Back to the Park logo

The Third Gate Games crew was excited to be back to an in-person event at Disneyland after three years away. With the return of in-park games came the dreaded "MouseAdventure weather," as temperatures soared into the low 90s during the day. There was even some rain in the morning, which threatened to bring Florida conditions to California, but thankfully it abated early.

Our reentry to in-person events started small, with check-in and instructions taking place along the walkway to Downtown Disney in "pop-up" fashion. Advanced teams headed into the park a half hour before the Basic teams did, with everyone having to navigate the Downtown Disney security checkpoints.

Teams headed through Downtown Disney toward Disneyland, where seven quests awaited the Basic teams, with three additional "Part II" quests for Advanced teams to pick up later in the day.

 

Basic and Advanced Quests

Swiss Miss (30 Points)

Who else remembers that "alternate-universe" Marty McFly is in boarding school in Switzerland in Back to the Future II? That factoid tied nicely into this quest, which centered on the Matterhorn attraction. In the area near the entrance to the attraction, there is an informational sign that shows the flags of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. Variations of these are also on plaques and on flags hanging in front of the entrance to the Matterhorn.

Teams were given a blank template in the shape of the sign, and instructed to locate the two missing cantons that aren't shown on the front of the attraction or on flags. It turns out there are actually three missing, which the Third Gate Games crew worked hard to communicate to teams after the start of the game.

  • Final Answer: Solothurn, Lucerne, Fribourg [Any combination of 2 was accepted during grading]

Bet on It (30 Points)

The sports almanac Marty tries to bring back to the past to make some money features prominently in Back to the Future II. The recent overhaul of ToonTown provided some new signs to use for this quest, which sampled a single letter from each one to spell out Sports Almanac in a collection of single-letter images.

In order to decode the final questions, teams used the provided information that instructed them to move left or right of the pictured letter within the word containing it to arrive at a new letter.

  • Final Question: Type of gear stored in Goofy's House
  • Final Answer: Boxing

A brief closure of Goofy's House during the game tripped up a few teams, however the  house reopened before teams had to turn in their quests.

Enchantment Under the Sea (40 Points)

The Enchantment Under the Sea dance makes a return in Back to the Future II, so we decided to bring reuse this quest from Back to the Park in Florida. Teams searched Tomorrowland for words that contained the C from a provided image, then wrote it into the provided spaces. The group of letters shown under the C was then placed into a grid to form the final question.

  • Final Question: Thirteen letter hyphenated word describing vessel taken for an underwater adventure?
  • Final Answer: Semi-submerged

One tricky C is located on the rotating sign at the Tomorrowland train station, which seemed to have various states of functionality during testing.

Wild Gunman (40 Points)

Marty learns the sharpshooting skills that serve him well in Back to the Future III by playing the Wild Gunman video game, which also has a cameo in the 80s Cafe in Back to the Future II. We couldn’t resist a gunslinger-inspired quest set in Frontierland!

Teams received a list of phrases missing a single word along with a word search grid that was riddled with colorful bullet holes. Once teams found each missing word in the land, they then looked for it in the word search grid. Each colorful bullet hole corresponded to a missing letter from the word. These letters were the key to decode the final question, which referenced the Shootin’ Exposition.

  • Final Island: How much to empty the gun
  • Final Answer: 50 cents

Frontierland extends much farther than you’d think! One tricky answer, Mineral Hall, is located on a window above and to the right of the exit of Rancho del Zocalo.

Screen Door on a Battleship (50 Points)

The doors of Batuu hold an interesting variety of designs and access panels. The colored lights on these panels also vary, providing a method to encode a message for our teams.

Each image of a panel had its lights covered by a letter. Teams searched the alleys and streets of the land to find the panels and highlight the letters covering the non-white panel lights. When read in order, the letters spelled out the final question.

  • Final Question: Count creatures hanging above Ronto counter
  • Final Answer: 11

Parallel Paths (50 Points)

The multiverse is alive and well in the Back to the Future films. All of that time travel creating alternate realities… for this quest, teams answered a series of multiple choice questions in New Orleans Square and Critter Country that provided the steps for their adventure on Pirates Lair.

After taking a raft over to the island, teams followed the path outlined by the answers to end up at a final location. The final answer to this quest was the sign nearest to their final location.

  • Final Answer: Blacksmith, W Turner Prop

Read My Fax (4 Points Each)

Instead of a classic Eye Spy quest with provided images, this quest asked various questions that could be answered inside all of the lands. Teams received 4 points for each correct answer.

