Marathon Weekend 2018

[mrsg00fy]

My airfare is booked now, too. Kind of good news/bad news. Bad news is that Southwest has no direct flights from here Wednesday morning! What's up with that?! So, due to my paranoia about flight delays making me miss Dopey bib pickup I have to head down on Tuesday.

The good news is I got a return flight for $69!!

I guess it's a pretty good day when your "bad" news is "I gotta spend an extra day at Disney!"

Sweet price. My weather paranoia about weather and potential flight delays
is what made me decide to book Tuesday to Tuesday for Dopey. I had toyed with A Wednesday flight down to Florida but if there was a delay and I couldn't get to packet then dopey would sorta be over before it began. This requires the extra day from work to travel and it means using six vacation days the first week of the year....but it is worth it for peace of mind.

 

[Dis5150]

Does anyone know off hand what time the expo closes on Wednesday?

 

[PCFriar80]

Does anyone know off hand what time the expo closes on Wednesday?

Here you go! No charge for the extra days!

runDisney Health & Fitness Expo:
Wednesday, January 3, 2018 - Noon - 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, January 4, 2018 - 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Friday, January 5, 2018 - 9:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 6, 2018 - 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

 

[Dis5150]

Here you go! No charge for the extra days!

runDisney Health & Fitness Expo:
Wednesday, January 3, 2018 - Noon - 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, January 4, 2018 - 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Friday, January 5, 2018 - 9:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 6, 2018 - 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Thank you! Looking at flights to see if we can make it by close on Wednesday.

 

[rteetz]

Here you go! No charge for the extra days!

runDisney Health & Fitness Expo:
Wednesday, January 3, 2018 - Noon - 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, January 4, 2018 - 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Friday, January 5, 2018 - 9:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 6, 2018 - 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

I wonder if they'll do the early entry to the expo again.

 

[MissLiss279]

I wonder if they'll do the early entry to the expo again.

It's still listed as a perk to Race Retreat, so I would guess yes.

 

[FelisLachesis]

I wonder if they'll do the early entry to the expo again.

I hope so, I want to get in and get out. I have a full day of TSMM ahead of me!

Seriously, this is the one thing I was hoping they'd open up stupid early, just so I didn't have to break a park day.

 

[michigandergirl]

Sweet price. My weather paranoia about weather and potential flight delays
is what made me decide to book Tuesday to Tuesday for Dopey. I had toyed with A Wednesday flight down to Florida but if there was a delay and I couldn't get to packet then dopey would sorta be over before it began. This requires the extra day from work to travel and it means using six vacation days the first week of the year....but it is worth it for peace of mind.

I haven't booked flights yet because I'm still on the fence about arriving Tues or Wed. I am also worried about weather delays and getting to the expo for Dopey. Ideally I'd like to take and early morning Wed flight, but what happens if you can't get your Dopey packet on Wed, are you just SOL??

 

[mrsg00fy]

I haven't booked flights yet because I'm still on the fence about arriving Tues or Wed. I am also worried about weather delays and getting to the expo for Dopey. Ideally I'd like to take and early morning Wed flight, but what happens if you can't get your Dopey packet on Wed, are you just SOL??

I think that they have historically had an emergency packet pickup on race mornings. But I wouldn't want to count on that continuing to be the case. I figure that with amount invested in air, hotel and bibs that I would not want to risk it. I live in an area that is prone to nasty winter storms. I had actually toyed with flying Wednesday morning but decided to be safe and go with Tuesday.

We are advised by rundisney that we need to go to expo. Anything other than that is a courtesy on their part. Others will probably chime in here with some more definitive information or experiences with raceday pickup.

 

[PCFriar80]

Booked my flights. Early 5:30AM flight on the way down and a mid day 1:40PM flight on Jan 9th to come home.

Gotta like those early AM flights on arrival day! Makes for a long day but you feel like you have a full day at WDW! I'll be racing down the east coast at 5:45 AM on 1/3.

 

[ZellyB]

I've pretty much decided there are going to be no cheap flight options for me. Right now I'm waiting for some reward points to post on a credit card that I'll use to book airfare.

 

[gjramsey]

Got my rooms book finally. When I first signed up for Marathon weekend we were planning on driving down and staying at UO and just doing the parks there while I ran the races in the early morning.

