When my husband Gavin said he was up for doing the Disney marathon, I was amazed and realized he had caught the Disney bug as much as me. So I set about planning our trip. Because the marathon is in January and WDW packages don’t get released until June of the year before for the next year, I took a chance to wait until they were released to book on the RunDisney site, and also to make sure Gavin got a marathon slot. Despite historically the marathon filling up pretty quickly, it did not end up selling out in 2019. I logged on the first day you could register and had to wait a while before the system would let me register and I wasn’t 100% sure it had gone through until the confirmation came through several hours later.
Where to stay?
I flip-flopped over where to stay between the Poly and Beach club. The Crescent lake area hotels (Boardwalk, Beach and Yacht and Swan and Dolphin) are in the Epcot area, and the race starts from Epcot, so it would seem to make sense to stay in that area. That said, you cannot walk through the park to get to the start line that early, and you can’t walk back unless you intend to use a park ticket that day, so you have to take a bus. The buses are re-routed due to road closures from the marathon, plus Epcot is a nightmare on marathon day as runners go right through it, so areas are roped off and you are only allowed to cross from one side of the path between Soarin and Test Track from time to time. The Poly has the advantage of being next to the TTC, allowing you to take the monorail to Epcot plus the race runs right past the TTC and Poly allowing you to literally roll out of bed to watch as a spectator without really leaving your resort area. If your runner is doing other races such as the 10K, the Crescent lake area definitely makes more sense as it runs right past that area. But just as I decided the Poly might be the way to go, I couldn’t get the one bedroom room that I felt would be best if my husband was getting up at 3 am in the morning the day of the marathon, so went with Beach instead.
WDW in January
After the New Year crowds leave, WDW is typically quiet, but do expect it to be significantly busier over marathon week (Thurs-Sun), and also be prepared to leave more time for bus transportation due to road closures, and for parks to be roped off in during the first few hours while runners are still running. The temperature can vary wildly in January; from 40s to 80s. The week we were there saw a significant warm up versus the week before; mid to high 70s during the day and mid 40s at night. It was dry and not at all humid, except of course the day of the marathon itself. It made touring the parks a much more pleasurable experience than in the heat of the summer of our previous trips, and still warm enough to make the most of the amazing pool at the Beach.
Arrival
Because it was a school week, we took a 6pm flight out of Newark, which was late and didn’t depart until closer to 7 pm. We did make some time up, but didn’t land until around 9.30. We made it to the Beach club in a pre-booked Mears taxi by about 10.20. If you arrive before 10 pm, you will be whisked up to the club level, but because we were later than that we just checked in at the regular desk, but there was only one person in-front of us, so we were done fairly quickly. We were in room 4671, which had the most amazing view over Crescent lake. It has a master bedroom with a King bed and a living area with a sofa bed. There is also a sofa bed in the master bedroom, meaning you could sleep 6 comfortably. The furnishings feel ‘high-end’ but not very Disney-themed, aside from a single picture of Mickey and Minnie.
Bedroom has second sofa bed 
Only “Disney” theming 
King bed in club level one bedroom 
sofa bed in one bed club level room
Day 1 (Friday)
I awoke around 3.30 to voices and it took me a while to realize they were coming from the 10K that was running that day. As the race began at 5.30, around 6.30, there were also cow bells outside our window as the runners came past the back of the Beach. I would imagine you would be able to hear the noise from any room in the Beach as they all face out towards the back of the hotel. If this will bother you, I’d definitely suggest staying away from this area.
We fueled up at the club level breakfast which was a good spread of cereals, pastries, breads, boiled eggs and two hot dishes; oatmeal and either crepes, grits or quiche.
Breads and pastries 
Eggs and hot options
I chose to make Hollywood Studios our first day based on Kenny the pirate crowd calendar and the fact that there were no extra magic hours, which often tend to make the park busier. Due to the bell service being confused over which name to look for on the stroller we rented from Kingdom strollers, it took longer than I had planned to get us on our way. We just missed a freedom boat leaving the lighthouse between Beach and Yacht, and in hindsight that should have been our trigger to walk, but as my 8 year old was not in a stroller for the first time, I didn’t want to push my luck with the amount of time I was asking him to walk. The boats come from Epcot to Boardwalk to Beach/Yacht and then on to Swan & Dolphin and then to HS and reverse. A boat arrived around 8.20 and had us at HS around 8.40. The HS crowd had already been let past the ‘rope’ once we got through security and check-in, so I knew we were too late to have a chance of a short wait for Slinky Dog. We had done the 3 extra club level fast passes, so we would get to ride it, but I had hoped for another opportunity. We headed straight to Toy Story Land anyway, with a vague hope that the park would be deserted and the Slinky Dog line sub 30 minutes, but it was posted at 80 minutes and the line was snaking almost to where the Buzz meet and greet is.
