Marathon Weekend 2023

[dancingtodisney]

Everest was not open (down for refurb) this past January.

Ah of course!!

 

[Disney at Heart]

I decided to make a (what I knew would be useless) call to Run Disney to explain my situation (got up and waited in the queue from 11:45pm-2:30am Aus time - 9:45am-12:30pm eastern time) and that I had to give up and go to sleep so missed out. Also let them know that we were basing our entire trip to the US around the Marathon Weekend dates.
The lady I spoke to on the phone couldn’t have cared less and said they ‘didn’t know of any technical issues with the release’. When I asked if there was any way to get an entry she replied with “no”.
She couldn’t have sounded any less enthusiastic when she finished the call with “have a magical day”.

While I didn’t expect an outcome from the call, I also didn’t expect the rudeness and lack of sympathy either. Also, I find it very hard to believe she wasn’t aware of the technical dramas!

It is probable that you called a Disney World number and that the CM knew nothing about the fiasco. I have checked is a couple of days before MW several times, and said, “We’re here for the races,” and the CM said, “What races?” which we had to explain. Disney Parks/Resorts and runDisney apparently don’t communicate.
That said, there was no excuse for rudeness or lack of empathy. I am sorry you were unable to get in. I read your posts as the fiasco was unfolding and was really pulling for you.

 

[camaker]

Reading these posts is doing a good job in confirming that we, the runners, essentially hit RunDisney with a denial of service attack yesterday. I'm not one to be overly sympathetic towards Disney IT, but it seems like they were faced with a perfect storm of unanticipated demand in combination with each registrant multiplying that effect through the use of multiple browsers, on average (I've seen reports ranging from use of a single browser all the way up to 12(!)).

I'm not sure how they were supposed to anticipate that kind of incoming volume, given that registration has typically not filled up for selected races for months, in some cases. See @DopeyBadger's excellent sell-out timing thread for recent history on that front. Even factoring in a theoretical increase in interest from the anniversaries, I don't think this was foreseeable. The combo of 25th marathon anniversary and 5th Dopey anniversary wasn't nearly this chaotic.

I think the current queue-based registration system is a big improvement over the days of "refresh and pray" Active registration. Unfortunately, it's turned into a browser tab arms race that's painful for everyone involved and I don't know what the solution is.

 

[marty3d]

Ticketmaster can be just as bad, but they have tried to improve things with their “Verified Fan” program. If an artist/ show opts in you have to pre register. You get a unique code sent via SMS the night before the on sale date. The code can only be used once which eliminates the use of multiple browser Tabs. implementing something like this along with giving you X minutes to complete and pay for your registration would improve things dramatically. rD really needs to introduce some type of hold on registration just like when you buy tickets for a concert or sporting event. I felt terrible for every post I read where the race was available when they got in but sold out by the time they clicked pay now.

 

[jpeterson]

Reading these posts is doing a good job in confirming that we, the runners, essentially hit RunDisney with a denial of service attack yesterday. I'm not one to be overly sympathetic towards Disney IT, but it seems like they were faced with a perfect storm of unanticipated demand in combination with each registrant multiplying that effect through the use of multiple browsers, on average (I've seen reports ranging from use of a single browser all the way up to 12(!)).

I'm not sure how they were supposed to anticipate that kind of incoming volume, given that registration has typically not filled up for selected races for months, in some cases. See @DopeyBadger's excellent sell-out timing thread for recent history on that front. Even factoring in a theoretical increase in interest from the anniversaries, I don't think this was foreseeable. The combo of 25th marathon anniversary and 5th Dopey anniversary wasn't nearly this chaotic.

I think the current queue-based registration system is a big improvement over the days of "refresh and pray" Active registration. Unfortunately, it's turned into a browser tab arms race that's painful for everyone involved and I don't know what the solution is.

It's worth noting that the queue itself never went down. It was up and functional the entire time. It is clearly hosted differently and is likely a 3rd party product that they integrated into the website. It was completely able to handle the load.

The runDisney website on the other hand completely imploded. Most people were just loading a page and clicking the register now button. That load is not that heavy that they couldn't prepare for it.

Reality is that the main page with the registration link, the registration process itself and the queue should have been on their own (load balanced) servers.

This was a failure to design and prepare for scale. The load is not that large even with the multiple tabs. These are not compute heavy operations. There is quite possibly an old and poorly optimized code base at the root of this but there is still a lot they could do if they had the desire to do so.

 

[lukemorenus]

Reading these posts is doing a good job in confirming that we, the runners, essentially hit RunDisney with a denial of service attack yesterday. I'm not one to be overly sympathetic towards Disney IT, but it seems like they were faced with a perfect storm of unanticipated demand in combination with each registrant multiplying that effect through the use of multiple browsers, on average (I've seen reports ranging from use of a single browser all the way up to 12(!)).

