Hello and welcome to my 2026 Princess Half Marathon Weekend coverage! Today we’ll be discussing the Princess 10K. Read all the posts in this report here. Onward!
True story: I was 90% convinced the 2026 Princess 10K was going to be cancelled.
WAIT, WHY WOULD THE PRINCESS 10K BE CANCELLED?
Not out of nowhere! The weather report was dicey in the days leading up to the 10K, with lightning dipping in and out of the forecast. runDisney events still occur in rain (up to a point; I’d imagine a monsoon would put a literal damper on things), but lightning puts an immediate halt to the proceedings. Not for nothing, the 10K this year was themed to watery Moana…
We 10K registrants received an email a little after 5pm informing us that an official weather call would be made at 8pm. As a survivor of races both curtailed and delayed (and having personally observed a full cancellation), I had a bad feeling about the situation… but a little after 8pm, we got the call: the race was on! Yay!
Thus I spared one more glance for my VMAs Britney-Sally race costume and headed to bed.
MOANA DEMANDS A WET PRINCESS 10K
I woke up to the sweet sweet sound of my 2:30am alarm, rolled out of bed, and headed straight into the bathroom to start my race prep. The forecast still looked rainy, but more of a misty rain (and still no lightning, whew!). Even thought it didn’t quite work for my race costume, I added a hat. I don’t care what the songs say; I HATE rain in my face.
Becky was shortly ready as well in her corresponding Britney-Anna costume, and we headed out into the middle-of-the-night. Saratoga Springs had a comforting line of busses waiting for us, and we arrived at the race staging area by Epcot in plenty of time.
We didn’t waste much time at the start, knocking out bag drop and bathroom stops quickly before heading into our corrals. Most of the pre-race shenanigans were largely the same, although there was of course a moving tribute to Jeff Galloway. I have many fond memories of high-fiving that guy. He really did believe in all of us.
Blergh. Anyway. Besides that, we did the usual anthem and such and the race was off! Amusingly enough, the 10K sendoff music was all girl pop. Accidentally perfect for our Britney-princess costumes – I hear Becky (Britney-Anna) was even interviewed about it!
BEST runDISNEY 10K EVER?
Okay, so, I think this was my favorite runDisney 10K so far??? I don’t historically pay a ton of attention to course maps – I figure it is what it is, so go ahead and surprise me – but I feel like they used every inch of Epcot possible for this course. We snaked through practically every little bit of the park.
The route started unassumingly enough; the first two miles were just roads as per usual. I would’ve liked to stop for Mother Gothel, but she was in the first mile and her line was waaaay too long.
INTRODUCING BRITNEY-SALLY TO THE PRINCESS 10K CROWD
Instead I forged ahead, entering Epcot for the first time around the two mile mark by Test Track. Look, we’re going no miles an hour!
From there we hugged the right side of Epcot before hanging the left toward Mexico and into World Showcase. Speaking of Mexico, Princess Daisy Duck was making a somewhat confusing appearance here. Her line was comparatively short, so I stopped – and got a pretty good response from both Daisy and the Cast Members were I raised my snake! Danny Elfworm was clutch for selling my Britney-Sally concept.
Coincidentally, while in line, Britney’s “Baby One More Time” happened to come on the speakers. I texted Becky that her song was on, and she responded that she could hear it from the line for Kristoff and the trolls over in Norway.
“Are you still in line?” I asked as I hurried toward it… only to literally watch her take her picture. No line piggybacking for me! 😅 I did gently tailwhip her with my snake as she went past to say hello. Don’t you wish you were my friend too? Snake puppet lashings for everyone!
ONWARD TO THE BOARDWALK
Becky likes a brisk run-walk-run whereas I prefer a slow and steady short race when doing a challenge, so I bid her a fond farewell and kept trucking along. We trotted all the way to France before exiting past Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and dumping out into the Boardwalk just after mile three.
I don’t have much to report for this section. We took the predictable path around the lake, taking extra care not to slip on the slick boards in the gentle mist. It was still raining off and on, but it really wasn’t that bad. I’m so glad runDisney didn’t cancel!
BACK TO EPCOT WE GO!
Just past mile four we found ourselves once again at the back entrance of Epcot. We finished out the remaining World Showcase loop before heading toward what we once called Future World.
Somewhere in there we were treated to a group of Polynesian drummers – the course went past them twice. I can’t entirely recall at which two points we saw them, but I did want to mention them as they were awesome! There’s nothing like driving percussion to really move a run along. I’d imagine they were brought in special for the Moana theme, but I do hope they pop up at more races.
… AND THEN OUT AGAIN
After, say, a half mile or so in Epcot, we exited for some brief time backstage. Around this time I caught up with Becky, who was soldiering on with her run-walk-run strategy. She was still running a little fast for me for a challenge 10K, but I figured with only about a mile left it would be much more fun if we stuck together. After all, what would she have done without me to point out that we were passing a sign for The Land Boats and that was briefly confusing until I realized we were behind The Land? I am full of observational humor!
… AND THEN IN AGAIN
A little past mile five we circled around The Seas before getting tossed back into Epcot proper. This time the course took us inward toward the center of the park and World Celebration. We took a pass on the Mirabel character stop because the lightning by the stage is demonstrably bad. More floodlights, please, runDisney! And that goes double for the nonpark dark spots on course…
From there we ran toward, under, and out of Spaceship Earth’s underbelly, stopping shortly after for a photo with Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather from Sleeping Beauty. The line wasn’t bad so why not?
And there was nothing left for it but the finish! Another Princess 10K in the books, and it did not rain on our parade.
Fun fact: Danny Elfworm is not merely a plushie but also a puppet. I put him on the my hand and pranced down the finisher’s chute collecting my medal, water, banana, etc. in his mouth. It seemed to garner a positive response; should I center more race costumes around puppets? 🤔
CELEBRATING THE PRINCESS 10K WITH A 7AM BEER
By this point it was hardly raining at all – we felt very comfortable committing to waiting around the finisher’s area for Kate and Bethany (yup, new character unlocked!).
We started our post-race adventure with some of those coveted finisher photos. Immediately after? It was 6:55am, so naturally the perfect time for a finisher’s beer. All reasonable minds agree.
Then we snuck in a quick photo with Sir Mickey before collecting Kate and Bethany for a picture with Lady Tremaine and the stepsisters. Drizella was NOT feeling Danny Elfworm. (Please notice that Kate was “Toxic” Cinderella, thus completing our Princess Britney trifecta!)
And then back to our resort we went! One race down; one to go…
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!