Future runDisney Events

[jimrpa]

The atlanta track club has been doing a lot of race with much larger start times, more corrals and smaller corrals and it works... on a closed course.

Disney is a problem just because they have very tight timelines for when roads, etc. HAVE to be open. So the ending time is a hard stop. So their options to do anything like that would be a) start earlier or b) reduce field size to say half and half the size of corrals. Not sure either is really workable.

Well, there is a third option actually.. move the race to ESPN and have it run all day.

A much easier solution would be to simply go back to night races. That way, you wouldn’t have to worry about park openings, there would be fewer busses and less traffic to contend with for road closures. Night races just make so much more sense (besides, seriously, who really WANTS to get up at 3:00 AM to be able to get on a bus and stand around in a welcome area then a corral? I’d rather sleep in, have a relaxing day and a swim, THEN hit the race!)

 

[Krandor]

A much easier solution would be to simply go back to night races. That way, you wouldn’t have to worry about park openings, there would be fewer busses and less traffic to contend with for road closures. Night races just make so much more sense (besides, seriously, who really WANTS to get up at 3:00 AM to be able to get on a bus and stand around in a welcome area then a corral? I’d rather sleep in, have a relaxing day and a swim, THEN hit the race!)

I'd love to see them come back but they are a different set of logicial challenges but unfortuntly even after covid is over I don't see them coming back. Would love to see it though but right now when they need the nighttime hours to clean the parks I defiitely don't see them doing it right now.

 

[GrandAdmiralStrife]

I would expect the first races back will be a mix of earlier starts/reduced entries. Like, waaaaaay reduced. I can't see them trying out the gate with anything more than 50% 'capacity'. And I would expect masks being mandatory in the corrals, only being removed once you cross the start line.

I have an in -person half next week (Austin Half Marathon) and they have a plan in place: COVID Mitigation Plan. It's pretty involved and no way could runDisney pull off a full marathon with these restrictions

 

[GreatLakes]

I don't see Disney doing relaxed start and while I loved the night races and think W&D lost a lot without finishing at night and going right to a party I think Disney is done with them.

Another thing to remember is most of the local races we are seeing come back are concentrating on raising some money for charity or having a good running experience and breaking even. RunDisney doesn't care about our running experience. It isn't put on for us, it is a pure profit center put on for them. Any alterations that would eat into the bottom line are unlikely to be implemented so we may not see a rD race until they get back to mostly normal. I have no doubt races will be back to the way they were in 2019, at least mostly, I just don't know when exactly that happens.

 

[PrincessV]

Well, there is a third option actually.. move the race to ESPN and have it run all day.

Y'know, I'm just about desperate enough that I'd sign up for this. Look away; I'm hideous.

 

[Nole95]

I think Disney will probably look at what Boston and New York are doing and try for something similar. Two of the biggest races in the world that have multiple street closures to deal with in major cities. New York has to transport people out to the start line via bus or boat where people then congregate around for hours prior to the start. Not sure about Boston, but I think they are similar. If these two large races can figure things out by having reduced fields and solving logistical challanges, there is no reason why Disney cannot do the same.

 

[zeferjen]

I think Disney will probably look at what Boston and New York are doing and try for something similar. Two of the biggest races in the world that have multiple street closures to deal with in major cities. New York has to transport people out to the start line via bus or boat where people then congregate around for hours prior to the start. Not sure about Boston, but I think they are similar. If these two large races can figure things out by having reduced fields and solving logistical challanges, there is no reason why Disney cannot do the same.

Ok but if they have to wait until October/November to make a decision, that pretty much rules our marathon weekend 2022

 

[Nole95]

I don't think they have to wait until October or November. Both New York and Boston are actively planning their races right now. Anyone running NYC this year will know at the beginning of June that they are running and what the field size is.

Boston has already announced a field size of 20,000. They are also eliminating the staging area at the start. Instead, they are doing a rolling start time and partipants will load busses in Boston based on their assigned start time.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

I tend to agree from a logistical standpoint, but the NYRR and BAA’s main purpose and existence is to promote its races, principally the NY and Boston marathons. RunDisney is one of many, many subsidiaries. It makes a ton of money for the company to be sure, but I often feel it’s added benefit is to bring more people to the parks during a historically low time. For better or worse, Disney seems to have not brought back things that otherwise boost attendance - fireworks, extra parties, etc. It’s a pretty bare bones experience now. I have no idea of the internal numbers but they may be getting a nice boost from just the virtual runners (though I feel this is a temporal pacifier and registrations will diminish if in-person runs aren’t resumed soon). I guess it all depends on how much people are advocating internally for its return and if the boost in attendance is desired at that time.

