Official all things Princess Half Weekend 2015 thread! DOoneY and offical mErcH on DisneyParksBLOg

[jco_direwolf]

Sorry, registration might not be the right word--I'm very new to running! I mean when you pick up your bib and all that?

Yea registration is what you just did (some races allow you to do it day of)

You are talking about Packet Pickup. You'll go to a booth (based on your bib number, which you'll be able to get closer to the event, or look up at the event.) Generally I've not waited more than 3-4 minutes in the line because they will have like 20 booths open, and people coming over 3 days. Then you'll take your stuff over to another set of tables with shirts laid out by sizes and grab those.

The biggest time sync is going to be getting to the expo and getting to the back of the expo to where the pickup stuff is, then getting back to where you want to be. This assumes you can keep your head out of the vendor booths. always hard.

I assume from leaving resort to return to resort (to drop the goodies off) will take about 1.5 - 2 hours. only about 20-30 minutes of that is due to pickup. the rest is travel time and oooh pretty thing to look at.

 

[kermit116]

I assume from leaving resort to return to resort (to drop the goodies off) will take about 1.5 - 2 hours. only about 20-30 minutes of that is due to pickup. the rest is travel time and oooh pretty thing to look at.

Do they allow for parking at the Expo or do you have to take a bus? We'll likely have a rental car so I'm hoping to drive us over there and then go to a park for a bit.

 

[disneychic]

Attractions Magazine put out an article about the 5k being Frozen Themed. I'll try to post the link http://attractionsmagazine.com/rundisney-add-frozen-events-princess-half-marathon-weekend/

 

[DVCFan1994]

Attractions Magazine put out an article about the 5k being Frozen Themed. I'll try to post the link http://attractionsmagazine.com/rundisney-add-frozen-events-princess-half-marathon-weekend/

I saw that, but all they say is RunDisney announced. They don't say where/when they announced it, and there are no official rD announcements I can find or have seen proof of. This article like others I've seen are still heresay as far as I can tell.

I believe it will be Frozen themed. But I'm not telling anyone who might be disappointed until I see an official release/announcement. My only reservation is the 5k took at least 3-4 months to sell out last year. At least in part because of speculation of a Frozen theme, it's at 90% a week after registration opened. So they could just skip the theme this year, save it til next year and it will sell out quick then when otherwise there might be less interest. I think that scenario is unlikely but not impossible, so although I've signed up based on my belief it will eventually be announced, I'm not guaranteeing my 6 year old a Frozen medal just yet

 

[keahgirl8]

I saw that, but all they say is RunDisney announced. They don't say where/when they announced it, and there are no official rD announcements I can find or have seen proof of. This article like others I've seen are still heresay as far as I can tell.

I believe it will be Frozen themed. But I'm not telling anyone who might be disappointed until I see an official release/announcement. My only reservation is the 5k took at least 3-4 months to sell out last year. At least in part because of speculation of a Frozen theme, it's at 90% a week after registration opened. So they could just skip the theme this year, save it til next year and it will sell out quick then when otherwise there might be less interest. I think that scenario is unlikely but not impossible, so although I've signed up based on my belief it will eventually be announced, I'm not guaranteeing my 6 year old a Frozen medal just yet

Exactly! I have read in more than one place that runDisney announced it, but where? Someone said it was an event, but I haven't seen anything confirming that either.

 

[longhorns2]

Rundisney sent bloggers/travel operators/media outlets pRess releases. It's frozen themed. Why they don't have it updated or officially released I don't know. But their website still shows pictures of winners from 2 years ago so. There's that.

 

[keahgirl8]

Rundisney sent bloggers/travel operators/media outlets pRess releases. It's frozen themed. Why they don't have it updated or officially released I don't know. But their website still shows pictures of winners from 2 years ago so. There's that.

Yes and the GSC training plan says it is the Dumbo Double Dare. lol

 

[jco_direwolf]

Do they allow for parking at the Expo or do you have to take a bus? We'll likely have a rental car so I'm hoping to drive us over there and then go to a park for a bit.

They do allow parking but to be honest I'm not sure where the expo is. 2 years ago it was at CSR. But for other runs it's normally at WWoS.

Either place the buses I think are slightly faster if you can get to the bus easy. Because the buses drop off basically as close as a bus can get. For CSR it dropped you right at the convention center front door. For WWoS there is a "bus circle " the rest of the way you have to walk but if you park you have to walk through the bus circle.

 

[kermit116]

They do allow parking but to be honest I'm not sure where the expo is. 2 years ago it was at CSR. But for other runs it's normally at WWoS. Either place the buses I think are slightly faster if you can get to the bus easy. Because the buses drop off basically as close as a bus can get. For CSR it dropped you right at the convention center front door. For WWoS there is a "bus circle " the rest of the way you have to walk but if you park you have to walk through the bus circle.

