Disney Marathon Weekend Trip Report: 5K & Epcot

Note: This trip report is divided into seven parts. This is part three of my trip report visiting Walt Disney World for the 2025 Dopey Challenge at RunDisney Marathon Weekend.

1. Mears & Arrival
2. Bib Pick-up & Hollywood Studios
3. 5K & Epcot
4. 10K & Lightning Lane Multipass
5. Half Marathon & Hollywood Studios (Again)
6. The Big Race, Animal Kingdom, & Ohana Noodles
7. Check-out & One More Day of Park Hopping

My family was scheduled to arrive in Orlando tomorrow (Friday) evening, as we didn't want to take our youngest child out of classes for the week. However, a snowstorm is possible on Friday afternoon, so my wife informed me late last night that they have changed their plans and are flying to Orlando tonight. I'll come back to this because it impacted tomorrow's race.

I woke up a little late this morning, around 1:40 a.m. I feel pretty good after only five hours of sleep, and like yesterday, I planned to visit the parks as early as possible so I can accomplish more while the crowds are lower. I also hope to compensate for my lack of sleep in the late afternoon, as I do not plan to spend the entire day at the parks.

I prepare for each race the night before by laying out my clothes and connecting my bib to my shirt. This preparation allows me to have enough time for coffee and get ready quickly. I left my room to catch the bus around 3:20 a.m., which allowed me ample time to take a few bathroom breaks from the bus to the starting corral and visit the Gear Bag area to drop off my stuff. I also bought a coffee this morning because my hands were freezing. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to drink much of it before I had to join my corral before it closed.

It was 41 degrees at the start of the race, so I'm glad I brought my winter thermal gear to Florida. I also bought four cheap hoodies, one for each race, which I planned to donate, so I wore a hoodie for most of the race. The race started at 5 a.m.

While I finished the race around 5:35 a.m., buses did not return runners to the hotel until 6:30 a.m. This extra time was because the bus route to exit Epcot was part of the 5K course, so all the runners needed to be past the first mile before anyone could leave. I was worried it would impact my arrival at Epcot for early entry. But it wasn't a big deal since I got on the first bus back to Beach Club. I arrived back at the Beach Club at 6:50 a.m.

I showered and got ready for another early day at the parks. The plan was to spend the day at Epcot. While Epcot is home to my family's favorite ride, Guardians of the Galaxy, it is not a park my kids want to visit for an entire day. Therefore, I wanted to spend the day here alone to ride all the rides my kids would skip.

I walked to the International Gateway entrance of Epcot and arrived around 35 minutes before early entry. I immediately got in line to enter France to ride Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, which was my first ride of the day. Since I knew my entrance to Epcot would be near this ride, I purposefully did not purchase a lightning lane for this ride and instead chose Frozen as my tier 1 lightning lane. The line started moving around 8:20 a.m. My wait was around 15 minutes once the ride began boarding guests. I was off the ride and outside at 8:52 a.m. By that time, the wait time for Remy's was already 45 minutes, and the line reached outside France.

When I exited France, I saw in the Disney app that Frozen's standby wait time was 20 minutes. I hustled to Norway and rode Frozen despite having a lightning lane for later in the morning. I had a lightning lane single pass for Guardians of the Galaxy that I planned to use after riding Frozen, but I received a notification while in Frozen's line that the ride was down, and my lightning lane was now a redemption pass. A redemption pass is a pass that allows a user to enter one lightning lane line at any time of their choosing. The list of rides valid for a redemption pass depends on the ride that was closed. Since I now had a redemption pass, I could focus on other rides in the park while crowds were low and then ride Guardians later in the day.

With Guardians of the Galaxy down, I visited the Land pavilion and rode Soarin', which had a 15-minute wait, and Living with the Land, which had no wait. Spaceship Earth was my first lightning lane of the day, so I walked over and was shocked that the ride had a 25-minute standby wait. When I purchased the Lightning Lane Multipass, I thought I wasted a lightning lane slot with Spaceship Earth, but instead, I received some good luck when choosing it.

After Spaceship Earth, I took up a lightning lane at 11:30 a.m. for The Seas with Nemo & Friends. I had never ridden this ride before, and my second lightning lane was for Talking with Crush., which is in the same building.

I had some free time before my lightning lane for Talking with Crush was available, so I went through the interactive water attraction, Journey of Water, with Moana. I enjoyed this interactive walking tour; it was a great way to pass 15 minutes.

After Journey of Water, I watched Crush and rode The Seas with Nemo. I then picked up a lightning lane to use after lunch (12:45 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.) for Journey into Imagination.

Guardians of the Galaxy was running again, so I used my redemption pass. If you can handle the intensity, I highly recommend everyone ride this rollercoaster. For me, it is the best ride on Disney property.

Once I stepped off the ride, I mobile-ordered the black bean burger and the mango-coconut plant-based shake at Connections Eatery. The burger was decent, although I was starting to get tired of having fries as my side. The shake was also decent. Mango and coconut are not my favorite flavors in a smoothie, but I bought it because it is plant-based, and I wanted to try it. I wouldn't return to Connections Eatery for this meal, but I would order both again if my family wanted to eat here.

I started my walk back to the International Gateway entrance and stopped to ride Journey Into Imagination. I didn't use my lightning lane since there was no wait time for the standby line. I then walked back to the hotel and took a nap.

I stayed at the resort for dinner and went to Beaches & Cream. The wait time for a table was 30 minutes, so I used the Disney mobile app to put my name on the waiting list. The app sent me text messages with updates and told me when to start making my way to the entrance. The mobile app is excellent for ordering food, making reservations, or adding your name to a restaurant's waiting list. I love that you do not have to wait in long lines for these tasks.

I ordered the Impossible Burger for dinner. While I have tried to avoid fake meat on this trip so far, I enjoyed this meal. The caramelized onions tasted great and added tremendous flavor to the burger. For dessert, which is the main reason I chose Beaches & Cream, I ordered the plant-based "cookie" fries. These were a little disappointing. Like Connections Eatery, I would order them again if I happened to be eating here, but I would not come here for them.

While I had hoped to go to bed earlier, my family was due to arrive shortly after dinner. As I stated at the beginning of this post, my family was joining me a day earlier than planned due to potential bad weather where we live. I decided to stay up and wait for them to arrive, which was significantly later than planned. The Mears Connect bus took around 40 minutes to pick them up at the airport, and my family didn't arrive until after 10 p.m.

With that said, I was still thrilled to see them. My kids wanted milkshakes, so I returned to Beaches & Cream and bought them decadent treats to celebrate their arrival.

After a second dessert, I finally went to sleep. I only have 2.5 hours before I have to wake up.

• Total Steps for the day: 28,244 (56,449 total)
• Total Miles for the day: 13.96 (26.85 total)