I had high hopes for this race. I've always seen/heard great things about RunDisney races. I signed me and my mom up and thought it would be a fun experience for us to do together (her first 5k).

We flew down to Orlando to do the 5k and I was also doing the half marathon. We hit the expo real quick on Thursday night and just grabbed our bibs and shirts. I wanted to go back because the expo at Disney is always awesome. They have tons of vendors and merchandise to purchase. It's always a really fun atmosphere that helps get you psyched for the race.

Friday morning we got up at 3:15 am because they said we had to be on the bus by 4:00 am. The bus didn't arrive to get us until after 4:15 so we had to stand there for a while waiting. Then it took us to the Epcot parking lot and everyone got off and made their way towards the bathrooms/start area. They had some cool backdrops set up with characters you could take pics with. Everything was so crowded that unless you get there beyond early and wait in a huge line you don't get to take advantage. After waiting an hour and a half, we lined up in our corral and they made announcements and played some star wars videos and music. They seemed to really be dragging things on, and the race start time went past and they were still talking. Finally they told us there was a delay due to weather and made us evacuate. It was chaos. There weren't clear directions and people just kind of went everywhere. My mom and I got on a random bus where we waited for about and hour and a half. During that time it started to downpour. After waiting a while, someone got on the bus and said the race was back on and to just jump on the course when we saw runners go by. We got off and jumped on once runners passed our bus. It continued to pour the whole race, and before we even got to mile 1 there was a huge bolt of lightning that struck 3 miles away. After that we just kept walking and rain didn't stop. Because they released everyone at one time the course was majorly clogged. The push assist and fast runners couldn't get through because everyone was crushed together. We managed to push through and made it to the end, but it was a truly miserable experience.

I think if they had released us earlier we could have finished before the bad weather got there. Delaying it made it worse. Releasing all waves at once was a mistake also. They should have delayed until the weather passed completely or canceled. There was still lightning when we were on the course so it wasn't any safer. I would try another race, but the management needs to work on their inclement weather planning, the way it was handled was not safe for participants.