Marathon Weekend 2023

[GollyGadget]

When does Disney usually release pricing information for Marathon Weekend? Three weeks out from general registration and there is still no info about anything.

I'm really not sure when pricing typically gets released and also somewhat surprised it's not published yet. In the mean time, you could refer to W&D for an idea on pricing.
https://www.rundisney.com/events/disneyworld/wine-and-dine-half-marathon-weekend/
I would expect the 5 and 10k to be the same price and the half and full marathon to be slightly less than the W&D half. The W&D half is usually more due to the gift card and after party. For the challenge, just add them together and add a bit for the extra medal and shirt.

 

[runningDisneygirl]

I'm really not sure when pricing typically gets released and also somewhat surprised it's not published yet. In the mean time, you could refer to W&D for an idea on pricing.
https://www.rundisney.com/events/disneyworld/wine-and-dine-half-marathon-weekend/
I would expect the 5 and 10k to be the same price and the half and full marathon to be slightly less than the W&D half. The W&D half is usually more due to the gift card and after party. For the challenge, just add them together and add a bit for the extra medal and shirt.

And Dopey is usually right around $600!

 

[princesspirateandrunner]

SAFD: I wear most of my race shirts, but there are a few that are just too ugly or fit strangely that never see the light of day.
As for my medals, I have tried to organize and display them, but I need a new system. My first display (on a closet wall) was this:

Then, I started putting my Disney, marathon, and more recent medals and bibs on a couple of IKEA pegboards:


Then, I gave up on organizing the rest, and they are just piled togethe:

DH had a coat tree in his office for his, but now is working from home, so they are in a corner here:

Perhaps this question will get me motivated to make a more attractive display. I’m really impressed by the pictures posted by everyone this week.

 

[DopeyBadger]

SAFD: My medals and PRs are in my workout room.




My shirts are mostly in a pile in the closet. I wear a few of the runDisney ones every once in a while when the temperature is right. But the large majority of race shirts never get worn. I'd opt to pay less on registration for not getting a race shirt almost every time. I used to do a race time wall several years ago, but didn't keep it up. Doesn't look like I've got a picture of it.

 

[LosAngelesRunner]

Hi everyone! Longtime lurker on this and the 2022 MW thread, finally decided to join as I was so grateful for all the info I gleaned last year. I ran the 2022 Marathon (my 2nd marathon and 1st RunDisney event!) and I'm figuring out what I want to run in 2023 (deciding between Goofy and Dopey... like many here - the days off from work are the only thing holding me back!). Two of my family members who came to watch me in 2022 just decided to run their first half marathon (!) at MW so I'm excited to make this a family event.

We're thinking of staying at Old Key West for MW in one of their 2 bedroom DVC units via renting points - it gives us enough space and lets us prep our own meals that week which we loved last year. Has anyone stayed at Old Key West for Marathon Weekend? Know it's not the best location or newest resort, but it feels the most economical for us all given the three runners and two spectators who will be joining us.

Excited to be here and not lurking anymore for MW2023!

 

[GollyGadget]

Hi everyone! Longtime lurker on this and the 2022 MW thread, finally decided to join as I was so grateful for all the info I gleaned last year. I ran the 2022 Marathon (my 2nd marathon and 1st RunDisney event!) and I'm figuring out what I want to run in 2023 (deciding between Goofy and Dopey... like many here - the days off from work are the only thing holding me back!). Two of my family members who came to watch me in 2022 just decided to run their first half marathon (!) at MW so I'm excited to make this a family event.

We're thinking of staying at Old Key West for MW in one of their 2 bedroom DVC units via renting points - it gives us enough space and lets us prep our own meals that week which we loved last year. Has anyone stayed at Old Key West for Marathon Weekend? Know it's not the best location or newest resort, but it feels the most economical for us all given the three runners and two spectators who will be joining us.

Excited to be here and not lurking anymore for MW2023!

I stayed at okw for marathon weekend in 2018. My memory is a little foggy but I do remember being able to hear the race fireworks in the morning. Obviously not a big deal if you're running Dopey but I was only running the marathon and not too excited to be awake that early on Saturday. We were in a building pretty close to Bonnet Creek Pkwy so if you do decide on okw, I'd suggest requesting a building away from the northwest corner of the resort for the sake of your spectators.

I also got stuck in pre race traffic that morning on the bus. I don't think this is the resorts fault at all but just another reminder to catch an early bus.

 

[Herding_Cats]

We're thinking of staying at Old Key West for MW in one of their 2 bedroom DVC units via renting points - it gives us enough space and lets us prep our own meals that week which we loved last year. Has anyone stayed at Old Key West for Marathon Weekend? Know it's not the best location or newest resort, but it feels the most economical for us all given the three runners and two spectators who will be joining us.

