In an effort to keep MouseAdventure events fresh and exiting for our teams, we try to introduce a new twist or format each time. For our 18th MouseAdventure event, we decided to hold two events on two different weekends: a competitive event on April 26 for returning or ambitious new teams, and a noncompetitive event on May 10 for first-time and family teams. Almost 1000 players turned out for the two events, (some die-hard MouseAdventurers even registered for both weekends), making this our largest MouseAdventure event to date. Teams participated in one of three divisions, each with a different format and set of challenges. We’ve detailed the quests from each division below, along with the correct answer and the most common errors and incorrect answers.

Last Fall MouseAdventure teamed up with Toys for Tots to host a holiday toy drive, and generous MouseAdventure players filled an entire van with toys and games. This Spring we partnered with Second Harvest for a macaroni and cheese drive. Between the two weekends, MouseAdventure players donated a total of 777 boxes of macaroni and cheese. We are extremely grateful for the overwhelming response to this charity drive, and thank the teams and players who donated so much to local families.

Basic Division

Participants in the Basic division of the Spring 2009 event tackled 8 quests in a modified Mad Scramble format, where teams had to complete or skip the quests at one of four stations before moving on to the next station. But first, teams had to complete a 50-question trivia challenge and solve the cryptic 2-page “Traffic Jam” quest before leaving the Paradise Pier Hotel ballroom. We were quite surprised when a handful of teams managed to solve the Traffic Jam quest without any clues, thus earning them a substantial head start on the teams who remained in the ballroom to watch as we revealed the code.

After teams passed their opening challenge, they received their first quest envelope and headed to one of four locations to solve their first pair of quests. For this recap, we’ll follow a team that started with the Main Street quests:

Main Street

Town Square View
We gave teams a scrambled “street view” image of Town Square, and asked them to put the ground, second, and top floors of each building in the proper order to reveal a question.

• Solution: The Disneyland Entrance Tunnel Posters Give You A Glimpse Of Attractions Found In The Park. Which Land Or Area Is Not Named
• Answer: Toontown

Several teams seemingly tried to “brute force” this quest by unscrambling the words instead of the photos, and told us which poster (Fireworks) did not name a land or area.

Grand Circle Tour
Teams rode the Disneyland Railroad on a complete circuit around the park to find the answers to 12 questions. After collecting the required data, teams used the numbers associated with each correct answer to properly cut and fold a grid of letters to reveal their question: What is the elevation posted on the Main Street train station?

• Answer: 138 feet

Teams had a very hard time finding the street address of the Camerer, Kuss & Co. clock works, as well as the year that Primeval World was added to the Disneyland Railroad route. Both can be found inside the Main Street Train Station.

Tomorrowland

Music of the Night Sky / Space Opera
Every MouseAdventure seems to have one quest that must be rewritten just days before the event because a major element of the puzzle has been removed, replaced, repainted, or closed for refurbishment. Our first Tomorrowland quest fell victim to the unexpected refurbishment of the Astro Orbitor. In the reworked quest, teams had to match a provided staff of music notes to the neon Mickeys on the exterior wall of the Star Traders shop, then identify the decoded song – and the attraction it was written for – by referencing the sheet music posted inside Innoventions.

• Solution: Grim Grinning Ghosts
• Answer: Haunted Mansion

We did not provide a key signature or note values, which made this quest especially difficult for the teams who tried to guess the song without visiting Innoventions. Several teams answered either “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” or “Carousel of Progress.” Quite a few teams that correctly decoded the song unfortunately gave us the name of the song, instead of the attraction as requested.

Sign Language
Teams took a stroll through Downtown Disney to identify a series of store and restaurant signs, then used the text on the signs to decode a question to answer as they rode the Disneyland Monorail back into Tomorrowland.

• Solution: Which boiler planet do you pass on your trip?
• Answer: East

Teams that attempted this puzzle generally solved it correctly, but the time commitment required to walk through Downtown Disney and then wait for a Monorail convinced many teams to skip this quest.

