Is There a Disneyland runDisney Problem?

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As you guys know, I’m a bit obsessed with runDisney. And specifically running at Disneyland..

It’s my jam, and I make no apologies about it.

I like to think of myself as the go-to girl when it comes to race information that you can’t find on the runDisney website.

I don’t work for runDisney, but…

Holliday Inn 2

So it made sense that when Avengers didn’t sell out (hey- look, it’s STILL open!) that people would start asking me questions.

My answer?

“There’s a lot that went “wrong” with Avengers- let’s wait and see what happens when Star Wars opens for registration.”

And that happened yesterday. ?And Star Wars didn’t sell out.

Hmmmmm…

Alright guys, so…

Two races at Disneyland have not sold out immediately.

Is there a Disneyland runDisney problem?

rundisney FB page

I’m going to break it down through my eyes. ?These observations come from reading blogs, being active in Facebook groups and the DisBoards, and from running 10 runDisney weekends to date. ? I believe them to be informed guesses- by no means do I have any proof or reason to think I’m correct in any of the assessments.

But I also don’t think I’m talking out of my ass completely here either.

Avengers

Avengers medal DLH sign

Here’s my race recap. I didn’t hate the weekend or the experience overall. ?In fact, I was a fan of the course- which is TOTALLY not the prevailing opinion! ?On a personal note- I struggled through the first half mightily. ?I’ll admit to being solely?focused on NOT pooping my pants, and was forgiving of some of the issues that others expressed.

When I rank the Disneyland races, Avengers is last- and y’all know I love me some Thor!

Here’s what I see as “wrong” with Avengers.

1. ?Time of year.

Having a race hot on the heels of Wine & Dine, a race many runDisney enthusiasts absolutely ADORE, makes travel coast to coast in a week tough. ?Plus it’s right before Thanksgiving, another big travel time period for Disney fans. ?If you have to pick and choose a race to skip, I get why this is the one.

2. ?Locals know.?

The greater Los Angeles area has a zillion point three people in it. ?At least.

And probably half of them are runners, and half of them are Disney fans.

So why can’t the LA peeps fill up the race? ?Because they KNOW that the weather can be sketchy AND that Disneyland is generally busy the first weekend that holiday decorations are in place.

They are also blessed with an abundance of races in the local area. ?There’s no reason for them to spend $199 on a half marathon just to get some pixie-dust sprinkled on top.

Remember: Disneyland is a locals park, meaning many,?many, MANY of the peeps you see in Disneyland are annual pass holders and have been for years. ?They can get pixie-dust on a random Tuesday and don’t need to run 13.1 miles to get it.

3. ?Choices doubled.

Last year Disneyland doubled the options for runDisney. ?Most peeps (again looking at the locals) are not feeling the need to run all the races, and now have options. ?I’ve seen many say they ran Avengers last year, so this year they are doing Star Wars. ?There does not seem to be a prevailing “I’m running ALL the Disneyland races” sentiment in the groups.

Unless you are me. ?Ahem. ?Because: Disneyland.

DL60 Castle

4. ?The course, characters (theme) and weather.

The course: ?about 2 miles inside the parks. ?That’s all.

That’s NOT what you want from your runDisney experience.

The characters & theme: ?4 Marvel characters. ?That’s all.

That’s NOT what you want from your runDisney experience. ?And no Iron-“Dude”? ?Come. ?On.

The theme is up for debate. ?Some feel the Avengers aren’t a big enough draw for runners- and that it cuts out on the female contingency. ?Others (ahem- me!) say… ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Thor rundisney

Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye’s arms, Thor, Black Widow, THOR… and that’s just the 4 we saw.

Marvel has a deep character pool- I say, runDisney, dive on in!

The weather: ?we ran in the insanity of the Santa Ana winds. ?This isn’t always going to happen, but there’s no guarantee that it won’t happen again that time of year. ?It might be enough to keep people off the course altogether.

Star Wars

SW Half 1

Here’s my race recap of the Star Wars half marathon.

Hands down- and I’m not alone in this praise- it was the best runDisney weekend EVER. ?It seems some of the Avengers mistakes were corrected for this race: time of year is better, the course is flat and fantastic, characters were plentiful, the weather was gorgeous.

All good things.

Then why hasn’t it sold out?

1. ?Time of year.

It follows directly behind the BIG mama of race weekends for runDisney folks: Marathon weekend. ?Those Dopey runners are probably hoping they never see another castle, much less another race through one.

This was one of the reasons I did not run Marathon last year. ?I chose Star Wars instead.

2. ?MONEY

A lot of people cite costs and that runDisney keeps increasing the cost of the races. ?I think we jumped that shark when the price went from $120 for a half up to $140+ a couple of years ago.

