Park(s) to avoid on marathon morning?

[mulderxcoltrane]

Hi folks,

I'm planning on visiting a park on marathon Sunday. I'll be using Disney transportation from AS SPorts. Is there a park I should avoid that morning? One I should choose over the others?

- MXC

 

[jmillertime]

If your looking to avoid runners and the crowds it will be tough. It is fun to watch and participate in. But if you looking for the least amount of congestion/runners I would hit Magic Kingdom because that's the first park they run through from 5-7am. Epcot will be the busiest with the finish line.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Another consideration is travel time. Your location allows a bypass of the route of sorts since busses can easily get a detour ( by driving by Blizzard Beach) But after that...(Elite runners are quite fast, so that main road to AK will be limited quite early.)

Traffic tends to be congested in the morning, so prudence in catching a bus earlier than you usually would be important. Getting around on marathon day is always a challenge.

At MK, the viewing (for spectators where no ticket is required) shuts down at 8:15. So while it will be runner free for most of its opening hours, arrival at opening poses a challenging and allocating extra time if you wish to be at rope drop would be especially important. But I do agree that it will be runner free the earliest.

Because of time limits, the race is pretty much done for everyone by 1pm. Those not meeting pacing requirements are picked up by the sweeper bus. So after lunch, transportation should be business as usually. Actually perhaps by lunch as once runners enter DHS, they no longer utilize vehicle roads.

Forgive me for not knowing road names. Here is a course map. Roads runners occupy will have traffic extremely affected.

http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/rundisney/pdf/wdw-marathon/2014/Marathon14_Map.pdf

 

[Dizzytime]

Other than the transportation/road issues, my opinion is it's the best day to be in the parks. Runners, along with most of their family and friends aren't in the parks, or if they are they are either running through or not doing much other than standing and waiting.

I've run the marathon, I love watching the marathon, but I finally learned that the most fun is being in ANY of the parks and on the rides during the marathon.

Hope you have a magical time!

 

[mulderxcoltrane]

Will Animal Kingdom be messy?

 

[bumbershoot]

Will Animal Kingdom be messy?

Meaning crowded?

Once the park is open, marathoners tend to want to ride Expedition Everest because the course goes right by it. So beware sweaty seats, LOL.

 

[mulderxcoltrane]

Crowded and messy to get to.

I thought about MK, but didn't know if we be stuck in traffic forever on the bus from Sports.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Meaning crowded?

Once the park is open, marathoners tend to want to ride Expedition Everest because the course goes right by it. So beware sweaty seats, LOL.

Lol!

Also, there will be crossings. CMs, or maybe race volunteers, do their best to get day guests to wait until runners pass. That might be the only "crowd". And as annoying as it is, guests should resist the urge to just cross. They could easily disorient and injure a runner. At that point, runner reflexes aren't fresh and being able to avoid a collision may not be as easy. This could injure the runner AND the guest.

So, that may be a consideration for the OP. But my last time was 2008 and there didn't seem be any crowds there as far as guests. Things may be different now.

 

[fairestoneofall]

We went to MK last year on the morning of the marathon. We were there a little before opening for a Crystal Palace reservation. As we came down Main Street, they were pulling up the poles/ropes that had separated the course from the guests cheering. They were very quick about it. And the park was ready to go for official opening (there may have been runners further into the park, but they were already cleared out of the Main Street area.

We stayed at POR and had no issues traveling. I'm assuming most bus drivers would go the best way to avoid traffic. But, the runners should be cleared off World Drive by that point, unless you need to get to the park before opening.

The runners will be in the other three parks after they officially open. Disney is pretty good about crowd management. But if you want to avoid all of it, then MK is your park!

 

[Aurora0427]

Hi folks,

I'm planning on visiting a park on marathon Sunday. I'll be using Disney transportation from AS SPorts. Is there a park I should avoid that morning? One I should choose over the others?

- MXC

If you are going for princess marathon Sunday, avoid Epcot and Magic Kingdom in the morning like the plague. I speak from experience. We stayed at WL and the traffic into MK was horrendous that morning and getting to Epcot took 30 minutes via Disney bus. We should've just cancelled our Akershus ressie.

 

[Amanda999]

If you are going for princess marathon Sunday, avoid Epcot and Magic Kingdom in the morning like the plague. I speak from experience. We stayed at WL and the traffic into MK was horrendous that morning and getting to Epcot took 30 minutes via Disney bus. We should've just cancelled our Akershus ressie.

OP asked about the full marathon on Sunday Jan. 11th, I believe?

(The Princess 1/2 marathon is Feb. 22 (last day of Presidents Day week - way higher crowds than Jan 11th - and is a 1/2 marathon thus different course).)

So, if PPs know: do you think same traffic hassle as Aurora mentions on Jan. 11th?

(I ask because I have the same question as OP. It seems that other PPs are saying its ok to do MK on full/non-princess marathon morning. So hoping the princess 1/2 is different. If not I'll reschedule Crystal Palace - currently have 8am ADR on 1/11. Plan to take bus from Pop; can leave very early.)

 

[hotveggy]

We were there last year for the marathon and stayed at Art of Animation. We went to MK on the day of the full marathon. We went earlier than usual and Disney Buses were dropping off at the TTC instead of right at the MK entrance. So if you go to MK, just allow extra time if this should occur.

 

[navyblue8]

The only issue we encountered was crossing runners. I thought it was neat but some other guests were *****ing and moaning about the inconvenience. Added maybe 20 minutes to our day.

 

[Fancychicken]

We were there last January and did HS on marathon day. I was irritated because that park, though my personal favorite, is the most confusing lay-out and the crowds coupled with the blocked off streets really impacts its navigability.

 

[RD-SOX]

Lol!

Also, there will be crossings. CMs, or maybe race volunteers, do their best to get day guests to wait until runners pass. That might be the only "crowd". And as annoying as it is, guests should resist the urge to just cross. They could easily disorient and injure a runner. At that point, runner reflexes aren't fresh and being able to avoid a collision may not be as easy. This could injure the runner AND the guest.

Please please be courteous to the runners...as mentioned above some guests get irritated with waiting an extra 60 seconds to cross a path I was running in 2013 and saw this happen an older couple (man looked like he felt he was entitled to just walk across) they crossed without looking an injured the runner and themselves.... it was so awful. I will be running the full, please look out for me, I may be slow but don't want to get hurt or hurt someone else....