Marathon Weekend 2024

[DopeyRunner486]

In no particular order:

• Offer either a Disney controlled transfer portal or insurance
• Bring back kids races
• Use the new SS races to introduce new distances and totally new courses, not just a rotation of themes on the same old races
• Move W&D back to a night race so it is unique and you can go right from the finish line to the after party. If that means moving it to a different time during W&D then do it.
• Let registered runners pre-order race items and limit the quantity to one of each item to make it less desirable for someone to burn a bib just to order a few items.
• Hold your race as you check out. This isn't some advanced tech that doesn't exist. If you get to the option to register you know you have the race in your cart.
• Bonus: bring back a free day in the park as a reward for finishing a race. They had one marathon Monday in 2011 and they should bring that back.

I do remain confused why they have't brought back kids races yet. Right after covid they made comments that they would do like kids activities at least but they haven't even done that. Maybe its a staffing thing? Disneyland is doing it tho so its even more confusing its not back at WDW yet.

I am not sure Disney will ever do a night race again. They are seemingly cursed. Always a logistical problem and routinely bad weather. The last few wine & dines were problematic and the Everest 5K last year was cut short too.

Disney doing anything for free is a pipe dream at this point. The wine & dine 5K included admission to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party once too.

In all seriousness though, I see why Disney doesn't do the freebies. runDisney from what I have gathered/been told, is seen more as a loss leader. They do make money off rD but its a big event that brings people to the parks. These races are not cheap to put on. Races in general are not cheap. On top of regular race things like staging, cones, staff, rD pays for the entertainment and characters. Those race fees are not pure profit like some think. Disney really makes their money by people buying the park tickets and staying in the hotels.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

SAFD:
I agree with so much that has already been said. Though most importantly, they need to bring back the tortilla chips in the snack box!

And oreos!

 

[DopeyRunner486]

I keep wanting this on the first day of expo only, you need a bib to buy the matching merch. And one of each type.

After the first day, I don't care, but let the runners get first dibs!

But as I keep saying, Disney gets their money, they don't care who it comes from.

This has been debated a bit for years now. The problem is, personal shoppers will then just buy bibs. Some already do just for the 5K or something like that. There is no fool proof way.

 

[PrincessV]

Re: access to potties in corrals - one of the Dark Side races had them set up IN the corrals and it was glorious!!! Big corrals, potties in the back, exit to race start in the front: so easy to just hang in the corral and make a final potty stop much closer to your start time. I’ll never understand why they didn’t continue doing that.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

SAFD: Sooooo many things! In no particular order after #1, which is very much number 1 on my list:
1. For the love of Mickey: FIX. THE. IT. Or go back to Active.
2. Transfers, deferrals, refunds, insurance, something, ANYthing to help people out should life happen along the way.
3. Bring back early DVC/AP registration.
4. Smaller fields per race (though it looks like post-COVID that actually has happened… I could go for even smaller, though)
5. An option to register at a reduced price by forgoing race shirts and medals.
6. More Challenge options - it would be nice to allow people doing 5K, 10K, and half in one weekend to be acknowledged for that. Ditto for combinations other than Goofy or Dopey for MW.
7. Bring back Rudy.
8. A drive-thru bib pick-up option, or something for those of us who just want to get our bib and go
9. Medal PP spots in the parks, where a PP setup has all medals for that race weekend on hand for photos and runners don’t have to BYO.
10. Better post-race food boxes, but in bags - with HANDLES! - instead of awkward boxes. Why can’t we have Oreos again?! Coke/Sprite?!

4. you can't have it both ways tho. Smaller fields mean more registration headaches especially if you want deferrals. I think the numbers we see now is the sweet spot.
7. I think that ship has sailed and given what I have seen him say I am not sure he would want to return. Listening to a recent podcast with Carissa and John it also seems some of their perks for working are going away too.
8. runDisney did try a resort pick up option one year. I would imagine this becomes a logistical headache again with such a small staff.
9. I get what you're saying here but I don't like it lol. I don't want to wear/use a medal that has been worn by 100s of other people. That also opens the door for a damaged medal for the photo. Most people wear their medals anyways so I am going to have it. Its part of the fun of the weekend wearing your medals and taking photos with your medals. I do like that during Princess they started special magic shots for runners.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

This is genius! If people aren't clanging their medals together walking around the park, I bet they'd see a reduction in the number of medal replacement requests. They damage so easily.

Well its kind of your own fault if you wear all your medals at once walking around and they get damaged lol.

That said, I think its more about the quality of the medals right now. For example, I didn't do anything abnormal or problematic with my Fairy Tale Challenge medal this year and it started peeling. Others I have seen the entire thing peeled off. Thats a quality issue. Medals pre-2018ish really didn't have these problems.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

SAFD: Agree with most of what’s been offered already. Two additions. First - let us take the short cut out to the race start. There’s a faster way to at least the front corrals that they walked us out on when I did race retreat in 2020. Why not have both paths open? Second, adding on to what someone else said , have porta johns in the corrals for the half and full. Even just a couple per corral would help so you don’t have to go all the way back out if nature calls after standing in the corrals for an hour.

That route isn't really meant for people in mass which is why they only did it for race retreat and I believe disability runners may get to use it.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

SAFD: I wish they would require POT for everyone. The self seeding honor system is being badly abused. It would be a better experience for all if there wasn’t so much dodging other runners going on. FWIW I’m not winning any speed records and would be more than willing to play by those rules.

