Marathon Weekend 2026

[accm]

Im starting to think that whoever at rundisney is in charge of MW social media posts either got fired or is sleeping on the job.

They posted Wine and Dine merch previews, and still crickets about MW. I’m going crazy over here.

 

[dobball23]

but OKW has hot tubs. and less people. and a mini fridge. and free laundry in the laundry rooms by the pools. and is the closest bus post-race. and is 5min from the start.

True...all of that is probably worth the $250!

 

[jrsharp21]

Anyone changing their resorts with the release of the new discounts? Oddly enough, it was more expensive for us with the discount. We booked standard room and doesn’t appear to have that room type still available. I’ve been on hold this morning, to see if they can apply the discount to our room type but I’m not optimistic.

On our first night, January 6th, we staying at AS Sports before moving over to SSR the next day. With the AP discount, it's about a $30 savings. Trying to make the switch online to the AP rate and the website keeps saying its unable to update the reservation at this time. I ended up just canceling my original reservation and then re-booking under the new discounted rate.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

Im starting to think that whoever at rundisney is in charge of MW social media posts either got fired or is sleeping on the job.

They posted Wine and Dine merch previews, and still crickets about MW. I’m going crazy over here.

I’m with you. Getting really impatient over here.

 

[Herding_Cats]

So in the instagram merch preview for W&D they have the mugs for W&D, PW, and SS, and the "season" mug, and in a quick shot when he gestures at a stack on a shelf, you can see the MW mug as well.



He did say "SOME of the pins" (he emphasized "some") so either they didn't pull all of them for the promo, or they don't have them yet?

Are all these mugs just production samples, or are they warehousing them somewhere?

Where is our medal preview?!

 

[princesspirateandrunner]

We’re at Pop for most of MW, but had not reserved anywhere for Monday night so we could attend DATW. I just made a reservation for Yacht Club, using reward money from the Visa card.

Last year, we had the same idea, and moved from POR to Beach Club for Monday night. Unfortunately, I caught the flu and we missed DATW, and Beach Club was my sickroom for that day. . I am determined to stay well this year, and finally make it to DATW!

 

[JediKnightXan]

I kinda wonder if they are holding off on MW reveals/info due to wanting to see how construction progress goes, maybe some routes or parking lots will or wont be available based on how many weather delays they do or don't have with all the projects going on.

That coffee cup looks pretty sweet from that one view, probably going to come home with that, assuming its still in stock when I get to the expo.

 

[fatmanatee]

I kinda wonder if they are holding off on MW reveals/info due to wanting to see how construction progress goes, maybe some routes or parking lots will or wont be available based on how many weather delays they do or don't have with all the projects going on.

Map release shouldn't have anything to do with medal reveals. My guess is that the map has been final for quite a bit, and RD coordinated with parks ops to determine what areas would be available well in advance. At this point they should be planning for the course certification, I think that usually happens late this month or maybe early November.

Really worth noting: that weird map reveal last year happened alongside the announcement that the start time would be half an hour earlier. THAT was way more important to get out there as early as possible, I think they figured that if they paired it with an announcement about how there would be more park time in MK that would blunt the impact of the early start. Not only did that not really work, it was pretty apparent that a lot of the change was due to Epcot not wanting to deal with marathon athletes during park hours. I'm not expecting an early map reveal again this time.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Map release shouldn't have anything to do with medal reveals. My guess is that the map has been final for quite a bit, and RD coordinated with parks ops to determine what areas would be available well in advance. At this point they should be planning for the course certification, I think that usually happens late this month or maybe early November.

Really worth noting: that weird map reveal last year happened alongside the announcement that the start time would be half an hour earlier. THAT was way more important to get out there as early as possible, I think they figured that if they paired it with an announcement about how there would be more park time in MK that would blunt the impact of the early start. Not only did that not really work, it was pretty apparent that a lot of the change was due to Epcot not wanting to deal with marathon athletes during park hours. I'm not expecting an early map reveal again this time.

Official certification for the HM and M for 2025 happened on December 13th. But the marathon course changes were announced 9/24 for the 2025 race. And we usually get the guide around mid-December. USUALLY. And that's really awkwardly worded, but I don't wanna take the time to figure out how to redo it. Except to say, I don't think that an early course change announcement is out of the question, but that I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't get one.

W&D certs (and "season" 10k/5k courses) happened on 10/10 last year.

 

[accm]

Ya, I’m not expecting anything regarding the courses until we get the guide. We’ll likely find out sooner when someone finds the certification though.

