Best resort for marathon weekend with no parks?

[pinkxray]

I am hoping to run the full marathon in Jan. and would love to leave DD8 home for a change and do an adults only weekend. I love trying new places so would like not to repeat any previous stays.

My first choice would be the Poly but I'm not thrilled with the lack of hot tub in January. Have also seen that it might have some renovation being done. Might be better to save that for another trip.

Here are the resorts we have stayed
POR
BCV
AKL
WVL
BLT(LOVED being on the monorail for the princess half!)
SSR
POP

I'm looking at Swan or Dolphin.
If we could get a room discount maybe Boardwalk, Yacht Club, POFQ?
I would also LOVE to try GF but I know DH would hate it and DD really wants to try it so our adults only trip would turn into us bringing DD if we stay at GF.

Also considering POR royal rooms (royal rooms new to us) or WL even though they are repeats.

I'm looking for a resort that will offer enough to keep us happy without having to go to the parks. Any advice?

We usually rent points but there is not much availability for marathon weekend so it doesn't look like that will be an option.

Thanks! (we will not have park tickets so we won't be able to walk back from the marathon through epcot to an epcot resort)

 

[bek]

I'm subscribing because my DIL just told me that she's registered for the Princess Half. I was curious if some resorts were better than others for running weekends.

Thanks for mentioning the BLT was great for the Princess Half. I'm assuming that means the Contemporary, Poly and Grand Floridian would also be good?

Congratulations on working up from the Half to the Full!

 

[nfouey]

We stay at Yacht Club ever year for the marathon. The race course goes right along the board walk along the lake. I am able to watch my runner pass from the comfort of my balcony! Plus there is plenty of non park things to do in the boardwalk area and you can catch a glimpse of illuminations at night. There are plenty of dinning options and storm along bay has 2 hot tubs and a lazy river.

 

[katiee37]

Perhaps POR so you're near Downtown Disney for non-park ADRs, shopping and entertainment?

 

[francie57]

We stayed at the BC last year for marathon weekend and will be doing the same again in Jan. The buses run basically one after the other and we had no problems getting to the races each morning. I went through Dave's Rentals and was able to get a 2 bedroom villa at the BC for Jan. Not sure if you have checked them out or not. Just know, if you stay at a Epcot Resort the International Gateway is not open to get to the races - you must use the buses or drive (not something I would recommend since there are so many roads closed off). I know you said you are doing parks but our daughter ran the marathon and after she was done we actually walked back through Epcot since it was open and it was quicker than getting a bus back. We are heading to Disney in two weeks and are upgrading our tickets to Annual Passes so we will be doing the same thing after the marathon this coming Jan. If you have never done a Disney race before you will be amazed at how organized they are and how they can get over 25,000 marathon runners to their starting corrals on time. We were amazed at the organization. Not sure if you have registered yet for the marathon but if you haven't it is currently 98 percent full so not much time left. I registered for the new 10K for marathon weekend on the first day and it was sold out about an hour later.