Marathon Weekend 2018

[DOOM1001]

FP+ has positives and negatives,the same with the paper FP's,I'm going to lean towards paper FP's as being my preference.There's still people out there who say no FP's at all was best but there's no way that's possible.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

The first year we had FP+ we hated it (before we went). We didn't like the tiers we didn't like all the planning at the 60 days in advance. But then we had our first trip with FP+ and actually loved it. It saved so much time from not zigzagging around the park. It made our trip so much more relaxing. We plan our days by hitting the park that has early entry. We then start our FP+ for about 9:30 and do each hour. In the afternoon we usually want to switch parks so often times we check out the rides we want to do and see if we could get a FP+ before we even head over so that is nice.

On another note, we are following Galloways plan on RunDisney. Last weekend was supposed to be the 8.5 on Sat and 20 on Sun but we had to do this weekend due to conflicts last weekend. Yesterday we did the 8.5 in the snow with 15mph sustained winds, it was sure cold with the snow pelting us half the run. Today up until mile 12 had to contend with roads that were almost complete ice, ran through our subdivision so the center of the road had some bare spots (or where we have sidewalks they were snow covered and easy to run on). After mile 12 sun was starting to melt the road. Shaved 8 seconds per mile off my fastest run above 15 miles so I'm happy with that. But the biggest thing I'm happy with is that after my 17 mile run (which was about a month ago) I was out for the day. Legs and feet were horribly sore (and that was switching by doing the 17 miles on Sat and 7 miles on Sun so my legs should have been fresher). Today barely any pain, I mean normal pain with running for that long but not anything that wore me for the day. Going up stairs were fine. Even taking a little nap I was afraid to get up but not an issue walking on the legs after the nap. I've come a long way since my first 10K in July 2015 (which was the first time I ran that far) where I had to be on the couch the entire day as I couldn't move.

Granted the half marathon day I still need to go 5 miles further then yesterday and today I need to add on another 10K but my confidence is starting to build after todays run. Just 2 more weekends of long runs then the race.

 

[courtneybeth]

Um... we’re next guys!!!

This is exciting and terrifying at the same time.

 

[rteetz]

This is exciting and terrifying at the same time.

I feel exactly the same...

 

[cburnett11]

Paper FP for me.

 

[croach]

Until they allow you to get FP+ at multiple parks on the same day, I’ll go with paper since I think I remember you could move around parks. Really wish they would add that feature to FP+.

 

[rteetz]

Until they allow you to get FP+ at multiple parks on the same day, I’ll go with paper since I think I remember you could move around parks. Really wish they would add that feature to FP+.

I believe with paper you still had to use it before you park hopped. The concept is the same with FP+ you can book just one FP then after you use just that one you can book another at a different park.

 

[jeanigor]

I hope everyone had a great week! As always Sundays are for Disney!

Today's Question:

Do you prefer the old days of no FP, legacy FP (paper), or FP+?

I would have to say I have a foot in each position (add a fourth for the MaxPass at DLR).

 

[DopeyBadger]

Hows the training coming along?

So far so good. Just wrapped up the building/recovery phase and now I've got 60+ miles (>8hrs) of running every week from now until Marathon Weekend. I was able to run my 3rd fastest 5k in the midst of a Daniels Threshold run this past Tuesday (link). So feeling good about where I'm at, and where I can end up.

 

[cavepig]

I believe with paper you still had to use it before you park hopped. The concept is the same with FP+ you can book just one FP then after you use just that one you can book another at a different park.

No, with paper fastpass you could park hop and get new ones at the new park and still come back to the original park to use FPs collected earlier in the day. Like if I got a Space FP at 11:00 am that wasn't good until 6:00pm, I could head over to Epcot & grab a Test Track as long as it was 2 hours after getting that Space one, so after 1:00. So, you could get a new FP either after your current one had started or 2 hours after getting that one. So, you could technically hold multiple fastpasses in multiple parks if you played your gathering correctly.

 

[dragitoff]

My training is going pretty good, but I've had 2 not-so-great long runs. I bombed a 16 and then a 17 miler. I made the 16 miler up the following week in place of my intermediate distance run. I'm using a Higdon Dopey training plan. Last weekend's 17 miler didn't go well due to some cramping, but I'm pretty sure that was more of a hydration issue than anything else. Since I run low-carb, I hydrate during my runs with half and half of PowerAde Zero and Water. I usually carry a bottle, but I didn't want to do that Marathon Weekend so I've been trying out a camelback backpack. I have 2 bladders and one has a different tube than I'm used to. I could barely get any fluids through it for the first 8 or 9 miles. I finally got it working good after that, but started cramping up to the point my quads locked up a little around 14.5 miles in. I opted not to push it and risk injury so I cut the run short. This weekend, I'll attempt 3/8/18 on back-to-back-to-back days. Hopefully that'll go better.

 

[Anisum]

Do you prefer the old days of no FP, legacy FP (paper), or FP+?

