Marathon Weekend 2023

[softballpooh]

Has anyone stayed at Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek for a race weekend? I’m seeing conflicting information online about whether or not there is bus transportation provided for the half and full. I’ve never driven myself to a race but I’m willing to try it to save the significant cost $5000!!! between the 2 bedroom villa there and the 2 bedroom villa at Animal Kingdom. We will be renting a car either location.

Or could I find my way to a Disney hotel and grab a race bus there?

 

[luv2cheer92]

Has anyone stayed at Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek for a race weekend? I’m seeing conflicting information online about whether or not there is bus transportation provided for the half and full. I’ve never driven myself to a race but I’m willing to try it to save the significant cost $5000!!! between the 2 bedroom villa there and the 2 bedroom villa at Animal Kingdom. We will be renting a car either location.

Or could I find my way to a Disney hotel and grab a race bus there?

I haven't stayed there, but I always find driving way better than taking a bus anyway if that helps.

 

[dgreensp]

I haven't stayed there, but I always find driving way better than taking a bus anyway if that helps.

I’m staying at pop century and have a car. I’m running the half marathon. Can I drive and park at the start? What about road closures. What time do I need to be there and leave the hotel. This is the first time doing a Disney run.

 

[nekonekoneko]

I’m staying at pop century and have a car. I’m running the half marathon. Can I drive and park at the start? What about road closures. What time do I need to be there and leave the hotel. This is the first time doing a Disney run.

The drive will be to the Epcot parking lot, and then the walk through security and then through the staging area then up the ramp to the start. There's no huge difference in walking distance between any of the motorized methods of getting to Epcot.

We try to be at World Drive and Osceola Parkway by no later than 3:30. Traffic from there is slow but steady. Just follow the directions from the parking attendants, and they'll get you to a spot. After 4am, the roads start acting funny.

 

[dgreensp]

The drive will be to the Epcot parking lot, and then the walk through security and then through the staging area then up the ramp to the start. There's no huge difference in walking distance between any of the motorized methods of getting to Epcot.

We try to be at World Drive and Osceola Parkway by no later than 3:30. Traffic from there is slow but steady. Just follow the directions from the parking attendants, and they'll get you to a spot. After 4am, the roads start acting funny.

Thank you. This is very helpful.

Are the sky buckets at option to the back entrance at Epcot? We have a sky bucket station at pop century.

 

[jpeterson]

Thank you. This is very helpful.

Are the sky buckets at option to the back entrance at Epcot? We have a sky bucket station at pop century.

There is no skyliner option for the races

 

[1lilspark]

Thank you. This is very helpful.

Are the sky buckets at option to the back entrance at Epcot? We have a sky bucket station at pop century.

If Epcot is open & you have a park pass for the park you can ride them back post race but to the race it’s just busses (monorails sometimes run for half/full)

 

[The Expert]

Has anyone stayed at Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek for a race weekend? I’m seeing conflicting information online about whether or not there is bus transportation provided for the half and full. I’ve never driven myself to a race but I’m willing to try it to save the significant cost $5000!!! between the 2 bedroom villa there and the 2 bedroom villa at Animal Kingdom. We will be renting a car either location.

Or could I find my way to a Disney hotel and grab a race bus there?

No, but I have stayed at the JW in that same area. There was no rD shuttle, but they ran their own, along with a few other runner perks for the race weekend (spa specials, early hours at the coffee counter, etc). We had a car so we drove, which is super easy as long as you leave early to beat traffic and road closures.

 

[Baloo in MI]

Has anyone stayed at Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek for a race weekend? I’m seeing conflicting information online about whether or not there is bus transportation provided for the half and full. I’ve never driven myself to a race but I’m willing to try it to save the significant cost $5000!!! between the 2 bedroom villa there and the 2 bedroom villa at Animal Kingdom. We will be renting a car either location.

Or could I find my way to a Disney hotel and grab a race bus there?

