As much as I wish I could write only wonderful things about my experiences during runDisney’s Dumbo Double Dare Challenge weekend, it wouldn’t be fair or right to gloss over or omit what went wrong, especially when it went so horribly wrong. In this post, I’m going to enumerate the main problems, starting with the Expo. As all runners know, the Expo, especially the race merchandise area, is a big part of the experience. For the Dumbo Double Dare, runDisney really played up the race merchandise, even posting a blog touting the merchandise. The t-shirts, especially the 10k shirt, were adorable! A pair of Dooney & Bourke bags were available, as well (note, the “Dooney’s” in the image below are from the 20th WDW Marathon, but the Disneyland Half Marathon style was identical.)
Editor’s Update September 10, 2013
Addressing some of the criticisms mentioned in this post as well as elsewhere, the Disney Store online has added runDisney Coast to Coast and Dumbo Double Dare t-shirts for sale on their site. They are only available for one week from today (Sept 10) - Monday, September 16, and there is no shipping charged for these items (a very nice gesture). Click here to see and order the shirts.
Original article from September 7, 2013 follows below…
When I go to a race expo, runDisney or otherwise, I usually pick up my bib and t-shirt and then check out the race merchandise. But, I suspected, because of the Dooney & Bourke bags, that the lines would be outrageous. I wasn’t wrong. People started lining up at 6 am. I hit Disney California Adventure for Early Magic Hours, rode Radiator Springs Racers, had breakfast at Flo’s, then walked back to the expo, which is held in the convention area of the Disneyland Hotel. We were directed out to the line, just as they started admitting people, and we were swept inside and into the merchandise area as soon as the expo opened. I picked out three shirts (one for each event), a magnet and a medal for my runDisney Vinylmation. My sister wasn’t participating in the races this year, so she waited in the pay line for me. As I left the merchandise area, a cast member was advising people that the race merchandise area was closed. The line wrapped around the stage area and back into the expo towards the t-shirt pick-up.
When runDisney announced the Dooney & Bourke collaboration for the 2012 Tinker Bell Half Marathon, I asked if race participants would have prior access to the bags. RunDisney responded that the Expo is open to the public and I was vilified in the comments for suggesting runners should have prior access to race-specific merchandise, in the same way we have prior access to race pins. At the Dumbo Double Dare Expo, most of the merchandise was gone by the end of the first day. According to reports from other runners, the merchandise area was closed again at around 1 or 2 pm, but race-specific merchandise was available on eBay by the end of the day Friday. At least one “Disney shopper” offered race merchandise at cost with a handling fee, plus shipping. I find it appalling that race participants were prevented from purchasing race merchandise by non-participants, and, especially, by people whose sole goal was to sell at an increased cost.
I understand from other runners that runDisney is making new race merchandise, but I’m not sure how it will be made available to runners. I hope it puts the eBay resellers out of business.
My suggestion to runDisney for future Expos is to offer runners the opportunity to pre-order their merchandise and to limit the orders to one of each item of apparel and up to two of the ancillary product, such as pins, glasses, magnets, etc. RunDisney’s done this in the past; for example, participants could pre-order Dooney & Bourke bags for the 2013 WDW Marathon. After picking up their bib and t-shirt, competitors would be sent to a third area to review, try on and purchase their pre-ordered items. Any items rejected (or exchanged for size) by participants would be put back into the general merchandise are of the Expo, which could be open after a certain time on the last day of the Expo. RunDisney could also explore the option of having the merchandise available to runners in the race festival area after the run either in addition to or instead of the pre-order.
Lest you think that the merchandise sales was the only pain in the Expo, let’s discuss packet pick-up. When I headed to packet pick-up, the line for waivers wrapped all the way back to the hotel, and the line for t-shirt pick-up spread out of the Expo and into the courtyard in front of the Disneyland Hotel. No, thank you. I left the hotel and came back when the lines were shorter. I don’t understand the reasoning behind having a separate t-shirt pick-up anyway. Why not have bibs and t-shirts and goodie bags all in one place to be handed at once to the participant during packet pick-up? The size is dictated by the runners’ requests at the time of race entry, so it could all be handled together.
