Official 2016 Star Wars Half Marthon - The Dark Side Weekend

[SueInBoston]

Just want to report back that I do have all my photos. It was user error, my daughter only link my challenge bib to the 10k (thinking same bib number would show both races). After calling photopass with only 11 min wait time, the very nice cast member linked it for me and all my photos show up!!

 

[Plaid Princess]

Interesting charts and data, @opusone. Thanks for taking the time to pull it together. Since we will each have our own interpretation of what the data means, here's mine. One, there are a lot of people in the last corral who either forgot to submit proof of time or who have gotten faster since they registered and began their training.

There were also a LOT of people who had proof of time that somehow "dropped out" (to use the phrase runDisney used) of the system. A friend of mine was dumped into L for this reason, and met at a few dozen people that had the same issue. Everybody in line at the info booth at the Expo when we inquired had the same problem. It was too many people to be just user error. Don't know if this was a glitch on runDisney's side, or something else.

Couldn't have asked for better weather (who'd have thought I'd actually have goosebumps in April?) and the low humidity was awesome as well.

I guess this just proves how differently people feel weather, lol... I was hating the heat and humidity!

 

[EEsloveDis]

Recap of our experience.

We are a family of 4. Husband and I both run (hubby way more competitive then I am). I have competed in multiple Disney races (Princess half with hubby, EE with family and TOT of my own). Our 14 year old son runs track and cross county but has tarsal coalition so we make sure to watch his speed and training (10k is max we will allow him to do) and our daughter is 11 and plays field hockey. She was on crutches due to IT Band issues until the Thursday before the race (still in decent shape due to the amount of field hockey she plays). We were in corral C (forgot what time we submitted, thinking maybe 10/min mile). I was in B but moved back to be with my family. The start was fine, I told my daughter we would walk until we hit the timer. We ran most of the first 5k when we could. We tried to run along the little path from Epcot to HS and found it very difficult due to crowding and we felt we were at the pace mercy of the walkers around us. I wouldn't let her pass unless we felt we were out of the way and no one would come flying up on us (which happened more then I expected).I wouldn't let her run on the boardwalk, the angled ramps and we wanted to run through the wooded area into WWS but again were at the mercy of those in front of us spread out and I didn't want her stepping wrong. We were able to run again once we left the wooded area until the finish. We did not wait in any lines as they were crazy long. My son did stop outside of HS to get some photos with Commander Cody and Bobba Fett.

I was disappointed to not hear our names called at the finish. No biggie though as my daughter was trilled to finish as we weren't sure even she was even going to start.

As always the start was awesome, love the fireworks for each corral. Disney does that right.

The walk to the corrals was painful (as always) and the bright lights blinded us as we were walking towards the entrance to our corrals.

Expo-we arrived fairly early Friday morning. No line to pick up our bibs but the person checking waivers and IDs was much faster then the one handing out bibs but she never slowed down or allowed her to catch up so there was a back log. We had 4 bibs to pick up and were only handed 3 as they kept stacking other people's paperwork on top of ours. We had to make them stop handing out others before ours and find our daughter's paperwork. No issues picking up T-shirts but felt that should have been in the same area as the bib handout.

I was disappointed to not see some items at all at the Expo. Run Disney should really allow for more pre-purchase items. We were lucky enough to have a friend pick us up 10k pins Thursday (our children collect pins) but I didn't get a 10k car magnet that we have been collecting and while I'm watching on ebay I'm certainly not spending that much. I was also hoping to get the light blue tech jacket (typically don't buy stuff like that) but we are huge star wars fans. Not the end of the world but still, something really needs to change as this is only getting worse (we have been doing Disney races since 2012).

Surprisingly my husband says he wants to go back and do all 3 races. I'm not sure if I'm up for that even though I love Disney and their races.

