The world-famous MiceChat Gumball Rally was held once again on February 4, 2023. This family-friendly competition challenges teams of Disney fans to see how many attractions they can ride in a single day. And you don’t have to be an expert on trivia or theme parks to win. The gameplay, where guests answer questions and riddles based on things found in rides and queues, is designed to put everyone on a level playing field and allow them to play at their own pace. Every year, there are new twists to the rules. And to celebrate the opening of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Disneyland, the questions were written by the ‘toons themselves (with assistance from Matt Jeurgens and Dusty Sage).
But it is also a not-so-subtle node to the newly opened Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway in ToonTown.
Clever Gameplay Twist # 1
There were also some big twists in this year’s rules. The riddles were split into two gamebooks… One booklet was titled “On the Rails” and the other “Off the Rails.” The teams were not told what the titles meant, but they were instructed to choose between them at the Rally’s start (it would be swapped out for the other at some point in the afternoon). It turns out that the titles of the booklets indicated which type of ride was featured inside the book. For example, “On the Rails” included attractions that used rails or tracks.
Twist #2 Runaway Railway!
And this year’s rally was extra-special (and extra crazy!) because it fell one week after the opening of Disneyland’s Disney 100 Years of Wonder Celebration. Also known as Disney100, the celebration brought new nighttime spectaculars and the new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway to the Disneyland Resort. So… that just had to be part of the game!
To accommodate the popularity of the brand-new attraction, the question for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway was included in both gamebooks (although the teams were only supposed to ride it once).
Off the Charts Fun!
Once the teams were checked in and the rules were laid out, it was time for the wild adventure to finally begin!
Off to a Great Start
The teams made it from The Anaheim Hotel (a MiceChat sponsor!) to Disneyland’s Main Street, USA, just in time for Rope Drop.
Once Rope Drop concluded, our teams were off and running (well, speed-walking).
Teams at Play
It was a madcap day of attraction-riding for our Gumball Rally teams. Thankfully, the weather was on our side. It was mild and lightly cloudy – perfect Rally weather compared to the 100º+ weather last year or the torrential rain in 2020! (click for full-sized images):
Toward the middle of the day, teams began swapping out the game books they had chosen that morning for the alternate book.
And teams made sure to attend the 3pm group photo near “it’s a small world.” Beyond making a great memory, it also garnered them 10 points (while answering ride questions was worth 1 point each… it’s a great way to ensure that everyone shows up and takes a very quick break).
Riding Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
One of the highlights this year was undoubtedly Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. These happy Gumball Rally teams were among the first to ride. Nothing can stop us now!
Some of our staff joined the teams for this portion of the competition. Everyone agreed that this ride truly is a work of art, seamlessly weaving together animatronics, whimsical sets, and state-of-the-art digital mapping projections to create a one-of-a-kind immersive experience. With so much to see in each scene (look for the Dapper Dans on their bicycle built for 4 for example), there is a huge incentive to ride the attraction more than once.
The attraction utilizes its trackless vehicles in clever ways that add flavor to the story. And the transitions to certain scenes, especially the finale, are inventive from both a storytelling standpoint and a technological one.
With so many tributes to Disney history and hidden Mickeys, we were all well entertained in queue as well. But… teams had an important decision to make. All rides were worth just 1 point. So… if the ride was down, they had to decide if they should skip it, wait, or come back later. With almost every Disneyland attraction included in the game this year, time is always a factor.
More about the incredible details in the Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway in this amazing MiceChat feature:
A Strong Finish
As the clock ran down, teams had to make the short walk from the Disneyland Resort across the street to The Anaheim Hotel to turn in their game books in time!
There is a real sense of accomplishment from completing a Rally, and it is wonderful to see teams high-fiving and cheering each other on. Over the years, the many returning teams have become like family, with tons of new people joining the fold each year.
While our volunteers took on the gargantuan endeavor of tallying up each team’s score, we entertained our guests with a lively panel of voice actors/actresses while also giving away some amazing Loungefly prizes donated by #TheHappiestClubOnEarth and special tiki mugs from Lost Temple Traders, as well as a 2-night stay at the Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel and Water Playground (check out our special Disneyland area hotel deals HERE)!
