Marathon Weekend 2019

[SarahDisney]

I'm not always at the parks for rope drop (mornings === evil), but once I'm there, it's pretty much go-go-go until after park close. I try to have a vague plan of what I want to do (and I'm a big fan of the FP+ system), but I've found that too much scheduling just doesn't work for us, so we do go with the flow a lot.

For Marathon Weekend 2019, I'm treating it as a "bonus" trip (even though I haven't been to WDW in a few years and I don't know when I'll be back after marathon weekend) and not really setting any "must dos," so I'm just going to go with the flow most days. There may or may not be some bus roulette (it's something I've wanted to do for years and it's just never worked out). I'm trying not to care if I get to every single park or every single attraction. It's going to be a very different kind of trip than I'm used to, but I'm excited.

 

[Nole95]

I'm the planner, and we are rope drop people. My family learned long ago that we can get more done in those first two hours than the rest of the day. This is especially true in the busier times of the year.

We will rope drop and do as much as we can. I then plan the FP+ for later in the morning/early afternoon. Most days we will head back to the resort for the afternoon to swim/relax, and then head back to the parks in the evening if we so feel like it.

For longer trips I will usually schedule in a rest day where we do no parks. It's a good way to recharge the batteries for another round of early wake ups for rope drop.

 

[cavepig]

We get up early to make sure we are at rope drop as that first hour we get so much done and do extra magic hours whenever we can. We'll stay till park closing many times, but usually have hopped between parks. Race vacations which have been my only trips the last so many years now we are a little more careful on staying out late the nights before races, although have learned trying to go to sleep too early just doesn't work so might as well stay in the parks. This last marathon weekend I didn't feel well the couple days after the marathon so that cut a extra magic night out. We plan FPs out but change them many times, even dropping a flight of passage! We don't do many ADRs lately so that makes it a littler easier to just go on the fly.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

We do rope drop, go until lunch, then head back to the resort for relaxing until dinner. Good mix of gogogo and relaxation.

 

[CDKG]

So, speaking of time, how do you use it when you're at WDW? Do you like to sleep in, get to the parks whenever and tour at a leisurely pace? Are you at rope drop every morning with every minute planned out? A combination of the two?

While I don't usually arrive in time for rope drop (I blame all that extra travel time at WDW resort), I usually arrive shortly after park opening. Once upon a time, I used to stay from park opening to park closing. But, as I have gotten older, I have discovered the value of an afternoon break at my resort. I don't nap or swim, I just get of my feet, watch a little telly, and play with my iPad. I do still stay close to park closing (but leave before the mad rush) so I feel like I got my money's worth. When the parks close early in the off season, I may spend a little time at DS before going "home" for the night.

There may be one day during my visit that I get to sleep in. But, I usually wake up early and excited for the day anyway!

 

[Barca33Runner]

Sundays are for Disney:

I'm a mix of everything. When I go to the parks I like to rope drop them because there is so much that you can get done in those first couple of hours (as others have mentioned). We will have our FP+ scheduled and often have an ADR, but not always; this provides a loose schedule for the day but it's very easy to be flexible within it. After all, FP+ give an hour (maybe a little more depending on the generosity of CMs) window so it's not terribly difficult to work around them. I also like to schedule days where we sleep in and hang out around the resort or head to Disney Springs. We've also done days where we schedule a couple late FP+ and only head over for a couple hours at night knowing we'll hit a couple attractions, grab some food, and avoid any lines. I think there are a lot of acceptable ways to do the parks and the more variance there is the more likely everyone is to have a good time.

 

[lhermiston]

You better start praying/wishing for warm marathon weekend weather then. If it’s anything like this year pools will not be something you’ll want to use lol.

Oh, I've already told my wife I can control a lot of things, but the weather isn't one of them. I think if it's too chilly, the pool time will be come Disney Springs time. We're staying at POR and my wife especially loves the boat ride down to Disney Springs.

There may or may not be some bus roulette (it's something I've wanted to do for years and it's just never worked out).

Bus roulette? Is that just getting on whatever bus shows up first? Man, I admire your go with the flow attitude, but I am WAY too much of a planner to do that!

 

[Novatrix]

So, question for people. What do you think the chances are that Marathon weekend will overlap with the start of the Festival of the Arts? And furthermore, what do you think the chances are that they will not have seminars for the Festival of the Arts?

My family was pretty upset after princess that they did away with all the seminars that made the Flower and Garden festival interesting. If FotA is left intact, that has me leaning towards signing up for Dopey 2019 despite the greater chance for cold starts and arranging a trip around those dates.

 

[lhermiston]

Speaking of planning, time management, etc., does anyone else use Touring Plans? That service has been a godsend for me. I'm curious if anyone else uses it and what their experiences have been.

