Marathon Weekend 2026

[jrsharp21]

Geesh, definitely didn't drop any prices for moderates for MW. I guess they don't have to. Booking now and hoping there are some good AP discounts later in the year.

 

[nancipants]

As a Florida runner, I know I should run before the sun, but since I run by myself I cannot bring myself to run in the dark. I know bad things can happen during the daytime, too, but I'm way more comfortable. And my neighborhood is pretty active, so there's usually some else around walking or running at the same time. During June and July I can shift my run to 6 am during civil twilight, but come August it's back to running after my son goes to school.

 

[KSellers88]

SAFD: Another GA-ish runner here (I live on the AL/GA line but work and run primarily in GA) and I have just learned to deal with the heat and humidity. With my schedule, my options are to run on lunch or in the afternoon when it is the hottest so I just make sure I carry water and apply sunscreen. I tend to be a puddle by the end of every run no matter what I do though.

 

[Fenway1970]

Geesh, definitely didn't drop any prices for moderates for MW. I guess they don't have to. Booking now and hoping there are some good AP discounts later in the year.

Oof yeah you weren't kidding. I've always chosen POFQ for MW but if prices hold at 359 per night I might have to consider a value resort this time.

 

[Zutroy]

Because of my work and life schedule, I can only run pre-sunrise regardless of the temperature. I really enjoy the quiet and solitude, so much that when I run during daylight I get mad that other runners are out during “my” time. During the summer I’m finishing just when the sun comes up, which has the added benefit of the dawn chorus of all the birds singing. Plus I get to see all the critters that usually hide during daylight—rabbits, deer, owls, foxes. But armadillos can just chill. They’re basically blind, and always wait until you’re right up on them to charge at you. It’s absolutely quiet, and then you’ll hear this loud commotion from the tree line and see this prehistoric looking creature coming your way.

 

[pluto377]

I’m glad I went ahead and booked OKW a few weeks ago by renting points. I paid less than what they want for a standard pop room and only slightly more than a standard ASMo room. I don’t have an AP or any that might get a good discount later. Highly recommend looking into it if the value and mod prices are looking crazy to you.

 

[jrsharp21]

Oof yeah you weren't kidding. I've always chosen POFQ for MW but if prices hold at 359 per night I might have to consider a value resort this time.

That's where I am at right now also. I booked POR for MW. I am hoping that an AP discount later in the year will bring it down to the mid 200's. If not, since it is just me and my wife this year, I may look into a value resort. Heck the family suite at ASM is almost the same price as POR and that extra room would be nice to have.

 

[jrsharp21]

I’m glad I went ahead and booked OKW a few weeks ago by renting points. I paid less than what they want for a standard pop room and only slightly more than a standard ASMo room. I don’t have an AP or any that might get a good discount later. Highly recommend looking into it if the value and mod prices are looking crazy to you.

What service do you use for renting points?

 

[jrsharp21]

SAFD: Another hard part about running before sun up in our area is that since our town is basically built inside a forest, we get to deal with critters also. Most are cool to see out. But often there will be some snakes hanging out on the sidewalk. The last time I ran before sun up I didn't even see the snake on the sidewalk until I was in mid stride both feet off the ground. Pretty much shifted my body mid air as far right as possible to make as much room between me and the snake as I could. After that, no more running in the dark.

 

[dobball23]

I’m glad I went ahead and booked OKW a few weeks ago by renting points. I paid less than what they want for a standard pop room and only slightly more than a standard ASMo room. I don’t have an AP or any that might get a good discount later. Highly recommend looking into it if the value and mod prices are looking crazy to you.

I did the same thing; rented DVC points. For five nights, I got OKW for ~$170 more than All-Start Sports is listed at today and ~$165 less than POP. See you there!

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Because of my work and life schedule, I can only run pre-sunrise regardless of the temperature. I really enjoy the quiet and solitude, so much that when I run during daylight I get mad that other runners are out during “my” time. During the summer I’m finishing just when the sun comes up, which has the added benefit of the dawn chorus of all the birds singing. Plus I get to see all the critters that usually hide during daylight—rabbits, deer, owls, foxes. But armadillos can just chill. They’re basically blind, and always wait until you’re right up on them to charge at you. It’s absolutely quiet, and then you’ll hear this loud commotion from the tree line and see this prehistoric looking creature coming your way.

When I lived in Dallas I was always careful driving to work when it was still dark. I’d occasionally see an armadillo crossing the road and know they jump. Thankfully I never came across one when running.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I’m glad I went ahead and booked OKW a few weeks ago by renting points. I paid less than what they want for a standard pop room and only slightly more than a standard ASMo room. I don’t have an AP or any that might get a good discount later. Highly recommend looking into it if the value and mod prices are looking crazy to you.

