Sunday, May 4, 2014

Gumball Rally Trip Report 2014

Gumball Rally 2014 Trip Report

May 3rd marked this year's Gumball Rally. We were thrilled to participate in our third competition.

We got up at 5:05 AM. Double checked our backpacks, made sure we had our annual passes and clipboard, and we were off!

Brittany had to drive both ways while I relaxed.

We arrived, after several confusing U-turns, at the Simba parking lot at about 7:05 AM. From there, it was a short walk to check in at the ESPN zone. 

When you arrive, the team captain registers the team with the event staff. We were given our team name lanyards, a bag with coupons, a light up pen and a plastic ziplock bag. Each size team had a different color to identify how many people should be together so spotters could check to make sure teams were all together. Teams range from 2-4 people. 

No Time for Snack Bar!

After check in, we walked from the end of Downtown Disney to the ticket booths. After a short wait, our block-out day ticket was purchased and we hurried back to the ESPN Zone. Already a long walk and the competition hadn't started!

Waiting to have our bags checked at security. Had a few seconds to find a tourist to snap a picture. 

At the ESPN Zone, we rested our feet and ate a breakfast burrito. Finally, at 8:30 AM, the event coordinator, Dusty Sage, went over the rules, twists and game booklets were passed out. At 8:55 AM, we were released! It's a bit like an elephant stampede as 500 people attempt to leave the ESPN Zone at the exact same time. We push and shove with the rest of them. 

Dusty Sage going over the rules. Single-rider lines allowed! Hurray!

The first leg of the race is the worst. We speed walk from the ESPN Zone (at the end of Downtown Disney), to the main gate, then up Main Street into Frontierland. We finally arrived at Big Thunder Mountain, and we picked up two fast passes for 9:55 AM. Off to Jungle Cruise!

We cut through the Frontierland/Adventureland door, and found Jungle Cruise had a ten minute line. Perfect! Why do we do Jungle Cruise first? No FastPass, and late morning and afternoon lines can get up to 40 minutes. We don't have 40 minutes. We hopped in line, and got lucky to get the last two seats on an arriving boat. 

Gimme some bananas!

Our Jungle Cruise question, worth 3 points was:
After passing the Gorilla Camp, we encounter a gorilla reaching for bananas on a crate floating in the water. How many individual bananas are resting on the crate?
A) 0         B) 2        C) 5         D) 7           E) 9

We clearly saw 5 bananas and marked "C" as our answer. Our first 3 points! Score!

We quickly departed Jungle Cruise and headed back to Frontierland. We stopped briefly at the Frontierland Shootin' Exposition to pick up an easy one point.

The 1 point question was:
Find the tombstone that reads, "Here Lies Ruthless Billy Jack". According to this tombstone, when did he die? (You don't need to play to answer the question.)
A) January 13th       B) Feb 13        C) July 19th 1888        D) December

We had to wait until someone shot at the grave marker, then it lifted up and revealed the answer! Feb 13

We wanted to drop into The Golden Horseshoe to pick up another easy point, but it hadn't opened yet. Although we were a bit early for our FastPass return time, we made the short walk over to Big Thunder Mountain to wait.

However, when we arrived, we discovered that is was temporarily broken down! We were overjoyed because it meant that our FastPass would be valid for the rest of the day, and we could ride it anytime we wanted. We quickly took the back path through Fantasyland to Tomorrowland. We knew Tomorrowland was worth a mighty 21 points, and we wanted to attack it before the afternoon crowds descended. 

Our initial time in Tomorrowland shows how necessary it is to be flexible! We had originally wanted to immediately pick up Splash Mountain FastPasses, but the return time was right when we needed to be at a group picture at the Castle. That was no good. After some quick debating, we decided to forgo the Autopia FastPass and get in the stand-by line, marked 25 minutes. We were loaded in our car in about 20 minutes, and then we began looking for the answer to this 3 point question.

Did we choose the fastest side? Who knows...

