Hey all sorry to de-rail the thread flow but does anyone have experience flying home the same day (evening flight)? Trying to decide whether it's reasonable or not from anyone's past experience.
Yeah sorry forgot to add I'm signed up for the half so plan to be done before check out to shower. I'd like to also hit a park for a little while but not sure if that's feasible or not.
I agree with Novatrix, this is going to depend on a few things....like if it's your first half, what time your flight takes off, and what your expectations are for the day. If you look at the timeline, let's just pick out 9am as when you would leave the reunion area (that's plenty of time to do the race, sit and relax for a few min, get pics with the backdrops, and get back to a bus or rental car
unless you think you'll be at the very back of the pack.) If you're a faster runner, this timeline could easily be moved up an hour, depending on how many pics you decide to stop for. I always allow for more time than I would probably need, because sometimes traffic is crazy, you feel crummy post-race, so these numbers are just examples. Let's just work off 9am as "exiting Epcot"
9am-leave Epcot
915-930- back at room to shower, change, pack, eat, any other tasks you might need to get done
1030? (this would depend on your personal habits) go to a park...which park? How far are you from it? As an example, Saratoga to AKL or MK takes 20ish minutes (plus a possible wait for a bus?)
1045-enter a park
3 hours before your flight, exit the park.
MCO can be crazy for security (my experience is that it's worse in the morning and better in the afternoon, but there are never any guarantees) so it's good to give yourself 2 hours there unless you have pre-check. GETTING to MCO can also be crazy because of I-4. So allow 45min to an hour to get there? Depending on your flight time, you might only get a couple of hours in a park and if you don't have an AP, would it be "worth it" to you?
No experience with Disney, but it would depend on the race distance, your pace and your experience at that distance.
Personally, if I needed to, I'd be comfortable with flying out the evening after completing a Disney 5k, 10k or half because I'd have enough time to get back to the room, shower and pack. I would not attempt it with the Disney marathon because of the time on course and the road closures. YMMV.
This. I know OP said the HM, but my first race weekend DH had to be out of our room before I was done with the marathon, and we had packed specifically so I could clean up in the showers at the pool bathroom. I was saved by our next room being ready several hours earlier than expected. I would definitely not fly the same day as the marathon unless absolutely necessary.
