To celebrate MousePlanet’s 10th Anniversary we presented one of our biggest events ever at the Disneyland Resort. Advanced teams competed in MouseAdventure: Decades over a two day period, Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23 including an extra set of quests on Saturday night; Basic teams played MouseAdventure: Anniversary on Sunday; and Day at the Park teams (Advanced and Basic divisions) experienced what was for many their first MouseAdventure two weekends later on Sunday, June 6.

Over 1,000 players competed over the two weekends, making this event if not our “biggest ever” certainly one of the largest. Even with the high participant numbers, things went fairly smoothly. There were the usual last-minute changes in the parks for which we had to account – Disney Imagineers adding Toy Story 3 characters to Toy Story Midway Mania one night before the first weekend of events being the most dramatic. The teams (and staff) took the changes in stride and we didn’t encounter any major issues mid-game. For example, we had a quest on Tom Sawyer Island and the island remained open all day.

The Advanced/Decades teams enjoyed a full breakfast in Aladdin’s Oasis before setting out on Saturday morning. Their quests incorporated a number of “plus” items including mini-Mickey MP3 players, LEGO blocks, paint chips for color matching, and an embroidered sock with blacklight-glow thread. The nighttime segment focused on quest elements that aren’t visible or even present during the day. No battery-powered illumination was permitted of course, but one clever team came equipped with chemical glow-sticks.

We used scratch-off ink extensively in this event, including the new Quest Passes. To prevent overcrowding in a single location, each team (except Advanced/Day at the Park) received a Quest Pass telling them which of four different locations to go to upon leaving the morning briefing to pick up their first quest or packet. With just 27 teams, a scatter for the Advanced/Day at the Park was not necessary.

The Basic/Anniversary and Day at the Park events opened with the traditional Paradise Pier Hotel ballroom briefing, wherein teams are welcomed, pumped up, encouraged to stay hydrated and otherwise prepared for the events that lay ahead. The first weekend concluded back in the ballroom for presentation of awards and prizes. A special treat for teams returning early to the ballroom was the impromptu debriefing with quest authors Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix and Joe Stevano. Day at the Park teams turned in their answer sheets inside Disneyland, in late afternoon for Basic and after the nightly fireworks for Advanced.

The weather mostly cooperated for both weekends; despite threatened rain on the first weekend and a scorching-hot forecast for the second, both were mild and fairly comfortable. Perhaps we’re collecting the Karma credits from Rain Gear Games.

Quests

MouseAdventure Trivia
(2 points each)
Advanced/Decades teams received their trivia questions with their sign-in packet. Completed trivia answer sheets had to be turned in to claim their first quest packet at MouseAdventure Central. Basic/Anniversary teams did trivia in the ballroom before leaving to begin quests. Advanced/Day at the Park teams had no trivia, and Basic/Day at the Park teams received a trivia packet upon leaving the ballroom.

Very Important Dates
(2 points each)
A combination of the trivia and a “Find the staff member” quest meant that teams who knew their stuff could get two points for each correct answer to questions about important dates in Disneyland history without having to look for MouseAdventure crew member Tracy somewhere on Tom Sawyer Island (Decades) or staff member Karl experiencing the wonders of the future in Tomorrowland (Day at the Park). If the team needed a little help, they could receive a clue from the staff member in exchange for a raffle ticket, if they could find him..

Alpha-Bit Eye-Spy
(5 points each)
A variation on the traditional Eye-Spy quest, teams were given a closeup of letters A through Z taken from signs throughout Disneyland. The answer to each was the full word from which each letter was taken.

Scavenger Hunt
(5 points each)
We can’t really do classical scavenger hunts anymore now that our regular events have players numbering in the six or seven hundreds. An Advanced event with just twenty-eight teams let us return to this classic quest. Teams collected a series of items from around the Resort, including a Fastpass for each team member from as many Fastpass attractions as they could manage in the time allotted. This would turn out to be important later when the Advanced teams returned for the night quests. Other items to be collected included a piece of Mickey confetti, a Cast Member exclusive hidden Mickey trading pin, and of course, a Tabasco packet.