Wow, a 5K savings! That is totally worth it. I mean I love looking out at the giraffes, but keeping 5000$ in my bank account, I would like that more. My family stayed at Bonnet Creek many years ago - not during a runDisney race. So I can’t offer any feedback on transportation for the races, but you can certainly drive and as long as you leave early you will have no problems at all. Lots of folks on the thread swear by driving as opposed to the buses.

I can share that our stay at Bonnet Creek was really nice, good staff, very clean, fun activities for our kids; it was a very nice stay.

 

[softballpooh]

Wow, a 5K savings! That is totally worth it. I mean I love looking out at the giraffes, but keeping 5000$ in my bank account, I would like that more. My family stayed at Bonnet Creek many years ago - not during a runDisney race. So I can’t offer any feedback on transportation for the races, but you can certainly drive and as long as you leave early you will have no problems at all. Lots of folks on the thread swear by driving as opposed to the buses.

I can share that our stay at Bonnet Creek was really nice, good staff, very clean, fun activities for our kids; it was a very nice stay.

Yes! That $5000 is significant especially given that it does not include tickets or anything else!! We are Disney regulars and more and more I’m enjoying the cost savings and convenience over being in the bubble. We used to be disney transport only but when the Magical Express retired we decided to rent a car and we love the freedom!

I booked rack rate at AK in April to have somewhere to stay when I was able to actually register for Dopey, and assumed I would be able to apply a discount at a later time like I’ve done previously. I’ve called several times in the last couple of months and no discounts were available. My dad is military and those rates were released this week. We’ve never had any trouble applying to get the military rate and this time there is absolutely nothing available. All resorts are sold out during that week and so it’s full rack rate which I just cannot stomach at this point.

Thank you all who drive for the reassurance! I’m always on the first bus anyway, so leaving at 3am to drive over at our normal time won’t be an issue. I’m also slow so I won’t have to wait to be released by the time I actually finish.

I’ll post again in January when the guide is released to make sure I can read the route correctly That guide is SO hard to decipher to me!

 

[PrincessV]

Has anyone stayed at Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek for a race weekend? I’m seeing conflicting information online about whether or not there is bus transportation provided for the half and full. I’ve never driven myself to a race but I’m willing to try it to save the significant cost $5000!!! between the 2 bedroom villa there and the 2 bedroom villa at Animal Kingdom. We will be renting a car either location.

Or could I find my way to a Disney hotel and grab a race bus there?

I stay there for most races - no race transportation provided, so yes, you’ll want a car. It’s super easy: turn right out of the resort, left at the signal, right onto World Dr and straight into EP. Just follow the signs. I aim to walk out my door about 15 mins after WDW race buses start running & have never been late for a race.

side note: of course having a kitchen is great, but I also highly recommend the food offerings at the resort. I’ve had some yummy meals there, at lower prices than Mickey charges!

 

[Novatrix]

I still can't get over a 5k difference in hotels, for that amount you and your significant other could fly to Africa and see the animals in their natural habitat!

 

[accm]

We’re in Brazil visiting family, and are spending the weekend at a farm resort, so my run today looked a little different than usual. It was hot and hill-y, which I’m not used to, but it was cool to run by cows!

 

[softballpooh]

I still can't get over a 5k difference in hotels, for that amount you and your significant other could fly to Africa and see the animals in their natural habitat!

I didn’t even think of this that way! Goodness!! I just double checked since I have them both reserved at the moment until I made the final decision. $5165 is the total difference. $7509 for AK Kidani 2 bedroom Villa and $2344 for Club Wyndham 2 bedroom Villa.

We’ve considered buying into DVC for years and I recently found a 50 point AK contract that is cheaper than this 6 night stay .

I stay there for most races - no race transportation provided, so yes, you’ll want a car. It’s super easy: turn right out of the resort, left at the signal, right onto World Dr and straight into EP. Just follow the signs. I aim to walk out my door about 15 mins after WDW race buses start running & have never been late for a race.

side note: of course having a kitchen is great, but I also highly recommend the food offerings at the resort. I’ve had some yummy meals there, at lower prices than Mickey charges!

