Marathon Weekend 2023

[DRussell83]

Hi! Long time reader first time poster usually only post over on the aulani boards but wanted to share why I did register my husband and I for the virtual half and 10k - we did dopey in 2018 and it was an amazing experience and I for sure thought I would want to do it again for 2023 well my birthday is also January 11th and I’m turning the big 4-0! So we will be out of the country till 1/3 so logistical could not make it work (we are in Orange County ca) I definitely have some fomo but I’m also not ready to go to wdw with all the changes - also with the dates being so close to the holidays I was concerned about not getting a dvc room - we had a hard time in 2018 and had to switch rooms the day of the marathon! (home resort is aulani) anyways with all that being said we didn’t want to miss out on the theme (we also did the virtual half and 5k for 2022 and oh my the medals are gorgeous) it is sad not posting with our medals in the park but I thought maybe we could take them to Disneyland after we run the half and do something fun there!

BUT I draw the line at a virtual marathon we thought about it for a second but really nothing compares to running the marathon in the parks and getting a beer and seeing the characters - it does pain me to miss the 30th anniversary - but maybe we will make it out for the 35th!

 

[lookingforsunshine]

There's been a lot of chatter on social media about people registering for Dopey with no intention to train. Everyone here knows what a bad idea that is.

I haven’t really seen anyone say they don’t intend to train but I have seen people who may not know how hard training is or who haven’t done a long distance run before. Maybe we are just in different spaces.

People are trying anything to do in-person Disney races

Yeah, committing to the Team in Training fundraising is A LOT. I raised that much money once before, but it was for a cross country bike trip and even then it was still very hard to get and I had to donate over 1k myself.

I caved for the frozen virtuals but that is priced more reasonable then these races....

I feel like the summer ones are more fun because there isn’t an option for in person if that makes sense. Summer races are meant to be virtual and the community can get together to run them on the same day, etc. Plus those races are just 5ks which is pretty manageable and the perks of a race (water stations etc) aren’t really missed. If there’s an in person option, virtual makes less sense or is less desirable for most people. Especially for longer distances.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

I wonder if for registration if they made you log in to your account, or create one and then limit a queue spot to one per each, that would cut down the number of windows people would have?

 

[lookingforsunshine]

edit: wrong thread

 

[fatmanatee]

I wonder if for registration if they made you log in to your account, or create one and then limit a queue spot to one per each, that would cut down the number of windows people would have?

That would be nice. Would think it’s doable and Id hope RD looks into it.

 

[RunWI1265]

Dopey sold out in 9 minutes for Team in Training. I know this now because apparently they do NOT have a Dopey bib for me because of a registration glitch. It's contagious y'all!

Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I either saw you posted this in an rD FB page or someone else had the same thing happen to them! Already had donations and everything. Ugh what a mess this has all been!

 

[Z-Knight]

regarding virtual... im not a fan in general, but do appreciate that some people can use them as motivation, and that's a good thing. I've done virtual 10k before to keep my challenge status in local races when i had a foot stress fracture. beyond that i have also done the Virtual Dopey to keep my streak - even though I missed first 2 years so I'm not perfect. and beyond that i did the new york marathon virtual to get qualified for guaranteed entry the following year, but dang those are hard to do by yourself.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

I read that 100 people thought they had Dopey bibs through Team in Training but actually didn’t. Crazy.

 

[sandam1]

I read that 100 people thought they had Dopey bibs through Team in Training but actually didn’t. Crazy.

Wow! That is crazy. How devastating for those people.

 

[HangWithMerida]

This past year we were in the hot tub at BR and there was a 24 year old soaking his feet. Strapping kid, good shape, decided to do Goofy with his dad. He was saying how sore his feet were after the half that morning. "I'm on my feet all day, I work in a warehouse." Ok, everyone in there starts listening. Of course we ask "Have you done this before". Find out he ran a 2;25 half and had never gone above a 10K before and did no training. Just kept reiterating that he worked on his feet all day. A lot of raised eyebrows LOL. I don't know what happened the next day, they left right after the race I think. They were getting on a plane 3 hours after the marathon which also got a few puzzled looks. Anyway, long way of saying that anyone who plans on attempting Dopey and not train is going to pay for it.

