Marathon Weekend 2026

[Mr_Incr3dible]

And depending how not-so-fast you are, within the course of the marathon itself! I started out with leggings, arm sleeves, and gloves. I took off the leggings in MK, rolled down the arm sleeves somewhere between MK and AK, and tossed my gloves in AK. In my castle picture my legs and arms are totally covered; my photopass pics in Epcot look like it's summer.

You make it sound like the world’s longest striptease…

 

[nancipants]

You make it sound like the world’s longest striptease…

Me taking off my leggings in the MK bathroom and pulling back up my shorts was the least sexy thing ever.

 

[jrsharp21]

I wasn't too far ahead of you. I took off my outer hoodie and put it around my waist before MK, but it went back on after I came out. It's always colder there. I finally ditched that one somewhere shortly before AK.
There would definitely be protests if I took off my leggings though!!

This is good advice about the change of temps before and after MK. I ditched my gloves inside MK. After we got back outside the park, I was wishing I still had those gloves on. I couldn't feel my fingers when I went to re-tie my shoes and it took forever to do it because they were so numb.

 

[marty3d]

This is good advice about the change of temps before and after MK. I ditched my gloves inside MK. After we got back outside the park, I was wishing I still had those gloves on. I couldn't feel my fingers when I went to re-tie my shoes and it took forever to do it because they were so numb.

Made that same mistake myself this year when it came to gloves and my last throw away outer layer - it wasn't until I was almost through the TTC maze that it started to get better. Not sure if it's just my bad memory but I don't remember that in previous years. Other than 2017 where I didn't ditch any layers through the entire marathon I'm usually just in shorts & running shirt by the time I exit MK.

 

[nancipants]

This is good advice about the change of temps before and after MK. I ditched my gloves inside MK. After we got back outside the park, I was wishing I still had those gloves on. I couldn't feel my fingers when I went to re-tie my shoes and it took forever to do it because they were so numb.

I remembered people saying that the temp drops after MK, so I heeded that warning and kept the gloves until AK! Arm sleeves are also great because you can push them down but still have them available if you get cold again.

 

[Barca33Runner]

My thing with that though is: it's not like Marathon Weekend is a secret. Non-runners who visit that weekend should be aware of what they're getting. To say nothing of that it's really only one day out of the four that has any meaningful impact on park goers. Events like F&W arguably have a more adverse effect on navigating Epcot (and for more days) than the marathon does.

Like you said, it's likely a convenient scapegoat but there's always going to be someone unhappy. I'd be skeptical if Disney told me that the level of complaints during MW is significantly higher than it is on any other given weekend. I say let the runners have their one day of the year.

I agree with the sentiment and agree that it is the rational way to look at things. I tend to think those of us on this board are in the top 1% of Disney awareness and planning; so things like knowing there is a race weekend, knowing how to plan around it, being prepared to roll with unexpected challenges, etc. are kind of engrained in our expectations. I don’t think most guests are as aware of everything a race weekend entails if they are even aware that race weekends exist.

In my experience, every time I’ve stumbled into a conversation about rD and all the races I’ve done I’m met with some form of “Disney has a Marathon?” or “What do you mean you ran a race at Disney?” Basically, complete bewilderment. Although rD can seem ubiquitous to us (particularly on a registration day) I don’t think there is a vast amount of knowledge about it in the world at large. I have been involved in/witnessed many conversations during race weekends with other guests asking runners what is going on and professing they had no idea there were going to be races and so many runners at Disney during their trip.

I’ll also take a second to note that other people exercising, attempting to improve their fitness, trying to lose weight, etc. are oddly triggering on some people. I don’t even want to try to unwrap the psychology of feeling anger or resentment toward other people trying to better themselves, but it certainly exists.

Ultimately, even with all that said, the rational response is to roll with the punches and focus on having a great time on your vacation, even if everything doesn’t go exactly to plan. I think that’s how the vast majority of people handle things. I have, perhaps, witnessed no less rational human beings in my life than people upset about their Disney vacations and the angry minority can be very loud in their protestation. As I said in my initial post, there’s nothing inherent in a race weekend that should prevent any park goers from having a great time; nonetheless, I’ll continue to think race weekends probably receive more scorn than they deserve from disgruntled vacationers because they are a big, largely unexpected, easy target.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

In my experience, every time I’ve stumbled into a conversation about rD and all the races I’ve done I’m met with some form of “Disney has a Marathon?” or “What do you mean you ran a race at Disney?” Basically, complete bewilderment.

