ToT 13K Race Report(Pics Added-Brief for Now)

[Mark214]

While I enjoyed the race and am glad I ran in the inaugural ToT 13k, I doubt I will be back to run it again unless I happen to be at Disney for another reason.

Considering that Disney has been running the marathon races for 14 years, there is no excuse for the lack of preparation for the 13k. Most of the information that was in the final instructions that came out days before the race should have been published when registration opened.

Things that bothered me:

Saying transportation would not be provided and than walking out of MGM at 12:30 to walk over to the Boardwalk to get a bus to PI and than to the POP and finding resort buses running. Did the race director not know about this? If he did, couldn't they have announced it before the race began or during the post-race party.

The announcement that the race would be starting 20 minutes late and making it sound like it was the fault of late arriving runners. Sure, blame the participants to hide the fact that you did not plan properly for traffic getting to the park. Maybe if you had let people know there would be buses back to the resorts after the race, less people would have driven to MGM.

Charging for refreshments at the post-race party. Don't call it a party if you are going to charge people to eat and drink. I also thought the markup on a can of beer was a bit high even for Disney.

The merging of the 13k and 6.5k runners. Coming back into the park was a nightmare as I had to dodge the 6.5k participants. Some were walking with small children which made it that much more dangerous. They should have created a separate lane for the two groups to have prevented this from happening.

Not instituting a coral system so that those who are running the race are not mixed in with the walkers.

Complaints aside, I did have a good time and even placed third in my age group so I have a nice trophy to remember the race by. If you do not have to travel a great distance, like me, to get to the race, I would recommend it. Since it is no longer an inaugural event, I would not recommend the race to those who are traveling from out of town unless they happen to be at Disney for other reasons.

 

[Hockeychic]

Charging for refreshments at the post-race party. Don't call it a party if you are going to charge people to eat and drink. I also thought the markup on a can of beer was a bit high even for Disney.

Agreed, paid $4.00........for a can....yup a can of coke!!!!

 

[goofyinohio]

Agreed, paid $4.00........for a can....yup a can of coke!!!!

WOW really? I didn't buy anything after the race just had the water and the powerade. I can't believe it was that much for a can of coke. It's normally $2 for a 20oz.

 

[princessrunner]

Beer was $6 and DH said it was the best $6 he had spent in WDW believe it or not. His first race....can you tell???

 

[Hockeychic]

Ya I thought that was a bit crazy but I needed a sugar rush.....lol

Kim

 

[ultramickeymouse]

I paid $7 for a CAN of Heineken

Plus they only took cash. No CC or Room Charge

Heading to airport in about 30 min

 

[princessrunner]

Have a good trip home Robert...sorry I missed you!

 

[Mark214]

I stuck with the bottle of water, banana and brownie that they were giving out at the finish. A beer would have been nice, but the price turned me off. If they had charged the same price as at the resorts, I would have purchased one. It just really felt like you were being taken advantage of.

I forgot to note that I was pleased with the baggage service provided. They were taking any size bag you gave them which was nice.

 

[andromedaslove]

I stuck with the bottle of water, banana and brownie that they were giving out at the finish. A beer would have been nice, but the price turned me off. If they had charged the same price as at the resorts, I would have purchased one. It just really felt like you were being taken advantage of.

I forgot to note that I was pleased with the baggage service provided. They were taking any size bag you gave them which was nice.

I too felt that Disney was just using this as an excuse to rip people off. We paid $25.00 for my DH and $15.00 for Michael to come in and cheer me on, and they got to ride 1 ride before we left. I mean seriously, I don't want to compare it to MNSSHP, but should I at least be able to compare it to the Marathon?! I mean same general idea right?! At the Marathon DH could have cheered me on inside MK, or outside AK for nothing. If he did decide he wanted to pay admission to watch me inside AK, MGM, or EPCOT he wouldn't have been hugely over charged for a beer. Or at least would have been able to charge it to a CC.

