Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend 2023 (Nov. 2-5, 2023)

[marty3d]

I totally agree with your comments on the merch. I entered a little after you in group 63. I ended up loving the shirt and leggings I picked up but it felt very picked over and I am not sure I would bother trying to shop first day again. I think my next race I will just enjoy my included t shirts and call it a day.

I think I am in the minority that loved the 10k course. I liked having so much room early in the race because of all the road miles and the parks being on the back end gave me something to look forward to at the end.

In terms of course, it's tough to make everyone happy. My son and I agree with you - we also preferred having the roads up front which helped as we started in D and it helped thin out the field before hitting the parks. On the other hand, with the half, I liked having the parks up front - but that could be because I was in B and able to stay ahead of the bigger groups early on.

 

[marty3d]

I’ve been running W&D since 2016 and for some reason, the after party used to be less crowded. I can’t imagine the race has gotten any bigger. But I echo that lines are now longer than they are during the day. We used to close the night down. Now, we’re leaving by 11 because the lines for rides are so long.

Agree - the after party was the most disappointing aspect of the weekend - though the lines pretty much disappeared after 1130. We waited 20 min for GOTG and walked on to Ratatouille twice right before the end of the night (morning?). I think for us it was expectations. We had done a MK after hours party in January at MW and we walked on to every single ride with no wait after 10pm - including our last 4 rides on Splash

 

[Zutroy]

I’ve been running W&D since 2016 and for some reason, the after party used to be less crowded. I can’t imagine the race has gotten any bigger. But I echo that lines are now longer than they are during the day. We used to close the night down. Now, we’re leaving by 11 because the lines for rides are so long.

I’ve been doing W&D since 2011, and this was the worst afterparty I’ve ever been to. It seemed desolated and overcrowded at the same time. Most things were closed. Anything open had an obscene line. Luckily I snagged a boarding group for Guardians after the half, because during the party it was an 80–90 minute wait. I feel bad for anyone who paid to be there and expected an after hours experience.

 

[sandam1]

4) This was my first W&D weekend so it was my first after party, and I hate to say that I was really disappointed. Lines for food and drink were longer than the regular park day, the rides were mobbed, and I just did not have a great time overall.

I didn't do Wine and Dine this year, but did last year. It was my first time doing this race weekend and I really wanted to enjoy the after-party - and I just didn't. I've done after hours parties at the Magic Kingdom and at Universal and they were soooo much fun. I don't know why it was so crowded. Under staffing, maybe? Also, it had a different vibe to it than I expected. I thought that waiting in ride lines would be an opportunity to chat with other runners (kind of like the corrals, but without the pre-race tension), but everyone was in their own little world. It was disappointing and one of the reasons that I decided to skip W&D this year.

 

[RadioFr33Europe]

I’ve been doing W&D since 2011, and this was the worst afterparty I’ve ever been to. It seemed desolated and overcrowded at the same time. Most things were closed. Anything open had an obscene line. Luckily I snagged a boarding group for Guardians after the half, because during the party it was an 80–90 minute wait. I feel bad for anyone who paid to be there and expected an after hours experience.

We were lucky to ride guardians twice during the day, so we jumped Ratatouille at the start of the after party.

It was a frustrating day. With the traffic, we left the hotel at 9 and didn’t get to EPCOT until 10:30, so we couldn’t do early admission rides. Then, it was just a very busy day.

 

[Bree]

1) The lack of Figment stuff and medal replica pins at the expo was so disheartening. I was in group 60 and got in around noon and every single medal replica pin was gone from the shelves. I managed to snag three of the four by checking return bins and scanning random flat surfaces around the merch area, so I consider myself lucky but I reeaaaalllllyyyy wanted that Figment medal replica pin and I'm having a really hard time bringing myself to pay a stupid reseller double the price for it.

I am Gold Club runDisney. The Figment medal replica pins were gone when I entered at 9am along with one of the Figment t-shirts in all sizes but a handful of 2XL.

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

I am Gold Club runDisney. The Figment medal replica pins were gone when I entered at 9am along with one of the Figment t-shirts in all sizes but a handful of 2XL.

What I realized as I saw people sitting around with hoards of medals in their baskets is that all they have to do is wait for friends to have their times called and then they can stay within the 2 items per person limit. I literally *almost* walked up and grabbed one out of a basket that had like 10 in it. My thoughts were "what are you going to do? Call the police? Explain to a runDisney employee why you have a hoard of medals in your basket?"

 

[marty3d]

What I realized as I saw people sitting around with hoards of medals in their baskets is that all they have to do is wait for friends to have their times called and then they can stay within the 2 items per person limit. I literally *almost* walked up and grabbed one out of a basket that had like 10 in it. My thoughts were "what are you going to do? Call the police? Explain to a runDisney employee why you have a hoard of medals in your basket?"

I can't remember who suggested it but the right thing to do is likely have preorders for all/ most of the merch. At a minimum you should be able to pre-order your own race/ challenge specific merch.

 

[nekonekoneko]

At a minimum you should be able to pre-order your own race/ challenge specific merch.

