Based on this year’s Disney Marathon, I would suggest not registering for next year’s marathon. I’ve run it four times in the past 12 years and praised Disney’s ability to host this event - until this year. Parts of the course have become so narrow that I felt ‘stuck’ in numerous times. I felt like I was in a mall the weekend before Christmas surrounded by meandering folks who weren’t quite sure where they were going. I ran outside of the cones or on grassy/dirt areas so many times to get past the current ‘herd’. But it just continued and there were meandering herds for miles and miles. I paid attention to the width and there were so many places that were no wider than eight feet. I was in coral f and am sure that Runner’s in the first couple of corrals didn’t encounter these problems. That said, I felt as though many, many people in my corral should have started in later corrals. During my previous three marathons, the course brought the runners through more park areas than they did this year. I don’t stop to take pictures so don’t know how many animals were available to view in Animal Kingdom but I only saw one. It may have been a Sloth. Before entering Animal Kingdom, I did see some birds in some trees - I think they were Vultures. Heck, as far as animals were concerned I got a bigger kick out of the squirrel that dared to cross the herd of runners in the Magic Kingdom! There were fewer characters on the course than I’ve seen in the past also. We had a long, narrow run - several miles of highway - before entering the Wide World of Sport. Once in the World of Sports, I never thought that we would get out. How many loops can you do on athletic fields? More than you can imagine! It was terrible, narrow and I had to briefly stop to get a pebble out of my shoe. Runners experienced a variety of surfaces in this park. As far as we were into the run, the herd persisted and as good as I felt, there was no where to go to pick up my pace. Water stops were fine and I assume that the aid stations were too. According to my Garmin the course was inaccurately measured by close to a mile. I spoke with other Runners afterwards and all agreed. The course was up to a half mile longer than it should have been. Who wants to run any extra when running 26.2 already? It was a terrible Disney Marathon experience after three great Disney Marathon experiences. I think that they are allowing too many runners register and narrowing the course at the same time. It simply doesn’t work. Really, the run itself was a bit of a disaster. Don’t even think about a PR while running this. Our check-in experience at the Pop Century was slow and our room was not ready although we arrived more than an hour after check-in time. There was no apology and little effort to get us a late check-out on Sunday. I cannot think that many people would be checking in on Sunday or Monday with schools just returning to classes. It’s a slow time for Disney - after race weekend. The expo was bordering on pathetic as compared with past years. There were, perhaps, a third of the number of vendors that I’ve seen there in the past. Usually it’s a great expo. BUT, they’ve broken the expo into two buildings and there is more Disney merchandise than ever before. Obviously, they want merchandise sales for themselves and are limiting the competition by not allowing other vendors in. We told friends that were with us that the expo was tremendous and they were also sadly disappointed and compared it with other expos that they’ve been too. We bragged about how well Disney does hosting runs and they, too, felt stuck in the herds. Personally, I think that Disney’s greed is really showing. Too many people on the course, a much narrower course, much less time in the parks....it was bad. Also, they are doing so much via email now. Printed information no longer exists. Who reads through pages and pages of an email that arrives several weeks prior to the event? I miss the old days is reading through the info packet once back at the hotel and prepping my gear for race day. I’ve always bragged about Disney Runs and I realize that I’m bashing them right now but I call ‘em as I see ‘em. Disney, get back on track please. Bigger is not necessarily better.