One last mention – during my time in the expo, there were repeated announcements to runners that there was a magnet in the goodie bag (shown below) and runners should keep their bibs away from it. When I turned over my bib for the goodie bag pick-up, the volunteer tucked my bib into the goodie bag before handing it to me. Why? Why were volunteers instructed to put the bibs in the bags, if there were magnets included? Why didn’t volunteers stop putting the bibs in the bags when the announcements started? They had to have been hearing them, too. And, given the danger of demagnetizing the b-tag on the bib, why did runDisney decide to do away with b-tag verification at this event?
After snatching my bib out of the goodie bag, I went back downstairs to the packet pick-up area to verify my bib and was told there was no verification this year. I went to the Solutions area to ask about it and was told they decided not to do it for this event. I pointed out that, despite the repeated announcements, volunteers were putting bibs into goodie bags with the magnets and someone should probably stop them. She agreed, but made no move to do so. Happily for me, my b-tag worked, but it did cause some unnecessary stress during my races.
WATER
There were some problems with water along the course. It didn’t rise to the level of the 2007 Chicago Marathon, but there were times when the water stations weren’t prepared and at least one station ran out of cups, forcing people to wait for water on a very hot and humid course. I am not a runDisney apologist, but the forecast changed drastically in the two days before the race and I’m not surprised that people were taking more cups than usual. There was plenty of water available, as far as I know. I saw plenty of bottles of Dasani water (another point in runDisney’s favor, as I’m used to drinking fire hydrant water in NYC) at each water station. The problem was clearly lack of preparation on the part of the volunteers and station leaders.
Another issue that I had with the water was hygiene. I didn’t see any volunteers wearing gloves during the Disneyland 10K. I ran to the tables to get my cups of water. Most volunteers had the cups on their palms, but I did see some pick up cups with fingers inside the rim. At most of the water stations during the half, the volunteers were wearing gloves, but there were a few tables where there were volunteers who were not wearing gloves. RunDisney needs to provide gloves to all volunteers and to ensure that volunteer supervisors are monitoring glove use and hygiene for the runners, who are at their mercy.
One other issue was the number of water stations on the 10K course. There were only three and they weren’t on an out and back, which would have them double up later in the course. The first was just after the one-mile marker, the second was between the third and fourth mile markers and the last was between the fifth and sixth mile markers. There were two water stations on the 5k course, so those runners were adequately protected, but there should have been at least one more, especially on such a hot and humid day. I can understand not putting an additional water station outside the parks, but they could have added one between the second and third mile markers after the runners had reentered California Adventure.
BANDITS
There were many bandits at the races. It may be that it’s always been this way and I just didn’t know it, but runDisney knows about it for sure now. Rudy Novotny, one of the runDisney race announcers, reported that he happened to notice that the second place female finisher was, in fact, male. The bandit was tracked down and disqualified and, hopefully, both he and the woman who transferred the bib to him have been banned from future runDisney races. The race registration is very clear that there are no bib transfers allowed. I joined a couple of facebook groups for runners in these events and was dismayed to see how many people were selling their bibs. I’m sure runDisney incorporates attrition rates into their race estimates and course preparation, but the selling of bibs by people who find they are unable to participate can create dangerous conditions for runners and is a violation of the contract we runners sign when we register to participate. I understand that it’s a hard financial hit to take for some people, but that’s something that should be determined before they sign up, not after registration. Given the high cost of these events, some people suggested that runDisney should consider instituting a transfer policy. I don’t think I agree. An official transfer policy would open the registration process to the same sort of villains who buy up merchandise to sell on later at higher prices or auction them off to the highest bidders. It’s a tough call, but maybe runDisney is right about this one.
OK, now that the bad news is out-of-the-way, let’s look at everything that went right during the Inaugural Dumbo Double Dare Challenge. Click here for my recap of the races, and let us know what your experience was with runDisney’s Disneyland Half Marathon weekend. Did you run into any of the troubles I mention above? Please leave a comment below to share and continue the conversation.
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I don’t think it would hurt rD to look into a transfer policy. Have a deadline in place like they do for deferrals, have a fix fee to transfer, and maybe have a one-and-done policy. Once a bib is transferred, it cannot be transferred again.
I certainly do think rD does need to rethink how merchandise is handled. In the word of eBay, how many official shirts, NB shoes, and even medals end up there?
