Marathon Weekend 2027

[fatmanatee]

Ive seen a few instances of people who forgot to put in any POT because they rushed through registration and just forgot. If you have an eligible POT get it in now, change it if you get a better one later.

 

[GollyGadget]

Even my watch knows what a doozy this morning was

 

[marty3d]

Moreso because the alternatives, specifically an out and out lottery, are so terrible.

A lottery would lead to more people trying to get in the race, people who are trying adding in races they don’t actually want because they “need to get something”, and a general randomness to the outcomes the would make basically everyone unhappy.\

Yeah, a lottery would really be a problem for families trying to register. What if a minor gets in but their adult gets shut out? Lotteries work okay for major races because it's all adults running and they can do it unsupervised, but kids as young as 5 can run the 5K, and they certainly can't be out there alone.

I agree that a lottery system would be worse. Generally they are open for a set amount of time and I think more people will apply “just to see what happens” and it will be even harder for ppl to get in.

Please no lottery. These are all valid reasons why a lottery would be more problematic for rD races. Also, I completely agree more people will apply. This is what happens with most of the Marathon Majors. I entered the NYC lottery this year knowing it wasn't the right year for me to run. This would absolutely happen with the rD races. It might actually be a bigger problem for rD.

 

[StarGirl11]

I agree that a lottery system would be worse. Generally they are open for a set amount of time and I think more people will apply “just to see what happens” and it will be even harder for ppl to get in.

Yeah I am definitely guilty of that before. I always show up but definitely have done it before. Unless rD brings back deferrals which I seriously doubt they will since that hasn't been a thing in well over a decade. It would make the situation worse for everyone. Not better.

As it is the system is still kinda a live lottery as it is. But at least you can register people here where the Majors systems doesn't allow for that.

 

[Novatrix]

I forgot to post @Novatrix, i like the new avatar. Probably needs to stick around for the actual brackets next week.

Okay, I lied. Changed it again. Who better to be Villian of the Movie Brackets than a character who can never seem to get a movie?

 

[Sleepless Knight]

This is complete speculation on my part, but I wonder if part of the reason why they stopped offering deferrals is because whatever number constitutes "too many" people signed up, struggled with or did not train, and then decided "too close" to race day that they had no chance of being ready so they deferred. Thus possibly costing runDisney a registration in the current race and in the deferred race.

I mean except for the deferral part, much of that describes my first training season for a Disney race. Started training on time, got lazy, skipped too many runs because of laziness, unwisely tried to make up for lost time, and so forth. I still finished, but when I look back at my training as a very inexperienced runner, I really see just how much I've learned since then.

 

[fatmanatee]

The suggestions I've seen on how to improve registration lately:

- An all in or all out advance lottery (do you REALLY trust RD to pull this off?)
- Separate registration days for each event, meaning six days for MW (absolutely not)
- Bringing back AP and FL resident advance registration (ok i kinda get why people would be mad about this one but I do not fit in these categories so this is also a no from me)

 

[marty3d]

Okay, I lied. Changed it again. Who better to be Villian of the Movie Brackets than a character who can never seem to get a movie?

Ok - this is MUCH better! I'd go see that movie! That last avatar was terrifying

 

[StarGirl11]

Also just a thing to remember even if it goes to lotto doesn't mean tech issues will stop. I got into NYC this year and they charged the wrong card. (had one set as default, somehow the non default got charged.

The suggestions I've seen on how to improve registration lately:

- An all in or all out advance lottery (do you REALLY trust RD to pull this off?)
- Separate registration days for each event, meaning six days for MW (absolutely not)
- Bringing back AP and FL resident advance registration (ok i kinda get why people would be mad about this one but I do not fit in these categories so this is also a no from me)

Hoenstly as much as I would love to have advanced AP registration again. And honestly would be a smart choice for Disney since that would definitely encourage AP sales arguably. I feel like eventually we would just reach so many people with APs doing both registrations that it doesn't even make a difference.

Which might have been part of the reason they stopped it to begin with.

That and encourage cRD membership I'm guessing. Which I think as long as that exists we won't get AP. Since they basically function as the same thing in terms of early reg arguably. Well minus the early entry.

 

[JediKnightXan]

100% a lottery would be really hard for runD to pull off. Just to many if/then scenarios. If I don't get goofy then want dopy if I don't get that then marathon then....

 

[StarGirl11]

100% a lottery would be really hard for runD to pull off. Just to many if/then scenarios. If I don't get goofy then want dopy if I don't get that then marathon then....

I think that's the other thing that's getting lost in the convo. The other major lottos are for one race. Not multiple races/challenges. Now you could have like your selected on certain days to register. But then you would be right back to where we started with people complaining about not being able to get into what they wanted.

There's no real solution to this. I get its frustrating as someone whose dealt with QueueIt for other stuff (San Diego Comic Con I'm looking at you) as well as runDisney. But when you got multiple things your always going to end up with someone not happy. Because your not trying for one thing thats a yes or no. You have multiple options here and thats what separates it from other race series.

