Future runDisney Events

[Goofy2015]

I am not sure if this question has been asked. What does the future of runDisney look like?

I know there are a lot of questions about the state of Walt Disney World, in general. Like when will entertainment be back? When will certain restaurants open? Fireworks? Characters? You name it. With this being a subthread of runDisney, I thought I'd ask the question what is the future of runDisney? And just have a general discussion with nothing but speculation.

Here are a few questions that I have been just thinking about.

My first big question is when will the next 'in-person' runDisney event occur?

What will the new runDisney calendar look like? And, when will it be announced? I feel like this is a time for runDisney to sort of reset their calendar and I think it was sort of hinted with the Virtual Star Wars race weekend announcement.

What will a new runDisney weekend look like? There still aren't character interactions, entertainment, or special events, in general. Well.... unless you are a 'Disney Influencer'.

Will they offer virtual options to go along with the physical events?

Overall, I just feel like the runDisney events that we have grown to love will be different once things get back to a 'New Normal'. I think the same can be said about WDW.

 

[rteetz]

It’s hard to say for sure.

runDisney did say in their WDW Virtual Marathon Weekend video they hope to see us in person again soon.

I think we are looking at a full 2021 without races and a possible restart in 2022.

 

[Krandor]

I don't think we'll see them return until they can run them more of less like normal. Which may be when vaccine is widely disributed or may be with providing proof of vaccination to run.

We know star wars is being re-themed but we don't know anything about the others at this point. If they wanted to revamp the calendar now would be the time to do it.

I think marathon weekend will likely be the first full scale event back but I think a scaled back W&D is possible to avoid having your first event back being the biggest one - so make a small W&D kind a "tune-up" race for rundisney.

I think a lot will depend on what a lot o the other big races like new york, boston, marine corp, peachtree, etc. do. As I said last year I don't think disney wants to be a trailblazer here. They will watch whaat other groups do and the decisions they make. So before rundisney comes back, we'll need other large scale races (10k+) to decide to move forward with races.

 

[rteetz]

I don't think we'll see them return until they can run them more of less like normal. Which may be when vaccine is widely disributed or may be with providing proof of vaccination to run.

We know star wars is being re-themed but we don't know anything about the others at this point. If they wanted to revamp the calendar now would be the time to do it.

I think marathon weekend will likely be the first full scale event back but I think a scaled back W&D is possible to avoid having your first event back being the biggest one - so make a small W&D kind a "tune-up" race for rundisney.

I think a lot will depend on what a lot o the other big races like new york, boston, marine corp, peachtree, etc. do. As I said last year I don't think disney wants to be a trailblazer here. They will watch whaat other groups do and the decisions they make. So before rundisney comes back, we'll need other large scale races (10k+) to decide to move forward with races.

Disney does have a leg up on many of those other races though with the fact they can control everything. They don’t need to pull permits for courses and do a lot of the infrastructure work those other large races do. They own the land, and are operating theme parks successfully in the current climate.

 

[Krandor]

Disney does have a leg up on many of those other races though with the fact they can control everything. They don’t need to pull permits for courses and do a lot of the infrastructure work those other large races do. They own the land, and are operating theme parks successfully in the current climate.

Very true but the logistical challlenges of having 10,000+ people out on a race course at the same time are still there and that is a bigger issue right now then permits and the like.

I do think there is a good chance we'll strart seeing some large races come back in the fall. PTRR on Jully 4th I'm expecting them to move to Thanksgiving like they tried to do in 2020 (think July 4th is going to be too soon). Just going to have to keep an eye on some of these other races and see what happens.

 

[huskies90]

I am not sure if this question has been asked. What does the future of runDisney look like?

I know there are a lot of questions about the state of Walt Disney World, in general. Like when will entertainment be back? When will certain restaurants open? Fireworks? Characters? You name it. With this being a subthread of runDisney, I thought I'd ask the question what is the future of runDisney? And just have a general discussion with nothing but speculation.

Here are a few questions that I have been just thinking about.

My first big question is when will the next 'in-person' runDisney event occur?

What will the new runDisney calendar look like? And, when will it be announced? I feel like this is a time for runDisney to sort of reset their calendar and I think it was sort of hinted with the Virtual Star Wars race weekend announcement.

What will a new runDisney weekend look like? There still aren't character interactions, entertainment, or special events, in general. Well.... unless you are a 'Disney Influencer'.