Hi Lesley. Thank you for your comment. I think you’re right that it wouldn’t hurt runDisney, but it might hurt hopeful registrants. The problem with a transfer policy is that runDisney only controls the transfer cost, not the amount the runner pays the registrant. So, people could register for the races, then sell the entries on for any price at all, plus the cost of the transfer. As it is now, there are probably more runners trying to register for the races. If a transfer policy is opened, then scalpers become an issue. They’ll buy up registrations to sell on to runners. It’s hard enough to get a bib for a Disney race when we’re just competing with each other. I would never have thought of that happening if I hadn’t seen what happened at this expo. I really hope the reports are right that runDisney is making more of the merchandies items. I also hope that they’ll be offering participants the first opportunity to buy it.
I just checked ebay and there are:
28 hits for “dumbo double dare”
31 hits for “disneyland half marathon 2013″
21 hits for “disneyland 10k 2013″
10 hits for “new balance disney” (the cheapest offer if $299)
Those numbers are down from the last time I checked, so there might have been sales already.
They really should have a preorder for the official merchandise. Either ship it out or allow you to pick it up at the expo. They already do this for pins and park tickets why not merchandise. That doesn’t mean you can’t still have it for sale at the expo. I didn’t even bother with the merchandise because they said it would be between 3-5 hours to get the stuff and buy it. No thanks. I really hope they offer the merchandise again. It can’t be that difficult to make more.
My other biggest concern is the box of junk they give you as finishers food. I realize this is nothing new but they really need to give us bagels, bananas (they at least had these this year), chocolate milk, etc.
I too couldn’t figure out where to verify my bib and no one knew if there was one or not. Very odd.
I also noticed the people not wearing gloves and was like their fingers are down in the water. As someone who caught the swine flu after a TOT 13k race this really bothered me. No excuse for no gloves!
I agree with all that you said. As a Disney fan I was very disappointed with the apparent breakdown in the level of quality I have come to expect and appreciate from Disney. The one thing that I would like to add in the negative column was the long delay with allowing the 10k participants to head to their corrals. The 5k was well on its way, yet we were held for a long while in a crowded mass of runners before being allowed to make our way to the corrals.
I was extremely disappointed with the official merchandise situation. The long purchase line was not something someone who is at Disney with their family can afford to wait out. As someone who completed their first full marathon at Disney World in January, I was more than disappointed to come home without Dumbo or Coast to Coast merchandise. Like you, I cannot believe that Disney would not prefer to make more money on their own merchandise than the scalpers make. I do hope the rumors are correct and they will offer a second printing of the merchandise to all of us. I tried to post something to this effect on the Disney marketing blog but they refused to accept my post and did not respond individually (again, a little disappointed in Disney).
I also agree that allowing entry transfer would just cause more of the scalpers to come out of the woodwork. It is already hard enough to get into the races.
Hi Chris and Jennifer - thank you for your comments.
Chris - I liked the snack box at the finish line. There’s a little bit of everything and each item is individually wrapped, so you can save it for later. The box is especially helpful and even more so, now, with the handle. NYRR has moved away from offering bagels at the end of races, because of hygiene concerns, so I can understand why they offer wrapped items instead.
Jennifer - I had forgotten about the long delay and the crush leading into the corrals. I appreciated that they had corrected that the next day with fenced off aisles leading to the different corral areas. I hope you have the opportunity to purchase merchandise in the near future. I might be tempted to buy more, as well. I just grabbed what I could and tried to get out.
While these issues were big problems, I thought the overall race was a positive experience. The rest of my recap will be posted as soon as all of the pictures are uploaded.
The hygiene is a good point on the bagels. Never thought of that. However I’m a part of two running groups and I don’t know of anyone that eats much of anything in the box. Skittles and the peanut butter were all I could stomach.
I was asked to stop by the Expo on Friday to pick up some items for folks who couldn’t be there, and I have to say I was surprised at how open it was to non-participants. I mean, it’s always nice to feel welcome, but I was actually taken aback at how just anybody could come in and potentially get in the way of the folks who were actually paying money to be in the races. I realze I may be shooting myself in the foot here as a non-runner, but I really think the Expo should only be open to participants + 1 guest - at least during the first day. You are the ones that should have first dibs at the merchandise. Granted, that doesn’t mean that participants won’t turn around and sell it at a heightened price just the same, but at least it would give you a better chance at the opportunity to buy what you actually earned! I was also surprised they didn’t do do the Dooney pre-orders like they did for the Tinker Bell Half, but even then, anyone could pre-order, not just racers.
