Marathon weekend 2015 Detour Route?

[Jack Skellingtons]

I will be coming up to WDW Jan 9th thru the 12th during the Marathon weekend and will not be staying at a Disney resort and will be staying in a off site hotel. I plan on trying to be at MK at Rope drop on Saturday and Sunday. I know most of world drive will be closed off and there will be detours. From the past Marathon weekends would I be able to access the MK parking lot from winter Garden vineland rd to Vista Blvd west to World drive avoiding most of the closed section of world drive?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I will be coming up to WDW Jan 9th thru the 12th during the Marathon weekend and will not be staying at a Disney resort and will be staying in a off site hotel. I plan on trying to be at MK at Rope drop on Saturday and Sunday. I know most of world drive will be closed off and there will be detours. From the past Marathon weekends would I be able to access the MK parking lot from winter Garden vineland rd to Vista Blvd west to World drive avoiding most of the closed section of world drive?

My brain cannot process those roads to help you out much.

But here are the maps. Course is clearly marked so hopefully that will help you.
I haven't participated since 2010, so my memory is shot on exactly how cars get to the Mk parking lot.

What I do know is that you need to allow way more time than you usually would. Like way way way way more. Because everyone will be using those detours.

It may *almost* be worth it to just show up at the EPCOT parking lot and monorailing over. But hopefully those who have actually gone to the park at open can better assist you.


Saturday map (half): http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/rundisney/pdf/wdw-marathon/2014/HalfMarathon14_Map.pdf


Sunday map (full): http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/rundisney/pdf/wdw-marathon/2014/Marathon14_Map.pdf

 

[Jack Skellingtons]

Thank you for the maps and info. Vista Blvd is the last road to the north that runs from east to west that you can access the north part of world drive and it looks like it bypasses the Marathon route. That probably will be part of the detour route so like you said I need to try to get there extra early.

I just became a WDW Annual Passholder back in early November and this will be my 3rd trip over the past few months. I've been coming up on the weekends and staying for 3 days at a time. The parks are only a 3 hour drive away from my house so its not that bad of a drive.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Thank you for the maps and info. Vista Blvd is the last road to the north that runs from east to west that you can access the north part of world drive and it looks like it bypasses the Marathon route. That probably will be part of the detour route so like you said I need to try to get there extra early.

I just became a WDW Annual Passholder back in early November and this will be my 3rd trip over the past few months. I've been coming up on the weekends and staying for 3 days at a time. The parks are only a 3 hour drive away from my house so its not that bad of a drive.

Awesome! Well, I wish you luck.

I would plan on trying to arrive 2 hours prior to park open.
We are pass holders again (after a few years living in VA). For MK day visits, we try to arrive at the parking lot at least 30 minutes or more prior to park open. So my 2 hour suggestion allows 90 minutes of detouring. Not sure if that much is needed, but in my marathon experience, I have heard some incredible delay stories and 90 minutes hopefully will be adequate to ensure you make rope drop.

Again, someone with actual touring experience (as opposed to my 4 year old run experience) may have a more realistic estimate.

I know when my husband would meet me along the route, he allowed quite a long time to travel from the on property hotel. But he isn't going to recall if I ask. (ETA: I did ask and be said it is a wild guess, but he thinks he allowed an hour to travel from our resort to Animal Kingdom, but neither of us recall where we stayed on that trip.)

 

[Jack Skellingtons]

Awesome! Well, I wish you luck.

I would plan on trying to arrive 2 hours prior to park open.
We are pass holders again (after a few years living in VA). For MK day visits, we try to arrive at the parking lot at least 30 minutes or more prior to park open. So my 2 hour suggestion allows 90 minutes of detouring. Not sure if that much is needed, but in my marathon experience, I have heard some incredible delay stories and 90 minutes hopefully will be adequate to ensure you make rope drop.

Again, someone with actual touring experience (as opposed to my 4 year old run experience) may have a more realistic estimate.

I know when my husband would meet me along the route, he allowed quite a long time to travel from the on property hotel. But he isn't going to recall if I ask.

The days I've been going to MK so far I've been arriving at the parking lot at 8am for a 9am opening and I seem to have plenty of time so I'll try to arrive by 7am for this trip and to expect a lot more traffic because of the detour.