As I began another year packed with RunDisney races, I decided that much more time this year would be spent stopping for some of the amazing character opportunities on the race routes, and this kicked off with the Princess Half Marathon weekend back in February.

I took part in the Glass Slipper Challenge; 10K on the Saturday and half marathon on the Sunday, and kept note of everyone who I saw for you nosey bunch to see who was out! (I joke, you being nosey makes my blog what it is)

The Enchanted 10K:

• Moana – Disney’s newest girl boss wasn’t available to meet, but she cheered on runners from a bridge over the road
• Elena of Avalor – as I’m not a fan, this meet didn’t warrant stopping for, but Elena was the first photo opportunity of the race
• The Fairies – a mini Pixie Hollow appeared on the roadside, featuring Tinkerbell, Terrence, Rosetta and Iridessa and pixie dust was everywhere! I was so excited to meet them all!
• The Evil Queen as the old hag – complete with bubbling cauldron, but don’t take the apple!
• Dopey – while this lovable dwarf might feature more in the January Dopey Challenge, it was lovely to see him along the World Showcase
• Geppeto – this puppeteer took over the Italy Pavilion to make runners into real boys!
• Marie – as I ran as Nala, it was pretty cool to see another cat on the course in the France Pavilion
• Genie on vacation – Hawaiian shirt and Goofy hat? Check!
• Princess Minnie – Minnie got into the full swing of the Princess Weekend in a beautiful pink princess number towards the end of the course

The Princess Half Marathon:

• Pirates – Captain Jack and Barbossa seemed to be abandoned on the side of the road, and were available for runners to meet both on the way towards the Magic Kingdom and on the way back out
• Princes – Flynn Rider, Prince Eric, John Smith and Phoebus were the hit of the course, and the line was full of giggling girls, myself included
• Mrs Incredible – in case there wasn’t enough girl power going on during the race!
• Evil Queen and Maleficent – double villain trouble
• Buzz Lightyear – Buzz was meeting and greeting in Tomorrowland
• Queen of Hearts – off with their heads, if you can catch them!
• Gaston – now personally, I’d be running away from him fast, but he had quite the queue..
• Beast – Chip (me) just had to go and see the master of the castle
• Frozen – Anna, Elsa and Kristoff cheered on runners from the side of the castle, so no photo ops
• Woody – the cowboy of Frontierland!
• Royal couples – backstage, you could meet Cinderella and Prince Charming, and Snow White and her prince
• Penguins! – I love these little guys way more than Mary Poppins or Bert, so I was so chuffed for them to be out playing on the course
• Sarge – in case runners started losing their motivation, this green army man was prepared to give press-ups to anyone who wasn’t smiling on the final stretch!
• Genie on vacation – Genie was only duplicate from the races, but in that outfit, who cares?
• Mushu – a nice surprise for the last mile, this lovable dragon greeted runners as they entered Epcot for the final stretch!
• Oh, and Goofy and Donald cheered us in at the finish line!

It was so much more fun stopping to meet characters during these races, it really does make every mile more magical!

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