Race Report: Tower of Terror 13K

I was really excited about the Tower of Terror 13K when I heard about it. A night race with glow in the dark race shirts! An after-race party in the park with rides on the Tower of Terror! However, as the race date approached, I started to get a bit more concerned; compared to my previous experience with Disney Sports' excellent handling of the marathon, race communication for the ToT run was nearly nonexistent. Changes were made to the race website without any notifications to registrants. For example, at first there was no pacing requirement, then the requirement was added, then changed to be much more forgiving.

ToT13Kmap

The initial race map (see left) was a complete joke, and looked like someone used Microsoft Paint on a Disney promotional map. It didn't have any specific information about start and finish points, miles markers or aid stations. To me, knowing where drinks will be provided on course is very important and is usually spelled out explicitly, along with what will be provided, sometimes down to the specific brand and flavor. We got none of that ahead of time.

 
A friend of mine had emailed me about a week before the race telling me that the packet pickup information had been changed on the website. I never got an email or anything about that. Good thing he sent a heads up or I would have gone all the way to Wide World of Sports! After that, I begin checking the website regularly, and noticed that the final instructions had been uploaded Thursday morning before the Saturday evening race.

I read through them and noticed the statement about "no transportation will be provided." Say what? No buses? How were they going to get all of the people back to their hotels at 1 AM after the party was over? I was concerned so I decided to try to call the race organizers to find out what was up. This turned out to be no easy task, as the number for Disney Sports is not easily found on the website. I ended up sending an email through the contact form, and eventually found the phone number in an article on MousePlanet. I spoke with someone from Disney Sports who confirmed the lack of buses after the party, but indicated that I could take a bus to the park and take a cab back to my hotel. That didn't seem like a very good plan to me. The email response I received had a less than apologetic tone:

"We are not offering resort transportation for this race. We did post this transportation message on our website months ago.

You can drive to the packet pick up sites or take WDW transportation if staying on property.  You can drive to the race or take WDW transportation  on Saturday night.  After the race, you can either drive back to your resort, you can walk back to your resort if staying in the Boardwalk or Yacht and Beach area.  If not, you can call a cab for transportation back.  The number for Mears Transportation is: 407-699-9999."

Another friend had contacted Disney Transportation to try to confirm the bus situation. The Cast Member on the phone stated that surely the race would be providing buses, but then tried to track down confirmation. After a long time on hold, the CM transferred our call to another CM who said she would call back when she found an answer. We didn't hear back before we had to leave for our flight, and it turns out later that she had called back and left a message at our work number saying there would indeed be buses.

Considering our options and lack of any definitive answer on the buses, some friends of mine who were going to be down at the same time found a deal on a 24-hour car rental from the Hertz desk at Shades of Green. We decided to share the cost of the rental so that we would have some way back after the race.

We got to packet pick-up at about 3:30 or 4 PM on Friday afternoon. Thankfully we seem to have missed the massive line out front, however the setup was still extremely disorganized. When we arrived we saw a table out front where people were clustered around. Walking up to it, there were waiver forms that had to be signed. Okay, that's done, now we head in, right? The woman at the door asked, "Do you have your number?"

"Uh, no?" We had never received an email with our race numbers, so there were signboards set up outside Motion to find that information. Of course, we didn't know we needed this information, until we were heading into the building. Once inside, armed with our numbers there were queues set up toward the back for the 13K and the 6.5K according to race number. The house lights were out, and the dance floor lighting was on, making it hard to see much, especially for the volunteers giving out packets. Each one of them had a flashlight that they had to hold in one hand while flipping through the bins of packets. No doubt this had something to do with the slow movement of the line. After getting a packet, we had to go to another table to get shirts, then up toward the front for party tickets (at one table) and pins (if pre-ordered) or other merchandise at another location. None of these locations were very clearly marked given the dim lighting. Eventually we all got our packets and headed out of there.

 

After all that, it was finally race day, or race night to be more specific. I was a little concerned about running a race at

Candycornhat

night, so I was careful not to eat anything too exotic during the day. We had a light dinner at Earl of Sandwich at around 6 PM and went back to our rooms to change into race gear. I wanted to dress up as part of the festivities, so I made a candy corn hat to fit over my usual running cap. It took way too long to make, but came out pretty well. I used some floral arranging craft wire to create a support structure for the fabric.

We had been hoping that because it was a night race, the temperatures wouldn't be too bad. How wrong we were! On the day of the race the temperature was in the upper 70s with humidity somewhere around 85-90%. Yuck.

