I made my way to the start area (which was a different set up than other races) and I dropped my bag off and then went to the corral and use the Porto just to be on the safe side. I walked by the corral about 5:30 and it was full and I got in the short Porto line. I walked over when I was done and A was gone and B was walking. What? Walking early and with no warning? A group of made our way to the front and they would not let us go into corral A! Ugh-all because I used the porto because the lines outside the runners area was long. I was mad but tried not to be too upset but knew I would probably have to sacrifice a picture stop. Usually they walk A up about 15 min before and B stays so I don't know why they did it differently this time.
After the national anthem (which again was hard to hear because the speakers were almost non-existent), A corral went off and we went off 6 min later. One great thing is I was pretty fast for the corral so I was at the front and in the first 100 or so people for the first mile so it was pretty wide open. If this is what elite and the leaders feel like, I'm jealous. You go your pace without having to slow for anyone!
I saw lights and saw a random display. It was a broken at-at arm at .75 mile. I don't know if a character was supposed to be out but it was so random! I decided to pass it to get to a character.
I hit mile 1 at 9:30 pace pace and knew I needed to slow down but didn't have any pain yet. I took more walk breaks and as we headed back stage R2d2 was right before mile 1. The line was crazy (and I heard people waiting 30 min!) so I skipped him. We headed backstage behind test track and into world showcase by Mexico. We hit a water stop outside of China. The Rebels were out in America but I skipped them. I really love running through world showcase with the torches going and Star Wars music playing.
Chewbacca was outside the international gateway right before mile 2. I stopped for a pic with him because I've always loved chewy! We headed backstage for another water stop and entered in UK to finish up world showcase and go into future world. I hit mile 2 in about 11:00 min running pace.
This is where the course was a bit different as we went around the left side of spaceship earth and outside to the parking lot instead of by the land and Nemo. It reminded me Of the wine and dine finish. Without that extra Epcot area, there was a lot of parking lot but more opportunity for photo pass pics.
One thing I think was an improvement was having photos available before and after the half. I waited for one pic a day after each race. Today was Darth Vader and I love the pic! It was used on Instagram from both ProCompression and rundisney itself! The list of characters available were: Bb8, Darth Vader, stormtropper, Darth maul, phasma, sarlacc pit, jabba the hut, and Han in carbonite.
With the new course ending, the buses were back where they drop you off so it was a long walk back to the bus. At least mine was there waiting!
I headed back to the hotel where I graded papers and then we spent all day at Magic Kingdom where we really maximized our time with the ability to book the extra fastpass through the app. In total we did about 10 attractions all day (including the parade in the rain!) only using fastpass. We also had an awesome carbloading meal at Jungle Canteen. We ended so early that I was able to go to Ecpot and ride Spaceship Earth and still get back to the room before 7!
I would highly recommend this race! What's the last 5k you did?