Moderated by David Derks (VP of ASIFA Hollywood, the animation academy which produces the annual Annie Awards), the panel consisted of Kaitlyn Robrock (notable for voicing Minnie Mouse among many other characters), John Omohundro (the voice of Bravest Warrior’s Danny Vasquez and other roles), Joe Hernandez (voice of Daruk from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and a friend of Crush the turtle at Turtle Talk), and John Chen (voice coach at Universal Studios Hollywood). They regaled everyone with stories of finding their characters, working in the voiceover field, and even their most memorably difficult sessions. It was both enlightening and entertaining!
The panel concluded as the final results came in.
Gumball Rally Photos 2023
We have more photos for you in this album assembled by Mike Kindrich:
<MICECHAT GUMBALL RALLY 2023 PHOTO ALBUM – CLICK HERE>
And the Winners of the MiceChat Gumball Rally 2023 are…
The Gumball Rally is about finding out how many attractions you are capable of riding in a single day. Many teams compete year after year to see if they can improve their scores. But, there is an element of bragging rights to being the team that takes the top spot as well. While the event is a great excuse to spend a day riding attractions with friends and family, the friendly competition element keeps teams going when they might otherwise call it quits.
1st Place – Coolant Runnings – And also winning the Gumball Machine Trophy and a $250 travel gift certificate from Get Away Today (the main sponsor of MiceChat and the Gumball Rally… give them your support, folks!)
2nd Place – Dusty’s Park Hopping Crop Dusters, who were unfortunately absent from the awards ceremony. We’ll be mailing them their medals so they can wear them with pride.
3rd Place – The EnginEARS
4th Place – Hitchhiking Heffalumps
5th place – The Stacey Must-Do’s
6th Place – Wicked Stepsisters
7th Place – Beware the Twoozle (Heffalump and Woozle)
8th Place – Locomotivated Enginears: Lost and Derailed
9th Place – Double Dose
10th Place – Are you not enterTRAINed
As is our tradition, there were several special awards presented to teams who bring a special spirit and creativity to the game:
Best Team Name – The Ward Gumballs (Ward Kimball was a Disney animator and one of Walt’s “Nine old men.” He was also a model train enthusiast who helped inspire Walt to the craft which was one of the inspirations for the building of Disneyland).
Best Team Logo – The Grand Canyon as We Know It Today
Spirit of MiceChat – The Apple Dumpling Railcar Wranglers (a new team who joined us all the way from Texas)
Spirit(s) of MiceChat – The Ghost Hosts (10/10 – Would love to have them haunt the Rally every year. Their social posts were perfectly themed to every attraction they completed)
Social Superstar – Are you not enterTRAINed (Faublous social posts)
And here are the total results for this year’s Gumball Rally!
We’re bringing you the top 100 teams this year. If your team fell below that mark, you can contact your Rally hostess for your score.
There were a small number of questions this year which created some discrepancies in results. But as our team instructions indicate, just do your best and when necessary explain your answer. We accepted a number of different answers as long as it was clear the teams completed the attraction (number of hula dancers could have included the cutout figures or hula boy for example, or any combination thereof. If you left Daisy’s Dance Studio forward or backward, you got different answers, both of which counted…
…And we knew from the start that counting the cave entries on Tom Sawyer Island was difficult, but we not only accepted a wide range of answers, we also had a staff member logging the teams who came over on the raft! If you mentioned any of the words on the explosion clouds in Mr. Toad you were fine. Etc.). Since the Rally was spread across two game books this year, we were able to score the morning books and have staff members re-ride any attraction which we received answers for that we weren’t expecting.
The maximum number of points this year was 49. No teams completed all attractions, which indicates it was a difficult year. We almost always have a team or two (or more) complete everything. You’ll see many ties. Ties are broken by the order the teams return.
And here’s how you placed.
