Disney Marathon in January

[leopardspot]

How packed are the resorts during the marathon? WHERE can I find more info on the marathon and what it involves? Thanks.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The half marathon registration has closed. The full marathon was nearly closed last time I looked. You can find out more on the WWoS web. The marathon doesn't really fill up the resorts other than just the days of the marathon weekend. The rest of the week it is not as crowded until you get to the holiday weekend.

 

[jann1033]

the only time we knew anything was going on was in AK cause a lot of shows and attractions opened late and some of the ak paths were blocked off . lst year it had stufff on the disney home page about it, under sports i think, including the route. also ee for mk was changed to ak at the last min.( which i couldn't understand cause it was kind of a mess there and really not worth going to since so much was closed)

 

[bride03]

I'm going the night of Jan 8- 12th. I'm not too worried about the 8th since we will just go to the parks after 3pm anyway. I am worried about MLK weekend crowds and this marathon crowd. Is it too packed??? I'm not too worried about early entry times at certain parks cause I think it won't be that crowded the whole time we're there....or I'm hoping!!!!!!!!! Please let me know if anyone has been there and how the crowds were.

 

[Tinks]

Marathon crowd? Don't worry. We were there last year. The runners are all through the MK by 9:30 am. We hit EPCOT for lunch and saw the full marathon runners on their way to finish. It was handled very well and didn't slow us down at all. The only "crowd" will be on the monorail that morning as the half marathoners use it for transportation back to their resorts, but again, it didn't slow us. The parks are practically empty that week. My DH went around taking pictures of empty Fantasyland at 10:00 in the morning on Tuesday after the marathon weekend. We couldn't believe it! I can't tell you about MLK weekend because I've never been to Disney that Weekend. To find out more about the marathon you can go to the Wide World of Sports website.

 

[Geoff_M]

We weren't there on the day of the Marathon itself, but in 2001 we left the day before it. There was some noticeable pick-up in the crowd at MK the last day or two. Lots of families with parents sporting jogging outfits and nice running shoes. But it wasn't bad. Seeing as most of the running weren't spending a lot of extra time at WDW, they seemed to be concentrating on MK.

 

[RichAyers]

It is not anything noticeable. It was kind of neat seeing all the runners with their medals around their necks. "Maybe" it is a little busier with the marathon participants and family, but it is taking place in a low attendance month for Disney so overall the crowds are much less. We still walked on and off most rides our whole trip.

Rich

 

[jann1033]

in that case i'd go to another park( not Ak) because it was a mess for most of the morning, most shows didn't open till after 10 so then they were crowded, the main paths blocked off so you had to hunt for a way to get from one area to another so everyone had to go the same ways, plus get around people standing around and watching the runners which also blocked the walk ways, in other words the "tour early" plan was a bust for AK that day ! if i recall it starts in epcot then mk so MK would probably be best since it goes back to epcot ( not sure if the course is the same every year)

the Sat of mlk day weekend we went to MK and it was bad, almost shoulder to shoulder in fantasyland...it was our last day so we just gave up and went to dtd( which was fine except disney quest) so do not know if all the parks are that busy

 

[bride03]

We are going January 8-12 so I'm hoping since MLK jr. b-day is on Saturday the 15th, we won't be there at the same time as all the people going for his celebration.

Can you tell I'm trying to convince myself that the MLK crowds will not be there until the 13th? !!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I can only hope.

Thanks to all of you letting me know that we are going to have a great trip the week we are going. I made it a Saturday through Wednesday thinking that if I change up the "week" then it will be a better stay than during crowded weekends.

 

[jann1033]

isn't that one of theose "monday" holidays? if so and it's the 3rd monday that would be after your trip...i think maybe friday night( would be th 14th) starts the increased crowds since that is when we could not get a room at first. ( pop was filled also by the time we went)

 

[bride03]

Welll...his birthday is on Saturday which is 3 days after we leave, then MLK Jr. Day is on Monday. So yeah, I guess I should be happy with the time that I'm leaving. That will probably be pretty good!
~~Courtney~~