Marathon Weekend 2020

[GuinnessRunner]

https://www.certifiedroadraces.com/certificate/?type=l&id=FL96001WN
This is the certified course from the last time (to my knowledge) that the marathon went through Blizzard Beach. I've run every year since 2006 and have never run through Blizzard Beach. I am wondering what the 30 minutes earlier will do to Everest riding and I also wonder what the Epcot construction will do for the full finish. I think we had a sneak preview last year for the half.

Yep that has to be it. Just found the reference I was thinking about and it says "One year, before 1998, the marathon took us through Blizzard Beach..."

 

[DopeyBadger]

I'm personally a fan of shifting the time to even earlier. That means an extra 30 min without the sun and additional time without the higher probability of wind that comes with the sunrise. That now gives me nearly 2-2:20 hours of no sun guaranteed. It's one of the big reasons I chose Disney as my next BQ attempt.

But it could be a negative for EE riders. A quick back of the envelope calculation. If the course remains the same from 0 to EE (mile 13.11 roughly), then you get the following time differences for the different corrals (based on 2018 release times, whereas 2019 release times were slightly faster):



This is written as corral - estimate start time - estimated difference between 9am opening and start time - the pace per mile breakdown to reach EE at 9am for opening.

The real time crunch is that the sweepers (balloon ladies) would now be estimated to reach EE at 9:30am (start time of 6:01am + 16 min/mile*13.11 miles). But last year they started the balloon ladies at 6:18 instead of my estimated 6:31 (so shifted to 5:48 possibly). Which means you could be looking at as early as 9:18am for the balloon ladies to reach EE. Again, this all assumes no changes to the course from start to EE itself from prior years which at this time is an unknown.

Yeah Race Retreat is no more. Open air space rather than a tent and now open to everyone.

Seems to me the new open air space is still a for sale item, no?



"...and the on-sale date for the new own-air runner area and ChEAR Squad packages..."

 

[rteetz]

Seems to me the new open air space is still a for sale item, no?

"...and the on-sale date for the new own-air runner area and ChEAR Squad packages...

Yes that is true. Basically race retreat without a tent.

 

[WhereInFlorida]

The on-ramp loop to get back up to Osceola should be fun to do at that stage of the marathon.

 

[drummerwife]

Wondering how adding BB is going to effect traffic for the All Stars Resorts?

 

[MissLiss279]

I agree that if the "open air" runner area is the replacement for the race retreat, I'm likely out. I splurged for RR as insurance against bad weather (cold/rain), so no need if it's all outdoors now.

Same.

 

[BigEeyore]

This makes me super nervous. If adding BB takes away only from highway time, or WWoS then great. But I'm worried that they are going to short us in the parks.
Also don't know about the 5am start - if it's warm, then extra time without the sun on us is great but otherwise it's a negative for me.
On a side note - I didn't realize that the full was sold out!

 

[MissLiss279]

This makes me super nervous. If adding BB takes away only from highway time, or WWoS then great. But I'm worried that they are going to short us in the parks.
Also don't know about the 5am start - if it's warm, then extra time without the sun on us is great but otherwise it's a negative for me.
On a side note - I didn't realize that the full was sold out!

I saw that! I’m wondering if it is just saying Sold Out until they update the page. It still has 5:30 as the start time.

 

[michigandergirl]

I've never been to Blizzard Beach, so that's cool, but I'm thinking EE will be a no-go for me. Maybe I'll shoot for riding TOT instead.

 

[Desdemona924]

I saw that! I’m wondering if it is just saying Sold Out until they update the page. It still has 5:30 as the start time.

I feel like that may be the answer. I looked at the site just after I saw the blog post and it was still available. Unless a bunch of people were really sold on it because of the new 5:00 start time....

 

[huskies90]

Is it possible they are significantly changing the course? Could Toy Story Land and/or Galaxy's Edge be added? And although they just mentioned the marathon, I would not be surprised if the other races change, too. I love how they announce the changes but then don't tell people what they are. lol

 

[PrincessV]

Little mock-up to give myself a sense of the scale of mileage that BB *might* unlock:

View attachment 437214

I've been playing with it, too, and got nearly the same. The hitch I keep running into is getting back onto Osceola on the correct side to enter WWOS. They don't usually close Osceola in both directions, do they? I think they'd have to in order to get us across.

