Marathon Weekend 2023

[GreatLakes]

OK all of you "I stay offsite to save tons of money" people. Where is it that you're staying? Mama needs to budget. Because a lot of the stuff I'm looking at has a parking fee (because offsite=rental car for us) AND a resort fee on top of the nightly fee. And the places I'm looking at just aren't that much cheaper. I've seen a few way less expensive places pop up in my searches, but the reviews definitely make them seem like non-options to me.

Are you saving money or "saving money" from what moderate/deluxe rack rates are?

I stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suite sin Marriott Village for MW this year. Check in Friday and check out Monday. There was a parking fee of $17 per day. My total for the stay including tax and all fees including parking was $490.27. $5 of that was water from the grab and go store so you can remove that.

I rent whether or not I stay on property so the parking fee they now charge guests washes with whatever an offsite hotel will charge.

 

[BikeFan]

Does anyone remember how fast Dopey, Goofy, and the full sold out this past year? I remember they stayed open for a while, but I can't remember how long it took for them to sell-out.

 

[Novatrix]

Does anyone remember how fast Dopey, Goofy, and the full sold out this past year? I remember they stayed open for a while, but I can't remember how long it took for them to sell-out.

I don't remember when Dopey and the full sold out (not day of registration), but Goofy was full by 10 PM day of registration.

It being an anniversary year, tying into the NYE holiday, and the return of international travel, I don't think last year is a good indicator for how quickly they will sell out this year.

 

[kirstie101]

That would be nice, but I find taking the redeye and landing the day the expo opens helps me to adjust to the timezone and early wakeup calls a little easier.

Actually I agree. I’m planning on the red eye again.

 

[accm]

OK all of you "I stay offsite to save tons of money" people. Where is it that you're staying? Mama needs to budget. Because a lot of the stuff I'm looking at has a parking fee (because offsite=rental car for us) AND a resort fee on top of the nightly fee. And the places I'm looking at just aren't that much cheaper. I've seen a few way less expensive places pop up in my searches, but the reviews definitely make them seem like non-options to me.

Are you saving money or "saving money" from what moderate/deluxe rack rates are?

We're DVC members, but originally booked a cash stay for wine and dine weekend last year. At the time, we ended up booking one of the all stars, because we were going for lowest cost, and once you start adding all the fees associated with an offsite stay, we were paying more than all stars.
The only time I think I'd stay offsite vs onsite, is if I was looking at a moderate (or a deluxe, although that's a more difficult comparison). I was able to find a similar rate at the Dolphin as I would have paid at a Disney moderate for this February (granted, this was a last minute change, so not too many options), and by staying at the Dolphin, I would've been within walking distance of two parks, and had access to the deluxe night hours whatever they're called. If you're at the Dolphin, you're also able to take advantage of Disney's transportation to the two other parks if you wanted to walk to the Boardwalk or Yatch Club.

But back to your original question - I didn't find that I would be saving any money staying offsite when low cost was my main priority. Maybe if you want a higher quality accommodation?

 

[accm]

Can anyone remind me what information you can/can't change after registration. It turns out that my aunt/nephews in Brazil will be traveling when registration opens, so my husband and I will be in charge of registering 8 people It would be a lot easier if I could just use my address for everyone, and then change it after I know we're all good.

 

[BigEeyore]

OK all of you "I stay offsite to save tons of money" people. Where is it that you're staying? Mama needs to budget. Because a lot of the stuff I'm looking at has a parking fee (because offsite=rental car for us) AND a resort fee on top of the nightly fee. And the places I'm looking at just aren't that much cheaper. I've seen a few way less expensive places pop up in my searches, but the reviews definitely make them seem like non-options to me.

Have you looked into Air BNB or VRBO? We are DVC, but before we joined we used to rent an off site condo. No parking fees, plus you get a kitchen and laundry which help a lot.

Does anyone remember how fast Dopey, Goofy, and the full sold out this past year? I remember they stayed open for a while, but I can't remember how long it took for them to sell-out.

I am expecting Dopey to sell out day of registration given the anniversary + New Years week + pent up demand post-Covid.

 

[Baloo in MI]

Does anyone remember how fast Dopey, Goofy, and the full sold out this past year? I remember they stayed open for a while, but I can't remember how long it took for them to sell-out.

When it comes to registration, I can be a bit of “the sky is falling!!!!” kind of person. So take my feedback with a grain of salt. But given the 10 Year Anniversary of Dopey, and won’t it be 30 year Anniversary for the Marathon? I think it will be a year were races fill very quickly.

 

[Novatrix]

No one should worry about registering early for Dopey this year. I'm sure it will stay open for weeks like last year. Besides, who wants to deal with the crashing website and virtual queues right when registration opens? No need to register the day of, it'll be fine.

(Mwahaha, evil plans to ensure I successfully get registered for Dopey 2023 initiated. Please feel free to repost above on other social media platforms.)

