Before I had kids, I was pretty negative on all things Disney. The movies were traumatizing. The mouse voice was hard to understand. The female characters were… problematic. But then I had the kids, and while I’m not ready to forgive all the negatives, I have felt better about some of the newer movies and I was open minded to the fact that my kids may enjoy Disney World. And if I was going to Florida, I figured I might as well run a marathon.

What: 2025 runDisney Walt Disney World Marathon

Where: Start and end at EPCOT in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

When: 4:30 AM Sunday January 12, 2025 – obviously chosen by race organizers for being a less desirable time to visit the park, being right after the holidays

Weather: Great running weather. I got super lucky. 40s-50s during the race, 60s most afternoons we were there. A little rain the morning before the marathon that didn’t impact me at all (but did impact the half marathoners who were running at the time). 

Logistics and Getting to the Disney World Marathon: First things first – sign ups. Hotels and park reservations open up before the sign up for the race, so we took a gamble and booked all those before I was actually in, through a Disney planner my husband found on the internet. I assume we could have gotten back some or all of our money for our lodging and entry if I didn’t get into the race but basically once that was booked I really wanted to get in and not have to worry about doing it all again another year. Some of the runDisney races fill quite early and there is a club you can join for extra $$$ to get priority sign ups. I think the opportunity had already closed by the time I realized all this, so I didn’t go that route. And good thing, because I got in just fine! The morning of sign ups, I had a few computers ready 15 minutes before the registration opened and I’d already made my runDisney account. I guess the marathon doesn’t fill quite as fast as some of the other races (half, challenges). So I got in, no problem. We decided to go to Florida on the Wednesday before the race, flying direct into MCO. That would give us a few days to explore the parks, go to the expo, adjust to eastern time, and wear out my legs before the race. We Ubered to our hotel, the Contemporary (more on that below). We explored parks each of the days we were there (also more on that below), and I went to the expo on Thursday evening. The expo is a bit out of the way at the Wide World of Sports center, but there was an easy bus there from the Contemporary (I should say, easy once I found the bus, which was not easy due to some wonky signage!). It was pretty quiet when I went, close to closing time, and I quickly grabbed my bib and my shirt and went on my way. Expo was low key and there were not a lot of free samples. I will stop now and say that there are a bunch of ways people “play” the runDisney game – the Club RunDisney with priority registration, a “virtual queue” for ordering priority merchandise, getting your POT (proof of time) for corral placement, strategizing about taking photos at each mile marker, strategizing seeing characters along the route, etc etc. I wouldn’t stress about all of that. I did not purchase anything extra related to the race, barely looked at the course in advance, and did not use a POT and it was fiiiiine. Anyway, I tried to go to bed as early as possible on Saturday night to be ready for my 2:50 am wake up alarm for the 4:30 am start. From the Contemporary, I took the monorail to the transit center and then transferred to EPCOT. Easy, and I got there with plenty of time. There were also buses from other WDW resorts if not on the monorail. I personally would not have wanted to worry about driving and parking in the morning and would definitely recommend staying at a WDW property – generally and especially for the race. At the start area, there were a few food trucks and a concession stand, but note that all food and beverages must be purchased; only water is free. I thought that was a little stingy as I bought my $4 coffee to get the morning started but I guess the option is better than nothing. It was quite chilly that early in the morning, so I was glad to have bought a hat and robe at Goodwill before leaving on the trip. I wore the robe on top of my race outfit and threw it off to the side during the first mile or two for donation; a lot of people were jealous of my comfort. Bathrooms were plentiful and lines were not long at the start area, but the issue is that once you get in your corral, you lose your spot to go back out into the bathroom, and the starting process took maybe 25 minutes from when the corrals close to when you actually start. That all takes us to…

