Following last week’s Magic Kingdom update, which included a review of Tomorrowland Terrace’s new menu and a wide-ranging construction update, we return to buy some pins and tie up a few loose ends.
Somewhat out of nowhere, Disney announced the introduction of “Disney PinQuest – A Disney Pin Trading Scavenger Hunt” on the Parks Blog at this link: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2016/06/adventure-awaits-with-new-disney-pinquest-coming-to-magic-kingdom-park-on-june-30/. As is typical of Parks Blog announcements, there is no discussion of cost, availability, or in this case, where exactly these pins or starter sets could be purchased.
There are two locations where the completer pin can be picked up after the quest is…completed – Curtain Call Collectibles just inside the entrance is one of them. The other is Frontier Trading Post in Frontierland in between Country Bear Jamboree and Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade. I can’t really say the other locations where the starter sets or pins can be purchased without giving away the answers to some of the questions, but here is a complete list in case you’re wondering. Otherwise, start here on Main Street or in Frontierland.
Your PinQuest begins with the purchase of what Disney is calling an “Adventure Kit” which “contains a lanyard to showcase your pins; a decoder medal for use with PinQuest pins; and a lanyard pouch to hold the map included in the adventure kit.” That will set you back $14.99.
After that, you’ll need to purchase a “Clue,” which, upon completion, can be exchanged for that location’s pin.
One thing about PinQuest…the questions are not all that easy…This is as much direction as you’ll receive if you begin your quest at Curtain Call Collectibles. The cast member had obviously received some number of questions about what the heck was going on with this clue as she blurted out, “You’re very hot” after handing it to us. I thought, “Hunny, usually they buy me a drink first” but instead just awkwardly stumbled off to take pictures for my Disney World blog.
(“Hot” because the answer to each clue is inside or around the store where you purchase it.)
The back side of clue, which doesn’t make things a whole lot easier.
Larger: https://www.easywdw.com/reports13/magic_kingdom_pinquest_map.jpg
Cast members should be happy to offer tips and as the instructions indicate, there is no penalty for multiple scratches. So if you just want the pins you can scratch off all three answers and immediately return the clue. A small icon underneath whatever you call “scratchoff stuff” will indicate whether you’re right. If you want the answer to clue #1 spoiled along with where you’ll find it, you can click here.
Once you figure out the answer or freak out and madly scratch off random answers until you get it right, you’ll be able to return to the location and present the clue. The NavigatEAR will check to see how many tries it took you to get the right answer, spend some amount of time making fun of you if it’s more than one, and then tear off the ticket at the bottom and exchange that for the location’s pin. They will also stamp your map to keep track of which clues you’ve completed/paid for. I don’t really know anything about Disney, but I believe that’s Hyacinth Hippo, which is relevant since Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” is in Fantasia. You’ll recognize the clip.
Anyway, you line up just the tip of the pin you receive behind the Decoder Medal, which will then indicate your next location by showing a letter and a number in the two areas circled. This is “C 1” for example.
Larger: https://www.easywdw.com/reports13/pinquest_map_magic_kingdom.jpg
After decoding that, you would check the map to see which icon matches up to C on the left axis and 1 on the bottom, which indicates Frontierland. You would then flip the map over to the image a few above this to find out that it’s the Briar Patch in Frontierland.
You might also notice that the icon is present in the pin. Here’s an image that includes all six of the clues should you wish to preview them.
All in all, the complete PinQuest will set you back about $80 plus tax – $15 for the Adventure Kit/Decoder, $10 for each of the six pins, and $5 for the completer pin. The initial $15 investment is pretty decent in the grand scheme of things considering it comes with the map, lanyard, and a pretty nice, durable dated pin in the decoder. The other pins don’t do much for me personally, but they might be worth the $10 each to you. You might instead take a look at each clue that corresponds to the spoiler list of locations above and instead figure out the answer and then pick out a pin from that store that you like a little better.
