[Cadaverous Pallor]

If you didn't compete, I'd recommend reading the rundown I linked to above before reading this so you know what I'm talking about here.

They said "Go!" and the game was on. I didn't realize it was going to start then and there outside the park and hadn't taken a moment to stretch. But suddenly we rip open the envelope and we're off to Downtown Disney.

We scurried around to find answers to price questions and such around DTD. We had to use the store directory to know where to go as the locations were numbered on our papers. I swear, we went in and out of the Jamba Juice 4 or 5 times and could not find the candle. We figured it had to be a trick of some kind. I came up with the idea that the number store we needed was actually off the directory inside the Grand Cal - they have their own directory with their own set of numbers. "Assume Nothing!" we both cried and walked all the way into the Grand Cal. Number 16 on their directory? The pool. We walked around the pool like idiots just in case and went back to the evil Jamba Juice where we FINALLY saw the damn candle.

We did the required math, and it was not even a whole number. We walked around checking all our numbers AGAIN. We realized there was a math mistake, and still came out with a fraction. We thought we must be close and went to the directory near the Tram stop to check the number - of course our destination was on the OTHER SIDE of DTD. By this point we realized that most teams were out of sight already. We were behind and we knew it.

Luckily our number was close enough and we were sent to the Monorail station. We got in line and realized weren't too far behind - we could see Ubergeek's team, the Fellowship just a bit ahead of us. Catherall showed up after we did and got in the line next to us. Of course we had the SLOWEST guy working the turnstile and Catherall actually ended up getting in ahead of us. All of them made it onto the waiting Monorail, except us. There was one family between us and the gate when the Monorail pulled away.

Alex Stroup talked to us as we waited and let us know that there were about 8 teams on that Monorail alone, and that there were others on the one before that. We were way behind. I was really glad he was there, as he was in a good mood, and that was infectious. We probably would have been beating ourselves up a lot more if it weren't for that break talking to Alex and waiting for the next monorail. It luckily wasn't a long wait either.

Greg thought of the Toontown City Hall on the Monorail, so that was a piece of cake. They handed us the Pooh logic puzzle. GD is a logic puzzle fiend so we sat down to work on it. In about 3 minutes we were attacked by two Open teams to get our postcards, and that was done. I couldn't believe that the Open was starting already.

GD messed up the puzzle somehow, so I quickly redrew the logic chart on another paper. He started reworking it. Then he decided to check exactly what we were looking for - and realized that all that work was for nothing.

We were cursing ourselves big time as we walked to ride Pooh. "No more mistakes!" "Assume nothing!" "Read the whole thing first!" "We're acting like amateurs!" As we were walking to Pooh, we passed an Unintelligibles team member wearing a paper hat. She was one full leg ahead of us! We got in line for Pooh. mhrc4's team was just ahead of us in line.

Quick aside - every time I saw another team, I or O, I gave them a grin. At least for most of the game. GD liked to pretend he was going to prevent them from winning by playfully blocking their view for a second or something. We do our best to be in good spirits with everyone no matter how we're doing, but that was to be tested, as you'll see.

We rode Pooh and were doubly annoyed because we KNEW the answer but just had to check. The fact that Eeyore isn't attending Pooh's birthday party but there's a gift from him anyway had been caught by us before.

Ok, posting this before my computer eats it, back in a bit.