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The 2020 Disney Challenge…Star Wars Edition!

That’s right everyone…on Sunday, June 7th 2020, The Disney Challenge will be bringing you its first ever “Themed” in park game. We are ecstatic to unveil this new concept to all of you today. Details are sketchy at this time (primarily because we haven’t started writing it yet), but you can bet The Force will be strong with this Challenge! So prepare yourselves for a galactic extravaganza taking place in Disneyland, and keep checking back here and on our Facebook page for more exciting information about this brand new Disney Challenge.

Another HUGE thank you goes out to the most awesome graphic designer this side of the Outer Rim, Frank Pepito, for our special 2020 Logo. Check out more of Frank’s fantastic work here. 

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The Holiday Disney Challenge Wrap Up

15 Teams showed up on a brisk January morning to celebrate what was left of the 2019-2020 Holiday Season at Downtown Disney on Sunday the 5th. With a few brand new teams, some brand new players related to seasoned pros, a handful of veteran teams, and one newly mastered out team, no one was completely sure just what The Event Crew had up their sleeves this year. Since this was our first time doing a Holiday-themed Challenge, we decided to shake up the formula a bit and introduce a new style of play that just might catch on in future challenges. 

Teams were handed a packet that contained 9 separate challenges and one bonus. Each challenge was themed to a different holiday subject (for the most part) and was played in a different area of Downtown Disney. We included some old favorites like DINGO, Photo Challenge, and Fotoshop Frenzy along with some brand new concepts and games never attempted before. The players really seemed to love this new format, and there was quite a bit of positive feedback. 

No holiday-themed challenge would be complete without Santa Claus, and our own Event Crew Member “Santa” returned to complete the holiday vibe. (Those of you who played The Quest for Disney Challenge-tacular last year may remember Santa-Thanos and his antics fondly.) Santa was in rare form this year, asking teams to tell him a joke if they wanted to record his iconic “Ho Ho Ho.” He also MC’d his own Bonus Challenge titled “Christmas Carol Caraoke,” where teams had to guess the Christmas song that was being sung or “fa-la-la’d” by one of their team mates.

Teams were able to flex their creative crafting skills as well when they were asked to take some miscellaneous items from their packet and “construct” an ornament for Santa using only items they had with them or found for free around the resort. The creativity displayed by most teams was astounding, and Santa had a very difficult time picking out his top 3 favorites. 

One of the most memorable new games was titled “What I Want For Christmas…aka Johanna Describes Things Badly.” This game has teams trying their best to think like Crew Member Johanna while shopping through the World of Disney store, taking photos of things she put on her Christmas wish list. The fun continued if they found Johanna and asked her for a hint about one of the clues. Watching Johanna describe her spirit animal, the T-Rex, badly live and in person was a comedy bit unto itself. ‘

When the exhausted teams showed up to the Award Ceremony, they were quick to tell us how much fun they had and excited to hear the results. 3rd place went to The Jingle Cruisers (who absolutely won the theme award in my book, as well as scoring the highest in the singing bonus challenge.) The Hidden Minnies really stepped it up this year and took home 2nd place; their highest place to date. Our Holiday Champions and 1st place winners were TinkerBelles, taking home their 2nd Mini Challenge win and another Master Point for all 5 team members. (Plus a bonus prize sponsored by our Master Team, Frankless Weenies for building the most creative ornament.)

Once again, a HUGE thank you goes out to The Event Crew for their spectacular job putting together, testing, and facilitating this year’s Challenge. (With an EPIC thank you to Johanna and Melissa who really stepped it up this year with more administrative and field work than they have ever done!) It was awesome seeing everyone come out to celebrate the holidays with us and a happy reminder of just why we continue to put on The Disney Challenge year after year. 

Keep your eyes on this page as well as Facebook for a BIG announcement about The 2020 Disney Challenge happening on June 7th! 

Check out the results and answer key for The Holiday Disney Challenge here. 

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Registration for The Holiday Disney Challenge is now OPEN!

The holidays are upon us. Family, Food, and Frivolity will define the next several weeks. At Disneyland, the holiday season makes it the Merriest Place on Earth. And once all the celebrating, gift giving, face stuffing, and time off work is at an end, The Disney Challenge will be here to challenge you to one last Holiday Spree…The Holiday Disney Challenge.

