Marathon Weekend 2025

[Blue Caterpillar]

Even though I submitted my information when I registered (which I know is unwise), I still had to triple check to make certain runDisney had my information.

I also checked again to make sure several times.

SAFD: I've only stayed at POP. It was so wonderful with Skyliner and how Runner-ish it feels. I am staying there again but am moving to OKW on the Monday after. I haven't really been to Disney springs and am looking forward to it.

 

[nekonekoneko]

I was strictly team onsite until the 2022 Weekend, the first one after the shutdown. We stayed offsite and it was fine! With a lot of the restrictions in place in 2022, we weren't in the parks much.

I had gotten a crazy cheap car rental from Hertz, and we drove in to Epcot. The CMs are really good at getting people into a parking spot. They could try their methods at some football games, please!

We've gone back onsite, mostly DVC rentals, but still use a car. We like getting in on our schedule and doing our things in the car before the races.

The only real advice I have for anyone driving in is to get a hotel south of Epcot. It's a little easier to get in.

 

[JulieODC]

SAFD: we love the Swan/Dolphin hotels - love the location walking distance to Epcot, decent prices, great restaurants, awesome pool area. We pretty much stay there every trip!

 

[StarGirl11]

SAFD: Onsite. Admittedly I was this before I became a chair athlete/handcyclist. And I know some of my other wheels do come in race morning form offsite. But I just prefer to not have to worry about loading the car up and remember everything in the already pre 3 am wakeup call heading to the start. I've been doing Pop since returning to racing as a wheels and have found it works pretty well for me. (I like having skyliner access.)

 

[hauntedcity]

SAFD:

We stay at the Poly, which is our DVC home resort.

I love love love the hotel in general, but love it for MW in particular for two reasons.

1 - The walk to the Epcot monorail from Pago Pago is super convenient getting to and from the event.

That is a great benefit that I didn't think of!

 

[1lilspark]

SAFD I’ve stayed at 2/3 all stars, pop, AoA and French quarter for races….

Pop has definitely been my favorite especially due to the skyliner for park touring after the race…

 

[AJollyHoliday]

SAFD: We are also Team On Site, but we are also DVC members. For most of our trips, we prefer one of our home resorts, Villas at Grand Floridian. Our other home resort is AKL which we stayed at for the Princess races this year. I prefer the monorail resorts, mainly VGF and the Poly. I agree, Pago Pago's close access to the Epcot monorail make it a great place for a race weekend. For MW we are booked at the VGF.

I have been a bit MIA and have to pause my training for a month or so. Last week I went to the ER with a twist colon. This happened 2 years ago. I don't have much left of my colon due to colon cancer and at the time my surgeon wasn't fully convinced it was a twist, but he did say that is it was twist it would happen again and that I would need surgery. Well fast forward to the wee hours of Tuesday the 11th and I was sat in the ER with pain at a level of 9/10. I had surgery on the 12th and was discharged on the 15th. Recovery is going very well. I attribute my recovery to having a strong core from Pure Barre and from being in great shape from running. Right now I can only do short walks at a slow pace, so slow that my watch asks me if I am still exercising partway through my walk. I am confident that I can build back up quickly once I can run, but I will be adjusting my R/W/R intervals. You just never know what life will through your way and I am just grateful I was home and not in New Zealand (I was there for 3 1/2 weeks in December).

 

[nancipants]

Team My House.

Although I am stalking the Swan/Dolphin for deals. So far, everything is waaaay too expensive.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Team My House.

Although I am stalking the Swan/Dolphin for deals. So far, everything is waaaay too expensive.

That Sunday night seems to be the stickler. If you search by 1-night the surrounding nights aren't bad, but the 12th is "sold out" at all the resorts. Hopefully there's an event that will open up remaining rooms at some point!

 

[The Expert]

Coming in with a late SAFD response (traveled for a work event this weekend): I'm team on-site and a DVC owner since 2001. We have points at BWV, AKV, BLT and are purchasing a small Poly resale contract. If I'm not solo, we stay in at least a 1-bedroom for the kitchen, laundry, soaking tub, and extra living area so not everybody has to go to bed or be super quiet at 8pm.

I've stayed at BWV the most for race weekends, and love the location. The bus is easy and quick, plenty of food and non-park options, and it is easy for family to spectate when routes go through that area. It can get loud in the evenings, but we found a standard view rooms to be pretty ideal if you can snag them.

