly thought there were fewer photos ops on the course. Usually Tiana is in New Orleans Square and I don't remember seeing Woody In Frontierland. I don't remember the course going off to the right there and back over the Splash Mountain bridge? Was it that way last year? If not this was the first. I understood why there was no train at the track crossing as it is under construction. And I really liked the music around mile 7 in years past with the groovy van. This year was just some guy talking as we went by. And no character stop past GF near the MK parking lot before the gas station??? And just one character in Epcot. In years past the Fairy God Mother has been near the soda place, just before bridge. Mickey was out when I finished.

I liked the DJ too. Woody was out in Frontierland - I agree that I was also looking for someone in Liberty Square and was bummed there was no one there.

The course is different - they moved the starting line up. Mile Marker 4 used to be at the TTC but was further down...Mile Marker 5 used to be by the turn near Space Mountain but was closer to the MK entrance. The Splash portion is new (they used it in January during the marathon too).

 

[Ariel484]

Trying to think of characters that were out for the half...

Pirates
Heroes
Villains (Evil Queen and Maleficent when I went by)
Buzz in Tomorrowland
Queen of Hearts at Teacups
Beast at Be Our Guest
Anna, Elsa and Kristoff on the castle
Woody in Frontierland
Mary Poppins Penguins near Grand Floridian
Tourist Genie at Golf Course
Coming back down World Drive, another chance at Heroes and Pirates
Mushu backstage at Epcot
Princess Daisy (!!) at Port of Entry
Characters at finish - it was Donald and Goofy for me.

I'm sure i'm forgetting some, can anyone fill in the blanks? There were a couple of guys out with a car near the Car Care Center but i'm not sure that counts...

EDIT: and the wedding pavilion guys, I always think that's a weird one.