Marathon Weekend 2024

[dancingtodisney]

SAFD: This year was LESS stressful than last year but still all over the place in typical Run Disney fashion. I got links open when the marathon event link came up on several browsers and just got lucky with one window and 18mins and a few between 20mins and 45mins which I was delighted to share on here and get some more DISers in. I am in for the marathon was tempted by Dopey but want to really work on building a solid running base and maybe hit Dopey again in 2025.

 

[Chanty30]

Looking further into my accommodation options
- Would it be feasible/possible to walk from the Hilton Orlando LBV to Saratoga Springs Resort to catch the busses there to go to the start of the marathon. This involves walking through Disney Springs and elevated walkways. Just wondering if either of these might be closed during the night.
- I previously stayed at Pop Century. Would anyone care to share the average room rate there for the past marathon weekend?

 

[disneyrunnergrl]

Looking further into my accommodation options
- Would it be feasible/possible to walk from the Hilton Orlando LBV to Saratoga Springs Resort to catch the busses there to go to the start of the marathon. This involves walking through Disney Springs and elevated walkways. Just wondering if either of these might be closed during the night.
- I previously stayed at Pop Century. Would anyone care to share the average room rate there for the past marathon weekend?

I’ve stayed at Hilton BVP (down the street from LBV) a few times for race weekends. I took the bus from the expo back to Saratoga once thinking I could walk to the Hilton. There was only one bus stop and it was by the main building which is on the entire other side of the resort. Maybe different on race mornings and multiple bus stops? But Saratoga is a huge resort and it was a far walk to the Hilton that I personally wouldn’t want to do on a race morning if that’s the only bus stop.

 

[RuntheMouse]

SAFD: The build up to registration was the worst for me. My DH was home that day with me to help which he has never had the “privilege” of doing before. We each had 2 browsers open, one on Firefox, one on safari. Had one start at 18 minutes, other 3 at over an hour. So we were able to get the 10 k for both of us and the half for him, full for me. Success!
At the end he looks at me and says…..that’s not that bad. Rookie!

 

[RunWI1265]

Looking further into my accommodation options
- Would it be feasible/possible to walk from the Hilton Orlando LBV to Saratoga Springs Resort to catch the busses there to go to the start of the marathon. This involves walking through Disney Springs and elevated walkways. Just wondering if either of these might be closed during the night.
- I previously stayed at Pop Century. Would anyone care to share the average room rate there for the past marathon weekend?

I stayed at SSR for Springtime this weekend. There is one rD bus for SSR and it’s near the front of the resort. It would be a pretty far walk to go from Disney springs to the rD bus at Saratoga in the morning.

 

[jpeterson]

Looking further into my accommodation options
- Would it be feasible/possible to walk from the Hilton Orlando LBV to Saratoga Springs Resort to catch the busses there to go to the start of the marathon. This involves walking through Disney Springs and elevated walkways. Just wondering if either of these might be closed during the night.
- I previously stayed at Pop Century. Would anyone care to share the average room rate there for the past marathon weekend?

For Pop I paid $167/night for marathon this year. I booked early and rebooked when discounts appeared. That was my lowest rate all season.

For W&D: $196
For Princess: $254
For Springtime: $186

 

[nancipants]

SAFD: I signed up for the 10k, which is what I wanted. I'm running the Princess Half and wanted to do a shorter race beforehand (and to see if I can improve on this year's Princess 10k time).

I wasn't super stressed about registration since it's not an "A" goal for me next year, but I still really wanted to get in. I opened two browser windows on my work computer, two on my personal computer, and one on my iPad. My husband also joined the queue from his laptop and that ended up being the shortest window.

 

[superchime]

SAFD: I only wanted to register for the half, for my coast to coast medal. I was trying not to stress about it too much but when all of my browsers seemed stuck at "over an hour" I did start to feel a bit of panic. Luckily @dancingtodisney shared a queue with me and I was able to register while all of my other browsers stayed at "over an hour." This was my first time registering for a Disney race that I've done before, so it was extra exciting.

 

[ncosgrove]

I'm looking for some advice please

I'm in for Dopey Travelling from the UK with my family for 10 days staying in the Art of Animation.

The family are keen to try to see me in the latter stages of the marathon. Can anybody recommend the best way for them to do this from miles 23 to the finish? i.e. can they just turn up to EPCOT and get a good viewing spot?

 

[WhereInFlorida]

I'm looking for some advice please

I'm in for Dopey Travelling from the UK with my family for 10 days staying in the Art of Animation.

The family are keen to try to see me in the latter stages of the marathon. Can anybody recommend the best way for them to do this from miles 23 to the finish? i.e. can they just turn up to EPCOT and get a good viewing spot?

We have stayed at a Skyliner resort last couple of races. Family takes that to Epcot and watches around the Boardwalk, it is nice at that location because it is late in the race and family can sleep in a bit before getting out. If they have tickets they could also go in Epcot and watch through there as well.

 

[GollyGadget]

I'm looking for some advice please

I'm in for Dopey Travelling from the UK with my family for 10 days staying in the Art of Animation.

The family are keen to try to see me in the latter stages of the marathon. Can anybody recommend the best way for them to do this from miles 23 to the finish? i.e. can they just turn up to EPCOT and get a good viewing spot?

If you plan to pass through Epcot after it opens and they have tickets & reservations, then yes. They can take the skyliner and enter near World Showcase.

Alternatively, if you plan to go to a different park that day, they could still ride the skyliner and catch you before you enter Epcot.

