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Tournament, round one: Walt Disney World's top marathon weekends

By Robert Niles
Published: March 16, 2011 at 8:54 AM
I love to see theme parks try new concepts for special events, especially ones that expand the role of parks in out-of-home entertainment. I also like to see parks challenge the stereotype of theme parks as "passive" vacations. So you'll find no better examples of events that do both of these things than the Walt Disney World Resort's top two long-distance running events.

Disney promotes many athletic events throughout the year; I just selected what appear to be the two most popular. And don't think that these events are simply foot races. Disney's built these races into entire weekends of events, earning them not just spots in this tournament, but the loyalty of thousands of fans, who train year-round and book family vacations around these events.

But you've got to choose just one: Disney's Princess Half Marathon Weekend or the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. Which one is your choice?


The vote is open until noon Eastern (9 am Pacific) Thursday. Round up your fellow runners and bring them to this page to vote! I'm sure that all Theme Park Insider readers would love to hear any first-hand reports about these weekends, in the comments, too!

Readers' Opinions

From Joshua Counsil on March 16, 2011 at 4:14 PM
Can I vote both down? Every time I've encountered them, they've had the marathons cutting through Epcot, stagnating the flow of people.

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