Marathon Weekend?

[MattRyan]

I'm currently looking at planning a trip to Disney World during marathon weekend. I've never been to Disney during this period and have no interest in the marathon activities.

The dates I'm looking at are January 3-9.

Is this a poor time to visit? Anything I should know? Does the marathon weekend impact any operations at the parks?

I've only visited Disney during the months of May, June, July, and August, so this time of year would be a first.

Thanks.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

The biggest impacts of the races are on roads and transportation, especially on the day of the full marathon. (I called out of work on the day of the full marathon this past January because I could not figure out from the maps how the heck I was supposed to get to Epcot!) The half marathon has less impact, the 10k has very little, and the 5k affects nothing at all because it's in only one park at the crack of dawn and even the slow people like me are done straggling across the finish line well before the parks open.

 

[bumbershoot]

Races aside, it *can* be very cold in January. Yes, even in Orlando. Layers are your friend.

 

[ArmyVet80]

I'm currently looking at planning a trip to Disney World during marathon weekend. I've never been to Disney during this period and have no interest in the marathon activities.

The dates I'm looking at are January 3-9.

Is this a poor time to visit? Anything I should know? Does the marathon weekend impact any operations at the parks?

I've only visited Disney during the months of May, June, July, and August, so this time of year would be a first.

Thanks.

We are going Jan. 2nd-9th for the Dopey Challenge 2017. This will be our second year as my wife did the Goofy Challenge in Jan 2016. It won't be too bad at the parks as it will be after the Jan 1 and most of the Christmas/NYE guests will have headed home. You will run into moderate crowd levels at the park on Sat. and Sun (7th & 8th) but they shouldn't be near what you have seen in June/July and most of it will be later in the day after the runners have had time to relax after the Half and Full.

Last year neither the Half nor Full Marathon impacted the park operations from what I saw. I was using disney transportation and didn't have any issues on the transportation side. We stayed at an All-Star resort (movies).

From what I remember from Jan 2016 the wait times for rides were pretty comparable to our normal trips (September) or slightly lower. With the additions to Soarin and Toy Story the times may even be a little lower.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Check out these previous threads on the topic...tons of info here

http://www.disboards.com/search/44540566/?q=Marathon+weekend&o=date&c[node]=2