Great recap, looking forward to your next report.
Hi Chrysty - Thank you for your comment. I think the big problem was the two inaugural events, both of which occurred on Saturday, so participants had to be at the expo on Friday, along with the 5k runners. I don’t mind if the expo floor is open to anyone, but I do think the merchandise area should be limited to race participants (with bib and ID) until late on the last day. I think next year will be better, because it won’t be an inaugural event. On the other hand, people may worry about the merchandise running out again and go to the expo early again, so that’ll probably be my first stop again next year.
I’m so glad you wrote up this recap of the issues that happened. The Expo was frustrating, but I tried to be “glass half full” about the lack of merchandise - it’s better for my bank account, right? I know the expos have always been open to the public, but I had never thought about it before. I’ve previously only done Walt Disney World races. With those Expos at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, you have to make more of an effort to get there. If you are not a runner, you would really have to want to go to the Expo to find a bus or drive there. At Disneyland, besides having inaugural events this year, anyone could walk there from the parks, Downtown Disney, non-Disney hotels, etc.
I am happy to hear I wasn’t the only one who thought that there weren’t enough water stops on the 10k course!
One other complaint that I’m not sure they could do anything about, my finisher photo and castle photos are terrible! Oh well.
I’m still working on my race recaps, and I look forward to reading yours!
I emailed RunDisney about this very same issue. I have been doing the Disney races for 8 years and skipped the merchandise because it was closed, then they were sold out of everything. They need to do better.
Hi, George! What a pleasant surprise to sit next to you on the flight home! I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation about the weekend and all things Disney. As you know, we were extremely disappointed to not get any merchandise due to the 2+ hour check-out lines. Like you, we decided to go to the park for a couple of hours before packet-pickup and the Expo. Had I known they were going to let people into the Expo early, we would have started there. I chose to spend that time with my wife and granddaughter in the parks. (…besides, we had a FastPass to Radiator Springs Racers!) I did go back later that day and settled for a shirt for my wife that was a size too large that she will wear as a sleep shirt.
I did track down three Disney Merchandise ladies that said they are responsible for the merchandise at all the races. We had a (respectful) discussion of my disappointments along with some of my suggestions. They got an ear full! I will follow-up with them on my/our suggestions as well as trying to find out how I can get a Coast-to-Coast shirt. Hopefully, we will see a big improvement in January.
Some of my suggestions to the Disney Merchandise ladies were that they have got to provide a much higher quantity of product and get back to having some selections for family. I hope they still have time to increase the quantity of product for January at DisneyWorld. Their answer to the ‘family selection’ was that they just expect family to buy the same stuff as the runners. I think the majority of runners are prepared to spend a lot of money on products for themselves and family members. I think Disney has got to be willing to eat some excess product in order to make sure everyone has a shot of getting some of what they want. We are spending a ton of money on the races and other trip expenses. It is a crying shame for Disney to not have a decent selection of all merchandise throughout the weekend. Sadly, this has been a consistent trend at every Disney race for me and sometimes even in the parks. Runners that cannot arrive until day two of the Expo are simply out of luck (unless they are extra large). They also needed to have twice as many check-out registers. DisneyWorld was bad in January but I thought they had many more registers. I did not experience lines at DisneyWorld being anywhere close to what they were at Disneyland.
So, what have I learned? I’m running the Dopey in January. My wife won’t arrive until Friday so I will be alone camping outside the Merchandise door Day1. Unless runDisney changes procedures and requires a bib to make purchases, I will bypass packet-pickup and go straight to the merchandise area and buy everything I remotely think we might want. (I’ll have to confirm I can return unwanted product…)
I enjoyed the race and the course as I do all Disney races. I do have a small complaint that too many walkers were walking two or three wide down the middle of the street/path. I don’t run Disney races for a PR, but it is dangerous to have to zig zag so much. I am all for run/walk…but guys, proper etiquette is to move to the extreme edge during your walk portion and walk single file (at most double). This would not have been too much of an issue for me had people been in their proper/realistic corral. These are problems at basically all races, though.
Hi Nicole, Erin and Richard - thank you for your comments.
Nicole - That’s a very good point about the accessibility of the expo. I’m sorry you didn’t get anything at the expo, though. I hope the rumor is true that they’re making more and will offer it to runners.
