Impact on new construction on runDisney races

[EPCOT-O.G.]

So! It looks like there’s a ton of new attractions and experiences coming to the Disney parks. Just eyeballing where they expect the new construction to occur in MK, DAK, and DHS, I don’t think that it will cause that much disruption over the next few years. Someone elsewhere pointed out the Test Track construction may affect this next season of races at Epcot. With Disneyland Forward, and all that’s coming to DCA, not sure how/where things will be redirected.

Anyone else selfishly thinking of how these new developments affect runDisney weekends, and when the registration occurs for the inaugural Logan’s Run?

 

[Herding_Cats]

I’m also curious as to how possible construction on Western Way could affect the marathon course (which that construction was speculated about and nothing has been confirmed)

But yeah. I was also curious about TT possibly changing things. Maybe a return to running out the side entrance?

 

[fatmanatee]

I’ve been thinking about it but what makes it tough is that we don’t know where several of these new additions are going. A lot of speculation but for example, I’ve seen three separate rumors about what might happen with Monsters. I’m not sure ANY of the options would impact routes, given how RD generally runs through HS, but it’s a funny situation.

Off the top of my head, we have some concrete info on what’s going to happen with a few of the changes:

- Test Track refurb (might impact Epcot runs)
- Encanto and Indy (possibly an issue for the current marathon route?)
- Avengers Campus expansion (not entirely sure but this might impact how the DL races weave through DCA)
- Cars going somewhere in Frontierland but not sure how that’ll work

I’d guess Villains won’t be an issue during construction and would be really neat if the end result is that we can run through there. On the DL side, no idea about Avatar or Coco.

 

[accm]

I'm hoping the Test Track construction means we'll get to run under Spaceship Earth and exit through the side entrance. The exit we usually take was closed off last weekend when we were there.


The other one that I'm assuming will eventually impact the marathon route is the dinoland retheme. I doubt it'll impact MW 2025, but I think there's a chance things will need to be rerouted in 2026/2027. I haven't seen runDisney use any other exit out of AK, so I'm not sure what the options would be there. It would be really cool if they had runners exit through the front gates, but I highly doubt that would ever happen.

 

[nancipants]

The Cars expansion will be taking over Rivers of America. I'm assuming the half/marathon route will still be able to go down the main Frontierland path. But once construction is finished, they could alter the route to go through the new area.

Animal Kingdom is the biggest question mark, due to the course exiting through Dinoland, to be Tropical Americas. Wondering if they could reroute the marathon to exit prior to Dinoland, or go through Discovery Island/the main entrance to get to the outer road?

 

[Herding_Cats]

The Cars expansion will be taking over Rivers of America. I'm assuming the half/marathon route will still be able to go down the main Frontierland path. But once construction is finished, they could alter the route to go through the new area.

Animal Kingdom is the biggest question mark, due to the course exiting through Dinoland, to be Tropical Americas. Wondering if they could reroute the marathon to exit prior to Dinoland, or go through Discovery Island/the main entrance to get to the outer road?

Theoretically, if they didn't want to send us out the entrance at AK, they could route us out toward the front, cross the big bridge and then off to the side toward Restraurantosaurus and then around the back on the service road behind Dinosaur and link back in to where we usually run. Assuming the backstage road isn't also a construction site. That would cut out running past Everest. I think sending us out the front of AK and onto Osceola Parkway would eliminate too many miles that would need to be made up elsewhere....like a parking lot *shudder*

OR they could route us to the right instead of the left once we get off of Conservation Ave and send us around the outside of the safari on W Savannah Circle.

 

[The Expert]

That would cut out running past Everest.

This is not acceptable to me.

 

[nancipants]

This is not acceptable to me.

They would have to let us go through Pandora and go on FoP. Or open Tron in MK.

 

[Naomeri]

They would have to let us go through Pandora and go on FoP. Or open Tron in MK.

