Official Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend 2020

[camaker]

At the very least it doesn’t appear dates are going very fast. So far only the first few days have some parks filled.

I certainly hope that remains the case, as after another 2.5 hours on hold, I was told to just call back and buy an extension tomorrow. I was given the “direct” AP help line to call. Interestingly enough, it was the same “direct” number that I called this evening. Apparently, when a line gets too full, they shunt calls over to other lines. So my call to the “direct” AP line was answered by the general Resort Reservations line who not only couldn’t help with my AP issue, told me to call the same number again. What kind of insanity is that? They freely agreed that it would be even worse trying to get through tomorrow, but that’s the best they had to offer. Disney is about to lose an AP. I’d dump them now if I didn’t have two race weekend’s worth of bibs hanging over my head.

 

[rteetz]

I certainly hope that remains the case, as after another 2.5 hours on hold, I was told to just call back and buy an extension tomorrow. I was given the “direct” AP help line to call. Interestingly enough, it was the same “direct” number that I called this evening. Apparently, when a line gets too full, they shunt calls over to other lines. So my call to the “direct” AP line was answered by the general Resort Reservations line who not only couldn’t help with my AP issue, told me to call the same number again. What kind of insanity is that? They freely agreed that it would be even worse trying to get through tomorrow, but that’s the best they had to offer. Disney is about to lose an AP. I’d dump them now if I didn’t have two race weekend’s worth of bibs hanging over my head.

I certainly feel the pain. I was on the phone with Disney for four hours today.

 

[goingthedistance]

New York just cancelled (scheduled Nov 1).
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story...y-marathon-set-nov-1-canceled-due-coronavirus

 

[camaker]

New York just cancelled (scheduled Nov 1).
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story...y-marathon-set-nov-1-canceled-due-coronavirus

And Berlin. Expecting London and Chicago to follow suit soon.

 

[Z-Knight]

And Berlin. Expecting London and Chicago to follow suit soon.

damn, this doesn't look good. I'm sorry all.

 

[DurangoJim]

New York just cancelled (scheduled Nov 1).
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story...y-marathon-set-nov-1-canceled-due-coronavirus

I don't see how Disney goes ahead. In the medical profession we call this "standard of care" meaning a doc doesn't do something that is unusual for his/her geographic location and field compared to colleagues. Seems like the same applies to runDisney. it's really too bad.

 

[camaker]

I don't see how Disney goes ahead. In the medical profession we call this "standard of care" meaning a doc doesn't do something that is unusual for his/her geographic location and field compared to colleagues. Seems like the same applies to runDisney. it's really too bad.

The only potential saving grace for Disney is that massive crowds of spectators are a huge part of these major marathons and the organizers have to be concerned for spectator safety since they’re run on public roads. Disney has an advantage in that its races are on private property with restricted spectator access that could be further constrained easily. That allows Disney to focus much more on runner safety. Their races are also significantly smaller fields than the majors.

 

[JBinORL]

It's still close to 20k people in the runners village, in corrals, etc. They're not making these decisions to cancel just because of spectators. And spreading out the start is much easier in local races with a few hundred people. It already takes almost an hour for people to cross the start line, hard to spread that out even more

 

[camaker]

It's still close to 20k people in the runners village, in corrals, etc. They're not making these decisions to cancel just because of spectators. And spreading out the start is much easier in local races with a few hundred people. It already takes almost an hour for people to cross the start line, hard to spread that out even more

I never said the races were being cancelled just because of spectator, just that the ability to control spectators is a plus for Disney in their planning. I don’t know about the other majors, but Chicago estimates that around 2 million spectators line their course. That’s a huge concern on top of the 40,000+ runners when it comes to planning.

The largest race at W&D has ~12,000 finishers in a typical year. I think it’s a safe bet that health concerns and travel restrictions will cut that field by a significant margin. That’s a LOT fewer runners to deal with than a marathon major. There are a lot of potential safety measures that could be implemented that have been discussed in other threads that I won’t rehash here. If Disney can safely reopen theme parks I’m pretty sure they could safely host the W&D races. It’s going to come down to a cost/benefit analysis for them to decide at what point the additional costs of safety measures outweighs the benefits of holding the races. It’s not looking good, but I don’t think they’re ready to throw in the towel just yet.

 

[Chasing Dopey]

Disney is about to lose an AP. I’d dump them now if I didn’t have two race weekend’s worth of bibs hanging over my head.

For out of state AP holders, they've basically broken the value of the pass. 3 day limit, so for some not worth the effort. No park hopper. No photographers. If the resort guests use up all the tickets, your free parking just got eaten up by the resort parking fees (if you typically stay off property which we do). If it continues much longer, very few people will renew, as the 15% discount just isn't worth it and it might be better to wait. If they want to keep people on board, they would need to provide another extension through the reopening transition.