I can easily say that Disney made a killing off of the people who were there. They put almost nothing into the entertainment, did anyone see the upside down cow?! I saw that costume at Target yesterday, seriously. I mean the crazy CM's were kind of cute, and I liked the dead kid on the track, but there were NO characters out whatsoever. I thank goodness that DS2 fell asleep because I had told him that Mickey was sure to be there, yet no appearance from the mouse that I saw.

I also didn't get my Pin that I paid for. I'll admit that I didn't check my package to see if my Pin was there, but I was kind of stressing about the fact that my Chip wasn't there. I never saw anything that said where to go to pick up our pins, or anything to that extent. There was nothing in my packet that told me where to go, and the guy I picked my packet up from didn't tell me anything either. So I am out a Pin. I have emailed Disney twice and still haven't gotten a response.

All in all I have to say I enjoyed the "RACE", but the organization of it really sucked. I am glad I did it but probably won't do it again. I felt kind of duped afterwards!!

Dana

 

[disneybelle]

Just got home last night...

While it was a great time and we enjoyed the course I am surprised that Disney couldn't have worked out more kinks as they've been hosting races for many years.

By pure luck we didn't encounter the traffic jam as we had gone to MGM early and ate dinner at Brown Derby. A good last minute decision! We finished dinner about 8:30, said goodbye to our cheering section and headed to the start. I discovered later that my family was asked to leave MGM get in line for re-entry and have bags re-checked. What were the bracelets for?

We did love the course. DD prefered it to Minnie. I was a bit annoyed at the finish when I was told I could only Power Ade OR water, but not both.

As we headed to find a taxi we saw WDW busses loading. The transportation women said they "hadn't anticipated so many participants staying at WDW resorts" and that the race organizers would be getting an earfull from her. She was keeping a list of the number of people and their destinations. Our bus headed to DTD resorts.

All in all it was a good, fun experience and we will probably return next year.

Next focus is Goofy 2008!

 

[Kristi1357]

Chad & I won't be going out of our way to do this race again. Like everyone said - POOR organization, lack of any characters, same medal for both races & no mention of "inaugural." Thank God I didn't go try to buy a diet coke for my headache - I would have had a fit if I had to pay $4 for a can!

We also didn't care for running at night. I am a night owl and thought this would be awesome. Somehow eating Disney junk during the day kinda slows you down. I guess we both just thought this race was missing the disney magic that the others have.

If we ever happen to be in WDW during this race for another reason, I would do it again. I won't do a trip specifically for this race.

 

[Duanerice]

I had a great time. Race wise it was one of the best ever. There were circumstances surrounding it that put a dampener on things, but I loved the actual race.

The registration went great for me. I got there around 3:30 and was out around 3:40. Very quick. There was a long line outside and finally one of people working said, you don't need to stand in line, just get one of the forms and go inside. I did and there were maybe 5 people in front of me. I picked up my additional band for the party and was out in a flash. I didn’t buy any of the merchandise nor did I buy the pin so I didn't have to stand in that long line.

That night we went to the Halloween Party. First time as we usually go to the Christmas party. It was fun, but definitely geared towards the younger kids. But I did go trick or treating! Lots of good candy. Parade and fireworks were pretty cool too. Saturday we had errands to run so we didn’t get to meet up with anyone.

We left POP a little before 8:00 and got to the park after 9:00. What is that, 3 miles? Ask the attendant where to go and he told us to go to the light. Now I have seen enough movies where you don’t want to go to the light. That is not good, but we followed directions anyway. When we walked up we found a bunch of WISHers very easily. After a few minutes Robert said to follow him so we were off trying to keep him in sight (not as easy as it sounds). Low and behold he led us to a bunch more WISHers. I almost needed my sunglasses because of the shirts Got to meet lot's of nice people and put faces to names.

As everyone mentioned, the race started late. They were trying to make the best of it but could have been a bit more honest about why. I always try to start near the front as long as there is an area so I can move over for some of the fast runners. The start line opened up into a 6 lane road so that was not an issue. It is just so exciting at the start. My problem is keeping my pace down so I don’t burn out.

