Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend 2021 (April 15-18, 2021) - Now Virtual Only

[rteetz]

Half marathon is back open

 

[kbenson13]

Thanks, Z-Knight and Guidman! I was looking on eBay to see if I could get an idea of what some of the items might look like, and it appears they have a lot more themed merchandise for sale at the expo as well? I saw things like sweatbands and snow globes. lol

The only other Run Disney event that I've done was Wine & Dine in 2018. I can tell you that there was a TON of merch at the Expo. And it was, as you suggest, just about everything under the sun. I don't know what I might have missed by not pre-ordering, but I certainly didn't feel like I was lacking in options when I got there!

 

[rdelar01]

Hi. Hope everyone is having a great day! This will be my first participation in a runDisney event and I am curious about the merchandise for the weekend.

With the possible exception of a few items that say "Pre-Sell Exclusive" is most of the merch you can purchase now also offered for sale at the expo? We bought a few things after we registered and were interested in a few other items, but didn't buy everything we were interested in due to not knowing what anything looks like.

A lot of cool stuff, but the coolest things normally go fast, unfortunately by the eBay vultures that don't even participate in the event.

 

[Z-Knight]

Thanks, Z-Knight and Guidman! I was looking on eBay to see if I could get an idea of what some of the items might look like, and it appears they have a lot more themed merchandise for sale at the expo as well? I saw things like sweatbands and snow globes. lol

This is the start of some pics I took for the Marathon weekend first day of expo - there are more in the thread:

Queue
https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61411750
https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61411973

Merch
https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61412144
https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61412149
https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61412157
https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61412160
https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61412304
https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61412324
https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61412340

runDisney Club
https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61412542

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Hi. Hope everyone is having a great day! This will be my first participation in a runDisney event and I am curious about the merchandise for the weekend.

With the possible exception of a few items that say "Pre-Sell Exclusive" is most of the merch you can purchase now also offered for sale at the expo? We bought a few things after we registered and were interested in a few other items, but didn't buy everything we were interested in due to not knowing what anything looks like.

A lot of the preorder merchandise will be available at the Expo. The pins, magnets, shoe ornaments, jacket, et all will also be available at the Expo. However keep in mind that those same items can sell out within hours of the opening day of the Expo. As 2021 is now the 5th anniversary year of the Star Wars races at Disney World, that could happen again.

For example, I ran the 2017 Avengers Half Marathon at Disneyland. It was the last runDisney race at Disneyland. While the half marathon itself was Sunday morning, I might have purchased the last I did shirt in adult size XL Friday afternoon.

If you think you want something that you is available for preorder, I would preorder it just to be safe.

There will also be a lot of other merchandise available that might be race themed, but not race specific. For instance, I have a runDisney Darth Vader shirt that is not year specific.

 

[ars0525]

As others have stated the Expo has a lot of items & is easy to navigate.

Unfortunately we have gone the Friday morning at opening for bib pick-up & items have already been sold out. I wish they would allow only actual racers in the shopping area until Saturday afternoon before the general public to give us a shot at merchandise for our event. I feel that would be fair for runners & they would still be able to sell merchandise leftover to whoever wants to come later in the weekend.

 

[Novatrix]

I wonder what the breakeven point would be for the eBay resellers?

I agree, I wish Disney would mandate that you need a bib (or are accompanying someone with a bib) to enter the race merchandise area. However, I feel like the eBay resellers would just purchase a kids races or 5k bib and then get the same access. Maybe a better deterrent would be if Disney made all merchandise non-returnable, they could only be exchanged in kind.

 

[rteetz]

I wonder what the breakeven point would be for the eBay resellers?

Depends on what their mark up is. For example I see many shoppers sell special magicbands for $50-$60 including shipping. Most of these special magicbands are $29.99 or maybe a little more.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

As others have stated the Expo has a lot of items & is easy to navigate.

Unfortunately we have gone the Friday morning at opening for bib pick-up & items have already been sold out. I wish they would allow only actual racers in the shopping area until Saturday afternoon before the general public to give us a shot at merchandise for our event. I feel that would be fair for runners & they would still be able to sell merchandise leftover to whoever wants to come later in the weekend.

I could be wildly wrong, but I feel like race weekend merchandise availability to runners has improved since runDisney stopped sharing special previews of race weekend merchandise before the race. By not showing what's out there, the resellers are less motivated to head to Disney and gobble up perceived popular items. I think I remember seeing the 2018 BB-8 runner medal figurine at the EarPort store a week after the race. While they still have a long ways to go, we know that Disney is trying to crack down on ebay resellers in an effort to improve availability for park guests and runners in the case of race weekend merchandise.

I wonder what the breakeven point would be for the eBay resellers?

I agree, I wish Disney would mandate that you need a bib (or are accompanying someone with a bib) to enter the race merchandise area. However, I feel like the eBay resellers would just purchase a kids races or 5k bib and then get the same access. Maybe a better deterrent would be if Disney made all merchandise non-returnable, they could only be exchanged in kind.

I'd like to see something like that. Maybe you have to show them proof of registration before getting into the merchandise area. They should allow non runners to be there with a runner, but that will cut down as well.

As they make merchandise availability better for runners, the resellers will cut down. My sister decided against the Dopey I did it shirt in 2019, but months later began to think she should have gotten it. She went on ebay and found one for half of what it would have cost her at the Expo.

