Marathon Weekend 2026

[The Expert]

SAFD: I will stop for rare characters within reason, and almost anybody if the line is short enough. I'll stop for a character I'm dressed as almost every time. Those who are wait-worthy for me that I have gotten:

Herc and Meg together
Bolt
Adventurer's Club cast
All the princes (assuming they still do this for the Princess half?)

The one I regret not stopping for was Merlin, who was out just after the start for a race a few years ago and the line was CRAZY. But I should have just done it.

 

[radiodome21]

SAFD: TBH I’m not a huge character person in general and with only one runDisney race (SS 10k) in the books I was pleasantly surprised with seeing them on the course. However I was more concerned with not getting swept so I didn’t stop for any. We have races 2 & 3 this weekend and since I’m in better running shape than I was 6 months ago I might stop. The whole family is doing the 5k and this is the only motivation my 17 year old daughter has for agreeing to do this. I hope she sees someone she likes. I do think my 15 year old son will like it too. He can’t wrap his head around the idea of going to WDW and doing a race. He’s loves Disney world too. He’s a cross country runner so he should beat all of us, or at least give him enough time to see some characters.

 

[MissLiss279]

SAFD: I only stop for characters if the lines are reasonably short (5 people or less) which doesn’t generally happen for me until the marathon. But Like @Barca33Runner, I would stop for Disney Afternoon characters with a little longer line. Darkwing is my favorite, but if I ever see Kit Cloudkicker or Becky or the other characters from the Rescue Rangers, I would stop for them too. I think I remember seeing Monterey Jack recently, so that was fun!

 

[Herding_Cats]

It appears that Sam's Club is going to have a DGC "sale" going from 11/7-9 where you can get a $200 DGC for $180, limit of 4. These are e giftcards, not physical giftcards.

 

[KCO5988]

SAFD: I've only done W&D 2024 and Princess 2025 in recent history so not sure if these are considered rare or not on the courses - but I very excitedly stopped for Lumiere and Sebastian. Hoping Powerline Max will be at one of the days MW because my kindergartener loves The Goofy Movie and I think would love to see a pic of me with him.

 

[jrsharp21]

SAFD: I am also one who really never stops for characters. They are cool to have out on the course and I love seeing who the stops are. I think in all the years I have only stopped twice, Lightning McQueen and Darth Vader. Both times there was not a line. So made it a quick stop. Since we start the races in the dark, I think having some of the Tron characters out there would be cool. Also, has Baymax ever been out there? I think that would be another cool one.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

MCM is my only non-rD marathon so far, and it was great! Enjoy the heck out of the whole atmosphere and race route.
My boss will be there running, so I have some amount of FOMO going on.
One hint: one of the tables at the expo had a MCM patch. I grabbed two, one for my backpack and one that I sewed on the sleeve of a MCM t-shirt that I bought at the expo.
Another comment: a surprising number of people see me in a MCM shirt, see just the Marines stuff and not that it is a race, and ask how long I was in the service. I absolutely do not want any underserved valor, so my answer now is "Six hours; just long enough to run their marathon".