Can't say much more about the race except; the nighttime run was awesome. Best time to run. I wonder why more places don’t do this. I really didn’t think I'd like the course because it looked like it was too much highway. But it was great. Thought it was neat that they ran through the gravel road, a nice change of pace. Also enjoyed running through Wide World of Sports. I have been going to Disney for 20 years and had never gone to WWoS until this month. Now between the RFTT and the ToT race I feel like a WWoS veteran. We actually spent a lot of time running in the park. It was so great coming down the "street" with all the people lined up cheering you on. I get turned around a lot so I have no idea where we were at but it seemed we went down 2 "streets" with a lot of people. You can't help get pumped up running through that.

Around mile 6 I was behind the 9 minute mark by about 30 seconds. I said OK, let's pick it up a bit to see if I can make it under 9 per mile (I'm not real fast). So I picked it up and ran for what seemed like 2 miles. I am dying thinking I haven’t even hit the 7 mile marker yet. Well later I found out I missed it. Psychologically that killed me because I thought I had at least another mile after the 7 mile marker. Then I hear someone say 1/2 mile to go. And shortly after I saw mile marker 8. Anyway, I made it just under 9 min per mile with at least 8 seconds to spare

Again, I LOVED the race. Couple of issues of course was the traffic. All Disney's fault. They tell you that you have to drive then they provide no support to get people into the park. I mean how many lanes of traffic and it all funnels down to 1 lane in the parking area? They need to take blame for this one. Not an ideal way to start a race.

The 20 minute delay, although a bummer, was not an issue because if I was still in the road at 9:30 I'd be a little bit upset.

Catching up to the 6.5 K people was a bummer. That was dangerous. It's not like they could even stay to the inside or outside because the course weaved so much in MGM. But I was with a group that was running about 8:45 and it was tough getting around a lot of people. These were not the walkers that normally come to a race, they were the "I'm going to walk around Disney" walkers. There is a big difference. That's OK, but just know what to expect. At one point the guy in front of me tried to be polite and said "a group of runners coming through" and the reply was "ohhhh runners" very sarcastically. I know I was weaving a lot the last mile or so. No ones fault but the race organizer. At the end I wanted 2 bottles of water. I was told I could have only 1 bottle, not 2. But they did give me Powerade. Yahoo.

This is the first time my wife could actually see me run as she is usually asleep when I run. Anyway, she was there at the start and I told her, somewhere around 1 hour and 20 minutes I'd see her at the finish. Well I finish and am looking all over for her. Finally called her and she is on the Great Movie Ride! Long story shrt, no pictures and she still didn’t see me run TO be fair, I did tell her to go have fun and I'd see here at the finish. I guess I never said "when I finish".

On the way out of the parking lot we passed an a couple walking and asked them where they were going. They were going to the Hess station so we put them in the car and drove them over. She said she had to park there and run over to the start becasue she wasn't going to make it on time sitting in the traffic. I wonder how many didn't make the start?

I am sure they will learn from this and make it a great race. If I had to decide between this and the Race for The Taste I'm not sure which one I'd do. I like this race better as it is at night and it is more of an "event". But, I didn’t care for the Halloween party that much (Christmas sis much better). On the flip side, even though the Race for the Taste is not as cool of a race, the special tickets to the Food and Wine Festival are better. Decisions, decisions…..

Had a great time and enjoyed meeting everyone.
Duane

 

[goldcupmom]

First off, I'm SO GLAD I finally got to meet some 'WISHers!' And, my DD has decided we're all NUTS!!! (I take that as a huge compliment from a 15 yo)

First off, I don't run, so I was one who was in the back on the 13K most of the time.