Here’s a tip for the photos. With the sun as bright as it is in CA, it’s important to make sure you position yourself with the sun in your face. If the sun is behind you, you’ll be backlit and the photographer would have to use a flash to brighten you up. I’ve noticed with the bigger races, the photographers don’t always take the time to check that they’ve taken a good picture before sending you on your way. I picked the left side for my photos to make sure I got the best possible light.
Erin - It’s hard to believe a merchandising powerhouse like Disney could fail so miserably, but I think they failed to take into account the inaugural aspect and didn’t heed the ebay auctioneers buying up D&B bags in previous years. A little more practical thought into the matter might have eased the crowding and insufficiency of merchandise.
Richard - Hello! I’m glad you found the site! I really enjoyed talking everything runDisney with you on our flight. Add expecting family to purchase race merchandise, rather than making supporter specific merchandise to the list of failures. If someone hasn’t run the race, they shouldn’t be wearing the t-shirt (hoodie, etc.) I don’t care so much about the baseball caps, for some reason. You’re right about those walkers. I experienced that many times, even in areas where the path narrowed, and it made it even more difficult to stay on pace. At one point, three different groups of walkers overlapped to block the entire course. Annoying!! That’s a runner etiquette issue, though, and not something I would blame on runDisney.
Excellent, well said coverage of the downsides of the weekend — need to go read your race recaps as well!!
And…I too heard Radiator Springs calling my name before heading to the expo 😉 So missed out on any race specific merchandise - and all I wanted was a magnet!!
Thank you for your comment, Anne. I suspect all you fellow RSR fans are what caused the line to be so long Friday morning! 😉 I hope they remake the magnets so you can buy one, Anne.
runDisney created this total muckup of overcrowding at the Expo by requiring that most of the runners pick up their bibs on Friday and by repeatedly posting that one should get to the expo early. And what’s with opening the Expo at 10am? Great for the vendors, but misery for those of us in line before 9am. Clearly runDisney folks are not marketing nor PR graduates…. As an RN, I learned early in my career that you have to adjust to the weather, if there’s hot weather ahead, MORE water, MORE water stops, and perhaps it’s not so crucial at a 5K, but no Electrolyte replacements on the poorly hydrated 10K? What were they thinking….
Hi Lynda - thank you for your comment. I think they opened the expo at 10 am because so many more people had to get through it before the Saturday morning races. I think they might not have realized just how many non-participants were going to show up, as well. I can’t fault them for not providing electrolyte replacements on the 10k. I have run hundreds of races and can’t remember ever seeing electrolytes on a course shorter than 13k (I don’t remember if there were any on the original Tower of Terror courses, but I know I’ve seen them on 10-mile courses). For a run that short, they’re probably not needed, but hydration definitely is and there should have been at least four water stops, if not five.
I ran in WDW in January for Marathon Weekend. I did not experience any of the horror that took place in DL in WDW in January. I was one of many that stood in line prior to the 10:00 am opening of the expo. Once the doors were finally opened people who were not in line and just happened to be “passing through” near the entrance were able to walk in with me. I did voice my concerns very loudly to one particular couple about this and received a very sarcastic giggle in return from them. I went straight to the KT Tape station and then went over to the merchandise area. This took all of about 30 minutes but in that short amount of time it looked as if a tornado had passed through the merchandise area. I was disappointed in the lack of DDD and Coast to Coast merchandise available in general. I was able to purchase a couple of things but not exactly what I was looking for. I did wait in line for 2 hours to make these purchases.
I then went downstairs to pick up my bib. This went rather quickly compared to the nightmare upstairs. I also asked about the b-tag verification and was told they were no longer doing this; however, if I wanted to stand in the guest services/relations (not sure of the exact name) they could scan it for me to make sure. I decided to wait in another line just to make sure and it was working. I then went back upstairs to pick up my shirts and asked about the magnet in the bag since I too had heard numerous announcements regarding this. I was told by the lady that gave me my bag that they had checked it and it was no longer an issue. I decided I was not willing to take any chances and removed the magnet from my bag and threw it away before placing my bib in the bag.
We are frequent visitors to WDW and this was my first time to DL. I can tell you from experience that the mentality of the cast members in DL is in no way up to the par of the cast members in WDW. This is just my opinion by I think that DL needs lots of work not just in the runDisney area.