It baffles me that people honestly think those challenges or even a long race like a HM or marathon doesn’t require real training. A 10k and being on your feet all day!? Do they really not grasp the demand that much mileage puts on your body. I have been running for several years now and doing multiple HM a year and I am nervous about the training and actual racing of Dopey. Maybe just because I have experienced hard races and know things can go sideways? Maybe this is an ignorance is bliss situation?

 

[Herding_Cats]

I know there are absolutely people who train, but I'm also wondering if there's a section of people who signed up who have actually SAID they aren't going to train, or if it's a section of experienced runners who are bitter about [not getting] registration and are accusing people of "wasting" a Dopey registration because they don't think those people will train. There have been a lot of feelings this week.

 

[HangWithMerida]

I feel like the summer ones are more fun because there isn’t an option for in person if that makes sense. Summer races are meant to be virtual and the community can get together to run them on the same day, etc. Plus those races are just 5ks which is pretty manageable and the perks of a race (water stations etc) aren’t really missed. If there’s an in person option, virtual makes less sense or is less desirable for most people. Especially for longer distances.

Yeah, I can see the summer series being good motivation for some people to get out through the summer. I live in an area with races of some distance somewhere nearby basically every weekend But that is a luxury more rural folks just don’t have and that bling can certainly be motivating!

Speaking of races. Today is the Texas Ironman, which runs where I live. There are Kona spots given from this IM so it attracts some major competitors. Conditions are not awesome but pretty standard for this time of year here. Those folks amaze me!

 

[sunshine girl]

I registered for DVC Moonlight Magic and the Guardians DVC preview over the last week and a bit and both used the queue-it which worked so much better. You were assigned a unique queue ID and if you opened another browser window it simple showed the same queue ID (i.e it didn’t create a seperate place in the queue) - if you open and incognito window you got a 2nd queue ID but any further incognito windows opened returned the same ID as the first incognito window. I imagine this significantly reduced the number of unique queue IDs overall.

It worked in the same way in terms of a random queue allocation once the go live time hit although with the link you could join the queue at anytime (not just 15mins before) and if you joined after the go live time your queue number was allocated right away and you were at the back of the queue (I tested this).

This worked so much better than the RunDisney registration (although separately they completely messed up sending out invite emails only after the go live and luckily someone of here had identified the queue link and shared it by reverse engineering a previous one)

RunDisney does use Queue-It, I think? It works as you describe re: queue IDs and browsers. Queue-It "neutralizes any advantage" (their words, not mine!) of clicking the registration link pre-10AM. https://queue-it.com/pre-queue/ for details.

I'm not sure how they slot people who click at/shortly after 10:00:00am into people who were already in the waiting room, but I don't think they go to the end of the line at first. Because that would give people who clicked pre-10AM an "advantage" which the system claims to prevent. This part is somewhat nebulous to me! (Is there a period of time during which clicks continue to be randomized, then it switches to FIFO?)

Anyway, I expected this from past experience with runDisney registrations. (The complete crashing of the runDisney site is another story!!)

I wonder if for registration if they made you log in to your account, or create one and then limit a queue spot to one per each, that would cut down the number of windows people would have?

This seems easy to game. I mean, I have multiple Disney accounts myself (not necessarily on purpose but Disney IT is what it is). As does my family. At this point a login would be a limiting factor for some, but not all, and may just create another layer of inequity/complexity.

 

[YawningDodo]

@YawningDodo

i want to clarify that buses do run from Fort Wilderness to race start and back. They pick you up in front by check in. I can also confirm that the internal fort buses are running throughout the campground at 2:30 am to bring you up front. now I always recommend if you have a vehicle to take it up front instead of using internal fort buses. Mainly for after the marathon. Once off the race bus i did not want to get on an internal bus.

as for tent camping, I agree with others I would not do it. I stay at the fort on race weekends but I have a camper with a comfy bed!

I thought this was the case based on something I'd read while googling around to see if it was feasible, but I didn't want to state it with confidence since I've never even been to FW, let alone during MW. Buuut, yeah, all the replies have reinvigorated my common sense and I'm back to planning on booking whichever All Star resort is cheapest when general resort reservations open up.

