Marathon Weekend 2023

[jrsharp21]

As expected, runDisney is not refunding my marathon or CCC registration even after I sent them a picture of my dated test. They said they get too many requests.

I emailed back and recommended they offer registration insurance for COVID, injuries, etc (like concert tickets do). I would definitely buy it.

Are you able to file a dispute with your credit card company? Just a thought.

 

[Baloo in MI]

To my understanding, the New York City Marathon, with more than 50,000 runners allows deferrals for runners To the next year. Seems like runDisney could as well. When we are asked to register and pay significant amounts of money 8 months before an event there should be some type of process to protect the participant beyond giving money away to the Mickey!

 

[fatmanatee]

To my understanding, the New York City Marathon, with more than 50,000 runners allows deferrals for runners To the next year. Seems like runDisney could as well. When we are asked to register and pay significant amounts of money 8 months before an event there should be some type of process to protect the participant beyond giving money away to the Mickey!

I have a friend who is likely doing this after getting COVID a few weeks prior to the race and not feeling well enough to go through with the run. To be clear you can defer but you don’t get a refund and still have to pay the full registration fee the next year, you just get a guaranteed spot. But I think it’s no questions asked and you can defer the day before the race.

 

[jmasgat]

Are you able to file a dispute with your credit card company? Just a thought.

@lookingforsunshine Not a dispute--since Disney did provide the purchased item under their terms and conditions. BUT, depending on your credit card, it might be possible to claim Trip interruption. Depends on the card, and whether Covid/sickness is a covered area, but definitely worth exploring.

To my understanding, the New York City Marathon, with more than 50,000 runners allows deferrals for runners To the next year.

True. This is what I am doing for 2023. I was supposed to run in 2022, but broke a bone in my foot. I canceled within the specified time (clearly stated on NYRR website) and will get guaranteed entry this year. I even emailed to doublecheck. True also that I will have to pay again--but I had taken out the insurance and so broke even, less cost of insurance.

 

[dobball23]

Like everyone else, I thoroughly enjoyed my Marathon Weekend experience. After doing Dopey three times, it was much shorter than other years, but still a lot of fun. I did "just" the marathon. I love running in the Disney atmosphere, but I do not stop for characters, so I was able to notch a PR (3:28:33) by ~14 minutes as I completed my first standalone marathon.

We had a whirlwind of a weekend. We departed our house at 1:30 a.m. Saturday. Flew out of BWI. Arrived at All Star Sports ~10 a.m. I got a short run in and then went to the Expo. After dinner at Geyser Point, I was in bed around 7.

Doing Dopey, by the marathon the routine is very familiar and there is not much time for nerves. When doing just the one race, I had some nerves about how I would do. I got to my corral around 4 and took a seat on the right side, up against the fence. Unfortunately, it was near a speaker and I was afraid I'd be deaf by the time the race started.

I got up around 4:35 to start stretching. I drank a bottle of water/Maurten 320 at 4:45. At 5 we were off. I ran what I felt like was an easy pace, but it ended up being a 7:33 mile. Despite that, many people were passing me. I ended up settling in at about a 7:50-7:55 pace for the next 22 miles, before climbing above 8:00.

My goal was to not walk at all during this marathon. I made it all the way until ~mile 25.6. I was just past Mexico and I felt like I couldn't make it to the end. So I stopped and walked. Luckily it was for just .04 miles. I started running again and crossed the finish line 87 seconds ahead of my goal. My Garmin said my distance was 26.41.

'Ohana is one of my favorite restaurants on property and we had been trying to secure a reservation, but could only get one at 9:50 p.m. That was not ideal. But as my wife came up to me after the marathon she told me she'd snagged a 3:35 p.m. reservation at 'Ohana. Great news!

When we returned to our resort at night I was about 2,500 steps shy of my highest amount ever. So, I went for a walk around All Star Sports to end the day. Finally to bed around 11:30 p.m.!

Our flight on Monday wasn't until 9:40 p.m., so we had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves around Disney. We finally arrived home in PA around 3:15 a.m.

I enjoyed the marathon, but am looking forward to returning for my fourth Dopey next January!