I agree with all of your comments except for the lack of water stations during the 10k run. I feel that three stations for 6 miles of running was fair. Some people may require more water than others, and if you know that, maybe they could carry a water belt. (I did see many of those during the race) I hydrated before the race, took one cup of water at each station and then drank a bottle at the finish. I felt hydrated the entire way. I live in an area that generally is not hot and humid, so i was worried that the heat would get to me, but overall,it was not as bad as I thought. On my training runs, I only drink every 2-3 miles (as suggested in my training program) so the water stations seemed adequate. I have heard a lot of people complain about this and I just don’t get that. Overall I had an awesome weekend and cannot wait until next year. Hopefully some of these issues will be addressed by then….:-)
I arrived at the expo around 10:30, having come directly from the airport to the hotel, and even though I had familiarized myself with the maps and had a good idea where I needed to be, I couldn’t find the end of the line for the packet pickup without assistance from a CM. I hadn’t grabbed my hat or water, having never experienced a wait like this in any other race. It took an hour and a half to get my bib, pins and park tickets. I’d have come back later except that I needed the park tickets that day. After heading to the exit, I realized that the people standing in line at the exit were waiting to get into the expo and t-shirt pickup, and it took about 5 minutes to find the back of that line, which snaked back and forth across the floor, and then outside around the hotel. I opted to go in search of lunch rather than wait in that line. When I returned around 2:30, all of the cute race merchandise was gone, and all that was left was the general runDisney shirts that were just “meh” and not worth the price tag to me.
I would like to be able to pre-order my merchandise the same way I did my pins; then Disney would have a much better idea what the demand for the product will be and can have enough supply for the demand. It’s to their advantage to do this - they got zero dollars from me because the product I wanted was sold out.
Another major complaint I have is that the T-shirts for the races were sized too big. I want to see gender-specific t-shirts, and I want to see a sizing chart before I order, and I want the t-shirts to be true to that sizing charts. No surprises. I was able to downsize my shirts on Saturday, but I had to run back to my hotel to get them and then back to the expo - a 5k I didn’t expect to do. I still don’t like the unisex cut, but they don’t look like colorful potato sacks any more.
The delay in being permitted into the corrals for the 10k race was confusing and stressful. I did make it to corral D before the race started without incident once they allowed us to proceed. I disagree that they “fixed” the problem for the half, however. I arrived about a half hour before the race was scheduled to start and didn’t realize that they had changed the chutes that funnel you into your corral. I ended up headed for F and G corrals and pushed my way backwards, looking for an entrance into D. I slipped through a barrier that had been opened for race staff and got told repeatedly that I wasn’t allowed to go through; I pointed out that I needed to be in D and ignored the staffer. He looked exasperated, but what was I supposed to do? Then I was told that D was full and we were being sent to E. The runners at the front told me to go back to the front corner of the corral and enter there. I did this and again got nearly thrown out by a runDisney staffer who told me it wasn’t fair to the runners already in the corral. The other runners overruled her and she desisted. I could see that the staff was overwhelmed by the chaos, but were doing everything they could to correct the situation, but not really succeeding very well. A trip by one of the planners to the Memorial Day BolderBoulder 10K in Boulder, CO would be an eye-opening experience for them to learn how corrals are done in an efficient and organized fashion. They channel 55,000 runners through the start line, and it is NEVER the chaos that I experienced with RunDisney.
I had looked at the water station placement before I left home, and since I believed them to be inadequate, I opted to carry my own water to supplement where the stations were absent. Every station I visited was stocked, though the cups were barely filled at some, and I took multiple cups at these stations.
The snacks that were served were neither better nor worse than any other race I have participated in, though the boxes were an unnecessary addition to local landfills. I appreciated the Skittles. I would have liked a larger package.
My two cents about what was wrong at my first RunDisney event. For me, it was a learning experience, and I will use it to avoid unnecessary stress in future races. I hope Disney also learns from their mistakes and take steps to make things run smoothly in future races. Wouldn’t I like to be a fly on the wall in those meetings!
my point about opening the Expo at 10 am was that it was much too late. It should have opened at 9 am or even earlier, and I hope they never run a 5K and a 10K starting and ending at the same points, one right after the other ever again. Re electrolytes, the weather was hot and humid, the runDisney crowd tends to include plenty of non athletes, we’re sweating like pigs, replace our electrolytes and we’ll have fewer problems.
