Hi everyone, how’s it going?
I’m heading to Orlando with my family in January, and we’ll be hitting both the marathon and MLK weekend. I’m not sure which Disney park would be best to “sacrifice” on the 16th, since I can’t avoid all the super busy days. We’re also planning to visit the Universal parks—do they get packed during the marathon weekend too? Or is it just Disney that gets crazy? We won’t stay at WDW, so I’m hoping to avoid the Disney traffic as much as possible, since it might take ages to get there.
Any tips or advice would be much appreciated—thank you!
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Welcome to the Forum! I wonder if @FelisLachesis or @DumboRunner can answer your questions about marathon weekend, since I know they have been in Orlando for that.
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The 16th is on a Friday, so I don’t see that day being really much busier than any normal Friday. It’s that weekend (17-18-19) that I would be more worried about.
I don’t think that Marathon Weekend would have a huge impact on Universal. Maybe a small bump, but most of the Disney people will stay there and not venture up north. A few will, but not everyone. And the only day where Disney traffic may get nutty during MW would be Sunday, as there are a lot of road closures. But Disney is really good about getting traffic to a spot that’s mostly convenient for the conditions. The other races will be long since over before the parks open, so none of them should be an issue regarding traffic.
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I was actually typing something up when you replied 
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I knew @laurajanot_873718’s question needed expert advice – which I do not have. 
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Saturday could be rough in the morning too since runners have 4 hours to finish the half and the last runners won’t cross the start line for 45min to an hour after the first corral does. On both Saturday and Sunday you should give yourself more time to navigate the roads than you might think you need, especially the roads between Epcot and MK. Yes, Disney does a great job of re-directing traffic, but for some 4-5 hours on Saturday beginning around 5am and 8-9 hours on Sunday beginning around 4am there will be roads and exits/entrances not available for car traffic because they are part of the race routes.
And unless you think it fun to see runners in the park and don’t mind being held to let them pass, you should avoid Epcot on Sunday morning. Unless you want to cheer for me 
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