Recap of the Disney World Marathon: This was my second marathon after having my second kid, with my first being Jack and Jill’s Marathon in Washington in July 2024. I aimed to keep most of my fitness from Jack and Jill and rolled pretty much right into my training plan for WDW. Given the holidays, I budgeted for an extra long taper so I wasn’t doing long runs when I was supposed to be doing Christmas stuff. As expected, my training wasn’t perfect and my volume is a lot lower than what I used to do back in the day and what might be considered ideal. But I’ve been having fun playing a lot of tennis, dabbling in swimming, and keeping up my cross-training strength classes, so I was very at peace with my training plan and my execution of it. I ran 4:50 at Jack and Jill’s with really strong negative splits, so I decided to target 4:30 at WDW to have some forward momentum. This was before I gave much thought to the fact that I was going to be on my feet for three days straight before the race… Either way, it was a rough target and I wasn’t really stressed about how I’d do – the point of the trip was to experience Disney with my family and check off Florida. As mentioned above, I did not provide POT for the race to be put into a good corral and estimated my finish time around 5 hours; this landed me in D corral out of A-G. While there was definitely some dodging and going the long way around people that would have been annoying if I were trying to PR, this was totally fine with me for this race and my goals. Also, I’ll say here that there were a LOT of people who were run-walking this event, including the pace groups that I was around for a lot of the run, but they were very respectful and followed the etiquette of raising a hand and moving to the right when they were about to walk, and then raising the hand again when they were about to run. I haven’t experienced other races where I’ve seen this so consistently, so perhaps kudos to the Disney nuts who have their system down. OK, so back to the race: it started so early that I knew I was going to have to use the bathroom on course rather than at the start area. So as soon as we started, I moved to the lefthand side to try to get into a decent position but also kept my eyes open for a bathroom. At mile 2, I saw my first or second option and decided to go with it. There was a bit of a line, but again, priorities. After that, I felt good and tried to get into a groove as we headed toward the World Showcase part of EPCOT. It was very dark on the roads but even in EPCOT. I was OK but I wondered about folks who have difficulty seeing in the dark or were going quickly – I think it would have been pretty easy to take some wrong steps on the footing. At mile 3, we headed out of EPCOT and towards Magic Kingdom. Again, still dark, which was actually sort of nice because it looked like there was some construction stuff happening and we were basically just on the highway for this section. Then at mile 9 we headed down Main Street of Magic Kingdom. We had the lights of Main Street around us and the lefthand side of the road was totally lined with spectators cheering for us. Cinderella’s castle was straight ahead. OK, fine, it was kind of magical. We ran through the park and then back out through the castle (which was nice because I didn’t actually walk through the castle when I’d gone to MK with my family). Then it was back out onto the highway and through the parking lots to go to Animal Kingdom. This was definitely not an exciting part of the course but it still ticked by pretty well since we had something concrete to be running towards. They turned one of the quiet miles into a Star Wars theme with various characters, explosions, etc. which was fine. I had my headphones ready for music or podcasts but ended up not feeling compelled to use them at any point. The worst part of this strip is probably going past the water treatment plant, which was a little smelly, but not too terrible. Finally, we got into Animal Kingdom and someone yelled “go see some lions” which got me a little excited, especially since the run through EPCOT and Magic Kingdom had been really fun. But alas, not much was going on in Animal Kingdom and the only animal I saw was a possum just as I was exiting. Next we headed to Hollywood Studios at mile 23 or so, which I was hopeful for since I hadn’t yet been to Hollywood Studios with my family and because my family was there was supposed to meet me to cheer. First we had to do some laps around a parking lot. But finally, I arrived! Unfortunately this section was even shorter and less exciting than the Animal Kingdom portion, and my family wasn’t able to make it to the cheering zone on the edge of the park at the right time. Honestly, I was pretty bummed because I was really wanting that boost to get me through the last three miles. The last bit of the race goes back to EPCOT and again I was hopeful this would be an energizing/fun section to get these last few miles done, but it ended up being more of the backside/dumpster side/parking side of EPCOT. So a bit of a bummer after such a strong start for this course! But I finished with negative splits, which I was super happy about and attribute to my fueling strategy, which was to frontload the fuel I’d brought, take Powerade at EVERY station, and use the SportBeans they were giving out on course for the last bits when I was out of my own stuff. I finished in 4:38, which was close enough to 4:30 for me, especially with my bathroom breaks (I actually took a second one at mile 9 but that time had no line to wait for) and my inefficient running around people/not running tangents. The course was quite curvy, with my watch landing me at 26.5. 

Overall Impression: Like it. I’m glad I did it, and it was a unique race with some real highlights. I’d recommend it to others who wanted to also get a Disney vacation in. But am I about to sign up for Dopey next year? Not a chance. 

Tips for Going to Disney Parks with Little Kids and Doing the Disney World Marathon:

