Marathon Weekend 2026

[Mr_Incr3dible]

More Epcot!

More lights anywhere there’s construction

Lights that shine from behind us, not in our eyes. I'm glad they have the auxiliary lights, but when we are running into them, I can't see anything.
Powerade other than the icky green stuff.
Go back to the former routes
More park time.

 

[The Expert]

Some great suggestions! The only other thing i can think of is to offer pre-orders of 90% of the merch to bib holders of that race or challenge.

 

[IamTrike]

Some great suggestions! The only other thing i can think of is to offer pre-orders of 90% of the merch by bib holders of that race or challenge.

This 100%. Right now they aren't putting out enough to meet demand consistently enough that people can profit by selling on secondary markets. I'd be willing to bet that with a large enough pre-order catalogue they'd sell more and they'd make it more convenient for everyone.

 

[BigEeyore]

The merch issue continues to be a problem for rD. Disappointed in both the quality and variety of items but it saves me a ton of money! I only bought an ornament and a pair of Brooks (plus my pre ordered Goofy hoodie). Part of it may have been that I didn't love the theming or the artwork this year. And only registered runners should be allowed to shop for the first two days of the expo.
The extended time in MK parking lot kinda crushed my soul this year. I was expecting BB but not that.
LOVED the SW section - bravo and a nice reward for surviving that slog thru the MK parking lot!
Better lighting for sure - there were sections where we had to use our phone flashlight to make sure we weren't going to step somewhere we shouldn't

My legs honestly feel pretty good but I'm taking at least a good 10-14 days off running, I am doing some easy cycling and swimming for active recovery. It is also freezing here in GA so I'm not sad about taking off from running!

Unrelated, but I thought character stops had the longest lines I've seen in my four MWs. I got far less character photos in than usual, especially in the half, lines really never got short. They did get shorter during the marathon after AK, but still longer than usual in my opinion.

YES! I didn't think the marathon was that bad, especially the second half, but for the half we only got two character photos and those were on the way back to Epcot.

Definitely have the post race blues. The freezing weather doesn't help. Currently planning my spring break trip to DL to cheer myself up!

 

[dobball23]

DH got a race survey 20min ago.

Is it time for the airing of the grievances?

What do we want to tell them?

Find a way to stop people from running to the corrals when start groups open.

Have more going on in the finisher/Reunion area. I find that I want to stick around a bit after my race, but it always seems like there is nothing encouraging me to stay. That being said, I don't know what you put there to encourage me to stay.

Have a shorter distance between the warning for speed bumps ahead and the actual speed bumps. Sometimes I forget about the warning by the time I get to the speed bumps.

 

[RuntheMouse]

DH got a race survey 20min ago.

Is it time for the airing of the grievances?

What do we want to tell them?

Get a new merch design team. The designs are terrible. This is the second year I haven’t bought a single thing. And agree for those who do like the merch, open up presales for the whole collection.

Tone down the medals!

Lighting needs improvement.

 

[RuntheMouse]

How did everyone fare with the weather on Sunday? I'm from MN, and was really worried about heat/humidity, but it ended up being far more tolerable than I expected.

I didn’t do great with it but I was prepared. I was fine until the sun started to come up but my plan all along was to do pics after MK and I started with Stitch! The heat ended up being a great way to force me to stick to my PR in fun plan.

 

[DodgerGirlMissy]

I got back from WDW a couple days ago, but I had such a great time!
This trip was my first Dopey Challenge, and first RunDisney race at WDW (I've run a few at Disneyland).
I thought I was prepared for day 1 of the expo, but it was INSANE! The four races seemed easy after surviving that!
I wanted to give a shoutout to @DopeyBadger for giving me balloon lady updates throughout the marathon. With his help, I was really able to enjoy the experience without worrying about getting swept.
Can't wait to do it again next year!

 

[WDW 4 ME]

How did everyone fare with the weather on Sunday?

It honestly didn’t bother me. The majority of my runs this training block were in heat and humidity. Yes I had several cold runs the last month and a half but I feel like I was prepared for the heat. I also forced myself to hydrate like crazy 2 weeks prior to race day. As someone who can be on the same 20oz bottle of water all day long, it was a challenge. I feel like that helped A LOT. I definitely felt the heat/humidity more this past SS weekend. I was “glowing” in all my race photos!

 

[WDW 4 ME]

DH got a race survey 20min ago.

Is it time for the airing of the grievances?

What do we want to tell them?

More photo pass photographers! Having sooo many photos from some of the shorter races, I was disappointed in the number available from the marathon. Granted I didn’t stop for as many characters as I normally do, but expected more of the running shots.

Photopass for the animals before AK.

Can we get some Gatorade? Powerade sucks!

Agree wholeheartedly on lighting. The construction path was janky and dangerous in the dark.

I would have killed for a chocolate milk or some form of protein at finish line.

FIX EXPO DAY. It is overwhelming, poorly organized and zaps my energy.

