Marathon Weekend 2026

[KellyKateri]

Come onnnnnnn

 

[fatmanatee]

Would guess Monday but they're obviously hearing the complaints.

 

[Naomeri]

Come onnnnnnn

They couldn't resist jumping on the opportunity for a Swiftie tie-in today

 

[Zutroy]

I work at a much smaller company than Disney (3,000ish), but for us we act like each department is its own little business unit/company. If something makes the company a bunch of money but one department thinks they will lose $10 they won't support it till some other department gives a cut of their piece of the pie. I can only imagine how much worse that would be at a company Disney's size.

Disney runs much the same way, where a park like Epcot is granular down to each pavilion for food/bev/merch sales. We have to remember that RunDisney is part of the water parks division of the company, and each level of management in each park has sales quotas to meet, which often tie to their compensation and bonuses. They don’t care if RD boosts the water parks’ numbers, especially if it affects the number of churros they sell. It may be easy to say that the money you pay RD makes up for it, but remember Universal was able to recoup its $260 million cost for Harry Potter land in six months through butter beer sales alone.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

Would guess Monday but they're obviously hearing the complaints.

They couldn't resist jumping on the opportunity for a Swiftie tie-in today

I don’t know which one of these to think it is. Either they intentionally waited longer than they usually do with Marathon Weekend medals because they wanted to tie something in to today, or they are just doing it because of the pressure. Or as we’ve discussed before, there was a shipping or production delay.

 

[accm]

My understanding is runDisney started to help draw people in during slow times, and those don't exist as much as they used to, but given all the merch and hotel rooms you would like think it is still a money maker for the company as a whole.

While I agree with this, I've also stayed at Disney for a week after marathon weekend, and the difference in crowds was very noticeable. So yes, there are no "slow times", there are definitely slower times. I think if Disney could hold a race in August/September without killing half the athletes, they would switch one of the races to then.

 

[fatmanatee]

I don’t know which one of these to think it is. Either they intentionally waited longer than they usually do with Marathon Weekend medals because they wanted to tie something in to today, or they are just doing it because of the pressure. Or as we’ve discussed before, there was a shipping or production delay.

I think they just had issues with the medals of some sort, it sounds like it's resolved, and someone at RD is a Taylor fan and saw a good opportunity to tie that in to the Medal Monday tease post.

Not the first time they've done a Friday medal tease IIRC.

 

[PrincessV]

I think if Disney could hold a race in August/September without killing half the athletes, they would switch one of the races to then.

Yeah, they already tried that: it was not good. Ask any of us inaugural Tower of Terror 10-Miler survivors.

 

[accm]

Yeah, they already tried that: it was not good. Ask any of us inaugural Tower of Terror 10-Miler survivors.

What could possibly go wrong with scheduling a race in Orlando in September??

I feel like they're going to see how early they can push W&D, since the time it's been really doesn't need a boost in attendance.

 

[marty3d]

Yeah, they already tried that: it was not good. Ask any of us inaugural Tower of Terror 10-Miler survivors.

One of my favorite races. But I needed 30 minutes lying down on the cool metal Fantasmic benches to recover.

Nothing like 97% humidity at 10pm to get you going on a race!

 

[Herding_Cats]

From a fb post:

 

[nancipants]

What could possibly go wrong with scheduling a race in Orlando in September??

The Margaritaville Run (held last weekend) had a half marathon option this year. Even though I had done a 20 mile long run the week before, I opted to only do the 10k, because at least in a long run I can slow down a bunch, go inside to cool off, and have as many drink stations as I want. I heard a few reports from the half marathon that there weren't enough water stops, so I made the right choice in skipping it.

 

[nancipants]

From a fb post:
View attachment 1012216

Be honest. Did you consider signing up for the 10k? Did you sign up for the 10k?

 

[Herding_Cats]

Be honest. Did you consider signing up for the 10k? Did you sign up for the 10k?

NO. I value my marriage.

 

[JediKnightXan]

Disney runs much the same way, where a park like Epcot is granular down to each pavilion for food/bev/merch sales. We have to remember that RunDisney is part of the water parks division of the company, and each level of management in each park has sales quotas to meet, which often tie to their compensation and bonuses. They don’t care if RD boosts the water parks’ numbers, especially if it affects the number of churros they sell. It may be easy to say that the money you pay RD makes up for it, but remember Universal was able to recoup its $260 million cost for Harry Potter land in six months through butter beer sales alone.

I had no ide they reported up to water parks, that is very interesting, thank you for the info!

 

[marty3d]

I had no ide they reported up to water parks, that is very interesting, thank you for the info!

That explains the Blizzard Beach parking lot loop!

 

[mmm_texas]

For those interested, here's some more info on the runDisney place in the overall Disney organization I found, and it makes a little more sense to me in this context. This is presented very confidently (although I have no independent knowledge of its veracity) on reddit at

https://www.reddit.com/r/WaltDisneyWorld/comments/1d23bm0/the_organization_of_walt_disney_world

.

Ops-Resorts also includes individual divisions (each with its own VP) for Disney Springs; the Water Parks; ESPNWWOS and Mini Golf operations; Resorts Entertainment; Premium Services (Golden Oaks, Club 33, VIP Tours, etc.); and Transportation Operations. Transportation Ops includes all of the buses, the monorails, all of the watercraft, the Skyliner, Minnie Vans, and, when it was operating, a liaison to the Disney Magical Express team at Mears. The ESPNWWOS group manages not only all of the ESPN complex and the competitions that take place there, but they also handle all of the runDisney Marathons, the cheerleading and dance team competitions, and related events.

 

[sandam1]

Again, I hope with every fiber of my being that I'm 100% wrong and that the medals will be released tomorrow morning

Medals today??? Instagram tease!

You'll may thank me for this!

I know that Disney is pretty cavalier in the way they treat their fans/patrons/runners (basically as though we are addicts); but with the amount of travel plans that have been made, money that has been spent, vacation time used, etc., etc., etc. it would still be pretty brazen to expect they could do this without a negative economic impact moving forward.

With most companies, I would say "no, never" on this. However, particularly with Disney's recent history of decisions, I couldn't say that for certain.

I work at a much smaller company than Disney (3,000ish), but for us we act like each department is its own little business unit/company. If something makes the company a bunch of money but one department thinks they will lose $10 they won't support it till some other department gives a cut of their piece of the pie. I can only imagine how much worse that would be at a company Disney's size.

And the sad reality is that runDisney is a very small part of a behemoth company so their negotiating power is minimal (at best). I suspect that if there was a loud voice in the room that felt that runDisney wasn't profitable enough, it could be gone in a heartbeat.

 

[Zutroy]

For those interested, here's some more info on the runDisney place in the overall Disney organization I found, and it makes a little more sense to me in this context. This is presented very confidently (although I have no independent knowledge of its veracity) on reddit at

https://www.reddit.com/r/WaltDisneyWorld/comments/1d23bm0/the_organization_of_walt_disney_world

.

The VP is also on every expo listing and gives a speech during each race weekend.