Marathon Weekend 2024

[WillRunForPizza]

SAFD: My answer will be a little different from most people's because I grew up in Orlando and my parents still live there. We all have APs as well, so I'm lucky to not have to cram parks and running into a short trip. It also saves a lot of money!

This year's marathon was my first rD race, and I did spend a few hours at Epcot afterwards with my medal. I had a lot of fun, but by mid-afternoon I was definitely ready to crash. I'm still glad I did the park time, though.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

SAFD:
In 2015 I went down for the half and didn’t go to the parks at all. My mom lived in Orlando at the time so I just stayed with her and did the Expo/race. I worked for AmeriCorps at this time and had no money for additional things.

2022 I went down for MW and didn’t do parks beforehand but did MK the Monday after. Before I did expo, Disney Springs, Drawn to Life, and a pool day. I had FOMO seeing everyone on social media at the parks.

2023 I decided to have fun at the parks before but then got COVID so I am mad at myself for doing that. The time on feet was fine, and I really enjoyed myself/wasn’t as exhausted after the early mornings as anticipated, but the risk of getting sick is so high right now.

 

[steph0808]

runDisney trips are always vacations to me, so I'm always trying to get as much park time as possible in addition to running. This year, with Dopey and getting sick, running cut into my vacation too much! IF I ever did Dopey again, I'd do it solo with not a lot of park time. I'll probably stick to just the marathon from now on just so it doesn't cut into vacation too much. But I have always paired Disney vacations with running and I think next time, I'll just do Disney on a non-race weekend.

 

[RuntheMouse]

SAFD: We have never had a race only weekend…..but this year’s MW we spent very little time in the parks despite being there for almost 2 weeks. A lot of that had to do with a first Dopey, also how close it was to New Years. Usually though we do a pretty good job balancing even if we are doing a quickie races weekend.

 

[The Expert]

That track 1 C2C medal is feeling all too tempting. Darn you runDisney for your scheduling shenanigans!

I just did my second Dopey and am ready for a break from the marathon (mostly the *training* for the marathon), so I'm dropping back to the 10K and Half (and will do the same at DL for the C2C). Here's the full copy from the web site from Track One:



If I'm reading this right, you do NOT have to do Goofy or Dopey to get the special C2C at DL. You could do any combination of runs as long as you do the half OR full marathon at WDW 2024 MW and the Half at DL in 2024. So you could absolutely take a break from the marathon distance and still get that C2C medal!

Today‘s question: When you attend a runDisney Weekend, if you have attended before, do you spend time in the parks or are you there strictly to run? How do you/would you manage priorities?

SAFD: I grew up going to WDW a lot, and I have family in the Tampa area. We're also AP holders and DVC, so we get plenty of park time. There is zero pressure to cram in parks when we go for races. That said, MW is really the only race weekend when the races dominate our schedule. The longer the race, the shorter the park time. Then I make it up after for medal photos!

 

[matt and beth]

SAFD: No parks last year. This year we did the After Hours Party at HS. A lot of fun and we stayed. However, it was rough getting only 1 hour of sleep before the 5K.

 

[azrivest]

SAFD: When I'm with my family, we do parks during the day but are back at the resort for 5pm so we can eat and I can go to bed early. We try to choose a resort with a cool pool so my kids can have fun in the evening while I'm in bed.

 

[1lilspark]

SAFD: since we are local passholder so we do parks
2016 W&D: Friday-expo/springs, Saturday-10k/magic, Sunday-solo run to Epcot while sister waited for her fiancé to finish half than net them at springs

2017 W&D: Thursday-expo/DAK, Friday-Epcot, Saturday-10k/magic, Sunday-DAK

2018 SW-Thursday-expo/springs Friday-5K/magic Saturday 10k/studios/epcot Sunday DAK (20th anniversary)/springs

2018 W&D-Thursday expo/DAK Friday-Epcot/springs, Saturday 10k/magic, Sunday studios

2019 W&D-Thursday expo/Epcot Friday 5k/dak/springs Saturday 10k/Magic Sunday studios

2021 W&D-Thursday expo/Epcot Friday-springs Saturday-10k/magic Sunday-DAK

2022 MW-Thursday springs/expo/Epcot Friday 10k/magic Saturday-studios Sunday-DAK

2022 SS-Thursday Expo/5K Friday-Magic Saturday-Studios Sunday-DAK

2022 W&D-Thursday-expo/springs/Epcot, Friday 5k/DAK, Saturday 10K/Magic /Studios Sunday Epcot

springtime surprise I’m blocked out most weekends but I’m planning studios after the 10 miler and magic after check out Monday

 

[Naomeri]

SAFD: I got into runDisney as an excuse to go to Disney more often, so I have to do the parks on running trips. But I schedule days before and after the running days so I can take it easier on running days without any park FOMO.

