Marathon Morning Tips

[andylovesdisney]

Good Morning everyone!!
I am running in the marathon this January!!! Unfortunately, I was unable to get a room on site so I am renting a house 3 miles away, which will actually work better with the whole family. I was wondering about marathon morning. Since I will be driving, how early should I leave to get to the start? Is traffic bad? Can I sit in my car until close to start time to stay warm? Any info/tips you would like to supply would be great.
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NCRedding]

If you go to the events/competitions forums, there is a huge group planning to run/walk in January. I did the race in 2005, and will tell you traffic is horrendous. Plan on allowing lots of time to get there.

Edited to add: The buses from the resorts start running at 3 am. They request that you be at Epcot no later than 4:30, then they start the walk to the corrals. I think you would be fine staying in the car until 4:30. There is a lot of walking before you start the race!

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

I moved the thread to the Events/Competition part of WISH in the hopes that someone may have the information here. I am staying on site and know traffic is stressed for the event so I would guess getting there as already suggested would work.

 

[ultramickeymouse]

Hi,

Visit my website DisneyRunning_com(can't place url's in my emails There are reports on everything about the marathon.

Robert

 

[keenercam]

Is there any possibility that you could drive to a resort and park there and take one of the buses to the start? It might just alleviate the stress of traffic and parking. I just remember seeing the lanes and lanes of vehicles stretched as far as the eye could see and thinking "OMG! If I were driving, I'd be so stressed about getting parked and to the start in time." It may mean getting moving a bit earlier than you'd want to, but I'd consider it worth the alleviation of stress.

Parking near the Yacht & Beach Club convention center might be an option since that is where we caught the bus last year from the Beach Club, and if you didn't want to wait for a bus afterwards and had a park hopper ticket, you could walk through EPCOT back to Y&B club to get to your car. I know that sounds convoluted and more complicated than necessary, and I leave it to the experts to chime in here, but just thought I'd throw in my $.02, even though it is worth even less than that.

 

[ultramickeymouse]

I stayed last year(and this year) at BWV. I took the bus which anyone can hop on(including spectators). I "enjoyed" the long walk back through EPCOT back to my room. Better than standing in line for a bus again!

 

[pollioni]

The guys @ WDW Today just did a podcast on the Marathon. 2 of them ran last year.

 

[10nis]

I ditto the enjoyment of walking back thru EPCOT to the BWI or any of the EPCOT resorts for that matter. Just remember, you have to have a park pass to get back into EPCOT once you finish the race if you are going to walk back to an EPCOT resort.

also, aren't their guard gates at all of the EPCOT resorts? Maybe not Swan/Dolphin (which also has buses running the morning of the marathon). I know for sure that BWI has a gate you have to go thru in order to park in that lot. During daytime/evening hours you can just tell them you are going to park there to go to the boardwalk but I don't know about 330am? just a thought....