We came to a dead stop on the track to read the cart. No one was behind us, so we didn't get bumped!
In the Car Park, there is a red and white rusted nut cart. What does it say? "Rusted nuts never..."
A) tasted so toasty     B) tasted so good     C) looked so tasty     D) been oiled

It was a little hard to read, but the cart said "Rusted nuts never tasted so good."

As we exited Autopia, we saw a Monorail approaching the station. We booked it up the long ramp, and discovered the gates were closed for loading. We had a moment of despair, but the Cast Member saw our long faces and opened the gate so we could hop in a nearly empty car. That was a close one!

Monorail had two questions, one for the trip from Disneyland Tomorrowland Station to Downtown Disney, and one for the trip back. The first question was:

Traveling into Downtown Disney from the Disneyland Station, how many air conditioning units can you see on top of The Lego Store?
A) 3     B) 5     C) 1     D) 0

This one went really fast, but it looked like there were 2 large brown units, and a smaller tan unit in the center of the roof. We might have been distracted by an option of "2" units, but the options meant that A was the most likely answer. 
Do you also see 3 air conditioning units?

During the second leg of the trip, heading back to Tomorrowland, we had another odd question:
Exiting the Monorail station from Downtown Disney toward Disneyland, you will cross over Disneyland Drive. To the right, you will see the backstage area to House of Blues. There is parking under House of Blues and a YELLOW clearance marker. What is the clearance for parking under the House of Blues?
A) 8'     B) 10' 6"     C) 14' 6"    D) 18'

The saw the sign at the last second from the corner of the Monorail window. Correct answer? C, 14' 6". Another two points completed! We now had 9 points, and a long way to still go.

After departing Monorail, we went back and picked up Space Mountain FastPasses, which had moved up to a later return time that better fit our photo schedule. We checked Captain E.O., but it wasn't starting for 15 minutes, so we headed out of Tomorrowland to pick up a few points in busy Fantasyland. 

We started at Snow White's Scary Adventures, which had the longest line I've ever waited in for that attraction. A few other teams were in line with us, and we commiserated about the heat. After only about 10 minutes, we were looking for the answer to this two point question:

At the beginning of the ride, inside the Dwarves' cottage, we see Snow White on the stairs. What type of animal is directly in front of her, near her feet?
A) Turtle    B) Rabbit    C) Squirrel    D) Racoon

Before riding it, we thought it might be a turtle. But nope, it was a squirrel. 

Taking flash pictures inside attractions is against the rules, so I couldn't take a decent photo. Here is someone else's photo I found on google. The turtle is furthest away!

We hopped in line to Pinocchio's Daring Journey, but looked over and saw that Casey Jr. Circus Train was shorter than normal. We abandoned the Pinocchio line and opted to ride the train instead, a fateful decision. This would be the first of three failed attempts to ride Pinocchio. 

After only about 10 minutes, we loaded on the Casey Jr. Circus Train, and got one of the rows in the front of the train. The sun was beating down on us, but we were happy we weren't stuck in one of the animal trains with a bunch of kids. The ride started, and the search began.

The two point question for Casey Jr. Circus Train was:
As you careen around the track, look down at the Storybook Land Canal Boat ride and locate the three windmills.
TRUE OR FALSE: Each windmill has a window on its backside. 

Nope! No windows. False!

Time was getting a bit tight. We had to at the Castle by exactly noon to receive a ticket to ensure we received 15 points for participating in the group photo, so we could not get stuck in any lines. We chose to do some quick points before our noon meetup.

We ran over the Sleeping Beauty Castle, to answer this easy one point question:
Find the window that depicts Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) sleeping on a bed after pricking her finger on the spinning wheel. There is a candelabra opposite the bed. How many candles does this candelabra hold?
A) 3    B) 4    C) 5    D) 6

Couldn't take a picture inside the dark castle, but we counted 5 candles in this scene.

We left the Castle, and with still a little time left, we headed to the Astro Orbiter. This was a weird one, as we didn't actually have to ride the attraction to get the points. Instead, we had to do this:

Well, this is highly unusual!

