Marathon Weekend 2024

[striker1064]

It seems like races haven’t really been opening up as much. I know they’ve been back to back but I feel like Disneyland should’ve opened up at least once by now? Makes me think if I want to coast to coast with marathon weekend I might need to sign up now rather than wait for it to open up later. I signed up in October last year. Really didn’t want to drop another $200 when I’ve got so much going on in April but that may be the way unless I do another race if I decide to wait. runDisney makes it so difficult.

runDisney doesn't really "open" back up though. They do seem to release a few bibs here and there but the amount could be in the single digits. But once it's sold out that's that.

 

[marty3d]

The real issue is that post marathon, to get to the monorail you have to walk all the way to the front of Epcot, as opposed to the buses being right at the reunion area. I’ve done both after a marathon, and the extra walk was a nice cool down. I actually sprinted up the ramp to catch the monorail. Immediately sitting down on a bus and being stuck in traffic for an hour, and then trying to hobble down stairs is far worse.

I completely agree here - after the marathon I can’t sit on a bus for any length of time. Since we always stay at a crescent lake resort, my post marathon routine is to walk to Epcot, cheer on the last of the runners (yes - I’m pretty slow!), meet my family for a quick lunch at one of the WS counters - usually Mexico and then walk to my resort to shower rest/ nap before heading back to the park. I find that keeping myself moving rather than sitting on a bus helps with my recovery.

 

[fatmanatee]

It seems like races haven’t really been opening up as much. I know they’ve been back to back but I feel like Disneyland should’ve opened up at least once by now? Makes me think if I want to coast to coast with marathon weekend I might need to sign up now rather than wait for it to open up later. I signed up in October last year. Really didn’t want to drop another $200 when I’ve got so much going on in April but that may be the way unless I do another race if I decide to wait. runDisney makes it so difficult.

I don’t think you can necessarily expect races to open up. DL sold out as quickly as people could get through and a lot of people who missed out went to charities, which is supposedly a source of the extra bibs that pop up. Another source is challenge bibs being broken up, but those sold out too. So I would guess the last hope would be that they increase capacity but it isn’t something people should count on.

(Another thing about DL: registration was unusually early. If they decide to add bibs they have a lot of time)

My rule of thumb, and this is tough, given that this is an expensive endeavor: know what you want to do by the time registration opens and just jump in. I wouldn’t want to risk it selling out and having to count on the twitter/telegram bot, which more and more people know about and as a result it’s gotten tougher to snatch up the one bib that they release when it gets posted.

 

[Marathongirl30]

My DH and I are planning on staying at OKW for MW (IF we get in). Any insight on that location for the Dopey?

 

[Disney at Heart]

My DH and I are planning on staying at OKW for MW (IF we get in). Any insight on that location for the Dopey?

We stayed there for MW several years ago. The runDisney buses only picked up in the front of the resort. We stayed close enough to walk there. That saved having to use internal buses to get to the front to wait for the rD bus. (At least I think the internal buses were running that early.) I’d say ask for a room in one of the buildings near the lobby area.

 

[Marathongirl30]

Good to know. We will have a car, so does anyone know how difficult/easy it is to get to the start? In 2022 we stayed at PO and it was awesome-no issues getting there.

 

[nekonekoneko]

Good to know. We will have a car, so does anyone know how difficult/easy it is to get to the start? In 2022 we stayed at PO and it was awesome-no issues getting there.

It's fairly easy, just a bit of a logjam from World Drive and Buena Vista Drive to the tollbooth. It's much smoother than most football game parking, though. It's just that squish from all toll lanes to 2 lanes to get to parking, but the CMs do a fantastic job getting everyone to a parking spot.

I'd say about 10 minutes from once you get into the line on World Drive until you're actually in a parking spot.

 

[dobball23]

My DH and I are planning on staying at OKW for MW (IF we get in). Any insight on that location for the Dopey?

I will be staying at OKW for Marathon Weekend 2024. It will be my first time staying there. I'm looking forward to it!

 

[Barca33Runner]

Didn’t realize W&D registration was such a fiasco (then again, it’s rD, so knock me over with a feather). I had already decided I needed a break from the self-imposed stress registering for Dopey contributes to; but I think I need to sit down and decide what races I actually want to sign up for to save myself some registration day headaches.

Part of me wants to keep a longer race on the schedule but the Half course is so boring and the Marathon is 99.9% of the stress of Dopey. I know I can have fun running the 5k, 10k, or both but I wonder whether I’ll regret not running more. Decisions, decisions.

 

[Marathongirl30]

Is the logjam at OKW for all 4 races? How is anyone getting Poly? Thought it was already completely booked?

 

[Baloo in MI]

Good Morning run-Disney All-Stars! Hope everyone is doing well! Here is today’s question:

Based on all your experiences with runDisney is there anything you would like to see them change/improve/eliminate?

My answer: A better process to deal with injuries, sickness, life getting in the way of a trip to Disney and missing a race weekend. I would love to see a better process for transfer of registration from one year to the next or the ability to transfer a bib to another person. It is just a shame when someone can’t run and the race is totally sold out. There are definitely people who would be willing to use the bib. A great win-win would be to give the person who is missing the race a guaranteed spot in the next year (and runDIsney could have them pay for that registration fee) and then the current registration could be resold through DIsney. In the end runDisney actually makes more money but the bib gets used and the person who lost out at least has the benefit of knowing they have a spot in the next year. Have a good week all!

