2025 Dopey Challenge Recap: Half Marathon and Animal Kingdom

Half Marathon

The Half Marathon of Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend is where the Dopey Challenge starts getting real. While a 13.1-mile run doesn't seem too far when you're in the midst of marathon training, it's still not a short distance by any means. Plus you realize there's still a full marathon to run in 24 hours, so it starts to get daunting. And don't forget about all the miles you put into those park days!

The alarm went off again and I worked my way up and out the door. I wore my "Mickey motif" outfit complete with bright yellow shoes, and with the weather being relatively warm this day I didn't bother with an outer layer. But with possible rain in the forecast I did grab my running hat and mylar blanket just in case.

As I got to the starting area, I met up with a friend of mine who had snagged the last Dopey car magnet at the Expo for me. We chatted for a bit and got a photo, and slowly the light drizzle became a windy rainstorm. I did my best to wrap myself in the mylar blanket and moved along to the corrals. Unfortunately the rain forced the pre-race characters inside, but between Donald & Daisy, Goofy, Winnie the Pooh, and Dopey I would end up getting photos with most of them anyway (ironically I missed Dopey this weekend). I nestled myself in Corral A and tried to use the crowd and mylar to block out the sideways rain until the race started. Thankfully just as we were pushing out to the course the rain subsided for the majority of the race.

I started off as an easy pace and determined to mix in more character stops to keep my legs fresh, but not so many steps to lose too much time. We were heading to Animal Kingdom that day, so with the earlier park open time I didn't want to dawdle too long on the course. The first character was Cruella, and even with the long line early on I had to stop. 101 Dalmatians was my wife's favorite movie growing up, and I had regretted skipping Cruella during the 2023 WDW Marathon Weekend because of the long line. There was a sizeable line this time, but it moved quickly and I got my photo with a very spot-on Cruella.

There are always a bunch of characters along the Half Marathon and Marathon route, and after I skipped some long lines early on I stopped at the following characters:

• Balloo

• Darkwing Duck

• Meeko from Pocahontas

• A couple Country Bears, including our favorite, Big Al

• Tigger

• Mickey and Minnie

• Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa

• Donald and Daisy

• Robin Hood, Prince John, and the Sheriff of Nottingham

I was especially excited to see the Robin Hood characters as my kids had become enamored with the movie. Probably because it played on a near-endless loop in our minivan as we never bothered changing the DVD. Regardless, the Robin Hood crew were good gets.

The 2025 WDW Half Marathon and Marathon changed up the course in heading up to Magic Kingdom along the path past the Polynesian and Grand Floridian. As the rain was still coming in a little bit the path occasionally narrowed with puddles, but it wasn't too bad early on. The best part of the course change was running along the Electric Water Pageant just before entering the Magic Kingdom.

By far the highlight of the WDW Half Marathon and Marathon (as well as the Princess Half Marathon) is the run to the castle. Running past the crowd down Main Street USA with the castle lit up ahead is as iconic as any race course you'll find. Even though I've run down Main Street USA a few times now, the excitement of passing the gates and hearing the spectators never wears off.

It started getting light just as I entered Epcot for the homestretch. The course just barely dipped into Epcot before rounding the choir and racing past the finish line. My race time was 2:12 with a "moving time" of 1:54 when accounting for the various character stops. I felt good finishing and even with the 19.4-ish running miles and additional park miles I was ready to tackle an easy day at Animal Kingdom before the Marathon.

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom is the perfect "chill" park to explore before the Marathon. My entire family was joining us for the day so I was looking forward to taking it easy and enjoying the park and shows. Since the park opened shortly after I finished the race I figured making Early Entry was a longshot. We entered and decided to get some family Photopass pictures in front of the Tree of Life. The kids all gravitated toward the Wilderness Explorer table nearby, and they made it their goal to hit as many Wilderness Explorer stations as they could (we only missed the stops by Rafiki's Planet Watch).

Our first stop was a big Tusker House breakfast in Africa. Tusker House was our first ever character breakfast when we did our first Disney trip years earlier, and it did not disappoint. The character interactions are great, and the food is a mix of "normal" breakfast favorites and some more unique offerings that are fun to try. The kids ate a good breakfast and I made it my goal to get my money's worth in carbs for the next day - mission accomplished.

From breakfast we meandered down through Pandora and across to our last showing of It's Tough To Be A Bug before the reimagining into a Zootopia show. We then made our way up through Asia while the kids ping-ponged to the different Wilderness Explorer tables. We caught the Feathered Friends in Flight! show, and then I waited with my youngest while the rest of the crew rode Everest. We continued our way around the park, taking in the best theming at Disney World while the kids grabbed some ice cream bars before catching the Finding Nemo show.

We did what was likely our last visit to Dinoland USA and my kids' favorite spot, the Boneyard playground. I grabbed myself a plate of the Buffalo Chicken Chips (I really hope they stick around somewhere in the park), and found a spot to sit down. As the afternoon wore on I had been feeling a nagging sore spot on the ball of my foot. I took off my shoe to find a small hole on the bottom of my sock, and with the wet weather earlier and all the walking I was getting the beginnings of a blister. I flipped my sock upside down on my foot (yes, in the park - I'm not proud), and I hoped for the best.

We ended our day with a ride on Kilimanjaro Safari and headed to the exit. Another bonus of Animal Kingdom before the Marathon was the early closing time. We made it back to Art of Animation around 7:15pm and I was finally hungry for dinner. We shared a pizza, which is my go-to pre-run dinner, and I got to sleep a little earlier in anticipation of the big race.

Next Section: The Marathon