Marathon Weekend 2024

[azrivest]

They make a big event out of anniversaries?

Over promise, under deliver, the Disney anniversary way.

 

[Barca33Runner]

Re: Anniversaries

I think Disney set an expectation with the 20th Anniversary Marathon medal that they have yet to live up to for any other Anniversary.

That year they advertised the Anniversary heavily in their campaign to encourage registration. They emphasized the “mile 20 Spectacular” and the special 20th Anniversary Medal in particular. The “mile 20 Spectacular” is, I believe, the most infamous fail in rD history; but the medal was a huge hit and set expectations for future Anniversaries that I believe has continued to peak interest around Anniversary years.

I still think Disney makes a nominal attempt to make Anniversary years special but there’s only so much you can do with a mass-produced, inexpensive medal.

This is a long way of agreeing with everyone: in theory anniversaries are thought to have nicer medals and possible extras but in practice they are pretty much a normal race weekend

 

[DopeyRunner486]

Re: Anniversaries

I think Disney set an expectation with the 20th Anniversary Marathon medal that they have yet to live up to for any other Anniversary.

That year they advertised the Anniversary heavily in their campaign to encourage registration. They emphasized the “mile 20 Spectacular” and the special 20th Anniversary Medal in particular. The “mile 20 Spectacular” is, I believe, the most infamous fail in rD history; but the medal was a huge hit and set expectations for future Anniversaries that I believe has continued to peak interest around Anniversary years.

I still think Disney makes a nominal attempt to make Anniversary years special but there’s only so much you can do with a mass-produced, inexpensive medal.

This is a long way of agreeing with everyone: in theory anniversaries are thought to have nicer medals and possible extras but in practice they are pretty much a normal race weekend

While I did not run the 20th, I do think the 25th medal was pretty great. The 30th I don't love as much.

 

[Barca33Runner]

While I did not run the 20th, I do think the 25th medal was pretty great. The 30th I don't love as much.

I don’t think they’ve been bad since the 20th but the 20th was, I believe, the first spinner they ever did and was quite a step up in design compared to previous medals. I think that had a huge impact on the consensus around that medal.

Big medals, color, spinners and other motions elements are so commonplace now (and the options of where else they can go with medals are so limited) that I think it’s virtually impossible to achieve the level of magnanimity they had with that medal again.

 

[Dom497]

While I did not run the 20th, I do think the 25th medal was pretty great. The 30th I don't love as much.

Ask any person who didn't know it was the 30th anniversary what distance the medal is for. Guaranteed response will either be a 30K or 30 miler (the latter is a stretch but still).

The Dopey medal is even worse since a 10K or 10 miler are both reasonable answers.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

Ask any person who didn't know it was the 30th anniversary what distance the medal is for. Guaranteed response will either be a 30K or 30 miler (the latter is a stretch but still).

The Dopey medal is even worse since a 10K or 10 miler are both reasonable answers.

Eh, I don't mind the large numbers really. They did a 10 for the 10th Goofy. They have done 5's. They did the XX for the 20th half too. I just think they couldve done better with the 30th.

 

[dis_or_dat]

Not much to add re: anniversaries, but they sell out MUCH faster. NY marathon 2020 (50th anniversary) time qualifier spots were gone in about 20 min. Boston 2021 (125th anniversary) medal was demonstrably larger than the usual medals. Although it had a crazy cushion time because of the reduced field size for covid precautions, I believe if it had been pre-pandemic it would have also been a large cushion size because of demand though I suspect they would have tried to have a larger than normal field as well.

 

[LEN375]

Is the huge gingerbread display still up during marathon weekend?

 

[Herding_Cats]

Is the huge gingerbread display still up during marathon weekend?

if you mean the gingerbread house in GF, it was for-sure up on the Tuesday/Wednesday.

I should say Monday/Tuesday am, as we checked out Tuesday morning. Reports in below comments are that they started taking it down on Tuesday

 

[Sleepless Knight]

What are some of your favorite resorts to book for MW?

I like French Quarter for the vibe of the resort and its short bus ride to Epcot and DHS. I've also stayed at Riverside for Star Wars the Dark Side and loved it. I've stayed at Music and Movies for marathon weekend because they're the least expensive. While I prefer the Port Orleans resorts, I don't mind reducing costs somewhere since I spend most of time in the parks anyways even during race weekends.