Fantasyland

Are We There Yet?
Teams used a provided set of paper “travel dominoes” to spell out the names of Fantasyland ride vehicles. When the names were placed in proper order, the second set of letters on the tiles formed a question.

• Solution: HOW MANY MICE ARE IN THE THREE DISPLAY WINDOWS OUTSIDE OF BIBBIDI BOBBIDI BOUTIQUE?
• Answer: 17

The most common wrong answer was 13, which means teams counted the mice in the two windows on the front of the store, but missed the four mice in the third window at the side of the store.

One Moon, One Sun. Really?
We sent teams on “it’s a small world” to match a list of 8 rooms or scenes to photos of 8 suns and moons found inside the attraction, in the process revealing a decoded question.

• Solution: What was the date of the first voyage?
• Answer: April 22, 1964

New Orleans Square

I Wonder What Happened to Rosita?
Teams got to take a break by attending a performance of The Enchanted Tiki Room. While there, teams had to locate the names of all of the Hawaiian Gods in the pre-show area, and of all birds with nametags inside the show. After solving a letter-elimination puzzle, teams were left to unscramble the letters D E H I L O P W, and tell us the price of that item.

• Solution: Dole Whip
• Answer: $3.00

An unfortunate error in this quest survived several rounds of testing, and teams that correctly solved the letter elimination part of the puzzle were left with an extra L. (The Tiki Room’s Colette is spelled with just one L, not two) Most teams quickly figured out the problem or asked us for help, but some teams went searching Adventureland for a HED PILLOW.

Fast Train
We sent teams on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to answer a set of six questions, and also to put in order a series of six photo stickers of animals they pass during the ride.

• Answers:
• A = $1.50
• B = 1880
• C = 1870
• D = Accuracy / Dispatch
• E = General Mercantile
• F = 79 Miles
• Photos (in order): Possum; Coyote; Turtle; Snake; Goat; Skunk

Many teams told us that they had to ride two or even three times to locate all of the animals; other teams just could not spot (or read) the price chart painted on the window of the barbershop.

Eye Spy
This Eye Spy asked teams to identify the exit signs of 20 rides and attractions around the Resort. This is actually more difficult than it sounds, but teams who were willing to do a little legwork did well.

The Hidden Quest
Basic division teams that carefully read the MouseAdventure rules might have noticed that some of the letters looked a little… different. When read in order, those letters revealed the hidden quest for this event. The correct answer is 12, but we’ll let teams find the question for themselves.

Advanced Division

As our Basic event teams were just arriving to sign in for their event, our Advanced Division teams had already embarked on our third edition of The Enchanted Race. The Enchanted Race is a time-based event requires teams to correctly solve one quest before moving on to the next quest. The goal is to be the first team to reach the finish line, while avoiding penalties that could cost a team valuable time.

Advanced teams started their event at the Paradise Pier Hotel at 8 a.m., and started the competition by solving a slightly different version of the Traffic Jam puzzle. Once teams were sure they had the correct answer, they could leave the hotel and head off to find a MouseAdventure crew member in Downtown Disney to collect a souvenir and a clue that would lead to their next quest. We’ve detailed most of the quests below, but some navigation tasks are omitted.

Sign Language
Teams had to identify a series of store and restaurant signs, then use the text on the signs to decode the directions to their next checkpoint, where they collected their third souvenir.

• Solution: Collect a souvenir at the Pixie Hollow entrance

Are We There Yet?
Teams used a provided set of paper “travel dominoes” to spell out the names of Fantasyland ride vehicles. When the names were placed in proper order, the second set of letters on the tiles formed a question, though Advanced teams had a different question than the Basic teams.

• Solution: HOW MUCH IS THE CROWN PACKAGE AT THE BIBBIDI BOBBIDI BOUTIQUE?
• Answer: $49.95

Main Street View
We gave teams a scrambled “street view” image of a section of Main Street, and asked them to put the ground, second and top floors of each building in the proper order to reveal a question.

