I have some clients traveling to WDW for the marathon in January. I recommended going to HS on that Sunday (the 13th) based on the crowd level you have posted. My client is running in the marathon and pointed out to me that HS is likely to be very busy since it’s the end of the race. You have it as a 3 that day and all other calendars that we look at have it at around a 7! That’s a pretty big difference! Can you tell me why it would only be a 3 while everyone else has it as a 7? And will it be really busy?
The last few miles of the race are actually in EPCOT, not HS, which is in the 22-23 range.
I tend to go to MK after I’m done running the marathon, so I can’t speak to actual crowds later in the day, but they’ve always felt manageable to me (even last year, when the whole resort was still 10s all around) during the race. There is certainly a bigger crowd outside the park than usual, because people will like up to cheer as the race is going past, but the park itself I haven’t noticed being subject to huge swells.
I can’t speak to the calendar issue… maybe we can get @len to chime in. Though I know touringplans calculates calendars based upon wait times for key attractions, not “bodies in parks”, so that could account for the difference.
As I mentioned, the race finishes through EPCOT… so if your clients are cheering on someone who is running, they should be aware the mile 25 marker is between England and France, and the last mile travels counter-clockwise around WS from there, and then heads up the main pathway to SSE.
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Hey @monicab,
The end of the race has been Epcot for as long as I can remember (here’s last year’s course map).
I’ll ask the stats team about the DHS prediction for Marathon Weekend. Last year’s crowds were higher than what we’re predicting now - about 7’s.
Len
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Marathon weekend was far closer to New Year’s last year - the winter break crowd really hadn’t gone home yet. This year we have the extra week in between, thankfully.
Exactly. And more schools are out longer into January. We’ve not seen this combination of events before. We’re looking at it.
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