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Thread: 2017 Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend

  1. #76
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berry Princess View Post
    I didn't even notice the 2 mile marker and realized when I got to dtd where it must have been.
    I didn't do the 5K race, so I don't know what mile markers were used there, but I did notice that for the 10K race, they had different mile markers than usual. Usually, the mile markers have a big, interesting, themed backdrop. For the 10K, they were just small-ish flag banners with a picture on it. Big difference, not as easy to see, and not as many people likely to stop for a picture. My understanding is that is a huge driving force for a lot of the changes - not having people hang around in the parks during the race to have a picture taken, so 1) they don't get swept and 2) they don't disrupt being able to clean up afterward and get the parks open on time.


    Quote Originally Posted by olegc View Post
    Based on AVPs tweet this AM I am curious about the 10k start. It looks like the move the corral entry point. Is that the case? With the 5k sparseness and the chaos this AM did something change at runDisney?
    I don't know the names and structure, but I was told that a position very high up in charge of the races/runDisney was changed, but that doesn't really explain why the changes are only at Anaheim and not WDW.

    Yes, they moved the corral entry point, and they changed some of the bag check locations too. I normally walk to the races by coming south on Walnut and then turning east on Magic Way. Previously, there was a bag check at the first intersection. There wasn't one on Saturday or Sunday. I went my normal route on Saturday and was surprised when I saw a banner pointing to the right to head to corrals. There was still no bag check. There was a bag check station into the stage/party area, so I walked past that. The only bag check station was the normal one you'd encounter from the parking lot heading into Downtown Disney, right by the ESPN zone. On Saturday, there were no additional signs about where to go to get to your corrals, but I saw what was effectively a huge line so I headed in that direction. We were herded around Earl of Sandwich and through the tiny gate (you could fit two people side-by-side through it), where they did a cursory check to make sure you had a bib before letting you through. You kept walking that way until you got to the roundabout between self-parking for the Grand Californian and the Paradise Pier Hotel, where there was another bag check for people coming from the west, and that was a huge line. Those people merged with those of us who came through DTD. From there you walked east to get to Disneyland Drive, with corrals A through D to your left and corrals E and F to your right. It was the same on Sunday.


    Quote Originally Posted by A Shellie Day View Post
    Also, I couldn't stand the same song being played repeatedly for the majority of the race. It really wouldn't have killed them to put some variety on the speakers.
    Yeah, I get that it's the lost boys and it makes sense to play "Following the Leader" for a race, but not on repeat for 6 whole miles!


    Quote Originally Posted by rockethouse View Post
    I know they just switched to paid staff but we didn't experience any problems at water stations and everyone was just as polite and encouraging as ever.
    Same here. I thought there was the same enthusiasm at the water stations as normal. I actually thought some of the actual CMs on the course were a bit lackluster. Yep, I know it's early, but at least try a little? I encountered a few that were shaking noisemakers but otherwise had almost no expression and nothing else. It might as well have just been a perpetual motion machine shaking the noisemaker.

    I never thought I'd say this, but I missed the cheerleaders out there. I definitely missed the bands.

    It wasn't pretty, but I finished the half and got my half and pixie dust challenge medals.



    RunningFool or anyone else - Do you know if there's a list of the Tink legacy runners available anywhere?
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    Quote Originally Posted by cstephens View Post
    I didn't do the 5K race, so I don't know what mile markers were used there, but I did notice that for the 10K race, they had different mile markers than usual. Usually, the mile markers have a big, interesting, themed backdrop. For the 10K, they were just small-ish flag banners with a picture on it. Big difference, not as easy to see, and not as many people likely to stop for a picture. My understanding is that is a huge driving force for a lot of the changes - not having people hang around in the parks during the race to have a picture taken, so 1) they don't get swept and 2) they don't disrupt being able to clean up afterward and get the parks open on time.

    Yeah, I get that it's the lost boys and it makes sense to play "Following the Leader" for a race, but not on repeat for 6 whole miles!


    Same here. I thought there was the same enthusiasm at the water stations as normal. I actually thought some of the actual CMs on the course were a bit lackluster. Yep, I know it's early, but at least try a little? I encountered a few that were shaking noisemakers but otherwise had almost no expression and nothing else. It might as well have just been a perpetual motion machine shaking the noisemaker.
    Mile makers for the 5k were just the small flags like you had as well it sounds like. They had pirate chests it looked like by them. Which I would have liked if it had been Tink themed more instead. I know I never stopped for pics there but would snap it as I walked by each one. I get why they want people to move it and all but heck at a 5k that starts at 5am and the parks weren't open until 9 with early entry in DL at 8 there was more than enough time there. Especially when there wasn't much DL time at all. Maybe they shouldn't do early entry those days or they should start things sooner. No matter what people are going to stop along the way and snap pics at different points. There was plenty doing it by with the Fun Wheel/fountains behind them or Small World and so on. So even if they dropped the characters and mile markers its still going to happen. Yet at the same time they will end up with more and more dropping from doing their races because they are giving less and less.

