2016 Tinker Bell 10K and Half Marathon Course Maps - a closer look

I always love looking at the race programs when they come out ... sure, they're pretty formulaic, but it's nice to get a sneak peek of the color theme (prediction: peach and lime shirts this year) and, of course, the COURSE MAPS.

First, the 2016 Tinker Bell 10K map:

At first glance, it might look very similar to the 2015 map ... but NO! Thankfully, runDisney kept the opening mile(-ish) intact, running around the outside edge of the park. But then the route through the parks is quite different.

Here's 2015, for reference:

It looks like we'll have much more time "on stage" in both parks! And this year the 10K runners will get to run through the castle -- always a bottleneck .... em, highlight. ;) Of course, a lot of the Disneyland course changes are probably because of the Star Wars Land project (squee!) -- which makes it somehow even more exciting.

Quick side-by-side, with 2015 on the left and 2016 on the right:

Now, what about the half marathon?

Here's the 2016 Tinker Bell Half Marathon course:

and the 2015 course:

Similar changes within the parks -- though the half marathoners will have more time on Main Street in Disneyland than the 10Kers will. Is it just me (or the trick of the scale of the map?), or does it feel like there's less "on stage" time with the half marathon? The route through the quiet streets of Anaheim remains pretty much unchanged, though it looks like the finish line has been moved out of that parking lot behind the Paradise Pier Hotel (and into a different parking lot... by the Disneyland Hotel).

Here's something a little odd, and new:

Mile 5 ... and mile 12 ... are parallel. Which potentially means that some of the slower folks in the later corral, who will start nearly an hour after the first corral, will be in that stretch while the fastest folks from the first corral are running to the finish. I'm going to trust that runDisney is prepared for that and will have cones and such... but I can imagine some congestion here.

Finally, a quick side-by-side of the half marathon map, with 2015 on the left, and 2016 on the right:

I'm finally getting excited about this race... or maybe just for our first trip to Disneyland in a year!