Have a way for runners to address concerns prior to expo to limit that runners relations debacle. And not just “thanks for your email. We can help you at runners relations at the expo!”

 

[FFigawi]

How did everyone fare with the weather on Sunday?

Coming from a very warm climate, I didn't think it was too bad while running. Every time I stopped for a character, though, my HR went up and the sweat poured off me. I'm very thankful for the sponges. I kept mine under my hat and re-wet it at every aid station.

Unrelated, but I thought character stops had the longest lines I've seen in my four MWs. I got far less character photos in than usual, especially in the half, lines really never got short. They did get shorter during the marathon after AK, but still longer than usual in my opinion.

On a character note, there were the same number of characters during the 5k and 10k as in 2025. 2 fewer for both the half and the full, though more duos and pairs than in previous years. I didn't think the lines during the full were that bad. It was the Chip & Dale line during the 10k that brought us face to face with the balloon ladies. First time ever seeing them in the wild.

 

[accm]

Agreed with most of the things that have been said already.

The expo was awful this year. The estimated time for the virtual queue was so incredibly wrong, it made it impossible to plan anything. And then even when we got in, the line for Dopey merch was ridiculous. They should set it up like brooks, where you can see and try everything on and then have more cast members working where you pick it up.

And the medals. Can we please get some unpainted simpler medals?

 

[dobball23]

On a character note, there were the same number of characters during the 5k and 10k as in 2025. 2 fewer for both the half and the full, though more duos and pairs than in previous years. I didn't think the lines during the full were that bad. It was the Chip & Dale line during the 10k that brought us face to face with the balloon ladies. First time ever seeing them in the wild.

Your story about gaining a new perspective on seeing the balloon ladies and the reactions of everyone around you has stuck with me. Credit to those who run in fear of getting caught. That has to seriously impact the experience.

While watching the half on Main Street, there was one person who was well behind the balloon ladies entering Main Street. Luckily, they let her go up Main Street (at least start - I was stationed near Town Square). A couple of the people following her on bikes were taking pictures and video. It was sad that she was going to be swept, but was also an uplifting moment at the same time.

 

[BradleyCB]

I completely agree about being able to pre-order more merch once you have registered for the event and once the runDisney team finalizes designs and SKUs. I was fortunate enough to enter the runDisney merch area early thanks to being a gold Club runDisney member. Even then I spent around 45 minutes in the Dopey merch line. At least I could see there appeared to be plenty of inventory available at that time, but the panic was real. I felt better once someone confirmed the white sweatshirt was the item previously available for preorder.

I did feel bad for other participants. After all of the races, my wife and I ended up seated with a couple at Beak and Barrel (fun place!). They were in town for the marathon, and they lamented all of the marathon merch sold out by the time they visited the expo on Saturday.

So perhaps runDisney could let participants at least pre-order merch for the races they signed up for. There could be sizing issues, but maybe sizes could be swapped in person at the expo on a first come, first serve basis.

Otherwise, I would love to see runDisney offer some sort of runDisney and/or marathon weekend themed plush. I would have loved Mickey as a knight as stuffed animal!

Loved the events otherwise. We will both be back in 2027!

 

[fatmanatee]

Get a new merch design team. The designs are terrible. This is the second year I haven’t bought a single thing.

Curious to see what they do with next year's themes. This year was good if you liked the book theme, but if you didn't, you were kinda out of luck for most of what they had.

Since 2022 they've been all over the place: 50th anniversary, 80s/90s retro aesthetic, probably the closest they've been to a generic theme, varsity, and then this year's book theme. Next year is the 55th anniversary, so that would be my first guess I think? Would need WDW to announce that branding fairly soon though.

 

[PrincessV]

I didn’t run this year, but to add a bit more context to the course lighting issues and to validate the complaints - it was very bad last year, too. And also for PHM last year. And yes, many complained then. So they KNEW and they had a full year to improve that situation by adding lighting.

I’ll also add that in the many, many WDW races I ran prior to the COVID shutdown, lighting was NEVER an issue. Ever. I forget which, but one of the first races back after the shutdown was the first time I noticed a problem - on one of the highway overpasses, multiple streetlights were out and it was dangerously dark. I and others complained then, too. IDK if this is a money issue, as in not wanting to spend on more temporary lighting and/or repairs to permanent fixtures, or a workforce problem with not having staff to handle it, but IMO it’s a safety issue and needs addressing.

 

[nancipants]

Got the survey.

 

[FFigawi]

Your story about gaining a new perspective on seeing the balloon ladies and the reactions of everyone around you has stuck with me. Credit to those who run in fear of getting caught. That has to seriously impact the experience.

While watching the half on Main Street, there was one person who was well behind the balloon ladies entering Main Street. Luckily, they let her go up Main Street (at least start - I was stationed near Town Square). A couple of the people following her on bikes were taking pictures and video. It was sad that she was going to be swept, but was also an uplifting moment at the same time.

Definitely gave us a new perspective and appreciation for what people running from the later corrals go through during the race. I’m not sure I’d do well running and having to look over my shoulder all the time.