True. I still have my hoop. I’ve not used it for a while though. And I wouldn’t take it on holiday, but I take trainers. Not that I would actually run on holiday 
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That is the Marathon weekend half. The Wine and Dine and Princess (that I ran in 2019 and 2020) do not follow that course
I think?! I guess I should go check my photos to be sure, but I think that is right!
I will ask the running store to apply my discount accordingly when I go for shoes this weekend 
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There is technically a time limit for the 5k (or used to be) but they don’t usually enforce it. The 5K is very family friendly and inclusive
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Yes, Marathon Sports has some explaining to do about the price of my shoes 
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I think you are right – I guess I was thinking of the Wine and Dine half, and I think the Star Wars one (that now I won’t be able to run 
The map online for the Princess half does show the Epcot out-and-back
Their job is to make sure everyone from the running 'ohana is accounted for and not out on the course for all of forever. Because 'ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.
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For sure it can be expensive. But it doesnt have to be. But a good pair of running shoes makes a huge difference. And socks. My “special” running socks are like $12/pair or something like that
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Here comes the maths…
The 16:00 min./mile pace is if you cross the start line at the same time as the Balloon Ladies. The vast majority of the people are in the running corrals that are in front of them. So lets say you are up in corral F. You could be a good hour or more ahead of them. So your pace would be the 16:00min/mile + that extra hour. If you are running a half marathon, that gives you approximately an extra 4:30 min/mile. That implies you could do a 20:30 minutes/mile pace.
It ends up not being as daunting as most people think. And you get to run through the castle!
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In 2013 I ran it in 3:45 (17:10 /mile) and didn’t get picked up…but I was barely ahead of them the whole time. I’m not sure if the pacing requirements have sped up since then, but I don’t think they were using the warning flags at the mile markers that I’ve read about in this year’s info.
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My other thought is that the race was at night back then, so maybe they weren’t as strict with pacing because they didn’t have to get ready for a day of people trying to get to the parks. They didn’t care that I finished at 2AM…the party at Epcot went until 4AM so why not let people making reasonable progress on the course finish? I do wish it were still run at night.
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Buuuuuuuuuuuut…
Don’t forget how the choke points really slow you down! There were points in my 10K where I couldn’t run because things were all bottlenecked, and that was more toward the end of the race (on the boardwalk and back into Epcot). It can get really frustrating and worrysome
I didn’t submit a proof of time for that race and I was way back in the corrals. I will have a half this year that should be in time to submit proof of time and I will run my little heart out to get further up in the corrals than I was. I am not fast (baymax) but I am also not a 16min/mile (then I was about a 12:30 IIRC), and because of my placement in the corrals, ONE stop for a character photo, and bottlenecks, the balloon ladies were hot on my tail toward the end. It kind of sucked the fun out of it, though even if they had caught up as long as I stayed in front of them it would have been fine. But it was stressful. Better corral placement will help. But I probably won’t stop for any character pics
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Must go read info. What are these about?
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Not much info, I just noticed it in the pacing requirements: * Pace cyclists will be on the course indicating when runners are behind pace by waving a red flag at each mile marker according to the official pace time. If you reach a mile marker with a red flag waving, please note you are behind the required 16-minute-per-mile pace and can be picked up at any time and transported to the course pick up tent.
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that’s even more brutal than the balloon ladies….
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Maybe the balloon ladies are no more?
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That seems scary! 
out of curiosity, how do they determine what corral you should be in? Are the slowest people the last to leave the starting line, reducing that +hour advantage of being able to run slower, which they do? Or are the slowest people first to leave because they could most benefit from the head start?
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Slow in the back so they don’t get in the way of the fast runners I think. I have only done one race - not Disney - but that’s how it was.
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You submit proof of time from a USATF approved race prior to a set deadline, ahead of the race. For the marathon you submit a POT for a half, for the half you submit a 10K, for the 10K I think it’s also a 10K but might be a 5K?
As @missoverexcited says this helps to keep the faster runners out front so that they don’t get bogged down by the slower folks being in their way.
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