Lackluster Lyrics
(5 points each)
Teams received a small Mickey-shaped MP3 player with earbuds. On the player were ten tracks, each containing a song lyric from a Disney animated feature. However, the song lyrics were spoken aloud without any particular inflection, which made it difficult to identify the song and the movie in which it was featured. Each movie the teams could identify was worth 5 points.

Landscape Eye-Spy
(5 points each)
In another variation on the classic Eye-Spy, teams were given a collection of pictures of some of the beautiful and creative light fixtures around the Disneyland Resort. The correct answer for each was the number, as shown on the official Disneyland and DCA park maps, of the nearest location.

Sounds of Disneyland
(5 points each)
Teams got the mini-Mickey MP3 players back for the evening segment. This time the players were loaded with ten very short clips of Disneyland attraction soundtracks. For five points each, teams identified the attraction that was the source of each clip.

You Don’t Know John
(5 points each)
The mini-Mickey MP3 players made one more appearance in the Advanced/Decades division’s Sunday segment, this time loaded with sound clips of actor John Ratzenberger from his many roles in Pixar films. Each movie correctly identified from the sound clip was worth five points. The teams were encouraged to take home the MP3 players at the conclusion of the event.

Goofy GPS
(5 points each)
Goofy’s quest submission for our Decades event was going to be a list of GPS coordinates from each of which a specific question could be answered. Unfortunately, Goofy forgot to to provide the GPS coordinates (somebody remind me why we keep hiring this guy?). Teams were given a list of ten questions that could have been answered in only one location in Disneyland – but you had to read the questions very, very carefully.

It’s All Glyph To Me
(20 points)
Teams decoded a message using the painted glyphs on the wall in the Adventureland Bazaar. A crowd-control issue soon developed inside this shop during the Basic/Anniversary event on Sunday so only one team member at a time was permitted inside.

• Secret Message: WHAT ONE ITEM LISTED BELOW IS NOT ON DISPLAY INSIDE THE ADVENTURELAND SOUTH SEAS TRADERS: BEANS, CLAY POTS, COFFEE, GAS, CANE SUGAR, RUM, LANTERNS, COCONUTS, LIFE RING
• Answer: CANE SUGAR

Spirits Of America
(20 points)
In the Main Street Opera House teams identified the miniature statues of the “Spirits of America” figures on display from Epcot using Eye-Spy closeup pictures. The pictures were matched to the names of the statues in a list. Lines drawn from one to the other crossed another set of words. After all pictures were identified, words that were crossed could be rearranged to form a question.

• Question: WHAT YEAR DID DISNEY LEGEND BLAINE GIBSON SCULPT THE BUST OF LINCOLN?
• Answer: 1965

One For The Road
(20 points)
We bid farewell to the most used-and-abused piece of DCA scenery with this classic quest. Teams had to find every word printed on the Mulholland Madness mural in a provided word search grid. Unused letters in the word search formed a final question.

• Question: WHAT DOES THE LICENSE PLATE ON THE CAR ON THE ATTRACTION SIGN READ
• Answer: ADVNTUR

An Evil Paragraph In 10 Acts
(20 points)
Teams recorded indicated words from plaques in the Main Street Opera House to form a classic Evil Paragraph.

• Answer: 16

Legendary Search
(20 points)
This word-search quest required teams to sit through “Great Moments with Mr Lincoln”, not because the answer was to be found there, but because some elements used were in the exit queue. As you know, MouseAdventure rules forbid entering an attraction through its exit. Teams searched for names of Legends as shown in the Hall of Legends in the word search. Unused letters revealed a final question.

