2026 Princess Half Marathon Weekend Recap

Another runDisney weekend is in the books for the 2025-2026 season. Merida, Moana, Rapunzel, and Belle took over for the 2026 Princess Half Marathon Weekend that was filled with great characters, solid theming, and (thankfully) good running weather. This was my first non-Marathon Weekend runDisney experience and I definitely enjoyed the princess themes and lack of marathon more than I expected.

If social media is to be believed (and it SHOULDN'T), Princess Weekend brings out the worst etiquette and has traditionally felt like an "also-ran" as the 5k, 10k, and half marathon courses simply follow the Marathon Weekend courses the month prior. However, I didn't get that impression at all. While there did seem to be significantly more women on the course, I didn't see any "diva" behavior in any of my races and I still felt the runDisney magic running three races instead of four. Between the characters and entertainment (and a good meteorologist) I would say runDisney knocked Princess Weekend out of the park.

In addition to this being my first non-Marathon Weekend event, this was also the first runDisney event for my wife and daughter. My wife, 10 year old son (a veteran of the WDW 5k), and my 7 year old daughter all joined me for the Princess 5k. I noticed a couple young families running during the 2025 WDW 5k, and felt inspired to get my family (minus my youngest, who still has a couple years before turning 5) into the mix. It made for a different experience than just running on my own, and one that for sure gave me some special memories.

Expo

I know I can't be the only one, but I always dread the Expo. Crowds and lines are certainly the norm for anything at Disney World, but the only real payoff on Expo day is picking up your bibs and shirts or spending money on merchandise. I can deal with this fine by myself, but it's a bit tougher with my family in tow and an unruly toddler.

We got to the Expo earlier than during the previous year's Marathon Weekend, and we beelined to the back of Wide World of Sports past an already-crowded merchandise crowd. We were rewarded with a much smaller line to get our bibs, and my family hopped in line for photos with Daisy and Minnie in their princess outfits. Unfortunately, both lines were painstakingly slow and my toddler decided she didn't want to meet the characters once she got to the front of the Daisy line. My other two kids weren't too thrilled to wait in line either, so we bailed on the photos after waiting 30+ minutes.

We moved on to the next building where my youngest was still not having it amongst the throng of people and booths. Thankfully she gravitated toward the free samples of probiotic drinks (she loves the drinkable yogurts) and her mood shifted as I grabbed the shirts for my family. We all did a quick loop around the vendors and checked out all the medals for Princess (which turned out amazing) and the Springtime Surprise glitter medals.

Just as we approached the merchandise building my virtual queue number popped up, and we decided to see what they had inside. There wasn't really anything I wanted and I wasn't in the market for new shoes (quick aside: I didn't have time to write about the Brooks Princess Weekend shoes but I thought they were absolutely perfect - especially the Rapunzel Ghost 17's with "braided" shoelaces and Pascal!). Unfortunately we entered the building only to find MORE LINES just to enter the shopping area. My crew was at the limit and we almost decided to walk out when we finally got called in about 30 minutes after getting in line again. Determined to not make the wait a total waste, my wife and son each picked out a different 5k pin, which was unexpected since we're not pin collectors (yet!).

I know runDisney has a tough job of balancing so many people in small spaces, but the merchandise area continues to be an issue. It would be great if there were more items for pre-order (ahem, magnets) or if there was an easier mechanism to pick up pre-orders than going through the whole ordeal of entering the building. I'll give the benefit of the doubt to Disney thinking through potential issues with alternatives. And again, if it's just adults it's not a big deal, but dragging my kids through felt like a medal-worthy event on its own. But we left relatively unscathed and ready for a family 5k.

5k

Our alarms went off at 2:30am the next morning, and my wife and I cajoled our sleepy kids out of bed and into their race outfits (my toddler was asleep in the adjoining room with my mom). My kids were insistent on Stitch outfits over literally ANY OTHER princess movie, so we rolled with Stitch, Leroy, Angel, and Reuben (I was impressed with how many people realized my very-DIY beanie hat was Reuben and not Pluto). My kids grabbed some cereal cups and my wife and I each had a banana and coffee in hand and we headed to the Pop Century bus stop.

