No more CC5k (even DIY going away)?

[WaDiWo]

i’m disappointed at the thought of an official organized castaway cay 5k going away. Even the DIY option was a step in the wrong direction (unless they were doing it because of COVID?)

Yes they don’t HAVE to do it. and it was a little perk. But it’s EXACTLY these little extras which makes Disney special. The more they take away, the more magic is gone.

 

[Cheburashka]

Except that doesn’t explain why the DIY is going away

If it's going away, then it's going away for the same reason the other things I mentioned are going away. To save DCL a few pennies. They won't have to produce the medals anymore.

 

[Cheburashka]

Because they have to buy the medals. I'm sure it doesn't cost them much, but it probably adds up over time. Another line item to nix to save a few pennies.

Yep, those medals surely cost a lot more than the paper navigators they've already stopped making. And the medals are undoubtedly also worse for the environment, which gives DCL another excuse.

Them not wanting to produce the medals would explain why some people are reporting them not being available on their cruise, but others do have them available. If they're currently just using up the leftover supply.

This is depressing. I hope this thread is wrong and DCL is continuing the tradition with just a few hiccups, but that might be a vain hope. I'd really like the officer's pin trading to come back, too. But it might be that the couple of hundred dollars they would spend on those pins (the officers' starting pins are often better than guest pins, so they must use a lot of new ones each time) is just too much for DCL to spend on creating magic for their shipful of guests.

It seems like Disney is engaged in a race to the bottom in terms of its vacation experiences. What's next for DCL? No Castaway Club stateroom gift? No chocolates with your turn down service? I don't want to think of more ways they can gradually chip away at the cruise experience.

I'm glad my son's prime Disney years were before Disney management decided to cheapen the guest experience at WDW and DCL. Disney management can keep taking away the traditional perks and charms of a Disney vacation, but they can't take away our memories.

 

[Joel0917]

odd. i was on aug 8 and aug 12 B2B. - no medals. the person who ran aug 12..did you get a medal?

 

[Cheburashka]

From what I remember from the past, one of the reasons that they stopped having the formal group go out was that more and more people started to sign up for the 5K and then once they got off the ship ahead of everyone else head to the beach and start hogging the beach umbrellas, etc.

I'd stop it too if half of my 'runners' were just trying to cheat and get off the ship before their turn........

No, this was not a widespread issue at all.

 

[Rob1872]

The run doesn't start before regular debarkation. That makes no sense.

As I recall the run used to start before regular debarkation. When it was only DIY they ended the early disembark time.

 

[Cheburashka]

As I recall the run used to start before regular debarkation. When it was only DIY they ended the early disembark time.

We ran the race during our 2015/16 New Year's cruise, and it was the official race, and it was not before regular debarkation. We were behind the non-racing early bird guests who exited the ship to get onto CC quickly.

 

[anricat]

As I recall the run used to start before regular debarkation. When it was only DIY they ended the early disembark time.

I just checked my notes for our 2017 cruise, which was the last time we ran the organized event. I make detailed trip reports so I went back and checked. All ashore time for CC that day was 8:30 AM (according to my itinerary email I looked up). My TR says, "We checked in and waited until around 8:15 when they started the pre-race briefing. At 8:30 we gathered together and disembarked the ship. First we all stopped at Scuttles Cove so that those with kids that needed to get dropped off could do that. Then we arrived at the start line and waited some more. I was glad I had a hefty snack. According to my GPS, we started the race at 8:55 AM."

If people were registering for the 5k just to get off the ship early, they would be disappointed as we didn't even start to file off the ship until all ashore time.

 

[DCLMP]

As I recall the run used to start before regular debarkation. When it was only DIY they ended the early disembark time.

The last time I ran it was in 2012 and it was at 0900 after debarkation. I never ran it again because it was too hot. It would be nice if it started earlier.

 

[Cheburashka]

The last time I ran it was in 2012 and it was at 0900 after debarkation. I never ran it again because it was too hot. It would be nice if it started earlier.

Yeah, ours was in January and it was still sunny and humid. A challenging environment in which to run, for sure. That's one reason why we only did it once.

 

[WDWAurora]

odd. i was on aug 8 and aug 12 B2B. - no medals. the person who ran aug 12..did you get a medal?

We were also on CC on 8/12. I didn’t run, but saw people get medals.

 

[unveilmyeyes]

Because they have to buy the medals. I'm sure it doesn't cost them much, but it probably adds up over time. Another line item to nix to save a few pennies.

The other poster was suggesting it was from people trying to get off the ship earlier, and disagreeing with them and the person who agreed. It may very well be financial (including staffing) but I can’t imagine it’s from hundreds of people gaming the system.

 

[unveilmyeyes]

If it's going away, then it's going away for the same reason the other things I mentioned are going away. To save DCL a few pennies. They won't have to produce the medals anymore.

The other poster was suggesting it was from people trying to get off the ship earlier, and I was disagreeing with them and the person who agreed. It may very well be financial (including staffing) but I can’t imagine it’s from hundreds of people gaming the system.

 

[anricat]

The other poster was suggesting it was from people trying to get off the ship earlier, and disagreeing with them and the person who agreed. It may very well be financial (including staffing) but I can’t imagine it’s from hundreds of people gaming the system.

I agree. There's absolutely no way it's because of people trying to get off the ship early since that was not thing that really happened. At least not with any frequency. And an easier solution would just be to delay the 5k disembarkation by like 10 minutes or something.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

As I recall the run used to start before regular debarkation. When it was only DIY they ended the early disembark time.

Your chronology is not correct. Yes, the run used to start before regular debarkation. However, the change in debarkation time started years before the introduction of the DIY run. Having everyone debark at the same time was the response to those who signed up for the run just to be able to get off the ship earlier with no intention of actually participating. There was still an organized run at that point. That was still true when we cruised b2b on the Magic in January 2019 (pre-Covid). I did the 5K on both those cruises.

 

[baby1038]

odd. i was on aug 8 and aug 12 B2B. - no medals. the person who ran aug 12..did you get a medal?

Yes. My son got a medal after he ran on the 12th.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

In its infancy you signed up on board, had to go to the info session then meet onboard for the early disembarkation. They’d take the whole group out together etc. we had maybe 20 people run it on our 2014 cruise.

Then it got insanely popular and they stopped the early advantage just meet x and walk off together

Then that got overwhelmed so it swapped to pre-registration on the app and to meet at the bike shack at x time.

It used to be you didn’t loose much island time to run it- last time I did it took an hour before it started as so many people kept arriving and it was so crowded you couldn’t run and it was so hot.

I’m surprised they’ve let the ‘honor system’ go for so long because it can get so hot id worry it’d be a safety issue…

 

[sjuncfan]

My DH ran the course on castaway cay (twice!) on 8/14 and was told they are no longer doing medals.

 

[SteveH]

Sounds like another move by the Famouse Cheapskate Chapek!

 

[Snowwhyt]

Such a well loved event, especially for CC. More people talked about the run on this board then any adventures on the island. I’m wondering, what if someone sued DCL for a death or injury and made the discontinuation of the event part of their lawsuit? It just seems strange that it stopped. I hate to see this event stop it means so much to so many.

I have always been jealous of those that can still run since my accident. My accident was in 1989, so before DCL was a CL and definitely before CC. My daughters boyfriend was going to run in the multi-park races and CC but Covid canceled the cruise on us.