Star Wars Marathon Weekend inevitable or just wishful thinking?

[cimrk01]

I ran the Princess last weekend and was having this discussion with a few girlfriends after running alongside a lot of Princess Leia runners during the course. Now that Disney has acquired Lucasarts and with the reassurance of the Star Wars franchise with the announcements of more films. Is it inevitable or just wishful thinking that Disney would take advantage by adding a few RunDisney events to the already popular Star Wars weekend?

Imagine the bib selections, photo ops, running outfits (minus helmets and lightsabers during the run for security reasons), music, finishers medals and numbers of runners alone...

 

[MoonFaerie]

I ran the Royal Family 5K last weekend with a light saber.

 

[SAHDad]

Virtually inevitable. They will have the Princess Leia Half Marathon weekend. Call me cynical, but Disney is not likely to pass up adding another women-centered race.

 

[cewait]

Virtually inevitable. They will have the Princess Leia Half Marathon weekend. Call me cynical, but Disney is not likely to pass up adding another women-centered race.

+1

One would be hard pressed to find a cinnamon bun in the area as folks attempted to dress the part.

 

[goofeygirl]

I would be someone that do a race like that. I am all about Star Wars and have since it came out in '77.

I would not be Princess Leia though because I think she will be all over the place. I would like to be Boba Fett (I actually met Boba Fett at Dulles airport once. He and Kenny Baker R2D2 were flying home to London).
Imagine some kind of Boba Fett costume running with her (charactor is male I know) jetpack and lazer gun. Nice.

 

[Bephus]

I don't think they could do a Star Wars female-centered race, it would have to be co-ed. But man- I would run that!!

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[MasonDuo]

It's funny you bring this up - DH and I were talking about this a couple weeks back. It would be extremely popular for men and women (with a general SW theme). The only drawback would be the heat in May/June (even at night). Otherwise, I'm all for it

 

[cewait]

It's funny you bring this up - DH and I were talking about this a couple weeks back. It would be extremely popular for men and women (with a general SW theme). The only drawback would be the heat in May/June (even at night). Otherwise, I'm all for it

That's the time period I was thinking of to work in with the current weekends... Way too hot for folks traveling into the area.

 

[SAHDad]

I don't think they could do a Star Wars female-centered race, it would have to be co-ed. But man- I would run that!!

I would run it to, but I don't have much faith in Disney suddenly deciding that male runners matter too. I'm cynical enough to think that, since women outnumbered men in the marathon this year as well, that in a few years, the focus on the marathon will be not on everyone, but on the women runners. . . . and only the women runners.

 

[liznboys]

I would love a Star Wars themed weekend (5K and half)! I would definitely NOT want it to be female-centered/Princess Leia themed. That would be ridiculous. Most of the main Star Wars characters are male. I'd rather it be a male-centered race than female! But yeah, that would be awesome.

 

[ludari]

Disney did do a Star Tours 5K during the Disneyland Half weekend to celebrate the reopening of the ride. Nevertheless a permanent race with the Star Wars theme would be awesome.

 

[goofeygirl]

There would be no logical reason for it to be female oriented. I get the whole Princess theme but thats it. As someone mentioned, SW is mostly males anyway and it has fans of both genders.

How cool to have it open to all genders...costumes preferred....I can see that happening in the near future. It would draw huge crowds of all ages I gather.

Imagine the corrals filled with Lukes/Hans/Leias and Yoda's...totally cool!

Maybe I would be a cross between Luke and Leia.

 

[SAHDad]

There would be no logical reason for it to be female oriented. I get the whole Princess theme but thats it. As someone mentioned, SW is mostly males anyway and it has fans of both genders.

How cool to have it open to all genders...costumes preferred....I can see that happening in the near future. It would draw huge crowds of all ages I gather.

Imagine the corrals filled with Lukes/Hans/Leias and Yoda's...totally cool!

Maybe I would be a cross between Luke and Leia.

There is a very logical reason (feel like I am channeling the wrong movie series when I say that, but anyway) - Disney can probably make a lot more money running a women-centered race than one that is more welcoming to both genders. Disney could have done a Pirate and Tink theme, or a Prince and Princess weekend, but the money is in getting the women to show up and run. It doesn't matter that many/most of the SW fans are men - there are more than enough women runners who are fans of SW and would go a girls weekend to run a SW race.

I may be overly cynical, but I have run into too many women who, on one hand, use the popularity of women-centered races as a call to add more, and then, in the next breath, justify women-centered races based on women not being permitted to run marathons as recently as 30 years ago. Disney is very smart about following the money - and at the moment, the big money is on women-centered races.

 

[disney_runner]

So many choices for a medal. Very cool idea. Yet another medal to add to my collection...
Great idea, just not sure on the timing. It could kick off the SWW, before the weather gets smokin' hot. But EE5K is already that first weekend of May. Not sure when they could do it!

 

[Bephus]

So many choices for a medal. Very cool idea. Yet another medal to add to my collection...
Great idea, just not sure on the timing. It could kick off the SWW, before the weather gets smokin' hot. But EE5K is already that first weekend of May. Not sure when they could do it!

Maybe move EE5k (they moved W&D) and make it then. Would even be cool to do something like DDD over here. Make it a trilogy challenge and time the 5k. Might ease the issue of over-crowding in the 1/2 marathons.

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[deekaypee]

Maybe move EE5k (they moved W&D) and make it then. Would even be cool to do something like DDD over here. Make it a trilogy challenge and time the 5k. Might ease the issue of over-crowding in the 1/2 marathons.

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I agree - EE5K has been held on different dates over the years, so it could be moved again. And I'd think a SWW race would be popular, especially around May 4th. Isn't that the time of year the Minnie 15K used to take place?

OTOH, a "Star Wars" race at another time of year might make better sense, depending on its distance and focus. I'd hate to have choose between attending SWW events and running a race (or recovering). Not that it's all about me...

I'm also with the folks who wouldn't want to see it as a women's focused race. Nothing against the races that exist...I just see a "Star Wars" race as sufficient theming on its own, without an extra hook.

 

[Rose&Mike]

I honestly cannot even imagine the outcry if they made a star wars race women centered. Surely someone at Disney has enough common sense to realize this would be a pr nightmare.

I would love to see a 10 or 15k in May. It's probably my favorite time of the year to visit.

 

[SAHDad]

I honestly cannot even imagine the outcry if they made a star wars race women centered. Surely someone at Disney has enough common sense to realize this would be a pr nightmare.

I would love to see a 10 or 15k in May. It's probably my favorite time of the year to visit.

There may be an outcry, but the women would still run it, and really, Disney has not seemed to care much about the boys & men when it comes to stuff in the parks. (The purchase of Marvel was a step toward correcting it, but they can't do much with Marvel in the parks, thanks to long-standing contracts. The purchase of Star Wars had, I suspect, less to do with the franchise, and more to do with ILM, Skywalker Sound, THX, etc)

Yeah, I'd love to see a Star Wars race, and, for the record, I don't think it should be a guy-centered race either. But, if I had to place money on it, I'd bet more toward a women-centered SW race than not, because it would still sell out, despite any PR hit.

 

[goofeygirl]

I am just trying to figure this out...

If you have a half marathon open for only women then you will have MORE participants than you would if it was open to both genders? How so? My only guess is that there are women out there that would not partake in a half because there are men in the race too. Strange.

I don't imagine in a theme of SW that Disney would focus on one gender. I get why they have a Princess and Tink race but SW? Women only? I don't think so.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

I'd be game for a Star Wars themed race!

Prefer not women centric though-

-em