Since this wouldn’t be an easyDUBZ review without an airing of grievances, I will list some:
- A couple of the clues don’t provide much guidance.
- Each location requires waiting in a general merchandise line twice. You have to wait in line to purchase each clue card. And then wait in line again upon completion to exchange the pin. Luckily(?), the locations are generally those that are less traveled, but that also means that they are less staffed. In the case of the Frontierland Trading Post, only one of the three register locations is equipped to process PinQuest transactions. With at least seven stops and at least 14 trips through, you’re going to spend at least an hour twiddling your thumbs in line.
- It would have been nice to be able to purchase as many clues for the various locations as we wanted at one time, which would have nearly cut the amount of time we spent in line in half. And everyone else would wait less too. Doing that would also make the quest more convenient to complete. You have little control over where you are headed next. You might start in Frontierland and then head to Tomorrowland and then head to Main Street and then head to Storybook Circus. Those interested in playing probably want to purchase their starter kit early on their first day at Magic Kingdom so you don’t have to go out of your way to collect each clue. It took us about 2.5 hours to complete the quest going from one location to the next.
- The pins may not be to everyone’s tastes. I thought they were a little bland.
Overall, PinQuest may be a fun and enchanting diversion to either complete at your convenience during your day or set out specifically to accomplish. The cost is somewhat prohibitive – the Adventureland game is “free” as is Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and the Epcot scavenger hunts during Flower/Garden are typically under ten dollars, but you do come away with the lanyard and pin set.
PinQuest is expected to continue through at least the summer or “while supplies last.”
Intermission.
The discounted popcorn bucket refill signage is up property-wide.
Deeming bubble guns, but not Frotnierland Shootin’ Arcade, too violent, Disney replaced them with “The Little Mermaid Bubble Wands” a few months ago.
Disney has since updated the wands to a more neutral blue as you could count the number of boys waving around pink wands with Ariel on them with two fingers.
Following the tragic death of a child purportedly drowned by two alligators a couple of weeks ago, Disney has made a number of far-reaching changes to its operation.
In my opinion, a number of these changes make a lot of sense. Putting up fences to keep people out of the water directly around where the incident happened and improving signage are good ways to at least make it “feel” like Disney is being proactive about decreasing the (already basically 0%) chances that something like this would happen again in the near-term.
For a short time, Disney closed off all beach areas property-wide while they reevaluated procedures and signage. You can see the old blue “No swimming” sign near the water in the background. Marinas were also closed. Both have since reopened, though fences now border all beach areas, including here at the Beach/Yacht Club and at resorts like Caribbean Beach.
There has been quite a bit of debate on the various forums and “social media channels” over what “NO SWIMMING” means. To me, it means…no swimming. No swimming because you don’t want to get hit by that boat in the background or by any of the various other watercraft that Disney rents to people that have been drinking margaritas all day and have no experience piloting watercraft. Also because it’s probably dangerous if you wade far enough into the water that your feet can’t touch the ground. And also because if you dunk your head under, you are liable to contract some variety of brain eating organism. “No swimming” does not mean “DON’T GET ANYWHERE NEAR THE WATER EVER AND PARTICULARLY NOT AFTER DARK” or that is what the sign would say.
And I think I would argue that getting near the water is not particularly negligent as one of Disney’s official photographers is taking pictures of the wedding couple as they walk right along the shore. Millions of people have waded in the water at some point in their lives and up until somewhat recently, you could actually swim in Seven Seas Lagoon. Worldwide, hundreds of millions of people are getting their feet wet in water that is full of sharks, gators, and any number of thousands of other predatory beasts.
Almost never with any negative consequences. Here at the Polynesian, lounge chairs are almost pushed up to the water’s edge by cast members every morning.
But adding temporary fencing along the water is minimally invasive and if it makes an alligator attack even less likely, it seems like a logical step to take.
