News and Developments for Future In-Person runDisney Events

[Goofed98]

Reading that response, it sounds like an announcement is ready to roll, they're just waiting for the green light to distribute said announcement.

 

[Z-Knight]

I decided to play along and contact rD. I sent them a very short note yesterday asking when the decision to have an in-person W&D race would be decided and communicated. I received a nice reply today. I won't quote it all since I'm not sure if it is proper to post a private reply to theses boards, but it said, in part,

Our complete 2021-2022 runDisney race series has not yet been announced, and we do not have information to share regarding when an announcement may be made......
Kerry, we can’t wait to cheer you on at a future runDisney event!

I was a bit surprised how quickly they responded and at the positive tone of the response. No new information, but I came away feeling better today about rD than I did yesterday.

 

[Barca33Runner]

I think they care to the extent that they won’t be the first ones to do anything. If all the other marathons had canceled, Disney would too. If every single other large marathon had announced that proof of vaccination was required, then I think Disney would be reluctant to announce themselves as the first to NOT require it. But even the large marathons are largely TBD on vax status. Hence why I don’t think the Florida regulations on proof of vaccination really matter to Disney, and thus they aren’t the reason for the radio silence from runDisney.

To your point, I agree. They’re far more interested in getting their other divisions up and running then running a marathon. The best we can hope for is that rundisney is working behind the scenes and the reason for the silence is a tactical communications strategy. If they announce a race, people will demand answers on parades and fireworks. After all what’s the difference between people crowded for a parade vs in a corral. If they announce parades and fireworks first, then a race announcement will just be the next step in opening.

The things that haven’t returned to Disney are all related to social distancing and their ability to control crowds. Those being, in order of my perceived importance to Disney: full capacity at the parks, full capacity at resorts, full capacity at restaurants, fireworks/parades, character meets, stage shows, and then we start getting to events like rD races. Everything that’s left appears to be waiting on social distancing requirements and enforcement to go back to pre-pandemic non-existence.

Didn’t mean to be glib about rD paying attention to what’s happening with other races. I’m sure they are so that they are prepared to move whenever Disney gives them that ability. I’m somewhat of the belief that none of it will matter though because I don’t think Disney is going to be getting to any of the things listed above until tests and proofs are largely irrelevant (I don’t think Disney has the ability or interest to police such things on the massive scale their parks would require even if they could enact some type of requirement).

 

[Onceuponamarathon]

I’m somewhat of the belief that none of it will matter though because I don’t think Disney is going to be getting to any of the things listed above until tests and proofs are largely irrelevant (I don’t think Disney has the ability or interest to police such things on the massive scale their parks would require even if they could enact some type of requirement).

Agree. There is a lot of business value in just bringing back things as it becomes safe to do so for the general population, regardless of testing/vaccination status. That being said, we are seeing them host events at ESPN world of sports...

I was pretty optimistic for MW, but that optimism dwindles lower and lower every day. I'm leaning more towards April now ( If MW weekend isn't a go, then I don't think Princess is either).

April is appealing in that it is further out and presumably we could reasonably expect most things to be back by then. Plus, major races will have been running for 6+ months by the time an April race were to happen.

Then I get really pessimistic and think that there's a decent argument for WD 2022. It's the safest bet of the world being full open. Not just that races are running, but races are running without any additional covid-protocol overhead to eat into profits and make logistics harder. Staffing should be back to 100%. Major construction will be done. No issues with adjusting the proof of time window because races will have been back for a yearish. And little stuff, like clubrun disney, could be tied up nicely by just saying the year membership will start with the WD2022 race season.

 

[CP3uhoh]

I’m not sure why people keep comparing The Boston Marathon, as one example, to RD events. It’s sort of silly. I’ve never been involved in any races outside of RD where people are walking from the start and taking pics am every mile. They’re not comparable. I would think annual passes would need to go back on sale before they even begin to care. Sadly for us, but all these safety guesses on rolling starts or whatever is kind of silly too. They are poking people into the ques now inside, outdoor corrals are of no concern to them. I ran a half in March before anyone in that race was fully vaccinated and you wore a mask in the corral and tossed it after crossing the start but by January that’s not going to be a thing either and kids vaccination status is sort of meaningless too as you can simply not hold the kids races despite the fact your picking them in inside the park. It’s not a priority, I’m sure the full time employees there are just as anxious and agitated as we are.

 

[camaker]

I’m not sure why people keep comparing The Boston Marathon, as one example, to RD events. It’s sort of silly. I’ve never been involved in any races outside of RD where people are walking from the start and taking pics am every mile. They’re not comparable.