Yay! We don't have to wait in a long line for this rocket ride. But, wait, what symbols are they talking about? At first, I made the mistake of counting symbols on the back wing on the ride vehicles, but when all the symbols weren't represented, I re-read the question and realized we were supposed to look at the symbols at the base of the attraction (just as the question say, whoops!). We had to pause for a moment to run and pick up Star Tours FastPasses, but we came back and numbered the symbols correctly. Pretty easy 2 points!

It was 11:43 AM. We had 17 minutes so do something, but what? Not enough time to ride something, so we hussled down Main Street to pick up another 1 point question at the Main Street Cinema.

Not my photo, but there are a number of screens inside the Main Street Cinema that play black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons on a loop. 

The question instructed us:
Find the screen playing the classic Mickey cartoon, Traffic Troubles. What is the license plate number on Mickey's taxi?
A) Xo34-0    B) 66489    C) mcky22    D) wltdsny

This could be problematic, as we'd have to potentially watch the entire cartoon to get the answer. We were happy to see other teams watching the screen (which made it easy for us to determine which cartoon we needed to watch). One team standing next to the screen said that they had been watching the entire cartoon, but no license plate had been spotted. We watched for about four minutes and then there it was! Xo34-0. We turned around and saw that probably four or five more teams had gathered to watch the cartoon. We all left in a mad rush. Brittany and I headed up Main Street to pick up our ticket at the Castle.

After getting our ticket, we had a few minutes to rest. I had a handful of pecans. It was noon and we had been speed walking and moving like crazy, but we weren't really hungry. 

We actually had time during the rally to stop for a picture! A first!

At noon sharp, they had us gather for the picture. You have never seen 500 people get in position and smile for a picture faster. In no time at all, the Disney photographers had snapped our huge group photo and the Micechat staff members invited us up to get in line for a sticker to indicate we had been in attendance at the photo. Brittany used her pushing and shoving and "clipboard as a weapon" skills to quickly get our sticker so we could get to Space Mountain. 

Can you spot us? We are sitting on the left side.

Apparently a lot of other teams had the same idea, and we were surrounded in the FastPass line with other gumballers. Space Mountain was a "Mini-Quest" attraction, which meant it had five questions that all had to be answered correctly for credit. Miss one, and you score minus five points. Frightening. 

Five questions!

We walked right past the first one with a bunch of other teams, and we had to quickly turn around and backtrack in the queue. I wonder what the causal visitors were thinking, watching all these people with clipboard and lanyards walking the wrong way through the queue. We did find the number to answer the first question.

Whoops! Walked right past it. 

The next question was a bit confusing, as there was a section of numbers on the ground that were not part of the main queue, but were for handicap loading. To include or not include in our calculation? We decided not to, and the answer was 63, and put a note that it did not include the handicap numbers. 

The next question was supremely easy since it was one of the questions from two years ago. Circles. Duh!

How many left turns?

The next question was from several years ago, before we started participating. How many left turns are there on the ride? To do this, I just shut my eyes and constantly repeated "left turn left turn" so I wouldn't get distracted by the fun rollercoaster. Every time we took a left turn, I would smack Brittany in the arm and scream the new number. The correct answer is 5! Three at the beginning, one in the middle, and one right at the end. 

Upon exiting, we separately counted the orange lights, and both had the same answer: 13. Yes! We had added another 5 points to our score, bringing us to 35 points before 1 PM. 

We ran into the Starcade to pick up an easy point by playing the free Fix-It Felix Machine. The question required was:
Find the Fix-It Felix Machine and play the first level. How many individual characters say "Fit-It Felix!" at the beginning of the level?
A) 2    B) 3    C) 4    D) 5



A bunch of teams had congregated at the machines following Space Mountain, so we peered over the shoulder of a team and saw that 4 people stuck their heads out of windows that said "Fix-It Felix!" Nice. The answer was C. Another point completed quickly.

We asked about the Captain EO start time, but it was in 15 minutes, so we rushed over to Innovations instead. Captain EO was just not in the stars for us this day. I blame Hooter. He lost the maps or something.

