Marathon Weekend 2023

[Cabius]

SAFD: I once had a great series of runs while staying at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness in late November. The loops afford a lot of paved miles, and the Christmas decorations that time of year are lovely.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

SAFD: the Boardwalk loop for sure! I’ve run many laps around that lake and it’s a wide loop so I’m not bored. If I need to get off the loop it’s easy to pick up the walking path to Studios.

 

[marty3d]

SAFD: Another vote for the Boardwalk loop. Love it. Even after running the 2017 Half there.

 

[camaker]

SAFD: I've had some good runs on vacation around the perimeter of the lake at Coronado Springs, but I try not to run too much on my non-race trips. I feel like I'm getting plenty of exercise walking around the parks.

 

[MissLiss279]

SAFD: Pretty much, I’m only at Disney for race weekends. I went last year over MW and ran my virtual Goofy runs around Saratoga/Treehouse Villas. For the marathon, when the sun came up, I took the trail over to OKW and ran most of the loops over there too. The bell hops at OKW were kind enough to let me refill my water.

 

[Novatrix]

SAFD: I travel to Disney a lot if I have spur of the moment extra comp time (DVC+AP make this possible) and love getting runs in on Disney property during non-runDisney trips. Over the years I've done the following:

-OKW-SSR-Disney Springs loops. Often. One memorable trip I was sent on a jog by my family from the OKW-Miller's Road area to pick up dinner from Earl of Sandwich and then get back before the sandwiches were cold.
-Crescent Lake area EPCOT resorts. Often. Really like that BWV-DHS-EPCOT loop.
-BLT-MK-TTC loop. 3 times. Now that there's a bridge from MK to GF, this loop is a lot of fun. The security officers at the check points along the route serve as the best cheer squads too. You need to walk when you go through the scanners, otherwise you're off!
-Fort Wilderness - 2 times. If I'm staying at Wilderness lodge, I like to get in a longer run here. Unfortunately, I only got to do it one time before they closed the walking path from the Lodge to the Fort. The second time, I needed to take the bus from the lodge to the Fort.
-Hourglass loop - 1 time. I'm not often in the area of Pop and AoA, so took the opportunity the one trip I was there to do loops around the lake. I enjoyed seeing all the fun fact signs between the resorts.

 

[Jillfo]

SAFD:

I've always stayed at Epcot resorts (more often than not the Swan) in recent years and love running there. Around the lake, over to HS and back (using the paths on both sides of the canal), around/thru the parking lots of all the resorts, weaving around the pool areas between Swan and Dolphin.

 

[flav]

SAFD: I usually run when in vacation and would likely do so at WDW. This SAFD just made me realize that I haven’t been to WDW outside of a runDisney weekend since before I started running diligently. I did shakeout run around the hourglass lake both times.

I did not run on our short stays at Aulani or DL but that was built on the training/racing plans (ran before and after).

 

[BigEeyore]

SAFD: I love running at Disney! It's a great way to start the day. Some of my favorites from over the years:
- Boardwalk loop around Crescent lake and out/back to HS
- Around the lake at Coronado
- Around the Poly to the GF and back
- The BLT/MK loop
- SSR/OKW - there is a path that connects them and allows for a lot of miles (ran a half on this route last year)
- RIP path from WL to Fort Wilderness - this was so nice, and it was easy to get in some nice miles running around FW
- AKL - OK, this is not a great place to run at all but it is our home DVC resort so we often end up there. I hate the TM so I usually end up looping up and down the parking lot, and back and forth on the short path between Kidani and Jambo.

Speaking of that - I booked AKL for Dopey so we are set pending registrations! Hoping to get my kids (and maybe my husband) to join me in some of the races!

 

[Herding_Cats]

So.....for DVC owners/experienced renters for MW: is the 7mo window too late to book a studio at one of the "less popular" resorts (SSR, OKW, etc) if you don't want to have a split stay? My desire to get something booked and locked in is competing fiercely with my need to wait until after spring break so we aren't putting out sooooo much money right now.

