Originally Posted By FerretAfros Last weekend, I visited WDW with some friends and family for Marathon Weekend. I walked the 5K on Friday morning with my mom, and ran the Half Marathon on Saturday and Marathon on Sunday with my friends. I was there for 6 days total, and have some randomly assorted thoughts on various parts of the resort from that time period, based on things that are (mostly) new since last year: At each of the four parks, they had rather large portions of the entry turnstiles behind walls, as they got upgraded for NextGen. While it might be nice and speed up the lines, they really need to focus on a more efficient bag check system; those lines were often 5-10 minutes in the mornings, with minimal turnstile waits (even with half of them being closed for construction). If they want to get people into the parks quickly and easily, they really need to revisit how they do this. Additionally, we saw a lot of the NextGen infrastructure scattered around. On my last day, they started using the new payment things that had been attached to every cash register on property. It seemed like the CMs were instructed to ask guests for their PIN numbers, but since most guests’ vacations had begun several days earlier, none of them had one. This was not an issue for any of the purchases I watched (since they were relatively small purchases), but is part of the confusion that comes with the growing pains. It was also odd that they now swipe credit cards on the new device (which prominently features an RFID reader), rather than the old one on the side of the cash register; there’s just something about the swipe on the new device that makes me think it’s going to break my card more easily. I also don’t see why (if the CM is doing it anyway) it’s easier to swipe on the thing that is awkwardly positioned from their station. I’m sure this is one of those things that will get worked out better once it’s been implemented for a while. We bought our tickets and hotel rooms through runDisney’s official travel agent, since they had reduced rates. However, it appeared that getting in on the group rate meant that they were not able to apply any of the NextGen features to our vacation (like combining room keys and park tickets). I hope that this gets worked out in the future, since people who visit in groups (for the races, kid’s events at WWOS, etc) are often spending significantly more than other guests, but aren’t able to enjoy the benefits of the system. I was also unable to link our dining reservations to the hotel with the online system (which is also a mess at the moment, as the old and new systems seem to have completely different information, and you can’t control which one you open online). We visited the ‘new’ Fantasyland (which really should be advertised an expansion), and thought it was fine, but nothing to get too excited about. The scale and detail of the additions really reminded me of one of the World Showcase pavilions at Epcot; nicely done with a lot of interesting details, but I’m not going to plan a trip around just one pavilion. Perhaps my opinion will change once the coaster is completed (or if they can even open the walkway between Mermaid and Storybook Circus when the area is as busy as I saw it), but I thought the overall addition was somewhat ho-hum. The revised Country Bears show wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. The overall pacing was pretty good, but it was a little strange not having the introductions. Instead, it just seemed like an endless string of bears singing songs, and they all started to seem a little similar by the end. The AAs all worked nicely, but Max, Buff, and Melvin were quite noisy, which is particularly noticeable because they’re moving continuously throughout the show. Overall, the new show is probably an improvement for the majority of guests, but I wish that they could have incorporated some sort of introductions for each of the acts. Sunday night, we had a post-marathon celebration dinner at Monsieur Paul, the new name for the Bistro de Paris (upstairs) space, post-refurb. It was nice, but I think the price point was pretty high for what we got. The food was good, the service was fine, and the atmosphere was pleasant, but nothing about it really stood out as being an incredible dining experience. Given that it’s a signature dining restaurant (2 table service meal plan credits; high prices for the rest of us), it seemed to be lacking something. By no means was it a bad meal, but I don’t think it deserved the ‘signature’ label or the price point they were asking. It was a great place to celebrate our accomplishments, but I doubt I’ll be back any time soon. I thought it was an interesting choice to have both Splash Mountain and Kali closed at the same time. Typically, I suppose January is a pretty good time to close the water attractions, but given how warm it was (highs in the low 80’s every day), it would have been pretty nice to cool down in the parks. Illuminations is one of my all-time favorite nighttime shows. There’s just something about it that really speaks to me, but I think that it falls into the category of things that you remember better than they actually are. The section in the middle (which is about half of the show’s runtime) with the spinning globe and occasional fountains really needs something. Some fireworks, new lighting effects, anything. It just gets long and dull. That said, I still really like the show and everything it stands for, but it could use some freshening up. Also, 2 of the 3 times we saw the show, the inferno barge wasn’t working. For a show that really only has a couple of memorable items (music, inferno, globe), when one of them isn’t working it’s really noticeable. It appeared that they were having some fairly serious issues with it, since it was left out in the lagoon all day long, instead of coming out around sunset with the rest of the show’s barges. As far as I could tell, there was no additional pyro, like what they did during the inferno barge’s refurb a couple years ago. I’ve always been a big fan of the Voices of Liberty, and I still find them to be really impressive. There’s just something really powerful about how simple their show is. They come out, stand in a circle, and sing. No choreography, (almost) no audience interaction, just music. They alone are almost worth making the trip to WDW. I know that DL has their own crew now, but the Lincoln theater’s setting and acoustics just can’t compare with the rotunda in WDW. This is exactly the type of thing that I think defines the Disney difference from other parks, not the characters, sappy fireworks shows, or overuse of words like ‘magical’. Overall, I thought that almost every attraction we rode was in good shape. We seemed to visit the greatest hits of bad maintenance (purely by coincidence), and really didn’t have any issues. Carousel of Progress definitely looked like an old attraction (which it is), but everything was functioning just fine; it could certainly use a freshening up (and a new finale scene), but it appears that they have been looking after it. This was also my first time seeing Impressions de France with the digital projectors, and thought that they did a nice job with the changeover. We rode Maelstrom several times, and didn’t notice many of the problems that have been reported online recently. Yes, the ceiling tiles in the queue are disgusting (and have been for years), but most of the other ‘issues’ can only be seen when using flash photography in a dark light attraction. When looking at it under show lighting, it looks fine. We did notice that the air conditioner appears to be broken, as it’s quite warm on the ride. For a country that reaches north of the Arctic Circle, it’s kind of disturbing that it seemed to be 80 degrees on the attraction. Additionally, one of the days they weren’t showing the film (darn, what a shame!), but it was running the other days so it may have been a one-off problem. I was pleasantly surprised to see the smoke effects on the Everest trains was working. I had heard that the effect broke shortly after the attraction opened (before the yeti broke) and would not be fixed, so it was neat to see it working in person. The lighting they had on the yeti was pretty effective at conveying motion, but it was really just too dark to see what was in there. It wasn’t until we passed it that I even realized what we were looking at. Better than nothing, but still disappointing and confusing. I walked past the Limited Time Magic meet & greet in Canada. It was lame. While it wasn’t a bad photo op by any means, it’s embarrassing that they’re actually advertising it on a national scale, like it’s something to get excited about. I really feel bad for everyone at WDW who has to try and make this promotion work. We relied on the bus system for the entire trip and never had any problems with it. Yes, we did have to wait a couple times (including about 25 minutes for a MK bus once), but overall I think it was still faster than it would have been to drive, park, and take the tram (the vast majority of the waits were under 10 min). Plus we didn’t have to worry about driving home after a fun evening in Epcot, or even need to rent a car. I know people like to complain about the buses, but I’m always impressed at how efficiently they move people around the resort. Speaking of impressive people moving, getting to the race starts is a really impressive operation. On Saturday and Sunday, they needed to get over 20,000 people to the start of the race (in addition to spectators and volunteers stationed all over property), and seemed to use every single coach bus in the state of Florida. Yes, there was some traffic getting into the parking lot, but again it was really nice to not need to worry about it. If you’ve ever wanted to see WDW excel at something that is way beyond their normal operations, check out one of the race weekends! I also have a lot of other thoughts about the races themselves and the expo (where it was pretty obvious that they oversold the event for the size facility that they have), but I won’t bore you guys with that, since it’s an entirely different animal of its own. Overall, we had a great trip, and we’re already talking about doing it again next year (for the 3rd year in a row!). I’m also talking with a friend about going down in November for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon, which is at the end of the International Food and Wine Festival, which I’ve never gotten to experience, so I’m excited about that prospect.