Wine and Dine Half-Marathon

[HollyBelle]

Here is the description of the course from the web site,

Mickey's Halloween 5K Course Description
Race from the Happy Parking Lot toward Magic Kingdom® Park. Run past Tony's Town Square Restaurant onto Main Street, U.S.A.® toward Tomorrowland® where you will run past the Space Mountain® Attraction, under Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress and past Indy Car Motor Speedway. The course will then turn before the Mad Tea Party to run past the Rose Garden and in front of Cinderella Castle. Follow the ghostly lights toward the Haunted Mansion as you race through Liberty Square, past The Hall of Presidents, and then onto Frontierland® and Adventureland®. After you pass the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction you will run backstage to the finish line on West Beach overlooking Seven Seas Lagoon and the Magic Kingdom® Resort Area.

Finish Line on the Beach, sounds cool. I can't wait, but I do need the time to train.

Ahh... I completely missed this when looking at the site. Interesting that you go in front of the castle and not through it. It makes a lot of sense that you start in the parking lot; that MK parking lot is HUGE. :lol: Looks like it'll go under the water bridge and past the Contemporary as always!

The more I think about this (and the Wine and Dine), the more I want to do it!! Hope to see you there.

 

[Main Street USA]

Have any of you called about the hotel rooms that they're offering for the race? I called, and basically, you can double the price that is listed for each of the 4 hotels. Those prices are "based on double occupancy and are per person." This means the $52 rate that they give you for the All Star Sports is actually $104, and the $186 garden view room for the Poly is actually $372/night. Sorry, but these aren't great rates by any stretch of the imagination, and I've never seen them do the pricing this way. Even if you're alone, the price doubles according to two different people I spoke with, which means the only reason they'd post the prices they did is to try to get people on the phone to book, then spring the ACTUAL cost on them.

I've booked for races in the past at the "race hotels," and they've always given me the price as shown on the site.

This is a little sneaky on Disney's part. We were going to stay at the Poly, but I can stay in the Contemporary Tower with an MK view (my favorite) for $50 less per night, so I think we'll be doing that.

 

[joel_maxwell]

Have any of you called about the hotel rooms that they're offering for the race? I called, and basically, you can double the price that is listed for each of the 4 hotels. Those prices are "based on double occupancy and are per person." This means the $52 rate that they give you for the All Star Sports is actually $104, and the $186 garden view room for the Poly is actually $372/night. Sorry, but these aren't great rates by any stretch of the imagination, and I've never seen them do the pricing this way. Even if you're alone, the price doubles according to two different people I spoke with, which means the only reason they'd post the prices they did is to try to get people on the phone to book, then spring the ACTUAL cost on them.

I've booked for races in the past at the "race hotels," and they've always given me the price as shown on the site.

This is a little sneaky on Disney's part. We were going to stay at the Poly, but I can stay in the Contemporary Tower with an MK view (my favorite) for $50 less per night, so I think we'll be doing that.

Luckily, mine will be on the tail end of a vacation with the family. We will be staying, most likely, at the WL. If anything else then just the quietness of the place will be SO much better then my stay to any of the value resorts. They are what they are and teenagers running up and down the hallways all night is not something I care to experience ever again.

I think the worst part was the room adjacent to us was one of the party rooms. They had moved the safety latch over so the door wouldn't lock behind them. After about 2 hours of constant banging, we called the front desk. I still think I should have gone out there and shown off my Kung Fu. :lookaroun

 

[GoofyRacer11]

These races are going to be the start of my vacation. So after the races comes 8 more days of Disney.

 

[GoofyRacer11]

By the way does anybody know how fast the races are filling up? Just need to make sure I have time to sign up before it sells out. And that my take me a couple more weeks.

 

[GoofyFan1]

I think Disney has made a mistake dropping the RFTT and ToT races for this half marathon.:shrug: Not all runners want to run a half or full marathon.
I ran all three ToT races and combined that trip with a MNSSHP visit. They were great training runs for my first half and full. The new race holds no interest for me. I'm running the Goofy this year so I'll just train instead of going down to WDW in the fall.

 

[Main Street USA]

Yeah, I can see how some think that. For me, the 10k and the 13k were too close together. I ran one, but not both. With this new "race weekend" I can do both the 5k (which includes the MNSSHP ticket I would've purchased anyway), and the Half Marathon in the same day.

I'm not sure I can pass judgement until the weekend is over. Whenever we get back I'll be sure to post here and give my opinion of which was a better time.

 

[Main Street USA]

Luckily, mine will be on the tail end of a vacation with the family. We will be staying, most likely, at the WL. If anything else then just the quietness of the place will be SO much better then my stay to any of the value resorts. They are what they are and teenagers running up and down the hallways all night is not something I care to experience ever again.

I think the worst part was the room adjacent to us was one of the party rooms. They had moved the safety latch over so the door wouldn't lock behind them. After about 2 hours of constant banging, we called the front desk. I still think I should have gone out there and shown off my Kung Fu. :lookaroun

Yeah, WL is on our radar, too, but I'm guessing we'll end up staying in the Tower over at the Contemporary. As much as I LOVE the Wilderness, we have a very hard time passing up a balcony overlooking the Magic Kingdom.

I'll make sure to crack the sliding glass door in our room when we come back after the race Saturday night so we can wake up to the sound of the train's whistle...nothing quite like that. We'll follow that up with a huge and heavy breakfast down at Chef Mickey's at about 10:30am. Gotta reload those carbs.

 

[Phonedave]

Yeah, WL is on our radar, too, but I'm guessing we'll end up staying in the Tower over at the Contemporary. As much as I LOVE the Wilderness, we have a very hard time passing up a balcony overlooking the Magic Kingdom.

