Marathon Race Retreat???

[KateB]

DH and I are running in January and got information about the Race Retreat. I was wondering if anyone has run and done the retreat before?? Is it worth the $85 per person??

We are bringing my parents for their first trip to WDW and I am not sure what they would do if we went to the tent after the race. Plus we have lunch reservations at The Hollywood Brown Derby.

Just wondering if it was worth it, and what are the perks?

 

[laughinplace199]

You might want to ask this on the WISH boards - lots of marathoners over there.

Anyway, DH & I have done the Race Retreat for the past 2 years.

We were especially grateful for it last year as the weather was freezing before the race. Pre-race it is a very comfortable place to wait (there's a lot of waiting around before it's time to go to the starting line). There is food (bagels, fruit) and drinks (coffee, water, Powerade, soda) and lots of areas so sit. The tent is climate controlled, which was awesome. There are characters if you want your pic taken. There are also several port-o-potties just for the Race Retreat people. You also check your bag in the tent.

Post-race, there are changing areas near the port-o-potties, areas for stretching, massages (can't remember the cost - we didn't do it), and lots of food and drinks. I can't recall the food as I often can't eat after long runs, but I know that DH was happy with the food. There's also water, Powerade, and soda. There are computers so you can check your official time and, of course, characters for pictures!

We chose to do this the first time because it was my first marathon and DH wanted to splurge a little and make it as comfortable as possible for me. We enjoyed it so much that we did it again last year and we were so glad we did. I think it was 37 degrees that morning and it was really nice to sit on a couch in a warm tent eating a bagel before the race.

If we do the marathon again, we will definitely do the Race Retreat again. However, we didn't have anyone else with us, so we didn't have to worry about meeting up with people after the race.

 

[thndrmatt]

One thing to remember, the location of the Race Retreat is in Epcot's parking lot, which means you still have to walk approximately a mile to get to the actual starting corrals from there. If you stay at OKW, or even POR or POFQ, depending on where your room is you might actually be closer to the start, and be able to playing the waiting game in your room for free instead and leave significantly later.

That being said, many would argue half the fun of the race is the pre-race waiting process as that is the time you get a chance to meet up with all your buddies who might not be the same speed as you.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

IMHO as a two time runner...

CASH GRAB... It's an additional opportuntiy for Disney to get money. Which seems to be the main job of a Disney race now.

Sadly, Disney provides so little to the runners that it may be "required" to have a good expereince. (Can you tell that I am a little disappointed after the last two Disney races. I did the Disneyland Half and the Wine and Dine half.. post race support at both of them was just )