Marathon Weekend 2026

[camaker]

Good afternoon RunDisney All-Stars! Welcome to this week's edition of Sundays are for Disney (SAFD). We spend a lot of time talking about the parks, their attractions and their food, but there's more to Disney World than the parks. What are your favorite things to do at the World outside the parks?

SAFD: This is a tough one for me because I tend to spend my time either in a park or in my room. As a result, I'll have to take the easy route out and just say "Disney Springs". It's still hard for me to refer to it as Disney Springs and not Downtown Disney, too. I enjoy the shopping there, although I do miss the days of the eclectic collectibles shop Hoi Polloy and feel like replacement of shops like that with generic Marvel and Star Wars storefronts has been a net loss to the area. Raglan Road is one of our favorite restaurants and a trip just doesn't feel complete without a Ghirardelli dark chocolate fudge sundae. Pro tip, don't indulge in the sundae the evening before a half marathon! I know there's much more to do outside the parks than DS, so I look forward to everyone else's answers.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

SAFD: I’ll be following this for sure since I’m planning a no-parks trip for Princess next year.

Mini golf is always fun, and my family has loved Fantasia Gardens since the first time we did it back in the 90s. I know Disney rethemed their Winter mini golf to Frozen, but I haven’t been there since well before they did. Maybe it’s time to check it out.

The other idea is resort hopping. Do the Monorail loop and enjoy the atmosphere at each hotel. Disney Springs of course for people watching. I like to stop by Wine Bar George and then go to the Ganachery. It’s way better than any cookies and there’s no required VQ.

 

[matt and beth]

SAFD: The Boardwalk entertainment can be fun. Shopping at the Springs is a good time and some of the music is great. DW and I love golfing at the courses. I really like the chartered fishing in the lagoons. Of course the expo is fun

 

[JackosinDIS]

SAFD: well, I’ve never ventured that far outside of the Disney bubble if I’m honest! We went to see Cirque du Soleil once which was fantastic, but I don’t think DS counts as outside Disney! Can’t beat a bit of resort hopping and trying out all the different restaurants on a non-park day though!

 

[PrincessV]

SAFD: I like getting out of the parks to eat, especially at MK. Taking a boat, monorail, or Skyway to a resort to eat is a great way to take a break from the crowds and congestion of the parks. I’m also a big fan of sleeping late and spending a couple hours at my resort pool before hitting parks later in the day.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

SAFD: As an sometimes-local AP holder, I tend to drop into a park for a few hours, do whatever I want to do there, and then head back to my parents' house. I don't spend a whole lot of time at Disney outside the parks! But I did go to Trader Sam's for the first time this year and really enjoyed it, so that would probably be my non-park pick.

 

[sandam1]

For the 2026 Marathon week 10k, do you need to maintain a 16 min/mile pace? I was reviewing results from different Disney 10k’s and results show runners finishing with much slower paces than the 16 min/mile.

Others have explained how the running math of this works. But particularly for Marathon Weekend and those doing Dopey, the recommendation from Jeff Galloway is to walk as much of the early races (10K and half) as you can. So you are likely to see more people walking the 10K than you might during a traditional challenge (i.e. just a 10K and a half) weekend.

 

[nancipants]

Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar!

 

[Barca33Runner]

SAFD: Marathon Weekend is the only time I’m at Disney when we aren’t burning the candle at both ends in the parks (and sometimes mixing in Universal as well).

For MW, we are offsite and don’t prioritize the parks. We like spending time at Disney Springs because it’s a relaxing place to keep our legs moving in between races. We enjoy watching movies at AMC (although I’m pretty sure our whole group fell asleep during Den of Thieves 2 this past MW ). There are plenty of options that we like for food when we want to spend Disney prices.

We almost always have a private hot tub when staying off-site and that’s always nice. MW also almost always falls during NFL playoffs and, more importantly for an Ohio State fan, during the College Football Playoff; so having a place that we can prepare a decent gameday spread and get a little louder than a hotel is useful.

 

[radiodome21]

SAFD: Great question. I love pool days and resort hopping. My son checked out every DVC resort in his own when we were there in January. Our first trip to WDW in 2017 we stayed at Riverside at Port Orleans and only had 2 days in the park in a 4 night trip. We did a pool days and Disney Springs. When we were there in January we spent an unplanned afternoon at Disney Springs and then explored The French Quarter at Port Orleans, where we had lunch. It was great. I didn’t think I’d like going to Disney Springs but my kids loved it and I actually had a lot of fun going there with them. When we ran Springtime Surprise we hit the pool everyday including relaxing in the hot tub the night before our race. Pools and resort hopping.

