Wine and Dine 2015

[wilkeliza]

Because they charged too much?

Also they announced it after everyone already had flights and hotel etc. I wasn't going to pay that much for an event that also required me to pay a change fee plus differences in flight. I would have paid for that had it been announced in the very beginning as it would have allowed me not to have to miss an hour of time with my friends.

 

[Keels]

Because they charged too much?

I'm sure that will be the response of the majority.

I didn't go because one of the main entrees was cooked fish and (like a weirdo), I don't eat cooked fish - so, it was basically a waste of a meal for me. They also made it sound like it would be samplings of food - not an actual buffet like it turned out to be.

If they offer it at Marathon Weekend, I'll probably do it just to avoid the time on my feet at the Expo.

 

[Ariel484]

Because they charged too much?

DING DING DING

 

[Miranda]

If they offer it at Marathon Weekend, I'll probably do it just to avoid the time on my feet at the Expo.

Before my experience this week, based only on my experience with Tink, I would have not understood this statement. But now I do... that was the beginning of the end for my feet. The packet pickup at Tink was so much different, although we did go on Friday, not Thursday. No lines for packets or for merchandise and the commemorative pin was in my gear bag without the extra massively long line.

I supposed I didn't HAVE to pick up my packet and things on Friday first thing... I could have gone later or on Saturday, but I wanted to get into the merchandise area early. Which did work out well... well, maybe not for my wallet, I guess. I got way too much stuff, but the woman and her daughter next to me made me feel a lot better. They were already up to $900 of stuff and still had an entire other basket of things to ring up. I don't even think they were people there to resell stuff... they were dressed as runners, in previous race shirts... they just appeared to have 2 of EVERYTHING.

I guess I could have done merchandise first thing, then gone back later or Saturday to pick up the packet and browse the other expo booths (although SparkleSkirts was really the only one I was interested in), but with the expo being so far away, it wasn't as convenient to just go there multiple times like at DLR. I think we went into the expo on 3 separate occasions at Tink.

 

[Ariel484]

I wouldn't pay to do it. That's just me though.

 

[NileNellie]

I think I'm going to join the others and say I'm one and done for the F&W half. This was my first half and I was quite disappointed they shortened the course. I understand why they did, but it was upsetting none the less. Corral placement was awful-but again, I think that would have been different had we started on time. Communication was basically non-existent. I had a smart phone but was conserving battery and only heard via hearsay what was going on. Thought the guy on the mike was really unprofessional. I understand this is a fun run, but at least acknowledge that some of us are here for the run just as much as the after party. The course itself was fine, but the after party was much more crowded than I anticipated. I loved being able to hit Soarin' and Test Track with no lines, but what we really wanted was food, and unfortunately weren't willing to wait 10-15 minutes for each stop. I do plan on doing another run Disney half in the future, but I'm 90% sure it won't be this one.

 

[PrincessV]

@Keels I really think you'll find marathon weekend to be a very different experience. We are morning runners and so even though the mornings are ridiculously early for marathon weekend, we felt far more energized and excited. The whole day leading up to this run just felt strange to me.

I could not agree more! I'm neither an early morning nor late night person; ideally, I'd love a race that ran at sunset and was done by 10pm lol! But having done a bunch of both, I find the morning races easier on me, overall.

I think I'm done with W&D. Without the Osborne Lights, the course is of no interest to me in the dark. And my body isn't thrilled with night races in general. I LOOOOVE W&D weekend, though, thanks to lots of fun events with running friends, and I'm pretty desperate for a long weekend away at that time, so I think next year I'll just come for the other stuff and skip the race.

 

[SunDial]

.

I wouldn't pay to do it. That's just me though.

I would not do the 200 either.

 

[MaMa3Princess]

I wouldn't pay to do it. That's just me though.

Um, you are not the only one!

