Hello, Katie! Thanks for bringing your question to the Disney Parks Moms Panel. How exciting that your Walt Disney World Resort arrival date is just a week away!
While I love your plan of enjoying that delicious Tonga Toast from Capt. Cook’s or Kona Cafe at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort prior to Magic Kingdom Park’s 9 a.m. opening on Sunday, Jan. 13, please be advised that you may experience significant transportation delays as you make your way to the Magic Kingdom Park’s Parking Lot. While this area is within the
first four miles of the 26.2-mile
Walt Disney World Marathon course, it may not be completely clear by the typical 8 a.m. Auto Plaza opening time. In that event, traffic will be stopped or re-routed through clearly-marked detours. You may be able to check your My Disney Experience App for push notifications about traffic issues that morning, but I don’t think there are any live updates when roads re-open.
Looking at the time stamp on my photos from this course in 2016, I was running through the Magic Kindom Park’s Auto Plaza entrance at 6:57 a.m. and passed Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort at 8:05 a.m. I can also see from my photos that the road into Magic Kingdom Park’s Auto Plaza was open to vehicle traffic when I looped back around World Drive at 8:40 a.m.
My best advice to you would be to plan to arrive at the Auto Plaza around 8 a.m. but to be prepared to stop or take a detour before you get there. Once you’re able to make your way to the Transportation and Ticket Center, hop on the Resort Monorail and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort will be your first stop.
I wish you the best of luck (and I really hope your plan comes together)!
Amy