Official 2016 Star Wars Half Marthon - The Dark Side Weekend

[bumbershoot]

The "set" and absolute amount of time for the expo is getting there, walking from the car or bus, and finding the spots to get bib and shirt. They have them separate. At the January runs, if memory serves, they are even in different buildings. Then there's getting out of the complex and back to bus or car.

If you want rundisney merchandise, you'll want to shop for that FIRST, though.

Then if you want to visit the other booths, you do that last.

Expos are overwhelming, crowded, and loud. I can't imagine taking someone who doesn't like races or expos to them. If you really think that the twins' father cannot handle both of them, then go with the plan of taking one to the expo.

 

[tkbk]

edit: sorry i was trying to quote and reply to something a few pages back of someone saying they had never been a runner. So my comment doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense i guess.......


same here ....but then i turned 50 and decided last november we would do the Mickey Jingle Jungle at WDW 5k. Did that and was hooked, now we just finished our first half marathon at disneyland a few weeks ago!!!! the Star wars dark side half will be our next. It has been the most awesome and rewarding experience I have ever been through. The sense of accomplishment is so incredible!

 

[AThrillingChase]

For just the half, or for all three races?

That was for Wine and Dine just for the half. Product of a conversation within a conversation! oops

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.

Oh yes. I won't stay at a value for a race weekend for this reason. I also nearly pitched a fit at CR during PHM because they had only one of two open and didn't bother to mention that. Most of the time we barely fit in it and didn't stay long as a result.

 

[Pixie Princess]

Sighed up for the 10K. Very excited..this is my first race of any sort EVER. I've been saying for years, I wanted to do a runDisney event, and keep putting off taking the plunge. Can't pass up something with a Star Wars theme though.

 

[mking624]

Out of curiosity, how do the women's shirt sizes run? I put myself down for a medium because I remember reading a couple years back they ran small, but I wanted to know if that was still the case.

 

[AThrillingChase]

Out of curiosity, how do the women's shirt sizes run? I put myself down for a medium because I remember reading a couple years back they ran small, but I wanted to know if that was still the case.

I would say it is more of a personal preference. I think they fit pretty much true to size, but the shape of the shirt is odd fitting. It has a v neck, but it is very very high up on the shirt. So getting a size up would help avoid that choking feeling! Also, they usually let you exchange the shirt for another size at the expo when you pick it up, as long as they have some left.

 

[kdnaylor]

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



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)


Since this was my first experience ever signing up for any race, I really didn't know what to expect. From reading on here some posts said to expect the 5k to sell out in 30-60 minutes. (Still is not sold out 36 hours later) anywho, 30 minutes before registration opened my internet went out!!! I was able to link up on my wireless hotspot but it wasn't very fast internet. I registered myself first and once I completed the electronic signature and clicked "continue" it went to an almost blank page. I didn't know what to do. Was I actually registered? Is it just because my internet connection was slow? I never entered any payment info, but my card was attached to the active .com account, so maybe signing the electronic signature was enough. I clicked refresh after waiting for several minutes and it returned me to the first page where you pick your race. I thought, well I'll go ahead and sign my son up and see what happens once I do the electronic signature and click continue. The . Exact. Same. Thing. Happened!! Blank page. Now I'm wondering if we are both signed up or not. I'm looking at the ticking clock thinking I'm running out of time. I decide to call rundisney. I don't know if they can tell me anything or not but I give it a try. The First Lady I talked to says she will send me to someone who can answer my question since she can't. I wait for the call transfer and she just sent me back to the main menu and then it disconnected on its own! I keep glancing at the clock and worrying I'm wasting time. I decide to go on and register my second son and see what happens. Sign the electronic signature, click continue, wait and.....it works! There is a third page and this is where it gives you your amount to pay. It shows the credit card I have on file but it is still asking for the billing info of the card including the name and address. So I put my husband's name and our address. After completing this page the next page shows it's successful and my second son is signed up! Yay! Then I go to sign myself up since I now know my first attempt wasn't successful but now it's saying I'm my husband! Ggggrrrrr!!! I look at the clock, time is ticking and my heart is racing! I go back to active .com and change the account back to my name. Go through the registration again and it's successful! Yay! Now to register my first son again since his did not get completed the first time. Again, it's calling me by my husband's name because I had to complete the billing info on my registration to match the card. This time I don't really care since I'm inputting my son's name and they actually have the same name. Then I register my daughter for a race. By this time, I'm shocked but oh so happy! Call my mom to report I got us all registered and she says she's having problems and asks if I can register my two nieces for her. She gives me her credit card number. I go to my active account and add her card. I register my first niece. I click on the correct card to use, put my mom's billing info and it's successful! EXCEPT now it's changed my active account to her name!! Egads! I look at the clock and it's been an hour (remember slow internet, gggrrrrr). I decide to go ahead and register my second niece with the account in my mom's name. It works! In the end, I realized it didn't really matter whose name was on the account except when I registered myself. I'm oh so thankful it all worked out but boy was it frustrating!

 

[Z-Knight]

All I can think is that there must be some kind of a disturbance in the Force. Sold out the 5k is not, at 55% the half marathon is, down the dark path run we will (at 5:30 in the morning).

