Having read some of the negative comments, I cannot recognize some of the critisism. This was my first marathon, and I thought it was great. Running from Disney park to Disney park is a great way to see the different parks - and you never know which of the disney caracters are ready to hi-5 you round the next corner. I found the volunteers great and the number of spectators ok. The only negative is the t-shirt and the 2 hour wait before the start of the race.
The T-shirt you get is a long sleeved t-shirt with a one colour logo. If you want a nice shirt, this has to be bought.

For those of you who want an extremely biased opinion of this event, please scroll back through some other comments to the one posted from 'A Runner from Florida.' The message is entitled 'A Wonderful Marathnon Experience,' and gives all 5 star ratings. It was posted on 1/8/02. GIVE ME A BREAK. This individual is either the race director (whose name is John Hughes and allegedly the owner of the Track Shack running store; this is info. provided at the awards ceremony) or someone closely affiliated with the race. Otherwise, the individual wouldn't have such intimate knowledge of the race's organizers. Either way, the individual certainly did not run the event. This is the first time I ran the race. Yeah there are certain things I didn't like about the race, like the shirt and the negative signs (whose lame idea was that) posted along the mostly desolate course. But the finisher's medal is nice and the age group hardware isn't bad either. I plan on returning to win myself a Mickey. Don't be disillusioned, however, by Mr. Hughes or who ever wrote the comment. This is not one of the best marathons (I've run 14 others) and it certainly doesn't merit a 5 star rating.

You can realistically get up at 4:00 a.m. to be at the Epcot Parking lot by 4:30. The wait from there goes pretty quick. The walk to the start line wasn't bad either. The course is flat, but has a few sharp turns. Watch out as you come out of the Castle, near mile 12, there's a weird drop on the ramp (I nearly took a tumble). From 13 to about 24 there's no one on the course, other than the runners. I would recommend training at night, it definitely helped preparing for the first 9 miles of the race. Pacing in the dark is a little more difficult. Once you hit daylight, the wind picks up; typically from the west. This means a headwind (10-15mph) from 12.5 to about 18, but not too bad. You may notice Epcot and Magic Kingdom, but by the time you reach Animal Kingdom (mile 17) and MGM (23) they are a blur. Make sure to say hi to the older guy who works at Magic Kingdom at Mile 9. He's awesome. Overall, I thought it was a fun race, great volunteers, but the t-shirt sucked! That, however, won't keep me away from coming back next year.

This was my 2nd Disney Marathon and I will be back for the whole Disney experience. The volunteers and park employees were first rate. The course is flat and yes it does get boring at times, but to include all the parks what else can you do except add back roads and overpasses? This is a hard race for spectators to follow the runners. As for the price of the race, I have run 8 other marathons and all are about the same in price. Yes, Disney itself is expensive, but it's a vacation resort area. The expo is ok, definietly could have done a better job on tshirts or goodie bags. The negative signs along the course have to go!! Weather is out of everyone's hands and the rain was unfortunate. The start is early, but the weather can get warm in FL during January and as a safety precaution, I would rather start early. This race is very friendly to mid or back of the pack runners and walkers. This is getting a bad rap. If you dont like it, dont do it again, Disney never has a problem filling the 12,000 spots for this race. The Mickey medals are GREAT! I would recommend this race to everyone. It's fun and an extra day or 2 at Disney is a nice vacation in January!

This was my first full marathon, having done the Disney half in 2000. It was fun because it was my first but I cannot wait to run a race with more spectators for a much needed lift of support.

Negatives:
**Being my first marathon, I really wanted a picture of me crossing the finish line with Disney and my time in the picture. Well, I got a picture of me with my arms raised but nothing Disney in the picture AND their finish clock shorted out with the rain and I have ZEROS for my finish time!!! That really stinks! I contacted the photo company and they cannot do anything about it. Being in FLORIDA, you would think Disney could prepare for WET weather and have equipment that works, especially with a race this size and publicity and the fee paid.
**The shirts stunk, cheap material. You could BUY a Logo shirt. That is a dirty deal to me. Usually races have the race logo on the shirt, come on.
**Disney's race director advertised at the expo that being '100 Years of Disney' there would be '100 points of entertainment on the route'. Don't know about you that ran it, but I DID NOT see 100 things! There were empty stages without even music playing when I passed by some. I guess the rain was too much for them. Don't mention you are going to do something and then skip it. And yes, the negative messages were horrible! They were not funny!
**Many of the signs that were out were knocked down, perhaps by the wind, other runners or whatever, who was in charge of those - put them back up.
**Some of the volunteers just STOOD and watched, didn't clap, smile or do anything. If they sign up year after year they should still go to the prerace volunteer meeting to remind them to help us along the way. Say SOMETHING!!
**Space out the water and food stations better. There was water past 15 mile and before 16. Power Gel was right before some Power Aid stations - too close.
**I thought there would be more variety of goodies at the end! Oranges, bananas, water and muffins, that is it folks.
**The lines for baggage claim was WAY TOO LONG! More tents needed for higher numbers.
**Treat volunteers and spectators better. I had family and friends that worked on the course and were done in PLENTY of time to get to my finish but they were held up OUTSIDE the EPCOT parking lot. They were told the lot was full and to go to another park and take a shuttle bus into EPCOT, even though no buses or traffic was being let in. They waited long enough to finally get in one of the EPCOT parking lots and it was practically empty! They did not get to see me cross the finish line in my first marathon. With the clock malfunctioned, I was really disappointed in Disney for all that.

