Please share your Marvel 5K experience

[Jkpark]

My family is doing the Star Wars 5K and I would love to hear what people experienced with the Marvel 5K. I believe you have to finish 'in time' to get a medal, but character lines were longer than other races? How did this play out?

What time did you really start and what time did you finish? We currently have breakfast planned for 7:15. Is that realistic?

Also - I understand I must pick up bibs Thursday by 8pm for Fri am race. Also hear these lines are long. Do I just have to be in line by 8? My flight lands at John Wayne around 5:30.

Any other tips you might have to help me planning?

Thanks!!

 

[SMD]

I worked the bib pick up at the expo twice now. You need to be at the booth with your release by 8pm. Each family member needs to pick up their own bib, with photo id and signed release. I'll also add that traffic and parking are terrible at these things. It took me over 30 minutes to get from the off ramp to the parking booth. In your case, I'd try to travel with carry on only and have your airport shuttle or taxi drop you off directly at DLH, which is where they hold the expo.

The character lines are always long. If you really want pictures, it might be worth paying for the Thursday night party.

 

[kim3339]

They had 3 corrals for Avengers, A/B/C. They're loosely based on what time range you entered when you registered. I put 9-11 min mile and was in B. They started the race at 5:30 and then corral B was 5-7 minutes or so after and C 5-7 after that.

They say they want you to be w/in a 16 min mile for the 5k like the other races, but they are extremely lax w/ the 5k. As long as you are moving forward you are fine and will get a medal. Someone in the Avengers thread mentioned that they finished in 1 hr and a 1/2 and they were fine. There were 4 Avenger character stops and I think a couple Disney stops. For Avengers, 2 were in DCA and 2 were in DL. That being said, the lines for the Avengers were insanely long. Longer than I have seen for any other rD race I've done. Some people waited more than 1/2 hour for 1 stop. The regular Disney characters had lines, but nothing like the Avengers. If the lines are getting too long, they will, and did, close the line off like they do in the parks when the characters are scheduled to go in. A lot of people were doing run by selfies where they were the pic w/ the Avengers in the background. If you really want a character pic, I would bolt from the start until you see them and then run to the next one and so on.

Depending on the pic stops, you might make breakfast at 7:15. You might have to go straight from the race, you'll just be in your race clothes, but it's DL and a lot of people went into the park after the race w/o changing.

Getting in at 5:30, I would like to think you'd be fine for the expo. It's a small airport and you should be able to get to your hotel by 6:30-7. But like the pp mentioned, make sure you have the waivers accessible and go straight to the expo. The expo is at the DLH and the bib pickup in down below in the underground parking garage. The lines at that time shouldn't be too bad; it'll be earlier in the day and mostly for the merchandise area where you can buy race items.

 

[Malcon10t]

What time did you really start and what time did you finish? We currently have breakfast planned for 7:15. Is that realistic?

For us, that is kind of tight. They walked the course, were in Corral C, started at 550a, and finished around 715a (they were walking with slower family members.) They didn't stop at photo stops, but did take their time.

 

[Jkpark]

I might re think breakfast. We will have our 7 and 9 year olds and I don't want to be yelling to speed it up just for breakfast. This also means we won't be sprinting to characters. I just won't tell them that part and then we can wing in when we see the characters and the lines.

And now a question to show how clueless I am - what waivers do I need? Something I can print and sign ahead of time?

I did book DLH just for Thursday night to take some timing stress off. We can't justify the party that night with the ages of our kids and how early we will be getting up Friday. Just excited for the overall experience and to do this first run as a family!!

 

[Malcon10t]

And now a question to show how clueless I am - what waivers do I need? Something I can print and sign ahead of time?

Waivers are the papers you sign saying if you keel over dead or trip over a painted line, you understand Disney is not responsible.

These will show up on the runDisney site under Runners a couple weeks before the race. You can sign and bring them with you. And if you do all that and leave them in the car (guess how I know this), there are computers in the center of the room where it takes all of 10 seconds to print the waiver to be signed there.

We usually have a group of about 8-10 runners, and I usually have all the waivers done, signed and in an envelope days before hand. I found the computers there a cinch.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

I finished in 1:36 and waited 45 mins for black widow.
I was told the 16 min time was mostly for the half not the 5k, and that most on the 5 k could walk it and still finish it with out getting picked up.
I got Black Widow, Mad hatter, Alice and white rabbit, then a partner statue pic that's all.

 

[ImDMous]

I think it took my about 1 hr 20 min also because I stopped for some pictures. I was in group C so I didn't finish until around 7:15. Had a great time though! I picked up my bib on Friday morning about an hour after the Expo opened and there was no line. There was however a 1 hr 15 min wait for my Dooney, but so worth it.

 

[Jkpark]

Thanks everyone!

 

[jetskigrl]

We drove to the resort around 4:00 PM on Friday afternoon and had no problem using the DTD parking to run into the expo and grab our bibs. There was no line for anything at that time (I think we were probably just ahead of the people getting off work at 5:00 though).

This was the first runDisney 5K for me and my kids (DH did the 5K and 10K at Half Marathon weekend in Sept). We did fast walk with only a little jogging to get out of packs of people and we still finished at around an hour. We did a few photo stops (in front of the empty castle, in front of the trolley, etc) but didn't wait in any character lines. We were in corral C so by the time we got to the characters, the lines were really long. I imagine you will encounter the same thing at Star Wars since it will be new character greetings there too.

We in no way felt like we were slow or worried about them kicking us off the course. Even after finishing, meeting up with friends, waiting for the finish line photo, getting our snacks, and walking to EoS, there were still many people coming in.

You can probably make a 7:15 breakfast if you don't do any character greetings, run the whole race and then go to breakfast straight from there.

But that being said, it is so tempting to stop for pictures along that route. So many great shots You may find that you want to spend more time on the course just enjoying it instead of having to hurry through to get to breakfast (just a thought).

 

[pharmama]

For the DL Half weekend in September, DD and I were in corral C and crossed the start around 5:55am. We finished at 7:05am but had stopped for a number of characters and photo ops. We were also quite slow on course as DD was sick (we found out later that day she had mono) but still really wanted to do the race. We weren't out of the finish line area until about 7:20.

We had an 8am reservation at Surf's Up but decided we'd just head over and check in early. They had no problem seating us early. If I did it again, I'd make the reservation for 7:30 or 7:45. That said, it depends a little on where breakfast is and how far you have to walk or go to get there.