Family Support During Marathon

[Kristia]

Hey All! My husband and I are planning to run the marathon in Jan 2011. I was wondering how easy is it for family members to see you on the course. I know they can probably only see you in the parks. How was the text notification system? Was there enough time to switch parks? Also at the finish I think you have to buy tix for family members to be at the finish. Was it worth it? Can they still see you finish if they don't have tickets? We will not have a car so family will be traveling by WDW transportation. My friend is running the half marathon and her family will be there to see her. Do you have any tips for the half marathon family support? Thanks!

 

[GoofyInOhio]

Hey All! My husband and I are planning to run the marathon in Jan 2011. I was wondering how easy is it for family members to see you on the course. I know they can probably only see you in the parks. How was the text notification system? Was there enough time to switch parks? Also at the finish I think you have to buy tix for family members to be at the finish. Was it worth it? Can they still see you finish if they don't have tickets? We will not have a car so family will be traveling by WDW transportation. My friend is running the half marathon and her family will be there to see her. Do you have any tips for the half marathon family support? Thanks!

Because it's on Disney property it's actually pretty easy to see you on the course. Disney has a tool that if it's not available now it will be closer to the Marathon that you can plug in your estimated time and it will give the people wanting to see you a good idea of where to be. I just checked and it looks like the link is broken since they updated their site.

Just some recommendations I have. If this is your first Marathon they can see you on Main Street and get in for free up until a certain time. They have it blocked out to where they will have to exit so it's not like they can go anywhere other than main street. It's rather crowded through here, but Manageable and depending on your time could be really crowded or less crowded for us back of the packers. It's pretty difficult to see you at the start especially if you are on the right side so I wouldn't recommend that even though you go bye twice. Don't try to get to Animal Kingdom or to a less extent Hollywood Studios. Here is what my family has done. Go over to the TTC and then walk over to the Poly and watch from there. Then catch the Monorail back to EPCOT to either come into the park and see you as you are finishing up or actually at the Finish if you don't have park tickets. The finish is outside of EPCOT in the parking lot. They can still see you if you don't buy the package at the finish. They have bleachers there although I'm not sure how hard it is to get into them. My family has been in EPCOT in Future world and then along the fence just before the Finish.

The half I would say the same thing. TTC and then walk over to the Poly then walk back to the TTC and catch the Monorail over to see them Finish.

Now if you are really fast it might be difficult to not do this, but I don't think so.

 

[GoofyInOhio]

I'm sorry I also wanted to mention that depending on your corral and start time your family will want to take that into account. The first wave is at 5:40, but if you are slower runner such as myself it could be 5:50 or 6:00 before you start. Those are last year's wave start times. Also, unless you are at the front of those waves it takes a while to get to the actual start.

Sorry if this is too much information or if you are a veteran racer and knew all of this.

 

[Kristia]

I'm sorry I also wanted to mention that depending on your corral and start time your family will want to take that into account. The first wave is at 5:40, but if you are slower runner such as myself it could be 5:50 or 6:00 before you start. Those are last year's wave start times. Also, unless you are at the front of those waves it takes a while to get to the actual start.

Sorry if this is too much information or if you are a veteran racer and knew all of this.

Thanks for all your info! No, we are not veteran racers! This will be our first marathon. I am hoping just to finish the race in the time allowed. My husband is more optimistic and would like to shoot for 5 hours. I think we may be more like 6-7 hours. I am planning to stop for pictures along the way! I don't think our family will be up in time for the start but would probably like to see us in MK and maybe other parks. I will tell them that Epcot will be better than DHS and AK. Thanks!

 

[jakeman]

Last year my family waited for us along the course just outside the International Gateway at Epcot.

The only downside to this is that they were not able to beat us to the finish line and missed us crossing it.

 

[MCC1]

TTC is the best suggestion if you can get there...walk a little down the route to get away from the crowds (just beyond the little dip that goes under the bridge I've found best) so you can find your people...we then walked over to the other side of Poly...however, they have one lane open to traffic on the course there and they don't let you cross to the middle so you are trying to spot your runner across a lane - and if you do get across, good luck getting back, security was pretty strict. After that experience we opted for what we did in the past when watching each other, take the monorail from TTC after seeing your runner there over to Grand Floridian, and watch from there, runners can get over to you, you can take better pics etc...and there is less people. You have plenty of time to get there before your runner.

 

[dreamfinder]

If you check out the official site, they have a spectator tool. I think the most you can hit using Disney transit is 4 spots. If you use your own car, you may be able to do more. A few years ago someone did that, and I recall seeing them a few times on the side of road, no idea how well they knew the roads to do that though.

Pretty much the start, then take the monorail to TTC, cheer there, then walk to Grand Floridian, cheer there, then monorail back to Finish is the best they will usually show if you use their transit.

MK and AK are ok to watch from. AK you should still be able to make it finish before the runners do. However DHS and Epcot would be pretty much impossible to do if you want to see the finish. The Beach Club/Yacht Club is a nice place to cheer from, but you won't be able to get to the finish before the runners do.

Anyone can watch at the finish area. To see the actual finish line though you would most likely need to buy a spectator package. That will let them in the grandstands at the finish line. Otherwise you can crowd the barriers about .1 mile from the finish as the runners turn the corner.

Similar stuff applies for the half, but you really only have the Start, the TTC/MK, and the finish to cheer at. If they are going to rely on Disney transit, their best bet would be to get to the start using the racer buses. The rest of transit will pretty much be shut down or heavily rerouted at start time. As such, there is a good chance they wouldn't be able to make it to the TTC unless staying on the monorail loop.

The text messaging system is hit or miss. The first year I used it, they had my 5 and 10 mile splits, but that was it. Never sent the others. They finally got the finish split out a few hours later. Last year, it seemed to be much better, and pretty close to time. However, there can be a delay in receiving them, so its a good idea to have a rough idea of when the racer should be at a particular place just in case the text doesn't come through.

 

[MCC1]

I agree with above post regarding txt messaging...it is hit or miss, have had it be spot on, delayed by 10 or more minutes, and some splits not registering at all.

 

[lukacseven]

For the full marathon, there are several places and choices for spectators. My family has found the following works best: Starting line viewing area, then go to Epcot monorail platform or adjacent parking lot (mile 2), back to starting line viewing area (mile 4) take monorail to Transit Center (mile 9), take monorail to MK (mile 11) and wait near Cinderella Castle, take monorail to Polynesian (mile 13), then take monorail back to Epcot and wait at finish line. From what I've heard, it's nearly impossible to reach Animal Kingdom in time to see runners if you just saw them at MK. The bus transportation is re-routed due to the race being on the normal bus routes. If you happen to catch runners at AK, chances of making it back to Epcot to see them finish aren't good either. I know people have tried this and missed the finish. There are some alternatives, but I'd say the best and most dramatic viewing area will be at MK. You will get to see the runners enter the park, run the length of Main St. and into Tomorrowland, then see them exit the castle and go into Frontierland. Last year's race program had a nice spectator planning guide with conservative estimates for best viewing plans.