Downward trend in runDisney?

[Sleepless Knight]

I don't think they need to get rid of it but sell it at the finish line or in the expo after the race is run. The marathon weekend half "I did it" should not be available on Friday because you didn't do it yet.

I didn't buy an I did it shirt before my very first half marathon for this exact reason. I had not actually done it yet.

If people knew the only place to get the "I Did It" shirts was at the finish line you might see way more people there. In that way it could drive traffic to it.

Yes, but it might also drive crowds to it. I'm not sure how excited I would be to stand around even more to buy race merchandise immediately after the race.

Possibly but I also think people don’t carry money on them during races. Yes magicbands however not everyone wants to charge to their room that way. The expo is kind of the best option.

I carry a small amount of cash and it saved me since the kiosk I bought my smoothie from in Epcot did not take MagicBands. I agree about the Expo being the best option. Online is nice, but shipping comes into play. Resort gift shops would be nice, but if they don't have your size and not everybody is able to visit one central location (ie Disney Springs) to get race merchandise afterwards.

To be honest I am with John VN - buying something post finish before hydration and shower is not on my to do list.

After the marathon, I wanted nothing more than to get back to my resort and cleaned up. I bypassed race retreat that I had already paid for because it would only delay what I really wanted at that moment.

Runners can be a superstitious bunch, and I'd be willing to bet there are more than a few Disney runners who want to buy the "I Did It!" gear but won't until they've actually finished their races. It's not like Disney to miss an opportunity like that.

I was that way before my first race. I was terrified I wouldn't finish, so didn't want to spend money on something I didn't actually do. If I had known I could have returned it, I would have.

I think one of the problems with the current finish area store is that every time I’ve been it the selection has been kind of crap. All the popular items are sold out at that point.

My sister looked there after Dark Side last year because she wanted something and it was sold out. For better or for worse the Expo has the best selection.

 

[PrincessV]

They could just make the post-race merch tents like ride dump shops: make finishers go through the tent to exit the finish chute!

 

[YawningDodo]

They could just make the post-race merch tents like ride dump shops: make finishers go through the tent to exit the finish chute!

Now that's thinking like Disney!!

 

[IamTrike]

Looking at the numbers for princess I was surprised to see that there wasn't actually much of a drop off in runners in finishers in 2019. Half finishers were down slightly, but 10k finishers are actually up. I think the biggest issue is that to hit that close to capacity number a lot of travel agents wound up selling bibs at a pretty substantial loss.

 

[lilmc]

I also think people don’t carry money on them during races

Yep, I stumbled into the tent by accident last year after Dopey 2018, thought I didn’t have any money, but then realized I had seen an image of a credit card on my iphone’s screen sometimes. Hey cashier, can I pay with my phone somehow? Voila! I discovered Apple Pay and have my Dopey finisher jacket now. Woohoo! (But still never figured out how my cc got into the Apple Wallet as I had never loaded it in)

 

[Z-Knight]

Looking at the numbers for princess I was surprised to see that there wasn't actually much of a drop off in runners in finishers in 2019. Half finishers were down slightly, but 10k finishers are actually up. I think the biggest issue is that to hit that close to capacity number a lot of travel agents wound up selling bibs at a pretty substantial loss.


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wow...more half runners in Princess than during half of Marathon weekend!! Plus I didn't realize that in marathon weekend there were barely 12,000 marathon finishers and 18,000 half - I thought many more people ran the marathon. Darn

 

[rteetz]

So I got bored and decided to put together some numbers.

 

[derekleigh]

So I got bored and decided to put together some numbers.

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Wow, Marathon Weekend really took a hit this year! Some big drops, especially for the full!

 

[huskies90]

So I got bored and decided to put together some numbers.

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Awesome analysis. I assume these numbers are the number of finishers?

 

[rteetz]

Awesome analysis. I assume these numbers are the number of finishers?

