This was my third marathon and my plan was to enjoy it.
I made a vacation out of it and brought my family along. The expo was okay - It was sparse considering the size of the race.. I am used to bigger expos even for local races in Atlanta. It was well organized though. I also felt there were limited number / variety of race specific merchandise.
The race itself was a blast - didn't like the long hike to the start and the way the corals were organized but other than that, the race was fabulous. I enjoyed every step of it - my pictures prove it. Stopping to take pictures with the characters was fun. Going through all 4 disney parks was fun, running through areas that had cheer stations was awesome. The crowd in Magic Kingdom, and Epcot was fun.
Overall, I will highly recommend this especially for a first marathon - it was " low pressure' since everyone was having so much fun. I plan on going back for Dopey Challenge

This was my third hot chocolate race and whereas I didn't have all my running girls with me, I still had fun in the freezing temps
Pros
Always a fun race, great volunteers, adequate aid stations with enthusiastic volunteers, course well marked especially at the split for 5K and 15K
The race jacket this year was pretty neat. The finisher's medal was great if you are into bling and that hot chocolate at the end made everything worthwhile

Con:
The expo was a zoo i heard -didn't make it due to work and the weather but heard stories of the long lines. Previous expos have been appropriate so I think this was an isolated case due to the impending bad weather in atlanta
I didn't like the parking situation. I wish they had just given folks the chance to just pay at the lot like other races. also, the first year, they provided free shuttle, I am not sure why runners had to pay shuttle fee as well

Overall, pretty well organized race, the registration fee was appropriate and the volunteers were awesome. I will probably not do this race again simply for the unpredictable weather in Atlanta in January

This race has become my thanksgiving tradition.
This year's was my 5th (maybe 6th) time doing this race. With it being a little over one month after running in the Bank of America Chicago marathon, I really didn't train for it. I believed in my residual from chicago plus I was still in training for Disney.
I arrived with my friend in time to enjoy the DJ and go through the usual pre-race ritual.
the weather was great compared to two years ago when it felt like 20 below.
As usual, the course was filled with folks cheering us on, the hills -of course it's Atlanta, there are tons of hills but with a crowd like we had, you just keep pushing.
I made great time and even had enough time to enjoy the DJ and wait on my friend who was running this race for the first time.
Until next year...

This was my second marathon and due to work schedule, etc, I didn't fly into Chicago until the day before the race so didn't get much time to enjoy the city. Checked into the house we were renting and went straight to the expo. I probably shouldn't have spent that much time at the expo but it had so much to offer we ended up spending waaay too much time. There were a lot of give aways, etc
Bib pick up was very well organized and smooth.
Getting to the starting line was easy - not far from the train station and going through security was a breeze. They did close the corrals right at the time they said they were going to close them so people who arrived late had to go to the back.
The race itself was a lot of fun - there were hundreds of thousands of people cheering you on. It felt like there was someone cheering you on every foot of the course. There were adequate aid stations. It got really hot so the cooling sponges were nice. Post race party was fun - not a beer drinker so didn't partake in that
The Nike store downtown actually engraved the medals so we hang out there to get our medals engraved.
Overall, I would do this race again (after I have crossed the rest off my bucket list)
I would highly recommend it. It's worth the money and time...

This was a birthday run for all my runner friends whose birthdays are in January. There were some newbie runners who this was going to be their longest race - in short it was going to be a sisterhood race..
Expo - as usual, the expo was well organized. For me, it was a bit scaled down compared to previous years. But location of expo was great off the train line
Race day - it was cold but that's expected in Atlanta. since it was a group of us running and we were all at different levels, we decided to do run/walk so everyone could keep up. Our time keeper and I stayed in front and occasionally went back to get the rest of the group.
I always enjoy this race and look forward to the chocolate fondue at the end.
We crossed the finished line holding hands - it was so emotional and monumental