• Question: IN 1965, THE DISNEYLAND OPERA HOUSE PRESENTED GREAT MOMENTS WITH MR LINCOLN. WHAT WAS ALSO NEW FOR SUMMER 1965?
• Answer: PLAZA INN

Hide And Seek With Boo
(20 points)
Boo was playing hide-and-seek with Mike and Sully and left behind a sock as a clue to her hiding spot. Each team received a child-size sock, embroidered with seemingly random numbers and letters. When exposed to the blacklight inside the Monsters Inc. attraction in DCA, certain letters and numbers fluoresced. Those numbers and letters matched notations on the back side of painted flats making up the Monsters Inc. attraction facade. The answer was visible only from inside the exit queue; a fact several teams realized after exiting, meaning they had to ride again.

• Revealed clue: PROD SC
• Answer: BOO’S DOOR

Lost
(20 points)
The backstory of this quest involved the TV series Lost, which ended its run just a few hours after the first weekend of MouseAdventure events concluded on Sunday, May 23. The goal was to find MouseAdventure crew member Tracy, who would give teams a code word worth 20 points.

• Answer: BAD ROBOT

Star Search
(20 points)
The Day at the Parks teams searched Tomorrowland for MouseAdventure crew member Karl, who would provide them with a code word worth 20 points.

• Answer: TRON

Hidden Quest
(20 Points)
Yes, there was a hidden quest. In the “Publik House” quest, the name of the town “Wontsow Hamlet” was italicized. The letters could be unscrambled to reveal:

• Question: WALT’S HOME TOWN
• Answer: MARCELINE (CHICAGO was also accepted)

Down In New Orleans
(30 points)
This quest, themed after the recent Disney animated feature The Princess and the Frog, had teams (virtually) chasing Dr. Facillier as he darted in and out of shops, restaurants, and other locations in and around New Orleans Square. Facillier’s timeline was established by reviewing “witness statements” and determining which were true and which were not. The final answer was the street address where Dr. Facillier was last seen.

• Answer: 21 ROYAL STREET

Message En Écriture Codé
(30 points)
As long as the teams were down in New Orleans Square, we asked them to solve a cryptogram based on signs and decorations in the area. The cryptogram, once deciphered, formed a question to be answered.

• Question: NAME THE GOLD PAINT BRAND
• Answer: CARTER’S

Tomorrowland After Dark
(30 points)
This quest used a theming element in the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters attraction queue. Teams first had to search Tomorrowland to find colors in a list of neon and lighted signs. Then, those colors were used in conjunction with the “box of dots” on the wall in the Buzz queue to decode a question.

• Question: How many 3D Vinylmation characters in the Star Trader window?
• Answer: 267

Little House On The Ranch
(30 points)
Teams first searched Frontierland for answers to a series of questions, which could all be answered with numbers. Then they had to find a series of award ribbons, which (if they took the hint in the quest title) were not too hard to find in the cottage at Big Thunder Ranch. Selected numbers from the answers were used to pick letters from the words on the ribbons to form a question. Teams also had to keep in mind that the “Little House” closes fairly early in the day.

• Question: WHO OWNS THE CABIN?
• Answer: MISS CHRIS

¿Cómo Se Dice?
(30 points)
Teams searched the Pacific Wharf area to fill in the blanks in a crossword-style puzzle. Once all blanks were filled, highlighted letters spelled a word in ancient Aztec. The final answer, found in the Mission Tortilla Factory, was simply the meaning of that word in English. The Mission Tortilla Factory was closed for part of the day during the Day at the Park, but teams could, if they looked carefully, see the answer through a window.

• Answer: TORTILLAS

Not Counting Bricks
(30 points)
Teams were given a small zip-top bag of LEGO bricks. No explanation, no instructions, just the bricks. The bricks had, however, been helpfully labeled with cryptic numbers, letters, and arrows. The object here was to assemble the LEGO blocks into a wall shape and then read letters printed on the back to form a question.