Agreed. And, for instance, the only reason I knew about Princess weekend when the DW had a biz trip is that I noticed the "temporary road closures" notice and clicked on it out of curiosity. (Don't @ me. At that point, I had never looked at any rD races other than MW, so it was a pleasant surprise to discover it was a race weekend. FWIW, a darned nice shirt for the half, thank you). So a bit more notice on the WDW website might go a ways toward people at least having awareness of the races going on.

That said, as has been noted previously, Sunday is about the only time anyone is going to be affected, and even then they would need to be hitting the parks early for any real level of inconvenience. And by "real level", I'm not talking about "please wait one minute for this group to pass". WDW has so many detours, under-construction, and pardon-out-messes throughout the parks that IMHO race weekend stuff should be in the noise for 99.99% of the visitors.

As for the park "congestion" on those weekends, IMHO what is being ignored is that the races are held on what would normally be lower attendance (especially MW and Princess. Not sure about W&D), and that a certain percentage of the park attendance is the friends and family of the runners and would not otherwise be there! And later in the day, a chunk of guests are the runners themselves.

I’ll also take a second to note that other people exercising, attempting to improve their fitness, trying to lose weight, etc. are oddly triggering on some people. I don’t even want to try to unwrap the psychology of feeling anger or resentment toward other people trying to better themselves, but it certainly exists.

Yeah, I don't get that either. OTOH, I may or may not have had unpleasant thoughts toward someone younger/skinnier/faster as they zoomed by me....

>>This is good advice about the change of temps before and after MK.
In my first half or full, I ditched my sweatshirt before going into MK, and was struck by how cool it was after leaving the MK. It's all that cool air coming off the golf courses. Don't know about others, but I'm one of those who could be comfortable in a short-sleeved shirt but would want some gloves to keep my hands warm. I have some very thin gloves that are meant to go inside of motorcycle gloves. They are thin enough to easily tuck back into a race belt when they are no longer needed.
YMMV

 

[Goofed98]

I had been going to Disney every year for 10 years before we hit MW, and it was s surprise to me. Honestly, until I saw people walking around with their medals, I still didn't know anything was going on.

That said, seeing the people of all ages and sizes (I was only in my 30s, but rolling around 250 ((it, um, it wasn't all muscle))), that I was convinced I could run a marathon.

Wound up doing it every year from 2010 until 2020, and returning for Dopey this year.

The international crowds/ tour groups were typically a bigger issue than the running crowd, in my opinion.

 

[camaker]

I've been seeing a lot of "Sunday will be the only day impacted for getting to the parks" posts, but unless something has changed dramatically in the last year or two, Magic Kingdom can be very significantly affected by the half on Saturday, too. A couple of years ago I tried heading to Magic Kingdom after finishing the half, heading back to the room and cleaning up. It was a nightmare. The bus stops at CBR were loaded with folks who had been waiting an hour or more for MK buses because traffic was so snarled up buy the race and they couldn't run their routes in anything close to their normal timing. Maybe it was a one-off, but I've avoided Saturday MK reservations since then.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I've been seeing a lot of "Sunday will be the only day impacted for getting to the parks" posts, but unless something has changed dramatically in the last year or two, Magic Kingdom can be very significantly affected by the half on Saturday, too. A couple of years ago I tried heading to Magic Kingdom after finishing the half, heading back to the room and cleaning up. It was a nightmare. The bus stops at CBR were loaded with folks who had been waiting an hour or more for MK buses because traffic was so snarled up buy the race and they couldn't run their routes in anything close to their normal timing. Maybe it was a one-off, but I've avoided Saturday MK reservations since then.

I also think that in terms of "parks are not impacted" has more to do with "there won't be runners INSIDE the park during park hours" from our perspective.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

That said, seeing the people of all ages and sizes (I was only in my 30s, but rolling around 250 ((it, um, it wasn't all muscle))), that I was convinced I could run a marathon

This!!!
I likewise saw people of all shapes, sizes, and ages doing the long races and that’s what convinced me that I could do it too.

And… I have shirts!
Logo on the front, the “I get to run” on the back. And apologies to whomever first came up with that line. But it so speaks to me that I couldn’t not put it on the shirts.

 

[WDW 4 ME]

For those of you who use the naked running belt, do you have the original size or the SL? If you have the SL, does it fit everything you need it to?