After a couple of failed attempts, we gave up on seeing Captain EO, losing us 2 points. It was our only missed Tomorrowland attraction. I wonder how many dancers were dressed in white?

We speedily walked the ramp up to the entrance to Innoventions, then entered the building, went down the stairs before stopping to find the answer to this one point question:

How many rungs are on the rope ladder hanging from the treehouse in the center of the building?
A) 2    B) 4    C) 6     D) 8

There were 4. Off to another attraction!

Our Star Tours FastPass return time was quickly approaching, so we opted to jump in the queue for Buzz Light Year Astro Blasters rather than trying to make Captain EO again. The line was rather long, and we waited about 20 minutes. The outdoor line was brutal, and the sun was beating down on us. My water had long run out. Walking into the air conditioned building was heaven! But then it was time to focus on our two point question:

In the final scene, there is a large receipt to Al's Toy Barn that the Little Green Men are using to return him. From which department did Zurg come?
A) Dept 23 Action Figures    B) Area 51    C) Toy Section    D) Boys Department

Again, no flash allowed, but I can assure you that it says "Dept 23 Action Figures".

Our Star Tours FastPasses were now valid! We crossed the busy crowds of Tomorrowland and hopped into the FastPass queue. We were pretty sure of the answer before riding it.

For three points:
After your star speeder lands and the blast shield rises, an "exit" video is played on the monitor to the right. What item is retrieved from under the seat.
A) Blaster      B) Light Saber      C) Ewok Stuffed Animal     D) Darth Vader Figure

Let me tell you, riding Star Tours while trying to hold on to your camera, pen and clipboard is no fun. Actually, that ride is seldom fun. Finally, it ended, not a moment too soon, and we spotted a ewok stuffed animal being retrieved from under the seat on the video. 

I tried taking a picture, but all I got was a blurry picture of the actor's leg. Here is an adorable ewok stuffed animal instead.

We had nearly completed Tomorrowland, but still had tons to do, having only 44 points. Time to get over to the Matterhorn.

We chose the right side to get single-rider passes, and got cozy in the queue. We started looking at the question, and it was:

As you are waiting to enter the mountain, you will approach a speaker just opposite the entrance to the tunnel. What letter is visible on the speaker cover? 
A) N    B) M    C) E    D) F

Duh, it's an M. For Matterhorn, of course!

While standing in the queue, we realize we could see it from where we were standing. The answer was M, so we circled it, and soon we were riding. That ride is your back's worst nightmare, and to any person visiting the park, I would recommend NEVER EVER riding it. The guy in the front of our car yelled "WORST RIDE EVER" as Brittany and I attempted to brace our bodies so we wouldn't have too much permanent damage.  These are the sacrifices you have to make when you are a competitor! 

We needed to do Tom Sawyer's Island before the parade at four, so we skipped over the rest of Fantasyland and headed back to Frontierland. We passed by Big Thunder Ranch, so we dropped in to pick up an easy one point.


And the question:
Enter Miss Chris' Cabin and locate the display case with all of her award ribbons. Located the green ribbon on the top shelf. What fair did she win this ribbon at?
A) LA County Fair    B) Pomona Fair     C) O.C. Fair     D) Yodel Fest

I forgot to take a picture, so this one I found on google will do the trick! As you can see, the green ribbon is from the LA County Fair.

We didn't have time to stop and say hi to the happiest horse on the earth, because we had some FastPasses burning a hole in our pocket. 

We got on Big Thunder Mountain in less than five minutes, and enjoyed the new special effects in the tunnels. They really did a fantastic job updating the ride. But, we couldn't focus on the fun too much, because we had a question to answer for three points.

As you crest the second lift hill, where the goat is, you will see a dynamite shack with the words KEEP OUT and DANGER painted on the side facing the tracks. What word is painted on the left side of the shack?
A) Explosives      B) Danger     C) Keep Out      D) No Goats!

I couldn't take a photo while riding it, but I found this old photo from before the refurb of the clue spot. The old version had no words written on the side of the shack, now it says "Explosives." 

