Mouse Adventure Date Announced - April 29, 2007

[€uroMeinke]

For those of you not going to Coachella, you might consider this (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=67407)

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Now that we're watching Amazing Race, we will be even more prepared :cool:

[mousepod]

Well... I'll be in Disneyland that day... for the Disney Podcast Network's "Westfest". Damn.

[katiesue]

We're in. Now to start working on puzzles and hitting the treadmill.

[Brigitte]

I'm in, dragging my best friend along with me. She did a couple with us a few years ago. This time, however, we're leaving the kids home and doing this kid and husband free :)

[innerSpaceman]

I'm not so sure I'm doing this anymore. Sounds like my recent medical condition would be aggravated.

And ... I'm kinda weirded out that they can't seem to conduct official business on resort property. Now, I've always been in favor of holding the prize ceremony at one of the hotels ... but if sign-in must be at the Paradise Pier and not the Esplanade, and they can never again run Classic Mouse Adventure because they can't have a MouseAdventure Central anywhere on resort property .... I think the workability of the game is forever tarnished.



Plus, yeah, my team stinks nowadays. I don't think I'm willing to risk foot problems for anyother 28th-place embarrassment. ;)

[Stan4dSteph]

I might be there that weekend. Haven't decided yet. Of course, I would be working though...

[Babette]

Plus, yeah, my team stinks nowadays. I don't think I'm willing to risk foot problems for anyother 28th-place embarrassment. ;)But it's not about who wins or loses, it is all about the adventure! ;)

My pass expires April 17. What to do, what to do?

[Stan4dSteph]

My pass expires April 17. What to do, what to do?Renew, renew, renew! :D

[Prudence]

I'd kind of like to do it, and I don't have any finals that Monday after, but I'm broke and undecided at the moment.

[Not Afraid]

We will be at Coachella - as expected.

[lashbear]

Great ! Just when I'm in San Francisco. :rolleyes:

Oh well, there's always that "LashAdventure" eh, NA ?

[BarTopDancer]

Plus, yeah, my team stinks nowadays. I don't think I'm willing to risk foot problems for anyother 28th-place embarrassment. ;)

The Shiny Happy People met our goal of beating The Denton Affair, so it doesn't matter to us. But I know we will miss being stalked by you guys :p ;)


In all seriousness, the constant running into you guys is one of our favorite things. But health comes first. Fun second.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I will miss the Denton Affair as well as the Lawyers. :( Babette BETTER renew!

[innerSpaceman]

Oh, I haven't consulted with my team ... so we might end up playing, who knows? It's free for us, so we've nothing to lose. Just that, with my new speed of sllllllooooooowwwwwwww ... we will not be winning.

[€uroMeinke]

If only there were a trivia portion....

[BarTopDancer]

Shiny Happy People are in. It's limited to 500 people this time around. And the price went down!

It was 30% full as of 9:50am.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Hey Alex, how would us Masters go about registering?

[Alex]

Email Adrienne and let her know you'll be playing (mouseadventure@mouseplanet.com).

Also, to forestall any additional questions from coming my way: That's going to be my answer to any questions addressed to me. My involvement this time around really is minimal (just advice) since my new job prevents me from being there this time around.

[Snowflake]

Great ! Just when I'm in San Francisco. :rolleyes:

Oh well, there's always that "LashAdventure" eh, NA ?

And this is, like, a bad thing, harrumph.........

[BarTopDancer]

Also, to forestall any additional questions from coming my way: That's going to be my answer to any questions addressed to me. My involvement this time around really is minimal (just advice) since my new job prevents me from being there this time around.

MouseAdventure without Alex? That's unpossible! :(

[DreadPirateRoberts]

Email Adrienne and let her know you'll be playing (mouseadventure@mouseplanet.com).

Also, to forestall any additional questions from coming my way: That's going to be my answer to any questions addressed to me. My involvement this time around really is minimal (just advice) since my new job prevents me from being there this time around.

They can't fly the CEO down for the day on the corporate jet?

[lashbear]

Shiny Happy People are in. It's limited to 500 people this time around..

Isn't that rather large for one team ?

[Alex]

They can't fly the CEO down for the day on the corporate jet?

It wouldn't be the first time I went down for less than a day, but it would require me to physically be in two different places at the same time. I have to work on the 29th of April.

[katiesue]

Our team is in - half of the former Single Rider Syndicate now reborn as the MA Staff Appreciation Society.

[Not Afraid]

Our team is in - half of the former Single Rider Syndicate now reborn as the MA Staff Appreciation Society.
Or, rather, the:
Appreciation of Staff Society Kissers

[katiesue]

Well the original name was Staff Suck-ups but we thought perhaps too many interesting ideas could come with that one so we modified it a bit.

[Stan4dSteph]

FYI, registration is at 65% of capacity, so if you are considering playing I would suggest you do it soon. :)

[jdramj]

MouseAdventure without Alex? That's unpossible! :(



No it just means the weather will be better...right?

Me and my DH are in......Katiesue and your 1/2 team.....see you there!

[katiesue]

Yay - I was just thinking about you the other day.

[Drince88]

I finally get to do a real MouseAdventure! (Even if I am missing the first weekend of Jazzfest for it - and getting to do fun with corporate accounting to deal with a 3-legged airfare that the company is making me do)

I hope to meet some of you there!

[Cadaverous Pallor]

We will organize a meet soon....probably a dinner. Everyone up for that?

[katiesue]

I'm in!

[Drince88]

We will organize a meet soon....probably a dinner. Everyone up for that?

Sounds good. If Saturday, though, we won't be able to attend - we're doing the Food & Wine Reception at DCA that night. :cheers:

[BarTopDancer]

We will organize a meet soon....probably a dinner. Everyone up for that?

Depends on the playoff schedule.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Sounds good. If Saturday, though, we won't be able to attend - we're doing the Food & Wine Reception at DCA that night. :cheers:
It will likely be the traditional congratulatory/conciliatory post-event dinner.

[Drince88]

It will likely be the traditional congratulatory/conciliatory post-event dinner.

Cool! Not sure my sister will be around for that, but I'm not leaving until the morning (if I ever get my new plane tickets arranged. Note to self: call the work TA tomorrow!)

[BarTopDancer]

MA is full.

GAME ON!

[Mr.Abominable]

Might as well let my first post be about MouseAdventure. Can't wait to see everyone there. Go Abominables!

[RStar]

I love your Logo!

And welcome to LoT!

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I would start a new thread, but then :iSm: would throttle me. :D

We are so not ready for this. The library opens this Saturday and it's all I can think of. Looks like we'll have to do some quick studying next week. And oh yeah - make some freakin' shirts! :eek:

[katiesue]

Yessssssss. So we have a chance ;)

I need to do our shirts this weekend. I think Swanie's been studying but I haven't really either. I need to get busy.

[innerSpaceman]

I am beyond not ready. My concentrations and efforts are, at this point, with zero minus 2 weeks to go, focused soley on creating and implementing the wedding ceremony I am performing at the resort the weekend after MouseAdventure.

I'm going to completely wing it for this M.A., and try not to be too distracted. Any thought of competitiveness on my part is out of the question.

[Ponine]

awwwww.. and to think, I'm not playing. Shoot. And here they havent studied.
That said.. cant wait to see the shirts you come up with.

[BarTopDancer]

We're so not ready either. This game is just going to be for fun. I can't believe it's just a little over a week away.

