How are the crowds just *before* a marathon weekend?

[meggles]

We are thinking of going to DLR November 6-9th. The marathon weekend starts with the Expo on 11/9 and the races are 11/10-11/12. Has anyone been the weekdays prior to the marathon? Are they any crazier than usual? I realize that Friday 11/10 is likely the beginning of the holidays AND observed Veteran's day And the day of the 5k so it'll be busier than a usual Friday. Just curious about the Tues, Wed, and Thurs prior. We will leave Friday night or sometime Saturday so we won't be in the parks at all during the actual marathon weekend.

We just got back from the utter craziness of President's day week-- 10/10 crowds every day and while we are okay with moderate crowds (it is DL after all!) we avoid Christmas-New Years and Thanksgiving weeks for a reason and definitely don't want to experience that again any time soon!

 

[valiamo]

We were there that same week last year. It was busy leading up to the weekend. The Christmas decorations are almost all up, and the day of opening for the Christmas overlays on Thursday or Friday it will be a zoo.

Expect it to be busy, with IASW, and Jungle Cruise being down for the overlay's. But, it is a fun time of year to be in Disney.

 

[SMD]

The expo is pretty popular. All of Fridays runners are required to pick up their bibs on Thursday, so the area around DLH and M&F will see an uptick. Between that, the holiday and the likely soft opening of Christmas you'll at least see some pretty heavy afternoon crowds. I'd definitely try to do any must-do things earlier in the trip and consider any dining packages or sit down meals for the days that will likely be more crowded.

 

[meggles]

Hmm. Our kids aren't into the E ticket rides so much and we would possibly stay on site. If we could get our limited must-dos mostly done during EMH then I think we could swing it. I just hope the bathroom and food lines are shorter than they were last week! 10/10 crowds are so awful when you have little kids.