PLACE | TEAM NAME | TEAM # | TOTAL POINTS |
1 | Coolant Runnings | 286 | 47 |
2 | Dusty’s Park Hopping Crop Dusters | 248 | 44 |
3 | The EnginEARS | 241 | 43 |
4 | Hitchhiking Heffalumps | 238 | 43 |
5 | Stacey Must-Do’s, The | 266 | 42 |
6 | Wicked Stepsisters | 288 | 41 |
7 | Beware the Twoozle (Heffalump and Woozle) | 212 | 41 |
8 | Locomotivated Engine-Ears: lost and derailed | 306 | 41 |
9 | Double Dose | 254 | 41 |
10 | Are you not enterTRAINed | 477 | 40 |
11 | Toy Yodas, The | 253 | 40 |
12 | Ricky and Ryan’s Runaway Gumball | 240 | 40 |
13 | Canoes Blues (don’t paddle with your mouth open), The | 275 | 40 |
14 | Tweedle Tall and Tweedle Small | 296 | 40 |
15 | Baxter Boys, The | 232 | 40 |
16 | Moms’ Day Off | 237 | 40 |
17 | Yeehaw! It’s the wildest princesses in the rally! | 214 | 39 |
18 | OO-DE-LALLY | 272 | 39 |
19 | Grogu’s Gumball Adventurers | 200 | 39 |
20 | Train or Shine, We’ll Ride! | 355 | 39 |
21 | Sleeping Zebra Security | 245 | 39 |
22 | Loco-motives | 383 | 39 |
23 | Mix In Some Magic | 9202 | 39 |
24 | We think we can, we think we can… | 353 | 39 |
25 | Dole Whip It RAIL Good | 298 | 39 |
26 | Central Coasters | 284 | 39 |
27 | T-Town Tinkerbelles | 342 | 39 |
28 | Crazy Train | 273 | 38 |
29 | Snuggly Ducklings Gone Wild | 228 | 38 |
30 | Hunny Bunny Run-(a)-way Dream Team | 211 | 38 |
31 | Team Green | 312 | 38 |
32 | LGM | 311 | 38 |
33 | Nu?Orleans² | 222 | 38 |
34 | Frontside of Rock | 226 | 38 |
35 | Learning Disney | 9285 | 38 |
36 | Coco Puffs | 203 | 38 |
37 | T.B.D. – They Brought Dynamite | 270 | 38 |
38 | Loosey Goosey Caboosey | 267 | 38 |
39 | Sharkbait! HOO HA HA! | 261 | 38 |
40 | Nothing Can Stop Us Now | 9258 | 37 |
41 | Ropedrop & Parkhop | 9268 | 37 |
42 | Yellow Strappers, The | 201 | 37 |
43 | Askins in Wonderland | 263 | 37 |
44 | Spells, Ursula, Please! | 411 | 37 |
45 | Big Thunder | 347 | 37 |
46 | Grand Canyon As We Know It Today, The | 217 | 37 |
47 | Neverland Express | 309 | 37 |
48 | Frankie’s Girls-Slow and Steady | 233 | 36 |
49 | Yeti Hunting Sherpas | 274 | 36 |
50 | Junior Society of Explorers and Adventurers | 252 | 36 |
51 | Hill | 287 | 36 |
52 | D-Railed in D-Land | 236 | 36 |
53 | Ghost Hosts, The | 417 | 36 |
54 | D-Railed Wasteland Limited, The | 256 | 36 |
55 | Fragments | 424 | 36 |
56 | Straight Outta The Tiki Room | 478 | 36 |
57 | WaQUANda Forever | 264 | 36 |
58 | Going Off The Rails On The Casey Train | 205 | 36 |
59 | Foolish Mortals Hexpress | 333 | 35 |
60 | Rally Rat Racers | 250 | 35 |
61 | Hidden Mickey Hunters | 365 | 35 |
62 | Ward Gumballs, The | 244 | 35 |
63 | Witch, Please | 292 | 35 |
64 | Trident | 280 | 35 |
65 | Lilly Belles | 234 | 35 |
66 | California Adventurers, The | 271 | 35 |
67 | Train of Thought Derailed | 230 | 35 |
68 | Joy to the Small World | 246 | 35 |
69 | Car Noises | 278 | 35 |
70 | No Rest for the Wicked | 207 | 34 |
71 | Snuggly Ducklings | 262 | 34 |
72 | Get Away Today | 9229 | 34 |
73 | AT-AT | 247 | 33 |
74 | Pixie Chicks | 276 | 33 |
75 | Mouse Mafia | 315 | 33 |
76 | Love Me Tender | 323 | 33 |
77 | Queens of the Rails | 277 | 32 |
78 | A&R Railroad | 235 | 32 |
79 | Rogue Churro Cart Crew | 407 | 32 |
80 | Fauntleroy Fans | 213 | 32 |
