WDW Marathon/Half Weekend - Crowd Levels?

princess_kim

princess_kim

New Member
Original Poster
I just signed up for the WDW Half Marathon in January! I am so excited--this will be my 2nd RunDisney Half (did the Princess Half this year, but this will be my husband's first half marathon EVER :)). I'm going to look at some additional articles, but for anyone who has been to the parks around this time of the year (January 9th), what are the crowd levels typically like?

Not sure if it would be good to spend the couple of days before the half at the parks or the couple of days after. Just curious if anyone had any suggestions. Also--if there's anything different I should know about this one vs. the Princess Half, feel free to let me know as well. Thanks everyone!
 
imagination30

imagination30

Well-Known Member
in 2014 , we went to epcot after the race sat. it wasnt that bad.. but mind you we didnt stay but a few hours bc I
didnt feel like it! ... , but on sun we went to magic kingdom ... it was crowded with all the tour groups.. but it kinda thined out tue and wed. , but not much ... I would say people who think disney has a off season , now are wrong , bc there is none like it use to be.. i would rank Marathon weekend , just like after thanksgiving , chrismtas and new years!, saying that my family and i are looking foward to jan.. as i run my 2nd run disney event.. - wdw half marathon
 
Texas84

Texas84

Well-Known Member
It's become more crowded over the years. AK was packed Thursday after the 5K. MK is always manageable in the off-season until noon when the kiddies finally make it out. Epcot and DHS weren't bad. But I'm also comparing to other off-season times. We never go in the summer.
 
dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
Scheduling around the race should ideally be done based on your body. Some people can tour for a week before a race, others a week after. I'd suggest going off how you think your body would do best, no point it going for low crowds if you will end up being too tired to run, or too sore to enjoy the parks post race.

That said, it depends on when the holidays fall. Post race weekend will almost definitely be less crowded than pre race weekend. But depending on when NYE is, correspondingly when school vacations wrap up really determine the level the week prior to the race. I have been down there when NYE was close to race weekend, and had huge crowds when we first arrived, but more of the Christmas decor was still up, and we were able to see Osborne lights and the castle lighting. Other years NYE was a full week apart from race weekend, so almost all the decorations were gone by day 1 or 2 of our trip, with nothing special going on.
 

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