First a brief overview. The Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend actually houses many events across the property. A 5K (3.1 mile) run on Epcot's property, a children's 1 Miler run held at the Wide World of Sports, a 13.1 mile Half Marathon across Epcot and the Magic Kingdom, a 26.2 mile full Marathon across all of the four major theme parks on the property, and new this year, a marathon relay. There are also a few social events including the Pasta in the Park party at Epcot, the organized and tiered Cheer Squad, various guest speakers and a runner's retreat.
This years 5K featured the Three Caballeros and was held at Epcot. The event brought nearly nine thousand runners and a virtual stampede of strollers. Held in the early morning hours on Friday, January 6th, the run begins in the parking lot, loops through the park and returns to the parking area, where grandstands have been set up for a fun and festive finish. The starting line was located behind the grandstands, and the area between the grandstands and the starting corral was used as a holding area for participants.
The race begins at 6:30 AM and racers self sort themselves into separate waves based on their anticipated pace. Due to the early start time Disney provides transportation to the park as early as 4:00 AM. The pre-race guide provided by Disney requires runners to be at their corral by 6:00 AM and at the staging area by 5:30 AM. We drove ourselves (a very short drive from Port Orleans Riverside where we were staying), and left our hotel at 5:00 AM. We arrived very shortly thereafter, around 5:15 AM and parked almost immediately.
It was clear that being here this early was unnecessary. Although there were quite a lot of family members and runners, the event was easy to access and there was only one corral that you enter when your wave (pace group) is preparing to be started, and until that time you are simply waiting around until your time to run. Getting there over an hour early for the start meant that we had ample time to get bored. Luckily we were all very excited and the music and banter of the hosts kept the pace quick and light.
My daughters entered the corral and were started with their group. We watched them head into the parking lot on a very safe and organized course. There are no other viewing areas aside from the grandstands, but the race is short and there wouldn't really be time to get to see your runners until they made it to the finish. The lead runners were heading there within 15 minutes, and we settled into the grandstands which were not full, to see our kids make their way up the finish. I had sent them with an app to track their progress so we were alerted to when they would be getting close so we could head down to the fence to cheer them on.
They sped down the towards the finish line which has a separate viewing grandstand for Cheer Squad participants and onward towards the receiving line for their medals. After receiving their medals and posing for pictures Disney provided ample food and drink for the athletes and had a nice and wide open area for meeting up with family. Here might be a good time for you to have made arrangements on a place to meet up with your family, but it wasn't so crowded that a quick phone call couldn't take care of this as well.
The kids had a great time. Most participants were there to have fun as the name implies and there were many festive and often comical costumes. We intend to join our kids next year and dress together in costumes as a family. It looked like too much fun to sit in the stands and not be running with them.
We did not feel worried about letting our children run in the event by themselves, but our kids are very familiar with the park. If you are concerned about security of the event, you are probably justified. Although it would be very difficult for your child to stray from the course, the race does start in the dark and there are times when the course travels backstage to areas not as well paved and lit as the main park itself. However, there are quite a few cast members and volunteers all along the course to help guide participants towards their finish.
As per the course itself, it begins in the parking lot of Epcot and after winding around a backstage cast area enters the park between Norway and China after passing by a particularly stinky waste treatment area. It then winds around the World Showcase with several opportunities to take pictures with the characters you would expect to see (and some surprises) that inhabit Epcot. For example, Snow White and Dopey are together as usual, but are joined by the Huntsman and Prince in Germany. The path exits the park at the International Gateway and travels behind the UK, to reenter the park between Canada and the UK pavilion. The path then takes the runners down the middle of Future World towards Spaceship Earth, around the front gates and then backstage. The runners then return to the parking lot from a backstage area to a spectacular grandstand finish with lots of music and celebrations. Water and Poweraide are provided at two stops along the route and food of all types are provided at the finish.
Overall this is a fun and fantastic way to bring the family together for a unique event at one of our favorite parks. The runners receive colorful soft rubber medals of the featured character.
Next: The Half Marathon
No comments:
Post a Comment