The Official Expedition Everest 2013 Thread

[Mac4life30]

I have a question well a couple

1) Is it worth the cost?
2) Is the after Part worth the Cost?
3) Do you have to be in a team or can you do it on your own or with another friend?

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

I have a question well a couple

1) Is it worth the cost?
2) Is the after Part worth the Cost?
3) Do you have to be in a team or can you do it on your own or with another friend?

1. No, unless it is an Anniversary, you live locally and don't have to travel far so those expenses are out of the equation. Don't get me wrong, I loved the race this year, and really wanted to do it this year. But, I am not going to pay the registration for a 5K that is approaching nearly the same amount as a Half Marathon at Disney, that doesn't have the Expo, and start that late at night. If it is your first 5K and the cost doesn't bother you, go for it. It is fun.

2. I thought the After Party was worth it if you love Animal Kingdom. I do, and love Expedition Everest and enjoyed riding that over and over and over. The selection of food wasn't great, but everyone was gone by about 12:30 a.m., so for the next hour and a half, we had no wait on any rides.

3. Personally, I would recommend doing this as a team (whether you sign up as one doesn't matter either way), simply for the scavenger hunt. It is so nice to be able to work with another person on solving the clues. Although people do help you, I think most people were a bit too competitive, mainly because they were tired and wanted to enjoy the party. I would imagine that will remain the same next year.

I do love the medal, but it is the same as last year, and I can't donate it to Medals for Mettle so I am not going to waste my money traveling for that. I will wait until the 10th Anniversary if it actually gets to that point.

 

[Mac4life30]

1. No, unless it is an Anniversary, you live locally and don't have to travel far so those expenses are out of the equation. Don't get me wrong, I loved the race this year, and really wanted to do it this year. But, I am not going to pay the registration for a 5K that is approaching nearly the same amount as a Half Marathon at Disney, that doesn't have the Expo, and start that late at night. If it is your first 5K and the cost doesn't bother you, go for it. It is fun.

2. I thought the After Party was worth it if you love Animal Kingdom. I do, and love Expedition Everest and enjoyed riding that over and over and over. The selection of food wasn't great, but everyone was gone by about 12:30 a.m., so for the next hour and a half, we had no wait on any rides.

3. Personally, I would recommend doing this as a team (whether you sign up as one doesn't matter either way), simply for the scavenger hunt. It is so nice to be able to work with another person on solving the clues. Although people do help you, I think most people were a bit too competitive, mainly because they were tired and wanted to enjoy the party. I would imagine that will remain the same next year.

I do love the medal, but it is the same as last year, and I can't donate it to Medals for Mettle so I am not going to waste my money traveling for that. I will wait until the 10th Anniversary if it actually gets to that point.

Thanks!

 

[PrincessV]

At Expedition Everest, I didn't even see bottles of anything, so we bought stuff. It was so crowded and chaotic that I can't even say for sure what they had to eat and drink for the runners outside of stuff you could purchase. It was hard enough to get our medals.

The only way I even found the free, HOT Powerade was in my backtracking search for medals! What a mess that finish was.

... but it is never fun being on such a crowded course.

Yeah, I'm starting to realize that what I love about running is being AWAY from crowds and chaos - not sure how many more Disney runs I'll do since they're pretty much the epitome of crowded chaos.

I will say that the ToT was much hotter weather-wise, but the water was acceptably cool. So, hopefully that issue will be much better in 2013

Agreed - I was nervous about taking a bottle at the TOT finish, but it was totally acceptable!

I have a question well a couple

1) Is it worth the cost?
2) Is the after Part worth the Cost?
3) Do you have to be in a team or can you do it on your own or with another friend?

1. No, unless it is an Anniversary, you live locally and don't have to travel far so those expenses are out of the equation.

ITA with this... I'm local and I still don't think it's worth the cost!

Ditto for #2, but my view is tainted by being local; we can visit AK any time, so there was no particular incentive to stay and do rides.

#3 - you can enter as teams or individuals. I was on a team with my son, but we needed a LOT of help on the clues, anyway; the CMs are happy to assist.

 

[luvmygrljb]

I think the biggest things that irked me was the hot water and powerade and the fact that I wanted to purchase a shirt at the after party and the systems were down, so my choice was...wait forever for a shirt or go have fun...unfortunately they lost a lot of people's purchases because of that, but now I've learned...buy your stuff in advance at packet pick up....

Ill be doing this event again specifically because my hubby wouldn't even dream of doing the tower of terror race( no desire to do 10 miles), so I will drag him to this event.

 

[helloirishkitty]

We are out on this one because of the price increase. We have decided to do Wine and Dine instead, which will be a little bit more $$ but hopefully cooler

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

We are out on this one because of the price increase. We have decided to do Wine and Dine instead, which will be a little bit more $$ but hopefully cooler

You won't be disappointed. The extra mileage will be worth it!

