Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend 2022 (Nov. 3-6, 2022)

[Kerry1957]

Our local library had a similar problem with their used book sale. The resellers would arrive early, scoop up hundreds of books and then scan them one by one to see if they could profit from them, shutting out the locals from the best books.

The library made a relatively simple and almost painless change. The first few hours of the first day were for local library card holders only (think rD bibs) with no scanners allowed. The next year some of the resellers had obtained library cards (think bibs again). So the library then added a five-book limit for the first half day and then opened it up to all with no limits.

Now the sale works much better for the locals and the resellers can still buy lots of books later in the day.

So could rD restrict sales for the first morning to bib holders with a one or two of an item limit? To address @sandam1 's concern, could non-bib holders be allowed in with a bib holder (friends and family) but be restricted in buying? It could be kind of a "x" number of items per bib.

 

[gosalyn_mallard]

* Who got a VQ but did not record any activity on the race course (no photopass pics and no tracking, for the races that are tracked).

Ooo, so smart taking it one step further to this!

I hope this is all being done to long-term improve the runner experience and not so that they don't have to staff as many people to manage the queue to get into merch. And think of how many rolls of tape they'll save!

 

[GollyGadget]

Thank you for the great info.

You can always add memory maker AFTER the races, right?

Yes. You can purchase it later for a slightly higher price or purchase individual photos. Sometimes there's an extra CM who will take a photo with your phone as well.

My daughter and I are doing the 5K on Friday morning and were planning on staying until early park opening at 8 am to ride Ratatouille. It is our 1st event so we will be further back in the corrals. Would it be best to wait at the front gates or take a bus to Beach/Yacht Club and walk over to the International Gateway entrance so we will be closer to France upon entering? This thought just came to me today, so any help with planning would be awesome, I am slow moving this trip!

Just play it by ear. You should be finished by 7a but you might want to hang out in the finisher's area and take photos or eat a snack. If you find you're ready to go around 7, then heading to Beach Club wouldn't be a bad idea but I don't think it's necessary.

 

[ErinC]

It appears that I'm in the minority, but I really like this change. Using a virtual queue was actually a suggestion that a lot of people liked in one of the past forum discussions. It's kind of amusing that now that they implemented it, people are freaking out. Personally, I would rather not have to stand in the long stand-by queue and be free to do other things. I know that for Princess 2020, we arrived late morning and still spent almost 2 hours in line to get into the merch area.

As far as only letting runners into the merch area, I will continue to beat my own personal drum on this. I have a friend who travels with me to most race weekends. She isn't a serious runner so sometimes she does the 5K and sometimes she doesn't. But she tailors her vacation time around my running, including getting up at o'dark thirty on consecutive mornings and standing around parking lots to cheer me on. To tell her that she can't come into the merch area with me is the height of insanity (and incredibly rude). And what about people who are traveling with their spouses and/or kids? I think that limiting it to people on your friends and family list in your DME is a step in the right direction to get to a middle ground.

While I completely agree with you about hoping the VQ is good thing, I would still like to see the expo held strictly for those with a bib, at least on the 1st day. Your friend can walk into the expo, the registration room, and hang out at WWOS with you, but that doesn't mean that she has to go into the merchandise area with you. This is absolutely no different than having a theme park ticket, an after party ticket, or any other event that you attend that requires admission. We pay a huge "admission" to run a Disney race, we should be able to buy the merchandise at Disney's inflated price, not Disney's inflated price, plus some resellers ridiculous increases. I don't see it as rude at all. Frankly, I'm married and have 3 (now adult children), I don't care if any of them are hanging out at the merchandise area with me. It's chaos in there. If someone has to bring extra people, they should be welcome to do so on the second day of sales. Just my opinion and obviously people will disagree. But if Disney is ever going to address this problem with any real effect, then they will have to make some changes.

 

[Blcooper4]

For past participants, do the sweeps truly happen exactly 3:30 after race beginning? Or are they somewhat lenient? Because their page states the race is 5:00am – 9:30am, which would mean 4.5 hours.