I'm not sure how they were supposed to anticipate that kind of incoming volume, given that registration has typically not filled up for selected races for months, in some cases. See @DopeyBadger's excellent sell-out timing thread for recent history on that front. Even factoring in a theoretical increase in interest from the anniversaries, I don't think this was foreseeable. The combo of 25th marathon anniversary and 5th Dopey anniversary wasn't nearly this chaotic.

I think the current queue-based registration system is a big improvement over the days of "refresh and pray" Active registration. Unfortunately, it's turned into a browser tab arms race that's painful for everyone involved and I don't know what the solution is.

Agreed… and I’m the guy with 12

 

[cdlafl]

So, I tried with one browser on two devices about 10 mins prior to 10am. Got the dwarves until 1130, then I finally was able to land in the waiting room. At 1230, I got a wait period of 'over an hour' for both. For giggles, I tried on my phone as well. That also showed 'over an hour'. The laptop took the lead, and interestingly the iPad and iPhone tracked pretty closely with one another. Being in the waiting room really provided no benefit for the end user. It likely provided great benefit to RunDisney, as those already in the waiting room were not bombarding their system again right at 1230. So, while it helped keep the system up, it doesn't appear to me that those in the waiting room gained any significant benefit (prioritization). At 1230, it was a free for all...all based on luck. I was trying to get Dopey. Managed to land the Marathon. I'll take it, but it wasn't what I was looking for. I work in IT. Yesterday was quite frustrating. Run Disney should be quite embarrassed. But it will be spun positive...our events are so popular, we crashed the system...it's not the poorly built systems fault...smh

 

[Herding_Cats]

Yes, there is a HUGE load being placed on their system with people having multiple devices/browsers open to try to get in. I had, at one point, 6 open (2 phones, 2 tablets, and 2 browsers on my computer.) And the one that got through the soonest was DH's phone that didn't get into the queue until around 12:15, and was the last one to join. Which goes to reinforce the idea that the early opening of the queue just dumps everyone in randomly when registration officially opens. And if it's random, people ARE going to use multiple devices/browsers because we need to cast a wider net to increase our odds.

I don't have any answers or solutions, but that's the current state of things.


On a different note, I'm still exhausted today, and I still can't believe I signed up for Dopey. It's not buyer's remorse, more like buyer's anxiety.

 

[disney_runner]

6 browsers here, all of which had dwarfs until 12:30, and I was still refreshing all of them randomly up until about 12:20 or so.
At 12:30, spinning with over an hour wait time, except for two. My iphone had 5 minutes (pure luck), and basement computer had 56 minutes.
Finished my reg on iphone, then saw regular chrome on upstairs computer down to 15 (from an hour). Sent that to a friend
Then chrome on basement computer went down to 24, sent that to a friend
Forgot about private/incognito on my phone, saw that go down to 14, sent that to a friend.
Meanwhile Edge and incognito on upstairs computer had dwindled down, was going to share here, and then they went back up to 45/50.
Things were selling out at this point so I just shut it all down.
Friends and myself all got in what we wanted, from pure luck of the draw, but I feel terrible for those who got shut out. Been doing this since 2008 and never saw it this bad. It's craZy!

 

[Sleepy425]

Yesterday was crazy - I had to be at work for 12:30. I ran into the office "it's RunDisney time, I have to get in!" Thankfully everyone there knows about my race addiction (they helped me register for Spring Surprise since that was during my shift). My phone got into registration at 12:48, but my husband texted at that point and said he was able to get us everything. Super thankful he was working from home!
So my husband, sons and I are doing the 10k, and my husband and I are doing the half. I'm really not looking forward to when my daughters are ten and I have to manage to secure even more bibs!!!

 

[camaker]

This was a failure to design and prepare for scale. The load is not that large even with the multiple tabs. These are not compute heavy operations. There is quite possibly an old and poorly optimized code base at the root of this but there is still a lot they could do if they had the desire to do so.

This gets to my point, though. This registration system has worked since they implemented it. If you look at the historical information in the sell-out thread, there's no indication of an increase, much less a massive increase, in demand. There has to be some sort of trigger for them to upgrade the system. Any expense approving manager is going to look at the PO for the registration system update and ask to see the justification. Show them the underlying historical registration data and there's no way a system upgrade gets approved. There was just no indication of the coming storm or how bad it would be.

 

[striker1064]

This gets to my point, though. This registration system has worked since they implemented it. If you look at the historical information in the sell-out thread, there's no indication of an increase, much less a massive increase, in demand. There has to be some sort of trigger for them to upgrade the system. Any expense approving manager is going to look at the PO for the registration system update and ask to see the justification. Show them the underlying historical registration data and there's no way a system upgrade gets approved. There was just no indication of the coming storm or how bad it would be.

And not only that, but for all the chaos yesterday, the registration did get up and running again within a couple hours, and... it still sold out very quickly. So why go through the expense of upgrading the system when Disney is going to make the same amount of money? From a business perspective, I totally see why they'd never bother. System issues have never deterred people from giving Disney money. This is a problem with DVC as well from time to time.

