Character waits during races

[stoudty]

First race this weekend and curious about the character meets along the course. Is photopass there?

How long are the lines typically? I assume they get longer the further back in the pack you start.

What’s the longest you’ve ever waited for a character and who was it?

 

[Naomeri]

I would say at least 90% of the time, PhotoPass is there. Sometimes they haven’t gotten set up yet when the fast runners get there, and a few are “phone cameras only” but they have CMs there to take pictures for you (they will also have someone at most of the character stops to do this for folks who don’t want to pay for memory maker)

I think the longest I waited was about 15 minutes, for Chip & Dale in their 50th outfits at Princess 2022, but that was because they took a break. Same with Genie at W&D 2022.

I started at the front of B corral for W&D 2022 (I’m not fast, I have Platinum Club runDisney, which gets me into a better corral) and stopped for 16 character pictures, which added 50 minutes onto my race time, which averages to just over 3 minutes per line. Most of the lines I stopped at were very short.

 

[Herding_Cats]

IME, the shorter the race, the longer the lines. We waited 17min for Tarzan/Tala, and 28min for Genie during the 5k. The line for Mickey and Minnie was at least 40min. Given that the 5k is untimed/not swept this is not a surprise. We waited around 3min/character during the 10k (again, not stopping for the very long lines.)

Unless it's a rare character, or one that's SUPER popular (Hades or Dopey during MW, as an example) most of the lines will be less than 10min long, and it seems like the further into the race you get, the shorter the lines become. During the HM during MW, I waited 6min for Max before getting to MK, 4 min for a castle pic, 3-5 people for "human" Ariel near Poly/GF, and 2-3 people for the Figment statue in Epcot. But I also skipped quite a few characters that would have probably been in the 5min range.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

First race this weekend and curious about the character meets along the course. Is photopass there?

How long are the lines typically? I assume they get longer the further back in the pack you start.

What’s the longest you’ve ever waited for a character and who was it?

Photopass will be at all official stops. You will encounter some stops that are considered entertainment and not characters like Green Army Soldiers from Toy Story or Adventurers Club. These will not have photopass.

Lines really vary. 5K and 10K you will typically expereince longer wait times than the half. 5K waits can be 15+ minutes and some 10K waits too.

I am not sure exact longest time I have waited but I have waited at least 20 minutes multiple times. Mickey & Minnie, Oogie Boogie, and Lumiere and Cogsworth are some of the ones I have waited longer for.

 

[stoudty]

Thank you all. Very helpful. I’m running the half and want to focus on rare characters or ones I’ve never met before. Fingers crossed there are some good ones on the course

 

[Naomeri]

Thank you all. Very helpful. I’m running the half and want to focus on rare characters or ones I’ve never met before. Fingers crossed there are some good ones on the course

Keep an eye on the boards here—the character lists at Marathon Weekend got leaked ahead of time and people were able to kind of plan their race around who they wanted. Absolutely no guarantee they’ll get leaked again, but if they do, we’ll share them in the Princess Weekend thread

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

First race this weekend and curious about the character meets along the course. Is photopass there?

How long are the lines typically? I assume they get longer the further back in the pack you start.

What’s the longest you’ve ever waited for a character and who was it?

An additional question for the group.
I'll be running Sunday only and wanted a 1-day Memory Maker photopass. Does anyone have any experience with a 1-day pass?
It says from 6am the day of activation to 5:50am the next day.
Does that mean wait until 6:01 on Sun morning to use it, and then I'm good the rest of the day and in the park later?
If I try using it at race start, does it shut off 20-30 minutes later at 6 am?
I did the unlimited last year for Dopey and it worked fine over the course of the MW, but for just one race I wanted just 1 day to save $$.

And now a comment for any first-time users: The race photo ops and pictures in the park later that day usually show up within a couple of hours, however some will trickle in over a span of 2-6 hours, and I had some that didn't show up for a few days. So if you don't see a picture, have patience.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I would add that make sure your bib number is visible otherwise PhotoPass cannot link your photos to your account. Your MagicBand is not linked to race photos.