Exiting FoP involves a lot of stairs, I’m not sure if that’s a great thing mid-race

Yes, I understand the irony of this coming from me, the queen of advocating for using the hotel stairs as much as possible during my runDisney trips.

 

[Barca33Runner]

My expectation is that any opportunity they have to craft an excuse to further limit the time we have running in the parks will be capitalized upon and then normalized until we are barely taking steps inside any of the parks. That’s likely a bit too cynical, but I don’t expect to be running through more of any park any time soon. Lands becoming more highly themed is a negative for rD, as generally narrower pathways with uneven terrain provide a very logical excuse not to run through Pandora, Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, etc.

And I’ll post here just because I need a place to vent and the rD forum is the only board I frequent. I have no great affinity for Rivers of America or Tom Sawyer Island. If you had asked me a few days ago if I’d be willing to fill them in to make room for new attractions I would’ve said yes in a heartbeat.

But not Cars. Disneyland can have Cars. One of the only good things about never having been to DL and not being likely to ever go is that I didn’t have to experience a land devoted to my least favorite Disney IP. I’d rather they erect a giant parking garage in the middle of the park than add an area devoted to Cars. I’d say more but I know that, inexplicably, there are people that enjoy Cars. End rant.

 

[nancipants]

I'm not a huge fan of the franchise (Cars 2 is one of the most baffling movies I've ever seen in my life, and the only redeeming qualities are Giacchino's score and Michael Caine committing 100 percent to the bit), but my four year old son loves Cars (go figure!), so I suck it up for him. (I learned to tolerate it a lot more when I realized that the first movie is a Hallmark film, and I love Cruz in the third movie). I've only been to Disneyland once, but I have to admit that Cars Land is extremely well done, and Radiator Springs Racers was super fun. So, like with Pandora, I'm hopeful that people who've never seen the movies or don't particularly like them can still enjoy the land.

 

[The Expert]

But not Cars. Disneyland can have Cars.

I was at D23 and this was the exact vibe among the people around me at the Honda Center when it was announced. I honestly thought when the renderings popped up that he was going to say it was an update to Tomorrowland Speedway (which desperately needs one). But the instant reaction when he said Frontierland was "where?" and "why??"

As a Bronco owner, I can appreciate the off-road theme of the one attraction, but both the IP and location are strange choices imho.

 

[AaronB]

For Animal Kingdom, they could also do a loop through the park and send people back out Conservation Way. It isn't the widest road in the world to split in half, but even if split by cones, I think would offer as much space as other tight sections on the course.

Will be interested to see the impact to exiting Magic Kingdom with that backstage area, which would be around villains land if I am understanding it's potential placement right. Even with that, my guess would be the roads would still be open back there, because that will be how they are accessing the construction site.

 

[Naomeri]

For Animal Kingdom, they could also do a loop through the park and send people back out Conservation Way. It isn't the widest road in the world to split in half, but even if split by cones, I think would offer as much space as other tight sections on the course.

Will be interested to see the impact to exiting Magic Kingdom with that backstage area, which would be around villains land if I am understanding it's potential placement right. Even with that, my guess would be the roads would still be open back there, because that will be how they are accessing the construction site.

For MK, the villains land is supposed to be beyond Big Thunder, but looking at my map from Princess 2023, we exited where the parades start below Tiana’s

 

[Barca33Runner]

I'm not a huge fan of the franchise (Cars 2 is one of the most baffling movies I've ever seen in my life, and the only redeeming qualities are Giacchino's score and Michael Caine committing 100 percent to the bit), but my four year old son loves Cars (go figure!), so I suck it up for him. (I learned to tolerate it a lot more when I realized that the first movie is a Hallmark film, and I love Cruz in the third movie). I've only been to Disneyland once, but I have to admit that Cars Land is extremely well done, and Radiator Springs Racers was super fun. So, like with Pandora, I'm hopeful that people who've never seen the movies or don't particularly like them can still enjoy the land.

