Marathon Weekend 2025

[fatmanatee]

I believe the theory goes that you also get more life out of shoes when you give them a break after using them, so 12-16 hours straight for multiple days could definitely have put a dent in that. (Personally, I have way too many running shoes, so they usually get up to a week between uses .)

Every once in a while I'll try a pair that isn't worth returning but isn't my favorite for running, and I'll retire them early and make them my walking-around shoes. I don't, however, use shoes for running and walking at the same time. They are only walking shoes if they are done being running shoes.

If I didn't have that, I agree with whoever said that it may not be the best idea to use shoes that you retired because they were at the end of their running life - it seems like they could cause the same issues they were when you were running in them. If you do use all your running shoes until they are fully done, you might want to invest in a comfortable pair of walking shoes separately so you're not hurting yourself.

Yeah this is really the core issue, as I've gotten older what I need out of my sneakers has changed but I've struggled to find a pair that fits both my comfort level and style (style is easy, I know what I like, but unfortunately what I like offers NO support lol).

 

[smileyanna]

Long time lurker. Running my first Dopey, ran the WDW marathon in 2018. I have a couple of questions for experienced MW weekend folks, apologies in advance if these are repeat questions (almost certainly). Thanks for all the wisdom and camaraderie on this thread.

1. I'm assuming I will be in corral C (POT 4:45). I usually hydrate well on a marathon morning, meaning lots of potty trips, meaning I don't want to go into the corrals early (no bathrooms, right?). Will there be a loud "corral C is closing" warning that will still enable me to get in "C" while staying in the port-a-potty area as long as possible? Or do I need to lurk near the corral entrance to keep tabs on this?

2. I'd love to ride Everest in Animal Kingdom if I am feeling up to it/have the time. Are there (unwritten?) time cutoffs for Everest?

3. How are the resort bus lines after the marathon?

4. This is a spectator question, so feel free to direct me to another thread. Will it possible/practicle given road closures for family to get to Animal Kingdom from Wilderness Lodge to spectate?

 

[nancipants]

Long time lurker. Running my first Dopey, ran the WDW marathon in 2018. I have a couple of questions for experienced MW weekend folks, apologies in advance if these are repeat questions (almost certainly). Thanks for all the wisdom and camaraderie on this thread.

1. I'm assuming I will be in corral C (POT 4:45). I usually hydrate well on a marathon morning, meaning lots of potty trips, meaning I don't want to go into the corrals early (no bathrooms, right?). Will there be a loud "corral C is closing" warning that will still enable me to get in "C" while staying in the port-a-potty area as long as possible? Or do I need to lurk near the corral entrance to keep tabs on this?

4. This is a spectator question, so feel free to direct me to another thread. Will it possible/practicle given road closures for family to get to Animal Kingdom from Wilderness Lodge to spectate?

1. The corrals have close times that are listed in the event guide. You can get into the corral any time up to then (and also leave and come back). I have also ducked out the back of the start chute to run to the porta potties one last time. (Volunteers standing there will usually open up one section of the fences to let people out. This is especially helpful if you're in a later corral.)

4. World Drive and Buena Vista Drive will have partial closures, so it might not be worth the effort to find alternate directions to Animal Kingdom. Getting to Magic Kingdom would probably be much easier.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Long time lurker. Running my first Dopey, ran the WDW marathon in 2018. I have a couple of questions for experienced MW weekend folks, apologies in advance if these are repeat questions (almost certainly). Thanks for all the wisdom and camaraderie on this thread.

1. I'm assuming I will be in corral C (POT 4:45). I usually hydrate well on a marathon morning, meaning lots of potty trips, meaning I don't want to go into the corrals early (no bathrooms, right?). Will there be a loud "corral C is closing" warning that will still enable me to get in "C" while staying in the port-a-potty area as long as possible? Or do I need to lurk near the corral entrance to keep tabs on this?

No. There are no announcements for when corrals are closing. In the event guide, there is a table of when the corrals close, so you can ensure that you are in your corral on time.

2. I'd love to ride Everest in Animal Kingdom if I am feeling up to it/have the time. Are there (unwritten?) time cutoffs for Everest?

Riding EE will depend on a couple of things: will you be through AK before the park is open (this will depend on your pace including any picture/bathroom stops,) AND how far ahead you are of the sweepers. Some years they have the single-rider line open and are actively encouraging runners to ride, and other times they have single-rider closed and runners have to use the standby line. Depending on when you are going through AK the posted wait time may be so long you wouldn't want to stop because of stopping+standing in line+sitting down and how far ahead of the balloon ladies you are.

3. How are the resort bus lines after the marathon?

This depends on when you finish. I've waited 45min for a bus, but I'm team not-so-fast.

