I’m about ready to make lodging reservations at one of the WDW resorts for marathon weekend in January. For those of you who have done this, is there a particular resort location that’s best in terms of easier race morning logistics? For example, rather than getting up in the middle of the night to catch a Disney bus to the start, I’d much prefer to sleep in and take a warm up jog to the start. Am I dreaming…?
I’ll take any helpful hints and suggestions. Thanks.
No there really isn’t anywhere that is going to give you that advantage. My wife and I took the bus both day’s and it drops you off right at the staging area. The busses worked well, when leaving there can be a bit of a wait but it wasn’t that bad.
There is a rediculously long walk from the staging area to the corrals and if you get to the front of that you can use that as your warm up. I hope you are in the front as this race is jammed full of people. Because of traffic in narrow spots there is a bit of walking if you are not towards the front.
It’s been a few years since I ran there, but since it’s tough to get logistically close to the start, I chose to stay at the resort that would keep me off my feet the most before and after the race (The Polynesian). I could hang by the pool with my family with only a short mono-rail ride to the park.
I’m about ready to make lodging reservations at one of the WDW resorts for marathon weekend in January. For those of you who have done this, is there a particular resort location that’s best in terms of easier race morning logistics? For example, rather than getting up in the middle of the night to catch a Disney bus to the start, I’d much prefer to sleep in and take a warm up jog to the start. Am I dreaming…?
I’ll take any helpful hints and suggestions. Thanks.
Port Orleans is the closest resort to the start and finish (at least from what the map I am going off of) - somewhat northeast of Epcot. The thing though is distances are always way off on Disney maps. Things appear close, but they can still be a good couple of miles.
By the way…that route looks amazing… running through all of the parks…that’s pretty cool.
Search disney vacation club rentals. Then look for old key west you can walk to the start and youll save a ton of money using the dvc rentals. I think the big company that does it is daves disney vacation club rentals or something.
We have dvc and stayed at old key west the last two years. Its less than a 5 min jog to the start.
Agree on all points, buses from any of the resorts will get you to the staging area, and once there it is a long walk to the actual start line. If looking to get a clean start and run a decent race time, plan on starting in the first corral towards the front as the course gets bottled up quick otherwise. Great thing about this race is it is over early enough to get back to your room and get cleaned up and still spend the rest of the day with family.
The walk from old key west is actually shorter to the start than the parking lot is.
We stayed off site, and that worked just fine… You can rent a house (with 5br) for about $200/night.
Go shopping in the closet before you go, and bring an old sweatshirt and pants… it will take you almost 45 minutes to walk to the start line, and this year, it was about 12C ~55F and I thought I was going to freeze to death. (I’m Canadian, too!)
Have stayed at Port Orleans on several occasions for the race, is less than a mile jog to the start. Make sure to bring a flashlight as area not well lit between resort and start. Able to sleep an extra hour or more and avoid the bus in the middle of the night. Would reserve room now since this one fills early with team in training.
We have stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and Old Key West. I like to jog from the hotel to the starting line instead of the bus ride to the staging area, then the cattle prod walk tot he starting corral.
I have found that this is the easiest thing to do and so many people will be doing too.
Stay at the Contemporary…you get on the train, it drops you off right at the start line. 5 minutes.
We have stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and Old Key West. I like to jog from the hotel to the starting line instead of the bus ride to the staging area, then the cattle prod walk tot he starting corral.
I have found that this is the easiest thing to do and so many people will be doing too.
Generally, this is a good idea, with the one disadvantage that you can’t drop off a dry clothes bag for after the race. If it’s cold, unless you’ll have people meeting you at the finish with a jacket, you might want to have the bag.
Just saying this because the year I was there (2010) and stayed at Old Key West for the reason of walking over, it was 35 degrees F on the morning of the half, and 27F the morning of the full. We ended up taking the busses.
Also me and the wife did the disney pre and post race hospitality tent. Had whatever you would need before the race, and preatty much anything you would eat before the race. The post race breakfast after the half was awesome. The lunch after the full was alright but was nice right after the race to sit, have your own port o potties which was really nice, seperate bag check and like someone else said bring a pair of throwaway clothes to wear it was freezing during the cattle walk both day’s, perfect for the race though.