I started staying at BLT for MW due to monorail access for the longer races. I usually drive to the 5K and 10K. I do love the proximity to MK and the monorail transportation, but I really dislike the pool area (DH loves to hang out at the pool bar) and there is little to no easy access to a quick bite. Part of the reason we're picking up a Poly contract is that I'd like to try staying there instead.

I've never tried AK for a race but would like to at some point when I'm not planning much park time. I think the quiet would be nice, and Kidani has the best pool bar area to hang out in.

I have gone off site a few times when I'm just doing the 5K, since I usually drive for 5Ks regardless. We did a rental at Margaritaville once, the JW on Bonnet Creek and the Swan Reserve. No complaints but we didn't get much race atmosphere or acknowledgement at any of those.

2025 will be my first MW

How is that even possible?? So excited for you!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

SAFD: I've been team on-site since the 90's. The only exception was when we had some sort of free hotel stay and stayed right outside Main Gate in the early 2000's. Still not quite worth it. For me, I like coming into a resort, parking the car, and having it stay parked for the duration. Now that they allow resort members to drive to the parks without additional $$, there are times when having a car is nice, but I'll usually do the bus or Skyliner. I was a Pop my last two stays, and will be back there again, most likely. The other non-Star resorts all get too pricey for my wallet.

I asked rD about using my 10K time for just my half corral, and received the following "we can't think outside the box" non-response, i.e. corral placements for all the challenge races are tied only to the full.

>>Thanks for reaching out. All participants registered for either Goofy or Dopey must follow the full marathon proof of time guidelines. A 10k would not be accepted for the Goofy Challenge. For the half marathon event, if participants are placed in different start groups, the participant placed in an earlier start group is allowed to move back to join the rest of their party to run together.<<

Yeah, already I know about moving back in corrals. I was hoping to move forward....
Grrrr

 

[nekonekoneko]

Well, today's DL Half Marathon re /gistration was a total disaster. The entire server went kaput like right when they were about to go live.

We were talking about shades of MW 2023 registration haunting us again!

 

[jrsharp21]

SAFD: Team onsite as well. Like others have said, when going to WDW I like to remain in the bubble the entire time. For MW, I think my favorite stay was at POR. We always get a rental car and drive over to the race. We like having the ability to hang out in the car and take a little nap before heading out to the start. The drive to POR was short and easy. Made it really nice. We stayed at CSR this past MW. It was a little crazy getting back to the hotel after the race and also leaving again for the parks while the marathon was still going. We are staying at CBR for MW2025.

 

[princesspirateandrunner]

SAFD: Definitely Team Onsite. We really like being in the Bubble. Once we park at the resort, we rarely move the car. For MW 2025, we have reservations at Pop. The last couple of PWs, we’ve really enjoyed POFQ. In general, we’ve tried to stay at as many different resorts as possible over the years. We haven’t done all the deluxe resorts, but we’re working on it! Often, we’ll make our reservations, then decide to add on a night at one end at a different resort. Our next planned trip is in September for MNSSHP. We’ve made reservations at SoG, but are looking around for enough DVC rental points to add on a night at one of the places we’ve not stayed yet. Once we stay somewhere, we buy the resort pin. We’re putting together a shadow box just for those pins. The last new pin we collected (not counting the DL Hotel pin last January) was the campground. We spent one very hot night in a tent at the end of our September 2023 stay just so we could legitimately add that pin to our collection!

 

[sandam1]

SAFD I always feel like the oddball when discussions like this get started.

I stay and play at Universal during my runDisney race weekends. This is for a whole bunch of reasons but namely 1) it's A LOT cheaper, 2) it is a LOT less stressful as there is no Genie+, LL, ADRs, etc. to worry about, 3) I have an annual pass from Universal so if I'm tired and/or not feeling the parks on any given day, it is very easy to bail and head back to the hotel.

My "home resort" at Universal is Cabana Bay. We almost always get a family suite so there is an extra living space and a kitchenette that come in handy on race weekends. CB also has a great food court and a wonderful lazy river for post-race relaxation.

I am the queen of catastrophic Disney transportation failure so I avoid any Disney provided mode of transportation like the plague. I will always be team "rental car" so there is no significant advantage to staying on-site at Disney for me.