 

[Mac4life30]

Is there any place I can check the diffrent types of obstacles in the race or what the scavenger hunt is all about?

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

Is there any place I can check the diffrent types of obstacles in the race or what the scavenger hunt is all about?

They are very vague about it on the runDisney site. Someone mentioned that they change the obstacles, but they were the same this year as last year, so I don't know the truth to that. They had the tires, hay bales, and crawl under a net as the obstacles last year. They are optional. I found them to be terribly easy, but they did create bottlenecks on the course.

I am surprised they call it a scavenger hunt, because my perception of them was that you find a clue and have to find actual things like I don't know a Mickey Mouse in a shop or something, but they were just clues that took you to different clues. They were mostly riddles.

This blog shows pictures of the actual clue cards. That was the toughest part of the race and why I think you should only do this as a team (but you should register separately because registering as a team wasn't a good thing) because you may figure out the clues faster.

 

[Mac4life30]

I guess and if anyone here is familiar with the Spartan Race/SuperHeroScramble that their obstacles are no where near the simple ones Disney uses. In other words I should not expect to jump over walls, crawl under barbed wire, climb up a slanted splippery wall.....

I should expect simple kid friendly obstacles that in reality if I choose to do I might have to wait in a line to do it. So is bet to just keep running and take part in the Scavenger hunt.

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

I guess and if anyone here is familiar with the Spartan Race/SuperHeroScramble that their obstacles are no where near the simple ones Disney uses. In other words I should not expect to jump over walls, crawl under barbed wire, climb up a slanted splippery wall.....

I should expect simple kid friendly obstacles that in reality if I choose to do I might have to wait in a line to do it. So is bet to just keep running and take part in the Scavenger hunt.

Could you imagine if Disney had obstacles like that? I would volunteer to be a spectator if that ever happened.

Some say that you have to do the obstacles in order to be eligible for awards. So, if you are at the front of the pack, maybe you have to do them. But, I don't see how they kept track of that. Otherwise, yes, just run by the side of the obstacles and get the scavenger hunt as quickly as you can. That way, you cross the finish line and have ample time to ride all the attractions that will be open. You cross the finish line AFTER the scavenger hunt.

 

[jeanigor]

I guess and if anyone here is familiar with the Spartan Race/SuperHeroScramble that their obstacles are no where near the simple ones Disney uses. In other words I should not expect to jump over walls, crawl under barbed wire, climb up a slanted splippery wall.....

I should expect simple kid friendly obstacles that in reality if I choose to do I might have to wait in a line to do it. So is bet to just keep running and take part in the Scavenger hunt.

What's the point if you aren't going to do the obstacles?

My teammate couldn't navigate the obstacles due to injury, so I did them twice. Once for each of us.

 

[Mac4life30]

I dont mind the obstacles just picturing them in my head. Regardless I do plan to run it and do them!!

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

What's the point if you aren't going to do the obstacles?

My teammate couldn't navigate the obstacles due to injury, so I did them twice. Once for each of us.

The lines are long and they aren't challenging. If there was a fun element to them, then why not? But, I have seen kid's obstacle course races that were more difficult and more thought out. It was as if they just threw the stuff there. We need an obstacle, just put down some tires...

Would I rather stand in line to do those, or get to the scavenger part of the race faster since it is so time consuming (or can be) and you finish faster to enjoy the after party? It isn't cheating. You are still going the same distance. I expected the race to be more like a Spartan but on a Disney scale. Add some humor to it, like a lot more obstacles and challenges. I have a ton of ideas what they could have done to make it better than it was. I wish I knew you could skip them. I didn't know until after the race.

 

[jeanigor]

The lines are long and they aren't challenging. If there was a fun element to them, then why not? But, I have seen kid's obstacle course races that were more difficult and more thought out. It was as if they just threw the stuff there. We need an obstacle, just put down some tires...

Would I rather stand in line to do those, or get to the scavenger part of the race faster since it is so time consuming (or can be) and you finish faster to enjoy the after party? It isn't cheating. You are still going the same distance. I expected the race to be more like a Spartan but on a Disney scale. Add some humor to it, like a lot more obstacles and challenges. I have a ton of ideas what they could have done to make it better than it was. I wish I knew you could skip them. I didn't know until after the race.

I would expect then that you skip photo ops with characters while on course, since you are concerned about finishing to enjoy the after party?

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

I would expect then that you skip photo ops with characters while on course, since you are concerned about finishing to enjoy the after party?

I think we were at the same race and those lines were insane. It was crowded the entire time and my other half was running the race so everything was up to him. Having that amount of crowding is a bit much for most people, especially if they never went to a Disney race before. I don't do Disney races for the photo opportunities, nor do I run them for time, I do them for fun. This race had very few photo opportunities anyway. We were in one of the last waves, so being that late, being that crowded, made me want to get to the party. But, as already stated, I didn't skip anything and did not get to the after party very early. To busy waiting in the lines for the obstacles...