But Disney has gone a lot further than that. One of the first big moves they made after the tragedy was pulling Louis Alligator from a stage show that had not yet debuted, but was set to just about 72 hours later. That also seemed like a sensitive move – the family was likely still in the area and national media, which was already here to cover the Pulse shooting, was on Disney like hawks. I’m not sure how many people would have connected a trumpet playing, cartoon alligator from a movie with the incident from a few days later, but better safe than sorry in the few days immediately after.
But permanently pulling a major character from a show forever seems like an overreaction. Goofy is a dog and dogs kill about 35 people each year in the United States, about 10% of which happen in Florida. 25+ people in Tennessee died from the cold over the course of just one week last February, yet Elsa shoots snow/ice at the audience as part of the show. Rodents were behind the Black Death that wiped out at least a third of Europe’s population, yet Mickey and Minnie are major parts of the show and the costumes the characters are wearing transport us back to those times.
Tick Tock no longer appears in Festival of Fantasy. He is not an alligator but there is certainly the resemblance. One does wonder how many guests see a parade float and are then taken back to the night of June 14th and an incident that they did not experience.
Removed. Yet the live alligators seen later on the ride remain.
Both of the water parks’ mascots are gators – Lagoona Gator and Icy Gator. Where’s My Water, featuring Swampy the Gator is one of their top-rated mobile games.
Imagery at Port Orleans French Quarter is heavily themed to gators. All of these things are still there.
What will return and what is still yet to be taken away?
All merchandise depicting alligators and crocodiles has been removed from shelves.
So I’m not real sure what Disney is trying to protect us from by somewhat arbitrarily removing references to alligators and crocodiles in its parks. Certainly improving signage and educating guests are worthwhile steps, but I’m not sure what I’m being protected from when they remove cartoon characters from shows or take Peter Pan t-shirts off the shelves.
The main counterargument to all of this is that the attack happened at Walt Disney World and because of that, all of these changes beyond signage/safety are necessary. There must be no references to crocodiles or alligators in Walt Disney World forever because something terrible that is very unlikely to happen again happened. But I’m not sure how true that is. If people tie their Walt Disney World vacation emotionally to the death of Lane Graves and the cartoon-y depiction of an alligator or crocodile is going to set them off, then there’s still a lot of instances where that’s going to happen – Living with the Land, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Port Orleans French Quarter, Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Disney Jr. Live on Stage just to start. And that ceramic Tick-Tock above is sitting next to a ceramic bear. In the last five years, bears have killed twice as many people in the United States as alligators. None at Walt Disney World, but there are still twice as many families directly affected, even if national media didn’t pick up the story and broadcast it for a week straight.
But there is of course something to say for displaying as much sensitivity as possible, which is something that I’ve been trying to improve upon:
To mixed results. Though Tracie does bring up an interesting point about being human. I don’t think any of us can say without a shadow of a doubt.
Work has begun on the Haunted Mansion facade.
I’m not sure how big the project is, but Disney usually puts these brown tarps up before installing the scrims that look like the building behind it.
Shutters on the second floor of Heritage House look to be of the electronic, opening and closing variety. I think I’m going to start printing a list of the least bloggable spots on property to stand so that you don’t end up in a picture like this one. I waited a minute or two for this guy to take a hike, but ultimately had pins to collect and needed to move on.
Summer crowds continue to be weak into July. Magic Kingdom, which has historically seen a capacity closure on Independence Day, didn’t get anywhere close this year.
Exterior work on Carousel of Progress looks to be wrapped up.
The walk out:
While most of the new things are behind us, there is still a vault of content to get through.
Feel free to let me have it in the comments. u know i <3 it
hey Josh, for what its worth I think removing Louie was over the top..to remove all forms of gators from the parks seem silly. Maybe they will re-introduce him/them quietly in the future. I wouldn’t think that anyone would have made the connection at all, but now that it is done there will be chatter when /if he comes back This human agrees with you.
I wonder if the lower crowds will cause a nice fat promotion for the spring?! One can hope!
Beautiful pictures as always!
In your Tea, Will you take one lump or two??
I am a parent and I kind of laughed at your “what it” tweet. But I’m not the most sensitive person, either.