I also don’t know if you’re a CC person but Southwest sometimes has good points deals where if you get a CC and spend x amount you can basically get enough points for a free flight.

Now there's a thought...I've got enough miles to book awards travel on United for this trip and that's been my plan (penny-pinching!), but their itineraries from Buffalo to Orlando are...not great. Southwest seems to have at least one direct flight per day and that would just about halve my travel time, but when it's a choice between paying $12 in fees and a bunch of banked miles vs. paying out of pocket for even a lower-cost carrier...well....

I'm going to have a look at Southwest's credit card deals and see if I can do something with that. But if I do have to fly United, I'll see if I can get myself first class on the return; I'm blowing through my bank of miles anyway so I might as well be kind to myself.

That being said, I now stay mostly at CBR. The Skyliner has been a game changer for me. The convenience of using it to get to DHS and EP totally trump the cons of the resort's size. They've also put the soda machines in roughly every other building now, too, greatly reducing my need to get to the food court. I like to stay in either Aruba or Jamaica. Both have a dedicated bus stop and are convenient to Skyliner terminals. It's where I'm staying again next MW.

I've still got to try out CBR, but I love love love the Skyliner. Right now my top pick resort would be AoA (even with all the dang walking to the Little Mermaid section), but I was very happy with our POP Century rooms this past February. Heck, even when I stayed at Kidani Village on rented points in 2021 I found myself missing the Skyliner - the corner view of the savannah I lucked into made up for it, though.

Absolutely! I am flying down tuesday as well. Flights departure times always get moved and the expo being a limited window makes arriving on expo day too stressful for me.

This is what has me planning to fly in on Friday even though I'm only running the marathon. I'm not expecting much in the way of merch to still be available by Saturday, but hit a point in my attempts to find a Saturday morning itinerary where I realized I was scared about missing the Expo entirely, full stop, and having to go crying to guest services to try to get my bib and packet. I don't have to fly all the way in from Montana anymore, but winter weather can still throw a wrench in travel plans.

I also would not be signing up for virtual if I couldn't get an in-person spot. I have tried virtual events and they just aren't the same. I feel like I get a medal for a training run. The actual race day experience is what I am here for! I know some people love them but I just can't get excited for virtual races.

That's exactly how my one and only virtual 5K felt to me. I ended up putting it off and putting it off because I was having trouble finding the motivation to do it at all, and then when I finally did go out and do the run it didn't feel special at all. I only get the runner's high during races, but I always get it during races. Nada, zip, nothing for the virtual race. Finished my run alone and felt like I had just done a training run and passed it off as something worth the medal and hat that came with it.

I do like that hat, though.

I wonder if it's not a lack of demand for the virtual races but near unlimited supply? As fat manatee points out, this is a heavy markup. Combine this with the frustration on social media (and on here) with how the in person registration was handled, Disney may have an incentive not to artificially reduce supply - at least for the first few days of the virtual races being on sale. Let anyone who wants to register do so through the weekend. We're still over 8 months away - I'm sure Disney hasn't placed final orders for the medals and shirts yet.

I think this is another important factor that might be overlooked. I'm sure Disney has at least an estimate they're aiming for, but if they haven't printed medals and shirts yet there's nothing really holding them to any initial numbers for the virtual. Someone was talking about Disney expanding the field for the in-person races and got shot down because the course is too narrow and needs to be cleared in time to avoid too much impact on the regular guest experiences - so it makes perfect sense that Disney has a hard limit on in-person race registrations. Virtual, though? None of those arrangements are their problem. They literally just have to print and mail off medals, shirts, and letters.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I agree with this. Over the last two years I have done (counting Dopey 2021) 10 virtual races and also virtually raced around the world with our DIS team. I did enjoy all those experiences, but if I am being honest virtual Dopey 2021 was difficult for me. I actually simulated the real events, getting up and starting each distance at 5:30am over the four days. I played the Disney music shared by runDisney and wore pervious year race shirts. But this was on the streets of my home town here in mid-Michigan (not exactly warm central Florida in January...) Ultimately, I felt proud of the effort in completing each distance. But I also felt disconnected and missed the race day experience.

^ This. Doing a virtual race just feels like regular (training) running to me. The fun is in being there and having a bunch of people around you and running through the streets ignoring traffic signals. (Most of my races have been in DC. There are a lot of traffic lights.)

