Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

[Mydisneywedding]

Hi ladies...

So I just began planning my Disney wedding and am very excited to get started. The only thing is that I am freaking out because I didn't know that the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend begins on the weekend of my Wedding.

I am getting married on Jan. 6 2011, and the events begin on that day and end Jan. 9th, pretty much the entire time we plan to be there.

Is the marathon a big deal when it comes to the parks closing early?
Has anyone had a wedding during that weekend?

please let me know


THANKS!!

 

[Pooh Friend]

I don't know about weddings during Marathon Weekend, but in 2007 I was vacationing in WDW during Marathon Weekend and I just have to say it is my absolute favorite time of the year to be at WDW. As I was told by Guest Services (by phone) and reported to me by multiple message boards, the people who attend the Marathon are honestly there just for that. Most of them do not even go near the parks. I found park attendance to be the lightest I had ever experienced. I would definitely choose again to go during Marathon Weekend. Have no fears! It's the best time of the year to be in WDW!

 

[Swmhc]

One downside would be that room rates are higher during that weekend, for like 3 days if I remember correctly. Otherwise, it's a great time of year IMO.

 

[Walcott]

We're also getting married on Jan. 6, 2011! We're actually getting married then precisely because of the marathon - we are big runners and running is one of our favorite things to do together. We're going to run the marathon on Sunday, and a bunch of our family members have decided to run either the half or the full marathon while we're down there. I'm excited!!

I've been down for marathon weekend before, and it is really a light time of year, crowds-wise. Only a couple of things to keep in mind:

- On Friday, January 7, there's a 5K running through Epcot, so you probably won't be able to do an Epcot photoshoot that day. (We actually wanted to get married on Jan. 7, but Epcot wasn't available for weddings that morning.)

- Book hotel rooms early, because the resorts do sell out that weekend.

- The marathon will dominate the whole scene on Sunday morning because it runs through all of the parks. It is cool and fun to watch though.

HTH!

 

[thatdisneygirl]

We got married during marathon weekend 2009, partially because we thought we were going to also run the half-marathon. (That soooo didn't happen.) The good thing is that four of our guests actually did decide to run the event, so they got more out of their trip than just our wedding.

The downside was that rooms sold out on property and a few last-minute guests had to either double bunk with other guests or stay off-property. I blame them, though, for waiting until three weeks before the wedding to try to book a hotel room, since most of our guests booked when they were supposed to and they were fine. We also got caught in race traffic on the day of the race and it took us an hour and a half to get from Pop Century to the Polynesian, so we missed breakfast with my family.

The marathon weekend was at the end of our trip. We arrived on a Sunday, got married on Thursday, and the marathon weekend was the weekend after that. The parks were pretty much dead until that Friday and by that time we'd all had a lot of time to hit everything we wanted, so it didn't matter.

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Me and DF were down in 2008 for marathon weekend, and it was not crowded at all! We didn't wait longer than 15 min. for anything (we did use fastpass for major attractions). We also didn't book until October and had no problem getting a room.

 

[tinkspark]

We got married during marathon weekend 2009, partially because we thought we were going to also run the half-marathon. (That soooo didn't happen.) The good thing is that four of our guests actually did decide to run the event, so they got more out of their trip than just our wedding.

The downside was that rooms sold out on property and a few last-minute guests had to either double bunk with other guests or stay off-property. I blame them, though, for waiting until three weeks before the wedding to try to book a hotel room, since most of our guests booked when they were supposed to and they were fine. We also got caught in race traffic on the day of the race and it took us an hour and a half to get from Pop Century to the Polynesian, so we missed breakfast with my family.

The marathon weekend was at the end of our trip. We arrived on a Sunday, got married on Thursday, and the marathon weekend was the weekend after that. The parks were pretty much dead until that Friday and by that time we'd all had a lot of time to hit everything we wanted, so it didn't matter.

Aww I wished you would have ran it! I was in it! It would have been fun to say I ran "with" another disbride.

 

[Pirate's Princess]

I think you should be fine. If your wedding on actually on the marathon day I'd be a little concerned, because it does go through all the parks. It doesn't affect park closing because it's over by 1 o'clock. Also it may affect if you were doing morning photo shoots on the 1/2 or full...over even before because they do start setting things up. The parks aren't overcrowded, but each year it does seem to be gaining popularity.

I'm sure Disney will know how to take care of having a wedding and the marathon.

As said the one negative would be the pricing increase due to the marathon, but there are usually good deals in January.

 

[thatdisneygirl]

Aww I wished you would have ran it! I was in it! It would have been fun to say I ran "with" another disbride.

I wish we had run it, too! (Especially since we paid for it!!!) We're running it this year instead. Will you be there again?

 

[julierocks]

We vacationed during the marathon in 2008. If you haven't planned to use Disney transportation during this time, I would definitely reconsider. Certain streets within Disney property are blocked off and I would hate for you to use an outside company for transportation and then your guests arrive late. I would imagine that the Disney hired drivers would be informed of what streets to take during the marathon. I only say this because we used a Mears van to go to Universal during a marathon day, and it took us 45 minutes - 1 hour for the driver to figure out how to get around the blocked streets.

Other than this issue, I would not worry about it at all. Great time for a wedding - great weather too!

 

[tinkspark]

I wish we had run it, too! (Especially since we paid for it!!!) We're running it this year instead. Will you be there again?

We're not sure. We'd like to especially since we'll have annual passes this time. It depends on if the half re-opens.

 

[aduck126]

my experience with marathon weekend was not good. The hotels were crowded, the parks were unbelievably busy, and I have been there when MK was filled to capacity. We ended up just sitting in our hotel room those couple of days. It is also a pain getting around disney because a bunch of roads are closed. When I got married I planned my wedding the week after marathon week and it was dead.

 

[Mydisneywedding]

Thank you all for your comments... We decided to stick with it being that I got more positives than negatives...

We are having the ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion and all our guest are staying at Bay Lake Towers so we will be close. I also realized that the events really don't begin till the 7th which is after our wedding. Our guest are arriving before the wedding so we'll be okay!!!