Marathon Weekend - How does it affect wait times and transportation

[CJ2K2]

Hi all,

Has anyone experienced Disney on Marathon weekend? I will be there this Saturday and Sunday while the marathon is going on. I want to know how much this will affect our experience. Are there certain areas/attractions closed off? How are the wait times for rides? and Lastly, how is the traffic for driving to parks and between parks? I plan on taking my car to the parks, and will be doing park hopper, I want to make sure I wont be stuck in long traffic.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Robo]

No rides are closed.

 

[gap2368]

you will be fine I have been and never notice and thing.

 

[CJ2K2]

you will be fine I have been and never notice and thing.

Perfect....how crowded were the parks in your experience?

 

[gap2368]

I go once a month so I do not remember that time per say I just remember someone telling me it was marathon weekend at the end of the day on Saturday and I was like ok never noticed anything

but MK seems to be very crowded on weekends any way

 

[DOOM1001]

There's races from Thursday through Sunday,the 5K on Thursday and the 10K on Friday will be over well before the parks open.The half starts on Saturday morning at 5:30am with corrals going off every couple of minutes so the last runners are starting at close to 6:30am.The half is basically from Epcot to MK and back,the final runners will be finishing around 10am or so. On Sunday for the full the start times are the same but the runners,myself included will run from Epcot to MK then head to AK,followed by WWoS,DHS and finally head into Epcot through the Boardwalk and International Gateway,the last runners are going to be on the course as late as 1-2pm.Definitely don't worry about wait times for the rides,between getting up at 2-3am for the races,going to the Expo at WWoS and going to sleep early the wait times for the rides are not going to be impacted much by the thousands of runners.However if you plan to drive to the parks,especially Saturday and Sunday I would opt to take the buses from the resorts if staying onsite or give us more info on what parks you will be driving to on what day and where will you be coming from because some streets are totally closed off such as Osceola Pkwy on Sunday for the full.Let us know your route to the parks and we'll tell you if its a good idea or not to drive.

 

[rteetz]

I've gone to WDW for marathon weekend the last two years and am here right now for marathon weekend. I've never had a major issue with crowds or wait times. Marathon Sunday there will be roads blocked off from early morning to mid day that could affect travel times but it's not bad at all.

 

[CJ2K2]

There's races from Thursday through Sunday,the 5K on Thursday and the 10K on Friday will be over well before the parks open.The half starts on Saturday morning at 5:30am with corrals going off every couple of minutes so the last runners are starting at close to 6:30am.The half is basically from Epcot to MK and back,the final runners will be finishing around 10am or so. On Sunday for the full the start times are the same but the runners,myself included will run from Epcot to MK then head to AK,followed by WWoS,DHS and finally head into Epcot through the Boardwalk and International Gateway,the last runners are going to be on the course as late as 1-2pm.Definitely don't worry about wait times for the rides,between getting up at 2-3am for the races,going to the Expo at WWoS and going to sleep early the wait times for the rides are not going to be impacted much by the thousands of runners.However if you plan to drive to the parks,especially Saturday and Sunday I would opt to take the buses from the resorts if staying onsite or give us more info on what parks you will be driving to on what day and where will you be coming from because some streets are totally closed off such as Osceola Pkwy on Sunday for the full.Let us know your route to the parks and we'll tell you if its a good idea or not to drive.

Thanks for the details! I will be staying in Kissimmee on Bronson Memorial Hwy. On the Sunday, I plan on driving to AK, and then park hopping to HS. I don't have a route planned right now, so I am very much opened to suggestions.

 

[DOOM1001]

Thanks for the details! I will be staying in Kissimmee on Bronson Memorial Hwy. On the Sunday, I plan on driving to AK, and then park hopping to HS. I don't have a route planned right now, so I am very much opened to suggestions.

Since I'm usually running and not driving I'm not the authority on what routes to take or how early certain roads are closed although I do think I have seen a map that does show what times they do close them,I'm just not sure where I saw it.I will say getting to AK is likely going to be problematic on Sunday morning as the main road in and out of AK is Osceola Pkwy and its miles 14-17 of the full marathon and will likely have runners running that portion of the road from 6:30 until almost 11am.I would say even getting to AK by bus that morning will probably be challenging as I've had family members going from Epcot to AK by bus to see me run and they told me the traffic was not easy and it took the bus forever to get there and out,even so its still probably a better option than trying to get there yourself.If I was going to attempt to go to AK and then go to DHS I would probably opt to park at DHS and take a bus to AK,make sure to enter DHS through the Buena Vista Dr entrance and come in from Buena Vista drive from 535,I would totally avoid World Dr and Epcot Center Dr.

 

[Accident]

As mentioned, it's not bad.. allow a little more time to get anywhere first thing in the morning. late mornign and afternoon you wont even know things were closed.

It barely impacts the parks but you might see some runners and their friends/families that spectate and cheering them on in the afternoon. The races are really early in the morning so they don't hang around all day if they have a race the next morning.