 

[BDK33]

Back to the medal selling post... There are tons of medals posted from the race but unlike the pins and the magnets where there are tons of bids, I did not see a single one for a medal... Just an observation

 

[Z-Knight]

Back to the medal selling post... There are tons of medals posted from the race but unlike the pins and the magnets where there are tons of bids, I did not see a single one for a medal... Just an observation

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...salic=1&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=200&LH_Complete=1

Look at the Sold listings....the 4th one you will NOT believe: Kessel PIN (yes, PIN) sold for $391!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Wink25]

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=kessel+medal&_in_kw=1&_ex_kw=&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_samilow=&_samihi=&_sadis=15&_stpos=77573-9083&_sargn=-1&saslc=1&_salic=1&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=200&LH_Complete=1

Look at the Sold listings....the 4th one you will NOT believe: Kessel PIN (yes, PIN) sold for $391!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And if that wasn't bad enough, 3 or 4 people immediately listed Kessel pins to START at $300+ after that one sold.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=kessel+medal&_in_kw=1&_ex_kw=&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_samilow=&_samihi=&_sadis=15&_stpos=77573-9083&_sargn=-1&saslc=1&_salic=1&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=200&LH_Complete=1

Look at the Sold listings....the 4th one you will NOT believe: Kessel PIN (yes, PIN) sold for $391!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chasing Dopey]

The 393 DNF number is much lower than I thought! So I guess that CM was making a mountain out of molehill after all. My mistake.

Here's a question: If you had the option to order a sold out item at the expo, would anyone care if they had to spend an extra $2 and wait a couple weeks for it? It seems that would be an even easier option than expanding the pre-orders. I also find it inexplicable they aren't already doing that.

 

[Wink25]

The 393 DNF number is much lower than I thought! So I guess that CM was making a mountain out of molehill after all. My mistake.

Here's a question: If you had the option to order a sold out item at the expo, would anyone care if they had to spend an extra $2 and wait a couple weeks for it? It seems that would be an even easier option than expanding the pre-orders. I also find it inexplicable they aren't already doing that.

I think that's the best option for everyone, then we get what we want and Disney doesn't have a problem with excess product.

 

[SueInBoston]

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=kessel+medal&_in_kw=1&_ex_kw=&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_samilow=&_samihi=&_sadis=15&_stpos=77573-9083&_sargn=-1&saslc=1&_salic=1&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=200&LH_Complete=1

Look at the Sold listings....the 4th one you will NOT believe: Kessel PIN (yes, PIN) sold for $391!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This makes me so mad. I took the time to register and ran both races but not an equal opportunity to buy a stupid pin.

 

[camaker]

The 393 DNF number is much lower than I thought! So I guess that CM was making a mountain out of molehill after all. My mistake.

Here's a question: If you had the option to order a sold out item at the expo, would anyone care if they had to spend an extra $2 and wait a couple weeks for it? It seems that would be an even easier option than expanding the pre-orders. I also find it inexplicable they aren't already doing that.

My strong supposition is that it is due to how the manufacturing agreements are set up. Disney likely negotiates a per unit price on an item based on a given volume that they will be ordering. The manufacturer then does a production run based on the order volume.

The problem with offering a catalogue of items for order at the expo is that Disney has no way of knowing if they will be needing 1 or 10,000 of an item, making it next to impossible for them to project their cost, and by extension, the price they would need to charge. In addition, there is likely a minimum order required by the manufacturer further complicating things. Volume discounts are usually substantial, so they can't very well charge a catalogue price for a minimum order, either. Can you imagine if the uproar if they charged a different price for ordered items versus the expo price?

They are really in a no win scenario here. Order too few and they get the outrage over the sellout and the resellers. Order too many and they end up taking a financial hit with the leftover inventory that we've seen show up in outlets after some recent race weekends.

I do agree that expanding the pre-order system makes the most sense.

 

[camaker]

This makes me so mad. I took the time to register and ran both races but not an equal opportunity to buy a stupid pin.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with this statement. I was frustrated by the rate at which merchandise sold out at the expo, too. However, the expo opened at the same time for everyone. Certain people prioritized getting to the expo incredibly early to get in line for the merchandise, whether they were running or not. We all had that opportunity, but chose not to for reasons of our own.

