Jen and I were on the first bus from Pop Century over to EPCOT and arrived just shortly after 3am.
There is always anxiety about how crowded it will be going through the castle and if you will get to "run" through it or "shuffle" through a bottleneck. When Kara and I made it through, the crowd was fairly light. Not empty, but not a total bottleneck.
Once you exit the castle, take a quick swing to the left and get your official castle photo done. It takes a few minutes (if that), but it is so worth it! I have to give runDisney credit here, they really streamlined the castle photo line better than in the past to make it go by faster and photographers are set up in a way to have each runner be the only one in the shot.
Now it is time for my yearly public service announcement...every year I see at least one runner that insists that they are going to run on the other side of the road. People, the cones dividing the lanes is diving the running lane from the open traffic lane! I cringe every single time I see this! Please be safe and don't run in lanes that are open to traffic!
A favorite tradition of mine over the past 6 years of runDisney memories has been stopping at the Grand Floridian at mile 7 for one of my favorite "character" stops - Richard, the greeter and most amazing cast member from Grand Floridan. Richard always had a sweaty hug for me which I looked forward to at every runDisney race. Sadly, Richard passed away in 2018 and this was my first runDinsey half marathon since 2014 that I did not get to see that amazing smile at mile 7. I would be lying if I said I didn't get a little emotional but remembering Richard made my heart fuller.
Thankfully, I saw a recognizable smile in line for Donald and Daisy just past the Grand Floridian, my girl Kristin. She is such a joy to be around and I don't get to see her often, so chatting with her in line for our photos was a fun surprise.
EPCOT, we are here! Weeeeeeeeee! After the past few miles on the roads, it was great to be back in the parks for some fun. While you are at mile 12+ and tired, the energy in EPCOT is what you need to finish strong.
We came into EPCOT a little different than previously at Princess (and apparently for WDW Marathon Weekend as well). We looped through a backstage area and came in by Journey Into the Imagination with Figment and by The Land before heading towards Spaceship Earth and the finish (no heading towards the lagoon). I actually preferred this final stretch over the one I have ran in the past as it wasn't as tight and no weird u-turn at the lagoon.