So it really depends on the ride. I was around for no FP growing up. I would say that it made it more difficult to get on the most popular rides if you didn't get in line right when the park opened or during off hours. In this sense having FP has improved it. I liked Legacy FP because it seemed like it was really more limited to rides where you actually would need a FP (or maybe we just took them for those rides) but FP+ does save time the morning of because I don't necessarily need to be there at rope drop to get the most coveted FP.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

I have a question about the pacing requirements. I read online that in order to get your Dopey (and Goofy) medal you needed to complete all races under the pacing requirements of 16 mins per mile. Does that mean they actually check your time to make sure you are under that or do they mean you just can't be swept?

Our previous Disney race times still put us well under the 16 per min pace, but for some reason I'm overly nervous for this weekend. What if there are more character stops for marathon weekend? What if longer lines?

 

[ZellyB]

I have a question about the pacing requirements. I read online that in order to get your Dopey (and Goofy) medal you needed to complete all races under the pacing requirements of 16 mins per mile. Does that mean they actually check your time to make sure you are under that or do they mean you just can't be swept?

Our previous Disney race times still put us well under the 16 per min pace, but for some reason I'm overly nervous for this weekend. What if there are more character stops for marathon weekend? What if longer lines?

They've had that language in there for awhile and it worried me too when I first read it a year or two ago, but I haven't heard of anyone denied the medals based on pace. As long as you don't get swept you get the medals. I mean anything is subject to change, but that's how they've done it before and I doubt they would change that.

ETA: I do think that if you actually get swept you don't get the challenge medals. You do get the medal for that specific race, but not that challenge ones. I suspect that is why they have the language in there.

 

[baxter24]

Sunday question: I feel like there are things I like/dislike about both paper fastpass and fastpass+. I like knowing that I won’t have to run ahead to grab paper fast passes anymore and then meet my family on the other side of the park like I used to do. I like knowing what the framework of our day looks like based on our three fast passes plus potential dining but having some flexibility of riding/doing other stuff. I feel like we were able to get a lot more done back when they had paper fastpass but we had to work harder. My biggest complaint about fastpass+ is that I think they made some attractions have it but didn’t need it and now the lines are longer because of it.

 

[michigandergirl]

Sunday question: I think there are pros & cons to paper FP and FP+, not sure which I like better. For our 2014 Thanksgiving trip we got to double dip - they were still in testing phase for magicbands/FP+, but still had paper ones available. Best trip ever.

 

[dragitoff]

I don't stay on property anymore since we own a vacation home in Champions Gate, but even if I did, I still kind of prefer the old FP method. My main reason for that is once I learned they didn't hold that time window so strict, we used to load up on paper FP early in the day and then take advantage of the shorter lines in the morning. By the times the parks filled up late morning and early afternoon, we had plenty of FP's accumulated so we just walked onto rides. One year for my birthday, my wife surprised me with a trip to WDW. There were 4 of us and we hit our fave attractions at AK, Epcot and MK and even took a 2 hour nap back at our hotel all in one day. We would've had a hard time doing that with the new system, especially since there are tiered FP under the new system.

I'm an UBER planner for sure so there's definitely pros to the new system.

 

[Anisum]

I have a question about the pacing requirements. I read online that in order to get your Dopey (and Goofy) medal you needed to complete all races under the pacing requirements of 16 mins per mile. Does that mean they actually check your time to make sure you are under that or do they mean you just can't be swept?

Our previous Disney race times still put us well under the 16 per min pace, but for some reason I'm overly nervous for this weekend. What if there are more character stops for marathon weekend? What if longer lines?

I can tell you that as of 2016 that was not the case for some of the other race weekends. I've run the races with friends who run-walk and take in a lot of the sights. We've finished a challenge in 16+ min/mi overall because we were earlier in the corrals.

As @ZellyB said the wording is most likely do to people who get swept in one race that is part of a larger challenge. Since they were unable to complete that one race they don't get the corresponding challenge medals.

 

[KSellers88]

Sunday question: I never really experienced the prior ways because I was younger and just followed my parents around, but as an adult I love FP+! I am a huge planner and love knowing what I will be doing each day. I also like being able to get more once I have used my three, but I am not sure if that is how the older ones worked or not...

 

[PrincessV]

Do you prefer the old days of no FP, legacy FP (paper), or FP+?

Definitely the no FP days! Sure, there was the occasional long wait, but most things were short and you could use Touring Plans to navigate the notoriously long-wait attractions. Or you could join the line and enjoy the queue! I hate FP+ with every fiber of my being, but I'm semi-local and hate having to plan things far out. At this point, we just don't visit as much as we used to because of it.

I have a question about the pacing requirements. I read online that in order to get your Dopey (and Goofy) medal you needed to complete all races under the pacing requirements of 16 mins per mile. Does that mean they actually check your time to make sure you are under that or do they mean you just can't be swept?

Our previous Disney race times still put us well under the 16 per min pace, but for some reason I'm overly nervous for this weekend. What if there are more character stops for marathon weekend? What if longer lines?

Historically, you only have to finish ahead of the official pacers - i.e.: not get swept. Nobody checks your chip time before handing you the challenge medals.