4. This is a spectator question, so feel free to direct me to another thread. Will it possible/practicle given road closures for family to get to Animal Kingdom from Wilderness Lodge to spectate?

i have no idea, so i'll let others weigh in on this.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

This is not a real thing

This!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Long time lurker. Running my first Dopey, ran the WDW marathon in 2018. I have a couple of questions for experienced MW weekend folks, apologies in advance if these are repeat questions (almost certainly). Thanks for all the wisdom and camaraderie on this thread.

1. I'm assuming I will be in corral C (POT 4:45).

1. Quit lurking and join the fun. Please come to the pre-race meetup.
2. Kudos on being on this forum in the first place.
3. Your PoT gains both my admiration and annoyance (because I'm also team not-so-fast)
4. Your other questions have been answered, but I will add that if EE isn't open yet, people have also ridden Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster. And rumors of riding Triceratop Spin because the EE cast members were being difficult....
5. Remember to pace yourself for the 5k, 10k, and the half.
6. Have fun. Dopey is one of the coolest things I've ever done.

 

[fatmanatee]

I asked about Everest earlier this year and got a few different answers on the single rider cutoff, so I don't think they have a set time. I wrote down 7:30-9:15 as the sweet spot but not confident about that, obviously the later it goes the more risk there is that they stop giving preference to us. This discussion was before the new start time, might be worth keeping that in mind, as they could definitely adjust the cutoff accordingly.

 

[DopeyBadger]

2. I'd love to ride Everest in Animal Kingdom if I am feeling up to it/have the time. Are there (unwritten?) time cutoffs for Everest?

Here's an unofficial pacing chart to help with Everest decisions based on corral assignment.



As someone who is presumed to be slotted in Corral C, you are projected to start at 4:42-4:47am and roughly 45 min ahead of the sweepers. Everest is at Mile 17 with an opening around 7:30am and the sweepers are projected to arrive around 9:55am based on a 16 min/mile from the 5:27am listed time in the event guide. So that means as someone in Corral C, you can't run any faster than a 9:53 min/mile and no slower than a 16:21 min/mile. If you're faster than a 9:53, then you'll get there too soon and the ride won't be open yet. If you run slower than 16:21, then you'll arrive too close to my cutoff for recommending attempting to ride (roughly 40 min before the sweepers are projected there). The start times are all estimates (even in the event guide). So the recommendation is to wait to see the listed pacer information that usually comes out the day of the expo. Then use runner tracking to follow the 7hr pace group runner. You will then know when they start, and with some 16 min/mile * 17 miles = 272 min = 4.5 hrs you can estimate when they'll arrive to Everest. So if they start at 5am instead of 5:30, then they'll arrive at 9:30am instead of 10:00am. Which means the cutoff is 8:50am and not 9:20am.

Here's the same table for RnR and ToT.

4. This is a spectator question, so feel free to direct me to another thread. Will it possible/practicle given road closures for family to get to Animal Kingdom from Wilderness Lodge to spectate?

They will 100% be able to get from Wilderness Lodge to AK, because regular guests need to be able to do that as well. Early Entry on 1/12/25 is currently listed at 7:30am. Buses start running about 45 min ahead, so 6:45am. The Wildneress Lodge bus takes approximately 15-20 min under good conditions. So double it and say 30-40 min. So best case for bussing there gets them there around 7:15-7:20am. Then they'll need to use their Early Entry to high tail it inside (at 7:30am) to get to the AK area where the runners pass by. Runners don't run in the parking lot anymore like they used to, so only >7:30am (or a 9:53 min/mile pace or slower) will enable them to be able to see you. Then based on your pace, they'd need to get over to EPCOT to see the finish.

You've got 9 miles, or about 90 min based on a 10 min/mile pace. Which is doable from AK to EPCOT finish line. The tricky part is EPCOT doesn't open until 9:30am for EE. So the bus from AK to EPCOT won't be running yet. You'll have to take a resort bus like AK to Yacht or Boardwalk, then have a park ticket to walk through EPCOT or take a MW bus from those resorts. Option 2 is to take an Uber from AK to EPCOT gates. So it's doable, but far trickier unless you have your own vehicle.

 

[GuinnessRunner]

Since we are in corral-talk mode this morning, do we have any guesses for how they are going to assign them this time, given that we are going up to G? Trying to gauge how this might look for the Dis list.

It will be interesting to see if the larger number of corrals reinforces the behavior going forward of selecting the faster anticipated finish time to move up farther in front of the balloon ladies. I haven't looked at the math to check if there is really much of a difference, but I would think, pyschologically, the more corrals you have, people will simply assume it puts them in a worse position, regardless of the actual facts/math. If people were already doing it to be in D rather than E, I can only imagine even more will do it to avoid being in G.