We moved our little feet quickly to get off of Big Thunder Mountain, and raced over to The Golden Horseshoe to pick up another easy one point question.

Unfortunately, the show was happening when we went in, which made our mobility around the restaurant more tricky. We ran upstairs to perform our count. 

Enter the Golden Horseshoe and find the sets of longhorns along the balcony. How many longhorns are there?
A) 7     B) 10    C) 11     D) 13

A view I found from the balcony. See the longhorns?

Brittany and I both counted 13, so we were on our way, and left the tourists to watch the show. 

We knew that Tom Sawyer was a priority since it closes early, but we wanted to check the availability of Splash Mountain FastPasses. We walked around the long bend to the distribution, but discovered the return time was 7:50 PM, which was after the competition deadline. No good. We got into the single rider line, but it was long and epic, so we abandoned that quickly and got in line for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Splash Mountain was worth 3 points, Winnie the Pooh was worth two, so it made sense to just pick up the two points and get over to Tom Sawyer as fast as we could.



On Winnie the Pooh, our two point question was:
In the Blustery Day scene there is a mailbox. Who does the mailbox belong to?
A) Pooh    B) Piglet    C) Rabbit     D) Owl

My picture was a blurred mess, but we saw that the mailbox belonged to Piglet. We hurried off our honey cars and raced over to Tom Sawyer. 



A raft quickly landed, and we boarded and got over to the island in under ten minutes. Tom Sawyer was the second mini-quest, and had four questions for us to find and answer. I had spent a lot of time on the island on Monday preparing myself for a question, and that time was well spent, as I knew where everything was. It just became a matter of how quickly could out tired legs move around the island in the blazing heat. 

(Sidenote: Also, at this point my heavy camera was becoming a nuisance to be worn, so I put it in my bag and didn't take any more pictures. So, most of the pictures in the rest of this are not taken at Gumball Rally by me.) 



We first went to the blacksmith's shop, and found the crates on the dock. I didn't take a picture, and I can't remember exactly what it said, but we got it!



Then we circled around to Dead Man's Grotto. After searching the caves, we came across the pirate who had been imprisoned for stealing a shipmate's plunder. Two down, two to go.

We ran up to the entrance of Fort Wildnerness, and found the plaque easily. I can't remember the beginning, but the second and third part was "Great Britain" and "1939."

I took this photo on Monday before the competition. The back grave has the answer to the final Tom Sawyer Island question. There always seems to be a graveyard question, as it requires you to walk all the way to the back of the island. 

After we visited the graveyard at the very back of the island, we raced back to the dock. We were the last two people to get on a very full raft, luckily, and we finished the 4-point Tom Sawyer Island questions in under 25 minutes. It was a great feeling to have that out of the way, and we now had 57 points!

We knew we had to see the parade at 4 PM from Fantasyland, and it was 3 PM when we exited Tom Sawyer. We skipped Haunted Mansion, hoping we'd be able to come back to pick up that 3 points, but that never happened. We entered Fantasyland with several options. We still have Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, Dumbo, Pinocchio and Mad Tea Party to complete. We've never done Peter Pan at Gumball Rally, but with 50 minutes to spend before the parade, we decided to opt for a more difficult attraction worth more points than try to complete two smaller ones. 



Peter Pan took about 30 minutes to get through the line (at this point, my legs were shaking and I could barely stand). We were so happy to sit down on the air conditioned ride to search for the answer to this question:

At the end of the attraction there is a red-headed mermaid with starfish in her hair. How many starfish does the RED-HEADED Mermaid have in her hair?
A) 2     B) 3      C) 4     D) 0

And there she is, checking herself out with her...shell compact? I see three shells in her hair. 

We departed Peter Pan with three more points under our belts at 3:43 PM. Parade starts at 4 PM. So, should we line up for the parade now, right? Nope!

As we neared the strategic spot we needed to watch the parade from, Brittany saw that Mad Tea Party (the teacups) had a reasonable line. We decided to try to pick up a point on this attraction.  