Will they offer virtual options to go along with the physical events?

Overall, I just feel like the runDisney events that we have grown to love will be different once things get back to a 'New Normal'. I think the same can be said about WDW.

There have been many comments in the other threads from many of us including me so I will summarize my thoughts here:

For in person races, I was on the "Star Wars 2021 races will be canceled" pretty early. I felt Disney was not going to remotely chance any large gatherings and possibly be forced to close down their resort operations due to a breakout tied to a race, especially seeing how cautiously they opened. And with that same logic, as of right now, I don't give Wine and Dine 2021 much of a chance. I have a DVC room booked just in case I am wrong.

I do think that MW 2022 will happen in person in some way but I don't think it will be announced until there is a clear path to a light at the end of the tunnel. We can speculate all we want about vaccines, etc. but something concrete has to happen before Disney commits to in person. And with that, they may wait until that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is bright enough to point to a date. I wouldn't be surprised if that date is beyond the traditional January date and further into the winter if needed. However, if it looks like we will still be in the midst of infections and virus mutations, lack of vaccine compliance/distribution and hospitalizations/deaths beyond winter of 2022, the in person race will not happen at all. So bottom line, the pandemic needs to be under control - not necessarily eliminated, before we see a registration date.

I think once they are deemed safe by Disney, the races will look pretty much the same as they did with maybe some minor modifications. I don't see them hosting a watered down version of a race and don't think it will matter what other races do. This is all going to be based on Disney's standards of "safe" not what Boston, NYC or other big races do.

In the meantime, I think we will still have virtual races and I think we will see more of them and more creative variations of them with unique challenges you can only do virtually, etc. I think Disney (and all companies) will leverage what they have learned during Covid and will create new ways to make money. These new variations may end up eliminating some of the in person races we currently have but I don't think runDisney will go 100% virtual.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I think we're definitely going to see races return and with things such as characters, photo ops, et all that we are accustomed to. I think those sorts of things make the runDisney experience unique. As life begins to return to whatever normal is, the parks themselves will presumably want events that bring people back sooner rather than later. Races give them a proven way to do just that.

I think that future will likely feature more general race themes instead of races tied to one IP such as Star Wars. My guess is that the new April race weekend will be Flower and Garden named and then themed to whatever they feel like for that year, similar to how Wine & Dine has moved from food themes to various Disney character themes.

Depending on how happy they are with the sales for the virtual races this year, I could see them offering more virtual options, possibly even tied to already existing race weekends.

 

[Krandor]

I think we're definitely going to see races return and with things such as characters, photo ops, et all that we are accustomed to. I think those sorts of things make the runDisney experience unique. As life begins to return to whatever normal is, the parks themselves will presumably want events that bring people back sooner rather than later. Races give them a proven way to do just that.

I think that future will likely feature more general race themes instead of races tied to one IP such as Star Wars. My guess is that the new April race weekend will be Flower and Garden named and then themed to whatever they feel like for that year, similar to how Wine & Dine has moved from food themes to various Disney character themes.

Depending on how happy they are with the sales for the virtual races this year, I could see them offering more virtual options, possibly even tied to already existing race weekends.

I still want to see races return to DLR.

 

[fatmanatee]

I can see them adding a virtual half for each weekend, kinda like what they've done with Star Wars. Obviously they can keep doing the summer virtuals as long as people are buying them.

 

[fatmanatee]

I still want to see races return to DLR.

The best half I've ever done, I say this every time it comes up but if they announce its return I'm in on day one.

 

[Krandor]

The best half I've ever done, I say this every time it comes up but if they announce its return I'm in on day one.

I also had my worst half at dlr fir first avengers race but not Disney’s fault. Santa Anna winds came throgh blowing over water tables and mike markers. Volunteers were troopers and still tried to do all they could for the runners. Kinda like the splash and dine just the nature of the weather that day.

 

[chantaldb]

Actually, the Disneyland Paris Run Weekend is still posted for "Fall 2021". Conditions obviously vary from country to country here in Europe (and are also different from the US), but it might be feasible I think.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I still want to see races return to DLR.

Definitely. Most definitely. I had always thought that 2021 or 2022 would be the earliest that races would return to Disneyland, but that was before 2020. I still hope it happens, but I think it will be longer now if they do come back.

I also had my worst half at dlr fir first avengers race but not Disney’s fault. Santa Anna winds came throgh blowing over water tables and mike markers. Volunteers were troopers and still tried to do all they could for the runners. Kinda like the splash and dine just the nature of the weather that day.