[Ghoulish Delight]

awwwww.. and to think, I'm not playing. Shoot. And here they havent studied.
That said.. cant wait to see the shirts you come up with.Neither can I!

[DreadPirateRoberts]

This game is just going to be for fun.

You guys do this for fun?

[BarTopDancer]

You guys do this for fun?

Ya. We're twisted like that.

[RStar]

I will not be there for this one. I got tickets for WICKED!!! :cool:

[Alex]

I'm not ready for it either. But I don't have to be.

[innerSpaceman]

Um, Alex, are you no longer affiliated with MouseAdventure?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Um, Alex, are you no longer affiliated with MouseAdventure?He's off the hook for this one. They tend to take turns. You just know he'll work on the next one though.

[Stan4dSteph]

Um, Alex, are you no longer affiliated with MouseAdventure?He's posted about it, maybe even earlier in this thread. He's got to work that day.

[innerSpaceman]

Ah.


Well, then, he's got to go camping with us. ;)

[Babette]

Looks like we are not playing. We did not sign up in time and have not found a team. :(

[innerSpaceman]

This is going to be like the most bizarre, swankless MouseAdventure ever.

[Morrigoon]

Wow, I totally missed this this time around. Our team has been so distracted this year, I think we hardly noticed it was happening!

[innerSpaceman]

So .... if so few of our usual suspects are playing ... how ironic is it that this MA sold out in like 10 minutes?







Or maybe that's why so few of our usual suspects are playing.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

We ran into the Tiki Twosome at the park sometime back, and they said they were out of the country for the day that MA tickets went on sale. It was sold out before they got back.

The fact that so many people are involved has definitely changed who's playing.

[BarTopDancer]

The 500 person (vs team number) limit made a huge difference for how long tickets were on sale for.

Alex, any idea if this is going to be the status quo going forward?

It's going to be interesting and different.

[Not Afraid]

Hopefully we'll be able to play in the Fall. And, hopefully, it won't be aother Amazing Race.

[innerSpaceman]

It hardly makes it worthwhile to hike all the way to the Paradise Pier for the awards ceremony if hardly any of a trillion friends will be there to hang with.





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[Not Afraid]

Have you gotten that tattoo yet? ;)

[blueerica]

Hmm... I wonder what my school schedule will feel like in the Fall. If there ends up being any teams with open spaces at the last minute to give me enough time to figure out if I could handle an MA weekend...

Oh, bah! Who am I kidding?

[BarTopDancer]

It hardly makes it worthwhile to hike all the way to the Paradise Pier for the awards ceremony if hardly any of a trillion friends will be there to hang with.

:p

We'll be making that hike because we will probably be going to ESPN Zone to catch the game.

BE - this MA was capped at 500 people. The number of teams was irrelevant. If they do it the same way in the fall you won't be able to wait until the last minute unless you are going to replace someone who has to cancel at the last minute.

[belleh5]

Sadly the SuperStar Losers aren't playing this spring. We didn't sign up in time. Hopefully we will all be together again in the fall and if it doesn't fall on Taylor's b-day. But I will still be down there this weekend to hang out with whoever?!

[NirvanaMan]

So .... if so few of our usual suspects are playing ... how ironic is it that this MA sold out in like 10 minutes?

Or maybe that's why so few of our usual suspects are playing.


That was the issue for us. We aren't a regular on any of the boards, but it's usually not an issue. The registration is open for months. This time I think it closed in something like 4 freakin days. Unfortunately, I think we found out on the 5th or 6th day. Sux more balls than one of those armored carts at a driving range. :(

[innerSpaceman]

The irony is ... and yeah, I've said this before ... but this may the the last MouseAdventure I play. I feel like it's gotten so far from its roots, I don't even recognize it.

Sure, the event itself might still be in the parks and at the resort ... but as someone who bemoaned losing the prize ceremony at Carnation Gardens and having MouseAdventure central conveniently located near there ... it's quite a blow having to do registration and have the prize ceremony ... not in the Esplanade or at Big Thunder Back-o-Barbeque ... but at the bloody Paradise Pier Hotel!!

Crikey, that sucks.



Frankly, with so few of our friends playing, and lately not wanting to even know how badly we did ... I may not even bother to trek all the way over to the Paradise Pier for the results.


It's really too bad that, if rumors are right, Disney has cracked down on this so much that nothing official can be held at the Resort proper. And even more sucky if more juicy rumors are true that a fiasco involving MiceChat's first foray into MouseAdventureish territory 86'd it for everybody else.

[Alex]

Disneyland has simply made it prohibitively expensive to rent an in park venue. When a local radio station rents Festival Arena for 500 people, that radio station generally needs to also purchase 500 admission tickets.

Disneyland has decided they want that money even if the admission tickets aren't needed. If we tried to pass that expense on to the players, MA, would end up costing almost $100 per person. And it is certainly not an expense MousePlanet could just eat.

Believe me when I say every possible alternative we can think of has been seriously considered. And short of limiting the game to 30 teams and going underground again (which would have all kinds of perils now that Disney is on edge because there is some scavenger hunt type event going on almost every weekend now and many of them create more hassle for the park with 50 players than we do with 500) we're running with the options that at least allow us to do the game.

[Stan4dSteph]

There's a MA reminderer that you can sign up for. It will send you an email when registration opens. Here's a link to the email form (mailto:mouseadventure@mouseplanet.com?subject=Rem ind me about the next MouseAdventure).

[innerSpaceman]

I suppose Disney could have just banned the practice ... but I don't see how they could manage that, logistically or legally. I mean if a group of people want to count how many Dumbos there are, how can that be a basis for removing them from the Park?

And I understand about Festival Arena being prohibitively expensive. But why isn't registration allowed in the Esplanade or the picnic area? Was that part of the purchase package?

What does this mean for where officials are stationed during the event? Do they have to linger near rest rooms now, or are they allowed to set up a table somewhere on resort property?




Reasons aside ... it doesn't change the truth on the ground. Logistically, it's not as charming as it once was. And the games themselves have been hit and miss. Oh, it's always a reasonably good time ... but it's been a while since there was a really creative and fun-filled game (imo) ... oddly enough, it was in DCA!


Add to that the fact that I've played a dozen times or so, and yeah - maybe even that my team's gone from hyper-competing champions to out-of-the-running has-beens ... it all adds up to a certain malaise.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I don't blame iSm for his malaise - but if the past holds true, he'll be back again next time ;)

Thanks for the reminder link, Steph. I'm not surprised that people didn't use it, because like NM said, in the past we didn't need it. This jumped out and took everyone off guard.

It would have been nice if the staff saw this coming and sent out a mass email to all former teams, letting them know that it would sell out fast this time. (If MP hasn't been keeping the emails in a database I'd be very disappointed in their business practices.)

I suppose one could argue that no matter what, not everyone would get in....and if that's the way it's going to continue to be, the unity this event has had in the past may be in trouble indeed. Battling to actually get into the game - yuck. What a shame Disney has done this to MP's wonderful event.

[innerSpaceman]

I hate to say it. But it's MousePlanet's event ... and if the participation has to be limited, I can't see a reasonable reason why members of MousePad* shouldn't get first crack at it.







* if that's still a going concern. I think I post there twice a year, once after each MA ... and I think I skipped last time.

