Marathon Weekend 2024

[BigEeyore]

SAFD: Arriving on Thursday - expo then MK
Friday - HS and hopefully make it to the HH meetup!
Saturday - Half marathon and then AK, planning to hop to Epcot for dinner
Sunday - Marathon and then Epcot after
Monday - MK - might make it to some of DATW depending on how it's going. Then flying home Monday night.

Interested in the pre-race meetups for the half and full!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Bus or car are your only options: WDW does not allow walking to the start area.

Narrator: "One does not just walk into Disney races..."

IYKYK

 

[camaker]

Narrator: "One does not just walk into Disney races..."

IYKYK

Disney races do, in fact, usually involve Second Breakfast, though.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Disney races do, in fact, usually involve Second Breakfast, though.

I will definitely be enjoying a Second Breakfast buffet on Sat morning, also trying to make a dent in Disney profits with my bacon consumption.

 

[GollyGadget]

Disney races do, in fact, usually involve Second Breakfast, though.

I plan to have second breakfast and elevensies.

 

[accm]

SAFD: We have ADRs booked, but no park plans yet. I'll wait until they update the park hours before making any plans.
Since we have APs and are staying at BLT, so I foresee a lot of time at MK. We'll probably end up paying to ride Tron and Guardians, since rider swap is no fun when lines are too long. We're staying until the 12th, so we'll likely hit the evening extra magic hours (or whatever they're called these days) the week after the Marathon. I was going to pay for the HS Extra Hours event, but it falls on the same night as the MK extra magic hours, so now I'm not sure what to do.

As for meet ups, I'm going to do a better job of coming out for at least one. I have social anxiety around meeting other people. In my head, I'd be coming to a meet up where everyone already know each other, and I'd be the odd one out. I need to try to get over myself, since the meet ups always sounds like so much fun after the fact.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Disney races do, in fact, usually involve Second Breakfast, though.

I plan to have second breakfast and elevensies.

I run in the morning. Most days involve second breakfast and elevensies

 

[Herding_Cats]

As for meet ups, I'm going to do a better job of coming out for at least one. I have social anxiety around meeting other people. In my head, I'd be coming to a meet up where everyone already know each other, and I'd be the odd one out.

This was 100% how I felt 2 years ago. And yes, some of the people at the meetups DO know each other, whether that's from years of meet-ups or the fact that they live in the same city. Some at the pre-race meets just pop in for a few minutes to say hi and introduce themselves, some just hang out at the meet-up for longer (from the time they get to the staging area until they go to their corral.)

But I can say from experience, everyone is very nice, and it's nice to put faces to screennames.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

SAFD: We have ADRs booked, but no park plans yet. I'll wait until they update the park hours before making any plans.
Since we have APs and are staying at BLT, so I foresee a lot of time at MK. We'll probably end up paying to ride Tron and Guardians, since rider swap is no fun when lines are too long. We're staying until the 12th, so we'll likely hit the evening extra magic hours (or whatever they're called these days) the week after the Marathon. I was going to pay for the HS Extra Hours event, but it falls on the same night as the MK extra magic hours, so now I'm not sure what to do.

As for meet ups, I'm going to do a better job of coming out for at least one. I have social anxiety around meeting other people. In my head, I'd be coming to a meet up where everyone already know each other, and I'd be the odd one out. I need to try to get over myself, since the meet ups always sounds like so much fun after the fact.

I felt that way for the HH meetup the first time I went, since, well, some of them did already know each other. But once I had ascertained that I was approaching the right group of people, I introduced myself and then it was join in the conversation and start putting real names and faces with screen handles.
The only real hurdle is mastering the secret handshake and the initiation rituals.... ;-)

 

[PrincessV]

Disney races do, in fact, usually involve Second Breakfast, though.

And Elevenses. We mustn’t forget Elevenses!

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I plan to have second breakfast and elevensies.

No joke I ate like a hobbit during high school and college. I played two sports in high school and one in college and it was a feat to feed me. I'd have first breakfast in the room, second breakfast somewhere in the parks after rope dropping fast passing either Soarin' or RnRC, elevenses was a snack, then lunch, a sizeable snack in the afternoon, and dinner, plus dessert. Those were the days

 

[Herding_Cats]

While out on my run yesterday, I was listening to rise and run's recap of W&D and they mentioned a few things that really piqued my interest.

