Official 2016 Disneyland Half Marathon Thread

[Mickey Momma]

I cannot stress this enough - if you MUST have a registration and are nervous about waiting for general registration, I would contact a TA today. You can get a guaranteed bib, though some will require either an additional purchase of a 1 day/1 park ticket, a hotel stay or both.

Personally, I have used Acclaim, Get Sports and Magical Miles and have had wonderful experiences with all three.

I am a bit freaked out about how fast DDD went for you all today. I hear what you are saying (be online at 12, try a TA), but I am still feeling panicked. I will definitely watch for that back-door link. The last (and only) race registration I had this much stress about was the Napa-to-Sonoma half a few years ago. Albeit, that is a smaller race.

 

[Mickey's sweetheart]

I'm using a TA for my DDD bib. It's a guaranteed spot and is already secured. i used Magical Enchanted Vacations and it's DDD plus a one day, one park ticket. No hotel reservation. Also, I looked at all the travel providers listed on the runDisney site and the prices varied so look around if you go that route.

 

[BwoZoo22]

I got in for the DDD.... but I couldn't get my wife in.. Will have to try again next Tuesday for open reg. I'm freaking out. Any advice to help make sure my marriage continues in its "Happily Every After"?

I saw something on the front page of this about a "backdoor link" to the active registration... any word on that? Can anyone clear up how it would work?

Depending on how much your wife knows now... I've found not mentioning anything helps. If you get your wife's registration on Tuesday, then all is good, right? Or focus on how fast it sold out, the fact that there will be many more bibs available next week, and that each registration needs to be done separately.

I've also found it works if you have two browsers going, registering each person in a different browser, at the same time. I find that easier than two computers. If you are there when it opens, you should be fine. At least, I have never had an issue getting in (with only one or two registrations to do) if I am online when it opens. Deep breath, relax, and be ready next Tuesday...

 

[taniahappy]

We were only able to secure the 5K, we were hoping for the 10K (first race for us) ... so will try with General on the 2nd.

 

[Texadelphian512]

I'm using a TA for my DDD bib. It's a guaranteed spot and is already secured. i used Magical Enchanted Vacations and it's DDD plus a one day, one park ticket. No hotel reservation. Also, I looked at all the travel providers listed on the runDisney site and the prices varied so look around if you go that route.

Is it possible to use a TA after Tuesday? So if I don't get in for DDD next week would I be able to THEN call a TA to secure a bib? Never used a TA before for any of MANY Disney and RD trips.... No clue how this works

 

[taffy]

I think it's going to make the later corrals sort of messy...

Based on how star wars went down I am glad. It was pretty dangerous as there were Walker s in Coral A and alot of complaints of pushing and shoving to get by people on the course. I hope that it just means Coral A are more runners only and then B onwards they break up the interval people and then the walkers. Another suggestion was they they dont open a photo lines until Coral A has passed but that may prove unpopular with some.

 

[Mickey's sweetheart]

Is it possible to use a TA after Tuesday? So if I don't get in for DDD next week would I be able to THEN call a TA to secure a bib? Never used a TA before for any of MANY Disney and RD trips.... No clue how this works

Probably. I used one for the WDW Half after regular registration. I say "probably" because I had to contact more than one TA for the WDW half before I found one that still had bibs available.
I had never used one before either for any of my Disney trips and it was kind of odd letting someone else take care of things. Just send them an email or get on their mailing list and follow instructions.

 

[Kathymford]

Based on how star wars went down I am glad. It was pretty dangerous as there were Walker s in Coral A and alot of complaints of pushing and shoving to get by people on the course. I hope that it just means Coral A are more runners only and then B onwards they break up the interval people and then the walkers. Another suggestion was they they dont open a photo lines until Coral A has passed but that may prove unpopular with some.

You are always going to get walkers in Corral A if they don't find away to make sure people are in their correct corrals and stay there. I don't think people who qualify for corral A are walkers; that's just my two-cents. And why should people in Corral A be denied photo ops? That doesn't seem to make it fair at all.

 

[kim3339]

I know a lot of people pop back and forth b/w this thread and the one on the DL side, so I started up the DL side one if anyone's interested. Here's the link ~
http://disboards.com/threads/official-dl-½-marathon-weekend-2016-check-in-sept-1-4-2016.3479084/

 

[camaker]

Is it possible to use a TA after Tuesday? So if I don't get in for DDD next week would I be able to THEN call a TA to secure a bib? Never used a TA before for any of MANY Disney and RD trips.... No clue how this works

There really shouldn't be an issue. Last year there were a number of TAs with bibs for all races, including DDD, available for months after registration and even pretty close to the race itself. And that was for an anniversary year.

That being said, it would probably be advisable to go ahead and put in requests with a TA or two now. There's no obligation and if you get in through regular registration you just tell them you don't need it. The advantage is that you get a spot on their list, which is typically first come, first served.

 

[Beamo2014]

For the other poster that is asking about signing their mom up for the 10k, I've only ever successfully gotten AP registration today (I got 2 5Ks and 2 Kids races). The 10K was already on hold when I got thru.