I was impressed with it overall, but I've only done 1 race - 1/2 here in NM - & it was pretty awful! You got about a 1/2 x 1" pin for finishing, 1/2 full dixie cups of liquid at the end & 1" sections of banana. And when I was past the 8 mi mark, they were out of liquids of any kind & tearing down (& many were behind me as I was sub 14's)`

Anyway..... Love the medal, but it should have said inaugural & should have been different for the 6.5K. T shirts should have said it, too! But the pin I bought does have 'inaugural' in the design - I think someone goofed! Dana(I think), you had to go to the bar to pick up your pins separate from your packet. Not sure why they couldn't have integrated all that.

Merchandise - Someone decided to order a woman's shirt style that didn't come any larger than an XL. Said I just needed to buy a man's - which were different & did not fit a short woman with a chest the same as it would a man. And there was nothing smaller than a S for my DD15. She was disappointed, but I wasn't to spend $28 on a shirt she would end up not wearing. The T shirts should have been wicking of some type.

Entertainment - wasn't impressed with the psycho people. Was hoping to see some characters, at least when we entered MGM or near the finish.

Route - was great (but what do I know?)

Traffic - was HORRID!!!! And, being a Dis NEWBIE, I got to the parking lot & had no idea where to go, park, etc. No one was there assisting - we arrived about 7:45. Panicked as we entered the general area as the side roads were already closed off - wondered if I had my clock set wrong & had missed it.

Food - was glad they had the powerade, water, etc. Would have been unhappy if my DSis had come & spent $25 for a basically nothing party.

They started us late, they should have kept things open late. DD was not thrilled she got to ride/do 1 thing only.

Didn't buy any food/drink, but at the prices I'm seeing here, I wouldn't have.

Medical was good - DD iced her knee & had a bleeding torn blister on her foot & they were really nice to her.

More later in my WISH journal w/ pics. I'll try to remember to cross post.

 

[goofyinohio]

I forgot about the merchandise. I didn't like that we got a cotton shirt, but I did like the shirt. I bought the hat, the tech shirt and the Jacket. $120 or so for the 3, but it was my first Disney race and I loved the merchandise. Can you blame me?

 

[Hockeychic]

Robert and Linda have a safe trip home!!!

The PIN thing, when I picked up my number etc. I asked where to go to get my pin, they told me it was in the package...fortunatley I checked my packet as it was not in there, had to get in very disorganized line and pick it up there.

Kim

 

[HMHunters]

Hi all! Sorry I didn't get to meet more WISHers, but I was trying to herd my entire family around as well. I should be more available at the marathon! Anyway, here are my thoughts on the ToT:

Overall we really enjoyed this race but had lots of disappointments. Biggest disappointment BY FAR was no characters. I kept hoping for some - at least at the finish? My other problems with this race: ~Lack of information/late information before the race weekend. I got home to find an email with all the updates. Too little, too late. ~The late start. ~The lack of organization at the start; I was about 1/4 of the way back from the start line and had LOTS of casual walkers ahead of me. We were dodging all over the place for at least the first 2 miles. They should have at the minimum asked walkers to start farther back. It just wasn't safe, esp since the course was so narrow in so many places. ~Merging with the 6.5 folks - again, a safety issue with runners having to weave between groups of walkers and lots of little kids. ~The finish area. Too small.

I did not mind getting the same shirts/medals as the 6.5K.

The good stuff: ~Running the whole way with my DD and DH (well, until the last 2 miles when I sped up a bit) ~Running through MGM ~The medal - great bling! ~Frequent, well stocked water stations ~The course ~I also really enjoyed running at night, even though the race ended up starting when I'm usually going to bed!

I ended up in 1:21:51 and DD and DH finished in 1:22:57. DD ran the whole way and I am very very proud of her. She did great! We only walked 2 water stations and the rest of the time she ran. Every step after 5 miles was her longest run ever, so she is feeling good!

I might do this race again, although the time of year is tough for us. If I had to pick, I would pick marathon weekend over this.

Renee

 

[JimB.]

Agreed, paid $4.00........for a can....yup a can of coke!!!!

That's why I smuggled a bottle of Dr Pepper in my change of clothes bag.