 

[leeniewdw]

Agree, we did the After Hours at MK as well, and it was a great way to experience the park (even though staying up until 1am after getting up at 2am for multiple days wasn't optimal). My son's comment "It's crazy walking through the park and not having to dodge around people"

Did you see the SpaceX rocket launch in the sky just before midnight? We were just crossing in front of the castle and saw people looking up. We saw the rocket disengage or separate or whatever and for a second wasn't sure what were looking at -- a rocket or a disney effect!

I wasn't a runner this weekend, I'm barely a runner at all (though I've done a few 5ks) and came to this thread because it was the first time we would be there for MW and figured I could learn a few things. It's been an entertaining and inspiring thread to keep up with and it was certainly fun to see the marathoners in EP on Sunday morning. Congrats to all of you! We tried to say "congrats" to as many runners as possible.

 

[xjillianpaige]

My goofy medal is in 3 pieces.

 

[Jason Bryer]

As expected, runDisney is not refunding my marathon or CCC registration even after I sent them a picture of my dated test. They said they get too many requests.

I emailed back and recommended they offer registration insurance for COVID, injuries, etc (like concert tickets do). I would definitely buy it.

I thinks runDisney needs to make many changes to be more in line with the major and large races in the country. Unfortunately I suspect they won’t since they have no incentive to do so until we stop selling out within minutes and filling the resorts. I feel like runDisney has been running under Chapick’s philosophy and hope Igor’s philosophy influences them. You can only nickel and dime and squeeze your customers for so long before they decide to not become customers. After 5 marathon weekends, I’m at that point. I had a great weekend but every interaction with runDisney has been terrible from registration, to non-responsive emails and phone calls, to a crazy expo (worst in my 5 years), to not getting dopey merch at 2pm the first day (that’s just stupid they are leaving money on the table, this isn’t new, the sell out every year early).

What made my weekend fun, running the 5k with my 8 and 14 year old sons, running the 10k and half with my son who turned 16 on Saturday, and completing my third dopey, 5th MW, and 9th overall marathon. Also, the volunteers and CM were fantastic all weekend. Which given Disney now only given them a half day pass is really upsetting. runDisney may plan the weekend (which is incredibly difficult I know) but the volunteers made it work.

Sorry for the rant.

 

[xjillianpaige]

My goofy medal is in 3 pieces.

Update. The folks at AK guest services took it from me for an hour to hot glue it back together to at least get me through today’s photos. I’ve contacted RD for a replacement.

 

[Naomeri]

Update. The folks at AK guest services took it from me for an hour to hot glue it back together to at least get me through today’s photos. I’ve contacted RD for a replacement.

That was really nice of them!

 

[luv2cheer92]

Are people forgetting that rD used to offer deferrals? To me that makes it worse that they no longer do that.

 

[fatmanatee]

Are people forgetting that rD used to offer deferrals? To me that makes it worse that they no longer do that.

Had no idea. When did they stop?

 

[fatmanatee]

Update. The folks at AK guest services took it from me for an hour to hot glue it back together to at least get me through today’s photos. I’ve contacted RD for a replacement.

Optimistic that they’ll be able to send a replacement, IIRC some people did the same with last years medals, which had all sorts of potential issues (paint chipping! spinner elements that could break! etc).

 

[GreatLakes]

Are you able to file a dispute with your credit card company? Just a thought.

Please don't do this. It will only waste people's time since not only is there pretty clear language that there is no refund policy but they provided the service that was purchased, it just wasn't consumed.

There is no good reason that Disney doesn't offer deferrals or transfers other than they just don't want to. It is total fiction that offering either would create a scenario where registrations would be put out on the black market by unscrupulous people. That is an already solved problem that many much larger races already employ.

RunDisney has shown time and time again that they don't really value the runners, they just want the most amount of money for the least amount of work.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Optimistic that they’ll be able to send a replacement, IIRC some people did the same with last years medals, which had all sorts of potential issues (paint chipping! spinner elements that could break! etc).

I am too! I got a replacement for chipped paint last year. This year my dad made me a pouch for them and my paint is pristine.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Monica is amazing again.

 

[surfde22]

Monica is amazing again.
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Those are really cool!! I'm getting a tattoo to commemorate finally completing Dopey, after the 2017 fiasco, and totally should've had her draw up some designs for it.

