I’m working on an article about the RunDisney experience. For anyone that has done a RunDisney event - I’d like to hear as much as possible about your experiences getting to the races. I’ve always used the bus from a Disney resort, so I’d especially like to hear about other options. Did you take the Monorail? Lyft? Drove yourself? If you were off property I’d also like to hear about that.
Thanks!
I was at Poly this year and so I took the monorail. It has me only ever wanting to stay there again for a runDisney event! I was in Moorea long house so I was about as close to TTC as I could get, and able to walk over to the Epcot line in a few minutes flat. I had only one other runner in my monorail car, and she was in the other half of that car. Plenty of distancing. I was whisked away and at Epcot in very short order. I left my room at 0305 and took a selfie in front of Spaceship Earth at 0326
The trip back was equally quick and (almost) painless. The main drawback was having to walk up that freakin ramp to get on the monorail. It was a long slow painful walk, and I felt woozy at the top (even laid on the ground for a moment - but don’t worry, not a single CM approached to see if I was okay).
The ease of getting there and back far exceeded my expectations. Like I said, I can’t imagine not staying at Poly for future events.
In 2018 I drove myself from Pop in a rental car. That was quick and painless too in both directions. I left my room at 3 on the nose that year and arrived with oodles of time to kill. It was frigid that year so I did like hanging out in my car to keep warm until it was really time to get to my corral.
I’ve never taken a bus - they make me nervous for some irrational reason
Thanks that is extremely helpful!
@Shellott_hill you’ve come in from off property before correct? Can you give some detail on that it you’re up for it?
This year and back in 2022 I started off my runDisney races off-property.
I started at the Holiday Inn Orlando - Disney Springs area in 2020 and The Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista in 2022.
My transportation to the runDisney events was through the use of the internal Disney bus system. To do this, I would start off at 2:30am or 2:45am from my hotel and walk over to Saratoga Springs to catch the bus.
Here is a rough outline of the path I would take:
You basically take the overpass system into Disney Springs and skirt around the outside edge of Disney Springs to the right. This will lead you over the bridge and towards Saratoga Springs. The total distance is just over a mile from the Holiday Inn.
This year I ran into an issue where they had the Disney springs pathway blocked off. They were in the middle of taking down Christmas directions and did not want people in the area. Speaking with the security guard at Disney springs allowed me to convince him to escort me and my DD over to the edge of Disney springs. This allowed us to continue our walk to Saratoga.
Hopefully this is what you were after.
I’ve done monorail, Lyft and Disney internal bus. All easy enough.
The monorail trip was for the Disney half marathon in 2014. We were staying at the Grand Floridan. It was my first Disney race and I didn’t have the support of this knowledgeable group, so I was worried about timing and probably got on the monorail too early because as @OBNurseNH reported above, the monorail was easy and quick getting to EPCOT, so there was no need to get there as early as I did. And, yes, the only down side is that darn ramp! So, if this is your option, save some energy for the EPCOT monorail ramp! (I definitely recommend doing gear check and bringing some squishy shoes for the walk)
In 2019 I did my second Disney half marathon and we stayed at the Hilton Bonnet Creek. The resort provided their own buses but I got nervous so I got a Lyft. In my memory, there were cars available and I didn’t have to wait long for the pick-up. The Lyft did get stuck in the same traffic of cars driving to the race, but I still got there in plenty of time. Looking back, I think I would have saved the money and just trusted the buses. Downside of non-Disney resort buses is you have to walk to the other side of SE to by where the regular Disney busses pick up and drop off. That’s a long walk so same advice as the monorail ramp, bring a change of shoes.
For Disney Wine and Dine 2021, I was at POP and used the Disney busses. I think you did the same so no need to really add anything other than to say, I think Disney did an excellent job in having busses ready for pick-up on both ends of the race.
For full marathon 2022, we were at the Yacht Club. I took the Disney bus to the race - no issues. My family was in EPCOT after the race so I went to the park, thinking I’d walk back to Yacht Club after meeting up with them. It seemed like a good idea at the time until we hit the United Kingdom pavilion. They were holding us because the runners were coming into Epcot at that spot There was some sort of mix up with the CMs who were letting pedestrians cross the runners’ path and we waited so long that we got to see the balloon ladies and the end of the race! I was feeling good and it was fun cheering on the runners. But this would not be a good option for someone who was pooped or injured and really wanted to get back to their room quickly. If I had to do it over again, I’d walk the other way, starting at Mexico, so I could grab a beer and pretzel in Germany for the walk back.
Hope this helps! Let us know when you get the article done and where we can read it!
Wow that ramps sounds brutal! I am staying at Poly first time ever for the princess half, also first half ever. Also first trip just me and DH since kids. It will be a trip full of firsts. I am happy to hear the rest of the transportation parts were great.
If you’re still taking thoughts…we are off property (Davenport) and drove to the start. I didn’t drop a race bag since we had our car- I liked that aspect. We arrived at 3 on the dot and parked close to front of the very far (left if you’re facing EPCOT) parking lot. It was freezing cold and I thought I’d probably die and wished I’d had either a) more toss clothing or b) stayed in my car longer. Our monorail to the start was PACKED. This was for wine & dine half nov ‘21. Lots of waiting around (maybe an hour) in the freezing cold before we went to our respective corrals for more waiting before the start. corral 1 was very uncrowded and made for an extremely pleasant running experience. DH said last corral was VERY crowded and difficult to run/hear his beeper.
