Most of the positives and negatives have been hit, but just to add or reiterate a few:

-Great organization considering the crowds. Plenty of restroom facilities. Lot of aid stations (I would say more than needed- having a water station at mile .75 was odd but better too many than too few).

-The course did have some narrow points, however the biggest negative was the roughly .5 mile segment past the waste water treatment plant around mile 15. The smell was less than pleasant except as encouragement to keep running & to run faster.

-Considering the heat, aid stations with sponges & ice were much appreciated (as was the spectator around mile 19 with the pretzels- thanks!)

-The course had lots of highway running as expected, but Disney did a good job of getting in all the parks. The segment through the Animal Kingdom was particularly enjoyable. The live animals on the course were a great high point.

-Lots of spectators throughout the parks/course. Plenty of music & entertainment throughout. Some of the characters were particularly entertaining & were quite comical.

-The mile 20 'spectacular' didn't overwhelm me. But the characters throughout the race were nice. However, it would have been nice to have a couple at the finish for those who didn't want to stop for pictures & would rather them post-race.

-The buses to the start were great. Very orderly. Staying at a resort hotel is a must.

-The expo was crowded & the shirts ran overly large. However, Disney exhibited their spectacular customer service through providing another set of smaller sized shirts via mail, a week after the race, at no charge.

-For those into the medals, the 20th anniversary medal was second to none. The Donald medal was also quite nice, as was Goofy.

Disney waaaay oversubscribed this race. We ran a$$-to-face for the entire half and most of the full. 'Caution runners: Course narrows ahead,' was played over loudspeakers, and people laughed and asked, 'can it get more narrow?' Expo was an exercise in body-checking. Gripes aside, I've never seen so much entertainment along a course. It's worth doing once in your life.

TIPS:

Bring a camera - at each character stop they'll have a volunteer who will use your camera to take a pic, not just the official photogs, and some stops didn't have official photogs at all.

Bring something that lights up - some cute flashing things for your shoes, or a mini-flashlight. You will thank me when you're in the pitch-dark porta potties, or on the pitch-dark stretches of the course.

Adjust your sleep schedule - Especially if you're running Goofy, start waking up and going to bed 1/2 hour earlier each night after the New Year. You'll need to get up by 2:30 or 3:00 am for either race even if you're staying on property.

This was my 5th consecutive Disney Marathon, and #13 overall.

The Good:

No one can organize two 25,000 runner races in two consecutive days like Disney. The organization was first class, not surprising when Disney had hundreds of staff along the course, and the volunteers, cheering squads and entertainment was awesome. Lotsa of aid stations with plenty of Powerade and water, some even poured bottles of Disani water on your head as it was very hot and humid on Sunday. There were plenty of portajohns at the runner's village and along most of the course and you could also use any of the real bathrooms in any of the parks. There were two gel stations along the course; I think one banana station and a chocolate station once you enter Hollywood Studios. Plenty of Disney character to liven up the course, especially the boring stretches of highway and roads. The finish area had plenty of water, Powerade, bananas, a snack box and other goodies even for some who finished 6:20 chip time. The bag check was easy and simply to navigate both before and after the race. Transportation from the finish was a breeze. Seeing my fellow on-line running buddies in person is always a highlight of the weekend.

The Bad:

With the 20th anniversary of the marathon, Disney decided to allow 25K runners for the race and this showed. The expo store ran out of many items when I got there on Saturday afternoon, the expo was really still crowded and the lack of any real giveaways sorta sucked. The crack of dawn wake up, 2:30 am for me, followed by a longish wait for a free shuttle bus and then a nerve wracking 30 minute ride through tons of traffic to the runner's village. I personally did not like the course changes as the first 14 miles featured a lot of congestion as the roads were very narrow and there were more runners. I could not keep a decent pace consistently and decided to just go with the flow instead of zig sagging around runners or walkers going 2-3 abreast. I also did not appreciate the steep decline as we entered the speedway as I thought it was dangerous, even with the announcements. I also did not like the run around the Wide World of Sports Complex or the baseball field as it was very boring and featured three different changes in terrain. The 20 mile celebration was also underwhelming based on the hype Disney put on.

