Official 2017 Star Wars - Light Side Half Marathon Weekend (Jan 12th - 15th, 2017)

[lovingeire]

Even the thread is quiet. Spooky.

I'm on a FB hiatus; are people just chatting over there about it?

It's almost eerie how quiet it has been about this race. I don't think I'm in a group for this race or have found one on Facebook, but I know there was a thread about registering yesterday on TrD. Other than that I haven't seen much of anything.

I wish with picking and choosing the prices would come down a bit, but I paid the same for Rebel Challenge as I did for Lumiere's and that's a brand new race addition and sold out quickly.

 

[lovingeire]

I am not a big Star Wars fan, but since there seems to be little interest this year, I'm in for the Rebel Challenge. It's a local race for me and I might as well get my Coast to Coast medal sooner rather than later. I might even consider doing the Dark Side Challenge.

If you do Dark Side then you can get the Kessel Run medal too! That's my plan! (Although I do love Star Wars!)

 

[94bruin]

For those that have stayed onsite before, would you chose DLH or GCH. Which is easiest to get to the corrals? It appears that the difference is only $83 over the course of our projected 3-night stay.

 

[srauseo]

You're doing the Half exclusively? Remember you have to hit the expo to get your bibs!

Yes - just the half. So we'll be able to pick up our bibs on Saturday. My sister is a teacher and just can't take much time off. But she does get that Monday off for MLK Jr. We did the Princess Half this year and thought it would be fun to do a West Coast half. I think Wine and Dine will be next on the list. We can probably only swing one a year unless I hit the Mega Millions tonight!

 

[courtneybeth]

Even the thread is quiet. Spooky.

I'm on a FB hiatus; are people just chatting over there about it?

I though the same thing! It's been super quiet here and most of us seem to sign up during passholder/dvc registration.

Rebel Challenge and Half Marathon are both still open. Only within the last 10 minutes did the 5K go "on hold". This seems very peculiar to me.

 

[courtneybeth]

Any one else it odd that the "In Training" shirts aren't up at the Disney Store? Don't they typically go up when the main registration opens?

 

[taniahappy]

So fast... I was done in less than 2 minutes! ... So now its official... Hubbie and I in for 5K and 10K

 

[Dis_Yoda]

For those that have stayed onsite before, would you chose DLH or GCH. Which is easiest to get to the corrals? It appears that the difference is only $83 over the course of our projected 3-night stay.

With the procedures they had in place for 2016's races - DLH would be the shorter walk because you had to go through a check point before heading to the corrals.

Apparently this procedure changed back to the old method at Tink and GCH would be easier for corrals.

We stayed at GCH and loved it though! So relaxing!

 

[kirstie101]

First time registering for a race. DH & I are both in for the 10K. I was shaking the entire time. I can see how other people said it was easy as we didn't hit any snags during the registration process. But because I didn't know what to expect, it was definitely nerve wracking!

Now onto hotel reservations. Does anyone know if / when Disney will release rates for their on-site hotels? I checked the box that asked if they could contact me for hotel info.

I want to say that last year the dates for the onsite hotels came out in July? You could call them now and they can tell you when they'll be out. Or try a travel provider. The years we've stayed at PPH I've gotten better rates through GET travel and Acclaim than what disney was offering.

 

[bumbershoot]

For those that have stayed onsite before, would you chose DLH or GCH. Which is easiest to get to the corrals? It appears that the difference is only $83 over the course of our projected 3-night stay.

It really depends on how they run the corral situation.

With the procedures they had in place for 2016's races - DLH would be the shorter walk because you had to go through a check point before heading to the corrals.

I was just reading about that yesterday or so.

For SW this year you had to go through DTD and to the parking lot by going to the right between RFC and ESPN, then out onto the street that goes under DTD (perpendicularly), along the other side of the road and then into the corrals. We were coming from Anabella expecting (sort of) the corral situation to be like Disneyland Half 2014 (start line was the opposite direction) and I thought I would literally just walk off Katella and into the back corral. Wrong wrong wrong.

For SW they had plastic fencing up so you couldn't get through from the Grand, even.

But Tink (was it you that described it recently?) was somehow different. I tried to check to the Event Guide for Tink, but they weren't obvious that that was how the corrals would go. It was a little more obvious in the SW Event Guide, showing an arrow with "Runners" towards that road I described.

 

[dis_or_dat]

No one ever knows until expo day. Apparently you can return prepurchased items that you don't like, though.

