Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend 2021 (April 15-18, 2021) - Now Virtual Only

[Sleepless Knight]

well boo. Thst sounds like more then just a dark side to rivals change

I loved the Star Wars races and will hate to see them go away but sounds like that is what is happening.

I don't like the wording of that either.

 

[JediBonas]

So I emailed RunDisney earlier but was told I wouldn't get a response for 7-10 days (well past when registration opens for virtual), so just wondering if anyone here had insight.

I'm registered for the virtual half. I am a HUGE SW fan and want to do the virtual kessel challenge but I already paid for the virtual half and there are no refunds. Anyone have any idea if they could do something (refund the half if I register for the challenge, etc.)? I want those medals soooo badly but I refuse to pay twice for the virtual I'm already signed up for.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Not surprised but bummed. My friend @Calfan and I were supposed to run this in 2020 so this is now my third cancelled run. Who would have thought I'd be missing half-marathons, LOL. No virtual for us so we'll be cancelling when the email comes around.

 

[Z-Knight]

I’m surprised at the number of folks who are surprised at the medals being the same. They cancelled very close to the race weekend last year and didn’t offer a virtual option. It was far too close to cancel the order for the medals, so they’ve had them sitting around all year. Why would they go to the effort and cost of a redesign and ordering new ones when these were just sitting there unused?

I‘m hoping for a rapid rollout of the vaccines, as well, although I’ll probably be near the end of the priority list. I work in vaccine manufacturing, so I know the level of care and detail that goes into their development, testing and manufacturing. I have no concerns getting one as soon as available (although I would prefer to get the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine).

yeah, but the dates on the medal got updated...so if they had them sitting around then they would have had 2020 dates - but these say 2021.....soooo, they did the lazy thing and didn't create new designs and likely recast the medals, because I think it would be super hard to change a 0 to a 1 in the date on an already created medal.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

Yep, of course I booked flights yesterday. :-(

 

[Tiggerette]

Yep, of course I booked flights yesterday. :-(

Many airlines allow full cancellation within a 24 hour window of first booking. Hopefully, you're still within that window and can be refunded.

 

[BigEeyore]

UGH this is truly depressing! Not only are they going virtual, but they are hinting at not having Star Wars races anymore?? Oh my poor Sith heart is breaking!! I was hoping that they would wait to make a decision until late January/early Feb to see how things go with the vaccine roll out.

I don't love the medals enough to do the virtual - I was kinda hoping baby Yoda would make an appearance.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

Many airlines allow full cancellation within a 24 hour window of first booking. Hopefully, you're still within that window and can be refunded.

I actually rebooked from the flight that I had scheduled for marathon weekend in Jan. It's ok, I'm not going to lose money, it's just a pain.

I had planned on still taking my dd21 to WDW in Jan but she just found out a week ago that with the quaranteeing requirements in Boston she wouldn't be able to go before she goes back to school for spring semester. So, I had to cancel that trip this week and now this news has me totally bummed out.

 

[mtnmjd]

Southwest flights went live yesterday at 7:30 a.m. Disney posted the cancellation at 10:13 a.m. today - so just outside the 24 hours. Thankfully, I booked with points so I'm not out anything, but you know that there are people that got stuck by this.

I got my points refunded as well so it's not totally awful, but I added EarlyBird Boarding (mostly so I didn't have to worry about checking in for my return flight) and i just learned that this is non-refundable.
I sent an email to express my displeasure with this policy.

 

[rteetz]

Emails are going out. I selected my options. Virtual for all but challenge I took the one shirt choice.

 

[Krandor]

Emails are going out. I selected my options. Virtual for all but challenge I took the one shirt choice.

I think I'm going full refund.

 

[Krandor]

yeah, but the dates on the medal got updated...so if they had them sitting around then they would have had 2020 dates - but these say 2021.....soooo, they did the lazy thing and didn't create new designs and likely recast the medals, because I think it would be super hard to change a 0 to a 1 in the date on an already created medal.

Why create new designs when nobody got the current designs? If they hadd been handedd out even as a virtual I'd agree but nobody got these designs so I think using the same design makes sense.

 

[zgirls]

Are emails specific to you, haven’t gotten mine yet? And nothing on my registration page to select a refund.

 

[rteetz]

I think I'm going full refund.

I would have if this wasn’t my only chance at Star Wars.

 

[drummerwife]

I’m pretty sure I’ll be going full refund. I didn’t like the designs in 2020 and I still don’t like them for 2021. I’m also disappointed that runDisney isn’t acknowledging those of us that would’ve been perfect and that the races we’ve run won’t count going forward. I pretty much feel like runDisney is treating the Star Wars runners like red headed step-children. It could also be I’m just so upset. This is my 4th runDisney race that has been cancelled.

 

[rteetz]

Are emails specific to you, haven’t gotten mine yet? And nothing on my registration page to select a refund.

You are supposed to get an email for each race or challenge you signed up for. So for me I got an email for the 5K and then another for the challenge. Link to select your choice is inside.

 

[rteetz]

I’m pretty sure I’ll be going full refund. I didn’t like the designs in 2020 and I still don’t like them for 2021. I’m also disappointed that runDisney isn’t acknowledging those of us that would’ve been perfect and that the races we’ve run won’t count going forward. I pretty much feel like runDisney is treating the Star Wars runners like red headed step-children. It could also be I’m just so upset. This is my 4th runDisney race that has been cancelled.

Yeah I wouldn’t be thrilled if I was “perfect” and didn’t get the chance at that status in year five. I think that they aren’t continuing the status shows this is a full retheme or change of the weekend.

 

[MissLiss279]

Yeah... I’m probably going full refund also. These medals/shirts aren’t my favorite, and I’m not a huge fan of virtual runs myself even though I did trade Dopey in for Virtual Goofy...
I'm sad about the perfect status too.

Maybe the next theme will tie into Flower & Garden??

 

[drummerwife]

Yeah I wouldn’t be thrilled if I was “perfect” and didn’t get the chance at that status in year five. I think that they aren’t continuing the status shows this is a full retheme or change of the weekend.

I agree it’ll most likely be a complete retheme and unless it’s a theme I really don’t like, I’ll most likely be anxious to hand runDisney my money to start the “perfect” chase all over again...

 

[Krandor]

I would have if this wasn’t my only chance at Star Wars.

That makes sense then. I'be done all the in-person one (and actually have on a dark side half marathon shirt today which I put on before the announcement) so that puts me in a different boat. Now if I got "perfect" medals for doing the virtual then I'd consider it but they are not doing that.