I remember hearing about that race. Wasn't it the Inaugural Avengers Half? After they cancelled runDisney races, I wound up running that final Avengers Half on a whim and registered 3 weeks before the race. That wound up causing me to run Dark Side 2018 which I had not planned to and resulted in me registering for Dopey and my first marathon.

 

[GreatLakes]

I think we will see in person RunDisney events again but I'm not sure when that will be. I think the earliest would be marathon weekend 2022. I hope rD takes this time to take a look at their WDW portfolio and make some changes.

I've mentioned in another tread that I'd love to see the spring marathon become a Flower & Garden themed run that they can then rotate themes around. They can then make the spring and fall Epcot races part of a series.

I think the resort fun runs were a good addition and I'd like to see them expand to all the resorts and become a little more formal. I don't mean formal races but multiple days of the week and as part of a passport series to "collect" the runs. You can earn rewards as you do sets like all the moderate resorts or all the IG resorts with something you can earn from running them all.

The formula of 5K, 10K, half, and challenge is a bit dated. I'd like to see it get changed up. An idea I'd like to see is a weekend with 4 5Ks, one through each park. It can be done over 2, 3, or 4 days.

Bring back a night race. If the fall is too unpredictable with storms do it in the spring. Going right from a race to an after-party is great. The inaugural W&D is still the best running experience I've had at Disney.

I would love to see something off-road. I'm not sure there are enough trails for a trail race but why not a cross-country style race? It may not be something that can stand on its own but if they are going to change up weekends make the 5K one weekend a cross country race.

These are just spit-balled ideas. I'm sure there are others with more (and better) but it seems like the past few years rD has just phoned it in and didn't really try for anything new or special.

As for DL, I did one race out there and it was nice but I wouldn't do another. There are so many places to run in CA that I'd rather go check out something else.

 

[Baloo in MI]

A WDW trail race would be awesome. You could count me in!

 

[FFigawi]

These are just spit-balled ideas. I'm sure there are others with more (and better) but it seems like the past few years rD has just phoned it in and didn't really try for anything new or special.

Judging by the number of misspellings on shirts and medals, you're not wrong.

 

[SheHulk]

The formula of 5K, 10K, half, and challenge is a bit dated. I'd like to see it get changed up. An idea I'd like to see is a weekend with 4 5Ks, one through each park. It can be done over 2, 3, or 4 days.

This is a great idea. Or bring back a 10-miler! It's a great distance! Or a relay!

 

[Goofed98]

The Chip and Dale marathon relay was a really cool idea. not sure the logistics worked great, but it could be awesome.

A trail race would be amazing. heck, I'm all for an obstacle course race through the old River Country. Bonus points for not getting snake bites or tetanus! (side note: kind of a cool story about River Country here)

I like the challenge weekend format, with longer races on the weekend, primarily because I run Goofy, and I play golf on Thursday and Friday, and that 7:13 tee time/ 3 hour round of golf at Palm/ Magnolia with my dad is priceless.

Would love another triathlon down there, but the issues with flesh-eating bacteria in the lake is a bit of a downer.

Another night time 10-miler would be great, too (I mean, if we're making requests).

 

[Heart_Full_Of_Disney]

I definitely would love to see runDisney races return. I believe that runDisney will watch what other large races such as Boston, NY, Big Sur, etc. do when they return and then we'll see runDisney races return. Much like when they re-opened WDW parks, they let Universal go first and watched what they did for best practices. I would LOVE to see some re-theming of the race weekends. A Flower and Garden or another festival themed race weekend would be amazing!

As much as I'd love to see night races return, I believe the challenges associated with the logistics of planning and executing a night time race was just too much. But I'd be all in for it if they bring one back! I do hope they'll keep WDW Marathon Weekend theming the same as it's very classic Disney and nostalgic. Whatever they do, I do see them making changes to the race weekends, themes, etc. and I don't see these races returning until 2022 at the very earliest. It may be even later. Dealing with a pandemic is no joke. I just hope we can all safely return to running magical miles together very soon!

 

[GreatLakes]

The Chip and Dale marathon relay was a really cool idea. not sure the logistics worked great, but it could be awesome.

So many city races that don't control their own roads manage to do it so RunDisney could if they had the desire. A relay, and a night race for that matter, aren't a question of ability for RunDisney, both are a question of desire.