[Alex]

We didn't do that because we didn't expect it to sell out that quickly. Apparently being informed that we were up against a hard limit got all of the people who usually wait until the last week to register to do it right away. But the number of people able to play is only slightly less than in the last two events. When we though it would sell out quickly we were thinking a month, not 4 days.

The things we used to do in the picnic area were never allowed, we just eventually got big enough that we couldn't ward off security any longer. We've been hassled for the Saturday picnic being too big and formal.

Esplanade sign-in is no longer an option.

I certainly understand the loss of a certain bonhomie as the event has grown and run into the logistical roadblocks. And if that reaches a point where it isn't fun any more then I can understand that.

Yes, Disney could ban the games (heck, my local mall has a sign up saying that scavenger hunt games are not allowed). It would be difficult to police but assuming there is ever a point in the day where everybody comes together that could be disrupted. And players could be hassled, which even if itsn't effective would be a disaster for us.

[innerSpaceman]

Heheh, a website I devised a game for had part of our scavenger-hunt, puzzle-quest thingy at a mall before they all started outlawing them. My fave task is still from that part of the game: How many nipples are displayed inside Abercrombie?



Alex, could you perhaps elaborate on why the Esplanade check-in is "no longer an option" without revealing state secrets? Is it tied to purchasing the Festival area for big $$?

[AllyOops!]

Aw, Mouse Adventure memories. I had so much fun playing! :)

However, many factors have prohibited me from ever participating again. :(

*Last time that I played, I volunteered to tackle the Critter Country puzzles. My team went one way, and I went....shopping. Oops. I still solved the puzzles, though, so there! I did my part.

*I always make an air-headed blunder that everybody delights in.

*I'm the world's laziest person.

*I physically melt in the sun. No, really. I perspire more then Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown combined. This causes me to whine.

*I always want to stop & socialize with competing teams but they won't even look at me because they follow rules n' stuff.

*I'm the world's laziest person.

*I'm practicing to become the world's next Anna Nicole, so I dedicate my weekends to never getting out of bed in order to get my training in.

*I think I just might suck as a teammate (see above).

*I'd bet my annual passport that nobody misses my lazy ass making an appearance. :p

[Snowflake]

I'd suck just because I would not get any of the puzzles.

[Alex]

iSM: it is no longer offered as an option. There may be nuance (and I'm sure anybody with enough money can arrange it) but my understanding is that they don't want private events to have an esplanade presence anymore.

And those tables were never free add ons for the venue rental or anything like that. Two card tables in the Esplanade cost a pretty penny.

[Moonliner]

Alex:

Damn, they sure make you put up with a lot of BS just to help them promote their park.

Perhaps your first clue for the contestants should be: Make your way to USH and look for the marked table. :rolleyes:

[innerSpaceman]

I think it's time to meet in the huge McDonald's / Mimi's parking lot on Harbor ... and forego the Results / Prize Ceremony altogether.

[Alex]

Trust me, all such options have been considered and their are reasons (can't say if you'd agree with them) for not doing them.

[Babette]

[The P.O.P.=arms crossed, lip pouting, eyes squinting, foot tapping] I want to play! I like classic A-E ticket format! I smell competition but I can't compete! I rock at puzzles! Let me play![/The P.O.P.]

I was without personal internet access at the time the registration opened. I was only able to get online intermittently for a few months. Any and all message boards are banned at work and if you are caught even reading one, you are forbidden to use any computer ever again. I am our site technology rep so that would be really bad. That said, all team slots sold out between my log-ons. Even if I had had the email alert, it probably would not have helped.

[The P.O.P.]I need to solve puzzles![/The P.O.P.]

[FEJ]

[The P.O.P.=arms crossed, lip pouting, eyes squinting, foot tapping] I want to play! I like classic A-E ticket format! I smell competition but I can't compete! I rock at puzzles! Let me play![/The P.O.P.]

[The P.O.P.]I need to solve puzzles![/The P.O.P.]


Lets make our own puzzles for each other to solve since neither of us can play! :P :babette:
Just for fun.

[Babette]

Let's do that! Just for fun? You know I will have to win!

Ooooorrrr...We could have an anti-Mouse Adventure meet. Follow around teams and try to get the DQ'd.:evil:

:fej:

[Not Afraid]

The cure of MA sseems to be working on the weather. But, damnit, it's one thing to be hot in Anaheim and quite another to be in the desert. 105 yesterday and 103 today.

[Kevy Baby]

The cure of MA sseems to be working on the weather.I think this one interprets to "The curse of MA..." but I am not sure.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Yes, imagine the power to make it hot in the desert. Mind blowing.

[NirvanaMan]

There's a MA reminderer that you can sign up for. It will send you an email when registration opens. Here's a link to the email form (mouseadventure@mouseplanet.com?subject=Remind%20m e%20about%20the%20next%20MouseAdventure).

Ah ok, tight. Thanks Steph. Now we won't miss the next one at least, I hope!

Sucks about a bad apple or two spoiling an incredibly tight, well-run event that still manages to stay fresh and fascinating year after year. I am always amazed in how well MA is managed and despite it's upsurge in popularity, still manages to cause minimal to no disruption to the average tourist.

The amount of work that must go into it is mind-blowing. Of course, we always manage to find the mistake or two that inevitably make it into the packets. :)

[TikiBird27]

We ran into the Tiki Twosome at the park sometime back, and they said they were out of the country for the day that MA tickets went on sale. It was sold out before they got back.

The fact that so many people are involved has definitely changed who's playing.


I just saw your post, CP, and I can't believe you remembered our sign-up woes! I had to come out of my LoT lurking to thank you for that. :)

I guess we really shouldn't complain about missing MA this time because we were on vacation....Then again, we are still complaining about our dismal performance in the last MA. :eek: I'm sure we'll snap out of it by the time the next one rolls around.

So, for those who did play...how was it?

[Ghoulish Delight]

We're back. We hurt.

I'm sure the whole thing will be rehashed over the next week, so I'll give the quick hits:

I'll be honest, the whole Paradise Pier Ballroom thing was an unwelcome start to the day. I was waiting for the time share spiel. I know it's totally unavoidable, and it certainly has its advantages (you mean we can hear ALL of the instructions?). But it just loses some charm.

That being said, this game was fun. Fun fun fun. Good mix of puzzles, lots of stuff to keep you moving and looking around. Hard stuff, easy stuff. Fun.

Up until 9PM last night, I was honestly feeling very unmotivated for MA. The Masters rust was piling up, and we didn't have shirts.

That's right, 9PM last night, we didn't even have a solid idea for a shirt.

But by some miracle, we came up with an idea, went out to buy shirts, and did the work after 9. That got us pumped and by the end I was definitely feeling in MA form.

How'd we do? I'll go with respectably. The Brothers Bear, still not far removed from their competing days, wiped the floor with the rest of us Masters, scoring well enough to have won if they were in competition. But we were in the hunt, a mere quest's worth of points away from placing. And the Denton Affair was hot on our heels, doing well enough to have beaten us if not for some controversial errata.

So once again, MA proves to be a stellar affair. Yay.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I just saw your post, CP, and I can't believe you remembered our sign-up woes! I had to come out of my LoT lurking to thank you for that. :) I always enjoy flushing lurkers out! And of course we remember your story - having people recognize us feeds our egos like nothing else. ;)

Like GD said, this game was definitely fun. We even felt good about how we were doing for most of it, which is a rarity.

