Busy at the parks for marathon weekend/week-January 2012?

[BethR9]

Hello All!

I was wondering if it's busy at the parks due to the half/full marathon January 7-8, 2012. I've heard the roads may be busy but I guess I don't know what that means.

Do the buses have to take different routes to get to parks, thus a longer drive time?

Where is the race run at? Right through the parks? Do they set up barricades?

Any and all information would be appreciated as we are looking at January 7-14.

 

[princess jackie]

Believe www.rundisney.com has the actual course maps on them. DH has run the half or full marathon for the past several years. Both the half and full end at Epcot in the parking lot. For the full the runners run threw all 4 parks and the half runners run threw MK and Epcot. Roads are busier because some of the course is on the road. There is a time limit for both races so by noon everyone should be off the courses. However the roads can get congested in the morning and it may take longer to get to your detonation.

It used to be considered a value time for pricing for Disney but now that marathon weekend has become more popular they upped the prices. The crowds aren't that big of a deal though. Most people that are there for the marathon leave on the following Monday.

 

[BethR9]

Thank you! That's exactly the info I was looking for.

Anyone else, feel free to chime in as well!

 

[BethR9]

Anyone else?

 

[stargazertechie]

Hello All!

I was wondering if it's busy at the parks due to the half/full marathon January 7-8, 2012. I've heard the roads may be busy but I guess I don't know what that means. All but 5 miles of the course are actually run on the roads outside of the parks. Most of the roads in the area are shut down, so you'll want to avoid driving the morning of the half and the full. Disney buses have internal roads they can drive on, but guests can't take personal vehicles there.

Do the buses have to take different routes to get to parks, thus a longer drive time? They'll have different routes, and they'll take a bit longer than usual, but still much faster than driving yourself. For Epcot, you'll be taken to the TTC and you'll have to take the monorail to the park, as the finish line is in the epcot parking lot.

Where is the race run at? Right through the parks? Do they set up barricades?Mostly on the roads surrounding the parks. The half goes from Epcot up the highway to the TTC, alongside the contemporary, through the MK and back. The Full starts at epcot, then goes to MK, AK, DHS, and back to Epcot, coming through the Epcot resort area on the return. There are barricades on the roads, and barricades in the parks for the runners. By the time the parks open for the public, all but the slowest run/walkers will have cleared the course already.

Any and all information would be appreciated as we are looking at January 7-14.

Saturday and Sunday are great days to BE at the parks, as most of the runners are back in their rooms icing down, napping, and eating.

Monday may be crowded due to the Marathon Monday promotion where all finishers get free admission.

There are large foreign tour groups- if you see a person carrying a flag- RUN, don't walk, in the other direction. Those groups of 50-150 people can totally jam up lines.

MLK weekend also brings in the crowds closer to the 14th.


Even with an event and a holiday, wait times are minimal. The longest wait I saw was 120 for TSM. Most headliners had 45-60 minute waits, and the longest I personally waited (by utilizing FP) was 20 minutes.

 

[Shmily1]

Saturday and Sunday are great days to BE at the parks, as most of the runners are back in their rooms icing down, napping, and eating.

Monday may be crowded due to the Marathon Monday promotion where all finishers get free admission.

There are large foreign tour groups- if you see a person carrying a flag- RUN, don't walk, in the other direction. Those groups of 50-150 people can totally jam up lines.

MLK weekend also brings in the crowds closer to the 14th.


Even with an event and a holiday, wait times are minimal. The longest wait I saw was 120 for TSM. Most headliners had 45-60 minute waits, and the longest I personally waited (by utilizing FP) was 20 minutes.

Since my b-day is usually that weekend or close to it, that's one of my favorite times to go Usually, there are no lines (think BTMRR riding back to back) since the runners are busy training or resting and the races are really early. It's a great time to be there!!

 

[BethR9]

Thanks!

I was looking at doing MK on that Monday. Ugh! Will it be super busy?

 

[megarella]

I don't think it will be that busy. When we were there for marathon weekend (granted it was in 2009 so it could've changed), the crowd levels were pretty low, probably since its right after winter break. Most of our wait times were short (or, at least, short for the attraction, i.e. only 25 minute wait for Dumbo). Marathon Monday isn't that bad, because a good portion of the half marathoners (and some of the marathoners) leave on the Sunday to get back home for work on Monday. I wouldn't worry about the crowds

 

[liyixinhua]

Thank you for the information and advice.

 

[dthogue]

Thanks!

I was looking at doing MK on that Monday. Ugh! Will it be super busy?

I beleive participants were given free admission to MK on the Monday after the marathon last year - it might be wise to avoid MK on that Monday!

 

[minniebeth]

I guess I'm the lone dissenter that says last year MK and Epcot were crowded~ I know that all crowds are relative, but we've gone at all different times of the year and it really was crowded! We waited on line a lot longer for some of the rides in the MK and Epcot than we did a couple of years ago in early June. If you go early and plan well with Fastpass, you should be fine, just don't expect the parks to be empty.

ETA: Not all the runners stay in the rooms all day resting afterwards, we saw LOTS of runners wearing their medals limping along, including my DH and DS

 

[stargazertechie]

ETA: Not all the runners stay in the rooms all day resting afterwards, we saw LOTS of runners wearing their medals limping along, including my DH and DS

This, I guess I should have clarified:

The morning to early afternoon will be great. After 2PM or so, many runners will be back in the parks to enjoy the afternoon/evening.