I have faith that whatever they add will be high quality. My experience with my nephews when they were younger also confirms the popularity of Cars. I know that Cars Land in DL is incredibly popular and viewed very favorably by fans as well. I can see why they’ve come to this decision.

My primary concern is the continued homogenization of the US parks. While I realize the rides being proposed are not meant to be carbon copies of the DL rides (at this point, at least); there can be little argument that the function and feel of everything being proposed for MK is meant to be very similar to DL Cars Land. From a business standpoint, I get that “playing the hits” is much safer than developing completely new ideas.

While I don’t really like Cars, I would be much more inclined to get excited for this expansion if it didn’t already essentially exist. (ETA: I have much less of an issue getting carbon copies of Ratatouille and Tron from Paris and Shanghai. The crossover in patronage is much lower than the two US parks).

I would be much happier if they had earmarked this area for Villains Land, so it could be 3 or 4 attractions instead of the currently planned 2. There’s going to have to be a lot of suspension of disbelief about the fit of Cars Land with Frontierland as it is (not to mention the portion that appears very close to Liberty Square and Haunted Mansion in their initial renderings), so I think they could have put virtually anything in that area and not had that much issue tying things together.

 

[marty3d]

For MK, the villains land is supposed to be beyond Big Thunder, but looking at my map from Princess 2023, we exited where the parades start below Tiana’s

View attachment 885755

Guessing with the news about Rivers Of America, that will also include the pathway to the Villains land.

I'm indifferent about Cars but really don't see how it fits into Frontierland. I'm really not sure how I feel about all this - just think it could have been better thought out.

 

[nancipants]

Guessing with the news about Rivers Of America, that will also include the pathway to the Villains land.

I'm indifferent about Cars but really don't see how it fits into Frontierland. I'm really not sure how I feel about all this - just think it could have been better thought out.

I feel like they're trying to get away from Frontierland meaning "Old West" and having it be the literal frontier, as New Orleans once was, and Cars taking place somewhere in the West.

I'm not a huge fan of putting Cars there, though, and actually agree that I wish they were doing a different IP or just original attractions. But, as long as they keep my favorite ride, Big Thunder, I'm ambivalent to the rest of the area.

When they finally get to redoing Tomorrowland, though, I'll have THOUGHTS.

 

[accm]

There’s going to have to be a lot of suspension of disbelief about the fit of Cars Land with Frontierland as it is (not to mention the portion that appears very close to Liberty Square and Haunted Mansion in their initial renderings), so I think they could have put virtually anything in that area and not had that much issue tying things together.

That's where I'm at. When I originally heard the announcement and the assumption was that it was going "beyond big thunder", I already thought it was a stretch to try to fit Cars in with Frontierland. Now that they announced where it's going, I'm worried about what it'll do to the atmosphere around liberty square and Frontierland.

 

[Barca33Runner]

I honestly thought when the renderings popped up that he was going to say it was an update to Tomorrowland Speedway (which desperately needs one).

I know that it was an opening day attraction, but I don’t understand why it’s still such a sacred cow. It’s not innovative or imaginative, it’s not high quality, the technology is woefully out of date; from that perspective it is antithetical to the virtues that Walt supposedly espoused. It is also unpopular, so it no longer serves a business purpose. Seems like it would be at the top of the list for things to be updated/replaced if any of that was relevant. Guess it’s just easier to leave it and let everyone bask in the fumes.

 

[The Expert]

I know that it was an opening day attraction, but I don’t understand why it’s still such a sacred cow. It’s not innovative or imaginative, it’s not high quality, the technology is woefully out of date; from that perspective it is antithetical to the virtues that Walt supposedly espoused. It is also unpopular, so it no longer serves a business purpose. Seems like it would be at the top of the list for things to be updated/replaced if any of that was relevant. Guess it’s just easier to leave it and let everyone bask in the fumes.

At the very least, make the cars EV and showcase that technology. At least then it would make sense in Tomorrowland.