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Overall consensus
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This was my first half marathon so I wanted to make sure it was unintimidating, fun, and memorable on the off-chance I never wanted to do one again. Well, this race made me want to do even more, which I think is the true mark of a good race! It's hard to say though if I would have loved it as much if I wasn't a Disney fan or incorporating it into a Disney vacation since the price is high.

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Course scenery
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It's unique in that not only are there Disney characters along the way, but you get to run through Magic Kingdom and Cinderella's castle with the finish line in Epcot. Other than that, it's mostly boring highway which can be disheartening and boring if you're running the race alone. The race does a pretty good job though of making these parts bearable with the character stops as well as large screens showing old Disney cartoon shorts. I thought the latter was a unique idea and I enjoyed them more than I thought I would. The only thing I wish there was more of in these parts was music. There are some DJs and high school bands/choirs along the way, but not enough at the boring parts. My boyfriend did the full marathon and that route seems more exciting just because you get to go through all 4 parks and more people come out to cheer for the full marathoners. I would say that was the only "con" of the experience (well besides the price).

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T-Shirts/SWAG
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I LOOOVEEDDD the medal for this race. It was a sleek design but also fun with its Disney theming. I also really like the design of the shirt. I'll attach a picture, but the front kinda looks like the medal of the race and the sleeve has icons of the parks you run through. So mine has the Epcot "golf ball" and Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle while my boyfriend's has those along with Tower of Terror and the Tree of Life. It's long sleeve which I like, but the material is like fake-tech. It's really itchy and not moisture wicking. I use it as a warmup on runs and tie it around my waste when I feel warm, but would never run longer than like 5 minutes in it. It also ran pretty big. I got a medium because I like my stuff a little bigger but it was a little too big. Your swag pack also includes a see-through gear bag for gear check and some free Jelly Belly energy beans. Other than that though, there isn't any free swag and considering the high price of the event, I wish there was a little more, even something small like a button or patch :(

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Aid Stations
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Aid stations almost every 1.5 miles with powerade and water. Around mile 11 I believe there's an aid station with Jelly Belly energy beans which I was nervous to use because I hadn't fueled with them before, but I saved them for runs later and like them. I didn't have to use the medic tent but many had to use it for the marathon because of the extreme heat and people spoke highly of their work with that. The volunteers are so sweet and encouraging! I don't know how they stay peppy and on their feet for so long!! Definitely felt spoiled with these aid stations :)

At the end of the race you get a bottle of water, a bottle of powerade, a beer, banana, rice snacks, fruit bar, fake cheese + tortilla chips, and a banana, so no need to worry about feeling too dehydrated/hungry after! I definitely felt well congratulated at the end.

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Expo
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So I went to the expo the day before the half marathon and I wasn't looking to buy any merch so keep that in mind. According to others, the expo opening is like a merch war and lots of long lines. We got our bibs so quickly going later though! The volunteers again were very nice and informative. The merchandise part of the expo is in a separate building which is nice. Lots of cool vendors for everything from fuel to running shoes to even upping your costume game. However, if there is an item you like that is available for pre-order... PRE-ORDER IT! Most likely it will sellout within the first day. There's also finisher merch at the finishers area after your race so if you are superstitious about ordering those ahead of time, you can definitely wait until the end of the race to get those.

There's also lots of events at the expo from yoga to beer tasting to drawing with a Disney artist. I didn't partake in any because we had such a short weekend, we wanted to get the most out of the parks, but it's cool that there are free events celebrating the main event and get you pumped about the weekend :)

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Elevation difficulty
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Okay so I grew up in New Orleans and now live in the South Carolina lowcountry. Needless to say, I'm a huge baby when it comes to elevation. People kept saying this course was so flat and for the most part it is but most of it is on highway so you deal with a lot of onramps especially toward the end of the race when you're tired. I didn't train on any hills and I regretted that.

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Parking/Access
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I did not stay at a WDW resort so I didn't get to take the buses to the starting line. I drove over there but there was surprisingly lots of parking. We got there about an hour before start time. Directions were kind of confusing however. There was redirection of traffic due to construction and there just wasn't enough signage telling you where to go in my opinion.

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Race Management
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It's Disney, so it's a pretty well-oiled machine at this point as you could imagine. Everything runs very efficiently. There were a few things that I felt were a bit mismanaged. For example, I didn't think the starting location was communicated very well for someone who is bad with map direction. There were a lot of streets shutdown that didn't show up on Google Maps and it would've been nice to have more signage on which way to go. There wasn't much traffic for the half though so we eventually found it with plenty of time to spare. Now, I dropped my boyfriend off at the marathon and that was a different story. We left even earlier that morning to get to the full and he was almost late. In fact they had to push the start time back because so many people were late. That could've been better accounted for I think. With that, I will say if you know you are bad with direction like my boyfriend and I, ask a volunteer for help at the expo! I'm sure they would've been more than happy to help :)

I also heard horror stories about people who took the provided transportation getting dropped off at the wrong resort after the race, bus drivers getting lost on the way to the race, and getting yelled at by said drivers. It's important to note that these are not Disney employees but I believe they are transportation companies hired specifically for this event. As far as I know those who contacted runDisney customer services about these incidents were greeted with lots of professionalism and swift action, which is good. This was also the experience of a handful of people so I don't think it's the norm.

Besides all that, I wish the race had more social media engagement. I felt like everything was communicated effectively via email, but it would be nice to have more engagement leading up to the race.

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Conclusion
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Overall, as big Disney fan I would recommend this race. You get to run through the castle and meet rare characters and be in a big space of supportive runers who also LOVE Disney :) If that's not your thing, probably not worth the price, but if you are on the fence, get a group together, come up with a fun costume and just have fun with it! It's a great race for that and if you are a beginning runner like myself, it will get you hooked on running!