Rides during marathon?

[GarthasDisney]

First time Disney Marathon runner here, I recall hearing about people in the past hopping on rides (Expedition Everest I think?) actually during the full marathon. Is this still a thing? Any tips? Which rides would doable and what pace would one need to keep to make it happen? I suspect they've changed start times and course layout so maybe this isn't even possible anymore. It just seems like a really cool thing to say you rode a Disney ride "during" an actual race.

 

[jmasgat]

It is still a thing, but sadly EE is closed for refurb starting Jan 4. The logical candidate is Tower of Terror, or possibly RnR. @FFigawi has experience doing it in 2020 and since this has come up before, @DopeyBadger will probably have crunched the data.

 

[GreatLakes]

It isn't something I'd do but the general idea I get from the discussion here is that people look for a ride that is close to the course, has a single rider line, and doesn't have a pre-show. EE hits all of those nicely and I'm not sure any other ride would be as easy to get on as EE. I suppose another option would be to try and get a G+ reservation in the window you expect to be passing the ride and use that to hop the line.

 

[DopeyBadger]

First time Disney Marathon runner here, I recall hearing about people in the past hopping on rides (Expedition Everest I think?) actually during the full marathon. Is this still a thing? Any tips? Which rides would doable and what pace would one need to keep to make it happen? I suspect they've changed start times and course layout so maybe this isn't even possible anymore. It just seems like a really cool thing to say you rode a Disney ride "during" an actual race.

Here are the stats for TOT and RnR-

-The marathon start is 5:00am, and expected last person is roughly 6:00am.
-DHS is expected to open for EMH at 8:30am (with a 9:00am official opening).
-DHS is at mile 22.8 approximately.
-The balloon ladies (sweepers) arrive at TOT at 12:04pm assuming an on-time race start.
-Assume riding TOT and RnR takes about 40 min (per @FFigawi experience).
-So in order to ride TOT/RnR you would need to arrive to DHS between 8:30am-11:20am.



A person starting in starting group 2 (s2, or a 4:00-4:30 estimate/club rD Plat member) needs to run no faster than an 8:54 min/mile up to DHS, and no slower than a 16:22 min/mile in order to hit DHS during the expected window when TOT and RnR will be operational.

If the s2 runner runs let's say an 8:15 min/mile through Mile 22.8, then that runner will arrive to DHS before the park is open.

A runner in s5 who let's say does a 15:30 min/mile through Mile 22.8 is estimated not to have enough time to ride TOT/RnR before the balloon ladies would pass them. That s5 runner needs to do a 14:49 min/mile or less through to DHS.

 

[FFigawi]

Tower of Terror and Everest are both very easy to ride assuming you get there when they’re open. RnRC is a little harder because it’s a longer detour away from the marathon route.

 

[ZellyB]

It really is a shame they are shutting down EE so close the the marathon. I mean, you couldn't wait 5 more days to allow runners to ride? Boo!

I only rode EE one time while running and it was an awesome experience. We were always too slow to chance doing ToT, but I would have loved to have done it once during the marathon.