January Marathon Questions for Park Arrival

[js]

Hi.

We will be at SSR from January 4-12.

Marathon week activities that affect us are as follows:

Wednesday, January 9
Expo Starts
We have Early Morning Magic at Hollywood Studios. I had planned for
Mears to pick us up at SSR at 6:15 am. Im guessing all okay with this scenario.

Thursday, January 10
DisneyRun 5K starts at 530 am begin/end Epcot

This is our Animal Kingdom Day and it is an EMH beginning at 8 am.
Now what? Will there be road closures and back ups like I was seeing yesterday on the dis?
I want to be at AK by 7 am.

Friday, January 11
DisneyRun 10K starts at 530 am begin/end Epcot

This is our Magic Kingdom day and it has an EMH beginning at 8 am.
Like my question above, will we be able to get to MK by 730 am or will there be road closures.

I dont want our last two days on vacation to be non park days so I need to know what to expect and how to navigate.

Thank you very much!

 

[Dug720]

Unless they have changed the route of the 5K for Marathon Weekend, it doesn't go into or near DAK...

I don't know about the 10K because even when I ran I despised that distance so never paid any attention to it.

 

[CarolynFH]

Hi.

We will be at SSR from January 4-12.

Marathon week activities that affect us are as follows:

Wednesday, January 9
Expo Starts
We have Early Morning Magic at Hollywood Studios. I had planned for
Mears to pick us up at SSR at 6:15 am. Im guessing all okay with this scenario.

Thursday, January 10
DisneyRun 5K starts at 530 am begin/end Epcot

This is our Animal Kingdom Day and it is an EMH beginning at 8 am.
Now what? Will there be road closures and back ups like I was seeing yesterday on the dis?
I want to be at AK by 7 am.

Friday, January 11
DisneyRun 10K starts at 530 am begin/end Epcot

This is our Magic Kingdom day and it has an EMH beginning at 8 am.
Like my question above, will we be able to get to MK by 730 am or will there be road closures.

I dont want our last two days on vacation to be non park days so I need to know what to expect and how to navigate.

Thank you very much!

The Expo won't open early enough on Wednesday to affect EMM. Only the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday affect MK. And I think that only the full marathon on Sunday affects AK or DHS - IIRC the route goes between MK and Epcot only, but I may be wrong about that. The 5K on Thursday is entirely through Epcot, doesn't affect any other parks and in fact is over before Epcot opens for regular guests.

So none of your plans should be affected by any of the marathon weekend activities.

 

[soniam]

I don't think the Expo day will have any effect. I can't say about the other days. We haven't visited WDW during the runs, except to participate in the runs. I can't comment on the road closures. I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on with day guests. However, I did do the AK 5k last November. There shouldn't be any road closures for the 5k; it's all in the park and parking lot. It starts really early, and most people, even sucky ones like me, should be finished before 7am. I don't know what the cut off time was for that, but I suspect that they do allow some time to clean up/clear out the parking lot.

EDIT: Ignore my comments on the 5k. Apparently, the marathon weekend and Wine & Dine 5k routes are different.