January, the marathon and the crowds

[dydrmr81]

Hi everyone!

I have a trip booked from January 6 - January 14th. I was wondering how much the marathon in Jan is going to affect the crowd levels. I was thinking that I could switch the trip to the following week, but the rates at the resort we're staying at (Tropical Palms) are $10 more that week so we'd have to pay an extra $80 (which, of course, I'd rather not do!) Does the marathon make a huge difference?

Thanks!

Laura

 

[WDSearcher]

No, the Marathon really doesn't make a difference. Most of the runners don't spend a lot of time in the parks -- they're there for the race. And the race itself starts in the darkness before dawn, so it's pretty much done by the time the parks open. I wouldn't change your whole trip just because the marathon is in town.

 

[Joyciemc]

The marathon didn't seem to change crowds during our trip in January. We went to MGM the day of, and other than having to wait to cross through the race to get to certain parts of the park, there was no effect. It was pretty neat to cheer on the runners, though!

 

[Serenity]

The week of the Marathon is not that crowded. We have been the last 3 years at that time and really love it.

If you do decide to change your trip, be careful about which week. Marting Luther King Holiday is 1/17. The crowds then are Horrible due to the long weekend. So if you switched to that week you would run a bigger risk of getting big crowds. Last year we stayed a little longer than usual after the marathon not realizing this and we were there on the Saturday of Martin Luther Weekend and I have never seen the MK that crowded. We literally got stuck in Fantasyland.

I say go the weekend of the Marathon, avoid Epcot on 1/9 (The Marathon begins and ends here) and have a great time.