 

[PrincessV]

I think issue #1 for a return to in person races at WDW is reduced park and resort capacity. So long as WDW continues to limit capacity, I can't see holding races to increase attendance. Officially, parks remain at max 35% of full capacity and many big resorts remain closed. That just doesn't bode well for races, I don't think.

 

[camaker]

I think issue #1 for a return to in person races at WDW is reduced park and resort capacity. So long as WDW continues to limit capacity, I can't see holding races to increase attendance. Officially, parks remain at max 35% of full capacity and many big resorts remain closed. That just doesn't bode well for races, I don't think.

Could we be looking at this from the wrong perspective based on the historical reasons for the races? No, they don’t need the races to increase attendance right now. However, with the attendance restrictions, there’s a pretty hard cap on the revenue they can bring in from day to day operations. Could the races be seen as a way to add an additional layer of revenue?

Say they could put together a race weekend with 5,000 Dopey bibs, for instance. That’s over $3MM extra for the weekend just from bibs before you factor in the individual distances and race merch sales. That alone might make a race weekend an attractive proposition.

On another note, I’m a little surprised they haven’t increased park capacity yet. I’m expecting them to move to 50%, at least, any time now.

 

[jimrpa]

Everyone here is looking at “why Disney won’t do this”, “why Disney can’t do this”. Let’s look at what’s happening in the world now that would support Disney restarting in-person races:
- Vaccination rates. Almost half of all adults have received at least one dose of vaccine. By June 17, 70% of the population should be vaccinated and by July, hopefully, about 90% of the population will be vaccinated
- Proof of vaccination. Currently, we have our vaccination cards. There are a variety of organizations working on electronic proof of vaccination, including CLEAR.
- American travel bouncing back
- Economic rebound and Disney wanting to recoup losses from the pandemic
- Magic Kingdom 50th celebration
All of these combined say to me that Disney is going to look very hard at resuming runDisney as soon as possible (hopefully Wine and Dine to coincide with the kickoff of the 50th celebration, but definitely marathon weekend). There are no reasons they can’t. They can reduce risk by:
- requiring runners be vaccinated
- requiring runners sign waivers
- reducing field size (but I think that will be totally unnecessary)
My plans are for Wine and Dine 2021 (until Disney cancels it )

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

I like your aspirational thinking! I hope it's true.

 

[pluto377]

I'm just so tired of waiting to hear something! I want to know now!! The anticipation is killing me

 

[Onceuponamarathon]

Everyone here is looking at “why Disney won’t do this”, “why Disney can’t do this”. Let’s look at what’s happening in the world now that would support Disney restarting in-person races:
- Vaccination rates. Almost half of all adults have received at least one dose of vaccine. By June 17, 70% of the population should be vaccinated and by July, hopefully, about 90% of the population will be vaccinated
- Proof of vaccination. Currently, we have our vaccination cards. There are a variety of organizations working on electronic proof of vaccination, including CLEAR.
- American travel bouncing back
- Economic rebound and Disney wanting to recoup losses from the pandemic
- Magic Kingdom 50th celebration
All of these combined say to me that Disney is going to look very hard at resuming runDisney as soon as possible (hopefully Wine and Dine to coincide with the kickoff of the 50th celebration, but definitely marathon weekend). There are no reasons they can’t. They can reduce risk by:
- requiring runners be vaccinated
- requiring runners sign waivers
- reducing field size (but I think that will be totally unnecessary)
My plans are for Wine and Dine 2021 (until Disney cancels it )

I'm a researcher by nature and profession so have been obsessing about the numbers for a while now. lol. Overall I agree with most of what you said but there are a few wrinkles I think Disney is still waiting on.

First, that 90% by July number is a simple calculation of the number of people vaccinated a day as a portion of the population. Which is great. But also not obtainable until we get a vaccine for those under 16. Otherwise, we max out around 78% once we get all eligible adults. A number that is likely to be lower as some adults will decline.