Thank you so much for the directions and recommendations! This definitely sounds manageable and the rooms look lovely online!

 

[striker1064]

We’ve considered buying into DVC for years and I recently found a 50 point AK contract that is cheaper than this 6 night stay .

That's true yes, but remember no amount of banking and borrowing a 50 point contract at AKV will ever get you 6 nights in a 2 bedroom. The point about rack rate is valid, but the comparison to 50 points is not.

 

[Livelovedance]

Looking for opinions on a post-marathon Capture Your Moment session...

I did it once the last day of Princess Weekend (when it was only available at MK and cheaper) and got some great medal photos. I don't know why but I just thought of doing it again to celebrate my first Dopey, but of course there are no afternoon time slots available in MK that day (I head home that evening so another day isn't an option). There are openings in the other parks, but I'm not interested in AK and I can't think of a spot in HS that would be worthwhile in my opinion. Epcot might be nice, but I don't have any pavilion in mind. Right now I'm thinking my options are:

1. Check the website regularly and see if any afternoon spots open up for the day of the marathon (I doubt it, but I guess it's possible).
2. Book a Capture Your Moment session in another park (probably EPCOT) and start thinking about which offered locations I'd be most interested in (also considering in the event of bad weather, what would be the best location to still make it worthwhile).
3. Wait and book a MK session the last day of Springtime Surprise, and bring all of my 2023 medals (which would be all races from MW, PW, and SS).
4. Don't bother with any of the above and just do some photopass shots in MK after the marathon (which is my usual plan the last day of the races).

Thoughts?

 

[PrincessV]

I didn’t even think of this that way! Goodness!! I just double checked since I have them both reserved at the moment until I made the final decision. $5165 is the total difference. $7509 for AK Kidani 2 bedroom Villa and $2344 for Club Wyndham 2 bedroom Villa.

We’ve considered buying into DVC for years and I recently found a 50 point AK contract that is cheaper than this 6 night stay .


Thank you so much for the directions and recommendations! This definitely sounds manageable and the rooms look lovely online!

The rooms really are very, very nice - I frankly think it’s a more deluxe accommodation than DVC. The most recent refurb at WBC is a little weird to me - I prefer lightness and clean lines to big murals, grey paint, and traditional furniture, but it’s all very high quality and well maintained! And super service, too.

 

[Baloo in MI]

Good morning runDisney All-Stars! It is time for SAFD. For today’s question - it is picture time and a training update. Please share a picture of where you do a lot of your training and then give us an update on how training is going?

My Answer: The pictures are from my long run route that starts on a trail behind my house. I took one of the pictures a few weeks back during a run, the other two were during Kai’s walk yesterday, we sometimes run together on this trail. Just a few weeks ago it was still quite nice around here, but winter has decided it was time to arrive. Both are beautiful to run in, one is just bit warmer than the other…






My training is going pretty well. I had a tough race at NYC, went in with one plan but the race had different plans…. I came out of the race a little shook and with some very bad blistering. I think the worst I have experienced. Sat down with my PT as I was concerned about transition to Dopey. We adjusted some pacing numbers, I checked my ego and backed off my overall mileage just a little. This has been helping me recover from NYC and be better prepared for the Marathon and Dopey, the marathon is only 50 days away! I am staying on all my runs and overall I am feeling better. I will be ready for WDW Marathon Weekend when it gets here and am getting very excited!!

 

[FFigawi]

SAFD: There are some amazing places to train here in Dubai. Here are a few of them.









Training is going very well. Hope this means a good race in two weeks.

 

[Naomeri]

Well, since I’m not doing Marathon Weekend, my new training plan just started and I’ve already pushed back a run due to icy roads in my neighborhood But it’s warmer and sunny today, so that should be melting by the time I go out later

I had a cheering section on my freezing cold speed workout Thursday


This is what my favorite training loop looked like just last month, but now it’s closed for the winter