 

[kristenabelle]

another team onsite/DVC!

first dopey was BWV (home resort) which was perfect for stretching my legs post-races and having lots of food options. for this dopey i'll be at the new poly tower (in a duo studio, which i'm excited for!!) so i think i'll have to be more diligent in gathering post-race snacks and meal planning. otherwise i get grumpy and hangry lol. but GF is right there, and contemporary is a short ride, so still no lack of options.

i've been very, very, very lucky with transportation during all my rd weekends. only issue i can recall is beach club gate not working during a post-race return trip once. coming from the poly will be new, and may be the only thing i'm slightly nervous about since it's further from the start.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

OK, I have to ask about staying at most of the Disney resorts:
Is everyone staying at them shelling out some serious $$$, or smarter about reservations than I am?
When I look at places like Polynesian, BW, POR, Swan/Dolphin, etc., I see prices that are over $300/night on up to $1000 per night.
Pop and the All-Stars are the only resorts that (to me) are halfway affordable.

Am I doing something wrong? I welcome any advice in this department.

 

[Cabius]

OK, I have to ask about staying at most of the Disney resorts:
Is everyone staying at them shelling out some serious $$$, or smarter about reservations than I am?
When I look at places like Polynesian, BW, POR, Swan/Dolphin, etc., I see prices that are over $300/night on up to $1000 per night.
Pop and the All-Stars are the only resorts that (to me) are halfway affordable.

Am I doing something wrong? I welcome any advice in this department.

I think a decent number of us have mentioned being DVC owners, which is less about shelling out serious $$$ now and more about having done so at some time in the past, especially back when DVC wasn't quite so expensive. I own at the Poly, and with that sunk cost behind me, a studio is only about $150/night worth of annual dues.

Others may be renting DVC reservations, probably paying more like $350/night for a Poly studio, maybe less at other resorts. That's the closest thing to a 'hack' there is when it comes to saving a lot of money on WDW bookings. You have to be able to plan far in advance, and can't just cancel the reservation and get all of your money back, but MW is the kind of thing most people really lock in for and can commit to 11 months out.

Other than that, cash rates are just insane. Even with Disney Visa or AP discounts, a deluxe resort hotel room will likely run $400-$900/night. I assume a lot of folks here are also shelling out a lot of money.

Disney has increasingly become a luxury vacation destination, whether people are genuinely wealthy, bought into DVC when it wasn't so insane, or are stretching their budget to make the splurge work. I've always appreciated that our RunDisney forums have folks from across the socioeconomic spectrum, but we've always been united by our common passions rather than divided by our differences. Some people might think, "I can't imagine staying at a value resort" and other people might think "I can't imagine paying for a Deluxe resort", but we can all imagine crossing that finish line!

 

[MissLiss279]

OK, I have to ask about staying at most of the Disney resorts:
Is everyone staying at them shelling out some serious $$$, or smarter about reservations than I am?
When I look at places like Polynesian, BW, POR, Swan/Dolphin, etc., I see prices that are over $300/night on up to $1000 per night.
Pop and the All-Stars are the only resorts that (to me) are halfway affordable.

Am I doing something wrong? I welcome any advice in this department.

I agree with you on the costs! Before I bought into DVC, I would only be able to stomach staying at Pop/All-Stars. Then I rented a week at BW DVC. I bought into DVC a few years ago, and that is the only way for me to stay at other resorts. Including the upfront cost of the purchase and dues, my points are worth about $12 per point to me. So this year during Marathon Weekend, a week night is 12 points in a studio and a weekend night is 15 points at Saratoga Springs = $144-$180/nt. Or at the Poly 17-20 points per night = $204-240 (if I can get a room there at 7 months). Or Copper Creek 15-16 points = $180-192.
Or at least that’s how I justify it for myself.
I have a mix of resale and direct points, so if all points are direct and come from a more expensive resort, than the all in cost for a single point could be higher.
Springtime Surprise sits during a more expensive time, so 4-5 nights is the same total points as 7-8 nights during Marathon Weekend.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

OK, I have to ask about staying at most of the Disney resorts:
Is everyone staying at them shelling out some serious $$$, or smarter about reservations than I am?
When I look at places like Polynesian, BW, POR, Swan/Dolphin, etc., I see prices that are over $300/night on up to $1000 per night.
Pop and the All-Stars are the only resorts that (to me) are halfway affordable.

Am I doing something wrong? I welcome any advice in this department.

I work with a TA now whenever I stay at WDW. If Disney drops any discounts after I've booked my reservation, the TA will be able to apply that discount and credit my balance. They're also great because I can give them resort options, and they'll do the price comparison for me. I can decide which resort to book based off that.

The TA I work with is also great because if she doesn't think some is financially beneficial, she'll tell me. I don't park hop, so I can save some money there. It's also super nice to use a TA because I can pay off 95% (ball park) of my trip over time instead of everything hitting my CC after the trip. It's easier to budget say $300 a month to paying off the balance instead of one lump sum.