No character "test" during Tink 5K and 10K.

[rteetz]

I think Dark Side actually had the same amount of characters last year as this year including the pre & post photo areas (some things/who/what differed but they still had a lot both years including the fan groups). They had screens out last year too. I didn't run last year but my parents did & I read a million recaps. So entertainment was pretty much the same, it was the 2 courses and the busing/parking for the point to point courses that were changed.

Many said on course entertainment was better this year. I know they didn't have the "battle" laser run through last year. I don't know if they had the Ewoks out last year either.

 

[rteetz]

Having never run a Disney 5k or 10k...is it possible they minimized simply to cut congestion, and get everyone wrapped up and out of the way quicker? Running the half or the full, you typically get entertainment every mile or so, but probably only one out of every 4-5 of those are actual characters, right? (trying to think back through the last few years). There ARE more in the the actual parks, but maybe the thought is that you simply can't cram too many characters into 3-6 miles?

Do they have any of the other, non-character entertainment on the 5k or 10k courses (for example, the Central Florida Polka Club. Love those guys)?

Disneyland races are always hard because you are running on Anaheim roads rather than Disney owned roads. Tink weekend usually has the Red hat ladies but I have seen that they won't be here this year.

 

[cavepig]

Many said on course entertainment was better this year. I know they didn't have the "battle" laser run through last year. I don't know if they had the Ewoks out last year either.

Yeah, I was editing & adding that battle when you must have posted, but my point is Dark Side wasn't that much different for entertainment purposes to say it was improved over something that wasn't terrible, it's not like they had just 1 character last year.

 

[bumbershoot]

It's long been a fascination of mine that profitable business often harm themselves because, despite being as profitable as ever, they aren't meeting arbitrary growth goals and start trying to fix "problems" that don't necessarily exist.

I agree.

 

[croach]

Disney can do some unexplainable things but I'm guessing/hoping they are going to figure out that this one isn't going to fly. But if people keep signing up like have even when they said they wouldn't, then it might just go away. Have to vote with those dollars.

 

[FelisLachesis]

I think the complaints is just their cover up. This is about cutting costs to increase their bottom line. This isn't making anyone happy and will affect their registration numbers if it continues.

If registrations were full clean across the board, I could see this making some sense. But the only races with a modicum of spots left are W&D weekend in November and Marathon weekend in January. Every other race, even Tinkerbell this weekend, still had or have some good spots open. If this affects registration numbers to the point where nothing is selling out, that will also hurt their bottom line.

 

[FelisLachesis]

I absolutely agree. Of course, there are people who have Disney right in their backyard and perhaps go to it as a race rather than a vacation (which cuts out pretty much all costs but entry fee) even if we assume that (which I feel like takes up a small portion of their market) that makes the runDisney experience $165 more than just any old race.

Being a statistician, this stuff really interests me. Before the Broad Street Run 10-miler this past weekend in Philly, I went and checked where people were coming from. The registration and results webpage was quite open, and very searchable. This is a Philadelphia-based run. From what I noticed, 18% were from The City of Philadelphia, about 50% (including the aforementioned 18) were from Pennsylvania. Of the rest, most were from New Jersey, but virtually every state east of The Mississippi had some representation. Even Ontario had 7 people representing their province!

Regardless, I doubt the numbers of people within Orange and Osceola counties are that highly represented in the rD races. What makes the 10-miler so special? It's once a year. rD holds 4 races in California, 4 in Florida, and 1 in Paris every year. So outside of the one Full Marathon race each year, people can run a half around once every 3 months.

The point is, it's not unique to Disney to run these races, so you won't get a lot of local money pumped into the runs. It's tourist money, like virtually all of us here, that's pumping these races. Hotels, food, transportation, it's a lot of money flying around, and if people stop coming, it will hurt things and not just rD registration fees.

 

[Ariel484]

At least you got them and you & pirate dude, too bad they are so far away..........At least the markers were all different though unlike other 5ks, that's a plus even if less elaborate (trying to find the bright side of the 2nd star to the right

No, I get that - I bought a PhotoPass package and would much prefer a "real" picture. Not a selfie.

Last year it was Hook/Smee and Peter/Wendy as "real" photo stops.

