If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.
MousePlanet CEO, writer and photographer. Foster and Adoptive Mom. Owner of MouseShoppe and CharmingShoppe. Long-distance walker. Not in that order. In my spare time, I try to sleep.
It is official!
5K Friday, 10K Saturday, Half Sunday, No Challenge
Expo will open on Thursday instead of Friday
Yup. According to runDisney it's at 5:45 a.m. on Friday. 10k is at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday. Half is at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday.
This means between the Tink and the Dopey, we would be attempting 2 5ks, 2 10ks, 2 half marathons and a full marathon in the space of 11 days. Cool...
RunningFool
Next non-Disney short distance event: Good question...
Next non-Disney Half: TBD
Next runDisney event: W&D Two Course Challenge & 5k
Most of us have already booked travel plans for Friday - Monday. A Friday morning race and a Thursday expo just threw a total wrench into the plans. Sadly, we cant arrive until LATE Thursday and adding a 4th night of hotel will be costly.
It would have been nice had runDisney announced the additional 10k and/or confirmed what was being shown on Active.com long before three days before pre-registration opens. Like say when they sold the Tinker Bell Half as part of the Princess package. Or before most of us had made travel arrangements.
RunningFool
Next non-Disney short distance event: Good question...
Next non-Disney Half: TBD
Next runDisney event: W&D Two Course Challenge & 5k
Wow, crazy. Can't believe they are announcing it at the last minute like this! Sorry for anyone whose travel and plans are impacted.
I'm comfortable with my decision to stick with "just" the half. Maybe someday when I can sleep in on weekends again, I'll be able to consider the idea of two early morning races in a row. I also know that I don't quite have the discipline to run slow (for me) on purpose in the first of two back to back races. So, Saturday will be kid-race day for us. I'll enjoy watching / helping the cubs get their Peter Pan medals!
Jen
Whether you're a lion or a gazelle, when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.
I was confused actually, we haven't booked our hotel yet (I thought we did). At this rate we will be pulling in with the camper trailer and staying at the RV park so we can afford to eat. LOL!!!
I definitely don't think an "on property" stay will be happening this time since I'm doing the Princess in Feb. I'm just a little upset about the 5K being on Friday.
I have lots of people I wanted to support for that race. I don't know if Hubby and DDs schedules can permit us getting to the event on Thursday.
Talk about a clerical mess for me today. Argh!
I think a Friday morning 5k is a bad idea. Of course, rD is thinking that this will cause more people to stay an extra night in the hotels and parks. I'm revising my numbers tomorrow to account for the 10k addition, but I'm sure my 5k team will shrink by half or more. It's sad because Missy and P are doing the 5k together and with it being Friday morning they won't have most of their chEAR squad there to see them cross the finish line. Kids have school on Friday....HELLO. So much for a FAMILY fun run.
If you can dream it, you can do it. ~Walt Disney
By the way, I strongly recommend you let runDisney know how you feel (via Twitter, FB, etc.). I think the part that really gets people is that people have already registered for Princess with the assumption of Tink... with plans to take family to Tink and sign up for the 5K... and that this completely puts your travel dates into turmoil--not to mention that people might not want to take their children out of school for a weekday for the 5K.
Not very good planning when they hooked people into the pink C2C medal and registration already happened for Princess.
MousePlanet Staff Copy Editor. Keep calm and carry on! Learn how you can travel with just your carry-ons, at my Travelite FAQ! Go Team MousePlanet! My dream came true! I qualified for the 2016 Boston Marathon. Required finish time: 4:00. My BQ time: 3:54:48! All-time marathons completed: 11; halfs: 45.
I think there was also the assumption that IF a 10k WAS added (and to Lani's point it should have been mentioned prior to pre-Tinker / Princess sign-up), it would be scheduled similar to the 10k in September at Disneyland which meant it would be run the same day (Saturday) as the 5k. Instead they took a page from Princess and WDW and just moved everything out a day. As everyone has pointed out, kids got school - people gotta work. And the MLK holiday is just sitting on the other side of the weekend...
Frankly, very, very poor communication and event planning on runDisney's part.
RunningFool
Next non-Disney short distance event: Good question...
Next non-Disney Half: TBD
Next runDisney event: W&D Two Course Challenge & 5k
I totally agree. Our family will be traveling separately. Thank goodness it's just an hour drive. It's really ridiculous and it's a ploy to keep people spending money at the resort one extra day. I'm pretty ticked.
If you can dream it, you can do it. ~Walt Disney
We've debated what the tipping point may be for runDisney to start to see a diminished return on their events. Frankly, it may not be the $$$ but 'lack of thought' in scheduling that may actually push runners to other races.
