Rundisney is going to stop giving park tickets to vol!!

[DisneyMountainWoman]

This is being reported around social media from rundisney:

"Thank you for considering volunteering your time during the upcoming RunDisney race season! Your passion for making a difference in the Central Florida community through our celebrated charities is truly valued. In keeping with that spirit of volunteerism, complimentary theme park tickets will not be distributed. We appreciate your support and enthusiasm for our magical running community."

I cannot believe they will give no benefits any more to volunteers.... we are going to have such trouble staffing stations now What are they thinking?! It can be that big of a cost...

 

[FrannyFrogs]

Lol who is writing these things? "in keeping with the spirit of volunteerism" here is a kick in the shins!

 

[Tiggerette]

Honestly, it reminds me of the recent change by the new RCID board (I forget the new name). They recently disallowed park passes for first responders and others. It may be that the allotment for the rD volunteers are from the same or similar pool. Of course, this is a running theory- not a fact.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Right. So it’s time to plan carrying your own hydration for the half and full. Time to consider costume modifications.

 

[drummerwife]

As a local who use to run the races and now volunteers, the loss of the free ticket won’t keep me from volunteering. I have an AP so the free ticket was never an incentive to volunteer. I volunteer because the runners are so amazing and it’s truly fun! I’ll be working all three W&D races and I’m really looking forward to it.

The wording is like a slap in the face though.

 

[camaker]

Right. So it’s time to plan carrying your own hydration for the half and full. Time to consider costume modifications.

I don't think this is going to be necessary. If they have trouble getting volunteers (which I don't think they will) they'll fill the gaps with cast members.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I don't think this is going to be necessary. If they have trouble getting volunteers (which I don't think they will) they'll fill the gaps with cast members.

I feel like some of the stations were definitely understaffed last year though. Why didn’t they fill gaps then?

I’m feeling cynical this morning and it just makes me wonder if they’ll use w&d as a gauge and potentially cut a few aid stations for MW if volunteer numbers are an issue. (Again…just being cynical here.)

 

[camaker]

I feel like some of the stations were definitely understaffed last year though. Why didn’t they fill gaps then?

I’m feeling cynical this morning and it just makes me wonder if they’ll use w&d as a gauge and potentially cut a few aid stations for MW if volunteer numbers are an issue. (Again…just being cynical here.)

There's precedent for this. They had to stop using volunteers entirely for the last few Disneyland races due to a court cases/changes in CA law (can't remember which exactly). In response, they moved to using temp workers and I, at least, didn't see a difference.

Volunteer slots at rD races have, by everything I've seen, been in great demand and hard to come by with many volunteers being turned away. If there was understaffing at MW, it was much more likely to be due to rD limiting the number of volunteer slots to keep costs down than due to a lack of interest in volunteering. in a roundabout way, this could be actually beneficial to runners if it allows them to increase the number of volunteer slots.

It's also worth noting that they didn't say that there would be no benefits at all, just that park tickets wouldn't be given out any more as a benefit. My guess is that they've benchmarked other large races and will give a shirt or jacket to volunteers. Pure speculation, though.

I know that we on the outside tend to look at Disney and say things like why not give a park ticket, there's no cost to them to do that. In reality, that's not how budgets and finances in large corporations work, for better or for worse. Departments typically pay each other for services rendered. I would be shocked if the RunDisney division didn't actually have to pay the Parks division for these "free" tickets for volunteers. We all know where ticket prices have gone the last few years. My speculation, once again, is that the costs for those volunteer tickets have just gotten too high for RunDisney to maintain the expenditure.

 

[SteveH]

The "volunteers" were being compensated in a way. There are potential tax issues at play too, if they are giving away something of value like a park ticket they might have to start issuing 1099 forms. As @drummerwife said it won't stop them from volunteering, and my guess is a lot of true volunteers will continue.

 

[fla4fun]

As a local who use to run the races and now volunteers, the loss of the free ticket won’t keep me from volunteering. I have an AP so the free ticket was never an incentive to volunteer. I volunteer because the runners are so amazing and it’s truly fun! I’ll be working all three W&D races and I’m really looking forward to it.

