Character appearances during the races

[PolynesianPrincess]

Hey all. My sister and I are planning to run our very first race in September, the Tower of Terror 10 Miler!! We feel it would such an amazing accomplishment to say we did it. We're not runners by any means and we're looking to HOPEFULLY maintain a 12 minute mile or so. We also want to be able to stop and take pics with some of the characters along the way.

That being said, for those of you who have run the races before, are the lines for the characters usually long? How many minutes, if you could estimate? I know that the more people running, the longer the line will be but we're trying to figure out what our average mile will need to be to stop a few times for photo ops! Any info would be great! Thanks!! :wave:

 

[MKCP 1985]

Hey, good luck with the race! If it is anything like the old 13K, it will be a lot of fun.

As for characters, it isn't like you think - it doesn't take long at all - seconds, not minutes.

There will typically be a relatively short line - most have 5 or 6 people at most. If there is a character attendant, they will take the picture with your camera. If there is no attendant, well, usually there are no lines for those characters. That was the case with the villains on the course back in 2008, i think.

Anyway, everyone is wanting to get back to running, so the lines move quick. Pose, click, next person . . . pose, click, next person.

I've noticed in non-Disney races where there are no characters versuss Disney races where I typically take lots of photos with characters, my finish times are not substantially different.

Hope this helps. :wave:

 

[JillC LI]

The TOT 13K was a great race but I can tell you that the year I ran it, there were NO characters on the course. There was some slight entertainment, yes, and I believe I saw what looked like a reindeer, but there were no Disney characters. So if that's what you want from a race, I suggest you confirm with Disney that they will have characters on the TOT 10 miler or pick a different race. However, running through Disney at night is pretty cool in and of itself.

 

[Ariel484]

Hey, good luck with the race! If it is anything like the old 13K, it will be a lot of fun.

As for characters, it isn't like you think - it doesn't take long at all - seconds, not minutes.

There will typically be a relatively short line - most have 5 or 6 people at most. If there is a character attendant, they will take the picture with your camera. If there is no attendant, well, usually there are no lines for those characters. That was the case with the villains on the course back in 2008, i think.

Anyway, everyone is wanting to get back to running, so the lines move quick. Pose, click, next person . . . pose, click, next person.

I've noticed in non-Disney races where there are no characters versuss Disney races where I typically take lots of photos with characters, my finish times are not substantially different.

Hope this helps. :wave:

Just to add to this, at the marathon most character lines had 2 attendants: one would take the picture while the other was getting the next camera ready. It made the lines more pretty quickly.

 

[DisneyRunner]

I am hoping to do this race, too. Maybe they will add characters? The characters are part of the experience.

 

[Texas84]

Yep, lines at the marathon were 5-6 runners and fast EXCEPT for Capt. Jack. Loooonnnggg line.

 

[dreamfinder]

The TOT 13K was a great race but I can tell you that the year I ran it, there were NO characters on the course. There was some slight entertainment, yes, and I believe I saw what looked like a reindeer, but there were no Disney characters. So if that's what you want from a race, I suggest you confirm with Disney that they will have characters on the TOT 10 miler or pick a different race. However, running through Disney at night is pretty cool in and of itself.

That was a complaint about the first year, but they did have some on course for the second running. Not many, maybe a half dozen or so, but there were some on course. If I remember correctly, Frollo was one of a cluster of villains they had out.


As for pacing, Disney themselves recommends shooting for at most a 15 minute mile to allow for characters and restroom breaks. I think the longest character line I have ever seen was for the gravdiggers at the Halloween 5k. I think that was the first time they had done that shot so lots of people wanted to be in the grave they were digging. Saw the same shot during the full, and I think only one person near me stopped. Admittedly some of us were joking if we stopped to lay down for the picture, we wouldn't be able to get back up again.

