Princess Weekend 2023 (Feb 23-26, 2023)

[nancipants]

I only did the 10k, but I felt like the etiquette was mostly fine? I was in the last corral, so the course was already crowded when I started, but there were only a few times when the bottlenecks made it impossible to get around. Most of the walkers I noticed spread across the course were doing intervals. Every time I called “on your left”, people apologized and moved over. Conversely, I moved over as much as I could whenever I walked, even though it made my race distance longer. I was also really focused, so I probably missed stuff happening on the course.

 

[matt and beth]

I’m interested in hearing about the race etiquette most of you had during this weekend. I’m in a bunch of Facebook groups and I feel like every post is a complaint about people cutting in front of others, blocking photos intentionally, not being mindful of the runners around..and frankly it’s making me wonder if I made a big mistake signing up for DL 5k and 10k

Just wondering what the actual experience was Like for most of you regarding all that.

It was a great time and wonderful race. Rubbed on a couple of people who cut across without checking but everyone was apologetic and kind. I’m used to trail races so no big deal. No one was being malicious, they were just having fun. Some people are just wound way too tight and are never happy. Corrals were fun and the music had the crowd singing to start off the 1/2. Volunteers were amazing! The randoms in the crowd cheering you on were awesome and a huge encouragement. Nothing like it! Ignore the complaints

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

What a fun race weekend! It was my first multi-race weekend, and though I could do a little better at recovery (hard to balance with a family who loves park time), I feel better than expected today!

So glad Mother Nature cooperated with cooler temps yesterday morning!

The only issue is that we missed our flight home last night by 2 minutes. Got to MCO 2hrs early - but a super long baggage drop line and ridiculous security line - we got to the gate just after the door closed. 13 people missed our flight! Now back at the Dolphin waiting until the next flight we could get tomorrow.

I had almost 44,000 steps yesterday- including a terminal sprint to our gate. Not a great ending to a fab trip!

I went to HS first thing on Sat morning and was there until early afternoon when I went to the Expo, and from there to the HH meetup. Between the park, WWoS, and circumnavigating Boardwalk, I managed appx 11.6 miles per my Garmin.

Did the half on Sunday and did great until coming out of MK when I dropped out of warp and into a fast walk. I know I was going to spend the day in Epcot with my DW and walked more than ran the final 6 miles. I walked from the finish back into Epcot, changed clothes and left my soggy race gear in a locker, met her, got breakfast and then rode GotG and the other good rides and eventually we had dinner a Chefs de Paris. By the time we got back to the room, I was up to 56,600 steps and 28.8 miles. And on 3.5 hours of sleep. I was spent.
And while my time for the race was unimpressive (I wasn't too worried about) what was concerning was my ankles and left hip hurting. That was new to me. I'm hoping it was simply because of all the steps on Sat.
I don't usually sleep 8 hours or through the night, but on Sun night I was out quickly and slept a good 8.5 hours until 7 am when the brat in the next room started pitching her fit at her parents-of-the-year candidates.
But it was a fun time, and I enjoyed the socializing at HH. In fact, one hub from the HH meetup called out to me at the end of the race and gave his congrats. That was very nice and greatly appreciated.
I'll post some other pics later.

 

[Bree]

I’m interested in hearing about the race etiquette most of you had during this weekend. I’m in a bunch of Facebook groups and I feel like every post is a complaint about people cutting in front of others, blocking photos intentionally, not being mindful of the runners around..and frankly it’s making me wonder if I made a big mistake signing up for DL 5k and 10k

Just wondering what the actual experience was Like for most of you regarding all that.

People like to post complaints more than compliments. I have a feeling some of those people must be miserable to be around in real life

Unfortunately, the crowding is always rough for Disney races. You need to be strategic and look for gaps to make your way through. I started in the second wave of corral A for the half and spent over 3 hours on the course. I was able to run my pace easily between photo stops and water stops by looking for those gaps and sometimes asking politely if I could squeeze by a group. I had to go around runners on the grass a few times, but I merged back into the crowd courteously. If you accidentally brush up against someone just saying “I’m sorry” can go a long way.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I’m interested in hearing about the race etiquette most of you had during this weekend. I’m in a bunch of Facebook groups and I feel like every post is a complaint about people cutting in front of others, blocking photos intentionally, not being mindful of the runners around..and frankly it’s making me wonder if I made a big mistake signing up for DL 5k and 10k

Just wondering what the actual experience was Like for most of you regarding all that.

