Walt Disney World Marathon 2027 Hotels: Which Ones Get Disney's Race-Morning Bus
By Matt Spaulding · November 10, 2026
Photo: Raman Patel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
If you have a bib and want Disney's bus on race morning, look at the three Disney resorts first. On 10 November, Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge each offered a room on all four nights a Dopey runner needs, 6 to 9 January. The Walt Disney World Swan offered Thursday 7 through Saturday 9. Across the causeway, marriott.com marked every January date at the Walt Disney World Dolphin "Not available for check-in".
Those five are the ones runDisney's FAQ clearly covers: "Disney transportation is only available for Guests staying in a hotel at Walt Disney World Resort, Shades of Green® or Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort." The other seven hotels in this guide should ask. The same FAQ tells their guests to "Check with your hotel for shuttle service to the event or consider a private car service option."
Race week is 6 to 10 January 2027
Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend runs 6 to 10 January 2027. The 5K is Thursday 7 January, the 10K Friday 8, the Half Marathon Saturday 9 and the Marathon Sunday 10. Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge covers 9 and 10 January, and the Dopey Challenge 7 to 10 January. All of them were marked "Sold Out" on runDisney's site on 10 November 2026. Marathon runners need a bed on Saturday 9 January. Dopey runners need four nights, Wednesday 6 through Saturday 9. Those are the nights we checked, on each hotel's own booking screen, for two adults and one night at a time unless noted.
The marathon page gives the start as "4:30 AM Eastern Time." Race-morning bus times and parking go in runDisney's 2027 Digital Expo & Event Guide, which isn't posted yet. The page says "Check back closer to the event for a link to this year's guide."
The runDisney pages we read don't name a 2027 start area either. One unaffiliated Disney travel blog puts the start and finish in a portion of EPCOT's parking lot, so the drive times here run to EPCOT's main-entrance lots (OpenStreetMap's "Charter Bus Parking, Epcot entrance left-outside"). They are free-flow routing estimates, with no traffic and no race-morning road closures.
You collect your bib at the runDisney Health & Fitness Expo at least one day before your first race. It's open Wednesday 6 January 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday 7 and Friday 8 January noon to 7 p.m., and Saturday 9 January 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dopey runners start Thursday, so Wednesday is their only expo day. A marathon-only runner can leave it until Saturday, before the doors shut at 3.
Hotels on Disney's race transportation
Disney's resort list showed Animal Kingdom Lodge at a Standard Rate every night, Saturday 9 January included. That same night it marked Pop Century and several other resorts "unavailable for the dates, party size or offer selected." None of the three Disney resorts here charges a resort fee, though the Polynesian may charge for adults past two. Self-parking is free at all three, and valet is $42/night plus tax. We have no drive time for them. Their guests ride Disney's transportation anyway.
The Swan's one gap is Wednesday 6 January, which Marriott's rate calendar marked "Not available for check-in." That's the Dopey runner's night before the 5K. Goofy runners need Friday and Saturday, marathon runners only Saturday, and the Swan offered both. The Dolphin's calendar gave no reason for its blank January.
Both charge a $50/night plus tax resort fee, and at the Swan it applies on points stays too. The Swan's calendar footer reads "All rates include 50 USD per night Resort Fee." Self-parking is $40/night plus tax at the Swan and $40/day plus tax at the Dolphin, and guests of either park free at the parks. EPCOT's lots are an 8-minute drive from the Swan and 10 from the Dolphin.
Hotels to ask about a race shuttle
Ask each of these about a race-morning shuttle before you book. Five of the seven offered a room on all four nights.
Walt Disney World Swan Reserve is across Epcot Resorts Boulevard from the Swan and Dolphin, 8 minutes from EPCOT's lots, and Marriott's calendar offered it all four nights. The resort fee is the same $50/night plus tax as its neighbors, and self-parking is $40/night plus tax. The FAQ names the Swan and Dolphin. It doesn't name the Reserve.
Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace is a 13-minute drive, and Hilton's flexible-dates calendar offered all four nights. Self-parking is $38/night plus tax. The $41/night plus tax resort fee includes an hourly theme-park shuttle, and nothing we read says it runs on race morning.
Hilton's booking page title calls Signia by Hilton Orlando "An Official Walt Disney World Hotel." Ask whether that makes it a "hotel at Walt Disney World Resort" in the FAQ's sense. It's 15 minutes from EPCOT's lots, and its calendar offered all four nights. Expect a $50/night plus tax resort fee. Self-parking is $40/night plus tax, valet $60.
Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista offered all four nights as well. It's also 15 minutes out, with the same $41/night plus tax resort fee as the Buena Vista Palace and self-parking at ~$35–38/night plus tax. All three Hilton calendars marked some January nights sold out, every one of them after race weekend.
From Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando Disney Springs it's 14 minutes to EPCOT's lots. There's no resort fee. Parking is $28/night, self-parking only, and the hotel's own booking engine offered a room on all four nights.
Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World has Walt Disney World in its name, and the FAQ doesn't say whether that's enough. Ask. Its reservation page opened behind a banner whose only buttons accept its Legal Notice, and we didn't click them, so we can't say whether it has rooms. Parking is valet only, and the resort fee is $60/night plus tax.
Evermore Orlando Resort refused a one-night stay on all four dates. For 9 January the screen said "Your check-in/check-out combination is not available on January 9, 2027," and the other three nights got the same message with their own dates. A two-night search from Friday 8 to Sunday 10 January did list rooms, which covers a marathon runner's Saturday. Parking is free, capped per unit: two cars for a Flat or Villa, about half the bedroom count for a House. Evermore's All-In-One Fee is charged once per stay.
The other runDisney weekends
runDisney's menu lists Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend, 25 February to 1 March 2027, and runDisney Springtime Surprise Weekend, 8 to 11 April 2027. The room checks on this page are for January only. The rest of the hotels near the parks are on the Disney World page, and holiday trips have their own Orlando Christmas week guide.