• NOTE: The below is based on my husband’s research and our experience there for the marathon. We did not check out the Boardwalk area or Disney Springs, and some features were closed either due to the season (e.g. Blizzard Beach) or for work being done (e.g. Thunder Mountain).
• MINIMUM AGE: I’d recommend going to the Disney parks when all kids are at least 40 inches, as a few of the rides that my kids liked required that height. There wasn’t anything big that we’d wanted to do that a 40 inch child couldn’t do, except for Space Mountain, which he was fine skipping. Disney has single and double strollers available to rent at the parks and worth the money if your kids aren’t comfortable on their feet all day.
• WHERE TO STAY: We chose the Contemporary because it is on the monorail and it’s proximity to Magic Kingdom, but looking back we’d probably try something different if we could do it again. It is considered a “deluxe” tier hotel at Disney and we had no big issues there, but it could definitely use a refresh and some other amenities. We liked being on the monorail so we would probably try the Grand Floridian or the Polynesian next time, although they are a bit more pricey than the Contemporary. One evening we grabbed dinner to-go at the Grand Floridian and it definitely had a more upscale vibe, more dining options, and better options from the to-go snack bar. For instance, the Contemporary did not have sparkling water or protein shakes in their to-go case, while the Grand Floridian did; Grand Floridian also had an Impossible Burger on their menu while the vegetarian option at the Contemporary’s takeout restaurant was a just-ok taco bowl. Note that guests staying at Disney resorts get 30 min early access to the parks, which we absolutely used and enjoyed! Highly recommend staying in Disney for that reason. I’d also suggest arriving a bit before opening time either way; for instance, at MK you can explore the Main Street area and get photos in front of the castle before the doors open to make the best use of your time. 
• BEST DISNEY RIDES FOR KIDS: Best rides/activities with an adventurous 3 and 5 year old: Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (aka Splash Mountain) at MK; Frozen Ever After at EPCOT; Under the Sea at MK; Peter Pan ride at MK; Soarin at EPCOT; Buzz Lightyear ride at MK; Space Mountain (5 year old only) at MK; Barnstormer rollercoaster at MK; Mickey’s Philharmagic at MK; Frozen singalong show at Hollywood Studios; Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios; Toy Story Mania! at Hollywood Studios; Millennium Falcon ride at Hollywood Studios; Tomorrowland Speedway at MK (kids liked it but it was just OK IMO); It’s a Small World is a classic and probably hasn’t been updated in 50 years, but the kids liked it; meeting Anna and Elsa in EPCOT (we just happened to be in the right place at the right time for the 9:15 opening); Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in EPCOT (3 year old was scared but all others enjoyed); Figment/Imagination in EPCOT (dated but kids did not care); Turtle Talk show in EPCOT
• BEST DISNEY RIDES FOR ADULTS: Soarin’ at EPCOT and Guardians of the Galaxy rollercoaster at EPCOT were hits, although we also enjoyed some of the kid-targeted rides such as Frozen and Under the Sea as well. We did not do TRON at MK but it was clearly popular because a herd of people ran there as soon as the park opened.
• LESS IMPRESSIVE RIDES AT DISNEY: Na’vi River Cruise at AK; Bug’s Life show at AK (weirdly dark and not joyful and there is a section when you are fumigated?); Pirates of the Caribbean at MK was fine – no one had a lot of opinions there; Jungle Cruise at MK was sort of funny to some of the adults but the kids didn’t get a lot of the jokes; The Seas with Finding Nemo at EPCOT wasn’t particularly fun or joyful; Monsters Inc show at MK; Everest rollercoaster in AK; Dinosaurs at AK (maybe some people would like this but my kids were just scared vs. having fun)
• DIVIDING TIME AT PARKS: Magic Kingdom was great and we did a full day there our first day and went back for a few hours the second day. We maybe could have even gone back again another day if there had been energy for it. EPCOT was also a full day and could have been more if we’d spent more time exploring the countries, which I would have liked to do for SURE, but the kiddos were getting tired. We were overall not very impressed with Animal Kingdom apart from the gorillas and only spent half a day there (huge gripe is that they were blasting Christmas music the whole time which was annoying and off brand and off season). I would plan for a full day at least at Magic Kingdom, a full day at least for EPCOT, a few hours at Animal Kingdom, and a half or full day at Hollywood Studios depending on kids’ ages. We did Park Hopper since we were on the monorail and so close to Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately by the last day our kids were totally overcooked and couldn’t really put in a full day of park hopping, so I would have loved to do even more evening park hopping than we did.

• BEST DINING WE HAD AT DISNEY: Definitely MAKE RESERVATIONS for several meals so you have a set spot to go to and a set time to do it – we saw a lot of people who looked hungry but sort of were wandering aimlessly or having to wait. Reservations open 60 days in advance and you can cancel most of the reservations day of. We prioritized setting lunches each day except for the last day in Hollywood Studios, and were a bit more flexible on some of the dinners. Our goal was to use a table service lunch as a midday break for our entire party to relax and recharge before continuing through the parks. I can criticize Disney for a few things but one thing they did well was offering a plant-based (vegan) meal or at least vegetarian options at pretty much every restaurant. Our best meals were the seven course vegan Japanese omakase dinner for adults at Takumi Tei in EPCOT (very very good and especially appreciated because I’ve been to Japan and finding this type of plant-based food was so hard! Little kids not welcome there so this was an adult date night); breakfast from the cafe in “Norway” in EPCOT (apple cake and cream donut thing were gooood; also right next to the exit of Frozen Ever After if you rope drop it first thing in the morning); lunch at Skipper Canteen in MK (fun experience AND good food – HIGHLY recommend); lunch at Via Nappoli in EPCOT (manicotti… drool); takeout from the takeout place at the Grand Floridian (Impossible Burger); fast casual lunch at Docking Bay 7 which is like a Star Wars themed restaurant in Hollywood Studios; AK looked like it had some good food options (Tiffins, Yak & Yeti etc.) but we planned to go to AK Lodge to eat at Sanaa which was very acceptable Indian/African food

