marathon crowds?

[wonderlandaddict]

Do you think the Jan. marathon on sunday the 9th will effect the crowds the prior week or the week following? thanks

 

[Michelina]

I'm also curious to know! I planned our trip for 12/31 - 1/10 for the slower period following X-mas but I'm wondering if the marathon is going to make a big difference?
TIA

 

[Wenda]

We were there in 2002 and didn't notice an increase in the crowds. We stayed at CSR and that resort did get a lot busier. There were more people in the parks but they had been so empty that it didn't make much difference in the wait times. The only real difference I noticed was that the fast pass machines were open and the days before that half of the fast pass attractions were operating the old way.

 

[pakdayton]

hi ... we were there jan 2004
arrived sat (day before) before marathon and
the majority of the week before was a ghost town (fabulous)
we were All Star Sports ... crowds picked up around thur after but that was MLK weekend

i was a little nervous about going to MK on day of marathon but DH and DD wanted to ... it turned out to be no problem

a lot of people lining main st to cheer ... it was divided down the middle so we just made our tracks to dumbo ... it was cool to see the runners ... but what was even cooler was that nobody was on the rides for the first hour or more

most of the spectators left after cheering ... i guess to go to finish line ... and the runners ...well i dont think walking around the parks is high on their list of things to do after running 26 miles
also sat nite before was very quiet ... a lot of the runners have group things ... pasta nite, ect ... and they go to bed early ... i think they have to get up at 4am to get to starting line on time


two things to know ... EE was cancelled for MK on that sunday (i think it was changed to AK intsead) and bus dropped us off at TTC because of the marathon ... neither element effected us at all

have fun

 

[Deb & Bill]

The MK is crowded from around 7AM until about 9:30AM when the last runners go through the park. They have 7 hours to finish the marathon and 3.5 hours to finish the 1/2 marathon. The 1/2 finishes in the Pluto Parking lot at MK. Later that day, it wasn't crowded for us last year.

Runners have to be at the starting line no later than 4AM. The race starts at 6AM. They usually have a big party at PI on Sunday evening.