Official 2020 Star Wars Rival Run Weekend - CANCELED

[CvilleDiane]

No mention of how the Kessel Run participants will be handled. I’m sure we’ll be compensated equitably, just a curious omission. Very surprised at the full cash refund, too. Now let the flight and resort reservation cancellation dance begin.

Of course, I'm registered for Kessel. I wondered if they'll refund us for the Rival Run Challenge part but still send the medal? Ugh, runDisney, why aren't we listed?!

 

[Z-Knight]

For the Inaugural running of this race I ended up with a severe flu after the marathon. So bad that i had high fever and had to have a doctor come to my disney hotel room.... 5 years later, on the anniversary, I get wiped out by a flu again. (I don't have flu now...just saying the weekend got killed by the flu, sorry)

I wish they would have moved it to a fall weekend

 

[CvilleDiane]

For the Inaugural running of this race I ended up with a severe flu after the marathon. So bad that i had high fever and had to have a doctor come to my disney hotel room.... 5 years later, on the anniversary, I get wiped out by a flu again.

I wish they would have moved it to a fall weekend

I hope you feel better soon! I also ended up with the flu after the inaugural running. I want them to bring back tower of terror 10 Miler in the fall!

 

[jmasgat]

Glad they're doing refunds. Will be interested to see the rest of the schedule for the year.

 

[smctopia]

for those that JUST did the virtual my friend got her Chewie medal today

I wonder if they are shipping them out in waves based on location or when people created their certificates? I completed mine on March 8. Hopefully I’ll get mine in the mail soon.

 

[BigEeyore]

Like most of you - not surprised at all, but very surprised at the full refund. I wish they were more clear on how they are going to handle the Kessel/virtual half bit.

Also - wouldn't the medals and merch have already been produced? What is going to happen to that stuff?

I might run the races virtually on my own - I've trained for it anyways. Right call by Disney (finally) but these are sad times indeed...

 

[StacyStrong]

For the Inaugural running of this race I ended up with a severe flu after the marathon. So bad that i had high fever and had to have a doctor come to my disney hotel room.... 5 years later, on the anniversary, I get wiped out by a flu again.

I wish they would have moved it to a fall weekend

If it makes you feel better, your trip wasn’t wiped out by a flu again 5 years later because it’s very literally not a strain of the flu!

Hopefully, your next rundisney trip goes off without a hitch because that’s some bad luck!

 

[camaker]

I wonder if they are shipping them out in waves based on location or when people created their certificates? I completed mine on March 8. Hopefully I’ll get mine in the mail soon.

The certificates have nothing to do with receiving medals.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Cancelled our DVC reservation online and the points didn't go into holding. Doesn't really help people with June use years though.

 

[camaker]

Now is apparently a good time to call if you need to cancel reservations. I had no wait time and the total call only took 2-3 minutes to get a refund of my resort reservation deposit.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Cancelled our DVC reservation online and the points didn't go into holding. Doesn't really help people with June use years though.

Yep this is me. I'm waiting to deal with it until they announce the closure of the resorts through May or June.

Disney really needs to stop the "abundance of caution" language. It's not an abundance of caution when the 5th biggest economy in the world (CA) is shut down and in self quarantine.

 

[Goofy2015]

I would say that I am impressed that RD decided to give refunds for the Star Wars Rival Run weekend.

At the beginning of the Coronavirus spread in China, I was partially worried something would happen, but not too worried because of the history of other viruses. It was when the US started having community spread that I began to worry that the WDW resort would close and affect the SWRR weekend. Then things got worse when every major event started getting cancelled and I accepted that the SWRR needed to be cancelled too.

Obviously, disappointed in not being able to run in this race and was unfortunate to not get a Wine and Dine weekend spot, so won't be able to personally run a RD run this year. I may now do my first Princess Half Marathon weekend, next year.

I continue to hope that TWDC does the right thing and follow CDC guidelines on what should and should not be appropriate for large crowds. This is a rough time for not only the Disney community, not only America, but the entire world. The more that we sacrifice now maybe the better we are as a nation on flatenning the curve and mitigating the COVID-19 virus.

