Marathon Weekend 2023

[WillRunForPizza]

SAFD: I like to go back into what used to be the market in Morocco - now that the Kingdom of Morocco is out, there's nothing there for people to see and you can usually find a table in the shade.

Formerly quiet but now well-known and overcrowded bonus round:

• The Maelstrom ride in Norway (now Frozen)
• The international Coke fountain with all the unusual-for-America flavors of soda

 

[lookingforsunshine]

I like to go back into what used to be the market in Morocco - now that the Kingdom of Morocco is out, there's nothing there for people to see and you can usually find a table in the shade.

There’s now an ultra-running exhibit somewhere over there!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

There’s now an ultra-running exhibit somewhere over there!

Oh cool! Hopefully it's still around when I'm there in the winter!

 

[accm]

SAFD: this is not generally a quiet spot, but on our last trip, Expedition Everest wasn’t open. We walked by, and my 4 year old son wanted to check if he was tall enough to ride. We ended up spending quite a bit of time by the entrance to the ride, talking to the cast members there and playing connect four that they had setup. It was such a nice break, and even with everything else available to do in the park, my two boys just wanted to stay there and hang out with the CMs.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

SAFD: with the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion. The one who hitchhiked with
me and I really hit it off and he invited me back there for any time I feel dead inside.



for real though this is a weird answer but I find the People Mover to be very relaxing and lovely.

 

[nekonekoneko]

SAFD: Honestly, anywhere we're eating lunch can be the quiet spot. Even if it's someplace like Satu'li Canteen, which is usually very busy. When it's just my family and food, nothing else really matters at that point.

But for just places to sit and just take a breather, maybe the corner of Tomorrowland, between Carousel of Progress and The Tomorrowland stage. It used to be a smoking area, and there's no one going down there, now.

Also, the Odyssey Building in Epcot. Even without anything in there, it's just an air-conditioned, light-use bathroom breather before walking into World Showcase.

 

[Barca33Runner]

SAFD: Some of my places aren’t necessarily always quiet. Sometimes they’re quite crowded. But they are places where I can relax even if the conditions aren’t perfect. I’ll list one from each park.

Epcot: Definitely #1 on my list and the place that popped into my mind immediately was the Mexico pavilion, specifically sitting on the edge of the fountain. I love the ambience, the air conditioning on warm days, the break from the sun (which, as a migraine sufferer, is often necessary). It’s a great place to people watch or close my eyes for a couple minutes.

Hollywood Studios: I have literally never seen more than the first two minutes of MuppetVision 3D despite going to the show every trip I’ve ever been to HS. I’ll admit a certain apathy to all things Muppets but I believe this is primarily a byproduct of my tendency to burn the candle at both ends when at WDW. Either that or they pump a potent sleeping gas into the theater.

Animal Kingdom: I like to grab a swirl cone from Anandapur Ice Cream Truck and head into the theater. Not sure how that will work out with Kite Tails now though. Close second, Maharajah Jungle Trek. I had a time when I was on my own watching one of the tigers in there for so long that I began to get a little paranoid that it was stalking me (it definitely was) and planning to institute its long-conceived, but never implemented, plan to break out and make a meal of one of the slow bipeds it sees everyday (it wasn’t, probably).

Magic Kingdom: This is a little tougher. Normal days in MK are tough to find much in the way of quiet solitude. Upstairs at Columbia Harbor House can be a good respite sometimes; often it can be just as busy as the rest of the park though. The best times at MK for me have been the farther reaches of the park after the first parade at MNSSHP. There have been times I’ve honestly felt like I was in an area where I wasn’t supposed to be because there were so few people.

Bonus: Worst place to relax despite being alone in climate control. This past marathon weekend I was on Journey of the Little Mermaid when someone apparently took a spill loading the ride and the ride was closed down for the rest of the night. I was fortunate enough to have just entered the room with Ursula and spent 30 minutes less than 5 feet from her as "Poor Unfortunate Souls" played and the animatronic went through her motions. We all figured it would be a minute or two but, nope, the time just dragged on. The loop from the ride with its odd reset still creeps into my head from time to time.

 

[BigEeyore]

SAFD: I've had some quality naps in the American pavillion show, as well as the Hall of Presidents! I actually love history, and think the animatronics are incredible in those shows, but in the a/c with the lights out...zzzzz
Bonus spot (no napping here!) - the Tomorrowland Terrace restaurant that is never open has tons of fantastic seating in the shade, with a perfect view of the castle. Grab a snack or coffee and just chill for a bit!

 

[_shiny_side_up_]

SAFD: After the marathon was done for this year (and the Dopey completed); I came back to Epcot with a few friends to spend the rest of the day. Around 3pm we got on Spaceship Earth and I was asleep in a few seconds. They woke me up at the end.
I'm looking forward to napping on Spaceship Earth again next year.

 

[_shiny_side_up_]

SAFD: I like to go back into what used to be the market in Morocco - now that the Kingdom of Morocco is out, there's nothing there for people to see and you can usually find a table in the shade.

Seconding Morocco - while not AC'd, the last few times I've been to Epcot we've grabbed retreated to the back of Morocco and relaxed.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

SAFD: My new fav place is in Galaxy edge, the entrance heading towards Toy Story. I love this area. It is not crowded like the rest of Galaxy Edge, they have these great sitting rock areas under shaded trees. We sat there for a bit just enjoying the star wars theming while not being crowded.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Its rotating now between other things but the French film in EPCOT is another theater show with air conditioning. It's 20 minutes of sitting and classical music, and there are times when I've closed my eyes and started drifting off.

 

[Herding_Cats]

SAFD:
HS: Muppetvision is a great place to take a nap.

