Marathon: Resorts to Stay

[vinotinto]

So, the Marathon begins in Epcot. Does anyone know where? Could you walk there from the IG area, or will that be closed? Trying to decide where to stay in January.

P.S. - based on this map from 2013, it looks like you would *NOT* be able to walk from the Epcot resorts, is that correct? Is the course the same as last year?
http://wdwinfo.com/recreation/files/2013marathonmap.pdf

 

[Deb & Bill]

So, the Marathon begins in Epcot. Does anyone know where? Could you walk there from the IG area, or will that be closed? Trying to decide where to stay in January.

The start and finish for the marathon is in the parking lot. With Epcot closed before the start of the race, you must take a bus from the Epcot resorts to the start. And if you don't have park admission, you can't walk through Epcot to your hotel after the race.

Since the monorail usually runs before the start, the monorail resorts are usually good to get to and from the start.

 

[vinotinto]

Awesome, that's great to know! And it seems there are buses running from all the resorts!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Awesome, that's great to know! And it seems there are buses running from all the resorts!

Oh, yes. These are charter buses chartered by Disney specifically for the race. And they are not driven by Disney bus drivers. So hopefully you will know the route. There have been stories of drivers heading for the airport because they didn't know how to get to the Epcot parking lot with roads being closed.

 

[vinotinto]

Oh, yes. These are charter buses chartered by Disney specifically for the race. And they are not driven by Disney bus drivers. So hopefully you will know the route. There have been stories of drivers heading for the airport because they didn't know how to get to the Epcot parking lot with roads being closed.

OMG I'll tell my DH (the runner) to arm himself with all necessary info. Can he drive himself and park or will the entire Epcot parking lot be taken with the holding pens?

 

[francie57]

We stayed at the BC for marathon weekend in Jan. and had no problems with getting to all the races on time. We already are booked for this coming Jan. marathon. You just have to make sure your DH leaves whatever resort you
are at extremely early. The buses stop running at 5 a.m. so even as a spectator you need to be up and out early. My DH was out the door at 3:30 to get the bus for the half and our DD was out the door even earlier to get to the marathon. Also know that once the runner gets off the bus or monorail in the Epcot parking lot there is still an extremely long walk to the starting corrals, plus time to check any bags at bag check. You will be amazed at how organized Disney is with moving about 25,000 runners for each of the half and full marathons, not to mention the 5K and new 10K races. It is an exhausting weekend with having to be up so early but it is so much fun at the same time.

 

[CarrieR]

Tell your DH to leave LOTS of extra time. We boarded a bus at something like 3:30. It took us nearly an hour to walk (shuffle in a hoarde that was thicker than Main St on Christmas) from bag check to our corral. We arrived at our corral just as the gun was going off. Craziness!

ETA: We stayed at Pop and transportation to both the Expo and race were fine. Although I think we could have walked to the Expo more quickly than traffic moved, leaving WWoS! Talk about traffic jam!!