As it's the Princess race weekend, I would anticipate mostly Princesses and related characters along the course. Also keep in mind that some characters do rotate out. A poster above mentioned seeing Ariel during the WDW Half Marathon last month. I did not. I did see Belle, and she was probably at the same location where I saw Belle.

Likewise, sometimes you will get lucky and get two characters at a photo stop where they rotate, but not everyone will have that. During the 2020 Marathon, runners in the short line before me saw Belle only. When my turn came, Sleeping Beauty had joined her and I have a picture with both together. A few runners after me only saw Sleeping Beauty as Belle left.

Also keep in mind that time spent in line for photos absolutely count towards your pacing. So if you ran a mile in 15 minutes and waited 10 minutes for a character, that was a 25 minute mile. I have overheard runners lament being swept because they did not realize that the time spent in line for photos during the race is part of their total overall pace.

As much as I love Mickey and Minnie, I did not stop for their estimated 40 minute line during the 10K last month. I did not want to risk it.

 

[eminemilie]

Also keep in mind that time spent in line for photos absolutely count towards your pacing. So if you ran a mile in 15 minutes and waited 10 minutes for a character, that was a 25 minute mile. I have overheard runners lament being swept because they did not realize that the time spent in line for photos during the race is part of their total overall pace.

I do not understand how this isn’t common sense to people. I guess maybe if you’re a young teenager or something maybe you wouldn’t think of it, but good grief

 

[AZMermaid]

The longest I waited was 12 minutes for the Evil Hag from Snow White during Princess Half 2019 around the 5K mark. I agree that the later in the race, the shorter the lines. Most of those characters had 3-5 people in line when I went by. In the 10K, we waited about 5-6 for Donald and less than 5 for everyone else. It’s “snap and go“ so the line moves fairly quickly vs character meets in the park where they really interact with you!

 

[1lilspark]

Longest I’ve done was 20 ish for Genie W&D ‘17 10k & Duffy at this years W&D 5K… most others have been 3-15 mins

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I do not understand how this isn’t common sense to people. I guess maybe if you’re a young teenager or something maybe you wouldn’t think of it, but good grief

I've heard or read a few stories involving runners who were devastated to learn this the hard way.

 

[FFigawi]

I do not understand how this isn’t common sense to people. I guess maybe if you’re a young teenager or something maybe you wouldn’t think of it, but good grief

Happens quite frequently. People are accustomed to having auto pause turned on during their training runs. When they forget to turn it off in the race, they end up being told by their watch their pace is faster than it really is. Doesn't have much to do with a lack of common sense. It's just habit.

I've heard or read a few stories involving runners who were devastated to learn this the hard way.

An oversight people only make once

 

[DopeyBadger]

Seems like a good place to accumulate this information when the question inevitably arrises again.

2022 Princess 5k (started middle pack in Corral B) - Merida/Pocohontas/Moana 47 min wait, Sadness 4 min wait
2023 Princess 5k (started middle pack in Corral B) - Mushuu 18 min wait, Duffy 11 min wait, Cinderella/Prince Charming/Perla 29 min wait, Knight Donald 10 min wait

 

[azrivest]

2023 Princess 5k (Our experience from middle of Corral C)
Cinderella/Prince Charming 1h+ wait at 6:10 --> line closed
Tiana/Louie 29 minute wait at 6:20 am

 

[luv2cheer92]

Longest I've waited was 48 min for Rapunzel and Flynn Rider together at Marathon Weekend 10K 2018, worth it haha

 

[DopeyRunner486]

I didn't time individual stops but for the Princess 5K I stopped for all five characters. My total race time was roughly 1:46. I started from corral A. I was not at the front of A tho.

 

[FFigawi]

I didn't time individual stops but for the Princess 5K I stopped for all five characters. My total race time was roughly 1:46. I started from corral A. I was not at the front of A tho.

Did you check the moving vs elapsed time from your watch?

 

[DopeyRunner486]

Did you check the moving vs elapsed time from your watch?

Moving time was 37:36.