Park Days Before or After Run

[corn princess]

I am planning on doing either the Disney half marathon or Disney Princess half next year. This is my first disney half but not my first half in general. Those of you who make this into a vacation, do you usually do your park days before or after the run, or use a mixture of both?! Just trying to see which days I would need to plan for our trip!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Before, same day, after - all of the above. Only the full marathon impacts my touring plans. For shorter races, I plan my park days for the dates with the lightest possible crowds (such as they are).

 

[fatmanatee]

Depends, but in my case I was pretty worn out after the races, especially the half, mostly due to the early wake-up call. Between the early alarm and race jitters I probably got two hours of sleep. If you can manage that then there's no reason why you can't go to the parks after the race but just be prepared because I was gung ho about going to the park immediately after a post-race shower and that turned into a post-race shower and nap.

 

[WhereInFlorida]

turned into a post-race shower and nap.

One of the great pleasures of a hard run is the nap that comes after if you can do it.

 

[KaitlynJ]

I do before, day of, and after. Lol.

 

[jpakstis]

I've run three halfs at Disney and since this is a family vacation, the kids are raring to go pretty much as soon as I cross the finish line. So we go to the parks the day before, the day of, and the day after. I've found that I bounce back pretty well and don't have any issues getting around adequately enough.

I don't know if I'd feel the same running the full, but the half is manageable for me.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

I haven’t on race day yet. But I do some days before, then waddle a couple after.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I usually do a mixture of both, but the majority is after. My favorite schedule (when I'm racing Saturday and Sunday or just Sunday) is parks on Friday, Disney Springs and relax on Saturday, parks on Sunday evening to celebrate and then 2 or 3 days of full park days after. I think walking around a lot for a few days after the full marathon helps my recovery (or at least I was having too much fun to notice my discomfort! ).

 

[rteetz]

I am planning on doing either the Disney half marathon or Disney Princess half next year. This is my first disney half but not my first half in general. Those of you who make this into a vacation, do you usually do your park days before or after the run, or use a mixture of both?! Just trying to see which days I would need to plan for our trip!

I do both. I may differ from a lot of people though in that I don't nap and I pretty much go from post race to park close. I do shower after the race though

 

[Chrisizzle]

I’d say it depends on two things.

1) How well you can walk after the race?
I will be pretty sore and won’t be much good walking for a couple of days.

2) What day are you racing?
If you are doing the 5k, I’d visit the parks before due to lower crowds and cost.
If you are doing the half-marathon, it makes sense to stay after as you go into Monday and the weekdays.
Basically, avoid the weekend.

 

[marn913]

Before, same day, after - all of the above. Only the full marathon impacts my touring plans. For shorter races, I plan my park days for the dates with the lightest possible crowds (such as they are).

I take the same approach. I just did all three races for Princess weekend and we hit the parks every day. Our plans revolved more around our dining and fast passes than my running. This is not for everyone, it all depends on your mindset for a Disney race and your overall fitness level and recovery needs.

 

[sandam1]

For my first marathon weekend, we arrived on Wednesday, did the 5K on Thursday and I did the half on Saturday, and then we flew home late on Monday. I was staying and going to Universal, but I think the same general principles would apply to both places:
- There were a number of times over the weekend that we bailed on plans in favor of down time. For instance, we did a little park time on Wednesday before heading to the Expo, but never got back that evening. Between a stupid early flight that morning and knowing that we had a stupid early wake-up the next morning, sleeping seemed like to prudent idea. The key is to be flexible about what you "have to" do and to be ready to go to Plan B.
- I made sure to "save my feet" before the race. I still did A LOT of walking, but didn't do a lot of needless standing. If my friend wanted to wander around a store, I could often be found on a near-by bench.
- The day of the half, we did VERY little. I'm a slow runner so it was late morning by the time we got back to the hotel. After some active recovery in the pool, hot tub, and then a bath, it was nap time. We did an early dinner, but the evening was light on rides as I didn't feel great (upset stomach) and rides seemed to be tempting fate.
- The day after, the moving was slow, but totally do-able. I avoided stairs at all costs, but that was the only "not happening" part of the day.
- By Monday, I felt fine. Stairs were interesting, but possible.

All in all, I was most surprised by how much the running ate into our park time. We were there for six days and there was still a laundry list of things that we didn't get to do. Part of this was crowd related, but I just couldn't get up at 3 a.m. and go all day. For 2020, we are probably going to do 3 days of races (5K, 10K and half) and I'm thinking of springing for an Express Pass hotel at Universal to try to be more efficient in our park time.