 

[Herding_Cats]

SAFD:
I wasn't really a "runner" for most of our previous disney trips. SIL and I did run the princess 5k around CBR/Riv last February, and while I intended to do a couple of very short runs for MW, our park day and all of the other running around (plus DH running the 5 and 10ks) made it so there was never a "good" time for me to go out on my own. And running with the stroller we took wasn't a safe decision. I'm always very impressed with people who have the motivation to get out early and put in the miles on a disney vacation. I don't know that I'll ever be one of them though.

 

[HangWithMerida]

SAFD:
Usually I build the days in to my training plans and don't run. A couple of times I have taken used the arrival day to get a run in because we have no park plans. The looparound/between the PO resorts and along the water there is pretty nice.

 

[BigEeyore]

So.....for DVC owners/experienced renters for MW: is the 7mo window too late to book a studio at one of the "less popular" resorts (SSR, OKW, etc) if you don't want to have a split stay? My desire to get something booked and locked in is competing fiercely with my need to wait until after spring break so we aren't putting out sooooo much money right now.

You might get lucky, but with MW coming so early next year we are going to have to deal with leftover New Years crowds, so if it's important to you to be in a DVC studio for MW I'd jump on it sooner rather than later. A lot of DVC owners book up the studios due to the lowest points per night.

 

[pluto377]

SAFD: I don't usually run on vacation. But I'm going to try when we go next month. We'll be at Boardwalk so it'll be the perfect place to get in a few miles at least a few days during the trip!

 

[Baloo in MI]

So.....for DVC owners/experienced renters for MW: is the 7mo window too late to book a studio at one of the "less popular" resorts (SSR, OKW, etc) if you don't want to have a split stay? My desire to get something booked and locked in is competing fiercely with my need to wait until after spring break so we aren't putting out sooooo much money right now.

I am still pretty new to DVC, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt. But based on the conversation I had with the DVC cast member it is better to book up as soon as you can. Many ppl will still be around from New Years and MW results in a bigger uptick in demand for DVC.

i do know this year that we wanted to add two more days at the end of MW but we’re told all the studios were sold out. We checked back everyday and things remained sold out.

 

[The Expert]

SAFD: I typically don't run at Disney unless it's for an rD race, but I have done some of the resort fun runs they used to have. The exception was in October of 2019, in the midst of training for my first full, I had a 9 mile long run that I really wanted to get in. Being a wuss when it comes to heat and humidity, I did it on the treadmill at BWV, and discovered the mini fridge of heavenly cool, wet, scented (and unscented) towels.

 

[The Expert]

So.....for DVC owners/experienced renters for MW: is the 7mo window too late to book a studio at one of the "less popular" resorts (SSR, OKW, etc) if you don't want to have a split stay? My desire to get something booked and locked in is competing fiercely with my need to wait until after spring break so we aren't putting out sooooo much money right now.

Not a renter, but an owner. Studios and 2 bedrooms tend to book first, but if you don't care where you stay you should be okay at those larger resorts during a non-holiday period. It's close enough to NYE that there may be more demand for this year, so if there's any way to book just before that 7 month window, I'd do it just to be safe.

 

[nekonekoneko]

SAFD: Disney has gotten so expensive, that we've reduced ourselves to one trip per year. That's still during MW, so, no, we won't be doing any other running or "exercise for the sake of exercise" while here.

As for our lodging, we were renting DVC points for the last few years, and it's been a great way to save. But, for 2023, we've decided to go completely off-site. We can't use early morning hours because of the runs, and we can't use the late night hours because of sleeping early. We don't really care much where we eat, so 60+10 dining doesn't much matter. We rent a car while we're here, so I'm not using the busses. I mean, what benefits are left for staying on-site?

 

[Disney at Heart]

SAFD: Absolutely. We do maintenance runs MWFSat regularly, so we run while at WDW and enjoy running someplace different. We may cut the distance down to 3-4 miles rather than 6 on an average day. And when we are training with “required” longer runs we tend to shuffle the schedule to do those when we are home.

 

[Dopey 2020]

SAFD:
Usually keep up with running on vacation. Sometimes I'll cut back from 5 days a week to 3 and stay under 5-6 miles each. Basically up just before sunrise and go for an hour, especially if we are at an epcot resort.
The AKL parking lot isn't a favorite, but ill take it over a treadmill.