News and Developments for Future In-Person runDisney Events

[camaker]

i guess what i dont fully understand is when people point to staffing issues and how its requires sooo many people to do these races. in all honesty i just dont see it, but I'm likely naive. yes, you need volunteers for water stops and for start and end races and also security, but how much more is there? i guess it feels like they could do it if they wanted to... hell, Disneyland Paris did it and they had horrible management when i did the race 3 years ago, so it seems like it isnt rocket science (im an aerospace engineer). again, im likely naive and underestimating the effort, but im just tired and nervous for the coming news

You’re quite right that most of the heavy lifting is done by volunteers and not RunDisney staff. Even most of the actual race management is handled by TrackShack from what I understand. I don’t think training of new CMs today really has a lot of bearing on whether a race can be put on in January.

I wouldn’t say the number of people is the issue, it’s the time and effort as well as logistics. I’ve never heard them even mention Run Disney as an actual business that matters to them which is why they’ve never attempted to bring the DL races back. It will matter again when they need a draw for down times but international hasn’t even come back yet and they have all the demand they can handle.

Personally, I think people put too much stock in the “draw for down time” arguments for the races. They may have started that way, but for many many years the mantra around when to go to Disney has changed to “there are no dead times any more”. There are just “slightly less busy“ times. Yet we’ve seen an expansion of WDW race weekends in that time, including one dropped right into the Spring Break rush. I think this has become much more of a fitness and wellness supporting exercise than a “fill the beds” necessity.

The WDW Marathon has been run, what, 27 or 28 times now? I don’t think that’s a tradition that Disney is going to want to abandon. As far as RunDisney not mattering, you don’t have a corporate Vice President engaging in the virtual races if it means nothing. As @opusone has pointed out, all the other major marathons are back for in-person runnings, even if they had to relocate to a new season. Lack of international travel doesn’t seem to be impacting them terribly adversely. If Disney wants to keep their status as a major marathon in the US, they need to find a way to run in January. Three years between runnings of their marquee fitness event would be a very bad look. I’m not buying “it’s too difficult for us right now” from a mega-corporation like Disney. The ball is in their court.

 

[lahobbs4]

All of this reminiscing about freezing weather and dangerously hot temps while running are making me miss Marathon Weekend even more! The amount of money I'm willing pay to put one of those wet sponges down my shirt, or pick up a stranger's tossed aside gloves is pretty high at this point...

 

[jimrpa]

Someone pointed out all the construction going on. I don’t think that’s a show-stopper. Remember that they rerouted the W&D course while GE and TS were being built. For EPCOT, they could just enter from the boardwalk area, loop around the world showcase, exit backstage at England, then take backstage roads to the EPCOT parking lots. You could actually bring the course back onstage coming out in front of the plaza where the new fountain is so everyone still gets their EPCOT Spaceship Earth photo. There’s no real construction happening over at either Studios or AK, so the rest of the course would be pretty straightforward. They could go back to a start at ESPN, up to AK, then Studios, then the boardwalk resorts, around World Showcase and finish in the EPCOT parking lot.

 

[BikeFan]

Personally, I think people put too much stock in the “draw for down time” arguments for the races. They may have started that way, but for many many years the mantra around when to go to Disney has changed to “there are no dead times any more”. There are just “slightly less busy“ times. Yet we’ve seen an expansion of WDW race weekends in that time, including one dropped right into the Spring Break rush. I think this has become much more of a fitness and wellness supporting exercise than a “fill the beds” necessity.

I'm a Disney fan and I'd like to think Disney promotes fitness and wellness for purely benevolent reasons, but my more cynical side thinks the fate of rD rests on the bottom line - overall, do they bring in money for WDW, and is it enough money to make it worth the effort to host live events in 2022 and onward? I hope I'm wrong, but regardless of how big and/or longstanding the WDW Marathon is now or will be in the future, I'm fairly certain Disney will drop it as soon as it stops being profitable. Someone posted earlier that rD is quite profitable (I have no information either way), so that seems to be a good sign live races will come back sooner rather than later.

