News and Developments for Future In-Person runDisney Events

CP3uhoh said:
Agree with all this which is why I don’t understand the “profitability” obsession
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Just spitballing here, but maybe it’s because we hear so much from long-timers about how “watered down” stuff has gotten in the last 10 years? Less EMH, more ticketed before/after hours events, and the fact that it seems like Disney is moving away from “VERY magical” to “magical at the most money we can get away with charging.”

Don’t get me wrong, I love going to Disney and have very few complaints. But over the last few years Disney has been very publicly concerned about profits and IP. And if we can view rD through the fiscal lens, it might give people more hope for it because it’s less about feelings and more about dollars. Idk. I probably explained that poorly.
 
I don't envy the senior leadership of disney on this one at all.

A global pandemic caused all operations to cease virtually overnight. If you went to a bookmakers in summer 2019 and placed that bet, they would have laughed you out of town, and taken you for every penny.

The challenge for Disney (as it is for some many companies) is - how to do you re-start that corporate machine - which was never designed to stop in the first place. The fact that even now, firework shows are only beginning to be discussed ; some restaurants only at the point of re-opening and a number of hotels dusting themselves down and vast swathes of staff still waiting for the return to work call gives an idea of the scale of the task ahead.

Personally, I was signed up to do Star Wars 2020 as a Brit - but covid hit. Due to family timings, MW, Princess and W&D are pretty much no goes, so although them being virtual is nothing like the 'real thing', I enjoyed the physical challlenge of trying to do them (especially on a treadmill - still cant quite comprehend i did a 4 hrs 15 mins marathon on a treadmill on a cold sunday morning in the UK)

So, what next for rundisney ? I doubt the parks have got the staffing and hotel capacity ramped up enough to do W&D this year. MW being the biggest of the 4 run weekends might be a logistics headache they may want to swerve and may look to Princess or even SW as the first event back - as frustrating as it is.

I'll hold my hand up - when we went into lockdown in Mar 2020, i thought 3-6 months we would be starting to get back to whatever normality is

Realistically, we are 15 months into this now, and whilst some things are returning to "normality", practically speaking we are still 3-6 months away on elements of our lives - as difficult a thought that is to grasp.
 


I know we speculate on profits but I honestly think the races are money makers. Maybe not huge ones. But they aren't hitting the pocket hard in anyway.

Yes. I am aware that they were originally intended as loss leaders to fill the parks. That makes sense. But you're telling me in the 25 years since marathon weekend started (in which it has grown dramatically), Disney didn't figure out a way to make the race at least break even? The vendor hall, expo, race retreat, cheer squad, etc etc etc. all generate money in addition to the bibs and park impact.

Princess, and Wine and Dine I would argue the same. The move to make wine and dine a full weekend with the challenge was surely to bring in even more money vs. the night race. Princess is also massive.

The least popular race, SW, was prime spring break season, only ran for a few years + covid, mostly plagued by construction, and even then at last update disney was just rebranding the weekend not eliminating it.

I know some races are RIP like Tower of Terror or Everest but I think that just further proves they want races they can capitalize on with challenges (which is just a bib upsell), etc. If they can't make it more profitable they eliminate it and focus on the races they can.
 
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I realize it’s a lot of infrastructure, but the weekends have big sponsors (I mean how many people from Cigna have we all listened to?) including the beverage and snack providers and are run largely by volunteers. They’re charging ~$200 for Half+ and ~$100 for 5k and 10k and a little extra on top for challenges. If they aren’t making money, they’re doing it wrong.

I realize it’s a drop in the bucket for a corporation like Disney but I don’t think it’s irrelevant that the races make money on their own. I may be overly cynical but I don’t believe they’d think twice about canceling them if they didn’t.:confused3
 
BikeFan said:
Oooh, a Brit! Enough about Disney, what about London?!? Are they going to let us Yanks come over the pond and run around your capital in October?!?! Please!! :teeth:
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If folk are "double jabbed" as the vernacular goes, sure !

But we need travel opened up both ways - we still cant come over to the US at the moment
 


If they post that to Instagram I will feel defeated. Usually they share the same post on Twitter/Insta so i am slightly hopeful there will be something better on Insta. They haven't posted anything on Insta in a week which is off their normal cadence and they are due.

Me? obsessing? No, no definitely not.
 
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