 

[Miranda]

I might pay like $50-75 if it was a buffet like @Keels said and you got all the official stuff early. But I'm guessing a lot more people would as well, and it would sell out quickly at that price point.

 

[MaMa3Princess]

The first year they offered the race retreats it was like 79.00 but this event just seem to go for the jugular at $199

 

[SunDial]

The first year they offered the race retreats it was like 79.00 but this event just seem to go for the jugular at $199

I won't do this one either. Same as I did the chear squad once and didn't see the value.

 

[Ariel484]

I won't do this one either. Same as I did the chear squad once and didn't see the value.

I've never done any of the outside race events (ChEAR Squad, Pasta Party, etc.)...need to save that money for merchandise!

 

[jeanigor]

I've done a couple of the pasta parties and the post 5K & 10K breakfasts and race retreats for the half and full during marathon week. The pasta party seems to be a 'you get what you put into it' event. It can be fun and exciting if you have the pumped up mindset, otherwise it can be lackluster and dull. I can see some purpose behind the breakfasts and race retreats. They may or may not benefit you. They did me. I was glad I did them. I cannot see; however, any purpose behind this except for runDisney to make more money.

 

[Dis5150]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents to everyone else’s. We were very disappointed with the shortened course but after hearing the reasons (wind damage/debris in Animal Kingdom) I completely understand. I live in Arkansas and know the damage straight line winds can do and the mess that they make. I would not have wanted to run that park with more chances of tripping/falling. I was hoping they could just eliminate the park and do an out and back to AK, then continue the rest of the course as planned, but also understand the logistics of changing/creating a turnaround point for so many people wish such short notice. Plus we were exhausted with just getting to the WWoS! Our Uber driver got lost, then our bus driver from Epcot got lost twice and had to turn around. By the time we did the security check, bag check in, waited in line for the porta potties, lined up to go to our corrals, then shuffled to the baseball stadium, we were done, physically. Sitting on the cement, had my foot stepped on by a large man, and just waiting around for an hour, not knowing what was going on was terrible. They were making announcements we couldn’t hear over the blaring music. Then finally letting us go to our corrals only to stand around another hour (corral k) before we even started. Absolutely no announcements could be heard in our corral. My DD25 was able to get on Twitter long enough to see that the race was shortened, but couldn’t get internet again to see by how much. When our corral moved up to about where g/h was the gigantic speaker started working and blasted us out. Everyone was standing there with their hands covering their ears because it was so loud! Finally heard how much they shortened the course and mentally I was disappointed but physically knew that that was all I would be able to handle anyway at that point in the night.


Our corral started around 11:30. When they released us from the stadium we were right by the exit so we were actually at the front of our corral. But with so many people pushing us from behind I was scared to do my walk intervals for fear of being knocked down so I started out running way to long. In that heat and humidity that was a horrible thing to do. DD25 and I do NOT have the same pace so I was struggling to keep up with her or she was lagging back to stay with me. We will not be running together in any more races. It just didn’t work. About ¼ mile into the race (still on Victory Way) a group of women was walking about 10 across so my DD25 went ahead of me around them, saying “excuse me” as she passed them. The woman she passed yelled at her, calling her a “f****ing idiot”, saying runners go “over there”, gesturing wildly with her arm to the left, and smacking me right in the face as I was trying to stay behind my daughter! She continued yelling at DD as she was running past, making remarks like, “oh I can see the fire from your super fast feet as you go”, etc. It was horrible. I wanted to say some not very magical things to her!! After that we were just so disenchanted with the whole thing. At the second water stop a woman to my left flung her cup of water on me (she did feel bad). Then at one of the later water stops the woman in front of me spit out her water behind her (on me!) not once, but twice! She never even noticed.


