Fly in the ointment - SF Marathon

5

5 Disney Fans

DIS Veteran

Joined

Apr 10, 2006

• Apr 26, 2015

• #1

We are flying in on July 24th. I was figuring on the 25th we would do early bird Alcatraz (coming from the East Coast I though jet lag could work in our favor) , cable cars, China Town, walking around the city etc.. And on the 26th I was thinking Walt Disney Family Museum, walk across Golden Gate Bridge, and then go to Golden Gate State Park. Then I read in a guidebook that the SF Marathon takes place the last weekend in July so I went to their website and sure enough it is scheduled for the 26th so no way we can walk across the bridge. Does anyone know if there are activities that would close the bridge on the 25th too?

 

D

DaretoDis

Mouseketeer

Joined

Oct 29, 2013

• Apr 26, 2015

• #2

I ran the marathon a bunch of years ago, and I don't recall that they completely closed the bridge. Even if they did, the race starts early enough that you should be able to walk it by mid morning.

 

StageTek

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.

Joined

Apr 20, 2007

• Apr 27, 2015

• #3

Terrible day to be driving around the city. GREAT day to be walking around the city. The Golden Gate will restrict car traffic until about 10AM. But not for pedestrians. What a great time to walk across.

 

5

5 Disney Fans

DIS Veteran

Joined

Apr 10, 2006

• Apr 27, 2015

• #4

Love these boards!! thanks so much for the replies

About driving.... I was planning on driving to the Presidio and walking to bridge (and over) and then going to The Walt Disney Family Museum from there. I'm staying at the Columbus Motor Inn by the Fisherman's Warf. Would it be too much of a nightmare to drive?

 

StageTek

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.

Joined

Apr 20, 2007

• Apr 27, 2015

• #5

The closer you get to the route the more of a nightmare it will be. EVERYONE wants to park close. But after 1PM everything will pretty much return to normal in the area.

 

bcla

On our rugged Eastern foothills.....

Joined

Nov 28, 2012

• Apr 27, 2015

• #6

5 Disney Fans said:

And on the 26th I was thinking Walt Disney Family Museum, walk across Golden Gate Bridge, and then go to Golden Gate State Park.

Click to expand...

Specifically where are you trying to visit? There is Golden Gate Park, which is a large city park on the western side of San Francisco. That's got a lot of stuff, including a couple of museums, a botanical garden, big lawn areas, a large historic greenhouse, and a Japanese style tea garden. Then there's the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which is a combination of many different areas, although the most visited are the Presidio (includes the Walt Disney Family Museum), Alcatraz, and the Marin Headlands. I visit these areas a lot. If you want to take a short walk, I recommend Crissy Field in the Presidio. It's got great views of the bridge.

Golden Gate Park is about 3 to 4 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

5

5 Disney Fans

DIS Veteran

Joined

Apr 10, 2006

• Apr 28, 2015

• #7

Specifically, I was thinking of parking at Precidio to go to the museum and maybe walk over and then across the bridge from there. Then later, going to Golden Gate state park to visit the tea garden and botanical garden. I thought those three things together would take up the better part of a day.

 

bcla

On our rugged Eastern foothills.....

Joined

Nov 28, 2012

• Apr 28, 2015

• #8

5 Disney Fans said:

Specifically, I was thinking of parking at Precidio to go to the museum and maybe walk over and then across the bridge from there. Then later, going to Golden Gate state park to visit the tea garden and botanical garden. I thought those three things together would take up the better part of a day.

Click to expand...

It's a heck of a walk from the Main Post where the WDFM is to the Golden Gate Bridge. Google Maps says 1.5 miles one way. There's a parking lot at the bridge plaza, but all spaces are metered and I recall maybe a one or two hour limit. I haven't parked at the lot near Battery East for a while, but that's a shorter walk. I think they might charge for parking now.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/The...39783705509!2m2!1d-122.478255!2d37.819929!3e2

Here's the park map:

http://www.nps.gov/prsf/planyourvisit/upload/Pad-Map-9-14_black-b-w_bikes.pdf

Have you thought of maybe riding bikes across the bridge? There are plenty of bike rental places in San Francisco. Bikes are allowed on the western side that faces the Pacific.

 

5

5 Disney Fans

DIS Veteran

Joined

Apr 10, 2006

• May 1, 2015

• #9

wow! Thank you so much bcla for those great maps! So very helpful I would love to do the bike rental and it would work well for two of my three kids. My youngest is 10 and no matter how hard we have tried to teach her, she can't ride a bike. She has some vision issues that we suspect are the underlying cause.