Marathon Weekend 2023

[Ariel484]

So my husband is a teacher and is on spring break this week. I thought it would be a fun idea to take a day off of work this week so we could spend some non-kid time together. I had originally decided on yesterday, but changed to today because of registration…

“You’re being silly changing your day off because of runDisney registration, it’s not like it’ll take all day,” I said to myself.

And now we all know what happened. That was bizarre and I feel lucky that I didn’t have much else going on today so I could get this sorted. Managed to get myself and my brother in for the 10K and marathon. And afterward my husband and I went to brunch. You’d better believe I ordered a mimosa after that registration experience!

Also, I totally expected the 5K, 10K and Dopey to sell out today. Maybe the half. Marathon open for another day or two. I am stunned it’s all closed already??!

 

[kps7795]

I screenshotted the registration via Sophie & Madigan's Playground, one of the charities available. The whole list is here:

https://www.rundisney.com/plan-your-trip/disneyworld/travel-providers/disneyworld-marathon-weekend/

Thank you. Do you know how it might work if you want to try to raise money for a charity that is not affiliated with runDisney? My daughter is keen on raising money for some ocean related charity like Saving the Manatees etc.

 

[camaker]

Thank you. Do you know how it might work if you want to try to raise money for a charity that is not affiliated with runDisney? My daughter is keen on raising money for some ocean related charity like Saving the Manatees etc.

I find that charities rarely refuse a check...

 

[Z-Knight]

since I only signed up for myself today, can someone confirm/deny/explain how I can register in the future for another person.

Do I register like normal, register myself for one race but don't yet pay, then I get to a point where I can add a second registration for a completely different person and finally pay all together?

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Do I register like normal, register myself for one race but don't yet pay, then I get to a point where I can add a second registration for a completely different person and finally pay all together?

Yes. At the bottom is a button that says “add another registration.”

 

[Kitty-chan]

I find that charities rarely refuse a check...

Thank you. Do you know how it might work if you want to try to raise money for a charity that is not affiliated with runDisney? My daughter is keen on raising money for some ocean related charity like Saving the Manatees etc.

They rarely refuse a check, but they also don't usually like people to fundraise in their name without permission.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

I find that charities rarely refuse a check...

I know this isn’t what you mean, but the Human Rights Campaign recently refused money from Disney.

 

[fatmanatee]

This part was a little shocking to me. I admit, I don’t know anything about IT and whatever it entails, but I thought it was strange it took so long for it to get figured out. Like, they didn’t have any solutions if things got backed up? Were they that confident everything would go smoothly and they were caught off guard?? Who knows.

Had a similar situation with Ticketmaster when I was trying to buy concert tickets recently. Site was flooded, people were booted out of the queue, and they unceremoniously reopened the queue sometime later. I was lucky with refreshing and was able to get decent seats but maybe not as good as it could have been.

So, this isn't a consolation to RD, but basically what I'm saying is that signing up for races feels like Ticketmaster right now.

 

[sunshine girl]

The fact that some of the initial spots in the queue showed that the wait was an hour plus. Yet, 30 minutes later, anyone could get straight to a registration page while those that were on at the start time (10 am or 12:30 pm) were still in a queue that showed a wait time. The system was not working correctly.

I agree this is not how it should work in theory and in a perfect world, but in practice I've seen this on many Disney race registrations.

I tend to lurky-click around to see when things sell out, when the queue clears, etc., and this almost always happens to me (i.e., it reaches a point where I have a remaining queue still spinning/counting down, but I can get right in on the race website main page).

 

[sandam1]

Do you know how it might work if you want to try to raise money for a charity that is not affiliated with runDisney? My daughter is keen on raising money for some ocean related charity like Saving the Manatees etc.

You can either:
- Use the race as a reason and privately fundraise among your friends and family (i.e. I'm running x miles, would you give x amount of money?). You collect the money (or go through Facebook fundraisers) and give it to the charity.
- Contact the charity directly and see if they are willing/able to promote her fundraiser on their channels. I saw someone who was doing an ultra to raise money for a charity and the charity set up a fundraising page and collected the money directly. Note that most small charities don't have the infrastructure to do this, but larger ones might.

 

[Baloo in MI]

I had some success. Ended up with 5 links all over an hour. Two went pretty fast, but it was 12:59 when I got into the system to register. My goal was Dopey for me and Half, 10K & 5K for my daughter. 5K was full before I even got into the system. I nabbed a Dopey with my first link and then with the second tried to get the 10K, but it filled as I hit pay…. I was able to get the Half though. So it is Dopey #7 for me and my daughter’s third Half.

I am very grateful to have at least those two races! I hope others got what they wanted!

 

[camaker]

The fact that some of the initial spots in the queue showed that the wait was an hour plus. Yet, 30 minutes later, anyone could get straight to a registration page while those that were on at the start time (10 am or 12:30 pm) were still in a queue that showed a wait time. The system was not working correctly.

This isn't entirely true. When the sell outs started being reported, I was surprised and went to see for myself. When I clicked on the registration links, I was getting queue times of 30-55 minutes, so I just dropped it.

 

[Jwild10]

I got my first Dopey! super excited. Does anyone have recommendations for a Dopey training plan?

 

[Z-Knight]

I got my first Dopey! super excited. Does anyone have recommendations for a Dopey training plan?

Yeah, get to your local pub, order some drinks, walk around the block, go back to pub and order another drink, and repeat a few times.

Oh wait, that's Drinks Around the World training - for Dopey you should use Galloway from runDisney or @DopeyBadger

 

[kps7795]

You can either:
- Use the race as a reason and privately fundraise among your friends and family (i.e. I'm running x miles, would you give x amount of money?). You collect the money (or go through Facebook fundraisers) and give it to the charity.
- Contact the charity directly and see if they are willing/able to promote her fundraiser on their channels. I saw someone who was doing an ultra to raise money for a charity and the charity set up a fundraising page and collected the money directly. Note that most small charities don't have the infrastructure to do this, but larger ones might.

Thank you. I frankly don't have any point of reference with raising money online or otherwise. This sounds like a great first step.

 

[Donna3271]

I was able to register for the half! YAY! But the wait times kept changing for me... Over and hour then went down to 31 minutes, then jumped to 50. I joined the queue at 9:45 and registered right before 1:30. I think I just made it.

 

[Jwild10]

Yeah, get to your local pub, order some drinks, walk around the block, go back to pub and order another drink, and repeat a few times.

Oh wait, that's Drinks Around the World training - for Dopey you should use Galloway from runDisney or @DopeyBadger

now thats some training i could get down with thanks for the suggestions for Galloway and DopeyBadger i will check them out.

 

[sandam1]

Thank you. I frankly don't have any point of reference with raising money online or otherwise. This sounds like a great first step.

If you want someone to bounce ideas off of, feel free to message me. I work for a nonprofit (although not in the fundraising department) and have seen what works - and what doesn't - over the years.

 

[Novatrix]

Yeah, get to your local pub, order some drinks, walk around the block, go back to pub and order another drink, and repeat a few times.

Oh wait, that's Drinks Around the World training - for Dopey you should use Galloway from runDisney or @DopeyBadger

You forgot after the first 4 drinks at the pub, do a shot of Pledge cleaner to simulate Italy's limoncello...

 

[Donna3271]

Thank you. I frankly don't have any point of reference with raising money online or otherwise. This sounds like a great first step.

We run for a charity. The commitment for the 1/2 is $1,300. That includes the race fee. I registered through Disney because it is too much of a commitment for my son and I to both raise money for the Charity (we solicit the same people for donations and they give under my son's name).