Marathon Weekend 2025

[lahobbs4]

Legitimately enjoyed it. There were usually some nice character stops. I liked running on the warning track. I also didn't mind the twists and turns because they gave me something to focus on.

I will agree that getting there was terrible.

As for Blizzard Beach, I liked 2020 when we ran through the actual park, even if the lazy river was taunting me at that point. The parking lot is meh, but I've only done it once - 2023 as part of Dopey - and I was so over running at that point, so I don't think it's an accurate representation to me. I was barely ahead of the balloon ladies and my husband texted that he was swept as I was exiting, and all I could think is how good that sounded. I have had no desire to do Dopey again.

I didn't realize the course doesn't even go through BB! I was there in 2020 and the parking lot was annoying then, but at least we saw some fake snow in BB to make me feel like it wasn't so **** hot outside.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Swan/Dolphin rates do seem on the high side for MW. I've noticed Swan has been significantly higher than Dolphin lately, it used to be a small enough difference I'd consider Swan but now it's usually $100+/night more which isn't worth the premium for me. That said, my experience with booking Dolphin is that as long as there isn't a convention that would cause them to sell out earlier than usual, rates really only go down. All of my bookings in the past couple of years had the cheapest rate about 3 months out, and they would vary by $100-150/night sometimes depending on when you looked. It could literally be $500/night on Monday and then $350/night when you check on Tuesday. I wish there was a site that alerted Marriott price drops but I have yet to see one. It's super easy to modify if you book direct thru Marriott, you keep your same confirmation # and everything.

If you're set on staying at S/D I would book now and hope to modify it every time rates drop but if it's a bit more than you want to pay I would book a backup room at somewhere like Pop and then hope you can catch S/D at a lower rate a bit closer to MW. I've always found Princess to be more expensive than Marathon Weekend at Dolphin and we paid maybe $300/night for Princess 2023 with the AP rate, so I would hope it would get closer to that realm at some point. I am watching rates for a Thanksgiving stay at Dolphin and just a couple weeks ago they finally dropped to a reasonable number, they're back up again, so you really just have to be diligent about checking.

Edit: Wow, the Dolphin rates are nuts right now, definitely seems to have rooms blocked off for something. Hopefully it'll open back up but with MW being back to a week later in January, perhaps there really are conferences.

 

[Waiting2goback]

I got a reservation for AS Sports. I was actually surprised how cheap it was. I got 7 days for $1100 and some change. I was seeing the All Stars as high as $200/night last year and this averages around $144/night. My previous two marathon weekends I stayed at the Contemporary so this will be a change but I have stayed at the All Stars for other race weekends and never had an issue.

 

[matt and beth]

Being a HUGE Star Wars fans, I am disappointed that I only started running in 2021 in preparation for the 2022 marathon. I have seen pictures and video, but I imagine that they pale in comparison to the actual experience. It must have been something else for a Star Wars fan.

You can still run it. We did our own version.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I actually LOVED WWoS.

I break down the marathon into segments, to trick my knees into thinking we're not actually going 26 miles.

WWoS was a slog to get to from AK, but those 3-4 miles weren't too bad, and then WWoS itself was a great distraction. Come out, Mile 20 extravaganza, then get ready to run up the on-ramp with the green army guy yelling at me. Top that, short jaunt to the next road, while being serenaded by a lonely speaker blaring "Sweet Caroline", then into AK.

I have a recollection of the Army guy (loved it) and a long row of speakers with Caroline on a loop (didn’t care for it). I later decided that was meant to incentivize getting a move on.

 

[kps7795]

You can still run it. We did our own version.

That’s a really great picture! My daughter and I did something similar for the 2023 HM.

 

[The Expert]

Re: Swan/Dolphin booking, keep in mind those are also Marriott-owned properties and you can shop around. I always book through the Marriott app at rack rate and watch for deals, because it also takes DH's Titanium status into account. But Marriott also sells room blocks through Expedia, so you'll see pricing there that doesn't show up elsewhere (and sometimes rooms when even their own app shows sold out). Just book a refundable room right now and check every month or so for deals -- they will start popping up probably in the fall.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I’ve been checking and they’re ridiculous even with an AP discount.

They're expensive too for Princess. my standard room at Coronado is cheaper than Swan/Dolphin.

 

[Cabius]

They're expensive too for Princess. my standard room at Coronado is cheaper than Swan/Dolphin.

My guess is that somebody just told the S&D rate-setter about RunDisney.

