Marathon Weekend 2023

[Herding_Cats]

If you’re looking for post-MW like Monday and on you can probably snag something if you find an owner soon. The 7 month window opens up in a couple weeks though so what’s available now may not be available after that.

Speaking of, I just book Poly for post-dopey celebrations. First time staying there and we will be kid free!! The owner has CC for marathon weekend and offered it to me but I’d have to add an extra day (Sunday) at poly AND it would mean transferring on marathon day. I’m trying to talk myself into it and out of it at the same time. anyone ever transfer on marathon day?? I think I’d make it back to the room before check out especially if I had a late check out. I’d still bring my bags to bell services in the AM in case the race went sideways and I didn’t make it back. I’m mostly worried about not getting into my next room for a long time.

So I did this during this year's MW. We transferred from OWK to BR on Sunday. For me, it's a NEVER AGAIN kind of situation. We are doing a split stay this coming year and are transferring resorts on Thursday/5k day because we will for-sure be back with plenty of time to shower, eat, nap, pack up, etc.

In preparation for moving resorts on marathon day when DH would have DD with him while I ran, we had packed up all our suitcases, put overnight stuff in our carry-ons/backpacks, and had the car partially loaded up with our luggage. I walked to the front of the resort on Sunday morning and took the bus to the race so DH could finish up in the morning and then have the car available to do whatever he wanted while he waited for me to finish running. House-keeping knocked on our room door at around 9am while DH was working on getting our remaining luggage down to the car, and since we had our toddler with us he was planning on staying IN THE ROOM until 11 because she's a little tornado. House-keeping asked when he would be leaving, so DH just finished packing up and left the room early, because he's a nice guy (and his mom worked in housekeeping at a large local resort when he was growing up) so they could get it cleaned.

Now I will preface this with: I am a slow runner, and we completed the full about 15 or 20min ahead of the 7:00 pace group. So I didn't get back to OKW until a little after 1pm. I had planned to shower at the pool bathroom, but I was STARVING, so DH grabbed me a burger first. During this "sit-down" time my legs basically locked up on me.
I had requested "early check in" by saying we would be arriving at BR at around 12:30. At 2:30 we got our room-ready text (which was basically right around when I was working up the gumption to hobble to the showers.) So I just decided I would shower when we got to the new room and I would vegetate for the rest of the day (because we had a 6am flight on Monday.) But the walk was sooooo long from the parking lot. And there were stairs. And moving hurt so much. My body was D.O.N.E. (I also only got about 4 hours of sleep leading up to the marathon as well, so that didn't help.) Obviously YMMV on this.

Besides how my body felt, these are some of the reasons I will never switch resorts on full-marathon day again:
-the mostly re-packing, but also keeping allllll of the shower stuff out, having an additional bag for my nasty sweaty race stuff, and then also having a bag for stuff of the next day was very annoying. I used packing cubes and had a wetbag and it was still a hassle.
-we were lucky and the weather was really nice, but having to potentially be stuck in the lobby of a resort for hours and hours waiting for a room because it's really cold or raining is not something I would want to chance again. I know there are lots of stories about DVC rooms not being ready until like 6pm or later and I am the person that stuff almost always happens to.
-if something happened and I was injured or sick after the race having a room available is basically a necessity.

 

[jennysdcc]

So I did this during this year's MW. We transferred from OWK to BR on Sunday. For me, it's a NEVER AGAIN kind of situation. We are doing a split stay this coming year and are transferring resorts on Thursday/5k day because we will for-sure be back with plenty of time to shower, eat, nap, pack up, etc.

In preparation for moving resorts on marathon day when DH would have DD with him while I ran, we had packed up all our suitcases, put overnight stuff in our carry-ons/backpacks, and had the car partially loaded up with our luggage. I walked to the front of the resort on Sunday morning and took the bus to the race so DH could finish up in the morning and then have the car available to do whatever he wanted while he waited for me to finish running. House-keeping knocked on our room door at around 9am while DH was working on getting our remaining luggage down to the car, and since we had our toddler with us he was planning on staying IN THE ROOM until 11 because she's a little tornado. House-keeping asked when he would be leaving, so DH just finished packing up and left the room early, because he's a nice guy (and his mom worked in housekeeping at a large local resort when he was growing up) so they could get it cleaned.

Now I will preface this with: I am a slow runner, and we completed the full about 15 or 20min ahead of the 7:00 pace group. So I didn't get back to OKW until a little after 1pm. I had planned to shower at the pool bathroom, but I was STARVING, so DH grabbed me a burger first. During this "sit-down" time my legs basically locked up on me.
I had requested "early check in" by saying we would be arriving at BR at around 12:30. At 2:30 we got our room-ready text (which was basically right around when I was working up the gumption to hobble to the showers.) So I just decided I would shower when we got to the new room and I would vegetate for the rest of the day (because we had a 6am flight on Monday.) But the walk was sooooo long from the parking lot. And there were stairs. And moving hurt so much. My body was D.O.N.E. (I also only got about 4 hours of sleep leading up to the marathon as well, so that didn't help.) Obviously YMMV on this.