Yes

 

[BikeFan]

Huge thanks to @rteetz for putting all that data together. Fascinating stuff. It confirms what I've suspected, based on how late registration was remaining open in recent years, that RunDisney races were beginning to see a plateauing/decline in overall numbers. There are lots of plausible theories on why that is - the cost, the general decline and/or over-saturation in road-running participation nationwide, etc. - but that's just speculation without more hard data. I wonder how concerned RD is about these numbers and what sorts of significant changes we may see as a result. I'd LOVE to see some sort of 'frequent runner' discount or an overall drop in costs, obviously. Other than that, I don't have too many other complaints with the overall RD experience.

 

[rteetz]

Huge thanks to @rteetz for putting all that data together. Fascinating stuff. It confirms what I've suspected, based on how late registration was remaining open in recent years, that RunDisney races were beginning to see a plateauing/decline in overall numbers. There are lots of plausible theories on why that is - the cost, the general decline and/or over-saturation in road-running participation nationwide, etc. - but that's just speculation without more hard data. I wonder how concerned RD is about these numbers and what sorts of significant changes we may see as a result. I'd LOVE to see some sort of 'frequent runner' discount or an overall drop in costs, obviously. Other than that, I don't have too many other complaints with the overall RD experience.

I agree I’d like to see some sort of repeat runner perk.

I’m also interested in 2020 marathon numbers. You’ll have Star Wars and an anniversary year playing a role.

Princess didn’t see huge drops like marathon weekend. Star Wars will be interesting to watch with a theme change this year.

Wine and dine is an anniversary.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

So I got bored and decided to put together some numbers.

I love when you get bored and start playing with numbers! I had no idea the Wine & Dine fiele was so much smaller!

 

[ckb_nc]

There has been a general decline in endurance events plus tons of competition too.

 

[IamTrike]

So I got bored and decided to put together some numbers.

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. I wonder how much of a shift in finishers can be attributed to temperature and people being swept. For races where the variance is less than 500 it seems like course conditions could be a factor.

I reached out to my typical runDisney travel agent about 2020 Marathon weekend, and she mentioned that Disney is getting much more difficult to deal with around race weekend. Her agency has typically pre bought blocks of rooms at multiple resorts, but this year they weren’t doing anything for MW because they haven’t been able to get anything from Disney. RunDIsney May be concerned with #s but Disney in general seems like they are trying to add friction here, not remove it.

 

[rteetz]

. I wonder how much of a shift in finishers can be attributed to temperature and people being swept. For races where the variance is less than 500 it seems like course conditions could be a factor.

I reached out to my typical runDisney travel agent about 2020 Marathon weekend, and she mentioned that Disney is getting much more difficult to deal with around race weekend. Her agency has typically pre bought blocks of rooms at multiple resorts, but this year they weren’t doing anything for MW because they haven’t been able to get anything from Disney. RunDIsney May be concerned with #s but Disney in general seems like they are trying to add friction here, not remove it.

Yeah I wish I had numbers of registrants vs. finishers.

Disney is definitely making things more difficult and I think SWGE is making things even more so than before.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I agree I’d like to see some sort of repeat runner perk.

I’m also interested in 2020 marathon numbers. You’ll have Star Wars and an anniversary year playing a role.

That describes me perfectly. I'd love to run both events, but if I can only choose one, I'm going with Star Wars in part because of the anniversary.

Yeah I wish I had numbers of registrants vs. finishers.

Disney is definitely making things more difficult and I think SWGE is making things even more so than before.

I suspect that Disney has less "incentive" to offer less expensive prices especially on resorts given the anticipated demand. I remember someone at Touring Plans noting that attendance numbers after Pandora opened barely moved. It's more likely that Star Wars Galaxy's Edge will move attendance numbers.

 

[huskies90]

@rteetz One more question: How are you counting the challenges? So like the 11994 10K runners marathon weekend include the 5226 Dopey runners, correct? I don’t add the 5226 to get the total that finished the 10K. Pretty sure that’s correct but just checking.

 

[rteetz]

@rteetz One more question: How are you counting the challenges? So like the 11994 10K runners marathon weekend include the 5226 Dopey runners, correct? I don’t add the 5226 to get the total that finished the 10K. Pretty sure that’s correct but just checking.

Yes that includes challenge runners.

 

[ellisin]

Is there a way to know how many people didn’t finish this year’s princess half? The weather was so hot and humid and everyone was told to slow down. Wouldn’t that have increased the number of runners swept?