 

[Fenway1970]

In my experience, every time I’ve stumbled into a conversation about rD and all the races I’ve done I’m met with some form of “Disney has a Marathon?” or “What do you mean you ran a race at Disney?” Basically, complete bewilderment. Although rD can seem ubiquitous to us (particularly on a registration day) I don’t think there is a vast amount of knowledge about it in the world at large.

Yeah this is a good point. I will confess I've been part of similar conversations myself although often they involve people who aren't avid Disney-goers in general (and in some cases outright Disney-phobes).

I was a regular park-goer long before I was ever a runner and I knew about MW and the other various rD events just from the realization that visiting Disney requires due diligence during the planning phase. But, yeah, to your point I'm probably guilty of forgetting that we Disney freaks are a small minority.

I have, perhaps, witnessed no less rational human beings in my life than people upset about their Disney vacations and the angry minority can be very loud in their protestation.

And I suppose if we want to be fair we have to remember that Disney vacations seemingly come at a relatively high price compared to non-Disney options, especially to infrequent visitors who don't know all the money and time-saving tricks that Disney veterans do. So, for someone to spend what to them feels like a premium only for it to result in unmet expectations, it's probably understandable that they'd be a little perturbed.

With that said, as you allude to Disney is no different than any other place in the world where people travel en masse in the sense that things hardly ever go fully to plan in such places so it's not quite fair to blame the races for that. And you know, the runners' money counts too. But, it is what it is.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

For those of you who use the naked running belt, do you have the original size or the SL? If you have the SL, does it fit everything you need it to?

I have no idea, so I assume I have the regular version. Whichever you get, make sure you use their size chart - measure where you plan to wear the belt and size down if you're between sizes. If it's too loose, it will bounce.

 

[Zutroy]

For those of you who use the naked running belt, do you have the original size or the SL? If you have the SL, does it fit everything you need it to?

I have the original. The SL is smaller (4” wide vs. 5 “ wide) and I don’t think would hold enough for a marathon. I wore the regular belt last MW and carried two 500ml soft flasks in the front and gels in the back pocket without any issues. Take their warnings seriously and don’t use your pant size to order, actually measure your waist and use that number to order the right size.

 

[jrsharp21]

For those of you who use the naked running belt, do you have the original size or the SL? If you have the SL, does it fit everything you need it to?

I picked up the original last year from the suggestions of the board and it was way better than the belt I used before. I stuffed 8 GU gels and my phone in mine. Didn't lose one. The year before, I lost two GU packs out on the course when they fell out of the little loops on the previous belt.

 

[Disney at Heart]

Concerning the comments about “only the marathon” affecting non-running guests:
One year at OKW when running Goofy, we ate breakfast at Olivia’s on 5k day. People at a nearby table were loudly cursing the waitress because of all the early morning noise—people up and about so early, internal busses running, DJ and announcers, fireworks, etc., that disturbed their sleep that morning. The waitress called for a manager who politely upgraded the couple to a resort much farther from the start line. (I forgot which resort.) So there CAN be disturbances/ disruptions other than traffic and park hours that Disney has to deal with. Still these are probably a small number.

 

[nancipants]

Concerning the comments about “only the marathon” affecting non-running guests:
One year at OKW when running Goofy, we ate breakfast at Olivia’s on 5k day. People at a nearby table were loudly cursing the waitress because of all the early morning noise—people up and about so early, internal busses running, DJ and announcers, fireworks, etc., that disturbed their sleep that morning. The waitress called for a manager who politely upgraded the couple to a resort much farther from the start line. (I forgot which resort.) So there CAN be disturbances/ disruptions other than traffic and park hours that Disney has to deal with. Still these are probably a small number.

They should have kicked them out for cursing the waitress! Sheesh. Talk about complaining to the wrong person.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I picked up the original last year from the suggestions of the board and it was way better than the belt I used before. I stuffed 8 GU gels and my phone in mine. Didn't lose one. The year before, I lost two GU packs out on the course when they fell out of the little loops on the previous belt.

Hmmm.
Now I'm thinking about a belt with the Gu packs attached with velcro. Peel one off, consume, and then toss them (into the appropriate trash can) like the race car drivers do with their visor tear-offs.

 

[AaronB]

For those of you who use the naked running belt, do you have the original size or the SL? If you have the SL, does it fit everything you need it to?

I use the SL, but all I carry for the marathon is 6 gel packets, which fits no problem. I could add a phone and probably a couple more gel packets if I needed to, but if you need to carry more food or maybe some soft flasks for hydration, probably would want the regular.