Excited to be here and not lurking anymore for MW2023!

Welcome! DH and I stayed at OKW in a 1br this year for MW. I really like that resort because it just feels more spread out and relaxed. We had no major issues, and ran a “combined dopey” (DH did the 5k and the 10k and I ran goofy.) Quirks of the resort (if you’re not renting a car and driving yourself to the races) are that the internal bus DOES run loops to take you up to the hospitality house to catch the race/expo busses, but it takes that bus about 15min per loop. I opted to walk the 0.74mi to the front on marathon morning to catch the bus because I had just missed the internal bus. The sidewalks were adequately lit, but it wasn’t how I wanted to start my marathon day. And you’ll deal with the same issue when you get back from the race (potentially waiting for the internal bus.) If we do MW for 2023 there’s a good chance we will stay there again.

 

[pluto377]

Here's my medal display. I've run out of room and need to get another one though. MW 2021 and 2022 are just sitting on a shelf. Shirts I wear- tech shirts I run in, cotton I use for pjs or beach shirts.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Just booked my stay! I put on my big girl pants and braved the telephone (I have phone anxiety typical of millennials lol). The cast member was great.

I am staying at POFQ from January 4-8 and then the Polynesian (!!!) from January 8-11. It will —fingers crossed— hopefully be a celebration of both MW accomplishments and my graduation in December. I am so excited. Here’s to hoping I get my Dopey registration!

 

[Baloo in MI]

SAFD (This week Saturday’s are for Disney)…

My apologies, but going to send this out early. I am down at WDW running Spring Surprise and will be up a little early tomorrow and then racing back afterwards to get ready and take off for Epcot. So figured I would get this week’s question out a little early.

If you were the Disney CEO and had the chance to keep/change/get rid of Genie+ would you?

So I totally own the question came out of my experiences this week and from MW2022. I have tried to get behind Genie+. I did not want to just dislike it because it was new. We tried it at MK and HS back in January and then MK and AK this week. In short, it just does not do enough of what I want. And though it is not a lot of money, especially in relation to the cost of a full Disney vacation. It still pains me to pay for something that just a few years ago was free (and in my opinion, so much better). My preference would be something in line with Fast Pass+. Though not perfect it did guarantee 3 attractions each day that my family really wanted to do AND at the times that worked with in all our other existing plans. Plus it was possible some days to extend the 3 choicies to 4 or even 5. I am a huge planner so that system spoke to my heart. It had flaws, I think anything would. As nothing is going to meet the needs of all guests.

All right all, let those thoughts flow! And for those running the 10-miler tomorrow wishing you all a good race. I am hoping for cooler weather in the morning, but not holding my breath…

 

[DisneyParrothead]

SAFD (This week Saturday’s are for Disney)…

My apologies, but going to send this out early. I am down at WDW running Spring Surprise and will be up a little early tomorrow and then racing back afterwards to get ready and take off for Epcot. So figured I would get this week’s question out a little early.

If you were the Disney CEO and had the chance to keep/change/get rid of Genie+ would you?

So I totally own the question came out of my experiences this week and from MW2022. I have tried to get behind Genie+. I did not want to just dislike it because it was new. We tried it at MK and HS back in January and then MK and AK this week. In short, it just does not do enough of what I want. And though it is not a lot of money, especially in relation to the cost of a full Disney vacation. It still pains me to pay for something that just a few years ago was free (and in my opinion, so much better). My preference would be something in line with Fast Pass+. Though not perfect it did guarantee 3 attractions each day that my family really wanted to do AND at the times that worked with in all our other existing plans. Plus it was possible some days to extend the 3 choicies to 4 or even 5. I am a huge planner so that system spoke to my heart. It had flaws, I think anything would. As nothing is going to meet the needs of all guests.

All right all, let those thoughts flow! And for those running the 10-miler tomorrow wishing you all a good race. I am hoping for cooler weather in the morning, but not holding my breath…

I loved how you could plan in advance with Fastpass+. It meant I didn’t have to get up at 7am every day on vacation, and I only had to be on my phone if I needed to change plans almost last minute.

Now since even Disney acknowledged Genie+ has limits, I would get rid of it. There’s no shame in admitting something didn’t work, especially with guest satisfaction down because of Genie+. They’ve even skirted this subject during investors relations calls each quarter. There have been IT issues when the system is overloaded on a day, and having time to plan in advance with Fastpass+ would take a load off the servers.

 

[Naomeri]

SAFD: I would make it more like the FP+ system that we had, where you could actually choose times. Yes, it’s crap to charge us for something that used to be free, but that’s not the bit that bothers me. The randomness of the whole thing just kills me.