 

[Herding_Cats]

SAFD:
In '22 when we took DD (2 at the time) with us, we did 2 park days, and I was "only" doing Goofy. We did them before my races, and I was pretty much OK.

This past weekend ('23) we again did 2 park days, but we did hoppers, and one of those days included a tour. We did parks on Tuesday (13mi) and Thursday (almost 17mi including the 5k), and it absolutely destroyed our feet because we are the rope-drop-commando-style park people. We go-go-go in the parks because I can't just "relax and take in the atmosphere" when I've spent $150+ to be there. My garmin says I did 111mi during MW, Monday-Monday (and both Mondays were travel days.) That means I walked around 60mi in addition to running Dopey. And it was exhausting.


So if we go next year, I'm going to lobby for NO park days until we are done with the races. I'm pretty sure I will enjoy myself a lot more if we wait until Sunday afternoon (if I'm functional) or Monday to hit the parks for all of the pictures, snacks, and some rides. We've been to the parks enough times the past few years that I don't feel like I need a bunch of days in them to have it feel like a "Disney trip." I'd rather do Tuesday-Tuesday or Wednesday-Wednesday for the week and spend my race days napping, snacking, wandering around Disney Springs or resort-hopping.

 

[marty3d]

SAFD: We’ve always combined MW and the parks in the past And for the most part done”normal” park days with the exception of marathon Sunday where we did a half day after I took time to rest/ nap. With my son running some of the races with me I love going into the parks wearing our medals and the extra interaction that creates with other runners, cast members/ photopass and characters.

The main difference is we usually don’t stay until park close and are back in the room by around 9.

We are thinking of changing it up this year. We’re likely going to do a short 4 day trip combined with races for W&D and skip MW. If I decide to go for the C2C those will likely be 2 very short solo trips with the half for MW and same for DL. This would be my first time doing a (Disney) race weekend solo.

 

[PrincessV]

SAFD: minimal park time on race weekends. Keeping my body and mind in good shape to run is my #1 priority. But I’m also semi-local and visit WDW plenty of other times during the year, so it’s not like I’m missing out.

Generally, I’ll do a few hours of park time after a 5K or 10K, but I’ll minimize time on my feet and it’s mostly about catching up with some friends I only ever see at race weekends, so there‘s a lot of sitting and talking involved, not so much walking/standing/riding. I usually make it to a park the evening after a half if it’s my final race of the weekend, but I never did any park time between the half and full doing Goofy/Dopey. The day after a race weekend is almost always a park day.*

*I should qualify that a park “day” for me is not ever an all-day affair, race or no race. I can only take maybe 4-5 hours at a time before I need to escape to a quiet resort or leave entirely.

 

[RunWI1265]

Wow, that's so awesome! Brooks Lodge is on our bucket list too. Can't pass that up!! Was this your first year entering the lottery?

It was our first attempt! Didn’t get out first choice dates but we got august which is still good. Honestly, I would have liked to go in a few years when my kids are older to either join or make it easier on the grands to babysit for a longer period of time so we can see more of Alaska. But when the only option to stay at the lodge is lottery I figured we should throw our names now in case it took a few years. We’re hoping to pair with Kenai or Lake Clark if we can swing the time away but it’ll all depend on babysitters.

SAFD: I’ve only done two rD events, both Dopey. I did more park time my first year than I did this past trip. My husband has joined me after the marathon and we do the parks for a couple days after. We have APs so I don’t feel the pressure to make a park day visit “worth it”. We’ve combined SS and our big annual family trip. So it’ll be heavy parks with a side of races. For some reason I’m feeling like that trip will be harder than MW If I get into DL it’ll be the same with the added excitement of our kids first time to Disneyland.

