Race Report: Wine and Dine Half Marathon
Then the race got moved to the morning, and with all of the construction in Hollywood Studios, the course has changed drastically, with the start moving to Magic Kingdom. I wish there was a
way you could actually run IN Magic Kingdom for a bit. It’s like they taunt you a bit, brining you so close to the park, but then have you running away from it towards Animal Kingdom.
This race always has characters out dressed in restaurant or chef gear, and it’s fun to get prerace pictures with them. We were able to get Donald, Minnie, and Mickey before we decided to jump in the bathroom line. This seemed to be a bit of a mess. there was a cue for the portapotties that wrapped back and forth and ended in the middle of the line of portapotties, rather than the lines that people usually 
form. This wasn’t working well because there were often bathrooms left empty because you couldn’t tell from the middle if they were open or not. It moved slowly and I don’t think this was the best thing. Usually you can jump in line and get through relatively quickly prior to the race, but this time I was not overly impressed. The castmembers were telling us there were available bathrooms once you went into the corral areas, but after being in line so long we didn’t want to get out of line in case it was just as chaotic in the other area, which still ended up being congested when we got in line there later. I’m a nervous runner and usually have to use the bathroom A LOT before a race, so these long lines stressed me out.
I raced into corral A after they had already left the corral and walked to the start
line. I lined up at the back of the corral, which I’m not really used to, and tried to tell myself it would be ok, that I wasn’t going for a PR and it was okay if I got caught in some congestion. Luckily, as the front corrals have become smaller in recent races, I really didn’t have a problem with too slow of a start or getting trapped like I used to. I watched the usual announcers discuss the race, invite Minnie and Mickey up, and then send us on our way. The fireworks at the start were awesome and we began our 13 mile trek around Disney.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel like Disney did a better job of placing characters and entertainment on the course. I never felt overly bored, which I have on some of their more recent courses as they have had to divert around various construction projects. They had some bigger names out, like Tink starting the list of characters, though her line was already long when I passed by in the middle of the A corral, and I chose not to stop.
You didn’t get to Animal Kingdom until around mile four, and you only got to be in the park for about one mile, but it was cool to run through Pandora. It looked pretty neat in the dark. I was excited to see Rafiki in the park, and I stopped for a quick picture because there was no line! I was a little disappointed at the lack of picture opportunities during this segment of the race, but it was still fun. The course was
pretty curvy at this point, and I noticed my pace dropped a lot while in the park, and this is also where my knee became a bit more noticeable, so I had to pick it up once we got back onto access roads and then the main roads.
Mile 5 looped around the from of Animal Kingdom and the parking lot, then 6 
took us back to the highway. Miles 7, 8, and 9 all were pretty much on the main roads. There were some characters and entertainment, like the Green Army Man who yells at you as you get closer to Hollywood Studios on one of the few hills. I love when you see the Green Army Man because it signals that you are closer to Hollywood, and I like the course after you hit Hollywood Studios.
We spent a little time in the park, where they had some of their Christmas stuff up. It wasn’t nearly as cool as before when it was the Osborne Lights, but it was exciting after being out on the roads for awhile. As we went into the park, I noticed a “set” off to the side and a camera person, but no character. I was a little disappointed, and as I started to pass it I suddenly saw 
Oswald coming out. I cheered and turned around and quickly got a pick before continuing on. Shortly after the Oswald stop I saw the Genie coming back out and counted myself lucky as I stopped to snag a picture with him, too. 
You looped out of the park, as usual, and started down the walkway towards Boardwalk. The walkway had these big green fences up, which disappointed me because I’ve always liked the view through that area, as it follows the waterway. Luckily they eventually stopped, so you could see the scenery and get a breeze again. There were a fair amount of spectators out a
s you neared the Boardwalk and circled around through the Beach and Yacht Club areas, which made it more fun. One of the negatives about Disney races is the lack of crowd support because you spend so much time out on the roads, so that is probably one of the reasons I love the stretch from mile ten to the end, since it tends to have more spectators and things going on.
Once you neared the back entrance to Epcot, we looped 
around through the back area, and then came out and followed the marathon route around the countries. Remy and his brother were out from Ratatouille, so I made a quick stop to snag a picture there, and then just 
enjoyed the trek through the countries and around the lake. It’s always so pretty and there were cast members out cheering us on. 
After the countries you loop up near the ball and head out a back way, towards the parking areas. I was a little sad that the choir that usually sings around mile 13 weren’t there. I always enjoyed them and they’ve become almost an expectation for me. There was another group there that was good, I was just surprised.
The finish line area is always exciting. I love that the announcers call out your names as you approach. Confetti covered the ground 
when the first finisher crossed, which I was pretty psyched to hear was a girl! I didn’t see any characters at the finish line, which I thought was weird because usually someone is there and you can snag a high five as you cross the finish line. Instead I just celebrated as I crossed the finish line, though my race photos show some pretty creepy f
aces, which I’m going to not include in this post.
One of my complaints about RunDisney races is how far you walk immediately after the finish and how much stuff they give you, with no bag. I walked pretty slowly through the chute because I knew my husband wasn’t too far behind me as I was tracking him through the runner tracking system on my phone. I stopped and got some ice 
for my knee, which they strapped on quickly and sent me on my way. As you continue to wind through the chute, you got a cooling towel, water, PowerAde, a banana, the coveted RunDisney food box, and THEN they stop you for pictures, so you have to put everything down if you want a finisher picture. I feel like that should be sooner in the line up so that you don’t have to juggle everything, or they should have a bag they give you so you can actually carry everything without a struggle.
They make you keep moving through the chute, so I had to wait for my husband outside the finisher picture area. They let us both go back in so that we could get pictures together. Then we grabbed my bag from the bag check, which is quick and easy, and we went back to the merchandise tent to see what was left. There was tons of stuff, but nothing new, so we went and got a picture with Chip and Dale and then caught the shuttle to go back to our resort since we had a breakfast reservation at Cape May at the Beach Club and needed to get moving.