I was lined up for a photog by the Indy 500, totaly in the clear, and at the last second some young lady jumped about 10 feet sideways to get (what seemed like) directly in front of me. Totally irritating, but I don't think done heinously.
That said, in one of my two pics coming out of the castle, I totally Mike Witkowski-ed someone who was behind me and trying for a photo (I had no clue he was there).
So it evens out.
I had times when someone got me with their arm or hand as I went by or they went by me (most action I got all day....) but none of it was rude shoving. There were times when I got into the grass to get around some people, and times when others did the same to get around me. So I did not experience any deliberate rudeness. Go run the races and have fun.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Actually, the most irritating encounter was in the final mile when the 3:00 pace group caught up to me like a school of fish. I was maintaining a decent pace when one of the women leading it cuts in front of me and calls out "3, 2, 1 walk" and I had to dodge to keep from flattening her. It would not have been deliberate, but I outweighed her by a good bit and was glad not to trip either of us. That was annoying, but the only thing I can think of.

 

[Disneyhanna]

I only did the Princess 10k but I did Dopey and I thought that the course etiquette wasn't too different between the two, even though I did the Princess 10k like 30 minutes slower than the MW 10k and expected a more packed course because of it. It felt like we were released so much faster for Princess since I crossed the start line like the same time as MW even though I started in B for Princess and A for MW. This meant the course was much more crowded at Princess for the first minute as there were a lot of walkers to weave around, the mini-waves must have been smaller at MW which meant less crowding at the start.

In general there were the occasional runners that would sprint when they saw photopass and run from behind and swoop directly in front of you with airplane arms (still don't understand this) but had this at both races despite running them very differently. So definitely not unique to Princess. There were some slow runners/walkers that were going 3-4 across in areas where they should have been 2 across and I don't remember this from MW however since I ran MW much faster (maybe 10 min miles between photos instead of 12.5 min miles) perhaps I just got ahead of those groups at MW.

Photo lines were sooooo much slower at Princess. Even the first stop I did where I hadn't "lost" much time compared to Marathon Weekend, it moved like molasses. People were doing full on character interactions. Hugging hello, hugging goodbye, miming and conversing. Then taking group and individual photos. And getting poses with the phone and then with photopass (pick one to look at and move on, people!). I don't remember this from MW, I just remember snap and go. I know I ran MW faster but since it was like this from the first photo stop we did, I think it was more of a trend at Princess. Mickey moved the fastest, I think because he was immediately going for the arm grab to take a posed picture, LOL! So definitely depends on the character/attendant. At the expo I thought it was interesting, Minnie switched multiple times while we were in line and one Minnie was very into hugging, interactions, escorting people to the photo and then back to their belongings. Very cute if the line isn't 100 people long but it was taking minutes per interaction. Then she switched out and the next Minnie was like hug, photo, move on! Ha!

All that aside, despite taking Princess 10k on the slower side (around 2 hours with 5 photos), since we started in B we had enough room to jog the entire course when we wanted to. It was tight on the path between Studios and Epcot but there was enough room to jog single file if you went around the folks going 3-4 across. But in other areas it was never too crowded. No diva attitudes, no one going from running to walking without warning, etc.

I still highly prefer MW after doing them back to back. Just the vibes and excitement about the running, I am not a super serious runner by any means but runDisney is definitely about running with a side of Disney for me, and not Disney with a side of running. Also it turns out I don't really have any interest in meeting Princesses and so I prefer the MW characters. I was so disappointed there was no ShellieMae after hearing Duffy was at the 5K I kept passing the princesses thinking ugh - I could meet you in the parks with less of a wait! I should do the Princess half for more rare characters but the 10k is about the limit for the friend I do Princess weekend with.

 

[PrincessOfAllDisneys]

I thought the race etiquette was alright. I didn't see anything that would turn me off of doing a race I will say I heard a few people yell on your left when they were coming up my right side...I guess their left lol.

The one thing I did notice is folks would hold up their hand to either start running or walking which was a lot of what was talked about in reference to race etiquette. The only problem is when folks hold up their hand but forget to check their rear view mirror. I saw folks tripping running into the backs of people and one person knocked down by someone that swerved over to start running.

But all in all it wasn't anything that I haven't seen in all the races. Did it feel like the course was super narrow to anyone else this year? Maybe it was just the crowds I was in but wow did it feel narrow and like a lot of people had to run in the grass.

 

[Z-Knight]

The race etiquette with a bunch of Princesses is always awful, just awful. They all feel like they should have the right of way and they make sure to point at their tiaras as proof.

Kidding of course - i started in C and never had an issue. People are generally kind and if someone does cut someone off then most say sorry. Once maybe I had to go around 3 people walking side by side, but it wasn't intentional on their part because they weren't even together, just how they ended up at that point. Choke points are the hardest and tend to be frustrating to people, but do realize no one is doing anything intentionally. They could be tired, worried about their pace, have personal issues and have eyes filled with tears (like me) or just happened to get in your way for a brief second - give them the benefit of the doubt if you can. Be a Goldfish.

