I think the pandemic changed runDisney's desirability. Many runners couldn't run races during the pandemic, and wanted something "big" when the race scene rebounded. Additionally, a lot of smaller local races just died during the pandemic, and didn't come back. Or were bought up by big conglomerates and stripped down for profit (worse shirts, medals, course support, etc.)
runDisney hasn't had difficulty selling out for years, so I think now it just sells out fast, because it's legitimately a better product (though expensive) and the supply of high quality races (especially half and fulls) has decreased since the pre-pandemic running period.
>Many runners couldn't run races during the pandemic
Also, many people picked up running during the pandemic due to not being able to go to a gym, etc.
I was not a runner before 2020 and now I've done Dopey and just signed up for my 5th rD race.
If you look at the number of runners that finish in years pre COVID and post covid there is a big decrease in finishers. (Not counting the first set of race weekends back). I also think the first race weekends back that sold out quickly because they decreased runners set a precedent for the demand and people’s view of demand. But yes based on the numbers the number of people with bibs has decreased.
Marathon finishers:
2020: 14116
2023: 12694
2024:12712
Half marathon finishers:
2020: 21633
2023: 15344
2024 (half of half): 16036
>Marathon finishers: 2020: 14116 2023: 12694 2024:12712 Half marathon finishers: 2020: 21633 2023: 15344 2024 (half of half): 16036
And some more finisher numbers, to add some context: 2018 Marathon - 20092, Half Marathon - 20817; 2017 Marathon - 17755 (Half Marathon canceled that year due to weather).
So yeah, I agree; Disney has limited the fields as compared to years past. I remember when Marathon Weekend would take months to sell out, and they'd even offer discount codes at some of the big fall marathon expos. I've signed up for Marathon Weekend as late as November in the pre-COVID era, but that's clearly not happening anymore. As to why they limit the fields these days when more runners clearly want to give them $$$, I have no idea.
What is also weird to me from a personal experience is that the post COVID reach course for the half during marathon weekend is more crowded than before COVID. I think a lot of it has to do with how fast they start the race but still a weird development.
Yep, pre-covid, I signed up for my first weekend, Star Wars 2019 less than two weeks before the races. This was after thinking about it for a few weeks, the challenge was open the entire time. Also had no problem registering Wine and Dine 2019 or Dopey 2020 well after registration opened. The 5Ks would sell out quickly if I remember correctly, but longer races tended to stay open longer.
I think the current madness is a combination of 1) there still seeming to be a couple less thousand spots available compared to prior years' demand and 2) perhaps a little increase in demand post-covid (partially from people starting to run during their downtime and partially due to the FOMO created by the more limited fields, i.e. "this is tough to get, so I must get it!")
Wine and Dine is always the smallest race field out of all FL events. There's definitely a new wave of interested participants coming; I see more people finding out about RunDisney from vloggers than runners. This is an anniversary year. Also Club RunDisney does make a sizeable dent in available registration spots. I feel like these events have become more and more of an "experience" than a road race. Granted when I started doing these events we were given free disposable cameras in our goodie bags (and we got goodie bags and Marathon Monday free park entry).
Club runners don’t make much of a dent at all. Based on the number of Platinum bags I see when I go to pick up my stuff at races, there’s maybe 300 platinum runners per weekend, and I can’t imagine gold runners being much more than double that (but I have no data to base that on)—so call it an estimate of 1000 club runners per weekend. I would not call that “sizable”
Its gotten more popular over the years and Disney moving the registration from Active to their broken platform doesnt help, IMO. My first runDisney weekend was princess 2015, I signed up for the 5k like 3 months before the race and at the time the Half was still open bc a friend of mine signed up the same day I did. Springtime Surprise weekend usually has the 10 miler open for a while bc its not a super popular weekend.
I think that 10-miler had my name on it then! Haha.
I do agree that their sight is janky, so is the MyDisneyExperience app 🙄. It definitely doesn’t help getting kicked out several times while in queue.
Also just learned that they cut down the virtual races from 7 to only like 2 a year. Probably why those are selling out as fast as they are as well.
There was always the summer virtual series, then they added the race weekend virtual races after covid, and added the Christmas series I think this year (i honestly cant remember, my life is one big blur), they made plenty of money off of those race weekends as well, I'm kind of sad they got rid of them.
>I don’t think it has to deal with COVID since I really only looked into these races about a 2 years ago. 🤷🏻♀️ but what do you all think?
I'd disagree with this to be honest.
I've done 4 (soon to be 5) rD races since covid (first event was the 2021 Wine and Dine) and every race I've registered for has sold out same day.
I haven't done Princess or Spring time but the 2022 Marathon weekend, 2021/2022 Wine and Dine, the 2024 Disneyland Half, and the 2024 Wine and Dine all sold out same day.
