Booked Fort Wilderness for the 1/2 marathon in January..

[smom1976]

so excited.. this will be camping #3 at FW..

the family and I will be doing our first marathon.. super duper excited about it.. and to stay at the fort makes it even better...

 

[TOGA]

Oh, you'll have lots of fun. We did the marathon this year and all of the events and races were wonderful. Staying at the Fort only added to the fun.

If you're doing the 1/2 marathon, certainly you can do the full the next day and be truly 'Goofy'!

Good luck!




.

 

[luckycharm19335]

Wow. You are ambitious.
Good Luck and have a great time.

 

[smom1976]

The full??? oh dear.. The goofy is crazy.. maybe next year.. this is our first race ever..

 

[smom1976]

Oh, you'll have lots of fun. We did the marathon this year and all of the events and races were wonderful. Staying at the Fort only added to the fun.

If you're doing the 1/2 marathon, certainly you can do the full the next day and be truly 'Goofy'!

Good luck!




.

maybe you can tell me something.. how does it work with admission into the parks they let you in before they open.. do they kick you out at opening? or do you get to stay in the park??? how does that work?

 

[John VN]

Glad you will be joining in on Marathon Weekend.

Staying at FW for Marathon Weekend is the best. We stayed there this January when DW and I did the 5K on Friday and the Half on Saturday. Sunday I did the Full by myself, the Dopey is all three. For Saturday and Sunday we drove to EPCOT with the MH and had our home on wheels to rest, eat, shower and watch TV before heading back to FW.

We will be back in January for Marathon Weekend. As of right now, we will be doing the Half and I will do the Full again. Might decide to do the 5K if DD wants to join in. DW and DD have the W&D Relay in 2 1/2 weeks then we have Space Coast in November.

I already have reservations at FW for the 70.3 Ironman in May. Just can't get enough FW and WDW.

maybe you can tell me something.. how does it work with admission into the parks they let you in before they open.. do they kick you out at opening? or do you get to stay in the park??? how does that work?

The Parks open as usual and you need tickets to get in. If you are competing, you get to run through the Parks and finish outside EPCOT. To get back in you must have a ticket.

 

[smom1976]

The Parks open as usual and you need tickets to get in. If you are competing, you get to run through the Parks and finish outside EPCOT. To get back in you must have a ticket.

but the spectators are allowed into the magic kingdom to view runners?

 

[smom1976]

you guys staying at FW for the races again this year?

 

[John VN]

but the spectators are allowed into the magic kingdom to view runners?

Sorry, here is more information....http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/events/rundisney/wdw-marathon/

Hope it clarifies things.

 

[smom1976]

yes that is where I went.. and got the times for spectators to enter the park .. free.. but it doesn't finish by telling what time they have to leave.. oh well thank you for trying .. i guess we will find out when we get there.

 

[bama_ed]

I have done tbe "Big 4" at WDW. A 5k, 10k, a half, and a whole marathon. When staying ay the fort, use the busses to get to the start area. I remember waking up at 330 am (as if I slept) catching an internal bus of the fort at 4 am, transferring to an external bus for the start at epcot.

So you and family members who want to watch should use the busses.

Break a leg and make us proud. BTW people wear the medals to dinner that night.

Bama ed

 

[OziJo]

Is it crowded at this time?? Does the Marathon make it difficult to get around? We are going to be at FW from Jan 4th. I didn't know about the Marathon when we booked but we have a room only res for the 4th-7th and hire a car to travel offsite. Our PH passes start on the 8th but we hadn't planned on visiting the parks until the 9th. It's probably good we did that.

 

[John VN]

Is it crowded at this time?? Does the Marathon make it difficult to get around? We are going to be at FW from Jan 4th. I didn't know about the Marathon when we booked but we have a room only res for the 4th-7th and hire a car to travel offsite. Our PH passes start on the 8th but we hadn't planned on visiting the parks until the 9th. It's probably good we did that.

Marathon Weekend does not compare to other times of the year for being crowded. The weather is usually very nice so waiting in lines is not that bad plus there is still an atmosphere of the holiday season hanging around. This past January was our first entry into the weekend events but we have stayed at WDW since the '90s and FW since '04 and always enjoying the time spent there.

 

[kmitchel]

That sounds like a blast! We have been at the Fort when they had a tri going on. I just can't imagine wanting to get in the water at Bay Lake though - yuck!

 

[OziJo]

Sounds like it will be fun at that time!! DH is a runner. He will probably wished he'd entered!

 

[smom1976]

still time not full yet.

 

[mash]

I hope that you have an amazing trip and enjoy the marathon. Please write a trip report when you return. It would be especially fun to read about your experience with the marathon. I don't think I'll ever run one and I would really enjoy reading about yours.

 

[TOGA]

I did the 5k on Friday, my daughter did the Mickey Mile on Friday {7:47 mile if you can believe it!}, my son did the Mickey Dash or whatever they call that 400 meter race and my wife did the 'Goofy'.

The cool thing about the 1/2 and full marathon is that the spectator guide gives locations of where you can go meet your runner throughout the course, so we could hop buses or monorails and end up at mile 8 or 15 or whatever to cheer her on. She let us know how much that was appreciated and needed especially around mile 20 or so.

The Expo/packet pickup was fun too. Lots to look at and see and it's pretty well organized.



.

 

[smom1976]

I am so excited.. I have been running at least 2 days a week.. 3 if work allows.. and I am up to 7 miles.. at ave of 14 min/mile. so I am on a good track.. the fort .. oh so looking forward to the hot tub