Marathon Weekend 2026

[nancipants]

SAFD: My answer is the same as most everyone - funny signs, power up signs, etc. my last race, some guy had a sign that said “I’m proud of you, stranger,” so I told him “thank you, stranger.”

The best sign, though, was around mile 10. A woman held a poster board with a picture of David Corenswet as Superman and it read “run like he’s at the finish line.” I pointed at her and yelled “yes!!!”

 

[PrincessV]

SAFD:

1. 100% clever, funny, sarcastic signs, with bonus points for anything that takes a dig at Disney. I’ll stop for pics with a great sign - and its holder, if they’re willing! Bright colors are fantastic. Big, bold print. Easy on the photos/drawings - keep them simple. Race Brain is a thing and we need to be spoon fed in those late miles lol!

2. No questions: not to sound braggy, but I think I’ve got the spectating thing down at this point! The hardest thing for me is coming up with a really great sign, and I can’t ever remember the great ones I’ve seen as a runner to replicate.

 

[The Expert]

@The Expert i can help with supplies at the boardwalk. We will not try to get to TTC. Logistically it is tough. Let me know if I can help you figure something out.

Fantastic! Thank you @garneska I wonder if it may be helpful to start a thread for requests -- items and approximate location on the course? Then if we have DISers planning to be in those spots who are willing, they can "claim" a request. I hate to open a can of worms and overwhelm our spectators, so I'm going to think on this more.

Since I know we have some football fans here…. In completely unrelated news…. After 21 seasons… we just went to our last Cardinals game as season ticket holders. To keep it consistent, they lost! They’ve raised prices over $2000 for our two seats over the last three seasons while decreasing the minimal perks they had. We realized we can still go to 1-2 games a year and save so much money!

That's a bummer. But it really is crazy how pricey the games have become. When the Raiders moved to Vegas and we were still in Salt Lake, DH and I considered season tickets since both our teams are in the same division and would play there every year. Then the pricing came out -- $50K just to have the CHANCE to buy season tickets, which were then tens of thousands on top of that. Ridiculous!

If you're a DIS'er, let me know.

I've seen this a few times now. I know WAY back in the day, DISboard folks would wear something neon green to identify themselves. Or maybe just a sticker name tag with DIS on it somewhere? Open to ideas!

the names are hard to read on the rD bibs, but one of my favorite things about running Chicago this fall was all the strangers who would cheer you on by name if it was visible

YES -- when I spectated the marathon a few years ago I was really trying to shout out names. I could only read them once the people were passing me, so it was hard. When I do Chicago this year I'm going to plaster my name in huge letters all over my body!

 

[garneska]

Here i am now trying to come up with a clever sign. When i run a marathon i like the signs too. Also seeing the note about letting you know we are a Dis'er. I am going to try and put my handle on the sign. I will spend some time with @The Expert to figure something out.

 

[jrsharp21]

Did a 20 mile run yesterday morning in the lovely Houston holiday weather, 75 degrees and 77% humidity. That humidity was a killer. But long runs are over and it's taper time! Tomorrow it will be two weeks until we head out to WDW!

 

[Dopey 2020]

SAFD I love a good sign but I really enjoy noise, the louder the better. Crowd support gives an incredible boost, it was a sad day when the boardwalk was changed to a quiet zone. If your screaming kids can keep me up all night, you can wake up early for a couple race days, Disney is noisy, so be it.

 

[Herding_Cats]

SAFD 2: I'm not 100% sure right now, but I'm trying to figure out if there are any logistics we want to attempt for DH and DD to get out onto the marathon course. I'm horrible with road names at home, so trying to figure out the closures in a completely different state is going to be pretty hopeless for me. Depending on what DH/DD want to do that day, I'm trying to kind of push them to spectate at TTC, and then go to MK for the morning. Since we are staying at SSR, I don't think they is much in the way of road closures to deal with, but I'm wondering if they'd be able to drive to the Epcot parking lot (or take a race bus) and then take the monorail over. I should be going through between 7:30 and 8:00, which would be OK timing for them to get right into MK. But I just don't know if those logistics would work.

OK. I pulled up a map with directions and looked at the road closure map and my plan will not work for DH/DD to get into the Epcot lot at ~630am and take the monorail over. It looks like they pretty much lock everything for entrances down until 730am. I'm 99% sure that he will NOT want to get her up to drive over by 4am, so them spectating at TTC/MK is out.

