This was my 2nd year running Tinkerbell, and my 4th Disney race.
The best part of this race is the organized cheering sections that Disney arranges for. Running through the parks you have the cast members out to cheer for you. They arrange for local high schools and the Red Hat Ladies to come out and line the streets of Anaheim. As I’ve run races with close to zero spectators before, this is amazing and I love that Disney takes the time to do it.
The expo is pretty lame though. As a “women’s event” it is filled with nothing but sparkle skirts and a chance to have your hair done. The two standard running vendors brought almost no nutritional offerings (had to go to 7-11 to get a protein bar), and Clif Bar’s pace team is noticeably absent. They are at all the other Disney halves I’ve done, so why is Tinkerbell any different? I also had no vendors to check out compression gear or other serious athletic attire.
The only bad thing about the course is that they insist on putting all the men in Corral C. So after a few miles you start getting passed by men running at amazing speeds. A 7 minute mile man should not have to weave through 9-11 minute mile women to just run. If Disney doesn’t want men there, just restrict entry to women only.
Post race is decent, the only negative is that the Simba lot is confusing to get out of if your hotel is on Katella.
Also, again with the comparisons to WDW, but nothing was done to acknowledge those who are “Perfectly Tink”. In Florida they change the ribbon on your medal so that you are special!
As a local, I’ll undoubtedly be signing up again. But I’m sure I will have the same complaints next year.