This past weekend we got to experience all sides of the runDisney Princess Half Marathon weekend in Walt Disney World and it was so much fun! From running the races to working the Expo and even passing out medals, we did it all. A huge thank you to Corkcicle, the presenting sponsor of the race weekend, for letting us be a part of it all! Let’s dive into all the fun!
The Expo
This time around I got to actually be a part of the expo instead of just attending. I worked the Corkcicle booth in the Athletic Center and it was a lot of fun. Not only did I get to see and work with all my favorites from the kiosk in Disney Springs, but I also got to talk to all the guests and runners that came by the booth and hear their stories. A lot of them travelled very far to come for these races every year, Hawaii, Ireland, international and all over the country! Some were doing it for the first time and some had been doing it for all 16 years these races have taken place.
We sold lots of Corkcicles which, duh, they are the best! We also got to see the expo empty before anyone was there yet which was kind of strange since I had only ever seen it super crowded. If you don’t know, there are three different parts to the expo. There is the Field House where you pick up your bibs for the races and have some cool photo ops. The Athletic Center is across from that, where we were with all the other vendors like Fit 2 Run, KT Tape and more. Then there is the Arena where all the official runDisney Princess Weekend merchandise is sold.
In every one of these areas there are fun photo ops and there are even characters in the Field House and the Arena that you normally don’t get to meet. It was fun working the expo Thursday and Friday but it did mean I really didn’t get a chance to explore through it too much so we didn’t do any character meets this time around.
A Little Staycation
We decided since we were going to have to be up so early three mornings in a row and I was working the expo right after the 5k we would get a room at a Disney Resort and make a little staycation out of it. We ended up staying at Art of Animation in a Finding Nemo Family Suite and it was perfect! I’m not going to go into that too much because I will do a full review on it soon for you with lots of pictures.
This resort was super convenient for the weekend because it was right down the street from ESPN Wide World of Sports where the expo is held and there was bus transportation to the races each day. It was also nice because we had a nice night in Hollywood Studios planned for Saturday and surprised the boys with a reservation at Droid Depot for them to build their own Star Wars droids! They have been asking for two years to do this so they were very excited. Art of Animation has a Skyliner stop so we were able to just hop on that to go to Hollywood Studios so that was easy! I am saving all the Droid Depot details for later too so you will have to come back to read all about that!
The Princess Ariel 5k
Friday morning was the Princess Ariel 5k and thanks again to Corkcicle letting us run for Team Corkcicle, myself, Jay and Thatcher all got to do this one together! Thatcher was so excited the night before that he barely slept at all and when you have a 2am wake up call that’s not good! He was a little grumpy while waiting for the race to start but once we got going he was back to himself.
If you have ever done one of these races you know it’s a lot of hurry up and wait. The buses at the resort started at 3am, we were on ours by 3:30 and didn’t wait long. The corrals open at 3:45 and while we didn’t rush into ours we were still in corral C by 4am. They do have entertainment on a stage near the corrals and big screens in each one showing what’s going on on the stage. It was very cool to see Andrea from Corkcicle on the stage talking about the company and the products every morning. The race doesn’t start until 5 and then there are multiple staggered starts for each corral, A-E. So honestly, like Tom Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part!
It is so worth the wait and so fun once you are out there though! There are characters and DJ’s and choirs and bands playing, the time flies by. We had a couple of bathroom breaks and walked most of this one and finished in 1 hour. We got some breakfast afterwords at the hotel and then I went to work at the Expo while Jay and Thatcher took a nap! Hahahaha!
The Princess Rapunzel 10k
Jay and I also did the Princess Rapunzel 10k with Team Corkcicle on Saturday, so another super early morning! We did a walk-run-walk on this one and picked up the pace a little without Thatcher with us but we stopped and just enjoyed the walks and the characters at times too so it took us about 2 hours to finish. We were not in a hurry, just making sure we didn’t get swept by the balloon ladies.
The balloon ladies are the pace keepers at the back of the race, they start after the last group. if they pass you you are swept and do not get to finish the race. They put you on a bus and send you back to the start, so we stayed far away form them! We didn’t stop for any characters, Jay is not really into all that and he was so over me taking pictures of us and literally everything so I didn’t make him stop. Haha!
After the 10k we had some after race beers with friends who also ran the 10k and had to run home for a bit and got some breakfast then it was nap time in the hotel room for mom and dad. The rest of the day was spent by the pool with Thatcher man, exploring the hotel and then off to Hollywood Studios for the boys Droid surprise and dinner. It was a great day!
The Princess Tiana Half Marathon
This was the earliest morning of them all! Jay and I volunteered to pass out medals for the half marathon since we re not running this race and Corkcicle had asked if anyone could. We had never done it before so why not?! We had to be at the ESPN Wide World of Sports at 2:30am…..thank God it was only 5 minutes from our hotel! This is where we checked in with Starlight, the charity for the Princess Weekend Races. We got out volunteer t-shirts, some grab and go breakfast and snacks, coffee of course and hopped on a bus to Epcot.
We were on bonus medals, which meant we were not passing out the regular half marathon medals. we were in charge of the Challenge Medals for those runners who did the 10k and the Half Marathon, the Coast to Coast medals for those runners who ran the marathon in Disneyland and then came here to run this race and the Perfect Princess Lanyards for the runners who have participated in the Princess race weekends all 16 years they have gone on! The Perfect Princess is what Jay and I ended up passing out.
I personally thought this was very cool because they said they only had about 100 left and these ladies and gentlemen were of all ages and all had a story. Some were getting a lanyard for doing the challenge all 16 years and some for doing the half marathon every year. People were asking the whole morning what Perfect Princess was and then when they saw someone get the lanyard they would cheer for them or ask them about doing the races that long. It was very cool to see! We also got to see the runners on Team Corkcicle come through and got to cheer for them!
As cool as it was, we were exhausted by the end of it! we were on our feet from 3am to 11am and I felt like a fair barker chasing down and yelling for the Perfect Princess runners to come to us for their lanyards. It wasn’t really marked where were so I had to just look for their special colored bibs and make sure they saw and heard me. But I was honored to do it and be a part of that even as tired as I was. But afterwords we packed up and headed home for a long nap! After one more Mickey Waffle breakfast at the resort of course.
Conclusion
I absolutely loved being a part of all sides of the races last weekend, especially with my Corkcicle people! Running the races is fun but really being a part of the rest of the runners experience from the expo to handing out those really special medals made it so much more. We had the perfect room where we had our own bedroom for when we needed to nap but the boys did not and the boys both had their own bed which was nice for them. The hotel was so accommodating with giving us a late checkout Sunday since we were volunteering and it was just nice to feel like we were on a little vacation even though I was working and we had to be up so early everyday.
I know I didn’t mention him a lot here but Sawyer was with us he just didn’t do the races, that is not his thing! He did a lot of hotel exploring and being quiet while we slept. Hahaha! Overall I just cannot say enough great things about the runDisney events. I have run in two separate weekends and now been a part of the expo and the volunteering and I have had a great experience in all of them. I highly recommend doing whatever you can at any runDisney event!
I hope you enjoyed this weeks recap of the Princess Race Weekend. It was fun to look back on it with you. I always look at things now with the lens of how can I best share this next week when I write about it and I hope that comes through. Thank you all for being here and reading along and don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already, make sure I’m not in your spam folder if you are subscribed and follow us on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook for more Disney fun! Have a magical day!!