Crowds during Disney marathon

[dozeman]

How does the marathon impact crowds at the parks? I am planning a trip Jan.6-12. Is the race right in the parks? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Bob P]

Hi Dozeman and welcome!

The crowds in the parks are very light Marathon Weekend, but there are disruptions in the parks (the full marathon goes through all four parks) and LOTS of traffic snafus.

When we did the Marathon Weekend in 2004 almost everything in the parks was a walk-on all weekend.

Bob

 

[Goofy DS]

Ditto.

We did the Marathon weekend in '04 as well and the park crowds were very light.

Traffic on the roads outside the parks was not fun!

The marathon does run through the parks and they have a "path" roped off with palces to cross when no runners are coming. It was fun "running" across the path. Now we can say we ran in the Disney marathon!

 

[Deb & Bill]

The marathon is on Sunday and starts at 6AM from Epcot. The runners have up to 7 hours to complete the course. Route is: Epcot, MK, AK, WWoS, DS and back to Epcot. A section of each park is part of the course, so you will need to watch out for the runners.

On Saturday, the 1/2 marthon will take place in Epcot, goes to MK and back to Epcot. Runners have 3.5 hours to complete with the race starting at 6AM.

The 5K race starts at 10AM on Saturday and goes through Epcot, mostly the World Showcase, but finishes past Spaceship Earth.

The times are different from the last years when the marathon and 1/2 marathon were on the same day at the same time.

Park crowds are not that bad. Just watch out for the runners and don't cross in front of them.

 

[branv]

FYI: if you want hard #'s, they're saying 13,000 runner limit in each race (i.e. if each person only ran in one race, you could possibly have 26,000 runners, not including their family members/friends traveling with them.)

 

[SaraMc]

We were there during the marathon a few years ago and really its was very quiet. Just watch were your going. I was getting my photo taken completly unaware that a crowd of runners were coming. I saw them and could a. be trampled or b. run with them. So yes I came home and told my family I ran in the marathon. Sadly I didnt finish. Ok, So I ran into a store as soon as I could get out of the way.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

I was at WDW during the 2005 Marathon weekend. We didn't go to any of the parks on Sunday, the day of the marathon but traffic was quite awful trying to get to our PS at Chef Mickey's for about 10am.

That said, one of the marathon runners told me that Disney was removing runners from the course if they were not meeting the 16 minute mile minimum. All 1/2 marathoners were to be off the course by 9:30am.

Enjoy the opportunity to go in early January -- as another poster has mentioned, many rides are walk-ons at that time of year and even with early park closings it is quite easy to enjoy all the attractions with such short lines and a judicious use of FastPass.

 

[riu girl]

Due to the 2006 marathon, what will traffic be like from WDW to MCO Saturday Jan 7?? We will be using DME and just wondering if we will have any difficulties getting from POP to MCO that day???

Any info. would be greatly appreciated.
Suzy V

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Hi Dozeman and welcome!

The crowds in the parks are very light Marathon Weekend, but there are disruptions in the parks (the full marathon goes through all four parks) and LOTS of traffic snafus.

When we did the Marathon Weekend in 2004 almost everything in the parks was a walk-on all weekend.

Bob

Same here!

My BIL ran the marathon. We took his kids into EPCOT early marathon morning and it was like a ghost town. Walk-on everything! We also skipped getting PS at any restaurants and were seat within 15 minutes everywhere we wanted. Great time of the year to go!