 

[PrincessV]

Over the many years they’ve been open, I’ve looked occasionally at Swolphin rates and ALWAYS find them to be much higher than what I can get at WDW properties. To be fair, I also have never paid rack rate and always use a AP or FL discount, and will happily stay at a Moderate or Value resort, so it’s maybe comparing apples to oranges, but I’ve always found Swolphin to be as shockingly high priced as any WDW Deluxe, and then add on parking fees and they’re a giant nope for me.

That’s not judgment on anyone who does stay there, to be clear! I just haven’t ever seen the value and wonder what I’m missing: there must be something, with so many staying at the properties.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Over the many years they’ve been open, I’ve looked occasionally at Swolphin rates and ALWAYS find them to be much higher than what I can get at WDW properties. To be fair, I also have never paid rack rate and always use a AP or FL discount, and will happily stay at a Moderate or Value resort, so it’s maybe comparing apples to oranges, but I’ve always found Swolphin to be as shockingly high priced as any WDW Deluxe, and then add on parking fees and they’re a giant nope for me.

That’ snot judgment on anyone who does stay there, to be clear! I just haven’t ever seen the value and wonder what I’m missing: there must be something, with so many staying at the properties.

And I'll just add that the rack rates are a part of what drove me to renting DVC points (through the boards, or on FB groups when the response rate via the boards was soooo slow) for trips. I love OKW, SSR, and AKV and at $18/pt during MW, it's really close to the same price as Pop.

 

[sandam1]

Since everyone is talking hotels and rates, I just want to mention that I have a suite at Universal's Cabana Bay for just under $200. The lowest priced Universal premier hotel (that gets you free Express Pass) is $325 and a two bedroom suite at the Endless Summer hotels is $150. And those are with just the Stay More Save More discount. I'm hoping that cheaper rates will be available as we get closer (either annual passholder or general public discounts).

So if anyone wants to stay on the darkside, there are deals to be had. And the driving to the races in the morning is super easy.

 

[AJollyHoliday]

Just reserved my 10K and Half Marathon bibs for the MW with Team Determination! My DH and I ran with them for the Princess Fairy Tale Challenge this February. I am a 2 time cancer survivor and long time runDisney fan so it is extra special to run these races for the American Cancer Society.

The first runDisney race I did was the Glass Slipper Challenge in 2015, about 2 months later I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer at the age of 37. I came back in the fall of 2016 to run the Wine and Dine Challenge for its Inaugural year. I ran the Glass Slipper/Fairy Tale Challenges again in 2017, 2018, and 2019. In 2019, I was diagnosed with stage IIb breast cancer at the age of 41. Due to covid and recovering from my treatments, I wasn't able to get back to runDisney until this year and it was just so amazing to run the Fairy Tale Challenge in February.

This will be my first MW so I cannot wait!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Over the many years they’ve been open, I’ve looked occasionally at Swolphin rates and ALWAYS find them to be much higher than what I can get at WDW properties. To be fair, I also have never paid rack rate and always use a AP or FL discount, and will happily stay at a Moderate or Value resort, so it’s maybe comparing apples to oranges, but I’ve always found Swolphin to be as shockingly high priced as any WDW Deluxe, and then add on parking fees and they’re a giant nope for me.

That’s not judgment on anyone who does stay there, to be clear! I just haven’t ever seen the value and wonder what I’m missing: there must be something, with so many staying at the properties.

We paid $300/night after fees for Dolphin for Princess with the AP rate last year, and I got the first couple nights of January before Marathon Weekend 2023 for like $220, which was cheaper than Pop rack rates! (Maybe not cheaper than Pop with the AP discount but they weren't available yet when I booked so it's not any of my business ). If you are just looking at rates occasionally, you are probably never seeing the low prices. I would say 99% of the time S/D are pretty expensive and then a few random days the rates will magically drop so it definitely takes some diligent checking to get good deals, all thanks to Marriott's dynamic pricing. I do not ever need parking though, so that helps keep it "cheaper."

S/D are great when you want the deluxe benefits for way less than deluxe prices, assuming you get a good AP rate. It probably isn't a good deal if you don't have an AP. I would say it's comparable to renting DVC but without any of the risk or needing to book at 11 months. But it does sound seem like their rates have gone up a lot for 2024/2025, they are realizing how good of a value it is...and that us runDisney folks are locked into our dates, they can take advantage of that!

 

[PrincessV]

Since everyone is talking hotels and rates, I just want to mention that I have a suite at Universal's Cabana Bay for just under $200. The lowest priced Universal premier hotel (that gets you free Express Pass) is $325 and a two bedroom suite at the Endless Summer hotels is $150. And those are with just the Stay More Save More discount. I'm hoping that cheaper rates will be available as we get closer (either annual passholder or general public discounts).

