Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend 2022 (Nov. 3-6, 2022)

[jpeterson]

Thank you! This year's bibs seemed more fragile than previous year's.

Maybe it was the humidity and rain but mine was illegible after the half marathon. Luckily I took a picture of the back beforehand.

 

[Tiggerette]

@Tiggerette - Did the person you were coming with make it before race start? I was at the front of corral B and when we were running back by the pre-race area, we saw people just arriving!

Ah ha!! Yes, in fact. He agreed to leave by 3:30am, and we made it in right before 4am... BUT we also got extremely lucky with the parking situation. Basically, they just opened contraflow, so we scooted into the parking lot bypassing another 10-15min. I think I saw y'all at the gathering spot (big lamppost) but by the time I got to it at 4:10a y'all had already disbanded.
I was somewhere in the back portion of B, I think. I saw a HEAVY stream of people coming through at 4:45-4:55a from the starting area moving towards B, C and D. I started heading over about 4:30am and made it over to corral B by 4:40am.
Thanks so much for asking!!

 

[RadioFr33Europe]

Did anyone experience transportation problems this year?

After the 10k, I had to wait at the bus line nearly 45min for the return busses to start running.
After the half, I sat on the bus for 30 minutes before it was allowed to leave.
My wife went with me to the half and was there at the finish. My son was going to take a shuttle from the hotel to see me finish as he has the last couple of years. He was told the finish line busses wouldn't leave until 7:45, and I was finished by then and on the way back.

 

[Isabelle12345]

we had so much fun this weekend!
Now on the way back at the airport - sad to be leaving but so happy we made it to the race!
The weather wasn’t great but we were able to finish with reasonable times including stops for a few characters pics - we were starting in corral A so that makes a huge difference for shorter character lines!
I was coming out of an injury and I am happy that the race didn’t trigger back the pain!
It was my DH’s first Disney race and first half and he already wants to go back in 2024!

 

[Isabelle12345]

I have to admit that I was disappointed with the party
Lines were long for everything (rides, characters, even food booths had longer lines than during the day)
I was happy that I didn’t pay for it, because after waiting 25 min for frozen right after the fireworks (when I was naively expecting a walkon…) we went back to the hotel and crashed! Our legs were too sore to stand in those lines!
I honestly feel bad for those who paid 94$ expecting shorter lines… I guess the post race party just wasn’t what I was expecting!

 

[The Expert]

Did anyone experience transportation problems this year?

After the 10k, I had to wait at the bus line nearly 45min for the return busses to start running.
After the half, I sat on the bus for 30 minutes before it was allowed to leave.
My wife went with me to the half and was there at the finish. My son was going to take a shuttle from the hotel to see me finish as he has the last couple of years. He was told the finish line busses wouldn't leave until 7:45, and I was finished by then and on the way back.

It sounds like you're one of the faster runners and probably starting in an early corral. The buses are always held until any roads they must drive or cross can be fully cleared of runners. The times are typically in the event guide transportation schedule, but those can change if it takes longer to get everyone across the start or if there is a late start. As I understand, this course was also different than previous years, so it's possible the road portions that share the bus route were later in the race and took longer to clear.

 

[ErinC]

This was mine and DH’s first wine and dine. We’ve previously done Princess and springtime surprise. I know the heat may have tainted my opinion of this weekend, but I really disliked the half course. I felt great during the 10k and enjoyed it. So much road running and backstage area and overall lack of entertainment during those stretches. I didn’t feel great on Sunday (stomach), so that didn’t help. Out of the 4 halves I’ve done, this was my worst time. I walked like mile 7-11 because I refused to stop in the roadside bathrooms. That’s my own issues! Lol! We enjoyed the after party. We road the boat in Mexico, watched harmonious, rode frozen, I waited in line for a photo with genie, which was long and then they took three pics, two of which I’m not even looking at the camera! We rode guardians after that. The line seemed long, but it moved quickly(maybe 25 minutes), until we got to the front and it stopped for several minutes due to a technical problem. We finally rode a few minutes later, we found out the difficulty was that someone had vomited during the ride. It smelled really bad when we were offloading. Still here, waiting to see what will happen with the storm.

 

[Kazrak]

Comment/Question for those who also stayed at a Disney resort this weekend...
We stayed at French Quarter for the first time and they had some special things for runners that I haven't seen at other resorts in the past.

They had a welcome back table for us when we got off the bus after the race. Mardi Gras beads and bubbles, plus photo frames for pictures. Also, they had a "runners lounge" at the pool with cold waters, bananas, foam rollers and mats.

It's not often that Disney adds something for free, so while it was a small thing, I really appreciated the gesture.

Wondering if it's a Port Orleans thing or if they did it at other resorts?

I'm pretty sure they did beads at French Quarter for Princess Half 2020.