 

[SarahDisney]

Bus roulette? Is that just getting on whatever bus shows up first? Man, I admire your go with the flow attitude, but I am WAY too much of a planner to do that!

Yep. My mega-planner tendencies have been part of the reason that I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to see if I can do it this trip. I think the way I'm going to do it is plan for a park in the morning, and then plan to park hop, and use bus roulette to see which park I'm hopping to. I think I can make that work.

 

[rteetz]

Speaking of planning, time management, etc., does anyone else use Touring Plans? That service has been a godsend for me. I'm curious if anyone else uses it and what their experiences have been.

Just started and will be using it first for my trip in a week. I’ve never really had an issue without it but I decided to try it after some research.

 

[lhermiston]

Yep. My mega-planner tendencies have been part of the reason that I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to see if I can do it this trip. I think the way I'm going to do it is plan for a park in the morning, and then plan to park hop, and use bus roulette to see which park I'm hopping to. I think I can make that work.

I'm anxious just thinking about it! ha ha. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

Just started and will be using it first for my trip in a week. I’ve never really had an issue without it but I decided to try it after some research.

Let me know what you think. I've really enjoyed it, but I have almost as much fun planning as I do actually going on my trip. I really like being able to do personalized touring plans. Did you download their app?

 

[rteetz]

I'm anxious just thinking about it! ha ha. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.



Let me know what you think. I've really enjoyed it, but I have almost as much fun planning as I do actually going on my trip. I really like being able to do personalized touring plans. Did you download their app?

Yep I have the app.

 

[lhermiston]

Yep I have the app.

I found it to be really useful for when I had, like, 20 minutes of free time between stops on my plan. What can I ride in the next 5 minutes?

 

[cavepig]

So, question for people. What do you think the chances are that Marathon weekend will overlap with the start of the Festival of the Arts? And furthermore, what do you think the chances are that they will not have seminars for the Festival of the Arts?

My family was pretty upset after princess that they did away with all the seminars that made the Flower and Garden festival interesting. If FotA is left intact, that has me leaning towards signing up for Dopey 2019 despite the greater chance for cold starts and arranging a trip around those dates.

Festival of the Arts started Jan. 12 this year, so if Marathon is Jan 9-13, 2019, it very well could. Although, I can see them not overlapping and having it start the weekend after like this year so I say a 50% chance but really have no idea. I bet they still have all the seminars and workshops.

 

[TCB in FLA]

Speaking of planning, time management, etc., does anyone else use Touring Plans? That service has been a godsend for me. I'm curious if anyone else uses it and what their experiences have been.

I’ve used it for my last three visits. I don’t really use the touring plans themselves but really like the crowd predictors, the fax service for rooms and OMG that reservation finder is worth it all. I think the app’s wait times are much more accurate than Disney’s. Worth it IMHO.

When at Disney on non-race days, I’m a rope drop type of gal. Usually stay there most of a day, although not until closing. I’m not a huge fan of evening shows — once every few years is enough — so I’m not the type of close down a park.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

It totally depends on the trip. On our runDisney trip, our wake up/get going time was a little lax, but we were still in the parks by mid-morning. We do always like to stay for the night shows. At DLR a few months ago, we did 1 day at each park and were rope-drop to close.

 

[Disney at Heart]

I used to be a once a year visitor and did the parks from rope drop to closing so I could ride every ride and see every show.
Now, I am lucky enough to have AP and go more often, so I have done everything over and over, so I am more likely to go early, hit some favorite rides, do a few fast passes, and have a nice meal. I always make sure I see or do whatever is new. I sometimes stay for a nighttime spectacular, but after seeing Illuminations over and over, for example, it is not a must-do for every trip, unless it has one of the special endings! I am more likely to get up really early, run the resort where I am staying, get to the park early, leave early, and get up and do it again.

 

[KingLlama]

Usually a go-go-go. But my FP's are at AK on the day of the Dark Side half, so I'm not entirely sure:

A)How I'll feel after my first-ever half. I might feel like hitting the park hard like I normally do, but I could also see myself being too tired/sore to do anything other than my FP's
B)That is also Earth Day, which is also the AK anniversary celebration, so the sheer crowds might not even give me a choice. Might be too crowded to do anything other than my FP's and some casual strolling around(and hoping to catch a glimpse of Joe Rohde).

My other two park days, I'm planning on going full-tilt. But we'll see.

 

[FlashAM7]

As a local who goes to the parks about once a week, I can't stress enough the importance of rope dropping. You can get almost all of Magic Kingdom done by Noon or 1. Compared to showing up at 10 or 11 and you are there until 5 or 6pm.

Here is what your average morning looks like at Magic Kingdom (this was taken about 45 minutes after park open)