Kissimmee to Epcot/MK on Marathon weekend

[sommergirl25]

Hello all! We are going to be at Epcot on Friday, Jan 5 and MK on Sat, Jan 6. I usually stay onsite so this will be completely new for me and also have never stayed during a runDisney weekend. Does anyone have experience with offsite getting to the parks with possible road closures? We usually like to get to the parks quite a bit before they open. Please post your tips or experiences. I am also deep diving into all the previous posts to help myself. I am a planner and don’t love the unknown. Thanks in advance.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Here is an interactive map of the road closures from last year. Just select the 10k map layer for Friday, or the HM layer for Saturday.

Without knowing what the course maps are, there's no way to say for certain what the road closures will be. However, the courses are usually pretty similar, so we can make educated guesses. The event guide (which will have the course maps) should be out some time between Christmas and New Year.

Friday is the 10k, and should be wrapped up for runners by 930. You probably won't notice much in the way for closures on that day unless you're trying to get into the parking lot before 7-7:30am.

Saturday will see more closures, with some of the closed roads not re-opening until 9:30. It's worth noting that Epcot is scheduled to open an hour later (10am for offsite guests) than all of the other parks on Saturday to account for the runners being in the parks, and the longer road closures. I'm not great with road names and such, so I'll let someone else weigh in on HM-day logistics.

 

[sandam1]

Hello all! We are going to be at Epcot on Friday, Jan 5 and MK on Sat, Jan 6. I usually stay onsite so this will be completely new for me and also have never stayed during a runDisney weekend. Does anyone have experience with offsite getting to the parks with possible road closures? We usually like to get to the parks quite a bit before they open. Please post your tips or experiences. I am also deep diving into all the previous posts to help myself. I am a planner and don’t love the unknown. Thanks in advance.

In my experience Google maps will be aware of the road closures and will take them into account when helping you navigate.

Once the courses are known, Disney will issue travel advisories which should give you more detail about what adjustments are going to be necessary. I would recommend packing your patience with the traffic. Also, please understand that the earlier you arrive, actually the bigger impact you are going to see. Disney wants to get the runners clear of the areas for a normal opening. If you arrive 2 hours before opening, well, it's a bit of a different story.