Help me pick race day hotel (PHM 2022)

[alon86]

PHM 2022 will be my first RD race! My family of 4 will be there Feb 21-28. We enjoy a split stay to mix up the hotel amenities and pools. For this PHM trip, I'd like to do 3 nights at one hotel (2/21-24) and 4 at another, which will be over race weekend (2/24-28)

Our favorite places to stay are:

1) Bay Lake Tower with a theme park view (and I love that the 1 bedroom villa gives us a full 2nd bathroom - I have 2 DDs, ages 9 and 13; the twin sleeper chair is a big hit with the 9yo) and it brings me indescribable joy to stare at the castle at various times of the day (we were just there in June 2021 and for me the TP view was worth every penny, even without the fireworks!).
2) We also love Beach Club - we stayed in a 2 bed villa with family in 2019. This time I would either do a 1 bed villa at BCV or get 2 connecting rooms at either Beach or Yacht. The big draw there is the pool (!) and walking to Epcot. Love all the Epcot restaurants and walking around the world. Also love the skyliner now!

I think I want to be in the Epcot area on race day to potentially walk through Epcot to get back to the room (that appeals to me), but I think that depends on how early Epcot will open that day? Right now it's been 11am for a while. Still, I could bus back to the room, relax in the hot tub or swim in the pool, and then walk around Epcot later in the day and probably grab dinner.

Alternatively, the BLT plan is appealing because I love ending our trip with either walking to MK fireworks at end of day, or watching from our room. Also appealing is that I think my family could walk or monorail to a close spectator spot from BLT (assuming they allow spectators in 2022 - I know details are still being worked out). My family are NOT morning people, and they usually have me to lead them around WDW (I am the one who knows all the things), so I want to make the spectator thing as easy as possible for them that morning. If we are at Beach Club, they would have to take a bus or uber somewhere to spectate, right?

Also, I think the BLT 1 bed villa is a bit nicer than the BCV 1 bed villa (BLT is bigger with better amenities), and I'd like to end the trip in a slightly nicer room, rather than vice versa.

I have a res booked right now with 2 connecting rooms (fingers crossed) at Yacht Club for 3 nights, and then 1 bed villa at BLT for 4 nights, but Lake View. I'm hoping we can upgrade to TP view at the 7 month mark when more inventory might open up. (7th month mark is 7/21/21). I'm just trying to nail down what I want! I might rent DVC points if the inventory doesn't open up for my TA.

I'm also struggling with the connecting rooms at BC/YC if we don't do the villa - the extra real beds would much more comfortable for my DDs (instead of the pull out couch in the 1 bed villa), but I'm worried about not getting them connecting, that would suck. I could try for a 2 bed villa but it feels super extravagant for just the 4 of us.

Thoughts/feedback welcome! Thanks!

PS. I would consider Riviera, but I wish the pools were better! (No water slide is a bummer for my kids!) Still, the murphy bed and day bed options in the 1 bed villa there would work really well for my girls, and we LOVED Topolino's Terrace (had breakfast and dinner there last trip). And we LOVE the skyliner. Another contender is VGF because we love being on the monorail and walking to MK, but I think I will wait until I know that all of its restaurants are open (next trip - 2023). I guess I could consider Boardwalk, but to me it's like BC/YC with not as good of a pool, so I'd rather be at BC/YC?

 

[Simba's Mom]

We stayed at Beach Club Villas for the Dopey, and both of us loved it. It was the last pick-up stop before getting to Epcot in the morning, and DH got off at the first stop on the way back (I think he said it was the Swan/Dolphin) and the short walk back helped him stretch and relax his muscles. And for me, the Beach Club was a great place to be right along the course for the 10K and also the Marathon-don't know if they've changed routes since then, perhaps they have.

 

[GollyGadget]

I have no personal experience, but my recommendation would be BLT for race day. As long as too many things don't change, your family could easily walk or ride the monorail to spectate and you could ride the monorail to/from the half marathon. You didn't mention which distance you are running, but the shorter distances don't have the monorail running and are less spectator friendly.