As for the proof of vaccination...I don't know if Disney goes that route. Realistically, anyone who decides to go the electronic proof of vaccination route will be a pioneer in it. Disney could be a great candidate but I don't think they'll take on the expense, PR efforts, etc., unless they do it across the board (i.e., it's needed for the parks as well). While they could do it just for races people will point out that they need it to run but then can waltz right into the park. Plus, hopefully, we'll get to herd immunity and not need proof within the next year. There's a lot of advantage for Disney to just wait it out instead. Then again, I DO think they will need to figure out proof of vaccination for the return of cruising. They haven't announced they'll require it like other cruise lines have, but I have to imagine they will. And I could also see them using it for vendors (the bus services, volunteers, etc.) for race day. So it may be they use proof of vaccination internally.

As for signing waivers. Disney doesn't really care about a random person getting covid and suing. What they don't want an outbreak traced back to them. That's the real concern. Waivers don't matter much for that.

Ultimately I think marathon weekend is doable. Maybe even desirable as a way to bring in more money per person while likely under capacity limits. However, I don't think they announce until the last second possible second.

 

[SarahDisney]

- Vaccination rates. Almost half of all adults have received at least one dose of vaccine. By June 17, 70% of the population should be vaccinated and by July, hopefully, about 90% of the population will be vaccinated

In the US. runDisney gets a lot of international runners. I'm sure they're considering international vaccination rates in their decision making.

I know people don't want to hear this, but I think runDisney will be slower to come back because of international runners. Unless they're going to require a negative test, but I don't see them doing that, I think they'd probably wait for international vaccination rates to improve.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I'm a researcher by nature and profession so have been obsessing about the numbers for a while now. lol. Overall I agree with most of what you said but there are a few wrinkles I think Disney is still waiting on.

First, that 90% by July number is a simple calculation of the number of people vaccinated a day as a portion of the population. Which is great. But also not obtainable until we get a vaccine for those under 16. Otherwise, we max out around 78% once we get all eligible adults. A number that is likely to be lower as some adults will decline.

As for the proof of vaccination...I don't know if Disney goes that route. Realistically, anyone who decides to go the electronic proof of vaccination route will be a pioneer in it. Disney could be a great candidate but I don't think they'll take on the expense, PR efforts, etc., unless they do it across the board (i.e., it's needed for the parks as well). While they could do it just for races people will point out that they need it to run but then can waltz right into the park. Plus, hopefully, we'll get to herd immunity and not need proof within the next year. There's a lot of advantage for Disney to just wait it out instead. Then again, I DO think they will need to figure out proof of vaccination for the return of cruising. They haven't announced they'll require it like other cruise lines have, but I have to imagine they will. And I could also see them using it for vendors (the bus services, volunteers, etc.) for race day. So it may be they use proof of vaccination internally.

As for signing waivers. Disney doesn't really care about a random person getting covid and suing. What they don't want an outbreak traced back to them. That's the real concern. Waivers don't matter much for that.

Ultimately I think marathon weekend is doable. Maybe even desirable as a way to bring in more money per person while likely under capacity limits. However, I don't think they announce until the last second possible second.

Remember that a not insignificant percentage of America's adult population will refuse to get vaccinated for illegitimate reasons. Also, the FL governor is a nut job who has threatened legal action against any business that requires vaccination in FL.

Vaccination passes only help if they can be used, and then you will have people who refuse to get vaccinated who will sue to participate.

 

[BikeFan]

Since we're all feverishly speculating anyway . . .

What's the time frame we can expect on getting an announcement on the status of Marathon Weekend 2022 (and the rest of the 2022 schedule)? I'm just going to go ahead and assume Wine and Dine 2021 is not happening as a live event and I'm not planning on attending that one, but I'm definitely in for Marathon Weekend 2022 if it happens. Most of the big marathons usually open registration at least six months ahead of time, if not more, so I'd expect Disney to make an announcement by July, but that's just my guess. I can't imagine not getting some sort of announcement by the July-August period. When were the 2021 races converted to virtual-only events?

 

[Herding_Cats]

Princess converted to Virtual in like....August? And I feel like SW went virtual in the beginning of December.

 

[softball chick]

Marathon / Princess switched to virtual on Sept 22nd, Star Wars went virtual on Dec 11th.