Downward trend in runDisney?

[IamTrike]

Is there a way to know how many people didn’t finish this year’s princess half? The weather was so hot and humid and everyone was told to slow down. Wouldn’t that have increased the number of runners swept?

There's not an easy way to get it. You can look at the race results and they provide counts of the finishers. I know in the past there are people on the boards that have pulled the actually result lists in and done some stats on that, With that you could probably use the highest bib numbers from each bib type to get a count of the bibs issued for each of the races. The difference between that and the number of finishers would likely over state the number of runners swept though, because I'm sure not every runner that purchases a bib starts.

 

[FFigawi]

Is there a way to know how many people didn’t finish this year’s princess half? The weather was so hot and humid and everyone was told to slow down. Wouldn’t that have increased the number of runners swept?

If you dig into the data available from Track Shack online, there were about 700 people swept this past weekend.

 

[rteetz]

If you dig into the data available from Track Shack online, there were about 700 people swept this past weekend.

Had 370 of those people finished it would’ve been an increase this year.

 

[Ariel484]

I wonder if we'll see them introduce new ways to get bonus medals to try to entice people to come back to race weekends, or to do multiple weekends?

For example, I remember people saying there should be some of bonus medal for doing all runDisney race weekends offered in the same calendar year. This was when Disneyland still had races so obviously that one would be pretty rare (even more rare if you throw in Paris - Continent to Continent!), but now it would probably be more doable for people with just the 4 WDW weekends.

Another frequent runner thing - I think there are local races that will do a bonus medal if you come back year after year (Hot Chocolate maybe, like you get a special jacket or bonus medal every few years? I know that my local 10-miler gives out something to people who have done the race 10 times)...that would be an easy/cheap way for them to try to get people to consider coming back, give a bonus medal if it's your 5th year running or whatever and throw those names up on the website or in the race weekend program. And if someone is new to runDisney and therefor cannot be a legacy runner, this is a way for them to feel like they are part of a "special group."

Maybe we will see more virtual race weekends to offset what they are losing from the physical race registrations being down? Whoever thought those up for runDisney is a GENIUS.

 

[rteetz]

Maybe we will see more virtual race weekends to offset what they are losing from the physical race registrations being down? Whoever thought those up for runDisney is a GENIUS.

I’d love to see numbers on how many they get to sign up for their current virtuals.

 

[Ariel484]

I’d love to see numbers on how many they get to sign up for their current virtuals.

I mean, really: mail out the medals (which we know don't cost them to produce) and collect the registration fee. No volunteers to coordinate/compensate, no extra buses, no extra security...they don't even have to print the bibs. And no shirts included, make them an extra optional purchase. I guess they make less on merchandise and they don't get, like, vendor fees from an expo...but it's just such a smart move for them.

 

[rteetz]

I mean, really: mail out the medals (which we know don't cost them to produce) and collect the registration fee. No volunteers to coordinate/compensate, no extra buses, no extra security...they don't even have to print the bibs. And no shirts included, make them an extra optional purchase. I guess they make less on merchandise and they don't get, like, vendor fees from an expo...but it's just such a smart move for them.

I agree. I also wonder how many people who go to Star Wars also take part in the Kessel/virtual.

 

[Ariel484]

I agree. I also wonder how many people who go to Star Wars also take part in the Kessel/virtual.

Still the Millennium Falcon medal, right? I'd have to think most people that don't have the one from the WDW/Disneyland Star Wars weekend will do it just for that medal.

 

[rteetz]

Still the Millennium Falcon medal, right? I'd have to think most people that don't have the one from the WDW/Disneyland Star Wars weekend will do it just for that medal.

Yes, and yeah I would totally do it just for the medal. That’s one medal I’ve always wanted.

 

[Ponoche]

Last year's Dark Side was my first ever race, and I figured if I was going to do it might as well do everything, so I did the Kessel last year. Tried to keep a mental note of all of the green bracelets denoting Kessel runners feel like I saw a few, but not as many as I thought I would. This year with an R2-D2 medal for the virtual, I feel like there may be more.

 

[BikeFan]

.
I reached out to my typical runDisney travel agent about 2020 Marathon weekend, and she mentioned that Disney is getting much more difficult to deal with around race weekend. Her agency has typically pre bought blocks of rooms at multiple resorts, but this year they weren’t doing anything for MW because they haven’t been able to get anything from Disney. RunDIsney May be concerned with #s but Disney in general seems like they are trying to add friction here, not remove it.

