Epcot on Marathon Sunday 1/12/20?

[Zippa D Doodah]

I see that one popular site says the Epcot crowd will be a 1 that day. I have a 9:50 ADR for Garden Grill, then various FPs later in the morning. My questions: If driving in from off site, what kind of time allowance should I make for marathon runners and activities? Then, later in the day, what must it be like if crowd is actually a 1? Sounds like heaven to me

 

[lorenae]

The crowd won’t ever be a “1”. It won’t be July crowded, of course, but there were be plenty of people there (including me and a friend). The runners will be out of the park before the park opens.
We are doing more evening things, with our ADR at GG for 7 PM.

 

[yulilin3]

A 1 wow. Not going to ask where you saw that but it is not right. I don't think any park have been at a1 for a decade.
Epcot is the end of the run so its the most impacted by the event in terms of partial road closures and blockage inside the park. By noon it should all be picked up. The park will probably be around a 5 crowd level

 

[yulilin3]

The crowd won’t ever be a “1”. It won’t be July crowded, of course, but there were be plenty of people there (including me and a friend). The runners will be out of the park before the park opens.
We are doing more evening things, with our ADR at GG for 7 PM.

during the Marathon runners are still going through Epcot in the morning, as that's the finish line in the lot.

 

[GovieMom]

We were at Epcot several years ago on Marathon Sunday. I remember having to wait at a roped-off area at 10 in the morning while a couple of runners passed through. The crowd level was definitely nowhere near as low as a "1".
Also, it took our bus 45 minutes to get to Epcot from POFQ due to lane closures.

 

[soniam]

I believe you are getting the 1 from Touring Plans. They have adjusted their scale, so that a "1" represents the lowest level of crowds seen during the year. That doesn't mean it will be dead though. For the Sunday of Marathon Weekend last year, they predicted a 3 at Epcot and saw a 2. I could believe that. With ROTR open, I bet more people will be at DHS, and they are showing DHS to be a 4 on Sunday. Even if the park is not very busy, the roads could be. So, I wouldn't use the crowd calendar in this instance, and just listen to what people are saying about the traffic. Also, the crowd calendars have been very challenging the last couple of years due to lower than expected attendance and Disney mucking with staffing levels in January, which artificially increases wait times. So, be prepared for it to potentially be more crowded than they are predicting, since ROTR is now open. Epcot may get spillover from DHS.

 

[holden]

You should expect longer commute times getting to the park. You also may not be able to get where you want to go. We were in EP the day of the marathon in Nov. We were not able to walk from IG to Future World due to the race. We had to wait for all runners to finish before they moved the barriers.

Also, a crowd level of 1 does not exist. It will be crowded. Marathon weekends always are, especially race day at EP.

 

[drummerwife]

I’m running the marathon next month and the course has been changed for the race and the runners won’t be running through future world (or what’s left of it) so you should have no problem getting to your ADR at Garden Grill. Runners have ~ 7.5 hours to finish the race (race starts at 5am) so they’ll still be in Epcot in the very early afternoon. The only place the runners should have an impact will be in world showcase. As others have said though, do allow extra time for transportation there are a lot of road closures for the full.

 

[Redhead5]

If you are walking in from an Epcot Resort (Beach Club, Board Walk, Yacht Club), take the monorail, or the Skyline you should be OK but getting anywhere by car or bus the morning of Marathon Day is a hassle. It will be close to a total standstill. Disney brings them all to Epcot in the end. Parking in the Epcot lot will be a zoo also.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

A 1 wow. Not going to ask where you saw that but it is not right. I don't think any park have been at a1 for a decade.
Epcot is the end of the run so its the most impacted by the event in terms of partial road closures and blockage inside the park. By noon it should all be picked up. The park will probably be around a 5 crowd level

Yeah, I don't mention the site because I don't put a whole lot of credence in the numbers. Just do take a peek to see possible trends. Looks like I might need to figure an extra hour for getting to my ADR since I'll be driving in from off site

 

[rteetz]

I see that one popular site says the Epcot crowd will be a 1 that day. I have a 9:50 ADR for Garden Grill, then various FPs later in the morning. My questions: If driving in from off site, what kind of time allowance should I make for marathon runners and activities? Then, later in the day, what must it be like if crowd is actually a 1? Sounds like heaven to me

The park won't be super crowded but it also won't be a ghost town. There will be a lot of people in the park just to cheer runners. Definitely build in extra time to get to the park. Road closures will be all over Walt Disney World property.

 

[rteetz]

during the Marathon runners are still going through Epcot in the morning, as that's the finish line in the lot.

For the marathon people are going through the park until about 1PM. The race starts at 5AM but the last corral is allowed the 7 hour limit so by the time they start its 6AM that means they'll be coming through Epcot between 12-1PM.

 

[yulilin3]

For the marathon people are going through the park until about 1PM. The race starts at 5AM but the last corral is allowed the 7 hour limit so by the time they start its 6AM that means they'll be coming through Epcot between 12-1PM.

I've volunteered for a couple of years and love to get the epcot post, just giving everyone a final push through the last mile is worth the early wake up call for volunteers

 

[rteetz]

I've volunteered for a couple of years and love to get the epcot post, just giving everyone a final push through the last mile is worth the early wake up call for volunteers

And we are always very thankful for those volunteers!