The race instructions told us we should arrive at the Studios no later than 8:30 PM since some roads would then be closed as part of the course. That was the plan, and we left from our friends' room at a little after 8 PM.  Unfortunately, extremely heavy traffic on Buena Vista Drive meant that the roughly 3/4 mile journey from the Caribbean Beach Resort to the Studios' north entrance took almost an hour. It was hard to tell what was causing the backup, but as we got closer we could see that there was only one lane to accommodate all of the cars trying to turn left for the race. In addition, the turn signal for the one lane was very short. There were no cops in sight until about 8:45 PM, already past the time where we were supposed to be inside! We later learned of a serious accident and police action further back on Buena Vista Drive, but that would not have affected the section where we were stuck. When we finally gave up and decided to try and cut over a different way, the police arrived and of course we ended up waiting longer than we would have. Murphy's Law! At this point I was completely frazzled. I usually get a little nervous before races anyway, but all the traffic was stressing me out!

Finally we got through and parked the car, following the groups of other runners who seemed to know where they were going. When we got closer, I could see the tents set up in the parking lot, and noticed that a building was open where other runners were going in. We decided to check it out, and it turns out it was a CM locker room that they were letting runners use. Score! We quickly used the toilets and then found the bag check to dump our changes of clothes for after the race. On arrival at the start area, I was relieved to see that there were plenty of portable toilets, although someone failed to provide trash bins for the paper towels from the portable sinks. Another sign of disorder was the lack of any sort of instruction to runners and walkers about how they should line up at the start. There were no signs with pacing estimates to put faster runners in front. Even a basic instruction of walkers to the back would have been useful, as there were clearly a lot of "newbie" racers in the crowd. We moved up toward the front of the start, eyeing people along the way to try to get ahead of those we thought would be walking. There were a couple of emcees providing banter in between songs that were playing over the loudspeaker, and at about 5 minutes to the scheduled start, they announced that due to the traffic problems outside, the start would be delayed by 20 minutes. Great, so we get to miss 20 minutes of party at the end. Thanks!

Right before the start gun, they did a countdown that included some sound bites by Rod Serling from old Twilight Zone episodes, then there were some small fireworks and off we went. It took us about 2 minutes to get to the start after the gun, and then we did a lot of dodging of walkers over the first couple of miles, which was difficult on the narrow course. At about two miles in we got to a point in the course where a recorded voice kept repeating, "the course is about to change. Dirt and gravel ahead." Dirt and gravel!? What the...? So we took a right turn onto a service road to head toward Wide World of Sports. The path was narrow, with room for maybe 3 people abreast. In addition, it had been raining, so there were some big mud puddles in spots, which had people dodging from side to side. The trail was also surrounded by trees, intensifying the already hot and humid conditions by eliminating any hope of a breeze.

It was at this point that we also experienced some "atmospheric performances." There were people dressed in white pants and white shirts acting like escaped mental patients. They were yelling, banging on pots, etc. Very strange, and a pretty pathetic display of spookiness if you ask me. It would have been much more creative to have people dressed as characters from Twilight Zone episodes. Where was the guy dressed as the gremlin on the wing?

 

Over the next couple of miles we wound our way through the Wide World of Sports complex, which had a lot of lights on, but very few people home. Friends and family weren't allowed to spectate here; mostly all we had were more "mental patients" and a few random volunteers waving light sticks to make sure we turned at the right places. There was someone lying face down on the track, and as I passed him I hoped he was part of the atmosphere. The course was very quiet and deserted in most places, which is a big contrast to the marathon course that has a lot of spectators and performing groups along the way.

 

ToT13K1

As we headed out of WWoS and back toward the Studios, we had one of those dreaded cloverleaf sections of road. Those banked sections really set my calves and hips to aching, so I was glad there was only one. We entered the Studios via a backstage access point, and got to run past a really lovely dumpster and used cooking oil storage area. I did not need to smell that! But finally we had reached the people!

The park was pretty dark though, so it was hard to see too much. You can see what it was like in the photo on the left. There was a DJ under the big hat as we ran past, but he wasn't doing more than playing loud music at that point. I saw some friends who had come to the party, but was really ready to be done, so I didn't stop to chat. The course took us back through the car stunt show area where we were put up on the screen as we ran past, but again it was quiet back there because spectators weren't allowed. There were also a lot of weird switchbacks in this section of the course, and I managed to miss the 7 mile marker. Also, there wasn't someone shouting out split times at us.