1. the finish was different for the races; where the sidewalk usually splits (after the choir) and then you run past the bleachers was now a right turn. That would mean that if they did this same finish for MW, the course would have to be re-measured/certified and not just use a 2020-2023 course already on-file.

2. the construction walls in epcot are supposed to be coming down sometime in the next month-ish (?) which could mean a return finishing through the FRONT of epcot instead of heading backstage by Creations/Mission Space

3. the USATF measuring/certification happened THREE DAYS before the course maps were released (per runninginmakeup)

I've only run races in the post-covid/construction era, where all of the races finished out the side/backstage in Epcot.
-Do we really think we could have a return to the pre-2020 course finishes?
-Those courses also appear to have more park time (not cutting backstage out of HS, different exit point in AK, etc); does anyone think we could see a return to that, or is the feeling that Disney just wants to get the parks opened asap with as few race disruptions as possible?
-A return to the WWOS loop? No more BB parking lot?
-Any chance we run past Tron in MK (or no, because of the uphill)?

 

[DopeyBadger]

1. the finish was different for the races; where the sidewalk usually splits (after the choir) and then you run past the bleachers was now a right turn.

Hmm, that's interesting. I'm a visual person, so here's what I found. Here's 2023 Wine and Dine HM.

Compared to 2023 Disney M.

The Wine and Dine 2023 finish makes more sense from a road hazard standpoint and it tucks us away from the normal traffic of EPCOT a bit more. I could see this one being more of a thing. I actually like it more because it's more of a straight shot. But does seem like the spectators are a bit more removed.

2. the construction walls in epcot are supposed to be coming down sometime in the next month-ish (?) which could mean a return finishing through the FRONT of epcot instead of heading backstage by Creations/Mission Space

For comparison, here's an old 2016 Disney Marathon course that finished beside the EPCOT ball.

Sections of it seem more narrow than does the new finish route by Mission Space. But part of the change may be because of trying to get to 13.11 and 26.22 miles. Also, maybe this course was a little more disruptive to the normal park guest for the marathon once the park is open.

-Do we really think we could have a return to the pre-2020 course finishes?

Certainly possible. I can see pro/con to both routes.

-Those courses also appear to have more park time (not cutting backstage out of HS, different exit point in AK, etc); does anyone think we could see a return to that, or is the feeling that Disney just wants to get the parks opened asap with as few race disruptions as possible?

I get the feeling with the marathon that they're looking to not disrupt the normal park guest as much as possible. I think they have more wiggle room with the shorter distances when the parks aren't open yet.

-A return to the WWOS loop? No more BB parking lot?

I don't think they want us running on Osceola Parkway or World Dr anymore. Those are pretty main thoroughfares and was quite disruptive when the marathon ran on that. It seems like Western Way and W Buena Vista Drive can be less disruptive to traffic, and thus why they went that route.

-Any chance we run past Tron in MK (or no, because of the uphill)?

So right now the marathon path is 7, to center, to 77, to 83, to 79, to 54, to 53, to 49.

To run to Tron you'd have to go from 83 to 80 to 85 to 71 to 52 to 53 to 49.

Just visually based on the map, how tight is that corridor from 85 to 52? Seems less wide than most of the other MK paths we run on (maybe outside the bridge at 41 exiting the center). This video does it in reverse, but it seems tight. At one point only being 3 people wide. I guess it's plausible, but that would be my first thought.

 

[The Expert]

As for meet ups, I'm going to do a better job of coming out for at least one. I have social anxiety around meeting other people. In my head, I'd be coming to a meet up where everyone already know each other, and I'd be the odd one out. I need to try to get over myself, since the meet ups always sounds like so much fun after the fact.

If it would be helpful, I'll be staying at BLT as well and would be happy to travel over to HH with you (assuming we aren't in a park). If that makes things more awkward, no worries. Just a thought.

once I had ascertained that I was approaching the right group of people

Gee, who would ever join the wrong meetup group?!

how tight is that corridor from 85 to 52?

Just cut through there on our last trip in October. IIRC, it is slightly wider than the HS to Boardwalk path. They seem okay using that for multiple courses, so this could be in play.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Just cut through there on our last trip in October. IIRC, it is slightly wider than the HS to Boardwalk path. They seem okay using that for multiple courses, so this could be in play.

Agreed, but the question is do they have an alternative route for connecting DHS and the Boardwalk? While it's tight, it's the only convenient route with minimal disruptions to normal guests. The Tron route does have alternatives currently in use that aren't as narrow. So I wonder if that might be some reasoning for not including it. But that's a good point that it's at least plausible based on the DHS/Boardwalk path.

