Expedition Everest and the Marathon - Disney 2020

[Nessy]

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice, I've done a google and a search and really nothing is helping my foggy brain. I doubt that I will be able to do the Dopey Challenge ever again just because of the cost so I want to make sure I can get everything in that I want to during Dopey 2020 and I know you can ride the Expedition Everest during the Marathon.

Has anyone done it??? Any advice you can give me??? We will have park tickets during the day so would it be wise for us to Fast Pass?? How fast do we need to run??? Is there always a queue???

Any help what so ever would be great as I really want to make this happen.

Thanks

Nessy

 

[rteetz]

I have done it every marathon I have run at Disney (3 times now).

1. DO NOT SET UP A FP. If you do that and don't scan in at the front of the park your account will get locked.

2. Watch your time. If you get there early the ride is not going to be open. It opens at 9AM. If you get there later you will have to make sure you have enough time before the balloon ladies come through.

3. There will be a queue. At that time mostly runners are in the queue but day guests will be in the park as well.

4. You won't regret it if you can do it.

 

[DopeyBadger]

2. Watch your time. If you get there early the ride is not going to be open. It opens at 9AM. If you get there later you will have to make sure you have enough time before the balloon ladies come through.

To add to this some timing:

Estimated Corral Starts-



The times in purple, blue and yellow represent your POT for those distances for the marathon. These are estimated corral cutoffs and not guarantees. But will aid you in finding your rough starting time. The far right columns "mini-wave" are the start times from 2018 and 2019 marathon weekend.

Expedition Everest occurs around 13.11 miles.

-So multiply your estimated pace per mile and 13.11 miles to get the estimated duration to that point.
-Add that to your estimated corral start time.
-If you arrive earlier than 9am, you'll have to wait or slow down. If you arrive at 9am or later, then you can ride EE.
-The balloon ladies will pass EE around 9:45am (based on 2019 start time) or 10:00am (based on 2018 start time). Being behind the balloon ladies risks being swept from the race course.

Examples -

A person has a 2:10:00 HM Proof of Time. They would probably be assigned Corral D. They start at the front of Corral D and are released with mini-wave 1 at 5:42am (based on 2019). The plan to run an 11 min/mile. At an 11 min/mile for 13.11 miles is 144 minutes (2 hours 24 min). They would arrive at EE at 2:24 + 5:42am = 8:06am. Thus, they would have to wait roughly 54 min before EE would open.

A person has no Proof of Time and chooses a 5:31-6:00 estimated marathon finish. They would probably be assigned Corral F. They start at the middle of Corral F and are released with mini-wave 1 at 6:10am (based on 2019). The plan to run an 14 min/mile. At an 14 min/mile for 13.11 miles is 183 minutes (3 hours 03 min). They would arrive at EE at 3:03 + 6:10am = 9:13am. Thus, given the expected time of the balloon ladies arrival at 9:45am, the runner would have 32 min before the balloon ladies arrive from the moment the runner enters the chute for the ride. But keep in mind, the potential lost time here reduces the buffer from the sweep points for the remainder of the race. Maintaining a 14 min/mile from EE through the end of the race will be no issue. But if the pace slips below a 16 min/mile, then the sweep point will slowly catch up to you over the course of the remainder of the race.

 

[ZellyB]

Keep in mind as well that Dopey Badger is assuming you make no other stops prior to EE. in that same scenario if you stopped a total of 54 minutes for pictures/bathrooms whatever then you'd be right on time. Mostly just watch your time and work to hit AK a bit before 9 AM and arrival of day guests to get to ride with the least wait.

 

[jennamfeo]

4. You won't regret it if you can do it.

So much this.

I stopped at almost every character on the way to EE because I didn't want to get there too soon. Hindsight, next time, I am going to probably not stop as much and get there early so I can get a booze at the bar nearby.

 

[kirstie101]

How long does the ride itself take and how long do you suppose the line could be btwn 9:00-9:15?

 

[rteetz]

How long does the ride itself take and how long do you suppose the line could be btwn 9:00-9:15?

The ride itself is like 2-3 minutes.

 

[ANIM8R]

So much this.

I stopped at almost every character on the way to EE because I didn't want to get there too soon. Hindsight, next time, I am going to probably not stop as much and get there early so I can get a booze at the bar nearby.

You're going to run a half-marathon, booze it up, ride a roller coaster, then run another half-marathon.



You win.

 

[bevcgg]

LOVED riding Everest during the Marathon! It was getting really warm & muggy by 9:00 and that FELT SO GOOD!!!
I am not sure I could have taken any other break to cool me off as much!

