Marathon Weekend 2017!

PCFriar80 said:

It closed at 4:00 PM on Saturday this year. Just in case you need that extra hour!

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Thanks for the info. I'll try to get into Orlando International by noon. That should leave me enough time, right?

lhermiston said:

Thanks for the info. I'll try to get into Orlando International by noon. That should leave me enough time, right?

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Yes, that will give you enough time to get to the expo and pick up your bib. You're in for a pretty busy day, though. If you can swing it, I'd recommend flying in on Friday to give you time to relax and get off your feet the day before the marathon.

I am planning on doing the Half in 2017 , and totally stressing about booking it . This is my first year so a little lost is registration on april 26 or 16?? also How do they deside which coral you will be in ?? I'm hoping to make my way to a disney cruise that boards the same say as the race ...does anyone know when the last group goes out?? or when the race is usually done?? anyone have times from past years??? or am i crazy to think i can do both?? thank you!!!

Mvtracey said:

I am planning on doing the Half in 2017 , and totally stressing about booking it . This is my first year so a little lost is registration on april 26 or 16?? also How do they deside which coral you will be in ?? I'm hoping to make my way to a disney cruise that boards the same say as the race ...does anyone know when the last group goes out?? or when the race is usually done?? anyone have times from past years??? or am i crazy to think i can do both?? thank you!!!

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I believe the registration is on 4/26 beginning at noon. There is a pre-registration from Annual Passholders, but not sure what the date is for that one. Corals are based on your proof of time that you submit. If you don't provide a proof of time, then you will be in one of the last two corals. It will take over an hour from the official start of the race until the last person crosses the starting line from the last coral. The race starts at 5:30am. You can look up past times on runDisney's site. What time do you have to board the cruise? How fast of a runner are you. Those would be the determining factors in deciding if it would be possible to get on the ship in time.

Mvtracey said:

I am planning on doing the Half in 2017 , and totally stressing about booking it . This is my first year so a little lost is registration on april 26 or 16?? also How do they deside which coral you will be in ?? I'm hoping to make my way to a disney cruise that boards the same say as the race ...does anyone know when the last group goes out?? or when the race is usually done?? anyone have times from past years??? or am i crazy to think i can do both?? thank you!!!

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You can board the ship until 3 or do right? Its about an hours commute to Port Canaveral, so if you leave the WDW area by 1:30, you'll board without issue. Even if you were the last person to cross the finish line, you should have enough time to run the race, get back to your room, freshen up, and grab a CS lunch.

Mvtracey said:

I am planning on doing the Half in 2017 , and totally stressing about booking it . This is my first year so a little lost is registration on april 26 or 16?? also How do they deside which coral you will be in ?? I'm hoping to make my way to a disney cruise that boards the same say as the race ...does anyone know when the last group goes out?? or when the race is usually done?? anyone have times from past years??? or am i crazy to think i can do both?? thank you!!!

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Depending on when you are required to be on the ship, and a few other factors, you could be cutting it pretty close. @Diskidatheart gave a good explanation of how Corral placement and Proof of Time work. I believe you will need to have run at least a 10K to submit a Proof of Time for the Half. If you do not submit proof of time you will likely start around 6:30 and have 20,000+ runners in front of you. That could lead to finishing slower than expected and possible transportation issues. Disney does a pretty good job with transportation but when 20,000+ people are leaving a place at once there is going to be some congestion. I am pretty sure others have had similar plans with cruises and have been successful. I don't think you're crazy to be considering doing both.

Diskidatheart said:

I believe the registration is on 4/26 beginning at noon. There is a pre-registration from Annual Passholders, but not sure what the date is for that one. Corals are based on your proof of time that you submit. If you don't provide a proof of time, then you will be in one of the last two corals. It will take over an hour from the official start of the race until the last person crosses the starting line from the last coral. The race starts at 5:30am. You can look up past times on runDisney's site. What time do you have to board the cruise? How fast of a runner are you. Those would be the determining factors in deciding if it would be possible to get on the ship in time.

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I have 4/19 @ noon marked on my calendar for DVC / AP early registration. Not sure what the source was but must have been good if I jotted it down. I'll keep looking on the DVC site to see if there's any specific reference for the 2017 registration.

PCFriar80 said:

I have 4/19 @ noon marked on my calendar for DVC / AP early registration. Not sure what the source was but must have been good if I jotted it down. I'll keep looking on the DVC site to see if there's any specific reference for the 2017 registration.

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I have the same date marked down...my source is the AP section of DisneyWorld.com.

April 19 is also the date listed on the DVC member website. I'm glad someone mentioned I could have sworn I went through and marked down all the early registration I need it this year, and for some reason my phone didn't keep this one! Glad I rechecked!

I myself have never run a race with the intent to board a cruise the same day, but I would say factor into the equation if you are a slower runner or if you do not end up with proof of time, etc. that like someone else said you will be in one of the last two corrals. That means 20,000 people ahead of you all trying to do you what you're trying to do: finish, change, leave the race area etc.

