Avoiding the Marathons?

[robinb]

We are staying past the first week of NYE for the first time since my DD doesn't have to be back to school until late January. How much will the marathons affect touring the parks? I would probably want to avoid them as much as possible. We'll be at AKV.

 

[ZellyB]

The parks really don't get that much impact, honestly. The most disruption is on Sunday which is the day of the marathon. MK will be unaffected since all runners are clear of that park before opening. You will see runners at the other parks throughout the morning, but they are pretty easy to avoid and the cast members do a good job of navigating guests around the runners. You can always cheer on the runners as well when you see them in the parks. Speaking as a runner, I always appreciate it. DHS and Epcot are the last parks that runners go through, so the impact there will go a bit further into the day than the other parks.

If you are driving, there are some road closures you will need to be aware of, but if you use Disney transportation, they should be able to navigate around for you.

 

[rteetz]

You'll be fine. The only race that will have any major impacts is the marathon but even then its pretty minimal and easy to navigate.

 

[mom2rtk]

Some schools don't start back until Monday the 8th. That will likely have more impact than the marathon.

 

[CarolynFH]

Some schools don't start back until Monday the 8th. That will likely have more impact than the marathon.

I agree - that was definitely the case in January 2017!

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We often go during the marathon. No impact on park crowds really. Just lots of people in running gear at the resorts.

 

[gillep]

Some schools don't start back until Monday the 8th. That will likely have more impact than the marathon.

I agree - that was definitely the case in January 2017!

This! As with this past January, I am expecting it to be quite crowded until the 8th.

 

[Alicenwonderment]

Just FYI College Program Alumni event is January 19-21.

 

[LSUfan4444]

The park that is impacted the most on Sunday is Epcot and Hollywood Studios to an extent....MK and AK are basically unaltered

Where you will see the most problems are with transportation. If you follow just about any crowd calendar I have seen Epcot and HS are considered their "worst parks" of the day so outside of the normal planning I wouldn't make any adjustments.

Staying at AKV if you started your day at AK, had lunch somewhere and wondered over to Magic Kingdom that afternoon you probably wouldn't even know there was a marathon if you didn't see everyone walking around with their medals on.

 

[Nohal]

Just FYI College Program Alumni event is January 19-21.

We will be there during this time and it's the first I've heard of it. What does it entail?