Run Walk Repeat

A Fun Life At All Paces

runDisney Princess Half: How Long are the Character Lines

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You run with my crowd, its a mad sprint from Character to Character.  OK, sprint for US.  A question often asked and hard to answer is “How Bad or Long are the character lines at a runDisney race?”  The answer, it really varies – whomp, whomp.   They do put out characters they you don’t get to see too often or easily in the parks, so the photo opps are great.  Some lines are super long, some are not.  Oh, no autographs allowed to keep things moving.

Most of the characters are in the parks – but there are plenty of opportunities outside the parks too. The Heroes, Capt Jack Sparrow, and more. The Magic Kingdom portion of the race course is like somewhere in mile 5 to somewhere after mile 6.  Miles 6 to 8 the course is narrow, down to one lane, so things slow down naturally too.  I will touch on more specifics in a post on the characters on the course next week, but for now, I thought it MIGHT be helpful for you to see based on the 2012 runDisney Expo Character Map how my times were mile to mile.  Last year, there were a few changes from the map below, but for the most part it was the same as I recall.  They did move Cinderella out of the Park in the area where the Parade Floats live just outside the parks and they moved Belle and Gaston into the New Fantasyland – replacing them outside the parks with Mary Poppins.  But as you can see…PLENTY of characters!

This was NOT in the runDisney Expo Booth in 2013, its from 2012
I thought I would illustrate my group’s races 2 years in a row for you to get an idea of where the longest lines are.  In 2012 I did NOT stop as much inside the parks for photos – the we stopped alot and only ran with Amy.  In 2013 I ran with Amy,  Patty  and Wendy.  We definitely had more bathroom stops, someone has a teeny weeny bladder AND we stopped I think inside Magic Kingdom for every character. We stopped for almost all the characters on the race and and our four hour time really showed it.  In 2012, our time was 3 hours 20 minutes, 2013 just shy of 4 hours.
If you look at my 2013 race you can see in mile 5-8 its SLOW going. Lots of character photos and the course really narrowed.  We started in C and saw the balloon ladies after mile 8.  Luckily we had decided the line for Aurora was a tad too long and jumped out – I think had we stayed we would have been swept. We were in line for Captain Jack Sparrow and saw the guys on bikes and left that line too.
I am hoping THIS year at the expo, the above sign is posted, so we can strategically plan our MUST do characters, otherwise you wait in a long line, you risk missing someone later.  I will say, seems like in Epcot people just want to be done, so lines there are SO short.
 

The truth is, the slower your pace and further towards the back, you might not have the liberty of stopping at all the characters and IT IS OK, really. The first year, I ran I was injured so I just wanted to finish. I only stopped for 2 photos, the Castle and Jessie and it was all good.   My only goal was to make it to the Castle and if I had to be swept then so be it….I finished the race!

I broke down mile by mile characters and my experiences with lines in this post Character Photos at runDisney Princess Half Mile by Mile.  

Let me know if you have any questions and if this is helpful.

Which Disney Character would you most like getting your photo with?

For more info on the Princess Half Marathon from my perspective, including race course Restrooms (real ones, not Port O Potties), My Recaps and other info, check out my runDisney Page.

Julie @RunWalkRepeat
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About Julie @RunWalkRepeat

Wife, Mom, Southerner, Former Cubicle Dweller, Sting Fanatic and Reluctant Runner. I got started on family a little later in life than most and run for my health. A fan of Food, Entertainment, Travel, Galloway Running and Disney, I like to find the fun in all things in life.

Comments

  1. Erica says

    Do they instantly pick you up if you get behind the balloon ladies? Or do you have some leeway? I want alll the characters lol.

    • Julie Franklin says

      No, the bike guys give you warning…if you get a warning, you better be in front of the balloon ladies at the next mile marker…or else the buses might cross the road and you are forced on the bus.

  4. Anne says

    I’d like to get a castle picture and I’ve never done Mickey and Minnie so perhaps that’s another must do. Green army guy usually insists on taking a picture with me so…we’ll see 😉

  5. Janae Melvin says

    Question – do you stop your Garmin at each stop or let it continue to run throughout the entire race? For some reason, I always assumed you would stop it – but as I’m reading through your blogs I’m beginning to realize I need to leave it running so I can keep an eye on the time – am I doing that right in my head??? My first half, my first Disney race, and I’m running it alone so I’ll be responsible for myself….
    Thanks!!

    • Julie Franklin says

      I do NOT stop my garmin, bottom line, I need to know how I am doing and if I stopped my garmin at every photo or bathroom stop, I have no idea where I really am. We got behind the balloon ladies last year, because of all the stops. They have tatoos you can order or just write each mile on your arm from the time you started plus 15 minutes if that makes sense. I only stop the Garmin at the very end.

    • Janae Melvin says

      Makes total sense – I have no idea why I never thought of it that way this entire time. I’ll blame it on tired mommy brain…or math was never my best subject brain… I feel like a doof for not figuring this out sooner… oye…
      Thank you!!!!

  6. Karen says

    Great info! This is my 5th runDisney race and I’ve noticed certian characters are at/around the same place. I definitely don’t do all of them but wait in the longer lines for the pics I want to score. This year royal Mickey and Minnie is a MUST! 🙂
    Karen @karenlovestorun

  8. Abby's Road says

    This post is SUPER helpful. Thank you. Glad to see it’s mostly the same characters. It’s just a bummer that the characters I usually want will always have a HUGE line. haha!