I remember reading somewhere that Disney doesn't even plan to have much of a marketing push for SWGE, since there's already going to be enough hype when those lands open. I wonder if Disney just assumes SWGE will drive numbers enough that they don't have to do much more to increase crowds over Marathon Weekend now.

I suspect that Disney has less "incentive" to offer less expensive prices especially on resorts given the anticipated demand. I remember someone at Touring Plans noting that attendance numbers after Pandora opened barely moved. It's more likely that Star Wars Galaxy's Edge will move attendance numbers.

Do you mean overall WDW attendance numbers? I thought I read that the opening of Pandora had a definite effect on Animal Kingdom attendance numbers, but I don't know if that effect extended to the entire resort. Pandora could've just caused current guests to shift their park-going habits toward AK at the expense of the other parks, and thus not affected overall WDW visitor numbers much. Prior to Pandora, the last E-ticket attraction to open at AK was Expedition Everest in 2006 (or am I missing something?).

 

[ZellyB]

I wonder if we'll see them introduce new ways to get bonus medals to try to entice people to come back to race weekends, or to do multiple weekends?

It's not a new WAY really, but I do wish they'd make a legitimate Mouse Challenge (10k & Full) for marathon weekend with a Mickey and Minnie combined medal. I'd be in heaven, plus it would up the medal count for Dopey folks to 7 - which is a lucky number after all.

 

[rteetz]

I remember reading somewhere that Disney doesn't even plan to have much of a marketing push for SWGE, since there's already going to be enough hype when those lands open. I wonder if Disney just assumes SWGE will drive numbers enough that they don't have to do much more to increase crowds over Marathon Weekend now.



Do you mean overall WDW attendance numbers? I thought I read that the opening of Pandora had a definite effect on Animal Kingdom attendance numbers, but I don't know if that effect extended to the entire resort. Pandora could've just caused current guests to shift their park-going habits toward AK at the expense of the other parks, and thus not affected overall WDW visitor numbers much. Prior to Pandora, the last E-ticket attraction to open at AK was Expedition Everest in 2006 (or am I missing something?).

1. Iger said jokingly in the Q1 earnings call that they shouldn't need to spend much on marketing SWGE because it will be a big deal and he will just tweet when it's open.

2. Disney does not release official attendance numbers but according to AECOM/TEA Animal Kingdom had a huge jump in 2017 from Pandora and it was only open half the year in 2017. I am interested to see a full year of Pandora in 2018. We should get those numbers in the next couple months. I also expect a slight boost in DHS because of Toy Story.

 

[rteetz]

It's not a new WAY really, but I do wish they'd make a legitimate Mouse Challenge (10k & Full) for marathon weekend with a Mickey and Minnie combined medal. I'd be in heaven, plus it would up the medal count for Dopey folks to 7 - which is a lucky number after all.

That's if they keep Minnie...

 

[roxymama]

Another frequent runner thing - I think there are local races that will do a bonus medal if you come back year after year (Hot Chocolate maybe, like you get a special jacket or bonus medal every few years? I know that my local 10-miler gives out something to people who have done the race 10 times)...that would be an easy/cheap way for them to try to get people to consider coming back, give a bonus medal if it's your 5th year running or whatever and throw those names up on the website or in the race weekend program. And if someone is new to runDisney and therefor cannot be a legacy runner, this is a way for them to feel like they are part of a "special group."

Rock N Roll definitely has a lot of "challenge" across race weekends medals to collect.
I received a third year extra medal/hat/pin at hot chocolate two years ago. I was initially not planning on running it last year since it came so quickly after another race for me, but I didn't want to lose out on getting my 5 year medal this year.
Then again, that's a local race and outside of registration I'm not spending any money on the coinciding vacation.

The biggest roadblock for me to do more rundisney races annualy is that we have a lot of other vacations my family wants to try out in upcoming years (skiing, aulani, cruise, etc.) So they'll only get at most one race weekend out of me (and some years probably zero.) If I lived in Florida I'd do every single one.

 

[Ariel484]

That's if they keep Minnie...

*Looks at own avatar*

Rock N Roll definitely has a lot of "challenge" across race weekends medals to collect.
I received a third year extra medal/hat/pin at hot chocolate two years ago. I was initially not planning on running it last year since it came so quickly after another race for me, but I didn't want to lose out on getting my 5 year medal this year.
Then again, that's a local race and outside of registration I'm not spending any money on the coinciding vacation.

You were who I was thinking of when I mentioned Hot Chocolate.

