How to register for a runDisney race a week before it opens
runDisney are races run by Disney. There are virtual races, an international race and races at Walt Disney World. There are a variety of distances, on a variety of dates. Currently there are 4 race weekends offered at Walt Disney World resort in Florida. Some of these races end up selling out months in advanced. The anniversary dates strongly influence whether a race sells out or not. Every anniversary (5 year, 10 year, 15 year and so on) sees a big spike in registration. That’s because these celebratory years have special medals. Every year the medals are impressive but they are gold in colour. The anniversary dates, the medals have colour and are typically larger. This brings more interest than a normal year. The shorter races are more popular than the longer races. The 5k and 10k for the Wine and Dine 1/2 are already sold out and the event isn’t until November. So if you know you want to run one of these races, and have already booked your vacation around that, you best register as soon as registration opens.
If you’re an annual passholder or a DVC member you can register for the runDisney events a full week before the general public. That’s just what we did for the Walt Disney World marathon weekend 2020. For a few years we actively participated in runDisney events. I ran the inaugural Princess 1/2 back in 2009, we ran the Goofy back in 2012, the Disneyland 1/2 in 2012 (completing the Coast to Coast Challenge) and the Tower of Terror 10 Miler in 2013. We’ve taken a bit of a hiatus over the last number of years because of young children and pregnancies but we were committed to getting back in the game on our next vacation. Our flights are booked, our rooms are booked and now we have registered.
The registration opened to DVC members on Thursday, April 11th at 10am eastern. I was logged in and ready at 10am eastern. All I had to do was log in to the DVC website, and click the register now on the Early Registration Page found under member benefits.
I did this and was sent to a cue page. Thank you for your patience is what appeared on my screen for approximately 15 minutes. So it was either VERY busy or the launch of the registration page was taking a little while. There is nothing more nerve racking than waiting, hoping there’s not thousands of people waiting to register for the same event as you at the same time.
Once I got through I registered myself for the half marathon. runDisney requires you to provide proof of time from a previous race within the last few years. You can do that when you’re registering or wait and do that at a later date. Since I haven’t participated in a proper event since 2018 I didn’t have a time to share. So I opted to wait until a later date. We have until the middle of October to submit a time. If you leave this blank you’ll be placed in the last corral. You DO NOT WANT to do this. Being in the last corral means it will take you at least a half hour to cross the starting line. They do this to spread out the course but it means that you’ll be leap frogging for the first couple kms, the lines for characters will be that much longer and you’ll be finishing that much later. A big deal if you have family waiting for you to start their park day. After I registered myself for the 1/2, I was able to opt to register Jeff for the full without going into a new window, I simply chose to register someone else. The process was smooth and seamless, after finally getting into the registration.
I can’t wait to train for this race and to participate. I’ll definitely be shopping around for a costume come Halloween time to race in and we’ll be saving lots of dough to spend on commemorative apparel. My 2012 Goofy hat has seen better days.
For more information on runDisney, check out these previous post:
When to register for a runDisney race?
runDisney: Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon Weekend
