Princess Half Marathon Weekend 2025 (Feb 20-24 2025)

[Sleepless Knight]

Figures that the year they no longer offered virtual races, they would also finally put Sleeping Beauty on one of the medals. February is always a terrible month for me to head to Disney World.

Guess, I'll try the "ebay" method and make my own virtual half marathon.

 

[prncssjas]

Does anyone else have the sense that the recently released princess themes/designs are more popular than usual and could result in record breaking sellouts? It seems to be from the FB groups I follow.

It does have me wondering if charity might be the best way to go if I really want to do the challenge. Anyone else going this route (from the non club Run Disney folks)? The only question is whether or not to simply secure the charity bib now or wait see how registration goes.

 

[azrivest]

Does anyone else have the sense that the recently released princess themes/designs are more popular than usual and could result in record breaking sellouts? It seems to be from the FB groups I follow.

It does have me wondering if charity might be the best way to go if I really want to do the challenge. Anyone else going this route (from the non club Run Disney folks)? The only question is whether or not to simply secure the charity bib now or wait see how registration goes.

I'm not particularly stressed honestly. I'm always hearing about how Princess Weekend is everyone's least favorite and the runner attitude is and blah blah blah, where as in my experience it hasn't been worse than any other. It's always been my personal favorite, maybe because it was my first?

My feeling is that the people who are excited about the themes/designs are people who were already planning on going. It's not like for W&D or Springtime where the themes change from year to year and can create buzz or kill it. Princesses will be princesses

 

[prncssjas]

I'm not particularly stressed honestly. I'm always hearing about how Princess Weekend is everyone's least favorite and the runner attitude is and blah blah blah, where as in my experience it hasn't been worse than any other. It's always been my personal favorite, maybe because it was my first?

My feeling is that the people who are excited about the themes/designs are people who were already planning on going. It's not like for W&D or Springtime where the themes change from year to year and can create buzz or kill it. Princesses will be princesses

Good point! I also hear the negative talk about princess weekend but the behaviors that are "negative" can be found in other weekends too. I love Princess weekend, too!

 

[superchime]

I wasn't planning on doing princess next year. I've only been to a couple but I don't get the hate for Princess weekend. But it seems like I'm always sick in February, I'm doing Dopey in January, I'm not super princess-y in general, so this a good weekend for me to skip. But man... Mulan, and Maleficent, and a Snow White challenge right after I do Dopey. I'll admit I'm thinking about it.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I'm not particularly stressed honestly. I'm always hearing about how Princess Weekend is everyone's least favorite and the runner attitude is and blah blah blah, where as in my experience it hasn't been worse than any other. It's always been my personal favorite, maybe because it was my first?

My feeling is that the people who are excited about the themes/designs are people who were already planning on going. It's not like for W&D or Springtime where the themes change from year to year and can create buzz or kill it. Princesses will be princesses

Princess was also my first, back in 2012. I don't get why the negative overshadows how fun it is. I mean, I've seen negative on the other races too.

I like the timing of Princess because I'm not in the last throws of training over Christmas. I can relax a little bit that week, overindulge in the food a little bit, and then get back to it, with two months to go before the race.

 

[azrivest]

I like the timing of Princess because I'm not in the last throws of training over Christmas

Good point. It's nice not having those super long runs over the holidays.

 

[Zutroy]

Good point! I also hear the negative talk about princess weekend but the behaviors that are "negative" can be found in other weekends too. I love Princess weekend, too!

Honestly, the biggest knock against Princess is that it’s a copy and paste of the MW weekend courses. If you’ve just run the Dopey, get ready for some deja vu. Any complaints about race etiquette can be attributed to the fact that this is many people’s first race, and a lot of people sign up as a group. But I’ve heard the same complaints from every race for the last 15 years and I don’t think there’s any issue unique to Princess.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Does anyone else have the sense that the recently released princess themes/designs are more popular than usual and could result in record breaking sellouts? It seems to be from the FB groups I follow.

I think they are more popular than last year's art. The year before that was an anniversary and sold through pretty quickly. I don't know about record-breaking, but it's possible. More people discover RunDisney every year.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Does anyone else have the sense that the recently released princess themes/designs are more popular than usual and could result in record breaking sellouts? It seems to be from the FB groups I follow.

It's an interesting question. For sake of historical comparison, I decided to look up the themes of each Princess race weekend medal since 2018. Shoutout to @1lilspark for correcting me about 2018 and I have included that information here.

