Marathon Weekend 2026

[WDW 4 ME]

you have trouble sleeping in a hotel room, bring your own pillowcase. I

I do this! But more for vanity purposes! I have natural curls and the hotel pillowcases leave me looking like Isabelle in that phinneas and ferb episode. Izzy’s got the frizzies!

 

[WDW 4 ME]

Toss my prior race shirts?!!! Prior rD shirts are the ones I wear almost daily in warmer weather for my local street cred.

SAME.

 

[AZMermaid]

Tell me about Happy Toes. Can you not just use the nut butter on your feet as well?

Also, general pain relief cream question. Does everyone prefer Biofreeze? I’ve used it but honestly can’t tell a difference with pain relief while I’m running. When I’m standing still, I get the cooling feeling. I have heard good things about mons pura cbd roll on but it’s $40!!

I just Started using Happy Toes and used it other places too.

 

[DianaMB333]

Packing this time will get tricky for me… Will go to WdW Dec 17-21; them flying to Colombia (home country) for the holidays (yeyy!); then back to WDW Jan 4-19

All in one bag, holiday gifts, race weekend things, throw away things, summer/winter clothes… fortunately Owners Locker helps but still thinking how to get it done.. other than wearing the same things on repeat LOL

 

[jmasgat]

other than wearing the same things on repeat LOL

I am a firm believer in wearing the same stuff for multiple days until it gets dirty/smelly. I have minimal (?) vanity and few FTG (f@%cks to give) so I don’t care what people think. And when I’m traveling, it’s a changing cast of characters anyway. I travel with a TSA sized bottle of laundry detergent and hand wash what I need, and try to bring things that are conducive to a hand wash.

Good luck packing for your trip. Sounds like fun and family all around.

 

[The Expert]

Packing this time will get tricky for me… Will go to WdW Dec 17-21; them flying to Colombia (home country) for the holidays (yeyy!); then back to WDW Jan 4-19

All in one bag, holiday gifts, race weekend things, throw away things, summer/winter clothes… fortunately Owners Locker helps but still thinking how to get it done.. other than wearing the same things on repeat LOL

What a fun trip! When we did our 16-day around-the-world trip to all the Disney parks in 2019, the hardest part was packing. We knew we had to stay in carry-ons because if we lost a bag, it would never catch up. Embrace mix-and-match layers that you WILL wear multiple times and strategically plan to do laundry halfway through if you can. It also helps to take undergarments and base layers that are quick drying, so you can rinse them out and hang them to dry overnight in a pinch.

 

[otterpop]

My family and I will be doing the 5k…first runDisney event! Initially I was thinking this an actual competitive race, and I was going to take it seriously, with my kids and wife walking/jogging. But, from the bits and pieces that I’ve been able to gather, I get the feeling this is more of a fun run/jog/walk. I also realized that I have no idea what to expect! We will be staying at AKV. Would anyone mind providing a run down on the what, when’s, and where’s of what I got myself involved with? Any suggestions for the expo, what time to get bus from AKV to race, things to do/see before/during/after race….? Any suggestions and advice would be much appreciated! I want to make sure we don’t “miss out” on anything! Thanks in advance.

 

[The Expert]

My family and I will be doing the 5k…first runDisney event! Initially I was thinking this an actual competitive race, and I was going to take it seriously, with my kids and wife walking/jogging. But, from the bits and pieces that I’ve been able to gather, I get the feeling this is more of a fun run/jog/walk. I also realized that I have no idea what to expect! We will be staying at AKV. Would anyone mind providing a run down on the what, when’s, and where’s of what I got myself involved with? Any suggestions for the expo, what time to get bus from AKV to race, things to do/see before/during/after race….? Any suggestions and advice would be much appreciated! I want to make sure we don’t “miss out” on anything! Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the obsession! There will be some serious runners, but overall it's definitely a fun run vibe. It isn't even timed unless you're doing Dopey.

The race guide just came out on the runDisney site, so definitely take a look through that, but also we put together our own doc with tips and tricks, so keep an eye on this thread for that in a few weeks.

Expo -- unless you're after merch that may sell out, wait until after about 1pm to go pick up your bib. Before that, the lines will be long and they will be doing a virtual queue to get into the Disney merchandise area.

Bus -- I'm a big believer in getting on the first bus. You may lose a tiny bit more sleep, but it's worth not stressing over getting to the race in time. It takes a while to go through security and get all the way down to the staging area, so give yourself plenty of time. There is music, some food/coffee trucks and plenty to do (hint: join the meetup!), so you won't be bored waiting around.

 

[Baloo in MI]

Also, on the packing side, shirts from previous MW races make great layers to ditch after the first few miles, as do any yellow ones received as part of the current race bundle.

My first thought was how could you toss a race shirt, my second thought was this is a person able to let go of stuff. Then I think of my two closets worth of runDisney street cred and realize I could learn much from you!

But gotta hold on to the 2017 Half Marathon Shirt, it’s yellow, but is the race that never was and yet in true runDisney fashion took place all over the property.

 

[marty3d]

But gotta hold on to the 2017 Half Marathon Shirt, it’s yellow, but is the race that never was and yet in true runDisney fashion took place all over the property.

I am never ditching that shirt!

 

[marty3d]

Question for those of you who have bought the Brooks rD shoes at the expo on previous race weekends - how quickly do they run out of sizes and do they restock? I’m likely out of luck anyway but am trying to decide between going to the expo after I check in Thursday (which might be tight - I expect to arrive on property at 5 and won’t have a car) or Friday post HH. Assuming they preview a design I like. There’s no other merch that I am desperately trying to get.

