MK on Princess Half Marathon day (2/24) -- Morning Traffic?

[Allison]

At times you can't even get through to the Grand Floridian, at least the buses can't. I have been on the buses when they had everyone get off at the Polynesian because they couldn't get to the GF.

 

[kamash]

I would make sure to read Post #5 above where I outline my exact timing from BWI to the MK trying to get to the park PPO this past year. I wish my Minnie Van driver had known he couldn’t drop me off at the MK bus plaza as that would have saved time. I definitely recommend being dropped off at the TTC, Poly, or GF - anything to avoid that stretch of World Drive under the water bridge in front of CR. I left BWI at 7:08 and was walking into the MK just about an hour later.

Thank you for the reply! Yes I read your post thoroughly, and will again before we leave, that is a huge help! Especially knowing not to go to CR as I probably would have tried that! Thanks for helping me make the best out of the situation. Much appreciated.

 

[kamash]

At times you can't even get through to the Grand Floridian, at least the buses can't. I have been on the buses when they had everyone get off at the Polynesian because they couldn't get to the GF.

Thank you so much for the advice. We will plan on getting to the POLY then instead.

 

[TheMick424]

Bumping this up as it is getting closer. Yeah!! I was just looking at the official race guide online and they mentioned parking available for spectators at Epcot, suggesting to take the monorail from Epcot to TTC to watch from various near MK locations. Has anyone tried this before vs taking bus transportation from the resorts to the TTC? I would really love to keep our Kona Cafe breakfast ADR but was thinking I would have to bag it due to the road closures, etc.

 

[cfnumberone]

We're going to be attempting to get to Epcot that morning, though not trying to RD. Around 10am will we be better off trying to drive or take Disney transportation?

 

[kamash]

Hello all. First off, thank you for all of the advice on this thread, it really helped us plan our day and make us feel more prepared to attempt an 8AM BOG ADR on a 1/2 Marathon Day!

Wanted to follow up with our experience in case anyone else is ever needing some guidance on how to navigate an early morning on a RunDisney weekend.

We were a party of 6 adults staying at Boardwalk Inn. We had a BOG ADR for 8AM and our plan was to get to 7DMT before the rope drop crowd. I stopped by the concierge desk to check in the night before to see if they had any information about road closures/busses that early/etc. A bit of back and forth and one person passing me off to someone else and I was finally told that due to the race buses would be running early at 6:30AM. (I asked about being taken to the TTC vs MK Bus Stops but they didn't seem to know.) All that being said I took the bus start time with a grain of salt since the CMs (although very kind and trying to be helpful) didn't instill too much confidence with their answers.

Next AM we woke up with a plan to start checking the bus times on the app at 6:30AM and then decide between a bus or calling a Lyft/Uber. (I had directions printed that showed the way to avoid the closure on World Drive and to take us to the TTC and would have had them ready to show the Lyft/Uber driver if necessary.) Checked at 6:30AM and nothing...checked again at 6:40 and still nothing. Then all the sudden at 6:45AM it said a bus was coming at 6:49AM! We raced to the bus stop, but then all the sudden it said the next bus was not until 7:15AM. Just as I was about to go to plan B and call a Lyft/Uber the bus time jumped back to 6:55AM and we got on a bus with just one other family.

Our driver was a champ and knew exactly which way to go, getting us to the TTC by about 7:20AM. From there we were directed to the monorail and we got lucky again and walked right on! This got us to the MK gates at around 7:30AM. From there we waited in line at the far left tapstiles until we were let in at 7:45AM. (Unfortunately we got stuck behind a family who had issues with their bands and we weren't on Main Street until almost 7:55AM.)

From there we walked swiftly back to BOG and were held for a couple minutes for them to redirect the racers so we could cross. When all was said and done we were in at BOG with our pre-order by 8:05AM!

By the time we finished eating at 8:40AM the racers had cleared and we had an open path to walk back out and wait for 7DMT.

All in all it was a very smooth morning, but I am SO GLAD we left with an hour time to get to MK. We got lucky with bus and monorail timing (which put us at MK 15 minutes before we needed to be), but had one thing been stalled we could have easily arrived right at 7:45AM or even been much closer to 8AM.

So, my advice to anyone wishing to do this (or needing to based on the timing or their trip) is to just be ready to wake up early, give a solid hour for travel time and have a backup plan to the Disney busses. The key is knowing that you will need to get a bus or car and go to the TTC then take the monorail to MK.