The Ugly:

O. My. God. It was hot Sunday. The start featured temps in the 70s with high humidity and almost 85 degrees and humid when I finally staggered across the finish. Thank god a running buddy had bags of pretzels at mile 19 or I would have had a tougher time finishing. There was only one sponge station and no misting stations for the thousands of back of the pack runners. The course did not have a lot of shade, but that was expected if you had run the race before. I know Disney can't control the weather and it is up to each runner to gauge their physical condition and make adjustments based on their overall training, weather and race day conditions. I felt sorry for all the first timers who had nothing to go by when faced with the heat and humidity and may have been coming from cooler climates or been undertrained. At least some of us experienced runners knew to slow our pace, take walk breaks, and drink often and to toss any finishing goal out the window. My heartfelt thoughts go out to the two families who lost ones during the race.

Final Thoughts and Tips:
I hope Disney reverts back to the old course or cut out that sharp decline into the speedway, especially if they decide to keep adding more runners. I fear their aim is to increase the field to 30K for both the half and the full. Stay on property as it far more convenient getting to/from the expo and the races as Disney buses will take you back and forth for free. I wish Disney would bring back a free day pass to any one of the four parks to all runners. That was a nice perk in 2011. Finally, an ice bath never felt so good when I finally got back to my room.

In the spring of 2012, I decided that it would be a great idea to run the Goofy Challenge in WDW! I gathered friends and my husband and we planned the trip. First of all, the accommodations at the Art of Animation were excellent. On Friday morning we hopped on a bus specifically for the expo and had a quick yet relaxing ride. The expo was crowded but very well organized. I wish there had been a decent reusable water bottle for sale. On the race website it says that you should be ready to be picked up from your hotel by 4am. Wrong.

By 4am there was a line that wrapped around my hotel of runners and spectators. I personally think spectators shouldn't be able to board the bus if the line is this long since spectators won't be able to see their runner take off at the start. At 4am each of the 27,000 runners looks alike. I incorrectly assumed that the marathon would be less crowded and arrived 10 minutes earlier and the line was longer.
The races were amazing. I ran the 1/2 on Saturday and the full on Sunday. I know that marathon coaches would probably say to rest, however, I found that walking around all day kept my legs loose and got the acid out of them.

The half started at Epcot, but between mile 4 and 5 you can see the Magic Kingdom. It still takes time to get to the castle since you have to run through parking lots. The staff had the castle all lit up and it looked amazing in the dark of the morning. As you are about to go through the castle, there are people playing horns. After you get through, if you head to your left, there are photographers ready to take your picture with the castle in the background. As you make your return trip to Epcot the roads have bands, comedy acts and more water and aid stops then are really necessary.

The full marathon was similar to the half. There was ample entertainment. I've run a Rock and Roll race and these Disney races had far more music! There were DJs, marching bands and a gospel choir at the end! There were large kites, huge puppets, cars (old fashioned, fast and ones from the movie Cars), large cheering sections, green Army men, animals and more!

No marathon I ever run will match up to the Goofy Challenge in WDW! I've already started planning for next year. I'm going to run the 5K and the Goofy Challenge for a whopping 42+ miles!

Came with the family, 2 Goofy runners, 1 1/2 and me the full to participate in the 20th run. I've run 9 other marathons and this has the potential to be the best.
The Good: Disney knows how to organize and it showed. While the expo was jammed, it was packed full of great stuff, The pickup was easy and fast, swag was nice. The volunteers and spectators are 2nd to none, they are truly a force that keeps you moving forward, I humbly thank each and every one of you. Course is excellent, plenty of water, power aid, sponges, medical help to not ever have to worry. The entertainment along the way is great. After the race the support was fantastic, I was dehydrated and had 4 medics immediately helping me and they were great. Medal was word class, heaviest ever! Loved how when you wear your medal in the park after the race, your congratulated by the workers, it really makes you feel special
The Bad; OK, you pay $175 and then they charge you for a beer! or a sandwich! in the runner area! No break if you run the Goofy. Comon Disney, please don't bleed us dry.
Suggestion; The day of the marathon, if you go to any Disney park after you should automatically be fast pathed to the front. They did allow you in free on Monday if you ran, which is good, but it would be nice to get right in.
All in all, this would be my suggestion for any 1st time marathoner. I plan on making it a regular yearly event, it was a blast.

