Goofy Giveback!

[purplekicks]

They have reopened registration for Goofy, Marathon and Half Marathon for 39 days!

http://www.rundisney.com/blog/articles/goofy-give-back-09-16-2014/

 

[bumbershoot]

I just saw that! Pretty neat.

Like it'll take 39 days, LOL.

 

[Fruto76]

That's great! I missed the episode. I'm going to have to try to see if I can find it online or hulu.

 

[sunshine girl]

This is great for those who missed out on registering!

But really, I think we all realize this is just because the Goofy wasn't selling out. runDisney over-allocated Goofy slots, expecting higher registrations due to the 10th anniversary year, and their numbers were off. They are correcting for it, and putting this "Goofy Giveback" spin on it.

At this point, they are way more likely to sell those single-event slots for sure!

 

[Nole95]

Definitely a result of Goofy not selling out quick enough. Once word gets out some more, these other slots for the half and full will be gone pretty quickly.

 

[bumbershoot]

But really, I think we all realize this is just because the Goofy wasn't selling out. runDisney over-allocated Goofy slots, expecting higher registrations due to the 10th anniversary year, and their numbers were off. They are correcting for it, and putting this "Goofy Giveback" spin on it.

I totally agree.

It's fine, totally...but it's definitely not out of the kindness of their own hearts...

 

[tri4life]

It is good in a way however the races were already sold out so now RD magical found more spots.....I'm good with that but the course this past year was flippen packed for the half! So I'm guessing it will be more of the same come January. Oh well. The more the merrier. Happy training everybody. Everyday we're getting closer to marathon weekend.

 

[Castle2Castle]

Yeah, once we hit the final price increase for Goofy it seemed clear that they weren't going to sell out. Besides being at the highest price point, people wouldn't have the full time of most programs out there to train for the challenge. Even breaking it apart now will make it difficult for many people to do the full marathon (~16 weeks). I'd say that it makes sense to give more slots to the half marathon because of this, but I'm not sure how they balance the practicality of training timelines with the limitations on what the course can handle with congestion*. . .

With more corrals it may not make an appreciable difference in congestion, and ultimately it's nice that those who maybe missed out on the half marathon before will have a chance to experience running through Disney World after all.

*ETA: Strike that limitation. . . they probably aren't giving out any more half slots than were already sitting there unused in Goofy. So it shouldn't have any more impact on congestion than was already planned in the original numbers and corral organization.

 

[RnbwSktles]

It is good in a way however the races were already sold out so now RD magical found more spots.....I'm good with that but the course this past year was flippen packed for the half! So I'm guessing it will be more of the same come January. Oh well. The more the merrier. Happy training everybody. Everyday we're getting closer to marathon weekend.

No actually, if I understand this right, it's the same amount of people. Let's say Goofy has 300 spots left. That means 300 people would be running both the half and the full. Now, potentially, they are taking that away, and opening up 300 spots for just the half and 300 for just the full.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

No actually, if I understand this right, it's the same amount of people. Let's say Goofy has 300 spots left. That means 300 people would be running both the half and the full. Now, potentially, they are taking that away, and opening up 300 spots for just the half and 300 for just the full.

Exactly... They are just taking unsold preallocated goofy spots and making them not 'goofy' but half/full spots..

Tech it makes goofy a little more prestigious as instead of being say one in 5000 you'll be 1 in 4500 or whatnot..

I do think goofy was steamrolled by dopey...

-em

 

[ell13]

Exactly... They are just taking unsold preallocated goofy spots and making them not 'goofy' but half/full spots..

Tech it makes goofy a little more prestigious as instead of being say one in 5000 you'll be 1 in 4500 or whatnot..

I do think goofy was steamrolled by dopey...

-em

I wouldn't say "steamrolled" although it obviously played a part. I think it had more to do with Disney over-allotting spots due to the 10th anniversary.

 

[RnbwSktles]

I wouldn't say "steamrolled" although it obviously played a part. I think it had more to do with Disney over-allotting spots due to the 10th anniversary.

I don't know. Maybe they allocated more spots this year, but my gut tells me that Dopey really is at fault here. Last year was probably a wait and see year for many people considering Dopey. Now that they've heard stories (good and bad, but mostly good) they have decided to try it. And why only do Goofy when you can add on a couple of "easy" races and get 3 more medals out of it? I even think the majority of the people signed up for Goofy are the ones that couldn't get in to Dopey, so they took the "second best" option.

