Princess vs. Tinker Bell

[ToontownPrincess]

I've run the Princess Half Marathon twice and about to go for my third. It's probably my favorite event because it's geared toward women. I find it empowering. I'm considering running the Tinker Bell next year (and probably the Wine & Dine again) for my Coast to Coast. I was curious how the Tinker Bell compared to the Princess. I've never run at Disneyland so I thought this would be my preferred event to do so. Anyone want to share their pros and cons of each race? If you've run both, which is your favorite and why?

[queen mimi]

DD and I did the Tinkerbell and the Princess last year to get the coast to coast. One major difference is that the Princess is entirely contained by Disney property, while the Tink goes outside of the property. So, in California you are going down business streets, etc. Both are relatively flat, although I think the hill over the highway at the Princess is bigger than anything that I can remember at the Tink.

One other huge difference is the proximity of the race to the hotel for the Tink. We stayed at the Disneyland hotel. Got up in the morning, had a little breakfast at the hotel coffee spot that opened early and walked about two blocks to our starting area. Terrific! We were able to sleep a little later and walk right back to our room when we were finished.

The costumes for the Tink were not as elaborate as they are now for the Princess. But, when we did the inaugural Princess there were not a lot of costumes then either. The quality and quantity of the costumes for the Princess has grown through the years. I am sure that the Tink will do the same. We also felt that there were not as many characters for pictures along the way. But, that might change.

One problem with the Tink was going through the castle. I guess the archway is smaller than at Cinderella's castle. We literally had to stop it was so crowded. We just shuffled through the castle to get out and get going again.

We loved doing both races to get that coveted Coast to Coast medal. I would recommend both.

[ToontownPrincess]

Thanks! I was looking at the pictures from the Tinker Bell from yesterday and it looks like the costumes are getting pretty festive. My friend and I want to run and dress up and Rosetta and Silvermist! I did see the course map and it did look like a lot of the run was outside of the parks so that was a concern of mine. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. Makes me want to run it even more. Thanks for all your information!

[longhorns2]

I have done 2 Princesses as well and getting ready for my 3rd.

Just back from my first Tink.

I love Tink. I like Princess, but LOVE Tink.

1- loved being so close to the start. I stayed at PPH and walked out my room to the start. It rocked. This hands down was the best start for a race for me. I HATE the Princess corral walk- holy cow. It's insane. But this was just awesome.

2- course was GREAT to me. Heavy in the front end with the parks. I felt like I could party in the beginning and then get to business on the back end. The first 6 miles just flew by for me. That's similar to how I feel with PRincess too, but the miles leaving MK back to Epcot seemed soooo much longer to me than the ones in Anaheim. Part of it was the buildings and neighborhoods to look at- plus more crowds to cheer us on. And school bands and stuff. I liked all of that a lot.

The course is also MUCH flatter than Princess- IMO- which gets big points from me. A few hills and the worst was at mile 12 (it was similar to the up and down you do by the contemporary on the Princess course) But over all, the hills were at the beginning (again- I prefer this to the Princess and the last 3 bunny hills at the last 3 miles!)

3- tons of women and a sea of green! The guys were fast though- they caught up to corral B pretty quickly. But not too many, so still have the girl power vibe like Princess. Just more green and wings, less tiaras.

4- logistically again- great. the end finished right behind my hotel. I was in my room in 10 min from finish. LOVE LOVE LOVE

I'm really thinking I am going to change my annual trip from Princess to Tink. I liked it a lot.

The weather was also better- less humidity. It was PERFECT for the run. 0h--- and it started earlier. not sure if they will keep that but I LOVEd the 5am start. Get to business and get out! lol

[Figment1990]

Originally Posted by longhorns2

I have done 2 Princesses as well and getting ready for my 3rd.

Just back from my first Tink.

I love Tink. I like Princess, but LOVE Tink.

1- loved being so close to the start. I stayed at PPH and walked out my room to the start. It rocked. This hands down was the best start for a race for me. I HATE the Princess corral walk- holy cow. It's insane. But this was just awesome.

