Marathon Weekend 2024

[superchime]

SAFD: I don't know if it counts as cross training, but I do Kung Fu three nights a week. It's fairly leg-intensive but we do work in some stretching and bodyweight/core work most classes. I have started and stopped various strength and stretching programs but I haven't managed to stick with any of them. After the Disneyland race weekend is over I'm going to try again.

 

[PrincessV]

SAFD: lots of cross training, and more XT than running lately. For a long, long time I’ve done Pilates, vinyasa yoga, ballet, plyometrics, and/or strength training on my non-run days, twice a week. Lately, I’ve been swapping out a short run day every other week with indoor cycling. My body (and schedule) can’t handle running every day, but I still need to move, so yeah - XT is just part of the routine!

 

[lookingforsunshine]

SAFD: Right now my training plan has 30 min of yoga twice a week, 4 days of running, 1 day that is either 45 min of recovery jog or XT (which I have been doing the jog), and 1 day of 45 min XT (which I usually bike but this week I power walked). I would like to do more traditional strength training but don’t have the capacity to learn something new. The yoga serves as strength, mobility, and stretching so I like it. And I just love biking so I’m glad to do that still.

 

[princesspirateandrunner]

FYI: New promos have been announced. I just called and saved $181.96 off our existing reservation at POFQ for PW. The weekend itself is excluded from the offer, but we’re staying a couple of days afterwards. The offer applies to most Sundays—Thursday nights, so maybe check and see if you can modify your existing reservation for MW and save a bit. We’re doing DL instead of MW this year, so I didn’t really look to see which dates are excluded in January.

 

[azrivest]

FYI: New promos have been announced. I just called and saved $181.96 off our existing reservation at POFQ for PW. The weekend itself is excluded from the offer, but we’re staying a couple of days afterwards. The offer applies to most Sundays—Thursday nights, so maybe check and see if you can modify your existing reservation for MW and save a bit. We’re doing DL instead of MW this year, so I didn’t really look to see which dates are excluded in January.

None. All offers end on December 25th and start on January 9th. Almost like it was planned

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

None. All offers end on December 25th and start on January 9th. Almost like it was planned

My TA told me all of that stuff is 100% planned to not apply to the MW crowd. It's always so busy that they don't need to offer the promotions to fill the rooms. Boo.

 

[GreatLakes]

There were some AP discounts that came out so we moved from Swan on points to AoA family suite. I'm hoping they release something for summer to save on our 4th of July trip.

 

[matt and beth]

SAFD:

If someone hasn’t already said it I like doing the 16 ounce arm curls, playing some golf, and doing weights with the upper body on leg rest days.

 

[GollyGadget]

FYI, target is running a 20% off deal on “things to do” via TripAdvisor through 7 October. It was mentioned in the Disneyland thread but you can find more details from the budget board:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...s-stack-me-with-cb-site-and-pp-chase.3931408/

I was only planning to buy 4 day tickets but now all of a sudden I have a 7 day ticket because it was cheaper than the full price 4 day. Disney math at its finest

 

[Herding_Cats]

FYI, target is running a 20% off deal on “things to do” via TripAdvisor through 7 October. It was mentioned in the Disneyland thread but you can find more details from the budget board:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...s-stack-me-with-cb-site-and-pp-chase.3931408/

I was only planning to buy 4 day tickets but now all of a sudden I have a 7 day ticket because it was cheaper than the full price 4 day. Disney math at its finest

Step 1: request the 20% discount code from target circle for TripAdvisor site
Step 2: go to TripAdvisor and search the name of ticket or event (see also @Genie+ hacks above this post if you have trouble)
Step 3: Select dates and add to cart
Step 4: enter promo code (that should have arrived from target in your inbox)
Step 5: see discount applied, pump fist in the air, shouting “woohoo” is optional
Step 6: pay
Step 7: Get ticket code in your booking confirmation
Step 8: attempt to input code in My Disney Experience app, fail and be redirected to website
Step 9: use code to link tickets on MDE portion of the WDW website, select which people in your account to link it to
Step 10: confirm tickets show up in app
Step 11: make park reservations.

