Official 2016 Star Wars Half Marthon - The Dark Side Weekend

[opusone]

How was the path leading up to that? If it takes out the green railing area that good.

Yes, the green railing portion is completely averted. I thought it worked really well this morning, at least it did for corral A. How was the path for other corrals?

 

[Nole95]

10k was good this morning.

Only complaint I have is I was on the first bus out of Beach Club at 3:30. I was in the staging area before 4. Much to my surprise they were not letting anyone else in the character lines. Tried Vader, Fett, and a couple others. Got tuned away by cast members each time. What's the point of showing up early if they are going to do that.

Other than that, the run was fun. They sent corrals off about every 7 minutes. I was in B and never hit any bottlenecks.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

10k was good this morning.

Only complaint I have is I was on the first bus out of Beach Club at 3:30. I was in the staging area before 4. Much to my surprise they were not letting anyone else in the character lines. Tried Vader, Fett, and a couple others. Got tuned away by cast members each time. What's the point of showing up early if they are going to do that.

Other than that, the run was fun. They sent corrals off about every 7 minutes. I was in B and never hit any bottlenecks.

I had the same experience. First bus out of Pop. I didn't have a bag and went right to Vader. No luck.

I was also in B and didn't experience any backups.

 

[bcarey2k]

I was in C and there were a few pinch points, but for the most part, not bad at all.

The plywood that my brain thought was concrete was a bit of a shock on the transition runway, but even that wasn't bad in hindsight.

Brian

 

[Z-Knight]

Ok, so it is very obvious they spot check, at best, 10k times. I basically saw someone in single digits ELITE numbers that had no business being in corral A...none, not even corral Z. Please people, be honest with your times and don't lie to get higher corrals because that is not safe for everyone. I digress, again.

First 3 miles sucked for me thanks to that lovely banked road - cause my left foot to be tight for 2 miles and slowed me down immensely. I wanted to run the low side but it was too packed to get there so I was stuck in that bank. Oh well.

 

[cavepig]

My mom didn't complain of any tight spots, said the 1/2 mile or so stretch to wide world did have big rocks (if I read her text correct) so they just took it careful to get through & their was enough daylight already so they could see fine. They did end up in a 45 minute wait for a bus at POP, so once they got to EPCOT it was time to head right to the corrals.

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

Does anyone know what time the Start area opens?

 

[kmchisholm]

Where did you enter the photopass code - online or through the app?

 

[MonkeyDishwasher]

Only complaint I have is I was on the first bus out of Beach Club at 3:30. I was in the staging area before 4. Much to my surprise they were not letting anyone else in the character lines.

Literally exactly this! I was on your same bus then! LOL. We walked straight to the photo ops before dropping bags and looked at the Cast Member at the end of Boba's line like "seriously?!" And immediately hopped in for Jabba since he was right next door. He might be static but he was still cool for photo ops. As soon as we turned around, the line had jumped by about 100 people (or at least it felt like it). Right after our Jabba picture we got in the new line for the Carbonite Han location (sans Boba Fett), and turned around and again the line jumped behind us! It was nuts!

Then the wait for the corrals to open was kind of bizarre too. I've never had to wait for that.... but then again I'm usually not in the first few groups of people to the event either.

 

[cavepig]

Where did you enter the photopass code - online or through the app?

I did it on a computer.

 

[seashell7290]

Thanks everyone about your tips to keep my headdress on. Had no costume malfunctions as queen amidala! Great 10k this morning but will admit the course is narrow at times. They do a good job of alerting you. I totally agree with the character lines. I was on the first bus and had no luck with characters. I caught one after but if you are a later corral you had no chance . Good luck to all the half runners tomorrow!

 

[Z-Knight]

Thanks everyone about your tips to keep my headdress on. Had no costume malfunctions as queen amidala! Great 10k this morning but will admit the course is narrow at times. They do a good job of alerting you. I totally agree with the character lines. I was on the first bus and had no luck with characters. I caught one after but if you are a later corral you had no chance . Good luck to all the half runners tomorrow!

Run fast to the finish line and you can take them there...easier said then done, I know.

 

[Fruto76]

I was in C and there were a few pinch points, but for the most part, not bad at all.

The plywood that my brain thought was concrete was a bit of a shock on the transition runway, but even that wasn't bad in hindsight.

Brian

Same here. In C and had a few spots that we slowed down. I have always been in B for 10ks, I agree with Z Knight as far as the corral assignments go. I felt like I passed a lot more people than I typically do,(and I did not run any faster than I normally do) and I was in the very front of the corral.

Where did you enter the photopass code - online or through the app?

I went to link pass and entered the code on the app. Already have a few from this morning.

Run fast to the finish line and you can take them there...easier said then done, I know.

that's my plan tomorrow. Was on first bus this morning, no bag to check and also got there as they cut off the character lines. Bummed.

