Stupid Guest Tricks

Anyway, I just got back from a very enjoyable, if exhausting evening of volunteer labour.

As part of the Disney VoluntEARS program, I worked Minnie's Moonlit Madness inside Disneyland Park. It's an annual scavenger hunt hosted afterhours and draws participants from the various west-coast based Disney business units, as well as ESPN and ABC. The proceeds from the registration benefit a local charity, this year being a local Orange County Foodbank.

I got to meet a lot of great people from across the company, and had a pleasant time overall, but there are so many SG/SCMT stories to tell.

Before I start, put into context that these are all DLR CMs, as well Walt Disney Company, ABC, and ESPN Employees. For the most part, they are relatively mature and well-educated.

A Cast TV Hostess interviewing a Goat. Yes, a Cast TV CM interviewed a Goat. This is going to make for some interesting viewing when it airs.

The fact that so many people had trouble making a simple belt clip work. The groups participating were bound together at the waist by a rope. Despite the relative easy nature of setting it up (take belt clip, put on belt, repeat with other person), we still had people walking around holding their ropes like they were live snakes.

One guy asked us if they could keep the rope, as they had become "emotionally bonded" to it .

Despite repeated yells not to run, people running (remember, groups of 3-4 are tied together at the waist....pretty interesting sight when one person is running and the others don't want to; horrific if you think that if someone had tripped, their party would basically drag them screaming along the floor).

At the scarier end of this, people getting frantic towards the end and running about like mad. We nearly had a collision between a frantic group and a slow moving one with someone in a wheelchair .

For the most part, it was quite nice, and I look forward to volunteering to work it again next year. But, really, being tied to your peers and set in a competetive situation brings out the worst in people sometimes, eh?

Well, first of all, I have to say that they are not all CMs, only the team captain must be a CM. But, I was observing that last night seemed rather calm compared to previous years. In fact, I think the clues were too easy considering how many teams were finished before time was up, and I mean really finished, not just hurry put any answer down for this one so we can say we finished.

Also, for anyone who has done Minnie's in the past and did it last night, what is your opinion of both the video clues and the no clue working zone. Both of those were new this year and I'd really like to get some opinions on what the teams thought of those.

lady ulrike wrote:Well, first of all, I have to say that they are not all CMs, only the team captain must be a CM. But, I was observing that last night seemed rather calm compared to previous years. In fact, I think the clues were too easy considering how many teams were finished before time was up, and I mean really finished, not just hurry put any answer down for this one so we can say we finished.

You're right, lol. I was really tired when I wrote that (working from 10:00 to 24:00 will do that, ;) ).

And according to people I talked to who did it before, it was much calmer overall than in past years, but there were still moments, like the near collision.

lady ulrike wrote:Also, for anyone who has done Minnie's in the past and did it last night, what is your opinion of both the video clues and the no clue working zone. Both of those were new this year and I'd really like to get some opinions on what the teams thought of those.

Video Clues - I personally liked them. Though, a lot of people around me who were only familiar with the DLR were scratching their heads at that one. On a tangent, did you have that guy go to every Disney Park worldwide and film one or two sentences? If so, how would one go about getting that job ;) ??

No Clue Working Zone - It worked great with one hitch. I was on the table facing down Main Street USA (directly in front of the castle), and we apparently had a clue that was directly behind us on a photo sign or something. Add the two together, and we had to keep telling people to stand behind the blue line, all without actually confirming whether or not the sign was relevant.

So, I say keep it, but just make sure you don't actually put any clues inside the No Clue Working Zone, lol.

Polar33 wrote: Also, if you can, please pass along to whoever decided to change out the cheep plastic rope clips with carabiners, that our team is incredibly grateful. It was nice change finishing an event without completely mutilating our rope. :D:

We were very excited about the carabiners too cause everyone on the clue crew has been on a team before and we all remember those lovely plastic clips.

glendalais wrote: And according to people I talked to who did it before, it was much calmer overall than in past years, but there were still moments, like the near collision.

Video Clues - I personally liked them. Though, a lot of people around me who were only familiar with the DLR were scratching their heads at that one. On a tangent, did you have that guy go to every Disney Park worldwide and film one or two sentences? If so, how would one go about getting that job ;) ??

No Clue Working Zone - I say keep it, but just make sure you don't actually put any clues inside the No Clue Working Zone, lol.

Near collisions will always happen. The guy in the videos is on the clue crew and he happened to be going to the parks for something work related and just filmed while he was there.

We didn't really know that there was going to be a no clue working zone, we had talked about doing it, but didn't know if it was going to happen, but that is certainly something valuable that I can pass on to the clue crew.

I swear one of these years I want to go and do that. It sounds like so much fun!

Polar33 wrote:Hmm...you must have been at the same table we were picking up clues from. Plenty of people were having difficulties seeing that sign. We even ended up with that clue, but thankfully we had no trouble seeing the sign from outside the no clue working zone. Although I was rather amused that three different parts of that clue were ODV related so that saved us quite a bit of time, but was even more amused when I saw annother team searching for the price of a turkey leg over at the Plaza Pavilion.

Yeah, you like that clue how it ended up, but ohhh how it started. I think we all worked on it for about 20 minutes and none of us finished, we decided there was too much. I'll pass on how much you enjoyed the ODV part of it. :)