Marathon Weekend 2025

[SheHulk]

I ran my first WDW Marathon in 2014. I don't feel the same sentiments that others have expressed, coming from CMs or anybody, but the experience has been watered down year to year. I do mention that every time I do a runDisney survey. If you look at videos of races from back then, like this one

You can see there weren't just characters standing around along the course, there were stilt walkers, trampoline artists (I suspect the tumble monkey performers from the Lion King show), things like that, which are probably a little more expensive to pay for. At the back of the castle, they used to have those long trumpets (herald trumpets?) playing off the back balcony, like you were royalty arriving at the castle! So fun. Gone. Maybe part of that is that it caused a choke point at an already tight area, because people can't just enjoy something, they have to stop dead in their tracks and record. But, still, touches like that. More bands that Disney had to pay to perform as opposed to only marching bands (which are my favorite entertainment at a race, but most likely free or cheap). I thought there were much bigger tracts that were devoid of anything during the marathon this year.
Each expo used to have a welcome rug out that was printed especially for that race. More race-specific signage at the hotels instead of the generic runDisney sign. Way more decor themed specifically for that race for that year.
All of these. are the kinds of thing that, taken away, wouldn't stop somebody from doing the races. But, more and more, year over year, it's chipped away so that now, 10 years later, it's different.
Edited to add: Okay, I just speed-ran through the video and see he didn't include the trampoliners or stilt walkers, but they were there, I swear!

 

[FanforDisney]

Hi.. I only started doing rD two years ago .
. would you mind expanding pls on how the experience has changed for you compared to 2012?
I’m just curious, and willing to write emails to rD just for sake of improving
Thanks!

For me, RunDisney stopped giving out to the top 5 runners male/female in each age group award plaques. This occurred for the races that happen after Covid. The first race I did was 2020 Princess, and I got one. As I get older, I have been getting into 1-5 place every time for the races that I have done

 

[PrincessV]

Hi.. I only started doing rD two years ago .
. would you mind expanding pls on how the experience has changed for you compared to 2012?
I’m just curious, and willing to write emails to rD just for sake of improving
Thanks!

@Barca33Runner highlighted a lot in the post above. I’ll add some free association of my own…

Course congestion is SO much worse than it once was. Partly due to larger race fields, but also due to how corrals are released - this mini-wave thing has been lauded as an “improvement,” but speaking from my vantage point as a back-middle of the packer, it’s made things MORE congested. We used to have specific parts of the course that would get tight - narrow sections, or going through the castle in MK - but nowadays the congestion never lets up for those of us in the back corrals. I could expound for pages on this, but I’ll resist.

I much preferred when race registrations were done through Active. It wasn’t great, but it was less of a disaster than since rD took over IT operations itself.

The ever-escalating COSTS relative to income. 5Ks used to be well under $100 - I think I paid $59 for the 2012 Princess 5K. Hotels were affordable. PhotoPass was included in APs. I expect prices to rise over time, but they’ve risen at a FAR greater rate than income - my income, anyway.

The increasingly earlier start times.

The drop from what was once considered the gold standard of races. The whole chip debacle of this MW really bothers me, even though I wasn’t personally affected. Things happen: the chip failure isn’t rD’s fault. But I do expect as the organizer that rD would move mountains to fix it, not just say to the 10Kers “whoops! Sorry - nobody gets an official time, but feel free to time yourselves!” For what people paid to run? To me, that’s amateurish and inexcusable.

The finish line… speaking as someone who is VERY COVID/flu/RSV/etc. conscious and takes more precautions than most for self-protection, I totally understood handing us medals instead of putting them over our heads when race first resumed after being canceled due to the pandemic. But we’re now handed them still folded up in a plastic bag, often with indifference instead of a smile and “CONGRATULATIONS!” This isn’t being done for any kind of health safety; it’s cost-cutting - because now they don’t have to pay anyone to open all those bags and get the medals out and ready. It’s taken me a while to realize it, but it really, really bothers me. Being handed a wrapped up medal feels equal to being handed a banana: not special at all.

There are still a lot of things rD does well, but the negatives have started to outweigh the positives for me, and I’ve cut back drastically on how often I participate.

 

[nancipants]

I thought they started leaving the medals in the bags to stop them from chipping?

(Regardless that they shouldn’t chip in the first place…)

 

[SheHulk]

@Barca33Runner highlighted a lot in the post above. I’ll add some free association of my own…

The drop from what was once considered the gold standard of races. The whole chip debacle of this MW really bothers me, even though I wasn’t personally affected. Things happen: the chip failure isn’t rD’s fault. But I do expect as the organizer that rD would move mountains to fix it, not just say to the 10Kers “whoops! Sorry - nobody gets an official time, but feel free to time yourselves!” For what people paid to run? To me, that’s amateurish and inexcusable.