 

[Herding_Cats]

These are all good points. I was in full "wonder" mode thinking of all the things that could potentially be changed once those epcot walls were taken out and what that could mean for the courses.

 

[accm]

If it would be helpful, I'll be staying at BLT as well and would be happy to travel over to HH with you (assuming we aren't in a park). If that makes things more awkward, no worries. Just a thought.

Thank you! If our schedules match up that would definitely be helpful, since I'll be less likely to get in my head and bail if I'm going on my own.

 

[accm]

I love the course map speculations! I get how from Disney's operation point of view, it's hard to have sections of the park essentially cut off for most of the morning. But it's also the main selling point of these races. I'm hoping that at the very least, with the walls coming down at EPCOT that they'll go back to finishing by running down the central spine and under Spaceship Earth. I'd love to run through Avatar land and a little bit more time in HS, but I know the chances of that are slim to none, so I'll just stick with ending by going under Spaceship Earth.

 

[Bree]

SAFD: We have ADRs booked, but no park plans yet. I'll wait until they update the park hours before making any plans.
Since we have APs and are staying at BLT, so I foresee a lot of time at MK. We'll probably end up paying to ride Tron and Guardians, since rider swap is no fun when lines are too long. We're staying until the 12th, so we'll likely hit the evening extra magic hours (or whatever they're called these days) the week after the Marathon. I was going to pay for the HS Extra Hours event, but it falls on the same night as the MK extra magic hours, so now I'm not sure what to do.

As for meet ups, I'm going to do a better job of coming out for at least one. I have social anxiety around meeting other people. In my head, I'd be coming to a meet up where everyone already know each other, and I'd be the odd one out. I need to try to get over myself, since the meet ups always sounds like so much fun after the fact.

I am the most introverted extrovert you will ever meet. I am super quiet until I get a feel for you. It took a lot for me to go to my first meet up and now I have some really great people in my life.

While out on my run yesterday, I was listening to rise and run's recap of W&D and they mentioned a few things that really piqued my interest.

1. the finish was different for the races; where the sidewalk usually splits (after the choir) and then you run past the bleachers was now a right turn. That would mean that if they did this same finish for MW, the course would have to be re-measured/certified and not just use a 2020-2023 course already on-file.

I can vouch for the sharp right hand turn for the finish line at W&D

 

[PrincessV]

While out on my run yesterday, I was listening to rise and run's recap of W&D and they mentioned a few things that really piqued my interest.

1. the finish was different for the races; where the sidewalk usually splits (after the choir) and then you run past the bleachers was now a right turn. That would mean that if they did this same finish for MW, the course would have to be re-measured/certified and not just use a 2020-2023 course already on-file.

2. the construction walls in epcot are supposed to be coming down sometime in the next month-ish (?) which could mean a return finishing through the FRONT of epcot instead of heading backstage by Creations/Mission Space

3. the USATF measuring/certification happened THREE DAYS before the course maps were released (per runninginmakeup)

I've only run races in the post-covid/construction era, where all of the races finished out the side/backstage in Epcot.
-Do we really think we could have a return to the pre-2020 course finishes?
-Those courses also appear to have more park time (not cutting backstage out of HS, different exit point in AK, etc); does anyone think we could see a return to that, or is the feeling that Disney just wants to get the parks opened asap with as few race disruptions as possible?
-A return to the WWOS loop? No more BB parking lot?
-Any chance we run past Tron in MK (or no, because of the uphill)?

I ran W&D and the things I noted were…

Yes, park-heavy at the front end meant the park was free of runners earlier… but it also meant roads were closed later. I was stuck with all the race buses at 9:15-9:30am unable to use World Dr - we had to detour towards MK, then crawl along one-lane Vista Way to Buena Vista. It was messy and I don’t think they’ll want to do that again.

Early parks also meant a lot more congestion that never really eased much. I suspect they’ve had a lot of complaints on that, given that they asked about it specifically in the post-race survey.

The finish wasn’t very far off from the usual - we just took a slightly different route to get to it.

I’m not sure if they can replicate the start area for MW, when the field is much larger - I think the corrals could hold more bodies, but there wasn’t room enough to have the usual number of corrals MW usually does. So they’d either need to go with fewer corrals and more people per corral, or go back to using the road for more corrals.

I do think they’ll tweak the Marathon course, at least a little, maybe a lot. How is beyond my ability to speculate!