Dopey & WDW Marathon Weekend Lessons Learned

I think it was Anaheim where they had smaller sets of two or four porta potties near the entrance to each corral on the side of the road. There were constant lines but at least there was somewhere to pop over and go without having to trek all the way back to the entrance area. It wouldn't be that tough to set up the same type of thing in Orlando.

I think it would be tough for them to do this in Orlando. The corrals are currently the full width of the road. The median near the entrance to each corral is not flat, which is one reason the huge banks of the porta potties are staged back where the terrain is flatter. You can't put porta potties in the corrals or else there would be a hazard to people walking towards the line once the corrals begin moving forward. Stopping at the last one before the walk to the corrals and then again once you get to the ones at the corrals is the best option for those who don't want to zip over to the woods. :)
 
The median near the entrance to each corral is not flat, which is one reason the huge banks of the porta potties are staged back where the terrain is flatter.

It's been since Princess that I staged for a Half at WDW and I had forgotten that. Damn!
 


Based on this year’s Disney Marathon, I would suggest not registering for next year’s marathon. I’ve run it four times in the past 12 years and praised Disney’s ability to host this event - until this year. Parts of the course have become so narrow that I felt ‘stuck’ in numerous times. I felt like I was in a mall the weekend before Christmas surrounded by meandering folks who weren’t quite sure where they were going. I ran outside of the cones or on grassy/dirt areas so many times to get past the current ‘herd’. But it just continued and there were meandering herds for miles and miles. I paid attention to the width and there were so many places that were no wider than eight feet. I was in coral f and am sure that Runner’s in the first couple of corrals didn’t encounter these problems. That said, I felt as though many, many people in my corral should have started in later corrals. During my previous three marathons, the course brought the runners through more park areas than they did this year. I don’t stop to take pictures so don’t know how many animals were available to view in Animal Kingdom but I only saw one. It may have been a Sloth. Before entering Animal Kingdom, I did see some birds in some trees - I think they were Vultures. Heck, as far as animals were concerned I got a bigger kick out of the squirrel that dared to cross the herd of runners in the Magic Kingdom! There were fewer characters on the course than I’ve seen in the past also. We had a long, narrow run - several miles of highway - before entering the Wide World of Sport. Once in the World of Sports, I never thought that we would get out. How many loops can you do on athletic fields? More than you can imagine! It was terrible, narrow and I had to briefly stop to get a pebble out of my shoe. Runners experienced a variety of surfaces in this park. As far as we were into the run, the herd persisted and as good as I felt, there was no where to go to pick up my pace. Water stops were fine and I assume that the aid stations were too. According to my Garmin the course was inaccurately measured by close to a mile. I spoke with other Runners afterwards and all agreed. The course was up to a half mile longer than it should have been. Who wants to run any extra when running 26.2 already? It was a terrible Disney Marathon experience after three great Disney Marathon experiences. I think that they are allowing too many runners register and narrowing the course at the same time. It simply doesn’t work. Really, the run itself was a bit of a disaster. Don’t even think about a PR while running this. Our check-in experience at the Pop Century was slow and our room was not ready although we arrived more than an hour after check-in time. There was no apology and little effort to get us a late check-out on Sunday. I cannot think that many people would be checking in on Sunday or Monday with schools just returning to classes. It’s a slow time for Disney - after race weekend. The expo was bordering on pathetic as compared with past years. There were, perhaps, a third of the number of vendors that I’ve seen there in the past. Usually it’s a great expo. BUT, they’ve broken the expo into two buildings and there is more Disney merchandise than ever before. Obviously, they want merchandise sales for themselves and are limiting the competition by not allowing other vendors in. We told friends that were with us that the expo was tremendous and they were also sadly disappointed and compared it with other expos that they’ve been too. We bragged about how well Disney does hosting runs and they, too, felt stuck in the herds. Personally, I think that Disney’s greed is really showing. Too many people on the course, a much narrower course, much less time in the parks....it was bad. Also, they are doing so much via email now. Printed information no longer exists. Who reads through pages and pages of an email that arrives several weeks prior to the event? I miss the old days is reading through the info packet once back at the hotel and prepping my gear for race day. I’ve always bragged about Disney Runs and I realize that I’m bashing them right now but I call ‘em as I see ‘em. Disney, get back on track please. Bigger is not necessarily better.

I agree with some of this, but we didn’t notice this year seemed more crowded. I’ve run the last 8 MW either Goofy or Dopey and for the last couple we’ve made it a goal to stop for every character that’s out during the marathon. There were 4 more character photo’s for us during the marathon this year than last year.

Main lesson we learned with doing Dopey this year was that we made the right choice leaving the kids at home. We were able to be in bed by 9pm each night and take a nap each afternoon to recharge.

RunDisney must do something to improve the first day of the Expo. It was an absolute disaster this year. They know they have thousands of people who have to be there on day 1 to pick up Dopey bibs, and the other group that has to be there to pick up 5K bibs.