Highlight - with 15 minutes to go, we find the mouse-ear couple in Fantasyland, and they hand us the second Eye-Spy sheet. In those last moments we found nearly all of them. Great way to end the game.

Definitely an old-school feel, with explicit instructions on most things, which was a nice change from the "wtf is this" we've come to expect. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of other figuring out to be done.

Here are the shirts!

Front:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/codexjen/shirt1.gif

Personalized backs:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/codexjen/swanCP.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/codexjen/swanGD.gif

My lingering thought...we need to take the Brother Bears out, they make the rest of us look bad! And just let me say that it is so cool to have the Denton Affair back in the running! I'm proud of you guys. I should have remembered that the more iSm complains about something on the board, the more likely it is that he'll participate :p

[wendybeth]

I'm so glad you guys were able to participate in MA- I have never been to one, so I depend on these reports for the vicarious thrills. I think I need to plan my next trip around MA; I would be of absolutely no help to any team, but I'm willing to buy a round of post-MA shots.:D


Great shirts, btw.

[blueerica]

If you're buying a round, let's form a team ;)

[Alex]

Before anybody thinks to ask me questions about the game, just want to reiterate that everybody who played now knows more than I do about it.

I never saw any part of the game at any stage of completion.

I'm glad it sounds like it was a lot of fun and I hope I can look forward to Steve being brutally honest and saying that it is now clear that I was more impediment than help.

[wendybeth]

If you're buying a round, let's form a team ;)
You're on.:cheers:

[Prudence]

Any preliminary estimate for the fall round?

[wendybeth]

I think it's gonna take at least ten shots of Gold to get through it properly.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Any preliminary estimate for the fall round?"If it happens it will be November 4th," was the official word. The "If it happens" caveat was in there because they have yet to work it out with Disney.

[BarTopDancer]

Ouchies. I hurt. We walked 6.8 miles.

So much fun. And our team has a new convert too. :evil:

My screw up for the day was misreading the time and thinking we only had 15 minutes left when we really had an hour and 15 minutes left.

[katiesue]

We had a great time. A little frustration here and there that we just wern't getting it. And we didn't even take a crack a a few quests as we ran out of time.

The Pier overall wasn't that horrible. I liked the trivia at the beginning. Easy fast way to hopefully get extra points. And you could hear/see everything which was nice. It was a little sterile but I don't think there's much to be done about that.

Swanie will of course be obessing for weeks (this is where caller id comes in handy - kidding of course).

So great to hang out a bit with everyone after. And crush CP's bubble when we proved that there really was no Opera House postcard ;)

Did anyone actually ride Soarin?

I did like that the directions were much more straightforward this time. We still didn't get half of it but it wasn't because we were confused trying to figure out what exactly we were supposed to be doing.

[Ghoulish Delight]

We rode Soarin'. We were so happy that we'd thought to read through all the materials and cleverly head straight there for a fastpass that we didn't even consider checking if it was a puzzle we could solve without the on-ride info. Which, of course, it was. That probably cost us. That and once again failing to read all directions carefully, forcing us to head back into DCA from DtD after we figured we had finished with DCA, subsequently causing us to completely skip both the DtD and the Disneyland Hotel quests.

I hope I can look forward to Steve being brutally honest and saying that it is now clear that I was more impediment than help.I'll take the preemptive alternate tack. If I had one knock on this game it was the lack of puzzles/codes/etc. Pretty much everything was, "Go here, find this, write it down." While I enjoy those, I also love the puzzle aspect and I thought that was missing this time around (and I presume that's at least partially due to lack of Alex-influence). The one logic puzzle that was in there wasn't even really a logic puzzle. Only a small portion of it was solvable logically, the bulk of the solving had to be done with brute force guess-and-check. Bleh. Give me some alpha numeric coding or pictogram type puzzles any day over that.

We had a great time at the post-torture dinner as always. One benefit of the registration snafu was that it gave us the opportunity to spend more social time with a few people rather than just catching glimpses of a billion teams at registration and the awards ceremony. We finally got to meet Drince88 in person, which was a treat. Hope she made it back to NO without the delays and hassles of here flight in.

[BarTopDancer]

Loved:

More time was spent running around to answer quests then sitting there answering quests. Hollywood Backlot was awesome.
Eye-Spy seemed to be a bit easier without being a cake-walk
Less time was spent trying to figure out what we were supposed to do (a la Enchanted Race)
Multiple MA Centrals within each park and DTD
Having to get our team photo taken by the PhotoPass people (even though we almost forgot)
Not having to go from PP to Toon Town to answer a quest

Liked:
Pre-game trivia - done really well, I'm just not a trivia person

Disliked:
The 2 hours allowed for the awards ceremony. In the future I think it would be better if everyone was told that they were welcome to come back at x time for trivia and the raffle but the results weren't going to be announced until y time. We would have been able to eat and relax a bit more rather than rush back to play human scrabble and group trivia. I also feel that the scrabble was a flop because anyone who wasn't playing was left out. Almost everyone who has played before knows that there is going to be a delay in the results. Why not just have the results announced later?

I'll cross post this over to the Pad as well.

[innerSpaceman]

Well, we had already learned the Read-All-Directions-Carefully lesson -- for the most part.

As always, at the starting gun, we went immediately to a quiet corner to review the materials carefully ... even going so far this time as to write a brief synopsis of the quest and where exactly we had to go to solve it, on each piece of game materials. This was a great time-saver bit of strategizing. But, um, the one thing we didn't do ... was compare our game materials with the enclosed inventory sheet - - and, of course, for the first time ever - we were missing stuff. Two entire quests, to be
specific.

We didn't realize it till the game was 3-quarters over and we had our answer sheet only half filled in. At first, though miffed, we shrugged it off ... because we only finished the quests we had with 3 minutes to spare.

Afterwards, however, we discovered that one of the quests was something that we instantly knew the correct answer to, and would have gotten full score (50 points) for in exactly 12 seconds.


And so, we are very happy with the results of officially coming in slightly behind The Happy Haunts, and error-corrected coming in slightly ahead of them. Being back in the running, in non-shameful Masters territory, was a great relief.


Much better than that .... the game was pure fun from start to finish. Sit-around puzzle solving was at a bare minimum, and explore details of the resort in a constant state of happy movement was maxed out. The mix of easy and a tad challenging was also excellent.



I gotta say ... though I accept the reasons for it ... the ballroom elements are absolutely horrible. Sterile, boring, and utterly lacking in MouseAdventure charm ... I felt as if I were at any number of lame sci-fi conventions or other corporate snore events.


The stupidity of seating 500 people in a ballroom, marching them all up two narrow flights of stairs, having them sit around to take a group picture with no We Are There element of either Castle or Park Entrance - - then all 500 back down the stairs to return to their ballroom seats was the stupidest, most lame maneuver imaginable.


The prize ceremony wasn't much better. Ballroom sitting for an hour before the results were announced was just retarded. Why not return to starting the ceremony 2 hours after the end of game, if results are not going to be ready till then? I'm sure most teams would appreciate being able - once more - to grab a meal after the grueling excercise of MouseAdventure.



So, the Zlick score:
Team Logistics of Start and Finish - 2
Mouse Adventure Event - 8

[NirvanaMan]

I'm very jealous of all those who got to play.

I was so jealous in fact that I instead decided to get up at 7am to wait in line at Target to buy a Wii - at which I succeeded. I figured if I couldn't play one game, I might as well try to play another.