 

[Naomeri]

My wallet disagrees.

So does my closet space

 

[DopeyBadger]

It will be interesting to see if the larger number of corrals reinforces the behavior going forward of selecting the faster anticipated finish time to move up farther in front of the ballon ladies. I haven't looked at the math to check if there is really much of a difference, but I would think, pyschologically, the more corrals you have, people will simply assume it puts them in a worse position, regardless of the actual facts/math. If people were already doing it to be in D rather than E, I can only imagine even more will do it to avoid being in G.

I do have some data on this concept. From at least 2014-2017, runDisney was using a system that allowed hand written estimates for finish time instead of a drop down menu. They then slotted runners based on predetermined corral sizes. Over time people realized the gimmick and put in exactly 5:30:00 instead of 5:30:01. This had loads of people with the same exact estimate, and led to multiple corrals with the exact same window of estimates. Lots of anger and confusion as to why people with the same input were slotted differently. See corrals J, K, and L in the image below.



2017 was the last year of Corrals A through P. You can see that in the table below in the # bibs column with the predetermined numbers.




Then in 2018 they changed to Corrals A through H, used mini-waves, and had a drop down menu at registration. This gave us this distribution.




Corral F that year was the first non-POT corral. Notice the % of runners within it (15%). People learned the gimmick of the new system and look what happened in 2019 and 2020.






The % of people submitting the fastest non-POT time went from 15% of runners to 27-30% of runners from one year to the next. And very few people were submitting times of 3:00-3:15. Dropped from 24% down to 7-10% in a single year. Did the population of runDisney runners change dramatically? Unlikely. Instead like always, they learned the gimmick and worked the system to their advantage.

So the answer is, about 70-75% of the field is slower than the current POT cutoff. And about 10-15% of the field will choose the fastest non-POT regardless plus all the people it normally encompasses. According to past data, the first non-POT corral currently of 5:00-5:30 should only have about 7-8% of the field in it (see 2018 corrals).



But look at the % distribution I posted earlier and you'll see that MW Corral D (first non-POT and 5:00-5:30 equivalent) is listed at an estimated 16-18% of the field. There's your 10% selecting the fastest option regardless, plus the 7-8% who actually have a POT for that slot if they were allowed to submit it.

 

[nancipants]

They will 100% be able to get from Wilderness Lodge to AK, because regular guests need to be able to do that as well. Early Entry on 1/12/25 is currently listed at 7:30am. Buses start running about 45 min ahead, so 6:45am. The Wildneress Lodge bus takes approximately 15-20 min under good conditions. So double it and say 30-40 min. So best case for bussing there gets them there around 7:15-7:20am. Then they'll need to use their Early Entry to high tail it inside (at 7:30am) to get to the AK area where the runners pass by. Runners don't run in the parking lot anymore like they used to, so only >7:30am (or a 9:53 min/mile pace or slower) will enable them to be able to see you. Then based on your pace, they'd need to get over to EPCOT to see the finish.

Lol. I'm such a local, I didn't even think about busses from the hotel to AK.

 

[StarGirl11]

Tested out my camelbak the other day. Turned out that yes my cane can fit in there while folded. So going to be attempting to see if the CMs working Everest that day will let me park the cycle and walk through the queue.

SAFD: Between health issues and everything I haven’t exactly had a trad training cycle let alone for Dopey. That being said not overly worried. Doing three race weekends before I know unless I push it too hard during the half I’ll be okay for the full. Plus the day I did the 18 around hourglass lake while taking a non running vacation at Disney. Showed I definitely have enough stamina even off of a light load.

Got a full next weekend with Rocket City. After that it’s just going to be trying to keep my maintanence up between that and Dopey.

My view of the half course is very jaded by my W&D experience. I’m really hoping they do something differently, because it was pretty awful.

For those who don’t know, the way they did W&D corrals was the standard lettering system… but also each letter was then divided on-site into multiple corrals. So while I was in D, D actually comprised 3 or 4 physical corrals, each named a different color. The deal was that they filled the first of a letter’s corral, then closed it and started loading the next one. Once a corral was closed, there was NO further entry allowed. If you were already in a corral that closed, you were allowed to exit to use the potties or get water, but had a 10-minute return window and had to provide a password to get back in.