It took us 30 minutes to get in the building to pick up our bib. What they did not bother to tell anyone was that you then had to exit the very building you were already in and get in another huge line to get back in to purchase RD merchandise. After an hour in that line, we finally get in only to have to wait 45 minutes to check out. This was our fourth marathon weekend, and this was the worst expo experience we have ever had. Pretty much everyone I met on these boards while down there had a similar experience and was not happy with it.

I honestly think some of it has to do with the fact that the Expo does not open for everyone until noon. It use to be 9:30 or 10 before they started the early entry race retreat stuff. When it opened early, the crowds were spread out more throughout the day. Now it seems everyone shows up right after lunch, and it is a zoo from there.

They have all that space out there. I am not sure why they can't set up a couple large tents to double their merchandise space. Even better would be to have more of the merchandise available for pre-order and then somewhere with easy access where it can be picked up. I am sure lots of people would take advantage if they knew they would not have to stand in line.

Either way, I plan on writing to RD with all my concerns as soon as I have a chance to put some thoughts together.
the expo was nuts. I liked it much better when the rundisney merch was in two different place so it seemed to keep the crowds down. If they went back to that model and only let people into that building that were picking up bibs it would really cut the merchandise lines down.
 
This was my 8 th marathon weekend and probably around my 30th Disney race. My current half marathon PR and Personal Worsts are both at Disney.

Things that I’ve seen and try to advise newMarathon weekend peeps about.
1. POT is hugely important. RunDisneys model does not predict the fall off in pace that most runners would have so your best bet is to find a flat race of the shortest distance that rundisney will accept. I think for the full that’s a 10 miler. You need to also have a backup lined up. Races get cancelled, you can bonk or have an issue and you need to have a good POT.

2. I am not sure if it was because it was the anniversary or something else but this year’s full felt more crowded than others. We had much more time in character lines this year than last year. I think about 30 minutes.

3. Figure out what’s your goal is. Is it to PR. If so your gonna need that good POT and you’ll need to start as far forward in the corral as possible. You need to be really congnizent of tangerts it’s really easy to run way long at Disney. They course has a lot of turns and being on the outside edge and weaving around people adds a lot of distance. If your goal is to have fun start as far forward as possible. Depending on what corral you are in you may find that skipping the first couple character stops gets you to a point where the lines aren’t as bad. Historically the lines around the TTC are long then they drop off until the line for the castle float when leaving MK. This year was bad in that we didn’t see much of a drop in lines till we go to AK during the full. For the 5 and 10k expect long character lines no matter what corral you are in.

4. Cold always seems colder in Florida. I’m not sure if it’s the humidity or just the crazy long time you are standing around in it, but cold in Florida always seems colder than the same temp here in NC. If it’s gonna be cold bring lots of toss away stuff. Mylar blankets are your friend, but you’ll probably also want something to sit on.

5. Fueling at Disney is weird short of the NY marathon I can’t really think of another race that has such a long time before getting up and starting running. You may need to eat a little more in the morning than you typically would before a race.
 


This was my 8 th marathon weekend and probably around my 30th Disney race. My current half marathon PR and Personal Worsts are both at Disney.

Things that I’ve seen and try to advise newMarathon weekend peeps about.
1. POT is hugely important. RunDisneys model does not predict the fall off in pace that most runners would have so your best bet is to find a flat race of the shortest distance that rundisney will accept. I think for the full that’s a 10 miler. You need to also have a backup lined up. Races get cancelled, you can bonk or have an issue and you need to have a good POT.

2. I am not sure if it was because it was the anniversary or something else but this year’s full felt more crowded than others. We had much more time in character lines this year than last year. I think about 30 minutes.

3. Figure out what’s your goal is. Is it to PR. If so your gonna need that good POT and you’ll need to start as far forward in the corral as possible. You need to be really congnizent of tangerts it’s really easy to run way long at Disney. They course has a lot of turns and being on the outside edge and weaving around people adds a lot of distance. If your goal is to have fun start as far forward as possible. Depending on what corral you are in you may find that skipping the first couple character stops gets you to a point where the lines aren’t as bad. Historically the lines around the TTC are long then they drop off until the line for the castle float when leaving MK. This year was bad in that we didn’t see much of a drop in lines till we go to AK during the full. For the 5 and 10k expect long character lines no matter what corral you are in.

4. Cold always seems colder in Florida. I’m not sure if it’s the humidity or just the crazy long time you are standing around in it, but cold in Florida always seems colder than the same temp here in NC. If it’s gonna be cold bring lots of toss away stuff. Mylar blankets are your friend, but you’ll probably also want something to sit on.

5. Fueling at Disney is weird short of the NY marathon I can’t really think of another race that has such a long time before getting up and starting running. You may need to eat a little more in the morning than you typically would before a race.
Fantastic tips, thank you!!!
 
