Originally Posted By Buz So Im super excited cuz as posted in another topic I am running the half marathon in January 2013! I have been holding out on my reservations for mouseearvacations.com told me I can get some good deals come the end of summer. I just got an email from them saying the new specials will be out on July 13th. I know its impossible to say but does anyone know what sort of specials Disney has done in the past around January? Im super excited to book it up...I hope they do a free dining plan! I dont post much, but im a big fan of the boards and read them every day...thanks all for making it an enjoyable experience!
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Congrats Buz! That is a great time to be at WDW. However, be advised that many primary roads will be shut down on property during both marathons over the course of that weekend. What this means is that depending on where you are staying, on property, off property, you may have difficulty getting to specific parks or off specific resorts since many roads are shut down each morning till 11 AM. Alternative modes of transportation, boats and monorails will be open. Therefor, getting to Disney's Animal Kingdom park will be impossible. Getting to the Magic Kingdom, unless you are staying at a resort on the monorail loop or by boat from AKL or Ft Wilderness campground will be impossible. And, be advised that since this is WDW and everyone is on vacation, thus some will be staying out late, AND the marathoners will be getting up early ( 4-5 AMish), your nights will be will be filled with people showering, toilets flushing and little ones running up and down the resort halls. I vactioned at WDW once during the Disney marathon and stayed at AKL. I always thought the AKL was a quiet resort untill that weekend. And since AKL has boat access to the MK, we ( and monorail loop hotels as well as Ft Wilderness guests ) were the only ones in the MK, each morning. On Saturday during the half marathon the "closed roads" situation isn't that bad since the roads are restored by 11am ish. But Sunday during the full marathon roads were still closed till 1 pm. If you ever want to be in the MK when it's empty..... this is your time to visit!
Originally Posted By Buz wow, sounds like a cluster mess Tom! I'll be attending all of the races even though im only running in the half marathon. I have friends in the other ones. Were probably only going to hit up 2 parks. So with all this mess of having the roads closed, what hotels would you recommend? Contemporary? (might be a little out of my price range though)
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Since it sounds like you will be attending both races each day, then it probably doesn't matter. Otherwise, anything on the monorail loop, pedistrian or boat access to any of the parks or outside the parks. Another factor is going to be which parks you plan on visiting. For example, if you plan on spending the majority of your time at the MK, then stay in that area. In terms of MGM and Epcot, they are basically afternoon and evening parks so getting to those parks after 12 noon probably isn't going to matter. Please be advised that since road closures will greatly effect when each park will be able to take in quests, you may not want to be park hopping. If there is a particular resort that you ae planning on staying, I would highly advise that you contact that resort directly and ask about how they will be affected by road closures, especially the Value resorts. I was staying at AKL and had direct boat access to the MK. Although my party didn't want to spend two days in the MK, that is what we ended up doing since we were told the only the only other parks we could get to was Epcot and DHS. To get to Epcot we were told we would have to take the boat to MK, then either boat or monorail to TTC, then monorail to Epcot. If we wanted to get to DHS, we would have to get to Epcot, then walk or take the boats to DHS. DAK was completely unaccessable. So, if it were me then I would stay at Wilderness Lodge or anythinng on the monorail loop, Swan, Dolphin, Boardwalk, Yacht or Beach club. Another possibility would be staying at POR which has boat access to Downtown Disney and do some shopping. Depending on which Value resort you are staying in you might be able to walk to the Boardwalk hotel and enter Epcot or DHS. But, I would check on that since there are no sidwalks and Disney might have problems with people walking across busy WDW roads. This would be much less of an issue if WDW either created more alternative non-road dependent means, or created a few pedistrian friendly options to reach the parks.