Ditto all of this!
Me too! But that day, I might have cried. As a parent, it was very emotional to see something so terrible happen at my favorite place. But you’re still funny, human or not!
My daughter is there now and she said it’s very low crowd level. And with all due respect to the parents who lost their child, which is beyond heartbreaking, and no, I don’t think jokes should be made. However, it is utterly ridiculous to take away merchandise and icons from the park. Alligators do what they do. It was no one’s fault.
The saddest thing is, I guarantee SOMEONE would have complained that Disney was being “insensitive” because there was a tiny ceramic alligator for sale in a shop……
I cannot believe they pulled all that sort of merchandise (and the PARADE float???!!!…..smh…..).
I’m not downplaying the tragedy, but we as a people have become WAY too thin-skinned.
In other news: very interesting read re: the new Pin scavenger hunt!
And your tweet wasn’t in poor taste. It was making an observation.
Hope the update on the guide is coming along swimmingly….A detailed status on Wilderness Lodge construction and perhaps an October crowd update now that Soarin and FEA has opened would be great.
Ok, I’ve read then re-read the PinQuest instructions and I still have no idea what’s going on….
It’s like a little scavenger hunt, taking you from gift shop to gift shop. Something to do between FP+’s… as designed.
And it looks like they’ll have a new series each year…
Good review, Josh. $80 is a bit pricey for what are, I agree, pretty bland pins…
Spoiler alert: Link to the “all clues” image…
http://www.easywdw.com/reports13/pinquest_all_clues_magic_kingdom.jpg
I think the pins are adorable. I love the compass theme. Please send your bland set to me @ my address, mmkay? thanks! 🙂
Please share if you feel confident doing so….what do you see for the fall as far as crowds go? Same slightly downward trend?
Our last 2 visits were busier than expected. We’re going back during free food in Sept & I’m curious too.
People i know used to just go when they could, usually over summer or Christmas. Now they can easily research their trip on the web, even Grandma is using her iPhone. Planning sites advise not going in July or risk getting rubbed in others’ armpit sweat while standing in long hot lines. Between the new tier pricing & crowd warnings, more people are taking the effort to seek out better week options.
Complicated to decipher these new crowd flows. July 4th week didn’t see the usual crazy numbers? wow.
Can I still wear my alligator-skin shoes to the park?
This incident was a confluence of awful circumstances and really none is to blame. However, I do feel that Disney has been tempting fate by having these beach areas in the deluxe resorts. Water ways in Florida are dangerous for reasons noted above. Where Disney made a lapse in judgment is have “beaches” that tempt people to splash in the water. The “no swimming” signs accomplished just that. No one could have known what would occur on that night. These innocuous safe guards are a reasonable move on WDW’s part. The overreaching sensitivity to everything gator, however, is bordering on ridiculous.
Love your pics of the walk out
indeed sir
Disney should market the entire WDW property as a Nature/Wildlife Preserve. There should be a brochure In every hotel room that features photos and info about the different animals found on the property. Maybe add some nature walks.
Thanks again Josh. Your review of Pin Quest has the best explanation I’ve found on how it works… Even though it’s pricey, my daughter is a pin collector, and we will be there in August, so it’s basically a lock that we will be doing the Quest. I may be old, and/or getting blind, but I could not find any specific mention of where you can buy the starter kit on any Disney website… I assumed that you could buy it at any of the six locations, but it wasn’t stated specifically until you pointed it out on your review… Small wonder that I check your website first anytime I want to find out what’s going on in Disney World. If you plan to have a book signing anywhere between 8/17 and 8/27, I would love to get an autographed copy of your book in appreciation of the tough love work you do in reviewing the restaurants and park crowds.
“of a child purportedly drowned by two alligators”
Pretty sure that “purportedly” isn’t necessary in that sentence. Is there some conspiracy theory I’m unaware of? Are you waiting for the gator to be criminally convicted at trial? Do you know the definition of the word “purportedly?”