One photo lesson...... I don't stop when I'm racing, but since it was Dopey I figure i could get a couple of "beauty shots", i.e. the Castle lit up and Spaceship Earth. I stopped in Epcot during the half and the castle during the full. My castle photo is good, but the photographer cut off the top of Spaceship Earth, so that photo isn't really ll that great.

So my lesson would be to stop for both half and full for the same shots, if you want them, just so you can have a couple shots to chose from.
 
Main lesson we learned with doing Dopey this year was that we made the right choice leaving the kids at home. We were able to be in bed by 9pm each night and take a nap each afternoon to recharge.

RunDisney must do something to improve the first day of the Expo. It was an absolute disaster this year. They know they have thousands of people who have to be there on day 1 to pick up Dopey bibs, and the other group that has to be there to pick up 5K bibs.

It took us 30 minutes to get in the building to pick up our bib. What they did not bother to tell anyone was that you then had to exit the very building you were already in and get in another huge line to get back in to purchase RD merchandise. After an hour in that line, we finally get in only to have to wait 45 minutes to check out. This was our fourth marathon weekend, and this was the worst expo experience we have ever had. Pretty much everyone I met on these boards while down there had a similar experience and was not happy with it.

I honestly think some of it has to do with the fact that the Expo does not open for everyone until noon. It use to be 9:30 or 10 before they started the early entry race retreat stuff. When it opened early, the crowds were spread out more throughout the day. Now it seems everyone shows up right after lunch, and it is a zoo from there.

They have all that space out there. I am not sure why they can't set up a couple large tents to double their merchandise space. Even better would be to have more of the merchandise available for pre-order and then somewhere with easy access where it can be picked up. I am sure lots of people would take advantage if they knew they would not have to stand in line.

Either way, I plan on writing to RD with all my concerns as soon as I have a chance to put some thoughts together.


What I would like to see is that RD to have bib pick up at your resort hotel if you stay on site.
 
This would be a great idea. Sure might reduce the load at the Expo some.

Yeah also would probably make it easier to fly or drive in the day before. Of course disney probably doesn’t want that because it would cut into the bottom line.
 
What I would like to see is that RD to have bib pick up at your resort hotel if you stay on site.
They did offer this for one or 2 race weekends a year or 2 ago. I feel like I remember hearing that they didn't continue it because it took away from the number of people shopping at the expo vendors.
 
What I would like to see is that RD to have bib pick up at your resort hotel if you stay on site.
I don’t think rD will ever make this a widespread thing. They want us to come to the expo to spend money, and vendors have to pay to have booths at the expo - they won’t pay if people won’t be there to shop.

I'm going to guess there may have been some upset vendors this year with the official merchandise in a different building and losing one of the big draws to the main vendor floor. Only individual registrations for the Half and Full had anything registration related to draw them to that building, so Dopey, Goofy, 10K and 5K runners could have easily avoided it. Not sure how sales went for vendors overall, but it was the easiest time I've ever had walking through that building by a wide margin. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if certain vendors didn't feel they got the traffic for which they paid.

I was pretty upset with the lines on Wednesday, and I still maintain they should have been able to get people through the packet pickup portion faster, but the rest of the weekend was very manageable. If they can figure out a way to handle day 1 they would have a lot more happy runners.
 
I don’t think rD will ever make this a widespread thing. They want us to come to the expo to spend money, and vendors have to pay to have booths at the expo - they won’t pay if people won’t be there to shop.

This is definitely the reason they wouldn’t want to do it and as long as they are selling out races they don’t have to.

What truthfully surprises me from A RD perspective is that they don’t have a finishers tent post race or on Monday where you can get the finishers merchandise, your medal engraved etc. I think they leave a ton on money on the table with that.
 
This is definitely the reason they wouldn’t want to do it and as long as they are selling out races they don’t have to.

What truthfully surprises me from A RD perspective is that they don’t have a finishers tent post race or on Monday where you can get the finishers merchandise, your medal engraved etc. I think they leave a ton on money on the table with that.

They have both. One of the Expo vendors, Lasting Commemmoratives or Fond Memories Graphics always has a tent post- race offering medal engraving. There's also a RunDisney tent with leftover merchandise set up after the marathon, as well.
 
They have both. One of the Expo vendors, Lasting Commemmoratives or Fond Memories Graphics always has a tent post- race offering medal engraving. There's also a RunDisney tent with leftover merchandise set up after the marathon, as well.

but strange that the FINISHERS JACKETS are online and not available after the races. This is the first year I have seen them available, but would think it would be a cash cow for them after the races, especially the marathon.
 
I learned last year - my time is "money" when it comes to the Expo, so it's worth it to me to pay for the Race Retreat for one day to get in, get my stuff, and get out without a wait.

As for Finishers Jackets - I think of them like the "In Training For ..." shirts they did two or three years ago ... they aren't going to do an open run of printing on them, they're instead just going to print the number they've sold. I don't mind them not being available post-race for immediate wear, though I wish that for the money we pay we could get something similar to what RnR offers for Marathon-distance finishers.
 

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