Princess Weekend 2022

[SheHulk]

CALLING ALL PRINCESSES, PRINCES, VILLAINS, SIDEKICKS, AND RUNNING ROYALTY EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!
Princess Half Marathon Weekend 2022 will be in person!!! (and virtual if you prefer)

Weekend Dates: February 24-27, 2022
Registration dates:
Club runDisney Gold & Platinum members: August 17 at 10AM
General public for in-person races: August 24 at 10AM
General public for virtual races: August 27 at 10AM
Proof of time (half marathon and challenge):
Distance: 10k, 10 mile, half marathon, or marathon race
Run between: January 1, 2019 and October 30, 2021

Disboards meetup: Saturday, 2/26/22, at 2:30pm-4:30pm at Hurricane Hanna's at Beach Club (link).
Pre-race meetups: Each race morning, 3AM - about 4:30AM in the pre-race staging area (link).

Official runDisney Princess Weekend page

 

[DopeyBadger]

Checking on the dates:

2012 - Feb 24-26th (link) - Pres Day 2/20
2013 - Feb 22-24th (link) - Pres Day 2/18
2014 - Feb 20-23rd (link) - Pres Day 2/17
2015 - Feb 19-22nd (link) - Pres Day 2/16
2016 - Feb 18-21st (link) - Pres Day 2/15
2017 - Feb 23-26th (link) - Pres Day 2/20
2018 - Feb 22-25th (link) - Pres Day 2/19
2019 - Feb 21-24th (link) - Pres Day 2/18
2020 - Feb 20-23rd (link) - Pres Day 2/17
2021 - Feb 18-21st - Pres Day 2/15
2022 - ? - Pres Day 2/21

So I agree that if runDisney keeps the same weekend for Princess that it's likely to be Feb 24-27th 2022.

 

[flav]

There is a lot of “ifs” for us to runDisney Princess 2022 but let’s day dream...

It would be my third runDisney weekend (WnD 2017 and MW 2020) but my first Princess. It would also be DD first Half Marathon... She will have turned 14 just a few months prior (hence no time to submit since, around here, 10k are for runners over 14).

What makes Princess special? Why do you recommend it? Will hotels book very fast if it falls Feb 24-27th? That is also the beginning of our Spring Break!

 

[DopeyBadger]

She will have turned 14 just a few months prior (hence no time to submit since, around here, 10k are for runners over 14).

2019 Deadline:
Proof of Time Submission Deadline: November 20, 2018 (link) - 96 days prior to HM

2017 Deadline:
Proof of Time Submission Deadline: November 15, 2016 (link) - 103 days prior to HM

That puts the POT deadline based on past experiences (no clue if it will remain the same moving forward) as a window of November 16th-23rd, 2021. Will she turn 14 prior to that? If so, then she'd be aiming for a 1:08 10k minimum (again unless they change things with the POT system) to have a submittable time.

 

[DopeyBadger]

For curiosities sake, and to get out ahead of the question more than a year in advance...

Here's the historical Temp+Dew during some race times at Disney World that weekend.



For those unfamiliar with Temperature + Dew point, it's a method I like to use to make different "conditions" translatable. Not all 75F days are equal. Additionally, not all 100% humidity days are equal. Temperature + Dew point takes both of these into account. The higher the T+D, the more of an impact it will have on your pace.



For me, I've found that my ability to convert my training potential into race performance is mostly the same at a T+D of 120 or less. In and around T+D of greater than 120 is when I see a significant shift in my abilities.

So based on the historical weather for Princess Weekend on Feb 26th, I'd say the weekend offers good/ideal conditions 5/9 years (55%). It offers ok conditions 2/9 years (22%), not great conditions (11%) and bad conditions (11%). 2021 is forecasted to be 120-125, so an "ok" condition.

 

[azrivest]

How do Proof of Times work, in a context where real races aren't really happening? All of the races I've signed up in the last year have gone virtual

 

[DopeyBadger]

How do Proof of Times work, in a context where real races aren't really happening? All of the races I've signed up in the last year have gone virtual

It's an unknown at this point how runDisney will handle that issue. My speculation (and it's a guess at best) is that runDisney will extend the window for allowable proof of time to go back further in time than traditionally. I believe in the past it was around 22 months prior to race date. So I wouldn't be surprised to see them extend the window to cover times prior to March 2020. But at this point, we don't really know what they'll do when races finally return.

