Marathon Weekend Questions

[billysmom95]

How are the crowds for the marathon weekend in January? Will the marathon impact the parks? What hotels do the runners use?

[SAHDad]

From what I recall, the crowds aren't too bad before the race. (We've left the day after the race, so I can't speak for that time period, however.) They were a bit busier than normal for that time of year, but I don't recall any significant wait for rides, though some of the FS restaurants were pretty busy, especially if they served pasta.

The marathon does indeed impact the parks. Even though it starts at 6 am, because the finish time is so late, runners can (and are) still moving through Epcot at noon. Likewise, because the marathon forces some road closures, getting around can be kind of tough, since the bus routes are detoured.

I'm not sure that the runners stay at any hotel in particular. For the marathon (and half-marathon), you have to get up well before the crack of dawn and take a bus over to Epcot, so I imagine that there is some slight bias toward nearby resorts.

When we were there for that weekend in 2006, we had 4 of us running the half. We stayed at Boardwalk, and on the morning of the full, we did breakfast at Chef Mickey's (and could watch the runners in the distance as we ate). By the time we were done, MK was open and we had no problems.

The calendar on the Disney site indicates that the parks are open normal hours for those days - I imagine that you just might have some difficulty in getting around the marathon route. (If the route does not change, it's Epcot to MK to AK to MGM to Epcot again.)

[Melanie]

My advice for Marathon Sunday would be to avoid MGM (Hollywood Studios) and Epcot, since those are the last two parks the runners go through before the finish. Plan on the Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom instead. Traffic around Epcot (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2120188580048685994ZWeSTS) both mornings of Marathon weekend is very hairy!

We went to MGM to see my husband run through, and if I were just a casual guest enjoying the parks that day, the traffic and detours (even within the park) would have been a bit of an inconvenience. Runners are going through well after opening.

We went to the Magic Kingdom after the race on Sunday, and there were a lot of runners out and about. Nothing terribly though, and certainly nowhere near summer crowds. But crowds dropped off dramatically the next day (Monday). It's a great week to be at the World.

We stayed at Caribbean Beach, and there were a lot of runners staying there. We noticed a lot of them checked out after the race though.

[EvilQueen2006]

I was there during marathon weekend last January and the crowds were very manageable. We had an early breakfast ADR at Crystal Palace the morning of the marathon. There were a lot of people on Main Street watching and we watched the runners go by from our window seat in the restaurant. By the time breakfast was over and the park opened there were just a few runners left and the crowds had thinned significantly. We enjoyed a wonderful day at MK.