MouseAdventure Spring 2010

[Stan4dSteph]

You could always try to answer the trivia question from the newsletter to win a free basic registration.

[Disneyphile]

Thanks for the reminder, Steph. I just sent my answer. I'm hoping I'm right.

And, if not, Ken and I will happily volunteer to help out for this one.

[Stan4dSteph]

Reminder: registration opens this morning for Basic and Advanced divisions.

Registration for Day in the Park opens a week from today.

MouseAdventure page

[innerSpaceman]

I've left it up to my teammates whether we'll play basic. None of us can afford the 2-day right now - - plus, I really can't devote an entire weekend to it.

[Prudence]

Isn't it a three-day weekend?

Anyhow, we registered for advanced. Because if there's a "more punishment" option I always pick that one.

[BarTopDancer]

Memorial Day is the Monday after (May 31st).

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I remember when it was $10 per person. Interesting how the economics of scale seem inverted here.

First: At this point I am essentially a complete bystander. I have no involvement in any of the decisions made about the games.

But I'd point to a couple other things as well:

1. Game presentation is orders of magnitude (in my opinion, anyway) better than the early days and that isn't cheap (and some of the ways I cut corners on those costs aren't at all viable with the attendance seen now).

2. Back in the early days the game didn't pay for itself, it was heavily subsidized in various ways. If we had needed to cover the true cost of putting on the event we likely wouldn't have been able to put it on.

3. Capitalism. If space is limited and demand for that space exceeds availability then there's a basic graph seen early in every microeconomics textbook that comes into play to some degree. I can tell you that when I was running it, I kept the price suppressed more than hindsight says was correct, not so much because I was a good guy looking out for the little people as because I didn't think people would pay much more. I was thoroughly wrong. Though I was very eager to find that perfect balance point where price would reduce demand to exactly the space available if for no other reason than to not have to deal with people who thought it cosmically unfair that the event could sell out, especially if it happened in two days.

Again, I have no inside knowledge of the current financial situation around MouseAdventure, just a few more factors that may be involved.

[Stan4dSteph]

From my vantage point, not being directly involved in the financials, that seems like a fair assessment, Alex.

As a side note, there will also be a MouseAdventure at WDW again this year. October 9 is the tentative date, and it will be in Animal Kingdom. I will most likely be there; still not sure about the spring event. I had a blast at last year's WDW event.

[innerSpaceman]

I tend to think when a fun game inside Disneyland approaches the retail cost of a one-day admission to Disneyland, that's generally common sensically too expensive.

I'm not saying the fun's not worth that price or that there aren't lots of people who will pay even hundreds of dollars to play MouseAdventure. But the game is no more or less fun, on average, today than it was at any time during the last ten years. I understand how expensive it can be to put on, but a relative value established by mouseadventure is continually pushed to the point where, imo, there's not any more fun for a "product" that costs nearly 10 times as much as it used to.



Of course, I found it too expensive years and years ago - as soon as they moved to that ballroom which upped the price and removed a good portion of the enjoyment. I wouldn't have played it it weren't a well-deserved freebie - - and I don't know whether we're in or out this year in the basic version that would be free to us.

[BarTopDancer]

I blame the price increase on the security guard who shut down the last picnic area awards ceremony.