If you aren't doing a challenge, I would probably weigh on the side of doing the parks afterward.

 

[derekleigh]

Personally, it will depend on your level of training and how comfortable you feel with the races. The first time I ran a half marathon was at Marathon Weekend in 2012. We still went to the parks later that day. However fast forward to last year when we did the Princess weekend. My wife and I did the 10K, but I was racing the 10K. We did not hit the parks that day as we had the boys running the mile over at ESPN. However, I ran the half the next day and had everybody meet me over at EPCOT immediately after finishing (FREE PARKING for me!!!!). I simply packet a change of clothes, deodorant, Norwex body cloth, food, etc so I could change right in the parking lot (like none of you have ever done that!) Spent the whole day at EPCOT, but did not go to the parks that Monday.

 

[steph0808]

I do the parks before races, after races, on race days, etc. I don't nap, unless you count Carousel of Progress if I'm in MK that day. Or a show in America or France if I'm in Epcot. DHS and AK don't have anywhere conducive to napping while doing the parks.

For Marathon weekend, my trips are usually Thursday-Monday, and I'm hitting the parks every day. This year, I just ran the half. So I was up, did my run, back in my room for a shower, at breakfast at Boma at 9:30, then out to the parks.

Is it optimal for running a PR? No. But I view Disney more as fun runs than PR runs. I would rather run for time at home, where I know I won't be running anywhere from .25 to .75 miles longer than the course because of weaving, not running the tangents, I can stop for photos, etc.

 

[corn princess]

LOl thanks everyone! I think we'll be good to do whatever best fits with our FPs and ADRs! My fitness level is pretty good and after my other halfs I was okay, so I think I'll be fine this time as well!

 

[dsk727]

For 3 race weekends: I usually do a park day the same day as the 5K, then a relax day/pool day on Saturday after the 10K and then park day again right after the Half Marathon.

I usually run all 3 races and am in pretty good shape so park days do not affect me much. I have run all 3 races and PR'd all 3 races with walking in the parks so really it depends on each persons training and fitness levels.
If you need more rest before the races for your legs then schedule them after.

 

[corn princess]

I do the parks before races, after races, on race days, etc. I don't nap, unless you count Carousel of Progress if I'm in MK that day. Or a show in America or France if I'm in Epcot. DHS and AK don't have anywhere conducive to napping while doing the parks.

For Marathon weekend, my trips are usually Thursday-Monday, and I'm hitting the parks every day. This year, I just ran the half. So I was up, did my run, back in my room for a shower, at breakfast at Boma at 9:30, then out to the parks.

Is it optimal for running a PR? No. But I view Disney more as fun runs than PR runs. I would rather run for time at home, where I know I won't be running anywhere from .25 to .75 miles longer than the course because of weaving, not running the tangents, I can stop for photos, etc.

Agree....I'm planning on running it more for the enjoyment of running at Disney than for a PR!

 

[corn princess]

I usually do a mixture of both, but the majority is after. My favorite schedule (when I'm racing Saturday and Sunday or just Sunday) is parks on Friday, Disney Springs and relax on Saturday, parks on Sunday evening to celebrate and then 2 or 3 days of full park days after. I think walking around a lot for a few days after the full marathon helps my recovery (or at least I was having too much fun to notice my discomfort! ).

This sounds like my kind of plan! And it leans towards what I was planning!

Thanks!

 

[BurleyGirl]

Is the general consensus to avoid MK on Sunday, the day of the Marathon? I'm running the Half in Jan 2020, coming in the day before to pick up my packet, but not planning on going to the parks that day or after the Half (will do Disney Springs), but I'd really like to plan on MK being my first park on Sunday. Is that a crazy thought? I always like MK to be my first park of the trip, but I'm staying through the next Friday, so I've plenty of time to do it if that's not a good idea...

 

[steph0808]

Is the general consensus to avoid MK on Sunday, the day of the Marathon? I'm running the Half in Jan 2020, coming in the day before to pick up my packet, but not planning on going to the parks that day or after the Half (will do Disney Springs), but I'd really like to plan on MK being my first park on Sunday. Is that a crazy thought? I always like MK to be my first park of the trip, but I'm staying through the next Friday, so I've plenty of time to do it if that's not a good idea...

I'm actually planning on Sunday being one of my MK days after the marathon. The marathon clears early from MK, unlike the other parks. I would avoid DHS and Epcot since the marathon hits those at miles 23-26 and will therefore impact traffic to/from those parks and space within the parks the most.