I had been struggling with IT Band issues the weeks prior to the race and the pain made a sudden come back at 12.5 miles in. I knew I could limp to Everest where I could apply my knee strap/pain cream during the wait. Well I made it there right at 9:00- and used my Fast Pass to bypass even the other runners and got right on- never applying stuff to my knee. My ITB never hurt the rest of the race. Not sure if it was the way you tense your muscles during the ride, sitting down briefly or pure adrenaline- but I finished Dopey pain free thanks to the magic of Everest!

The fast pass worked for me- but I have an AP and didn't book other FP in other parks for the day. There seems to be a lot of debate about that rational. If you are close to 9AM- you will be fine without it.

 

[SarahDisney]

Not sure when they open the line, but I know I was in line for Everest at about 8:55. At that point the line was all runners - they were just about to start letting park guests into the area. I think they started loading cars at 9, so I waited like 7-8 minutes. I'd say try to time it so that you get to the line a little before 9 - at that point the line will be all (or mostly) runners and if moves relatively quickly.
If this helps, I started at the front of Corral E and ran the first half in a little over 3 hours (that includes character stops, of which I made many - without the character stops, I was running approx 12 min/mi).

Also - fair warning - if you're using a GPS device and keep it running during the ride (which I did because I wanted accurate time), the distance will be very very wrong for the rest of the race.

 

[rteetz]

The fast pass worked for me- but I have an AP and didn't book other FP in other parks for the day. There seems to be a lot of debate about that rational. If you are close to 9AM- you will be fine without it.

Was this in 2019? Or a previous year? If you don’t scan into a park your account is supposed to lock if you don’t scan into the park.

 

[bevcgg]

Was this in 2019? Or a previous year? If you don’t scan into a park your account is supposed to lock if you don’t scan into the park.

It was 2019. There was a CM standing there and I asked if I should use it- he said go ahead. It worked.

 

[rteetz]

It was 2019. There was a CM standing there and I asked if I should use it- he said go ahead. It worked.

Strange. Disney has put in locks in the system to prevent “FP cheating” so if you don’t actually scan into the park you can use that initial FP but after that your account will lock and you will have to call or go to guest relations to unlock it.

I would not advise anyone to make a FP because of this.

 

[bevcgg]

Strange. Disney has put in locks in the system to prevent “FP cheating” so if you don’t actually scan into the park you can use that initial FP but after that your account will lock and you will have to call or go to guest relations to unlock it.

I would not advise anyone to make a FP because of this.

Have you heard of that happening after Marathon this year? I seems like I heard about the "possibility last year" but this year I didn't hear anyone mention this had actually happened to them. I know plenty of runners obtained FP for Everest. I think there is a lot of confusion about this.
I know my account was not locked and I was able to enter other parks that day and afterwards without issue. And I didn't cheat.

 

[rteetz]

Have you heard of that happening after Marathon this year? I seems like I heard about the "possibility last year" but this year I didn't hear anyone mention this had actually happened to them. I know plenty of runners obtained FP for Everest. I think there is a lot of confusion about this.
I know my account was not locked and I was able to enter other parks that day and afterwards without issue. And I didn't cheat.

I can't say I did but also very few actually do what you did so we don't have a lot to go off of. This isn't a marathon issue though this is a daily thing. Disney does not want a guest using a FP when that ticket media that was used for the FP was not scanned into the park. That is the Disney policy. So to save everyone's butt I wouldn't recommend doing what you did unless that person is okay with the risk and really you don't need a FP do ride Everest during the marathon.

 

[bevcgg]

and really you don't need a FP do ride Everest during the marathon.

I agree with this 100%!

 

[lilmc]

Also - fair warning - if you're using a GPS device and keep it running during the ride (which I did because I wanted accurate time), the distance will be very very wrong for the rest of the race.

Or intentionally leave it on because the screen shot is fun to add next to the ride photos in the photo book that gets made

 

[rteetz]

Or intentionally leave it on because the screen shot is fun to add next to the ride photos in the photo book that gets made

Yep that's the best part!

 

[ANIM8R]

Also - fair warning - if you're using a GPS device and keep it running during the ride (which I did because I wanted accurate time), the distance will be very very wrong for the rest of the race.

MapMyRun has a "3D/Fly-over" feature that shows your route integrated into Google Maps. The Everest portion of that route would be crazy to watch!

 

[Princess KP]

I got to Thirsty River at about 8:25am, grabbed a margarita and was debating whether or not to stick around for EE. I went over to EE and asked a CM if they were going to open early and they said maybe 5 minutes early but no guarantees. It was still going to be another 20 minutes but I would be first in line so I decided to wait. It was cool being the first car out but I'm not sure I would wait that long next time. My legs started to seize up and I had a hard time starting up again.