2018 was actually the first year they did individual themes to princesses:

5k Rapunzel
10k Merida
Half: Snow White
Challenge: Cinderella

2019:

5K: Elena of Avalor
10K: Mulan
Half: Princess Aurora
Challenge: Jasmine

2020:

5K: Moana
10K: Pocahantas
Half: Cinderella
Challenge: 3 Good Fairies from Sleeping Beauty, but not Aurora herself

2021 (Virtual Only):

5K: Ariel
10K: Rapunzel
Half: Belle
Challenge: Tiana

2022:

5K: Cinderella
10K: Tiana
Half: Mulan
Challenge: Moana

2023:

5K: Jasmine
10K: Belle
Half: Moana
Challenge: Cinderella

2024:

5K: Ariel
10K: Rapunzel
Half: Tiana
Challenge: Anna and Elsa

2025:

5K: Mulan
10K: Jasmine
Half: Aurora
Challenge: Snow White

I think they are more popular than last year's art. The year before that was an anniversary and sold through pretty quickly. I don't know about record-breaking, but it's possible. More people discover RunDisney every year.

I think "newer" characters for medals is playing a part too. And I think the art is great. Some of the previous years had highly stylized art that did not appeal to everyone. Due to time of year and travel, Princess is a weekend I can never do. I registered for the virtual races in 2021, 2023, and 2024 because I love Beauty and the Beast and Tangled, but even waited on the Tangled 2024 until I saw the medal for myself.

This Princess weekend is first time Snow White has appeared since 2018 and even then it was only her silhouette. So it's been a very long time since Snow White was in a race and only the second time her movie is featured on a race medal (not counting Dopey).

Second is that Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty is on a race medal for the first time in 6 years. So two princesses on medals for the first time ever in one case and 6 years in the other is likely to be popular. Or perhaps my animation nerd is reading too much into this.

So looking at 2018 forward and not including 2025, here's the count:

Cinderella 4
Moana and Rapunzel 3
Belle, Ariel, Mulan, Jasmine, and Tiana 2

So it feels like two "Walt Disney" era princesses being on medals this year and 2 other princesses getting a "3rd" medal could be driving interest since they're all more "rare" for medals.

I hope everyone who wants to get in is able to.

 

[1lilspark]

It's an interesting question. For sake of historical comparison, I decided to look up the themes of each Princess race weekend medal since runDisney started to put Princesses on the race medals in 2019. I wanted to see just how many characters had gotten multiple medals since some of these characters had received just one or even none.

2019:

5K: Elena of Avalor
10K: Mulan
Half: Princess Aurora
Challenge: Jasmine

2020:

5K: Moana
10K: Pocahantas
Half: Cinderella
Challenge: 3 Good Fairies from Sleeping Beauty, but not Aurora herself

2021 (Virtual Only):

5K: Ariel
10K: Rapunzel
Half: Belle
Challenge: Tiana

2022:

5K: Cinderella
10K: Tiana
Half: Mulan
Challenge: Moana

2023:

5K: Jasmine
10K: Belle
Half: Moana
Challenge: Cinderella

2024:

5K: Ariel
10K: Rapunzel
Half: Tiana
Challenge: Anna and Elsa

2025:

5K: Mulan
10K: Jasmine
Half: Aurora
Challenge: Snow White

I think "newer" characters for medals is playing a part too. And I think the art is great. Some of the previous years had highly stylized art that did not appeal to everyone. Due to time of year and travel, Princess is a weekend I can never do. I registered for the virtual races in 2021, 2023, and 2024 because I love Beauty and the Beast and Tangled, but even waited on the Tangled 2024 until I saw the medal for myself.

This Princess weekend is first time Snow White has ever appeared on a runDisney medal, (not counting any previous races where something themed to her movie was on a race medal). That in and of itself is likely to be a big deal, especially considering the historical importance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Disney history in general and the significance of Dopey to runDisney. A lot of people are going to rightly be very excited about having a Snow White and Dopey medal, with both being challenge medals as well.

Second is that Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty is on a race medal for the first time in 6 years. So two princesses on medals for the first time ever in one case and 6 years in the other is likely to be popular. Or perhaps my animation nerd hat is reading too much into this.

So looking at 2020 forward, Cinderella and Moana have been on 3 medals, Belle, Rapunzel, Ariel, and Tiana have been on 2 medals. But Snow White and Aurora have been on no medals, and Jasmine only one. I wonder "new" characters at least compared to many of the previous years is causing increased excitement as well.

I hope everyone who wants to get in is able to.