So we decided to go straight to Alien Swirling Saucers, which had virtually no wait. We just had to wait in the loading area for the next ride. It’s basically just a sophisticated fairground ride; essentially a scrambler that moves from left to right. It was fun though, and the disco music helped to create the atmosphere. After that, we moved to Toy Story Mania, which was posting a 10 minute wait, with the standby line only just past where it merges with fast pass. Our first FP was back in TS land at 9.45, and it was only 9.30 by the time we exited Toy Story Mania, so I opted for Star Tours as that was also only posting a 10 minute wait, which ended up being walk on. From there we headed back for our 3 club level FPs that allowed us to FP all 3 Toy Story rides. The only downside is you can’t modify them so we had to wait the full 1 hour window to ride. We ended our morning with our much anticipated Slinky Dog FP. It was definitely fun, with a drop that was bigger than Mine Train and a fun rolling meadows part towards the end, but it lacked the theming/ atmosphere of Mine Train in my opinion. My eldest Lauling loved it and was vying to go again, while my youngest was not a fan of the big drop.
Alien saucers was walk on 
My little Lauling not a fan! 
‘The big drop’
From there we headed to Hollywood and Brown Derby for lunch. The main driver was I didn’t want to spend time on a character meal during such a short trip, but wanted to get the tickets for Fantasmic. Hollywood and Brown, Hollywood Vine and Mama Melrose all provide the option for a Fantasmic dining package, where preferred seating for Fantasmic is included. Note: the latest time you can dine with this package is about 4.30 pm so lunch is your best bet if you don’t plan to eat at odd times. The food was really good and was a set meal that included dessert. We had a noon reservation, were seated almost immediately and were out by 1.15 (we could have been out faster but our next FP window wasn’t until 1.20). My eldest Lauling and daddy had a FP for Rock N Roller coaster while my youngest Lauling and I had one for the 2 pm Beauty and the Beast show. After our respective activities, we met up back at the hotel so my husband could go to the Expo to pick up his race bid. While he did that, the Laulings and I hit up the pool. The beach part of the pool was a huge hit, although it’s quite the walk to get to. There were plenty of buckets and shovels on the beach. I had been surprised that the club level at the Beach didn’t provide them as they do at the Poly, and splurged on buying one from the gift shop that I didn’t need to have done. We figured maybe the Yacht club level provided them (because they were the same green buckets and yellow shovels that we’d got from the Poly).
Day 2 (Saturday)
While I awoke to the sound of the half-marathon, today was not quite so bad because the half-marathon ran on the other side of the lake past Boardwalk, so we were at least spared from being able to hear cow bells. After breakfast, we enjoyed the leisurely 5 minute stroll to the world showcase entry to Epcot. There is no need to take a boat- the walk is really quick. We arrived at 8.35 but they weren’t letting you in unless you had a pre-park breakfast. After about 5 minutes, we were let in, and there were only a couple of families ahead of us. Although we had FPs for all 3 Tier 1 rides with the club level extras, I figured we could rope drop Frozen given it’s in the world showcase. The world showcase area was deserted and we were about 5th inline for Frozen; beating everyone coming from the main entrance and coming out of Arkenhus. At 8.55 we were let on to the ride. Don’t be those people who used their FP at 9 am- at least ride it once on standby and then go again on your FP.
A deserted “England”
From there we had planned to go and see Ralph and Penelope who were a new character great, but the half-marathon was still in full-swing and we just missed the walk-way being opened to let us go that way. So we headed to test Track and Mission Space, and walked straight on to Mission Space green. Our first FP was for Test Track at 9.30, so we were just about ready for that as we got off Mission Space, only to get to the car building room and then for the ride to go down. We were issued another FP good for the day on our magic bands and had a while before Mission Space as our next FP, so decided to head over to Spaceship Earth. The wait time was only 10 minutes standby, but that ride went down too- Epcot was clearly having a bad day! It did get back up and running after about 10 minutes, so we stuck it out. My eldest Lauling and daddy tried out Mission space orange for the first time (my youngest was too small so we stuck to green). After that Test Track was back up and running, so we got on that before doing our Spaceship Earth FP. We then headed to Sunshine Seasons for lunch which had a great variety of fresh options, and then FPing Soarin, my personal Epcot favorite.
The boys were then more interested in going back to the pool that doing anymore rides, so we all headed to the pool around 2.30-4 before going back to Epcot for dinner. We ate at La Hacienda de SanAngel and again were seated almost immediately at a great table overlooking the lake. I didn’t like the food quite as much as San Angel Inn, but still enjoyed the shrimp tacos I picked. Gavin wanted to get back to rest before the marathon, but the boys and I hopped on Nemo and then our Frozen FP before calling it a night.
Day 3 (Marathon Day)
Maybe because previous years had been much busier, all the marathon reviews suggested getting on the 3.30 bus at the latest if you were running, so Gavin dutifully complied. The Laulings and I took a bus at 4.30. It was half full, and included some people that were running. 10 minutes later we were at Epcot and I have no doubt the runners would have got to their corrals with time to spare as Gavin said he was waiting around for a long time for it to start.