 

[jpeterson]

So why go through the expense of upgrading the system when Disney is going to make the same amount of money?

because it bothers me, as a software engineer, to have a system that is poorly designed! But as I keep pointing out, they are not consulting me on their decisions!

 

[fatmanatee]

I have a question about the Marathon for anyone that has done it recently! The year I did it (2016) we made it to AK just after opening and Everest was open, we had to queue in the regular line but it was something we really wanted to do! Would love to hear more recent Everest experiences? Are they only opening the ride from park opening? I'm assuming with LL runners have to use the regular standby queue?

As mentioned before it was down this year but my understanding is that 1. the line isn’t long at all that early, and 2. people will sometimes let runners skip ahead of them in the line. In any case, it’s a popular ride for the marathon due to how quickly you can get on and get through it. I’d look at standby times lately to make sure that would still be the case.

 

[jrsharp21]

I have a question about the Marathon for anyone that has done it recently! The year I did it (2016) we made it to AK just after opening and Everest was open, we had to queue in the regular line but it was something we really wanted to do! Would love to hear more recent Everest experiences? Are they only opening the ride from park opening? I'm assuming with LL runners have to use the regular standby queue?

For 2020, we only did the half marathon, so we were at AK during the full marathon. When we were in line for EE, most of the runners were going in to the single rider queue. I am guessing that will probably be the best option still.

 

[Novatrix]

I get that it was a perfect storm of demand yesterday, but I think the queue was completely ineffective.

Yesterday, at ~9:45 I got into the queue on both my personal and my work cell phone. Remained in queue on both those devices until registration finally opened up at 12:30. Both had wait times of over an hour. Just for giggles, after watching for 3 minutes and both still showing at over an hour, I opened up a new page on my work laptop and clicked the "register" button for the 5k and it brought me right to the registration page.

The first of my queued devices finally let me in at 1:37, by which time Dopey would've been sold out. People hitting the register button should not be put into a randomized place in the queue, they should only be allowed in after everyone in queue has had a chance to register.

 

[Naomeri]

I have a question about the Marathon for anyone that has done it recently! The year I did it (2016) we made it to AK just after opening and Everest was open, we had to queue in the regular line but it was something we really wanted to do! Would love to hear more recent Everest experiences? Are they only opening the ride from park opening? I'm assuming with LL runners have to use the regular standby queue?

Don’t forget Everest has a single rider line that is often super fast to get through

 

[Baloo in MI]

This gets to my point, though. This registration system has worked since they implemented it. If you look at the historical information in the sell-out thread, there's no indication of an increase, much less a massive increase, in demand. There has to be some sort of trigger for them to upgrade the system. Any expense approving manager is going to look at the PO for the registration system update and ask to see the justification. Show them the underlying historical registration data and there's no way a system upgrade gets approved. There was just no indication of the coming storm or how bad it would be.

I am not in IT, just a daily computer user. So from that end I can’t argue how it could be better. But I do think runDisney should have known the demand would be massive and better set up for it. They only had to look at the trends. Park visitation, resort stays, demand on DVC points, etc. Then include the influence of anniversary years, a theme that really caught on (even outside of this echo chamber). And then impacts of International Travelers and post Covid “normalcy”. The information was there.

Yeah, they get our money either way. But what happened to the guest experience? I am disappointed.

 

[deadvc]

I see a lot of defense for runDisney from folks who, from what I can tell, don't work in IT and are framing solvable problems as unsolvable. Fact is, if they cared to they could have the site designed in such a way as to be scalable. If it's easily scalable then new virtual servers can be spun up on demand to account for additional traffic. This allows you to dynamically respond to user load and avoid paying for active servers when they aren't needed. Maybe you see some weirdness occasionally, but not a 2.5 hour downtime. There are solutions here, Disney opts not to use them. It is fully justified to criticize them for that.

On another note, this fiasco further shows why the current randomized queue system is flawed. You can't blame users for opening multiples browsers/incognito windows. The system is designed in such a way that taking your chances with one session gives you a high probability of not even getting into the site before your event sells out. Users are going to do the only logical thing they can do to maximize their chances of getting into their race. Putting forward a flawed system and then blaming the users for taking the logical approach doesn't track.

The simplest and fairest solution is to go with first come, first served. Have the queue be time based, not totally randomized. I've seen a lot of crazy theories about how the queue works but make no mistake - it's random. Does it mean a mad rush to be the first into the queue once it becomes available? Sure, and it will involve a lot of refreshing. But if they properly account for that load (see my first paragraph) they'll be fine. It's not like they didn't have load issues yesterday.

In any case, I managed to get in for Dopey thankfully. But my father wasn't able to get in for the 10k, and it was sold out by the time I finished my Dopey registration so I couldn't get it for him either. It was frustrating to sit in a queue for almost 3 hours and then still have to wait another 30 minutes to get in and have half the races already sold out.

 

[Kerry1957]

Don’t forget Everest has a single rider line that is often super fast to get through

This was my experience in 2021. The single rider lane was short, and the regular folks in that line were terrific, allowing us to go right to the front. I was on the ride literally a minute or two after entering the building.