Then we went to the Star Wars thing up at the science center. We had a good day.

[Babette]

Congrats to all participants! After hearing in your recaps that the puzzle element was limited, I am not feeling sad for missing yesterday's adventure. I got to see Jawas, R2-D2, C3PO, Chewbaca and Darth Vader. We played with robots and starspeeders, then ate at the famouse Philippe's french dip, walked Alvera Street and saw Union Station. A very nice day indeed.

[Sub la Goon]

Kudos and congrats to all!

I saw GD & CP yesterday as they motored on by the Columbia, faces planted in a note pad.

I was pushing a twin stroller and yelled something appropriately lame like "Go LoT!"

It was noisy and they didn't hear me but it was good to see y'all.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Ooh, and I don't remember arguing in front of the Columbia so I bet we looked competitive, rather than on the verge of divorce! :D

Wish we'd spotted you, but thanks for the generic well wishes :cool:

[innerSpaceman]

Just FYI, the game was not devoid of puzzles. There was a word search, an evil paragraph, a map-plotting overlay, and a not-logical-enough-for-GD logic puzzle. 4 things where most teams would likely sit and puzz.

To me, that's plenty of We-Could-Be-Doing-This-Anywhere for a game whose charms come from being played at Disneyland.


With all due disrespect to Alex, almost everyone I spoke with praised the return to a more reasonable level of puzzledom.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Less puzzling meant I held the clipboard almost the whole time. Organization and reading is more my thing. That was kind of neat. :)

Oh, and I could not believe that they had arranged to have a Photo Pass salesperson actually come to the awards and try to sell us stuff! Thank God they were a no show. Even so, I'm angry that they'd do that to us, just so they could be lazy about photos.

Yeah, I'll post about this at MP when I get a second.

I'm in agreeance with the others - if they won't be ready in one hour, make it two. Year-old calendars make good jokes but NOT good prizes, and it's especially embarrassing now that this is so big and they're still giving away things no one wants.

[BarTopDancer]

I'm in agreeance with the others - if they won't be ready in one hour, make it two. Year-old calendars make good jokes but NOT good prizes, and it's especially embarrassing now that this is so big and they're still giving away things no one wants.

I posted over on MP about the timing of the ceremoney. Tony and AVP addressed this regarding scoring - but I haven't gone on this AM to see what they said to my suggestion of just holding it later.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Agreeance?

I know it's entirely a personal preference thing, but those aren't the kinds of puzzles that interest me (forgot about the word search, we never got to that one). I wasn't necessarily craving more stuff to sit down and work out, just different stuff. I like to have to do a little bit more mental processing of the answers to clues, not just write it down or find it in a word search.

[innerSpaceman]

Where the hell is that? or Where can that possibly be? are mental exercises of memory or pattern recognition that actually involve the Disneyland resort.

Your team found the stupid rock behind the lockers at Grizzly River. We were "puzzling" over that for a long time, and never found it. As usual, though always encouraged to take instructions literally, the instructions were written poorly - so as to directly state that we would lose points from our entire overall score if we opened the clue envelopes (when, of course, what was actually meant - but not written - was that points would be taken off that single quest if it was attempted).


Just because many teams, such as yours and mine GD, know so well where most things are at the Resort does not mean that most of that is not puzzling to most teams (imagine, if you will, a team that is not even familiar with the Disneyland lockers! It can happen!)

[Alex]

With all due disrespect to Alex, almost everyone I spoke with praised the return to a more reasonable level of puzzledom.

If I was the problem then you're in for a string of good games now that I'm probably out of the MouseAdventure business for good.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Dude, I'm just stating my personal preference for a different kind of puzzle, just as you've stated your preference for the kind of puzzles you like. Deal.

[swanie]

Mr. Swanie and I made it back to AZ late last night. We're still tired...and sore..but we had a ton of fun.

Thank you all for welcoming us into the fold Sunday night. We had an awesome time. In fact, we found our way back to Tortilla Joe's yesterday afternoon for more raspberry margaritas and nachos :-)

I have to agree with GD on the puzzle aspect of the game. I would have loved more "puzzles." We were still early in the game when we realized we had nothing to work on from point A to point B other than to manage our paperwork. Part of the charm of the game for me is trying to navigate the masses while doing logic puzzles without killing myself in the process :D

swanie
President
MA Staff Appreciation Society (aka Team Suck-Up)

[innerSpaceman]

Oh, we used to like navigating the Park while doing trivia. It was fun because it not only gave us something to do while walking from place to place, but involved our entire team in the out-loud posing of questions.

I was glad to have trivia back in any form, even though it was not part of the main event. It is our team's ace-in-the-hole ... and it was nice to come in 1st place in Sunday's trivia contest.

GD - I am not saying categorically that one level of puzzledom is better than another. Merely stating my own opinion, and sorry if I came off otherwise.

I support my position, however, by implyng that elements which involve being at Disneyland are better than elements which do not. That's my opinion, but I think it's more widely held than that. I'll use The Ballroom as Exhibit A. Though it's just the starting gate and the prize ceremony, why are those things better on resort property than in some nondescript event hall?


Alex, I only have it only by rumor that you are responsible for what I consider excess puzzlage in MouseAdventure games. If that is indeed the case, then I regret to say I'm somewhat relieved at the prospect of your future uninvolvement.

[Alex]

It may be that I was. After all I tend to prefer that kind of thing (many things that I personally find very lame have been very well received over the years). Plus, if you write 12 of these then it gets very uninspiring to write another simple replacement code telling you to explicitly go see the address of the Main Street Cinema.

Arguing against it, however, is the fact that two out of the last three events (not counting this one) that you did were not primarily written by me.

Time will tell and I honestly hope it turns out I was a negative force and it only gets much better. I'll just live with the consolation that I couldn't have been screwing it up that much since each event had more people wanting to play than the last. (And I may still have involvement, but with my stepping down at MousePlanet I will never again have significant or primary responsibility.)

[Not Afraid]

Trivia is my favorite component. It always puts us over the edge. I'm sad I missed this one.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I am so sad that Alex will not be a part of MouseAdventure anymore. I always enjoyed seeing you at the event, even if for a brief moment. Now that you've got a presence here I looked forward to seeing you at MA even more. I'm seriously bummed.






Smiley-free, in honor of Alex Stroup

[~MS~]

(And I may still have involvement, but with my stepping down at MousePlanet I will never again have significant or primary responsibility.)



Wow..............I read it, didn't believe what I saw went and checked the webpage...there just aren't words right now...

[innerSpaceman]

Yeah, I'm very sad for that. Alex and, well perhaps it's impolitic to mention who else by name ... but there were very few people I looked forward to saying Hi to, twice a year, from the MA staff. Alex was one of 'em.


I'm doubly super glad Alex is going camping with us. Yay!

[Alex]

I'm still with MousePlanet (just as a writer) and I expect I'll be at future MouseAdventures (the problem is that MouseAdventure is on a similar schedule as my new job's major quarterly releases).

[blueerica]

Every bit of me is glad that I'm uninvolved and uninterested in every bit of any drama that happens on any other board. It saves sanity, and time... which in the U.S. is money. And I need more money.

[belleh5]

I'm soo mad that we didn't get to play!!! I haven't played in 2 years and this time I was there the whole weekend. I still had a great time hanging out with the boys, playing in the park. Hopefully in November my whole team will play. Well it was good to see everyone. Great shirts GD & CP! See everyone in July.


