Hello and welcome to my 2026 Princess Half Marathon Weekend coverage! Today we’ll be recapping the Princess Half Marathon. Read all the posts in this report here. Onward!
After a successful is slightly damp Princess 10K, we were ready to finish out our 2026 Fairy Tale Challenge with a hopefully much drier Princess Half Marathon. Would the race live up to its Tangled theme? Would Rapunzel refer to it as a the best day ever???
I’ll never know; her photo op line was too long so I didn’t ask her. But I did have a good race, and I’m ready to tell you all about it!
HALF A NIGHT’S SLEEP
I got up slightly earlier for the half marathon, partially in an effort to get out ahead of the larger half marathon crowds and partially to give myself more prep time. You never want to rush your face glitter.
Prince Ali was ready to go soon enough, along with not one but TWO Jasmines. Otherwise he and I are completely identical, as I’m sure you already noticed.
We just missed the next race bus, but no matter; there was a long line of them, and we were on our way in no time. My fears of a potential Princess Half 2025 situation were groundless. Whew!
THERE’S CERTAINLY NO SHORTAGE OF RUNNING PRINCESSES
We hopped off the bus at Epcot and joined the throngs making their way through security. The Princess Half has a LOT of participants. My number one Princess tip is to give yourself more time than you think you need, especially if you plan to drop a bag or do anything else important in the staging area. Plus you can’t skip the pre-race Spaceship Earth photos, obviously.
I added some last minute glitter to my Jasmines’ faces before we parted ways for our corrals. Our timing was good; we only had 30 minutes of race chatter before the start. There was another tribute to Jeff Galloway; I hope and assume he will be acknowledged in some way at every race weekend in perpetuity. That plus the usual charity info, moment of silence for the troops that no one can ever hear and therefore does not work, national anthem, etc. and then we were off!
THE PRINCESS HALF MARATHON BEGINS
No two ways about it: the Princess Half Marathon course starts out kinda boring. Miles one through four are comprised exclusively of roads. I don’t remember anything of note happening, nor did I take any photos. Given how long the lines tend to be this early in the race, it would have to be a VERY compelling character to get me to stop. Figment would do it, but Bob Iger refuses to answer my letters about that. Maybe Josh will be more responsive?
Things started to get a bit more interesting at mile four, where we hit the Polynesian and followed the trail around the Seven Seas Lagoon past the Grand Floridian toward the Magic Kingdom. The best part was of course the Electrical Water Pageant out by the bridge. This is quickly becoming a runDisney staple and I for one am all for it!
INTO THE MAGIC KINGDOM WE GO
Shortly after mile five we headed into the Magic Kingdom proper, the one true highlight of the Princess Half Marathon course in my opinion. Cast Members were stationed out front cheering us into the park.
That was all just an amuse bouche, however, for the massive hype fest that is invariably the spectator crowd as you run down Main Street USA. I understand if you want to be at the front of the horde, you need to be in the Magic Kingdom around the same time us runners arrive at the start line!
PRINCE ALI & ME
The course took a left at the hub as per usual, and we tromped along toward Adventureland. And who did I see there? None other than me! I mean Aladdin! And Jasmine too. I guess this is the Princess Half Marathon after all. The line was a teensy bit long but not terrible; anyway, how could I possibly skip it?
“Aladdin, what are you doing here?” the Cast Member stationed at the end of the line inquired. I told her I was busy with other things at the moment and let the other one take over for awhile. Although really I should have told her to call me Ali or she’d blow my cover. ð
Aladdin himself appeared extremely surprised to see me; I get the idea that most people who run as Aladdin do so in his street urchin attire. And are men. Me, I like to think outside the box… if you know what I mean. Insert rim shot here if you would and thank you.
Anyway, we got the picture, Aladdin declared me a diamond in the rough, and I ran off. Things are really gonna change around here just as soon as I find the Cave of Wonders, you hear me?!
MORE OF THE MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH
Obviously it wasn’t going to get any better than that, but I still had over half the race to go. I trotted into Frontierland, where Toy Story‘s Jessie had a pretty short line:
Then I ran through the castle with tremendous dignity and stopped for my castle pic as is required by law:
And finally took a Tomorrowland pitstop for Joy and Sadness from Inside Out, who also had a short line. Queues were starting to thin out, which is always a plus.
THE PRINCESS HALF TAKES IT BACK ON THE ROAD
Alas, that was the end of my time in the Magic Kingdom. We waved a quick drive-by hello at the Contemporary and by mile seven we were back on the road. Also miles eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve. Much road time in this course, but what can ya do.
I did the only thing I could do – stop for more characters! First the moth from A Bug’s Life, which I must confess I only vaguely recognized but I know a good photo op when I see one:
I also snagged photos with the Beast and Merida somewhere in there:
And I couldn’t pass by the mile 10 marker without a selfie:
Pay no mind to the dollop of Untapped syrup I dripped on myself; I managed to get it out with some vigorous spit-cleansing. Which I’m sure didn’t look weird out of context at all.
EPCOT TO THE FINISH
Finally we entered Epcot just past mile 12. I didn’t stop for any characters here, but I did pull off for a photo with Spaceship Earth:
My kingdom for the return of the World Showcase finish – I feel like current runDisney courses barely kiss Epcot at the end. As it was, we entered behind the Living Seas, crossed the hub, and exited again between Mission Space and Test Track. Then it was a simple matter of rolling through the backstage area and taking it to the finish.
But I didn’t do that without pause – Vanellope von Schweetz was the last character stop of the race, and with minimal line I made the stop. And then a couple steps later I ran into CM Seth, who I hadn’t seen in forever so I took a selfie (sethie?) with him too. Anyone can be a character stop with a little effort!
THEN I finished. Really hammed it up, too. ðĪŠ
PRINCESS HALF HANGATHON
I sashayed down the finisher’s chute collecting my medals et al; it wasn’t nearly as fun as it was when I had a puppet to do all the work for me but I managed.
Bag collection was fast, so I wound up with a bit of time to kill while I waited for friends who had started in later corrals. I wisely used this time to take a ridiculous picture:
Look, they said strong as ten regular men definitely, and I wanted to look the part, ya know?
Not long after I found my Jasmines! We took some finisher photos and then got our traditional post-race beer. Because it is always five o’clock at airports and runDisney events and that is a FACT.
Our quintet was finally complete with the arrival of Kate and Bethany, and we all piled into the line for Princess Minnie. Unclear how she was both in the Magic Kingdom AND at the finish line. I try not to think about it too hard.
And that was game! While the Princess Half Marathon was my first ever runDisney race, it was a long time before I came back to it. Now that I have, I think I’m gonna stick to it. As long as I have my Princess running buddies, I know it’ll be a good time!
Don’t forget, you can follow FRoA on Threads @fairestrunofall and on Instagram @fairestrunofall. If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment or email fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!