WDW Race Weekends - Solo Travel or No?

[YawningDodo]

So for those of you who choose to spend your lovely Disney vacation time torturing yourselves with long distance running: do you tend to travel alone, or do you bring friends or family with you? Or do you have entire families of runners who all go together? If you travel alone for the races, do you feel like you're able to live your best running life without someone there to support and celebrate with you? If you travel with non-runners, do you feel like you're able to focus on yourself and your race as much as you want?

Personal background and why I ask: I've just registered for the 2023 marathon (yey). As of right now I'm tentatively planning it as a short solo trip because my friends are unlikely to be able to make it, and because I'm afraid I might feel like I need to play tour guide depending on who I bring since my friends are generally WDW newbies (most of them have been only once, on a trip where I did play tour guide all week--that was super fun for me, but not really compatible with Marathon Weekend). Even those friends that I think could navigate WDW on their own in general probably aren't going to be prepared to navigate spectatorship beyond waiting at the finish line (which would still be nice), plus I feel almost like I'd be cheating them out of a "real" WDW trip by only doing one post-race park day and the rest of the trip being all expo and marathon.

So if I do go alone - how do you keep riding that high when you're alone? Or if I invite my friends to see who can come -- how do you balance everyone's needs to make sure it's fun for all?

 

[YawningDodo]

I should mention that I've done solo WDW trips up to a week long before and loved it, so going solo to WDW in general is not a problem. I just also remember that my half-marathon was made really special by friends who met me along the course to cheer me on and were there to talk about the experience afterward.

 

[markjtaylor84]

I am traveling from the UK as a solo person for the Dopey in January. Never been to WDW on my own but didn't feel like it would be a good trip for the kids. I am there for 10 days from the 1st of January so I can get myself ready for it. Have booked into the Swan & Dolphin which mean I should be able to see some of the parks and eat in epcot before hand.

This will be my first Disney marathon, but was hoping there would be meet up etc organised, but honestly not looked into it.

 

[jmasgat]

I do all my running trips solo--and yeah! for that. I have no pithy insights as to how to "keep riding that high" because I love being solo, so it's all good.

That said, I have had my daughter join me for a day or two on a race trip and spent some time this past MW with one of my sisters. For me, the key is to always have solo time before/after anyone joining me so that I can do things exactly how I want and not worry about being congenial/accommodating to other people's needs/schedule on those days. I make no apologies for this.

This past trip, I felt I wasted three park days (out of 5) since my sister is AP/DVC and is happy to go to a park and do one or two things and leave. That just didn't work for me, and was pricey to boot.

 

[Naomeri]

I do all my Disney trips solo, running or not. While I would love to have a family member or friend there to cheer me on, I wouldn’t want to subject anyone else to the schedule required for run weekends—early to bed, early to rise isn’t much fun on vacation unless there’s bling involved

 

[camaker]

I've done running trips both solo and with DW. We both quickly agreed that solo was the way to go for running trips so that I can do what I need to for the runs without worrying about impacting her vacation and so that she wasn't worried that she was hurting my runs with her plans. Almost all my running trips are solo for those reasons.

 

[HangWithMerida]

I have done running trips both alone and with my family. When my family comes, they have also been participating in a race that weekend so while we may do more park time than I would when I am alone, it is still less than a normal trip because someone in the group is tired or has to be up early the next day. I love having my husband there on race weekends but if he isn't racing, I really like going alone. I get to do what I want, when I want without worrying about someone else being bored. I am doing Dopey this MW and going alone. It is probably for the best because I will be on a weird schedule and at this point have done so many WDW trips that a few days without a park are fine by me.
I plan on doing meet-ups with the fine folks on these boards and usually end up chatting with someone in the corrals. People at these races are so friendly it's easy to be solo and still feel like you're a part of everything!

 

[bumbershoot]

I think I've only done one truly solo running trip, and it wasn't WDW. But it did involve me going from south of Seattle up to Vancouver BC. It was terrific.

Since 2016 almost all of my rundisney events have been basically solo. I meet up with my Florida cousin. We both run our races and have "permission" to do our own things.

If you travel alone for the races, do you feel like you're able to live your best running life without someone there to support and celebrate with you?

I don't need support or others to celebrate with me. When I have others, I feel like I have to help manage their experiences, I feel like I have to focus on them. I downplay my own accomplishments so as to not possibly make them feel less-than for not having participated. Those things are my own dang fault and issue, but to fix them means doing MORE work! I don't have time for that yet.

Even with my cousin I find that I don't do everything I want to do, because it's fun to hang out with her but she doesn't want to do what I want to do.

Take the people who don't need handholding (or those you don't feel need it), that you can be your authentic self around, and who can manage their own trips.

Or go solo. Go where you want, do what you want, eat what you want, drink what you want...it's all good.

