Official 2016 Star Wars Half Marthon - The Dark Side Weekend

[MomtoGKC]

Great news about transportation from Swan/Dolphin! I booked a 1 bedroom executive suite at FL resident rate for $361/night. That way my kids can have their own room and I won't wake then up at 3am!

 

[alexce]

I can't answer your question but I can share your frustration. I registered myself and three kids and used my husband's credit card. When it came to billing info I entered his name and the billing address of the card. I was afraid if I used my name (which is not on the actual card) that it wouldn't match up and they wouldn't accept it. I was aggravated when it changed the active .com account name to his instead of mine. Have you checked your emails from Disney to see if they registered each of you? I sure hope you won't get double billed. If so, hopefully they will refund your money!

Yeah, it was pretty much the same for me. I just freaked out and was so worried it would sell out and I had done something wrong. Active has since told me they can't do anything despite seeing the duplicate regs, but they encouraged us to try Run Disney. So the hubs is going to give it a go tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

 

[DOOM1001]

I think gone are the times of really fast sell outs. This sign up was predictably a fast sellout for the 10k and challenges. But remember the times when the entire race would be sold out already.

I think Rundisney has pretty much reached its peak. I mean if this didn't sellout in record time.. I don't know what will. granted the challenge sold out really fast, but there were times when everything sold out just as fast.

It's a nice comfort to know that it looks like other races you will at least get in for one event.. If not the challenge, at least the half and not be locked out completely as in the past

I think there's certain factors involved here,when you say RunDisney has reached its peak,I would say races in general were trending up and hit a peak in popularity about 2 years ago and it has somewhat plateaued,up until last year the amount of new races,novelty races and mud runs were through the roof,look at Runningintheusa.com and you can see races from 2015 not being brought back,a lot of the people running those races were new runners just dipping their feet in the water to try it out,some become hardcore,others stay in it doing a few races a year but unfortunately a good amount just realize it's not for them and stop doing races.In the last 3-4 years ago I was doing races with a group of about 8 friends and about and half of them have just stopped,2-3 others are only doing a 1-2 races a year,I'm the only one who's actually running more and more races every year.There are new runners coming in every day so even though many runners decide to stop running the more popular races will always sell out even if races are in a down or flat trend which is where we're at right now after hitting a peak a few years ago,even so running is still many times more popular than even just a decade ago.Also what has been proven with Dopey is that Disney brings out the runners who want to mix a long trip to Disney with a multi-day running challenge,whenever Run Disney decides to bring back ToT or a new Halloween themed race they must know they gotta have a challenge involved,the bling,the shirts or whatever it's pretty much proven those work at Disney.Another thing about this particular race weekend,Run Disney kind of announced it pretty late,people make plans and this is a pretty busy time of year,so timing may have prevented a decent amount of runners from registering for it.I for one was waiting month after month for a new Disney race,I told myself there has to be one with the Everest Challenge and ToT gone but time passed until I pretty much forgot about it and had no more hopes for one until out of nowhere they announced it,I was in shock and I had signed up for a bunch of other races this time of year since I didn't think a new race was coming,but guess what,that weekend was open,I've never done an inaugural race and if there's a challenge involved I'm in,I could use all the short sleeve race shirts living in Florida.How long the half marathon takes to sell out will be pretty telling,I mean look at Avengers,It's like a month and a half away and it's at 92%.

 

[FFigawi]

I'm not sure rD events have peaked. Their larger events always take time to sell out with the exception of the challenges. People can't seem to get enough of those. Looking back a few years when they had to offer free park passes for Marathon Monday just to get the registration for the full up, I think they're still doing quite well. The problem I think they will soon be facing is over-saturation. There are so many rD events to choose from that I think even the people who love running and love Disney will start prioritizing and being more selective over which ones they choose to enter. I'm one of those people, actually. I entered this one on the off chance that I'll be back in the country at that time. After that, I'll stick with this one just for fun/legacy purposes, Wine & Dine when I can, and Dopey in 2018.

 

[kdnaylor]

Yeah, it was pretty much the same for me. I just freaked out and was so worried it would sell out and I had done something wrong. Active has since told me they can't do anything despite seeing the duplicate regs, but they encouraged us to try Run Disney. So the hubs is going to give it a go tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

That was me, too. Totally freaked out that I had did it wrong and it was going to sell out. Active .com really needs to fix the problem. Keeping fingers crossed for you!!