 

[PrincessV]

SAFD: smaller fields for all races. It was a VERY different experience back in 2012, when 5Ks were capped at 5,000 participants. W&D 2021 felt a lot like the old days with tis reduced numbers and it was sooooo nice!

 

[jpeterson]

SAFD: smaller fields for all races. It was a VERY different experience back in 2012, when 5Ks were capped at 5,000 participants. W&D 2021 felt a lot like the old days with tis reduced numbers and it was sooooo nice!

Hard to balance that with the number of people here (myself included) worrying about getting into the races they want to get into.

 

[PrincessV]

OK all of you "I stay offsite to save tons of money" people. Where is it that you're staying? Mama needs to budget. Because a lot of the stuff I'm looking at has a parking fee (because offsite=rental car for us) AND a resort fee on top of the nightly fee. And the places I'm looking at just aren't that much cheaper. I've seen a few way less expensive places pop up in my searches, but the reviews definitely make them seem like non-options to me.

Are you saving money or "saving money" from what moderate/deluxe rack rates are?

Wyndham Bonnet Creek - the timeshare. I rent from Vacation Upgrades and get a big 1 or more bedroom suite with full kitchen, living room, and washer/dryer in a really top-notch resort with lots of amenities. No parking or resort fees. I paid $715 total for my 6 nights this year for MW. HUGE savings over WDW prices for a MUCH nicer experience!

 

[PrincessV]

Hard to balance that with the number of people here (myself included) worrying about getting into the races they want to get into.

At risk of sounding flippant, it wasn't a hard balance at all: some people missed out, including myself on more than one occasion. But it was a FAR more pleasant race experience for those who got in. I'd gladly take that trade going forward, personally!

 

[jpeterson]

At risk of sounding flippant, it wasn't a hard balance at all: some people missed out, including myself on more than one occasion. But it was a FAR more pleasant race experience for those who got in. I'd gladly take that trade going forward, personally!

I understand where you are coming from. I'm sure it would make for a more pleasant experience for sure.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Does anyone remember how fast Dopey, Goofy, and the full sold out this past year? I remember they stayed open for a while, but I can't remember how long it took for them to sell-out.

I know Dopey lasted at least a day or two because I changed my mind about running the races virtually and went for in person instead after the in person races did not sell out.

With many others, I think that 2023 will sell out very quickly. Maybe even within hours. The 10K, Marathon, and Dopey are all celebrating an anniversary year. International runners will presumably be able to return, and I believe there will runners who were not ready to come back in January 2022, but will be very ready to come back in January 2023.

 

[gosalyn_mallard]

Does anyone remember how fast Dopey, Goofy, and the full sold out this past year? I remember they stayed open for a while, but I can't remember how long it took for them to sell-out.

I don't know the exact date it sold out, but I registered on Sept 7th for Dopey which was a few days after the medal designs were released.

 

[camaker]

I'm going to go in a different direction on the race availability front, and say I'm learning from errors in perspective from last year's registrations. I don't think it's really going to be much, if any, more difficult to register than it was last year. There are several reasons I think this:

First and foremost, the general decline of running may or may not have stabilized, but running popularity certainly has not rebounded to its glory days when RunDisney sellouts were measured in minutes. Races simply aren't as popular as they used to be.

This year's races, tied into the massive popularity of the overall 50th anniversary struggled to sell out. The last couple of in-person race weekends (2020/2022) have had some of the smallest finisher numbers for the marathon since I've been running Disney. We're talking smallest by thousands of runners, not an increment explainable by the hotter weather. While I think the 10th/30th anniversaries will drive an uptick in demand, I don't think it'll be nearly as large as we think it will be. Anniversaries are great when you're aware of them and I don't see the general running population being tied into that level of detail the way we are. There may or may not be an uptick in international registrations, but again I think it'll be on the smaller side, if so.

Ultimately, I think the thing that gets our concerns revved up over fast sellouts is that a lot of us have seen them in the past. Then we discuss them over and over, amplifying each other in the echo chamber of our fandom. We lose sight that we're discussing things with a relatively small subgroup within the larger running community and our little island of fandom isn't as big as it feels.

Could I be 100% wrong and the races sell out in a heartbeat? Sure, but for our sanity and ease of registration, I sure hope not! Here's hoping we all get into the races we want with a minimum of fuss.

 

[accm]

I'm going to go in a different direction on the race availability front, and say I'm learning from errors in perspective from last year's registrations. I don't think it's really going to be much, if any, more difficult to register than it was last year. There are several reasons I think this:

First and foremost, the general decline of running may or may not have stabilized, but running popularity certainly has not rebounded to its glory days when RunDisney sellouts were measured in minutes. Races simply aren't as popular as they used to be.

This year's races, tied into the massive popularity of the overall 50th anniversary struggled to sell out. The last couple of in-person race weekends (2020/2022) have had some of the smallest finisher numbers for the marathon since I've been running Disney. We're talking smallest by thousands of runners, not an increment explainable by the hotter weather. While I think the 10th/30th anniversaries will drive an uptick in demand, I don't think it'll be nearly as large as we think it will be. Anniversaries are great when you're aware of them and I don't see the general running population being tied into that level of detail the way we are. There may or may not be an uptick in international registrations, but again I think it'll be on the smaller side, if so.

