Urgh..confused. Marathon vs. Early Entry crowds

[branv]

We will be in the parks Jan. 6 & 7.

The 7th is the half marathon that tracks through MK/Epcots, roads around it. I'd read what a snarl the roads/busses can be b/c of it, so my plan to circumvent traffic was to do:

Fri 1/6: 8-11 at MK, 12-4 at Epcot , back in MK about 5 pm
Sat 1/7 (half marathon day): morning at AK, MGM for lunch and Tot/RnR, whatever park we want in the evening

It was ideal, as spending the morning on Saturday in AK/MGM completely avoided the marathon routes.

However, I just realized that early entry at MK is Friday, and at AK is Saturday. My UG 2006 says unequivocally to avoid early entry parks if at all possible. People have said that in the past the marathon didn't increase the # of people in the parks too much (though I've read some who disagree), but this year it's double the attendees from years past (including double the runners' families). So I am still a little worried about the early entry being slammed.

Is early entry really that bad? Is it generally ok as long as you leave the early entry park by around 11 or 12? Will MK still be overly busy by the evening time b/c of early entry, or will most of the early entry people have burned out and gone back to their hotels by the late afternoon?

Sigh...so many questions Thanks for your help.

 

[disneyholic family]

We will be in the parks Jan. 6 & 7.

The 7th is the half marathon that tracks through MK/Epcots, roads around it. I'd read what a snarl the roads/busses can be b/c of it, so my plan to circumvent traffic was to do:

Fri 1/6: 8-11 at MK, 12-4 at Epcot , back in MK about 5 pm
Sat 1/7 (half marathon day): morning at AK, MGM for lunch and Tot/RnR, whatever park we want in the evening

It was ideal, as spending the morning on Saturday in AK/MGM completely avoided the marathon routes.

However, I just realized that early entry at MK is Friday, and at AK is Saturday. My UG 2006 says unequivocally to avoid early entry parks if at all possible. People have said that in the past the marathon didn't increase the # of people in the parks too much (though I've read some who disagree), but this year it's double the attendees from years past (including double the runners' families). So I am still a little worried about the early entry being slammed.

Is early entry really that bad? Is it generally ok as long as you leave the early entry park by around 11 or 12? Will MK still be overly busy by the evening time b/c of early entry, or will most of the early entry people have burned out and gone back to their hotels by the late afternoon?

Sigh...so many questions Thanks for your help.

are you staying onsite? If you're staying onsite, then going for early opening is fine, assuming you get there in time for the early opening, so that you can make use of it..
if you're not staying onsite (and so are not entitled to going early) then normally i would avoid the early opening park....can't you switch them around?

 

[disneyholic family]

is it early entry or is it evening extra magic hours?
i thought that friday is evening extra magic hours for the MK.....

 

[branv]

We are staying on site, so that's good news.

According to the current early entry and evening entry for Mid-Oct thru December on the disney world website (knowing how that thing can change ), there are no evening entry hours for MK on the weekend, and the early entry dates are the ones I posted.

If Disney's website is incorrect, I'd sure like if someone can confirm.

 

[jann1033]

....that would work good for your sat. while we were there for the marathon (04)they changed emh to ak instead of mk at the last min &unfortunatly that yr is was for the full marathon( think they ran them both together) and it was horrific in ak as the runners reached the park right at emh opening. it was very congested, lots not open( most of first shows were canceled), really imo a waste of time going . so as long as you don't go to emh in ak on the full marathon day you'd be fine imo. we never find the emh ( am ) to significatntly increase crowds in Jan...it might increase them some but they still have walk ons any emh (am) we have ever gone to so unless something has drastically changed in Jan attendence you should be fine and the longest wait (for tot) we have ever had to endure has been 15 mins in the evening without fast pass.

other than the congestion during the actual race, you never would have know the marathon was going on. once the race was over in ak it was fine and we had no problems anywhere else that day

since the parks close earlier usually i think the crowd level stays fairly constant, picking up around 11 or so then about the same till close. maybe a few less late evening but our longest wait was then so not really that different

mk was not a fun place to be on sat or sunday afternoon in Jan as it was really crowded, wall to wall in fantasy land . however that night there was spectro and wishes ( first yr for wishes) so i don't know if that increased the evening mk crowds