 

[PrincessV]

I guess and if anyone here is familiar with the Spartan Race/SuperHeroScramble that their obstacles are no where near the simple ones Disney uses. In other words I should not expect to jump over walls, crawl under barbed wire, climb up a slanted splippery wall.....

I should expect simple kid friendly obstacles that in reality if I choose to do I might have to wait in a line to do it. So is bet to just keep running and take part in the Scavenger hunt.

Nope, nothing remotely like real obstacles! My 9yo didn't even find them challenging and trust me - he is not naturally athletic. We were in the middle of the pack and didn't encounter lines for the obstacles, so they're not always a problem. I did see many people go around the hay bales, but they were easy enough to go over (only 1 bale high). Most everyone I saw did the tires. Lots of folks skipped going under the nets.

Honestly, I wouldn't wait in a long line for any of them, but they were fun to do!

 

[hungrygreenhippo]

Could you imagine if Disney had obstacles like that? I would volunteer to be a spectator if that ever happened.

Some say that you have to do the obstacles in order to be eligible for awards. So, if you are at the front of the pack, maybe you have to do them. But, I don't see how they kept track of that. Otherwise, yes, just run by the side of the obstacles and get the scavenger hunt as quickly as you can. That way, you cross the finish line and have ample time to ride all the attractions that will be open. You cross the finish line AFTER the scavenger hunt.

This is another of my pet peeves about the race. Even a lot of the people in the front of the pack skip the obstacles. I think the obstacles should be required in order to be eligible for awards, but I'm 99% sure Disney is not keeping track.

There were different obstacles the first few years of the race when the obstacle course was between the 5k and scavenger hunt (instead of during the 5k). Those were a bit tougher (climb over 4ft hurdles, climb up rope net, balance beam), although still nothing like Tough Mudder/Spartan-type events. They've obviously switched now to obstacles that are easier to move people through quickly.

I still love the concept of EEC not being just a plain old 5k, which is what drew me in in the first place and why I keep going back. But Disney has cut back on some of the fun in order to increase capacity. Logistically I don't know that this would be possible, but I wonder if they've ever considered the idea of spacing out the waves more. At the more obstacle/mud-type events, don't people actually sign up for specific times to start? If there were less people on the course at a time, Disney would have more ability to be creative with the obstacles and scavenger hunt clues. If I remember correctly, the clues don't even relate to AK anymore. In the early years the clues actually related to signs and other stuff around the park.

Anyway, I'm not sure what my point is here. I guess it's that Disney has a solid concept that people are obviously interested in, but operationally there's room for improvement - which I guess we all already knew.

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

This is another of my pet peeves about the race. Even a lot of the people in the front of the pack skip the obstacles. I think the obstacles should be required in order to be eligible for awards, but I'm 99% sure Disney is not keeping track.

There were different obstacles the first few years of the race when the obstacle course was between the 5k and scavenger hunt (instead of during the 5k). Those were a bit tougher (climb over 4ft hurdles, climb up rope net, balance beam), although still nothing like Tough Mudder/Spartan-type events. They've obviously switched now to obstacles that are easier to move people through quickly.

I still love the concept of EEC not being just a plain old 5k, which is what drew me in in the first place and why I keep going back. But Disney has cut back on some of the fun in order to increase capacity. Logistically I don't know that this would be possible, but I wonder if they've ever considered the idea of spacing out the waves more. At the more obstacle/mud-type events, don't people actually sign up for specific times to start? If there were less people on the course at a time, Disney would have more ability to be creative with the obstacles and scavenger hunt clues. If I remember correctly, the clues don't even relate to AK anymore. In the early years the clues actually related to signs and other stuff around the park.

Anyway, I'm not sure what my point is here. I guess it's that Disney has a solid concept that people are obviously interested in, but operationally there's room for improvement - which I guess we all already knew.

I am guessing they followed the front runners to make sure they did the obstacles, but if you weren't in contention, then forget it. With it starting later next year, I think that the waves are going to be so much worse because we waited so long in the first place. I do agree that they could make it so much better. I think some of the clues had to do with Animal Kingdom, but did they have the race a lot earlier before? I just remember seeing one of my Disney friends pictures from it a few years ago and it wasn't dark. I don't see how it can't start earlier, but I guess it probably has something to do with the animals.

Would it be more fun if they required teams but had waves where it eliminated some people? Then certain teams continued and others didn't? Granted, it wouldn't be in line with Disney's include everyone philosophy...

 

[JCH]

I've been trying to get my husband to do a race with me, and figured maybe, just MAYBE, I could convince him to the 5k/scavenger hunt..but I looked at the price! Holy Cow! More expensive than the ToT 10 miler, and only a little less than Wine and Dine!!! I'm a local, so usually just get 1 night of hotel, but still...is there anything to justify this cost? What's open in AK? I hate roller coasters, so I am thinking there is nothing in this to justify the price...