Crowds for Marathon Weekend Jan 2024

[Belles_books_22]

How crowded do the parks get for Marathon weekend at DW? Are the parks open for EE those days? We're looking at staying around Boardwalk area that weekend (Friday--Sunday) as our APs are blocked the rest of the holiday weeks, but it's hard to figure out if race routes / crowds will take over this area. Would love recs on which areas to avoid for non-runners, thanks!

 

[meremac]

Parks will be open for EE for resort guests on those days yes (every park has EE for resort guests, every day). Crowds will definitely be higher in the late morning/early afternoon as runners finish up and come into the parks for a bit, but overall the runners don't typically have a long-lasting significant impact on crowds. What WILL make the parks more crowded this year is that a LOT of schools have that first week of January off (it's just the way the calendar fell this time), so it's kind of going to be a perfect storm. Staying at the Boardwalk (or any resort in the Epcot area) has its advantages because you don't have to deal with crowded transportation (you can walk to both). However, it's my understanding that, depending on where your room is, it can be VERY loud in the VERY early morning with race noise, cheering, fireworks, etc.

 

[Belles_books_22]

Parks will be open for EE for resort guests on those days yes (every park has EE for resort guests, every day). Crowds will definitely be higher in the late morning/early afternoon as runners finish up and come into the parks for a bit, but overall the runners typically have a long-lasting significant impact on crowds. What WILL make the parks more crowded this year is that a LOT of schools have that first week of January off (it's just the way the calendar fell this time), so it's kind of going to be a perfect storm. Staying at the Boardwalk (or any resort in the Epcot area) has its advantages because you don't have to deal with crowded transportation (you can walk to both). However, it's my understanding that, depending on where your room is, it can be VERY loud in the VERY early morning with raise noise, cheering, fireworks, etc.

Thanks for the info! We're likely staying at the Swan, so hopefully a little further removed from the race noise.

 

[RunDisney Matriarch]

The official routes have not been released yet (you can follow Rundisney or Teamrundisney on Instagram to get the exact routes when they are announced about a month out) but if they stick close to last year's routes we'll be running in the Boardwalk area on both the 10k and full marathon days (Friday and Sunday). Keep in mind that half-marathons (Saturday's race) for other events have also gone through this area so the only really "safe" day is Thursday's 5k. Last year there were cast members out trying to keep things quiet for hotel guests (it seemed quieter than the year before) but any noise you'll hear is certainly happy noise. Our first RunDisney weekend we only ran the 5k and we'd booked a Yacht Club room with a water view. The 10k folks surprised us running just past our patio but it was actually fun for us to get up and cheer them on (and then head back to bed for a nap).

To add to Meremac's comments about park crowds, the good news is that the runners head to bed early so the parks should be less crowded in the evenings, but you should plan on Saturday and Sunday afternoons to be swamped in the castle area at Magic Kingdom with many runners heading there to get photos with their medals. Have a great trip! It's a festive long weekend for sure -- lots of tired smiles all around.