Marathon Weekend 2026

[marty3d]

Looking for some info from those of you who stop for pics during races.

With my DNF in my October marathon, I’m modifying my plan to PR in fun for the Disney marathon. So I now have a time goal in mind WITH some picture stops. I’m trying to plan out how many pics I can stop for and make that goal. So do any of you have an idea of the average time you spend at each stop?

Agree with @PrincessV.

It can also depend on which corral you start in. If you're in an earlier corral, the lines tend to be shorter) and how far along you are. I find the later miles the lines tend to be much shorter. Last year I started in C and from the Star Wars area heading in to AK all the way to the end I don't recall ever having to wait more than a minute or two. I waited longer to get a beer in Epcot!

I tend to skip the early stops with the crazy lines UNLESS it's a character I really want to see. "Banking" some time for later stops or riding attractions.

 

[RuntheMouse]

It varies SO much! I’m talking everything from walking right up with no one in front of me, to a 45+ min wait. I don’t think there’s any way to plot that out. You really have to assess the situation in the moment and make a choice. Some like to decide ahead of time what characters are worth their time, some make a pre-race call to only stop if the wait is less than a certain amount of time. You could decide ahead of time what total amount of time you’re willing to spend on stops and ration that out as you go - but that’s going to involve a fair amount of mathing.

45 minutes?? See this is why I had to ask. Ooooffffff! Runner math certainly gets harder the later it gets

Agree with @PrincessV.

It can also depend on which corral you start in. If you're in an earlier corral, the lines tend to be shorter) and how far along you are. I find the later miles the lines tend to be much shorter. Last year I started in C and from the Star Wars area heading in to AK all the way to the end I don't recall ever having to wait more than a minute or two. I waited longer to get a beer in Epcot!

I tend to skip the early stops with the crazy lines UNLESS it's a character I really want to see. "Banking" some time for later stops or riding attractions.

I should be in C with my POT. Sounds like the best plan is to worry about time in the first half and then character stops during the second half. I’d hate to miss my time goal if I spent too much time in lines the first half. I feel confident in my plan, my time goal is slower than I’m training for to allow for some fun, just how much fun is TBD!

 

[Naomeri]

45 minutes?? See this is why I had to ask. Ooooffffff! Runner math certainly gets harder the later it gets

I should be in C with my POT. Sounds like the best plan is to worry about time in the first half and then character stops during the second half. I’d hate to miss my time goal if I spent too much time in lines the first half. I feel confident in my plan, my time goal is slower than I’m training for to allow for some fun, just how much fun is TBD!

I started in B, and spent about 30 minutes total in photo lines to get 14 pics (including a castle pic) and I am NOT fast

 

[RuntheMouse]

I started in B, and spent about 30 minutes total in photo lines to get 14 pics (including a castle pic) and I am NOT fast

Good info thanks!

 

[Herding_Cats]

Lines at the beginning of the race (pre-MK) tend to be longer than the lines post-MK. I tend to be extremely selective with my stops early on because I’m trying to get to the highway miles where it opens up and really find a groove with my intervals. Villains tend to have longer lines, as do uncommon characters (Tarzan, Hercules/Meg, etc)

IME by the time I hit HS there no lines, or they’re 3 people long which is still almost no line.