After a sleepy ride to Epcot we made the long walk to the Reunion lot where the DJ and party atmosphere quickly woke everyone up. We made our second attempt at getting a photo with Princess Daisy (successfully completed this time) and we made our way to the corral area. My wife remarked on a number of really cool, elaborate outfits - which is certainly best to pull off in the lower-stakes 5k than longer races. There were no shortages of red-haired (or red-wigged) Meridas, as well as bear cubs and a few Scottish tribesmen.

Our family started back in D Corral, which is a big departure from the A or B I've been in previously. As the race officially started, we shuffled our way around and found ourselves at the tape for our wave around 5:30. The race finally kicked off and we ran with my daughter and I in front and my wife and son behind, letting my daughter set the pace.

The first mile or so we went at a mostly-steady pace (she started a little fast at the start and needed a walk break to get back on track) but I was proud of my kids for pushing along. We entered Epcot and made our first (and only) character stop for Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder. I've been in A, B, and C, but the character lines in D corral are no joke. We waited about 25-30 minutes for the photo, which was better than the 45 minutes estimated by the Cast Member. To my kids' credit they wanted to press on instead of standing/sitting still, but after the Cast Member rattled off the remaining characters (Snow White, Beast, Prince Mickey, and Tinkerbell, after already passing Queen Elinor from Brave) we decided Rapunzel was the character we most wanted to meet. One woman behind us even pixie dusted my daughter with a bracelet, which cheered her up enough to give a big hug to Rapunzel before we sped off again.

Much of the next two miles were a mix of running and (mostly) walking amongst the crowds. The other character lines looked just as long or longer than the Rapunzel line at this point, so we bypassed these and settled on a family photo in front of Spaceship Earth instead. When we exited the park, my daughter broke back into a run for the last third of a mile or so. I was proud my kids stuck together and ran through the finish line together with my wife and I trailing behind. My daughter was especially pumped to finish, I'm sure both because of the accomplishment and because it was over. At one point near the end she told me running wasn't her "thing" - but I think her, and my son, finishing a 5k is a big deal. I was proud of both of them, and my wife for indulging me and helping keep them going when it got tougher between mile 2 and 3. We grabbed our medals, drinks, and food boxes and made our way to the resort bus for our Epcot day.

10k

After a full day of running around Epcot from about 5am until 9pm the previous day, I woke up early Saturday to... run around Epcot again (with a little Boardwalk mixed in). Like everyone else, I had been monitoring the weather like a hawk and worried for the scattered thunderstorms. The ominous runDisney email on Friday detailing a decision for potential course amendments (or cancellation!) at 8pm didn't seem promising. But runDisney plowed forward, and it honestly turned out great. The pre-race rain ebbed and flowed but never became overwhelming (only driving the Reunion characters inside a couple times). I took advantage of short lines and got photos with Tiana (my daughter's current favorite) and an intense Lady Tremaine and step-sisters before the race. By the time the race started we had some puddles on the ground but very little rainfall, making for a great run.

I was in A Corral for the Fairytale Challenge and got started in the front of the 2nd wave of runners even after entering the corral at 4:40. With all the space in front of me and fresh-ish legs, I got to set my own pace and sped off at about a 7:30min/mile pace. Even though I was cognizant of my half marathon the following day, there was no marathon looming later and I felt free to keep pushing ahead.

I'm not sure if runDisney pulled back the number of character stops, but they were at the very least pulled into more covered areas for the characters and photographers. This meant they were heavily concentrated in Epcot, and I picked a few characters to stop at here and there. I stopped for Princess Minnie, Knight Donald, and Belle all in World Showcase, and I either skipped or didn't even see some of the others (I skipped by Kristoff, Princess Daisy, Ariel and Prince Eric, and Fancy Nancy; I never even saw the Troll, Elsa, Cinderella, Mirabel and Isabella, Sleeping Beauty fairies, Pocahontas, or Merida). Each stop I made was pretty quick, and I felt good kicking back into speed around the course. I was pleasantly surprised the Boardwalk was not slick, and I chugged along through the finish line in about 50 minutes.

I got my beautiful Moana medal and snacks, and got a finisher medal photo with Moana before getting on the bus back to Pop Century. Unfortunately it was a long wait on the bus as we kicked off just before 7am, but I got back in plenty of time to shower and rope drop Hollywood Studios with the family. On to the half marathon!