Interested in this as well!

 

[Blcooper4]

Thank you, good to know!

Thanks!

 

[rdelar01]

$15 Gift Cards are out via email for those registered for the half or challenge. Check your spam folder if you don't see it in the next few days.

 

[GreatLakes]

I'm not totally convinced Disney cares all that much about the resellers. They just want to sell all of their product. What I do think they care about is maximizing sales so if they had more to sell to both the resellers and the actual runners they would really maximize profit for at least a few years until the resellers realize the runners don't have to overpay on ebay because they actually got what they wanted.

I'm not sure this is all that hard of a problem to solve. They could have all the race-specific products available for pre-order which would check a few boxes. First it would give them a better idea of demand so they could more accurately produce the number of items they could sell. Second it would allow runners to buy what they want in advance and limit the profitability of resellers. Lastly it would be a way to give runners early access without limiting anyone from entering the merchandise area of the expo.

There is nothing to indicate RunDisney isn't a group of very lazy individuals that have trouble solving even simple problems. Frankly I think they are just dumb. Look at how un-inventive they were with Spring Surprise. A weekend that should be unique will really just be a weekend to throw rotating IP at the same old race distances. It has taken them more than a year to come up with a kid's event and they aren't even smart enough to just bring back the old kids event until they can put together something new.

 

[Kelkee]

The VQ doesnt level the playing field. The resellers will jump over any hurdle rD puts in place because they will spend the money and resources to get ahead of you. Don't you think that resellers are already Club RunDis members? They are already 2 steps ahead of you.

All this does is lead to more frustration for the normal expo guest.

Requiring bibs is not a path you want rD to go down. The reseller will buy them up, still get ahead of you at the Expo AND shut you out of a race spot. Which will drive up the demand of the bibs yet again. The only way to decrease demand is to raise prices .... again. Not a cycle you want to start.

Go back to standing in a physical line. Standing in the physical line levels the playing field. If someone wants to get up at 2:30AM and stand there for hours so be it. And so could you, and me and everyone. Everyone is playing the same. Now no one can queue up and we are left to the mercy of Disney IT. The resellers already have the resources to shut you out virtually so the VQ isn't going to accomplish much.

And let's be honest, this is a nothing more than a cost reduction effort by Disney's bottom line. They won't have to staff or maintain a lengthy queue any longer.

I can't think of any other race expo where a runner cant get something they desire to commemorate the effort they put into the race.

So here is the solution to the problem....there should be a store AT THE FINISH LINE or AT THE EXPO or BOTH with ALL the merch for finishers ONLY. This store should be the highest priority and stocked full of every item so that runners can get what they want and return to that store throughout the weekend if needed. Your proof of finish would be your entry. (Someone is going to say, could I just show my medal?...to that I say medals can be given/sold to resellers so they could potentially get in and get merch. A proof of a finishing time allows only YOU in.)

 

[PrincessV]

I think some of you all are giving Disney way too much credit lol! I think the VQ is for one propose only: data mining. I guarantee it has little to do with improving the experience and all to do with how they can make more money off fewer guests - that is priority #1 across Disney parks right now. How do they churn that data into higher profit? IDK. But I would not be surprised to see merch sales turn into a pay-to-play scheme beyond the current Club rD thing. Think ILL/G+ for merch entry.

 

[azrivest]

I'm not totally convinced Disney cares all that much about the resellers. They just want to sell all of their product. What I do think they care about is maximizing sales so if they had more to sell to both the resellers and the actual runners they would really maximize profit for at least a few years until the resellers realize the runners don't have to overpay on ebay because they actually got what they wanted.

Yup, they don't care who buys the merchandise. As long as it sells.

I'm not sure this is all that hard of a problem to solve. They could have all the race-specific products available for pre-order which would check a few boxes. First it would give them a better idea of demand so they could more accurately produce the number of items they could sell. Second it would allow runners to buy what they want in advance and limit the profitability of resellers. Lastly it would be a way to give runners early access without limiting anyone from entering the merchandise area of the expo.