This chip thing this year -- it didn't impact me but yeah. The fact that it happened at all, and the shrug you seemingly got afterward, bananas. Forget runDisney, I can't imagine any large race either making this kind of mistake or making this (non) response after.

 

[SheHulk]

I thought they started leaving the medals in the bags to stop them from chipping?

(Regardless that they shouldn’t chip in the first place…)

Right. If the medal can't survive even being placed around your neck and worn a little bit...

 

[GollyGadget]

I ran my first WDW Marathon in 2014. I don't feel the same sentiments that others have expressed, coming from CMs or anybody, but the experience has been watered down year to year. I do mention that every time I do a runDisney survey. If you look at videos of races from back then, like this one

You can see there weren't just characters standing around along the course, there were stilt walkers, trampline artists (I suspect the tumble monkey performers from the Lion King show), things like that, which are probably a little more expensive to pay for. At the back of the castle, they used to have those long trumpets (herald trumpets?) playing off the back balcony, like you were royalty arriving at the castle! So fun. Gone. Maybe part of that is that it caused a choke point at an already tight area, because people can't just enjoy something, they have to stop dead in their tracks and record. But, still, touches like that. More bands that Disney had to pay to perform as opposed to only marching bands (which are my favorite entertainment at a race, but most likely free or cheap). I thought there were much bigger tracts that were devoid of anything during the marathon this year.
Each expo used to have a welcome rug out that was printed especially for that race. More race-specific signage at the hotels instead of the generic runDisney sign. Way more decor themed specifically for that race for that year.
All of these. are the kinds of thing that, taken away, wouldn't stop somebody from doing the races. But, more and more, year over year, it's chipped away so that now, 10 years later, it's different.

I forgot about the trumpets! What a shame that they’re gone. I remember the trampoline, stilt walkers and even some kites. These have mostly been replaced with giant screens playing cartoons and while the cartoons are entertaining they aren’t nearly as special.

In 2018, WWOS had characters at every turn (and there were a lot of turns ). rD used to make an effort to provide unique entertainment during those stretches outside of the parks. Now the races try to minimize the time in the parks and use the cheapest entertainment possible.

Some other entertainment that I missed this year were the jammitors and poly drummers.

 

[nancipants]

I haven't seen the Jammitors at ANY of the longer races.

I will give them props for bringing back the Star Wars stuff. I hope they keep doing that, either with Star Wars or some other IP. They need to do the same along Western Way. The water pageant was also really cool.

 

[The Expert]

My first rD race was 2016, but I really didn't start doing a lot of weekends until 2017, so while I haven't been doing it as long as some of these other veterans, I've been doing it long enough to notice degradation.

My first couple of HMs -- Princess and Tink 2017 and maybe also Princess 2018? -- we got cloth drawstring backpacks with the race weekend logo on them at the finish. That went away well before Covid. We also got our pic taken at the expo and they verified finishing each race before handing out challenge medals. Now I feel like you could get swept on every race but the last one and still pick up all the bling. Between that and being handed medals in a bag, I agree with @PrincessV that the finish line medal experience is really lacking.

I also recall show performers on the courses, like Tapestry walkers near Nemo, and an actual REAL gospel choir singing live at the finish of the marathon only. Not knocking the other distances AT ALL, but this is something that really made my first marathon (2020) feel special and now its usually just a bunch of kids lip syncing to a random playlist at every race. I did like that they were at least singing live this MW, and I loved the live singer and live band at Epcot for two of the other races.

The themes are also getting repetitive, especially Princess. I have not felt compelled to do a Princess race for at least a few years now. And the SS and W&D weekends feel SO random! Its like they are just using an algorithm to tell them what IP is popular with the target demographic, then making up some weak thread that ties them together.

 

[pluto377]

I'm curious for anyone that ran from 2013-2018, the number of finishers for those years was around 20,000. This year it was about 12,500. What was course congestion like back then compared to now?

https://www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?MIDD=481190113

 

[Herding_Cats]

I totally get what you're saying with these points, but as a a counter point (from someone who started rD post-covid I don't know that all of the changes are necessarily bad?

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what has changed for the worse. The obvious things are HS being basically cut out of all courses and the courses and weekends becoming more homogenous. But I only run Marathon Weekend and I expect the courses to be relatively the same from year to year, so that shouldn’t bother me all that much. A lot of what has changed, for me, feels unquantifiable.