I never said the races were being cancelled just because of spectator, just that the ability to control spectators is a plus for Disney in their planning.
...
The largest race at W&D has ~12,000 finishers in a typical year.

Someone had mentioned a good idea: Offer refunds now, in a 2 or 3 week window to those who want it. Then they can see how many are left over. They would have to decide what the threshold is, so for example, if only 5000 hold on, they may be able to make it work, thanks in part to the lack of spectators. Character stops would have to change, but that's okay. If 8000 decide they still want to do it, that may be too much and they can cancel the event outright.

But... I'm not confident a race organization that limits registrations for a danged virtual run to have this much sense, so I'm not holding my breath.

 

[1lilspark]

FWIW I know it’s off topic regarding the race but I was able to book 4 park days for W&D weekend and 3 park days for Marathon weekend (Gold AP both on Thu-Sun pop stays)

 

[Krandor]

New York just cancelled (scheduled Nov 1).
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story...y-marathon-set-nov-1-canceled-due-coronavirus

Sucks. Yeah W&D is likely out as is probably peachtree road race. Not sure any big races will run this year. Where does that put marathon weekend?

And part of the NY one may be the travel quarantine the governer put in place today. I bet he gave NYRR a heads up that was coming and they may have factored into the decision.

 

[camaker]

Hallelujah! I feel like I just won the lottery. After the renewal system being down all day and all the phone lines being jammed, I just tried calling the ticketing line after a meeting ended early. Got through in 5 attempts, went straight to a CM and had my AP renewed in under 5 minutes!

From there it was straight over to the park reservations system where I was able to reserve entry for all 13 days of my two trips including the all important Monday in Epcot for DATW!

 

[SchuSchu]

FWIW I know it’s off topic regarding the race but I was able to book 4 park days for W&D weekend and 3 park days for Marathon weekend (Gold AP both on Thu-Sun pop stays)

Same. I have a Gold AP and I got park reservations for my full stay of 5 days.

 

[Disney at Heart]

Hallelujah! I feel like I just won the lottery. After the renewal system being down all day and all the phone lines being jammed, I just tried calling the ticketing line after a meeting ended early. Got through in 5 attempts, went straight to a CM and had my AP renewed in under 5 minutes!

From there it was straight over to the park reservations system where I was able to reserve entry for all 13 days of my two trips including the all important Monday in Epcot for DATW!

Ditto! Thanks to @camaker ‘s advice!

 

[Chasing Dopey]

Okay, folks... I need to check in with my trusted sources here. Someone on the interwebs just claimed that rD has been offering race refunds, if you email them to request it. Anyone else get word of something like this? I'm not looking to get a refund, but this would be a pretty big deal if true, and still a secret.

 

[bellrae]

Okay, folks... I need to check in with my trusted sources here. Someone on the interwebs just claimed that rD has been offering race refunds, if you email them to request it. Anyone else get word of something like this? I'm not looking to get a refund, but this would be a pretty big deal if true, and still a secret.

I might just give this a try. I live in Australia and we have already been told by our government that overseas travel is likely banned until 2021 at the earliest, so I’ve cancelled all of my trip except the race registration...

 

[Chasing Dopey]

I might just give this a try. I live in Australia and we have already been told by our government that overseas travel is likely banned until 2021 at the earliest, so I’ve cancelled all of my trip except the race registration...

Let us know how it turns out! Travel restriction is definitely a special circumstance, and I would hope they would offer the refund. I’d be curious to see if anyone gives it a try for simple safety concerns.

 

[JBinORL]

For out of state AP holders, they've basically broken the value of the pass. 3 day limit, so for some not worth the effort. No park hopper. No photographers. If the resort guests use up all the tickets, your free parking just got eaten up by the resort parking fees (if you typically stay off property which we do). If it continues much longer, very few people will renew, as the 15% discount just isn't worth it and it might be better to wait. If they want to keep people on board, they would need to provide another extension through the reopening transition.

They've killed the value for local APs as well, for many of the same reasons you mentioned. Living as close to the parks as I do, we always have lots of visitors. I can't plan to go with them to the parks for W&D or any other visit, without sacrificing my ability to go in the meantime. For longer trips, I can only guarantee some of the days and have to hope for the others. I can't park hop. Given the limited hours, I can't decide to go after work; even if there's capacity, I'd be severely limited in the hours the park would be open.

We plan to cancel and regroup later.

 

[NotGrumpyButPrettyClose]

I'm watching what happens to the Marine Corps Marathon before deciding to lose all hope...