Marathon Weekend 2018

[FFigawi]

So RunDisney had a push with the early travel packages. Now we are seeing the sign ups for past runners. Rundisney really wants this weekend to sell from what I can tell.

And Disney corporate probably wants the cash in hand too. Anything to help make the balance sheet look good to offset the bad subscriber news from ESPN.

 

[Sailormoon2]

I think I'm going to use the link. Past RD but not marathon weekend. It would elevate so much stress....but makes me feel, so guilty.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

So I'm kind of curious and a bit annoyed...why are some of you getting this Past Participants email and others are not. At first I just figured it was delayed because they were a lot to send out but now I'm not so sure. If they tell me my registration is cancelled because I registered via a link meant only for those that received the email then I think I might just tell them to F-off.

FWIW, everyone in my 2017 rD group got the email except me. No idea why?

 

[Nole95]

I would not feel guilty. Nowhere in the link, the email, or on the webpage says anything about not using the link if you did not participate this year. I have to believe that if RD wanted to make sure only participants actually used it, they would have said so or figured out a way to truly recognize that someone was a past participant. I think they have limited slots open and want to see how fast they fill up.

 

[camaker]

I would not feel guilty. Nowhere in the link, the email, or on the webpage says anything about not using the link if you did not participate this year. I have to believe that if RD wanted to make sure only participants actually used it, they would have said so or figured out a way to truly recognize that someone was a past participant. I think they have limited slots open and want to see how fast they fill up.

Really? The e-mail with the invitation started with "Thank you for participating" under the WDWMW 2017 banner and the entirety of the contents were specific to Marathon Weekend: results, commemorative merchandise, photos, etc... Even the early entry text:

"Now that you've crossed the finish line, it's time to set your sights on the 25th Anniversary Walt Disney World® Marathon Weekend. We'd like to share special access to be one of the first to register for this anniversary event!"

All that in addition to the e-mail only being sent to participants pretty well indicates that the link was intended for this year's participants. I don't particularly care if others use it, but this is pretty heavy rationalization.

The only concern that I have is that when this type of thing blows up on social media and gets used extensively by an unintended audience, it's a deterrent to RunDisney giving this type of perk to participants in the future.

 

[FFigawi]

FWIW, everyone in my 2017 rD group got the email except me. No idea why?

Disney doesn't like you, I guess

 

[SheHulk]

So I'm kind of curious and a bit annoyed...why are some of you getting this Past Participants email and others are not. At first I just figured it was delayed because they were a lot to send out but now I'm not so sure. If they tell me my registration is cancelled because I registered via a link meant only for those that received the email then I think I might just tell them to F-off.

I know I'm Captain Obvious but did you check your Spam folder?

 

[ZellyB]

Well, FOMO hit hard and so DH, @Chris-Mo , and I are in for Dopey 2018. *gulp*

 

[rteetz]

Well, FOMO hit hard and so DH, @Chris-Mo , and I are in for Dopey 2018. *gulp*

Wooohooo!

 

[Nole95]

I understand that the email was only sent to 2017 participants. However, RD is not stupid. They know full well that link was going to be passed along. If they really wanted to make sure that only participants used it, the technology is there for that to be done.

I'll use a good analogy. Last week I was able to purchase U2 concert tickets. As a U2 fan club member I had a unique passcode that I could use to purchase early. That code was good for one use during the early purchase window. That code was sent to me via email.

It would probably take minimal effort for RD to do something similar if they really wanted to. On the registration page itself they could probably implement some lookup feature based on name and birthdate to make sure you participated. If you're not found, then you get no further.

For RD, it's all about the publicity and word of mouth, and I don't think they really care.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I understand that the email was only sent to 2017 participants. However, RD is not stupid.

LOL, we will have to agree to disagree about this. I would bet a small fortune that they just didn't think it through.

 

[FFigawi]

However, RD is not stupid.

Maybe, maybe not, but they sure can't spell very well.

 

[camaker]

However, RD is not stupid.

If not, they sure seem to put a lot of time and effort trying to convince us otherwise. From directly contradictory communications to blatantly incorrect information being given out over the phone, I find organization and competence to be antonyms for RunDisney.

 

[ANIM8R]

I have to believe that if RD wanted to make sure only participants actually used it, they would have said so or figured out a way to truly recognize that someone was a past participant.

That is a much more optimistic assessment of runDisney than I have based on my experience with their past registration processes.

 

[ANIM8R]

Maybe, maybe not, but they sure can't spell very well.

They're not stupid but they do seem to be a little less than thorough at times...hence the typos on their emails and web site.

 

[daisyamy]

I also didn't receive an email, and was only registered for the 2017 Half. However, I still consider myself a participant of the "2017 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend" since I travelled down to FL, stayed on property, went to expo, picked up bib, etc. Thus I used the link from the past participants webpage. If they decide to cancel my registration, then oh well. I'll just be sure to be ready on Feb 14th

 

[Nole95]

I'll agree that their front office sometimes is way off the mark. I have seen similar complaints about WDW in general. People tend to get different answers depending on who they talk to on the same day or different days. That's a lack of training that seems to have fallen by the wayside lately with Disney. For RD who caters to a smaller group of people, it should really not be hard to have a competent front office staff who is knowledgeable in day to day questions that people have.

For all the front office issues, I have personally never seen it translate over to race day. For every race I have attended, the race days have been very organized and very well run. Not saying they have never had a bad race day, but they just have never had one I have been at.

 

[rteetz]

I'll agree that their front office sometimes is way off the mark. I have seen similar complaints about WDW in general. People tend to get different answers depending on who they talk to on the same day or different days. That's a lack of training that seems to have fallen by the wayside lately with Disney. For RD who caters to a smaller group of people, it should really not be hard to have a competent front office staff who is knowledgeable in day to day questions that people have.

For all the front office issues, I have personally never seen it translate over to race day. For every race I have attended, the race days have been very organized and very well run. Not saying they have never had a bad race day, but they just have never had one I have been at.

It's not just WDW or rundisney, it's Disney as a company. They've had communication and technology related issues for years now. However it's hard to not have any issues when you are a company this large.

 

[camaker]

It's not just WDW or rundisney, it's Disney as a company. They've had communication and technology related issues for years now. However it's hard to not have any issues when you are a company this large.

The problem I have with this explanation is that we have been told repeatedly that RunDisney is a separate, much much smaller entity, than Disney as a whole. If it really is as small an organization as described there is no excuse for as many communications fiascos as they have, especially when ludicrously incorrect information is given out, such as when my friend at work was told that W&D early registration was only one day and she would have to wait for general registration since she didn't try to register that one day. That's stock standard basic information that should never ever be given out incorrectly.

 

[Keels]

Without going into technical details, if RunDisney doesn't use a dedicated server for email capacity, after x-number of bulk emails are sent out, mail domains will immediately blacklist email delivery and won't allow the same email to be sent to any more email addresses in that bulk send.

Basically, when people don't get emails from RunDisney, it's because GMail/Hotmail/Yahoo have blocked that email going to the remaining recipients because it's viewed as Spam thanks to taking the cheap way out on digital marketing.