Everyone here is looking at “why Disney won’t do this”, “why Disney can’t do this”. Let’s look at what’s happening in the world now that would support Disney restarting in-person races:
- Vaccination rates. Almost half of all adults have received at least one dose of vaccine. By June 17, 70% of the population should be vaccinated and by July, hopefully, about 90% of the population will be vaccinated
- Proof of vaccination. Currently, we have our vaccination cards. There are a variety of organizations working on electronic proof of vaccination, including CLEAR.
- American travel bouncing back
- Economic rebound and Disney wanting to recoup losses from the pandemic
- Magic Kingdom 50th celebration
All of these combined say to me that Disney is going to look very hard at resuming runDisney as soon as possible (hopefully Wine and Dine to coincide with the kickoff of the 50th celebration, but definitely marathon weekend). There are no reasons they can’t. They can reduce risk by:
- requiring runners be vaccinated
- requiring runners sign waivers
- reducing field size (but I think that will be totally unnecessary)
My plans are for Wine and Dine 2021 (until Disney cancels it
)