Originally Posted By disneyfreaksk Howdy. I went with a friend who ran the Princess Marathon. We stayed at the host hotel The Caribbean Resort. They had buses you took early in the morning to the race drop off area. Was very organized. Super experience. Good luck Buz and take lots of photos along your race route. Lots of characters and scenes.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Free dining is unlikely that time of year. But you may get a really good deal on your room instead. Free dining is usually late August through early October and I *think* you have to pay the full undiscounted room rate to get it.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 Many of the roads are closed, but not all. You can still get to the AK. The day I ran the marathon, there were a lot of day guests in the park. Disney does a decent job of keeping arteries open and people directing traffic. You may encounter delays. But it isn't that bad.
Originally Posted By Buz thanks all for the informative info! all will be taken into concideration for our trip. You guys rock!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Welcome aboard, Buz! I ran Goofy this year, and I'm going back for Dopey (5K + Half + Full) next year. Marathon Weekend is a great time to visit WDW and you'll get a very different park atmosphere than the rest of the year. As already mentioned, there are buses from all of the WDW hotels to the race starts, so you don't need to really worry about pre-race transportation. Just be at the front of your hotel at the designated time (last year it was 3-4am) and you'll get on an endless line of coach buses to Epcot. Some of the DVC-only resorts and the Swan and Dolphin don't provide bus transportation, but all of the 'regular' hotels are fine. Due to the road closures for the reces, pre-race traffic got kind of bad, but there were dedicated lanes for the buses, so it's definitely worth saving yourself the stress. Also, if you're planning on watching a runner, you'll need to take one of these buses, since the park buses won't be running until near when the parks open. If you're on the Monorail loop, you can hop on at any time after they start running (3am?), since it's how many spectators see their runners in the Magic Kingdom, but the cost is quite high. As previously said, all of the parks are open, and transportation is available at all times. It may be slower than usual, but you'll get there. It sounds like you'll either be running or watching during the races, so it won't be a huge issue, but you do have options. As the race draws near, there's a great section on the runDisney page for Spectator Resources, giving you various options for where to watch your runner depending on their pace (ex. near the start line, Monorail to MK to watch from Main Street, Monorail to GCH/Poly, Monorail back to Epcot for finish). I could see how being in WDW during that weekend could be inconvenient for non-participants, but since you'll be up and running/watching every day, you should be fine. Compared to most race destinations, WDW is pretty easy, since they provide all the transportation you'll need. There's definitely a lot of information out there to read up on, and you'll probably have lots of random questisons, but WDW does a good job of taking care of any need you might have. As for specials on the hotels, they do often have special deals in the spring. However, they usually consult the schedules, and have the specials begin after Marathon Weekend. They intentionally scheduled it for a pretty inconvenient weekend of the year (just wait until you're supposed to be doing your longest runs the week of Christmas!), since few people visited WDW then, but they managed to build a pretty strong customer base that time of year. It's worth checking out the announcement, but I wouldn't expect anything too great.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom I have to admit it would be fun going to WDW during a marathon and just cheering the runners on! January is a good time to be at WDW. You just never know what kind of weather to expect. I have been there when it has been cold ( bellow freezing ) and when it has been hot enough for shorts. Also there is some great Disney marathon related items sold in the parks and Downtown Disney stores that weekend.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 The other thing to remember is that by lunchtime the EPCOT/MK area roads are all reopened and traffic returns to normal. Not too long after that the rest of the roads return to normal also. There is a minimum pace time and Disney will pull runners off the course if they fall behind