With the new early-entry procedures in place for HS, I don't think we'll ever have more HS time outside of SS where that's the first park you run through and there's 0 impact on ticketed guests.

What has really started to hit me the last couple years is how industrial and automated everything has become. Registration is the same (and remains awful), the medal reveals are the same, the expo is the same, the merch is the same, the pre-race is the same, the announcers (who I don’t hate as much as some) attempt the same jokes and talk to the same people, the courses somehow seem even more crowded. There are no more surprises and it seems like Disney and RunDisney like it that way.

As someone who is newer to rD, I really appreciate the predictability in knowing when we are getting themes. When we are getting announcements. Consistent medal reveals. I don't konw how you can makes race themes or medal reveals more "surprising" or "special" especially when (from what I've read) people used to complain they didn't know the theme of things like Princess until registration day!

I do agree that I'm tired of the people being interviewed being the same over, and over, and over again. I very much enjoyed the interview of the Lion's fan the morning of 10k this year (and not just because I'm a Lion's fan) because it was a drastic change in topic from the usual.

The hardest thing to quantify is the overall feeling I have during the Weekend though. To me, I just sort of feel an underlying resentment toward the runners in a way that I really didn’t experience before. Like the CMs are smiling and complimenting on the outside but it’s not as genuine. Maybe I’m the old, jaded participant glorifying my earlier race weekends and imagining things that aren’t there now; but, for me, things are different. I just have this general feeling that Disney doesn’t want us there anymore and they are no longer attempting to hide that sentiment.

I feel like they're just out of ideas of how to make it feel special. AND, there's a big generational shift happening (IMO) around the race weekends. I feel like they're recognizing a shift in their demographic toward younger millennials/older gen Z, and that has some to do with the marketing, the influencers, etc. Are there plenty of older runners than that group? Yes. But looking long-term that age group is going to be their cash cow for the next 15 years.

 

[fatmanatee]

I thought they started leaving the medals in the bags to stop them from chipping?

(Regardless that they shouldn’t chip in the first place…)

It's definitely the chipping. I don't know if there's a way around it. These are very colorful medals, none of the other races I do have medals with all this paint on them and I don't end with several of them where you need to take photos with them all draped on you. Dopey this year is an absolute monstrosity. They're probably spending significantly more in medal costs than they were a decade ago and I kind of wish they didn't.

 

[Baloo in MI]

Stepping up on soapbox…

This year marked my 10th at MW. My first back in 2015 was overwhelming and magical and when I completed Goofy that year I legitimately cried when the volunteer placed my medal on me. I remember then walking through the chute to the challenge area where they actually verified my bib and picture (that had been taken prior at the expo as part of the expo process). It made me feel like rD took my accomplishment and their reward of it seriously.

This was my first so of course it had more meaning to me, I recognize that. And I love rD, I plan to keep doing these races until I physically can’t, i.e. never!

But if I compare 2025 to 2015. This year I got my bibs for Dopey and was not even asked to see my ID (did show them my digital pass). Was handed the bibs and luggage tag with a half hearted “have a good race” as the person was in a conversation with another volunteer. Later handed my shirts in the expo with a volunteer (imo) a bit too focused on my daughter, and barely engaged with me at all; just another runner coming to get shirts. Completely lacked a sense of this is a special moment. At the end of Dopey, I am handed a medal in a bag, I walk to the challenge area and am simply handed the Goofy and Dopey medals based on the bib I am wearing. And then it is out to the reunion area. All of this and not even mentioning that rD made so little effort to fix the chip issue. I was a lucky one and my times were recorded, not that it mattered.

People are training for half a year for this weekend. And what ends up being missed, for me, is the sense that this was a difficult challenge and based on that should be important to rD to get it right.

I will deal with the cost, I might complain but in the end I’ll hand over my credit card. And I can deal with the crowding. But rD needs to show that they care, that this is an event where people are really pushing themselves and whether PRing in fun or pushing limits this needs to be celebrated and recognized by how the event is run.

Getting off soapbox now.

 

[SheHulk]

It's definitely the chipping. I don't know if there's a way around it. These are very colorful medals, none of the other races I do have medals with all this paint on them and I don't end with several of them where you need to take photos with them all draped on you. Dopey this year is an absolute monstrosity. They're probably spending significantly more in medal costs than they were a decade ago and I kind of wish they didn't.

I liked the medals before they had paint. The shiny actual metal looking ones. Yes they were the same or very similar year to year but I don't mind that.