 

[Gt2BtheGoodLife]

I worked both the half and full marathon this year with photopass with the characters and I had flynn and rapunzel one day, and cinderella and family the other, and we had lines. major lines. To give a bit of an example, for Flynn and Rapunzel, we were at Ms. Potts after the gift shop that the pooh ride empties too, and we were at the far end, at one point we had a line back to the pooh entrance. For Cinderella? We were flush against the castle, and the line was back past castle couture, closer to the carousel

 

[crystalight33]

I'm betting that because this is a shorter distance race and it will be the inaugural that there are going to be LOTS of runners. Lots of runners = long character lines. When I ran the 2011 Princess half, when we got into the Magic Kingdom I stopped for 4 characters and I dropped from an 11 minute mile to a 15 minute mile. The line for a picture with Royal Mickey and Minnie would have taken 5 minutes, it was probably 50 or so people long. I will say that most of the characters I stopped for averaged about a minute wait time. Like dreamfinder said, shoot for a 15 minute mile and you'll be fine.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Thanks for all the info guys and gals!! :wave: We're not doing the race specifically for characters, so if there aren't any, no biggie. And we won't be stopping for regular every day chracters. Just the rare or somewhat rare ones. I think where this is our first Disney race, we will just focus on finishing the thing We're hoping to get in a couple 5k races and then the Beach to Beacon 10k race they have here in Maine every year.

And I thought they have done this race before? Not the same exact one, but I thought they had the 13k before? If that's the case, how is this the inagural race? :veryconfu

 

[Ariel484]

Thanks for all the info guys and gals!! :wave: We're not doing the race specifically for characters, so if there aren't any, no biggie. And we won't be stopping for regular every day chracters. Just the rare or somewhat rare ones. I think where this is our first Disney race, we will just focus on finishing the thing We're hoping to get in a couple 5k races and then the Beach to Beacon 10k race they have here in Maine every year.

And I thought they have done this race before? Not the same exact one, but I thought they had the 13k before? If that's the case, how is this the inagural race? :veryconfu

You're right that they did the 13k (a little over 8 miles I think?) before, but since this is the 10-miler I'm guessing they are going to change the course up. Also, they specifically mention the Disney Villains in the race description, where I don't think they were as much of an emphasis when it was the 13k. This is just what I'd guessed from reading reports of the 13k though, I never actually ran it.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

You're right that they did the 13k (a little over 8 miles I think?) before, but since this is the 10-miler I'm guessing they are going to change the course up. Also, they specifically mention the Disney Villains in the race description, where I don't think they were as much of an emphasis when it was the 13k. This is just what I'd guessed from reading reports of the 13k though, I never actually ran it.

I'd love to see me some villains!!
If not, oh well, it'll still be a blast to run!

 

[enchanted_belle]

You're right that they did the 13k (a little over 8 miles I think?) before, but since this is the 10-miler I'm guessing they are going to change the course up. Also, they specifically mention the Disney Villains in the race description, where I don't think they were as much of an emphasis when it was the 13k. This is just what I'd guessed from reading reports of the 13k though, I never actually ran it.

I saw that about the villains too, so I have my fingers crossed for them being there! If not, it's gonna be a great race to run (I'm super excited).

 

[tink65]

I stopped for a picture of just about every character when I did the Wine & Dine last year. Thankfully, I didn't experience any long line and it all went smoothly. Overall, while it certainly did add a few minutes onto my finsih time, I wouldn't have had it any other way. To me it's all part of the runDisney experience!

 

[fmingo36]

I stop at every mile marker and just about every character. But I think I am in the minority. Alot of people do not want to run with a camera. Some lines tend to be longer than most but usually the lines are 4 or 5 people deep. It also depends on your corral. Those in the first corrals tend to be more concerned with time than those that are in the later corrals.

I will say that there are usually less characters/photo ops during the night races compared to the morning races. But there is the after party which the morning races don't have.

 

[Mickey&Minnie]

I hate to take over the forum but quick question...I know that there are attendants to take photos at characters, how about at the mile markers? I will be running by myself and would love to get mile marker photos.

 

[fmingo36]

I hate to take over the forum but quick question...I know that there are attendants to take photos at characters, how about at the mile markers? I will be running by myself and would love to get mile marker photos.

Nope-no attendents at the mile markers.
But usually other runners are willing to take one for you.