 

[FelisLachesis]

I have a really weird idea that I think could solve the "complaints about people being swept" issue, but would cost runDisney more money ...
Have a cast member at the back of each character line with a sign saying what the wait time is. I'm sure they could come up with a relatively easy way to determine that (even if it's just the CM at the back texting the CM at the front saying "the person in the green shirt with bib number 123 just got in line ... text me when they get to the front" and then doing the math from there). And then have some fine print saying that you could be swept while in line and getting into the line doesn't guarantee that you'll meet the character before the official race cutoff time or something like that.
That way, when people get swept, you can just say "you were told approximately how long the wait would be and that you might be swept while in the character line ... we did all we could, the responsibility is now in your hands." As long as there's a time limit, people will get swept. The responsible way to respond is to make people aware of that fact (and what they can do to try to prevent it, like not stopping at as many characters), not to change the event in a way that affects even people who aren't getting swept.

Here, you dropped this

 

[cavepig]

No, I get that - I bought a PhotoPass package and would much prefer a "real" picture. Not a selfie.

Last year it was Hook/Smee and Peter/Wendy as "real" photo stops.

Yeah real pics are way better than selfies I agree! Funny, I was just reading your Tink recap from last year and saw that, so lame this year

 

[BigEeyore]

WOW I can't believe this!! There is no logical explanation for this. I don't buy the "cost cutting" thing because how much can they possibly be saving by cutting characters? Maybe several hundred dollars at most? I don't buy the explanation of trying to minimize people getting swept either - and I don't have much sympathy for people who get swept because they didn't train and they don't budget their time on the race course.

The photopass pics from the rD events are one of the main perks for passholders. How many rD participants would pass on renewing their AP if they weren't getting the photo ops from the races?

I would be furious - I really feel for all the kids who come out with their parents at 5am to do the 5K, hoping to get great photos along the way and meet some favorite characters, and then nada.

So sorry for all of those at Tink - truly hope things get better for the 10K and the half! Maybe rD will see all the back lash and wake up!!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Hopefully the lash of anger today will help the 10k get more tomorrow.

 

[FelisLachesis]

Disneyland races are always hard because you are running on Anaheim roads rather than Disney owned roads. Tink weekend usually has the Red hat ladies but I have seen that they won't be here this year.

I don't buy the explanation of trying to minimize people getting swept either - and I don't have much sympathy for people who get swept because they didn't train and they don't budget their time on the race course.

Adding your two posts, there might be something here. I'm wondering if The City of Anaheim is getting annoyed with runners keeping the road closed for longer because of character pictures? I would imagine that Anaheim PD (or Orange County PD, or whatever) would want to get the roads opened back up as quickly as possible. That's also costing rD a lot of money to keep any kind of police force set up for the runs, and they're trying to keep that cost down. It's not the characters, it's pressure from the police force and local government.

That's my current theory.

and @rteetz is the red-hat ladies and balloon ladies basically the same thing (and are they actually working for rD or Disney, or are they paying to get in like everyone else?)

 

[SarahDisney]

Here, you dropped this

That may or may not have been what inspired my idea*. And yes, I would love red cards for characters at the races and I would be very excited to get one.

*it was

 

[rteetz]

If registrations were full clean across the board, I could see this making some sense. But the only races with a modicum of spots left are W&D weekend in November and Marathon weekend in January. Every other race, even Tinkerbell this weekend, still had or have some good spots open. If this affects registration numbers to the point where nothing is selling out, that will also hurt their bottom line.

Marathon weekend was open this past year except for the 5K and 10K which are historically the ones to always sell out. Even dopey has trouble last year which is telling.

 

[rteetz]

and @rteetz is the red-hat ladies and balloon ladies basically the same thing (and are they actually working for rD or Disney, or are they paying to get in like everyone else?)

Red hat ladies are a society of women in the Anaheim area and come out as race support. They have no affiliation with runDisney.

 

[FelisLachesis]

Marathon weekend was open this past year except for the 5K and 10K which are historically the ones to always sell out. Even dopey has trouble last year which is telling.

This year, with it being a bunch of anniversary years, it wold out quicker.

 

[DLgal]

They do post wait times for the characters during Run Disney races. I've seen it.

 

[rteetz]

This year, with it being a bunch of anniversary years, it wold out quicker.

Dopey did yes but Goofy, the marathon, and the half are still open last I checked.

 

[rteetz]

They do post wait times for the characters during Run Disney races. I've seen it.

Where?