I do have some Positive comments:
**The Mickey medal is great!
**I liked the early start in the dark and watching the sun come up and then having the daylight. Breaks up the run, dark/light.
**There were some good volunteers out on the course, some that knew what the runners needed. The radio guy playing loud tunes and talking to everyone as we went by was the best! Need More of him!
**Plenty of port-a-johns.
**Running through the parks was fun and uplifting with the loud music, Disney characters and spectators!
**Great crowd and traffic control.

Like everyone else said, IT IS DISNEY. I won't be doing it again but someone out there will take my place. They really need to talk and LISTEN to the runners or read these comments. It has great organization but needs some TLC to make it better. There are those that LOVE Disney and other that hate it. It will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the first for me. I am sure some of the negatives will fade in time (EXCEPT MY FINISH PICTURE!!!) and I will remember the good but I want to do other Marathons.

I have run Chicago Marathon, Marine Corp Marathon, 2 half marathons in Chattanooga and VA Beach half marathon. They were all so much better. The idea of having to be at the race at 4:00 a.m. for a 6:00 a.m. start is ludicrous. Since you were not in the parks much there was not much in the way of crowd support. The shirts were mediocre. It is a very expensive race and I would not recommend this race to anyone unless you just want to go to Disney.

I ran the half-marathon as part of the Team in Training program. In a word, the event was disappointing. Unlike most of the other runners posting on this site, I found the volunteers poor. They ran out of water at some stations and cups at others - that's not their fault, but their reaction to the situation was less than nice. I trained for the race on a very boring bike trail so the lack of entertainment did not bother me EXCEPT at the pasta dinner before the race we had been told that there were going to be 100s of entertainment 'events' during the race. There were none that I saw other than a DJ with a van at the side of the road shouting out nonsense as people ran by. Most everything was geared to the marathon leaving the half-marathon to feel like the ugly stepsister. Our official race 'conducktor' Donald wasn't even present at the finish line. Silly complaint maybe, but all the literature leads you to believe that the experience is going to magic, silly and totally Disney all the way. Some unknown volunteer placed the medal around my neck as I was pushed along towards the refreshment tent.
I am proud to have run in honor of the Leukemia Society, but I really expected more from an event hosted by Disney.

I love my Mickey Mouse Medal,and would go back for Donald next year. This was my first marathon, so it was all good. I would recommend this race to anyone; the medal is really worth it. Other comments regarding the course are true but that is the course, I kept thinking about that medal and I made it. I do agree with the comments regarding those negative signs out there, I think you have to be as positive as possible especially when your at 22 miles and it's cold and raining. Signs telling you that 'you should have stayed in bed' etc. should be changed or removed.

The 2002 Walt Disney World Marathon was my first marathon, and as first marathons go, perhaps I expected a bit too much. Afterall, this was Disney!!! And not having any other marathons to compare it to, I really wasn't sure how to rate this one overall. However, I have run the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, and can honestly say that the expo, course, entertainment, and spectator support far outranked that of the Disney Marathon!!! For the amount of money we runners paid to participate in this race, the very least Disney could have done is put some speakers along those long, desolate stretches between parks and let us hear some music!!! And perhaps they should leave out the Animal Kingdom part altogether-running through the backside of the park in the pouring rain with nothing but the smell of animal dung to push us on was not the most pleasant experience in the world! I will, however, take along some wonderful memories with me. The volunteers were amazing, and running that marathon and crossing that finish line with my sister (this was her third marathon)was an unforgettable experience. Would I run it again? Probably not, but will I do another marathon elsewhere? Absolutely!

It's very interesting to read the many postings with negative comments about the Disney Marathon. It appears that in every case each area of complaint was dealt with in pre-race information packages. For example, only 4.5 of the 26.2 miles were actually run in the parks. Just by looking at the course map anyone can figure this out. The 6 a.m. starting time, along with the 4:30 a.m. arrival time in the starting area, was included in all pre-race information I received. And for those who complained about the price of being at Disney, please, let's put at least one foot in reality and admit that the majority of adults realize Disney World and Disneyland are expensive places to visit. This shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. This was my first marathon and it had everything that I needed. The course was flat, there was loads of aid and water stations and the spectators and entertainment along the route was good enough for me. I didn't enter this race to be entertained or to get free beer at the finish line. I entered to run a good marathon and that's exactly what I got. I would recommend this marathon to anyone who is interested in combining their love of running with the Disney experience.