Good to know. Do they have buses from the Expo to the parks?

 

[jco_direwolf]

Good to know. Do they have buses from the Expo to the parks?

Well the expo buses are just from/to resorts. But when the expo is at a resort they ran the park to resort buses dropping you at the resort bus stop and the resort to expo bus dropping you at the expo.

 

[BwoZoo22]

I was out of the country (with no internet access) the week of registration so I instructed a friend on how to register me and my running buddy. Printed instructions, complete with photo guides for each click and entry. The second I hit a US airport, phone is on and I'm looking for my registration confirmation. Nothing. I know it can take a while, but it had been four days... I text my friend to see what happened and while waiting, check the rD site. Half is sold out. Just before my connecting flight home takes off, I get the dreaded text - tried for an hour, couldn't make it work, sorry. Did she not know how important this is? Did she not understand refresh?! If it hadn't been so public, I think I would have had a meltdown. Was really close. I think there was some whispered cursing and head banging. This was to be our first ever half marathon!

So come Monday, still tired from the late night flight, I didn't expect to get much work done, so I spent most of my work day researching the charity alternatives. Looked at the causes, the fees, the donation requirements, etc. Picked a few I would be happy to be associated with.

Tuesday morning, ready to sign up. First one I look at, sold out. Second one, sold out. Third, only one spot left, but I needed two! After an email conversation with the director, we were in! Ugh. What an ordeal.

Although I do have to collect donations now, which I hate, this really is not such a bad thing. It's a great cause, I didn't have to pay for the race registration, and we get to continue planning our first ever half marathon. Although you can bet I will be sending a donation request to my friend!

I really hope everyone that wanted to was able to register. If not, the charity team is a great way to go. If we continue with rD, and we are successful in raising funds this year, I may just go that route again. Makes me feel better about spending all that money on travel and lodging.

 

[Luv2Run]

Thanks for the info! I booked the princess breakfast through runDisney. Is that outside the park, too? It just says location: family reunion area of Epcot, 7-9am.

In the final race instructions email you get about 30 days before the race, there will be an electronic pamphlet with everything you need for the PHM Weekend, and it'll include a map of the Start/Finish Line areas, which includes the family reunion area. It'll look something like this (this is from the 2012 PHM, but it should be the same for 2015 - sorry if the pic is huge):

As you can see, the Start, Finish, and Family Reunion Area are all outside of EPCOT's gates. The breakfast is normally held in the Race Retreat Tent, if I remember correctly (I've never actually attended, since I'm rarely hungry enough to eat a full breakfast after I've run a long distance/more than 6 miles, so it would be a waste of money for me. And they give you a snack pack of food with a banana and crackers with hummus or cheese and Craisins, which satisfies me anyway).

You should get an extra wristband for the race retreat, but I'm not sure about the breakfast. This blog has some pretty good info from this year's PHM Weekend.

 

[Luv2Run]

They do allow parking but to be honest I'm not sure where the expo is. 2 years ago it was at CSR. But for other runs it's normally at WWoS.

Either place the buses I think are slightly faster if you can get to the bus easy. Because the buses drop off basically as close as a bus can get. For CSR it dropped you right at the convention center front door. For WWoS there is a "bus circle " the rest of the way you have to walk but if you park you have to walk through the bus circle.

Lord help me if the Expo is at CSR again. What a nightmare that was. I think they only had the Expo on Friday & Saturday in 2013 as well (they cut out Thursday), so it was mobbed almost all day long, and stuff sold out quickly.

For those wondering about the bus to the Expo: keep in mind, they don't pick up/drop off in the same location as the buses for the parks (at ASMusic, it's right out in the front of the resort entrance, whereas the buses to the parks are on the side of the resort entrance, if that makes sense). They will have a designated spot especially for the Expo/Race buses. Usually there's a sandwich board with a sign that specifically says "Princess Half Marathon Weekend Pick-up/Drop-Off" or something to that effect. The buses normally don't say "DISNEY" on the sides - I think this year they were MEARS buses that had a sign taped to the window that said "Race Expo" with a number. The number corresponds to the drop-off/pick-up area of the Expo parking lot, so keep that in mind so you know where to meet your bus once you're done at the Expo.

 

[jco_direwolf]

Lord help me if the Expo is at CSR again. What a nightmare that was.

I think we'll know when we see the Braves Spring Training Schedule for 2015 in a couple of months. IF they start PHM weekend, my guess is we'll be back at CSR again. My HOPE is they are working with the Braves organization, not to have both events pop at the same time.

