I've run the Walt Disney World Marathon twice – once in 2018 as my first marathon and again in 2020 as part of the Dopey Challenge. The fact that I chose to run the same race twice should tell you everything you need to know about this race.

As a slower runner, RunDisney is incredibly approachable with generous time cutoffs and a focus on fun over finish time. The entire race weekend is an experience, and you can expect to spend hours and hours at the expo exploring both the official merchandise and other vendors. The merch for purchase is better than the free race shirts that you receive. The 2018 long sleeve I received is much better quality than the shirts I received in 2020 for the Dopey Challenge. For Dopey, you get 6 race shirts (one for each race distance and one for the Goofy and Dopey), but I find them a bit short in length. The medals for the races are superior to nearly every other race I've run.

RunDisney races are knowing infamously for their early wakeups. As long as you stay on WDW property, you are shuttled to the race start in luxury charter buses so you can catch a quick nap on the drive to the start line. Traffic on race morning can be a pain for runners who choose to park, but RunDisney at least doesn't charge these runners for parking. For as expensive as RunDisney races are, it's one expense that you don't have to worry about.

In 2020, the marathon was supposed to start at 5 a.m. but with delays due to preparing the course, it started closer to their usual time of 5:30 a.m. I wish it would have started earlier because we had record humidity and heat in January. At the start of the race, it was already above 70 degrees with 90% humidity. Throughout the morning, temps just continued to rise to dangerous levels where some runners weren't even able to run the fun course because Disney shortened it for safety. Despite the unfortunate weather that day, I applaud Disney's handling at aid stations and ultimately their decision to shorten the course. They gave out bags of ice, cold sponges, and towels at a bunch of later aid stations to help athletes get to the finish as safely as possible.

The highlight of any Disney race is running through the theme parks. In 2020, RunDisney changed the course to swap the ESPN Sports Complex with Blizzard Beach. Having run both course options, I'm not sure Blizzard Beach was an improvement. While it was more visually stunning, runners had to shuffle through smaller sidewalks and were teased by the refreshing wave pool (if only we could have jumped in!). The other parks were as magical as ever, with plenty of character stops and opportunities to use restrooms with flushing toilets instead of porta-potties.

My absolute favorite part of the race was riding a roller coaster IN THE MIDDLE OF A MARATHON! Around mile 18, I waited in line to ride Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom. By that point in the day, the park was officially open to guests so you can jump off course and wait in line for a ride if you wanted to. I built enough of a buffer in my time so that I could take the 20 or so minutes to do something no other marathon offers. I still get a chuckle thinking about how my Garmin was moments away from sending a beacon to my husband because of my drastic change in speed! Ha!

Overall, I think the Walt Disney World Marathon is a magical experience. It's still 26.2 miles of hard work, but RunDisney ensures that you're well cared for while you do the impossible.