I'll make sure to crack the sliding glass door in our room when we come back after the race Saturday night so we can wake up to the sound of the train's whistle...nothing quite like that. We'll follow that up with a huge and heavy breakfast down at Chef Mickey's at about 10:30am. Gotta reload those carbs.

Ill be over in Kidani village. It has turned into an event. Ill be in a 2BR Villa because I have my two friends, my brother, his wife, my niece, and my nephew staying with me.

The race is at the start of my trip, so I don't have to worry about overeating or not running (or walking too much) during the trip.

Really looking forward to this one, it should be interesting.

-dave

 

[GoofyRacer11]

I think I will be staying at the Polynesian for this one. Which has the bonus of having transportation to the races.

 

[Phonedave]

I think I will be staying at the Polynesian for this one. Which has the bonus of having transportation to the races.

I asked when booking the AKL and the CM could not tell.

I asked her what resorts had transportation arrangements. She put me on hold, and came back after 5 minutes and said that information was not available yet.

-dave

 

[GoofyRacer11]

I asked when booking the AKL and the CM could not tell.

I asked her what resorts had transportation arrangements. She put me on hold, and came back after 5 minutes and said that information was not available yet.

-dave

Their website says that the hosts resorts that are currently open for special rates for this weekend are: Polynesian, Beach Club, Allstar Sports, and Port Orleans French Quarter.

I do not know if there are going to be other host resorts for these races or not. It is quite possible for them to announce the rest within the next couple months, if there are others.

 

[Phonedave]

Their website says that the hosts resorts that are currently open for special rates for this weekend are: Polynesian, Beach Club, Allstar Sports, and Port Orleans French Quarter.

I do not know if there are going to be other host resorts for these races or not. It is quite possible for them to announce the rest within the next couple months, if there are others.

I am staying on DVC points. So none of those resorts help me

Worst comes to worst I take a cab over, no big deal.

-dave

 

[fmingo36]

I was down for the Princess 1/2 Marathon three weeks ago and there was a bounce-back offer in my room. The W&D race just happens to fall during the time I was planning a family vacation anyways. Got 40% off the cabins at FW!
It's not a host-resort but I deal with that (rental car) for race days.

 

[dreamfinder]

Have any of you called about the hotel rooms that they're offering for the race? I called, and basically, you can double the price that is listed for each of the 4 hotels. Those prices are "based on double occupancy and are per person." This means the $52 rate that they give you for the All Star Sports is actually $104, and the $186 garden view room for the Poly is actually $372/night. Sorry, but these aren't great rates by any stretch of the imagination, and I've never seen them do the pricing this way. Even if you're alone, the price doubles according to two different people I spoke with, which means the only reason they'd post the prices they did is to try to get people on the phone to book, then spring the ACTUAL cost on them.

I've booked for races in the past at the "race hotels," and they've always given me the price as shown on the site.

This is a little sneaky on Disney's part. We were going to stay at the Poly, but I can stay in the Contemporary Tower with an MK view (my favorite) for $50 less per night, so I think we'll be doing that.

The prices are a bit less than rack, maybe in line with AAA discounts. This is in line what I have seen in the past, just split up as mentioned in the double occupancy. You don't need to book this way to take the transportation, but its a bit of discount that people may not normally know about, and helps them to figure out how many buses they will need.

Their website says that the hosts resorts that are currently open for special rates for this weekend are: Polynesian, Beach Club, Allstar Sports, and Port Orleans French Quarter.

I do not know if there are going to be other host resorts for these races or not. It is quite possible for them to announce the rest within the next couple months, if there are others.

I don't think they will add others. This is in line with what they have normally made available as hotels for past ToT races, as well as the recent Princess. Enough hotels to cover the spectrum of options. A value, moderate, and a deluxe on Monorail. I think they threw in Beach Club as they don't need to provide return transit, simply have you walk out the international gateway back home. So that gives a few DVC rooms, but being opening F&W weekend, its probably already full for DVC.

Although, having the start at a different location than the finish makes it hard for solo runners to drive themselves. So either provided transit or cabs.

 

[GoofyRacer11]

Well at least if someone is staying at a resort on the monorail loop, they can hop on it and head to the Polynesian to catch the bus.

 

[frank2271]

I haven't seen anything about tickets for family to enjoy the after-party in EPCOT with the runners. Has anyone seen how much they are?

Also, am I the only one who will be staying at All Star Sports? I know the Moderate and Deluxe resorts are beautiful and I love them as much as the next guy, but, I have a tough time spending that much money on a hotel stay. All Stars may have it's faults but I feel it is a great hotel for the money, (especially if I get a FL resident discount).

I ordered my "In training for Disney Marathon 2011" tech shirt from Disneystore.com last week and can't wait to get it in the mail. I know it will help me push through my training. I'll post my review of it when I get it to let everyone know what I think, maybe I'll try to figure out how to post a oic of it too.

Take care everyone and keep on running. :wave:

Frank

 

[frank2271]

Well, I got my shirt this morning. I'm going to try to attach two pics, wish me luck.

I really like it, it is a Champion shirts, great quality. Now the training is getting serious. My next purchase is a "Training for DL half marathon" since I'm planning on doing the coast to coast next year.

Well, here we go,

[/IMG]

Here's a close up:

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I hope everyone has a Great weekend and Happy Easter.

Frank

 

[GoofyRacer11]

That's a really nice shirt. I like he Goofy one the best. can not wait to start my training.

Happy Easter!

 

[urbanvegan]

We finally just did our registration for the Wine & Dine Half Relay this morning! Can't wait!

We're staying at Beach Club Villas Oct 1 - Oct 6