Anyone experience marathon crowds at WDW before?

[scotthart]

OK I am about to have a heart attack because I just realized that the WDW marathon is this weekend and I am worried about the crowds. Anyone experience the crowds during the marathon weekend? Any places we should avoid on the day of the marathon? Thanks in advance.

 

[Luv2Roam]

No crowds to really even speak of. It's a great time to go.
The only downside is during slow times you will see more rehabs, less trams and other transportation, and even shutting down half of rides (sometimes creating a wait time).
When ToT becomes a walk on, you can bet they will shut down half of the elevators. I once recall an elevator WAITING for guests to arrive. Shortly after that there was a 15 minute due to shutting down part of the ride.
Often you will see FP machines covered, as there is no need for them.
The only crowds I can really recall is when a sports groups enter at the same time on one ride. But even that does not happen often. It's just that the crowds are so low, when it does happen, you can't help but notice.
Sometimes you may experience such slow times that you will not even have to get off a ride to ride it repeatedly. This has even happened to us on Splash. Another time we were there RnRC CMs were actually outside trying to bring guests in!
Now THOSE are Kodak moments!
The complete opposite of last week!

 

[Aisleleven]

OK I am about to have a heart attack because I just realized that the WDW marathon is this weekend and I am worried about the crowds. Anyone experience the crowds during the marathon weekend? Any places we should avoid on the day of the marathon? Thanks in advance.

The crowds aren't bad from the Marathon...most of the runners have passed through the MK before 9:30AM...

Traffic could be a bit slow because they block off some of the roads...but otherwise it shouldn't be a problem...

Feel free to cheer us on...the support helps us go faster thus getting out of the way sooner...LOL

 

[Mom2RinJen]

Nonexistant. We've gone marathon weekend the past two years and walk on everything, even in the MK. Only time there is usually a wait is when the ride breaks down for a while. otherwise you are good to go! And its a lot of fun to cheer on the runners in AK. We stood beside Tigger last year at the rope and cheered on all the runners. its amazing how many stopped to get their pics taken with Pooh and Tigger. LOL

Kim

 

[scotthart]

Thank you both so much, you have really eased my mind. And aisleleven you bet we will make time to stop and cheer you on. Good Luck!

 

[Aisleleven]

Thank you both so much, you have really eased my mind. And aisleleven you bet we will make time to stop and cheer you on. Good Luck!

Thanks so much!!!! It really does make a big difference!!!

 

[bjakmom]

We were there last year - the crowds were pretty low even through the weekend - the only problem we ran into was on marathon morning itself. I had planned to go to MGM from BWV so that we didn't have to worry about being held up in the transportation system. Well, the kids picked that morning to drag their feet and we didn't head down to the boats until about 10 AM - by then the runners were coming down the boardwalk and it was difficult to cross over. It was a lot of fun, though, to be part of the cheering and atmosphere in general. We enjoyed watching and cheering the runners along the waterway on our way to MGM, but when we docked it was again difficult to cross their path and get into the park. While it was exciting to watch the characters cheering the runners on, I would have avoided that park at that time - wish we would have gotten there earlier and been further back into the park by then, or headed over to MK as the race would have been through that park by mid morning. The marathon crowd was a great group of people to share the parks with that week !!