I do think money is a factor though. ?This race comes right after Christmas AND that Marathon weekend… chances are, credit cards are starting to groan a bit from the expenses incurred during this time.

tie fighters half sw 15

3. ?runDisney Enthusiasts live on the East coast.

This is purely speculation, but the feel I get from my Facebook groups is that runDisney is heavily supported by those who see Walt Disney World as their home park. ?They will travel multiple times a year to run a race in Orlando, but limit their time to Disneyland as a one and done- or maybe once a year.

Even the pull of the Force can’t get them to cross three time zones to run in California. ?Which brings up another point…

4. ?Rumors of an East coast Star Wars race.

It’s like a million WDW runners cried out in pain and were suddenly silenced when Star Wars was confirmed on the West coast. ?Okay, not silenced, at all. ?They just started begging for a Star Wars East race.

So here’s the rundown on that: the rumor mill says a Star Wars East coast race will be announced this summer. ?Most likely happening end of April, beginning of May. ?Just in time for Star Wars Weekends to kick off with an Imperial race.

sw dining 4

RUMORS… but you gotta admit they make a lot of sense from a runDisney standpoint to go ahead with this plan.

Do I think it’s happening? ?I’m going to plead the 5th on this one.

But the fact that people BELIEVE an East coast option for this theme is coming may be keeping them out of the registration frenzy. ?They are holding onto their?Republic Dataries (money for those that don’t speak Star Wars).

Where does this leave us? ?As of this morning (9:30 AM PT) the races look like this:

Avengers 6.17.15

SW 6.17.15

Bottom line: ?I feel like runDisney is possibly hitting a slight downswing in the Disneyland market. ?Hey, what goes up, must come down, right? ?It’s simple supply and demand: you saturate a market, and you will have a slowing of growth as the bubble pops.

I think both races will eventually sell out. ?I don’t think runDisney is in any jeopardy of losing money on either race. ?There’s no major problem with the Disneyland races.

For the consumer, I see this as a GOOD thing. ?We can now sit back and breathe on registration day instead of feeling that panic that’s been prevalent over the past 2 cycles.

What do you think about the lack of runDisney sell outs at Disneyland? ?Do you have any other reasons for the slow down?

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17 Comments

  1. I think you’re spot-on with your assessment of both races. Plus let’s also not forget that this is only the second year for each of these races coming up, and in the beginning races like Tink and Wine and Dine didn’t sell out immediately. I think there is a bit of momentum that will pick up over time, especially as Disney figures out how to truly market the Avengers and Star Wars. They’ve started out pretty good and they can only get better every year!

    1. Agree! With any inaugural, you are bound to have problems. I know there were some with Tink too. I’m just happy we have OPTIONS now!

  2. I think you miss the point that the challenge & 10k did sell out. My thought is if I can do a half, I can do a 10k the day before. It’s more appealing to get more bling, shirts, recognition from the challenge. The 10k is good for those that want a shorter race, which is appealing when traveling or varoius other reasons. I agree that the race themes are more limited, more of a targeted market. I am happy that there are still some openings because it’s hard to make plans that far in advance.

  3. Good breakdown, Patty! Personally, I’m just not into the Avengers. Or Star Wars. My friends might disown me for saying that but yeah… those themes don’t do it for me. With the moving of Tink to Mother’s Day weekend the only race with real appeal for me at this point is the Disneyland half weekend. And since I did it last year, I just didn’t have the fundage to float it. Sadly.

    I think the addition of the challenges are another component. We runDisney fanatics are all very RUN ALL THE RACES, ACQUIRE ALL THE BLING type. So if someone doesn’t get into the challenge, they might not be inclined to sign up for the half because they want to save it for a challenge? I don’t know – just speculating. 😉

  4. that is really interesting, Patty
    I haven’t followed any of the race registration drama this year so it was news to me.

    if I ever did a runDisney event it would be in Disneyland – even though I’m an East Coaster and haven’t been to DL before
    The 3 hour time difference will work to my advantage. More importantly is the appeal of walking to the race start instead of having to ride a bus in the middle of the night! I’m not a morning person and I hate being at the mercy of public transportation. LOL

    I can’t believe Iron Man wasn’t at the inaugural Avengers! He’s the best part.

  5. great post P! These are all very good points. I’m in the one and one category. I’m not going back to DL any time soon. The cross country flight is just too much in terms of cost and time. I would love an east coast Star Wars!

  6. Great Post! My further 2 cents is that neither of these races is an inaugural (this year) and people are saving their pennies for the Disneyland Paris Half. These races are expensive (as my credit card found out…again) especially if you need to factor in hotels and plane tickets. As you said, BOTH of these races follow right on the heels of big East Coast Disney races. Further, BOTH of these races are held on the same weekend as BIG R’R series races that are fairly West Coast friendly. Avengers is on the same weekend as Las Vegas, and Star Wars is on the same weekend as Arizona…with “Valley of the Sun” bonus bling.