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper I was there the same weekend, and ran my first Half Marathon, and will be going back the same time next year. I was incredibly impressed with the entire race proceedings and how special Disney made the even. I know I'm hard on the company, but when they give it their all like this, they're second to non. I found the Magic Kingdom to be an infinitely better looking park than the last time I was there in 2011. Maintenance has improved by leaps and bounds there. Even Peter Pan's Flight looked passable (though still the worst version of the ride I've been on). Facades were looking spotless, rides were working better, and overall MK is slowly yet surely becoming a crown jewel alongside Disneyland again. New Fantasyland was more impressive than I thought it would be, though I still think its a lot of fluff. Mermaid's queue is nice, but far from the game changer many in the online community were making it out to be. Still, the setting works much better here than in the DCA version. Gaston's Tavern and the surrounding area was probably my favorite part of the expansion, though I found LeFou's Brew to be a mediocre attempt at knocking off Butterbeer. I ate at Be Our Guest for lunch one day, and while the setting is nice, I found the food to be just okay, and found the entire area a wasted opportunity. This should have been a ride. But while I was more impressed with the expansion than I thought, Space Mountain has deteriorated even further. The thing is downright painful. I rode it twice, hoping the first ride was just a fluke, but the second time was with my sister and she agreed it was way too rough to be enjoyable. Sadly, though, EPCOT is the exact opposite of the MK. The park is tired, stale, and altogether a lackluster experience from a tourist's perspective. With only two attractions the vast majority of guests care about and half the park being nothing but shopping and dining, the place needs help fast. Add to that the dirty and dingy exteriors of a lot of the pavilions, and some bad maintenance inside as well, I'd be hard pressed to put EPCOT above even DAK in my book. <<Illuminations is one of my all-time favorite nighttime shows. There’s just something about it that really speaks to me, but I think that it falls into the category of things that you remember better than they actually are.>> This can be said about the entirety of WDW's nighttime offerings, IMO. All of them have reached their expiration date and are in need of replacing. DHS looked really good, save for signage along Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards being exceptionally dirty. The park still needs its big expansion, but it's easily the second best park in WDW for me. DAK had its normal, big number of inoperable effects. The park really needs to get these things back up and running. That being said, it was great to watch the baby gorilla playing around for a few minutes, and the safari I had was one of the best ever. I stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside resort, and I was completely blown away. The secluded, quiet, classy nature of the resort really shone through, and I think it is my new go to resort for Walt Disney World. Overall, the resort looked a lot better in 2013 than it did in 2011, save for EPCOT's floundering. I hope the company figures out a plan for the park, and keeps improving the others. 2 years ago I said I was fine with not returning to WDW for a while due to the resort's feel. Now I'm looking forward to next year's trip.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Congrats on your first Half, Hokie! We also stayed at Riverside, so our paths probably crossed at some point! I definitely agree with you about Space Mountain looking shabby. Combine that with the perilously-low beams during the ride itself (I spent the entire trip trying to slouch as much as humanly possible), and it's just not a pleasant experience. I also agree that Epcot is just generally looking rough around the edges. I'd like to hope that they could take a page from DCA's Project Sparkle, but without a new centerpiece attraction/area I don't see this being very likely. If we can ever get a new pavilion (perhaps something new in the old Wonders of Life space), there may be hope, but I'm not sure when that could happen. I also rode the new TestTrack, and was less than impressed. While the visuals were neat, it really seemed like they removed much more than they added. Instead of going through roughly a dozen 'tests', you now get 4, followed by strange spots where the vehicle you created in the queue is compared to what you just experienced. Granted, both times I used the single rider line so I'm sure I missed something, but the revamped attraction seemed like a significant downgrade to me. >>This can be said about the entirety of WDW's nighttime offerings, IMO. All of them have reached their expiration date and are in need of replacing.<< I agree that they need replacing, but I don't nessecarily think that they're better in my memory than in reality. I was never terribly impressed with Wishes, even back in 2005; I'm really shocked that it's still running without any notable changes nearly a decade later. And of course, I just can't take F! serious, since I 'grew up' on DL's version. As much as I'd hate to see negative changes to Illuminations (since I really don't trust Disney to do it right), I think it's probably time that they did something to it. Perhaps they could incorporate the updates into one of the bland marketing campaigns, like how 100 Years of Magic 'added' parades to each of the 4 parks.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I was at the mk today and agree that the park looked better then it has in a long time. Mermaid was down for a good part of the morning. I still don't get the big deal about the expansion. Its still pretty, but still just a ride, a meet and greet and its longest line is for food. Saw Hall of Predsidents today. I forgot how great the new show is.