This was a speculative post I made back in Dec 2020:

Now COVID-19 definitely throws a wrench into things, since the appropriate window for POT is up for debate. If it were me, I'd keep the same window as I had for Wine and Dine 2020. So that means I would accept all POTs going back as far as November 2018 (so a 3 year window). I feel like you're better off having something longer, than nothing. And if we're to assume racing was minimal from March 2020 through (unknown month?) 2021, then at least we have a decent 1.5 year window from November 2018 through March 2020. In the past, the POT window was about 22 months, and this proposal would have an 18 month window.

Now you'd have one segment of the population to worry about. Those newer runners without a HM qualifying POT between November 2018 through March 2020. If the POT designation has now moved to 3:00, then we're just asking for the runner to find a single 10k to occur between now and September 2021 with a fairly wide qualifying time pace window. I've got no idea how feasible that will be as we move forward into 2021. But I feel like a good portion of people that want to find a 10k before September 2021 will be able to. But I've got nothing but gut instinct to back that up.

So if it were me, I'd move the window to be November 2018 through September 2021, and move the cutoff to 3:00 hours for the POT submittable HM time.

So if I use the same three year window idea, then a November 2021 POT deadline would have submittable times from February 2019 - November 2021. That covers about 13 months pre-COVID.

 

[SheHulk]

What makes Princess special? Why do you recommend it? Will hotels book very fast if it falls Feb 24-27th? That is also the beginning of our Spring Break!

I've been to Marathon Weekend 5 times, Star Wars Rival Run Weekend once, but never Princess. Personally, the timing is right for my spring break, I want to try a race weekend I've never done before, and I like the theme of princesses! The medals from this weekend are always so fancy!
You'll probably get better answers from someone who has done it before though

How do Proof of Times work, in a context where real races aren't really happening? All of the races I've signed up in the last year have gone virtual

Nobody knows! They could possibly extend the window for qualifying races much further back in history than they usually do. It's all a part of the post-covid mystery. Of course if anyone hears anything they should post to this thread.

 

[Livelovedance]

It's time! Let's get an "official" thread going for Princess Weekend 2022, whenever it might be. I am on here enough so I'll do my best to manage this first post with dates when they become official. Right now it seems the consensus is that Princess is always the weekend after Presidents' Day weekend. That means for 2022 we are talking February 24-27 for the race weekend.

I have reservations already for this weekend. If these dates hold, it's the first weekend of my week-long Spring Break so it works out great for my work schedule! I so hope races come back next year.

Thank you @SheHulk for starting the thread, and @DopeyBadger for the stats so far! I know we don't know what 2022 will bring, but I plan to book a room and watch this thread for registration updates. I enjoyed following the social media presence for the 2021 virtual princess races, but there's nothing like a live runDisney race weekend!

(edit to fix the year typo lol)

 

[flav]

That puts the POT deadline based on past experiences (no clue if it will remain the same moving forward) as a window of November 16th-23rd, 2021. Will she turn 14 prior to that? If so, then she'd be aiming for a 1:08 10k minimum (again unless they change things with the POT system) to have a submittable time.

Her Birthday is right after that window. The under 1:08 would not be the problem. If every other stars are aligned for us to go, we will live with the corral we get.

 

[flav]

I've been to Marathon Weekend 5 times, Star Wars Rival Run Weekend once, but never Princess. Personally, the timing is right for my spring break, I want to try a race weekend I've never done before, and I like the theme of princesses! The medals from this weekend are always so fancy!
You'll probably get better answers from someone who has done it before though

It would be great to discover that weekend with you!
Fingers crossed Thank you for the thread, looking forward to reading it.

 

[azrivest]

That is also the beginning of our Spring Break!

Same here. My dream would be to run the Fairytale Challenge, first solo trip since my son was born! Then have my husband and kids join me on the Sunday to celebrate and spend the rest of March Break at WDW.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Yeah thank you guys for starting it. I am sooo hopeful this will happen. Maybe at least for people who have vaccinations. I want to do the Fairy tale challenge. This will be my first princess run, my first 1/2 marathon and first challenge. I have only done Disneyland 10k run a while ago and Disney virtual 5ks. But during covid I have gotten back into running.

