Marathon Weekend 2018

@Sailormoon2 it's my own fault, but it's seriously disappointing. This is my one Dopey weekend ever and the dbf said this is likely the last time he'll come to WDW for a while and to make sure I do everything I want to and so I'm super bummed.
 
You’ll still have a great time with dopey!

I know - it's just a stupid mistake and I really should have known better than to wait. I'm sure I will still have a magical Dopey and a wonderful cruise to celebrate Dopey but it's making me re-think the whole cruise. I can't tell the DBF because the cruise was going to be a surprise for Christmas/his birthday so I needed to vent haha
 


I think the WDW burnout is real for me right now ... @mbwhitti and I could barely muster up the energy to make W&D FP+s. And now I have to think about Marathon Weekend already??

I know I will NOT be venturing to MK. I went yesterday for a couple of FP+s and HEA and it was a disaster.
 


I think the WDW burnout is real for me right now ... @mbwhitti and I could barely muster up the energy to make W&D FP+s. And now I have to think about Marathon Weekend already??

I know I will NOT be venturing to MK. I went yesterday for a couple of FP+s and HEA and it was a disaster.
My wife and I have spent over 40 days in WDW this year. Yeah, burn out is real, even for those who really love WDW. We are still looking forward to the trip in January because so many friends and family will be traveling with us, but we will not be renewing our APs and plan to take about 18 months away from WDW before considering another trip. Too many rides down as Disney builds for 2021.
 
It was SOOOO crowded and I swear that there are more double strollers out there than ever before, and so many that had one seat for a kiddo and the other seat taken up by just bags of crap.

This is one of the most crowded weeks during the fall,I have no clue if its a school break from the schools up north,I know Biketoberfest is going on in Daytona,Food and Wine always brings in people from across the state,it seemed like half of Miami was at Epcot yesterday.I spent time at Sea World,went to see Toad the wet sprocket at Epcot and then went to Celebration for Oktoberfest and each of them were jam packed.I spoke to someone at Epcot yesterday who needed another day in a hotel,they said they needed to go to Ocala cause Orlando was full.
 
This is one of the most crowded weeks during the fall,I have no clue if its a school break from the schools up north,I know Biketoberfest is going on in Daytona,Food and Wine always brings in people from across the state,it seemed like half of Miami was at Epcot yesterday.I spent time at Sea World,went to see Toad the wet sprocket at Epcot and then went to Celebration for Oktoberfest and each of them were jam packed.I spoke to someone at Epcot yesterday who needed another day in a hotel,they said they needed to go to Ocala cause Orlando was full.

New England schools are not on break until Christmastime...not sure about New Jersey though...
 
Well, OK ... MK burnout though!!
I’m with you on MK burnout - I’m there too. Over Labor Day - my mother and I barely did any rides and were over the crowds quickly! Not even on the plans for my next three trips (Wine and Dine, Thanksgiving and Marathon weekend). Not sure about Princess or Dark Side yet
 
Well, OK ... MK burnout though!!

I’m with you on MK burnout - I’m there too. Over Labor Day - my mother and I barely did any rides and were over the crowds quickly! Not even on the plans for my next three trips (Wine and Dine, Thanksgiving and Marathon weekend). Not sure about Princess or Dark Side yet
Okay I get that. We skipped MK on our last trip :eek:
 
This is a different take on the burnout thing, but still applies I think. DW and I have 2 bio daughters DD16 and DD13. When they were growing up, any trip to WDW meant saving for two years for a big trip or maybe just going for a day or two since big trips were so expensive. We never did ADR's and never splurged. We would often combine work trips I had into a family trip so we could save $ and even make a WDW trip possible. Our finances have turned around over the past few years and we also adopted a sibling group of 4 boys during that same timeframe. Our family doubled in size so doing WDW as we had in the past wasn't going to work any longer.

Our first trip as a family of 8 was DVC points rentals, but soon after, we invested into a home in Champions Gate so we stay there every time we come down to Orlando. Our boys travel well, but they are typical 5, 7, 9, and 11 year old kids in a theme park. Tired of waiting in lines, some want to do this ride while others don't, complaining because of the heat, etc. It's bad enough for it to be 1 kid like that, but multiply it times 4, then add 2 teenage girls on top of it. You get the point. Our 1st few trips to WDW with our supersized family nearly broke my wife. She said the magic was gone for her. WDW used to be that retreat for us that no matter what was going on in our lives, no matter how broke we'd be when we got home, we forgot about it all and truly embraced the time there.

In July we made an adults only trip with some friends for a weekend in Orlando and a day in Epcot eating and drinking around the world. DW and I also had ADR's at California Grill for our anniversary and she said that trip helped restore some of that Disney magic for her. So much, that we bought AP's while we were there. One change is we've been experiencing WDW with friends and family beyond ours. We have friends that have large families as well, so the chaos that is our daily lives is routine and normal for them too. We don't have to worry about whether our kids are bothering them or being too loud. That extra pressure, we put on ourselves, and it was a culprit in losing some of that magic for us.

I said all that to say, burnout may be real, but you can find reasons beyond new lands or attractions to rekindle that joy and magic. Sometimes you have to look in unexpected places.
 
Cue the @Anisum tears in 3...2... :(
I mean, what is even the point of doing Dopey if I don't get a purple shirt. At least the medal has purple but really if the shirt ends up being white I'll be crying very real tears.

Goofy makes sensse since the marathon is part of goofy. The 10k I would expect to have the 5 year thing like dopey does.
That was my initial thought but the 1/2 marathon has Donald and Mickey and presumably the 25 years as well. Plus they haven't recognized it as the anniversary of the 10k and the 5k as well as Dopey.

Within the next week or so it will be Fastpass day for most of us. Is there one Fastpass you are looking to get for your Racecation?
I'd like to get some Pandora fast passes or at least night time safari in AK since I haven't been there in forever. Otherwise I'm not all that worried about fast passes.
 
Interesting that the medals (I assume all with the exception of Dopey but can only actually see Goofy Challenge and 5k) have 25 years Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend on the inside.
Goofy makes sensse since the marathon is part of goofy. The 10k I would expect to have the 5 year thing like dopey does.
I'm guessing that to runDisney, the 25th anniversary of Marathon Weekend (and thus the 25th anniversary of runDisney, even if it wasn't called that at first) is a bigger deal than the 5th anniversary of Dopey/the 10K (and I guess the 25th 5K). I think it's sort of neat that the anniversary is commemorated on all of the medals, it sort of unifies them in a way.
 
If time goals aren't a big issue, I would go to a run/walk interval. I had the same problem when trying to run the the entire 26.2, but switched to run/walk and haven't had any cramping issues since. Added benefit, I ran faster times too.

I actually started a run/walk interval (3min/1min) this year hoping to cut down on injuries, but still got leg cramps. I'll probably start foam rolling and stretching on a daily basis (hopefully), and maybe even try to strengthen hamstrings and calves.
 
Sunday question: I would love FoP but my sister is getting our tickets thru the Armed Forces Salute program and won't be getting them until right before our trip. So maybe rope drop it on Monday or Tuesday after the marathon? Idk, kinda wanted to sleep in those days after all the early mornings.
 
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