Springtime Surprise Weekend (April 13-16, 2023)

[DianaMB333]

Out of curiosity.. why the theme is driver for decision of going or not?

I haven't participated in any events yet, i’m signed up for the princess weekend just to do other Disney related thing… i have been following this thread to consider if I should also enroll on April…

So… driver is the costumes to run? The medals? The characters out? What is most important for you?

Thanks

 

[Sara W]

Ugh, we’re in no matter what as we needed to use those DVC points, but I hate most of Pixar. Still pretty bitter they ruined Paradise Pier at DCA by making it Pixar Pier. The DLR runDisney Pixar half marathon weekend was plenty for me. Oh well, at least the challenge is bundled again, and I also prefer morning races and the 10 miler.

I’d be happy to use your DVC points for you so you aren’t stuck doing these races

 

[ars0525]

Out of curiosity.. why the theme is driver for decision of going or not?

I haven't participated in any events yet, i’m signed up for the princess weekend just to do other Disney related thing… i have been following this thread to consider if I should also enroll on April…

So… driver is the costumes to run? The medals? The characters out? What is most important for you?

Thanks

The theme is somewhat important for me. Getting to have a fun outfit is a bonus. The course is another. When a Disney race is like 2-3x the cost of other races plus the lodging & getting there & seeing if anyone else will go with me I need to have a few things to make me feel excited & want to spend that much $$$.

Pixar. I am in the ehhhh boat for that. Running around the Epcot parking lot & area is another ehhh. As others said if it had been Star Wars or some Marvel or GotG I may have gotten more excited & done it.

FWIW I did the Star Wars 10k the last 2 years before Covid. My friend & I happily plunked over the money, stayed the weekend, had our outfits, got fun pictures, went to the parks, all of it. So yeah for the theme that appeals to me I will participate. And for everyone that loves Pixar I am happy for them. They get to have their weekend now to go all out!

 

[LilyJC]

I’d be happy to use your DVC points for you so you aren’t stuck doing these races

True that BCV points command quite the high premium on the rental market!! Thankfully Springtime Surprise is during Flower & Garden (which is our favorite Epcot festival), and I think my hubby wants legacy for this race weekend so I’m stuck

 

[fatmanatee]

Out of curiosity.. why the theme is driver for decision of going or not?

I haven't participated in any events yet, i’m signed up for the princess weekend just to do other Disney related thing… i have been following this thread to consider if I should also enroll on April…

So… driver is the costumes to run? The medals? The characters out? What is most important for you?

Thanks

Theme colors the entire race atmosphere. Characters, music, costumes, etc. If you did the Star Wars races, you got the Star Wars soundtrack. They had a neat thing they used to do where they sort of recreated the atmosphere from the Battle of Endor with lasers shooting across the street while you ran through. They also did something really cool with the Tower of Terror race this year where you ran through a cloud of fog and were “transported” to the time period where the story happened.

I wouldn’t say this is make-or-break for me but I’m def less enthusiastic about this one. Should have sent them my space idea.

 

[LilyJC]

Out of curiosity.. why the theme is driver for decision of going or not?

I haven't participated in any events yet, i’m signed up for the princess weekend just to do other Disney related thing… i have been following this thread to consider if I should also enroll on April…

So… driver is the costumes to run? The medals? The characters out? What is most important for you?

Thanks

The theme definitely plays into our desire to do certain race weekends. We love love love marvel, so of course the now defunct Superhero races at DLR were must-dos for our fam.

We had been planning to do wine & dine this fall, but felt meh about the themes so I canceled that DVC reservation. Truthfully I think I prefer those to these Springtime Pixar themes though. For us, a lot comes down to affinity towards medals/shirt design as my husband will wear them for training runs. And I will sometimes wear them to DLR as we’re locals.

 

[DianaMB333]

Got it.. thanks for replying..
I can definitely say that yoga at HS doesn't call me as much as the yoga at the castle.. so… I’d probably pass on this event as well.. will see how I manage the FOMO the next days
Thanks

 

[SheHulk]

Out of curiosity.. why the theme is driver for decision of going or not?

I haven't participated in any events yet, i’m signed up for the princess weekend just to do other Disney related thing… i have been following this thread to consider if I should also enroll on April…

So… driver is the costumes to run? The medals? The characters out? What is most important for you?