THIS.



But it may or may not eventually lead you to purchasing DVC

What service do you use for renting points?

I had good experiences renting from the DVC section on the boards here. For most of the resorts it's very common to find people renting for around $18/pt, although some higher-demand resorts (Poly, GFV, etc) might be more like $20/pt. Also, you have to pay a site-support fee to rent out points here, which I feel like weeds out the scammers you may contend with in facebook groups (although I have rented from there as well.)

OKW and SSR have the lowest points chart with good availability (BWV is a low point chart but books up very quickly and I'd be surprised if there's still studios available at this point) with AKV following closely behind.

You can always rent from a broker, but you're probably looking at more like $25/pt+ from them.

The downside to renting points is that most of the time you have to pay the whole thing upfront and there's (usually) no cancellation option.

 

[jrsharp21]

Was looking at the more popular DVC rental website. Boardwalk and OKW are showing less than what I just reserved POR for. I think I may be digging into this more this evening.

 

[accm]

But it may or may not eventually lead you to purchasing DVC

It definitely will I rented very cheap points from a friend back in 2018. I now own 420 points, and need more

 

[Herding_Cats]

Speaking of park tickets, if I compare last year's spreadsheet to this year's prices, it looks like tickets prices are about $42/person more for a 3-day hopper. Not much of an increase, but a small one.

I'm trying to figure out the "best" way to have this be a fun trip that includes DD, and when DH and I talked initially we had discussed a 3-day ticket for him and DD, with a 2-day ticket for me (and they would use the extra day on Sunday while I'm running/recovering) but I went down the rabbit hole (SHOCKER!) and we are now discussing a 6-day base ticket, and potentially upgrading it to add another day or 2 while we are there so that we can just pop in and out of the parks with a lot less pressure to do all of the things in fewer days. It would be a few hundred dollars more, but we may be able to save most of that difference by skipping out on purchasing G+/LL/whatever they're calling the fastpass system now.

Decisions, decisions.

 

[accm]

Speaking of park tickets, if I compare last year's spreadsheet to this year's prices, it looks like tickets prices are about $42/person more for a 3-day hopper. Not much of an increase, but a small one.

I'm trying to figure out the "best" way to have this be a fun trip that includes DD, and when DH and I talked initially we had discussed a 3-day ticket for him and DD, with a 2-day ticket for me (and they would use the extra day on Sunday while I'm running/recovering) but I went down the rabbit hole (SHOCKER!) and we are now discussing a 6-day base ticket, and potentially upgrading it to add another day or 2 while we are there so that we can just pop in and out of the parks with a lot less pressure to do all of the things in fewer days. It would be a few hundred dollars more, but we may be able to save most of that difference by skipping out on purchasing G+/LL/whatever they're calling the fastpass system now.

Decisions, decisions.

*If* the extra few hundred dollars is not a deal breaker, I would 100% go with that option. We're AP, so don't have the financial part of it, but being able to go to the parks without trying to fit everything in in one day is definitely worth it.

 

[MissLiss279]

It definitely will I rented very cheap points from a friend back in 2018. I now own 420 points, and need more

Same. But I don’t have 420 points yet!

ETA: My initial DVC rental was from the DIS DVC rental forum. And I remember my week rental at BWV was about $100 more than my previous year’s week stay at AS sports.

 

[marty3d]

Booked into POP. I have also had great experience renting DVC points but for various reasons I can’t take the chance on a non-refundable/ cancellable room right now. I’LL also continue my annual ritual of stalking prices at the S&D.

 

[Herding_Cats]

*If* the extra few hundred dollars is not a deal breaker, I would 100% go with that option. We're AP, so don't have the financial part of it, but being able to go to the parks without trying to fit everything in in one day is definitely worth it.

That's really how I feel about it right now. DD is a complete pool-junkie, but we all know how unpredictable the weather it. If the pool is open she's going to want to be in it, but I'm not so sure that *we* will want to be in it with her. And if it's cold like it was this year, I can only imagine how much we would spend on finding things to do to keep her occupied.....we may as well be in a park! We could even make a game out of it and see how many character meets we can do, collect signatures, etc.

Totally something we can wait until the last minute to decide on and see what the weather forecast looks like. And probably purchase through UT in order to save a few more bucks.

 

[SheHulk]

Booked into POP. I have also had great experience renting DVC points but for various reasons I can’t take the chance on a non-refundable/ cancellable room right now. I’LL also continue my annual ritual of stalking prices at the S&D.

We are booked at both Pop and Swan, but we will most likely drop the Pop reservation because our friends are booked at Swan. Also will continue stalking S&D prices because that reservation is cancelable too.