Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon

Seminole09

Seminole09

Member
Sumrdog

Sumrdog

Well-Known Member
We arrived last night! We told our kids we were going to Denver for a long weekend. When our flight landed we led the kids to the Orlando gate and then my husband said, it's cold here maybe we could sneak on a plane to Orlando. I said maybe if we have the right disguise. Then I went into my backpack and handed them each their ear hats. Then they got really excited because they knew we were actually going to Disney World. It was awesome!
So it was super humid last night and looking that way through the weekend. We went to EPCOT for a little while where the surprise continued because my parents and nieces are here too. My kids went into shock again. Ha ha ha!
Crowds were ok last night.
 
SpectroPhoenix

SpectroPhoenix

Active Member
Texas84 said:
I choose to believe the weather.com forecast for clear weather Saturday night. I look for the most optimistic forecast but that didn't work last year. :D

But seriously, runDisney will probably flag this race for heat, which basically means be careful and re-think going for the PR.

http://www.rundisney.com/blog/articles/weekend-weather-advisory-11-05-15/
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I appreciate your optimism :)
Things are looking better in the rain-department, but this 100% humidity at midnight is pretty depressing, and that's coming from a Floridian.
 
Figment82

Figment82

Well-Known Member
Just picked up my stuff during lunch. I was pleased to see they honored those of us with legacy status with a different colored bib and a "perfect" designation. No silly spatula this year, though. ;) The merch lines were crazy in both buildings and some of the displays looked like they were almost bare. Hopefully they'll be able to keep up with demand. Good luck to everyone running tomorrow, and be sure to take it easy with this crazy weather!
 
Mad Stitch

Mad Stitch

Well-Known Member
I just read about last nights events. Sorry to hear the race was a bit of a bust. And to think some of you were doing it as a redo after the rain last year.
 
BackOTheLine

BackOTheLine

Well-Known Member
Reading about the race this morning I can only imagine how disappointed I would be after training for a half and only getting a 10k. I appreciate Disney did it out of safety concerns for everyone. Has there been any muttering about partial refunds or a discounts on next years race? Just curious.
 
Dukeblue1227

Dukeblue1227

Well-Known Member
It wasn't t about safety is the very disappointing part of it. Yes they delayed it due to safety, but only 45 minutes . It was a perfect night, and they only shortened the course so not to lose 45 minutes of the after party and lose money. My wife couldn't run more than a mile 9 months ago and trained very hard for this. She was so excited. It's extremely disappointing how far this company has come to put a dollar in front of an experience.
 
BackOTheLine

BackOTheLine

Well-Known Member
Dukeblue1227 said:
It wasn't t about safety is the very disappointing part of it. Yes they delayed it due to safety, but only 45 minutes . It was a perfect night, and they only shortened the course so not to lose 45 minutes of the after party and lose money. My wife couldn't run more than a mile 9 months ago and trained very hard for this. She was so excited. It's extremely disappointing how far this company has come to put a dollar in front of an experience.
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Wow. That's disappointing to hear. I'm training to run my first half next year and I know the, literal, blood sweat and tears that go along with it so I feel for you guys. Your wife should definitely be proud of the journey to get to stand in the starting corrals - despite what happened afterward. I hope Disney will find a way to make amends...
 
M

Mike C

Well-Known Member
What exactly happened? I'm hearing it was delayed 45 minutes but they cut the course in half? And it looks like Disney totally botched communication about it too. A few friends are now swearing off Run Disney because of it.
 
Dukeblue1227

Dukeblue1227

Well-Known Member
Raced supposed to start at 10. At 915 they evacuated all runners due to weather. Forecast showed a storm coming in. Storm passed with nothing actually happening (but again, good to take the safety precaution). Around 10:15 they announced they were all clear and people all lined up again. There was no announcement on the course length until like a 10:40 they said it would only be 7 miles. And they started at 10:45. So a 45 minute delay and the weather never came through so the course was fine, the forecast was fine, they just wanted to get everyone to after party (which turns a ton of money out and is mobbed).

My wife is very proudly wearing her medal today. She worked extremely hard all year, and this was just the ending to a long journey she accomplished already. She ran 12.5 miles two weeks ago so she knows she can do it, but being her first one she was very disappointed. She bought $200 worth of merchandise saying "I did it" that she's all upset about now.

The good news is everyone, absolutely everyone still had a great time. After party was a lot of fun. So most runners were disappointed but it didn't ruin the experience totally despite it.
 
Sumrdog

Sumrdog

Well-Known Member
It was very dissapointing. I hope Run Disney makes it up to us. I am so glad I ran the 5K in the morning so I at least got to go through Animal Kingdom, since they cut that entire part of the course.
 
HRHPrincessAriel

HRHPrincessAriel

Well-Known Member
Mad Stitch said:
I just read about last nights events. Sorry to hear the race was a bit of a bust. And to think some of you were doing it as a redo after the rain last year.
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So glad I didn't sign up for it this year! I was really debating over it because I felt I didn't get the experience last year with the rain
 
Mad Stitch

Mad Stitch

Well-Known Member
Dukeblue1227 said:
It wasn't t about safety is the very disappointing part of it. Yes they delayed it due to safety, but only 45 minutes . It was a perfect night, and they only shortened the course so not to lose 45 minutes of the after party and lose money.
Click to expand...

The permits required to close the roads are only valid for a few hours and then the roads must reopen. After the delay it was probably no longer possible to get everyone through the full course by the time the permit expired. Especially with all of the walkers runDisney attracts. So they probably had a tough decision to cancel the race or shorten the course.

Unfortunately this type of thing happening is a possibility when you have anything outdoors. The terms of the race do say it could be canceled without refund, so thankfully that did not happen. Maybe runDisney will offer something to ease the disappointment. But there will be people who believe what they want regardless of the facts and there will be no changing their mind.
 
Dukeblue1227

Dukeblue1227

Well-Known Member
Mad Stitch said:
But there will be people who believe what they want regardless of the facts and there will be no changing their mind.
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The same can be said about people who assume everything Disney does is always the correct thing to do.

Given the piece of course they cut out was the beginning of the race, and the part of the race they still ran was not run on the road but rather through parks and walkways, and they timed it so all runners finished at the same time they would have anyways, I'm sorry but this isn't true.

Their permits wouldn't have said roads near animal kingdom had to be reopened at 1 am but 1:45 am absolutely not!!

They wanted people at the after party. They wanted people spending money. Every single food stand that serves $4 half beers and $6 single appetizers had a 20 minute wait after runners returned. They were all dead before the runners were there.

They made a lot of money last night. That was and is their main concern at all times. Ever thinking differently is naive.
 

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