Finally to the last mile, and we were in another backstage portion -- where there were little rolling hills. Hills!? That was just evil. The finish was also a bit odd. There was a curve right near the end instead of a long straightaway. The race photographer got a couple of pictures of me as I finished. My chip time ended up being 1:23:46. The medal we got is very cool. It's the Tower of Terror with a little elevator that has a spring attached on the back so it can move up and down. It was a bit of a bummer that the 13K and 6.5K people got the same medal though.

The post-race food was not appetizing at all. There were bananas, which are typical, and brownies both frosted and unfrosted. Not typical! After running 8.1 miles through heat and humidity, I was definitely not prepared to eat a brownie. The thought of it made me queasy. I probably should have taken one to eat later, but I settled for a single banana.

As you can see from our post-race photos, we were soaked! We headed to the restrooms to change so we would be a little more comfortable for the short amount of time we had for the party. By the time we got changed and met up with our friends, it was midnight and time to go ride Tower! We only had one hour left of party! We got a good picture on Tower of Terror, so we bought it. I've got a good scream going. We also got to squeak in one ride on Rock 'n Roller Coaster before it shut down for the night. Not much of a party for us!

ToTridephoto

If I had to summarize my feelings about this race in one word, it would be disappointment. I expected more from a Disney race. Where were the Disney characters in Halloween gear? Where were the villains!? The organization and entertainment fell well short of my expectations, given my previous experience with the WDW marathon. I might do the race next year given the other interesting things that are happening at WDW at the same time (Magic Kingdom Halloween party, Epcot Food and Wine Festival), but then again maybe I'll might skip a year and wait to hear if things have improved.

Comments

[Katiebell]

Thanks for the RR.  I was really disappointed about missing it (I missed for a variety of private reasons) but now I don't feel disappointed at all!!!

It doesn't sound like they were at all organized like they have been for the other races you have done.

Still, you did it!!! Congrats!

[StanfordSteph]

Thanks! Yeah, you didn't miss a whole lot. There wasn't much "Disney" about it except that we got to run through part of the Studios and had a ride on Tower of Terror and the RnR Coaster. If I did it again, I might even do the shorter run so at least I would get more party time!

[Katiebell]

Well, I've never been to Disney, so I think I might have been disappointed.

Someday I hope to do a race there.  Maybe that goofy challenge, which is pretty goofy!

[TijuanaTaxi]

[this is good]

Absolutely awesome and honest review of the event!  As an Entertainment CM at WDW who ran the event with my wife and a couple of other entertainers, we were extremely disappointed at how the event was organized!  All of us had been extremely excited about attending this run.  We'd heard that our friends, the Hitchhiking Ghosts, were supposed to make an appearance that evening as well, but it never happened.  Apparently there was some sort of licensing thing going on which concerned MGM's the Twilight Zone being kept seperate from Disney characters.

My wife was SO disappointed that she, as well as several others we'd talked to, wrote lots emails containing 'suggestions' regarding the possible continuation of this particular event in the future.

Water stations, ASI photographers who don't understand three people holding hands while crossing the finish line means that all three should be in the photo together, the terrible traffic management involved in entering the Studios and having our guests see fun stuff like 'a really lovely dumpster and used cooking oil storage area' were just a few of the issues we had regarding the event.

Being a devoted CM, I almost feel guilty for those that experienced a 'not-quite-Disney' event that night.  While I understand that it was a new event for the organizers, the learning curve of hosting this type of run should be relatively small considering the magnitude of the marathons held in January.

So my apologies if this dented your mouse-eared hats (I almost sound like I put the event together myself) and hope that next year's run will be the event you'd hoped for.

Take care and thanks again for such an honest review!

Oh...LOVE the hat!

Tony   

[StanfordSteph]

Thanks for the comment. I'm tempted to write a letter to the powers that be at Disney just to let them know my feelings. The Hitchhiking Ghosts would have been awesome!

[David Wm. Brown]

I'm not sure how I missed this RR when you originally wrote it.  After reading your RR, I'm glad that I did not change my vacation plans to attend this race (I arrived in Orlando the day after the race for a week at WDW).  After running the WDW Marathon last January, I am very surprised that the race was so poorly planned and executed. 

Thanks for the honest and complete race report.

[Heidi]

[this is good]

I ran the race last year and plan on running again this fall.

[StanfordSteph]

I hope you write a report! Right now I have no plans to participate. I was disappointed, as you probably saw, and I would love to hear if there are any improvements this year.