They’re both large capacity marathons featuring multiple corral starts. The primary concerns around putting on large races right now are focused on the transportation and staging of large numbers of runners in relatively small spaces in the lead up to the start. While each may have some individual wrinkles in their concerns, the major issues that they both have to face are absolutely comparable.

 

[huskies90]

They’re both large capacity marathons featuring multiple corral starts. The primary concerns around putting on large races right now are focused on the transportation and staging of large numbers of runners in relatively small spaces in the lead up to the start. While each may have some individual wrinkles in their concerns, the major issues that they both have to face are absolutely comparable.

Meanwhile, people have been crammed together for hours at a time into completely sold out flights for many months. Just about every MLB ballpark is at full capacity or will be by the end of June. Some have been full since the season started in April. All but 2 NFL teams have confirmed full capacity for the start of the season in September. Most college football stadiums are planning to be fully packed. We are talking about some stadiums with over 100 thousand people crammed into small spaces for hours at a time. Makes you wonder…at what point do we stop labeling all this as a “safety” concern?

 

[GreatLakes]

I’m not sure why people keep comparing The Boston Marathon, as one example, to RD events. It’s sort of silly. I’ve never been involved in any races outside of RD where people are walking from the start and taking pics am every mile. They’re not comparable. I would think annual passes would need to go back on sale before they even begin to care. Sadly for us, but all these safety guesses on rolling starts or whatever is kind of silly too. They are poking people into the ques now inside, outdoor corrals are of no concern to them. I ran a half in March before anyone in that race was fully vaccinated and you wore a mask in the corral and tossed it after crossing the start but by January that’s not going to be a thing either and kids vaccination status is sort of meaningless too as you can simply not hold the kids races despite the fact your picking them in inside the park. It’s not a priority, I’m sure the full time employees there are just as anxious and agitated as we are.

They’re both large capacity marathons featuring multiple corral starts. The primary concerns around putting on large races right now are focused on the transportation and staging of large numbers of runners in relatively small spaces in the lead up to the start. While each may have some individual wrinkles in their concerns, the major issues that they both have to face are absolutely comparable.

I don't think rD and other large marathons are really comparable. Not because the events themselves aren't comparable, they are. Instead you have to look at the business model of the entities involved. If we look at Boston the B.A.A. exists to put on races. That is what they do and that is what drives every decision they make. They don't have competing interests or other, more important revenue streams.

RunDisney, on the other hand, is a very small part of one division of a media conglomerate and they exist only to support that conglomerate. While the ability to safely put on the event is a big factor for the RunDisney business unit it isn't the primary concern for Disney. They have finite resources that need to be put towards returning The Parks, Experiences and Products business segment to full operation. If they decide the resources are better used doing something else, even if rD is 100% ready to put on an event, that is where they will go.

That is why the calculus for rD is so different than the calculus for most, if not all, other large races. It annoys me, especially because I think the focus of race weekends is on profit and not the experience, but it is also reality.

 

[camaker]

I don't think rD and other large marathons are really comparable. Not because the events themselves aren't comparable, they are. Instead you have to look at the business model of the entities involved. If we look at Boston the B.A.A. exists to put on races. That is what they do and that is what drives every decision they make. They don't have competing interests or other, more important revenue streams.

RunDisney, on the other hand, is a very small part of one division of a media conglomerate and they exist only to support that conglomerate. While the ability to safely put on the event is a big factor for the RunDisney business unit it isn't the primary concern for Disney. They have finite resources that need to be put towards returning The Parks, Experiences and Products business segment to full operation. If they decide the resources are better used doing something else, even if rD is 100% ready to put on an event, that is where they will go.

That is why the calculus for rD is so different than the calculus for most, if not all, other large races. It annoys me, especially because I think the focus of race weekends is on profit and not the experience, but it is also reality.

You’re correct that the motivation and decision making drivers underlying the two races are different. However, the vast majority of the time that the major marathons are brought up in comparison is in the context of safety. “If Boston, New York and Chicago can hold races safely with much larger fields why can’t Disney?”

There seem to be two parallel narratives in this thread with some debating “can they hold a Marathon Weekend safely?” with others preferring to delve into “will Disney hold a Marathon Weekend?”

For the record, I am judging RunDisney/Disney based on whether they choose to hold the event. For my purposes, there is really no distinction between Disney and RunDisney. It’s all the same company. RunDisney doesn’t get a pass from me because they’re lower priority. They’re still Disney.