Congratulations, you’ve saved as much as $250 in 11 easy steps.

I'm in the process of doing this right now.

ETA: if you are not a target-circle-savvy person (like me) and you are searching for where to find this 20% thing, you need to click PARTNERS (not offers) to find the tripadvisor thing.

 

[jofo]

Dopey veterans: what do you like to do in terms of number of park days, hopper vs not, which parks on which days, etc? Thanks!

(edited since curious to hear what works for other people)

 

[flav]

now all of a sudden I have a 7 day ticket because it was cheaper than the full price 4 day. Disney math at its finest

No the same deal but I also ended up with a 7 day PH+ w Memory Maker because it was significantly cheaper than a lesser days base ticket.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Dopey veterans: can you please give any advice on number of park days, hopper vs not, which parks on which days, etc? Thanks!

You are going to get all kinds of answers, but a lot of it also comes down to "it depends." Are you a person who is not likely to have any sort of issue with the minimum pace requirement? Are you someone who has a legitimate worry about being swept? How do you function on less sleep? Is this your first marathon? What is your park-touring style; are you a rope-drop-to-close-get-every-penny's-worth person?

 

[camaker]

Dopey veterans: can you please give any advice on number of park days, hopper vs not, which parks on which days, etc? Thanks!

Do what you want to do. I get park hoppers and visit multiple parks just about every day of Dopey. Walking around the parks is great active recovery. I just make sure I'm back in the room for an early bedtime.

 

[jofo]

You are going to get all kinds of answers, but a lot of it also comes down to "it depends." Are you a person who is not likely to have any sort of issue with the minimum pace requirement? Are you someone who has a legitimate worry about being swept? How do you function on less sleep? Is this your first marathon? What is your park-touring style; are you a rope-drop-to-close-get-every-penny's-worth person?

Good point -- I edited my original post because I was more curious to hear a variety of answers as opposed to advice for my specific situation. I'm not sure what I want to do yet and sometimes hearing different options that work for others helps me solidify my thoughts.

 

[flav]

Dopey veterans: can you please give any advice on number of park days, hopper vs not, which parks on which days, etc? Thanks!

It really depends on how often you went to Disney and what is your touring style.

Things to consider:
- If you come from a Winter climate with chances of flight delays, you want to fly in Tuesday at the latest to make sure to get to the Expo on Wednesday. For all race weekends, I arrive day of first race minus two.
- The Monday after, there is usually a bunch of DISers that go DATW. If I could, I would stay longer after but generally limit myself to a week. So Tuesday to Tuesday for Dopey. For other race weekends, I sometimes did shorter stays, with the occasional regrets.
- Will you be at a resort where you will enjoy spending time or would you rather spend time in the parks? What about the other people traveling with you?
- How do you usually recover from races? I have a much easier time when I walk than when I sit. Floating in a pool helps too.

For my next race weekend (not MW this time), I bought this ticket from
https://www.attractiontickets.com/e.../walt-disney-world-resort/disney-7-day-ticket
and will stay for 7 days/6 nights due to other constraints.

I like the flexibility that PH gives but have done without too. It was particularly practical if others were with me. They would go where they wanted and I would join them later if I felt like it.

Here is what I did in the past:

Dopey 2020 w 7 days PH+ ticket and 5 other family members, staying at Pop

• Tuesday: Early flight, skipped MK (others were tired), evening in Epcot
• Wednesday: Rope drop HS, Expo early afternoon, beignets at POFQ, boat to DS, evening in HS
• Thursday: 5k, recovery at resort, MK from lunch to fireworks
• Friday: 10k, resort, Typhoon lagoon, AK
• Saturday: HM, resort, Epcot but also HS because some wanted to ride RRC
• Sunday: M, recovery at resort, MK with medals, boat to WL for Storybook dining at AP
• Monday: Part of DATW at Epcot, pool at new resort, HS