There is just no way to make everyone happy. Not when you have this many options. The majors work because they are one option. We are not one option.

 

[garneska]

@Novatrix pretty awesome since I too am a figment fan.

 

[FlyingDonut]

Struck out today. I went in wanting the full and willing to do Goofy as a backup. Several bars advanced. I got to "it's your turn, we're refreshing the page" on my first window, and as it was refreshing my other windows said the full had sold out.

I've signed up for the rundis alerts. Hopefully I get lucky and can snag Goofy or full. I haven't decided if I'd do just the half. I have a DVC booking that I don't need to cancel until October. (March UY for the DVC people)

I tracked my progress bars in a spreadsheet to pass the waiting time. I had 10 verifiably different queues based on different time estimates, and several that stayed at "more than an hour" the whole time but may have been different.

Obviously I'm a disappointed today, but I agree with the sentiments above that a lot of registration alternatives would be worse. *Maybe* something like NYRR does where if you race X races in the prior season you get guaranteed entry? Or as races get older an expansion of the system for perfects eg you're 10th of any event you can register early? But I think CRD is the outlet RD wants to point us to. The other vector to improve registration would be to increase event capacity, which I can imagine for the shorter races but would be really tough for the full.

Also I am super curious to see how this 5k goes. I wish it were timed just so I could analyze the results by bib afterwards.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

to all who missed out today: I see you and whatever you're feeling is valid. I've been shut out of races before, but I think W&D was the first time I've been shut out of a race weekend altogether and it was a disappointment, for sure. It sure looks like this is our new normal for a while (perhaps not including SpS, though, which has historically always taken longer to sell out), so I think more and more of us are likely to lose out going forward. If only there were a way to allow past runners an early shot at registering before the masses... (runDisney, are you reading?! Loyalty counts when travel slows down!)

Struck out today. I went in wanting the full and willing to do Goofy as a backup. Several bars advanced. I got to "it's your turn, we're refreshing the page" on my first window, and as it was refreshing my other windows said the full had sold out.

I've signed up for the rundis alerts. Hopefully I get lucky and can snag Goofy or full. I haven't decided if I'd do just the half. I have a DVC booking that I don't need to cancel until October. (March UY for the DVC people)

I tracked my progress bars in a spreadsheet to pass the waiting time. I had 10 verifiably different queues based on different time estimates, and several that stayed at "more than an hour" the whole time but may have been different.

Obviously I'm a disappointed today, but I agree with the sentiments above that a lot of registration alternatives would be worse. *Maybe* something like NYRR does where if you race X races in the prior season you get guaranteed entry? Or as races get older an expansion of the system for perfects eg you're 10th of any event you can register early? But I think CRD is the outlet RD wants to point us to. The other vector to improve registration would be to increase event capacity, which I can imagine for the shorter races but would be really tough for the full.

Also I am super curious to see how this 5k goes. I wish it were timed just so I could analyze the results by bib afterwards.

I wasn’t trying to register today, but followed along in the queue to see how it went because I’m curious as to if I’ll ever be one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have a perpetual “more than hour” wait. It didn’t drop below that for me today until a few races were already sold out, and I was at 40ish when everything was gone. It’s really discouraging since I’m convinced I’ll never get into another one again.

As for the two quotes above, am I the only one who hates the loyalty idea for a solution? Why should RunDisney regulars be allowed to continually sign up easily while newcomers or less frequent participants have less of a chance? When a race is that in demand, it seems unfair to let the same people in every year while some never get to do one. And don’t even get me started on Club RunDisney and how it further limits access to everyday people who can’t dump $900 a year on something like that. But I feel like pretty soon, the club will be the only way to get in. So much for being inclusive.

I love participating in RunDisney, but each year/registration day just sours me on it more. It’s great that people are taking on a healthy activity, but the popularity is primarily driven by social media (obviously not for everyone) and it gets tiresome to see it more about that than anything else.

 

[FlyingDonut]

As for the two quotes above, am I the only one who hates the loyalty idea for a solution? Why should RunDisney regulars be allowed to continually sign up easily while newcomers or less frequent participants have less of a chance? When a race is that in demand, it seems unfair to let the same people in every year while some never get to do one. And don’t even get me started on Club RunDisney and how it further limits access to everyday people who can’t dump $900 a year on something like that. But I feel like pretty soon, the club will be the only way to get in. So much for being inclusive.

I get wanting to keep out of a rich get richer kind of thing. I'm assuming my proposals would be a number of special entries. Personal anniversary races would be one time things. You're only going to race your tenth WDW marathon once. So it wouldn't be the same people every year couldn't benefit from that. It would however let you plan further in advance if you wanted to do it with family, filling a bit of the void deferrals left. (though I guess people could also game the system and do it on more desired race years.) I think the "perfect season" thing is less likely to happen because it would create a ranking kind of thing between weekends (MW is not the playoffs of RD... though it would be really funny if SS were one year.) But limiter of that would just be the difficulty in registering for all the required races.