Originally Posted By Socrates Thanks, but I would be most interested in the races. Socrates "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Originally Posted By leobloom Do you mean the smoke effects in the Everest station or at the top of the lift hill? I thought the fog at the top of the hill was turned off permanently but that the steam in the loading area is hit or miss.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Mermaid was down for a good part of the morning.<< It was down part of the time that we were there, which was annoying. We had first stopped by to grab FPs, only to be informed that they were being distributed next to PhilharMagic (yah, that's logical!). When our time came up, it was down, and they had cleared the queue; by the time we returned a couple hours later, it was up and running. I know that new attractions have a lot of downtime, but an omnimover should be pretty straightforward. Hopefully these issues were the exception, but I am a little worried about it. >>Saw Hall of Predsidents today. I forgot how great the new show is.<< We also saw it again, and was really impressed. Sadly, there were only about a dozen people in our showing, but everybody seemed to have a smilar reaction. >>Do you mean the smoke effects in the Everest station or at the top of the lift hill?<< The smoke in the station. I've ridden it a couple times, several years apart, and there was no sign of it, so I assumed it had been cut. I was pretty excited to see it working (probably more excited for that than the ride itself). >>Thanks, but I would be most interested in the races.<< Anything in particular? I could write for days about the races, so I'm not sure where to start. The 5K went through the Epcot parking lot, then did a loop through the park (from Mexico, around World Showcase Lagoon, through Future World to the entrance, and out a side gate to the finish line). The Half marathon started outside Epcot, went up World Drive to TTC, around to the Magic Kingdom, past the Grand Floridian and Polynesian, then returned to Epcot for a quick out-and-back through Future World up to the World Showcase Lagoon, and then exited the park for the finish line in the parking lot. The Full followed the same course as the Half until near the Polynesian, where it did a lap around the speedway, then down Bear Island Rd (backstage access only) past the water treatment plant, into DAK, out along Osceola Parkway, a long loop through WWOS, back along Osceola Pkwy and World Dr to the Studios, then along the Boardwalk, entering Epcot near International Gateway for a lap around the park. The pre-race staging areas and finish line were the same every day, and took over a large portion of the Epcot parking lot with all the tents and port-a-potties. I'll try and get some more solidified ideas later (since it could take me a while to sort through everything), but let me know if there are any specifics you're interested in!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros On the last night, we stayed at the All Star Music (since we only had 2 people). While we were passing by, I noticed a survey crew at the intersection with Western Way. Was this possibly a sign that the Flaming Crossing project is on the move again, or was it unrelated?
Originally Posted By Indigo They've been doing drainage work in that area for a few months. That might have been it.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I was around there last weekend myself although I didn't spend a lot of time in the parks, I did check out the new Mermaid ride. I got a chuckle out of it, because I rode it while everyone was waiting for the fireworks to start. When I got to the queue entrance the sign read 20 minutes. I started in the queue and weaved back and forth until I was dizzy, but I was all by myself. It turns out that the sign was pretty close to correct because it took almost 15 minutes just to walk the length of the queue. As I was walking down Main Street people were gathering, sitting on curbs and generally forming a group. I asked a CM what time the parade started, as it was too early for fireworks, and she told me that it starts tomorrow night at 8 PM. I said what were all these people waiting for and she said, either for the parade of the fireworks, she wasn't sure. I just laughed and said, well, when they find out there is no Electric Light parade, I will be glad I am not you.
Originally Posted By Socrates Thanks! I'll read anything about the races that you want to write. Socrates "the only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Congrats to you guys on your runs. Do you know what the registrations numbers were for the races? I ran the Vegas Rock N Roll half two years ago and with 44,000 in the 1/2 it was just WAY too crowded for me. They closed the entire strip, in both directions, but for the first 6-8 miles we were packed in like sardines. It was a "fun" run but not an "enjoyable" run...if that makes any sense.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper 25K people in the marathon and half marathon each. It was my first 1/2, and first race ever (never even done a 5K), but I found it to be comfortable running save for a few spots. Namely when going under the water bridge by the Contemporary and when running down Main Street/The Castle.