Epcot: I feel like there's a lot of places to "get away" from people with all the nooks and corners in world showcase. I love, love, love hanging out in the big aquarium room in The Seas building. Even though there's usually a lot of kids, it's a pretty soothing place.

AK: The area around the bridge between Pandora and the FOTLK building in AK is usually a nice quiet spot, except for first thing in the morning when the rope-drop line for FOP is all the way back there. I also like the trails that go around the back side of the the Tree of Life.

MK: x2 on Gaston's in the evening. Tom Sawyer Island can be pretty nice as well. I'm not sure if it's been closed with all of the Tron construction, but there was a back walking path behind Dumbo, down to the TLS that was the smoking area that used to be pretty deserted as well.

 

[GreatLakes]

SAFD: My favorite is probably the same one @Ariel484 mentioned, that side street just before Starbucks. It is amazing how empty that little dead end is even at peak times. We took our then 1 year old over there for a nap and it was great until the balloon people came out. The sound of the balloons coming out of that door was like thunder. I wouldn't have believed how loud it was until I heard it so if you are taking a little nap down there be ware if that door opens.

The indoor area of Morocco is also great. I'm sure it has a more technical name but the tile room that I believe has a little fountain.

 

[accm]

Does anyone know what the weather is generally like for marathon weekend? From my casual following of past years, I feel like it's all over the place?

Trying to figure out what I'm going to wear so I can order fabric for it (custom printed fabrics have a turn around time of 16+ weeks). I'll also have to have everything sewed up at least a month in advance, so will need to make a decision before the forecast is reliable.

 

[Guidman]

SAFD: While not directly in the park, this past MW I didn't do any park days (I know, sacrilegious), I went over to Hollywood Studios one late afternoon and sat on one of the benches outside the security entrance near the Friendship Boat drop-off. It was completely relaxing and peaceful. I did some people watching, read a book, I could faintly hear the entrance area music loop (which is great). I enjoyed killing a few hours there.

 

[sandam1]

Does anyone know what the weather is generally like for marathon weekend? From my casual following of past years, I feel like it's all over the place?

When people say that it is impossible to know, they aren't being difficult. They are being 1000% honest. Some Marathon Weekends have had literally freezing temperatures and some have been in the 80's. And it can (and usually does) change from day to day. You cannot plan on anything other than it probably won't snow (much). Everything else is probably possible.

will need to make a decision before the forecast is reliable.

The forecast isn't reliable more than 12 hours in advance (if that).

Your best bet would probably be something that could have layers added underneath it if necessary.

 

[camaker]

Does anyone know what the weather is generally like for marathon weekend? From my casual following of past years, I feel like it's all over the place?

Trying to figure out what I'm going to wear so I can order fabric for it (custom printed fabrics have a turn around time of 16+ weeks). I'll also have to have everything sewed up at least a month in advance, so will need to make a decision before the forecast is reliable.

If you need to be ready that far in advance, I'd suggest you take a layered approach to your costuming. I've run 6 Marathon Weekends at WDW and they've ranged from exploring the Antarctic (for me from my central NC perspective) to running somewhere near the surface of the sun. I'd say experiences have been roughly 2 weekends on the cold side, 2 on the hot side and 2 somewhere in the middle.

Also, the forecast can be considered fairly unreliable up to a couple of days out so you're either going to have to guess and hope or plan for all eventualities. When I pack for Marathon Weekend I ensure I'm covered for anything from the 20s to the 80s plus humidity.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Does anyone know what the weather is generally like for marathon weekend? From my casual following of past years, I feel like it's all over the place?

You are correct. In terms of racing performance for the large majority of runners, the weather can be ideal racing conditions or bad racing conditions. Below is a chart of all the T+Ds (Temperature + Dew Point, like a 80F temp and 50F dew point would be T+D=130) from 6:50am to 11:30am for the Orlando area from Jan 6th to Jan 12th. The 2023 race dates are Jan 5th - 8th.



I categorized the different weather conditions by how much it would impact the large majority of runner's performances. Based on these different categorizations, you have almost an equal chance of ideal (23%), good (19%), ok (19%), not great (21%), and bad (19%) conditions during the Marathon Weekend races. This year's edition is earlier in January though, and you can see over the last eleven years that the slightly earlier days in January have a higher probability of good days than do the later Jan dates. Despite only being separated by six days.

Just to get a general idea as far as effect on performance, this is the chart I use (this is for a 2:30 HM runner):



Under different conditions this runner could do:

Ideal - 2:29:54
Good - 2:31:24
OK - 2:32:54
Not Great - 2:34:24
Bad - 2:38:11 (used T+D 152 since that's the highest T+D in Orlando during those dates at 11:30am, but we've seen slightly higher towards the tail end of the marathon)

So an 8-minute swing for someone who is presumed to be heat acclimated. Someone who is less heat acclimated is probably going to see an even slower performance under those conditions.

The crazy part about MW weather is that year to year is hard to predict, but also within a year it's all over the place too. Look at 2015. It was not great, then ideal, ideal, and bad in a span of six days. So you really don't know what you're going to get when it comes to MW. Be prepared for everything, and for it to change quickly. So in preparation for an outfit make it useable at freezing cold and boiling hot (so something that is flexible).

 

[sandam1]

Hey @DopeyBadger, do you want to start a prediction thread on what the T+D will be for Marathon Weekend? See who can guess closest at 6 months out?

I know that my prediction is going to be a cold year - simply because I went and bought a bunch of warm weather running gear. And I expect to run into some rain for either Wine and Dine and/or Marathon Weekend - again because I haven't found the perfect running raincoat.