 

[mtnmjd]

I have done both and my thoughts echo @HangWithMerida.
It is nice to have my wife there if she is running or for cheering and support on races she does not run but if she is not running I truly prefer my run trips to be solo. This way I can cater every decision to my running needs and not have to worry that I am impacting the trip of my wife or kids.

My one caveat was when I was there solo for my very first marathon, I did cross the finish line wishing I had someone there to share my joy with in person.

 

[striker1064]

I have done both solo and group WDW runDisney weekends. Even on a group trip, everyone stayed in bed while I got up to run, so I was running solo anyway.

I guess it depends what motivates you. I run for me, and I'm very keenly aware that friends and family think a 5k is approximately 20ish miles, and that's about the extent of their running knowledge and caring. The nice thing about running at WDW is you're getting support from just about everyone all the time.

 

[Kerry1957]

I have not gone solo, but I very much enjoy the Hurricane Hanna meet-ups with other Disers on this Board. We also have pre-race meet-ups although I have only made a couple of them.

 

[markjtaylor84]

I have not gone solo, but I very much enjoy the Hurricane Hanna meet-ups with other Disers on this Board. We also have pre-race meet-ups although I have only made a couple of them.

Oh where do we get details of the meet ups?

 

[Naomeri]

Oh where do we get details of the meet ups?

In the thread for the race weekend. Usually the info will be added to the first post, but you can always just ask and someone will give you the details once they’re decided on

 

[Sleepless Knight]

If you travel alone for the races, do you feel like you're able to live your best running life without someone there to support and celebrate with you? If you travel with non-runners, do you feel like you're able to focus on yourself and your race as much as you want?

I think the best thing to do is make sure that if it's a group, then everyone knows exactly what will happen and they understand that the runner(s) may have different priorities that can involve earlier bedtimes and specific foods before the races.

In terms of celebration as a solo runner, I've found that cast members and characters will help you do a lot of that if you're wearing a medal. Some of my very favorite character moments have come on solo race trips when a character did something special to celebrate the race(s) with me.

We both run our races and have "permission" to do our own things.

I think this type of permission is the best way to help everyone have a fun experience. Even amongst runners, people will have different priorities and the experience is likely to be much better when everyone knows and understands this. My little sister and I have run a few races together, but never with each other during the race. We have different paces, different goals, different speeds, and different training patterns. We enjoy the time together before and after the races, but do not feel that we need to pressure the other into a race experience that they are not interested in having. This has lead to us continuing to experience races with each other and enjoy our shared experiences even though we were not together on the course when they happened. And while yes, it might have been "more" fun to experience some of these moments with each other, would it have truly been worth since for every race we have run together, one of us has been at least 10 minutes faster than the other in final finish time?

 

[lookingforsunshine]

I haven’t travelled solo for a race but am looking forward to it for MW 2023. With that said, I won’t really be “alone”— my parents live in Tampa, my best friend lives in Orlando, and my neighbors will be in the same hotel haha.

 

[YawningDodo]

Thank you, everyone! All these comments are making me feel a lot better about just giving myself permission to make the trip solo. I've enjoyed visiting WDW solo in the past, and in a lot of ways it seems easier to just go alone and focus completely on myself for the marathon trip.

I do all my Disney trips solo, running or not. While I would love to have a family member or friend there to cheer me on, I wouldn’t want to subject anyone else to the schedule required for run weekends—early to bed, early to rise isn’t much fun on vacation unless there’s bling involved

Honestly, this is one of the big reasons I'm leaning toward not bringing anyone. I'm worried that it's asking someone to take on a lot of expense and use their PTO for something that's not actually going to be that fun for them as a tagalong.

I love having my husband there on race weekends but if he isn't racing, I really like going alone. I get to do what I want, when I want without worrying about someone else being bored. I am doing Dopey this MW and going alone. It is probably for the best because I will be on a weird schedule and at this point have done so many WDW trips that a few days without a park are fine by me.

And this is another reason: right now I'm planning on only buying a one day park hopper for the Monday after the race, and Friday/Saturday/Sunday all being non-park days. While I don't think I could visit WDW and not go to any parks at all, tbqh I'm fine with taking it easy on Friday when I fly in, focusing on the expo on Saturday and then going to bed early, and then not rushing to go anywhere after the race on Sunday. I worry that might be a harder sell for someone who'd be on only their second trip to WDW and might feel like they're missing out (and again, is it worth it to them at that point to spend the money and PTO?), and of my friends I'm the only one who actually likes going to theme parks totally alone.

I don't need support or others to celebrate with me. When I have others, I feel like I have to help manage their experiences, I feel like I have to focus on them. I downplay my own accomplishments so as to not possibly make them feel less-than for not having participated. Those things are my own dang fault and issue, but to fix them means doing MORE work! I don't have time for that yet.

Even with my cousin I find that I don't do everything I want to do, because it's fun to hang out with her but she doesn't want to do what I want to do.