This all depends on your pace though. I finished sub 4 this year (around 9a) and the park was not yet open. Not sure what time it opened to know if the skyliner was running or not.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I’ve stayed at Hilton BVP (down the street from LBV) a few times for race weekends. I took the bus from the expo back to Saratoga once thinking I could walk to the Hilton. There was only one bus stop and it was by the main building which is on the entire other side of the resort. Maybe different on race mornings and multiple bus stops? But Saratoga is a huge resort and it was a far walk to the Hilton that I personally wouldn’t want to do on a race morning if that’s the only bus stop.

Agreed.

@Chanty30
The ONLY rundisney bus stop is at the lobby building (Carriage House) at Saragota. We were in the furthest away building (toward Disney Springs) and I made DH walk to get our car and pick me up at the bus stop after the marathon. It was almost a mile away. I'm also pretty certain that DS will not be open at 3am for people to walk through, and if you went that route you'd likely be walking around the outside. You might be able to cross over Hotel Plaza Blvd, and then walk around E Beuna Vista Dr, and come in on the sidewalk just past the boat dock and walk through the length of SS to get to the front. It would be way faster to just get your choice of rideshare IMO.

I'm looking for some advice please

I'm in for Dopey Travelling from the UK with my family for 10 days staying in the Art of Animation.

The family are keen to try to see me in the latter stages of the marathon. Can anybody recommend the best way for them to do this from miles 23 to the finish? i.e. can they just turn up to EPCOT and get a good viewing spot?

Without knowing for sure what the course is (it's likely to be very similar, if not identical to last year's) places your family could watch you near the end of the race outside of a park would be just outside HS...runners exit to the right of the main entrance and run past the skyliner station and then down the walkway toward Beach Club/Boardwalk/Swan/Dolphin.

With the skyliner as easy access, they could also take that over to the International Gateway entrance to Epcot and spectate near there, or walk back a bit to the Boardwalk area.

If you have park tickets and a reservation for Epcot that day, they could find a spot to cheer from inside epcot.

Using the skyliner for all of this will be the easiest thing as you won't have to deal with any road closures.

 

[ncosgrove]

We have stayed at a Skyliner resort last couple of races. Family takes that to Epcot and watches around the Boardwalk, it is nice at that location because it is late in the race and family can sleep in a bit before getting out. If they have tickets they could also go in Epcot and watch through there as well.

Excellent, that's great thank you. I don't think they fancy the early start so want to see me later on and meet up at the end

Assuming the Skyliner is closed earlier for runners but operational when the parks open?

 

[morgsmagic]

SAFD: The days leading up to registration were so anxiety-inducing. The last time I signed up for a race was for the Princess Half in 2018 which seems worlds away now. Luckily, I was able to register for my first Dopey even though my several browsers started with over an hour wait! The longest race I have done is a half, so this will be my first marathon. Surprisingly, I think I was more nervous about getting a spot than the thought of doing 48.6 miles in one weekend, lol!

 

[jmasgat]

Assuming the Skyliner is closed earlier for runners but operational when the parks open?

Yes. Skyliner will open 60-90 minutes before park opens (factoring in early resort entry for resort guests), so is not an option for runners.

 

[pluto377]

Looking further into my accommodation options
- Would it be feasible/possible to walk from the Hilton Orlando LBV to Saratoga Springs Resort to catch the busses there to go to the start of the marathon. This involves walking through Disney Springs and elevated walkways. Just wondering if either of these might be closed during the night.
- I previously stayed at Pop Century. Would anyone care to share the average room rate there for the past marathon weekend?

You can take a look at the Pop rates now if you go to the website and put that your reservation starts 12/31. Under the price for each room type there's a link for "rate details". That will give you a breakdown of each night's cost. Of course, that might go up once they officially release next year, but you'll get a good idea.

 

[jrsharp21]

SAFD: I had 6 browsers open between three devices. I was started to get worried as I was seeing people posting they got through and were registered when I still had around 35 minutes and more on my different browsers. Thanks to dancingtodisney for sharing a link that was about to open up, I was able to get in for my third Dopey.

My daughter, trying to register for the half marathon, couldn't get through. Thanks to nekonekoneko for sending some links, that I then sent to my daughter. She was able to get in. Then my neighbor messages me that he couldn't get through and still had an hour wait. Knowing that he had some not so ideal experiences this past MDW. He couldn't get in for Dopey, so ended up piecing together an un-official Dopey between registration and a charity. Then he was part of the flight mess that was happening this past January. So he had to wait in that huge line the morning of the 5k to check in. I ended up registering him for Dopey on my account. He was so happy. Then a half hour later he got a call from his brother, who also registered him for Dopey. LOL. I talked to him this past weekend and he said Disney refunded one of his registrations.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Per my spreadsheet from last year, All-Stars was going to be $804 from Wednesday-Monday for MW this year (2023) with no discounts. I think those usually top out at around 15% for the value resorts, which would drop it to $714. I feel like pricing is somewhat consistent, but it would be tricky to compare 12/31 rates with January rates. I know for dvc points, January is about 50% less than December.

 

[Chanty30]

Thanks for the advice

I stayed at SSR for Springtime this weekend

It looks like a sprawling resort indeed.

For Pop I paid $167/night for marathon this year.

Ah, that would be an acceptable rate.

I'm also pretty certain that DS will not be open at 3am for people to walk through

That would make it a bit of a challenge. Or too much of a challenge! I think I will go for the convenience of an onsite resort then.

You can take a look at the Pop rates now if you go to the website

Might be because I live in Europe, but that's not actually possible from here. All I can see are the park ticket prices for that period,

 

[Chanty30]

Per my spreadsheet from last year, All-Stars was going to be $804 from Wednesday-Monday

That would be exactly the period I am looking for.