I am in the process of buying a contract at AKL DVC. It takes like 90 days to go through it bah... but once I have my points I am reserving my dates for Princess.
It looks like we are going to go with the weekend after Presidents day, that makes since to me, Disney will want to spread out crowds if they are having in person.

 

[flav]

Guess the runDisney Princess medals

While we wait, hope and train, we could take wild guess as to what the medals themes would be for Princess 2022. What would you like?

Here is what they were in the past:

Year	5k	10k	Half	Challenge	Kids
2021	Ariel	Rapunzel	Belle	Tiana	Moana
2020	Moana	Pocahontas	Cinderella	Three Fairies	Ariel & Flounder
2019	Elena	Mulan	Aurora	Jasmine	???
2018	Rapunzel	Merida	Snow White apple	Cinderella’s carriage	Mulan
2017	Mrs Teapots & Chip	Enchanted Rose	West Wing Rose	Glass Slipper	Cogsworth
2016	Ariel	Enchanted Seashell	Princess green gem	Glass Slipper	???
2015	Anna&Elsa	Enchanted Snowflake	Princess white gem	Glass Slipper	Olaf
2014	Cinderella & friends	Enchanted Carriage	Princess blue gem	Glass Slipper

From 2009 to 2013, there was only the half marathon with medallions that included a gem (2013 pink, 2012 purple, 2011 green, 2010 white and 2009 purple heart).

From 2014 to 2017, all races in a given year were linked to the same theme.

The trend definitely seems to be one Princess per race since 2018. For my guesses, I am assuming this will continue in the coming years

I do not see a link between races themes and recent movie releases.

I had a great discussion with DD yesterday on which are our favourite Princesses and the 2021 choices would have been fitting but I guess they won’t repeat! So, here are my guesses...
5k Jasmine
10k Pocahontas
Half Cinderella
Challenge Anna&Elsa

 

[Herding_Cats]

There’s some correlation between move anniversary and medals....tangled just had its 10th anniversary (and raps was the 10k). There was a medal for Merida (10k) the race after brave’s 5th anniversary. Mulan was the 10k the race after its 20th. BaTB turns 30 this year (which doesn’t fit the “race after” cycle, and tiana would have been a year last as well.) It might just be coincidence that those worked out that way.

I think Jasmine will be in ‘22 or ‘23 because that movie is about to turn 30. There hasn’t been a Sophia medal yet ( could be a kids medal? because she “turns 10” in ‘22), but I don’t know if that show is still on Disney jr or not. I also feel like there’s a good chance for snow and aurora since they haven’t been used for a few years.

 

[SheHulk]

I don't have any predictions really, but personally I'd like a Jasmine and a Snow White in there. I just like both of them. I also would love Tiana, but probably not a reasonable hope since she was on the Big One this time. A Mulan medal would be cool too because the movie focuses so much on training. I can't think of anybody or any movie I'd be disappointed to see though.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Based on the anniversary years, I definitely think Jasmine will be the half marathon medal next year. 2018 had Snow White, which was released in 1938; 2019 had Sleeping Beauty, which came out in 1959; 2020 had Cinderella which came out in 1950; and 2021 was Belle, 1991. It’s the other medals I’m not sure about.
I did the 10k in 2019 which had Mulan. This was the first year with the running pose, and hers is a little awkward.
Generally I love Princess because it was my first half marathon. It’s also right before Flower and Garden and Disney is setting up the topiaries in EPCOT.

 

[azrivest]

I'd take a Vanellope medal. I can imagine it being so bright and colorful with a candy theme. Pretty bling

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Maybe a Raya since she’s the newest

 

[SheHulk]

Maybe a Raya since she’s the newest

I haven't seen that -- is she a "Princess" (even in the broad Disney definition)?
If so then maybe on the 5k, just looking historically if we get a newer character it's on the 5k or kids' medal. I wonder what the straight-to-Disney Plus release will do for the popularity for that movie.