For today‘s question: In honor of the upcoming Princess Weekend, do you run any other runDisney Weekends? If so which? And, do you have a favorite?

SAFD: Disneyland Half, Wine & Dine night race, Star Wars The Light Side, Star Wars The Dark Side, Avengers, Marathon Weekend.

I was disappointed to see the Star Wars theme go especially with the Kessel Run medal for Coast to Coast. I loved all the various things they did to build up the theme along the course. Disneyland had some really fun groups with things like cars remodeled into X-Wings along the course and of course the assorted fan costume groups.

I think Marathon Weekend and Disneyland Half offer the most variety in terms of runner costumes and characters along the course.

Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference. If timing was not a consideration, I would choose the race weekend based on how much I love the theme. When I ran Wine & Dine, it was a night race and very much food and wine festival. I think the newer rotating themes can be hit or miss for me.

I'm hoping to try MW next year, but it seems, as others have mentioned, ppl seem to be more into the competition and performance aspect of it, which I don't need. I'll work to stay away from that. I'm competitive enough with myself as it is.

Your mileage may vary, but as a slow runner in the back of the pack, I haven't really felt a more competition and performance based vibe out of marathon weekend. While it's certainly true that costumes tend to get less elaborate as the distances mount and runners tend to get more "serious" as the distances mount, I do think it feels like only "serious" runners should be doing this. Just that once the half and full roll around, there's more "focus" due to the increased distance. But perhaps that's the very thing that does not work for you. Food for thought.

Star Wars Dark Side. I LOVED those races so very, very much! The combination of SW music, lighting and effects in the dark (Battle for Endor on Bear Island Rd, anyone?! Amazing.), and the 501st on hand with more SW characters than we’ll EVER see at WDW was just exceptional and made my geeky little heart so happy. I miss them terribly and would gladly trade ALL of the others to have them back.

The Battle of Endor remains the single best special thing I've seen runDisney have along the course. My sister, who never stopped for characters in races, broke down and stopped for the Ewoks when she ran Dark Side 2018 with me.

Ample opportunities for costuming and/or serious running, and that special MW vibe that permeates.

I love the variety of costumes for marathon weekend. Including multiple mashed up themes, craziness such as Uncle Orville in his bathtub during the 5K one year, and so on. While other race weekends offer great and creative costumes, they usually tend to be far more focused on the theme.

Good idea! I will ask her. She wasn't super plussed about the idea anyway, so I think she will be okay- but maybe some FOMO. I may keep an eye on charity 10K bibs to get her one- but I think she'd rather not, lol!

I would guess that more FOMO could come up seeing all the runners, especially younger ones with their medals after the races at race weekend.

I'm curious if you guys were on computers/laptops or phones?

Microsoft Edge on laptop came up fastest for me. Went from over an hour to 30 minutes fairly quickly. Held steady minute by minute until 19 minutes plummeted immediately to 10 and then held steady through registration. Chrome on laptop and chrome on cell phone were still spinning away around 45 minutes when I closed them since they were nowhere near completion for anyone else who might need one.

Other than the challenge, I thought it would be faster.

Honestly, after all the drama and stress over MW 2023, I did not expect this to go as "smoothly" as it did. I know there were problems. I know many did not get in. I got the shirt size glitch when registering for the 5K. I was concerned that my meeting 3 hours after registration was supposed to open might prevent me from getting in at all. So I was very surprised to be done with everything within an hour of registration actually going live, albeit 15 minutes later than listed.

I may be wrong but I am counting on the medals from all these January races to be very nice, for the Disney 100th anniversary, including the "special" C2C. The WDW 50th anniversary medals did not disappoint for me.

I think that depends on how long Disney will continue the 100th anniversary celebration. For instance the only evidence this year of the 50th anniversary celebration for WDW in the races was the number 50 on the side of the sleeves. So we shall see. I do think there's reason to hope that the return of runDisney races to Disneyland will result in very nice medals there. But then again 2017 marked the 40th anniversary of Star Wars and the Rebel Challenge medal that year at Disneyland was the shadow of C-3PO.

People seem to love it, but I’m interested to see how I feel about the park time all being front loaded (presumably).