 

[jennamfeo]

I'm not ready to commit to Goofy so if that sells out you can find me at DATW.

 

[GuinnessRunner]

I've been playing with it, too, and got nearly the same. The hitch I keep running into is getting back onto Osceola on the correct side to enter WWOS. They don't usually close Osceola in both directions, do they? I think they'd have to in order to get us across.

Could they just close off W. Beuna Vista up to BB? After AK runners would take off ramp from Osceola to W. Beuna Vista, run through BB, then come back down Beuna Vista and use on-ramp to get back on Osceola heading toward WWOS.

 

[SarahDisney]

https://www.certifiedroadraces.com/certificate/?type=l&id=FL96001WN
This is the certified course from the last time (to my knowledge) that the marathon went through Blizzard Beach. I've run every year since 2006 and have never run through Blizzard Beach. I am wondering what the 30 minutes earlier will do to Everest riding and I also wonder what the Epcot construction will do for the full finish. I think we had a sneak preview last year for the half.

Oh cool, I didn't realize the course ran through 4 parks pre-AK! That's kinda fun.

On a side note - I didn't realize that the full was sold out!

If you log into runDisney, you can still register. So I'm guessing they're just saying that temporarily.

I'm super curious what the course will look like. The idea of fewer highway miles actually interests me ... but I don't know if they're really cutting out a lot of highway or cutting out parts of the other parks to put in Blizzard Beach.

Also ... didn't the marathon used to go through Epcot first? Any thoughts on whether they're bringing that back and that's the extra Epcot they mentioned?

 

[StarGirl11]

You know it’s funny because I always wondered what it would be like to run through Blizzard Beach but it’s not something I actually thought they would ever do?

I’m also not happy at all about the loss of race retreat. Part of the entire appeal of that was it being indoors and they took that away. Sometimes I wonder if they even know what sells the extra stuff. If it still gives me early entry to expo I’ll probably pay for it but I’m not going to be happy.

Honestly the less time in WWOS the happier I am. I just hope they don’t have us going up the hills where the slides are. That will be a royal pain if they do.

 

[steph0808]

I've never been to Blizzard Beach, so that's cool, but I'm thinking EE will be a no-go for me. Maybe I'll shoot for riding TOT instead.

I could get behind this plan. With a 5am start from corral C (where I will most likely be), and I just looked that EMH are happening at DHS from 8-9am, I might be able to time it just right to hit ToT around park opening. I would totally detour to ride my favorite ride during the marathon.

 

[Barca33Runner]

I’m withholding judgment. I can’t say I’m optimistic or pessimistic at this point. It does, however, specifically state “less time on the roads outside the parks.” This is pretty unambiguous language. Just hope it doesn’t mean “add 2 miles blizzard beach, subtract 1.9 MK, HS, AK”.

I like the 5 AM change. That early is too early, regardless, so it doesn’t make much difference to me. I like being done earlier.

 

[camaker]

Not super thrilled about the earlier start, but, well, so many people have been clamoring for a night race it's good to see RunDisney listen!!

This will be my 5th time running the marathon and, while I love the course, there is definitely room for improvement. If the promise of less highway time and more parks time pans out, it should be a step forward. Particularly if they can get rid of the out and back section before AK. I'm just hoping that this isn't some mechanism to allow them to skip over DHS while still claiming to run through 4 parks. I'll be very interested to see what the course map looks like when it comes out. Reserving judgement until then.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I’m withholding judgment. I can’t say I’m optimistic or pessimistic at this point. It does, however, specifically state “less time on the roads outside the parks.” This is pretty unambiguous language. Just hope it doesn’t mean “add 2 miles blizzard beach, subtract 1.9 MK, HS, AK”.

I like the 5 AM change. That early is too early, regardless, so it doesn’t make much difference to me. I like being done earlier.

They can't really cut much of anything from DHS if they want to run the course through that park since it barely goes through there now. I agree on the 5:00am change. The only difference between a 5:00am start and a 5:30am start is that I finish earlier. That works for me since sleepy, tired, and exhausted are part of the equation no matter what.

Hopefully we're mostly excited when the course map comes out meaning that we get more time in Epcot, still go through World Showcase, less time on the highways, and the same or more time in all the theme parks and Blizzard Beach. Let's hope that Blizzard Beach pluses the course as opposed to taking something away from it.