 

[EpcotIsMyFave]

So where are you staying? We still are not sure if we are bringing the kiddos since we will need someone to watch them while we run, but it looks like Pop is already unavailable (at least for our dates). Also, any idea when the runDisney discounts will be released - if at all?

 

[drlaurafsu]

Staying at pop...signed up as soon as they announced the race. It's going to just be me so I figured I would go cheap! Plus we are headed back the following month for SWW and planning to stay deluxe for that trip. Seemed like a better use of funds to be frugal on this one.

On another front...has anyone who contacted Acclaim heard from them? I sent in my info day 2 after the announcement and haven't heard anything. Fortunately they don't have my cc info...didn't seem interested in taking it when I traded vm with them. And I ended up getting what I needed...so I don't need my registration through them...but it seems strange that I haven't heard anything since they sent the email saying the ta distribution was delayed.

 

[bcarey2k]

We're doing Port Orleans - French Quarter ... same logic ... already booked .... I'll probably have to call and move some dates around later, but I just wanted to have the reservation ... in case the AP discounts are non-existent that weekend.

 

[jimandami]

We are staying in a 1 Br at BWV...we already had the room booked for spring break!

 

[samc]

Staying at pop...signed up as soon as they announced the race. It's going to just be me so I figured I would go cheap! Plus we are headed back the following month for SWW and planning to stay deluxe for that trip. Seemed like a better use of funds to be frugal on this one.

On another front...has anyone who contacted Acclaim heard from them? I sent in my info day 2 after the announcement and haven't heard anything. Fortunately they don't have my cc info...didn't seem interested in taking it when I traded vm with them. And I ended up getting what I needed...so I don't need my registration through them...but it seems strange that I haven't heard anything since they sent the email saying the ta distribution was delayed.

No - and it seems really weird! I haven't heard a word & they weren't interested in taking my cc info that last time I did speak with them

 

[SunDial]

I also am staying at POP. Reserved 3 nights the day the race announcement was made.

 

[SunDial]

I'm not sure rD events have peaked. Their larger events always take time to sell out with the exception of the challenges. People can't seem to get enough of those. Looking back a few years when they had to offer free park passes for Marathon Monday just to get the registration for the full up, I think they're still doing quite well. The problem I think they will soon be facing is over-saturation. There are so many rD events to choose from that I think even the people who love running and love Disney will start prioritizing and being more selective over which ones they choose to enter. I'm one of those people, actually. I entered this one on the off chance that I'll be back in the country at that time. After that, I'll stick with this one just for fun/legacy purposes, Wine & Dine when I can, and Dopey in 2018.

I agree with this. When I looked at what I have signed up for this year and next, along with the resort room cost I will be cutting back on running many Disney events. I will stay with this event next year and definitely Dopey in 2018. I Will probably be on the volunteer list for the other events. I love the atmosphere surrounding the Disney events.

 

[DVCFan1994]

I'm not sure rD events have peaked. Their larger events always take time to sell out with the exception of the challenges. People can't seem to get enough of those. Looking back a few years when they had to offer free park passes for Marathon Monday just to get the registration for the full up, I think they're still doing quite well. The problem I think they will soon be facing is over-saturation. There are so many rD events to choose from that I think even the people who love running and love Disney will start prioritizing and being more selective over which ones they choose to enter. I'm one of those people, actually. I entered this one on the off chance that I'll be back in the country at that time. After that, I'll stick with this one just for fun/legacy purposes, Wine & Dine when I can, and Dopey in 2018.

I agree with you. I love Disney, I am a DVC member and had an AP for 20+ years. But, there are tons of great races easy for me to get to from where I live right in the the center of New England. I think it is time to start showing them some love. Plus I can do 2 or 3 local halves for the price of a single half with Disney.

I am going for my Coast to Coast this year by doing Avengers, having done GSC in February. I will do GSC in 2016 to keep a promise, but likely that will be it for 2016. Not really clear on the benefits of the legacy status. Only inaugural race I've done is the GSC, but I assume the legacy status there is attached to the PHM portion, which I only started doing as part of GSC. I do eventually want to do each rD race once and as a SW fan, I'd love to do the Kessel Run (with both challenges) eventually, but I think I will most likely be sticking with only one race a year. Racing at Disney and everything it entails takes a lot of time away from vacation, and I am just not keen on the idea of going to Disney without my family at other times, just to race.