 

[Kazrak]

Someone pointed out all the construction going on. I don’t think that’s a show-stopper. Remember that they rerouted the W&D course while GE and TS were being built. For EPCOT, they could just enter from the boardwalk area, loop around the world showcase, exit backstage at England, then take backstage roads to the EPCOT parking lots. You could actually bring the course back onstage coming out in front of the plaza where the new fountain is so everyone still gets their EPCOT Spaceship Earth photo. There’s no real construction happening over at either Studios or AK, so the rest of the course would be pretty straightforward. They could go back to a start at ESPN, up to AK, then Studios, then the boardwalk resorts, around World Showcase and finish in the EPCOT parking lot.

2020 Princess had to work around the Epcot construction, and did so fairly well IMO.

 

[Barca33Runner]

I’m sure they could map 5k, 10k, Half, and Full Marathon courses if they want to go forward with the events.

The staffing at the parks, resorts, restaurants is relevant because their undoubted #1 goal is to get everything back opened, staffed, functioning smoothly, and being profitable. The 50th anniversary is being themed with EARidescent colors but, no mistake, the theme of the 50th anniversary and everything Disney does is EARning money.

Whether attributing the purpose rD to “filling the beds” or as a goodwill flagship event for their health and wellness initiatives it’s all secondary to making sure the beds are there to be filled and the parks are ready to turn that goodwill into purchases.

 

[Kazrak]

2020 Princess had to work around the Epcot construction, and did so fairly well IMO.

Found the course map, still posted at https://guide.rundisney.events/maps/ (although their SSL certificate has expired).

We came in by Imagination, over to the bridge to World Showcase (ISTR there were Spaceship Earth photos around here somewhere), crossed the bridge, and back out by Mexico, then through backstage to the finish line.

 

[CP3uhoh]

I thought I heard the hurdle to the DL or Anaheim-based races was that some changes in the laws there made it so for-profit race orgs couldn't rely on volunteers, making races where you have to pay standard/minimum wages to "volunteers" cost-prohibitive (also battles with city of Anaheim)

Right, all falls under “too much hassle” why bother.

 

[Baloo in MI]

The 50th Anniversary kicks off in October, I am sure Disney’s goal is to have fully functioning parks and resorts by then. I see it as very good news that new cast members are being trained all over the place. This coupled with the tradition of Marathon Weekend, I just find it hard to believe it is not a money maker and a statement about Disney being back to normal.

I remain positive and hopeful, and a bit more anxious as we are now into June...

 

[CP3uhoh]

Believe me I was with all of you before being there in person for a week. There's no way any real time is being given to this right now. No news is probably good news though.

 

[Barca33Runner]

I realize my last post was incredibly cynical but:

-rD is incredibly important to me. Training for an rD event is what started me on a path to better health that has helped improve my quality of life. It’s events are one of the big reasons I love WDW. I want them to come back as soon as possible.

-I believe that rD is independently profitable at WDW even without considering supplemental purchases. For this reason I believe it will be back whenever it becomes a priority.

My problem is coming up with reasons why rD and it’s events would be a priority right now. That’s why I’m so interested and so hopeful to see announcements about fireworks, parades, shows, resort re-openings, restaurant re-openings, characters meets, and some things I’m forgetting that I’d generally think are much more important to Disney right now.

I realize they can multi-task and I have no doubt that things are going on in the background to get all of these things back on track. When I start seeing announcements about these things is when I’ll really start to think it’s plausible that we could hear something positive from rD.

Even though I’m very confident that live rD events will return at some point there still seems to be a long way to go before they jump to the front of the line.

 

[GreatLakes]

Even though I’m very confident that live rD events will return at some point there still seems to be a long way to go before they jump to the front of the line.