If I could only run one marathon each year, it would be this one.

For me, the highlights included running around and through the lighted castle in the dark, running around the baseball field at ESPN's Wide World of Sports, running past characters each mile and singing along to the music, and high-fiving Goofy at the finish line. My favorite part is still running from Hollywood Studios to Epcot along the boardwalk, and then shooting through Epcot toward the gospel choir. It's hard not to smile the entire 26.2 miles. :)

It was also great to run the Family 5K on Friday with my mom. :)

I'm already looking forward to the 2014 Goofy Challenge!

Have run almost 70 marathons - this was the most fun by far. Did the Goofy to make the most of it and it wasn't as daunting as you'd expect.

Yesthe crowds are huge and maybe it's not the most serious race you'll run - but you'll smile from start to finishleave your iPod at home - you won't need it.

The expo IS cramped but packet pick-up is easy. A lot of MM merchandise to buy. Race L/S tech shirts are high quality (Goofy - you get 3 shirts). For logistics, it is HIGHLY recommended to stay on the Disney property - race morning buses are provided but traffic is thick. Plenty of pre-race portalets and easy bag drop but you must arrive early - there's a good 20+ minute walk to the start line. Races started on time with fireworks, etc. Each miler is well-marked with clocks and characters for picture taking. Consistent water stops (Powerade always first) and an army to serve you. Two banana stops with ripe bananas and two Gu stops. Very well equipped first-aid stops with Biofreeze, Vaseline, Tylenol, etc. and also a sponge stop around mile 18.

Course well lit even though first hour is in the dark. Plenty of music piped in or performed and crowds (esp. in parks) cheering you on. Running down Main Street and through castle awesome experience. Ran through all the parks via service roads - not as bad or boring as you'd think - plenty of runners to distract you (many in Disney garb). Was warmer this year - in the 60s to low 80s - so we ran through fog, morning dew, etc. A good portion of the course had downhill stretches and only a few very minor ramps to traverse. Overall - flat start to finish.

Finish line area a lot of activity. Easy bag retrieval. Boxes of food given out with tote bags to carry drinks, etc. Also handed out ice bags at Sunday's race.

Medals are the highest-quality I've seen - worth the entry fee alone. Disney organization and hospitality top-notch.

Treat the weekend as a fun destination; the miles and finish times don't matter - it's not that type of marathon. A zillion runners in the parks Mon and Tues wearing medals and getting kudos from everyone.

Gotta do this one at least once!

This was my 31st marathon and it was certainly one of the best, if not the best, marathon experience I've had. Don't necessarily expect to RUN a good time, but definitely expect to HAVE a good time at Disney!

The Good:
1) Disney Organization - 25,000 people for the Half followed by 25,000 more people in the Full the next day. Only Disney can pull off the organization of such a massive crowd with relatively few hassles. Sure there were some glitches - like standing wall to wall for many minutes in the pre-Start area before being allowed to walk to our Starting Corrals making many runners late for the start of the Half on Saturday. But guess what, on Sunday for the Full, problem largely resolved with an earlier release to the Starting Corrals. Staying at a Disney resort made transportation to and from the Start/Finish lines a breeze. Start and Finish areas were crowded but well-organized.

2) The Disney Show - Nobody can entertain like Disney and this was evident throughout the Race Weekend. While waiting in the Starting Corrals we were entertained by racing legends Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, Dick Beardsley, Jeff Galloway and Disney legends Donald, Mickey and Goofy! Fireworks went off for the start of every single corral (not just for the first corral). Inspirational music was played throughout the course including Neil Diamond's surprisingly timeless Sweet Caroline which young and old sang together. Disney characters were omnipresent, available for photo ops throughout the entire course. Unusual entertainment like the kites that were waved by cast members above our heads as we ran by giving us (at least me) the illusion that I was almost flying. The spectacular characters and of course Mickey, Donald and Goofy again at Mile 20 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the marathon.