The lights were beautiful and we did enjoy running thru them. The finish line was chaos. There were so many people finishing at the same time that we were pushed to the middle and couldn’t even see that they were passing out water/powerade/bananas. Some nice volunteers ran those of us in the middle down and brought us stuff. Those purple towels were awesome! Then picking up our bags was really easy. We made our way out of the runner area, headed to Epcot and when we saw the line at security we just said “NO”. We were done. We made our way to the busses and grabbed one to the Boardwalk. There were 6 of us on the bus when it left. Got let off at Boardwalk and still had to get an Uber to get back to Bonnet Creek. After being rejected once, a driver accepted our ride and picked us up about 10 minutes later. With a drunk friend in the front seat with him. We were so desperate to get back to our hotel we just ignored him. The driver was not drunk. We finally got to our resort about 3:00am and a passing security guard let us in the building. We got up to our 4th floor, end unit only to have the one key card we had brought with us not work. We had to call the front desk to have someone come let us in to our room!


We were starving by that point, having not eaten anything for 6 hours. We had some bread and peanut butter in the room so we had toast then went to bed around 4:00am. I woke up around 7:30am and could not fall back asleep, so I made a cup of tea and sat on the balcony until DD25 woke up around 10:00. We had FastPass+ with Micky in town square at 11:00. I wore my “I did it” shirt, but DD25 just wore her new purple tank top and we did not wear our medals. At that point we just didn’t feel that we earned them.


Looking back on everything now, I don’t think we will do this race again. Agreeing with others here that it felt like a waste of a day at Disney, not eating what we wanted, trying to stay off our feet, etc. By the time we started running my stomach was upset and I could not eat my fuel, so with the heat and humidity and lack of food I was so drained. I think I will do better at Princess, getting up early. I took my medal and brought it in to work to show off today. I feel like we deserve it after the experiences we all went through! Maybe it should say Half Half Marathon but it is what it is and I for one intend to keep it in my bling! I also am glad I signed up for the local Half Marathon on December 12th. I plan on keeping on track with my training for that and for Princess. I’m sorry I didn’t see any of you all out on the course!

 

[flatlandcycle]

I think I'm going to join the others and say I'm one and done for the F&W half. This was my first half and I was quite disappointed they shortened the course. I understand why they did, but it was upsetting none the less. Corral placement was awful-but again, I think that would have been different had we started on time. Communication was basically non-existent. I had a smart phone but was conserving battery and only heard via hearsay what was going on. Thought the guy on the mike was really unprofessional. I understand this is a fun run, but at least acknowledge that some of us are here for the run just as much as the after party. The course itself was fine, but the after party was much more crowded than I anticipated. I loved being able to hit Soarin' and Test Track with no lines, but what we really wanted was food, and unfortunately weren't willing to wait 10-15 minutes for each stop. I do plan on doing another run Disney half in the future, but I'm 90% sure it won't be this one.

That announcer needs to be banned from Disney property! Nothing like psycho babble to bust the ole eardrums. It was completely obvious that he harbors great contempt for runners, the people who help pay his salary.

I didn't get any food at the party because of the lines. I also had some rather strange macaroni and cheese at the POP; it was essentially cheese-wiz Velveeta ladled over pasta. There has to be someone in the Orlando area that has a good recipe for mac and cheese, who can execute it in volume. Disney needs to hire that person and appoint them to Czar of Mac and Cheese. I somehow got it in my head that everything on the party menu was going to be weird, so I didn't want to wait in line for something disappointing.

p.s. The pierogies at Art of Animation were over cooked and heat lamp dried to the consistency of rawhide.

 

[Ariel484]

I've done a couple of the pasta parties and the post 5K & 10K breakfasts and race retreats for the half and full during marathon week. The pasta party seems to be a 'you get what you put into it' event. It can be fun and exciting if you have the pumped up mindset, otherwise it can be lackluster and dull. I can see some purpose behind the breakfasts and race retreats. They may or may not benefit you. They did me. I was glad I did them. I cannot see; however, any purpose behind this except for runDisney to make more money.

