First Timer doing Marathon week

[tigger1bounce]

We are planning a trip January. We are registered to run in the 5k at Epcot. Need advice as to what to expect and what should our plans be. Thank you

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'd be interested in the answer to this. DH's first Dopey challenge, so we'll be there that week also.

 

[cavepig]

Come on over to the Events/RunDisney boards, lot of talk and information over there. The Marathon 2016 thread talks about all races that weekend not just the marathon, and actually all the race threads are helpful.

 

[GreatLakes]

Check out the thread in the Events section the PP linked.

What kind of information are you looking for? Weather, crowd level, transportation, etc.

Generally it is a lower crowd time of year since comes just after many schools go back into session and there is a three day weekend not to far behind it. Other then seeing a lot of people in past race apparel leading up to the races and moving slightly slower and wearing their medals after you won't really notice anything special with the crowds.

For those spectating or not doing a race on Saturday or Sunday you will have to plan a little longer to get everywhere as there will be closed roads. On Saturday it is limited to between Epcot and MK but the full hits all 4 parks and The Boardwalk so you may have to add extra time to get everywhere.

On Friday and Saturday nights the Italian places on property will be busy as many runners like to Carb load the day before their long race.

It's really a lot of fun and the people give off both enthusiasm and energy all around you.

 

[disnut8]

From a person who was there during Marathon weekend and didn't participate (although her grandkids did the kid stuff and that was fun) - don't worry about anything. I was so impressed with how Disney did things even though it was, er, a bit "off putting" for the non-runners. Roads will have dedicated running lanes and traffic will be diverted as needed. Even with non roads - foot traffic will be diverted. We went to the Animal Kingdom on the day of the actual marathon and the bus went a different way to avoid the foot traffic on the road. Took a little longer but no big deal. After a few hours at Animal Kingdom (to meet my brother-in-law and niece), we went to Epcot (to meet with my son and his family who were at Magic Kingdom for the morning) and took the bus to the Epcot resorts. Once there, we wanted to walk to the International Gateway and we had to walk on one side of the walkway as the other side was only for runners (or, by this point, staggerers ) There were Cast Members every so often to make sure we did not interfere with the runners and once inside Epcot, we wanted to go over more towards the lagoon but we were directed down to a safe place for us to cross so we did and joked with the Cast Member that we were glad we didn't want to see the lagoon from where we had come. He laughed and said, "but you can gladly go back that way now that you are on this side of the walkway."

We didn't mind things at all and I was glad to see Disney gives the runners the "right of way" as I understand a runner can be "disqualified" if touched or things like that. As a non-runner, no big deal. As a runner, nothing to worry about.

 

[lindsey]

The 5K in EPCOT was so much fun! That was my first 5K in 2013, and everyone around was so friendly. The parks are not really busy either. We were also there last year (but not running), and as long as you know the other race routes, and times, the parks are great!