Dopey Worth It?

[KeyLargoCards]

Friends: Have a question for all, but especially one-time Dopeyers: Is doing Dopey worth it? I am considering Dopey for 2023 to complete my triumvirate of medals: 25th WDW Marathon (2018), 50th Celebration Marathon (2022) & 10th Dopey (2023)???

Background: I have really enjoyed the Marathon experience, and do like the idea of the 4 day challenge. That said, I'm wondering if its worth the fairly significant extra cost, four straight early morning wakeups, and less park time. My wife doesn't run, so while I'll occasionally chat for a minute during the race, I run/walk/run so tend to be a fairly solitary runner.

Once you have done the Marathon, are the other races simply shorter versions of the same thing? For those that have completed one, have you found it rewarding enough to make up for the aforementioned negatives?

Thanks all!

 

[camaker]

Friends: Have a question for all, but especially one-time Dopeyers: Is doing Dopey worth it? I am considering Dopey for 2023 to complete my triumvirate of medals: 25th WDW Marathon (2018), 50th Celebration Marathon (2022) & 10th Dopey (2023)???

Background: I have really enjoyed the Marathon experience, and do like the idea of the 4 day challenge. That said, I'm wondering if its worth the fairly significant extra cost, four straight early morning wakeups, and less park time. My wife doesn't run, so while I'll occasionally chat for a minute during the race, I run/walk/run so tend to be a fairly solitary runner.

Once you have done the Marathon, are the other races simply shorter versions of the same thing? For those that have completed one, have you found it rewarding enough to make up for the aforementioned negatives?

Thanks all!

Ultimately, you're the only one who's going to be able to answer this question for you. As for me, the appeal of Dopey, to me, is that it's an endurance challenge of a type that you don't really find anywhere else. It's the totality of the experience that's the draw, not the independent evaluation of the merits of the individual races. I can tell you that after running 2 Dopeys, I ran Goofy in an attempt to get a similar experience with less cost and fewer vacation days. I hated it. It felt like I was missing out on part of the Marathon Weekend experience. It's just Dopey for me now (I'm up to 5 as of last weekend). Also, I run all my race weekends solo, with meet ups with folks from around this site being my only social interactions. Good luck whichever way you decide to go.

 

[jmasgat]

"Worth it" will depend on what motivates you and what your expectations are. I have done Dopey once (have also done Goofy twice and marathon a few times). There is a sense of accomplishment doing all 4 races. It is one of my proudest running achievements. That said, it was a one and done for me. As you note, the total race cost (and extra hotels/meals/etc) and park visiting is definitely impacted. I was okay with the cost (only doing it the one time) and my park touring style (rope drop, out by lunch) meant I could do the parks the way I chose and not feel hammered.

I don't really care about the whole "Disney experience" re: character stops, entertainment, etc, and the fact that the courses are sort of redundant didn't bother me too much. Courses change somewhat, but they aren't going to change dramatically, so looking at this year's courses will give you the overall sense of what to expect.

You've got time to ponder it. I guarantee you will get the spectrum of answers from this crowd.

 

[The Expert]

I just completed my first Dopey, and wasn't sure if it would be one-and-done for me. I am HOOKED! I did the 10K and Full in 2020 and it was 100% worth "graduating" to Dopey for me. As @camaker said I felt like I was missing out on part of the experience by not doing all four. My husband doesn't run either, but he enjoyed the down time at the resort and ability to keep up on remote work, then the leisurely park time and hanging out at the pool bar.

Each race has its own personality and participant makeup, which makes it fun and interesting. I have always run solo (aside from a few 5K and 10K distances with family who walk the whole thing), so that didn't bother me. But I did appreciate finding a fellow DISer in the corral at the half that was the same pace with similar goals. We ended up doing most of the half and all of the full together, which was fabulous. I am NOT fast, and the camaraderie in the back of the pack is amazing, even if you're running alone.

I was ready for the schedule to be the hardest part, but treated it like traveling overseas and adjusted my schedule (eating, sleeping, activity) accordingly. It worked well for me and I acclimated quickly.

 

[KeyLargoCards]

Certainly appreciate the first few responses! I get the FOMO part, Disney is the one place you can run a marathon and feel like you didn't accomplish much when you start seeing those Dopey medals!

