Princess Half vs. Donald Half

[pixarmom]

Hello fellow runners! I'm running the 2014 PHM and plan to run either the 2015 PHM or the 2015 Donald Half. For the 2014 PHM, it's just a quick weekend trip. In 2015, it will be part of our family vacation and we'll likely stay for the week. Can't decide which to do and looking for opinions from runners who have done both.

So far, I have the following thoughts . . .

PHM: I'd get a better corral placement, it's fun to do a women's-focused event, it's VERY well-timed because it's further away from the holidays (and I'll need a break from the cold!) and a way better time to pull the kids out of school, the half is the "main event" of the weekend.

Donald's: I'll have already done the PHM once, it's value season at WDW so our trip would be considerably less expensive (we'll likely stay Poly CL and then either BWI or BC CL, so value season prices would be great for the budget!), we could schedule the trip to cover our youngest son's birthday.

Has anyone done both, and have additional thoughts to share? Thanks!

 

[paxsarah]

I have only done the PHM as a girls' long weekend including some time in the parks, and I've done marathon weekend as a family vacation. For me, the corral placement at Princess is nice, but kind of a novelty. I figure either way, the whole point of the corrals is to place runners among runners of similar speed - if for me that puts me in A for Princess but C for Donald, the actual experience of running it should be very similar if the placement is correct. So especially if you're getting that experience in 2014 with PHM, you may decide that's not as big a factor for 2015.

I will say that you will probably do well either time of year in terms of the vacation. I think the weather is probably more variable in January (though on average colder) - when I was there with my family in 2011 it was fairly chilly the week we were there (after the races), especially in the mornings, but in 2012 it was warmer (I was only there for the weekend that year). And it was almost three years ago now, but at least in 2011 the week after the January races was an extremely uncrowded time to visit the parks. But I understand about the timing of taking the kids out of school, because the 2011 trip my oldest was only in pre-K and we haven't taken him out of school for Disney since. This year during the Princess weekend we were able to get a lot done in the parks, but we were a group of adult women so it was a little easier to get everyone herded vs. having kids with us. It didn't seem too busy, though.

You may have a better feel after doing the PHM once.