Springtime Surprise 2023 w 5 days base ticket, DD and me staying at ASMo:

• Wednesday: Late flight
• Thursday: Rope drop MK, Expo late afternoon, beignets at POFQ
• Friday: 5k, bus to YC, rope drop HS, late lunch at Beaches n Cream
• Saturday: 10k, breakfast at BC, rope drop Epcot through IG, recovery at resort, back at Epcot a few hours later
• Sunday: 10M, recovery at resort, MK w medals
• Monday: Rope drop AK, late flight home

 

[Herding_Cats]

Good point -- I edited my original post because I was more curious to hear a variety of answers as opposed to advice for my specific situation. I'm not sure what I want to do yet and sometimes hearing different options that work for others helps me solidify my thoughts.

Last year DH and I did 3 park days. Tuesday, Thursday (with a VIP tour that was gifted to us), and Monday after the marathon, mostly for pics. I am the kind of person who feels like they need to get every penny's worth out of the price of a park ticket (not an AP holder) so we rope-dropped AK and then hopped on Tuesday, and stuck around for one of the fireworks shows (~30k steps.) Early morning on Tuesday for the expo VQ, and then the cirque show at DS that evening. 5k Wednesday (~20k steps.) 10k Thursday (still pretty much rope-dropped MK) and our tour got us on almost all of the "big" rides in all 4 parks (~36k steps.) Our feet were killing us at this point, and while DH was done with races, I still had the 2 bigs left. By Sunday I was a hot mess because I don't do well with limited sleep and I was barely able to eat on Saturday (which from training I know is an issue for me on runs over 2.5 hours unless I start eating basically as soon as I stop running.) Plus anxiety about my first Dopey, even though it was my 3rd marathon. More park days would have been a disaster for me last year based on how we approached the park days. So be very honest with yourself about how all of the extra walking and potential lack of sleep will impact you.

All of that is to say, I'm currently looking at a 5 day hopper for this coming weekend, knowing that we will take it very very easy. This is also because I don't want to be stuck like we were last year having to buy an extra 1-day ticket to to in and take medal pics on Monday because the date-based ticket restriction ran out on like....Saturday because our first park day was Tuesday; it's cheaper to get the 5 day than a 3 day and separate 1-day for medal pics. I hate the 2pm hopping restriction. However, DH loves AK, but not enough to want to spend a whole day there. I like MK, but I just want to ride like 3 things and watch the fireworks. We like to snack around epcot. It's "only" another $180 to add the hoppers and have that flexibility.

 

[nekonekoneko]

Dopey veterans: what do you like to do in terms of number of park days, hopper vs not, which parks on which days, etc? Thanks!

(edited since curious to hear what works for other people)

My DW gets bored easily, so every day must be a park day! She's running Dopey, plus we go into the parks every day. With the 2:00 pm hopping limit, we pulled back to base tickets, but we can still go most of the day in a park. We'll go until like 5:30 - 6:00, then go find dinner, then go back to the room and call it a day. 3:00 am comes VERY quickly.

 

[Disneyhanna]

I pretty much do normal park touring with two exceptions, I don't stand in any lines more than maybe 15 minutes (this means either skipping rides or buying Genie+) and I try to be back in my room after dinner, and have an early dinner around 5. If you're in good shape, the walking around the parks shouldn't be an issue. But the standing is what really tires me out, so I avoid long ride lines. Sit as much as possible, during meals, during snacks, people watching, etc. I found that a hot bath in the evenings and mornings helped relieve any stiffness in my legs as well.

 

[DopeyBadger]

@jofo

Here are my recaps and what we did:

2017 Dopey
2018 Dopey
2020 Marathon
2022 Princess
2023 Princess

Short - I've done five Dopeys. My wife and I have an agreement. These are Disney vacations for the family first and foremost. Running comes second. So the expectation is that I participate in 99% of the things everyone else does on the trip. I also have personal running goals (like finishing Dopey 2018 in 20th place), so I burn the candle on both ends. We do runDisney trips like we do Disney trips.