Dopey Challenge Redux: The WDW 10K

Hello and welcome to my Dopey Challenge 2025 trip report! Read all the entries in this report here. Onward!

OUR 10K PLAN

Morning two dawned successfully – it was time for the WDW 10K!

Although originally planned for the 5K, some last minute shuffling meant that my costume for this race was my longstanding favorite Figment. I had wanted to don a shirt that read “We all have sparks!” Yet this morning being as cold as the one previous, I skipped this in favor of multiple layers and a jacket. Nothing kills my buzz like freezing in the corrals… or the miles, for that matter. See exhibit A.

Erika and Kate were to be my Spaceships Earth, except that we had hit a minor snag. While Erika and I were organically in corral C together, Kate had drawn the F lot.

Now, I came prepared to drop back (and had for the 5K the day previous). There’s certainly nothing wrong with being the last corral! However, there’s no denying it tends to be more crowded and congested back there, especially during shorter races. Attempting to navigate as a group felt daunting.

Thus we hatched a plan. Erika and I, being Dopey Challengers in no hurry, resolved to start in C as assigned. Yet we would dawdle, alternately running and walking and stopping for characters here and there. Meanwhile, Kate would keep up as brisk a running pace as she was able. Our hope was that she would be able to catch up with us before the race was over. If she was or nearly, we could employ that plan during the half as well.

And did it work? Let’s find out together!

OUR 10K EXECUTION

We hopped our race bus, took our traditional 3am Spaceship Earth selfie, and headed over to the bag drop area so Kate could check her gear. Note: bag check took noticeably longer for the 5K and 10K than the half and full, so plan accordingly.

After that, we slipped into our respective corrals, plans in place and game faces on. The usual pre-race announcer patter and anthem rendition, and we were off!

Slowly – to a purpose. We wanted Kate to catch us, yes, and we were very aware it was only day two/miles four through nine out of the Dopey Challenge’s 48.6. Thus we trotted forward at a leisurely pace, walking past characters lines (the length-to-temptation ratios were off at that point) and then jogging between characters and water stops.

If you read my 5K recap, you may experience deja vu, because the 10K course is not appreciably different from the 5K. I mean, yes, you spend MORE time on the road before you enter Epcot. And no, the route through the park is not exactly the same. Still, once you enter you’re essentially taking a loop around World Showcase, with this year’s 10K course adding a little diversion out the back door into the Boardwalk area before boomeranging back to finish circling the lagoon.

So we ran our first mile on the roads. We finished up our second. Near the Epcot bus stops, at around 2.75, we stopped for our first characters; although this line was also long, I couldn’t remember having previous seen the mice from Cinderella out and about. I texted Kate to keep her apprised of her progress, and at just about the exact same time she texted me to inform me she had just started. Catching up to us was feeling a little less doable… but there was nothing for it but to forge on!

Shortly after this we bopped into Epcot, eschewing the lengthy Imagination pavilion bathroom lines in favor of the line-free bathrooms in the new Communicore. Upon reaching World Showcase, we hung a left toward Canada, then quickly ducked out of Epcot again to take a spin around the Boardwalk. The line for tuxedo Goofy (is that still his 50th Anniversary Disney 100 outfit?) looked manageable, so we stopped for a photo.

Our course took us back toward Epcot via the International Gateway, where Erika stopped for a bathroom break and I watched the crowds roll by. Kate still had some mileage to eat, so there was no more need to hurry than there had been for the first four miles.

Now we re-entered World Showcase and completed our stride of country pride – but the odds of Kate making up the distance in time dwindled. Erika and I continued to run-walk-run, then stopped at the unmanned Spaceship Earth for a photo. A kind lady dressed as an Ewok took our photo, after which we took hers. I told her I loved her costume, and she said it was getting rather too toasty in there. 😅 Were we finally warming up?!

Our next communication came from Kate: she had inside intel from a friend who had already finished. The last character stop of the race would be Peter and Wendy. If we stopped for them, she believed we would finally be reunited in line.

Sure enough, we ran out from under Spaceship Earth and there were our friends from Neverland! Kate’s texts assured us she was close, but as we inched closer to the characters I started to get nervous. “Go in front of us,” I said to the group behind, and again and again… and then it happened! Kate appeared in the distance!

We pulled her into line with us, got our group shot (so no time lost for those behind!), and took off as the group we were always meant to be! Alas, I can’t seem to find a good photo of us finishing together; rest assured it happened and it felt good.

DOPEY CHALLENGE PART 2 = DONE!

And that was our 10K! We were all impressed with Kate’s determination and ultimate success, and with one less corral between us and more miles in which to catch us, we were confident we could replicate her victory during the next day’s half. (Whether we would is another story… stay tuned!)

Fun fact: my 10K time was SLOWER than my fastest half marathon. Ha! I didn’t care, though; the Dopey Challenge is all about what my dad would refer to as looking like a line drive in the box score. Collecting Kate at the end was our home run as far as we were concerned.

We picked up our snack boxes and drinks and medals and such, but it was too cold at the finish and the character lines too long to do much else. Instead we jumped onto a bus to Old Key West (lines were much better than at the 5K) and headed back to our room for a much needed nap.

As far as mornings were concerned, my Dopey Challenge was 50% done! Better just not to think about the mileage…

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