The boys and I boarded the monorail at 4.50 (after security check and just missing a train). The coffee shop at the Monorail was open which made me very happy. We were at the TTC by 5.10. By my calculations of my husband’s 3 hours and 40 minute pace, he should have been running by the 4 mile mark around 6.10, so we had a whole hour to wait. The areas still inside the TTC got very packed early on. My guess is those folks planned to then try to hop on the Monorail to catch their runner again at MK, but I think you might be pushing it unless your runner is slow. My plan was to walk to the Poly as our next stop, which would be mile 8. So I was fine exiting the TTC and finding a spot by the barrier just as the runners come out of the tunnel. It was a great spot and Gavin and I had no problem seeing each other.
We then walked past the TTC and past the front of the Poly to the road that runs the other side of the hotel. This is where things went a bit south. When we first got there, only the early runners were running by, and the police were letting you cross over the road to the other side, which garnered a much better view of the runners because there was a median and cars were being allowed to go down the Poly side. It was pretty dark though, and Gavin was the one that saw me first rather than the other way round. It’s also pretty narrow at that point, so the runners were so bunched up that they weren’t letting spectators cross back over and directed us to walk down to the Grand Floridian crossing. That was a reasonable walk, pushing the stroller off-road down the grass verge. Here they directed the runners down each side of the road, allowing spectators to cross from time to time. Rather than walk back up the other side of the road to the Poly, I opted to jump on the Monorail at the Grand Floridian and take it back to the TTC and then change for Epcot. This ended up being a good plan, and we got to take a nosey at the Grand Floridian. It was about 7 am by this point. The Monorail was still quiet.
Back at Epcot, I asked for directions to the buses to take us back to the hotel so we could grab breakfast before catching Gavin again at the back of the Beach club. The security incorrectly told me they weren’t running yet and I would need to go back to the TTC to catch one. 1) There are no buses that I’m aware of that run from Epcot to Beach on a normal day, so I decided to ignore him and luckily I found the buses and they were running. The bus driver had no clue what he was doing though- he went all round the houses to get to the hotel and then said he had only been told to drop at the Boardwalk. I complained to the bus coordinator at the Boardwalk who thankfully told the driver he had to drop at all the Cresent lake hotels so he grudgingly took me to the Beach. We got back to the hotel around 8.15. The Laulings and I went straight up to the club level for breakfast, and then I realized that the marathon was running round the back of the Boardwalk and not Beach and that I was probably not going to be able to catch him at mile 22 and then get back to Epcot in time to meet him at the end, so I opted to get back on the bus and go back to Epcot. We were on a bus by 9 am and at the spectators waiting area at 9.20 (note there is a security check at the spectator waiting area). I got the alert that Gavin had finished in 3 hours and 49 minutes, which was about 9 minutes off his usual place, and at about 9.30, he arrived at the reunion area.
Gavin said that the atmosphere at the start had been good- there was a DJ and more porter potties than he had ever seen at any other marathon. He said bag check was efficient and it was very well organized overall. Characters were all over the course, especially around the ESPN area, and DJs were everywhere. He enjoyed it so much he announced he was up for the Dopey next time!!
We caught a bus back to the hotel and fortunately this driver knew what he was doing and dropped us off in a much more timely manner. We were back at the hotel around 10.30. Breakfast was still being served at club level so I was able to grab some stuff for Gavin, before he showered and we all took a nap. I got everyone up around noon and we got a 12.20 bus to Magic Kingdom. We were quickly into the park and ordered lunch at Columbia Harbor House on the bus. The lobster roll was awesome. Suitably fueled, we started our FPs in Tomorrowland with Space Mountain for me and the oldest Lauling and Buzz Lightyear for the youngest and daddy. We did a rider swap for Space Mountain so daddy and the oldest Lauling could go on too, while the youngest and I were lucky enough to get on Astro Orbiters without much of a line. In fact we were off before they were off Space Mountain!
From there we headed over to Fantasyland and had FPs for Winnie the Pooh followed by Mine Train. Mine Train was our last ‘regular’ FP and we entered in the 5 minute timeframe before the official FP time, and I was able to sneak in a Little Mermaid FP before our first club level FP window. After Little Mermaid we grabbed a snack before our Haunted Mansion FP and then rode Small World standby. We wrapped our FPs with Splash and Thunder Mountain (Tomorrowland speedway and Peter Pan were both down for refurbishment).
We had dinner reservations at 6.30 at Tony’s. It was packed and a lot of people were trying to get a walk up table and were being told they’d have to wait an hour (and some did!). I liked the food, but the service wasn’t the best. The kids meals were initially ‘forgotten’- Gavin and I got ours but the kids didn’t and it took a while to get the check. I had made a last FP for Buzz Lightyear, but we didn’t need one- it was walk on even with standby, as were most of the smaller rides at this point. At 8 pm, even Mine Train was only posting a 26 minute wait. We watched some of the fireworks, and even getting a viewing spot in the circle infront of the castle was not a problem, and then headed out to beat the crowds around 8.30. I should also note that the parks were still decorated for the holiday season, which was an added bonus.
We definitely made the most of our MK day for sure, and were sad to leave the next morning. 2 days later all the Disney run pictures had posted to my Memory Maker. Note, it took about 12 hours longer than the other pictures for the character meets to show up, so don’t despair if that happens to you.
Now we’re looking at Jan 2021 for the Dopey. Heck, maybe even I’ll run the 5K!