“runDisney is the path to the dark side. RunDisney leads to training. Training leads to running. Running leads to suffering (and lots of BLING)”

 

[MadameMedusa]

Has anyone seen a Galloway training plan for the weekend's races? I'm guessing that for the Dark Side Challenge it's pretty much the Pixie Dust Challenge adjusted by a few weeks, but I'd like to start planning now.

 

[FFigawi]

I would expect his plan for the challenge to be exactly the same as the one for Princess, DL, and any other challenge that has the 10k and half components. If you want to get started now, use one of those and move the dates around to match the dates of the Star Wars weekend.

 

[drlaurafsu]

Galloway plan for the jan SW challenge just started last week so it will be a while before it starts.

 

[cavepig]

Out of curiosity, how do the women's shirt sizes run? I put myself down for a medium because I remember reading a couple years back they ran small, but I wanted to know if that was still the case.

I think the women's cut fits snug, but I like that. I get Medium and it fits perfect compared to if I get Medium in a regular Disney cotton tshirt that has more width in it. It fits pretty similar to the women's cut cotton shirts though.
Luckily, if they have the size you need you can do shirt exchange as said above, just try it on as soon as you get it to see if you like the fit.

 

[RookieLady]

I bought a large last year at W&D because people were saying it was a trimmer fit, and I don't like that. It's too big, but I still wear it. It's comfortable, but it doesn't look good (it looks like it doesn't fit because it doesn't). I am getting a medium this year. We will see if it's too small. If it it is, I will just embrace that I am Goldilocks.

 

[acbshada]

Luckily, if they have the size you need you can do shirt exchange as said above, just try it on as soon as you get it to see if you like the fit.

That's good information to have. I ordered a medium as well, so I guess we'll just see when we get there.

Got our reservation made last night for our hotel. Flying in on Friday, 10K on Saturday, and then staying through Tuesday. Good times.

Any tips on the Expo? DH and I are both pretty excited about that because we're window shoppers/browsers, and it sounds like there will be a lot to see. I was having trouble, however, finding any Expo hours on the runDisney website. What sort of hours have they been keeping in the past?

Sold out the 5k is not, at 55% the half marathon is, down the dark path run we will (at 5:30 in the morning).

“runDisney is the path to the dark side. RunDisney leads to training. Training leads to running. Running leads to suffering (and lots of BLING)”

So many points on the Scoreboard of Life do you get for this. Clever you are! Yes, hmm...

 

[Ariel484]

Out of curiosity, how do the women's shirt sizes run? I put myself down for a medium because I remember reading a couple years back they ran small, but I wanted to know if that was still the case.

Definitely look at and try on your shirt(s) before you leave the expo. At Disneyland 2 weekends ago, my friends and I ended up having to come back to exchange shirts for different reasons. My half marathon shirt had a flaw on it (so a portion of the pattern was sort of messed up...never had that happen before), and my other friend found that one of her shirts seemed a little snugger than the others. As a previous poster said, they a really good about letting people exchange shirts, so long as they have the size you want available.

 

[Fletch]

Anyone heard anything about "in training" shirts for The Dark Side events, similar to the ones that were available for the Star Wars half?

http://www.disneystore.com/tees-top...AffLSGen&att=LSGenAffl&LSID=7799835|10676026|

 

[Ariel484]

Are they phasing out DisneyStore online's sale of runDisney items? All I see on the sit is a hat, a Pandora charm and some rings when I search "runDisney"... ??

 

[samc]

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..

This is what I'm afraid of.....if ToT or EE do come back & there's a challenge involved they'll almost certainly have to become day races. I feel like they're trying to get away from the night races & the after parties.....which is what made these (ToT & EE) special to me. I realize the construction going on impacted their decision not to offer these in 2016...I just hope that what/when they replace these races they'll have somewhat the same concept. I do think the challenges are great.... just not at every event IMHO.

 

[Z-Knight]

Are they phasing out DisneyStore online's sale of runDisney items? All I see on the sit is a hat, a Pandora charm and some rings when I search "runDisney"... ??

It has been like this for months...even as far back as February when I first looked....likely before that

 

[PrincessV]

How long does the expo take?

It can easily be under an hour if you don't shop. I think my expo PR sits at about 35 minutes, including the trek to and from my car in the back 40, lol! It's really just hand in your waiver/s and sign for your bib/s, then scoot over to another building to get your shirt and swag.

That was for Wine and Dine just for the half. Product of a conversation within a conversation! oops

Oh, okay! At the rate registrations are going, or not going as the case may be, I wouldn't' be surprised to see a number around 20,000 for SW DS, 10,000 each for the 5K and 10K, and maybe 6,000 for the challenge.

Out of curiosity, how do the women's shirt sizes run? I put myself down for a medium because I remember reading a couple years back they ran small, but I wanted to know if that was still the case.

I feel like they run true to size; I wear an XS in everything and the rD shirts fit the same as my C9, Asics and Under Armor shirts. They're "fitted" in the sense that they have a female shape, as opposed to a big square.

I feel like they're trying to get away from the night races & the after parties.....which is what made these (ToT & EE) special to me. I realize the construction going on impacted their decision not to offer these in 2016...I just hope that what/when they replace these races they'll have somewhat the same concept. I do think the challenges are great.... just not at every event IMHO.

ITA! And I suspect you're right: the night races may very soon be a thing of the past.