Besides how my body felt, these are some of the reasons I will never switch resorts on full-marathon day again:
-the mostly re-packing, but also keeping allllll of the shower stuff out, having an additional bag for my nasty sweaty race stuff, and then also having a bag for stuff of the next day was very annoying. I used packing cubes and had a wetbag and it was still a hassle.
-we were lucky and the weather was really nice, but having to potentially be stuck in the lobby of a resort for hours and hours waiting for a room because it's really cold or raining is not something I would want to chance again. I know there are lots of stories about DVC rooms not being ready until like 6pm or later and I am the person that stuff almost always happens to.
-if something happened and I was injured or sick after the race having a room available is basically a necessity.

My ideal block of dates is Sat - Tues, to hopefully avoid this, because this is my fear as well! With how pricey rack rates are and how I’ve possibly missed the boat on monorail DVC rentals, I think I will probably just stick with our offsite condo. My body will probably thank me despite me last minute deciding to try and mark a monorail resort off my Disney bucket list

 

[marty3d]

SAFD:

Last year, there was a woman with a perfect version of the 'BELIEVE' sign from Ted Lasso, exiting DHS.

I tapped the sign as I limped past, and I don't know why*, but I just broke down crying and kept at it for a mile or so. Thankfully, @marty3d caught up with me (we'd met at the DisBoard meetup that morning) and I was able to regain my composure for the rest of the race.



*Okay, I know why. I was tired, and hungry, and sore, and exhausted.

I remember that sign! After almost having to be pulled from the race in MK that helped give me the drive to push on. Catching up with you and being able to talk through the last couple of miles was a good way to finish up - thanks!

 

[RunWI1265]

DVC does not offer late check-out, and 4pm is the earliest you can likely expect a room. The language is carefully written that Check-in STARTS at 4pm so even that isn't guaranteed. You might get lucky, but in my 20+ years of ownership I can count on one hand the number of times I've gotten a room early. Just be prepared to be "homeless" for that period of time and plan accordingly.

Thanks for this info. I didn’t know they didn’t offer late check-out so that is helpful!

Besides how my body felt, these are some of the reasons I will never switch resorts on full-marathon day again:
-the mostly re-packing, but also keeping allllll of the shower stuff out, having an additional bag for my nasty sweaty race stuff, and then also having a bag for stuff of the next day was very annoying. I used packing cubes and had a wetbag and it was still a hassle.
-we were lucky and the weather was really nice, but having to potentially be stuck in the lobby of a resort for hours and hours waiting for a room because it's really cold or raining is not something I would want to chance again. I know there are lots of stories about DVC rooms not being ready until like 6pm or later and I am the person that stuff almost always happens to.
-if something happened and I was injured or sick after the race having a room available is basically a necessity.

These are all good points. I try to make decisions on worst case scenario and if I’d be willing to do that. My husband keeps saying “why are you even considering this? It’s a terrible idea.”

 

[lookingforsunshine]

And I am registered for the 10k with Girls on the Run Central Florida! Unofficial “Dopey” with all four races— just no Dopey shirt or medal, which I am more than okay with. Exciting!

 

[flav]

And just like that, I suddenly have a total FOMO attack on Dopey 2023… *sight*

 

[Baloo in MI]

Good Morning runDisney All-sTars. It is Sunday, so time for SAFD, Today’s questions has been discussed some in the past, but thought I would bring it up as a question for us to dig into a little more.

Have you gone to the parks solo; for a race weekend? What did you like about it, what not so much?

My answer - yes, I have gone to a few race weekends solo and found positives and a few negatives. I really enjoyed being able to simply focus on my needs the whole race weekend - eating, sleeping, playing in the parks on my time line. But I was at first intimidated to eat alone - got over it. Ano I was afraid I would feel lonely/miss family - I did some. Plenty of ppl to talk with, there are the meet ups and races, all of it helps. If I can go with family I prefer, but going solo is nice also.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I haven’t done a solo trip (mainly because I just can’t bring myself to spend that much money on a weekend where it’s just me) but I did do my races “solo” this past MW. Except that it wasn’t really solo. Because I went to the HH meetup where enough people in here took pity on my awkwardness and dragged me into the conversations. And then on race morning I happened to spot @The Expert in the corrals and we ended up running together on Saturday and Sunday.

So if you’re solo and feel weird, come to the meetup at HH. Or to the morning-of meetup on race day. Because everyone in here is just as nice in person as they are online.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I did a solo trip to Tinkerbell in 2016. I loved that I could plan it all for me and focus on my race. This was the first race I'd done in two years due to ITBS and it was pretty special. I could hit the parks the way I wanted and choose the rides, go to the expo when I wanted, etc. Food wasn't an issue either, and actually I liked choosing dinners outside of Disney. Cheesecake Factory for the win the day before the race.

I like both options. I think DL was great for a solo trip since its much smaller than WDW.