Riverside had something similar going on, including a 13.1 prop to take pictures with, but I didn't pay close attention. I think they had the pool lounge thing going as well.

 

[Kazrak]

This was mine and DH’s first wine and dine. We’ve previously done Princess and springtime surprise. I know the heat may have tainted my opinion of this weekend, but I really disliked the half course. I felt great during the 10k and enjoyed it. So much road running and backstage area and overall lack of entertainment during those stretches. I didn’t feel great on Sunday (stomach), so that didn’t help. Out of the 4 halves I’ve done, this was my worst time. I walked like mile 7-11 because I refused to stop in the roadside bathrooms. That’s my own issues! Lol! We enjoyed the after party. We road the boat in Mexico, watched harmonious, rode frozen, I waited in line for a photo with genie, which was long and then they took three pics, two of which I’m not even looking at the camera! We rode guardians after that. The line seemed long, but it moved quickly(maybe 25 minutes), until we got to the front and it stopped for several minutes due to a technical problem. We finally rode a few minutes later, we found out the difficulty was that someone had vomited during the ride. It smelled really bad when we were offloading. Still here, waiting to see what will happen with the storm.

My first W&D as well - I've now hit all four weekends, although for Marathon Weekend I've only done the 10k. (And I haven't done Spring Surprise, but I did WDW Star Wars twice, so I count that as covered.)

Between the heat and the hurricane forecast to hit in two days, I'm thinking I'm going to focus my WDW running on spring races instead of W&D. But they've all got their downsides - Marathon Weekend is busy, as is Princess Weekend. Star Wars/Spring Surprise had its own weather issues, and it moves around the schedule to dodge Easter.

 

[Dopey 2020]

Did anyone experience transportation problems this year?

After the 10k, I had to wait at the bus line nearly 45min for the return busses to start running.
After the half, I sat on the bus for 30 minutes before it was allowed to leave.
My wife went with me to the half and was there at the finish. My son was going to take a shuttle from the hotel to see me finish as he has the last couple of years. He was told the finish line busses wouldn't leave until 7:45, and I was finished by then and on the way back.

I saw that buses were going to start at 730 and had to wait at all the races since they started back up so I think now I have been converted to team drive. Lately we have a rental car so this weekend I took a chance and even with closures I made it from the parking lot at 705 to Boardwalk and in my room at 730.

My first W&D as well - I've now hit all four weekends, although for Marathon Weekend I've only done the 10k. (And I haven't done Spring Surprise, but I did WDW Star Wars twice, so I count that as covered.)

Between the heat and the hurricane forecast to hit in two days, I'm thinking I'm going to focus my WDW running on spring races instead of W&D. But they've all got their downsides - Marathon Weekend is busy, as is Princess Weekend. Star Wars/Spring Surprise had its own weather issues, and it moves around the schedule to dodge Easter.

I used to run them all since 2017 W&D and have to say this has been the best most consistent weather of all of them except this weekend but you never know. This one has been my favorite and I’m going to stick with it and MW. I’ve given up Princess and SS. (Did it this last year and definitely missed Star Wars)

on another note, really liked running galaxies edge.

 

[ErinC]

Comment/Question for those who also stayed at a Disney resort this weekend...
We stayed at French Quarter for the first time and they had some special things for runners that I haven't seen at other resorts in the past.

They had a welcome back table for us when we got off the bus after the race. Mardi Gras beads and bubbles, plus photo frames for pictures. Also, they had a "runners lounge" at the pool with cold waters, bananas, foam rollers and mats.

It's not often that Disney adds something for free, so while it was a small thing, I really appreciated the gesture.

Wondering if it's a Port Orleans thing or if they did it at other resorts?

We were greeted at SSR at Springtime Surprise when we got off the bus. They had a photo frame for pics and seems like they handed out keys or some other trinket. They may have had something at the pool, but we only hit up the hot tub at the Carousel, and never made our way over to the main pool. We are at Fort Wilderness this trip, so no greetings when we got back here.

 

[Keith Tyger]

DW and I have only missed 1 W&D since it started. We are perfect in the challenge. Please return to the night race roots. I cannot tell you how fun it is to run the half and then go straight to party mode. You even got a beer or wine with your snack box! I would even run the 10k in the Am and then half in the PM! DW and I would then celebrate with some fish and chips while sitting on the curb I UK! My only beef this year is that they should have run the course in reverse. Historically you would start at WWOS and hit some highway, then a park (animal kingdom), some highway, another park(Hollywood), then the canal strip to Epcot for the finish. The only race other than Marathon to hit 3 of 4 parks. But that time everything had dispersed and created less congestion. plus the last 3 mile or so stretch through Hollywood and Epcot made the best finish. I also think they need to add more corals, this 6 or so corals is for the birds! I think I remember there used to be corals up to M or so! Adding corals would allow them to still give a bump to the rundisney club members without affecting the rest of the field. See you next year!