The father this week said “2” alligators, when all the authorities confirmed was one. I think that is why it was worded that way. Given that gators are territorial and do not hunt in pairs, there are some that think the father may be mistaken on that.
I think the second alligator hasn’t been confirmed.
No it has. That was how the Dad had bite marks on him (gator 2), but the kid was dragged away (by gator 1).
Nothing wrong with using the word purportedly. Especially when it comes to repeating something the media is reporting, because they always get the facts right.
Is anyone questioning the fact that this kid was drowned in an alligator attack?
I think the question is if it was one or two alligators involved. There is no question that this tragedy didn’t happen.
Perhaps the removed floats/characters/souvenirs/animatronics could be licensed to Gatorland?
Beautiful pics!
And I agree, WDW is going way over the top to cover up any trace of alligators. Kinda lame…
I’ve hung with Josh a lot, and in fact will see him three times on my visit that starts tomorrow–Sunday at HS, Monday at Sanaa, Tuesday to watch Wishes over cognac in the King K lounge at the Poly–and I’m 99% sure he is in fact human. The 1% doubt comes from the fact that he’s bought me a lot more beer than I’ve bought him, which is not my experience with the rest of humanity…
good point mr shute
Thank you, Josh. Your beautiful images coupled with a healthy sense of levity were just what the doctor ordered on this difficult morning.
The joke was funny, IMO, but you and I have a similar sense of humor, so it’s understandable that it would make me laugh. (I’m the dad of 2 kids, FWIW.) Other people won’t like the joke. But that’s the great thing about the Internet – no one is forcing you to read everything on it! And if you do read something you don’t like, no one is forcing you to interact with the person who wrote it and tell them you got upset. I read/see things all the time I don’t care for, and somehow I just move on.
Is the advertising for the PinQuest really evident? I’m hoping dd doesn’t see it on our August trip… I’ve spent enough on pins not to drop another $80 following her around the park when she’s only done a couple Magic Kingdom quests.
I love this PinQuest idea! Hopefully it will do well enough to last until our next trip – 2018. It does sound pricey,especially if multiple kids are involved. Maybe we could complete as a family and share the pins.
Thanks, as always, for the udpate, Josh!
I like the pin quest concept, but $80 is a bit steep. It’s interesting to see that crowd levels are lower this summer. I wonder if they are finally starting to price people out of Disney World?
My heart breaks for the parents, yes please put up more informative signs Disney for guests that are not informed about Florida wildlife, this is logical and probably overdue. I have sat on the Poly beach for years saying to my family, if those people letting their kids in that water knew what was in it they wouldn’t be allowing it, no parent willingly puts their child in danger (for the most part, I realize some people shouldn’t be parents)! However, removing alligators symbols from the parks is ridiculous and another example of how political correctness has dumbed down our society. Should we close Country Bears because bears also kill people? What about removing the baseball player in front of Casey’s, I know someone that passed away from getting hit in the head by a ball. Please Disney, use some common sense for goodness sake! Safety has been and will remain something that I think Disney does a very good job of, including the addition of these signs. Whoever directed the alligator symbols removed from the park wasn’t thinking about safety, they were thinking about the bottom line and afraid to offend someone, something very different then a safety measure, dumb. Josh, I think your tweet was in poor taste, I don’t think you meant harm by it and I think you are human. Thank you for what you offer on your site, I’m a fan.
Honestly, with Disney having the Braves Spring Training, it’s a wonder no one has been killed by a foul ball.
Well they would actually have to hit the ball to foul it off… so there is that
I heard they were going to ban all University of Florida fans from entering the parks for the next 6 months out of respect for the family.
It’s never too soon.
Love this as a GA Bulldog fan!
THIS
where do I sign the petition for this # bulldogs # noles
I predict that Disney will start banning guests from wearing Crocs into the parks. Could be taken the wrong way, you know.
Where is the “like” button???
Thanks for the info on PinQuest. Completely NOT up my alley and we will pass.
