Bonjour David,
Welcome to planDisney and thank you for asking us a great question! I’m so happy to help you plan your first visit to Walt Disney World Resort!
I’m lucky enough to be able to participate in almost every
runDisney race weekend, so I completely understand your concern about the impact that my fellow runners and I will have on crowd levels at the Disney Parks.
I attended this year’s
Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend and I attended last year’s Inaugural
runDisney Springtime Surprise Race Weekend. My first comment is that this year’s Marathon weekend was particularly busy for a whole host of reasons. First, these races sold out within minutes because this was the 30th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Marathon and the 10th anniversary of the Dopey Challenge, involving runners who make the Dopey decision to run all 4 races during the weekend… myself included!
Second, the Marathon weekend took place at the end of the busy Christmas holiday season. This is always a busy time at Walt Disney World Resort and, when combined with the Marathon’s anniversary events, I think that made for a much busier weekend than usual, both in terms of previous Marathon weekends but also as compared to other runDisney race weekends.
All this to say, although crowd levels can be hard to predict, I’d be surprised if the crowd levels during this year’s Springtime Surprise Race Weekend will be anywhere near those from the Marathon weekend in January. From what I understand, the Disney Pixar Toy Story 10-Miler only sold out in the past few weeks and not on registration day, which is markedly different from the experience runners had for the Marathon. That said, there is a chance that the crowd levels will be higher than last year’s edition because it falls on the weekend after Easter. I understand that several schools, especially in Florida, have a week off post-Easter Sunday. That said, I think that both “race” and “non-race” Guests will likely be gone by April 17th, which means that you should see lighter crowds for the second half of your trip.
I hope my answer helps you plan the perfect vacation for you and your family. Please don’t hesitate to come back and see us if you have any other questions. Et n’oubliez pas que
vous pouvez également nous poser des questions en Français!
Have a Magical Day,
Lynne