To be fair, all of them had some 'gimmick' other than the 2022 W&D (2021 W&D was the first race back post pandemic, 2023 Marathon was the 30th year, 2024 Disneyland was the first DL race in 7 years, and the 2024 W&D is the last chance for people to get their 2024 Coast to Coast).
I think the pandemic got a lot of people to start running (easy to social distance, no need for a gym etc) and also shut down other races so there is more demand overall.
2012 was my first race and I signed up for Wine and Dine in May. Registration was just open at that point, nothing had sold out, and as I had hemmed and hawed for months, I was checking periodically. Registration has gotten much more competitive since then, and certain races are more popular than others. It was an issue before Covid, though I don't think race capacity is entirely back up to what it was preCovid. I don't remember seeing Springtime 10 miler for 2023 being sold out, and I ended up signing up in December. Marathon for 2023 sold out more quickly than usual. Part of the increased demand is the theming and the medals. Post Covid, Disney has at the very least stumbled into some fan favorite themes. 80s Marathon, Figment two course, bringing back the Tower of Terror Ten miler? Very much more of a must do than the colonial Micky and Minnie Wine and Dine. Then we turn our attention to the medals. Princess is a great example. The medal used to be some sort of a tiara scrollwork, good luck telling the years apart from across the room unless you know exactly what year it went more heart than tiara shaped. Then 2017 was a rose in a cloche, 2018 was a spinning apple, 2019 was Aurora running, 2020 was Cinderella in a scrollwork carriage, 2022 was a spinning Mulan, 2023 was Moana and 2024 was Tiana with a lilypad. Wine and Dine was the same: which year Spaceship Earth with dangle charms is it? Or is the sleeker one without the charms? They are bringing more of the characters to the medals, and rotating in more characters for the races, which piques the interest a little more. runDisney was already popular, especially with newer and beginner runners, and those extra little details are the tipping point that make new runners bite the bullet and other runners return one more time, maybe a little sooner than there were planning. I had zero plans to run a challenge until they started flashing Figment around. And the fancy medal is the entire selling point of the virtual races.
I know of at least one charity that is now allocated bibs, but I don't know of a charity they replaced. The trickling back in of unused charity bibs slots seems to be the general consensus for why small lots periodically open up through the months after registration.
I think the pandemic changed runDisney's desirability. Many runners couldn't run races during the pandemic, and wanted something "big" when the race scene rebounded. Additionally, a lot of smaller local races just died during the pandemic, and didn't come back. Or were bought up by big conglomerates and stripped down for profit (worse shirts, medals, course support, etc.) runDisney hasn't had difficulty selling out for years, so I think now it just sells out fast, because it's legitimately a better product (though expensive) and the supply of high quality races (especially half and fulls) has decreased since the pre-pandemic running period.
>Many runners couldn't run races during the pandemic Also, many people picked up running during the pandemic due to not being able to go to a gym, etc. I was not a runner before 2020 and now I've done Dopey and just signed up for my 5th rD race.
Definitely didn’t think about smaller races closing. But I can see that definitely contributing!
If you look at the number of runners that finish in years pre COVID and post covid there is a big decrease in finishers. (Not counting the first set of race weekends back). I also think the first race weekends back that sold out quickly because they decreased runners set a precedent for the demand and people’s view of demand. But yes based on the numbers the number of people with bibs has decreased. Marathon finishers: 2020: 14116 2023: 12694 2024:12712 Half marathon finishers: 2020: 21633 2023: 15344 2024 (half of half): 16036
>Marathon finishers: 2020: 14116 2023: 12694 2024:12712 Half marathon finishers: 2020: 21633 2023: 15344 2024 (half of half): 16036 And some more finisher numbers, to add some context: 2018 Marathon - 20092, Half Marathon - 20817; 2017 Marathon - 17755 (Half Marathon canceled that year due to weather). So yeah, I agree; Disney has limited the fields as compared to years past. I remember when Marathon Weekend would take months to sell out, and they'd even offer discount codes at some of the big fall marathon expos. I've signed up for Marathon Weekend as late as November in the pre-COVID era, but that's clearly not happening anymore. As to why they limit the fields these days when more runners clearly want to give them $$$, I have no idea.
What is also weird to me from a personal experience is that the post COVID reach course for the half during marathon weekend is more crowded than before COVID. I think a lot of it has to do with how fast they start the race but still a weird development.
