I was thinking of trying this when we go in April.
The optimized touring plan has us going back towards the Main entrance at 12:30 and spending 20 minutes (that’s the default timing).
From what I gather, you collect a pack of cards and watch a quick introductory video near the barber shop but the bulk of the time is spent throughout the day at various points in MK?
Kind of like a scavenger hunt vibe?
Should we try to hit it earlier?
(I’m presuming you can’t really squeeze it in when you first arrive if you’re trying to hit E-ticket rides)
Should we get the cards in hand before we start the Fantasyland leg of our day?
Tips?
Thanks because by the optimized time, we’ve done all of the Fantasyland attractions and shifting gears.
Not that there’s ever a bad time to cruise down Main Street USA but I can see it derailing things.
I’m not sure if it opens earlier than 9am, so maybe that’s why you’re being sent back later.
What you need to know about playing is that although you can say which land you want to start in, within each land you will be sent back and forth between portals. You also have to identify where the next portal is from picture clues; this isn’t as easy as it sounds, you may get a picture of an item in the Main St jewellers, or a picture of an ornamentation on a building in Adventure Land. You do have a map showing where the portals are and you can just try each one in turn but you do need to do each one in the correct order to complete the land. They can also be inside or outside, which the map doesn’t show! And you may find yourself going against the flow of people to get to the required portal. And of course there can be queues at each portal.
Once you complete all four lands at level one, where you can play any card at a portal, the next level ramps up the difficulty by requiring a specific card to be played at each portal.
All of which is to say this is fun but addictive and time consuming. When we have done it we do it for a morning or afternoon when we don’t have a touring plan. It will drive some Liners totally insane with the back-tracking and unpredictability of it.
In 2016, we started SOTMK, but bailed very quickly. It is time consuming, for sure…but the other problem was that when we arrived at the first portal, there was already another person doing it…which means we basically watched them do what we were about to do, which took the fun out of it right away. We still waited a while. After the first portal, everyone agreed it just wasn’t worth the time.
This is quite in contrast to the fun we found in doing the Agent P adventure in Epcot, which everyone from our 6-year-old to teenager (and, ahem, a 40-something-year-old dad) found engaging.
The firehouse doesn’t usually open until official park open, so if you are there early for rides it would be better to get the cards and start the game later.
I don’t remember how many times you have to play the game in level 1, but I’m almost positive it’s more than once each - maybe 7 total? My kids are on level 2 and you have to play 9 to beat that level.
For completing the first level, you get to sign a book at the firehouse.
It is time consuming-it took us a few trips to beat the first level. Our 2 girls love playing it. When I was there with DD6 2 weeks ago, she really got into playing the game.
Yeah… I kinda agree. I just like getting the cards as souvenirs these days. By contrast, I’m more willing to wait at WWOHP to use my wand - even though I already saw what happens when someone in front me does it. (I think it’s because it’s like a “skill” to see if I can wave it correctly. Plus, unlike SotMK, I paid for the wand. So I feel like I need to play with it. )
We didn’t even try DuckTales. I have zero emotional connection to the IP, compared to Agent P. My kids don’t even know what DuckTales is. (When I mentioned to them that Agent P was replaced by it, they didn’t know anything about DuckTales.)
It is quite possible that the DuckTales adventure is as fun, or more fun, than the Agent P one. But we just don’t have any experience with it.
)