Star Wars Marathon -just how busy?

R

ram2016

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 13, 2015
We are staying April 11-15 with only 3 park days. This was planned for quite some time and the week was perfect based on the crowd level calendars. Now that the Star Wars half marathon was announced April 14-17, just how busy do you think this will make the parks?

I'm specifically looking at April 14th, our last park day which will be a MK day. Anyone think this will make the park overly crowded? I don't want to change our dates bc we got all the ADRs we wanted.
 
ram2016 said:
We are staying April 11-15 with only 3 park days. This was planned for quite some time and the week was perfect based on the crowd level calendars. Now that the Star Wars half marathon was announced April 14-17, just how busy do you think this will make the parks?

I'm specifically looking at April 14th, our last park day which will be a MK day. Anyone think this will make the park overly crowded? I don't want to change our dates bc we got all the ADRs we wanted.
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The parks aren't excessively crowded during other 1/2 marathon weekends. The 14th will be the Expo day where 5K and other runners will be picking up their materials and shopping for limited edition items.

We were there for a Princess run in 2014 and the only area I thought was excessively crowded was DTD-now Disney Springs after the 1/2 marathon. That won't affect your visit at all.
 
I go to most runDisney weekends and they are normally held during off / slower times to bring in crowds. So even with all us runners the crowds are still pretty moderate. I just left yesterday from the wine & dine event last week and that's a pretty big one, throw in food & wine festival and all the Xmas stuff going on, it still was moderate crowds. I've gone mid April begire and it wasn't bad at all
 
It's hard to make an exact predictions as this is an inaugural event but I think your crowds shouldn't be too bad! As PP said, other half marathon weekends generally don't overwhelm crowds anymore than usual. Princess Half Marathon weekend hosts about 26,000 runners and when I went to Epcot after the half marathon in 2014 most rides were a walk-on/minimal wait. There could be early morning road closures, and there will be runner specific transportation coming/going from race host resorts. Enjoy your trip!
 


When comparing to other marathon or half marathon events, are those events typically sold out? Seems like most of the Star Wars races sold out so I wonder how that compares to races such as the wine & dine half in Nov.
 
Thanks for the information. I will be there starting the April 17th. Expecting moderate crowds.
 


Remember that there's also a Dapper Days event that Saturday of race weekend. That'll add to the crowds, too, because they offer discount convention tickets during that time.
 
The half marathon on Sunday starts even earlier than the January marathon weekend races (5am vs 5:30am),for the January marathon weekend they want us to get on the buses at 3-4am,if this race starts 30 minutes earlier when do we have to get on the buses 2:30am??Why even go to sleep!!!The whole getting up so early thing is a pretty big reason why the parks are not overly crowded,if all these people (including spectators)are getting up at 2-3am,by 1-2pm many of them are wiped out,some take naps,others shower and head for a nice lunch or do some non park activities.Many still go to the parks but the percentage is not going to overwhelm the parks.I'm running the challenge(10K on Saturday and the half on Sunday) and after the half I'm going to a park but not at Disney,Busch Gardens has their Food and Wine festival running and Lynyrd Skynyrd is in concert so I'll be there for that one,hopefully not too sleepy and tired.Glad to know about Dapper Days,I was there this year and loved seeing all the people dressed up,I'll definitely be at MK to see the Dappers on Saturday,I could also go see a Meatloaf concert at Busch Gardens on Saturday,but I'm good skipping that one.
 
I expect crowds. There's no SWW and I have many SWW friends who are going to be there for the Darkside run. Dh is running the 5k and ds and I are going to Dapper Days.
 
Hi everyone!

We're thinking of making a last minute change to our trip dates - we were going April 17-23, but due to some school events, were looking at moving it up a week, so it would be April 10-16. But I'm noticing that that is the Star Wars 1/2 marathon weekend?

Does anyone know how much this would effect crowd levels? Would we regret moving? Or do you think we'd be fine? We're a family of 4, with a 3 year old and a 7 year old. Planning on doing rope drop most days then back for swimming/naps. Maybe head back to some parks at night but won't be staying out super late because of the 3 year old :).

Thanks!
 
We went in January during the marathon weekend. The parks were quieter in the mornings, but as the races wound down you did notice more people coming in. Give more time for early morning transportation too as roads are closed/detoured even for Disney buses. Sunday the front of Epcot was crazy, but that's cause the marathon was still going into the afternoon (they run in the park) & lots of people were there to cheer, watch, etc... The actual park itself away from the race crowd seemed normal.
 
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