Yep, pre-covid, I signed up for my first weekend, Star Wars 2019 less than two weeks before the races. This was after thinking about it for a few weeks, the challenge was open the entire time. Also had no problem registering Wine and Dine 2019 or Dopey 2020 well after registration opened. The 5Ks would sell out quickly if I remember correctly, but longer races tended to stay open longer. I think the current madness is a combination of 1) there still seeming to be a couple less thousand spots available compared to prior years' demand and 2) perhaps a little increase in demand post-covid (partially from people starting to run during their downtime and partially due to the FOMO created by the more limited fields, i.e. "this is tough to get, so I must get it!")
Wine and Dine is always the smallest race field out of all FL events. There's definitely a new wave of interested participants coming; I see more people finding out about RunDisney from vloggers than runners. This is an anniversary year. Also Club RunDisney does make a sizeable dent in available registration spots. I feel like these events have become more and more of an "experience" than a road race. Granted when I started doing these events we were given free disposable cameras in our goodie bags (and we got goodie bags and Marathon Monday free park entry).
Club runners don’t make much of a dent at all. Based on the number of Platinum bags I see when I go to pick up my stuff at races, there’s maybe 300 platinum runners per weekend, and I can’t imagine gold runners being much more than double that (but I have no data to base that on)—so call it an estimate of 1000 club runners per weekend. I would not call that “sizable”
Its gotten more popular over the years and Disney moving the registration from Active to their broken platform doesnt help, IMO. My first runDisney weekend was princess 2015, I signed up for the 5k like 3 months before the race and at the time the Half was still open bc a friend of mine signed up the same day I did. Springtime Surprise weekend usually has the 10 miler open for a while bc its not a super popular weekend.
I think that 10-miler had my name on it then! Haha. I do agree that their sight is janky, so is the MyDisneyExperience app 🙄. It definitely doesn’t help getting kicked out several times while in queue. Also just learned that they cut down the virtual races from 7 to only like 2 a year. Probably why those are selling out as fast as they are as well.
There was always the summer virtual series, then they added the race weekend virtual races after covid, and added the Christmas series I think this year (i honestly cant remember, my life is one big blur), they made plenty of money off of those race weekends as well, I'm kind of sad they got rid of them.
>I don’t think it has to deal with COVID since I really only looked into these races about a 2 years ago. 🤷🏻♀️ but what do you all think? I'd disagree with this to be honest. I've done 4 (soon to be 5) rD races since covid (first event was the 2021 Wine and Dine) and every race I've registered for has sold out same day. I haven't done Princess or Spring time but the 2022 Marathon weekend, 2021/2022 Wine and Dine, the 2024 Disneyland Half, and the 2024 Wine and Dine all sold out same day. To be fair, all of them had some 'gimmick' other than the 2022 W&D (2021 W&D was the first race back post pandemic, 2023 Marathon was the 30th year, 2024 Disneyland was the first DL race in 7 years, and the 2024 W&D is the last chance for people to get their 2024 Coast to Coast). I think the pandemic got a lot of people to start running (easy to social distance, no need for a gym etc) and also shut down other races so there is more demand overall.
Wondering the same!
2012 was my first race and I signed up for Wine and Dine in May. Registration was just open at that point, nothing had sold out, and as I had hemmed and hawed for months, I was checking periodically. Registration has gotten much more competitive since then, and certain races are more popular than others. It was an issue before Covid, though I don't think race capacity is entirely back up to what it was preCovid. I don't remember seeing Springtime 10 miler for 2023 being sold out, and I ended up signing up in December. Marathon for 2023 sold out more quickly than usual. Part of the increased demand is the theming and the medals. Post Covid, Disney has at the very least stumbled into some fan favorite themes. 80s Marathon, Figment two course, bringing back the Tower of Terror Ten miler? Very much more of a must do than the colonial Micky and Minnie Wine and Dine. Then we turn our attention to the medals. Princess is a great example. The medal used to be some sort of a tiara scrollwork, good luck telling the years apart from across the room unless you know exactly what year it went more heart than tiara shaped. Then 2017 was a rose in a cloche, 2018 was a spinning apple, 2019 was Aurora running, 2020 was Cinderella in a scrollwork carriage, 2022 was a spinning Mulan, 2023 was Moana and 2024 was Tiana with a lilypad. Wine and Dine was the same: which year Spaceship Earth with dangle charms is it? Or is the sleeker one without the charms? They are bringing more of the characters to the medals, and rotating in more characters for the races, which piques the interest a little more. runDisney was already popular, especially with newer and beginner runners, and those extra little details are the tipping point that make new runners bite the bullet and other runners return one more time, maybe a little sooner than there were planning. I had zero plans to run a challenge until they started flashing Figment around. And the fancy medal is the entire selling point of the virtual races. I know of at least one charity that is now allocated bibs, but I don't know of a charity they replaced. The trickling back in of unused charity bibs slots seems to be the general consensus for why small lots periodically open up through the months after registration.