I'm guessing the latter. Or they were trying to really clear the parks.
Definitely. I think it was a well meaning individual trying to clear the parks who possibly had misinformation.
No races in over 6 years means a lot of institutional memory was lost in that time. Then factor in the new start and finish line. I do think that the new staging area is better. The old area meant being squeezed into the corrals with everyone. Much more chaotic than the security lines this weekend.
Now, there is plenty of room for improvement.
I hope so too. I'm currently undecided about the Halloween races, but am leaning towards doing it.
Yep, when we saw it, we thought multiple people had fallen shortly before the mile 3 sign.
I experienced that. It was weird.
Given how long the lines for characters can get at the family reunion area at Disney World and the much smaller space for that at
Disneyland, I don't see how they can put characters in that area. Maybe put them at the Expo, or *gasp* even have a dedicated line. Meaning you can get a picture with Dumbo, but have to show a Dumbo bib.
Fireworks happened Sunday night, but no castle projections. Which they had told us about.
The mile markers have always been virtually identical here. Star Wars and Marvel had some characters on the mile markers, but that's it. I would like to see at least a character or two thrown on each mile marker.
There were certainly some issues this weekend. In Galaxy's Edge during the half, a CM said "this is not a picture line" in front of the Millennium Falcon, but there was already a line there and he essentially pretended it didn't exist. Most of us simply moved a few feet away and took photos in front of the Falcon anyways. A lot of inconsistency for sure.
The expo was a pleasant surprise, if once again a bit chaotic. I got into Anaheim around 1:30 and the virtual queue was already closed. However, a CM told me that that the way things were going, they might open the virtual queue again around 6:00pm so keep checking the app. While the app did not say it was reopened, I decided that the worst thing they could tell me was no, so I made the short walk to the expo and they had opened it up for everyone. Much to my surprise, the only stuff gone were the half pins and the backpacks. Although the medal holders were still available Thursday night. Otherwise, both race weekend jackets and race specific jackets (half and Dumbo), Coast to Coast shirts, I did it shirts, and generic race weekend shirts, and the humorous race shirts (Bring on the other half marathon Mickey and Minnie, Donald run and done, et all) were still available.
I have a runDisney jacket problem, so will have to ban myself from race jackets for a while. I did meet a lady in line for Space Mountain who forgot that she preordered pins and then got them again at the Expo, so she happily sold me her half pins at cost right on the spot. Worked out great for both of us.
I was not surprised by long lines in Disneyland for in race photos. That was certainly the case for the Star Wars races here. With the chaos of putting characters along city streets, there's only so much they can do. I think it's better to warn people that staying in the line may get you swept. The Belle and Beast line during the 5K was already cut off by the time I got there.
I feel like runDisney was between a rock and a hard place with this one. The first race in over 6 years was going to have a lot of pent up demand and expectations. Sometimes, impossible ones. Now, mile 3 during the half was a decision that clearly did not work out. At all. I think more characters would have been nice. At least put Marvel characters in Avengers Campus, even if on an overlook ala Galaxy's Edge.
I have only one photo from the half not at the finish line and that's coming out of the castle.. Somehow, I managed to literally miss all the other photographers based on where they were positioned and where I was running. I understand why anyone who paid for the photos would be frustrated. I think that photo ops in front of the Quinjet and the Millennium Falcon, to say nothing of Sleeping Beauty Castle should happen next time.
All in all, they have a lot of things to improve on. But I think it will happen. If these issues continue, then there's a problem. But it's not like the well oiled machine that is runDisney at WDW hasn't had major race gaffes before at new races or with new courses, so this is normal. Hopefully they get these issues fixed.
I do like that with the earlier start times, I finally got to run through a Disney park "at night" instead of daylight or shortly before the dawn.
I'm a Californian so Disneyland is easier for me to get to. I look forward to running through Disneyland next time when that comes.
Would I do the back to back Coast to Coast again? Probably not. Took a lot out of me and also impacted just how much I felt up to doing in Disneyland since I needed to be extra careful about conserving my body. But I did it and enjoyed it. Also great seeing a few of you at the Tortilla Jo's meetup on Friday.
