Question: Marathon Park Stops?

OG Runner

Well-Known Member
On topic though, the entertainment along the route does help the race progress, even if you, (meaning me), are not really traveling that fast. There are the Disney meet & greets, High School bands and singers, etc. I am pretty sure when I went through Animal Kingdom, in January the park was not officially open, but Expedition Everest was running. I almost forgot the people with signs. They are great. My favorite was seen a little outside of Epcot. "There are days in your life when you will fail. Today is not that day!"
 

Texas84

Well-Known Member
Here's an MK map with restrooms outlined in blue. Runners were stopping at the TTC restrooms.

The Tomorrowland stop was right on the course. I was in and out quickly.

Runners were also going into the Adventureland tunnel.

I also noted the Adventureland stop at the marathon exit but I don't recall anyone heading in that direction.

Will do AK next.
Marathon-MK.jpg
 

Ariel484

Well-Known Member
Here's an MK map with restrooms outlined in blue. Runners were stopping at the TTC restrooms.

The Tomorrowland stop was right on the course. I was in and out quickly.

Runners were also going into the Adventureland tunnel.

I also noted the Adventureland stop at the marathon exit but I don't recall anyone heading in that direction.

Will do AK next.
View attachment 51952
Awesome!! Great idea to just use the park map...thank you! :)
 

lukacseven

Well-Known Member
I see a lot of people use the restrooms at the T&TC - very convenient since you don't have to divert off the course at all.
 

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
AK map. I couldn't figure out the exit. I only saw one restroom that was right on the course and it is marked in blue. So if anyone has something to add just post here.
View attachment 52247
They tweaked the course this year so that you enter the park through Asia, near the Maharaja trail, instead of the old entrance from Africa. This gives us less time along the side of Discovery River, but takes us right past the restrooms at the Kali exit. With the old course, those bathrooms were also available (path marked with traffic cones) but were somewhat off the course, like the Village Haus ones
 

LindsayLoves

Well-Known Member
Check this out: https://twitter.com/rundisney/status/461928112419536896
The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train will be a WDW Marathon course attraction in 2015! I hope that means we can ride it!

I should've put a faster anticipated marathon time for a better corral! I was honest :eek: about what I plan to run for the full as part of Dopey not what I could run a marathon in if it was stand alone. If you are in A or B you might be in luck to beat the crowds or you'll see me running a 7 minute mile those first few miles to get ahead of the crowds...
 

Mad Stitch

Well-Known Member
I gotta think it's just a character photo stop location. There seems to be a rise in complaints about not being able to take pictures with characters and getting swept, and now Disney is going to add riding attractions into that mix? Sounds like a bad idea to me.
 
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LindsayLoves

Well-Known Member
Posted on the rD facebook page...

Click ‘Like’ if you’ll be excited to run past the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train during the 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon!

I am guessing that means no rides. :bawling:
 

Mad Stitch

Well-Known Member
Ha! So many people were making assumptions of being able to ride it in that Twitter post they probably needed to clarify before getting hopes up.
 

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
Ha! So many people were making assumptions of being able to ride it in that Twitter post they probably needed to clarify before getting hopes up.
In all fairness, they did lead everybody on with the way they worded it. I don't consider the Hall of Presidents or Splash Mountain to be "course attractions" even though we go right past them. To me, that implies that runners will somehow be interacting with it, like running through the castle or costuming tunnel or actually riding Everest

Sadly, I agree that it seem unlikely the ride will be open, but the wording definitely implied it
 

LindsayLoves

Well-Known Member
In all fairness, they did lead everybody on with the way they worded it. I don't consider the Hall of Presidents or Splash Mountain to be "course attractions" even though we go right past them. To me, that implies that runners will somehow be interacting with it, like running through the castle or costuming tunnel or actually riding Everest

Sadly, I agree that it seem unlikely the ride will be open, but the wording definitely implied it

Agreed - the wording was bad and to make things worse they added a sketch of people ON the ride, not the exterior of the ride.

@Mad Stitch - I agree with your comment about people getting upset if the ride was open and they had to wait in line which caused them to get swept because that would obviously be Disney's fault
 

atrus79

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The term 'course attraction' implies more than a meet and greet ... it's too bad they didn't plan this out a bit more carefully. I can say I'm disappointed to say the least :(

@Mad Stitch - I agree with your comment about people getting upset if the ride was open and they had to wait in line which caused them to get swept because that would obviously be Disney's fault

It's all about relaistic expectaions ... as a runner before the half/full begin, you should know where you stand. I know that if I run a 15 minute mile, I have a very small margin of error for stopping in a long line ... whereas if I run a 10 minute mile, I know I have a decent gap (depending how far along I am) so I can stop for a character (or ride in this scenario).

I agree that people could blame Disney ... I'm actually surprised that people haven't stated that the meet and greets on the course caused them to get swept and that it's not fair. Personally, in my head I know that when I pass mile 10 (at a 10 minute p/mile pace, I've got an hour gap for 'fun time' with characters (not including corral buffer time). If people are training at a 15 minute pace, their gap is only 10 minutes which can burn up pretty quickly.

Anyway, it's too bad, but will still be an awesome experience ... a margarita pickup in Mexico is a definite possibility :)
 

Ariel484

Well-Known Member
Do we think this means they are tweaking the course to go through New Fantasyland?

In 2013 I know we were outside the new castle walls but I don't remember how close we were to the Mine Train.

If they do tweak the course and happen to drop the WWOS portion in favor of the early morning Epcot portion (I
i.e. More like the course was before 2013) that wouldn't be a bad thing either...:D
 

AUPr8Hd

Active Member
Do we think this means they are tweaking the course to go through New Fantasyland?

In 2013 I know we were outside the new castle walls but I don't remember how close we were to the Mine Train.

If they do tweak the course and happen to drop the WWOS portion in favor of the early morning Epcot portion (I
i.e. More like the course was before 2013) that wouldn't be a bad thing either...:D

The course does run alongside one side of the SDMT facility. There were a fair number of runners this past year that were taking pictures with the Dopey cutout on the wall since this was one of the very few opportunities to take any pic with Dopey (5k and Marathon were the only two spots I recall seeing him on course)
 

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