 

[marty3d]

Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar!

You beat me to it!

That’s my SAFD answer too!

 

[princesspirateandrunner]

SAFD: In addition to DS and resort hopping, we like to go visit the horses at Fort Wilderness. We want to try Drinking Around the Lake (taking the boats around Bay Lake, with a stop at each resort), but haven’t yet. We’re always looking to add new restaurants and bars to our collection of places we’ve tried. We’ve also tried to go to various shows, and have done Cirque, Hoop Dee Doo, and Yehaa Bob. DH wants to do the canoes at Fort Wilderness, but I’m not really interested. (I’m not much of a water person).
At DS, we like Wine Bar George, as well as Jock Lindsay’s. At Wilderness Lodge, we enjoy spending time at Geyser Point. Trader Sam’s is a favorite as well, and I’m using one of their mugs right now.

Edit: we meant to go to Jelly Roll’s, and are disappointed that it closed before we ever did.

 

[Herding_Cats]

SAFD: Disney Springs, but not on the weekend if it's after about noon. We usually stay at SSR, so it's an easy walk over to pop into different restaurants for meals or snacks. It can also be fantastic people-watching. Weekends and evenings are just too crowded and frantic-feeling there for me, so we try to plan our time there to avoid the peak crowds.

To piggy back on "don't eat a hot fudge sundae the night before a long race" I'll also add "don't try to walk back to your room before eating your hot fudge sundae when it's in the upper 40s" because the fudge cools off so dramatically you end up with hard fudge on your ice cream.

We also did a monorail crawl last year that was fun, but also a little sketchy for me since I ordered something with bourbon in it and that was like drinking gasoline. But those truffle fries at Enchanted Rose were amazing (or I was just starving and buzzed at that point!)

 

[Naomeri]

SAFD: Disney Springs--no trip is complete without a visit to Gideon's Bakehouse, and I try to time it for hot cookie hour in the afternoon

 

[jpholic]

SAFD: I love checking out resorts and their bar/food offerings. I like to chill and chat. Met some really cool people that way. Race weekends are a little different. 5k/10k we can goof around and be out later but the longer races I need my booty in the room by 9pm to be a somewhat functioning human at 2:30am.

 

[The Expert]

SAFD: My mom and stepdad recently moved to Celebration and there's quite a lot going on over there. There are a lot of shops and restaurants in walking distance in the Town Center area, a lovely waterfront trail that goes all the way around a little lake, and there are often events going on, too. Lots of live music, a farmer's market every weekend (both food and art/craft/jewelry vendors).

 

[BigEeyore]

SAFD: Pool time if the weather is nice (hit or miss for MW). Mini golf at Blizzard Beach is fun "active chill time".
I love just taking the Sky Liner just for fun without going to the parks. It's relaxing and you can hop off at the resorts for food/drinks or just walking around.
RIP - the little two seater boats you used to be able to rent from the monorail resorts (and WL) for a spin around Bay Lake. These were so much fun and pretty affordable. They went away with covid and never came back

 

[FFigawi]

Disney will sweep based on the last starters at a 16mpm pace. Corral placement has an impact. If I start in corral A-B ish, which is basically under 8mpm pace placement, then I could run a much slower actual race and still not be in danger of being swept. So you may be seeing those results. Also, some Club RunDisney people get to start up front regardless of their projected pace.

We started the 10k in A this year, stopped for every single character photo, and had a total time of 2:28. We finished 7-8 minutes in front of the balloon ladies. We were not in any real danger of being swept, but it sure surprised us to see how long we took and how close they were.

 

[nancipants]

SAFD: My mom and stepdad recently moved to Celebration and there's quite a lot going on over there. There are a lot of shops and restaurants in walking distance in the Town Center area, a lovely waterfront trail that goes all the way around a little lake, and there are often events going on, too. Lots of live music, a farmer's market every weekend (both food and art/craft/jewelry vendors).

If you ever want to run on the trail when you're here, give me a shout! I've never run over there and always hear how nice it is.

But not in the summer.

 

[The Expert]

If you ever want to run on the trail when you're here, give me a shout! I've never run over there and always hear how nice it is.

But not in the summer.

Absolutely! And I make it a rule to avoid Florida in general in summer if at all possible.