Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

Rteetz

Rteetz

Well-Known Member
Greenlawler said:
My wife and I started this whole running journey over a decade ago because of the characters.

We had little boys who loved characters and that was our main hobby for years and years. I saw a pic of a runner with Hades at the 2007 marathon and we've been running ever since.

I think runDisney/entertainment should always throw one or two "hard to find" characters out for every race. I mean that is one of the main reasons people run/enjoy the races. I am blown away every year by the sheer number of folks I meet who say they started running because of the characters.

I will say they did have some interesting characters out this year, but not like they used to. Man I sound like "Get off my lawn guy".

I just will never forget in 2009 turning to run up towards the lake in Epcot for the half and seeing the entire Robin Hood, Hunchback, and Pinocchio crews, like 12 characters. Or in 2011, i think, the year they let Zorro, The Little Pigs, Shan Yu, Davy Crockett and Tom Sawyer out.

In know there's a ton of characters out there who have been seen within the last few years....Dumbo, Rattigan, Tick Tock, Jim Hawkins, Cheshire Cat, and no telling who else is lurking backstage. I simply hope they start freeing some of those great characters more often after all these are pretty pricey races. I just hope, with the new director they do not settle into the pattern of just putting out the characters they do every day
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5K/10K were definitely lacking. I will say the half and full had a few more in total than the last couple years. I have only been running these since 2015 so thats all I can compare it too.
 
Greenlawler

Greenlawler

Well-Known Member
Rteetz said:
5K/10K were definitely lacking. I will say the half and full had a few more in total than the last couple years. I have only been running these since 2015 so thats all I can compare it too.
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I used to keep a comprehensive list on the old Running at Disney website. I think I had lists from like from 2008 till 2013 or 14. I wish I had saved them somewhere else because that site is gone.

From 08-11 there was a definite magic in the air about the characters.

But from 2012-2016 or so, it was really just cut and paste, same characters, same places, with an occasional surprise character thrown in but not every year. I remember I think it was 2013 where they even advertised more characters for that year, and there were actually less.

2017 was the major disappointment. For the 25th anniversary I guess I expected a lot.

Anyways I agree on the half, seemed like some effort was put in.

So maybe I will find those lists and I can start a new thread so as not to derail this one.
 
Rteetz

Rteetz

Well-Known Member
Greenlawler said:
I used to keep a comprehensive list on the old Running at Disney website. I think I had lists from like from 2008 till 2013 or 14. I wish I had saved them somewhere else because that site is gone.

From 08-11 there was a definite magic in the air about the characters.

But from 2012-2016 or so, it was really just cut and paste, same characters, same places, with an occasional surprise character thrown in but not every year. I remember I think it was 2013 where they even advertised more characters for that year, and there were actually less.

2017 was the major disappointment. For the 25th anniversary I guess I expected a lot.

Anyways I agree on the half, seemed like some effort was put in.

So maybe I will find those lists and I can start a new thread so as not to derail this one.
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I have lists of the WDW marathon weekend races I have done since 2015.
 
dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
HouCuseChickie said:
Any pointers with this? Not like I expected any less, but I'm thinking about going back next year and my parents are discussing meeting me there. They want to run the 5k, but I have to assume they would like to spectate for the longer distances. i.e. not like me hanging out with AK security on the day of the full and randomly cheering on runners.
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Really depends on if they make more changes to the course, where you are staying, where they want to cheer, and your anticipated pacing. Used to be able to cheer at the start, hop on the monorail to the TTC area, cheer by the TTC, then walk over to GF/Shades of Green area and cheer there, then either monorail back to Epcot to hang out for the finish, or depending on time possibly bus to AK to cheer there and then bus to Epcot for finish. Lots of possible combinations, depending on variables.
 
Texas84

Texas84

Well-Known Member
Finisher numbers were up from last year. Not sure what was going on last year.

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Katherine

Katherine

Well-Known Member
Texas84 said:
Finisher numbers were up from last year. Not sure what was going on last year.

View attachment 443294
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I felt like the Half and Full were more crowded this year so I did some quick numbers to compare. Looks like the finisher percentage was up this year. Maybe more people made it to the start line? I don’t have DNS numbers so not sure 🤷‍♀️

2019 Half Bibs/Finishers: 25,145/18,419
2020 Half Bibs/Finishers: 26,513/21,636
2019 Marathon Bibs/Finishers: 17,907/11,936
2020 Marathon Bibs/Finishers: 18,511/14,117
 
Greenlawler

Greenlawler

Well-Known Member
Katherine said:
I felt like the Half and Full were more crowded this year so I did some quick numbers to compare. Looks like the finisher percentage was up this year. Maybe more people made it to the start line? I don’t have DNS numbers so not sure 🤷‍♀️

2019 Half Bibs/Finishers: 25,145/18,419
2020 Half Bibs/Finishers: 26,513/21,636
2019 Marathon Bibs/Finishers: 17,907/11,936
2020 Marathon Bibs/Finishers: 18,511/14,117
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Maybe in 2019 more casuals came out? Seems weird that there was such a dip of finishers in 2019.

It was a tough, hot, humid, race but 2020 was worse for sure.
 
Katherine

Katherine

Well-Known Member
Greenlawler said:
Maybe in 2019 more casuals came out? Seems weird that there was such a dip of finishers in 2019.

It was a tough, hot, humid, race but 2020 was worse for sure.
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Yeah that’s what I would’ve thought too. I’m interested to see if the finisher numbers drop on the official list after the results are “cleaned”. There may be some people still in that number that maybe started but didn’t finish but not sure right now.
 
Demarke

Demarke

Have I told you lately that I 👍 you?
The website still has the first window opening April 7, but given that they even delayed registration for the virtual races, I doubt that holds up.

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They also have not updated the passholders’ early registration page from Wine and Dine, so I would take that as a strong indicator that they won’t be opening up Marathon Weekend for awhile.
 
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S

skiir97

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking they might cancel all runDisney races until further notice. If the rumours of Disney planning on limiting attendance to the parks is true, there is no way runDisney races still happen since it's impossible to have separation between runners on the course...let alone the corals at the start.
 
surfsupdon

surfsupdon

Well-Known Member
If they cancel rD races, schools would be cancelled too. Sport programs like Little League too. You can't argue that being crammed in a school or in a classroom is safe but being in a corral is not. Got to get out of the ‘living in a bubble’ mentality.

We will be back to running races soon, and at Disney we will be starting with their WineDineHalf. And your local race sooner.

Agree or disagree??
 
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