Half Marathon

Waking up early Sunday morning, my mindset wasn't so much "I have to run a half marathon today" as it was "I get to run a half marathon through Disney today". It felt very different than the Dopey Challenge where the half marathon is a little more like an obstacle before tackling the final marathon race. Even though I didn't fit in nearly enough long runs this winter due to lack of motivation in the cold (December and early January) and the crazy amount of snow and ice we got in the Northeast (January and most of February), I knew I could comfortably complete a half marathon so long as nothing crazy happened on the course. So I approached this morning excited to run to the Cinderella Castle and back in my Rapunzel-inspired running gear.

I snagged a photo with Goofy (by my estimation the only male character represented in the Reunion area during the weekend), and got myself warmed up in the corral area. Similar to the previous day, I waited until the last few minutes to get in one more bathroom break before entering A Corral, and I still ended up in the 2nd wave of runners (side note - I was a little struck by the several runners ducking the tape to move into the end of the 1st wave since I'd rather run into space than start two minutes earlier, but to each their own). Before long we were off on the course moving up to Magic Kingdom.

Even though I took the 10k hard the day before, my legs felt good and I started at a sub-8:00min/mile pace. The half marathons are usually packed with character stops, so I knew I wanted to stop at several along the way. This was also the first longer race I've run without carrying my own hydration, so I figured I'd stop for water and Powerade frequently as well. I approached Mother Goethel in the first mile and got in the line about 5-6 runners deep. It would be the longest line I waited in during the race. I managed to skip a few other early stops that were either duplicative (I didn't need multiple photos with Moana or Goofy) or not as important to me personally (some of the "older" princesses such as Snow White or Aurora... I still don't know who Mira is). But I was excited to see Judy Hopps, Joy and Sadness, Tinkerbell, Marie (Aristocats seems to be popular now), Merida (couldn't get her during the 5k), Raya, and Vanellope Von Schweetz.

Entering Magic Kingdom always provides a solid rush between the lights of Main Street and the surprisingly loud crowd. We got a decent loop through the park before heading right back out and down to Epcot. The half marathon course for Marathon and Princess Weekends is definitely heavy on roads as opposed to in-park time, but the entertainment along the way is still unrivaled. Even as the warm weather and humidity started wearing on me a bit near the end, I sadly counted down the miles as I climbed the last few "hills" (overpasses) before entering Epcot. I hit one final burst past several runners in the last mile and heard my name get called as I finished just a hair after 7am for a sub-2 hour race. Not too bad for 14 character stops, water stops, and two quick bathroom breaks.

I picked up my medals, drinks, and food box (I was thankful for the cooling towel), and headed over to the Reunion Lot for medal photos with both Rapunzel and Belle. I took one last look at the runDisney setup and headed onto the bus back to Pop Century.

Final Impressions

Overall, runDisney nailed the 2026 Princess Half Marathon Weekend. While Dopey Challenge will always be my favorite, I had a great time running the courses for Princess. Even a little bit of rain before the 10k didn't mar the great weather we had all weekend.

As for highlights, I would say runDisney absolutely aced the theming from top to bottom. It wasn't just four random princesses featured, but rather thematically similar stories of people not accepting their lot in life to search for new and exciting adventures. The colors and themes were on point. And the medals! All four were stunning and by far the nicest-looking in my runDisney collection. Even the Brooks shoes were perfectly themed, as I saw plenty of Belle and Rapunzel shoes throughtout the parks and resorts all weekend. Also, again I give kudos to runDisney for keeping the 10k as scheduled, as it would have been a shame if the weather report had cancelled or alterred the race course.

I already mentioned the Expo, but I'm not alone in hoping runDisney can finally crack the chaos that is the merchandise building. It really is a mess, and significantly harder to navigate with young kids. My only other "negative" note isn't really a runDisney knock but rather a personal impression that running in later corrals is tough. We weren't even in the last corrals for the 5k, and it felt like stopping at more than two or three characters would be the limit. We stopped for one character and one iconic photo stop while walking about half the course and it took us about an hour-and-a-half to finish. I am super interested in seeing the changes to the 5k's starting with the 2026 Wine & Dine Weekend.

As always, I can't recommend runDisney enough to runners and Disney World enthusiasts alike. It's not so much a Venn diagram as I feel like anyone could enjoy a runDisney 5k regardless of corral or theme. We will definitely be back for another Princess Weekend at some point, but for now I'm setting my sights on 2027 Dopey Challenge.