3) The Course - Wow! Running through 6 Disney attractions - Magic Kingdom, Disney World Speedway, Animal Kingdom, Champion Stadium (spring training home of the Atlanta Braves), Hollywood Studios, and Epcot. First, Magic Kingdom - it's still dark when runners get to this park so the lights of Main Street and Cinderella's castle are spectacular. Combine that with the massive number of spectators lining Main Street and you have an experience rivaling New York City, Boston or Chicago. Speedway - running around a race track has the potential of being boring but all kinds of car enthusiasts brought their vintage cars for us to look at - fascinating. Animal Kingdom - very earth- friendly animal trainers brought out animals onto the course so that they we could gawk at them and they at us. Champion Stadium - running around the race track with your name announced as you ran down the first base line and your image appeared on the centerfield jumbotron! Hollywood Studios - I never thought I would run to New York New York again after the NYC Marathon but got the opportunity once more as I ran in a mock version of NYC. Epcot - where else will you get to run in France, Morocco, Japan, Italy, Germany, China, Norway and Mexico in less than a mile?! AND it happens to be the LAST mile of the race!

In the past, a lot has been said about all the service roads that have to be run to get to the various parks but there is plenty of entertainment there as well. And an occasional quiet break from all the bedlam in the parks is sometimes good for us and allows us to remind ourselves what running is all about.

The Bad:
Not much at all except unfortunately the etiquette of fellow runners. The race is big and maybe too big. The field never really thins out either. Sometimes the course just cannot accommodate all the runners. Running etiquette is of prime importance. Disney realizes this and distributes running manners in the official race handbook, but unfortunately many of our colleagues don't read them or read them and ignore them. There are some examples of excellent etiquette like the runner who was immediately ahead of me on a narrow stretch who signaled with an upward motion of her arm that she was about to stop allowing me to adjust. But this was the exception. Newbies (and there are a lot of newbies at Disney) and unfortunately even grizzled veterans (read Marathon Maniacs) would occasionally exhibit bad behavior by cutting runners off around corners, squeezing into spaces which were not meant to be squeezed into, stopping suddenly without warning, shouting and cursing (dropping the F-bomb even!).

But besides these isolated individuals, the field is largely well behaved, excited, pumped up and friendly.

Overall, the Disney marathon is simply spectacular and an experience that will be a life-long memory!

After completing my Second Goofy and my 10th RUN DISNEY Event. The race has doubled in size and has become a slow run event with characters. Unless you are an elite or CORRAL A Runner) Quite a few Bottlenecks during the marathon which the runners had to all walk together in a group. (Castle in Magic Kingdom, Main Street in Magic Kingdom and a few others) New changes were nice (Race Track and WWOS)I run 10-15 marathons a year and this one allows me to take my family on vacation to WDW. Its getting pricer year after year but somehow I keep going back for me. The 20th ANNIVERSARY medal was awesome and the GOOFY 10th Anniversary will be 2015

I have ran this race more than 10 times and have always loved it. This was my first time back in five years and I must say, that while I still find it magical, it has lost much of its appeal to me. This year's course was disappointing. There were a number of spots where the runners/walkers were so congested that you had to adjust pace and path to even keep moving and we started in C corral. My friends who started later had even more issues with this than we did. This year's course had us actually running less in the parks than in years past (ex: why take out the EPCOT loop early in the race).
The other disappointment and frustration was the expo. Too many people for space and not enough 'stuff' by vendors. Many of them seemed to run out of stuff early, coming across as unprepared for the size of event. Just too many people for the current course and expo layout.
The medal was great! The volunteers were great! The organization was good and staff were helpful. Disney knows how to move people better than anyone, so it is surprising that they have a course that doesn't flow smoothly with the current size of the race. Either decrease the number of particpants or change the course.
Overall, I love Disney World and these issues can be fixed. Actually, it now feels more like a party in motion than a distance race.