 

[superchime]

I headed into this weekend afraid, based on the things I'd been reading on other groups, but I was pleasantly surprised. I only did the 10k and started in the last corral. In general I noticed runners seemed to be keeping to the left, walkers to the right. I was dreading the sidewalk between DHS and the Boardwalk but it wasn't nearly the bottleneck I was expecting. Even though it was crowded, I could still run when I needed to run. In general I appreciated the chatter amongst the runners, as we joked about things and complimented each other on costumes. I didn't see any intentional nastiness.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

My wife got the same mug. Did you notice the error above the pics? Half marathon and Challenge distances are swapped.

Someone pointed it out at the expo. OCD me is deliberately ignoring it…

 

[Bree]

This was my fourth Princess Weekend. It was the best one yet from the expo (even with the VQ) to the races and I plan on running again next year. The three previous weekends were an estrogen overload from tantrums to tears and everything in between, but this year it seemed every princess was on their best behavior.

I usually drive to the races, but used the buses over the weekend. Creepiest thing ever is to close down the beer tent and be the ONLY ONE on the bus back to your resort.

 

[XoxoAmy]

I usually drive to the races, but used the buses over the weekend. Creepiest thing ever is to close down the beer tent and be the ONLY ONE on the bus back to your resort.

Love this! I got a beer for the first time ever after the half, and wondered WHY I hadn't been doing that at every race. I'll close it down with you next time!

 

[XoxoAmy]

Anyone else planning Princess weekend 2024 already? I'm doing all other race weekends between now and then too (and DL!) but my family really wants to try the Disney Wish during our school vacation week in Feb 2024, which is always the week going into Princess weekend (its always the week of President's day). So day 1 back home and I'm already checking the cruise schedules... we can either do the 3 day the Fri-Mon before (and then stay 7 days at WDW? Ouch $$$) or do the 4 day Mon-Fri but then my daughters miss out on the 5k (they did it for the first time this year and really liked it) and I would probably skip the 10k and just do the half..... hmmm...... Wish they made the cruise schedule more runDisney friendly!

(and yes I know it would be ideal to do the 4 day cruise the day after the race weekend, but I can't take the kids out of school the week after vacation week! Ugh....)

 

[sandam1]

Anyone else planning Princess weekend 2024 already?

I am! I'm registered for the DL half and I am eyeing Princess/Fairy Tale Challenge as the second part of my Coast to Coast. My best friend is doing her first half at Disneyland, but I'm hoping to convince her to do Princess as her first challenge.

 

[Popo]

While waiting for family to finish the Half, I sat in the reunion area, contemplating two of my favorite things from the Princess Half Marathon.

 

[nancipants]

Anyone else planning Princess weekend 2024 already?

Yup! I did the 10k, and am determined to register for the half next year. Then I can lay out my medals by progression: 5k in 2022, 10k in 2023, and half in 2024.

I have some other friends who are considering the half as well. Bring on registration day!

If you do go on the Wish and miss the 5k, your kids can do the Castaway Cay 5k! (I'm doing the Panama Canal cruise this year and am sad we don't go to Castaway so I can get that medal, too.)

 

[XoxoAmy]

If you do go on the Wish and miss the 5k, your kids can do the Castaway Cay 5k! (I'm doing the Panama Canal cruise this year and am sad we don't go to Castaway so I can get that medal, too.)

Oh that's a good point - thank you!

 

[cburnett11]

My wife and I had a great time. She had done the challenge in 2020 with a friend and I came down to watch. This time we both did the challenge, but separately. I had never done pics in a Disney race until January marathon when it was my goal to get all of them with as little wait as possible. That was a fun goal and I decided to repeat it again. I was able to get all character pics that were active. I had a bit more challenge in the half as there were a few people that kept beating me to the characters and a couple of them were treating it as a meet and greet. I wasn’t bold enough to pick up my pace to pass them between stops, but once I got to MK I never had to wait on anyone because the timing just worked out each time.

Starting out in corral A and having this type of goal makes you end up running an intentionally positive split. I looked down at my watch on the way to racing to get to Rey and it showed 6:13 pace… this is not something I’m comfortable running ever and I quickly adjusted. It’s easy to get caught up for sure and not an ideal strategy to feel good later on.

I thought the half had a TON of characters. It certainly had more than 50% of the number of characters the marathon had on January.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

I’m interested in hearing about the race etiquette most of you had during this weekend. I’m in a bunch of Facebook groups and I feel like every post is a complaint about people cutting in front of others, blocking photos intentionally, not being mindful of the runners around..and frankly it’s making me wonder if I made a big mistake signing up for DL 5k and 10k

Just wondering what the actual experience was Like for most of you regarding all that.

This stuff can and will happen at any runDisney weekend. Now it is typically heightened at Princess but I didn't find it all that bad for my first Princess. The only real issue I has was at a character stop, a group of like five jumped in with a friend in front of us and then they all took individual photos and a group shot.