1. the finish was different for the races; where the sidewalk usually splits (after the choir) and then you run past the bleachers was now a right turn.
Hmm, that's interesting. I'm a visual person, so here's what I found. Here's 2023 Wine and Dine HM.
Compared to 2023 Disney M.
The Wine and Dine 2023 finish makes more sense from a road hazard standpoint and it tucks us away from the normal traffic of EPCOT a bit more. I could see this one being more of a thing. I actually like it more because it's more of a straight shot. But does seem like the spectators are a bit more removed.
2. the construction walls in epcot are supposed to be coming down sometime in the next month-ish (?) which could mean a return finishing through the FRONT of epcot instead of heading backstage by Creations/Mission Space
For comparison, here's an old 2016 Disney Marathon course that finished beside the EPCOT ball.
Sections of it seem more narrow than does the new finish route by Mission Space. But part of the change may be because of trying to get to 13.11 and 26.22 miles. Also, maybe this course was a little more disruptive to the normal park guest for the marathon once the park is open.
-Do we really think we could have a return to the pre-2020 course finishes?
Certainly possible. I can see pro/con to both routes.
-Those courses also appear to have more park time (not cutting backstage out of HS, different exit point in AK, etc); does anyone think we could see a return to that, or is the feeling that Disney just wants to get the parks opened asap with as few race disruptions as possible?
I get the feeling with the marathon that they're looking to not disrupt the normal park guest as much as possible. I think they have more wiggle room with the shorter distances when the parks aren't open yet.
-A return to the WWOS loop? No more BB parking lot?
I don't think they want us running on Osceola Parkway or World Dr anymore. Those are pretty main thoroughfares and was quite disruptive when the marathon ran on that. It seems like Western Way and W Buena Vista Drive can be less disruptive to traffic, and thus why they went that route.
-Any chance we run past Tron in MK (or no, because of the uphill)?
So right now the marathon path is 7, to center, to 77, to 83, to 79, to 54, to 53, to 49.
To run to Tron you'd have to go from 83 to 80 to 85 to 71 to 52 to 53 to 49.
Just visually based on the map, how tight is that corridor from 85 to 52? Seems less wide than most of the other MK paths we run on (maybe outside the bridge at 41 exiting the center). This video does it in reverse, but it seems tight. At one point only being 3 people wide. I guess it's plausible, but that would be my first thought.