Marathon Weekend 2019

[Sleepless Knight]

I wonder if this change will make it so I don’t have to attach the race bibs to our photo pass account

That would be nice. I usually have them add my photos in the parks a day or two later just to make sure everything is there.

I learned at Dark Side this year to make sure that your bib is attached higher up. I had to have them hunt down some post race photos because my bib number was obscured by my race belt.

So, now we make ADRs before we even register for the race AKA the most Disney thing ever.

I always debate trying out new places or keeping with the tried and true that I absolutely love. Becomes even trickier for marathon weekend since I'm anticipating much higher crowds than I've become used to.

Hey, I get to keep my money for another 6 weeks! better in my pocket than disneys

Although I would rather just have this booked and done already...

I feel the same way. I'm mostly getting tired of internal argument with myself about Goofy vs. Dopey. Once I'm registered, I can't really second guess myself anymore and instead can prepare for whatever I wind up choosing.

 

[CDKG]

I dont know if Disney would have thought of this, but ... if I could e-sign my waiver in advance and then just tap my magicband to grab my bib instead of having to show my id and physically printed waiver, I'd love that (for resort guests only, if course ... offsite guests would still have to show id, but maybe they could still e-sign the waiver).
But again ... I dont know that Disney would think of that. (Plus, you could have security issues with lost/stolen magicbands)

I really like the idea of electronic waivers! As hesitant as I was about Magic Bands, they sure make a lot of things easier. I would love to see these kinds of improvements to the runDisney experience!

 

[Keels]

I always debate trying out new places or keeping with the tried and true that I absolutely love. Becomes even trickier for marathon weekend since I'm anticipating much higher crowds than I've become used to.

It shouldn't be that bad - this year was the worst of the Marathon Weekends I've been at, but that's just because it was still basically the holidays when race weekend started. With the later date, lots of kiddos are back in school so the crowds shouldn't be as bad.

 

[Keels]

I dont know if Disney would have thought of this, but ... if I could e-sign my waiver in advance and then just tap my magicband to grab my bib instead of having to show my id and physically printed waiver, I'd love that (for resort guests only, if course ... offsite guests would still have to show id, but maybe they could still e-sign the waiver).
But again ... I dont know that Disney would think of that. (Plus, you could have security issues with lost/stolen magicbands)

I don't think we'll get to that part because you'll need thousands of GS-related employees to handle bib pickup instead of the free volunteer labor they currently use.

But who knows?

 

[SarahDisney]

I don't think we'll get to that part because you'll need thousands of GS-related employees to handle bib pickup instead of the free volunteer labor they currently use.

But who knows?

This may be a stupid question, but ... if the system was set up to be user-friendly (haha) why would volunteers not still be able to do bib pickup? Security issues? Or is it just that Disney policy requires anything with magicbands to be handled by CMs?

I'm probably asking for too much anyway ... I'm just used to my fairly seamless NYRR bib pickup experiences.

 

[rteetz]

So, now we make ADRs before we even register for the race AKA the most Disney thing ever.

Lol didn’t even realize that.

 

[Krandor]

I guess you could ask why not give people the option. Some people like to have all there trip info in one place so it allows the do so. Also allows Disney to connect more things to you for marketing, tracking etc. I guess my point was though that I don’t think it’s something to stress over.

I'm not doing W&D so not really stressed more curious. I honestly expected the new system to just start with the 2019 races and the fact they are moving W&D at least partially into the new system I find very interesting and curious as to how and why. Seems like extra hassle for disney to have people in 2 systems and to be asking people to migrate over so there has to be come reason beyond just marketing since the easy route is to start new system in 2019.

 

[jennamfeo]

With the later date, lots of kiddos are back in school so the crowds shouldn't be as bad.

Amen. My kid: "Why can't I go with you?" Me: "Because you will be in school." BYE FELICIA.

 

[Keels]

This may be a stupid question, but ... if the system was set up to be user-friendly (haha) why would volunteers not still be able to do bib pickup? Security issues? Or is it just that Disney policy requires anything with magicbands to be handled by CMs?

I'm probably asking for too much anyway ... I'm just used to my fairly seamless NYRR bib pickup experiences.

I mean, I guess it could ... but volunteers would have to have some base-level technical knowledge or how to troubleshoot when (not if) there's a problem. I've volunteered enough at bib pickup, and not to disrespect my elders - but lots of the volunteers at bib pickup struggle with the current concept of a paper waiver, a notebook to sign on and an ID.

Also, I can't see Disney letting any ole rando have access to anything relating to Disney technology. Just a whole can of worms, I guess.

I wonder if/how heavily Track Shack would be involved going forward though ... I didn't think of it at the time, but back when I applied for a job a few weeks ago, there was a listing for a Senior Event Manager for Disney Sports. I figured it would be for like Cheerleading or Pop Warner or all those Youth Events, but now I can't help but wonder if it's another move to bring RunDisney completely in-house and under the Disney Sports banner.

