Marathon and traffic questions

[Jackie H.]

I've been told that the marathon doesn't affect the parks that much...but that it ties up the traffic.

So we will be staying in POFQ....where should we plan to go on January 7th & 8th? I don't want to be stuck on a Disny bus for hours!!

Is the best plan to wait until later in the morning then hit a park? That may work for the half-marathon day...but probably not for the full marathon? Do the buses change their routes to avoid the runners course? Or does it all just work wonderfully and we can ignore the fact that there are marathons and we will never notice the difference?

I really wanted to stay at Beach Club then we could've walked to EPCOT or rode a boat to DS....but we couldn't swing it this time!!! Oh, for those Disney discounts of old!

 

[seashoreCM]

Bus travel routes are changed to work around marathons and other planned road events. Disney bus drivers have two way radio communications. Once in awhile a bottleneck develops so suddenly that buses do get tied up.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[branv]

I wouldn't bet the farm that this year the marathon won't effect attendance that much. Since they divided the races to different days, it's doubled the attendance this year. I tried to change to a different resort from POP, and saw that the moderates are totally booked, POP is totally booked Saturday night, and no cheaper deluxe rooms. Urgh!

I went to the Disney Sport site and looked at the marathon site. It includes maps. On Saturday, the half marathon will be off the roads about 9 (there's a minimum speed for the runner). But Epcot will still be having race events inside the park. We're planning on spending that morning at AK and MGM to avoid the routes all together.

Can't speak for Sunday since we're leaving that day, but the map is on the site, and I think they should finish that course around..errr..1 pm I think?

Any marathoners that know for sure?

 

[Goofy DS]

We were there for Marathon weekend in '04. the Disney buses were fine. They knew the "back ways" and the ride was never very long.

Now the poor poeple in their own cars,.... that was a different story.

We didn't notice any crowd problems in the parks.

 

[mrsR123]

THe full marathon time limit is seven hours and the course runs through all four parks. There will be some impact until early afternoon.

I'd try to focus on MK or Epcot so that you could use the monorail to hop if you wished.

 

[JerseyJ]

Think we may be cancelling a room @ CBR for 1/2 to 1/9 if you are interested.