How does the wine and dine marathon effect crowds?

[jsand99]

My family and I will be staying onsite and going to the parks Oct 28 - Nov 3. Can anyone give me some insight on how the marathon will effect the crowds at the resorts, parks, and just traveling around in general?

 

[Gentry2004]

Following! Planning to arrive the 2nd or 3rd. I’m thinking we will avoid Epcot until Monday...

 

[PSUGuy]

We stumbled into this weekend last Nov., as the 'expert' in our group I planned for a party of 11. Wifey and I arrived Thurs Nov 2, the rest of the crew on Sat., Sun was to be the first park day for the whole group, MK. Transportation from Board Walk was the worst we ever encountered. Three or 4 Disney Springs busses came and left empty before a MK bus arrived. The trip itself took about 45 mins, I attribute that to the race.

Earlier in our stay we did AK and apparently a race was just finishing up there and car traffic was backed up to the first curve after the booths.

For the good part, we didn't think the crowds were any heavier than we're used to during Food&Wine except for or last Fri which marked the final weekend of F&W, we expected that. Sooo.... don't fear the crowds but plan your park days so as to miss any park actually participating in a race. We're already planning for Nov 2019 and I'll adjust our usual dates to miss all this but not because of crowd levels but due to transportation issues caused by the various races.

Bill From PA

 

[goofyintoronto]

Not sure if this will help, but I was in Disney Nov.4-10 and holy cow, the crowds were insane. Granted, i expected high crowds in Epcot cause of F&W. I was ok with that. But the entire trip it was jam packed everywhere. I really didnt expect crowds to be that bad. I think the crowds were due to a combination of wine/dine, Jersey week, plus the taping of the xmas parade shows.

The only good thing about going during that time was the absence of parties. MNSSHP just ended, and MVMCP hasnt started yet. It was great being able to go to MK each night to watch Happily Ever After and not plan around a 7pm closure at MK. However, im not sure its worth the crowds to be honest. Plus, I like halloween decore over xmas. For those reasons, im sticking with Oct from now on.

FWIW, the few days just before halloween seems to be pretty decent.

 

[jsand99]

Not sure if this will help, but I was in Disney Nov.4-10 and holy cow, the crowds were insane. Granted, i expected high crowds in Epcot cause of F&W. I was ok with that. But the entire trip it was jam packed everywhere. I really didnt expect crowds to be that bad. I think the crowds were due to a combination of wine/dine, Jersey week, plus the taping of the xmas parade shows.

The only good thing about going during that time was the absence of parties. MNSSHP just ended, and MVMCP hasnt started yet. It was great being able to go to MK each night to watch Happily Ever After and not plan around a 7pm closure at MK. However, im not sure its worth the crowds to be honest. Plus, I like halloween decore over xmas. For those reasons, im sticking with Oct from now on.

FWIW, the few days just before halloween seems to be pretty decent.

Hopefully Oct 28 - Nov 3 won't be that crowded! If I knew it would be I would move our trip forward one week.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Hopefully Oct 28 - Nov 3 won't be that crowded! If I knew it would be I would move our trip forward one week.

Touring Plans updates their Crowd Calendar after the fact, so that you can look back and see if infact TP was a) if it was crowded on the days you've visited, and b) if TP predictions were accurate. Here is the historical crowd calendar for your dates last year:
(keep in mind these are out of 10...with 10 being most crowded).

Oct.28 - 7
Oct.29 - 6
Oct.30 - 7
Oct.31 - 4
Nov.1 - 3
Nov.2 - 5
Nov.3 - 5

Im kicking myself because I debated on going to disney Nov.1st-8th. Instead i decided on Nov. 4-10. Big mistake! Had I stuck with my original plan, i wouldve had much lower crowds the first few days of Nov. All in all, looks like your trip dates should be fine. Not too crowded.

 

[Gentry2004]

How do you find out which parks are affected by the race which days? I couldn’t figure it out from the Run Disney site. I can easily avoid a certain park or two each day if I knew which ones...

 

[jsand99]

How do you find out which parks are affected by the race which days? I couldn’t figure it out from the Run Disney site. I can easily avoid a certain park or two each day if I knew which ones...