2- course was GREAT to me. Heavy in the front end with the parks. I felt like I could party in the beginning and then get to business on the back end. The first 6 miles just flew by for me. That's similar to how I feel with PRincess too, but the miles leaving MK back to Epcot seemed soooo much longer to me than the ones in Anaheim. Part of it was the buildings and neighborhoods to look at- plus more crowds to cheer us on. And school bands and stuff. I liked all of that a lot.

The course is also MUCH flatter than Princess- IMO- which gets big points from me. A few hills and the worst was at mile 12 (it was similar to the up and down you do by the contemporary on the Princess course) But over all, the hills were at the beginning (again- I prefer this to the Princess and the last 3 bunny hills at the last 3 miles!)

3- tons of women and a sea of green! The guys were fast though- they caught up to corral B pretty quickly. But not too many, so still have the girl power vibe like Princess. Just more green and wings, less tiaras.

4- logistically again- great. the end finished right behind my hotel. I was in my room in 10 min from finish. LOVE LOVE LOVE

I'm really thinking I am going to change my annual trip from Princess to Tink. I liked it a lot.

The weather was also better- less humidity. It was PERFECT for the run. 0h--- and it started earlier. not sure if they will keep that but I LOVEd the 5am start. Get to business and get out! lol

Thank you for this analysis! I'm considering the tink next year too and I was worried about it being more hilly than wdw. I've not done the princess, only wine and dine, but when we vacationed in DL last year I could tell the parks seemed so much hillier than WDW in general. But that doesn't take into account the overpasses I guess. Love that the start is easier to get to at tink (and back from the finish). The time doesn't matter much to me except I'll be more comfortable getting up early over there since I'll try to stay on east coast time.

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

I agree with all the points given about Tink. It is my favorite over the Princess, which was hard to achieve being that the Princess was my first Half Marathon. The changes to the course for the Tinker Bell this year made it even better, so this year's Princess will be my last until the 10th Anniversary. I want to keep my legacy status with the Tinker Bell, so I will keep up with it as long as I can.

[longhorns2]

Not a legacy but I'm thinking the same thing. Tink until PHM 10yr

[IMGONNABE40!]

I did the first Princess in '09 and the Tink last week. I agree, from those experiences, I preferred the Tink. Much more user friendly getting to the start and from the finish-whether on site or not. It is much easier to control expenses at DL as well since the off-site hotels and restaurants are easy to get to even if you don't have a car.

If I do the Tink again I will make more of a trip of it. I did enjoy the parks, but due to the holiday weekend, the parks were crowded. And, it seems the DL races are always on holiday weekends. So, if I return, I will wait to do the parks. I will arrive late Friday so I can still arrive in a timely fashion on Saturday if there is a problem with the flight. I will do the expo and DTD on Saturday and of course, the race on Sunday. After the race I will check out of the hotel, rent a car and head to the beach for a few days. I'll get back to Disney Wednesday or Thursday to hit the parks in the hopes that they will be less crowded during the week. Back home on Saturday with a day to recuperate before getting back to work.

[poohs4me]

We have done two Princess and getting ready for our third and two Tinks. We love Tink. We are not tinkerbell the character fans so it is kind of funny to me that we like the THM so much. We do the Neverland 5K as well. We have done the Disneyland Half and don't care for that one.

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

Originally Posted by poohs4me

We have done two Princess and getting ready for our third and two Tinks. We love Tink. We are not tinkerbell the character fans so it is kind of funny to me that we like the THM so much. We do the Neverland 5K as well. We have done the Disneyland Half and don't care for that one.

Did you do the DL Half last year? I thought it improved a lot, with the addition of the car show during what used to be such a boring stretch, but still prefer Tinker Bell based on the course not going through industrial areas to get to and from Angel Stadium. I rather run through residential areas.

[ToontownPrincess]

That's it...I'm convinced! I'm going to have to run the Tinker Bell!! Sounds like a lot of fun and it will be nice to run a different course. Count me in!