• Solution:
  WHAT EVENT IS NOT COMMEMORATED BY A
  CARD OR SIGN IN THE EXTERIOR DISPLAY WINDOWS OF THE DISNEY SHOWCASE
  GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY JUST ENGAGED FIRST VISIT OUR HONEYMOON FAMILY FUN GOOD TIMES
• Answer: First Visit

Detour: Fast Train / Slow Train

Enchanted Race teams had to answer six questions and place six photos in a specific order, but had to decide whether to perform this task on the fast train (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad) or the slow train (Casey Jr. Circus Train).

Fast Train
We sent teams on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to answer a set of six questions, and also to put in order a series of six photo stickers of animals they pass during the ride.

• Answers:
• A = $1.50
• B = 1880
• C = 1870
• D = Accuracy / Dispatch
• E = General Mercantile
• F = 79 Miles
• Photos (in order): Possum; Coyote; Turtle; Snake; Goat; Skunk

Slow Train
Teams who chose the Slow Train quest answered six questions about the ride, and then used a set of photo stickers to complete a diagram of the giant patchwork quilt visible from the ride.

• Answers:
• A = 4
• B = Pink
• C = Smaller
• D = 7
• E = English and Spanish
• F = 4

Trivia
Enchanted Race teams completed the trivia portion of their event while riding the Disneyland Railroad from Main Street to Tomorrowland. Each correct answer earned the team a one-minute credit, and teams who aced the test could shave an hour off their score.

Music of the Night Sky / Space Opera
Every MouseAdventure seems to have one quest that must be rewritten just days before the event because a major element of the puzzle has been removed, replaced, repainted or closed for refurbishment. Our first Tomorrowland quest fell victim to the unexpected refurbishment of the Astro Orbitor. In the reworked quest, teams had to match a provided staff of music notes to the neon Mickeys on the exterior wall of the Star Traders shop, then identify the decoded song – and the attraction it was written for – by referencing the sheet music posted inside Innoventions.

• Solution: Grim Grinning Ghosts
• Answer: Haunted Mansion

Once teams completed this task, they boarded the Disneyland Monorail to find a MouseAdventure crew member stationed at the Disneyland Hotel. When teams sang the correct song to our crew member, they received another souvenir, and a clue to their next quest.

Mickey and Friends Parking
Teams solved a logic puzzle to determine when Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy arrived at the Mickey and Friends parking structure, and on which level they parked their car, to help Mickey find his car.

• Answer: Mickey was the second to arrive and parked on the Donald level.

Locker puzzle
Teams used the price tags on the five souvenirs collected throughout the race to decode the combination to a locker in the picnic area. Teams opened the locker and found a jigsaw puzzle, which they then had to assemble the puzzle to reveal their next task.

• Answer: Morty and Ferdie

Speed MouseAdventure
The race moved into Disney’s California Adventure for Speed MouseAdventure, a set of five quests that, solved correctly, would reveal the location of the finish line. Teams could solve the five quests in any order, and many teams quickly realized that the answers to all five quests would be found inside the new Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar.

Number Crunching
Teams searched the Condor Flats area to find the answers to 12 questions. After collecting the required data, teams used the numbers associated with each correct answer to properly cut and fold a grid of letters to reveal their question.

• Solution: # of poster variations on the midway mania to do list?
• Answer: 25

International Spelling BEE
Teams searched for 10 words or phrases in Flik’s Fun Fair, which they used to solve a letter elimination puzzle to reveal a French word found in the Blue Sky Cellar. Some smart teams skipped the quest entirely, and just went into the Blue Sky Cellar to look for French words.

• Solution: Maquette
• Answer: Scale Model

Junk Food and Wine
Paradise Pier was the setting for this puzzle, which asked teams to identify food items sold at area carts and restaurants. Using these answers, teams solved a simple cryptogram to reveal a question.