It does, however, look like it might be possible for them to get into the Epcot parking lot and then monorail over to MK for a park day as a workaround to the road closures that morning by arriving at Epcot after 7:30. Is that right? I'm still confused by all of the ways to get into the Epcot lots.

The "normal" way to get in would be
DVC Way to Bonnet Creek Pkwy, and then the overpass to Woodpecker lane (which is closed until 1pm)

The other way my phone is showing would be
DVC Way to Epcot Center Dr and then into Epcot Parking lots. This looks like it would be the correct way to do this? I definitely do NOT want DH and DD to get stuck for a long time in a detour/closed road issue.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Since I know we have some football fans here…. In completely unrelated news…. After 21 seasons… we just went to our last Cardinals game as season ticket holders. To keep it consistent, they lost! They’ve raised prices over $2000 for our two seats over the last three seasons while decreasing the minimal perks they had. We realized we can still go to 1-2 games a year and save so much money!

As a Falcons fan since childhood (yes, ask me about self-inflicted angst....) I was happy to see the Falcons win yesterday. OTOH, they've strung together two straight wins exactly 1 game after being eliminated from the post-season. In other words, they can't even successfully play for a higher draft pick...
I've only paid to go to two NFL games in my life, both times so the wife and fam could go see the Chiefs, and I'm stupefied at the ticket prices! I see what season ticket prices are, especially for these people who sit down front, and can't help but think that is a used car every few years. Or a really nice vacation every year even for more moderate seats. So we'll keep forking out for season tickets for my college team, but otherwise, I can't in good conscience do it.
I like that the Braves have mini-packages. and we'd probably do one of those except that with Atlanta traffic, getting to-from a Braves game means over 2-2.5 hours of total traffic, plus game time, plus getting there a little before first pitch, and it makes for a loooong evening.
FWIW, if/when I get another trip to Phoenix, I do want to go visit the Cardinals football stadium and see the field on a rolling tray. That is a nifty bit of engineering.
Oh, and the Cards last SB appearance was with head coach Ken Whisenhunt, a Georgia Tech grad with a civil engineering degree. Gotta love that!

SAFD: I like any cute/clever/humorous sign that makes me laugh. If a child is holding a "tap here" sign and I'm on that side of the road, yeah, I'll tap it.
The "almost there" signs? I'll handle my own distance-remaining denial, thank you.

 

[jrsharp21]

SAFD: Funny signs! I think for the past two years there have been some people on the path outside of Boardwalk who have had some signs referring to the The Office. I always get a chuckle out of those. I also enjoy the signs that take subtle jabs at Disney. Those are usually pretty clever.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Here i am now trying to come up with a clever sign. When i run a marathon i like the signs too. Also seeing the note about letting you know we are a Dis'er. I am going to try and put my handle on the sign. I will spend some time with @The Expert to figure something out.

Definitely let us know that you are a rD-er on the sign! And maybe put your screen name on there somewhere.

 

[jrsharp21]

Maybe still too early MW forecast.

Thursday 1/8: High 71, Low 55, 25% chance of rain
Friday 1/9: High 73, Low 43, 68% chance of rain
Saturday 1/10: High 64, Low 42, 5% chance of rain
Sunday 1/11: High 62, Low 42, 25% chance of rain

I was holding off on buying those $5 throw blankets from Walmart to use in the corral. Looks like may have to pick some up next. I feel like the half marathon ever year is the race that gets the cold or wet weather.

 

[marty3d]

Maybe still too early MW forecast.

Thursday 1/8: High 71, Low 55, 25% chance of rain
Friday 1/9: High 73, Low 43, 68% chance of rain
Saturday 1/10: High 64, Low 42, 5% chance of rain
Sunday 1/11: High 62, Low 42, 25% chance of rain

I was holding off on buying those $5 throw blankets from Walmart to use in the corral. Looks like may have to pick some up next. I feel like the half marathon ever year is the race that gets the cold or wet weather.

Still too early but those Saturday/ Sunday temps are at the very low end of comfortable for me. I'd prefer a +10 on both the min/max.

 

[PrincessV]

I've seen this a few times now. I know WAY back in the day, DISboard folks would wear something neon green to identify themselves. Or maybe just a sticker name tag with DIS on it somewhere? Open to ideas!