BTW- Pirates sucks!!! And the Bride in HM is weird!!! Is there a 800 number I can call??

[Alex]

Every bit of me is glad that I'm uninvolved and uninterested in every bit of any drama that happens on any other board. It saves sanity, and time... which in the U.S. is money. And I need more money.

I hope that isn't in response to me. There's no drama there, just a change.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

I'm still with MousePlanet (just as a writer) and I expect I'll be at future MouseAdventures (the problem is that MouseAdventure is on a similar schedule as my new job's major quarterly releases).

I hope that you can live the life you desire with your MousePlanet golden parachute.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

BTW- Pirates sucks!!! And the Bride in HM is weird!!! Is there a 800 number I can call??Feel free to read old threads and revel in the agreement you'll find around here :)

[Ghoulish Delight]

For the record I too was weirded out by the "sorry the photo pass folks couldn't give you their pitch moment." But seeing others talk about it after the fact, it really seems like Disney did right by them in that regard and that it seems both sides were happy to help each other. It's actually kinda nice to hear that there are still some parts of the operation that understand the concept that good service reaps rewards.

Back to puzzles for a moment, I won't disagree that past games have gone too far towards the work-it-out-on-paper side of the balance. I just thought this was a bit of an over correction.

I was a bit surprised to see people on MP openly talking about CMs backdooring them onto Small World. It was supposedly offered by the CM, not asked for by players, but that's pretty shady. Of course, all they were getting was 15 minutes of sitting in a boat, so it's not like it was the most advantageous cheating every, but still...

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I was a bit surprised to see people on MP openly talking about CMs backdooring them onto Small World. It was supposedly offered by the CM, not asked for by players, but that's pretty shady. Of course, all they were getting was 15 minutes of sitting in a boat, so it's not like it was the most advantageous cheating every, but still...You misunderstood. The poster that mentioned it said that they talked to CM friends afterwards, who said they had backdoored people in. No poster has admitted to actually getting backdoored (heehee).

A couple of other people mentioned CMs letting them into the Soarin queue so they could watch the pre-show video, then leave. I thought that was pushing it myself. One said the CM offered it.

[Ghoulish Delight]

You misunderstood. The poster that mentioned it said that they talked to CM friends afterwards, who said they had backdoored people in. No poster has admitted to actually getting backdoored (heehee).
Yeah, but they said they felt sorry for the people who avoided IASW because of the line. Maybe I'm still misunderstanding and they mean, "I feel sorry for them because other people cheated," but it reads to me more like, "I feel sorry for them because they could have totally skipped the line."

[blueerica]

I hope that isn't in response to me. There's no drama there, just a change.

No, not entirely. What I am saying is that my history with you started here. That you are with or without MousePad is of no relevance to me. In that sense, it is in response to you.

What made me post what I did is that I've been told stories of drama, some new stuff, some past stuff. It makes me glad my history with folks started when it did. It keeps me above the fray. Saving me time. And money. I posted it simply because I had no idea if there was drama, and only can glean from what others may say, whether there was any kind of drama. For that, I'm glad I'm clueless. I apologize if I wasn't clear enough.

[MovieBoy]

As usual, though always encouraged to take instructions literally, the instructions were written poorly - so as to directly state that we would lose points from our entire overall score if we opened the clue envelopes (when, of course, what was actually meant - but not written - was that points would be taken off that single quest if it was attempted).


We do try to make the instructions as clear as possible. I can see where you could have gotten the impression that you would loose points from your overall score for the envelopes. The instructions on the quest were a bit vugue on that, aside from ending each line with "for this quest" I don't know how we would have worded that.

"Included with this quest are three envelopes. Each contains a clue to assist you in completing the task. But each one you open will cost you 10 points. You must open the envelopes in order as the point deductions are cumulative. (for example, if you open Clue #2, you will loose 10 points and you automatically also take the Clue #1 10 point deduction)"

However the warning on the envelopes was quite clear.

"WARNING
Read ALL the instructions for this quest. By opening this envelope, you will incur a penalty for this quest."

[Ghoulish Delight]

I would have added something along the lines of, "You will only be assessed the penalty if you return to Mouse Adventure Central with an answer to this quest, if you open the clues and give up, you will not be penalized." Because in past events with similar penalty-for-clue scenarios, you were penalized simply for opening the envelope whether you went on to actually attempt the quest or not.

[BarTopDancer]

I would have added something along the lines of, "You will only be assessed the penalty if you return to Mouse Adventure Central with an answer to this quest, if you open the clues and give up, you will not be penalized." Because in past events with similar penalty-for-clue scenarios, you were penalized simply for opening the envelope whether you went on to actually attempt the quest or not.

What he said.

We were sitting there trying to calculate out how many points we were willing to risk losing if we opened additional envelopes and could not finish the quest.

While the rules are "read all instructions" and the infamous "assume nothing" I think on some level past MAs should be taken into consideration (as shown in this example) - where in the past simply opening the envelope was a penalty; regardless of if you finished the quest or not.

[MovieBoy]

Yeah, that would work.

Sometimes we are just too close to the quests to see the problems, which is why we beta test these so many times. The DCA part of that quest had beta testers speaking whale trying to figure out the names they were looking for, which was never what was intended by us.

None of the beta testers had an issue with the instructions, that is why they were not more clear.

As far as more puzzle quests, what kinds of past quests did you like or have in mind?

[Ponine]

Wow..............I read it, didn't believe what I saw went and checked the webpage...there just aren't words right now...

I agree. Though I didnt happen to see the announcement, but I agree with the rest.

I hope that your new plan is a good one for you Alex.
For me, even though I havent played the lat two games, you were part of the reason I continued playing.

Take that how you like, but I admired what you accomplished and looked forward to seeing you there.

Thats hard to fathom I'm sure being that we've never said more then five words, but there it is.

[katiesue]

Swanie and I were having a little discussion about what would be considered cheating in the Soarin' quest. We didn't even attempt to ride the ride but guessed so this is all hypothetical.

I think if you were to have waited in line, watched the pre-show clip and noticed the order. Thought it was correct and left the building without riding the ride that's ok. You waited like everyone else and you're taking the chance that the pre-show order was right.

Our grey area discussion is asking a CM if you can just go watch the pre-show, not waiting in line. I'd put this in the cheating category since technically you are asking a CM for help, right?

Anyway just one of those things that got us thinking. And I also agree that the people who used the CM assistance on Small World is cheating. Even if you didn't ask for it.

[Kevy Baby]

Is it really cheating if you don't get caught?

Being free of a conscience is very liberating.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Yeah, I agree katiesue. Unless the instructions say not to bail out of an attraction early, I don't have a problem with staying in long long enough to see what you need to see and then getting out. But asking (or accepting and offer) to be allowed to cut or otherwise do something out of the ordinary seems like it crosses a line, imo.

As for puzzle types, I'm a fan of cryptogram/letter replacement type puzzles. Logic problems that can actually be solved logically rather than by trial and error. Pictogram puzzles. All the better if the keys needed to solve the puzzles are to be found around the park(s).

I think what stuck out to me the most was that most of the quests were pretty one-dimensional. Fun, but I found myself several times getting an answer and going through the process, "Okay, what do I do with this now that I have it? Oh, it's the final answer, nothing else?" I guess I learned that I like multi-step puzzles. "Find the answer to this part, use it to figure out this puzzle which will ask you the final quesiton." But maybe that's just me.