And not sell everything in these silly bundles. I'd love to have just a jacket and one pin. I don't need the plethora of pins and a shirt as well.

 

[marty3d]

And not sell everything in these silly bundles. I'd love to have just a jacket and one pin. I don't need the plethora of pins and a shirt as well.

Exactly.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I am Gold Club runDisney. The Figment medal replica pins were gone when I entered at 9am along with one of the Figment t-shirts in all sizes but a handful of 2XL.

How that possible?? I am sooo worried about Disneyland pins running out... I really do not want to buy those stupid bundles... I do not need a bunch of pins just one. GAH! Not even making it to club level gold is a new low.

 

[Bree]

How that possible?? I am sooo worried about Disneyland pins running out... I really do not want to buy those stupid bundles... I do not need a bunch of pins just one. GAH! Not even making it to club level gold is a new low.

Because platinum and gold can get in early even if they are not running any races. They hoard everything for friends in later virtual queues, FaceTime friends and family back home for anything they may want, are personal shoppers or they plan to resell. There was a woman that had two of every size of that Figment shirt. That’s part of the problem. It should be one item per person and not two of every SKU per person.

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

In terms of course, it's tough to make everyone happy. My son and I agree with you - we also preferred having the roads up front which helped as we started in D and it helped thin out the field before hitting the parks. On the other hand, with the half, I liked having the parks up front - but that could be because I was in B and able to stay ahead of the bigger groups early on.

Well I'm sure it's a lost cause at this point, but if anyone has a Figment medal replica pin that they are willing to part with, I will gladly pay for the medal + shipping + plus a little extra to make it worth your time. I collect them and it's the only one I'm missing now.

 

[1lilspark]

I am Gold Club runDisney. The Figment medal replica pins were gone when I entered at 9am along with one of the Figment t-shirts in all sizes but a handful of 2XL.

I didn’t know it was wiped clean before Gold…that is really telling thinking that flippers are literally just paying $$$$$ for platinum early entry it makes you think that if it ever comes to a point that you need a bib to shop for merch no actual runners will be able to get in to actual races

What I realized as I saw people sitting around with hoards of medals in their baskets is that all they have to do is wait for friends to have their times called and then they can stay within the 2 items per person limit. I literally *almost* walked up and grabbed one out of a basket that had like 10 in it. My thoughts were "what are you going to do? Call the police? Explain to a runDisney employee why you have a hoard of medals in your basket?"

I’d of definitely taken one

I can't remember who suggested it but the right thing to do is likely have preorders for all/ most of the merch. At a minimum you should be able to pre-order your own race/ challenge specific merch.

This…

And not sell everything in these silly bundles. I'd love to have just a jacket and one pin. I don't need the plethora of pins and a shirt as well.

Agreed I normally just like the logo/medal pins and magnet that was what the bundle was for dark side & wine & dine in ‘18, wine & dine in ‘21 and marathon in ‘22 and it was perfect

For springtime I couldn’t justify paying $200+ extra after paying for the challenge and ended up just getting the 5k & challenge pins pre order and the 10k medal replica was already gone

Thankfully I just did the 5k/10k at this weekend and 24’s springtime so the hit for preorders wasn’t as bad especially as they didn’t apply passholder discount to preorders this go around like they did in April

 

[fatmanatee]

Flippers signing up for CrD just so they can get into expos early to grab all the merch? Neat system.

 

[Herding_Cats]

So how did E corral work for the half? I haven't really seen anything about it other than it was "bad" or "chaos." No details of how it worked. Anyone want to fill us in if this becomes "a thing" for other upcoming races?

 

[1lilspark]

So how did E corral work for the half? I haven't really seen anything about it other than it was "bad" or "chaos." No details of how it worked. Anyone want to fill us in if this becomes "a thing" for other upcoming races?

Only did 5k/10k but from what I’ve heard they lined you up outside the gate than walked you into B when it emptied out

 

[camaker]

Flippers signing up for CrD just so they can get into expos early to grab all the merch? Neat system.

I would bet that it's more runners who signed up for CrD who are taking the opportunity to flip merch to help pay for their membership and rD costs. I've seen a fair number of instances on another social media platform where some of the high volume buyers have been identified as runners, which makes the whole "limit the Expo merch to runners" idea a much less viable strategy for ensuring merch availability.

 

[Zutroy]

So how did E corral work for the half? I haven't really seen anything about it other than it was "bad" or "chaos." No details of how it worked. Anyone want to fill us in if this becomes "a thing" for other upcoming races?

From the start line, there was corral A, then an empty corral, corral D, C, then B. The balloon for E was not lit, and they were being staged in an area before you entered the corral part of the parking lot. It looked like they were taking corral B and having them enter the empty corral next to A as it approached start time. I was in A, so I can’t tell you what happened after that, but I heard lots of people grousing about how no one directing the corrals seemed to know what to do with E.

 

[nancipants]

That's really frustrating. It's bad enough standing around waiting forever when you're in the last corral. The lack of direction would make it way worse.