 

[MaryJ]

I was out of the country (with no internet access) the week of registration so I instructed a friend on how to register me and my running buddy. Printed instructions, complete with photo guides for each click and entry. The second I hit a US airport, phone is on and I'm looking for my registration confirmation. Nothing. I know it can take a while, but it had been four days... I text my friend to see what happened and while waiting, check the rD site. Half is sold out. Just before my connecting flight home takes off, I get the dreaded text - tried for an hour, couldn't make it work, sorry. Did she not know how important this is? Did she not understand refresh?! If it hadn't been so public, I think I would have had a meltdown. Was really close. I think there was some whispered cursing and head banging. This was to be our first ever half marathon!

So come Monday, still tired from the late night flight, I didn't expect to get much work done, so I spent most of my work day researching the charity alternatives. Looked at the causes, the fees, the donation requirements, etc. Picked a few I would be happy to be associated with.

Tuesday morning, ready to sign up. First one I look at, sold out. Second one, sold out. Third, only one spot left, but I needed two! After an email conversation with the director, we were in! Ugh. What an ordeal.

Although I do have to collect donations now, which I hate, this really is not such a bad thing. It's a great cause, I didn't have to pay for the race registration, and we get to continue planning our first ever half marathon. Although you can bet I will be sending a donation request to my friend!

I really hope everyone that wanted to was able to register. If not, the charity team is a great way to go. If we continue with rD, and we are successful in raising funds this year, I may just go that route again. Makes me feel better about spending all that money on travel and lodging.

I'm so sorry things didn't work out the way you had hoped. I waited too long to register for the half last year, and ended up registering with a charity for the 10K. I didn't sign up until the beginning of November, so at least you have about 3.5 months head start on what I had for fundraising. I wish you the best of luck, and your experience will still be magical. BTW, I ran last year supporting both of my "teams"....I wore the team shirt that was given to me by the charity and also wore my WISH visor!

 

[nerderella]

I was out of the country (with no internet access) the week of registration so I instructed a friend on how to register me and my running buddy. Printed instructions, complete with photo guides for each click and entry. The second I hit a US airport, phone is on and I'm looking for my registration confirmation. Nothing. I know it can take a while, but it had been four days... I text my friend to see what happened and while waiting, check the rD site. Half is sold out. Just before my connecting flight home takes off, I get the dreaded text - tried for an hour, couldn't make it work, sorry. Did she not know how important this is? Did she not understand refresh?! If it hadn't been so public, I think I would have had a meltdown. Was really close. I think there was some whispered cursing and head banging. This was to be our first ever half marathon!

Try not to be too hard on your friend-- there was a bug on active.com that runDisney acknowledged. Unless your friend knew of the alternative link that runDisney posted on their facebook page (and I believe was also shared here), she probably wasn't going to have much luck without calling runDisney. That's the only way some of my friends who faced repeated crashes were able to register.

After an email conversation with the director, we were in! Ugh. What an ordeal.

Congrats!

 

[STILLWISHING]

Yes - it was really bad. My friend needed an hour to register where I got right on - I really thought she wouldn't get through. Glad it worked out - hope you can raise a lot of $$ - it's a good side effect of a messed up situation.

 

[EC0323]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me what the host hotels are? I tried clicking the link on the rundisney site and still could not find the list. Does Rundisney offer discount rooms for this weekend? Can you park at Epcot for the 5k? I have done other races but stayed on property. But this time we may stay off site.

Thanks Princesses and Princes for any info.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

All Disney resorts are host hotels. I don't know about the parking or runDisney offering room discounts. I plan on waiting for some type of general public room discount. Perhaps, someone in our party will get a pin code offer.

 

[Patsydust]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me what the host hotels are? I tried clicking the link on the rundisney site and still could not find the list. Does Rundisney offer discount rooms for this weekend? Can you park at Epcot for the 5k? I have done other races but stayed on property. But this time we may stay off site.

Thanks Princesses and Princes for any info.

I'm not sure about all the host hotels etc. Do you mean which hotels give free transportation to the race in the morning? Last I heard it is definitely ALL park hotels, and then some hotels outside of Disney will do it if there is enough runners booked who request it. If your wanting to stay on park you can get all your hotel/ticket packages booked with runDisney now via 407-939-iRun(7486). I'm sure if you called them they can give you a great deal of info you need. I called them a few times before I booked. Every time they answered all my questions and the calls were fast and polite ( I mean...it is Disney). Or you can just wait til July 30th which is when most of all the other travel agencies get all the 2015 Disney intel! Also, so far from what I heard (but don't quote me personally) that there is plenty of parking!