Also, the tip board needs to not default to Magic Kingdom—Disney knows what park we have reserved—it should default to that, and if people want to look at other parks, then they can click it.

I’d also use some of the revenue generated from this monstrosity to pay for better IT people that can keep it from glitching out all the damn time. I got a LL for ToT during the race today, but I didn’t even know what time it was for because it kept changing and then erroring out—luckily, it ended up being a good time for my day.

 

[accm]

SAFD: I’ll preface this by saying I only used genie+ one day of our vacation, and that was because it was my dads only park day.
I’m in principle not against a paid fast pass system.
I wasn’t a huge fan of fastpass+ and having to preplan everything 60 days in advance (let’s not even mention the 180 day ADR window). Our last couple of trips I’ve like the freedom of being able to change our mind about which park we wanted to go to.
I think if Disney had instead gone with something like Maxpass at Disneyland, there would’ve been a lot less backlash, AND it was a system that already worked, so there would’ve been fewer IT issues.
So I guess if I was in charge, I’d change Genie+ to Maxpass. No LL+ (or whatever it’s called), and no limits on how many times you can ride a ride.

 

[accm]

SAFD: I would make it more like the FP+ system that we had, where you could actually choose times. Yes, it’s crap to charge us for something that used to be free, but that’s not the bit that bothers me. The randomness of the whole thing just kills me.

Also, the tip board needs to not default to Magic Kingdom—Disney knows what park we have reserved—it should default to that, and if people want to look at other parks, then they can click it.

I’d also use some of the revenue generated from this monstrosity to pay for better IT people that can keep it from glitching out all the damn time. I got a LL for ToT during the race today, but I didn’t even know what time it was for because it kept changing and then erroring out—luckily, it ended up being a good time for my day.

When we were down there earlier in the year, I decided to pay for Rise of the Resistance so my dad could ride. The time went from 9am, to like 10:30 on the final screen, to 3:30pm after we had paid, which didn’t work for us since we were going to be hopping to MK. So my husband had to go see someone about getting it refunded. I feel like there should be a way where once you see the final screen where you click purchase (or whatever it is), that the time no longer changes.

 

[1lilspark]

SAFD: I would gladly take a system to that meets in the middle of FP+/genie+ Where you still pay something however you can either pre select a time or are given an option of times and the selection doesn’t change multiple times

 

[azrivest]

SAFD : agree with the above. Disney as a company won't go back to a free system for sure. They are all about extorting as much money as they can from us suckers. And I don't know how much they actually consider user feedback right now.

But being able to pick a guaranteed time and it sticking until you confirm would be a minimum. Or at least being able to modify your selection.

At Disneyland, G+ seems to 1) work and 2) work much more like Maxpass did. Why is it so much more complicated at WDW?

 

[The Expert]

I think if Disney had instead gone with something like Maxpass at Disneyland, there would’ve been a lot less backlash, AND it was a system that already worked, so there would’ve been fewer IT issues.
So I guess if I was in charge, I’d change Genie+ to Maxpass. No LL+ (or whatever it’s called), and no limits on how many times you can ride a ride.

SAFD: I came here to say this exact same thing. Maxpass was easy and it worked. Basically, the OG FP system but you did it from your phone rather than pulling a physical ticket. Disney IT needs to follow the KISS system with everything they do -- the simpler, the better!

 

[kirstie101]

SAFD: Even though I haven’t used it, I would get rid of Genie+. I’m a Disneyland girl and loved maxpass and having the option of using the old fastpass system for free if I wanted to. Though we almost always bought maxpass. We were in the parks just before Genie+ came out and we had the shortest standby wait times we’ve ever seen. I hate that Disney is trying to force you to buy Genie+. The standby wait times at DL and DCA are terrible right now.

Resort question for you pros… For marathon weekend would you prefer POFQ or Pop? I did Pop on 2020 and loved the skyliner access. Currently have a reservation at Pop but was thinking of trying POFQ instead.

 

[jpeterson]

Resort question for you pros… For marathon weekend would you prefer POFQ or Pop? I did Pop on 2020 and loved the skyliner access. Currently have a reservation at Pop but was thinking of trying POFQ instead.

I prefer the moderates or deluxes to the value resorts myself. I went with CBR for moderate and skyliner access.

Of your choice I would pick POFQ. It's a fantastic resort.

 

[kirstie101]

I prefer the moderates or deluxes to the value resorts myself. I went with CBR for moderate and skyliner access.

Of your choice I would pick POFQ. It's a fantastic resort.

It doesn’t look like CBR has any preferred rooms right now. Are the Standard rooms super far away from everything?