Who here knows the closest hotel to the starting line? Price is not a concern but they have rooms for $3500 a night? Better come with a few women and someone to run for me.
I stayed at the Grand Floridian for Goofy last year. It was very easy to take the monorails to the start. If you stay at a Disney property not on the monorail system (other than Grand Floridain, Poly or Contemporary) you can take buses to the start. The last bus, however, leaves at 4am. If you drive to the start leave lots (lots) of extra time since there are always huge delays getting into the parking lot.
I did the full last year, and the delay getting into the parking lot wasn’t too bad (maybe 10 mins total). I lived in Metrowest at the time, and I ended up standing there like a dipshit freezing my ass off for at least an hour and a half. Man it was cold last year.
It was cold last year…it almost always is…and I thought Saturday was even colder than Sunday last year. I’ve driven to the start a bunch of times and I think the longest I waited on the road going to the parking lot was 35-40 minutes…which sucked since you can see the parking lot and all the festivities but you’re stuck in the grid lock. Maybe since they split the races there is less traffic each morning…I didn’t think of that.
hmm dunno. i got there like CRAZY early on Sunday too, (i think like 3:30 or something) because I was tweaking so bad. Maybe the half on Sat. was worse?
My wife and I stayed at the Swan and Dolphin last year - other than the fire alarm at 2am Saturday morning it was great. We were about 20 minutes to the start on the buses (I have never seen so many buses in one place!!). Standing in the staging area wasn’t too bad temperature-wise.
Good Luck!
i was bundled in like 5 layers of sweats, shirts, hats, mittens, etc. But then I’m a pansy too.
Yeah, we were bundled up - my wife actually took a pair of long pants that someone discarded (she only had shorts on) - but overall it wasn’t too bad. We’re from Ottawa, so at that time of year we are used to temperatures a lot lower than that!!
I did the 1/2 and full last year and doing both again.
I stayed at a cheesy hotel 10 min. from Epcot and drove in, arriving by 3:30 each morning, got a premium parking spot.
Sat. for the 1/2 I was stupid and got out of the car and froze to death, but Sun. I stayed in the car until I saw they were making us walk to the corrals.
I wore tights and long sleeves both days, and bought cheap $.50 gloves to wear. I left them on the entire time on Sat. and through Mile 17 on Sunday.
Don’t forget garbage bags or other disposable clothing. I wore my garbage bag for 1-2 miles each day. It was easy getting out of them without stopping. Just rip and go!
I also made the commemorative CD last year, as I was dressed all in hot pink for the marathon, including a tutu. This year, no costume, and I would prefer the temps about 5-10 degrees warmer!