 

[striker1064]

SAFD: I went solo for Princess 2022. I actually enjoyed it because I could rest and take things at my own pace without worrying that anyone traveling with me wasn't getting enough out of the trip. I'm more of a doing-things-on-the-fly kind of person, so I do very little planning in advance (which drives DW nuts). It made it easy to pop in for the DIS meetups and do pretty much what I wanted.

 

[camaker]

SAFD: Most of my race weekends are done solo. DW has come along to a couple and decided it just wasn't worth it due to the schedule I had to keep.

I really enjoy solo trips to the races. I can eat where and when I want/need to. I can go to the parks on the schedule that fits the needs of the races. Attending the HH, DATW and pre-race meetups is plenty of social interaction for me. Not to mention I can do everything I need to for the races without worrying that I'm impacting someone else's Disney experience. Solo is the way to go.

 

[Barca33Runner]

SAFD:

I’ve never done a solo trip but I have had numerous trips where I’m there a day earlier or stay a day later than the rest of my party. I think this is kind of the best of both worlds, get a little time by myself but the majority of the trip with family.

I can get much more done and do exactly the things I want to do when I’m on my own. Everything goes more quickly when there is no deliberation or wrangling required. In the before times, oh for the before times to return, I could park hop very quickly. Had multiple days where my flight came in at 8:30 AM and my group wasn’t getting there until after 6 PM that went really well. Multiple parks, all the big attractions in each, meals where I wanted to eat; I love being there with my family but a day by myself in the parks was an awesome experience as well. Not sure how it would work with required park pass, convoluted park hopping and Genie+; but I’m not eager to see. I’ll probably save the money in this situation in the future and just relax at the resort or go to Disney Springs.

When my free day is on the backside of the trip, late flight while everyone else left earlier, I’ve spent my time at Disney Springs. It’s also not a bad place to spend a day on my own. I have travel anxiety and don’t like the idea of spending a day in the parks and rushing through things before heading to the airport. Also not keen on not being able to clean up after the parks; I don’t think I’m the smelliest person in the world but I’m very self-conscious. Disney Springs offers much better opportunity to stay relaxed and cool before heading out.

ETA: These we’re all non-race trips or non-race days.

 

[jpeterson]

SAFD: yes I've done solo trips for races and other times as well. I really like it that way because I don't have to worry about anyone else's needs /wants. If I'm hungry I eat, if I'm tired I rest. Next 2 race weekends I expect will be solo as well. My wife is on the room reservation but I doubt she comes.

 

[Naomeri]

SAFD: every Disney trip I’ve taken as an adult has been solo. I’d love to have family come for the race weekends (and stay in a different room so we don’t disrupt each other’s sleep schedules), but no one has time/money.

I really enjoy being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want on a trip. Sometimes you have a plan in mind ahead of time that just doesn’t work in practice, and if you’re solo, no one can be disappointed that you decide at the last minute that staying for fireworks just isn’t going to happen (for example)

 

[HangWithMerida]

SAFD: I have done race weekends both ways. For a single race, it’s cool to have my family around, especially my husband. He understands the need for an early bedtime and can sleep through anything so a super early morning isn’t much of an issue. Also, most of the days I can do park stuff and the trip is basically a Disney trip with a run interruption. But, I really enjoyed my solo race weekend and am doing Dopey solo this year. For that many races I think solo is the way to go If your travel buddy isn’t running. I know myself well enough to know that my focus will be on doing what I need to make the challenge a success. I think that type of weekend might hurt the experience of Disney for my husband, who has no interest in going to parks alone. I also don’t generally mind being alone and sometimes really crave it. I will probably miss him after a couple of days though, as Disney is such a fun place to share with others.

 

[The Expert]

SAFD: My race trips aren't solo but I'm usually the only one racing. Thankfully, we go often enough that it's easy to prioritize my schedule and needs for these trips. I also make sure to go to the meetups, because running is not something anyone in my family does (outside the occasional 5K with me for fun). I train solo as well, so THIS is my running community. And as @Herding_Cats mentioned, everyone is friendly and accommodating. You might even find someone to help those boring miles between parks go faster and push you to finish, as we did.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

SAFD: I haven’t technically done runDisney solo— I raced MW 1/2 2025 by myself but stayed with my mom since she lived in Orlando at the time. She also drove me to and from the race. This past year, my DH joined me.

However, 2023 will be partially solo and I am looking forward to it! My neighbors will be racing too so I’ll have company for a lot of things but we aren’t staying together and will probably go our separate ways for some food and such. Then my DH will come down hopefully to watch me finish the marathon and then we will embark on the cruise together!

 

[marty3d]

SAFD: Have not done solo but I definitely wouldn’t rule it out in the future. MW 2023 will be my first trip without the whole family as my DW found it tough last year with me running the Dopey. It’s not a completely solo trip as one of my sons is tagging along and will run the 5 and 10 with me again.

 

[Z-Knight]

well, It'll be solo trips only from me from now on - broke up with fiance. sniff.

 

[1lilspark]

SAFD- as a local i do solo park touring on a regular basis… I did Springtime Surprise Solo this past year and it was so much fun