I am not necessarily disagreeing with you but what do you do with first time runners then? I do think POT should be larger than 2:15 like it used to be but its basically impossible to require it for all.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

Not if it's done right. You don't let runners transfer to other runners. Disney basically buys them back minus a fee and then sells them to people on a waiting list or just makes it available on a first come basis. This is an already solved problem.

I've never seen an in-corral port-o-potty that I remember anywhere but you don't have to go all the way back out. Jump the fence, visit a tree, jump the fence back in. It's basically a right of passage to do a tree visit within a few minutes of your start and it wasn't only men when I did it.

I just don't see it happening. Every system can be abused. People will find ways to do it with transfers. There is a reason the majors don't do it. some do deferrals though which rD used to do as well. I just think transfers is something thats too messy.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

A few more things. While I just sort of accept that registration will be a mess, I actually wish they would bring back running through Wide World of sports every other or every few years, just to switch up the marathon course once in a while. That said, I don’t do runDisney every year, so it is not a huge deal, but would be nice. Honestly, I tend to do marathon weekend because it tends to keep my overeating in check and keeps me working out from thanksgiving—Christma—new years

I actually think I prefer ESPN to the Blizzard Beach parking lot. There were always a lot of characters in ESPN. Running through the baseball stadium with people cheering and bands playing was always fun too.

 

[Naomeri]

I am v lucky that this falls on my winter break haha.

I do find it surprising that registration opens the week of SS. I hope ppl who fly out Tuesday aren’t affected by that.

Yet another reason why it’s good I’m not trying for my first MW until 2025, I will literally be in the air during registration

 

[marty3d]

Yet another reason why it’s good I’m not trying for my first MW until 2025, I will literally be in the air during registration

That was me for DL registration - it didn't end well.

 

[superchime]

During Princess 10k, people were sneaking out the barricade at the back of the start chute, but I was so worried about losing my spot.

We should have found each other! Next time.

 

[Barca33Runner]

In all seriousness though, I see why Disney doesn't do the freebies. runDisney from what I have gathered/been told, is seen more as a loss leader. They do make money off rD but its a big event that brings people to the parks. These races are not cheap to put on. Races in general are not cheap. On top of regular race things like staging, cones, staff, rD pays for the entertainment and characters. Those race fees are not pure profit like some think. Disney really makes their money by people buying the park tickets and staying in the hotels.

If it is true the races are used primarily as a loss leader to encourage hotel and park visitors I cannot possibly comprehend the continual positioning of Marathon Weekend during the first week of January. It is an incredibly high demand time for the parks regardless of an rD bump. Outside of Spring Break I can’t picture a time they need to boost attendance less.

ETA: I don’t doubt this is true and don’t believe rD is a big earner for them; which makes the default placement of Marathon Weekend overlapping school winter breaks all the more puzzling. It feels like something that has become routine and not something they actively put thought into anymore.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

If it is true the races are used as a loss leader to encourage hotel and park visitors I cannot possibly comprehend the continual positioning of Marathon Weekend during the first week of January. It is an incredibly high demand time for the parks regardless of an rD bump. Outside of Spring Break I can’t picture a time they need to boost attendance less.

In theory they could get rid of all runDisney at this point and be just fine. Its certainly less so now because the parks are crowded at all times of the year. That said tho things ebb and flow. Back in 2016-2017 the parks weren't packed to the gills during marathon weekend. January historically though outside of maybe September is a rather quiet period. You have Presidents Weekend and New Years but thats not the entire month. The race weekend they really don't need at all is Springtime. From March into April its spring break period which needs zero help.

 

[SheHulk]

So is tomorrow the day we get artwork or what?

 

[Tymeece]

This is very difficult to know because even as runDisney IT will likely remain problematic it is not always easy to predict what forms those problems will take and who they will most affect.

Anecdotally, I’ve seen a relatively high success rate for those who are ready as registrations open to the general public for getting the race(s) they target (I’ve signed up for Marathon Weekend races every year since 2012 and have been on this forum for most of those registration days). I’ve only missed getting a targeted race once and that was rushing back in after getting myself registered trying to help a friend who was having issues.

Thank you, I have been successful at single races(Marathons, halves, and multi races in the past just never tried Dopey)

 

[nekonekoneko]

So is tomorrow the day we get artwork or what?

Hopefully? Should be sometime this week

 

[Tymeece]

I think you have a very good shot, obviously dependent on RDs website working properly. Here’s how long it took for the last two race weekends to sell out:

View attachment 749068

I suspect 2023 will prove to be an outlier to some degree, people went crazy for the theme. The biggest worry this year is how many people will want to try for Coast to Coast with this race weekend. I’m kinda optimistic that it won’t be that bad, just by virtue of it being tough to pull off unless you’re local to one of the two resorts.

This is extremely helpful, thanks you

 

[Tymeece]

I think very likely... But be on at least 30 minutes early and make sure you are logged on or at least verify your login. Also, keep a couple of different browsers open... Not tabs in same browser because the session id will be the same in the same browser but different across multiple browsers... And hence you have better chance at getting in queue quicker.

Answer the simple questions as fast as you can and avoid the time input...i mean dont bother putting in a proof of time now, if you have a fast one, just select the option that says you dont need proof... It will let you save time because goal is to get to pay screen as fast as possible.

And finally if you want to sign up others, you have to make judgement call as to when you joined queue vs if you can risk adding another registration before you pay for yours.

Thanks