Of course, there are people who couldn't take the extra time off of work to do Dopey, or didn't want to spend the extra money, but I think that's a small percentage.

 

[pixarmom]

I don't know. Maybe they allocated more spots this year, but my gut tells me that Dopey really is at fault here. Last year was probably a wait and see year for many people considering Dopey. Now that they've heard stories (good and bad, but mostly good) they have decided to try it. And why only do Goofy when you can add on a couple of "easy" races and get 3 more medals out of it? I even think the majority of the people signed up for Goofy are the ones that couldn't get in to Dopey, so they took the "second best" option.

Of course, there are people who couldn't take the extra time off of work to do Dopey, or didn't want to spend the extra money, but I think that's a small percentage.

I'd be one of those runners you mentioned! At least for me, Goofy isn't under consideration as long as Dopey exists. So far, I've only been running half marathons and the WDW Marathon in January will be my first full. If I come back in 2016, I'd consider the half and the full together. My family always wants to run the 5K together, so I might as well throw in an easy 10K and get the Dopey medals, shirts, etc.

 

[RnbwSktles]

I'd be one of those runners you mentioned! At least for me, Goofy isn't under consideration as long as Dopey exists. So far, I've only been running half marathons and the WDW Marathon in January will be my first full. If I come back in 2016, I'd consider the half and the full together. My family always wants to run the 5K together, so I might as well throw in an easy 10K and get the Dopey medals, shirts, etc.

That sounds like my story! Jan 2014 was my first (and only so far) marathon and in 2015 I will be doing everything! I wasn't going to come back at all, but then I saw the 10th anniversary Goofy medal and had to have it.

 

[Castle2Castle]

We won't know until corrals are announced how they may have allocated Dopey and Goofy for 2015 relative to 2014, but maybe they did slide a few hundred Dopey slots over to Goofy. They could have moved some to open more individual 5k and 10k slots since those look to have gone faster than expected last year. Given the pace of anniversary races of late, they might have thought they could open more 5k and 10k slots and just ride the wave of 'anniversary fever' to sell Goofy at no worse than last year's pace.

Ultimately, filling ~12,500 slots for Dopey and Goofy should be a bit difficult regardless of the distribution due to the difficulty of the marathon distance; even with the popularity of runDisney races they're appealing to a smaller market that is narrowed even further by the added difficulty of the challenge aspect.

 

[sunshine girl]

Well, two days later and the percentages haven't changed (half, full and goofy are all still at 90%) ... I'm interested to see how fast these sell. Plus the prices are all higher now than they initially were (goofy is $400, marathon $200, half $200).

 

[RnbwSktles]

Well, two days later and the percentages haven't changed (half, full and goofy are all still at 90%) ... I'm interested to see how fast these sell. Plus the prices are all higher now than they initially were (goofy is $400, marathon $200, half $200).

Several things:

1. Like you said, cost will play a factor, although it hasn't increased that much

2. At this point many people cannot make travel arrangements for Jan. I think the people who sign up will be mostly locals or within a half-day's driving distance, or they will already be in WDW by coincidence or to cheer on friends and family.

3. If you weren't planning to race in Jan, then you don't have much time to jump into a training plan, unless you are already at that level


I can see the half selling out as word gets out, since that is probably the most coveted RunDisney race length.

 

[wellesleyprincess]

In other years I would seriously consider it but cost isn't an option for me this year.
I will say I'm much more likely to do goofy than dopey. I'd love to be able to do dopey but it would take too many vacation days close after Christmas for what it's worth while with both goofy races being on the weekend it is an option with taking only 1.5-2 vacation days.

 

[bumbershoot]

I can see the half selling out as word gets out, since that is probably the most coveted RunDisney race length.

I thought the 10K was, because it's so accessible? Maybe that's just me.

Still considering buying a bib from Acclaim for that...but I don't want to mess up my Half re-do.

 

[RnbwSktles]

I thought the 10K was, because it's so accessible? Maybe that's just me.

Still considering buying a bib from Acclaim for that...but I don't want to mess up my Half re-do.

I was thinking the half was the favorite out of the 2. You're right, the 10k probably is the front runner.