Marathon Weekend 2026

[MissLiss279]

No experience with strollers (no kids), but I have heard on a podcast that they used to bring the stroller, park it at the front of the park (or wherever) and then only go back to get it when they needed it.
So, this doesn’t help your Pro’s for carrying things around, it still has the Con’s and might add a con of possibly forgetting it. But it does allow you to have easy-ish access to it if you have to have it near the end of the day.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Race dreams are bonkers! Mine usually consist of a really weird course where we have to take an elevator or run through a mall. That may be a result of my first race ever being a one miler in Cleveland where we ran through Higbees. The Higbees part tells you how long ago that was

I have had these dreams too! Mine are usually in a hotel somehow

 

[nancipants]

To bring the stroller, or to NOT bring the stroller?

DD is a very precocious 6. She has energy for daaaays, but when she crashes, she crashes hard. We have a city mini stroller (one of the most common rental strollers) that I'm trying to decide if I should bring it or not.

Pros: I can keep my water bottle in it, snacks, any souvenirs, etc. If/when she gets tired of walking around she can climb in and have a break. It would be easier to get out of the parks after fireworks than trying to get her to hold a hand. She and DH will likely be doing 6 or 7 park days....1 more than me since they'll go somewhere during the marathon, and she will inevitably get tired at some point. It'll be free to gate-check, as we'll be gate-checking her booster carseat anyway, they can go in the same bag. We already own it--it won't cost us anything to bring with us.

Cons: Potentially push an empty stroller around all day. Stroller parking. Folding the stroller up for the MK bus (we will likely drive to all of the other parks ourselves.) Can't just walk through security at the parks or DS. Did I mention stroller parking?

Owen is almost 6 and we still bring our stroller when we're there all day. It's our parks sherpa and allows us to stay longer. That said, when we go for shorter days, we don't bring it.

 

[nancipants]

Edit to add: We've never had much of an issue with going through security with the stroller. Owen stays in until we get to the checkpoint, then he hops out and walks through the scanner with me while my husband stays with the stroller. Security just needs to inspect under the stroller (all bags need to go through the scanner) and inside the "shade" part.

Pro-tip: Bring a reusable shopping bag (like from Marshall's or one of those stores). You can shove everything you'd normally keep under the stroller in one of those bags whenever you need to fold it up for the bus or tram.

 

[WDW 4 ME]

Had my first MW dream last night!

I’ve had these too! Almost always being late and missing the race. My most recent one though…I was on the course with others, turned a corner and I was out there by myself. I was convinced I took a wrong turn!

To bring the stroller, or to NOT bring the stroller?

We hate extra stuff, so try to go into the parks with as little as possible. Even when our boys were little, we were minimalist. We would take an umbrella stroller, which definitely didn’t leave space to hold anything extra. My general philosophy was if we really needed something we could buy it. And since I didn’t want to spend extra $$, I avoided buying things, which taught me how little I actually need in the parks! Can’t remember how old our boys were when we ditched the stroller, but it was pretty young. 5 maybe? We made it a game, and went on walks daily leading up to our trips, to build walking stamina. They thought it was fun….getting ready for Disney!!!!And agree with another comment posted….if you have it they will want to use it. Once you don’t have it, they toughen up quite a bit!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

SAFD, part 2:
My rD origin story includes Disneyrunning.com, and I still have a hat, a tank top (um a size too small at this time), and a shirt. I had dinner one night with the guy who had the DR domain and he told us all about the machinations to sell it to Disney.
Dis: How much for the domain?
Him: Um, how about lifetime AP?
Dis: Can't do that. We need to make this a purchase.

And he went on to tell us about how Dis went through whatever subsidiary entity to make the purchase at a very arm's length transaction, not unlike some of the land deals in the late '60s when Dis was buying chunks of Florida real estate.
One bit of irony being that Dis could have had the domain for the cost of issuing a pair of permanent APs to a couple already in their 60's, vs whatever it cost to go through what they did with contracts, NDAs, etc.
Anyway, here's the front and back of the shirt. I love the "ultimate parkhopper" tag line.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Charity bib option:

 

[PrincessV]

I’ve been strollerless for 15ish years now… I miss it terribly in cooler weather. I miss the cup holders, and basket for layers, and handles for throwing bags onto. At least once a winter visit, I strongly consider buying a used one just to use for my own belongings, even though my “child” is an adult who doesn’t even go to WDW with me anymore.