• Question: Name Of The Paradise Pier Amusement Co. Proprietor
• Answer: GUSTAV TINKER SCHMIDT

Missed It By That Much
(40 points)
Roger Rabbit (we gave Goofy a break this time) tried to create a MouseAdventure quest using letters on signs in ToonTown, but, naturally, he photographed the wrong letters. Teams had to find the signs using closeup photos of letters and then note the next letter (after the one photographed) in each sign to spell out a question.

• Question: WHY IS THE POST OFFICE CLOSED?
• Answer: GONE FISHIN’

Window Watchers
(40 points)
This quest revisited familiar territory with teams examining the windows on Main Street to find a series of words from several of the windows. Once found, the first letter of each answer yielded a product or service that can be obtained on Main Street. The final answer was to be the price of that product or service.

• Product or service: “YOUR TUNE”
• Answer: A SONG

Duck, ________, Goose
(40 points)
Teams visited Mickey’s House in ToonTown and looked for words that completed a series of sets (two or more items and a blank to be filled in with a related item). Letters in each found item were crossed off a list, leaving one word of a new set. The final answer was the two words which best completed that set.

• Revealed word: GLOVES
• Answer: CANS, GLASS

Keep To The Code
(40 points)
Another quest we couldn’t have over 200 Basic teams doing involved Tarzan’s Treehouse. Advanced teams examined the books at each tableau and looked for specified page, line, word and letter to decode half of a code phrase, which just for fun happened to be in Latin. The other half of the phrase could be found on the grounds and the final answer was the full phrase.

• Answer: DRACAENA FRAGRANS

Hollywood’s Colorful History
(40 points)
This quest took the Advanced teams over to Disney California Adventure, or, as it was known back then, Disney’s California Adventure. They were provided a pack of Mickey-shaped paint chips and asked to find the locations shown in a series of grayscale photos. By matching the paint chips with the real-life colors in the photographed locations, teams deciphered a phrase from indicated letters on the paint chips.

• Answer: INK AND PAINT

Pre-Flight Checklist
(40 points)
Back in DCA, teams identified one image in each of several sets of four that was not like the others according to specified criteria. The relative locations (on the page of images) of the unlike images were then transferred to the “Pilot / Plane / Mission / Comments” chalkboard in the Fly-n-Buy shop near Soarin’ Over California.

• Answer: RON AILER, FOOLIN’ AROUND, U-2, YIKES!

A Ride In The Clouds
(40 points)
In this quest, which featured a structure never before used in MouseAdventure, teams were given a tag cloud made up of words and numbers found in attraction signs around Disneyland and DCA, one per land or area (except Main Street). One instance of the word was eliminated each time that word appeared on an attraction sign. The unused words allowed teams to identify the one attraction in DCA that was also used to create the tag cloud.

• Answer: MULHOLLAND MADNESS

RWCC
(40 points)
To complete this quest, teams had to answer ten multiple-choice questions about elements found in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area and then transfer linked keywords from those answers to plaques on the Millennium Tree. If all questions were answered correctly, only one plaque remained, and the final answer was the year engraved on that plaque.

• Answer: 1846

Flash Forward
(40 point)
This quest had the teams go into Innoventions (always through the entrance, never the exit!) to answer seven multiple-choice questions about various items found in the building. Once the answers were found, teams used the computer terminals on the second level and, following the onscreen instructions, made selections based on their answers to the earlier questions. If the correct selections were made, teams could find out what kind of “break” they would take in their future. This quest was similar in nature to one from last year’s MouseAdventure: World Explorers, and in fact shared the same final question, but the answer was quite different.

• Answer: NUTRITION

Publik Houses Of Hadlow Down
(50 points)
This quest’s introduction explained that the buildings in Fantasyland were actually copied directly from an English village named Hadlow Down. Every detail was copied exactly, including the unique architectural flourishes that gave each pub its original name. Teams searched for the buildings listed in a copy of the Hadlow Down phone book and then used the matching attraction names to decode a message hidden in the phone numbers.