 

[Chasing Dopey]

Is there anyone associated with runDisney on here?

For the last couple corrals, the experience was different this morning. After staying a couple minutes ahead of pace, even with huge bottlenecks on the road well before Epcot and again getting into world showcase, the path to HS was a crawl, then the balloon ladies were right on top of us as we entered HS. I don't think they actually swept anyone, but they started threatening when it would have been impossible for a LOT of people, who are plenty capable of maintaining 14:00 or so, to stay ahead of pace. With 7000 people in the last two corrals tomorrow morning, I have no idea how that's going to work.

They were unable to supply water fast enough at a couple water stations.

No Powerade at all?

They NEED NEED NEED to remind people that just because it's the last corral, that doesn't mean fast runners are not among them, and to leave a lane on the left. They know people don't read the etiquette guidelines. Just a word from the MC at each corral start would probably make a huge difference. It was worse today than in Anaheim in January. I know, I know... this isn't where you come to PR. But at least people would like to run more than half of it.

And as far as merchandise goes, they need to allow more pre-order options. They are being taken up by poachers living locally, and that's not cool.

Okay, that's enough negative stuff... Looking forward to tomorrow! (If our neighbors will be quiet tonight. -.- )

 

[Z-Knight]

Jeff G

 

[baugus4]

If you were in the last corral it was awful!! At least half of the course was to narrow to accommodate that many people!! It forces you to walk in to many areas. From the back of the last corral it was almost impossible to maintain a 16:00/mile! To many back areas, sidewalks and dirt roads for that kind of money!!

Then we had runDisney people on bikes trying to squeeze by in all the narrow places saying "bikes on the left, bikes on the left", the problem is there was no place to get over to allow them to pass. Ridiculous!!

Then the very, very long line for bus transportation back to Epcot just made the experience even worse! It's a good thing it didn't start raining.

We have participated in several runDisney events and this one was by far the worse and we didn't even try to get pictures before, during or after. Apparently it's impossible to get the same experience from the last 2 corrals as compared to the first few.

On a positive note the bling was awesome!! Hopefully tomorrow will go a little better.

 

[bcarey2k]

If you were in the last corral it was awful!! At least half of the course was to narrow to accommodate that many people!! It forces you to walk in to many areas. From the back of the last corral it was almost impossible to maintain a 16:00/mile! To many back areas, sidewalks and dirt roads for that kind of money!!

Then we had runDisney people on bikes trying to squeeze by in all the narrow places saying "bikes on the left, bikes on the left", the problem is there was no place to get over to allow them to pass. Ridiculous!!

Then the very, very long line for bus transportation back to Epcot just made the experience even worse! It's a good thing it didn't start raining.

We have participated in several runDisney events and this one was by far the worse and we didn't even try to get pictures before, during or after. Apparently it's impossible to get the same experience from the last 2 corrals as compared to the first few.

On a positive note the bling was awesome!! Hopefully tomorrow will go a little better.

Our 1st rD event was the W&D several years ago ... We paid no attention to putting our times in and didn't know we could fix it (back then).... We were in the last corral and had a similar experience.

 

[Z-Knight]

Anyone have links to pics of the thursday shopping madness? I heard people would just dump dozens and dozens of pins, etc in to baskets and just bought out the place. Just morbid curiosity as to what these people look like.

 

[cgattis]

Could someone please post the current /final road closure map?? We may drive. Thanks!!

 

[SunDial]

My thoughts on the 10K. Overall I had a good time and that was my only goal

I started in corral D at the very back by choice. During the Princess GSC my daughter and I started in the back of our corral and is was a very nice experience. There was no stress to get to the pre stage and make sure to be at the front of the corral. That choice was not a good one for this morning. It was way to crowded until Epcot. The first turn off from Epcot Dr I was running in the grass very carefully.

I was happy to see all of the green railing area gone, however it was still quite tight.

The dirt road getting into ESPN has been improved since the last Tower of Terror run. The drop offs were gone. I did not notice to many large rocks in there either.

Buses going to - I am staying at POP and got in line at 3:30. This line stretched almost the length of the main building. When I got to the front of the line there were no buses for a easy 10 minutes. When I finally got to the pre staging area they were already calling everyone to the corrals. No pics other than one in front of Jabba, but that one was taken minutes before corral A went off.

Buses leaving ESPN - The lines getting back to POP was quite long. However this was considered very short compared to the line for everyone that was trying to get back to Epcot. That was out of this world. There has to be a better way for that.

I makes me wonder if RD will rethink the finishing at ESPN idea. I think it has good possibilities but they will have to plan the spectator leaving transportation better.

Finish line - I thought the layout was good with a nice flow to it. My one issue was why there was not a Star Wars back drop for the finisher medal pic?

Volunteers - They were were awesome. Thanked as many as I could.

Next year - I will do this event next year (if am lucky to get in) however I will go into it with a different plan.

Hope tomorrow flows better.