Phew! I was really having second thoughts about that tumbler/ornament. But got excited/nervous about signing up in time. That's probably why they put them there - impulse purchasing. I guess the worries were unfounded. The rebel challenge, half, and 5k are still not sold out! Wow. Perhaps the cost and multitude of races are catching up - race/wallet fatigue?

That's probably why there's no more status bar once it looked like Tink wasn't going to sell out.

As someone else mentioned, I wonder if it's something about west coast races .... Nike Women's Half pulled out of LA too.

Anyways, I'M excited about the challenge!!!

 

[Nessats]

Phew! I was really having second thoughts about that tumbler/ornament. But got excited/nervous about signing up in time. That's probably why they put them there - impulse purchasing. I guess the worries were unfounded. The rebel challenge, half, and 5k are still not sold out! Wow. Perhaps the cost and multitude of races are catching up - race/wallet fatigue?

That's probably why there's no more status bar once it looked like Tink wasn't going to sell out.

As someone else mentioned, I wonder if it's something about west coast races .... Nike Women's Half pulled out of LA too.

Anyways, I'M excited about the challenge!!!

The 5k is sold out. When you see the initial page, it only shows the 10k and kids races as being sold out. Click on the link to go to the actual registration, however, and the 5k is showing as sold out, and has since last evening.

 

[dis_or_dat]

The 5k is sold out. When you see the initial page, it only shows the 10k and kids races as being sold out. Click on the link to go to the actual registration, however, and the 5k is showing as sold out, and has since last evening.

Drats! Faked out by the initial page!

 

[kirstie101]

With the procedures they had in place for 2016's races - DLH would be the shorter walk because you had to go through a check point before heading to the corrals.

Apparently this procedure changed back to the old method at Tink and GCH would be easier for corrals.

We stayed at GCH and loved it though! So relaxing!

I wont be able to explain it, but even at Tink, I "think" staying at DLH would still be easier for the corrals. The security check point was just past PPH but still on the DLH side of the street. I don't know if that helps explain it at all.

 

[kirstie101]

It really depends on how they run the corral situation.




But Tink (was it you that described it recently?) was somehow different. I tried to check to the Event Guide for Tink, but they weren't obvious that that was how the corrals would go. It was a little more obvious in the SW Event Guide, showing an arrow with "Runners" towards that road I described.

Let me see if I can describe it. So from Stovalls we still walked behind PPH like we did during SW. But rather than going all the way over to DLH parking lot, once we passed PPH, we turned on a street/driveway (google maps looks like its called downtown drive? The street itself crosses Disneyland drive and goes into GCH) up towards Disneyland Drive and the corrals. The security screening was on that street before you reach the corrals. So basically if I was standing at the security area, looking towards the corrals, PPH would be on my right, GCH would be across from me, on the other side of the corrals.

 

[94bruin]

So it seem that it's a toss up between GCH & DLH. The difference in price isn't usually this small, so it's making the decision a bit more difficult this time. Love the DLH more as a hotel, but can't beat the proximity to the parks of the GCH.

 

[bumbershoot]

Let me see if I can describe it. So from Stovalls we still walked behind PPH like we did during SW.

And as a FWIW, we didn't walk *behind* PPH for the 5K. We walked in front, then turned to the left on the street you're talking about for Tink, and went over to DLH. Then for the next day's 10K, I was surprised to find that sidewalk blocked off and we had to go behind.

Love the DLH more as a hotel, but can't beat the proximity to the parks of the GCH.

The one time we stayed at the Grand our room was almost as far from the center of the esplanade as if we had walked from the sidewalk outside HoJo. Proximity isn't always awesome. If only we could have flown, or if only we had brought a slide to get down into DTD from our balcony. And we weren't even in the wing that allowed us to go out into the very end of DTD. Rotten room location.

Can't remember if I discussed it here or on another thread, but you have it just right. The choice is generally proximity to the races or proximity to the parks.

 

[Kathymford]

I feel like the route to get to the corrals is different at every single race. Like they are always trying new things.

Nike Women's Half pulled out of LA too.

Nike Women pulled ALL of the U.S. races.

 

[doombuggy]

Right now I am waitlisted for a studio at VGC for Sunday - Thursday 1/15-19 because while it was showing as available at 7am when I tried it (but couldn't book), at 8am, the sunday became unavailable.
I already knew I wasn't able to get the room starting the 12th when we are planning to arrive, but using DVC points at the hotels is killer. Looks like it will be PPH for the beginning of our stay, unless I can get a better discounted cash price or get confirmed that we won't be able to use points at Shanghi - we are planning a trip there the following October.

 

[srauseo]

I just booked Paradise Pier. Now just need plane tickets.