Disney Marathon Weekend & MLK weekend

[MommyBryn]

Just how busy does Disney get during these times? Jan 10-20 (2009) happens to be the ONLY time we can go, and we usually go in late Jan/early Feb. We've been there during the big cheerleading competitions a lot but I think that's usually the only thing going on during our usual travel times. So what can we expect this time?

 

[ameemom]

MLK weekend is considered one of the busiest times to visit. We've been, and while is was pretty busy, all the parks except MK were tolerable.. There are thousands of runners, but from what I hear, its one of the least crowded times of the year.. I can imagine though cause when I run the marathon, we are either only doing one park or none at all.. The only thing busy would probably be the transportation.. Happy planning!!

 

[MommyBryn]

Oh great. I guess at least we'd have the week in between...and then MLK weekened would be the tail end of the vacation...

 

[blessedby3]

This is the exact time we went this year. We came in on the Marathon weekend and left after the MLK weekend. We were there for 10 nights. The marathon weekend was not as bad as far as crowds in the parks go, but as for getting around it was a nightmare. They have roads blocked off and the traffic was crazy. We were trying to return a rental car to the car care center and we couldnt even cross the road because of the marathon. We could stand on the other side and yet couldnt get across. We ended up dropping off at the Dolphin and had to take a cab back to POP. It took us 2 hours to return it and it was maybe 7 mins from POP. The MLK weekend was another story-CROWDS everywhere!!!! There were also sporting groups there and I thought it was just crazy. It was hard to get things done and the wait times were really long. I would pick marathon weekend over MLK any day. Weather wise it was pretty good. Only a few nights out of our 10 did we have to break out the sweatjackets.

 

[MommyBryn]

This is the exact time we went this year. We came in on the Marathon weekend and left after the MLK weekend. We were there for 10 nights. The marathon weekend was not as bad as far as crowds in the parks go, but as for getting around it was a nightmare. They have roads blocked off and the traffic was crazy. We were trying to return a rental car to the car care center and we couldnt even cross the road because of the marathon. We could stand on the other side and yet couldnt get across. We ended up dropping off at the Dolphin and had to take a cab back to POP. It took us 2 hours to return it and it was maybe 7 mins from POP. The MLK weekend was another story-CROWDS everywhere!!!! There were also sporting groups there and I thought it was just crazy. It was hard to get things done and the wait times were really long. I would pick marathon weekend over MLK any day. Weather wise it was pretty good. Only a few nights out of our 10 did we have to break out the sweatjackets.

So, do you think we'd be okay since we're just using Disney transportation?

Also, was it bad starting the Friday before MLK or the Saturday or what? I'm wodnering if maybe we should just bump our trip up a few days and make our last day Fri or Sat or something.

 

[blessedby3]

You should be fine using Disney transportation, although I think some things were still down with the Disney trans. for a period of time. I think it got bad on the Friday of MLK. Crazy time. Good luck and have fun.

 

[cjemscott]

I have been at the last two marathon weekends in Jan 07 and 08 - We only used Disney transportation and had no problems at all - sometimes it a little busy but by the afternoon, runners/walkers should be finished with everything - the races start at 6am because they want everyone out of the park ASAP!! As far as crowds for that weekend - it's awesome - the longest we had to wait in any line was 15-20 mins (especially using FP when we could) - we can't go this next year until March for Spring Break and I'm worried that we have been spoiled the last couple of Januarys and hopefully we can handle the crowds! Have a great time!

P.S - if you are in the Parks during any part of the races - it's so cool and inspiring to watch the athletes and each runner/walker's name is on their bib and it really helps to shout encouragement to them using their names - or just anything encouraging is awesome!