2018 was actually the first
5k Rapunzel
10k Merida
Half: snow white
I think Cinderella was challenge

Also don’t know what kids races were in pre pandemic years

Then the years where all races were a singular princess was
17: belle
16: little mermaid
15: frozen
14 I think was Cinderella than before that was just generic crowns

Princess is the only east coast weekend I’ve yet to do at least once since being a part of the RunDisney community as it’s the same weekend as Gasparilla in Tampa

 

[Sleepless Knight]

2018 was actually the first
5k Rapunzel
10k Merida
Half: snow white
I think Cinderella was challenge

Also don’t know what kids races were in pre pandemic years

Then the years where all races were a singular princess was
17: belle
16: little mermaid
15: frozen
14 I think was Cinderella than before that was just generic crowns

Princess is the only east coast weekend I’ve yet to do at least once since being a part of the RunDisney community as it’s the same weekend as Gasparilla in Tampa

Thanks for correcting me. That's what I get for not checking all the 2018 medals. I know the Snow White medal for the half just had her silhouette on it so I looked at that one only. I do think that switching up the medal designs each year is a better move for runDisney across all races. But still it's been a very long time for Snow White.

Disney animation and the parks themselves were my gateway to runDisney and since my top 10 favorite Disney animated movies mostly the animated fairy tales, I always check to see what movies get the medal treatment each year.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I'm loving the themes and am happy I'm in thru a charity. I don't have to worry about registration day.

This year was my Sleeping Beauty year and next year is my Cinderella year. I already have my costumes, but man I'm feeling the pull to dress as Aurora for the half.

 

[prncssjas]

I'm loving the themes and am happy I'm in thru a charity. I don't have to worry about registration day.

Yes, same here! That's what I am considering. I love the themes so much that I am not sure if I want to gamble on registration day.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Yes, same here! That's what I am considering. I love the themes so much that I am not sure if I want to gamble on registration day.

If you find a charity that speaks to you, go for it. You won't have to be sitting at your computer with multiple windows open, hoping you can get in.

 

[prncssjas]

So I have changed my resort stay 3 times since booking for princess weekend. I don't know what is wrong with me but I cannot make up my mind on where I want to stay. Not only am I driving DH nuts but I need to make the call soon, as I keep watching different resorts sell out. Right now, I am booked at Bay Lake, which is not my favorite (I don't like the long elevator waits...) but it's on the monorail, which I strongly prefer for when we are running the half marathon (which we will be)--no chance of a bus getting lost.

I am looking at 1 bedroom accommodations, which rules out Poly and we are already doing the GF for January weekend.

On the other hand, monorail aside, I like the Boardwalk and Beach Club areas. We have APs and we love walking to EPCOT. I had the BC booked but then moved us because Storm Along Bay will be closed for refurb. My initial booking was at RIV.

Does anybody here want to volunteer to tell me where to just book already?

 

[The Expert]

I am booked at Bay Lake, which is not my favorite (I don't like the long elevator waits...)

You know there are two sets of elevators right? I find that it is often faster to go to the north elevators even if my room is closer to the others. The problem with the south elevators is everyone coming and going from the main building uses them.

That said, I have stayed at BWV for the vast majority of my races and loved the location. However, Boardwalk View can be noisy. If you can manage to snag a standard view this late, it is truly ideal.

 

[Stitch&Co.]

Be careful of relying on the monorail. I’m not sure it runs on the morning of the half for Princess. You may still be using the buses and could run into some delays due to traffic and road closures. I’ve not stayed there myself, but it is along the half route. Any of those resorts are great too.

 

[prncssjas]

You know there are two sets of elevators right? I find that it is often faster to go to the north elevators even if my room is closer to the others. The problem with the south elevators is everyone coming and going from the main building uses them.

That said, I have stayed at BWV for the vast majority of my races and loved the location. However, Boardwalk View can be noisy. If you can manage to snag a standard view this late, it is truly ideal.

Yessss!! On our last BLT stay, we discovered the other elevator set, which made it much more bearable. That's why I booked it again. But yeah, I do like the BW a lot. All standard rooms are booked but there are pool/garden views available, which I don't mind booking since I love the resort.

 

[prncssjas]

Be careful of relying on the monorail. I’m not sure it runs on the morning of the half for Princess. You may still be using the buses and could run into some delays due to traffic and road closures. I’ve not stayed there myself, but it is along the half route. Any of those resorts are great too.

It does the morning of princess as we stayed at the GF last year and used the monorail. For the 5k, we bussed it, which was fine too. I have never had an issue with the busses so I honestly don't know why I am worried about it but I see people posting horror stories on FB and it makes me second guess my choices.