For the Star Wars Half I couldn't get into AP Registration at all and had no trouble getting registered for the 10k with open registration.
Last year was the 60th anniversary Half Marathon, I missed AP Registration all together, but had no issues signing both myself and my husband for the 10K during the open registration.

I still need to sign my husband for the 10K, so I'll stay optimistic for both of us that we'll what we need with no issues .

 

[lap3]

I was able to register for the half this morning for being a legacy runner. The early registration was a lot less stressful than previous years!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

So thanks you guys for the suggestions, I booked with one of the travel agency that way I did not need to worry and it did not seem to cost extra. So my mom and me are booked for the 10k, yeah!!! We went with Magical Enchanted Vacations, instead the big one GetSport since we only plan on staying two nights and they said you have to stay 3 nights on their plan. MEV only said we would have to book 1 park ticket with them and we plan on doing a 2 day park ticket, so that is not an issue. MEV did not have park ticket prices yet, they said they normally get a little bit of a discount.

 

[Keels]

Awesome!!

 

[taffy]

You are always going to get walkers in Corral A if they don't find away to make sure people are in their correct corrals and stay there. I don't think people who qualify for corral A are walkers; that's just my two-cents. And why should people in Corral A be denied photo ops? That doesn't seem to make it fair at all.

From what we were hearing the idea being people in A would choose to be a runner and not want to stop for photos that way they would not run past walkers causing all the friction we witnessed. After all the corals are designed for safety so that you are moving at the same pace as those around you. If you are choosing to take photos and walk then you should be in a coral with those that plan on doing the same that way we avoid this tension between runners and walkers. It seems they would be better off just randomly assigning corals if we are not going to use them as designed . Its just been a hot topic in some other races recently so thin RD is looking for solutions to help everyone enjoy the event.

 

[Keels]

Wine & Dine has been the biggest offender of Corral A runners stopping for character photos and then blasting through from the back of the pack to get back to running room.

Maybe it's just my opinion, but nobody is paying the amount RD charges to run an event "just to be a runner", unless they have a legitimate shot of winning the event.

In fact, RD does almost completely the opposite of what you said. They start cutting character stops when the sweepers are within 45-60 minutes of that character stop. They want people stopping early for character stops, not later, because it makes it easier to schedule for multiple shifts.

 

[tidefan]

Hello all! I got registered for the 1/2 today (DVC Member). Looking forward to it as my first runDisney race (other than "unofficial" Castaway Cay 5k's) was the WDW 1/2 a couple of weeks ago, so this one will be for my C2C as well.

Interesting on the PoT. My WDW Half finishing time was 2:42, so I am just under the cutoff. I hope to improve that time at the Mercedes Half (Birmingham, AL) next month.

Trying to get hotel and air set. Right now, I have a room at the Hilton, but points are a bit cheaper at the Hilton Garden a mile or so down Harbor. I did see that the ART would be free and run early that weekend, but the Hilton seems walkable (especially if you can cut through the convention center - Does anyone know if you can do that?). On air, Southwest doesn't open the booking window until February. Hoping SNA is reasonable so I can go in and out there as opposed to LAX.

Also, as an aside, hopefully I can get my Mickey runDisney shoes. When I went in Orlando, they only had wides in my size. I bought a pair of Dumbos for my DD (I know they are "Men's" shoes, but Dumbo is her favorite character) and a pair of Ariel's for a co-worker. They had everyone's size but mine (go figure). The NB guy said that Men's 13 are the first to go, so be warned

 

[sourire]

Hi all! Long time follower of these boards but have never posted! Looking forward to signing up for the Disneyland 1/2 next week (fingers crossed for a smooth registration process). First runDisney race was the WDW 1/2 a few weeks ago, completed with my mom and mom-in-law, and we had a fabulous time! My husband is now concerned about my apparent runDisney addiction...BUT, I somehow managed to convince him to sign up with me for the Disneyland 1/2. =P Special thank you for all of the advice and support doled out in the WDW Marathon Weekend thread which I read for lots of weeks leading up to the weekend, and congratulations to everyone who participated!!

 

[Keels]

Hi all! Long time follower of these boards but have never posted! Looking forward to signing up for the Disneyland 1/2 next week (fingers crossed for a smooth registration process). First runDisney race was the WDW 1/2 a few weeks ago, completed with my mom and mom-in-law, and we had a fabulous time! My husband is now concerned about my apparent runDisney addiction...BUT, I somehow managed to convince him to sign up with me for the Disneyland 1/2. =P Special thank you for all of the advice and support doled out in the WDW Marathon Weekend thread which I read for lots of weeks leading up to the weekend, and congratulations to everyone who participated!!

If your husband is in to cars or sports, he will LOVE Disneyland. It's the only half my husband will even consider doing!

Good luck with registration!

 

[sourire]

If your husband is in to cars or sports, he will LOVE Disneyland. It's the only half my husband will even consider doing!

Good luck with registration!

OOH that's great! Thank you!! He likes to run, and we both love the great state of CA - find lots of reasons/excuses to get out there for vacations. I dragged him to Disneyland for a few days in 2014 (our first visit there), and he prefers it to WDW! I think it's b/c you can get in and out pretty easily and do other things nearby if you want to, rather than being sort of stuck and forced into the magic at WDW. Hey, whatever it takes!