This will be unlike some of our other Mini Disney Challenges, which are usually played in the Fall during the change-over between Halloween and Christmas seasons. This year, we’re going full holiday season. We’ll have all new holiday inspired challenges along with some twisted old favorites. And best of all, it’s all going to be played in the Downtown Disney District which means no park admission is required! (Consider that our gift to you.)

All you have to do to register a team is click here, follow the simple instructions, and we’ll see you on Sunday, January 5th!

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The Disney Challenge is Getting Ready For The Holidays!

Want to ring in the Holiday Season with The Disney Challenge? Well…maybe ring OUT the Holiday Season is more accurate. On Sunday, January 5th 2020, we will be premiering our latest creation…The Holiday Disney Challenge! This will be a “Mini” Challenge and will be played in the Downtown Disney District. Details on start and end times are still up in the air, but we did want to announce the date and show off this sweet new logo our good friend Frank Pepito designed. (Thanks Frank!!!)

So, mark your calendars and get into the holiday spirit with us. (Or at least when the holiday decorations go up in November.) Registration will open on Friday, November 29th 2019. 

~Written by Dave Mancini – Event Crew Member

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The 2019 Super Disney Challenge Wrap Up

What do you do to celebrate 10 straight years of bringing folks an annual (and sometimes semi-annual) event? Create the longest, most intense, and most insane challenge to date and call it “Super” of course! On June 2nd 2019, 12 brave teams decided to compete in the marathon of all Disney Challenges. Boy did they have their hands full!

We should first talk about the giant Bantha in the room. A year ago, we picked this weekend as it was far enough away from the rumored opening of Galaxy’s Edge that was anticipated to premier around the last weekend in June. About 3 months before the Challenge, Disney surprised everyone by announcing that they would be opening their new Star Wars Themed Land on May 31st. Guests staying at any of the Disney hotels could make reservations for a 4 hour block to be among the first to see this new (and largest to date) expansion of Disneyland. I’ll be honest…the Event Crew kind of panicked. (Mostly Dave.) Attempts were made to move the challenge to a different, earlier weekend; however, this became an impossibility, and we all decided that we would fight the Force (and the crowds) and let what will happen just happen. Our biggest fear…thousands of rabid Star Wars fans who didn’t read the posts about needing a reservation would just show up hoping to get in, thusly filling the park to capacity and making it a less than fun setting to try to play a scavenger hunt in. Changes to the overall structure of the game had to be made last minute, most significantly was the decision to move the first starting line to Disneyland instead of Disney California Adventure just in case the afternoon crowds filled the park, and they stopped letting our players through the gates. 

However, what started out as the worst-case scenario amazingly ended up being the best thing that could have happened. Because of all the hype (and the great job Disney did about getting the word out that NO ONE would be allowed into Galaxy’s Edge without a reservation), the crowds of regular park goers simply stayed away making the rest of the park rather uncrowded. This allowed the teams who already had a shortened window of time in each park, able to complete more of the challenge than we possibly anticipated. We couldn’t believe our luck. To make things even better, Event Crew member Jeremiah Good, who traveled in from Orlando to attend the opening, was able to hang out with us and help run the Challenge. 

Crowds aside though, this Super Challenge was still a “Force” unto itself. The game play was a little different than other challenges. The teams would start in Disneyland and would be handed a 50-question challenge with only 3 hours to play. At the end of that round, the teams would be given a puzzle to solve with the answer being the location of the next round’s starting line in Disney California Adventure. Another round of 50-questions and 3 hour game play was concluded with yet another puzzle, leading them to the final round to be played in Downtown Disney. The third round was one last 50-question game sheet and concluded at the end of an epic 9 hour day. (Oh, and did we mention the All Day DINGO game we had them playing as well?) Needless to say, the teams were beyond exhausted when they finally turned in that final packet. (We had several players show us their “step trackers,” and the average team walked between 14-15 miles that day!) The Event Crew was even running on fumes by this point walking about 10 miles themselves. 

To make things even more interesting, Event Crew Member Johanna decided to throw in a little bonus challenge the night before the big day. She is notorious for waking up way too early on Challenge days so she decided to put a video up on the Facebook Page asking participants and fans of the page to try to guess what time she would wake up Sunday morning. (Or Saturday night as I joked.) She even bought a prize for the winner. A Disney Snuggie with the words “DC19 Sleepytime Challenge Winner” embroidered at the bottom. The winning guess came from Shelly Balthis from Neverland Flight Crew. She picked 1:45am and Johanna begrudgingly gave up trying to get back to sleep at 1:43am. Shelly, who was playing the Challenge, was awarded her prize at the Award Ceremony. 

