Marathon Weekend 2022

[pluto377]

SAFD- small world and Peter Pan. I can’t pick just one. I honestly love just about everything on that list! Never been to the shooting arcade though. Something to check out in jan if it’s open!

 

[GuinnessRunner]

SAFD: Love Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise, but going to have to go with Dumbo, especially in the original location. Something about flying around at night and seeing all the lights of Magic Kingdom.

 

[Barca33Runner]

Jungle Cruise. I've said it once, and I've said it more than twice, and I'll say it again, the terrible jokes and the guests that don't understand them are the best.

As someone who is basically a walking awkward social interaction it brings me great joy to watch a full boat of strangers get a ride length taste of what my life is like every waking second.

 

[MissLiss279]

SAFD: I’m going to go with Tiki Room. I have nostalgia from the song that my sister and I listened to a lot growing up, so I always have to go watch it. Jungle Cruise is a close second

 

[run.minnie.miles]

SAFD: It’s a Small World! I’ve always enjoyed it, but watching my 1yo absolutely love it, it’s now a favorite. (I like DL’s better but we’re an equal opportunity SW viewing family.)

 

[PrincessV]

SAFD: PeopleMover! Gave it some 50th bday love the other day

 

[marty3d]

SAFD: HM or Jungle Cruise - do I have to pick one? If I have to it's the Mansion. Hurry back....hurry back....

 

[Cabius]

SAFD: Tropical Serenade (now Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room) has to be it for me.

I did notice that Peter Pan's Flight is on this list, but it actually debuted two days later on October 3rd. Maybe still close enough to count, though!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

97. Running around the world multiple times in 4 days. Pretty sure this experience is going to ruin all future runs for me.

I'm definitely going to have to check this out!!

I had all these plans to cross the finish line with it, but since it tasted so incredibly wondrous, spectacular, life changing, and heavenly, I finished it before reaching Future World.

SAFD: I had a few different answers for various reasons, but I ultimately decided that since this is a marathon weekend thread, I am going to choose the fireworks. I always finish off the day of a race by watching fireworks. Either at Disneyland, Epcot (Illuminations), or the Magic Kingdom. Initially, I was not the biggest fan of Happily Ever After. While I thought it was a tremendous pyrotechnic display, it didn't hit the right nostalgic notes for me and so could not measure up to other tremendous pyrotechnic displays that also hit the right emotional notes for me.

And then I watched Happily Ever After following the marathon. And let's just say that Go The Distance just hit very, very differently that night and completely changed my perception of the show because now it landed emotionally with me. So when I think of Walt Disney World attractions that just hit all the feels from a running perspective, fireworks deliver every single time.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Safd: probably the carousel. We went to WDW when I was 5 and I remember that (have a pic!) and IASW. There’s a little bit of magic in watching the carousel go around and trying to pick out the exact horse or animal you want to ride.

Apparently I’m still riding the endorphin wave from Saturday. Is Dopey significantly harder than goofy? DH didn’t say no, but he did say “I’d like one day where we can go do stuff while we are down there together besides watch you sleep and recover .”

 

[camaker]

Safd: probably the carousel. We went to WDW when I was 5 and I remember that (have a pic!) and IASW. There’s a little bit of magic in watching the carousel go around and trying to pick out the exact horse or animal you want to ride.

Apparently I’m still riding the endorphin wave from Saturday. Is Dopey significantly harder than goofy? DH didn’t say no, but he did say “I’d like one day where we can go do stuff while we are down there together besides watch you sleep and recover .”

The only thing significantly harder about Dopey is the two extra days of getting up at 2-3 am. In my experience, Dopey is as much about fatigue management in how you approach the races as it is about the mileage. Having done both Goofy and Dopey, I’ll always choose Dopey, given the chance. I feel much more connected with the race weekend and environment doing Dopey and feel like I’ve missed out on part of the experience when I’ve “just” done Goofy. Everyone has their own, valid, approach to the race weekend and the events, though, so it will come down to what your priorities and desires are.

 

[kshu2014]

I'm considering signing up for my first Dopey Challenge, but want to make sure I'm ready before committing 100%. Does anyone know if the registration tends to sell out weeks before the race, or am I safe to wait until a little closer to race day?

 

[camaker]

I'm considering signing up for my first Dopey Challenge, but want to make sure I'm ready before committing 100%. Does anyone know if the registration tends to sell out weeks before the race, or am I safe to wait until a little closer to race day?

It’s impossible to say with any certainty. There have been years when Dopey has sold out quickly and years where it has been available into December. There’s no way of knowing how many bibs might still be available since they did away with the percentage full bars on the website. Personally, I’d be a little leery of waiting too long. Travel restrictions are being relaxed little by little and every time that happens it opens registration up to a new population of international runners that may have had to wait and see if they’d be allowed to make the trip.