I know that if I do it, I'll likely take it easy in the first 3 (especially the 1/2), to make sure I have enough in the tank to get the full done. I'm not back of the pack, but certainly not front of the pack either. My time this year was ~4:43.

I enjoy the pictures, but not to the point of having to stop for every one. In the full, if there were more than ~12 people in line I skipped it, not worth adding several minutes to my time. Second 1/2 of the race the lines were much shorter (none for the castle shot!), so I did grab a few.

 

[Baloo in MI]

When I first learned about Dopey I was immediately hooked by the idea of the challenge. Balancing park time, sleep, nutrition, race pace, etc. I have completed 6 Dopey’s (one virtual). I have loved them all. I have done them solo and with family. This year I was able to walk the 5K with the non-runners of my family, push the 10k, struggle to keep up with my cross-country runner/demon youngest daughter for the Half snd then enjoy t
a slow Marathon. I use “enjoy” loosely.

I think it is worth doing. And you are right the 10th anniversary medal is going to be a good one!

 

[fatmanatee]

Friends: Have a question for all, but especially one-time Dopeyers: Is doing Dopey worth it? I am considering Dopey for 2023 to complete my triumvirate of medals: 25th WDW Marathon (2018), 50th Celebration Marathon (2022) & 10th Dopey (2023)???

Background: I have really enjoyed the Marathon experience, and do like the idea of the 4 day challenge. That said, I'm wondering if its worth the fairly significant extra cost, four straight early morning wakeups, and less park time. My wife doesn't run, so while I'll occasionally chat for a minute during the race, I run/walk/run so tend to be a fairly solitary runner.

Once you have done the Marathon, are the other races simply shorter versions of the same thing? For those that have completed one, have you found it rewarding enough to make up for the aforementioned negatives?

Thanks all!

I’ll address the last paragraph first: no. You’re getting completely different experiences out of the first three races, all of which made it worthwhile for me to do Dopey. The 5k is a loop around Epcot, the 10k is either a longer loop around Epcot that includes the nearby resorts or, in this years case, a race that goes through HS. The half puts you in MK with a much stronger chance of that happening before sunrise. I’ve done one race weekend here before (Star Wars in 2017) and all of the above routes were new to me.

This year was my first time doing Dopey, and I will say that the biggest challenge was probably the 3 am wake-up calls. It was really tough for me, I was really anxious about missing the first couple of alarms, the COVID situation definitely didn’t help, and it took me until the marathon to settle on a decent sleep cycle. I was also coming off a minor surgery on my leg that kept me on the shelf for a few weeks, when I should have been close to peak training. Just… a lot of stress altogether. I don’t think I’d have that issue if i did it again.

Will I do it again? I’m not sure. It is a big undertaking, and you have to prepare yourself for the possibility that you’ll be too gassed to do much in the parks on race days, particularly the last two race days. Ill probably end up being convinced to give this another go though.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

snd then enjoy t
a slow Marathon. I use “enjoy” loosely.

type 2 fun!

 

[Jml813]

My husband did it once and I did the Goofy. We are long time Disney guests so we didn't care if we didn't spend all day in the parks. We ended up staying at Polynesian so it was a little easier to get to starting lines and a little quicker. That being said, the first night we went to bed fairly early because we were getting ready for a very early start time only to be awoken out of a dead sleep by the fireworks. It was at that point we realized we better get out and watch them from the balcony since we were spending all that money at the resort. The race definitely impacted our desire to do too much in the parks. I wouldn't try to do this if I was planning on doing full park days cuz there's no way we would have made it.

It was a pretty expensive weekend and although we love Disney, we wouldn't do it again. We found that our vacation was a bit stifled by the racing instead of trying to enjoy the parks it was pretty stressful for us.

 

[matt and beth]

Worth it? For me 100%. My daughter watched me do ultras years ago. Made me promise when she was old enough we’d do Dopey. Fast forward 12 years and promise kept. We had a blast! People were great, the smile on her face, and shared tears of joy… was it worth??? Hell Yah!

 

[Jing]

After Dopey 2018, I decided I was only going to run anniversary races. It was an absolute blast, but I say 2019 out, did Goofy in 2020 (spectated 10K), and did just the half in 2022 (spectated 10k and full). I’m going to do 2023 for the anniversary but that will be my last Dopey. Probably.

