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Well, the whole thing was a HUGE learning experience for sure. Thanks to the members of The Cartridge Blowers who showed up afterwards to chat and give me and Robert some advice, and also to Aubrey (not sure of her team name) who did the same. We probably got the least number of points of any team but no, we were not the ones who left swear words all over our answer sheet! Thanks for the fun and we look forward to the next one!
If (when?) you put out a survey, for the first time, I will not be cursing out the Toontown quest. Although, after having a disastrous time with the Tarzan quest (because reading AND understanding instructions is our specialty), as we starting that one over three times in the midst of having slightly damp quest paper to write on 60 minutes into the competition, of course the Toontown one was easy for us.
I am happy to note that even though we didn’t do well at this event at all (I think we started and skipped more than a handful of quests), we are finally using tips/techniques that have hindered us before. Namely, re-reading instructions carefully to ensure we are answering the correct question, walking in a different direction to see if we can find clues from a new angle, hydrating and snacking so we don’t get hostile towards each other.
I will wish the same thing I do every event though: I wish there was more time! 🙂 Thanks for another fun MA!!
Full results are now available! https://mouseadventure.com/mas16-disneyland-results/
For those who struggled with Main Street quests, I feel your pain. I do not like Main Street quests.
Phew, reading these posts has been somewhat comforting. For some reason, I found this MA harder compared to some others. I felt like we definitely had to find more things and I think that the new rule about only two people going into stores threw me off. Like SSMORES, we started a bunch of quests but weren’t able to find enough of the clues to finish. Like, we were thisclose to solving the mirror quest but couldn’t figure out what was the sold item was 🙁
And I was also one of those people who put the tea bag away haha.
Oh well, thanks MA Team for putting on another great event! I really liked the AMC venue and check-in went faster than I ever remember it going (maybe it was the smaller amount of players but I’d chalk it up to the efficiency of your staff). One of my teammates missed the reception and formal Q&A (and I have to say I did too) but understand why it wasn’t done. I also liked how fast orientation was! I just wish the game could’ve started earlier since we finished a half hour early, but then again I did like the extra time to just relax before the game started.
And those tea bags were so cute!! Great iDEa 🙂 Can’t wait for the next MA already haha
I’m a little confused. Page 5 of this thread shows the first place Advanced team having 435 points but the official results posted shows them at 511. There’s differences for second and third place too. What accounts for the different scores in this thread vs the official scores just posted tonight?
That said, it looks like my team, Lite Magic got fourth place(?) in the Advanced division? Yay!
Thanks for a great time!! Wow! 21st place! I think that might be a record for us! It’s pretty rare for us to move higher than 50%! Everything seemed to click for us.
The one that took the longest was the Toontown quest. We thought it took an awful long time for only 20 points! I have to say I’m a bit tired of looking at the windows in Main Street. Seems like we do that an awful lot. We breezed through the wall one in Critter Country. I always love the visual quests! Our team got smart this time and looked for any quests required unscrambling letters. That paid off for us as we avoided the Tomorrowland quest! When I first saw the railroad quest, I thought it was going to require us to walk all over the park. By the time we got it, we had already walked all over the park so we nixed that one. Later on, while working on another quest, we saw the railroad exhibit at the opera house. Shoot! That one looked like fun. Wish we had at least attempted that one. The two person in a store rule was a little disappointing. Seems like we went in a lot of stores this time and somebody was always left out.
I liked the AMC theater better than the ballroom and the informal gathering at the end rather than the more expensive ballroom gathering. It would be nice if we could be charged per person instead of per team. It would also be nice if MA staff wore a different colored lanyard than the players.
Overall, it seemed to be a much more relaxed day for us this time. Maybe because my brother’s team didn’t play so no head to head competition?? In any event, the Disney Dreamers really had a good time! THANK YOU MA STAFF!! YOU ROCK!!
The Disney MountainEars are pretty happy with our 11th place finish in Basic! We had some tough moments but even more good victories and good team work! Thanks Third Gate Games for a fun MouseAdventure!
I thought it was too dark in the AMC. It was nice that it was much closer to DL though! Speaking of that, it seems like we always ask for more game time. And we stand around for awhile waiting for 10:00am to roll around. Could we get our packets at 9:45? Or maybe meet for sign in at 8:00 and get started at 9:30? And maybe end at 4:30? That extra hour would have been huge! I guess I’m just a glutton for more MA punishment! Also it seemed weird that we went to different scatter location in DtD. And then we all went in to DL together! Shouldn’t we have had scatter locations in DL itself? Then we’re already in DL at start time instead of making the long walk and having to go thru bag check and the entrance all during game time.
