runDisney Changes Bib Pickup Policy
According to the official website rundisney.com YOU must pick up your bibs for all races starting with the Disneyland Half Weekend. You will no longer be allowed to sign waivers and allow a friend or family member to pick up your race items.
ETA: 3/13/2014 Calls to runDisney have confirmed that same day pick up will be available starting 2 hours before the race starts. They also stated that minors running a half marathon will need to pick up their own bibs, but other children will not need to be present. I’m happy with both these updates.
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Interesting. Like you, it won’t affect me personally. However, I think there are a lot of people it could cause problems for. There are also situations like I had at PHM. Someone ended up not being able to make it, and I picked up her bib and sent it and her t-shirt, etc. to her.
Yeah- it’s a shame they slap this on the website without better communication. There’s lots of gray in travel situations! I hope they have other plans in place to address
I understand completely that they are trying to avoid bib sales, but come on…..my sister avoids a day off from work and has never picked up her Princess bib. Guess next year she will fly in a day early. This is a way to punish those of us that follow the rules. At marathon weekend, Christine and I picked up a packet for a girl whose Dad was very ill and so she could not travel. We mailed all her stuff so she at least had something even if she could not race.
And that’s not cool to your sis! I hate that people will have to take additional time off work (and buy more hotel space I’m sure!) fir races now.
I feel like Disney keeps making things more restrictive and less customer friendly. Is there any other large race that doesn’t allow packet pickup by friends or family members? It feels like at this point, for the price, my packet should be hand delivered to my door by one of Cinderella’s coach men. I was pretty intent on keeping my Tink legacy status, but I’m really beginning to wonder why I bother. I go back and forth about doing Avengers. I’m curious, but each day my opinion on it changes. One day I’m going to try to register. The next day, I think I’ll just leave it to people who think Disney can do no wrong. They’re sinking fast and they have no shame about it because for some reason, people keep throwing money at them. It boggles my mind.
YES! making things way harder than it needs to be. Two words: TRANSFER POLICY. Do it, rD!
I agree, it’s unfortunate for those who have already made plans based on the existing rules, to have them changed. I wonder if Disney will be more accommodating of same-day bib pick ups as a result.
I sure hope so Erika!
Last year Sarah Beth missed her connection the Friday morning before the DW Half…and we thankfully had all traded the necessary info to pick up each others bibs so I was able to pick up hers… but what would happen now? It’s really too bad that the people who don’t follow the rules ruin it for those of us who do, and have legitimate need.
I hear there has always been a never mentioned but possible (ha- not confusing at all!) option to pick your bib up on race day. So she could have gotten it before the corral walk. BUT… I think it ran smoother with the waivers and allowing someone else to pick up in a case like this. I really hope they reconsider for the people who already have registered and possibly made travel plans based on the earlier process.
I usually work my plans around the expo and getting there on time but I know that it isn’t always possible for those who work or aren’t getting to the area until later on. I agree with you; changing the policy is fine but changing it for an event in which people are already registered seems like a poor decision on their part.
Why change the policy for races that are already sold? Like you, I have friends who are teachers and in Texas, some districts say teachers cannot take days off before that weekend since the school year just started. Either have race day pickup, or offer an option in which bibs can be mailed to participants a couple weeks in advance.
This doesn’t affect me really so I have no opinion about it. However, I do wonder what they’ll do if flights are delayed/cancelled due to weather issues and runners may have no way to get there during expo hours. I mean, shouldn’t they be allowed to have someone pick up their bib for them if they don’t make it until the night before a race? I’ve read about this happening before so it is definitely a realistic concern.
Not really a problem for me, just a bit of a hassle for my husband who would prefer to stay far far away from any Expo, so he’ll have to come with me to pickup his EE bib. I hope they (and suspect they will) do race day pickup for people with travel issues though. Or keep the packet pickup open 24 hours before the race (it’s usually separate from the Expo anyways), they could just skeleton staff it during the night/early am hours. Any change seems to be drama-prone with runDisney, that is the one certainty! 🙂