 

[jmasgat]

But gotta hold on to the 2017 Half Marathon Shirt, it’s yellow, but is the race that never was and yet in true runDisney fashion took place all over the property.

The best stories are always about the races that didn’t go well. My shirt is from the 2022 Dramathon in Scotland. I went in 2023 to run the half—along Speyside past several distilleries with samples from each one at the finish line. Storm Babet put paid to that when the race was canceled the night before. But the samples still flowed, both at registration on Friday and Saturday morning when we returned our tracking chips. And the race shirts from the previous year were free for the taking (for some reason I didn’t pay extra to get the actual race shirt). I will always remember the crazy weather, the drive overs to Cullen on the coast (for skink) and the waves crashing against the breakwater. I did a very wet run along the course on race day, but just did an out and back from Dufftown to Aberlour with a stop for coffee and cake.

 

[WDW 4 ME]

Question for those of you who have bought the Brooks rD shoes at the expo on previous race weekends - how quickly do they run out of sizes and do they restock? I’m likely out of luck anyway but am trying to decide between going to the expo after I check in Thursday (which might be tight - I expect to arrive on property at 5 and won’t have a car) or Friday post HH. Assuming they preview a design I like. There’s no other merch that I am desperately trying to get.

I picked up a pair of shoes on expo day 1 of SS and they had lots of them. I heard people had no troubles getting them in other days. HOWEVER…I also know SS is not as big of an event. But…it was the first brooks shoes event so there’s that!

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Bus -- I'm a big believer in getting on the first bus. You may lose a tiny bit more sleep, but it's worth not stressing over getting to the race in time.

I am not a first bus person (I don’t usually get on a bus until like 3:30 at the earliest) but I agree that with your first race and with kids getting there earlier is better. However, it really depends on your corral- if you’re in the last corral it can be a longgg wait (they usually don’t start until closer to 6 am unless the start is expedited for some reason) and that might be tough with kids.

 

[FFigawi]

My first thought was how could you toss a race shirt, my second thought was this is a person able to let go of stuff. Then I think of my two closets worth of runDisney street cred and realize I could learn much from you!

But gotta hold on to the 2017 Half Marathon Shirt, it’s yellow, but is the race that never was and yet in true runDisney fashion took place all over the property.

It’s definitely the Disney race with the most and the most wild stories about it. An absolutely bonkers day from start to finish.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

It’s definitely the Disney race with the most and the most wild stories about it. An absolutely bonkers day from start to finish.

Spill the tea!!

 

[FFigawi]

The TL;DR version is that Disney canceled the half on Friday night before the race on Saturday. People decided to get their own half in somehow anyway, and ran 13.1 miles around their resort, the parks, and everywhere else you can think of. Cast members set up impromptu water stops at many resorts to support the runners, people made shirts after to “celebrate” their shortened Dopey, etc. If you search this forum, you’ll find all kinds of trip reports and stories.

Thread 'Official Dopey 2017 Thread'

Jan 18, 2016

I know it may be early, and there's still a few months until registration, but hey, we might as well start getting excited, right? This will be my first runDisney event and I'm already excited. Running is consuming my life right now, and it's driving my wife a bit crazy. My brother will be running with me, and I use with me in the looses possible terms as my goal is to beat him. I'm trying to beat both his times from the inaugural Dopey as well as this year. What are everyone else's plan/thoughts on Dopey in 2017?

• surfde22
• Replies: 891
• Forum: runDisney

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[PrincessV]

Tell me about Happy Toes. Can you not just use the nut butter on your feet as well?

Also, general pain relief cream question. Does everyone prefer Biofreeze? I’ve used it but honestly can’t tell a difference with pain relief while I’m running. When I’m standing still, I get the cooling feeling. I have heard good things about mons pura cbd roll on but it’s $40!!

Unless used in tandem with deep massage, I find BioFreeze and everything like it to be useless for actual relief of serious pain. The only ingredient in it that has some chance at reducing inflammation - and, thus, pain - is arnica. But arnica gel on its own isn’t a high-power pain reducer, and BioFreeze uses only a small amount of it.

With apologies if this is getting deeper into the weeds than you want, but…

Pain is a scale, right? A small bruise; mild muscle pain after a hard workout; a touch of joint soreness in cold weather - arnica is my go-to. But for real pain relief - headache, severe joint pain, etc. - the only thing that works for me is an NSAID. Aleve for systemic relief, or generic Voltaren for spot treatment. But also, high amounts of NSAIDs shouldn’t be used with distance running and any use should be cleared by a medical professional when it comes to runners.

Spill the tea!!

2017 was the year a cold front blew in the night before the half, bringing severe weather in the form of wind, rain, and lightning. The half was canceled somewhere around 6-7pm-ish the night before and choices had to be made. I forget now everything rD offered, but I know folks who signed up only for the half were given an option of running as much of the full as they could/wanted to instead, so a bunch of folks wound up doing their first full unexpectedly! I was registered for my first Dopey and I think we were given some kind of partial refund and could either pick up our half medal at the expo or get it at the finish line of the full. A whole lot of Goofys and Dopeys ran the half on our own later in the morning after the worst weather cleared. I was staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek with friends and we did a bunch of loops around WBC, as well as the Hilton and Waldorf, including “character” stops with willing staff members, stops for pics around the resorts, and even a stop at the Hilton’s arcade for a video game lol! Pretty much every WDW resort had runners doing their DIY halfs, and many provided some support and encouragement with CMs out cheering and creating impromptu water stops. Then we all braved one of the coldest WDW marathon mornings on record to wrap it all up. WILD race weekend!