 

[camaker]

Are people forgetting that rD used to offer deferrals? To me that makes it worse that they no longer do that.

Had no idea. When did they stop?

They were still doing limited deferrals in 2016. I think they stopped in 2017 or 2018. The impression that I got was that it was a difficult program to manage for them. I think where the comparison to the majors and large races breaks down is in the demographic of RunDisney runners. In my estimation, RunDisney has a MUCH higher proportion of new runners who register for races that they've not previously experienced and don't understand the training requirements for.

Every year I see a massive number of posts in the Facebook groups that "life got away from me and I didn't/couldn't train", "I bit off more than I could chew with the training, do I have a hope of finishing with this little bit that I've done, or "I signed up for Dopey having never run a 5k because it seemed like a good idea at the time", just to name a few.

If RunDisney had an open refund or deferral policy they'd lose a sizable chunk of the field late every year. Often these realizations come too late for them to be able to fill a vacated slot with a new runner. In addition, while we're focused on the quick sellouts of the last couple of years, it wasn't that long ago that bibs were available for MW races in December. When I ran Chicago in 2018 they were offering discount codes to MW races.

I don't mean this to sound unsympathetic. I think it would be better if there were a pathway for situations like @lookingforsunshine's. It's just that the ability to offer those worthy situations is complicated by some of the other circumstances.

The possibility of travel insurance has been raised, as well. My understanding is that there are independent companies that offer travel insurance that will cover race fees along with everything else. Maybe that's a route for folks to look into? I guarantee that if RunDisney were to offer insurance at registration, it would be a stock offering from a 3rd party with a significant mark up to cover RunDisney's "trouble" of offering it.

 

[fatmanatee]

They were still doing limited deferrals in 2016. I think they stopped in 2017 or 2018. The impression that I got was that it was a difficult program to manage for them. I think where the comparison to the majors and large races breaks down is in the demographic of RunDisney runners. In my estimation, RunDisney has a MUCH higher proportion of new runners who register for races that they've not previously experienced and don't understand the training requirements for.

Every year I see a massive number of posts in the Facebook groups that "life got away from me and I didn't/couldn't train", "I bit off more than I could chew with the training, do I have a hope of finishing with this little bit that I've done, or "I signed up for Dopey having never run a 5k because it seemed like a good idea at the time", just to name a few.

If RunDisney had an open refund or deferral policy they'd lose a sizable chunk of the field late every year. Often these realizations come too late for them to be able to fill a vacated slot with a new runner. In addition, while we're focused on the quick sellouts of the last couple of years, it wasn't that long ago that bibs were available for MW races in December. When I ran Chicago in 2018 they were offering discount codes to MW races.

I don't mean this to sound unsympathetic. I think it would be better if there were a pathway for situations like @lookingforsunshine's. It's just that the ability to offer those worthy situations is complicated by some of the other circumstances.

The possibility of travel insurance has been raised, as well. My understanding is that there are independent companies that offer travel insurance that will cover race fees along with everything else. Maybe that's a route for folks to look into? I guarantee that if RunDisney were to offer insurance at registration, it would be a stock offering from a 3rd party with a significant mark up to cover RunDisney's "trouble" of offering it.

Thinking about this in relation to the earlier post about bibs and DNS/DNF. Just over 20 percent in that bucket in total, sometimes as much as 30 percent, with a clear majority apparently being DNS.

Travel insurance sounds like the right idea if it were to cover this sort of thing.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Please don't do this. It will only waste people's time since not only is there pretty clear language that there is no refund policy but they provided the service that was purchased, it just wasn't consumed.

There is no good reason that Disney doesn't offer deferrals or transfers other than they just don't want to. It is total fiction that offering either would create a scenario where registrations would be put out on the black market by unscrupulous people. That is an already solved problem that many much larger races already employ.

RunDisney has shown time and time again that they don't really value the runners, they just want the most amount of money for the least amount of work.

All of this, and while I sympathize with people who get sick or injured, we accept their no refunds/no transfers/no deferrals policy when we hit that register button. Since they sell out, they aren't being held to the fire to offer race insurance or deferrals. They may have been generous during the pandemic, but it's also their prerogative to hold to their policy once again.