The other option you mentioned was to walk through Epcot after the race. For me, this wouldn't be a good option because I'd likely be in an early corral and finished by 7a. Not knowing your running intentions, this could make more sense for you but you'll need to do some math to figure that out. Would you start in one of the first corrals at 5 or one of the later ones around 6? What is your half marathon pace? How many stops do you plan on making?

 

[alon86]

The other option you mentioned was to walk through Epcot after the race. For me, this wouldn't be a good option because I'd likely be in an early corral and finished by 7a. Not knowing your running intentions, this could make more sense for you but you'll need to do some math to figure that out. Would you start in one of the first corrals at 5 or one of the later ones around 6? What is your half marathon pace? How many stops do you plan on making?

Oh good point - I am a SLOW runner and this is my first half marathon. I will NOT be in an early corral, and I will likely take 2.5-3 hours to finish. Do we know when Epcot has typically opened on other race days? If it's 9am I can certainly walk back to an Epcot hotel (BC/YC). If it's 10am or later, I would take a bus back I suppose.

And does the monorail typically start running early enough on half-marathon race days to take it to the starting line? That would be amazing if I were at BLT!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Oh good point - I am a SLOW runner and this is my first half marathon. I will NOT be in an early corral, and I will likely take 2.5-3 hours to finish. Do we know when Epcot has typically opened on other race days? If it's 9am I can certainly walk back to an Epcot hotel (BC/YC). If it's 10am or later, I would take a bus back I suppose.

Logistically, the last person to start would be ~6am. So if you take the maximum amount of time (3:30 hrs), that would be a 9:30am finish time. You would need a park ticket to walk through EPCOT to (BC/YC). It looks like hours are only posted through Sep 2021 at the moment and EPCOT opens at 11:00am on each of those days. In the past, EPCOT has usually opened at 9:00am. But we don't know when the new park hours will go back to their old ways.

And does the monorail typically start running early enough on half-marathon race days to take it to the starting line? That would be amazing if I were at BLT!

I found an old program from 2016 WDW Marathon Weekend (attached). Page 13 shows the monorail running before the HM. I believe that is still the case, but now with digital programs it's not as easy to save this info from prior years.

 

[garneska]

Yes on Marathon Weekend the monorail is running before the half to get you to EPCOT.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Oh good point - I am a SLOW runner and this is my first half marathon. I will NOT be in an early corral, and I will likely take 2.5-3 hours to finish. Do we know when Epcot has typically opened on other race days? If it's 9am I can certainly walk back to an Epcot hotel (BC/YC). If it's 10am or later, I would take a bus back I suppose.

And does the monorail typically start running early enough on half-marathon race days to take it to the starting line? That would be amazing if I were at BLT!

You may be in better shape than me but the LAST thing I wanted to do after running 13.1 miles was walk anywhere else. Be gentle with yourself and plan to take the bus

 

[HangWithMerida]

You may be in better shape than me but the LAST thing I wanted to do after running 13.1 miles was walk anywhere else. Be gentle with yourself and plan to take the bus

Yeah, walking may sound like a good idea but the reality is that you walk a lot before the race to get to the corrals, then run 13.1 miles, then walk a lot to make your walk through the post-race stuff. The finish in the past has been pretty deep into the parking area so walking back through Epcot is probably farther than you were thinking it would be. The busses are pretty efficient.

 

[Happy2BMommy0812]

I think waking back through EPCOt might not work out easily as others have said. I’d also stay at a monorail resort for the race and maybe try something new like VGF or 2 studios at Poly (the studios have 2 bed, 1 sofa and a pull down single bed, so my kids usually skip the sofa and do the bed and pull down). Poly DVC are such as easy walk to the TTC, so it makes the monorail to Epcot a breeze. If you are willing to wait around for EPCOT to open and have a ticket to walk back through, I do one of those. Or, for the $$ you are taking, maybe even splurge for a room or two club level - we loved the club at Boardwalk and Beach Club (never done YC club level). I’d do boardwalk club again In a heart beat - Sunday brunch was sooooo good and the room I was given had a huge balcony overlooking the boardwalk, just amazing. Riviera does have a water slide though…….you mentioned that being a reason not to stay……