WL/GF Transportation Meetup?

[Tymeece]

My family and I will be staying at Wilderness Lodge and my sister and her family will be staying at Grand Floridian. How can they meetup on Marathon day if not early in the morning to cheer? Does WL do boats or buses to MK or TTC that early? If so, they could meet on the monorail loop. Does anyone know what the transportation looks like early from WL besides the bus to the race?

 

[GuinnessRunner]

As I recall, other than transportation to the race start, all other transportation runs at it's normal times at the resorts which usually starts about an hour before the park opening time (maybe a bit more than that). It's been awhile since I stayed at WL for MW, but I don't recall the boat running early for spectators.

So depending on what time they want to meet and where, they will likely need to use either a rental car (which could have parking issues if trying to meet at another hotel) or Uber/Lyft. To get to another hotel, I've used Uber/Lyft and it was super easy and not that expensive. If they are trying to get to MK to spectate, remember that Uber/Lyft (other than Minnie Vans) can only drop off now at the TTC, so the other option is getting dropped off at Contemporary and walking from there (with bonus that race passes through there too). Walkway from GF to MK has been closed lately for construction and not sure if it will re-open by January.

 

[Tymeece]

Thanks for the response. I assumed something like that would have to happen.

 

[RunDisney Matriarch]

I would recommend a family meet up at the Epcot monorail station if everyone is willing to get going early. For a 2023 half-marathon that I wasn't running, I took the bus to Epcot with the runners to give them a good send-off and then a big group of us were able to hop on the monorail from Epcot to the TTC. We all had to wait a bit at the TTC (cast members had set up a proper queue), but then we were able to take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Again, there was a bit of a wait and a huge number of us queued up outside the entrance to the park, but then we were able to enter the park and line the pathway to the castle. It's crowded but the mood is so cheerful and celebratory that it's worth it and cheering all the runners on was so much fun. (I had our runner text us once she ran under the "Magic Kingdom" sign to give us an idea on her timing and so I could tell her where to look for me.) After that I had more than enough time to take the monorails back to TTC/Epcot, get a coffee and snack, and wait to cheer her across the finish line. Good luck on your race!

 

[Tymeece]

I would recommend a family meet up at the Epcot monorail station if everyone is willing to get going early. For a 2023 half-marathon that I wasn't running, I took the bus to Epcot with the runners to give them a good send-off and then a big group of us were able to hop on the monorail from Epcot to the TTC. We all had to wait a bit at the TTC (cast members had set up a proper queue), but then we were able to take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Again, there was a bit of a wait and a huge number of us queued up outside the entrance to the park, but then we were able to enter the park and line the pathway to the castle. It's crowded but the mood is so cheerful and celebratory that it's worth it and cheering all the runners on was so much fun. (I had our runner text us once she ran under the "Magic Kingdom" sign to give us an idea on her timing and so I could tell her where to look for me.) After that I had more than enough time to take the monorails back to TTC/Epcot, get a coffee and snack, and wait to cheer her across the finish line. Good luck on your race!

Thanks, that helps…We have usually been together so this is a new wrinkle