I was loaded into the 2nd corral of D and started at the back of it, as I usually do: I have serious issues with feeling trapped in a large crowd, but hanging back in my corral and staying off to one side usually gives me some space and also means having time and room for things to spread out once we actually get moving, before the first wave of the next corral starts behind me and also spreads itself out some. That did not work with the new W&D system. Though they loaded D into 3 or 4 separate corrals, they released them all into one enormous group to walk to the start. And while they seemed to do mini-wave starts, they went FAST: fast enough that things didn’t spread out at all for me. Truly, the entire 13.1 miles was uncomfortably crowded. The BW path was horrendous - we came to a complete stop at the water station. Passing anywhere other than the widest parts of highway was nearly impossible without getting in someone’s way. It was tied with the first Dark Side 10K for the worst race experience I’ve had, only minus anything Star Wars-y to take the edge off.

So, seeing how much of that half course is narrow and how early on it falls is not encouraging from my vantage point. I’m really hoping they don't repeat the W&D system and/or that they take more time between mini-waves.

Just some advice if you’re worried about feeling trapped and it can cause issues beyond just general annoyance. Reach out to runDisney and ask to talk to their AWD team. I’m no longer mobile so I can’t guarantee they will do this since I no longer have first hand experience. But they might let you wait off to the side and then load into your corral as they come up to start. It’s worth asking at least since I know they’ve done it before.

Just not sure about current practice

As others have mentioned, it’s possible to end up with different corrals. For 2023 Princess, I had A for the half based on PoT. But I guess because so many people estimated their 10k to be sub 8:00, I was given a bib with B on it for the 10k. So my bib had 2 corrals on it. I was able to get this switched at expo, but it took a few minutes. I remember this 10k vividly because 3 or 4 ladies started in corral A at the very front and when the “321Go” happened, they simply started walking immediately (and not race walking) side by side as hoards of runners were trying to navigate around them. I don’t know if they were trying to make a point or what, but it was probably a little dangerous.

So I won’t be surprised if I show up at MW and find out I have different corrals.

I hate it when this happens because people who don’t know etiquette for starting in a faster corral end up giving bad impression for those that do. Sometimes with athletes with disabilities we start in faster corrals because we need the extra time and start walking. But we know to immediately to tuck into one side so we don’t endanger us and other people.

That being said there’s been at least one AWD banned before for dangerous behavior. (There was a wheelchair who I don’t know the name of but was told about would purposely engage in behavior that endangered him and other people.) So just some people don’t care unfortunately…

 

[Lemon Head]

I really want to ride EE but I think the fear of the balloon ladies will be just too much.

 

[kps7795]

I really want to ride EE but I think the fear of the balloon ladies will be just too much.

The best thing that you can do is track the last group of pacers. It is very possible that you'll have enough time and you can ride without concern. But, base your decision on how far back that last pacing group is in relation to where you are. I speak from experience. When I ran the 2023 marathon, I was in serious pain once we were approaching AK to the point where I was walking. Some CMs convinced me to ride Expedition Everest as I was walking past. It was so much fun! I wanted to ride Tower of Terror also and was even told that I had plenty of cushion. However, my fear of getting swept got the better of me and I have regretted that decision ever since.

Whether it's Expedition Everest or Tower of Terror or something else on the race course, make sure that you don't base your decision on a feeling. Look up where that pacing group is and what your paces have been before deciding if you are in danger of being swept.

 

[fatmanatee]

I really want to ride EE but I think the fear of the balloon ladies will be just too much.

What do you think your pace will be? And your corral placement?

 

[The Expert]

The best thing that you can do is track the last group of pacers. It is very possible that you'll have enough time and you can ride without concern. But, base your decision on how far back that last pacing group is in relation to where you are. I speak from experience. When I ran the 2023 marathon, I was in serious pain once we were approaching AK to the point where I was walking. Some CMs convinced me to ride Expedition Everest as I was walking past. It was so much fun! I wanted to ride Tower of Terror also and was even told that I had plenty of cushion. However, my fear of getting swept got the better of me and I have regretted that decision ever since.

Whether it's Expedition Everest or Tower of Terror or something else on the race course, make sure that you don't base your decision on a feeling. Look up where that pacing group is and what your paces have been before deciding if you are in danger of being swept.

THIS!!! Also it helps if you track yourself, then you can look at the timestamps of when you crossed a mat versus when the last pacers cross that same mat and see if you're gaining or losing buffer.

 

[moab44]

Hi
How and where do you do the tracking? This would be very helpful to me at this years race.
Thank you

 

[Herding_Cats]

THIS!!! Also it helps if you track yourself, then you can look at the timestamps of when you crossed a mat versus when the last pacers cross that same mat and see if you're gaining or losing buffer.

THIS.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Hi
How and where do you do the tracking? This would be very helpful to me at this years race.
Thank you

The runner tracking website will be “released” a few days before the races. In previous versions you could get text/email/X alerts for this, but more recently you have to manually refresh the page.