Marathon Weekend 2017!

[surfde22]

So, how long is everyone planning to stay down there for marathon weekend? Anyone making a trip out of it?

I'll be making a trip out of it. I'll be heading down the Tuesday before and staying until the Tuesday after with my wife and our son. It will be his first trip to Dismey, though he'll only be about 6 months old, so he won't remember it. We'll also be joined by my parents and my brother, his wife, and their son, with the possibility of my grandfather and his wife coming as well. It will be a big family gathering.

I'm going down early for a few reasons, one I'm doing Dopey so I have to be there earlier, two, I have a time zone change to adjust for, and three, at 6'6 flying is never easy and I want to be able to stretch out once I get down there.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Hi guys! Planning on going Dopey next year and have my flights and accommodation booked. Missus is thinking about doing the 5k - 10k as well and shes not a runner. In the middle of doing spring marathon training just did a 16 miler yesterday. Doing training with someone whos 2 - 3 minutes a mile slower than me but my marathon eyes are just fixed for January.

I do this when I train with my wife. In order to maintain my VO2 during these periods I also do several runs/week without her.

 

[rteetz]

So, how long is everyone planning to stay down there for marathon weekend? Anyone making a trip out of it?

I'm going to fly down on Friday, do the expo and one park Saturday, race and another park Sunday, Magic Kingdom on Monday, then fly home Tuesday. My biggest question at this point is what parks to go to other than MK on Monday. I was all set for HS/Epcot, but then AK announced it's new Rivers of Light show would be done...choices, choices.

I always make a trip out of it. We will likely stay a week.

I would definitely choose AK but that's because it's my favorite park.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

So, how long is everyone planning to stay down there for marathon weekend? Anyone making a trip out of it?

We will probably make a 10 day trip out of it this time. We were there for 3 weeks in January but I had to defer my Dopey races because of my foot. My wife said that she doesn't want to go for that long again for a while.

 

[Barca33Runner]

So, how long is everyone planning to stay down there for marathon weekend? Anyone making a trip out of it?

This is the first time my extended family is making a trip out of it. We are heading down Wed., Dec. 28th and staying to the Monday after the Marathon. It will be my first time staying off-site for Marathon Weekend so I am sure I will be freaking out about the logistics of driving in every morning as opposed to using the Disney buses when it gets closer to the races. On the plus side, it will be the first time my dad and my brother will be running any of the races and my nieces and nephews may be able to do the kids races for the first time.

We are only planning on doing two or three parks during our stay. We're not big fans of crowds and the proximity of Christmas/New Year's is not going to be too helpful on that front. The kids are still a little young for most of Epcot (only one is big enough to ride Test Track and the charms of a relaxing day eating/drinking around World Showcase is lost on them) so it comes down to how much time we want to spend in the other three parks. The new pricing policies will play into things as well. I am not exactly sure how those are going to work, but it looks like purchasing single day passes as we go may not be the best idea.

 

[taffy]

I think I will head down the Tuesday and return the Monday maybe Tuesday depending on if I get into Dopey.

 

[MeridaAndAngus]

So, how long is everyone planning to stay down there for marathon weekend? Anyone making a trip out of it?

Hoping to make it a long weekend, but we'll see how the work schedule & budget works out. At a minimum, I want to try to hit the parks on Monday as opposed to Friday. Hopefully we can make a full week out of it, and maybe take a few days to head down to the FL Keys after the race!

 

[lhermiston]

I'll be making a trip out of it. I'll be heading down the Tuesday before and staying until the Tuesday after with my wife and our son. It will be his first trip to Dismey, though he'll only be about 6 months old, so he won't remember it. We'll also be joined by my parents and my brother, his wife, and their son, with the possibility of my grandfather and his wife coming as well. It will be a big family gathering.

I'm going down early for a few reasons, one I'm doing Dopey so I have to be there earlier, two, I have a time zone change to adjust for, and three, at 6'6 flying is never easy and I want to be able to stretch out once I get down there.

That's awesome that you'll have a big group to watch you at the finish line! I'm flying solo this time around. First time hitting up the parks by myself. It was going to be a trip for my wife and I, but she's not ready to leave the youngest (2 in April) for that long.

 

[lhermiston]

I always make a trip out of it. We will likely stay a week.

I would definitely choose AK but that's because it's my favorite park.

I love AK, too, but I don't know if I want to go before Pandora is finished. We'll be back at the end of 2018 and my family loves the park, so I'm sure we'll be able to see it then. Epcot is definitely in because I have yet to see Illuminations and I want to photograph it. I really comes down to whether I want to shoot Rivers of Light or the new Star Wars show at HS and I'm leaning toward HS since I love fireworks. I suppose I could try to get some shots from the parking lot instead...

 

[rteetz]

I love AK, too, but I don't know if I want to go before Pandora is finished. We'll be back at the end of 2018 and my family loves the park, so I'm sure we'll be able to see it then. Epcot is definitely in because I have yet to see Illuminations and I want to photograph it. I really comes down to whether I want to shoot Rivers of Light or the new Star Wars show at HS and I'm leaning toward HS since I love fireworks. I suppose I could try to get some shots from the parking lot instead...