This!! Pre-order is pins and magnets, which I am 0% interested in. Where are the shirts, the mugs, the ears, the magic bands, or even the Christmas ornaments?

 

[jpeterson]

$15 Gift Cards are out via email for those registered for the half or challenge. Check your spam folder if you don't see it in the next few days.

And they can be added to your mobile wallet on your phone, that's helpful so I don't have to dig up the email later.

Even better, I was able to add it to disneygiftcard.com and consolidate it with my other cards

 

[Naomeri]

And they can be added to your mobile wallet on your phone, that's helpful so I don't have to dig up the email later.

Even better, I was able to add it to disneygiftcard.com and consolidate it with my other cards

Thank you for making my life simpler!

 

[Bree]

I think some of you all are giving Disney way too much credit lol! I think the VQ is for one propose only: data mining. I guarantee it has little to do with improving the experience and all to do with how they can make more money off fewer guests - that is priority #1 across Disney parks right now. How do they churn that data into higher profit? IDK. But I would not be surprised to see merch sales turn into a pay-to-play scheme beyond the current Club rD thing. Think ILL/G+ for merch entry.

You are onto something. Race retreat used to get early entry to the RD merch area. I'm sure it's already in planning stages to offer early entry for a bloated fee without having to provide a retreat of any type.

 

[The Expert]

So here is the solution to the problem....there should be a store AT THE FINISH LINE or AT THE EXPO or BOTH with ALL the merch for finishers ONLY.

There is a store at the finish line, but sadly they don't reserve any items for it. However, they do sometimes have limited amounts of hot items that people return or exchange. It's not limited to runners but I've never seen any obvious resellers there. I'd love to see the "I Did It" merch reserved for that finish line store.

I think some of you all are giving Disney way too much credit lol! I think the VQ is for one propose only: data mining. I guarantee it has little to do with improving the experience and all to do with how they can make more money off fewer guests - that is priority #1 across Disney parks right now.

Oh I have NO illusions that any of this will actually happen or that they will use the data to the extent that they could. Just a little bit of wishful thinking.

You are onto something. Race retreat used to get early entry to the RD merch area. I'm sure it's already in planning stages to offer early entry for a bloated fee without having to provide a retreat of any type.

Isn't that basically what Club rD is? Only Platinum gets any kind of "retreat" experience, and it's only at the Expo. There is ZERO race day benefit to the club aside from a tiny logo on the bib and bumped corral placement for the limited number of top tier members.

 

[ErinC]

$15 Gift Cards are out via email for those registered for the half or challenge. Check your spam folder if you don't see it in the next few days.

Funny that I get two emails from RunDisney for everything they send out, one for me and one for my husband. Only got one gift card this morning.

 

[Stitch&Co.]

Does anyone have an after party ticket they would like to sell? I just need one for my husband. Willing to pay full price. Thanks

 

[Chasing Dopey]

Frankly I think they are just dumb.

I haven't been on the boards in a while, and was curious what people thought of the latest snafu. This about nails it. Every 'innovation' they come up with is just plain stupid.

I do see a lot of ideas about how to solve the merchandise problem. (Well, one of them. My shirts from marathon weekend are falling apart. It's embarrassing how bad their product has become.)

But I still feel there is one solution that's simple, makes rD MORE money, and would eliminate the resellers almost completely (having the added benefit of solving the crowd problem): Allow post-orders of sold out items. See, these are supposed to be commemorative items for the people who actually put in the work and participate in the event, not collectibles with an artificial scarcity. rD's whole approach is, quite frankly, insulting and cruel. Those people need to be fired. The earth salted. Nuked from space (just to be sure). And start over with people who actually like the runners.

 

[azrivest]

Apart from the fact that the race courses are too similar to the other ones and that I prolly won't get into the Merchandise Shop on the 3rd, I'm starting to feel excited for the races. Only 9 days left!

Has anyone started peeking at the weather forecasts?

 

[sandam1]

Has anyone started peeking at the weather forecasts?

ME!!! I'm trying very hard not to freak out about it being too warm.