May The Force Be With You

 

[rteetz]

I know the least of many’s worries but I have a lot of time to think as I’m sure many of us do. I am curious to see how they handle perfect runners for this. Will the 5th come next year or will they just skip it like the 2017 wdw half?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

FWIW, the e-mail I just received, which addresses Kessel (sorry if reported already, I didn't think I had seen this Kessel detail in the prior info):

With circumstances continuing to change rapidly around the globe, we are making critical and timely decisions based on guidance from local, national and international health agencies. As we have shared before, we are basing our decisions on the safety and well-being of our Cast Members and our Guests, since there is nothing more important than that.

In an abundance of caution, the 2020 Star Wars Rival Run Weekend will be cancelled. In addition, because our runDisney races require the presence of local medical professionals and first responders to monitor and treat runners, this will free up those resources for more critical needs during this time.

All participants for the Star Wars Rival Run Weekend at Walt Disney World Resort who purchased their registrations on runDisney.com will receive a refund for their race registration. Please see below for more information on the refund process, and thank you for supporting runDisney.

Star Wars Rival Run Weekend:

Runners registered for the 2020 Star Wars Rival Run Weekend at Walt Disney World Resort will receive a refund back to their original form of payment for the following:

• Race registration (Half Marathon, 10k, 5k, Mile, Dash, Rival Run Challenge)
• Commemorative merchandise
• ChEAR Squad
• Processing fee

Guests who've already received a partial refund will receive their remaining balance to a Disney gift card.

runDisney Kessel Run Challenge:

Runners registered for the runDisney Kessel Run Challenge with an international address or APO address will receive a full refund back to their original form of payment, and they will not receive a race medal for the Star Wars Virtual Half Marathon or the runDisney Kessel Run Challenge.

Runners registered for the runDisney Kessel Run Challenge with a U.S. address will receive their Star Wars Virtual Half Marathon medal in the mail. The registration fee for the Star Wars Rival Run Half Marathon or Star Wars Rival Run Challenge will be refunded back to their original form of payment, minus the cost of the Star Wars Virtual Half Marathon ($59), and they will not receive a race medal for the runDisney Kessel Run Challenge.

Alternate booking methods:

Runners who've booked through a charity or tour operator should reach out directly to that organization. Runners who've booked through the Walt Disney Travel Company may call them at 407-939-4786 (407-939-IRUN) for available refund options.

Refund timing:

Refunds from runDisney can be expected to be processed in four to six weeks. If you haven't received your refund after six weeks, please visit the "contact us" section on runDisney.com.

Make-A-Wish donations:

Donations made to Make A Wish of Central and Northern Florida will be delivered to that organization as originally planned.

 

[Z-Knight]

I hope you feel better soon! I also ended up with the flu after the inaugural running. I want them to bring back tower of terror 10 Miler in the fall!

OOPS, sorry, I didn't mean I got the coronavirus flu...I meant, the race weekend I was going to got wiped out by the flu (and hence me)...sorry about that.

 

[Krandor]

Good info on kessell and is what I was expecting.

 

[Z-Knight]

If it makes you feel better, your trip wasn’t wiped out by a flu again 5 years later because it’s very literally not a strain of the flu!

Hopefully, your next rundisney trip goes off without a hitch because that’s some bad luck!

yeah, I feel like I am cursed for this race....I wish they moved the date to even later in the summer and make it a NIGHT race (since it used to be the Dark Side race) and maybe it would be survivable in the heat if it was at night.

 

[Krandor]

I know the least of many’s worries but I have a lot of time to think as I’m sure many of us do. I am curious to see how they handle perfect runners for this. Will the 5th come next year or will they just skip it like the 2017 wdw half?

I'd still like to get some annivefsery medals so I hope they just treat next year as the 5th since this whole weekend didn't even start

 

[CvilleDiane]

Edited: oops! Duplicate info

 

[MissLiss279]

So I just did a crazy switch of flights. I canceled my Southwest flight, but the travel funds were only good for a trip through November 12, 2020. I have a trip planned to Maine in October booked with American. Since I just booked that flight, they have a no fees to change flights right now. So I switched my October flight to be with Southwest. My sister lives in Montana (but Southwest doesn’t fly there), so I will probably switch my American flight to Montana when we decide on a good date for that.

As part of the crazy flight switch, I had to book and cancel a couple extra SW flights to combine Travel Funds (so I could use all of my money). I had rebooked the Orlando flight a few times to get a better rate, but each time I did that, it created an additional travel fund. And I learned through this that you can only use three payment options when booking a SW flight - two travel funds and credit card.

Other than the crazy flight switch, it was pretty easy to cancel my resort, ADR, and FP+ online.