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Good point! The Magic Kingdom is around mile 6 or 7, at a 16 minute required pace, which puts it about 2 hours (being generous) into the race. Given that the race can take a long time to start, we'll say that the last runner starts 45 minutes after the 'official' start time (5:30), which would be 6:15. So, by around 8:15, the roads into the Magic Kingdom should be pretty much fine (and of course, the roads that the runners are on go directly to the park, not the parking lot like where most drivers are heading). They've changed the Marathon course this year, so that it includes the Speedway and Wide World of Sports, which makes the Magic Kingdom 'earlier' in the race. With the previous course, it was around mile 10 or 11 for the Marathon, which could cause added traffic, but now it will be around 6 or 7, similar to the Half. However, for the Marathon on Sunday be aware that there are runners on Osceola Parkway (the east-west connector to DAK), shutting down the eastbound side, and a portion of the westbound side near the Studios (east of World Drive). Runners are also along World Drive between Osceola Dr and Buena Vista Dr (about 0.75mi), which reduces vehicle traffic to a single lane, and appeared to cause quite the backup. This is the only part of the race where runners are on an open street with cars on the same side of the median (though there's an extra lane used for a buffer so you're really not that close). Other than that, the course is mostly on minor roads, pedestrian paths, or will open for traffic by around 8-8:30am
Originally Posted By Buz lol wow...all this info is like waaaay too much to remember. I started to take down notes to know whats going on, and when. not im lost! haha..i appreciate all the info though
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom During the weekend I was at WDW during the Disney marathon and staying at the AKL, we were formally told my Disney management that Disney buses would not be running till 11 am. We were instructed to tak the boat to the MK and to take the monorail from there. In reality people staying elsewhere in WDW did not get to the MK till at least between noon and 1 pm. Again, which ever resort you choose to stay at, I would highly recommend contact that resort directly and asking when 1) the roads are expected to open, and 2) when WDW transportation buses are expected resume service to the parks on Saturday and Sunday.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb There's a boat that runs between AKL and MK? I thought AKL was isolated from all parks except AK unless you take a car or bus and even AK isn't really reasonable walking distance with traffic. I only ask because you've mentioned it before and at that time I assumed it was a typo for WL which I know has a boat that runs to the MK.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Sorry Deb, that must have been a typo. WL shares a boat that goes to the MK. The only means of transportation to/from AKL to any of the parks is by bus. Obviously, there are some of us, including myself that would like to see a third monorail loop linking much of the developement in the western side of WDW.
Originally Posted By Buz wow no transport till after 11? So basically your recomending we should stay at either the polynesian, contemporary, wilderness lodge, and...i cant think of anyone else with direct transport to MK or epcot? Were probably only spending 2 days if that, in the park. its going to be all about the running. So its not all that important. But you know what its like when you get there, we'll end up wanting to spend more time park hopping
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Gotcha, KT. I was starting to think I had missed a secret advantage to staying at the AKL, LOL.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>wow no transport till after 11? So basically your recomending we should stay at either the polynesian, contemporary, wilderness lodge, and...i cant think of anyone else with direct transport to MK or epcot?<< The transportation will run on it's usual schedule, which begins buses about an hour(?) before each park opens. It may take longer than usual to get to the parks, but they will be running transportation. If you want to watch people run, you should probably rely on the race transportation, which gets you to Epcot early in the morning. Those buses stop running around 4am (getting you to Epcot around 4:30-4:45ish), and the regular transportation begins again at 8am(ish). If you want to see someone run before 9am(ish), count on taking the race transportation. If you want to visit a park, or watch someone finish the marathon, you can just use the regular buses that Disney runs 365 days a year. They will be running, like always. In addition to the hotels near the Magic Kingdom, there are several near the 'back' entrance to Epcot, though the International Gateway. There are walkways that connect them to each other, as well as Epcot and the Studios. There are also boats that run between them, since the whole distance is about 1.75 miles (it's part of the Marathon course). These include the Swan and Dolphin (not owned by Disney), Boardwalk, and Yacht and Beach Clubs (all DVCs). Be aware that, since they don't use the 'standard' hotel format, they don't all have race transportation, so you may have to walk from your hotel to one of the neighboring ones. The DVCs all offer the regular Disney transportation for standard park hours; the Swan and Dolphin use a different bus system than Disney's but I've never heard of any problems with it (other than no early morning race transportation). If you're looking for more information specifically about the Marathon Weekend, or any sorts of training questions, I'd recommend checking out Running of the Ears. It's a discussion board, similar to LP, but focused on the races. There are tons of people with all levels of running and Disney experience, who are really helpful. You need to register (which takes a little bit to get approved) to see the boards, but it's a really great resource!