Thanks

I agree with @fatmanatee it's the whole weekend! I've run Marathon Weekend, Star Wars Weekend, and Princess Weekend. Marathon Weekend is its own thing and everybody is psyched up for the physical challenge and general runDisney excitement, running through the parks. But the other two were immersive in my opinion. Especially Star Wars. It has enough of a universe built (no pun intended) that you can fill multiple races with characters and photo ops all on the same theme, the music is iconic and adds a lot to the atmosphere. They did a great job on the Star Wars weekend I went to at least. Even at the Expo they had stormtroopers telling you where to go and being mildly threatening etc. It put you in the spirit right away and you knew it was going to be a special race experience.
Princess is maybe not all the same universe, but it's very women-centric (which I enjoy in a race) and the concept hangs together as a group of movies and characters. The Title IX Anniversary stuff last year was a nice touch too. Again, you got the "princess" spirit (whatever that means to you) at the expo with the carriage photo op and sparkly merch.
Pixar is... a production company? I don't know how you are meant to feel throughout the weekend as the movies aren't all in one universe or one theme. I love their movies, don't get me wrong. Maybe it's just that all the social media from runDisney fans had such better ideas that put more thought into them. I hope they do a lot of extra Toy Story stuff like they did with Star Wars... like the Hoth photo op where. they made you look like you were hanging upside down in the wampa's lair. If they set up an "Andy's Room" or "The Claw" photo op, that might make it more fun and immersive.
Edited to add that I was kicking myself after seeing YouTube videos of the ToT 10 Miler. It looked like they did a great job putting you in a specific time and place. ToT is my absolute favorite ride and Twilight Zone is one of my favorite all-time TV shows (it's a great pinball game too!).

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Don't want to poop anybody's party, but, it's an easy decision for me to sit this one out with a Pixar theme. It's barely a theme: we get Pixar characters all over the races all the time! When is the last time you ran a race weekend where you didn't get some combo of the Toy Story gang, along with Joy & Sadness, on the course? I don't really think of Pixar as having the same cohesiveness of identity as it used to, the animation style has been picked up by so many other studios. I have to ask myself whether something is a Disney or Pixar movie half the time these days. Odds are high I'll get FOMO when they release the medals but right now I'm fine with missing it. Good luck with registration everybody! Hope you all get what you want.

I agree. I’ve been enjoying the other studios’ movies more than Pixar lately. I haven’t seen a Pixar movie in the theater since Inside Out.

I think using Ratatouille last year and using Coco for W&D this year meant they couldn’t use two really good options this year. The cynical side of me is thinking they wanted to do Lightyear in this mix and then it didn’t perform well. I was watching for the themes to see if I wanted to do the longer distance and I’m a no. If it was other themes I may have been very tempted.

 

[1lilspark]

I liked some of the newer stuff though after seeing Lightyear in theaters it made me more bitter about turning red and wish that, luca, and soul could get a theatrical re release even if limited to fathom events or other specialty screening

Pondering if I want to keep with race centric themes or just overall Pixar

Fwiw only two or three races I’ve dressed to theme

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Out of curiosity.. why the theme is driver for decision of going or not?

I haven't participated in any events yet, i’m signed up for the princess weekend just to do other Disney related thing… i have been following this thread to consider if I should also enroll on April…

So… driver is the costumes to run? The medals? The characters out? What is most important for you?

Thanks

I like this question. It delves into why we choose to do this or why we may not choose to do this.

Theme can drive the decision because of the cost factor. These races are expensive and involve long travel and a lot of time off work for me. So if I know in advance that I am not interested in a theme, then I do not have to worry about registering months in advance only to find out that I do not care for the theme and/or medals.

While I love Star Wars, I have not loved every Star Wars race medal and/or characters on the medal. Knowing in advance helps me decide if I want to spend the money. Similarly, I decided to run Dopey 2023 mostly because Chip and Dale are the 10K theme for Marathon Weekend 2023. I was already planning on at least Goofy. But knowing Chip and Dale are part of the weekend made it an easy decision to go for Dopey.

Because races at Disney World also alter the trajectory of a visit to Disney World, if I do not care for a particular theme, then I know that I can do another race or even plan my trip there not tied to a race.

 

[GreatLakes]

Out of curiosity.. why the theme is driver for decision of going or not?

I haven't participated in any events yet, i’m signed up for the princess weekend just to do other Disney related thing… i have been following this thread to consider if I should also enroll on April…

So… driver is the costumes to run? The medals? The characters out? What is most important for you?