It's very possible that Disneyland races have more park time or pretty close to it park time with Disney World races. While that park time is front loaded, you run extensively through DCA and Disneyland. You will easily spend more time in DCA than DHS during the marathon. Like the two resorts, their respective race weekends have different vibes, but are both really fun in their own rights.

May I just say, both myself and my wallet are hoping the Dopey designs are hideous.

For merchandise or the race medals themselves? If past trends hold, we will not know what the medals look like until long after registration opens.

Over promise, under deliver, the Disney anniversary way.

Disneyland does not usually make this mistake. I still think the best fireworks show I've ever seen was Disneyland's 50th Anniversary show Remember Dreams Come True.

 

[Disneyhanna]

I am nervous about MW registration. 2023 MW was hard for me since I only blocked off an hour or two on my calendar, so I was dealing with (thankfully virtual) meetings during actual registration. Literally sharing my screen and speaking and trying to register on the side. This actually happened to me with DL registration yesterday, luckily I wasn't sharing my screen but I was talking while also registering

It feels like everyone in my Disney running group is going for Dopey to Dumbo so I feel like it'll still be competitive this year. Dumo sold out in like half an hour, luckily I got through the queue quickly. All I ask is that the registration happens on time!!! I am considering just taking off a half day since blocking my calendar doesn't seem to be good enough.

 

[flav]

I've asked this question before but I'll ask it again: what difference does an anniversary make in a runDisney Weekend?

Apart from the "30" medal that no one seemed to understand what it meant, was there really something special during the weekend to commemorate the 30th Marathon or the 10th Dopey? (I wasn't at Disney World in Jan so I'm basing this only on social media and you guys. It didn't seem to be a big deal compared to the overarching 90's theme.)

2020 was the 15th Goofy. Here is what I noted:
- 15 years written on the medal
- A luggage tag
- Many Goofy in different attires (Golf, Run, Football, Car race, Boat) along the courses.

 

[nekonekoneko]

What are some of your favorite resorts to book for MW?

If you're going to use the Disney buses to get to the start line, it doesn't really matter where you go. The monorail is neat for the half and the full, provided it doesn't break down. If you're driving, there's a small advantage to staying south of Epcot. as the exit going southbound (read: from the north) on World Drive to Epcot Center Drive is closed, forcing you to turn around on Buena Vista Drive.

 

[Princess KP]

Is the huge gingerbread display still up during marathon weekend?

I stayed at the GF this year and they were tearing down the gingerbread house on Tuesday, January 3.

 

[marty3d]

are Anniversary years - I think I agree with most of what’s been said. They aren’t terribly special and in some cases might result in uglier medals. The 30th anniversary marathon and the 10th anniversary Dopey are my least favorite medals from the 2023 MW. I loved the 5k, 10k and half medals this year.

Y’all are having me rethink my plan to wait until the 15th anniversary to run Dopey again!

 

[Herding_Cats]

if you mean the gingerbread house in GF, it was for-sure up on the Tuesday/Wednesday.

I stayed at the GF this year and they were tearing down the gingerbread house on Tuesday, January 3.

Yeah I can’t remember what day we arrived apparently. We arrived Monday and it was up, and it was still up when we checked out (early-ish for park opening) on Tuesday morning.

 

[Grabnar]

When should I try and fly in to go to Expo and everything?

 

[Herding_Cats]

When should I try and fly in to go to Expo and everything?

Tuesday if you want to have the best chance for having access to all of the official merch in all of the sizes. The VQ for the expo opens early Wednesday morning, and since weather can be weird that time of year (winter storms and all, PLUS busy holiday travel with possible delays/overbookings) I would arrive the day before.

 

[GollyGadget]

Hey y'all, I just noticed the DL PoT window is back to normal after the COVID extensions we've had the last few years.

• Proof of time must be provided from an officially timed race on a USATF certified course reflecting results between January 1, 2021, and October 3, 2023, and must be one of the below listed distances.

Anyone still hanging on to those 2019 PoTs might want to start looking for a race this year.

 

[Bree]

Hey y'all, I just noticed the DL PoT window is back to normal after the COVID extensions we've had the last few years.

• Proof of time must be provided from an officially timed race on a USATF certified course reflecting results between January 1, 2021, and October 3, 2023, and must be one of the below listed distances.

Anyone still hanging on to those 2019 PoTs might want to start looking for a race this year.

I noticed that when I was updating mine! I need a new one. Mine is 2021.