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros The Half had 27,000 people registered, and the Full had 26,000. Included in those numbers are 10,000 people registered for Goofy, who did both races, as well as another 10,000 for the 5K. And, I finally got around to writing up my race thoughts in a more comprehensive (AKA absurdly long-winded) way: The half and full both started at 5:30am, but due to traffic and travel distances, buses from the hotels only left from 3-4am. This meant very early mornings 4 days in a row (the 5K was an hour later on Friday, and my 7am flight on Thursday also meant getting up early), which is part of the real challenge of the Disney events. I spent about a week and a half ‘training’ for this, by gradually adjusting my body clock to wake up really early, and go to sleep around 7:30pm. Oh, the things we do for Disney! In addition to the regular challenges associated with races of this distance, it was also very, very warm. The high on Sunday (day of the marathon) was around 85, with humidity throughout the day varying between 70-100%. This meant that I made sure to take lots of fluids (2 Powerades and 2 waters at every water station), and really just threw any time goals out the window. I didn’t even try to calculate my pace and expected finish time in the marathon until around mile 20, though I had a general idea of how I was doing the entire day. Overall, I still managed quite good times (for me, at least), and didn’t have any notable health issues or even much soreness the next day, so my strategy seemed to pay off. The start line for the half and full was nearly a mile from the staging area in the Epcot parking lot. Runners were funneled through an area full of port-a-potties, then down the backstage road (home to old studio tram tour and Jungle Cruise vehicles). On Saturday, it seemed that they waited until the crowds were unmanageable to release them. This lead to a crowd as dense as the standing-room sections of DL’s Fantasmic!, but on a much larger scale. On Sunday (with an ever-so-slightly smaller number of runners), they seemed to have it worked out, and opened the walkway to the corrals much earlier, reducing the crowding. I also remember this same problem from last year, and it was also much worse on Saturday than on Sunday then too; if only they’d remember it from year to year, rather than just learn from their mistakes on the first day. I was in the second corral (of 8), so the crowds on the course weren’t too bad for me. Between miles 1 and 2, the course went on an overpass, then onto a one-lane on-ramp to World Drive, which caused some issues. I ended up running in the grass for a large portion of this both days; I assume that the crowding was much worse in the further back corrals. The run up World Dr was pretty uneventful both days. They had a couple character photo ops set up, but it was mostly just open space. Running through TTC was fun, since there were a lot of spectators cheering. We went through the tram tunnel, which is a pretty steep little grade. On the way to the Contemporary, we did one of the biggest ‘hills’ on the course, passing under the water bridge between Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon. We entered the Magic Kingdom through a backstage gate that led us under the railroad, and onto Main Street, which was lined with people cheering. The Christmas lights on the castle were on, which was neat since I haven’t visited during Christmas since long before they had the lights. We then turned right into TL, and hung a left into Fantasyland. Coming out of the castle, they had a bunch of photographers to get everybody’s picture. We then followed the parade route into Liberty Square and Frontierland, and out the gate next to Splash Mountain. The course then headed down a backstage road which eventually got us to the Grand Floridian and Polynesian, where the course began to differ for the two races. For the half, we then headed back down World Dr, and went up a cloverleaf on-ramp to get into the Epcot parking lot. Between the fairly long incline, and the cross-slope on the road, this was probably the most technically difficult portion of either race, but it wasn’t too bad. After a couple more overpasses in the Epcot parking lot, we went in a backstage gate near the bus drop-off area, and went onstage near SSE. There was a long out-and-back to World Showcase Lagoon (turning around the planter where the Christmas tree would be), eventually heading out another gate on the other side of SSE. In the brief time we were backstage, we went past a gospel choir, which was a fun touch for being so close to the finish. After getting out to the parking lot, the finish line was in sight, so I went into a full sprint until the end. I had been holding back some (to keep something in the tank for Sunday), so it was kind of fun to go flying past people at the last minute. On Sunday, everything was pretty much the same until near the Polynesian, where we cut into the MK parking lot. We then went into a very narrow and steep tunnel that took us under the speedway, for a lap around the track. For the 20th anniversary of the race, they revised the course to include a lap around the speedway, and loop through the Wide World of Sports, so it was fun to get something new this year. Around this point, I had randomly met up with a girl who lived down the street from me growing up, so we were catching up with each other for several miles. Coming out of the speedway, we turned down the infamously-dull Bear Island Rd for the trek to DAK. After passing the water treatment plant, tree farm, and nursery, we started making our way into DAK’s backstage area. This part is kind of interesting, since you start seeing various animal enclosures, but it doesn’t really feel like you’re in the park yet, since it’s all trees. They also had some CMs out with various animals (parrots, goats, sheep, boars, etc) greeting runners, which is really fun; I don’t think there’s another race in the world that has this! We entered DAK onstage near Harambe, and headed around the path through Asia (who knew there were so many hills in that area?!?), and past Everest. The runners in the back of the pack were in the park late enough that they could hop on for a quick ride before continuing on their way. The course continued through Dinoland, and eventually popped out along the edge of the parking lot. After a scenic mile-or-so