Gumball Rally

The Gumball Rally is put on by MiceChat and is a contest of endurance and stamina as you compete against other teams to see who see the most attractions and rides at Disney in a 4 or 12 hour period. We chose the 4 hour challenge for our first rally. The rides all have different point values so you have to find out what rides have higher values and concentrate your efforts. So it was up at 4:00 am to be at check-in by 6:30 am.

All sunny at 6:30 and we have our packet and gumballs ready to go. Now it's off to the staging area where we have to wait for briefing, rules, and meeting other teams.  Brian, Kathy, and I are team Mickey Mouse Robot. Not too brainiac I know but it worked for the day. Below Kathy and Brian in line for registration.

Our strategy was to stay in one land and do as much as possible to avoid running around. First up we fast passed Space Mountain and the first ride was Autopia. From there we ran to Buzz Lightyear. Before we went in Buzz, we had to run thru the Starcade to answer the trivia question of "how many air hockey games are in the Starcade?" Answer - 2. Then it was over to Star Tours.

Astro Orbitor was right there and worth a couple of points with a 5 minute wait. On we went and had to look to see if we could see Small World as this challenge question.

Our fast pass still had time so we decided we needed more high  point rides. Peter Pan was a 4 pointer so off we went, then Alice in Wonderland and then the Bobsleds. Challenge question on the Bobsleds was to count the number of utility boxes on the left side of the cave right after splash down. (6)

The Monorail was 3 but here we lost time since the family that loaded on at Downtown Disney was incapable of folding up their stroller and the Monorail wouldn't leave until the stroller was folded and stored.  Part of the rules are to be polite so we suffered our lost time in silence.

After polishing of Innovations and finally using our Space Mountain fast pass, it was time for a new land so off to Frontierland to shoot some rifles, go on the Jungle Cruise and power up the stairs to Tarzan's Treehouse.

Somehow against all odds, it was 11:25 and Pirates only had a 15 minute time so we went on and then started our dash out to the finish line. Along the way we decided to go for a last point and went into the Disney Galley to find out if the Lady Justice statue was in the right or left side of the room. (right, top shelf)

We hit the finish line at 11:55 am and made a restroom stop, water and food our priority. Since the event was only 4 hours we had agreed to starve/dehydrate to prevent breaks. We didn't win our challenge but we had fun and did things that normally we all skip in the park. Since we were focused on the game we really didn't notice anything going on outside of what we were doing. We also made mistakes and now I have much more understanding of the mental nature of Amazing Race. Next year it will be a 6 hour challenge and we are up for that. 12 hours really is 15 hour day with check-in and awards. I'll leave that to the pros and stay with the have as much fun as you can challenge!