Thanks

The theme doesn't really factor into my decision. I love Disney and running so I combine the two. I ran W&D in 2018 and will again this year but both years I didn't really like the theme, I do like Food & Wine and the fact I can do some races when I'm down there for it.
If I'm being honest I really don't like RunDisney as an organization so I run these races despite them let alone the themes.

 

[lovethesun12]

I'm excited because I don't visit Disney often and this falls on one of our scheduled visits. I've wanted to visit during the princess weekend but I doubt I could ever get time off work over that period.

Just curious on what time the races are? I'm assuming early morning? I mentioned earlier about switching flights from Saturday to Sunday to make the entire weekend. Then yesterday I received an email from our airline that our flights were actually rescheduled to Sunday. What are the chances? It was meant to be, lol.

We would fly out in the afternoon on Sunday so hoping the final race would be finished by then.

 

[LilyJC]

I'm excited because I don't visit Disney often and this falls on one of our scheduled visits. I've wanted to visit during the princess weekend but I doubt I could ever get time off work over that period.

Just curious on what time the races are? I'm assuming early morning? I mentioned earlier about switching flights from Saturday to Sunday to make the entire weekend. Then yesterday I received an email from our airline that our flights were actually rescheduled to Sunday. What are the chances? It was meant to be, lol.

We would fly out in the afternoon on Sunday so hoping the final race would be finished by then.

It looks like all 3 races start at 5 am as well as yoga.

https://www.rundisney.com/events/disneyworld/springtime-surprise-weekend/

 

[mmm_texas]

I'm excited because I don't visit Disney often and this falls on one of our scheduled visits. I've wanted to visit during the princess weekend but I doubt I could ever get time off work over that period.

Just curious on what time the races are? I'm assuming early morning? I mentioned earlier about switching flights from Saturday to Sunday to make the entire weekend. Then yesterday I received an email from our airline that our flights were actually rescheduled to Sunday. What are the chances? It was meant to be, lol.

We would fly out in the afternoon on Sunday so hoping the final race would be finished by then.

The races start at 5:00 am, and based on my experience the last starting group should be on their way about 1/2 hour later. Add your expected race time, factor in some time for any character stops and for after you finish to rest a bit, maybe a picture or two, and to eat some of your snack box.

 

[Sara W]

I was listening to a podcast during my run today and Sara Hall was saying how she woke up at 3:45am for the start of the marathon at the world championships. I thought to myself- I’m usually arriving to a Disney race about that time…
I like to think themes don’t matter to me, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to register for Princess weekend because I’m just not into princesses or overly girly things. This year was tempting with the friends of princesses.

 

[TeaNaP]

I'm excited because I don't visit Disney often and this falls on one of our scheduled visits.

This is what is prompting me. Ran the W&D in 2017 as it fitted with me being in the US anyway. This time it's even better, as I had planned to actually be in Florida itself at this time.

Am curious why it is less expensive to buy the 3 races separately than the Challenge? Is it that Disney is charging you for the extra shirt and the extra medal? there is nothing different about the two options other than that, right?

I am tempted to try the challenge, but I am saying that as someone who's fitness has depleted to the point where I did 20 squats yesterday and my hamstrings are achy today!

The theme doesn't overly concern me, I am just glad if we run through some of the parks, that was so amazing the last time (esp. as I hadn't ever previously been to Pandora in AK the last time, so running through it in the early morning was an incredible experience).

Is it weird that I already have my costume picked out? I'm going as Dory.

 

[Sleepy425]

I'm still holding out hope of a perfect status. Someone posted on a RunDisney Facebook group a screen shot of an email from RunDisney saying there would be no perfect for this weekend. But considering it is a few years away and Disney isn't known to give consistent answers for anything, I refuse to lose hope.

 

[Kerry1957]

Am curious why it is less expensive to buy the 3 races separately than the Challenge? Is it that Disney is charging you for the extra shirt and the extra medal? there is nothing different about the two options other than that, right?

Correct; the only difference is the extra shirt and medal, and a different bib.

 

[1lilspark]

I'm still holding out hope of a perfect status. Someone posted on a RunDisney Facebook group a screen shot of an email from RunDisney saying there would be no perfect for this weekend. But considering it is a few years away and Disney isn't known to give consistent answers for anything, I refuse to lose hope.

At one point it was said that do to the supposedly different distances perfect would be just for the challenge but that’s all contingent on this race lasting more than 5 years

Still bitter they don’t do perfect on smaller distances as I’ve done every wine & dine 10k since 2016 and I’d of done both springtime 5Ks pending getting in for the challenge