 

[Stitch&Co.]

SAFD: I’m learning to embrace both. Usually our trips are only long enough to hit the expo, run the next day (or two) (someday four), and then head home the next day. DH isn’t a huge park guy so he is very content with just resort hopping or hanging out at DS. W&D weekends usually only have us going to Epcot for the after party and that is only for a few hours. MW22 I did the half then spent the rest of the day at Epcot then HS the next day before driving home Sunday night. That Saturday ended up being a 23 hour day on about 5 hours of sleep. Other than my feet hurting a bit on Sunday I was generally fine. I think all the easy walking afterwards really does help with recovery. We hit Epcot this year after the half and I had very little soreness on Sunday. PW is next but there won’t be any parks this time. If I only push for park time during MW it’s an easier sell to DH although he has launched a no park campaign.

 

[GreatLakes]

It really depends. Now that I have a school aged kid MW will usually be solo going forward. It is too close to going back to school to take him back out. However his school usually has the first Thursday and Friday of November off and we will likely use that as a short family trip in future years. That was actually our planned and fully booked for this past November but some family issues popped up and we had to cancel.

When we do those it will likely be one park day plus the Sunday after party in Epcot. Our WDW trips are as much FL trips to do other stuff and visit family as they are Disney at this point. Our next planned trip will actually have only one Disney park day to go with some time in Tampa/St. Pete and LegoLand in Winter Haven.

 

[nekonekoneko]

My first rD weekend, I tried to take the advice of keeping Half Marathon Saturday a slow day. I tried to make it a resort day, but my DW was bored. So we went to the bus stop, and played park roulette! We get on the first non Disney Springs bus.

Animal Kingdom it is!

I'm on the bus frantically looking for Fastpasses to anything decent, especially FoP

Since then, I haven't bothered with any rest days, since it seems we can handle it. I just try to make one lap around one park, and when it's done, it's done.

 

[GuinnessRunner]

My answer: It depends a little on if it is a solo or family trip. Either way I will spend some time in the parks, just more if I am with family.

SAFD: My answer is essentially the same. We're lucky to be close enough that we typically come down once or twice a year, so that helps when I'm on a solo trip to not feel like I need to spend full days in the park on race days. When sole I typically will go and spend 3-4 hours but that's it. When family is there I will meet them after the race and typically stay with them until 8-9.

 

[camaker]

SAFD: I was a Disney fan first and the prospect of running through the parks are what brought me to running. The prospect of a Disney trip without park time is just unthinkable. I do my trips solo, so I'm free to go into the parks for as much or as little as I'm feeling on any given day, but I will be in them for at least some time every day I'm there. The walking involved in park visits also serves as excellent "distracted" active recovery between races, as the park experience keeps my mind off of any discomfort that I'm walking off.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

SAFD: Caveat that we go to WDW several times a year, so that 100% influences my answer. Race weekends also don’t fit with the school calendar so it’s generally solo or adults only, so no kids to influence the plan. So it’s mostly about accomplishing the task at hand.

For this past marathon weekend (my first for this race weekend), park time was pretty minimal. I focused on trying to eat reasonably well and getting to bed reasonably early. Eg, I was staying at CR so did two meals at Geyser Point at WL since it was close and they have good menu items to mix proteins and veggies, went to DAK one day for Satuli Canteen, etc.

I also usually stay CL so spend some time in the lounge where you often end up meeting others also running, chatting, etc.

I’m usually all-in on some resort pool time but I went to the pool Saturday afternoon to pass some time, it was warm/sunny, and all I wanted was (several) adult beverages, so I went back to the room.

So I guess my use of time wasn’t particularly ‘fun’, but for my first Dopey/first marathon I was really more focused on that more than anything else so kept things during the day rather basic.

 

[jmasgat]

SAFD: I was a Disney fan first and the prospect of running through the parks are what brought me to running. The prospect of a Disney trip without park time is just unthinkable. I do my trips solo, so I'm free to go into the parks for as much or as little as I'm feeling on any given day, but I will be in them for at least some time every day I'm there. The walking involved in park visits also serves as excellent "distracted" active recovery between races, as the park experience keeps my mind off of any discomfort that I'm walking off.

What he said.