This is how the world looked after I got off the ride.

The question for the teacups was as follows:
Once in operation, try to spin your teacup clockwise. Then attempt to stop it from spinning and turn counter-clockwise. Is it possible to spin a teacup in either direction? 
A) Yes    B) No

My intuition was that the answer would be no, but I was wrong! You can change the direction of your teacup! But who would want to spin the teacup any more than it already spins? 

We bolted off the teacups and snuck into parade position, right in front of the Storybook Land Canal Boats. We were surrounded by other Gumball Rally participants who knew the same secret as we did. We watched the parade, and answered the five required questions. 

Watched the parade for the first time on Monday. How lucky that was!


Drummers? 6.

The gong? Genie! 

10th fully costumed character? Donald.

No white mushrooms!

And the mysteriously colored star. What would you guess that color is?


The final question was the one that gave us and others trouble. I first read it wrong, and thought it was asking about the moon, so we first circled yellow. Then, we realized it was the star hanging from the moon. Oops. Okay, should be easy right? Except that the star looked silvery, whitish blue. So we circled white, and wrote on the side that it was whitish blue.



So, why did we need to be in front of the Storybook Land Canal Boats for the parade? Because it closes before the parade, and reopens immediately after it ends. That means a wide open queue for a short moment. As soon as the last float passed, we found ourselves in the Storybook queue with nearly 100% other Gumball Rally teams. This was the best memory from the day, as we were so excited to be together, we ran through the line giving each other high fives and cheering for each other. Within just minutes, we were on a boat with other teams to find our answer.

Towards the end of the ride we reach Pinocchio's Village and Gepetto's workshop. Below the window, what does it say?
A) Toy Shoppe    B) Wooden Toys    C) Wood Carving     D) When You Wish Upon a Star 


Wood Carving!

After riding the boats, we'd let the parade crowd move away from us, and we headed over to pick up some easy points at Toon Town. 

First, we picked up FastPasses at Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. The return time was 5:25 PM, and was going to be simply perfect for our plans. But, this is Gumball Rally, and things never go to plan.


Then we rushed over to Goofy's Playhouse, maneuvered through some little kids to answer this question:
What color is the umbrella in Goofy's "attic" in the house?
A) White     B) Red     C) Green     D) Yellow

The umbrella was hanging upside down from the ceiling, and was yellow.

Next, we went next door to Donald's Boat. It was great, we didn't even have to walk upstairs. 


What color is the frame that holds the picture of Walt and Donald?
A) Blue     B) Red      C) Checkers        D) Orange

The frame is blue. 

Last, we ran over to Chip 'N Dale's Treehouse. We were about to bound up the stairs when we realized the question was outside and we wouldn't have to go inside. 

A really nice guy waiting for his family told us the answer as we approached (he said a number of teams had come up to count the acorns on the sign), but I still counted the nine acorns just to be sure. 

How many acorns are there on the sign for Chip 'N Dale's Treehouse?
A) 4      B) 5     C) 7     D) 9 

We briskly left Toon Town with plans to return later, and got in the queue for the train. We were one of the last groups to get loaded, so we got lucky. There were four questions to answer for each leg of the round trip train ride. 

Toon Town to Tomorrowland:
After you pass it's a small world, you will come to a sign that reads AGRIFUTURE. What color is the hose the robot is holding?
A) Green     B) Red     C) Blue     D) Black

Green hose. Aren't most hoses green?

Tomorrowland to Main Street:
Just before you enter the tunnel into the Grand Canyon Diorama, there is a cement marker on the ground to the right of the tracks. What is the number on the marker?
A) 2     B) 6     C) 5     D) 9

We nearly missed this one, but the conductor pointed to it as she overheard us talking about the question. The number was 9. A few other rally teams were on our train, so we started yelling out that the answer was another random numbers. Lots of laughs! 