  7. I can not imagine them NOT introducing an East Coast Star Wars since Everest was dropped from the schedule and they already know that weekend works for weather and a race. They have a month of Star Wars weekends that are continually well attended. It would be very unlike RunDisney to miss a built in opportunity for promotions and tie ins.

    Can’t wait to see a Coast to Coast medal dedicated to those who go C2C exclusively in Star Wars races?!

  8. I also think that with the expansion of the Star Wars area at WDW, we will see a Star Wars race there. I am new to running and runDisney. The Jingle Jungle 5K will be my first runDisney race. We are going to try to sign up for the Princess 10K in February when that rolls around. I gave my daughters a choice as to which DL race we do. They chose Avengers, so in 2016, we’ll be going west instead of doing Wine & Dine. The cancellation of the Tower of Terror 10 miler also leaves room open for something new. We’ll be in DL for the D23 Expo in August. Last time they had a 5K the Friday morning of the Expo. I hope they do it again. Don’t forget the new section of Animal Kingdom: Pandora. An Avatar themed race maybe?

  9. I think another major factor is that the field for this year’s Avengers and Star Wars is (I believe) significantly larger than last year’s. Each inaugural race last year was about 10,500 whereas this year they’ll both be around 15,000, so more up around the TinkerBell/Disneyland half sizes. If you assume that the fields will be around 15,000 then both halfs would have sold out by now since they are sitting at 80+%.

    However, I do think the price of the races is starting to be a factor, too, and people aren’t finding the race to be a good value at $200+. The biggest problem with Avengers is that the course kind of sucked. The river trail part was terrible and we were horribly short changed on the in the park portion regarding length and characters.

  10. I’m still surprised after the wine & Dine whinefest. Maybe this is different bc there’s no 10k at W&D?

  11. As someone who was doing the Disneyland Half years before it hit Crazy-Town-Black-Friday proportions, I don’t see the lack of an immediate sell out as any kind of “problem.” It’s more like a return to a realistic race registration. It used to take several months for the DL Half to sell out, and that’s when it was the ONLY race in the DL park. Post Crazy-Town phenomenon, which couldn’t have lasted forever anyway, I think you’ve hit on some of the reasons for the slowing down – the cost and the number of races being primary. I also think for the non-Disney fanatics who don’t feel the need to do every…single….race…it’s just too ridiculous logistically. Who wants to sit at their computer fighting for a registration spot? And after all the complaints on social media after the last few expos, why would anyone want to deal with that nonsense on top of stressing about getting a spot? To be perfectly honest, I feel like there’s been a change in the type of people who do the races. It’s less about dedicated runners doing a novelty race for the fun of it and drawing in more people who want pictures and merchandise. They get entitled attitudes and make it a very different experience than it used to be.

    I signed up for the rebel challenge because I’ve never done one. I picked Star Wars to do the challenge because I missed the race last year since I was in Arizona doing the Rock and Roll in Phoenix. Beyond this, I doubt I’ll do another challenge. The cost is too high. I’m not in the group that thinks Disney is a superior product just because of the brand. I am fortunate to live in a place with many, many choices and while Disney is fun, other races are as much or more fun. It’s what you make of it.

  12. I’m registered for the Disneyland half this year, and have since been feeling the pangs of not signing up for Dumbo. I would love to do a challenge, and running a 10k/half combo is far more likely to happen for me than flying across the country to race at WDW. As it stands though, the pricing is ridiculous.

    I’d be interested in doing a full at Disney, but they definitely would need to dramatically increase the amount of in-park time, and have some serious character support on the roads outside of the park.

  13. I think you’re spot on with choices. I noticed DL races started selling out lightning quick when rD introduced the C2C challenge. There was only 1, then 2, races to get it done at Disneyland, in complete opposite seasons. Now there are 4 and I think they balance each other out. I also think multiple choices per race weekend is also a factor. The 10k has exploded in popularity and is taking numbers away from the half.

    I can only speak for me, but I did not have a lot of fun during my last Disney half marathon. Injury aside, I felt the course was too crowded and there were fewer characters than in years past. All that and they’re still increasing the prices? I understand it’s Disney and the support is second to none, but I feel like they’re increasing prices while slowly chipping away at what drew me to their races in the first place.

  14. The other thing is the Tink half also took forever to sell out this year. Most people attributed it to the Mother’s Day weekend change, but when added to the Avengers and Star Wars, it seems like its part of the pattern. And honestly, I think a large part is Disneyland itself. The race prices are expensive enough that the locals avoid it. For someone spending hundreds on airfare and hotel, WDW just looks like a better race choice than DL because of the feeling of getting “more” magic out of the experience. The fact that ALL the DL races are front stacked with all the park time is a hard mental obstacle to get over when deciding where to spend the money for a runcation.

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