See if it were me I'd go see both. As long as you know you'll get to see it in the future.

 

[surfde22]

That's awesome that you'll have a big group to watch you at the finish line! I'm flying solo this time around. First time hitting up the parks by myself. It was going to be a trip for my wife and I, but she's not ready to leave the youngest (2 in April) for that long.

Yeah, it should be pretty fun. It works out too, because my parents live in the area, and are DVC members so they are covering the room, so that's one less expense. You should just bring the kids with you, then you don't have to leave them alone.

 

[FFigawi]

So, how long is everyone planning to stay down there for marathon weekend? Anyone making a trip out of it?

We'll be there from Wednesday to Wednesday. Monday is DATW and Tuesday is celebration dinner at V&A, so no point in driving home (all of an hour away) until Wednesday afternoon.

 

[sammykster]

So, how long is everyone planning to stay down there for marathon weekend? Anyone making a trip out of it?

I haven't totally decided on this yet. This year we went Fri-Mon and did the full but I think since we're able to do this as an adults only trip I'm going to try to extend it. My hopes are to do Dopey and I'm going down Tuesday or Wednesday by myself and then my husband will fly in on Friday. I'm going to try and stay until Tuesday but now I'm thinking Wednesday even maybe? I would like to do some sort of DATW since that seems to be Monday and then have another full day after that to enjoy the parks but we'll see!

 

[lhermiston]

See if it were me I'd go see both. As long as you know you'll get to see it in the future.

I'd like to be able to do it all, but I'd have to squeeze three parks into four days. MK is a must (Monday), Epcot is pretty high priority since I haven't seen Illuminations and that's probably my favorite "walk around" park for post-race recovery (Sunday). That leaves AK or HS (plus the expo) for Saturday.

Both parks have pros and cons right now since they're still under construction. Honestly, the only thing swaying me toward HS right now is the Star Wars fireworks, which I think look and sound a bit cooler than what's been previewed for Rivers of Light. That, and Mama Melrose for carbo-loading the night before the race. Otherwise, I think HS is a half-day park right now.

I'm sure I'll change my mind a couple dozen times in the next 9 months.

 

[lhermiston]

Yeah, it should be pretty fun. It works out too, because my parents live in the area, and are DVC members so they are covering the room, so that's one less expense. You should just bring the kids with you, then you don't have to leave them alone.

DVC? Awesome. I'm getting more and more jealous with each post!

I wish it was as simple as bringing the kids along, but it's just not in the cards financially right now. We are more on a every-four-years budget for WDW and are planning a whole family trip for 2018 when my youngest will be old enough to enjoy it a bit more (she's only 2 now). As it is, the marathon is going to dominate the short trip and it's not worth the cost for us all to go down.

 

[Dis5150]

Does anyone think that the registration will be pushed back since they pushed back both W&D and Avengers? Or do they have enough time in between to recover for the next registration lol?

 

[sammykster]

Does anyone think that the registration will be pushed back since they pushed back both W&D and Avengers? Or do they have enough time in between to recover for the next registration lol?

I was thinking about this today too. Part of me hopes not because I will have more time to back out of my current plans but I also wouldn't mind it since we'll still be in WDW for DS when I need to do my AP registration. I would think they have enough time in between but who knows why they do anything they do lol ... seems they pushed back Avengers just because they would have landed just a week apart right?

 

[surfde22]

DVC? Awesome. I'm getting more and more jealous with each post!

I wish it was as simple as bringing the kids along, but it's just not in the cards financially right now. We are more on a every-four-years budget for WDW and are planning a whole family trip for 2018 when my youngest will be old enough to enjoy it a bit more (she's only 2 now). As it is, the marathon is going to dominate the short trip and it's not worth the cost for us all to go down.

Haha, glad I can make someone jealous.

Yeah, they got a 2 bedroom at BWV for them, my brother and his family, and my family and me. It will be quite the experience with a 13 month old and a 6 month old.

I can totally understand the cost think. The fact that I don't have to pay for the room makes it a fai amoun easier, and that we can pay for plane tickets with miles helps too.

 

[hotblooded]

So, how long is everyone planning to stay down there for marathon weekend? Anyone making a trip out of it?

Probably Friday to Monday, so I can run the half, cheer for the full, and relax a bit in the race weekend atmosphere before heading home.

 

[Keels]

So, how long is everyone planning to stay down there for marathon weekend? Anyone making a trip out of it?

We'll probably do a month in Florida again - from December 22 to January 22 - just because it's easy.

As far as it relates to Marathon Weekend, I'm hoping to do Charlotte Amalie for New Years and then we're back in Orlando.

Mixing it up this year, though, as far as race weekend accommodations go - I've got a villa booked at Beach Club for Friday-Monday!