 

[Zutroy]

As someone who did RD races between 2010 and 2020, the biggest change has been registration. You used to be able to register for any race almost any time. Ever notice the disclaimer that after a certain date registration prices go up? That actually used to matter. As a result, the races definitely had a much more local presence. It would not be unusual in the workplace to have a group of women all sign up to run Princess, or a group do Wine and Dine and then party all night (when W&D was only the half, which was held Saturday night).

The interaction with the runners was personal, rather than the modern parasocial influencer garbage that has ruined RD. As others have mentioned, on-course entertainment was actually entertainment, not a insta photo-op.

Another big change was to the volunteers. They actually used to be people from the community who came out to cheer on the runners. My first marathon I’m turning the corner in HS and hear my name called out. There was one of my friends who was a volunteer on the course. When I went to get my Dopey medal, another friend put it on me. Now none of them volunteer because of how Disney treats volunteers.

 

[Naomeri]

I thought they started leaving the medals in the bags to stop them from chipping?

(Regardless that they shouldn’t chip in the first place…)

Yeah, I started at Princess 2022 and the medals were loose then. I think it was after the beautiful, but super chip-prone 50th anniversary themed MW medals that they stopped taking them out of bags. I kind of like the bags, because I don't want to put my pretty ribbon of my gross, sweaty neck, so I can just shove a bagged medal in my pocket.

I forgot about the trumpets! What a shame that they’re gone. I remember the trampoline, stilt walkers and even some kites. These have mostly been replaced with giant screens playing cartoons and while the cartoons are entertaining they aren’t nearly as special.

I kind of hate the cartoon clips. Not because ai actually hate the cartoons, of course, but because they're SO loud and the speakers are strung out so far ahead of the screen, that I lose my interval alerts and get out of my groove.

I haven't seen the Jammitors at ANY of the longer races.

I will give them props for bringing back the Star Wars stuff. I hope they keep doing that, either with Star Wars or some other IP. They need to do the same along Western Way. The water pageant was also really cool.

I talked to the Jammitors after their set on my way into Epcot on the day after the marathon, and told them I missed them at the races, and one of the guys said that Disney just hasn't been having them do it the last few weekends.

 

[Zutroy]

I haven't seen the Jammitors at ANY of the longer races.

I filed a complaint because those guys should be cleaning not drumming. Turning their garbage cans into drums is a misuse of company property, and to play them while they are in uniform and on the clock! That’s wage theft, and I will not be a part of it.

 

[PrincessV]

The themes are also getting repetitive, especially Princess. I have not felt compelled to do a Princess race for at least a few years now. And the SS and W&D weekends feel SO random! Its like they are just using an algorithm to tell them what IP is popular with the target demographic, then making up some weak thread that ties them together.

I didn’t mention this because I thought it was a mostly “me” thing, but since it’s clearly not just me, I’ll echo it. I was very happy with Wine & Dine being themed around… wine and dining. To go with the F&WF. We even got a “free” beer or wine at the finish! It was terrible wine, but I really appreciated the dedication to theme, lol! Also why does MW need some kind of extra theme? Retro this, 90s that - for years the theme was Marathon Weekend with the same characters headlining each race. I know the Disney of today is “IP Everything, Everywhere, All at Once,” but races sold out just fine without that. No reason to overcomplicate things.

I'm curious for anyone that ran from 2013-2018, the number of finishers for those years was around 20,000. This year it was about 12,500. What was course congestion like back then compared to now?

https://www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?MIDD=481190113

I have always started from a later corral for the longer distances, from 2012 to today: crowding on course was MUCH less in the past, even with larger fields. We’ve debated the why of that endlessly here, but I don’t think there’s any one reason: it’s the combination of Club rD, which times need PoT, how many corrals are used, the addition of mini-waves, and I’ll add something controversial… I think there are a lot more folks entering these things undertrained. There were only 4 corrals when I ran TOT in 2012 and I started in the last of them with no PoT - I experienced no crowding on course at all and was free to travel at my own pace. 2013 PHM had maybe 4-5 corrals, I think - there were some tight spots at Cone Alley and through the castle, but things were otherwise very open. Those later corrals were ENORMOUS, but spread out pretty quickly. To be clear, I was moving slowly with slow folks in the back - but I never encountered an absolute herd of hundreds all walking a slow death march like I do in the back lately. For years I assumed it was due to the heat, because most of my races have been hot - but this MW pretty much killed that theory.