The wording is like a slap in the face though.

Exactly. All they had to do was refer people to a web page for more information, and then list any benefits they will offer (shirt, cap, whatever) and not list the ticket. They could put a small disclaimer on that page that benefits are subject to change, which they always are.

Whoever worded that statement didn’t take the time to read it from the volunteer’s point of view. I doubt that most of the volunteers did it just for the ticket, but none of the volunteers deserved to be insulted like that. (At least, I was insulted and I have an AP also, so a free ticket does nothing for me either.)

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Even if this aligns with what other races are doing, it's yet another example of a perk being taken away by the Disney Parks to try to save money. I think that's where all of the frustration comes from. We know what used to be offered, from volunteer park passes, to Magical Express, free fast passes,, etc, and it's all slowly being chipped away.

 

[camaker]

Even if this aligns with what other races are doing, it's yet another example of a perk being taken away by the Disney Parks to try to save money. I think that's where all of the frustration comes from. We know what used to be offered, from volunteer park passes, to Magical Express, free fast passes,, etc, and it's all slowly being chipped away.

Inflation and rapidly rising costs are hitting RunDisney just like everyone else. Would we rather see volunteer benefits brought into line with the remainder of the industry or would we prefer to see $150 5ks, $200 10ks, $300 half and full and $800+ Dopey bibs? The money is going to come from somewhere.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Inflation and rapidly rising costs are hitting RunDisney just like everyone else. Would we rather see volunteer benefits brought into line with the remainder of the industry or would we prefer to see $150 5ks, $200 10ks, $300 half and full and $800+ Dopey bibs? The money is going to come from somewhere.

As a financial analyst, I'd like to see the Parks be a bit financially responsible. It's hard to swallow the perks being taken away when they spent hundreds of millions on a hotel experience that closed after a year and a half. It's hard not to be cynical when I think about what that could've been spent on.

 

[camaker]

As a financial analyst, I'd like to see the Parks be a bit financially responsible. It's hard to swallow the perks being taken away when they spent hundreds of millions on a hotel experience that closed after a year and a half. It's hard not to be cynical when I think about what that could've been spent on.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't RunDisney a completely separate entity than Parks?

 

[fatmanatee]

Can't speak to the number of volunteers at each station but I will say that there was no difference in the number of water stations from last year's Springtime Surprise to this year and I'd be very surprised if they reduced them. They'd be in deep trouble if they understaffed stations to the point that it became a problem for runners. It's fundamentally a safety issue.

 

[drummerwife]

They were short volunteers for the water stops for both the marathon and 10 miler this year. They were asking for people to voluntarily switch from their original position to the understaffed positions. I worked an understaffed water stop for the marathon and we didn’t get the tables fully stocked before the first runners came through. Fortunately, even with fewer people, we made sure every runner was able to get a cup of water or Powerade.
It seems like the longer races are the ones that have volunteer shortages and I don’t know what the answer is for that.

 

[matt and beth]

Honestly, it reminds me of the recent change by the new RCID board (I forget the new name). They recently disallowed park passes for first responders and others. It may be that the allotment for the rD volunteers are from the same or similar pool. Of course, this is a running theory- not a fact.

This is most likely the reason. The stance is lost revenue in taxes to Floridians by the new RCID board.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

This is most likely the reason. The stance is lost revenue in taxes to Floridians by the new RCID board.

They’re giving away a lump payment to the firefighters/first responders, so that money will possibly go into the economy in other ways than just back to Disney.

 

[Tiggerette]

Yeah, I believe the cut to passes for volunteers predates the new RCID oversight, but the language used in the recent communication really sounds off. It kinda reads like a "sorry, not sorry" tone.

 

[GreatLakes]

It costs them nothing to give these tickets away and likely even makes them money. Sure, on paper it might have a cost but in reality it doesn't. RunDisney is a pretty terrible organization for many reasons and I do the races because I love Disney but really don't like RunDisney.

Taking away the tickets is just another check in the bad column. It goes with the lack of kids races and their laziness in Spring Surprise with the races being nothing unique with their recent bad decisions.