Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend

[psherman42]

I saw the same thing on Twitter about no characters during the 5K. That's pretty terrible and if I'd signed up for it I'd be pretty upset and complain. It says right on the website there will be characters on the course. To not have any is false advertising. These events are already expensive and to not include characters just makes participating even less worth it. If this is a new trend, their registrations will plummet.

 

[Mark P.]

If this is a new trend, their registrations will plummet.

Sure, registrations will plummet...a year from now, after they've cashed in on the rest of us who already registered for races 11 months in advance without knowing about these cuts.

 

[psherman42]

Sure, registrations will plummet...a year from now, after they've cashed in on the rest of us who already registered for races 11 months in advance without knowing about these cuts.

True. I'm glad the only event I'm signed up for right now is the marathon in January and as it'd be my first full I have no plans of stopping for characters since I'll probably be really worried about finishing (just like I was for my first half lol). The only hope is they get a lot of complaints and fix it quickly. People are saying there won't be any for the 10k tomorrow either, although how they know that, I have no idea.

 

[asianway]

Making sure @ford91exploder sees that characters are now cut from Run Disney races

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Funny how the runDisney site still lists Disney characters on the course.

 

[ford91exploder]

Making sure @ford91exploder sees that characters are now cut from Run Disney races

Thanks, DW is at the Tinkerbell (and I'm in the office) and she and her BFF are NOT HAPPY about the characters being cut, Half the fun of the 5-10K races was the character interactions even if it's just waving at them on the way by.

The price for these races is stratospheric and Disney is too busy serving Wall St today to include a key part of the experience which has been part of runDisney events since DAY ONE.

 

[ford91exploder]

Funny how the runDisney site still lists Disney characters on the course.

Typical Disney bait-n-switch, from multiple people no characters seen at 5k... Let's see what happens with 10K and Half

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I saw the same thing on Twitter about no characters during the 5K. That's pretty terrible and if I'd signed up for it I'd be pretty upset and complain. It says right on the website there will be characters on the course. To not have any is false advertising. These events are already expensive and to not include characters just makes participating even less worth it. If this is a new trend, their registrations will plummet.

Yeah, I call BS on this one.

 

[asianway]

Yeah, I call BS on this one.

BS? It's the main topic of discussion on all running groups and twitter today...

 

[Ariel484]

I ran the 5K today - one character stop (Hook and Smee) but not a "real" picture. Selfie only. There were cones set up in front of them and we were not allowed to cross over the cones...so were about 10' away. So technically there were characters but not a "real" stop.

Last year they had two stops - Hook/Smee and Peter/Wendy and I thought THAT was light. They sure showed me!

 

[Ariel484]

And I stopped by the runDisney booth to register my disappointment. I was told it was done to prevent course crowding ("safety is our #1 concern") and that it'll be the same tomorrow. I asked why they couldn't at least have any characters at the finish area and she didn't have an answer for that.

 

[ford91exploder]

Two interesting things about the 'No Characters' run

1 - It's apparently a 'test' to speed up the races
2 - runDisney is not using volunteers to man the course apparently these are paid staff now.

Glad I'm not signed up for anything next year,

 

[asianway]

Two interesting things about the 'No Characters' run

1 - It's apparently a 'test' to speed up the races
2 - runDisney is not using volunteers to man the course apparently these are paid staff now.

Glad I'm not signed up for anything next year,

Had to make up that lost money somewhere. People should dispute the charges on their credit cards

 

[ford91exploder]

Had to make up that lost money somewhere. People should dispute the charges on their credit cards

This in a nutshell is precisely whats WRONG with Disney today, They created a great series of events which WERE fun for a huge amount of people run it for years with minimal changes but now since we must show Wall St we are a 'GROWTH' company they gut it at the drop of a hat and FUN is sacrificed to EFFICIENCY. As WOPR noted 'the only way to win, is to not play the game'. I'm not playing Disney's game any longer.

What's sad is even though Spirit likes to mock runDisney it made a heck of a lot of people START and follow through on exercise programs and that's a really good thing. But they did it because it was an approachable and fun way to start running,

As most marathons are run by the deadly serious who are only interested in the 'personal best' and will knock you over with no hesitation if you get in their way.

 

[asianway]

This in a nutshell is precisely whats WRONG with Disney today, They created a great series of events which is fun for a huge amount of people run it for years with minimal changes but now since we must show Wall St we are a 'GROWTH' company they gut it at the drop of a hat and FUN is sacrificed to EFFICIENCY. As WOPR noted 'the only way to win, is to not play the game'. I'm not playing Disney's game any longer.

And I'm the last one to play the "What about the children?" Card but come on, this is the race that little kids can do for Petes sake. If anything cut them from the race with the pro runners

 

[ford91exploder]

And I'm the last one to play the "What about the children?" Card but come on, this is the race that little kids can do for Petes sake. If anything cut them from the race with the pro runners

True in the 5K you see a LOT of young kids NOT IN A STROLLER!!!!

 

[ford91exploder]

And I stopped by the runDisney booth to register my disappointment. I was told it was done to prevent course crowding ("safety is our #1 concern") and that it'll be the same tomorrow. I asked why they couldn't at least have any characters at the finish area and she didn't have an answer for that.

It's because it's all about the money, Those characters cut into runDisney's margins and that cannot be allowed now that runDisney is a revenue producer for Disney and is not seen as a 'loss leader' (i.e. get people into parks at slow times WDW marathon is an example).

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I ran the 5K today - one character stop (Hook and Smee) but not a "real" picture. Selfie only. There were cones set up in front of them and we were not allowed to cross over the cones...so were about 10' away. So technically there were characters but not a "real" stop.

Last year they had two stops - Hook/Smee and Peter/Wendy and I thought THAT was light. They sure showed me!

OK, I will totally agree that this was lame on Disney's part, regardless of the reason. Bad.

 

[ford91exploder]

Apparently the blowback was severe enough as DW reports there were characters on the 10K yesterday.

So posting here and other social media forums does have an effect on Disneys actions.

 

[Ariel484]

4 character stops at the 10K (plus "selfie stops")
6 at the half marathon

They got the message.