Hello! We tried and failed to get my husband in for the Dopey Challenge. The tech issues and then I was at work, so I couldn’t babysit the site as much. But, we are keeping our trip as planned. We have so many questions regarding holidays and marathon crowds and special activities.
We have our parks reserved beginning Dec 31 thru Jan 8.
12/31 Check-in at POP; MK
01/01 MK
01/02 HS
01/03 EP
01/04 AK
01/05 MK
01/06 HS
01/07 AK
01/08 EP
01/09 Travel Home
We were hoping to do a monorail crawl, which I have asked about previously. However, now I’m thinking of crowds and curious if there will be a special ticket party for NYE.
If we have our Park Reservation, is that a guarantee to get in with large crowds, say if we arrive late afternoon or evening?
Yes, we have been 2x before, but we have always RD the beginning of our 2nd day. We have not arrived at a park late in the day.
With these dates including NYE and Marathon Week, do the park days seem appropriate? Is a Monorail Crawl worth it during such a busy time? Bars/Lounges full of people non-stop?
This trip is just my husband and I, we will have G+ and we will RD, trying to tackle as much as possible in the mornings, and then casual strolls in the afternoon to take in all the details we missed previously while attending to kiddos desires.
Thanks for any and all info! We appreciate all the news and tips/tricks we learn from all of you!!
I am sorry to her about DH missing Dopey. It was a nightmare trying to get a bib. Also having the runDisney site crash for a few hours did not help either.
Not sure if it helps right now, but keep checking the Marathon Weekend website. Thursday last week they opened up registration again. (It is closed right now). I have also heard that some charities may still have bibs. Maybe give that a shot.
As for the park days you selected…
01/07 is Half Marathon Day. Heading to AK maybe be a good choice. The runners will be between EP and MK during the morning.
01/08 is Marathon day. Expect additional crowding, delays and partial walkway closures for those running that day. If I recall from January, You will see a lot of people filtering in through IG, circling world showcase and exiting up near SE.
Few questions…
When is the best time to start online check-in? I have the TP room request ready, if I add to the Disney request, I need to copy or leave alone, correct? So as not to over-ride anything?
We are driving and will be staying at Lake City before our check-in date of Dec 31, so the drive in won’t be too long really.
Is there a planning method that works best to have a rough draft of the day…or a combo of all? The TP Plans, BG1, or G+? I have been toying with BG1 and may have a good handle of it. We will plan to do ILL and LL as a backstacking method, and yes, RD pretty much every morning.
If we are wanting to do a monorail crawl on Dec 31, will the lounges be packed and hard to get in? We had hoped to go to DS and try JLHB, and then monorail crawl, arriving at MK around 6-8pm.
And finally, crowds and reservations. We have a park res, does that guarantee entry on a CL 10 type of day, such as NYE, even if we aim for 6-8pm? And how does the forum feel crowd levels will be during marathon week? Massive crazy?