 

[hollieplus2]

We're staying at POFQ. We booked the day the race was announced.

 

[Ariel484]

@DVCFan1994 if you are legacy GSC I am pretty sure they will recognize that. Legacy Dumbo runners had different-colored bibs in Disneyland, not sure if they got anything else...

 

[Nole95]

We'll be at POR for a quick trip. Booked it as soon as the race was announced. If any good discounts come out we might move over to Beach Club. We have stayed at POR for the past two Marathon Weekends and had a great time there.

 

[AThrillingChase]

This is my first inaugural race so I want to try for legacy. The best part is that it is a great time of year for me (still cold in Ohio, flower and garden fest) and it allows me to stick to 2 races a year, one in the spring, one in the fall coinciding with my favorite the food and wine festival and holidays. The only unknown for me is star wars weekends, but that is a topic for another thread! I love SW, so this one will be an easy one to keep signing up for.

I am still totally clueless on the hotels. When I go alone, I tend to stay at a deluxe because I will be spending much more time at the resort and enjoying the pool etc. I put the Poly on a hold for 3 days to think about it and see if the discounts came out when regular registration opened. But naturally it is incredibly expensive and even with a 30% discount I just don't know that I would be willing to fork it over.

 

[PrincessV]

During my snafu, I ended up being transferred to a manager who worked with group marketing/disney for active. He told me active was told there would be 20,000 slots.

For just the half, or for all three races?

There are so many rD events to choose from that I think even the people who love running and love Disney will start prioritizing and being more selective over which ones they choose to enter.

Yep, that's the case for me. The cumulative effect of all things Disney going up, up, p in cost means that I'm downgrading, big-time. Decided no more PHM weekend, dropped back to FL Seasonal passes, fewer overnight stays... I'm a HUGE Star Wars fan but can easily see this being a one-and-done race for me. Or maybe once every few years. Without the Osborne Light,s I really don't know if I'll bother with W&D again after this year. I probably won't ever spend what it costs to fly out to DLR when I live so close to WDW, so no races there. That really leaves Marathon weekend as my only annual rD event going forward, where I was doing all the WDW race weekends in past years.

 

[bumbershoot]

Not doing SWDS as far as I know, but I'm always interested in reading about registration experiences.

I was afraid if I used my name (which is not on the actual card) that it wouldn't match up and they wouldn't accept it. I was aggravated when it changed the active .com account name to his instead of mine.

That is completely bizarre! Definitely did not happen when I registered DH after registering me, and didn't happen when I registered my cousin with her active account and my CC. (star wars DL and Princess)

On another front...has anyone who contacted Acclaim heard from them?

From reading about Acclaim the last few registrations, they are just a little slow in replying. Everyone that I have read of has gotten what they needed from them, but it's not fast.

When I go alone, I tend to stay at a deluxe because I will be spending much more time at the resort and enjoying the pool etc.

Not sure what run(s) you're doing, but be sure you stay somewhere with a hot tub if you like a hot tub after long runs.

I planned this year's Princess as though it was just going to be me, and I'm staying at Bay Lake. My cousin will be joining me, which is nice, but I would have been fine staying there on my own.

I probably won't ever spend what it costs to fly out to DLR when I live so close to WDW, so no races there.

Not sure what you've seen in the past, but prices are not always horrible going x-country.

 

[Raenstoirm]

We are staying at yacht, leaving on the dream monday for 4 days and then coming back to BC for a long weekend to actually do the parks after the cruise. We have a Boardwalk DVC currently in estoppal, but I suspect the "good" DVC rooms will be all gone by the time we close and can actually book. Since yacht is not a DVC its a good excuse to stay there since we probably never will again and I still want to try every resort. The weekend after should be quiet since most spring breaks will be over so hopefully we can get into a DVC then.
I am thinking we will fly in friday morning, but I am a bit concerned about the expo so maybe thursday. How long does the expo take? My husband is not a race fan so dragging him and the twins through the expo will make it faster since I wont be able to shop too long before one of them starts to whine. The other option is for me to take the "good" twin to the expo and have him take the more high maintenance one swimming or something since I am sure he wont be able to handle two 14 month olds by himself in the middle of the day for any length of time and he is the only non-runner in the group.