We'll have to see how the 5k thing shakes out, but it's worth noting it was the most available race this weekend. It would of course be better if it were even more available, but I think that's the target for full newcomers. If someone wants to run Dopey as their first RD race, that's awesome for them but I don't think of them as newcomers as much in my head. They (hopefully) have had more running experience, even if elsewhere.

I think the much more fun (and less likely) avenue is expanding bibs in the race. Could RD plausibly run an additional 10k after the last marathon corral goes, and have it share some of the course back by BW? Could an additional 5k run through Epcot while the half is going on?

 

[fatmanatee]

One thing I’m thinking about re: shifting to an advance lottery is that you’d probably end up with *more* people throwing their name into the hat, because why not. Maybe you don’t approach the NYC Marathon odds of getting in (one percent) but seems likely that the odds would get significantly worse. The wait in the queue stinks and sometimes ends poorly but at least everyone trying is committed enough to spend the time.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I think the much more fun (and less likely) avenue is expanding bibs in the race. Could RD plausibly run an additional 10k after the last marathon corral goes, and have it share some of the course back by BW? Could an additional 5k run through Epcot while the half is going on?

There's an interesting thought. For the multitudes that are interested in only a 5K, rD could run one on both Sat and Sun after the Half and Full have cleared Epcot and still have the 5K-ers clear of the course before the half/full runners get back to Epcot. Just to be sure of getting the 5k-ers clear, you might need to impose a 15 min/mile minimum. People who don't think they can make that could do the regular Thur 5k. Ditto for a 10K on Sunday. In order not to have a whole extra course on Sunday, the 10K would be two laps of Epcot and would be well clear of the park before the fastest of the marathoners return.
Just some spitballing here.

 

[Barca33Runner]

I wasn’t trying to register today, but followed along in the queue to see how it went because I’m curious as to if I’ll ever be one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have a perpetual “more than hour” wait. It didn’t drop below that for me today until a few races were already sold out, and I was at 40ish when everything was gone. It’s really discouraging since I’m convinced I’ll never get into another one again.

As for the two quotes above, am I the only one who hates the loyalty idea for a solution? Why should RunDisney regulars be allowed to continually sign up easily while newcomers or less frequent participants have less of a chance? When a race is that in demand, it seems unfair to let the same people in every year while some never get to do one. And don’t even get me started on Club RunDisney and how it further limits access to everyday people who can’t dump $900 a year on something like that. But I feel like pretty soon, the club will be the only way to get in. So much for being inclusive.

I love participating in RunDisney, but each year/registration day just sours me on it more. It’s great that people are taking on a healthy activity, but the popularity is primarily driven by social media (obviously not for everyone) and it gets tiresome to see it more about that than anything else.

The popularity of road running and RunDisney has had ebbs and flows in the past. It has never been more popular than it is right now though (the demand has never exceeded the supply for registrations by as much as it does right now, anyway). I would think it will settle down in a few years; not for 2028, because of the anniversaries, but at some point.

RunDisney has been pretty measured with the Club rD memberships. I think more-so because of the early entry to the expo necessitating a cutoff than them being worried about early registrations. Although I have never been a fan of CrD, it would be hard for me to pinpoint a time during registration or a race weekend where I’ve felt directly negatively impacted by its existence. As long as they keep close to the current levels I’m not too worried about it moving forward.

Totally understand souring on rD’s current state. Even though I understand why registration is organized the way that it is, it doesn’t remove the fact that it’s stressful and frustrating with a significant possibility for failure.

 

[nekonekoneko]

The popularity of road running and RunDisney has had ebbs and flows in the past. It has never been more popular than it is right now though (the demand has never exceeded the supply for registrations by as much as it does right now, anyway). I would think it will settle down in a few years; not for 2028, because of the anniversaries, but at some point.

I still believe that rD had dropped registration numbers for MW 2021 (the one that was eventually cancelled), but they've kept it at those numbers since. Instead of bringing them back to the 2020 levels, they seem to like the current state as it is. The old races had people climbing that off ramp to get to the start line, probably because of all the people. Now it's more controllable inside the same corrals used for all the races.

 

[FFigawi]

I still believe that rD had dropped registration numbers for MW 2021 (the one that was eventually cancelled), but they've kept it at those numbers since. Instead of bringing them back to the 2020 levels, they seem to like the current state as it is. The old races had people climbing that off ramp to get to the start line, probably because of all the people. Now it's more controllable inside the same corrals used for all the races.

I agree. There were thousands more finishers in the half and the full in the past than there are now. They seem to be comfortable with about 13,000 to 15,000 people now. Until those numbers go back up to the 20,000+ they had before, I think registration will continue to be challenging.