I don't see a future without any races. I think they are profitable enough that they matter in the grand scheme of things and if there was desire they could hold W&D if they wanted to. At this point it is about desire and where in the reopening the races fit.

I realize the same could be said for DL and their long span without races but I never got the feeling DL races were anywhere near as popular (readrofitable) and the city had as much if not more than Disney in their cancellation.

I'd really like to see the resort runs come back in a new form of some sort. I was down there last week for a quick one day trip as part of a family visit and stayed at Caribbean Beach. I went on a little run around the resort and started to think how they could tweak those runs to be more of a self-guided run with a little resort specific souvenir at the end. I'd love to pay a small fee, get a "preferred route" to go run, and then get some sort of token at the end tied to the theme of the resort. Knowing both runners and Disney fans I suspect a lot of us would make a quest of trying to get them all and it would be pure revenue for them.

 

[1lilspark]

Gasparilla didn’t even announce a registration date ahead of time they just sent an email saying 2022 opens today!!!!

now I have till the 30th to see if I want to bite the bullet and run my first half

 

[CP3uhoh]

I think another thing people aren't considering is that the Marathon Weekend 2023 would fall within the "anniversary" as they've cleverly made it an 18-month celebration from Oct.1 on. Also why I think it's sort of silly when people ask "will X be open for the anniversary?" The answer is yes....lol, it's almost 2 years still till the end of the "anniversary" Tron will be open, Guardians will be open. It's two Christmas seasons, two spring breaks, two Food and Wine and Arts Festivals, 1 1/2 Flower and Gardens etc.

 

[1lilspark]

I think another thing people aren't considering is that the Marathon Weekend 2023 would fall within the "anniversary" as they've cleverly made it an 18-month celebration from Oct.1 on. Also why I think it's sort of silly when people ask "will X be open for the anniversary?" The answer is yes....lol, it's almost 2 years still till the end of the "anniversary" Tron will be open, Guardians will be open. It's two Christmas seasons, two spring breaks, two Food and Wine and Arts Festivals, 1 1/2 Flower and Gardens etc.

Plus the overlap of Epcot’s 40th (I will not be shocked if GotG or other currently announced Epcot projects like Journey of Water or Play get an opening date on or near 10/1/22

 

[Kazrak]

I think another thing people aren't considering is that the Marathon Weekend 2023 would fall within the "anniversary" as they've cleverly made it an 18-month celebration from Oct.1 on. Also why I think it's sort of silly when people ask "will X be open for the anniversary?" The answer is yes....lol, it's almost 2 years still till the end of the "anniversary" Tron will be open, Guardians will be open. It's two Christmas seasons, two spring breaks, two Food and Wine and Arts Festivals, 1 1/2 Flower and Gardens etc.

Indeed, they tend to push their anniversaries a bit far. My first WDW visit was part of the 25th anniversary celebration, 26-1/3 years after opening.

 

[GreatLakes]

Gasparilla didn’t even announce a registration date ahead of time they just sent an email saying 2022 opens today!!!!

now I have till the 30th to see if I want to bite the bullet and run my first half

Gasparilla is a great race and I love the course. My first race ever was the 5k and 8ve done the 5k and Half since. I plan to do it again some day.

 

[1lilspark]

Gasparilla is a great race and I love the course. My first race ever was the 5k and 8ve done the 5k and Half since. I plan to do it again some day.

The 5k was my first ever race in 2015 did that through 2018 than in 19, 20 and the virtual this year I did the 15K/8K challenge

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

On the most recent Disney Dish, Len Testa hinted that he’s hearing things are unlikely for a return to in-person races until April-ish.

 

[1lilspark]

On the most recent Disney Dish, Len Testa hinted that he’s hearing things are unlikely for a return to in-person races until April-ish.

Which I know some of us have said the inaugural SW replacement would be the first run out of the gate so this tracks.... just wish rundisney would give some update