Signing up for Princess Half Marathon 2013???

[the_princess]

Hi

I'm looking into signing up for Princess Halfmarathon in Feb 2013, but I'm having trouble with finding out what kind of discounts etc. we can get.

When I sign up for the race, can I get a room discount? We'll be staying at POR or POFQ.
And park tickets discount, is that possible?


I have looked at the rundisney page, but I can't find much information.
I'll be running alone, but my mom will be there to watch, so she will need some kind of package to get in, I guess???

 

[stargazertechie]

The discounts are meager. You can usually do better waiting for a general public discount for the room.

As for your mum- plenty of places outside of the parks to watch for free

 

[DisneyDanielle85]

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, especially since I have just started posting on the forums but honestly booking a room through RunDisney was an awful experience for me personally. I am a compulsive type A over planner so I had to compare rates, I booked on the phone with RunDisney and they quoted me for just a room from 2/22-2/27 802.00 for Music. It was $885.00 for Pop. I was on the regular Disney site and they had music for $742 for those nights and Pop was not much more expensive, the number escapes me at the moment. So the CM was selling me hard on the benefits of run Disney like how i'd be granted resort transportation to the race and i'd get a cool race keepsake. So I booked. My FH and I were going to take a Cruise on the Fantasy from 2/28-3/1 but it just didn't workout so I called back Run Disney to Extend my stay through the end of the next weekend and they told me they couldn't that all the rooms available in music were sold out and that i'd have to call Disney Vacations and book through them and pay another $200 deposit. I canceled the whole thing through RunDisney and booked through just Disney and ended up upgrading to CSR just because they were a little bit nicer and they explained things very well. And for those i may have scared YES race transportation IS a gauranteed (SP) so long as your staying at a host resort no matter who you book through. A "free" race keepsake was not worth an extra hundred dollars to me. I can use that money to buy one for cheaper at expo.


SO the moral of my long winded story (sorry for the tangent) is that I'd day forget booking through RunDisney and just book normal, you'll save yourself a BOAT load of cash and still qualify for the discounted park tickets because you're registered for the race!

 

[the_princess]

Thank you so much for your answers, they helped a lot.
I signed up for the race and then looked at the park ticket discount, but they were not that good at all, so we have decided to book a normal package instead. Especially after your story. And btw my mom decided to go all in and get a premium package.
Is there somewhere a list of host hotels? I think I read somewhere that POFQ is a host hotel???
And is it likely that Disney will offer room discounts for that period?

 

[stargazertechie]

As far as I can tell, they are *all* host hotels. (http://www.rundisney.com/travel/disneyworld/)

Looking at historical discounts, here is what has been offered for the period in the past: (dates are the release and book by date)

35%-40% off Annual Passholder room-only rates 10/5/11, exp 12/3/11
30%-35% off Annual Passholder room-only rates 12/4/11, exp 3/8/12
30%-35% off Florida resident room-only rates 12/4/11?, exp 3/8/12
package deal (“free dining”) for general public 8/24/11, exp 10/29/11
package deal (“free dining”) for general public 10/27/11, exp 12/17/11
package deal (“free dining”) for general public 8/3/11, exp 10/29/11
5%-30% off general public room-only rates 11/30/11, exp 1/22/12


Another option would be looking into renting DVC points. How long are you staying? For comparison, I arbitrarily picked dates checking in 2/22, checking out 2/25.

POFQ Room Only- $765
DVC Point Rental (Saratoga springs, renting @$11/point)- $572

 

[JCH]

Thank you so much for your answers, they helped a lot.
I signed up for the race and then looked at the park ticket discount, but they were not that good at all, so we have decided to book a normal package instead. Especially after your story. And btw my mom decided to go all in and get a premium package.
Is there somewhere a list of host hotels? I think I read somewhere that POFQ is a host hotel???
And is it likely that Disney will offer room discounts for that period?

When checking tickets, make sure you are comparing the price to what you actual want. The ticket store always automatically adds Park Hopper and Water Parks and More. So you may be looking at the 2 day ticket thinking "160 for two days is not a great discount", but when you remove Park Hopper and Water Parks (at least for TOT) the price drops to 116 for two days, which IS a good discount. I believe the discounts lessen as the length of the trip goes up, too.

Hotels are definitely not a deal through runDisney. Wait for a general public discount.

As far as host hotels, the Princess has grown in popularity to the point that ALL Disney hotels are hosts.