That said, this year's event will probably sell out in record time.
RunningFool
Next non-Disney short distance event: Good question...
Next non-Disney Half: TBD
Next runDisney event: W&D Two Course Challenge & 5k
I am so, ahem, UNHAPPY about this announcement that I can't begin to express myself in uncensored language.
This was, clearly, a greedy decision. Nothing will convince me otherwise. I don't care what they perceived to be the DEMAND for this - I don't care how much they think people WANTED this decision - they clearly rushed to produce it without enough time to do it right.
The signs are all right there - They didn't even get this announced before they had their order forms out to charity teams, leaving team leaders scrambling now. They didn't get their act together in advance of the Princess Glass slipper and Pink Coast to Coast challenge. So they can't possibly have a CHALLENGE for Tink weekend or else face the wrath of all those Princess Coast to Coast runners.
And on top of it all - ON TOP OF IT ALL - They're moving the 5K to FRIDAY!?!?!????
ALL FIVE OF THE KROCK POTS had planned to participate in the 5K this year!!!!!! We started planning for this last January.
Well, that plan is in the toilet now, thankyouverymuch.
And seriously - WHO thought this was a good idea? This is Tinker Bell. This is not a destination event. This is a Girls Getaway Weekend. Most of the Girls participating in this event have jobs and families and other obligations on Friday morning at 5:45 am. This isn't a big demographic for a FRIDAY MORNING event. And for those of us who make it a FAMILY weekend, well, yeah, so now we're supposed to:
** TAKE OUR CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL on Friday. (Hello? I have two kids in secondary school. Check out a calendar, this is finals time for a lot of kids in that demographic.)
** ADD A DAY TO OUR ITINERARY - Another hotel night.
** Another day on our park hoppers (if we have to buy them)
** Another day of buying food at the DL resort.
Oh, wait, I see why THEY Want to extend this by a day.
NICE. JUST SWELL.
(Are you at this point wondering "Gee, AdK, tell us how you really feel"?)
I was running errands today when my phone exploded with text messages giving me this information. I admit, I texted a few obscenities. 12 hours later, I WOULD STILL BE POSTING OBSCENITIES BUT THE COMMUNITY POLICIES OF THIS FORUM FORBID IT.
Ok. So. Now that y'all have been tormented by my excessive use of the all-caps key. I'll take a break. Needless to say, I think this decision suck big green smelly rancid boogers.
(Sorry. I'm a tad bitter.)
Parenting in the Parks[/url]
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you do with what happens to you.[/b]
"You should do totally do this thing, but just remember, it's going to suck eggs" #ThingsMyFriendsSayToMe
To Lani's point of letting runDisney know of the dissatisfaction in their Tinker event schedule, would it carry more weight if we went together as a group and drafted/sent a response to runDisney or just hit them with emails/FB postings on our own? We know they must monitor social media such as MP but a full-court press of those of us on Team MousePlanet couldn't hurt. Unfortunately I don't think they will change this year but the more it is pointed out the issues they have created, the more they will hopefully give better thought to planning 2015.
Thoughts?
RunningFool
Next non-Disney short distance event: Good question...
Next non-Disney Half: TBD
Next runDisney event: W&D Two Course Challenge & 5k
AdK- that's two school days for those who live out of town. Have to get your bibs Thursday.
If you can dream it, you can do it. ~Walt Disney
People are free to express their displeasure to runDisney, but I would rather it not be done as an official statement under the MousePlanet name unless done by an officer.
RunningFool
Next non-Disney short distance event: Good question...
Next non-Disney Half: TBD
Next runDisney event: W&D Two Course Challenge & 5k
If you're an AP and plan on signing up for the 2014 Tinker Bell Half Marathon weekend of events, the AP site just turned over to Tinker Bell information. No link yet but it is set to go live at 9:00 a.m. PST / 12:00 p.m. EST today.
RunningFool
Next non-Disney short distance event: Good question...
Next non-Disney Half: TBD
Next runDisney event: W&D Two Course Challenge & 5k
Just successfully registered via the DVC member link with the $10 discount. Kevin and I are both in for the half, cub 1 (will be 4) for the 200 meter dash and cub 2 (will be 2) for the 100 meter dash.
Jen
Whether you're a lion or a gazelle, when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.
Parenting in the Parks[/url]
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you do with what happens to you.[/b]
"You should do totally do this thing, but just remember, it's going to suck eggs" #ThingsMyFriendsSayToMe
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