    We had Pirates of the Caribbean (the movie) music looped with "A Pirate's Life" from Peter Pan on repeat. My son started humming the movie music yesterday. I told him I NEVER want to hear that again.

    We had only 1 water station along the way. Which if I remember right there was always 2 water stations along the 5ks. At least in the past. I figured they didn't get enough people to do it though. They did the job and that was it. Which I felt was just like normal with those spots. I agree about the CMs that were along the course as well. They were lackluster. Usually there is more out there too and cheering you on in many spots but this was not the case at all. It was just like they were there making sure you didn't go where you shouldn't. I have to say the ones at the end of the 10k during Star Wars were really great. I was near the back of things and they were just awesome with cheering those of us at the end on. Even the past 5ks I did it was full of them cheering. I think when we got into DTD and hit the spot by the first Starbucks is the most cheering we heard the whole time. Like I said I was underwhelmed by it all.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berry Princess View Post
    No matter what people are going to stop along the way and snap pics at different points.
    I have a photo of the line of people waiting to take photos with the Disneyland fire fighters and their dog statue. If Disney doesn't create photo ops, the runners have no problem creating their own.

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    Quote Originally Posted by AVP View Post
    I have a photo of the line of people waiting to take photos with the Disneyland fire fighters and their dog statue. If Disney doesn't create photo ops, the runners have no problem creating their own.

    AVP
    Exactly, so what is Disney going to do? Tell us we can't take any pictures at all and to leave anything that can take a picture at home or the hotel? I can imagine that many runners that stop to take those pictures have no problems snapping each others pictures quickly if no CMs are there.
    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

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    Re-cast member cheering, I'll admit that the Disneyland CMs didn't impress me much after my experience with the Disneyland Paris CMs. I didn't run this race, but for the Avengers and Star Wars Halves it felt like the few CMs on the course were not happy to be there. As a comparison, since they start the DL Paris races way later(7am), all of the ride attraction CMs were in front of their rides in their costumes, with some additional, themed props to cheer people on. It added some incredible atmosphere, they were super enthusiastic, and I got some great pictures with the Autopia CMs. It really added to my experience and made things way more fun. I can't help but think that the DL CMs are sick of these races, and how much earlier they have to show up to work because of race traffic. I wonder if there is some way for Disney to be able to balance everything out to keep everyone a bit happier.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Berry Princess View Post
    Exactly, so what is Disney going to do? Tell us we can't take any pictures at all and to leave anything that can take a picture at home or the hotel? I can imagine that many runners that stop to take those pictures have no problems snapping each others pictures quickly if no CMs are there.
    The other thing I thought of is that they're pushing people to buy the photo packages from the races. But you're sure paying for a lot less if it's only the regular photographers on the course. Now, you don't even get professional photos with the characters or at iconic spots.
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    Quote Originally Posted by cstephens View Post
    The other thing I thought of is that they're pushing people to buy the photo packages from the races. But you're sure paying for a lot less if it's only the regular photographers on the course. Now, you don't even get professional photos with the characters or at iconic spots.
    Good points there and agree you are then paying for a lot less when you don't have them at iconic or character spots.
    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

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    Surprised I got an email back so soon but not surprised it looked like a typical copy and paste type message with nothing really addressed on everything I originally said. I detest when companies do this because it feels dismissive. I would like to have had a real response at the very least but I know that probably won't happen and I did email them back again. Here was what I got as a response though.

    Thank you for contacting us regarding the 2017 Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend.

    I'm very sorry to hear of your disappointing experience with the race course during the bib pick up process. We pride ourselves on the quality of our race experience and proper coordination, and I apologize that it fell short of your expectations. I want to personally assure you that your feedback has been taken seriously and shared with runDisney Leadership. Your comments regarding the quality of our course allows for our continual growth within runDisney. We greatly appreciate the time you have taken to share your experience.

    Thank you again, Anna, for reaching out to us and we hope to see you at future runDisney events.

    Sincerely,

    The runDisney Team
    Guest Experience Services
    runDisney

    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

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    Quote Originally Posted by Berry Princess View Post

    I'm very sorry to hear of your disappointing experience with the race course during the bib pick up process.

    Sincerely,

    The runDisney Team
    Guest Experience Services
    runDisney[/I]
    Ummmm, it might help if runDisney is cutting and pasting emails to make sure the email makes sense...
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    Quote Originally Posted by RunningFool View Post
    Ummmm, it might help if runDisney is cutting and pasting emails to make sure the email makes sense...
    I do admit I laugh when I have had these kinds of emails and they end up not making sense. Yet at the same time it is annoying as well because it shows they don't pay attention to what was said at all.
    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

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    Quote Originally Posted by Berry Princess View Post
    I do admit I laugh when I have had these kinds of emails and they end up not making sense. Yet at the same time it is annoying as well because it shows they don't pay attention to what was said at all.
    Yup. Then you just feel like it really is a boilerplate response instead of really taking the email seriously.
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    Quote Originally Posted by RunningFool View Post
    Yup. Then you just feel like it really is a boilerplate response instead of really taking the email seriously.
    Yes! Its why I always send a reply back on things when I get these kind of responses. More so with this one did I have to. I told them what if something had happened to me and they needed to call my husband? I spaced on adding a note to the bib on the error and didn't know if I should cross the name off the bib. I didn't want to risk issues if I did so I left it. Yet if they had needed to call my husband they would have given someone else's name and not mine. He would have been like who? I do carry my id in my arm band but I doubt they would look there. Chances are slim on something happening but one never knows. I hadn't been in touch with him since it was late. I also spoke a little of their language (money) by letting them know my having the wrong bib effected my buying pictures from the race as well since I wouldn't want someone else's name on me in them.

