New to runDisney

[ownedby3labs]

Hi , I am new to Disney runs and I have a few questions. I am planning to attend the Marathon Weekend Jan 2017. My sister nephew and I plan to run the 5k and 10k and my brother in law plans to do the Dopey Challenge.
My first question is, is there a way to make sure that my sister nephew (age12) and I will be assigned to the same corral for the 5 &10? Given his age , we want to make sure we are together .
My other question is , has anyone stayed off site? We are coming from Canada and want to stay for 12-14 days. We would like to rent a villa in the Champions Gate area but are concerned about travelling in for the races. In your experience is it doable?
Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Ariel484]

I've never stayed offsite, but I know others have and have been fine with it...hopefully they'll chime in.

For the corralling during the 5K and 10K, if you guys are assigned to different corrals, whoever is in the higher corral can drop back to the later corral and you can run together (example: if you're in corral B and your nephew is in corral C, you can drop back to C to run with him. But he cannot come up to B to run with you).

 

[ownedby3labs]

Thanks so much ! You have put my mind at ease.

 

[ZellyB]

We've stayed offsite for Marathon weekend a couple of times and we had no problems driving in. We stayed in Windsor Hills one time and Emerald Island the other (both off Hwy 192). Both are about a 10-15 minute drive to get onto Disney property.

We did make sure to leave the condos pretty early to avoid any traffic tie ups. I think we left our condos somewhere between 3 and 3:30 and never encountered any traffic and we were in the Epcot parking lots in 15-20 minutes. Super easy. Then we just hung out in the car for awhile until we were ready to head for the corrals. I think if you wait until later to drive in the traffic can get bad and that would make me a nervous wreck, so I'd plan on getting up and heading in early. As long as you do that, you should be fine.

 

[PrincessV]

When you register, you'll be asked to enter an anticipated pace - if you enter the same pace for all parties, it will help get you all into the same corral. If that doesn't work and you do wind up in different corrals, everyone just drops back to the one furthest back. No problem!

I stay offsite frequently for WDW races and it's very easy. Just follow directions to wherever the start is (historically that's been Epcot for the Jan. 5K and 10K). Be sure to leave plenty of time for travel, though: roads are closed and traffic gets backed up the later you go. I like to use this formula: the time race buses start running (info will be in final instructions) plus however long it takes to get to WDW property.

 

[ownedby3labs]

That is great to hear. We have no problem with leaving early . Thanks for your help!