Touring on April 19 - Star Wars Half Marathon Impact?

[kmsboomer]

We start our trip on April 19. When I booked, I did not realize it would be the Star Wars Rival Run. We have never gone to Disney during a Run Disney event. Is there a park we should avoid on that Sunday? We would drive to Animal Kingdom, Epcot, or Hollywood Studios but would take either a Minnie Van or bus if we picked Magic Kingdom for that day. Will we have trouble with transportation in the morning? Any strategies for that day?

 

[1lilspark]

Run starts at 530 in the morning.... while route hasn't been announced it will most likely start at TTC (MK Parking Lot) and end in Epcot Parking Lot.....
There may be some stragglers crossing through Epcot during the first hour of park operations and more people at DHS to take medal pictures by the Falcon

Spring Break Crowds would be the bigger worry (Saturday the 18th is the first day back after AP Spring Blackout)

 

[mountdew1]

Unless you have a pre-park open"thing" at the parks, the impact is usually pretty minimal for any half marathon. And by pre-park open, I mean like 7AM at the MK (didn't the steam train tour start then?) or a very early meal at Chef Mickeys. The courses that hit MK around mile 5 or so can make those pre park open things a bit more challenging to get to over at the MK. As @1lilspark said, the course isn't known for certain yet, but outside of those few exceptions not much impact.

 

[lisa cameron]

We will be there as well. According to Touring Plans, overall crowd level for the 19th is predicted to be at a 4.

 

[CanucksRock]

I go on the 17th for a week. Totally did not realize it was a run weekend I don’t recall run weekends having much impact in Disneyland. I did the Marvel ones for a couple years. I wanted to go for my birthday, but it lands on Easter Sunday, so decided on the 17th instead for a post birthday trip.

 

[Thecouch]

last year event started at MK carpark then ran to AK .onto to hollywood studios then finish at epcot . where are you staying that might help decide . MK would be least effected with the early start . hollywood studio would be the one I would avoid as people who have run the star wars run events might head to the new star wars land for photos in there new gear and with medals

 

[lilmc]

hollywood studio would be the one I would avoid as people who have run the star wars run events might head to the new star wars land for photos in there new gear and with medals

Yep! I’m running them and normally I get medal pics in front of the castle, but, uh, nope, it’s going to be pics in front of the Millennium Falcon for this race!

 

[1lilspark]

if you look up the 2019 wine & dine course it should be similar just adjusted for epcot construction progress

 

[lisa cameron]

Well, for what it is worth, DHS is projected to be a crowd level 3 and Epcot a 5 that day. We are planning on DHS that day as the first of our 6 park days. We are going to do another DHS on our last day on Friday, April 24th with hopes of getting a SDD FP on the last day. We check into our resort late on April 17th and are using Saturday, the 18th as a resort/Disney Springs day. So the 24th will be day+6 so should be able to get SDD.

My thoughts on also doing DHS on April 19th is that there is potential for the park to extend their hours that day and open earlier which means opening more FP slots for SDD. The 19th is only Day+2 for us so I know we won’t get it the first time around for this day. The 19th is the only day we are going to any of the parks on a weekend so this would be the most likely day they would extend their hours and potentially open earlier.
My analysis could be way off but we also have hoppers so will just hop away if crowds are unmanageable.