Walt Disney World® Marathon – Sold Out

[Theta]

Is this old news?

It's September and the marathon is already sold out.

Is it because of the new anniversary medal?

 

[cewait]

Kind of old news discussed on the marathon thread.

However, your 'is this early' question is a good discussion point. For those who have not been attending the race for more than 3-4 years this will seem extremely early. The race has been hard to sell out since the economic downturn in 08/09. This period is also when the race was modified to one start and an additional 4000+ slots added with a price increase. These things combined have made the race hard to close out early. Oh, I should also mention that between 05 and 09, the race entries would open the Monday after the race, giving an additional 3 months on the front end. However, prior to that, the race would traditionally fill in the late September through late November timeframe.

Of additional interest is this is the first time that I recall the full selling out before Goofy or Donald. Donald was always the bellwether race selling out 2-6 months earlier than Mickey. The record for Donald to sell out was in 02 for the 5th anniversary. The race sold out in less than 30 days. Seemingly, WDWM forgot the 10th Donald. No wonder he is a duck with attitude.

Goofy also sold out quickly in the 2nd through 5th years; the fastest being 3 weeks. They also opened up the entries level to 7500 iin the 09/10 time period making it a harder race to sell out - that coupled with many other opportunities for back to back runs.

 

[Theta]

Wow, what a wealth of information! Thank you.

 

[Chiefus]

Hi,

I notice that all of the half, full and Goofy are sold out now. I am registered for the Goofy, but my girlfriend was too late getting to the party... do you know if there is anyway that she can enter (i.e. are entries transferable if people are selling, etc).

Many thanks,
Chiefus

 

[jmasgat]

Hi,

I notice that all of the half, full and Goofy are sold out now. I am registered for the Goofy, but my girlfriend was too late getting to the party... do you know if there is anyway that she can enter (i.e. are entries transferable if people are selling, etc).

Many thanks,
Chiefus

Entries aren't transferrable between people. But there are charities and travel companies that have spots available--the obvious implication being you must raise a certain amount of money or book some kind f travel package. Check the RunDisney site for a list.

 

[stargazertechie]

Hi,

I notice that all of the half, full and Goofy are sold out now. I am registered for the Goofy, but my girlfriend was too late getting to the party... do you know if there is anyway that she can enter (i.e. are entries transferable if people are selling, etc).

Many thanks,
Chiefus

Entries are officially non-transferable between participants. We're not allowed to discuss circumventing Disney policies on this board.

However, the internet is a wealth of knowledge

 

[bigdave10000]

I have paid for races and not run them for different reasons over the years. I really wish they did have a transfer policy but I did understand going in they the races didn't. Let's say the worst thing happens during the race and a runner has a medical emergency. It is very important that they know who the person is that is wearing the race number.

 

[cewait]

Definitely one to say no running under another's bib. But with today's technology I find it a shame that a large race cannot do a simple thing like broker transfers. DIsney did get into the 1990's last year and started to allow deferrals. Hopefully, they will start with transfers or even a wait list for the big race.

As said above, while as a few time RD, I do not condone it, Craig has a valuable list and E has a Bay that are good shopping places.

 

[TEK224]

I won't be there in 2013.
I'm depressed already!

Terri

 

[FFigawi]

Definitely one to say no running under another's bib. But with today's technology I find it a shame that a large race cannot do a simple thing like broker transfers. DIsney did get into the 1990's last year and started to allow deferrals. Hopefully, they will start with transfers or even a wait list for the big race.

With Marine Corps actively encouraging people to transfer bibs through their web site, there's no excuse for any other big marathon to not do the same. I think it just comes down to greed and laziness on the part of the race organizers.

 

[jimandami]

Question for you guys: I had someone tell me the other day that last year, they simply contacted RunDisney and they "let them in" for Goofy, even though it was sold out! Anyone ever heard of this?

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

Question for you guys: I had someone tell me the other day that last year, they simply contacted RunDisney and they "let them in" for Goofy, even though it was sold out! Anyone ever heard of this?

After charity spots are released (not sure of what date that ends up being), and elite athletes decide not to attend, they usually do have some extra spots. Running Clubs can book whenever they want to and are usually allowed a certain number of spots and I have gotten into some of the Disney races well after they have sold out using that. So, it is conceivable that if you check with runDisney after charities start reaching their entry deadlines (check charity pages to see what they seem to be), that you could still enroll. Also, the trick lately with Disney is that when they are at an Expo they will "release" some registrations and even have honored the initial rates.

 

[Theta]

I won't be there in 2013.
I'm depressed already!

Terri

Sorry to hear you won't be there Terri.

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

With Marine Corps actively encouraging people to transfer bibs through their web site, there's no excuse for any other big marathon to not do the same. I think it just comes down to greed and laziness on the part of the race organizers.

My question about allowing that is would you run into people buying bibs that weren't honestly going to attend, but wanted to sell them for a profit in the future by being that flexible with registration? I just wonder if it would be like scalping tickets. I understand the military focused races doing this because people are deployed or assigned to different places at a moments notice. But, I just feel that if you sign up for a race, you are committing to it, and should run it.

 

[cewait]

I dunno, I would love to see the ability to defer and transfer bibs - even later into the cycle than MCM allows. obviously, the later you push it back the more stress it puts on the shirt orders. In my last few tri's, we allowed transfers up to 6 pm the day before the race. There is a huge delta between 5090 and 22,000 entries, but we were more than happy to make folks happy. It's just too easy to change entries when the entrants do 99% of the work through an electronic form. I do think MCM is missing an opportunity to make a little $ off the transfer. I do agree with their "let me stay out of the trade" thoughts, but think that a fee for facilitating the transfer would be in order.

I think that scalping could be an issue, but then not so much. It's not a high value market like a ball game or concert. Plus, as witnessed by Mouse management over the last couple years, there is a high likelihood of getting burned when the race is slow to close. Plus, it is much harder to scalp a bunch of entries into a marathon. Too much work for too little profit. BTW, aren't tour operators kind of in the scalping business? Don't get me wrong, I have run a tour operator race and loved it, but I always felt like the bundling offered by the operator had to be costing me something, somewhere.