Our experience with the quests sounds like many others who have reported in here: we liked the Critter Country, Toontown and Fantasyland quests and struggled a little but had exciting satisfying breakthroughs on the Frontierland and Main Street quests. We spent way too long, and ultimately were unsuccessful even after two hints on the Tomorrowland quest. Wish we would have spent that time on the RR quest. We got a lot of the questions but finally decided that we didn’t have enough time to get to NOS to finish it off. At 3:58 I turned everything in and at 3:59 Jeff noticed and had the answer to the Hidden Quest. Next time I’ll wait until 4:00 to turn in!
We did not care much for the new “store” rule. I understand that we’re running out of “data” in the parks but it was not satisfying to just sit outside and wait with nothing to do. Maybe if we knew which stores were in the mix, it might be OK. As it was we had to split up too many times.
We always love Eye Spies! It gives all of us something else to be checking for while working on the quests. And it’s a good way to break up ties. The doors were fun. We only found five but that’s our own problem! And for once we excelled in the trivia. I enjoyed studying for this one. Always loved Alice!
Well, we all know what the Basic quests looked like. Maybe the Advanced teams could give us a run down of their three extra quests. Steph says Day at the Park won’t have any of them so no need to worry about spoilers! And it’s always fun to see what we missed out on!
Thanks again for a great day with my team!
The Disney MountainEars are pretty happy with our 11th place finish in Basic! We had some tough moments but even more good victories and good team work! Thanks Third Gate Games for a fun MouseAdventure!
I thought it was too dark in the AMC. It was nice that it was much closer to DL though! Speaking of that, it seems like we always ask for more game time. And we stand around for awhile waiting for 10:00am to roll around. Could we get our packets at 9:45? Or maybe meet for sign in at 8:00 and get started at 9:30? And maybe end at 4:30? That extra hour would have been huge! I guess I’m just a glutton for more MA punishment! Also it seemed weird that we went to different scatter location in DtD. And then we all went in to DL together! Shouldn’t we have had scatter locations in DL itself? Then we’re already in DL at start time instead of making the long walk and having to go thru bag check and the entrance all during game time.
You bring up some points that are often mentioned in our surveys (and one will be coming soon for this event as well), but we have no easy way to respond, so I will try here.
Earlier Start Time/More Game Play. We try to maximize your game time as much as possible. Starting teams earlier would not really help in any meaningful way because A) many shops and restaurants are still closed or on different menus earlier in the morning (and it could be limiting to avoid some of those locations) and B) many times the backup of other guests trying to get into the park at earlier times is worse and makes getting in take even longer.
While we know that it feels like you are just waiting around waiting to start, the timed scatter start has been the most favored method, by far. Once all the teams clear our morning meeting location (in this case, the AMC Theatre), we still have to pack up all our sign-in supplies, and get in place for distribution. This is pretty much as fast as it can happen.
One other thing to note is that we PURPOSELY give you more to do than can be completed by most teams. Time management should be part of your team strategy. So, are you really just asking for fewer quests?
Packet Distribution. Currently, with security at the resort in constant flux, it is best if we distribute at least the starting game packet to teams OUTSIDE of bag check. It is much easier for 150+ teams to each walk in with one packet than for us to try and get 150+ packets in without being stopped and having to get cleared. We only ever had small issues with getting materials into the park, but we would never want to delay the start of the game due to this.
Along those same lines, it is best for us to separate into smaller groups to distribute game packets. This makes it easier and faster for everyone. The scatter locations for Basic teams were all very close to one another and should not have impacted game finish times in any way.
Please keep the questions and suggestions coming!
First timers The Many Hatters did get a little overwhelmed by the amount of little details to find and having to reread the quests to make sure we were understanding directions.
It’s made sense for the scattered packet pick ups so not over crowded in one spot.
I think what we had a hard time with was when two people went in store the others couldn’t look for other clues in the same area. Even with people in the store carrying the papers if the others could walk around looking for words or pictures could have helped us get a few more clues.
Was a fun time overall and we still had time to enjoy the park after turning just the trivia part in.
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