From D23 Blog
Congratulations to The People Movers! Dean from Wisconsin, his son, Brent, who lives in Florida, and their two D23 friends from California, Frank and Dave, were joined onstage with Tigger to celebrate their grand prize win on May 13 during the announcement ceremony at the Contemporary Resort Convention Center for D23’s Great Disney Scavenger Hunt. The four D23 Members sat next to each other at D23’s Magic and Merriment and were fast friends. When they heard about the scavenger hunt they knew it would be the perfect chance to meet up once again.
Click here to see the rest of the team standings.
Brent, who lives in Orlando, studied the parks for nine months. “I would post pictures and videos online and then we would have conference calls every Saturday to prepare,” he laughs. “I think I own the record for going to Disney the most consecutive days in a row.” Even for a team this prepared, Brent says there were several moments that through them off their plan. “At one point we got stuck behind a parade at Animal Kingdom,” he says. “If we hadn’t known about a back route around the Tree of Life we wouldn’t have won this thing.” But it looks like the late night study sessions, stacks of flashcards and last-minute decisions paid off. After spending two hot days in the Florida sun and searching for answers in every nook and cranny at the four Walt Disney World parks, The People Movers will get to cool off on a special preview cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy, the fourth Disney Cruise Line, which will set sail from Port Canaveral, Florida in spring 2012.
In groups of twos, threes and fours, the hunters, from 37 states, three provinces in Canada, Germany and United Kingdom, hopped from park to park by boat, bus and Monorail. |
In groups of twos, threes and fours, the hunters, from 37 states, three provinces in Canada, Germany and United Kingdom, hopped from park to park by boat, bus and Monorail. They started each morning by picking up a scavenger hunt guide book at the entrance of each park and then scoured every corner of the parks looking for answers. The teams had three hours — four for Epcot — to search for all the answers in each park’s guide book. Divided into three categories, from easiest to hardest, the questions ranged from park facts and trivia to counting letters on attraction signs. Miner League, worth one point, Major Domo, an ambitious five points and Super-Difficult-Idiocious, the hardest of them all at a whopping 10 points, meant that there were questions for every skill level.
With their homemade shirts that had everyone in the family caricatured on the backs, the Jackson family from Richmond, Virginia proved that getting to the finish line is half the fun. They displayed their team name — Beauties and the Beast — oh so proudly. “So we’re the beauties and dad is the beast,” laughs Andie, who, by the second day running through the parks with her husband, Bill, and two daughters, Christine and Danielle, said she was beginning to feel a little worn out. But the smile on her face told a different story. “We’re here just to have fun and experience Walt Disney World a little differently,” she says. “Though, at this last park [Disney’s Hollywood Studios], some of our beauties turned into beasts,” she joked.
Divided into three categories, from easiest to hardest, the questions ranged from park facts and trivia to counting letters on attraction signs.. |
Another family who attended came in with a solid plan of attack. Well, until some unexpected surprises came about. “We went through and highlighted the numbers separating World Showcase from Future World and then we went back and separated the different attractions,” says Christy from Orlando. Though their plans were foiled when the youngest on their team of four, one-year-old Zach, had his own agenda. “We had to stop for diaper changes,” Christy laughs.
The top 20 top-scoring teams received prizes, which included packages from Walt Disney Records, Walt Disney Publishing, Radio Disney, Walt Disney Classics Collection, Walt Disney World and D23. And all the hunters were applauded for their hard work and enthusiasm. Thanks for playing, everyone!