It’s the lack of announcement on the medals that I find weird. And with Wine and Dine being so soon, it wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t see anything until after that. Which then begs the question - will the medals be on display at the W&D expo like they usually are?

 

[sandam1]

Yesterday, I had a pretty awful thought. I hope that this is not the case and I don't want to freak anyone out, but I wanted to throw it out there and get other people's thoughts.

I was thinking about the lack of a MW medal announcement, the absence of a schedule for 2026-2027 season dates, AND the rumor going around on the W&D thread about the Epcot park management pushing back on giving runDisney resources. What popped into my mind is "could these races be in jeopardy?" I was remembering what I had heard in the lead up to the first cancellation of the Disneyland races when, if I recall correctly, some people had already registered for the Star Wars races and then runDisney went into radio-silence for months about general registration. I was interested in, but not doing, runDisney at that time so I don't remember the timeline or exactly what precisely happened.

Again, I hope with every fiber of my being that I'm 100% wrong and that the medals will be released tomorrow morning, but it's just one of those crazy ideas where the puzzle pieces fit together a little too neatly for me to say "that would never happen."

 

[accm]

AND the rumor going around on the W&D thread about the Epcot park management pushing back on giving runDisney resources.

I’ll have to go look for that since I haven’t heard anything.

BUT my point of view is that rundisney (especially Marathon Weekend) makes them too much money for them to abandon it. What I can see is them eroding the park time, which will lead to less demand, and then they’ll abandon it.

 

[The Expert]

The big Brooks partnership being so new also makes me think they aren't getting rid of races anytime soon. I CAN see them maybe scaling down to fewer weekends. SS doesn't sell out nearly as fast as the others and it hasn't lived up to the promised "surprise" element, so I can see that going away and rD having three big IRL race weekends a year, along with the three virtuals.

W&D is a bit more of an enigma. It is more popular than SS, but they're moving dates around and they've gone from a strong food/travel theme to villains (which was canceled in 2020), then back to kind of food but also not really. With DL races going away, I think they will keep the timing mid to late October and go villains/Halloween since they won't have the September DL weekend for that (and it was popular). I don't see it on the chopping block anytime soon, though I think it would go before Princess or MW.

Edit to add: How cool would it be if the W&D after party was a MNSSHP just for runners??? Yes, runDisney please steal this idea!

 

[Barca33Runner]

Yesterday, I had a pretty awful thought. I hope that this is not the case and I don't want to freak anyone out, but I wanted to throw it out there and get other people's thoughts.

I was thinking about the lack of a MW medal announcement, the absence of a schedule for 2026-2027 season dates, AND the rumor going around on the W&D thread about the Epcot park management pushing back on giving runDisney resources. What popped into my mind is "could these races be in jeopardy?" I was remembering what I had heard in the lead up to the first cancellation of the Disneyland races when, if I recall correctly, some people had already registered for the Star Wars races and then runDisney went into radio-silence for months about general registration. I was interested in, but not doing, runDisney at that time so I don't remember the timeline or exactly what precisely happened.

Again, I hope with every fiber of my being that I'm 100% wrong and that the medals will be released tomorrow morning, but it's just one of those crazy ideas where the puzzle pieces fit together a little too neatly for me to say "that would never happen."

I know they have some experience with a relatively late cancellation of Marathon Weekend (2021), but I don’t think they’d find people to be anywhere near as accepting of a cancellation for 2026. The registration had been capped lower in 2021 and everyone was aware that cancellation was possible, if not probable. If they were to cancel this year, no matter what reason they provided, the real reason would be some combination of apathy and incompetence.

Honestly, I can’t really imagine this happening. I know that Disney is pretty cavalier in the way they treat their fans/patrons/runners (basically as though we are addicts); but with the amount of travel plans that have been made, money that has been spent, vacation time used, etc., etc., etc. it would still be pretty brazen to expect they could do this without a negative economic impact moving forward. My personal belief is that these race weekends are far more lucrative than any of the cast members who are annoyed by them realize.

Star Wars was, unfortunately, having issues selling out every year. It was not performing the way they hoped. On the contrary, these races sold out in under an hour and they probably could have sold them to 2x or 3x capacity if they wanted. They are apples and oranges as race weekends go.

 

[accm]

My personal belief is that these race weekends are far more lucrative than any of the cast members who are annoyed by them realize.

My thought is that the race weekend is lucrative for some parts of the company. Maybe EPCOT doesn't see the increase in spending, so they don't see the worth. Meanwhile, the hotel side and likely merchandise see a big increase in spending. So while a net positive overall, some individual "departments" (ie EPCOT) might see a decrease, which they then need to makeup elsewhere.