Marathon Weekend 2023

[CP3uhoh]

I wonder if they are going to bring characters back at the expo with the changes to meet and greats. That would be nice.

 

[YawningDodo]

While yes attendance may be up this year due to Covid mostly calming, you also have to consider other factors this year that weren’t there last year. It’s the 30th marathon, 10th Dopey, and a retro 90s theme that have a lot of millennials that grew up on Disney in that time excited and nostalgic. The demand was going to be way up this year no matter what.

I've had to talk myself around to liking the theme for this year even as someone who grew up on 90's Disney. First thing I said to my housemate was "it's all loud colors and floating triangles and squiggly lines for no reason" and she did a "ye gawds" with me over it. I think I'm at the wrong age for nostalgia; give me another decade before I look back on it with fondness instead of cringing at my own childhood.

Still, it's growing on me, and I'm sure I'll love the medal if only because it'll be my first marathon medal.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I saw children in S1 for the 5k.

Because there is no POT for the 5K (or 10K). Anybody can just put the fastest estimated time and be put in the first corral.

 

[HangWithMerida]

While I agree that's likely what will be necessary for the marathon, I suspect it won't hurt you to enter a half-marathon PoT of longer than that as long as it's under 2:15 and verifiable, especially since Disney really doesn't give you a PoT race equivalency calculator that they use, right? They won't place you in a PoT corral possibly (probably), but I don't think you'd suffer a last corral punishment either. At least that's what my husband and daughter may end up doing since they can likely get a half-marathon PoT of under 2:15 prior to the cutoff but maybe not under 2:07. At least that's what we are hoping.

I am in this situation. My PoT HM is 2:08:02. Close enough to put it in and hope for the best.

 

[HangWithMerida]

I wonder if they are going to bring characters back at the expo with the changes to meet and greats. That would be nice.

I don't usually stop on course for characters but I would definitely take a couple of pics at the expo! And they could be sporty or race themed costume characters, which would be fun!

 

[1lilspark]

I saw children in S1 for the 5k.

1) it’s an honor system for projected pace for 5K & 10K
2) I’ve heard the 5K is random placement though I don’t believe this to be true I’ve picked a middle of the pack pace in the three in person races and was in group 4 of 6, 2 of 3, and 3 of 4

I wonder if they are going to bring characters back at the expo with the changes to meet and greats. That would be nice.

And start/finish

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

While the IT debacle seems avoidable (I know bupkis about IT though), the anger at Disney over the sell-outs seems misplaced. It reminds me of people who are mad that the parks are crowded and lines are long. They've created a product that has a massive appeal and demand outpaces supply. I don't know how they are supposed to fix that honestly. Or perhaps I should say, they have no incentive to fix that. I'll eat all those words though if the supply is being artificially reduced in order to drive Club rD memberships, although I don't know how we'd ever know that for sure.

Regardless of any of that, I am really sorry for those who did everything right, desperately wanted to get into a race, and were shut out. It sucks and there's no way around that. I can only hope that more registrations open up later in the year and you have another opportunity to register.

I think how they are supposed to fix that is to make the queue actually based on when people enter it. This argument using the analogy of parks being too crowded and lines being too long would make sense if the queues are the park were random too. Can you imagine walking up to a line at Space Mountain that is 2 hours long and just cutting in front of everyone and then shrugging and being like "sorry, I just had better luck than you"? No, because that's absurd. The way runDisney handled registration is shameful, and frankly they owe a huge number of people who did things the right way an apology, myself included.

That being said, I feel very fortunate through the entire debacle to have gotten into Goofy. I am trying to get excited about it, but I am still super pissed that I didn't get Dopey after anticipating registration day for months. I am still really hoping some more Dopey spots open up later and that I can upgrade.

 

[PrincessV]

After stewing on yesterday's mess for a day, I can honestly say that I don't really care if the tech is bad or not. What bothers me most is the lack of transparency and failure to manage expectations. If we're all being thrown into a big pool with randomized entry into a queue that has no prioritizing features, TELL US THAT! Don't send a message saying to stay in the "queue" as if that saves our position in a non-existent line. Tell us at the outset how the system works. People will always be disappointed if they aren't able to get into a race that sells out quickly, but the anger and frustration could have been mitigated by better managing customer expectations.