[BarTopDancer]

In case anyone cares - MA will not be Nov 4th (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=69906).

[Brigitte]

I had a few of those moments during this one too. Is that it? Felt like I was missing a step.

[Prudence]

Please oh please don't let the fall MA be on the same day as the Thomas Tang competition.

[Stan4dSteph]

Please oh please don't let the fall MA be on the same day as the Thomas Tang competition.Who's Thomas Tang?

[swanie]

I guess I learned that I like multi-step puzzles. "Find the answer to this part, use it to figure out this puzzle which will ask you the final quesiton." But maybe that's just me.


It's not just you. I felt that the end results in a few quests were very anti-climatic. I suppose my other complaint would be that I never felt like I had an "Ahh-ha...what an evil genius" moment either. But I chalked that up to it being an Alex-less game this go around.

swanie

[Alex]

Prudence, no promises (I'm not the decider) but at least for the Northwest Regional you are likely safe.

[MovieBoy]

I think what stuck out to me the most was that most of the quests were pretty one-dimensional. Fun, but I found myself several times getting an answer and going through the process, "Okay, what do I do with this now that I have it? Oh, it's the final answer, nothing else?" I guess I learned that I like multi-step puzzles. "Find the answer to this part, use it to figure out this puzzle which will ask you the final quesiton." But maybe that's just me.

I would agree with you on that. Those are my favorites as well. The game format of the original MouseAdventure just dosen't really lend itself to it (where as The Enchanted Race is all about continuing your quest). Original MouseAdventure Quests are usually two part quests in format. Do a puzzle, get a question, answer or find some information, do something with that information, answer. We did do more of a multi-part thing with E Quest 2, but that was really it.

I don't know if you've ever played "3 in three" or "The Fools Errand". They are older computer puzzle games where, as you completed puzzles, others would open up, based on your earlier answers.

We have kicked around ideas on such a game.

[innerSpaceman]

I hate the all-or-nothingness of the race format. You can't give up on something and go on to something else. It's such a straightjacket.

I wouldn't mind quests that went for 3 steps or 4, but beyond that ... it's getting very all-or-nothing.


I don't mind what the puzzles are, as long as they don't require sitting around for more than 10 minutes while 1 member of your team, or 2 at the most, works on a puzzle. And they should not require a degree in complex mathematical equations. MouseAdventure should, imo, be challenging - but not daunting.


As for 2 step puzzles ... you can imagine my chagrin when I discovered that one of the quests not provided to us was not even 2 steps, but merely pick which item is not found on it's a small world, which I would have known in 10 seconds flat. Grrrrr, that one still smarts.


* * * *

On the subject of cheating ... it certainly isn't cheating to do anything you would ordinarily do as a guest ... and guests are allowed to abandon an attraction anyplace in the queue and, in many cases, during the attraction itself (a show, for instance).

BUT ... is it cheating to go in through the backdoor of Innoventions if that's what you usually do as a guest? Ah, the moral ambiguities of MouseAdventure!

[Alex]

Don't know what was in the packet this time, but when I put teams through shows (or difficult to escape queues) I had something about it being against the rules to leave early.

Because leaving early may be something that average park guests are allowed to do but it can be very disruptive if halfway through a show half the audience gets up to leave (and when you were all sent through Golden Dreams you were at least half the audience. I also tried to make sure that there was something at the end of the show that required your presence.

Similarly, you're allowed to exit the Peter Pan queue at any time but it is pretty darn awkward and annoying to other guests if a lot of people are doing it.

But yes, sometimes it is hard to know where to draw the line and with 150 teams there will be people trying to find the closest approach to the line. I always felt it fair game to go int he back door to look at Minnie's kitchen. Turns out a lot of people disagreed with me.

[innerSpaceman]

Minnie's House - perfect example. We did indeed go in the back door (as I'm told Mickey does on occasion).

[Ghoulish Delight]

I know the instructions for the Great Moments with Mr. Martin quest said you had to sit in designated seats, which means the team we saw squatting to use the aisle lighting were technically cheating. But there were all of 5 other people in the theater, none of them within 20 seats of either us or them, so it's not a big deal.

I don't recall if it said not to leave early.

My general rule with shows is, if the theater is relatively populated and if there are more than one or two other teams in there too, I won't leave early. If, in the case of the Steve Martin show, there's next to no one in there and there weren't a bunch of teams that would cause a disruption if they all headed for the exit, I don't have a problem with it. Especially since we were waiting to find out the # of fireworks Donald had meaning we didn't leave more than 2 minutes early anyway.

[innerSpaceman]

Oh, I have a question about that quest (since it was the other one we did not get in our packet):

I have overheard something about the final question being the fare for the horse-drawn trolley in 1955, or some such. Was there at least a puzzle leading to that question, or was the question asked outright?

(Because it's another one I know the answer to in my head without any further investigation needed ... if that was indeed the question.)

[katiesue]

for the 50th film one it was just a series of questions about things in the film. Then from that depending on how many answers you had of A, B, C or D told you the final question which was "How many seats on ToT". The answers to all the questions were on the mural outside the theater.

[innerSpaceman]

Crappity-crap-crap, our stupid blunder in not checking our game materials - - (which I blame 80% on MouseAdventure staff) - - probably cost us a shot at nipping at the Brother Bears' heels.



Wait for it ....



...



....



.....









BAH.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Crappity-crap-crap, our stupid blunder in not checking our game materials - - (which I blame 80% on MouseAdventure staff) - - probably cost us a shot at nipping at the Brother Bears' heels.



Wait for it ....
Yeah, that was another one that could be narrowed to 50/50. You really couldn't be positive which question was that right one to choose because there were, I believe, 4 B's and 3 D', so you needed to have pretty much every answer to be SURE (and while we got most of them by memory, do you know off the top of your head how many fireworks Donald drags out in front of the castle? Or which Jungle Cruise boat's name you see? There were about 3 or 4 of those, just enough to be sure you'd need to see it), so the best you could do without sitting through it was 50/50.

Of course, with 50/50 on Small World and 50/50 there, you were bound to get one of them right I suppose.

P.S. oh, that info was in the exit area? Heh, gee, for some reason I knew a ToT elevator holds 21 people off the top of my head :D. Good thing too because I don't know if I would have thought to look in there for that info.

[innerSpaceman]

Eh, it's alright. We don't play officially ... and so we know our team did pretty darn well for not getting two of the quests. I'm satisfied.




(Um, it's our best showing in a couple of years, so I'm actually a little more than satisfied)

[Ghoulish Delight]

WTF? Podcast recap only? WTF?

[Stan4dSteph]

WTF? Podcast recap only? WTF?The podcast and the written recap are by two different individuals. The podcast was recorded on MA day.

Take a chill pill.

[Ghoulish Delight]

The podcast and the written recap are by two different individuals. The podcast was recorded on MA day.

Take a chill pill.So there IS a written recap? The only links I've found take me to the podcast.

[swanie]

The Monday MP update said the full recap as well as results and team photos would be posted next week :(

swanie

[Ghoulish Delight]

OKay, thanks missed that. I guess I got confused because the link on the front page says "Recap by Mark Goldhaber and Mike Demopoulos," but goes to the podcast.

I wonder why the week delay. With the ultra-simplified scoring and photos being taken care of by Disney, I expected the recap to come faster than ever, not slower.