 

[XoxoAmy]

Comment/Question for those who also stayed at a Disney resort this weekend...
We stayed at French Quarter for the first time and they had some special things for runners that I haven't seen at other resorts in the past.

They had a welcome back table for us when we got off the bus after the race. Mardi Gras beads and bubbles, plus photo frames for pictures. Also, they had a "runners lounge" at the pool with cold waters, bananas, foam rollers and mats.

It's not often that Disney adds something for free, so while it was a small thing, I really appreciated the gesture.

Wondering if it's a Port Orleans thing or if they did it at other resorts?

At Saratoga they had music and a table when we got off the bus (and very enthusiastic CMs but I was so tired!), and signs at the pool for a "VIP Runners Lounge" after the half, but we checked out that day and moved to Yacht Club (for the pool!). I don't know if the "VIP" meant a specific group of runners (if so, who? It didn't say anything about Club runD) or if they just considered all runners to be VIPs? I found that confusing. Anyone know?

 

[XoxoAmy]

Also, I can't believe how close we were to having a hurricane ruin our race plans! I have a friend who arrived at WDW today and they are closing the parks at 6pm, and Disney Springs closes at 7pm. It must be chaos at the hotels as people try to find something for dinner. We missed this by just a few days!

 

[GollyGadget]

I kinda sorta thought I might be done with runDisney for a while but I had so much fun this weekend! Even though the weather was waaaaay too warm for running. I actually enjoyed the rain because it cooled me off.

I've posted a 10K recap in my journal and will post a half recap in the next few days. Maybe tomorrow. It depends how I'm feeling as I seem to have caught some sort of bug while I was down there

https://www.disboards.com/threads/r...ss-2023-disney-marathon.3595467/post-64418983

 

[Naomeri]

Also, I can't believe how close we were to having a hurricane ruin our race plans! I have a friend who arrived at WDW today and they are closing the parks at 6pm, and Disney Springs closes at 7pm. It must be chaos at the hotels as people try to find something for dinner. We missed this by just a few days!

The airport this afternoon felt like the last chopper out of Saigon—my flight was scheduled at 3:10, but our plane didn’t arrive until like 3:30, we took off at 4:03, which was technically not supposed to happen. There were 2 Delta flights taxiing out after us, and someone after we landed said that one of them got held.

The flight attendants were rushing people onto the plane and sounding just slightly panicked, which is not a sound you want to hear from your flight crew. I think I’m definitely done with Florida during hurricane season—I’ve taken 3 trips in September-early November in the last 5 years and barely missed hurricanes on 2 of them. My luck can’t hold forever.

 

[NileNellie]

Here’s my beef: why should a pleasant, not insanely and dangerously crowded race experience only be available to the fastest runners who submit PoT? If a race is going to welcome all of us who aren’t that fast but fast enough to be under the required 16:00/mile, then I expect the race org to create a course, cap the number of participants, and release corrals in such a way that we ALL get to enjoy our time out there. That is exactly what rD managed to do all last season (though i didn’t do PHM, so I can’t speak to that one), so it clearly can be done. Other local races manage to do it. We all pay an extraordinary amount of money for these races - why shouldn’t we ALL expect to be able to run them at our own paces? It’s just bananas to me that because I start in C, I should just have to accept that it’ll be too crowded to actually run for huge chunks of my race.

Agreed. Honestly I think there were just too many runners this year. I also think they should put an additional cap on attendance at the post race party. It was just too crowded all around. In terms of the course, I thought the one last year was perfect-and it probably helped that there weren't as many runners.

 

[Dopey 2020]

Agreed. Honestly I think there were just too many runners this year. I also think they should put an additional cap on attendance at the post race party. It was just too crowded all around. In terms of the course, I thought the one last year was perfect-and it probably helped that there weren't as many runners.

I don’t know that I’d agree with that, looking back over past years results (usually about 12000 finishers) I think the numbers have been consistent except for coming out of Covid. I think the problem is Disney keeps changing things in what looks to me like an attempt to lessen the impact on park goers

- changing start times to 5
- trying to keep everything as close to EPCOT as possible
- running the HS studios walkway at the beginning of the race

Little things keep changing in what looks to me like they want the race cleared out as soon as possible which on one hand I understand that it impacts those not racing, however it is a ‘race weekend’ that comes at a high price so the focus should be on the runners. If people pay for a particular Disney party (Xmas,Halloween) they get the experience all about them, so any race weekend should be the same even if it means closing more roads to have a better course and spreading corals out like they used to.

 

[PrincessV]

I think the problem is Disney keeps changing things in what looks to me like an attempt to lessen the impact on park goers

I think you just nailed it there.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

I think you just nailed it there.

Completely agree. No one could look at the route, race times, and experiences during the race itself and think that a "runner's first" mentality won over a minor inconvenience to Park operations.