Ultimately, I have been thoroughly unimpressed with how Disney has been handling the reopening process. They really are giving the impression that they had few, if any, plans in place for a return to normalcy. It might be ok for a Mom & Pop company to flounder through these time, but not one of the world’s largest corporations.

So as far as the twin debates in this thread, I fall squarely in these two camps right now:

1. Can they hold a Marathon Weekend safely? Absolutely.

2. Will they hold a Marathon Weekend in 2022?
Probably not, at this point.

 

[Barca33Runner]

Makes you wonder…at what point do we stop labeling all this as a “safety” concern?

I think your post is teetering on the edge of being the type of thing that gets threads headed in the wrong direction and shut down. That said, since your rhetorical lends itself to a fairly obvious answer:

Whenever Disney decides it isn’t a safety concern for the properties they own and operate.

ETA: Everything Disney has been doing, everything, since the pandemic began is to avoid “outbreak traced to trip to Disney World”, “Deaths after trip to Disney World”, “Disney puts profits ahead of safety during pandemic”, etc. (I know, I’m not the snazziest headline writer). Both the public relations and possible legal liability aspects of those things could be monumental to their corporation and turn a bad situation into a catastrophic one. We may not all agree that anything or everything they’ve done and are doing is right, but it’s their call (putting aside some things that were required by law).

 

[huskies90]

I think your post is teetering on the edge of being the type of thing that gets threads headed in the wrong direction and shut down. That said, since your rhetorical lends itself to a fairly obvious answer:

Whenever Disney decides it isn’t a safety concern for the properties they own and operate.

ETA: Everything Disney has been doing, everything, since the pandemic began is to avoid “outbreak traced to trip to Disney World”, “Deaths after trip to Disney World”, “Disney puts profits ahead of safety during pandemic”, etc. (I know, I’m not the snazziest headline writer). Both the public relations and possible legal liability aspects of those things could be monumental to their corporation and turn a bad situation into a catastrophic one. We may not all agree that anything or everything they’ve done and are doing is right, but it’s their call (putting aside some things that were required by law).

Nothing I said was controversial. Just facts about large crowds everywhere. I only talked about large sporting events but there are so many more. With so much open, I can’t believe anyone would think any single case, let alone an outbreak can be tied Disney. While it’s logical that large gatherings hold the potential for super spreading, outside of some speculation of a few events early on, there really haven’t been any major outbreaks tied to a single event or location. The concern about the headline made sense last summer/fall, but can you imagine how silly that headline would read now? “Outbreak of cases tied to WDW, meanwhile 106K people jam into Beaver Stadium for Penn State / Michigan game”. My point is that maybe Disney has another reason for not bringing back races and some of the other stuff that has yet to return. Like maybe they are doing just fine for now charging full price with limited offerings and a vastly reduced labor force. Or maybe, as others have said, they are having trouble getting enough cast members hired to get things open and back online. But the one statement with which I will say we both agree is that Disney gets to decide when things will return for the properties they own and operate - no matter what they say, don’t say or what we speculate.

 

[dobball23]

Just booked my flight to MCO for Jan. 5 (Southwest released flights up until that date today) in hopes of Marathon Weekend happening. Fingers crossed!

(Sorry, I probably should have posted this in the Marathon Weekend 2022 thread.)

 

[Barca33Runner]

Nothing I said was controversial. Just facts about large crowds everywhere. I only talked about large sporting events but there are so many more. With so much open, I can’t believe anyone would think any single case, let alone an outbreak can be tied Disney. While it’s logical that large gatherings hold the potential for super spreading, outside of some speculation of a few events early on, there really haven’t been any major outbreaks tied to a single event or location. The concern about the headline made sense last summer/fall, but can you imagine how silly that headline would read now? “Outbreak of cases tied to WDW, meanwhile 106K people jam into Beaver Stadium for Penn State / Michigan game”. My point is that maybe Disney has another reason for not bringing back races and some of the other stuff that has yet to return. Like maybe they are doing just fine for now charging full price with limited offerings and a vastly reduced labor force. Or maybe, as others have said, they are having trouble getting enough cast members hired to get things open and back online. But the one statement with which I will say we both agree is that Disney gets to decide when things will return for the properties they own and operate - no matter what they say, don’t say or what we speculate.

Guess I misunderstood.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

After the headache that was getting Boo bash tickets, I feel like whatever replaces the Xmas party will take precedence over Wine and Dine run weekend, in Disney's view. I could see an argument for MW being the first, but if Jeff Galloway plans start in less than a month, I feel like they need to announce soon. Maybe they are worried about converting to virtual if there is another cold weather surge? I cancelled my MW reservation and now feel the replacement for Star Wars weekend will be the grand reopening of runDisney in person races.