The reason for Disney to go over the top removing gator imagery is due to PC pressure. Some “journalist” would be going through the parks illustrating how insensitive TWDC is for not taking measures to eliminate such horrific images in light of the tragedy. This would only spark further outrage, so in the interest of damage control, they do almost everything they can to minimize the presence of the beasts.
I appreciate Josh’s well-reasoned perspective on the matter, though I’m surprised he didn’t mention the abundance of Crocs available in Disney shops.
What a strange post. What an oblivious tweet. For future reference: Sarcasm, mockery and joking about ridiculous decisions by TWDC is fair game. Sarcasm, mockery and joking about a dead child is not.
Agreed.
I’m notoriously insensitive according to my family & friends, but joking about a child’s brutal death is way off base.
Virtually all of the alligator merchandise & show pieces will be back.
Disney is simply showing good judgement is holding it back for now.
Thank you for being the voice of reason in this. I don’t blame the parents for what happened to that child. I don’t blame Disney. I don’t blame the gator. It was a horrible accident, but they happen. I really don’t mind them taking out Tic Toc (which is one of my favorite floats, actually) for the time being, but hopefully not forever.
I don’t mind the fences, I guess. But I do worry about how many innocent gators were and are killed due to the ignorance of people in their habitats. I wish Disney would take a stronger stand and if you’re seen feeding wildlife, you get the boot. It protects the wildlife and the people.
Tic Toc was back in the Water Pageant last night.
Thats good to hear, hopefully all the others start to get integrated back into the parks.
i love you Josh.
But that tweet – way over the line.
I would have liked to see Disney take this tragedy and use it as a tool for wildlife preservation and teaching about FL wildlife maybe in Animal Kingdom. I had to chuckle at the tweet only because it reminded me of my bro-in-law and something he would say, who I suppose may not be human either. Do you think the lower crowds are from the alligator accident? I hope the crowds continue to be low into Sept when we head down…
When I first started reading about the PinQuest info, I was thinking what a shame it was that they weren’t doing this when we were there a few weeks ago. My niece loves looking for pins! Then you noted the cost. No, thank you! She had an inexpensive starter pin set that her parents bought on Ebay, and I think she had more fun trading them for other pins than she would have had on this scavenger hunt.
Love you buddy! I am a parent and wasn’t offended by the tweet – I think you were pointing out that taking ANYTHING to far can border on ridiculous…Removing every reference to a wildlife animal is just silly. Glad they put up the signs and fences etc. But honestly I would never ever put a body part in that water for fear of the bacteria but alligators wouldn’t have crossed my mind. Buses have killed guests yet they still run…the monorail killed someone yet it runs…after obvious precautions were made.
very good point madame
I actually just got back from WDW, specifically a stay in Alligator Bayou at Port Orleans Riverside. Talk of the gator incident was definitely a topic in our group and I was thinking would they go so far as the rename and resign all of alligator bayou? What would it be, Crane Bayou? Crawfish Bayou? Inoffensive and harmless American South Animal Bayou?
Josh do you think they will let it keep going until they run out completely or could they ended it on Labor Day for example. I’m wondering because I could try to go to MK before Labor Day but it would be easier to go the day after for us. If they run out so be it, but I’d be sadder if I missed it by a 1 day cut-off.
We were at Disney when the boy was killed. It was by chance that we weren’t staying at either hotel on the lagoon like we always do. I have walked and allowed my boys to wade on that very beach. The day after the attack, we were in the Magic Kingdom riding Peter Pan…. and the once silly looking cartoon croc didn’t look that fun or silly any more. As a mom, somethings hit you harder. Taking the dancing croc and the parade float out was the right move.
Tick Tock and Louis are back today!
Overprotective mother here without much sense of humor about my kids, but I know humility when I see it. All of us have had off moments, including those offended by the comment. Way to stand up. Moving on.
The Pin Quest looks like a lot of trouble–like scrap booking in the 90’s. You gotta really want it to do it.