I so agree with this. I definitely don't judge anyone that has paid/will pay for this (hey, it's your money, spend how you wish), but I was pretty disgusted with runDisney when they announced it.

Our corral started around 11:30. When they released us from the stadium we were right by the exit so we were actually at the front of our corral. But with so many people pushing us from behind I was scared to do my walk intervals for fear of being knocked down so I started out running way to long. In that heat and humidity that was a horrible thing to do. DD25 and I do NOT have the same pace so I was struggling to keep up with her or she was lagging back to stay with me. We will not be running together in any more races. It just didn’t work. About ¼ mile into the race (still on Victory Way) a group of women was walking about 10 across so my DD25 went ahead of me around them, saying “excuse me” as she passed them. The woman she passed yelled at her, calling her a “f****ing idiot”, saying runners go “over there”, gesturing wildly with her arm to the left, and smacking me right in the face as I was trying to stay behind my daughter! She continued yelling at DD as she was running past, making remarks like, “oh I can see the fire from your super fast feet as you go”, etc. It was horrible. I wanted to say some not very magical things to her!! After that we were just so disenchanted with the whole thing.

Okay, your entire post stressed me out just reading it...but THIS?! It's seriously people like this (among others) that give runDisney runners a bad name. Such a sense of entitlement! The rules of race etiquette didn't apply to this special snowflake??! I would not have been able to hold my tongue, and I can totally understand how something like that would ruin the mood. I'm so sorry that happened to you and your daughter!

 

[GBBTomorrow]

Last year my wife and I ran together and putting the rain, did not really enjoy the after party. Our problem is I run much faster than she does. I finished about midnight but had to wait almost 2.5 hours for her to finish. So I was done, by the time she arrived and she was very tired. We bailed out of the party and did F&W on Sunday. We also made the decision that this year I would run and she and DS would meet me at the party. They could not come, but I had a blast at the party. I am slowly coming to the realization that the W&D event is very differently experienced by the early corrals and the later corrals.

My experience this year. Hit the finish line, had my name called out by Carissa (yeah I still love that about rD). Breezed through the bag pickup. Made it through a nearly empty drink line. Put on my Yellow Wrist Band and headed to the security bag check and waited behind one person. Quickly entered EPCOT, headed to the bathroom to refresh and change, got a locker to hold my bag and I was off. I went first to the Land and rode Soarin' a few times back to back. Then headed through the crosswalk. It took all of a minute. Took off to World Showcase... stopped in DR for some tasty meat then off to Greece, grabbed a gyro watched the CMs from Greece and Canada play red rover and shout each other down. Cupid Shuffle starts playing so I joined the group of CMs and some party goers to do the dance right there in front of the Canada booth. Grabbed an Ice Wine and cheddar cheese soup and headed off. Hit the UK and joined a group of CMs doing the electric slide in the walkway, including one of the kitchen staff with a huge metal food transport. It was fun. I continued around the world showcase grabbing food and drink here and there. So far I have had only a 2 or 3 person line anywhere. Made it around to Mexico I think by 2:30 or so for a quick ride. Then headed to Test Track for my last ride of the night. I noticed the lines for the booths were getting pretty long already. After TT I was calling it a night and by this time the course had been cleaned up so I walked back to my locker to get my things before walking back to the Swan. I noticed it was very busy on the walk back. In bed by about 3:30.

Wow, it really does look like corral placement and finish time was what would make or break this party! I was in F, and by the time we got to Epcot, it was an absolute mass of shuffling humanity. I'm so glad you had fun!!

 

[RogueKnits]

Because they charged too much?

This, and they announced it way late. If it had been available at registration (and quite a bit cheaper) we probably would have done it. By the time they announced it, we had already made dinner plans with friends/family for that night.

 

[sperkins921]

You and I were not far from each other. Short video From where I was toward the front of H.

Just as you hit stop so you could start running? that blue blurb moving across the screen? That was me. I was pretty much in line with the announcer's stand. Small world indeed