Anisum
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 15, 2015
True! At first I thought it would be the 6-month mark, then in time to start the Galloway plan, and they sure have proved me wrong so far!
As much as I hate to say it, I've been thinking for awhile now that it'll be canceled, but that they aren't 100% sure yet and don't want to make an announcement until they are totally sure (which is infuriating for those waiting, but I get it - just don't get what it is what they're waiting for to be 100% sure that it's a no-go). Because once they DO make the announcement it'll be a total sh*tstorm of (valid) complaints (what's happening with the other West Coast races? What about people who have already signed up for Light Side? No more Coast-to-Coast/Pink Coast-to-Coast/Kessel Run? What about people who have already booked flights or non-refundable hotels - we know international runners need to plan pretty far in advance? Etc.). I have thought that their customer service is already non-existent (exception: WDW Half cancellation, I was impressed with how they handled that), so we'll see what they do.
I wonder if they're waiting to announce until they can answer (most) of the complaints that will arise the moment they do. I do think it will suck for those who pre-book flights and hotels. Also what about travel agents and charities? Did they get their bib allotment and will runDisney refund them so that their customers can be refunded.
I think if there is another West Coast runDisney race it is far easier for them to say you can defer to another race or get a Disney gift card. If they end up cancelling all west coast races however I think they'd have to offer a check or cash refund even if $50 was taken out for active fees or some BS. People wouldn't be happy about that (nor should they) but you can't expect locals to commit to travelling to east coast runDisney races. I think too it will depend on how many entries they sold before closing entries back up.Mostly I am curious to see how they handle refunds, if the weekend is canceled, for Light Side runners that did the early registrations. I don't think they (runDisney) are on the hook for flight or hotel refunds (lesson learned - runDisney races are NEVER set in stone, so never book anything that isn't refundable!)...but they need to compensate in some way for the race registrations. I can't see them giving a full refund back to credit cards (I'm not saying that I don't think that's what SHOULD happen, I just don't think that's what WILL happen) because they have never done that before. I'm going purely off of what they did when they canceled the Tower of Terror 10-miler: people that had deferred from the previous year (what was the last year, but no one knew it at the time) didn't get refunds, they got the offer to transfer to another race weekend. This situation wouldn't be quite the same since it was 1.) deferrals, and 2.) assuming that if Light Side goes, all West Coast races will go, but that is my guess as to what they will do - transfer or refund in the form of a Disney gift card. Again, I am not saying that I think that this is what they should do (I hope they do full refunds to original payment forms - that's what happened for me when a local race was canceled), but I cannot recall a time where they have ever done full refunds, and not in the form of a transfer or gift card. The partial check option they initially gave @Dis_Yoda is interesting, and I hope that I'm wrong and that they do full refunds by check or to original payment forms...