• DINING TO SKIP IN DISNEY: Chef Mickey’s character dinner at the Contemporary (very overpriced for the food quality, not a particularly fun or nice ambiance, weird lighting, character interactions not particularly interesting for my kids); if we were to do a character meal again, we’d consider a brunch. It is both more economical and likely more interesting/palatable food than what we encountered at Chef Mickey’s. There are also other character meals available at other restaurants if that’s your kind of thing. 
• TIPS FOR LINES AT DISNEY: Even though the marathon weekend is not particularly busy compared to other times of year, 10000% get the Lightning Lane Passes. Even during this less busy period after the holidays, the Lightning Lanes saved us a TON of time waiting in lines, and we/our kids never really complained about the lines we were in. We got to ride everything we wanted to. We did the system where you have a limited number of Lightning Lanes and need to book them in advance, thoughtfully. This worked fine for us but my husband was really good and strategic about doing them, updating them throughout the day, etc. He also managed the virtual queues for the rides that those applied to. Lightning Lane single pass is an option for some of the rides (e.g. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train), but we didn’t feel compelled to purchase them. Early entry and rope dropping can save you the cost. Disney has recently unveiled a Lightning Lane Premier Pass, which allows one ride per day per park on any ride that has a Lightning Lane option. I think that would be a great option for folks that want the flexibility and don’t  mind spending the additional money. There is a significantly more expensive option where you skip lines entirely; for us, this wasn’t necessary and the Lightning Lane was the right balance of $ and time savings. 
• NOTE ON COFFEES AND ENTRY TIMES: Coffees or other open drinks are not permitted on rides at Disney parks. We learned this the hard way the first day when we stopped just before entry at the Starbucks on Main Street. If going again, I’d either bring a sealable coffee cup, or what I ended up doing the other days – getting my coffee early at the hotel cafe and then drinking it on the monorail, etc. so that I was done by the time it was time to ride. On the whole, coffee across the hotels and parks is nothing to write home about but I liked hydrating with a decaf iced latte each morning as we headed out. 
• PHOTOS AT DISNEY: Disney has a great system for capturing your photo at experiences such as rides and certain character events and automatically providing them in your Disney app assuming you’ve set it up to be linked, which is easy to do. Other rides/experiences have you tap your phone with your Apple Wallet, etc to link the photos to your account. There is also a way to link your bib # to your Photo Pass so that your photos from the race show up. Photos during rides are free and provided without watermark but other photos taken, including at character events and during the race, need to be paid for. You can either buy one photo, one day of photos, or all photos with different packages. This can be done in advance or afterward. One regret is not getting very many professional photos taken during our trip in general – we actually did not get a proper family photo of the four of us except for on a few rides! I recommend getting some and then you can get the photo package afterward if you decide to. 
• WHAT TO BRING FOR DISNEY: In addition to the coffee cup mentioned above, I’d also suggest bringing a refillable water bottle. Although the parks did not have a lot of refill stations (side note: Disney seems extremely behind the times on a LOT of sustainability stuff, which was definitely off-putting for me), there were water fountains and you could even just pre-fill at your hotel. We did not bring snacks into the parks with us and it was fine but I guess you can pack food/lunches to save some time and money; we actually liked going hard for a few hours and then stopping for a nice, big lunch. It was a little chilly a couple of the days so we were glad to have a few layers – fleeces and vests. I’d also suggest bringing a couple of pairs of comfortable shoes, as our feet got a bit tired from all the walking and I was glad to not wear my same running shoes the whole time. We brought swimsuits but did not go to any water parks or try to brave the somewhat janky looking and probably chilly water area at the Contemporary. My three year old does not normally use a stroller but we had a light umbrella stroller to use which I’d highly recommend; you can also rent these from Disney. We didn’t have to leave the park when we were there but brought DRIVESAFE harnesses for the kids for Ubers to and from the airport. Hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen are a must for most days. While many of the attractions are indoors, there’s a lot of outside time.

SOUVENIR STRATEGY: We purchased a pair of special mouse ears for each child (they make dozens of different themed ears) and an ornament for our Christmas tree. I’d suggest telling kids (and yourself) that they can choose ONE souvenir as it would be VERY easy to buy a bunch of Disney swag while you’re there in the moment and then get home and be like “wait where am I going to use this Disney yeti backpack and when am I ever going to wear this Disney shirt and did I really need this Disney beer stein?”