    I have a question. I never noticed this in the past but saw a bunch of bibs with no names at all on them and just the numbers. Is it because they signed up last minute?
    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

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    Quote Originally Posted by Berry Princess View Post
    I have a question. I never noticed this in the past but saw a bunch of bibs with no names at all on them and just the numbers. Is it because they signed up last minute?
    I'm going to go with the benefit of the doubt that yes, these were bibs sold after February 14th which was the last date to have your name on a bib.

    runDisney was still selling Tink 10k, half marathon, and challenge bibs this weekend. While they closed the 10k and challenge late on Friday, the half was for sale until 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
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    Quote Originally Posted by RunningFool View Post
    I'm going to go with the benefit of the doubt that yes, these were bibs sold after February 14th which was the last date to have your name on a bib.

    runDisney was still selling Tink 10k, half marathon, and challenge bibs this weekend. While they closed the 10k and challenge late on Friday, the half was for sale until 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
    Ok thank you for that. I knew they were still selling the ones like that but didn't know if they were the 5k too but just had figured they might have been late registration ones.
    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

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    Quote Originally Posted by cstephens View Post

    RunningFool or anyone else - Do you know if there's a list of the Tink legacy runners available anywhere?
    Nope - I wish. At year five I know there was over a thousand of us. I'm going to assume that number dropped drastically as there was one lone woman handing out Legacy lanyards with Tink Medals after the half.
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    Quote Originally Posted by RunningFool View Post
    Nope - I wish. At year five I know there was over a thousand of us. I'm going to assume that number dropped drastically as there was one lone woman handing out Legacy lanyards with Tink Medals after the half.
    Bummer. OK, thanks.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berry Princess View Post
    I have a question. I never noticed this in the past but saw a bunch of bibs with no names at all on them and just the numbers. Is it because they signed up last minute?
    Yes, we registered in mid-April and our bibs did not have our names on them.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Berry Princess View Post
    I want to personally assure you
    Signed -

    An anonymous person
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    Quote Originally Posted by RunningFool View Post
    Nope - I wish. At year five I know there was over a thousand of us. I'm going to assume that number dropped drastically as there was one lone woman handing out Legacy lanyards with Tink Medals after the half.
    Per Disney, there were 690 legacies this year.

    AVP
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    Quote Originally Posted by AVP View Post
    Signed -

    An anonymous person
    LOL Got to love that they couldn't even attach a name to it. SMH
    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

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    Quote Originally Posted by AVP View Post
    Per Disney, there were 690 legacies this year.

    AVP
    Thank you - that is quite a drop from last year! Given all the issues this year, it will be interesting to see how many of us come back in 2018.
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    Quote Originally Posted by AVP View Post
    Signed -

    An anonymous person
    Wouldn't matter even if you have a name. We ran into all sorts of issues with pre-reg Princess this year. runDisney was a disaster to work with to the point when I was finally sent someone's name and number to call they refused to put my call thru even though I had directions to do so.
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    Quote Originally Posted by RunningFool View Post
    Thank you - that is quite a drop from last year! Given all the issues this year, it will be interesting to see how many of us come back in 2018.
    My friend asked me if I wanted to do it again next year with her. I told her I would have to really think about it after how the 5k turned out for me. As well as the fact that registration for the next one is next month and its pushing it for me. So I don't know at this point what I want to do. I still haven't decided if my son and I will do Superheroes either. Then there is the waiting on what is going on with Star Wars so its all up in the air with these.
    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

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    Quote Originally Posted by RunningFool View Post
    Wouldn't matter even if you have a name. We ran into all sorts of issues with pre-reg Princess this year. runDisney was a disaster to work with to the point when I was finally sent someone's name and number to call they refused to put my call thru even though I had directions to do so.
    With email though it really wouldn't matter either because its just one of many that would send those kind of responses out. Then when you reply back its more than likely someone else that will see that email. It is funny though that there wasn't even a name on it. All emails I've ever seen from any company has always had a name attached to it. Even if you don't get the same one responding back to another. LOL Either way its messed up how they seem to handle things and if this is a sign of what's to come down the line.
    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

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    Just received my "Thank you for participating" email from runDisney. Missing was the option to sign up for 2018 Tinker Bell as a past participant. This is something they have been doing the past several races (including the not-yet-open SW Light Side).

    Interesting...

    RunningFool

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