 

[GuinnessRunner]

Don't send a message saying to stay in the "queue" as if that saves our position in a non-existent line.

This is what has been bothering me too as the ones where I stayed in had the longest wait times. Although I guess they might have also been worried that if everyoned dumped the waiting room and rushed to rejoin it might have caused the same crash they saw around 10:00. Still doesn't excuse them of course.

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

After stewing on yesterday's mess for a day, I can honestly say that I don't really care if the tech is bad or not. What bothers me most is the lack of transparency and failure to manage expectations. If we're all being thrown into a big pool with randomized entry into a queue that has no prioritizing features, TELL US THAT! Don't send a message saying to stay in the "queue" as if that saves our position in a non-existent line. Tell us at the outset how the system works. People will always be disappointed if they aren't able to get into a race that sells out quickly, but the anger and frustration could have been mitigated by better managing customer expectations.

This. This. 100% this. I'm most angry that I followed the instructions given to me by runDisney and it put me at a disadvantage.

 

[kps7795]

I am in this situation. My PoT HM is 2:08:02. Close enough to put it in and hope for the best.

For what it's worth, I am in the crowded boat with you. Being anal, I emailed Track Shack to find out about the possibility of being placed in the higher start group. This was their response:

Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, during the verification process, the time that a proof would equal to would place that participant in the corresponding start group. For example, the 2:08:52 half marathon would calculate to a 4:32, which would place you in that corresponding start group of 4:31-5:00. Your time will not start until you cross the start line and then stop once you cross the finish, but this is just the starting placement that is assigned. What we can encourage is if you don't have any other proof from a 10 mile, half or full marathon that took place between January 1, 2019 - September 27, 2022, and you still provide the 2:08:52 half marathon, on race morning, arrive to your start group early to get to the very front. This way once your start group is released, you will be able to catch up to the other first start group.

We wish you magical miles!

Personally, I'm not going to risk it because I can easily see someone being annoyed with a non-qualifying POT and punish them by placing them in the last starting group. One never knows and then you'd have to deal with the runDisney organizers to try to sort out your appropriate starting group.

 

[iheartglaciers]

While I agree that's likely what will be necessary for the marathon, I suspect it won't hurt you to enter a half-marathon PoT of longer than that as long as it's under 2:15 and verifiable, especially since Disney really doesn't give you a PoT race equivalency calculator that they use, right? They won't place you in a PoT corral possibly (probably), but I don't think you'd suffer a last corral punishment either. At least that's what my husband and daughter may end up doing since they can likely get a half-marathon PoT of under 2:15 prior to the cutoff but maybe not under 2:07. At least that's what we are hoping.

This is the first time I'm doing the marathon, and first time I want to try and submit a POT. Maybe I'm bad at math, but why is it that the cutoff for the half POT is 2:07 and not 2:15? Isn't running the marathon under 4:30 running under a 10:30mm pace?

 

[kps7795]

I don't usually stop on course for characters but I would definitely take a couple of pics at the expo! And they could be sporty or race themed costume characters, which would be fun!

It's funny how different runners approach the races. My daughter and I are the exact opposite. For the Ten Miler (much like the HM next January), our "A" goal is to get a picture with every character available.

This is actually one of the things that I love most about runDisney events. There is a way for everyone to have fun in their own way.

 

[Naomeri]

This is the first time I'm doing the marathon, and first time I want to try and submit a POT. Maybe I'm bad at math, but why is it that the cutoff for the half POT is 2:07 and not 2:15? Isn't running the marathon under 4:30 running under a 10:30mm pace?

I would think it’s because a person can run a shorter distance at a faster pace than a longer distance. For example, I can run a 37 minute 5K, but I can’t run a 74 minute 10K because I can’t sustain the pace at double the distance.

 

[kps7795]

I would think it’s because a person can run a shorter distance at a faster pace than a longer distance. For example, I can run a 37 minute 5K, but I can’t run a 74 minute 10K because I can’t sustain the pace at double the distance.

Damn cardiac drift!

 

[camaker]

This is the first time I'm doing the marathon, and first time I want to try and submit a POT. Maybe I'm bad at math, but why is it that the cutoff for the half POT is 2:07 and not 2:15? Isn't running the marathon under 4:30 running under a 10:30mm pace?