 

[DISRNR1000]

I did Dopey once and in my opinion it was totally worth it. I never saw myself as a runner, but Disney got me to try a 5k. After the 5K, I wanted to do a half. Then the marathon, Goofy, and so what else could I do but go for Dopey! For me, the focus of the long weekend was the race and pretty much the race alone. The early mornings were difficult. And the cold weather that year. And giving up park time. Early to bed and the expense...wow! But it is still one of the best things I've ever done. I would have regretted it if I did not do it at least once.

In 2020 I ran "just" the half marathon and had so much fun. Beautiful weather for enjoying the "vacation" part of the run. Less stress. More park time. More time with my family. I never felt as though I was missing out by not doing more races, let alone Dopey.

Still, I hope I have it in me to do Dopey one more time.

 

[FFigawi]

Like most of the other commenters above, I find Dopey to be 100% worth it. Sure it's not cheap, but nothing at Disney ever is. I personally don't view anything about Dopey as a negative. Having to get up at 330 four mornings in a row doesn't impact our park time or our eating & drinking plans. The one thing that slightly bothers me about how rD handles Dopey is the emphasis they put on Dopey over the other races at times. If you're running the 5k or the 10k, the pre-race announcers have a tendency to focus on the Dopey runners in those races, which can leave people who are there to be excited about doing their 5k feeling a bit left out and overlooked. Not something that I think prevents anyone from signing up for one race or all four, but it can be kind of a buzz kill for some people.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I ran the goofy 10 years ago, and subsequently found out about the Dopey a few years later and have had it on my bucket list since then. I just completed my first Dopey this past weekend and I can tell you that it was totally worth it. Is it worth doing again? Unclear. To me the 5K and 10K were fun runs and barely worth the time and effort, but I was able to go into the parks afterword on those days. My only park time on Sunday was to Epcot for dinner, so that park ticket was a very expensive meal.
With next year being the 10th race, if you are going to do the Dopey once, that would certainly be a good year to go do it. I don’t know about doing it again, but definitely go do it once.

 

[ANIM8R]

In my opinion, completely worth it. With proper training, the four straight (way too) early mornings end up being the toughest part of the weekend! That is coming from a runner/jogger/rumbler-bumbler that is there to enjoy the WDW experience, take pictures, etc. not set PRs. As a less-than-mediocre athlete all of my life, it is one of the athletic-esque accomplishments in which I actually look back on with some pride!

It's an absolute blast and an experience in which I'm sure you will look back on fondly.

Best of luck!!!

 

[pluto377]

I completed my first Dopey in 2019 and was unsuccessful in this year's attempt, but I still think it's worth it. At least to do it once is worth it. I probably should have left well enough alone and not tried this year, but I don't feel like my trip was a waste or anything this year. I still had a great time at the other races, was able to meet some people from the board, and enjoyed some laid back park time.

It is extremely expensive and you'll probably want to take it easy on the parks, so that makes the tickets cost even more. If you have limited vacation time at work that's a real consideration too.

So it really depends on you and your priorities, but it is a one-of-a-kind experience and something really fun to brag to non-runners about, lol!

 

[Simba's Mom]

DH did the Dopey just once, in 2016, and 5 years later, he still talks about it. Definitely worth it for us! Partially because he was already 65 years old, it was something he didn't ever expect to do again. But sooo glad he did.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

DH did the Dopey just once, in 2016, and 5 years later, he still talks about it. Definitely worth it for us! Partially because he was already 65 years old, it was something he didn't ever expect to do again. But sooo glad he did.

And that is part of why I wanted to go ahead and do it: so that I did it while I could. Hopefully I'm still able ten years from now, but if not, I've done it at least once.

 

[The Expert]

And that is part of why I wanted to go ahead and do it: so that I did it while I could. Hopefully I'm still able ten years from now, but if not, I've done it at least once.

Same!

 

[GreatLakes]

I'm a big Disney fan but is anything at the mouse really "worth it" any more?

I would make the decision based on the challenge as a goal, not the "worth". If you are going to put in the training to run that distance do you want to do Dopey, a 50 miler, or a 100k? Different people will have a different answer for that question so I suggest taking a look at the training, the weekend, and the event and focus on the time and effort ROI, not the monetary one.