The biggest roadblock for me to do more rundisney races annualy is that we have a lot of other vacations my family wants to try out in upcoming years (skiing, aulani, cruise, etc.) So they'll only get at most one race weekend out of me (and some years probably zero.) If I lived in Florida I'd do every single one.

Wait, there are OTHER VACATIONS??

If I lived in Florida, I'd likely do every single one, too!

 

[derekleigh]

I wonder if we'll see them introduce new ways to get bonus medals to try to entice people to come back to race weekends, or to do multiple weekends?

For example, I remember people saying there should be some of bonus medal for doing all runDisney race weekends offered in the same calendar year. This was when Disneyland still had races so obviously that one would be pretty rare (even more rare if you throw in Paris - Continent to Continent!), but now it would probably be more doable for people with just the 4 WDW weekends.

Another frequent runner thing - I think there are local races that will do a bonus medal if you come back year after year (Hot Chocolate maybe, like you get a special jacket or bonus medal every few years? I know that my local 10-miler gives out something to people who have done the race 10 times)...that would be an easy/cheap way for them to try to get people to consider coming back, give a bonus medal if it's your 5th year running or whatever and throw those names up on the website or in the race weekend program. And if someone is new to runDisney and therefor cannot be a legacy runner, this is a way for them to feel like they are part of a "special group."

Maybe we will see more virtual race weekends to offset what they are losing from the physical race registrations being down? Whoever thought those up for runDisney is a GENIUS.

Virtual Runs I bet are a great revenue source for rD. Very little OH. Wouldn't surprise me if rD adds a 2nd virtual run series.

While there are several factors are work here, one area where rD needs to work on is diversifying their weekends. Aside from Marathon Weekend, all the rest of cookie-cut races with a different theme coating. Bring back EE or TOT or add something fresh to the mix. Frequent runner, AP, Disney VISA, DVC, etc discounts would be a nice little perk too.

Now I know I'll sound like a broken record and forgive me if people have read this from a previous post of mine but.....

I wish rD would bring back the Chip & Dale Marathon Relay. If the marathon itself is going to continue to drop, this would be a great way to attract people to fill those spots. If they really wanted to go a little further bring Daisy into the mix and have a 2x 1/2 challenge, do the 1/2 on Saturday and the relay on Sunday. Dopey and Goofy runners would NOT get this medal.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Still the Millennium Falcon medal, right? I'd have to think most people that don't have the one from the WDW/Disneyland Star Wars weekend will do it just for that medal.

I think that the virtual Star Wars Half is just a placeholder until runDisney is back on the west coast at which point Kessel Run becomes coast to coast again.

Yes, and yeah I would totally do it just for the medal. That’s one medal I’ve always wanted.

It's still my very favorite race medal ever.

Do you mean overall WDW attendance numbers? I thought I read that the opening of Pandora had a definite effect on Animal Kingdom attendance numbers, but I don't know if that effect extended to the entire resort. Pandora could've just caused current guests to shift their park-going habits toward AK at the expense of the other parks, and thus not affected overall WDW visitor numbers much. Prior to Pandora, the last E-ticket attraction to open at AK was Expedition Everest in 2006 (or am I missing something?).

Overall attendance yes. I believe Disney tracks attendance by first park you enter for the day. So while Pandora certainly had an effect on DAK attendance, my understanding is that it did not cause more people to visit WDW. It only rearranged how they spent their time in WDW.

1. DAK certainly needed something. I just wonder if Disney hoped/expected more than rave reviews about Flight of Passage.

2. DHS also needs something too. Does it have enough else to offer once SWGE opens?

 

[rteetz]

Overall attendance yes. I believe Disney tracks attendance by first park you enter for the day. So while Pandora certainly had an effect on DAK attendance, my understanding is that it did not cause more people to visit WDW. It only rearranged how they spent their time in WDW.

1. DAK certainly needed something. I just wonder if Disney hoped/expected more than rave reviews about Flight of Passage.

2. DHS also needs something too. Does it have enough else to offer once SWGE opens?

I believe attendance overall went up for the year according to earnings reports and the numbers from TEA.

I think Disney is very pleased with how pandora has done.

Star Wars will be unlike anything Disney has done previously. DHS has made a lot of changes already and is continuing to do so because of this.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Still the Millennium Falcon medal, right? I'd have to think most people that don't have the one from the WDW/Disneyland Star Wars weekend will do it just for that medal.

Yep - Would never have run in DL, so this gives me a shot at this medal in 2019, and I am loving it. Best medal EVER!