Assuming that it takes an hour for the very last person in the very last corral to start, that is already 630 in the morning. I just picked that because it's an even one hour after the first corral should start. I do not have an idea what pacing would be for someone who is in the last corral but, to make things simple let's assume 3 1/2 hours. That is 10 AM that person would be crossing the finish line. Assuming you don't need the medical tent, or anything else, it would probably be about 1030 when you got to your car or got on the bus or the monorail etc.

Me, if I was trying to put myself in the best situation possible, I would make sure that I had a proof of time to at least put me in the middle of the pack. number two, I would have a car in the parking lot so that I did not have to depend on Disney transportation to leave the race area. I would also plan to be packed and ready to leave from the parking lot. That is, don't assume you're going to go back to your room, check out, have a shower etc. And number three I would try to change as quick as possible and forgo showering until you got to the ship.

I can't remember which year it was or if it has happened both times (we did the dream in 2012 and the fantasy in 2013), but one year there was an accident on the toll road going to Port Canaveral. It was after the point where we could've taken a different road to get to the port and it delayed us by an hour. Thankfully, we are the type of people who are there waiting when boarding actually starts so we were not actually delayed by more than 20 or 30 minutes. The other year we took the non-toll road and the hangup was everyone trying to get to various rental car venues, do your hubby ended up dropping me off at the port and driving back to drop the car off himself. That year was the latest we have ever boarded the ship and I want to say we did not get onto the ship until 12 or 1230. Keep in mind, when we left Disney- Beach club both times it just so happens-it was probably about 730 or eight in the morning. Though we have been able to make it run smoothlyfor other cruises, it just has never worked that way for us when leaving Disney to go to Port Canaveral.

Another thing you might have to factor in is if you have to return a rental car that process does not always go quickly. I would assume that if you were towards the tail end of boarding you would miss the rush, but as again I am an early border I only know the chaos that goes on when thousands upon thousands of people are trying to get on ships at the same time. You have the fact that port Canaveral is not as busy as some of the other ports, and that the megaships don't dock there, but you should still factor in time to return that rental car if that's what you're going to have.

If you were going to park at an off-site parking lot, the same thing applies. You need to factor in time to park your car, get on the shuttle, wait until it's full etc. This may be a situation where if you have a rental car and you think you're going to cut the time close, you may just decide to pay for the car to sit and park it right there at the port. I wouldn't do it, but me being the way I am I would not plan to try to jump on a cruise on race day, that's just me. Too many unknown variables that you cannot control, and any one or two of them falling out of sync has the potential to cause you to miss the ship. As you probably have guessed, I'm never a fly in the day of the cruise person either for all of the same reasons. Lol

Hopefully I was able to give you things to think about and help you with your planning. Good luck!

I just realized that April 19th is the day we are flying home from SW Dark Side Weekend. That's going to make early registration a challenge.

I'm actually going to be in the air at noon. :-(

HockeyMomNH said:

I just realized that April 19th is the day we are flying home from SW Dark Side Weekend. That's going to make early registration a challenge.

I'm actually going to be in the air at noon. :-(

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That's happened to me before. I enlisted my sister to take care of it for me. A trusted friend or relative is like a personal assistant.

thank you all! you have helped so much.....I can not give proof of time as this is my first official race , and i live in saudi arabia so no where to do a run to get an official time so last coral it is...... you have given me a lot to consider ...Fingers crosses ! thank you all!! So looking forward to this one!

FFigawi said:

Yes, that will give you enough time to get to the expo and pick up your bib. You're in for a pretty busy day, though. If you can swing it, I'd recommend flying in on Friday to give you time to relax and get off your feet the day before the marathon.

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Sound advice, thank you. I've already started considering the benefits of getting in Friday night. Leaning that way.

Follow up question (and seriously, thank you so much runDisney vets for your help. It's indispensable), how does the proof of time submission work? I ran a half marathon last October. Do I just post the link to the results page? Any sense of what an 8:30/mile pace will get me corral-wise?

lhermiston said:

Follow up question (and seriously, thank you so much runDisney vets for your help. It's indispensable), how does the proof of time submission work? I ran a half marathon last October. Do I just post the link to the results page? Any sense of what an 8:30/mile pace will get me corral-wise?

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Yes you enter your info and link the results page to the proof of time.

lhermiston said:

Follow up question (and seriously, thank you so much runDisney vets for your help. It's indispensable), how does the proof of time submission work? I ran a half marathon last October. Do I just post the link to the results page? Any sense of what an 8:30/mile pace will get me corral-wise?

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At a sub 2:00 hour pace you're probably looking at corral C or D based on previous years assignments. It will ultimately be determined by the number of runners at or better than that pace.

PCFriar80 said:

At a sub 2:00 hour pace you're probably looking at corral C or D based on previous years assignments. It will ultimately be determined by the number of runners at or better than that pace.

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And I assume you don't get your corral assignment until much later? At packet pick up?

lhermiston said:

And I assume you don't get your corral assignment until much later? At packet pick up?

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Usually corral break-downs and bib numbers are out a couple weeks before the race.

lhermiston said:

And I assume you don't get your corral assignment until much later? At packet pick up?

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Correct. However, you can back into your corral assignment since you'll be able to get your bib number about a month in advance [via viewing the waiver online] and then the corral assignments [broken down by bib number range] are usually published a few weeks before the race.