I have to say in all my years (10 now, plus the 2 when this was a youth group activity) of putting on The Disney Challenge, I have never seen teams step up and play their hearts out like this year. From teams with very young players, to teams pushing strollers, to teams with bodily injuries, everyone rose to the challenge of this year’s Super event. I even saw seasoned teams trying out new strategies to combat the shortened windows of time. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, played to the best of their abilities, and they are all winners in my book. But the winners must be ranked, and so I bring you the top 3 teams and scores. In 3rd place, “Hold My…” had a score of 580 out of 837 points. 

In 2nd place, 2-time reigning champions “X-S Tech” crushed it with a whopping 648 points. 

However, determined as they have ever been to reclaim their title, “Frankless Weenies” with an unreal score of 665 carved out their place in history as not only the winners of the first ever Super Challenge but the second team to ever “Master Out” of The Disney Challenge.

So what does the future hold for The Disney Challenge? (Not another Super Challenge for a few years…maybe the weekend that Marvel Land opens at DCA…) Announcements were made at the Award Ceremony that the 2020 Disney Challenge will be played on Sunday, June 7th next year, and a yet to be solidified Holiday Mini Disney Challenge is being batted around by the Event Crew to be played in December or January this Fall/Winter. Keep checking back here, and especially on the Facebook Page, for details and possibly a “Date Poll” to help us pick the best day to play our next game. Until the next Anniversary (or Quarter Quell as we referred to it), it’s time to say goodbye to this awesome logo. If it returns in the future, it might just strike fear into the hearts of those who played and survived The 2019 Super Disney Challenge!

 

Check out the results, team places, scores, and answer keys here

See some more photos here

Behold the new Hall of Fame here

~Written by Dave Mancini – Event Crew Member

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The 2019 Super Disney Challenge is Upon Us!

The moment most of you have been waiting for (and some of you have been dreading)…registration for The 2019 Super Disney Challenge is now open!

First, make sure you have read the previous blog about what makes this one “Super”

Next, completely familiarize yourself with the How To Play section of this website.

Then, complete ALL parts of the registration process by clicking HERE and following all 4 steps.

Finally, wait for your “Registration Complete” email with the Official Rules and the location of the Starting Line.

If only The Challenge were that simple! See you there!

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Get Ready For The 2019 Disney Challenge

On May 31st 2009, The Disney Challenge made its public debut at 10am in front of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. On June 2nd 2019, we will celebrate our 10 year anniversary by bringing you something new. Something never before attempted (by us at least!) Something…Super! The 2019 Super Disney Challenge will be the most insane event we’ve ever hosted. Are you ready to get crazy with us?

The Super Challenge will take place in Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney, and all 3 hotels. It will last a whopping 9 hours and will be no less than 150 questions long. Returning teams can expect to see some of their old favorite categories, as well as new categories, puzzles, and ways to frustrate you that we’ve dreamed up over this past year. As Mater would say…”It’s gonna be FUUUUUUUUUUUUN!”

Because of the uniqueness of this event, some changes to the general “How To Play” section of this website will need to be amended. Please familiarize yourselves with these bullet points before registering your team. (More specific details will be included in the Official Rules which is emailed to each team captain upon registration.)
Check-in and Packet Distribution will be handled exactly the same as years past. We will meet at a pre-designated area within Disneyland and the Challenge will begin promptly at 10am.
Part 1 will be played in Disneyland between the hours of 10am and 1pm.
Part 2 will be played in Disney California Adventure between the hours of 1pm and 4pm.
Part 3 will be played in Downtown Disney between the hours of 4pm and 7pm.
Packets for each part will be distributed inside the playing area at the beginning of each round.
Packets for each part will be turned in inside the playing area and scored at the end of each round.
The Awards Ceremony will be held as close to 9pm as possible. (Exact time will be announced at the final finish line.)

You’re probably questioning your sanity right about now. If The Disney Challenge were a Football game, this would be The Super Bowl. Nah…if The Disney Challenge was a national sporting competition, this would be The Olympics! Ok, let’s get real…if The Disney Challenge was The Hunger Games, this would be The Quarter Quell! Yeah! That’s more like it! Well then…it seems only fitting that we reveal our new 2019 Logo. May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!

