Staying off site for Princess Marathon

joannecasey

joannecasey

Active Member
Original Poster
Hi everyone !

I will be heading down to Disney to do my first ever half marathon in Feb, 2013 !! I have tipped the scale at 366lbs at my heaviest and am now down 100lbs and hopefully quite a few more before marathon day ! I am excited and terrified at the same time ! :)

My question is about getting to the park for the start of the race. I will be staying off site, it's a five minute drive to most of the parks. I'm really just wondering what time you think I should be leaving the house at ? Do we drive right to Epcot and enter through the regular turnstiles or is there a seperate entrance? Is traffic horrible ?

Any information you could give me would be much appreciated !

Thanks !!
 
Ariel484

Ariel484

Well-Known Member
Congratulations on your weight loss! You'll love the Princess Half! :sohappy:

I've never driven to the races myself, but I know that the earlier you get there, the better. Roads will be closed and traffic is going to be heavy.

Here's a blurb on the 2012 site regarding transportation...maybe also check out the Event Details page to get some more tips:

Driving Directions
Guests not staying at a Walt Disney World® Host Resort will need to provide their own transportation. For participants driving to Epcot® on race morning, expect significant delays! Some roads begin to close as early as 11:00 p.m. on the night before the Half Marathon. Therefore, please use directions below and plan to arrive no later than 4:00 a.m. You must be in your corral at the start line by 5:00 a.m. or you will not be allowed to start. Please note, it takes 20 minutes to walk from the Family Reunion area to the start line. Please use the directions below. Directions from a GPS device or other sources will be inaccurate.

Directions to Epcot® (5K and Half Marathon)
Take 1-4 to exit 64 (192 West) and follow the signs to Epcot®. Once you have arrived at the Epcot® auto plaza you will be directed where to park. On Sunday from 5:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., the main entrance to Epcot® from World Drive will be closed to all traffic. During this period, all traffic will be directed to the Magic Kingdom® Park Parking Lot and guests will be transported to Epcot® via Monorail.
 
MKCP 1985

MKCP 1985

Well-Known Member
One thing about the Disney races that I have learned from the experience of staying off site - get there early! The parking gets congested and can cause anxiety. Once you arrive, bag check CAN take some time, depending on how organized things are (and if you are checking a bag)

Once all that is taken care of, there is a long walk to get to the corrals. It all adds up.
 
D

Dragonfly6191

New Member
I'm staying off-site as well, but just doing the Royal Family 5K. The way I read the information, the Epcot parking lot will be closed from 5:00-7:30am so it says you will be directed to the Magic Kingdom lot and then transported to Epcot via monorail.

However, the Royal Family 5K information packet says there will not be monorail transportation?

I'm confused :)

My plan is to get to the Disney area between 5am-5:30am....do you think that is too early? Too late?

Any thoughts are appreciated, it's my first Disney race!
 
Ariel484

Ariel484

Well-Known Member
Dragonfly6191 said:
I'm staying off-site as well, but just doing the Royal Family 5K. The way I read the information, the Epcot parking lot will be closed from 5:00-7:30am so it says you will be directed to the Magic Kingdom lot and then transported to Epcot via monorail.

However, the Royal Family 5K information packet says there will not be monorail transportation?

I'm confused :)

My plan is to get to the Disney area between 5am-5:30am....do you think that is too early? Too late?

Any thoughts are appreciated, it's my first Disney race!
Click to expand...

Hmm...I can't comment on when to get there as I've never run a 5K at Disney or driven myself to a Disney resort, but based on what I copied in below, 5-5:30 shouldn't be too early. As for the other confusion, what I posted above is, I think, for the half marathon only. From what I'm reading on runDisney.com, the morning of the 5K is different. Check out the final race instructions for the 5K:

http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/ewwos/pdf/rundisney/princess/Tangled5KFRI.pdf

Right at the bottom:

RACE DAY HOST RESORT TRANSPORTATION
Transportation will run from 5:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m. prior to the race.
The last bus from the resorts to Epcot® will depart at 6:00 a.m. Host
resort transportation will be suspended between 6:45 a.m. - 7:15
a.m. due to race activities. Buses will then run until 9:00 a.m. after
the race to return you to your resort. There is no monorail service to
the start of this race.

RACE DAY PERSONAL VEHICLES
Please follow the signs to Epcot®. Once you pass through the
toll plaza, continue straight and you will be directed to park in the
Explore and Create Parking Lots at Epcot® parking cast members.
Parking at Epcot® is complimentary before 7:00 a.m. If you arrive
after 7:00 a.m., you will be charged the daily parking fee.
All participants must arrive at Epcot® by 6:15 a.m

The underlined/bolded stuff is Disney's emphasis, not mine. Have a great time! :wave:

EDITED TO ADD: Yes, if you look at my post above, it says "On Sunday from 5:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., the main entrance to Epcot® from World Drive will be closed to all traffic. During this period, all traffic will be directed to the Magic Kingdom® Park Parking Lot and guests will be transported to Epcot® via Monorail." So you should be fine!
 
TakeMeThere81

TakeMeThere81

Well-Known Member
MKCP 1985 said:
One thing about the Disney races that I have learned from the experience of staying off site - get there early! The parking gets congested and can cause anxiety. Once you arrive, bag check CAN take some time, depending on how organized things are (and if you are checking a bag)

Once all that is taken care of, there is a long walk to get to the corrals. It all adds up.
Click to expand...

Yes we stayed off property in 2011 for the Princess Half. I don't know the street names but once we drove onto Disney property(World Drive I think, near the Entrance sign), traffic was moving pretty slow. But since we'd left quite a bit early, we just scooted along. Once we were directed into the parking area at Epcot, it went really easily. Just leave a little early because traffic is slow at first.
 

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