[swanie]

We beat the Hauuunnnnntttttsss....We beat the Hauuunnnnttttsss :D

[Ghoulish Delight]

Yowza, I didn't expect so many teams to be sqeezed in there between us and the 3rd place (or 4th place, counting the Brother Bears) team.

Damnit, not even top 10. Grrrrr.

And Steve, if I'm remembering correctly and the packet you were missing was C, you would have had to get BOTH of the 50/50 guesses right to move ahead of us since quest C was worth less than 60 points. So my "Hah!" stands. :p

[innerSpaceman]

Ok, how do you find the recap that's NOT the podcast???

[swanie]

http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?p=1062250#post1062250

It's in the lounge post MA thread :D

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Yeah, I have no clue why it's not linked to on their main page, especially since most players are are not Padders.

ETA - here's the actual link (http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=xx070505axx)

[Kevy Baby]

Here are cleaner links:

All Teams Sorted by Team Number (http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=xx070505xx)

Ranked by Division (http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=xx070505axx)

I am not sure why I did this since I was not involved in this :p

[Drince88]

Finally got a chance to come here and post!

It was great meeting everyone afterwards - and thanks for letting me hang out at Dinner (and thanks for the ride, KatieSue!!!)

We did respectable. Our 'goal' was a lofty one - top 50 out of 54! (When we made that goal, though, we thought there were 55 Advanced teams, though, so it was loftier then!) We didn't QUITE break the top half, but that's ok - we were kind of idiotic for doing Advanced on our first real MouseAdventure!

But, we did have good reason for it, and in looking at the answers/etc, it was a good one - we ABHOR eye-spys. Especially since it had been 1.5 years since our last visit to Disneyland (aside from the research that week). Beforehand, we thought that if we'd do Basic, we'd probably get the quests done, and then have a bunch of time to do the eye-spys and get frustrated when we couldn't find one. And I'm pretty sure that's what would have happened. Poor Tracy - when he handed us the Frontierland Eyespy, I was like "That's our bonus for finding you, More stuff to do?!" We did have time to find a few, though.

On the 50th film one, I need to go back and look, but we didn't have all the answers, but had come up with 'B' without seeing the film pretty solidly. We may have gotten lucky on our evaluation - but we 'counted from memory' the number of TOT seats - and missed one of the rows of 4.

And we DID look at that blasted tree to try to find the year from the 'trial and error/logic puzzle' but must have been too frantic at that point (we had spent way too much time in DTD doing those quests, and hadn't made it to DL yet).

[Kevy Baby]

Oops:

So.... guess what?

We screwed up.

Some of the Basic teams did not get credit for their PhotoPasses. Fortunately, the error was limited to a handful of Basic teams, and did not in any way affect the announced results.

There were no errors in the Family division.

However, and this is the biggie.... it turns out that we made a major error in the Advanced division, an error that somehow slipped past the double-check process. This impacted ONLY the first place team - second and third remained unchanged. The correct results of the Advanced division are as follows:

1st: Smoke Tree Ranchers
2nd: San Diego Mouse Catchers (Team Big Pencil)
3rd: Simba's Pride

Needless to say, I'm pretty embarrased. We've made errors before, even errors that have affected the announced results, but this was pretty bad. I apologize to the Smoke Tree Ranchers that they didn't get their moment in the spotlight.

The corrected results have been posted. Let the revised taunting and tomato-throwing begin.

AVP

[BarTopDancer]

23rd. Not to bad. And we beat Team Zlick.

[innerSpaceman]

But not the Denton Affair. We are very pleased to have come in at 11th. Top Ten was our goal, and this is close enough (considering we were robbed of at least 50 points).

[BarTopDancer]

No. But not the Denton Affair. Perhaps if we had our other key puzzle/think outside the box person we would have.

Next time! [evil laugh]

[Ghoulish Delight]

But not the Denton Affair. We are very pleased to have come in at 11th. Top Ten was our goal, and this is close enough (considering we were robbed of at least 50 points).
Dude, with the corrected scoring, we cracked top 10 (#10)!!! *happy dance*

At the risk of bursting your bubble, the Denton Affair is actually 13th (assuming no further scoring corrections). The numbers there don't include the Masters teams, so if you add Brother Bears and us back in, that bumps you down a hair. But considering that fewer than 100 points separate 4th from 13th, it's still a good showing, especially taking into account Masters' recent history.

[innerSpaceman]

Lucky 13th then.






I can live with that. :iSm:

[katiesue]

7th I can live with :)

We really really thought we sucked eggs on this one. We were somehow delusional in thinking we needed to finish everything. When we didn't we figured we were completely doomed.

[innerSpaceman]

Trust me, thinking you sucked eggs is the key to ultimate and grand success.


You guys are on your way ... with a bullet!





(AND you had the best shirts .... you are unstoppable)










But we really need to do something to take out The Brother Bears.




And I'm not kidding.

[Stan4dSteph]

The full recap is up today (http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=xx070507av). PhotoPass still hasn't sent the team photos, so those are forthcoming. There is also a survey link to provide feedback.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Nitpicky critique of the survey: Sudoku is NOT a math puzzle.

[Kevy Baby]

Nitpicky critique of the survey: Sudoku is NOT a math puzzle.What would you call it?

[innerSpaceman]

Hell.

[Ghoulish Delight]

What would you call it?It's a logic puzzle. MA itself demonstrated that it's not a math puzzle in the last fall event by doing a sudoku that used symbols from the map instead of numbers. Granted, it's a little bit easier to do them using numbers because it's a set of symbols that we're really used to and can readily spot which symbol is missing, but there's nothing about the mathematical "meaning" of those symbols that matters for doing sudoku. All that matters is that you have 9 unique symbols.

[BarTopDancer]

There is a question on the survey about the post-game mingle/awards ceremony. Options included a show up for awards only selection.

[Alex]

It's barely even a logic puzzle. Mostly it is a record-keeping puzzle.

[Kevy Baby]

It's a logic puzzle. MA itself demonstrated that it's not a math puzzle in the last fall event by doing a sudoku that used symbols from the map instead of numbers. Granted, it's a little bit easier to do them using numbers because it's a set of symbols that we're really used to and can readily spot which symbol is missing, but there's nothing about the mathematical "meaning" of those symbols that matters for doing sudoku. All that matters is that you have 9 unique symbols.Seems logical to me.

[Not Afraid]

From the latest MA Bulletin:

We reserve the right to refuse admission to teams or players with inappropriate or offensive outfits, costumes, T-shirts or accessories.

Did you get that Zapppop? :)

[Isaac]

Did you get that Zapppop? :)
LOL I noticed that too.

I think this will be the last time I play MA.

:)

[katiesue]

You're all going down - just sayin :p

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Wrong thread. Look at the year.

This is the one you want. (http://www.loungeoftomorrow.com/LoT/showthread.php?t=7090)

[belleh5]

LOL I noticed that too.

I think this will be the last time I play MA.

:)

I guess they never got over our pancake shirts.

[Stan4dSteph]

I guess they never got over our pancake shirts.No I think it was more the reference to pedophilia that was off-putting, but that's just my opinion.

[innerSpaceman]

Are we talking about gay day or mouseadventure?




Too many offensive shirts ... i get confused. :confused:

[Kevy Baby]

Wrong thread. Look at the year.

This is the one you want. (http://www.loungeoftomorrow.com/LoT/showthread.php?t=7090)Okay, that's just too damned funny