 

[BigredNole]

From personal experience, not knowing there is a marathon can be killer. We found out the hard way trying to go to MK. CSR forgot to put up the marathon information at the bus stop. We were at the bus stop at about 7:30AM. didn't get a bus until 8:15AM, got stuck in marathon backups and traffic to finally arrive at TTC at 10AM (yes, 1:45 minutes). Only to be greeted by masses trying to go to Epcot or MK. We were directed by a CM to avoid waiting because the monorail was over an hour as was the ferry and boat launches. We were directed to a bus to DHS. We finally make it there at 11AM. 3.5 hours of waiting and traveling because of the marathon and no notification by the resort.

The resort manager was extremely apologetic. We were given a free meal at Pepper Market and 3 free FPs each (when they were tickets). We were not the only ones at the resort caught up in the mess. After getting home, Guest Services contacted us as well to apologize. We were given 6 FPs to use on our next trip.

The moral of the story is to know if there is a marathon. If there is, avoid crossing those lines to go to a park. If you are on one side of the lines, go to MK/Epcot. On the other side of the line, go to DHS, AK, DS, or the waterparks.

 

[CJ2K2]

As mentioned, it's not bad.. allow a little more time to get anywhere first thing in the morning. late mornign and afternoon you wont even know things were closed.

H

It barely impacts the parks but you might see some runners and their friends/families that spectate and cheering them on in the afternoon. The races are really early in the morning so they don't hang around all day if they have a race the next morning.

Hmmmm......based on this map, I may be in trouble for both my days at Disney, as I will be heading to Magic Kingdom by car on thr Saturday. I am not familiar with the area at all, and was planning on using a GPS to get around (appears this will be impossible now). Can any of you please do me a huge favor and map out or explain with details how I will be able to get in and out of Disney on my two days?

I'm staying at 7300 W Irlo Bronson Hwy, Kissimmee FL.

On the Saturday, I plan on going to MK, but first I need to head to Guest Relations (how close is that to MK?). I want to be at MK at least 30 mins before it opens, and would stay there until closing.

On the Sunday, I'm planning on doing AK in the morning and HS in the afternoon. Again, I want to arrive at AK at least 30 mins prior to opening. Based on the map posted, it looks like I'm best heading to HS after 1pm.

I appreciate any help you guys can offer, as I'm very overwhelmed by all of this.

 

[Accident]

I appreciate any help you guys can offer, as I'm very overwhelmed by all of this.

It's really not that bad.. there will be signs and they close the roads right where you would want to start an alternative route. It'll just be a longer drive and more people on those roads so give yourself more time if you have an appointment or something scheduled.

 

[GreatLakes]

The only real issue is with driving. I would make yourself familiar with Google Maps so you can route yourself around the traffic. For example, if you are coming from the east head up to Vista drive to get to MK instead of taking Buena Vista to World. Using Google Maps and the road closures posted above makes it a lot easier.

As for the parks, I have been there for multiple marathon weekends and it has never seemed that busy to me. They have the race at the time they do as a way to try to increase traffic at a normally slow time. Even with the increased traffic it won't compare to a summer day or any holiday.

 

[bumbershoot]

I am not familiar with the area at all, and was planning on using a GPS to get around

Fyi once you're on property it's always best to follow their signs. Gps is really confusing on property. We noticed that with my iPhone mapping app the other week that even though it was accurate, it was maddening because it referenced street names when disney doesnt give you those names while you're on the what-are-basically-highways. The signs tell you to be in the right lanes for Epcot while the app is telling you to take the turn onto "whatever" road and it's confusing.

 

[roxymama]

I will say that if you aren't running the half or marathon...that a lot of people who were running (and their families), then go back to their resorts and shower/change, and then eat big breakfasts, and then nap, etc...and a lot of people go to bed early the night before. So we found that the parks early and late were not super crowded. At least that was our experience last year.

 

[pattyw]

We're staying at Universal and plan to have a PPO breakfast at EPCOT on Saturday the 7th. I'm trying to read the map regarding road closures and it may be a stupid question but how will I get to EPCOT coming from I-4?

 

[Harambe]

We are taking Disney bus to MK on that Sunday, and plan on going as early as we can. We don't anticipate huge crowds in the park, but understand that the traffic might be bad. Also - we are hoping to see some runners so we can cheer them on!!!!

Saturday, we have no parks planned, and hope to just do Disney Springs.

 

[scrapquitler]

Hi all,

Has anyone experienced Disney on Marathon weekend? I will be there this Saturday and Sunday while the marathon is going on. I want to know how much this will affect our experience. Are there certain areas/attractions closed off? How are the wait times for rides? and Lastly, how is the traffic for driving to parks and between parks? I plan on taking my car to the parks, and will be doing park hopper, I want to make sure I wont be stuck in long traffic.

Thanks everyone!

We were there for Marathon weekend last January. We saw signs in the resort lobby directing Marathon participants to the proper bus stop for their race transportation. One of the times we were on a bus, the route was diverted a bit because of the race course, and we saw a couple people wearing their medals in the parks after the race. Other than that, we would have never noticed anything extra was going on. It didn't affect us at all.

 

[ls1222]

We are planning on going to the MK on Sunday from AoA.. Do you think allowing an hour and a half before opening will be sufficient? Thanks!!