I was so excited when my mom told me she wanted all four of us to run the runDisney 5k together during Princess half weekend.
My dad had never participated in a runDisney race, so I was of course up for it when she suggested we run together. Mom picked out our “costumes” months in advance, and all we had to do was wait for the day of the race.
We knew we would be easy to spot in our green shirts if we lost each other in the crowd. We got up early, headed down to the busses, and were pleasantly surprised!
We didn’t have to wait for a bus, we just hopped right on. I explained to my dad this race was WAY smaller than the half, so it would be a lot less congested on all fronts, including the busses.
When we arrived we were able to meet up with Karen and her family. All four of them were running, too!
Eye see you!
Soon it was time to walk to the start, which is thankfully a much shorter walk than for the half and full.
The race quickly began, and we started out into the EPCOT parking lot. I told my family we needed to get through the first (boring) mile quickly, then we could relax and soak it all in once we got into Epcot, and would hopefully not get trapped in a huge mess of people.
We made it, mile one done, and into EPCOT we go! We continued with a run/walk, just taking our time enjoying the surroundings.
The character lines were WAY too long to stop at, so we just waved and continued on around the World Showcase and towards Spaceship Earth, which looked beautiful with the rising sun.
A nice cast member took our family photo in front of it, and we were almost done!
We wrapped around Spaceship Earth and I could hear the finish! We all wanted to finish together in a row, and luckily it wasn’t very crowded so we were able to do so. With a special family shout out from Carissa, we crossed the finish line together. Hooray! Mom and dad did great!
Final thoughts:
-I love how non-crowded this race felt compared to the half and full’s I have done with runDisney. No port-o-potty lines, walked right into our corral, everything was much “quicker” if that makes sense. It was also nice not having to get up at 2:45! (The race began at 6:15 but busses picked us up until 5 or so, so we slept till 4!)
-I did notice a lack of characters on course like I did at the 5k during Dopey, which was a little disappointing. The 2012 5k had so many, it was awesome!
-Epcot is beautiful as the sun comes up, and I love that they have the torches lit around World Showcase.
-The finish line is just as magical, lots of cheering, lots of fun!
QOTD: Have you ever participated in a fun run?
Get Your Free Printable Set!
Sign up to get my free printables on goal setting & fitness tracking.
The pics of the four of you are so sweet!
thanks!
This made me laugh – y’all were almost finished when the sun began to rise and we hadn’t even started yet! Glad your dad got to experience the magic of a Disney race! So much fun!! :0)
That’s how I felt at dopey. We started 20 minutes after the start and the winner had crossed! It was not fun esp knowing we still had 3 more races!
You guys are so cute! Is your dad hooked now? 🙂
Haha I don’t know about that
So glad you got to experience a Disney race with your whole family! The royal family 5K is one of my favorites because it was the first race I ever did with my mom and dad and sister all together! I agree, Crossing the finish line at Disney is special no matter what the race is. Good job guys!
Thank you!
We were also disappointed in the lack of characters that were out, and the lines were really long for the ones that WERE out! We ended up just stopping for one pic with Jasmine, and then one in front of Spaceship Earth but overall we enjoyed it for our first fun run.
I’m not sure what’s up with the less characters, I had SO much fun in 2012 we must have gotten 10 character pics!
I love the family pictures of the 4 of you. I noticed the lack of characters in January and can’t understand it. The characters are a big part of all Disney races.
I agree. 🙁
What a fun experience for your whole family!!!
yes it was special 🙂
I’ll be participating in my first runDisney 5K in November for the Wine & Dine half marathon weekend! The 5K’s there look like too much fun to pass up another one! I love that your family ran with you – I hope I can get my parents to do a Disney race someday :0)
I hope you can convince them!
I loved doing the 5k! It was a last minute decision, but one I am glad I made!
good!
Aww, that’s awesome you guys got to finish together! I wish I had family members who ran 🙂
Make them start 🙂
Aww you guys are adorable! Love that you all ran together 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Hey! Great post! I’m planning on running the 5k this year. It will be my first runDisney race. I am running with some non runner folks. Assuming it would take 45 minutes to finish without stopping for characters, how long would you assume it would take WITH stopping? Also, any idea on how many start groups there are?
I guess I should have said next year. The princess 5k 2015.
the character lines are VERY long, unfortunately. I think there were 5-6 corrals last year that started 5-10 minutes apart.
Thanks!