Nov. Disney Half Marathon Weekend

[dekraut]

Hello all,

My wife and I are planning a trip to WDW for our 20th anniversary in November. For the first time we are going without the kiddos.

My question revolves around the time we would be going..

We were planning to arrive Saturday 11/3 and leaving Wed 11/7, staying at POFQ. We have never been during this time of year before. We are usually January people.

That weekend there is the Half-Marathon weekend, as well as the Food & Wine presumably (do they have exact dates for that yet?) and we are wondering how much that impacts the attendance in the parks? I remember Pete talking about it impacting traffic more than the parks but I never listened that carefully because we had never planned to be there that time of year.

Granted, without kiddos we are likely going to be less ride-focused, but any ideas about this time of year would be helpful in making our final decision.

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Mr. Drauer]

The races do not really affect park touring crowds. Saturday has a 10K which starts at 5:30 am and is clear of the parks by opening time. some minor issues with traffic changes and bus routes for those rope dropping at either Epcot or DHS are possible. For the Half Marathon on Sunday which also starts at 5:30, there can be more traffic and bus tie-ups getting to the parks for early entry, but if they use the same course as last year, MK is unaffected, and AK is clear by 8:00 or 8:30. The course finished in Epcot via DHS and the Boardwalk, so you might see some minor issues there between 6:00 and 10:00 am. If you are using bus transportation, you might find some delays in getting a bus or getting to a park between 7:30 and 10:30, but then again you might not. The races that tie up traffic and have heavy road closures are the WDW marathon weekend in January and Princess in February as both use World Drive and run to the MK. There is typically a runner party at Epcot on Sunday night, so there may be more of a crowd starting that afternoon, but with it being F&W, the weekend afternoon / evening crowds are already pretty much packed.

Have a great trip!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

That is the weekend before Jersey Week so some families will maybe arriving around that time. We arrive 11/2. That may drive up crowds.

 

[LizzyS]

We were just there on 2/25 in Epcot during the Princess half marathon and we saw SO many runners in the morning heading to Epcot, but it was kind of cool! They stopped us a couple of times entering the parks because of the runners' path, but it honestly did not bother us at all.

 

[rteetz]

Wine and Dine weekend can be quite busy. There is also a party for the runners on Sunday night at Epcot.

 

[Golfjbc89]

2018 Wine & Dine Half weekend is 11/1-11/4. The races themselves do not impact the days crowds (IE: the half will not shut down any parks), but they bring in a ton of extra people so don't expect the parks to be light. I went and ran the Half last year and the parks were packed all week. If we did not rope drop the park that day then we had to seriously tone down our expectations on what we could get on.

That being said I didn't have many issues with the F&W booths, some had longer lines but nothing that seemed not worth waiting for. F&W should last until at least the following weekend so you'll have plenty of opportunities to go to Epcot.

Congrats and enjoy!

 

[bumbershoot]

We were just there on 2/25 in Epcot during the Princess half marathon and we saw SO many runners in the morning heading to Epcot, but it was kind of cool! They stopped us a couple of times entering the parks because of the runners' path, but it honestly did not bother us at all.

To make sure for the OP....when you were on your way into epcot, you saw the runners along their (our) route. You weren't seeing tons of runners heading TO epcot in order to spend their days there.

And yes since those of us who aren't very speedy are still running the route as the park opens, they do have some crowd control as we passed by.

If ever caught up in such a situation as a non-runner, PLEASE cheer and smile for us. We've been on the course a LONG time by then and really would prefer cheers and claps rather than the sour unsmiling even angry faces I saw outside of epcot for the half.

 

[LizzyS]

Well, yes, of course, but their path went right through Epcot.