Main Street to New Orleans Square:
After you leave the jungle, and JUST before going through the tunnel to New Orleans Square, you will see a loading dock to the right of the train. How many crates are marked "FIREWORKS"?
A) 2    B) 3    C) 4   D) 6

Well, we both counted three, but it goes by so quickly, perhaps there could have been more?

New Orleans Square to Toon Town:
After you leave the forest, and JUST before going through the tunnel to Toontown, you will see a western style shed with the words, "LIVERY HAY AND GRAIN FEED" on it. What two colors is the word LIVERY written in?
A) Blue and Green     B) Yellow and White     C) Black and Red     D) None of the Above

The word livery was definitely yellow and white. Time to get off the train!

We hurried back over to use our Roger Rabbit FastPasses and...the ride was down. Devastation. All hopes crushed. We turned around and headed to Fantasyland to try to recuperate those lost points. 

We waited about 25 minutes for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, to figure out some dental answers:
We encounter a dragon in the Hell scene. How many teeth does he have?
A) 3    B) 4     C) 5      D) 8

Not the best picture of his bottom teeth, but you can probably see the four on the top.

From straight on, I could only see six. Brittany insisted that there were eight, so I turned around at the last moment and from the side angle, saw the extra teeth. So, the answer was D. 

Now, we were at 78 points. So close to breaking the 80 mark! We jumped into the Pinocchio line. It didn't move. And didn't move. We realized that no one was loading, so we jumped out of line. Now we've lost our chance to ride Pinocchio and Roger Rabbit. Points were slipping through our fingers. 

We decided to go check on Tiki Room, but the Cast Member said the next show wouldn't be for 17 minutes. That was no good. So we ran down Main Street and asked the Cast Member in front of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln when that show would start. He informed us they were seating right at that moment! Great! We ran in, the doors shut, and the lights went down. Only problem? We hadn't looked at the questions ahead of time. It was so dark in the theatre, we could barely see. I read them earlier that afternoon, and knew that the second question was about Lincoln's movement, but I was unsure of the first. Finally I found the mini-flashlight in my bag, and read these questions:

During the lyrics "America, America God Shed his grace on thee," which American landmark is shown?
A) Statue of Liberty     B) White House     C) Grand Canyon      D) Washington Monument

After sitting down, Lincoln remains in motion until the lights completely fade on him at the end of the show.
A) True     B) False

Here you go, all the answers to Gumball Rally.

We remembered that during the big dramatic moment in the song, the statue of liberty was shown three times in a row from different angles, so I chose that as the answer along with a note about what happened. Lincoln also continues to twitch and move slightly until the curtain goes down, so we answered true on the second question. Hopefully we got credit for this one.

When we left the theatre, it was 6:15 PM. Too early to leave, but dangerously close to the end of rally deadline. We decided to head back to Fantasyland for one more try at Pinocchio. Guess what? It was still broken! So now we are stuck. Not enough time to do Tiki Room, or walk back to Haunted Mansion or the Riverboat. Dumbo had a 40 minute line, so that left us with few options. We had one remaining one point question left. We decided to ride the Carousel and hoped we had enough time  to complete it. 



The question, which could have been answered without riding, was:
How many total leaping horses are there on the King Arthur Carousel? 
A) 23     B) 54      C) 68      D) 72

There are 17 rows of horses, 4 horses deep, which equals 68 horses!

We rode the Carousel in about 15 minutes, and that was it. We were out of time, and we hustled back down Main Street, exited the park, and turned in our booklet at the La Brea Bakery. 

We were exhausted. But we had scored 82 points out of a possible 100!

I've never felt so sweaty. 

It was 7:00 PM, and the game show at the Howard Johnson didn't start until 8:30 PM. So there was only one thing to do. EAT!

Only problem was, we had to walk to McDonalds! But it was worth it.

Yes, we ate it all. And we might have had some Cold Stones after, but I'll never admit to it.

We attended the awards ceremony at the Howard Johnson's pool area, and we soaked our feet in jacuzzi. We didn't win any awards (the top 5 teams scored in the 90s!). We had a tremendously fun time and can't wait to participate again. 

82 points! 8 more than last year! 





















































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