 

[DisneyParrothead]

SAFD: something simple would be releasing the race courses early. Idk why they’re waiting so long now when they control the roads.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

SAFD:

I would like to be able to purchase race insurance.

A great win-win would be to give the person who is missing the race a guaranteed spot in the next year (and runDIsney could have them pay for that registration fee) and then the current registration could be resold through DIsney.

I agree with you. My guess is they intentionally oversell the races (like flights do) knowing that x% of people will likely not show.

I would like them to have more medal replica pins available at the expo haha.

And, idk how they would do this, but I would prefer to not have such a long walk to the corrals for the half/full but alas. I just think of it as a warm up (even though I then end up sitting for a long time).

 

[The Expert]

SAFD: something simple would be releasing the race courses early. Idk why they’re waiting so long now when they control the roads.

I suspect it's because there are different divisions planning different things, and they aren't all talking to one another that far in advance. It appears that rD is a bit of an afterthought and has a very small staff, so I'm guessing they have to proactively connect with the departments that work on roads and parks to find out what construction will be happening, where and when. And if you've ever worked with anything construction related, you know those timelines can swing dramatically. I'm thinking specifically of Epcot and how the routes have had to adjust around construction there the last few years. Since they are getting the courses certified, There is a sweet spot they have to wait for to confirm the exact route without holding up the work.

A great win-win would be to give the person who is missing the race a guaranteed spot in the next year (and runDIsney could have them pay for that registration fee) and then the current registration could be resold through DIsney.

I like the solution of the resale happening through rD. That would prevent scalpers from picking up registrations for markup and resale.

My SAFD answer: Just fix all the IT issues! I get they want to have everything in house for control (and fees), but Disney IT trying to build and duct tape it together isn't working. Just give up and outsource the registration back to Active or license software that is purpose-built for this type of thing.

Also, allow pre-order of ALL the merch at the expo and cut out the resellers altogether. Knowing retail timelines, they could do it post-registration once they have mockups of everything, making it available via the rD page like now. Just send out an email just to those registered when it's available and leave it open until your order bank has to close. They could still order 20% more (or whatever number) for those who missed it or the non-runners coming to the expo, but the folks running the races would get first dibs on what they wanted. It would still disincentivize the resellers because (I have to assume) most of the demand for their stuff is coming from runners who get cut out at the expo.

 

[nekonekoneko]

SAFD: something simple would be releasing the race courses early. Idk why they’re waiting so long now when they control the roads.

A lot of this is USATF certification of the courses. They're usually not measured until about a month before the races, and then it takes another two weeks to make sure the measurements are correct

 

[Naomeri]

SAFD: more course variety would be nice. I know they like the simplicity of starting/ending at Epcot, but it end up being almost the same race over and over the more weekends you do in a year.

Also adding race insurance and the ability to hold registrations in your cart for 10 minutes so you can fill things out correctly and get your whole order done at once without the stress.

 

[marty3d]

A lot of this is USATF certification of the courses. They're usually not measured until about a month before the races, and then it takes another two weeks to make sure the measurements are correct

While I agree they can’t be finalized, most races at least publish a preliminary course months ahead. rD would know what the general map will look like, what parks they plan to run through, etc.

 

[marty3d]

SAFD: Im going to steal from others because the answers posted already are spot on.
1 - Fix the registration IT issues
2 - Race insurance
3 - Pre order of all merchandise - at least for the races you’re registered for. For example, for W&D I won’t be arriving until the afternoon that expo opens. I expect all the challenge jackets will be gone ( this happened to me at MW where the Dopey jacket was gone by the time I got in even though I entered the virtual queue right when it opened). They have the weekend jacket available for pre-order but why not all the merch?

 

[nekonekoneko]

SAFD: to play devil's advocate with the IT argument, in rD's case, why? It would cost them money in building new code, cost them money in testing that code, for no additional revenue. There's always going to be people complaining that they couldn't get in. If they use a lottery, then people will kvetch that the lottery failed them year after year.

The New York Marathon uses a lottery system, so does The Broad Street 10 Miler. I'm not as familiar with New York, but the Philly run had one year where they sold out, and then redid the entire system the next year.

But the runs have always been used to get people to Disney. The focus was never using Disney to get people to run.

The issue against using a hold is because it's not like a concert, where you're buying specific seats. You ask for row 15 center, and by the time you pay, all that's left is third deck on the wing? For rD, you're paying for a spot, which is to be determined later.

So I'd love for it to be less frustrating, but what incentive does rD have to do so?

But the one thing I really really want them to change is the half and full corrals. Why are they so friggin far?

 

[nekonekoneko]

While I agree they can’t be finalized, most races at least publish a preliminary course months ahead. rD would know what the general map will look like, what parks they plan to run through, etc.

For most of runDisney's history, that is called last year's courses. They don't change much from year to year, unless there's some major construction going on.