So if anyone wants to stay on the darkside, there are deals to be had. And the driving to the races in the morning is super easy.

Out of curiosity, do you take I4 or the Turkey Lake route at that hour?

We paid $300/night after fees for Dolphin for Princess with the AP rate last year, and I got the first couple nights of January before Marathon Weekend 2023 for like $220, which was cheaper than Pop rack rates! (Maybe not cheaper than Pop with the AP discount but they weren't available yet when I booked so it's not any of my business ). If you are just looking at rates occasionally, you are probably never seeing the low prices. I would say 99% of the time S/D are pretty expensive and then a few random days the rates will magically drop so it definitely takes some diligent checking to get good deals, all thanks to Marriott's dynamic pricing. I do not ever need parking though, so that helps keep it "cheaper."

S/D are great when you want the deluxe benefits for way less than deluxe prices, assuming you get a good AP rate. It probably isn't a good deal if you don't have an AP. I would say it's comparable to renting DVC but without any of the risk or needing to book at 11 months. But it does sound seem like their rates have gone up a lot for 2024/2025, they are realizing how good of a value it is...and that us runDisney folks are locked into our dates, they can take advantage of that!

Thank you for explaining! That makes a lot of sense, and yep - I only ever check sporadically and never knew about Marriott’s pricing games. Since Disney went back to free resort parking again, it makes almost anything with paid parking cost more for me, but this is good info to store.

 

[sandam1]

Out of curiosity, do you take I4 or the Turkey Lake route at that hour?

I just hop on I-4. The entrance ramp is right next to the hotel and I-4 has always been wide open. After the race, there is sometimes a little bit of congestion, but it usually isn't too terrible.

 

[kps7795]

I know that I'm putting the cart WAY in front of the horse considering (1) I haven't successfully registered for the Dopey Challenge and (2) proper marathon training won't begin until early September. Nonetheless, how have you experienced Dopey runners paced the half marathon? Assuming that I use the Hanson's Marathon Method for the Dopey, I was contemplating using my long run pace for the Half. Any suggestions or stories of past experiences are greatly appreciated.

 

[sandam1]

Nonetheless, how have you experienced Dopey runners paced the half marathon?

Jeff Galloway's advice is to do the half marathon as slow as you can without getting in trouble with the balloon ladies. If you can walk it, all the better.

 

[The Expert]

I know that I'm putting the cart WAY in front of the horse considering (1) I haven't successfully registered for the Dopey Challenge and (2) proper marathon training won't begin until early September. Nonetheless, how have you experienced Dopey runners paced the half marathon? Assuming that I use the Hanson's Marathon Method for the Dopey, I was contemplating using my long run pace for the Half. Any suggestions or stories of past experiences are greatly appreciated.

I do not run rD races for time AND I am a charter member of Team Not-So-Fast. I stop for pics, selfies, etc even during the longer races, and I have successfully completed two Dopey challenges. I walk the 5K and 10K. I run the first half of the half (to get to the castle before daylight) and walk the rest, then give whatever is left to the marathon.

 

[Disneyhanna]

I know that I'm putting the cart WAY in front of the horse considering (1) I haven't successfully registered for the Dopey Challenge and (2) proper marathon training won't begin until early September. Nonetheless, how have you experienced Dopey runners paced the half marathon? Assuming that I use the Hanson's Marathon Method for the Dopey, I was contemplating using my long run pace for the Half. Any suggestions or stories of past experiences are greatly appreciated.

I pretty much run all of the runDisney races at my easy/long run pace. Between character stops, that is! My 5k and 10k paces tend to be a bit faster than long run pace (still easy though) simply because I get caught up in the energy and excitement. A lot of people walk them but I always just want to be done faster so I can shower and rope drop the parks LOL! Oddly enough I don't really experience the same fatigue on my legs that I often do at home when running back to back. I think it's from being more active during the day when at Disney, whereas at home I am sitting all day for work and then going for runs after which usually means I'm pretty stiff. I've only done Dopey twice but I've really just trained for a marathon, I don't do a Dopey specific plan since I find doing back to back runs in training leaves me more susceptible to injury (I tried it a few weekends and it left me with a lot more aches and pains, vs doing the standalone long runs I was able to recover much faster). I know some people find the back to back training very important though so YMMV.

I do sometimes walk up hills during the earlier races which is something I never do in training. Since I'm obviously not running for time I figure why not, if it helps saves my legs a bit. I think I walked on a lot of hills in my 1st Dopey but in my 2nd Dopey I ran all of them. I've found every marathon to get a bit "easier" for me so far, even though I have used the same marathon plan and milage for all 3 marathons I've done! Muscle memory?