Marathoners.....

[MomofCKJ]

How did you find bus transportation? We are trying to decide where to stay next year and while I really would love to be on the Monorail, the budget may not think that is the best idea. Wondering how you found getting to the race and where did you stay?

Allyson

 

[princessrunner]

I did the half but I rode the bus to the full start. I had no problems with transportation to the Expo, half or full and I stayed at CBR. The only problem for me was that I was in Barbados and we were first on and last off the bus system but that was true for any of the busses, not just the marathon transportation.

The funny story is that I had been getting off at Martinique which was the next set of buildings and walking back to Barbados every day. After the half, I rode the whole loop!!!!!!!!

 

[gsu1988]

I did something different this year. I drove over to the start. I left Old Key West at about 3:30 and drove straight in to EPCOT parking lot. The traffic was not bad at that point. I chose to do this for several reasons. Number one was that if it did begin to rain I could hold up in the car until close to start time. Number two I could store more stuff in the car than I could in my clear plastic check in bag (towel, shoes, clothes, etc..). And third is that after the race I would not have to wait for a bus to fill up before returning to the resort. I could leave whenever I wanted.

Last year I took the bus from OKW and it was fine but I think from now on I will continue to drive over. The only thing is that I would want to make sure to leave early enough to beat traffic. I have heard that closer to race time it can get pretty bad.

 

[hoosmi]

We stayed at the Swan. The bus was no problem at all for the half or the full. I just walked onto a waiting bus both days- we left within probably 3 minutes of me getting on the bus.

I walked back each day just to stretch out a bit.

Transportation was much easier than I expected.

Jen in GA

 

[Cruella de mom]

I walked onto waiting buses at about 3:45 both mornings. No problems at all. I stayed at the Coronado Springs and we never waited for a single bus the entire weekend. There was always one waiting.

 

[scuba diver]

I'm like Ken. I drove over. We stayed at Sports and left about 3 am.

We were in our front row parking space at 3:15. We had our pillows and blankets out, seats folded back and asleep by 3:30.

We woke up at 4:45 and walked to the starting line.

Next year we will drive over again, but will sleep a little longer before walking over, maybe 5:15.

If you drive the key is to get there early.

 

[solotraveler]

Bus transportation to the start and the Expo are a snap. Better than regular Disney transportation, IMHO. That's staying at the Yacht Club in 2006 and All Star Music this year.....

Kevin

 

[KelNottAt]

We stayed at the Boardwalk Villas.

On Saturday they needed more busses than they had. But that's because the Mears guy they contracted to be the "bus monitor" was letting spectators on before runners. He just let everyone board, first come first served. So at 4:00, when the last bus should have been pulling out, there were still nearly 100 people in need of a ride (some runners, some spectators). I bet they all made it there in time. I just think the bus monitor was not following protocol to let spectators get on the "last" bus (before 4:00) when runners were still waiting.

On Sunday, the same bus monitor was on duty. This time, there was no long line of people waiting for busses. Instead, there were 3 busses stacked-up waiting for riders. So, at least they saw a problem on Saturday and fixed it for Sunday.

Didn't make either return trip by bus. Walked on back Saturday and took a cab on Sunday.

 

[hockeygirl]

We stayed at Pop Century and I only used the bus on race morning and it was a breeze. I came outside around 3:10 and there was about 8-9 busses sitting outside POP waiting to transport runners to the start. It seemed as though there was a lot of busses running all weekend from there as well.

 

[Kira G.]

We stayed at the Swan. The bus was no problem at all for the half or the full. I just walked onto a waiting bus both days- we left within probably 3 minutes of me getting on the bus.

I walked back each day just to stretch out a bit.

Transportation was much easier than I expected.

Jen in GA

That's good to know. I'm thinking of using my Starwood points and staying there fore the half next year.

 

[wdw4us]

We were at the Dolphin and it was a breeze for the Expo on Friday afternoon and the next morning around 3:30.

Coming back was the same. No Problem.

denise

 

[JimB.]

Stayed at AKL.

Due to my naturally paranoid state when I have to depend on someone else to get me where I need to go, I was up E-A-R-L-Y. I set my alarm for 2:20, phone wake-up call for 2:30, but woke up on my own at 1:55!!

Was downstairs at about 2:45 to keep from waking the family up with my fidgeting around.

At 2:50 FIVE buses drove up with Half Marathon transportation & AKL signs in the window. And they kept on going without stopping.

BUT, 3 minutes later, a couple of bus coordinators showed up, said they were on a "test drive". 2 minutes later another bus showed up, walked on & was at Epcot by 3:15. No Problems.

Surprise!

 

[armygirl2001]

I was at Coronado Springs with TNT and we caught a bus at bus stop 1 around 3:30 with no problems.

Our rooms were right near bus stop 4 and we had no problems getting anywhere the entire trip with the exception of trying to spectate for the half on Saturday. We got to the stop at about 7:30 and about 5mins later a completely empty marathon bus drove right by us without stopping. A minute later a HS bus stopped and we asked the driver what to do. There were 2 other people on the bus headed to the finish line that she was going to take to HS for a transfer onto a bus over to Epcot, so we got on too. Next stop was bus stop 1 at the hotel and lo and behold there is the marathon bus that passed us by. It totally filled up and a bunch of people were still waiting, so our wonderful driver (YEAH MANDY!!) radioed in and asked if she could load them up and take all of us straight to Epcot. She got the okay and off we all went directly to the family reunion area right behind that lousy marathon bus Other than that things went very smoothly and I really liked the resort a lot.

 

[thndrmatt]

For those "late to rise" and who can handle a slight amount of stress you can take the opposite driving approach...

Our alarms were 4am, out the door from SoG by 4:30 after a good morning meal, and we were parked by 5 or so both days. The peak traffic time is right around 4-4:30 it seems like, so if you wait until after it you'll still be in the corral's by 5:30 either day even with the walk. This does mean you miss out on a lot of the pre-race socializing, but a good night's sleep is way up there on DW and my weekend priorities in order to manage a succesful race... And we make up for it by attacking any and all scream teamers throughout!

 

[DisneyMarathon]

I stayed at the All Star Music and the bus transportation was excellent - to the expo and to the race areas.

Also, all the cast members at the lobby clapped and cheered for the runners as they were passing through the lobby on their return. Nice touch! You can see all these runners faces lit up even though they were exhausted.

 

[tigger2esq]

we stayed at the BWV and I had no problems at all wuith the busses.

there were no issues at all on fri for the 5K both to and from the AK.

we grabbed another onj Saturday to the Expo for the kids races and had zero issues and finally...

on Sunday for the marathon I had no issues at all on the way to the marathon (was on a 3:15 bus) or coming back to the resort 9except for the fact that the bus stoppped at the swan, dolphin, yacht club AND beach club before depositing me at the BW. I didnt want to waste a park pass walking back through EPCOT and I wasnt actually sure I would be able to handle that walk at that point anyway... LOL)

 

[EPCOTDUDE]

I was very concerned about the same thing. This was my first time running at Disney. I considered a monorail resort and Im sure they would be the most convenient. In the end the $$ factor made me choose AKL as I got a great AP rate. I was worried about the distance and the time factor but it turns out the bus service was very efficient to and from the Expo and to and from the race. The drivers were also very friendly. I would recommend AKL to anyone. Busses not an issue.