Anyway. I'll be interested to see how it all shakes out. I really hope whoever is developing the platform paid attention to historic performance load for general registration ... I can't think of a single "on sale" event that Disney has done that has the sheer amount of "tickets" sold at the same time in the same short timeframe like RunDisney - think back to the days of full race weekends of 50k+ participants selling out in 10 minutes.

That's all I've got. Back to finding all the LeBron James memes.

 

[SarahDisney]

I mean, I guess it could ... but volunteers would have to have some base-level technical knowledge or how to troubleshoot when (not if) there's a problem. I've volunteered enough at bib pickup, and not to make fun of my elders - but lots of the volunteers at bib pickup struggle with the current concept of a paper waiver, a notebook to sign on and an ID.

Fair point. A more technologically advanced bub pickup means you need more technologically-inclined volunteers, which kinda shrinks your volunteer pool.

Anyway. I'll be interested to see how it all shakes out. I really hope whoever is developing the platform paid attention to historic performance load for general registration ... I can't think of a single "on sale" event that Disney has done that has the sheer amount of "tickets" sold at the same time in the same short timeframe like RunDisney - think back to the days of full race weekends of 50k+ participants selling out in 10 minutes.

Yeah, they better be spending the time between now and July 17th load testing the heck out of this thing. I still remember Princess Weekend 2015 registration and crashing both active and runDisney. They do not want that to happen with the new registration... that would be a disaster.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

It shouldn't be that bad - this year was the worst of the Marathon Weekends I've been at, but that's just because it was still basically the holidays when race weekend started. With the later date, lots of kiddos are back in school so the crowds shouldn't be as bad.

Isn't marathon weekend this year the same weekend as Martin Luther King Jr Day? That's why I'm anticipating heavy crowds.

 

[Keels]

Isn't marathon weekend this year the same weekend as Martin Luther King Jr Day? That's why I'm anticipating heavy crowds.

MLK Day is Jan. 21 according to my calendar.

 

[Krandor]

Yeah, they better be spending the time between now and July 17th load testing the heck out of this thing. I still remember Princess Weekend 2015 registration and crashing both active and runDisney. They do not want that to happen with the new registration... that would be a disaster.

Let's be honest... the chances of it working great the first time are slim.

Obviously the new system wil give disney a ton of data they don't have now but I do wonder if alll this integration is going to allow them to give us any additional features or streamline things at all for race weekend as a whole? It is definitely going to be interesting. One thing I can think of is that since disney will know how many runners are registered at each hotel it might help plan for busses on race morning better

 

[SheHulk]

Let's be honest... the chances of it working great the first time are slim.

Obviously the new system wil give disney a ton of data they don't have now but I do wonder if alll this integration is going to allow them to give us any additional features or streamline things at all for race weekend as a whole? It is definitely going to be interesting. One thing I can think of is that since disney will know how many runners are registered at each hotel it might help plan for busses on race morning better

Don't know if this has been said already but imagine if they know exactly how many people staying at each hotel are running each race each morning. That would probably be helpful.

 

[sylkai]

MLK Day is Jan. 21 according to my calendar.

Yep. Marathon is the weekend before.

Works to my advantage. Dopey --> cruise --> fly to Chicago and take the train to LA --> home, and we only need 2 weeks of vacation for that because that Monday is MLK Day.

 

[ZellyB]

We will be at Disney on registration day, so not thrilled about that, but whatever, we'll manage. We are doing the marathon as a solo race, so I'm not worried about any immediate sell-outs at least.

 

[Krandor]

Don't know if this has been said already but imagine if they know exactly how many people staying at each hotel are running each race each morning. That would probably be helpful.

If you are registering through MDE or something similar then they should easily be able to know if you are on-site/off-site, are you going to the parks, what hotel are you in (deluxe, value, moderate) and other things. That would be very useful information for disney to have. Should let them make estimates of how much they make per runner and also run interesting queries like of runners who stay on-property, what percentage stay in a deluxe resort vs a Pop/All-star resort?

 

[SheHulk]

If you are registering through MDE or something similar then they should easily be able to know if you are on-site/off-site, are you going to the parks, what hotel are you in (deluxe, value, moderate) and other things. That would be very useful information for disney to have. Should let them make estimates of how much they make per runner and also run interesting queries like of runners who stay on-property, what percentage stay in a deluxe resort vs a Pop/All-star resort?

I was thinking about assigning buses but yeah that too

 

[pluto377]

I’m glad we have a date but it’s a little weird that I’ll have the whole trip booked before registering for the races that are supposed to be the center of the trip. Even southwest is releasing their flights before registration! On the plus side the Thursday registration works for me since all my kids are at camp/daycare on thursdays.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

MLK Day is Jan. 21 according to my calendar.

You're right. I'm just so used to it always being very close to January 15th, which is a constant day that I have to be aware of and advise clients of in my professional life.