Ultimately, I think the thing that gets our concerns revved up over fast sellouts is that a lot of us have seen them in the past. Then we discuss them over and over, amplifying each other in the echo chamber of our fandom. We lose sight that we're discussing things with a relatively small subgroup within the larger running community and our little island of fandom isn't as big as it feels.

Could I be 100% wrong and the races sell out in a heartbeat? Sure, but for our sanity and ease of registration, I sure hope not! Here's hoping we all get into the races we want with a minimum of fuss.

I hope you’re right. I was so anxious about registering for wine and dine last year, I remember sending my friend photos of my heart rate being over 120bpm. And it ended up being for nothing, since I don’t think the challenge ever sold out.
Will I be anxious again? Absolutely, because that’s just who I am. But I hope you’re right and I don’t end up disappointing my family in Brazil, and more importantly, my son, who are all very excited about their first runDisney race.

 

[GreatLakes]

I'm going to go in a different direction on the race availability front, and say I'm learning from errors in perspective from last year's registrations. I don't think it's really going to be much, if any, more difficult to register than it was last year. There are several reasons I think this:

First and foremost, the general decline of running may or may not have stabilized, but running popularity certainly has not rebounded to its glory days when RunDisney sellouts were measured in minutes. Races simply aren't as popular as they used to be.

This year's races, tied into the massive popularity of the overall 50th anniversary struggled to sell out. The last couple of in-person race weekends (2020/2022) have had some of the smallest finisher numbers for the marathon since I've been running Disney. We're talking smallest by thousands of runners, not an increment explainable by the hotter weather. While I think the 10th/30th anniversaries will drive an uptick in demand, I don't think it'll be nearly as large as we think it will be. Anniversaries are great when you're aware of them and I don't see the general running population being tied into that level of detail the way we are. There may or may not be an uptick in international registrations, but again I think it'll be on the smaller side, if so.

Ultimately, I think the thing that gets our concerns revved up over fast sellouts is that a lot of us have seen them in the past. Then we discuss them over and over, amplifying each other in the echo chamber of our fandom. We lose sight that we're discussing things with a relatively small subgroup within the larger running community and our little island of fandom isn't as big as it feels.

Could I be 100% wrong and the races sell out in a heartbeat? Sure, but for our sanity and ease of registration, I sure hope not! Here's hoping we all get into the races we want with a minimum of fuss.

You could be right. There are competing forces with RunDisney and I am really not sure which one will win out.

On one had you are right that running has generally cooled down in popularity, or at least did leading up to the pandemic and in the past few years. Disney is also getting very expensive and the races are keeping pace with those cost increases.

On the other had there has been a big uptick in running due to the pandemic. I don't think we know yet if that uptick will translate into a little bit of a race resurgence or fall off once we get back to normal. Over the past year as races return many are doing it with smaller fields while a lot of runners might not be ready to travel for races just yet. With Disney you also have the lock out of international travelers. Despite the prices Disney isn't a ghost town and a lot of the people that took up running as exercise during the pandemic might view a Disney race as their reward.

I really don't know. I'd suggest planning to register on race day but if you can't I wouldn't stress it too much.

 

[Baloo in MI]

I'm going to go in a different direction on the race availability front, and say I'm learning from errors in perspective from last year's registrations. I don't think it's really going to be much, if any, more difficult to register than it was last year. There are several reasons I think this:

First and foremost, the general decline of running may or may not have stabilized, but running popularity certainly has not rebounded to its glory days when RunDisney sellouts were measured in minutes. Races simply aren't as popular as they used to be.

This year's races, tied into the massive popularity of the overall 50th anniversary struggled to sell out. The last couple of in-person race weekends (2020/2022) have had some of the smallest finisher numbers for the marathon since I've been running Disney. We're talking smallest by thousands of runners, not an increment explainable by the hotter weather. While I think the 10th/30th anniversaries will drive an uptick in demand, I don't think it'll be nearly as large as we think it will be. Anniversaries are great when you're aware of them and I don't see the general running population being tied into that level of detail the way we are. There may or may not be an uptick in international registrations, but again I think it'll be on the smaller side, if so.

Ultimately, I think the thing that gets our concerns revved up over fast sellouts is that a lot of us have seen them in the past. Then we discuss them over and over, amplifying each other in the echo chamber of our fandom. We lose sight that we're discussing things with a relatively small subgroup within the larger running community and our little island of fandom isn't as big as it feels.

Could I be 100% wrong and the races sell out in a heartbeat? Sure, but for our sanity and ease of registration, I sure hope not! Here's hoping we all get into the races we want with a minimum of fuss.

I hope you are right. But this echo chamber I am in (and contribute to) is loud. I hope that all who want a specific race are able to get it. But I will be set and ready, with multiple devices, 10 minutes prior to registration opening just in case!