This is what I found:

Friday November 2nd - Mickey's Holiday 5K at Animal Kingdom

Saturday November 3rd - Disney Wine and Dine 10k, starts in Magic Kingdom parking lot and finishes at Epcot

Sunday November 4th - Disney Wine and Dine 10k, starts in Magic Kingdom parking lot and finishes at Epcot

 

[Mr. Drauer]

The races all start at 5:30 am. Courses are not established until about 6 weeks prior to the race, or later. 5K has been in AK parking lot and park ovewr the past few years, but done by roughly 7:30 or so. It is not a "timed" race so there are not any limits on time. Could be some parking issues or ingress/egress at AK. 10K this past year was started in MK parking lot and went to DHS and finished in EPCOT. many runners had to park at Epcot and bus to start area, but this is between 3:00 and 4:30 am, so little effect on any park goers. roadway for run is away from MK back toward DHS, so no impact on traffic coming into the parks, though some potential lane closures on a few roads. Runners should be through DHS by 7:30 am so no real effect in the park. Finish was through boardwalk to Epcot IG and then out front to parking lot. Some guests inside park were held at crossings for runners, but only in one or two areas. Some potential impact to Epcot parking lot entry, though it is staged on the far side and does not really effect those coming in other than volume. The half started in the MK parking lot too this year, but previous year was at WWOS, and before that was a night race. Timing on Sunday is slower for the longer race, with some lane closures but no full road closures. Course went from MK down back road to AK, so no impact to MK parking or ingress. From AK to DHS, but on the egress side of the road so no closures on the entry road to AK. Runners may not clear parking lot until 8:00 or so, but for both 10K and Half a 16 minute /mile pace is in effect so dawdlers will get swept off the course if they don't keep time. Runners through DHS to boardwalk and IG at Epcot, then into EPcot WS and through to the finish in parking lot. Runners in Epcot until 10:30 or so but only in coned areas. some lines waiting to cross may occur. Last year had around 20,000 runners in the half for perspective. from lots of other discussions on the Dis, parks have been extra crowded at times that were previously slow, so it is not easy to predict whether future crowds are going to change, but the actual race participants do not really change crowd levels. With the exception of Sunday night at Epcot when the race party occurs (party starts at 8:00 pm, and all "regular guests" leave after Illuminations anyhow).

If for example you like to walk the path between DHS and Boardwalk in the morning, it will be closed for the races, so that might be an inconvenience. If you like to hang out on your balcony and soak up the quiet on the Boardwalk or Y&B, you will have runners on both Sat and Sunday mornings. If you like to get to the parking lot at AK at 6:00 on Friday to hang out, it probably is not going to work for you that day. Otherwise, you will see minimal park impacts. As PP mentioned, it is possible for early bus issues, but they lease out buses from an outside company to provide the racers transport, so I'm not sure if that will or won't be an issue. As many have said before, bus transportation can be hit or miss at all resorts during all times of year.

Unrelated to the races, it is Halloween parties, F&W, just a few months removed from opening day at Toy Story Land, generally a good change in weather in Orlando, and the start of Christmas decorations and MVMCP at that time, which might impact crowds.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

Like previous posters, we were there during the perfect storm in 2017 of race, end of food and wine, first 2 christmas parties, and christmas taping to take advantage of the two days off from school. Parks were crowded and we got caught in the 5k traffic, but we had a great time.

What you need to be aware of is your hotel reservation. It wasn't until we were waitlisted at Davids that I checked for a cash room. Everything was sold out 8 months in advance for Nov 4 through 11. When our request came through we jumped at the chance and planned accordingly. Got FOP twice on separate days and all adrs at 180. It can be done and done well. Just make sure you have a place to sleep, a reservations for eating, a flexible plan, and park hoppers!

 

[rteetz]

The races won't be as much as an impact as holiday crowds, and the Food and Wine.

I will be there running the races this year so while I have no experience yet with that weekend specifically I know Halloween and Food and Wine on the weekends bring in a ton of people and it will be very crowded. So best to avoid Epcot on that weekend. Sunday night there is a party for the runners.

 

[1lilspark]

Runner wise: On Friday and Saturday the parks will be cleared by runners ... on Sunday there may be a few back of the packers in Epcot

Epcot should have its usual food and wine crowds

Magic Kingdom had the World Series parade the last two wine and Dine weekends

Last year they were also doing their Disney Parks Holiday special filming that weekend

FWIW I’ve run this weekend the last 2 years