Expo: This was hands down the best expo I've ever been to! Bib pickup happens in one building and shirt pickup happens in another - and that building is FILLED with vendors! The Disney Princess official merchandise is in a separate section and it sells out fast. I was there on the first of 3 expo days and it was extremely busy, but I was able to buy all of the merchandise options that I wanted (a track jacket, a headband, a mug, and a finisher's shirt) in the correct sizes. New Balance sells special race shoes and Dooney and Burke sells race purses, but you need to get there early for those and I wasn't interested. You can easily spend hours in here.

Race course: This race is FLAT but not very scenic. 90% of the race takes place either on highways or behind-the-scenes areas at Disney. But the other 10% is in Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and those parts are magical! I'm not even a huge Disney fan, but running down Main Street got me teary eyed! There were so many people cheering us on and we got to run through Cinderella's castle! But during the toughest end miles of the race, it was mostly highway views. Disney tried to jazz this up a bit with some character stops along the course, so if you're running for fun and don't care about time you can wait in line to take pictures with some Disney characters. There were very few princess picture opportunities though.

Race logistics: The race starts very early in the morning (5:30) and there are about 25,000 people running it, mostly women. Most of the runners dressed up in costume (I was Ariel!). Runners must park by Epcot and then walk about 20 minutes through a closed off area to the starting line corrals. There were about 10 corrals the year that I ran it, and runners need to submit proof of time (10k or higher) to be in the first 9 corrals - no proof of time, you're in the last corral. There is a strict time cut off that only runners in the last few corrals need to worry about. There are a ton of porta potties right by the start but they are very busy. Each corral was sent off with fireworks and some words from the fairy godmother! During the race, there were so many people on the course that it was hard to run at your own pace. Many groups of people were running 4-5 people across, and it was hard to pass them. Many runners were using a walk/run method, but didn't use proper etiquette for it - they would stop without any warning no matter where they were on the road and it made for some dangerous situations! The race honestly never thinned out and the course was crowded throughout the race. After the race, runners are funneled through a finisher's chute where they get medals, cool towels, water, mesh backpacks to hold everything, and food boxes. There are designated areas where you can meet up with your spectators after the race too.

Swag: The race shirt is pretty awesome, and so is the medal! But that's basically all you get for over $100 in race registration. You also don't get discounted park tickets or anything.

Overall experience: The race was run really smoothly, especially considering that there were so many runners and it was the first half marathon for many of them (including me!). It was a really special experience running with so many girls with such high energy, and I loved running in costume through Cinderella's castle! But most of the race was boring, the weather was very hot and humid, the course was crowded and often frustrating because there were so many people, and the start time was very early. I am glad this was my first half marathon, but I'm not sure if I could ever do it again knowing all of the challenges that come with the race. I would suggest this race to first time half marathon runners, people who want to run with groups of their friends, or people who don't care about time goals and just want to have fun.

Link to this review