runDisney revealed a TON of info over the last few days, releasing the event guides for both WDW Marathon Weekend and Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend within hours of each other. Today we’ll cover what’s new for Marathon Weekend. I’ll need a minute to study the Disneyland maps since I am much less familiar with the lay of the land in Anaheim.
Course Higlights
Now that many of the construction walls are finally down at Epcot (it’s true! I saw it with my own eyes last weekend) I was really hoping to be routed under Spaceship Earth for the finishes, but alas, that is not to be. It looks like all the finishes will take the path we’ve used in recent years behind Mission Space and backstage around Cosmic Rewind. There also look to be some pretty significant changes to the half and full start locations. And finally, while I’m not sure this is really a highlight, it looks like they are doubling- down on time spent in the Blizzard Beach parking lot. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.
5K
The 5K course looks to be pretty typical, with a start at the back of the parking lot and a skirt of the perimiter before entering the World Showcase by the smelly garbage bins between Mexico and Norway.
One lap around the lagoon and we’ll be headed back towards the finish line, with one fun update. It looks like the course will go through the newly-opened World Celebration area before a “fly-by” of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Then we’re off to the finish for some plastic cheese and green bananas.
10K
The 10K map doesn’t really hold any surprises. From the start line, we head in the opposite direction and get all the boring highway miles out of the way first. This is definitely the way I like to do it!
We return to Epcot through the bus lot and backstage behind The Seas and The Land and emerge to head towards World Showcase. That’s just a tease though, because there is an almost immediate detour through the Boardwalk area before we come back to finish the World Showcase loop. Then it’s business-as-usual back to the finish line.
Half Marathon
So here’s where we see the biggest change this year. In the past, the half and full marathons have started out on World Drive, but this year they will be starting from the same parking lot start line as the shorter races. In some ways, this should come as welcome news because it will eliminate the seemingly miles-long walk to the start line, but may create some congestion issues at the start. Please pay attention to corral open and close times.
The course itself is focused around getting the runners to and from the Magic Kingdom, with all the highway in between. We won’t even see the World Showcase on this day. Sorry!
Marathon
The marathon course starts like the 5K, but quickly changes it up as we’ll enter Epcot through World Discovery, cut across the park and then literally hit the road for Magic Kingdom.
After MK is the long trudge to Animal Kingdom via backstage roads where we get to see all kinds of things guests weren’t really meant to see.
A dip in and out of AK and the we’re on our way to the worst, worst, WORST idea runDisney every had – soul-crushing loops in the Blizzard Beach parking lot. Those who survive will be forwarded on to see not very much of Hollywood Studios. But let’s face it, at this point, will you really care? You might be dreaming of that potentially ripe banana (it can happen on Sunday), that margarita in Mexico, or just waiting for the pain to stop. It’s a quick trip via the Boardwalk back to Epcot, to the crowd, to the margaritas, the choir, and all that well-deserved bling. Congratulations, finishers!
How do you like this year’s courses? Any questions? Drop a comment!
Disney Park Runner 