bellrae
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2013
@escriven75 - you can find the official event guide for last year here: http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/rundisney/wine-and-dine-half-marathon/2015_WnD_Program.pdf
My DH and I are planning on doing this run this year.
It will be the final celebration of my 50th bday.
We are in training for the dopey 2017. So this run will be a nice 1/2 to run after our first full marathon in Portland in October.
I love the food and wine festival and look forward to an awesome birthday celebration as my birthday is on Halloween.
The Expo is typically open on Friday and Saturday before the race. I don't buy any race merchandise, mainly because the place always looks like a madhouse to me. The train of thought tends to be arrive as early as possible at the expo if you want the best selection. Some even go straight to the merchandise before picking up their race packets. The Post-race party tickets have not sold out quickly the last couple of years so you should not need to worry much there. For booking of resorts, I would suggest booking as early as you can after registering for the race, so you can take advantage of the early ADRs and FP+ (though this is advice I rarely follow myself).@bellrae
Is the Expo only on the Friday before race day? Is that pretty standard? Its not a multi-day event? I surely don't want to miss out on all the cool exclusive race souvies!!
And do you all generally get your spectators post-race party tickets the same day as you register? Do those sell out immediately as well? I'm quite nervous that I'm going to do this wrong!!
The Expo is typically open on Friday and Saturday before the race. I don't buy any race merchandise, mainly because the place always looks like a madhouse to me. The train of thought tends to be arrive as early as possible at the expo if you want the best selection. Some even go straight to the merchandise before picking up their race packets. The Post-race party tickets have not sold out quickly the last couple of years so you should not need to worry much there. For booking of resorts, I would suggest booking as early as you can after registering for the race, so you can take advantage of the early ADRs and FP+ (though this is advice I rarely follow myself).
When my DW and I did the Disney Marathon weekend in Jan 2015, it was VERY cold. (sure, I did the 5 & 10K, she did those and the 1/2). We stayed off site and were glad we did. By staying off site we drove the rental car to the Epcot parking lot and were able to simply wait in our car until we wanted to get in the assigned corral. Those who stayed on site had to take the Disney buses which sounds great, but when the buses arrived in the parking lot the folks were forced out of the bus into the freezing (literally) code weather while the buses went back to get more people.So much great information from those that have done this before! Thank you!!
Does anyone have any strong recommendation of which resort to stay in for the W&D weekend? Do you go budget bc you'll be out and about? Or go deluxe because you'll be hanging around there the day of the race, relaxing? We almost always go with a Value Resort for regular stays because we honestly aren't at the resort other than to sleep and occasional dips in the pool. I've never stayed at Poly and am wondering if this is the right time to splurge on that or the WORST time? I've also never stayed at either of the Port Orleans resorts....not even sure what the differences are between the 2 but those seem to be a good option for race weekend too?!?!? Hoping to get a discount code in the mail.....I'm assuming there is no "runner discount" on resort/ticket packages right? That seems too good to be true!
When my DW and I did the Disney Marathon weekend in Jan 2015, it was VERY cold. (sure, I did the 5 & 10K, she did those and the 1/2). We stayed off site and were glad we did. By staying off site we drove the rental car to the Epcot parking lot and were able to simply wait in our car until we wanted to get in the assigned corral. Those who stayed on site had to take the Disney buses which sounds great, but when the buses arrived in the parking lot the folks were forced out of the bus into the freezing (literally) code weather while the buses went back to get more people.
This won't be an issue if its nice weather. Yet, if its raining......
Having said that, we are actually staying at one of the Epcot area hotels. Our logic is since the race is in the evening / night, we can simply walk from the hotel to Epcot, get in the back entrance of Epcot (we'll have annual passes at that point) and then figure out where the race starts. Then after the race just walk back to the hotel (as if a 1/2 marathon was not enough) regardless if we take advantage of playing in Epcot at night after the run.
Nice.The start for W&D is over in ESPN
Nice.
Still like walking back to the hotel and not having to wait for a bus in the wee hours of the morning from the 'after party'.
So much great information from those that have done this before! Thank you!!
Does anyone have any strong recommendation of which resort to stay in for the W&D weekend? Do you go budget bc you'll be out and about? Or go deluxe because you'll be hanging around there the day of the race, relaxing? We almost always go with a Value Resort for regular stays because we honestly aren't at the resort other than to sleep and occasional dips in the pool. I've never stayed at Poly and am wondering if this is the right time to splurge on that or the WORST time? Hoping to get a discount code in the mail.....I'm assuming there is no "runner discount" on resort/ticket packages right? That seems too good to be true!
So much great information from those that have done this before! Thank you!!
Does anyone have any strong recommendation of which resort to stay in for the W&D weekend? Do you go budget bc you'll be out and about? Or go deluxe because you'll be hanging around there the day of the race, relaxing? We almost always go with a Value Resort for regular stays because we honestly aren't at the resort other than to sleep and occasional dips in the pool. I've never stayed at Poly and am wondering if this is the right time to splurge on that or the WORST time? I've also never stayed at either of the Port Orleans resorts....not even sure what the differences are between the 2 but those seem to be a good option for race weekend too?!?!? Hoping to get a discount code in the mail.....I'm assuming there is no "runner discount" on resort/ticket packages right? That seems too good to be true!
You can do the 5K and then buy a ticket to the after-party.For the after party do you have to run in the night run or can you just do the 5K?