This was my first Disney Race. For $200 I was expecting unicorns flying over a rainbow with a pot of gold at the end- just sayin'.

The start line: Definitely over-the-top and everything I expected. Fireworks. Star Wars clips on big screens and trivia.
Also? Crowded corrals, about 3-5 minutes in between corral start times, tons of bathrooms, though.

Packet Pickup: They held packet pickup at ESPN Wide World of Sports. You had to get your bib in one building and walk to an entirely different building to get your race shirt. That was kind of annoying and I get that they wanted me to shop at the vendor tables, but really? I had my two kids in tow cause- #MomLife and my 3-year-old wasn’t necessarily cooperating with the plan. The room with the vendors was crowded (cause 18,000+ runners, so- duh) and hot. By evening 2/ day 3 some vendors that I wanted to shop with were out of things. The more popular vendors had LONG lines that I couldn't necessarily wait for. Disney goods were in their own sectioned off area that was a lot more spacious than the main area. Lots of shirts, magnets and other goodies.

Parking: Parking was fine. You were to park in Epcot, which has plenty of parking spaces of course, and walk about 20 minutes to your corral (I knew this beforehand, though, so I was prepared for that).

Potties: The line for the bathrooms in the Epcot parking lot was insane. I remember reading in the race manual that you needed to start walking out to your corral at 4:30 and I thought 😂 that’s not gonna happen. I wish I had known, though, that just past the sign that read Runners Only Beyond This Point that the heavens opened up and there were SO MANY MORE potties AND I wish I had known that there were potties all along the corral area. So. This is me telling you if you do a Disney Race- do not fear. Do not wait on that ridiculous line. More potties are just over yonder. Even if you can’t see them.

The course: We started in the Epcot parking lot ended at ESPN Wide World of Sports. You get to run in the parks in the dark before the parks are open which (depending on the park) is cool. I was too busy trying to make sure I didn’t trip over any other runners to truly enjoy a lot of it. There was so. much. bottlenecking due to narrow areas to run through. There were times when you came to a complete halt or turtle's pace walk because that's really all that you could manage to do. There were long stretches of running on open Disney roads in between parks with absolutely nothing to look at but road, although at some intervals they had screen set up showing clips from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There was one big hill that you had to cross twice (coming and going) on that long stretch of open road, so plan for that. There were moments when we were running on dirt/gravel roads in the back areas of parks (which seemed dangerous) and I’d heard of people falling in holes along the course. So... yeah. Maybe not the best route through the parks?

Lots of employees out at certain points cheering you on and when you ran through Disney Boardwalk there were a bunch of hotel patrons out watching and cheering.

Characters: Chewbacca was out twice, Darth Vader, Storm Troopers with Kylo Ren on stage (no close up pics, selfies only), among others were available for photo opps. They also had little areas staged with props and backdrops from the movie that you could take photos with. Expect that when you run a Disney race that there will be lines to get character photos along the course, some longer than others, but lines nonetheless. Depending on where you are in your race journey, you may or may not be able to stop for photos. The Disney cast members will tell you how long the wait is (15+ minutes) and whether or not you'll be able to make it to finish the race on time.

Photographs: They used their Disney Pass photographers to photograph the race. If you already have a Disney account, you just needed to plug in the code they gave you to find your photos. I believe the photos start at $14.99 each.

Finish Line, Goodies, etc.: There was plenty of ice for your aching body parts, fluids, a banana, and a boxed snack for food. There was a bag of tortilla chips, a small container of cheese, an Oreo cookie or two and a GoGo Squeez in the box (yes. squeeze applesauce…). The race shirt was nice, the medal was UH-MAY-ZING.

Since the race began in Epcot and ended at Wide World of Sports, everyone who parked at Epcot had to be shuttled back to their car. What a nightmare. A 1 1/2 hour nightmare to be exact. That’s how long it took us to get back to our car after standing on line in the hot Wide World of Sports parking lot and waiting to get on a bus (which we also stood on) and taking a (maybe) 10 minute ride back to our car.

I know people absolutely loved the race. For me, it was okay. Would I do it again? I’m not sure. That $200 price tag was something else. That’s the most I’ve ever spent on a race (because, you know- kids, bills, priorities, adulting and such) and I expected more. More thought put into the course to avoid severe crowding and bottlenecking. More characters. More effort put into what they had out on those long, open stretches of road where we looked at nothingness. Some beer at the finish, maybe?