• Solution: What is the barrel to the right of the Mapo May Wine?
• Answer: Corks Crew

We Suggest You Take the Stairs
Teams searched the Hollywood Pictures Backlot to find words that “mysteriously” vanished from a series of photos taken in the area. After using the “found” words to solve a word search puzzle, the remaining letters revealed a question.

• Solution: What is the number of the model red car on display in the Blue Sky Cellar?
• Answer: 5177

Do the Wave
Teams used a semaphore chart found at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail to decode a secret message.

• Solution: What was the name of the proposed slinky dog boardwalk game?
• Answer: Slinky’s Bone-anza

Finish Line ahead
By this point in the Enchanted Race, teams should have opened all but five of the Route Envelopes they had been given at the start of the race. The final five envelopes were marked with locations that could be found on the large souvenir Disneyland Park map given to teams at the start of the race. Teams were instructed to draw lines between four of those locations, and the intersection of the two straight lines was the finish line. Teams had to navigate from Disney’s California Adventure and into Disneyland, avoiding the new Celebrate: A Street Party on their way to the finish line at Zocalo Park.

Day at the Park

Day at the Park teams solved slightly modified versions of the Basic division quests, plus a new “Find Bev & Tracy” quest added just for this event. Day at the Park teams received all of their quests at one time, and had over six hours to solve the quests at their leisure. Without the added pressure of competition, some Day at the Park teams really took their time, a few even stopping for lunch at table service restaurants. This event was a completely different experience for the MouseAdventure crew, and we marveled at how calm and relaxed everyone – including the crew – appeared all day.

Some questioned the wisdom of holding this event on Mother’s Day, but a full quarter of our teams were family teams-double the percentage of family teams in our April event-and many of these teams told us that a day of MouseAdventure had been their Mom’s idea of a great Mother’s Day.

The quests for Day at the Park were as follows (solutions and answers were the same as Basic above unless otherwise noted):

• Town Square View
• Grand Circle Tour
• Music of the Night Sky / Space Opera
• Sign Language – Unlike the April event, the Monorails ran reliably all day.
• Are We There Yet? – During the two weeks between events, Peter Pan’s Flight closed for refurbishment, necessitating a quick rewrite of the quest. Day at the Park teams only needed to find and unscramble four ride vehicles.
• One Moon, One Sun. Really?
• I Wonder What Happened to Rosita? – After the correction of an error in the Basic division version of this quest, teams seemed to have little trouble unscrambling the letters to spell Dole Whip; more than a few stopped to buy one before moving on to their next quest.
• Fast Train
• Eye Spy
• Find Bev & Tracy – Teams were asked to count the number of characters depicted in bronze statues in and around the Hub, then find MouseAdventure crew members Bev & Tracy somewhere around the Rivers of America to earn bonus points. The correct answer was 12: teams who answered 9, 10 or 11 failed to count the double characters on the Chip & Dale, Dumbo & Timothy or Pinocchio & Jiminy Cricket statues; teams that answered 13 incorrectly counted Walt Disney as a Disney character.

Results

Results of the MouseAdventure: Trams, Trains & Monorails Basic and Advanced divisions were announced at our post-event award ceremony, and those winning teams who stayed for the gathering could select their prizes from the prize table. Winning teams that could not stay for the awards had prizes sent directly to them.

None of the teams in the Basic division correctly solved all eight quests, and trivia was the deciding factor for our Basic teams. Just 9 points made the difference between first and sixth place.

The Enchanted Race is a time-based format. Advanced teams that did not reach the finish line by 4:00 were declared unofficial. A scoring error (limited to a single team) was discovered after the event, but this error did not impact the winners announced at the event.

The Day at the Park event used quests that were distributed to teams during our April event, and teams played for bragging rights only. With more time (and less pressure) to solve the quests, the top Day at the Park teams actually scored higher than teams in the Basic division.