It's because running pace and endurance aren't linear relationships. Just because a runner can hold a 10;30/mile pace for a mile (or even 13.1 miles) doesn't indicate that they're capable of holding that pace across 26.2 miles. There are a number of calculators out there that can do the the conversion, most notably the MacMillan calculator. RunDisney uses a modified "industry standard" calculation that I think @DopeyBadger has worked out the parameters of. There's a thread with more details on Proof of Time and calculations you might want to take a look at.

 

[iheartglaciers]

It's because running pace and endurance aren't linear relationships. Just because a runner can hold a 10;30/mile pace for a mile (or even 13.1 miles) doesn't indicate that they're capable of holding that pace across 26.2 miles. There are a number of calculators out there that can do the the conversion, most notably the MacMillan calculator. RunDisney uses a modified "industry standard" calculation that I think @DopeyBadger has worked out the parameters of. There's a thread with more details on Proof of Time and calculations you might want to take a look at.

That makes total sense to me, I didn't know there was a POT industry standard calculator so I just assumed you'd halve the 4:30 they listed on the web site to know what I needed to hit. That's helpful to know, thank you!

 

[ZellyB]

I think how they are supposed to fix that is to make the queue actually based on when people enter it. This argument using the analogy of parks being too crowded and lines being too long would make sense if the queues are the park were random too. Can you imagine walking up to a line at Space Mountain that is 2 hours long and just cutting in front of everyone and then shrugging and being like "sorry, I just had better luck than you"? No, because that's absurd. The way runDisney handled registration is shameful, and frankly they owe a huge number of people who did things the right way an apology, myself included.

That being said, I feel very fortunate through the entire debacle to have gotten into Goofy. I am trying to get excited about it, but I am still super pissed that I didn't get Dopey after anticipating registration day for months. I am still really hoping some more Dopey spots open up later and that I can upgrade.

I think you misunderstood my post. The part I was saying that I don't know how you fix is when "demand outpaces supply" specifically. Not the issues of random queues etc. Thus my analogy was about overcrowding and long lines also being about demand outpacing supply. Although to further belabor the point you make about cutting in line at Space Mountain because I had better luck? Well, that's precisely what the Virtual Queues did/do and what FP and G+ do to at least some degree, so yeah, that does exist in the parks.

My issue with perhaps the "fairness" of random versus first in/first out is more about the disparity that exists in the virtual world (some people have access to better internet/equipment etc) that, IMO, is harder to minimize than in a real-world (early bird catches the worm for park opening) scenario. Hope that makes sense.

And, I guess the reason I put "fairness" in quotes is two-fold. 1. Disney doesn't owe anybody a fair process to be quite frank and I don't think gives two you-know-whats if people think it's fair or not as long as they get their money. 2. I don't see anyway to make it completely fair when demand has so clearly exceeded supply.

I get what you are saying about an apology (I had a frustrating morning as well), but to be honest, I still coughed up over $400 for two race registrations, so what in the heck would prompt them to apologize to me or you or anybody else? runDisney has always had horrible customer service and horrible IT. This year was just another iteration of that, but so long as I keep going back for more punishment, I feel like any complaints I have are pretty hollow. I'm in an abusive relationship with Disney and runDisney and I own that. Now, that's me and I'm not saying you should feel the same way. I would have been disappointed if my husband and daughter would have missed out, but I went into this rD registration day like I have all the others before - knowing that I might get shut out. And that will suck, but that's the reality of this and runDisney clearly isn't interested in changing anything about what they are doing.

And, and, and, I'm mostly avoiding doing work that is driving me crazy and thus debating things I can't change on the internet.

 

[GreatLakes]

I'm at Disney this week and didn't pay attention to registration but what a cluster it appears to have been. Any word on what the root cause was? Someone trip on the power cable to the server farm or something?

 

[Novatrix]

I'm at Disney this week and didn't pay attention to registration but what a cluster it appears to have been. Any word on what the root cause was? Someone trip on the power cable to the server farm or something?

You tell us, we heard they're using the 1970s servers in Spaceship Earth so since you're on the ground let us know if the ride was down between 10am and 12:30 yesterday.

More seriously, no official root cause just lots of speculation on crappy Disney IT programming for queues combined with unexpected surge demand that overwhelmed their servers. Speaking as someone who also was caught up in the virtual queue issues today for Disneyland dining, it really is pretty sad that they won't put more money into customer facing operations.