along the edge of the parking lot (past the main entrance), we made our way out onto Osceola Parkway. It was at this point that the sun had just started to really come up, and headed due east made it tough to see for a few minutes. After a while, the sun had risen some more, so it was more bearable. This portion of the course is pretty unnoteworthy, other than several long overpasses. Since the road is quite wide, this was where it started feeling a little warm, but since I wasn’t pushing the pace too much, it didn’t really bother me too much. We could also see runners who were about 3-5 miles ahead of us running on the other side of the road, and I saw the 3:15 and 3:25 pace groups go by. We then headed into ESPN Wide World of Sports, which was new for this year. While we were in WWOS, they had several kids sports teams out warming up/practicing. There was a track team cheering for us while we went around the track, and softball and baseball teams scattered around the rest of the complex. According to a rD official, they were brought in as part of the official on-course ‘entertainment’, which explains why they were out so early in the morning. One of the runners (nowhere near me) was hit by a softball, and there are reports that it was one of the 95 runners who has done all 20 marathons. The general consensus seems to be that WWOS wasn’t a good place to run through, due to the twists and turns and monotony, but the ‘entertainment’-induced injury is probably a good sign that they won’t use it again in the future. In honor of the marathon’s 20th anniversary, they had a “Mile 20 Spectacular”. The course map had the entire mile from 19-20 highlighted, but it ended up just being about 100 yards right before the mile 20 marker. They had the giant puppets from the old World of Color preshow (it only ran in summer of 2010; the puppets were last seen at DLP for the premier of their Disney Dreams projection/fountain/fireworks show), Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto on a stage, and a big archway to run through. It didn’t really live up to the hype they were building for it, but it was a nice touch, and helped give you something to look forward to on the way through WWOS. From here, the course was identical to last year, going back on Osceola Pkwy, then up a little bit of World Dr (where motorists were confined to one lane, which appeared to cause quite a backup). This area was also the only area that had sheriffs out to keep an eye on things, which was interesting. There was a guy peeing in the woods (you see people do all sorts of unspeakable things in the woods during a marathon, even at Disney), and one of the sheriffs got on his intercom to ask him if he “could please do that somewhere else”. Having been in that situation at various other points in the race myself, no, he could not do that somewhere else. We then wound our way into backstage at the Studios. We followed the tram tour route through the costuming tunnel, which is a very unique place to run. We then went down Streets of America, with a crazy tight turn at the end, down Commissary Lane, and eventually headed down Hollywood Blvd. This area was fun, because the park was just opening for the day, so there were lots of guests out who had no idea what was going on, looking confused and cheering. We exited the park through a backstage gate, and then followed the walkway along the water to the Boardwalk. Once we reached the Boardwalk hotel, there were pretty much crowds the entire way. We crossed over a bridge and followed a zig-zag path next to the Yacht and Beach Clubs. We entered Epcot next to International Gateway, and came in a backstage gate next to the UK. After heading up the most surprisingly steep hill, we crossed the bridges over to France, where the mile 25 marker was. We continued around World Showcase the long way (where I made sure to stop for a picture with the statue of marathoner Grete Waitz in Norway), and then headed toward SSE. We exited through the backstage gate, saw the gospel choir signaling the end was near, and then popped back out into the parking lot for the finish line. Overall, it was a very fun weekend. Yah, there were some hiccups along the way, but that’s to be expected with any race of this size. Registration for the Disneyland Half Marathon and Dumbo Double Dare (10K + Half) opened yesterday, and has already completely sold out (myself included), so clearly they’re doing something right. I’m hoping to make it back down to WDW for the Wine & Dine Half (a nighttime spin-off from Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival, complete with post-race party in the park until 4am) in November, and we’re already making tentative plans for next January!
Originally Posted By Socrates Interesting, not quite as magical as I envisioned. Thanks for the report. Socrates "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Although it's not 26.2 miles of pure Disney magic, they really do a lot to make it a great experience. Due to the distance of the race, and the layout of the resort, there's a lot of time spent outside the parks; there's just no other way to get that kind of mileage. But I do really like the way it's setup so that there's something to look forward to every 2-4 miles. Unlike a lot of races, where many of the main sights and crowds are clustered in a single area, they're scattered along the way in WDW, which keeps it interesting a lot longer. This was my 6th marathon, but the first time that I never turned my music on (same with the half the day before); there's just enough other stuff that you don't really need it. There's a lot of great stuff going on along the way, but there's no hiding the fact that it's still a marathon. Disney treats you as great as you can expect (heck, you can even use *real* bathrooms during the race, as the course takes you into the parks), but at the end of the day, it's still a very intense challenge.