I am SUCH a REBEL!!!!!

 

[padisneyfan]

We got back late Sunday night as we had an 8:45pm flight and it was a killer to get up and go to work on Monday morning. I have been playing catch up since then.

Both DH and I had a great time. We were already there for vacation so staying the extra 2 days to meet new friends and visit with Jeanne and John was well worth it. A special thanks to Robert and Linda for all the mini golf prizes. We enjoyed meeting so many WISHers you are all such special people. It is great to now be able to place faces with so many of you. I just wish I could have meet more of you, but there is always Jan.

This was only my 3rd event and it was far more disorganized than my previous ones which I was so surprised since this is Disney. I would not have known about change in package pickup or the bus transportation after the race if it were not for fellow WISHers telling me about them. When we left the park around 1am, we went to the regular bus stop and the 2 CM there were organizing people into zones to transport to several resorts on one bus similiar to ME. The male CM appeared to be a higher up in the transportation system and said he had been getting emails and phone calls all day to try to put some sort of transportation together for after the race. He said the only reason they were able to pull this together in such a short time period is that there had been a special event at MK until midnight and those bus drivers volunteered to stay and do the transportation. We all gave a big round of applause and thank you to both him and the bus driver. It appears that Disney Transportation wasn't involved in any of the planning event since there was also a traffic issue. I do hope they learned from this experience and will have better transportation next year, but I plan to stay at BW next year.

This was DH first and probably his only race as he is a slower walker than me so he was near the end of the race, but he did enjoy the race and wore his medal proudly. He said that people were being picked up by a van that were way back and then dropped off again further up the road as he passed the same group of people 3 different times and it took him awhile to figure out what was happening. So instead of sweeping people up they just kept repositioning them. I have a mixed feeling about that, I realize this was a fun race but my DH worked really hard to actually walk this race. Just doesn't seem quite right to me.

I would gladly do this race again as I thought it was so much fun, plus with all the other fun activites at WDW this time of year this just added to a wonderful time.

Nancy

 

[swandiverpatt]

I paid $7 for a CAN of Heineken

Plus they only took cash. No CC or Room Charge

Good thing DH didn't have his heart set on a beer after we were done -- I know we had NO cash on us!

 

[cdn_gal_eeyore]

My thoughts on the Tower of Terror race... Overall a little disappointed for a few different reasons.

The merchandise wasn't available for purchase if you arrived right at 3 pm on Friday to pick up your packet. They were having issues with the cash registers. The pin pick up was a bit messy as you were supposed to stand in a line based off of your last name, but this wasn't being announced. Some signs would have been good because the pin pick up wasn't clear at all. Also I was dissapointed with the shirt - no tech shirt and no year on the t-shirt at all? Is Disney going to use those shirts for next year's race?

The traffic issues...thank goodness I had gotten to MGM early to catch Fantasmic, but my parents, cousin and her husband were frantic about the slow moving traffic and making it to the start. My parents left SSR at 7:45 and made it after 8:30 pm. I also would have liked a bit more of a self seeded start. It was too congested and I had to weave through big groups of walkers that made it difficult to get in a groove. My legs were definitely feeling the half marathon I'd run the weekend before and coupled with the humidity I felt pretty blah for the first 4 or 5 miles. I liked running through WWoS but thought the CMs through there were interesting... I did get a laugh out of a few of them though! I thought given the humidity that there should have been Powerade at all water stations. I didn't see the point of just having it at the final stop. Very well stocked water stations and enthusiastic volunteers though! The final two miles through MGM I loved! It was such a boost. The medal is amazing...! Thought the food at the end wasn't that great. Brownies - and only one - and an over ripe banana? The brownie didn't sit well in my stomach and I felt super naseaus on the Great Movie Ride so I had to call it a night.

I would have loved to see some Disney villains out there on the race! I don't think I'll run this one again, but mostly because I loved the Nike half so much that I really want to run it again next year. I did love MNSSHP and F&W though.

Final time: 1:29:07.