 

[kshu2014]

It’s impossible to say with any certainty. There have been years when Dopey has sold out quickly and years where it has been available into December. There’s no way of knowing how many bibs might still be available since they did away with the percentage full bars on the website. Personally, I’d be a little leery of waiting too long. Travel restrictions are being relaxed little by little and every time that happens it opens registration up to a new population of international runners that may have had to wait and see if they’d be allowed to make the trip.

This is helpful, thank you! I will try one of my longer upcoming runs and see how I feel. Hopefully good enough to bite the bullet!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Apparently I’m still riding the endorphin wave from Saturday. Is Dopey significantly harder than goofy? DH didn’t say no, but he did say “I’d like one day where we can go do stuff while we are down there together besides watch you sleep and recover .”

To tack on to what @camaker said, Dopey is a much larger commitment towards the vacation experience than is Goofy. Depending on how you respond to two additional 2-3am wakeup calls, running 5k/10k, and then going about the rest of your day. So you can probably accomplish more theme park stuff on a similar number of vacation days between Goofy vs Dopey. I think a Dopey Challenge race weekend vacation tends to be more race centric (doesn't have to be for everyone, but I'd say a majority of people), whereas a Goofy Challenge race weekend vacation tends to have more Disney other stuff to it. From personal experience, my Dopey Challenge weekends were PR level efforts on all four races, and then 99% attendance to a full commando level Disney theme park effort as well (rope drops to near close, I'd usually duck out around 5-7pm). It was the agreement between my spouse and I that the running was my own thing, but the vacation would not be altered much for everyone else from a normal Disney vacation based on my running activities.

If you suffer even an ounce of FOMO (and some people do, and others don't), then you may feel "left out" if you do Goofy instead of Dopey. That just tends to be a common feeling amongst FOMO type people when it comes to Marathon Weekend. But only you are going to know that about yourself. It did not bother me at all in 2020 when I did the marathon as a solo event after having done Dopey five times prior. In fact, part of me really cherishes my Dopey 2018 experience because of what I was able to accomplish, but a small part of me wishes I might have completely ditched the three prior events and used that uber level of fitness I had on the marathon as a solo event. It's a little bit of my own, "What If...?"

From a race standpoint and training standpoint, the effect of a 5k/10k is minimal comparatively to a HM and M. So from a training perspective, there's little difference between a good marathon training plan, Goofy training plan, or Dopey training plan. From a racing standpoint, an "A" level effort (which would be unusual but not unheard of during Dopey) for the 5k would need about 1.5 days recovery and 10k would need 3 days recovery. Compare that to a HM which needs 7 days recovery and a M which needs 14 days recovery, and you can see the effect of an "A" level effort at 5k or 10k is minimal comparatively. But if you don't even do an "A" level effort, then the effect of running 5k or 10k the day prior to a HM/M event is going to be close to normal training volume in prep for a HM/M event anyways. So it's not necessarily that running an extra 9.3 miles to the 39.3 miles is that much more difficult from a pure running standpoint.

Like @camaker, I think it comes down to your priorities and desires for the Disney vacation.

 

[1lilspark]

SAFD haunted mansion & CBJamz have huge spaces in my heart

I’m just !!!! About a post 10K medal picture with Mickey as select character meets are coming back sometime in November

 

[PkbaughAR]

SAFD: Skyway to Tomorrowland! I second everyone else’s favorites too! But this ride seemed extra magical -to get a bird’s eye view of everyone below!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Apparently I’m still riding the endorphin wave from Saturday. Is Dopey significantly harder than goofy? DH didn’t say no, but he did say “I’d like one day where we can go do stuff while we are down there together besides watch you sleep and recover .”

As others have said, the racing and training impact is minimal. But Dopey has the potential to "consume" your vacation and even if it does not consume your vacation, it absolutely will alter it.

Plan on bib and packet pickup taking at least 2 hours, possibly more depending on how you feel about race merchandise and such. Plus you never know what lines will actually look like. For Dopey, you need to pick those items up on Wednesday along with all other Dopey runners. If you want/need to go to bed earlier for a race, then running Dopey means the early bedtimes start on Wednesday. Now, after the 5K/10K you can still get a lot of quality park time in since those races do not wipe out entire mornings and at least part of the early afternoon depending on how fast you are. I've never taken a nap after a race unless you count attraction naps including, but not limited to It's a Small Nap After All, The Frozen Nap Along, and my personal favorite Impressions de Nap complete with beautiful classical music and a relaxing vibe.

@kshu2014 I agree with @camaker If you wait too long, you run the very real risk of missing out entirely. Because of the 50th anniversary medals, I think that Dopey will sell out sooner than it usually does especially if they do decide to break up some Dopey bibs to sell more individual bibs. I've noticed that some of the virtual races sold out a lot faster this year than last year even though medals were revealed before some of the virtual races last year and in some cases have yet to be revealed for next year.

 

[Novatrix]

10k is open again in case anyone is interested.

 

[kshu2014]

And gone already too!