 

[Novatrix]

I could be wildly wrong, but I feel like race weekend merchandise availability to runners has improved since runDisney stopped sharing special previews of race weekend merchandise.

My experience since beginning racing rundisney in 2017 at Wine and Dine has been that it has gotten significantly harder to find the merchandise I'm interested in at the expo (race magnets and medal pins.)

From what I've observed, ebay resellers will buy up a lot of an item, put it for sale on eBay and then return whatever didn't sell within a set period. 2019 Wine and Dine, I had one woman return 15 5k magnets right in front of me the same afternoon as the 5k would have been run!

Also, anecdotally, the only reason I was able to buy the race magnets 2019 marathon weekend and 2019 wine and dine was I intentionally went straight into the merchandise tent after the races and was able to find the magnets there. I highly doubt Disney was intentionally holding back merchandise to have some available race day, so I suspect they were returns.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I know all of the inaugural Dumbo Double Dare (Disneyland's first 10K/Half Challenge) merchandise sold out within hours of the Expo opening back in 2013. Sometimes it depends on the merchandise. I think magnets and pins tend to go more quickly than shirts. I think shoe ornaments used to as well, but it seems like they've started to make more of those to meet demand. In 2018 I was concerned that the BB-8 figure holding a medal would vanish before I made it to the Expo, but it didn't.

 

[mousedroid]

I wonder what the breakeven point would be for the eBay resellers?

I agree, I wish Disney would mandate that you need a bib (or are accompanying someone with a bib) to enter the race merchandise area. However, I feel like the eBay resellers would just purchase a kids races or 5k bib and then get the same access. Maybe a better deterrent would be if Disney made all merchandise non-returnable, they could only be exchanged in kind.

"eBay resellers"

In the Star Wars collecting community (and lots of other collecting communities, I'm sure) we call these people scalpers.

And you're right - scalpers are gonna scalp, so if Disney tied access to the Expo to having a race registration, that would just make it harder for people who actually want to run the races to register. Scalpers would buy up a certain number of the registrations, and then just not show up on race day.

We're planning to go to the Expo on day one, so hopefully I'll be able to find a few cool items to add to my collection.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

In the Star Wars collecting community (and lots of other collecting communities, I'm sure) we call these people scalpers.

Honestly, I feel for Disney and other retailers on that front. I think they genuinely try to limit resellers with purchase limits, but resellers will either bully the CM into letting them buy more or just get back in line again to try and work around the limit. I know a while back Disney made headlines when they figured out a way to catch some resellers and immediately revoked the annual pass of the resellers because the terms of service explicitly state that you are not allowed to resell merchandise purchased in the parks.

 

[Violetspider]

Honestly, I feel for Disney and other retailers on that front. I think they genuinely try to limit resellers with purchase limits, but resellers will either bully the CM into letting them buy more or just get back in line again to try and work around the limit. I know a while back Disney made headlines when they figured out a way to catch some resellers and immediately revoked the annual pass of the resellers because the terms of service explicitly state that you are not allowed to resell merchandise purchased in the parks.

I remember that, because they were receiving their AP discounts to purchase and then reselling at significant markup. I wonder how much of deterrent that ever turned out to be, or if Disney is still actively trying to catch perpetrators.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I remember that, because they were receiving their AP discounts to purchase and then reselling at significant markup. I wonder how much of deterrent that ever turned out to be, or if Disney is still actively trying to catch perpetrators.

Based on what happened with the sales of Splash Mountain merchandise after the parks reopened and Downtown Disney in Anaheim reopened, they either gave up or just don't want to focus on that right now given everything else. There are all sorts of photos of people walking out with 5 or 6 bags full of nothing but Splash Mountain items. At one point, every ride in the MK had a no more than 30 minute wait max. And the Splash Mountain gift shop line was 3 hours.

The best idea I've read is that they figure out a way to track each annual pass once the passholder has purchased a limited edition item. If it's one per person, then once the person has purchased their one item, the system will alert the CM that they cannot purchase another. Because right now, a person could purchase one limited edition item at 10:00am and then purchase the same thing minutes later at another register.

 

[Ronski]

So I see (as of this morning) only the 5k and the Kessel Run is still open. How are the medals for Kessel distributed? Any chance of receiving the medal for the virtual portion of Kessel prior to the SW half? My daughter want to have all the medals for her MK pics!

 

[dlconn]

You pick up the medal for the virtual marathon at the expo. It is usually a separate line from the race bibs. When you pick up your bib, they will take your photo for the challenge medals. After you finish your half and get the half medal, there will be an area for challenge medals. They will match you up with the picture they took at the expo. After that, they will pass out the rival run challenge medal and/or Kessel Run medal.

 

[Ronski]

thanks!

edited to add-- my daughter and I are in for the Kessel and the 5k. Can't wait!

 

[escriven75]

I miss Disney so much that I've already started training for the 10k....which if you following the runD guide doesn't start for several more months. I just miss planning our trips and having a regular fitness routine (which hasn't been the case for me for months). There is just SO MUCH to be said for having something "on the books" to look forward to (even knowing that it is still not for sure)...it makes me mentally happy!! Is anyone else feeling like this?

 

[Ronski]

OMG YES!!!! So happy to have something to work toward!