 

[Z-Knight]

I'm afraid I have to disagree with this statement. I was frustrated by the rate at which merchandise sold out at the expo, too. However, the expo opened at the same time for everyone. Certain people prioritized getting to the expo incredibly early to get in line for the merchandise, whether they were running or not. We all had that opportunity, but chose not to for reasons of our own.

not exactly...they unfairly opened it up EARLY by 1 hour

 

[camaker]

not exactly...they unfairly opened it up EARLY by 1 hour

True enough. But I believe you were the one who relayed that they did that because of the increasingly large crowd queued up outside. So chances are pretty good that anyone not showing up early was going to be in line behind that crowd, with the same effect regardless of an early opening or not. It was a Black Friday situation, in my mind, and those who anticipated and prioritized got the "deals". I don't like it any more than anyone else, as I was on the first bus out of the French Quarter and still didn't see a single pin for sale. I'm just not buying into the "we had no opportunity" argument.

 

[Ariel484]

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=kessel+medal&_in_kw=1&_ex_kw=&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_samilow=&_samihi=&_sadis=15&_stpos=77573-9083&_sargn=-1&saslc=1&_salic=1&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=200&LH_Complete=1

Look at the Sold listings....the 4th one you will NOT believe: Kessel PIN (yes, PIN) sold for $391!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in a Facebook group with the person that sold the pin - I'm sure you can see in the bidding history that she listed it at cost for the starting bid, so that wasn't on her. I think once others saw that someone would pay that much, they followed suit. Just amazing what people will pay for some things!

The eBay'ers will go away if people stop paying crazy prices for this stuff...but as long as people pay $391 for pins, eBay price gouging will continue to happen.

 

[Chasing Dopey]

I'm afraid I have to disagree with this statement. I was frustrated by the rate at which merchandise sold out at the expo, too. However, the expo opened at the same time for everyone. Certain people prioritized getting to the expo incredibly early to get in line for the merchandise, whether they were running or not. We all had that opportunity, but chose not to for reasons of our own.

Hmmm... I would not call this an equal opportunity. Locals in Orlando who poach the merchandise don't have to pay several hundred dollars more in room and food.

 

[Ariel484]

As for the DNF rate...I am reading that there were a decent amount of course cutters, and apparently if something like that is reported to runDisney, they'll DQ the person and negate the results. Interested to know how often that actually happens.

 

[Chasing Dopey]

My strong supposition is that it is due to how the manufacturing agreements are set up. Disney likely negotiates a per unit price on an item based on a given volume that they will be ordering. The manufacturer then does a production run based on the order volume.

The problem with offering a catalogue of items for order at the expo is that Disney has no way of knowing if they will be needing 1 or 10,000 of an item, making it next to impossible for them to project their cost, and by extension, the price they would need to charge. In addition, there is likely a minimum order required by the manufacturer further complicating things. Volume discounts are usually substantial, so they can't very well charge a catalogue price for a minimum order, either. Can you imagine if the uproar if they charged a different price for ordered items versus the expo price?

They are really in a no win scenario here. Order too few and they get the outrage over the sellout and the resellers. Order too many and they end up taking a financial hit with the leftover inventory that we've seen show up in outlets after some recent race weekends.

I do agree that expanding the pre-order system makes the most sense.

Good points here about the production procedure, but I think people would be willing to absorb a premium for an ordered item over an available item if it meant a) they weren't paying double or triple through ebay and b) they actually got something at all. They have definitely softened the battlefield for such a scenario. (And the price wouldn't go up that much after the initial order of 1000 or whatever it is. The template is set, and the markup on these tshirts is giant.)

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

I'm not convinced that the company takes any significant loss on merch even when they end up selling surplus items at the outlets and Cast Connection. The markup on stuff like t-shirts, pins, and car magnets is pretty high.

I'm not a merchandising executive, but I'm sure there must be some middle ground between "make so much we have truckloads left over" and "make so little it sells out in an hour." I'm also sure someone somewhere underestimated the huge draw that Star Wars themed merchandise would have, as well.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

As for the DNF rate...I am reading that there were a decent amount of course cutters, and apparently if something like that is reported to runDisney, they'll DQ the person and negate the results. Interested to know how often that actually happens.

There were two places I could see people cutting the course really easily without people noticing outside of the missed 15K Mat because of the way they had the portapotties set up to help both sides of the course so I wonder if they were more than what were noticed as well.