(Special thanks to Frank Pepito for the killer design work!)

Registration for The 2019 Super Disney Challenge will open at 12:01am on Friday, April 19th and close at midnight on Friday, May 17th.

Also, we are aware that Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is doing its reservation-only-soft-opening that weekend. This was unexpected, but unfortunately announced too late to change The Disney Challenge. Plan on the parks being insanely crowded and parking to be unimaginably crazy. Arrive Early! I can’t stress this enough! (Arrive Early, Arrive Early, Arrive Early…) If something happens and a park reaches capacity, we will communicate with your team captains as to our back-up plan. Let’s hope that all the people who don’t realize they aren’t getting into Galaxy’s Edge without a reservation will stay away from the park that weekend and we can play our challenge without needing a back-up plan.

~Written by Dave Mancini – Event Crew Member

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The Quest for Disney Challenge-Tacular!

A collaboration between two different scavenger-hunt organizations could prove to be a challenge few would dare to undertake. However, with the friendship and mutual respect between Gia Jordahl from Questacular and Dave Mancini from The Disney Challenge, along with their respective Event Crews and especially the brave participants from both groups, a brand new adventure was born. And not just a regular “adventure,” but a Halloween Themed, Choose Your Own Adventure! With a total of ten individual games to pick from (two all-day, all-area games and eight area specific ones), the players from eighteen teams spend six hours working their way through each Quest or Challenge. The players, some of whom have played both Questacular and The Disney Challenge, some who have played only one or the other, and some who have never participated in either, were treated to a very unique style of puzzles, questions, photo/video challenges, physical challenges, and of course, the warped sense of humor from both groups.

The hilarity that ensued from The Disney Challenge’s Halloween Themed Pictionary and Questacular’s Frozen Storytelling was matched only by the creativity of the videos teams submitted for the Star-Lord’s Dance Off and the DINGO (photo-bingo) pictures teams collected throughout the day. Of course, the real fun was the ongoing story that was written to tie all of these crazy games together. Watching the teams sit down to read a portion of their story, then strategize which adventure to pick and play made the crew’s day! As the day went on, teams kept returning to the “Game Hub” to turn in their completed (or surrendered) games and choose their next one.

When all was said and done, the awards ceremony recognized all teams for doing a phenomenal job. However, one team rose above and beyond and scored a whopping 3160 points out of 3200. Brain Wreck were declared the first champions of The Quest for Disney Challenge-Tacular!

Announcements were also made, which included dates and information about the next two events from Questacular and The Disney Challenge. Questlympics, a resort-wide, puzzle based game, will be held on Sunday, November 25th 2018. The Disney “Super” Challenge will be unleashed on Sunday, June 2nd 2019. This “Super” Challenge will be the Ten Year Anniversary of The Disney Challenge and a special resort-wide game is currently in the works. Details for both events will be published on The Disney Challenge’s Facebook Page.

The crews from both Questacular and The Disney Challenge would like to thank the players, who are the sole reason we all do this, for showing up, participating, and most of all, enjoying themselves at these events.

Check out the Past Challenges section for the story, game sheets, and answer key. 

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Registration for The Quest for Disney Challenge-Tacular is Now Open!

We’re only a few weeks away from out first ever joint-event with our friends from Questacular. Sunday, October 21st 2018 will be the historical date this new and exciting game will make its debut. We can’t wait to see all of our friends from The Disney Challenge meet the awesome folks who put on Questacular. (And hopefully a few teams from their game who have never played ours will come out and join us too!)

What can you expect? A few fan-favorites and a LOT of brand new good stuff! The way it will be played is all new as well. We don’t want to give away any surprises, but as we have mentioned, its a Halloween Themed, Choose Your Own Adventure Event. (Make what you will out of that description!) Prepare like you would for any other game and show up ready to have some fun!

The Challenge-Tacular will take place entirely in the Downtown Disney District (including hotels) so there is no park admission required to play.

Click Here to learn all about the rules and info first.

Then Click Here to register your team.

Registration will remain open until midnight, Friday, October 5th.

Good Luck and we’ll see you at The Quest for Disney Challenge-Tacular!

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Information on The Quest for Disney Challenge-Tacular!

A brand new link has appeared at the top of our homepage. It’s How To Play – Challenge-Tacular. If you are thinking about playing our new game, check it out. Then don’t forget to register your team. Registration opens Friday, September 7th, and will close Friday, October 5th.

See you there!

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