Strategy for quick visit over marathon weekend? (not running)

[snowybelle]

Just got word that my husband and I will have 2 days in the parks in January while he is down in Florida for work, and it happens to coincide with Marathon Weekend which I have never experienced before. Our park days are Friday, January 6th (day of the 10k) and Saturday, January 7th (day of the Half).

I've been to WDW a bunch of times and I don't mind crowds and personally have no major must-do's for this specific trip. However, my husband has only been one time, briefly, and while he did enjoy it I don't think I've 100% converted him yet and he's a major newb. (He hasn't even BEEN inside Epcot yet!) His mood is also more negatively affected by long lines than mine. Oy.

So.. I want to make this trip as positive for him as possible. Any general strategies or rules of thumb for Marathon Weekend crowds? (Is it noticeably more crowded?) Anything to specifically avoid? I'm pretty unfamiliar with the flow of traffic/events/trends during RunDisney events.

The saving grace is Animal Kingdom is his favorite park... and seems like that's slow no matter what so we can always hide out there I suppose

 

[pixarmom]

We've been to WDW for Marathon Weekend as runners and as non-runners. Most of the time, we've stayed at either Poly or BC for Marathon Weekend. We don't find the parks crowded at all, especially because many of us are a little tired after running and might take more breaks than the usual Disney guest. Other than a very busy Poly lobby, I've never thought crowds were bad during that weekend at all.

Traffic and road closures are another matter. Everything starts and ends at Epcot, but we've paid zero attention to the road closure situation because we are always taking a monorail or walking to the parks on race days - we avoid staying places or going to parks that require buses on those days. Although the half does not go through AK on January 7, I'm not sure how road closures will impact your travel, so that's worth investigating in advance. runDisney will release a Marathon Weekend guide shortly before the weekend that will detail road closures, but you might want to google for the 2016 guide to get an idea.

 

[snowybelle]

^^ this is all helpful thank you.

Shoot, so it seems like the resorts are pretty darned booked. We've tentatively booked a room at Bonnet Creek, which is close, but will obviously require some travel to the parks. Should we reconsider and try to book Swan/Dolphin instead?

We will have a rental car but it sounds like that could make things kind of miserable.

 

[Keels]

Crowds later in the day at the parks will be heavier, and breakfast reservations at character/popular places may be hard to come by at this point, but you really won't feel the Marathon crowd until later in the afternoon.

The races are EARLY - 5:30 a.m. starts for the 10K and half - so road closures should be minimal. If you choose to rope drop Epcot on Saturday (Half Marathon day), you'll definitely get to see finishers going through the parks as the last mile or so goes out to the lake in World Showcase and then back down to Spaceship Earth before finishing in the parking lot. That said, park ops make it easy for you to cross the runners with crosswalks in the parks.

If you're planning to rope-drop Epcot on Saturday, obviously staying at the Swolphin will be your best bet - but while there will be road closures, if you just follow all the signage it's pretty easy to navigate in. They generally clear the roads of entrance into the parking lot at Epcot in time for the park to open (runners come in the exit roads to the park).

For 10K day at the Swolphin, you will likely hear the pitter patter of runners and cheering in your hotel room early that morning, as the last miles of the course run the resort loop out that way.

Either way - it's a fun time to be at the parks! I visited during Marathon Weekend in 2014 and actually watched the finish of the full marathon in Epcot on a Sunday ... that's when the RunDisney bug bit me good!