For the early morning I do think you will be rewarded nicely! I believe a lot of people had NO IDEA that the race would delay travel (even though there was a pop-up notice on the MDE app warning that travel would take longer until 11AM for multiple days before Sunday) and we ended up with really low crowds until about 10:30AM! We crammed so many extra rides in that morning that we didn't think would be possible, I think because a lot of people who were trying to arrive by 9AM didn't actually get to the park until closer to 10AM due to the extra travel time.

Also, it was really pretty fun to be in the middle of the race and seeing all the runners and ChEAR squad! It gave the morning and park a great energy and was really neat to see.

Sorry for the long post - but wanted to record a thorough description of or morning. Good luck to anyone in the future who might be in the same situation as us!

 

[TheMick424]

Hello all. First off, thank you for all of the advice on this thread, it really helped us plan our day and make us feel more prepared to attempt an 8AM BOG ADR on a 1/2 Marathon Day!

Wanted to follow up with our experience in case anyone else is ever needing some guidance on how to navigate an early morning on a RunDisney weekend.

We were a party of 6 adults staying at Boardwalk Inn. We had a BOG ADR for 8AM and our plan was to get to 7DMT before the rope drop crowd. I stopped by the concierge desk to check in the night before to see if they had any information about road closures/busses that early/etc. A bit of back and forth and one person passing me off to someone else and I was finally told that due to the race buses would be running early at 6:30AM. (I asked about being taken to the TTC vs MK Bus Stops but they didn't seem to know.) All that being said I took the bus start time with a grain of salt since the CMs (although very kind and trying to be helpful) didn't instill too much confidence with their answers.

Next AM we woke up with a plan to start checking the bus times on the app at 6:30AM and then decide between a bus or calling a Lyft/Uber. (I had directions printed that showed the way to avoid the closure on World Drive and to take us to the TTC and would have had them ready to show the Lyft/Uber driver if necessary.) Checked at 6:30AM and nothing...checked again at 6:40 and still nothing. Then all the sudden at 6:45AM it said a bus was coming at 6:49AM! We raced to the bus stop, but then all the sudden it said the next bus was not until 7:15AM. Just as I was about to go to plan B and call a Lyft/Uber the bus time jumped back to 6:55AM and we got on a bus with just one other family.

Our driver was a champ and knew exactly which way to go, getting us to the TTC by about 7:20AM. From there we were directed to the monorail and we got lucky again and walked right on! This got us to the MK gates at around 7:30AM. From there we waited in line at the far left tapstiles until we were let in at 7:45AM. (Unfortunately we got stuck behind a family who had issues with their bands and we weren't on Main Street until almost 7:55AM.)

From there we walked swiftly back to BOG and were held for a couple minutes for them to redirect the racers so we could cross. When all was said and done we were in at BOG with our pre-order by 8:05AM!

By the time we finished eating at 8:40AM the racers had cleared and we had an open path to walk back out and wait for 7DMT.

All in all it was a very smooth morning, but I am SO GLAD we left with an hour time to get to MK. We got lucky with bus and monorail timing (which put us at MK 15 minutes before we needed to be), but had one thing been stalled we could have easily arrived right at 7:45AM or even been much closer to 8AM.

So, my advice to anyone wishing to do this (or needing to based on the timing or their trip) is to just be ready to wake up early, give a solid hour for travel time and have a backup plan to the Disney busses. The key is knowing that you will need to get a bus or car and go to the TTC then take the monorail to MK.

For the early morning I do think you will be rewarded nicely! I believe a lot of people had NO IDEA that the race would delay travel (even though there was a pop-up notice on the MDE app warning that travel would take longer until 11AM for multiple days before Sunday) and we ended up with really low crowds until about 10:30AM! We crammed so many extra rides in that morning that we didn't think would be possible, I think because a lot of people who were trying to arrive by 9AM didn't actually get to the park until closer to 10AM due to the extra travel time.

Also, it was really pretty fun to be in the middle of the race and seeing all the runners and ChEAR squad! It gave the morning and park a great energy and was really neat to see.

Sorry for the long post - but wanted to record a thorough description of or morning. Good luck to anyone in the future who might be in the same situation as us!

Great recap! We also went to MK that day, and the crowds were minimal. It was such a nice morning (even after sitting on the bus from the AKL for over an hour...that part was not so great). Travel times are definitely long that morning. We are debating where to stay next year if we go the same weekend.