Earlier today, an email from runDisney slid quietly into my gmail promotions folder announcing that Club runDisney memberships are now available for purchase. After stumbling on it (purely by chance) I’ve spent the last 30 or so minutes reading the links and am admittedly without much more information than we had when the concept was first teased a few months ago.
The registration link lists three tiers of membership and a bit of digging beyond that page sets forth the following associated perks. All memberships purchased are set to become active on October 1, 2020 and run through September 30, 2021.
- Silver Membership – $249 + 6.6% platform service fee
- Member Welcome Package
- Member Jacket, Club runDisney Magnet, Membership Card
- Tier 1 pricing year-round for available runDisney Races
- Exclusive 2020 Club runDisney Virtual 10K – October 2020
- Club runDisney designation on race bibs
- Member Welcome Package
- Gold Membership – $449 + 6.6% platform service fee
- All of the perks of Silver Membership, plus
- A guaranteed opportunity to purchase one spot in the half marathon or greater distance each race weekend through early registration
- Platinum Membership – $749 + 6.6% platform service fee
- All of the perks of Gold Membership, plus
- Club runDisney Expo Experience including:
- Club runDisney Lounge with convenient packet pick-up
- Early access to runDisney Merchandise Shop with entertainment offerings
- Upgraded corral placement
Update: When you pull up the individual races on runDisney, you now see a breakdown on pricing by date of registration. “Tier 1 pricing” is the lowest price for the earliest registration dates offered for a given race – so this seems to be what is being offered year round for Club members. For example, for the runDisney marathon weekend 5K:
There are no specifics on what the early registration window would be – though I’d hope it would be similar to what is already offered to Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club members. I doubt we’ll get much insight into how current numbers of early slots available to those two groups might be affected.
The convenient packet pickup perk is a bit of a side note. I can see why they’d want to offer something on this front to make the Club seem a bit special at all stages of a race weekend, but the current bib pickup process is so smooth and seamless that no one new to runDisney should worry going in or feel the need to weigh this as a major factor in deciding whether or not to join the Club.
Notes below the list of perks specify that early access to the runDisney Merchandise shop is only for Day 1 of the runDisney Health & Fitness Expo at each runDisney race weekend. I’m really hoping that quantity limits are enforced here and the Club doesn’t just become a tool for resellers to stock up before others even get access.
And last but not least….the much maligned and concerning “corral upgrade” offered to Platinum level members. We don’t know much about what this means and many of us are concerned – as we work hard to earn our corral placements and they are distributed for safety reasons and crowd control, the idea being to get the fastest runners out ahead to make the course as safe and well distributed as possible. It will be interesting to see how this perk plays out, as the only hint so far is in the FAQs:
- Q: “What if I qualify for a higher corral placement than my membership upgrade offers?”
- A: “Club runDisney members will receive an upgraded corral placement for each event they are registered. However, if a member already qualifies for a higher corral, they will remain in their higher corral.”
So apparently they at least won’t be putting members in Corral A…but anything else about how this will be implemented remains to be seen. I’ll be totally honest, though – I’m not sure I’d want the Club runDisney bib designation if it means that anyone that sees it doesn’t think I earned my placement via a hard won PR.
That’s all I’m seeing on the site right now as to Club runDisney details. I’ll admit that I wish the Club honored long time loyal runDisney runners with membership but I’ll continue to watch as details of membership unfold.
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What are your thoughts on this new offering? Would you consider membership? I’d love for you to share your thoughts in my community.