AND, there's a big generational shift happening (IMO) around the race weekends. I feel like they're recognizing a shift in their demographic toward younger millennials/older gen Z, and that has some to do with the marketing, the influencers, etc. Are there plenty of older runners than that group? Yes. But looking long-term that age group is going to be their cash cow for the next 15 years.

Yep. I think this is a lot of it. The whole “Do it for the ‘gram!” mentality gets to me, tbh. I appreciate that that’s a me-thing, not something rD should or could change, but it has changed how I feel about the races, for sure.

Stepping up on soapbox…

This year marked my 10th at MW. My first back in 2015 was overwhelming and magical and when I completed Goofy that year I legitimately cried when the volunteer placed my medal on me. I remember then walking through the chute to the challenge area where they actually verified my bib and picture (that had been taken prior at the expo as part of the expo process). It made me feel like rD took my accomplishment and their reward of it seriously.

This was my first so of course it had more meaning to me, I recognize that. And I love rD, I plan to keep doing these races until I physically can’t, i.e. never!

But if I compare 2025 to 2015. This year I got my bibs for Dopey and was not even asked to see my ID (did show them my digital pass). Was handed the bibs and luggage tag with a half hearted “have a good race” as the person was in a conversation with another volunteer. Later handed my shirts in the expo with a volunteer (imo) a bit too focused on my daughter, and barely engaged with me at all; just another runner coming to get shirts. Completely lacked a sense of this is a special moment. At the end of Dopey, I am handed a medal in a bag, I walk to the challenge area and am simply handed the Goofy and Dopey medals based on the bib I am wearing. And then it is out to the reunion area. All of this and not even mentioning that rD made so little effort to fix the chip issue. I was a lucky one and my times were recorded, not that it mattered.

People are training for half a year for this weekend. And what ends up being missed, for me, is the sense that this was a difficult challenge and based on that should be important to rD to get it right.

I will deal with the cost, I might complain but in the end I’ll hand over my credit card. And I can deal with the crowding. But rD needs to show that they care, that this is an event where people are really pushing themselves and whether PRing in fun or pushing limits this needs to be celebrated and recognized by how the event is run.

Getting off soapbox now.

I applaud your soapbox stump. You nailed it.

As someone who did RD races between 2010 and 2020, the biggest change has been registration. You used to be able to register for any race almost any time. Ever notice the disclaimer that after a certain date registration prices go up? That actually used to matter. As a result, the races definitely had a much more local presence. It would not be unusual in the workplace to have a group of women all sign up to run Princess, or a group do Wine and Dine and then party all night (when W&D was only the half, which was held Saturday night).

The interaction with the runners was personal, rather than the modern parasocial influencer garbage that has ruined RD. As others have mentioned, on-course entertainment was actually entertainment, not a insta photo-op.

Another big change was to the volunteers. They actually used to be people from the community who came out to cheer on the runners. My first marathon I’m turning the corner in HS and hear my name called out. There was one of my friends who was a volunteer on the course. When I went to get my Dopey medal, another friend put it on me. Now none of them volunteer because of how Disney treats volunteers.

I registered for my first race a month out from race day!

About the volunteers… most, maybe all? are now paid voluntolds: CMs required to work the races. I think maybe they’ve partnered with some local orgs to add more than CMs to the mix, but the entire program is very different than it used to be and I agree - it’s noticeable.

 

[PrincessV]

I’ll add another thing that bothers me immensely: Club rD. IMO, pay-to-play is antithetical to rD’s primary lure - a race for all people, of all abilities, on equal footing. I personally don’t care about buying merch or being in a later corral, but the premise of selling those spots to those willing and able to pay a luxury tax for the benefit is distasteful. When we had those gigantic corrals full of us peons without PoT, it mostly felt egalitarian: we were all in it together. There was a weird camaraderie there. Party in the back, people! Lately, the emphasis on “needing” to be in an earlier corral, or at the front of your corral, feels a lot stronger. I’m sure that’s fueled in part by social influencing, but Club rD has a hand in that, too.

 

[Dopey 2020]

I started runDisney in 2016 (when they went to metal medals for the 5k) and did my first half in 2017. I’ll say the same as others, it’s difficult to pinpoint the difference but it is far from the magic that it was. Even after in the parks, I have far less CMs even acknowledging the medal I’m wearing. The only thing I’d say is still good is any character interaction.
I will second the age group awards, the first weekend back post Covid is still my half PR and I was amazed to get 3rd in my AG, crickets from RD. That felt like a slap in the face. When the quality of medals goes down and the cost to race goes up, you can afford to recognize the top AG finishers like every other race I’ve run.