Yes, it does look fun but miles 6-9 look kinda sucky.
Hope there's lots of entertainment through there.
With regard to fun stuff breaking up the race, this one is my favorite of the runDisney courses. (I haven't done the full marathon yet - but I will in January!)
It's a few empty miles at the beginning then a fun few miles through Animal Kingdom - a few more boring miles - and then pretty much 8.8 to the end is all entertaining to push you through! I love that once you enter DHS, you go through that park, around the Epcot hotels, into Epcot, and then you're done. It's great!
Basically, from DAK, this was the old marathon finish with a couple slight modifications.
For me, this is not my favorite course in the area. I think my opinion might change if the race were in the light. I find DAK dark and frightful. In the sun, running on the faux mud trails is interesting; not seeing the irregularities just throws me off, especially with the elevation changes and the lower lighting levels..
Basically, the first mile is a leg stretcher followed by the left turn onto Osceola. Watch out for the folks cutting across course to grab a photo of the WWoS sign. The next 2 1/2 miles are relatively flat with a couple spots of entertainment. The relative part is a hats off to the two overpasses we run across. On the second, if the wind is right, you get a whiff of McD as you cross. We run up and into DAK through the main gate. Once in the park, step lively as the trail up to Discovery Island is a little narrow and up hill. After passing the Tree of Life, the park opens up, we turn Right at Africa and head to Asia and pass Everest. Another right and we pass Dinoland, off into he back stage area and in the the parking lot. We run the parking lot backwards. Careful as you approach the parking toll booths; each lane as an obnoxious speed bump. Since we are headed backwards, they are not painted well on the back sides. I do not believe I have run a single weekend that has a race going through a toll booth where I did not see a spill or at least the results of a spill on the bumps. There are audio cues, signs and volunteers the to warn.
The meat of the run is next, miles 4.8 through 9 are on the road again. The two areas of entertainment on the way over to AK are still there. Once we turn onto World Dr, there is no room for anything to set up, so keep focused ont he ToT sign in the median of the road, then the up ramp as you pass that and time will fly. I have to say if you like DHS, this is the race to run. There is no possible way to add much more of the park to a race. We run the park's length 4 times. From there it's Boardwalk, Yacht, Beach, Epcot and HOME.
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