Now that I have given up on the winter in-person races, they will probably announce MW is a go.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

IMO, restarting rD races is no longer about Covid. It is now about all of the other things that it will take to get this ball rolling again, and there are many.

 

[PrincessV]

I'm now seeing another couple of people with some inside connections, in addition to the person from whom I've gotten some info, express confidence about a Marathon Weekend happening in January-ish. I don't know the new ones personally or know what their connections are, exactly, but they're all saying about the same thing: that races are being planned, that details such as dates, scale, etc. are being ironed out, and that we should be hearing something soon. I'm still not feeling confident about a Fall race weekend, but I'm making myself get up and run in the mornings to deal with the summer heat because I'm feeling pretty good about January-ish.

 

[Tigger23]

After the headache that was getting Boo bash tickets, I feel like whatever replaces the Xmas party will take precedence over Wine and Dine run weekend, in Disney's view. I could see an argument for MW being the first, but if Jeff Galloway plans start in less than a month, I feel like they need to announce soon. Maybe they are worried about converting to virtual if there is another cold weather surge? I cancelled my MW reservation and now feel the replacement for Star Wars weekend will be the grand reopening of runDisney in person races.

Now that I have given up on the winter in-person races, they will probably announce MW is a go.

I hear you! I am reluctant to give up my November reservations even though I’m pretty certain Wine and Dine isn’t happening, for that same reason. Still holding on to Marathon weekend, but I am leaning more towards the new April race being the most likely first one back at this point.

 

[dobball23]

I'm now seeing another couple of people with some inside connections, in addition to the person from whom I've gotten some info, express confidence about a Marathon Weekend happening in January-ish. I don't know the new ones personally or know what their connections are, exactly, but they're all saying about the same thing: that races are being planned, that details such as dates, scale, etc. are being ironed out, and that we should be hearing something soon. I'm still not feeling confident about a Fall race weekend, but I'm making myself get up and run in the mornings to deal with the summer heat because I'm feeling pretty good about January-ish.

I'd be happy for Marathon Weekend to happen no matter what, but I'm a little intrigued by the "January-ish" time frame you referenced. Are your connections thinking it could be moved from the dates we all expect?

 

[Onceuponamarathon]

Nothing I said was controversial. Just facts about large crowds everywhere. I only talked about large sporting events but there are so many more. With so much open, I can’t believe anyone would think any single case, let alone an outbreak can be tied Disney. While it’s logical that large gatherings hold the potential for super spreading, outside of some speculation of a few events early on, there really haven’t been any major outbreaks tied to a single event or location. The concern about the headline made sense last summer/fall, but can you imagine how silly that headline would read now? “Outbreak of cases tied to WDW, meanwhile 106K people jam into Beaver Stadium for Penn State / Michigan game”. My point is that maybe Disney has another reason for not bringing back races and some of the other stuff that has yet to return. Like maybe they are doing just fine for now charging full price with limited offerings and a vastly reduced labor force. Or maybe, as others have said, they are having trouble getting enough cast members hired to get things open and back online. But the one statement with which I will say we both agree is that Disney gets to decide when things will return for the properties they own and operate - no matter what they say, don’t say or what we speculate.

Kids. I think the answer is kids. Those other major sporting events are mostly adults. Disney, in comparison, has a much larger portion of kids who visit. Even though the race may be adults, people come with their family’s and the parks will be packed with kids. Kids that largely aren’t eligible to get vaccinated. While transmission is much lower in children, it does exist. As does the Misc-C complication. As the spread in adults slows down with vaccinations rates, and the next phase focuses on children, so to will the news media. I think for all those reasons, Disney is going to be extra careful about any potential “outbreak” headlines as well as any perceived failings on safety measures.

 

[PrincessV]

IMO, restarting rD races is no longer about Covid. It is now about all of the other things that it will take to get this ball rolling again, and there are many.

Yep. Everything is coming online at WDW, but slowly - not all at once. I have to visit about 20 different discussion threads across multiple platforms to see it all, but when I add up each new thing every day - restaurant X reopening this week, playground Y reopening next week, resort Z reopening next month, distancing shortened, rope drop reinstated, etc. - it paints a picture of WDW slowly ramping back up to normal operations. I think it'll be pretty close to normal by mid-summer, and 100% by Oct. The only reason I can see for not resuming live racing is just not having the time and resources to deal with it just yet.