where to do a long run at Walt Disney World?

[WaDiWo]

Hi all!

Will be at the World 3 weeks before my marathon, when I am supposed to do a 20 mile long run, before my taper.

Can I run on the "public roads" at Disney? like world drive, and floridian way?

I know there are "official" running routes published by disney, around the resorts, but they're not long enough. any advice? thanks!

cheers!

 

[CheapRunnerMike]

Hi all!

Will be at the World 3 weeks before my marathon, when I am supposed to do a 20 mile long run, before my taper.

Can I run on the "public roads" at Disney? like world drive, and floridian way?

I know there are "official" running routes published by disney, around the resorts, but they're not long enough. any advice? thanks!

cheers!

Most of the "public roads" are technically off-limits and quite unsafe as there are no sidewalks and no shoulder, either. As you get closer to Downtown Disney you will find sidewalks that you could use (along Buena Vista and some of the other roads there)...maybe you could piece together a route there? Or even head off property and find local running trails if you have a car...

 

[IamTrike]

I was just there and tried to fit in a couple of long runs. On this past trip I stayed at the hilton bonnet creek and did a 14 miler from there and Old Key West and did a longer run from there.

These are my routes.
Hilton Route
From hilton Bonnet Creek I ran around the resort then turned right to run out to the dead end on Chelonia parkway. (there is a wide sidewalk on Chelonia)
I then ran all the way out on Chelonia Parkway to Buena Vista Drive (there is no sidewalk on Buena Vista (and the Chelonia/BV drive corner was the sketchiest part of the whole run) I turned Left on Buena Vista Drive and ran in the very wide section of grass next to the road Down to Caribean Beach Resort.
I ran into CBR and ran around the left side of the Lake. I ran all the way down to century Drive and then crossed over it. I had to run over a median here. Once I crossed the hill by Century Drive I was in the AoA parking lot. I ran around hourglass lake a couple of times and then ran back. You could get more miles looping this lake or the lake at CBR more. It was a pleasant run, and there were lots of bathrooms/water fountains.

Old Key West Route (You could park at Downtown Disney and Do this one too).

Starting at old Key West I ran around the their walking trail and it took me a while to figure this out. If you turn from Peninsular Road and head back to building 54 there is a trail that leads across a small bridge. There may be a sign that says golf carts only. ( I think you can ignore this as their isn't the same sign coming from the other direction and the SSR trail is directly on the other side of the bridge. Once you cross the bridge you are on a trail to SSR. It runs along a river past the treehouse villas to SSR resort (this trail was pretty isolated and I didn't see another person on it) The trail dumps you into SSR near the main building. If you head into the resort and head to the left once you cross a small bridge you can weave on the sidewalks down to a trail on the lake. If you head along this trail it will lead to the bridge to down town disney. You can run around DTD. I ran to Circ's theater then turned around and it was about 7 miles round trip. You could add more miles by looping all the way around at DTD. I did see a lot of groups running around DTD when I was in that section.

 

[WaDiWo]

Thanks for the details!

I'll be sure to check out these routes next time I'm staying at OKW or have a car. But this trip I won't have a car and I'll be at the Contemporary. theres a short out and back path along the brick walkway to MK but it's short. the "official" loop around the resort is short too. so i was thinking about making a right out of resort and taking world drive up to floridian way (I think?), then looping all the way around MK and passing GF and the poly. if that's possible on foot.

if not, oh well, I'll hit the treadmill early, then go outside.

thanks again!

 

[Pennyguy23]

Take the boat over to the wilderness Lodge. There are some trails just after the bus stops on your left. Then you run towards fort wilderness. It is only a few miles but it is nice and quiet. You can just do it a few times. Better then a treadmill. Have fun just did my long run yesterday,glad thats out of the way. Good luck on the races

 

[IamTrike]

Thanks for the details!

I'll be sure to check out these routes next time I'm staying at OKW or have a car. But this trip I won't have a car and I'll be at the Contemporary. theres a short out and back path along the brick walkway to MK but it's short. the "official" loop around the resort is short too. so i was thinking about making a right out of resort and taking world drive up to floridian way (I think?), then looping all the way around MK and passing GF and the poly. if that's possible on foot.

if not, oh well, I'll hit the treadmill early, then go outside.

thanks again!