Yep, lime green is the official DIS identifying color. There was (maybe still is?) a Disney line of paint and you could get the lime green swatches at HD in the shape of a Mickey head. We’d laminate those and wear them on a bag or lanyard to find each other in the parks.

I’ve seen fewer and fewer over the years, but there used to be large DIS WISH groups cheering at races. Before the dedicated running threads really took off, WISH was our main place to talk about rD.

I know others are much less concerned, but I’ve become quite cautious about identifying myself in person with any online presence for… reasons. So no one will see anything identifying me as my DIS name while spectating, but I could maybe add a DIS logo at the stop of a sign.

 

[fatmanatee]

Maybe still too early MW forecast.

Thursday 1/8: High 71, Low 55, 25% chance of rain
Friday 1/9: High 73, Low 43, 68% chance of rain
Saturday 1/10: High 64, Low 42, 5% chance of rain
Sunday 1/11: High 62, Low 42, 25% chance of rain

I was holding off on buying those $5 throw blankets from Walmart to use in the corral. Looks like may have to pick some up next. I feel like the half marathon ever year is the race that gets the cold or wet weather.

I sort of assume that until we get pretty close the predictions are based more on historical averages, but ummm... is that an usually high prediction for rain this early?

 

[pluto377]

SAFD: Funny signs are always good. Not too wordy though, reading and running is hard. Also make noise! Don't just stand there watching us. I love when people call out my name, but yeah the Disney font is way small.

@jrsharp21 I love that forecast. Please let it come true!

Sim 2 finished yesterday with a 20 miler. So glad the hard work is done. Now to enjoy the taper and the holidays!

 

[The Expert]

it was a sad day when the boardwalk was changed to a quiet zone. If your screaming kids can keep me up all night, you can wake up early for a couple race days, Disney is noisy, so be it.

^^^THIS!!!^^^

The other way my phone is showing would be
DVC Way to Epcot Center Dr and then into Epcot Parking lots. This looks like it would be the correct way to do this? I definitely do NOT want DH and DD to get stuck for a long time in a detour/closed road issue.

I think that would work, but you may want to just ask at the expo transportation desk.

There was (maybe still is?) a Disney line of paint and you could get the lime green swatches at HD in the shape of a Mickey head.

Oh yeah! I used to have a stash of those but tossed them when we moved.

 

[jrsharp21]

I sort of assume that until we get pretty close the predictions are based more on historical averages, but ummm... is that an usually high prediction for rain this early?

This is what Google's AI says about Accuweather's extended forecasts.

AccuWeather predicts monthly weather by blending massive historical data (climatology) with advanced AI/ML, patented tech (SWIFT), and global observations, shifting from detailed models (days 1-7) to broader patterns (beyond 7 days), relying heavily on past trends, satellite data, and meteorologist expertise to identify repeating cycles for longer outlooks, recognizing accuracy decreases with time but provides useful long-range trends.

So in other words, don't trust it until we are only a couple days out. LOL.

 

[The Expert]

Don't trust it until we are only a couple days HOURS out.

I fixed it for you.

 

[FFigawi]

Yep, lime green is the official DIS identifying color. There was (maybe still is?) a Disney line of paint and you could get the lime green swatches at HD in the shape of a Mickey head. We’d laminate those and wear them on a bag or lanyard to find each other in the parks.

I’ve seen fewer and fewer over the years, but there used to be large DIS WISH groups cheering at races. Before the dedicated running threads really took off, WISH was our main place to talk about rD.

Some of the old-time WISHers are still out there cheering during marathon weekend. They’re usually right outside DHS wearing lime green shirts and wigs, and sometimes handing out candy. There’s also a WISH meetup at Pop every year, usually on Friday evening, sometimes ice cream on Sat afternoon at Beaches & Cream, and a breakfast on Monday somewhere along the Boardwalk. I’ll be wearing my WISH shirt during the full on Sunday, weather permitting.

 

[PrincessV]

I sort of assume that until we get pretty close the predictions are based more on historical averages, but ummm... is that a usually high prediction for rain this early?

Ahem… is this my cue?

NO forecast this far out is based on anything but historical data and guesswork. It’ll change a gazillion times between now and maybe a week out. Then it’ll usually keep changing.

PREPARE FOR ANY CONDITIONS!!!!!!