Take the people who don't need handholding (or those you don't feel need it), that you can be your authentic self around, and who can manage their own trips.

Or go solo. Go where you want, do what you want, eat what you want, drink what you want...it's all good.

I think I might be unfair to my friends by thinking they can't manage themselves on a trip...but generally I don't think any one of them would have a lot of fun alone. I don't know, I might be underestimating them, but even if they'd actually be fine, I think I might dig myself into a mental hole by trying to manage their experiences, like you said.

My one caveat was when I was there solo for my very first marathon, I did cross the finish line wishing I had someone there to share my joy with in person.

Yeah, this is my worry. I'm a little bummed out about it because the original plan for the 2021 marathon was for my closest friend to come with me and share the experience with me, and she's still my closest friend and I'd still love to share it with her but she's got limited PTO and she's hesitant to commit to anything. But the original plan was for a week-long trip with the marathon at the start and it would have been more of a general Disney trip together, and now I'm looking at a pretty minimal trip with one park day, so I don't think the itinerary is really suited to what she'd want out of a Disney trip anyway.

I think the best thing to do is make sure that if it's a group, then everyone knows exactly what will happen and they understand that the runner(s) may have different priorities that can involve earlier bedtimes and specific foods before the races.

In terms of celebration as a solo runner, I've found that cast members and characters will help you do a lot of that if you're wearing a medal. Some of my very favorite character moments have come on solo race trips when a character did something special to celebrate the race(s) with me.

I think this type of permission is the best way to help everyone have a fun experience. Even amongst runners, people will have different priorities and the experience is likely to be much better when everyone knows and understands this. My little sister and I have run a few races together, but never with each other during the race. We have different paces, different goals, different speeds, and different training patterns. We enjoy the time together before and after the races, but do not feel that we need to pressure the other into a race experience that they are not interested in having. This has lead to us continuing to experience races with each other and enjoy our shared experiences even though we were not together on the course when they happened. And while yes, it might have been "more" fun to experience some of these moments with each other, would it have truly been worth since for every race we have run together, one of us has been at least 10 minutes faster than the other in final finish time?

This reminds me of running a 5K with a friend who'd been in cross-country in ye olde high school days. I love her and she understands a lot more about running than my other friends, but I am never running a race with her again. She wanted to stick together and kept pushing me to run when I had no more gas in the tank and I felt so bad about holding her back. I'm glad you and your sister don't do that to each other.

 

[jrsharp21]

Last year, I was solo the first part of the trip. I was doing Dopey and my wife was just doing the half. So I came in on Tuesday. The rest of the family didn't come in until Friday around 11am. I will say that riding solo the first few days made getting organized for the runs much easier. I had a schedule that I had laid out for times to eat, time for the expo, time for the parks, and what time I wanted to go to bed. Pretty much stuck to that. Once the family got there, it made it much more difficult. Especially when it came to time in the parks and time to go to bed. I was going to bed usually around 10pm on the first couple of days. But for the half marathon I don't think I got to bed until midnight and 11pm for the full marathon. The awesome thing though was having the family there at the finish on marathon day. Turning the corner to where you can see the finish line and seeing them yelling in the crowd was a great pick me up.

 

[XoxoAmy]

I just did a solo trip for SS (April 2022) and it was divine. I loved exploring the parks on my own (I only went on 2 rides all weekend) and I splurged on excellent dinners because it was just me (Jiko and Flying Fish - ate at the bar at both, super fun).
I will do the half during MW 2023 as a solo trip again, but for W&D in Nov I think my family is coming with me. For us, that means we need either 2 rooms or a 1 bed villa, because they will not all go to bed at 7-8pm when I need to sleep. Trying to work on those accommodations now, pickings are slim...

 

[markjtaylor84]

I just did a solo trip for SS (April 2022) and it was divine. I loved exploring the parks on my own (I only went on 2 rides all weekend) and I splurged on excellent dinners because it was just me (Jiko and Flying Fish - ate at the bar at both, super fun).
I will do the half during MW 2023 as a solo trip again, but for W&D in Nov I think my family is coming with me. For us, that means we need either 2 rooms or a 1 bed villa, because they will not all go to bed at 7-8pm when I need to sleep. Trying to work on those accommodations now, pickings are slim...

Oh thats good to know. How did you find the pre race and post race being on your own? Did you managed to interact with people or did everyone keep to themselves?

 

[jpeterson]

I did last MW on my own and it was perfectly enjoyable. I talked to people in the corrals or other runners around the park. Everyone is always friendly. This is similar to other non-running solo trips I've taken in the past, I tend to enjoy talking to strangers who are open to chatting, and I'm normally quite the introvert.

I booked my room in January with my wife on the reservation but I would be surprised if she came down with me. It would be nice to have someone to celebrate my first Dopey with, but ultimately this is about me, my journey and my milestone and I'm OK with that.