Longer runs from the Contemporary are harder. I tried taking the right out of the contemporary onto Floridana but there isn't much of a sholder and I felt unsafe running there. I managed to piece together a 6 miler there a while back. You can run around the outside of the contemporary and BLT I went on the outside perimeter of the parking lot, then I ran out and back on the trail that runs in front of the MK. When I got back to the road in front of the Contemp I turned right and went down under the Water Bridge (there is a sidewalk on this part. I think to the point where the sidewalk ends it was about 3 miles. I then turned around and reversed my path to get to 6.

Here's a Gmap Pedometer view of the route with mile markings.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6500902

 

[Disneyland_emily]

Run fort wilderness/lodge- looping around the campsite loops makes it not to redundant

I also like running all stars looping around all the buildings down n back can get a good 18-20 miles in

 

[andrewbella]

I will need to get in a 20 mile while I am there between 3/15-3/23. What is the All Stars? I am staying at Saratoga Springs (downtown disney area)- any suggestions? Also anyone know of any runnning groups I could join for that week? Thanks in advance!

 

[Keels]

I grew up in the area, so if you're willing to take a bus down to Downtown Disney and start/end there, you can do a decent out and back by heading south to Buena Vista Drive, turning on to Hotel Plaza Blvd. and then heading out to Apopka-Vineland. If you turn left there, there's a good 10-12 miles of straight, wide, flat sidewalk you can run on (my parents still live 5 miles down on Apopka-Vineland). It's not the most scenic of routes, of course, but it's straight and flat and will accommodate what you need to do in an out-and-back fashion.

 

[WhereInFlorida]

I grew up in the area, so if you're willing to take a bus down to Downtown Disney and start/end there, you can do a decent out and back by heading south to Buena Vista Drive, turning on to Hotel Plaza Blvd. and then heading out to Apopka-Vineland. If you turn left there, there's a good 10-12 miles of straight, wide, flat sidewalk you can run on (my parents still live 5 miles down on Apopka-Vineland). It's not the most scenic of routes, of course, but it's straight and flat and will accommodate what you need to do in an out-and-back fashion.

+1 on this route, have done several long runs from here. SSR is right next to Downtown Disney so you can run out the path next to the lake and get on Hotel Plaza Blvd. If you run early, take a loop through DD before shops open up, bonus on there being restrooms and water fountains there.

 

[Slogger]

Have you considered the ESPN Complex? Not sure if that is a possibility or not but it certainly is open without a lot of traffic issues.

 

[andrewbella]

Is Apopka-Vineland the same thing as Kissimme Vineland?

 

[Keels]

Is Apopka-Vineland the same thing as Kissimme Vineland?

Yup! If you head left, it heads towards Dr. Phillips/Bay Hill. If you head right, it heads towards Kissimmee.

 

[andrewbella]

great. I just google earthed it- looks perfect. Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Keels]

No problem! Like I said, it's paved wide and flat and is pretty safe at any given time of the day. I grew up right by the elementary school about six miles out, and still visit my parents there all the time. We walk our dogs and go run that route all the time.

 

[DOOM1001]

I agree on the DTD to Hotel Plaza blvd and then north on Apopka Vineland rd route,you have to exit Disney property but it is the most straight route without having to deal with Disneys roads that might or might not have sidewalks.That's something Disney should consider,connecting their popular running routes with safe sidewalks.For example the lake between Pop Century and Art of Animation is excellent to run,but sometimes people want to go further while doing another area.With Pop/AoA so close to the Boardwalk there should be a way to connect those two paths safely.You could do the Pop/AoA route then cross over to Caribbean Beach then cross Buena Vista Dr and head to the Boardwalk.From looking at satellite images it seems like crossing from CB to the fire station across Buena Vista is not very pedestrian friendly.The sidewalk even seems to end on the corner of Victory and Buena Vista,if they just made a nice crosswalk between that sidewalk and Caribbean Beach that would be the best running route at Disney.

 

[andrewbella]

Yeah, when I was looking into this I was surprised Disney didn't have connections to routes- seems like a no-brainer.

 

[SunDial]

My choice for the long run would be all of the loops at Fort Wilderness and then the trail over to Wilderness Lodge. This is about 14 to 15 miles.