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Unlike a lot of races, where many of the main sights and crowds are clustered in a single area, they're scattered along the way in WDW, which keeps it interesting a lot longer.>> You need to come and do some of the proper ones then - like London, Chicago, SF, NYC etc. Those have proper sites for the entire course length! I contemplated doing the WDW marathon but the sheer crowd size and the temperate/humidity was the tipping point. Give me London in the spring and Chicago/NYC in the fall - perfect marathon conditions. I'm also not sure I get the point of photo ops etc. along the route. Do runners literally stop to take them in? Weird.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>You need to come and do some of the proper ones then - like London, Chicago, SF, NYC etc. Those have proper sites for the entire course length!<< I've done the Marine Corps Marathon in DC, and that has stuff along the entire route, but I still prefer the WDW approach. After a while, you just need something different, and WDW's course is paced to give you the highs and lows at pretty nice intervals. I really enjoy big crowds of spectators, but after about half a mile of people cheering, it gets a little tedious; I think it's better to have them in short spurts at various places along the course. >>I contemplated doing the WDW marathon but the sheer crowd size and the temperate/humidity was the tipping point. Give me London in the spring and Chicago/NYC in the fall - perfect marathon conditions.<< Usually, the weather in WDW in January (at 5:30am) is perfect for running. This year was freakishly warm, but they've also had the opposite problem in the past. In 2010, it snowed during the half (yes, real snow, not the kind made of soap bubbles), and was even colder during the full (though dry), so literally anything is possible. I've read reports of runners that year who wore a sweatshirt for the first few miles, and then tossed it to the side, only to become cold in another few miles, so they picked up sweatshirts that other runners ahead of them had tossed to the side. But generally speaking, January in WDW is a great time to run! >>I'm also not sure I get the point of photo ops etc. along the route. Do runners literally stop to take them in? Weird.<< Yep, and they're actually quite efficient with it. You run up, hand one of the CMs your camera (there are usually 2 standing there to speed things along), hop in next to the character, take the picture, grab your camera back, and keep going. With no line, the entire process takes no more than 10 seconds. Some friends who spectated last year said that they watched as 5-10 runners got to a photo-op with no line, quickly built the line up, then it would die down (since nobody really wants to wait in a long line), only to surge back up again. Since it was so warm this year, I really wasn't shooting for a time goal, so I stopped a couple times (when the line was short). It was fun, but I can't imagine stopping at every one of them, or even running the race with the characters as a primary motivation. The one that gets me every time is the graveyard they have setup, with some HM butlers. Runners go and lie down in the grass and pretend to be dead for the photos (and you can always tell who's done it by the bits of grass stuck to their back for the remainder of the race). After about 16 miles (with another 10+ to go), I'm pretty sure if I stopped and lied down, I wouldn't be able to get back up!
Originally Posted By Socrates Thanks. I'm asking questions because I have a friend who is looking for a good Boston qualifier. Socrates "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Assuming your friend is pretty fast (which makes sense if they're looking at Boston), WDW is actually a pretty good race to get a fast time in. There are rather large crowds at some points, but that tends to be in the middle/back of the pack. For the runners in Corral A (and most people in Corral B, though the slower folks may have some minor trouble), the course is as fast as you want it to be. For the most part, it's a course designed for a huge number of runners, so there are relatively few spots where it gets narrow. There are some tight turns (particularly in the parks), but overall it's a pretty easy course. And being Florida, it's almost perfectly flat. It's one of those courses where you might remember 10-15 'hills', but most of them are so incredibly minor that it's laughable (like the one leading up to the American Adventure that you'd never notice just strolling through the park). There are a couple somewhat noteworthy ones (an overpass in the Epcot parking lot, under the water bridge by the Contemporary, 2-3 overpasses along Osceola Pkwy, overpass ramp from Osceola Pkwy to World Dr on the way to the Studios, and between the UK and International Gateway bridges), but none of them have a huge vertical rise and they're all relatively gradual (the water bridge and near the UK being the steepest). The fact that you can count the hills like that just shows you how flat the course really is! That said, the atmosphere of the race is definitely very "fun". I'm not sure how I'd feel about that if I was trying to reach a serious goal. It's entirely possible to do it (I know someone who BQ'd while doing Goofy), but it's an easy place to get distracted from your goals (and from the pain!)