I can't imagine doing Dopey on my own - that sounds so hard!

 

[dancingtodisney]

RunDisney does use Queue-It, I think? It works as you describe re: queue IDs and browsers. Queue-It "neutralizes any advantage" (their words, not mine!) of clicking the registration link pre-10AM. https://queue-it.com/pre-queue/ for details.

I'm not sure how they slot people who click at/shortly after 10:00:00am into people who were already in the waiting room, but I don't think they go to the end of the line at first. Because that would give people who clicked pre-10AM an "advantage" which the system claims to prevent. This part is somewhat nebulous to me! (Is there a period of time during which clicks continue to be randomized, then it switches to FIFO?)

Anyway, I expected this from past experience with runDisney registrations. (The complete crashing of the runDisney site is another story!!)



This seems easy to game. I mean, I have multiple Disney accounts myself (not necessarily on purpose but Disney IT is what it is). As does my family. At this point a login would be a limiting factor for some, but not all, and may just create another layer of inequity/complexity.

I'm sure for the Marathon Weekend sign up you could have multiple tabs on the same browser and each would have different queue id's - I could be wrong though

 

[sunshine girl]

I'm sure for the Marathon Weekend sign up you could have multiple tabs on the same browser and each would have different queue id's - I could be wrong though

That was not my experience this year or previously. One browser = 1 queue ID in regular window + 1 queue ID in private/incognito window. So two queue IDs per browser.

My Guardians AP Preview reservation worked the same way.

 

[Barca33Runner]

Wow, miss a day (even when not much is happening) and need to catch up 6 pages.

Very interesting on the disclaimer put for the virtual race registration queue. My personal reading of the message confirms one part of the issue, pre-queues are straight up random, but leaves the rest opaque. I doubt aything has changed with the system in a few days between registrations so the people entering after being put in order of arrival is still confusing. There is far too much anecdotal evidence of people getting into registration faster in queues opened after registration was live than in their randomized pre-queues for them to be being lined up after the pre-queues. The question remains: is it two separate queues both allowing people in? or (as mentioned by others) are there pockets built into the randomized queue where post registration entrants are placed?

Either way, I think the whole thing is a rather preposterous system. There is no more fairness in completely random than there is in first come first served; in fact it can be reasonably argued there is far less. At least in first come, first served everyone is aware of the terms. I’m guessing these random queues were developed to counter bots; but with non-transferable registrations this seems to be solving a problem that doesn’t exist for rD. Now that they’ve verified the randomness in the pre-queue they’ve definitely opened Pandora’s Box on even more browsers being open.

Add me to the list that wouldn’t have been signing up for virtuals if I’d missed on the live races. They’re two different experiences and the virtual one does not give me the same feeling. I’m glad there are those that enjoy them and respect their efforts to earn those rewards.

We’re narrowing our rental choices. Our experience as second-class Genie+ customers as off-site guests this past January will make passing on the parks very easy this coming January. I hope the post-pandemic demand crush dies down eventually and we get back to staying on-site but it’s just not the experience we value at this point.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Well, that was a fast queue! My first window is already bringing me to the registration. I guess love of the theme didn’t equate to wanting to do virtual for everyone?

ETA: all done. The ease of registration suckered my brain into signing up for the virtual half as well

I wasn't going to sign up at all, then I decided I wanted the Pluto 5k medal.

Then, with the ease of registration, I signed up for the 10k too.

Then I wondered if I shouldn't just go full Dopey for virtual, but I know I won't follow through with anything longer than a 10k in a virtual format, so I stopped there. Also, the prices add up fast. I wish I hadn't missed the sign ups for last year's virtual though; I loved the earidescent medals.

 

[Naomeri]

I wasn't going to sign up at all, then I decided I wanted the Pluto 5k medal.

Then, with the ease of registration, I signed up for the 10k too.

Then I wondered if I shouldn't just go full Dopey for virtual, but I know I won't follow through with anything longer than a 10k in a virtual format, so I stopped there. Also, the prices add up fast. I wish I hadn't missed the sign ups for last year's virtual though; I loved the earidescent medals.

So glad I’m not the only impulsive registrant around here