We then found a nice 8 night cruise out of Port Canaveral on Dec 23rd for a semi-decent price for an Xmas cruise going to 3 islands we have not been to before. So we are now driving down to Fla a lot earlier than planned. The Cruise is during the taper period, right, so I don't have to run that much the week before........

Once off of the cruise, we are staying at UO for 4 nights, than moving over to Disney for the rest of marathon weekend. And now going to both sets of parks!

 

[ZellyB]

Got my rooms book finally. When I first signed up for Marathon weekend we were planning on driving down and staying at UO and just doing the parks there while I ran the races in the early morning.

We then found a nice 8 night cruise out of Port Canaveral on Dec 23rd for a semi-decent price for an Xmas cruise going to 3 islands we have not been to before. So we are now driving down to Fla a lot earlier than planned. The Cruise is during the taper period, right, so I don't have to run that much the week before........

Once off of the cruise, we are staying at UO for 4 nights, than moving over to Disney for the rest of marathon weekend. And now going to both sets of parks!

You sound a lot like us. We are taking a 7 night cruise leaving on Dec. 24th with our kids and then home for one day before heading out for a week at Disney. We are absolutely counting the cruise as taper time!!

 

[mrsg00fy]

Got my rooms book finally. When I first signed up for Marathon weekend we were planning on driving down and staying at UO and just doing the parks there while I ran the races in the early morning.

We then found a nice 8 night cruise out of Port Canaveral on Dec 23rd for a semi-decent price for an Xmas cruise going to 3 islands we have not been to before. So we are now driving down to Fla a lot earlier than planned. The Cruise is during the taper period, right, so I don't have to run that much the week before........

Once off of the cruise, we are staying at UO for 4 nights, than moving over to Disney for the rest of marathon weekend. And now going to both sets of parks!

You sound a lot like us. We are taking a 7 night cruise leaving on Dec. 24th with our kids and then home for one day before heading out for a week at Disney. We are absolutely counting the cruise as taper time!!

You guys have the right idea! Those sound like some fabulous trips.

 

[cavepig]

I hope so, I want to get in and get out. I have a full day of TSMM ahead of me!

Seriously, this is the one thing I was hoping they'd open up stupid early, just so I didn't have to break a park day.

We go midafternoon or have done early evening too and it's when I might normally take a break at the resort anway so I don't feel like I'm missing out on quality park time. The expo is kind of fun to me though.

 

[jmasgat]

I haven't booked flights yet because I'm still on the fence about arriving Tues or Wed. I am also worried about weather delays and getting to the expo for Dopey. Ideally I'd like to take and early morning Wed flight, but what happens if you can't get your Dopey packet on Wed, are you just SOL??

I booked my flight for Wednesday out of DTW, arriving in MCO at 1pm. I'm on Delta (FF miles), and my feeling is that if there are weather issues, then 1) there are multiple flights on the day--something is bound to work and 2) the airlines are pretty good on weather waivers. If things were really bad, it should be possible to go out earlier or the day before.

 

[bellrae]

You sound a lot like us. We are taking a 7 night cruise leaving on Dec. 24th with our kids and then home for one day before heading out for a week at Disney. We are absolutely counting the cruise as taper time!!

I am doing one out of Miami on 22 December, then up to WDW on NYE to get ready for Dopey

 

[Dr Q]

Looking for some experienced advice here...I've been dying to do the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour on one of my trips, but I can't ever seem to schedule it in around the races. Any advice for doing it during the Dopey on the date of the 5K? How much walking is there? About the same as spending that amount of time in the parks? Or is this a no go?

 

[jmasgat]

Looking for some experienced advice here...I've been dying to do the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour on one of my trips, but I can't ever seem to schedule it in around the races. Any advice for doing it during the Dopey on the date of the 5K? How much walking is there? About the same as spending that amount of time in the parks? Or is this a no go?

I've done the tour. Personally, I think you would be fine. The tour is a few hours (5) , and you're not always in motion, so it's not like you're walking 10 miles. And part of the time is lunch, so you'd be sitting down. I would not add additional park time, necessarily, if you want to rest your legs. (or maybe I would.....I mean, your're there!)

 

[MuttMama]

I've pretty much decided there are going to be no cheap flight options for me. Right now I'm waiting for some reward points to post on a credit card that I'll use to book airfare.

Ditto here! Flying down from Alaska is no cheap feat and DH and I are hoping to rack up some more flyer miles or use a companion fare. I want to arrive Thursday so I can have Friday to recover from the traveling and race Saturday.