• Question: WHICH GOOD FAIRY CHANGED THE CURSE?
• Answer: MERRYWEATHER

Power Of Love
(50 points)
This quest could only have been completed at night, because it involved tracing a path through the numerous neon signs in DCA to uncover a hidden question. After collecting letters from neon signs all around the park, teams used the roulette wheel found in a display window in the Hollywood Studios area to decipher a question, the answer to which could be found “somewhere around Paradise Pier.”

• Question: DRAW KANJI LOVE SYMBOL
• Answer: 愛 (A Kanji character meaning “love”)

The Retro Future
(50 points)
Teams searched for numbers which had been edited out of photos in the Star Tours queue. Once found, those numbers were used to complete an “Advent calendar” puzzle revealing a question.

• Question: WHAT DEMONSTRATED STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS OF PLASTICS
• Answer: HOUSE OF THE FUTURE

Wish You Were Here
(50 points)
Teams exchanged information found on the back of postcards which were included in their quest packets. There were twelve different postcards available so it was advantageous to trade with as many other teams as possible to quickly assemble the full set of words. Once all words were collected, a question could be deciphered and answered. Unfortunately, we noted some teams refusing to continue trading with other teams after obtaining their own full set. With team-interaction quests of this type, we always encourage sportsmanship and good behavior, and besides it doesn’t take more than a minute to look at each other’s postcards.

• Question: How many 3D Vinylmation characters in the Star Trader window?
• Answer: 267

Basic/Day at the Park teams had a different version of the postcard exchange quest, though it worked the same way.

• Question: WHAT WAS AN EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN DEMONSTRATING STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS OF PLASTICS
• Answer: HOUSE OF THE FUTURE

Inventory Time In ToonTown
(50 points)
Advanced teams entered the Gag Factory in ToonTown and looked for fourteen items from the upper shelves to complete a crossword. When the crossword was complete, highlighted letters could be decoded into the name of a location in ToonTown. The final answer was the shipping address of that location. The address was not posted at the location, and it wasn’t in the post office, either.

• Location: CLARABELLE’S YOGURT SHOP
• Answer: #3 TOON SQUARE

Follow Your Conscience
(60 points)
This quest had teams riding Pinocchio’s Daring Journey in Fantasyland and watching carefully for signs inside the attraction. The sequence of signs in the correct order was used to follow a maze path with scratch-off spots. The scratch-off maze was turned in with the answer sheet and 10 points were deducted for each incorrectly scratched-off spot.

Is There A Prize For Lowest Score?
(60 points)
The challenge in this quest was twofold: ride Toy Story Midway Mania without firing a single shot and write down the point values of several fast moving targets. The point values were then used in an equation, and the final answer asked teams to assume that Midway Mania points were equal to Boardwalk Games points (we wish!) and to calculate how many balls could be purchased at Casey At Bat with that score.

• Answer: 8

Results

Results for MouseAdventure: Decades and MouseAdventure: Anniversary were announced at the closing festivities on Sunday night, May 23. There were 1,610 possible points in Advanced and 680 possible points in Basic, including trivia, Eye-Spys, and the hidden quest. No team had a perfect score, and there were no ties that affected winning positions. We recognized the top three teams in Advanced, Basic/Returning and Basic/New, and the top two in Basic/Family. (Family teams include at least one player under 13.) Winning teams received prize points to be redeemed at the prize table.

Of special note, the winning team in the Basic Family Teams division, The Metzger Family, had won two previous MouseAdventure events in this division and are therefore accorded the status of MouseAdventure Masters and retired from competition. Three of the Metzgers volunteered to help staff MouseAdventure: Day at the Park two weekends later.

Results for MouseAdventure: Day at the Park (Advanced and Basic) were announced on MousePad. There were 610 possible points in Advanced and 530 possible points in Basic, including trivia (for Basic) and Eye-Spys. As this was a non-competitive event, no prizes were awarded.