  1. 2
  2. Sleeping Beauty
  3. Fantasyland Theater
  4. Matterhorn and Skyway
  5. 17
  6. Red Rose Taverne [Plaza Inn and Critter Country churro cart were also accepted after verifying that these do in fact have rooster weather vanes on them]
  7. Snow White
  8. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
  9. Troubadour Tavern
  10. 3
  11. Thursday
  12. Camp Woodchuck
  13. Valid ID or sweater
  14. Rongo [Ben Franklin was a popular guess]
  15. 1911
  16. 1
  17. Bengal BBQ
  18. 4
  19. Furikake
  20. Careen
  21. 5
  22. XP-40
  23. Liberty Poles
  24. Pine Tree Flag
  25. Opals
Three players sit on a stone wall working on puzzles
Four players smile with the Matterhorn in the background

Advanced Only Quests

Advanced teams received three additional “Part II” quests that continued their exploration in Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and Pirates Lair when they turned in the pages for the Basic portion of each quest.

Matter of $80 (30 Points)

Building off of the canton plaques, teams used the provided index numbers on each shield to count into the name of the canton. These letters were used to decode the series of shield images to arrive at a final answer.

  • Final Question: What is written on the reverse of rest area sign?
  • Final Answer: Matterhorn Trailhead

Sea You Again (40 Points)

Time to double down in Tomorrowland, this time to find words with more than one C that matched the provided images. Teams entered the words in the provided grid and used the letters under the Cs to spell out the final clue. The clue lead to a poster in Alien Pizza Planet.

  • Final Clue: Vegetable Forest
  • Final Answer: Alpha Broccolius

Rootin' Tootin' Conclusion (50 Points)

More than a few Advanced teams gave us the evil eye when they found out they had to go back to Pirates Lair, but Back to the Future is all about revisiting past times and locations so off they went. Teams were given a sheet with a layout of letters and skulls, as well as a series of stick figures with skulls in various poses.

On Pirates Lair, there is a cave area that has a series of stick figures. Using the provided letters and skulls to decode the different poses, teams spelled out the final question. The answer is located on a crate near the front of the island.

  • Final Question: Where is Bosun Caribbean rum from
  • Final Answer: Tortuga Island

Our team enjoyed acting out the different stick figure poses while testing out the game. We hope you had some fun with it too!

 

Results

Results and awards were presented at our post-event gathering on Sunday evening, back at the picnic area. We also handed out achievement buttons, which allow us to reward MouseAdventure teams that get the highest trivia score, find all of the eye spies, and other accomplishments. You have to be present to receive them though, so make sure to attend our future post-event gatherings!

Full results are available on the MouseAdventure website. The total possible points for the event were 400 for Basic and 520 for Advanced. There was no hidden quest.

The best new team (not otherwise placing) was Barbie's Handlers with 313 points, who placed 9th in their first game. The highest trivia score was 45 out of 50 by Frank 'n Weenies.

The top 3 Advanced Teams were:
  1. Churro Chasers - 481 points
  2. Animated Inanimates - 477 points
  3. Teamboat Willie - 475 points
The top 3 Basic Teams were:
  1. Skippers in De Nile - 362 points
  2. Pascal - 340 points
  3. Lost Falls Expedition - The Final Journey - 334 points
The Masters

No Masters teams competed, however with their third win, the Churro Chasers have now joined the ranks of the Masters!

A Masters team is a team that has placed first in 3 events, and has been retired from competition. Although not eligible for any prizes during non-Invitational MouseAdventure games, Masters teams return to set the bar for other teams to compete against. They play mainly for bragging rights and the thrill of the puzzle hunt.

Image

Churro Chasers

Image

Animated Inanimates

Four players of Teamboat Willie

Teamboat Willie

Three members of team Pascal

Pascal

Four players of Lost Falls Expedition

Lost Falls Expedition - The Final Journey

Frank n weenies

Frank 'n Weenies

Candid Photos

We try to capture the fun of every event by catching photos of as many teams as we can during the game. All the images we took are in our Third Gate Games candid gallery.

Thank You!

Thanks to our awesome teams for coming out and playing the game. We'd also like to thank:

  • Shoshana Fischer for writing the trivia
  • Mox for helping beta test
  • Janis, Aaron, Nathaniel, and Jennifer for helping crew

If you enjoyed the event, please share with friends you think might like to play in the future!