I enjoyed going to California and the Disney Park.As far as the race is concerned there were some great highlights. One, I enjoyed the participation of all the Disney staff and characters and everyone was very nice.
Secondly, I love the whole park, the old cars, stadium and the finish line.
I am one not to complain but I have to agree with the disorganization with the expo. I felt bad for people that didn’t have the chance to go to the Expo until later or if you were just doing the half and came on Saturday to find hardly any mechadise left. I also found the RD items so expensive! The expense of travel, cost of the race and then try to buy some memorabilia to feel that you have to go sell a kidney to affords it all.
As far as the water stations most of the water was warm or hot. I never felt like I could consume enough. I only saw salt packets at one first aid staion. I know it was really hard to have them at all the stops (maybe they were gone) because of the heat and humidity but good to know in the future.
After I crossed the finish line I felt like I was still on the course because I had to keep walking to get to any place for pictures, ice, first aid station…oh and to get to my friends.
I did another DWRace and it seemed alittle more organized as far as the Expo but that race was more spread out and not as much DW particpation by the staff.
I write so RD can take some construcive words and make it better…we all have areas where we can improve in our lives.
I forgot one last thing about the corrals. From the time the race started till I cross the starting line was over an hour. That’s a lot of standing and then running a race on top of that can be hard on body.
The Dumbo Double was my last RunDisney race. Period. After all these years you would think they could get it right. From the Disaster at the expo to the HOT water at the water stops on a HOT day. At the expo, no one had a clue which way to go. Being one of the first to get my bib (even though others were in line hours before me, but our line was allowed in first by run disney people) I was then directed right back into the mess of lines to get my T-shirt / goodie bag at the rear of the crazy expo. Needless to say the people behind me coming from the packet pickup were not going to wait in another line. The box of “stuff” at the end is nothing more than RD being as cheap as possible while making as much as possible. This was my 51st half, and as I said, I’m done with RD.
Hi all - thank you for your comments. Besides these issues, I did have a great time at the races. Every race has growing pains and, despite this being the 8th Disneyland Half, these were the first 10k and Double Dare events offered here. I believe the runDisney team operates out of Orlando, which is a completely different venue. These are all good lessons for runDisney, especially the fact that they can’t treat Disneyland, a very community-involved park, as if it were the same as Disney World, which is truly a world of its own. They need different logistics for Disneyland. As far as the expo goes, I would funnel runners from bib pick-up to t-shirt pick-up to race-specific merchandise to the open expo area. Sending people in by bib number would be a great place to start. Limiting the race-specific merchandise to runners will also cut back on the number of non-participants coming to the expo until late on the last day.
Coming from NYC, we drink hot water during races all summer long out of fire hydrants. I would much rather drink hot Dasani water from a bottle.
Jamie - the long walk to get out of the race finish area is probably a good thing. It keeps you from stopping too quickly and gives your legs a chance to stretch out and cool down. The NYC marathon builds in almost a full mile of walking afterwards, depending on where your baggage truck is. The more participants there are in a race, the more space they need to get people safely out of the race.
Lynda - this was an early start for the expo. The last few years I think it opened at noon, so they did try to adjust the opening time, but they didn’t adjust it enough.
I’ll update in this in the text above, but I wanted to let people know the Disney Store online has added runDisney Coast to Coast and Dumbo Double Dare t-shirts to the site. They are only available for one week from today (Sept 10) - September 16, and there is Free Shipping. http://www.disneystore.com/rundisney/mn/1000855/?catalogFromSearch=10002
When we got to the expo it was a total Cluster F@#!. Not only were the lines outrageous, we didn’t even know where the end of the line was or if we were even in the correct line. They kept saying, “find the cast member with the green balloon.” We’d find them and they weren’t even in a line. We ended up following a group of people who walked right in.
I think the biggest reason for the huge influx of people is because anyone registered for the 5K 10K or DDD were required to be there on the first day and that day only. There were way more people at the WDW Marathon weekend and the lines weren’t anything like DL. Another beef I had was with Marathonfoto, I didn’t get a caste picture or a finish line pic (a friend didn’t get them either.)
1)They should add Thursday for packet pickup which would spread out the people.
2)Do online pre-orders so there is no potential of running out. It would also help them know how much to order from their supplier.
3)Bring back the B-tag verification
Hi All,
Is Dumbo Double dare transferable…I meant by can my hubby ran the 10k and I run the half the next day?
Thank you..