81 | The Trolley Track Ankle Breaker Protection Society | 291 | 32 |
82 | Unidentified Flying Oddballs, The | 210 | 32 |
83 | Grape Soda Gals | 251 | 32 |
84 | Step Into Your Power | 9279 | 32 |
85 | Neon Dole Whippers | 345 | 32 |
86 | Derailed Engineers | 302 | 31 |
87 | Rescue Racers | 444 | 31 |
88 | Apple Dumpling Railcar Wranglers | 375 | 31 |
89 | Wandering Wayfarers, The | 269 | 31 |
90 | Team Snipae | 295 | 31 |
91 | Team ToonTastics | 255 | 31 |
92 | Tigger Tails Off The Rails | 218 | 30 |
93 | more than one hour… | 243 | 30 |
94 | Toasted Roasties, The | 321 | 28 |
95 | Castle Crusaders | 399 | 27 |
96 | Pink Elephants | 208 | 26 |
97 | Ratatouille Rat Racers | 259 | 26 |
98 | Riders of the Lost Ark | 9265 | 22 |
99 | Livin’ La Vida Yoda | 9227 | 20 |
100 | Dead Men Blow No Bubbles | 282 | 18 |
*If you scored below 100th place and want to know how you did, please contact our Rally Team Coordinator. Note, we do not discuss specific scores or questions and scores are never changed once the event ends.
A Cast of Thousands…
It takes a tremendous number of helpers to make this event happen. Some folks spend more than a year on the event. Others sign up close to game day. And while we mention our producers, creatives, and captains below… it’s the hundred+ event day volunteers who check the teams in, watch the teams in the parks, and assist with greeting and wrangling that really make this event run so smoothly. THANK YOU!
Gumball Rally Producer & Host | Dusty Sage |
Gumball Rally Writers | Dusty Sage & Matt Juergens |
Gumball Rally Logo & Artwork | David Derks |
Gumball Rally Layout and Design | Anthony Hays |
Gumball Rally Entertainment Producer | David Derks |
Gumball Rally Team Coordinator | Michele King |
Gumball Rally Staffing Coordinator | Tiffany Wilhelm |
Gumball Rally Score Team Captain | Matt Juergens |
VIP Coordinator | Stephanie Fix |
Gumball Rally Registration Host | Jennifer Chavez |
Influencer/Creator Coordinator | Kristen Carr |
Gumball Rally Trophy | Topher Hays |
Gumball Rally Decor | Kristen Carr |
Photography Coordinator | Mike Kindrich |
Photographers | Scott Attula, Matt Bumgardner, Kurt Schneider |
Technical Coordinator | Kurt Schneider |
And hundreds of spotters, hosts, coordinators, cheer team & scorers: | !!! THANK YOU !!! |
They Made It Happen!
And we really, really couldn’t do it without our amazing sponsors, who donated and helped pay for a million little things. It’s because of them that we are still charging the same price we did in 2019, even though our costs went up dramatically this year. We love them all and hope you’ll support their businesses a show of support and thanks!
Main Sponsor | Get Away Today
Please start all your vacations by clicking any Get Away Today link on any page of MiceChat.com! |
Supporting Sponsor | The Anaheim Hotel -Use THIS LINK and promo code MC23 to save 20% and get a $20 resort credit through April 1st. |
Supporting Sponsor | The Pizza Press |
Donor & Creative | Anthony Hays Design |
Donor & Event Support (Loungefly & Award Party design) | @TheHappiestClubOnEarth |
Donor (Tiki Mugs) | Lost Temple Traders |
Special Thanks (Castle banner creative) | Ape Pen Publishing |
Special Thanks (Balloon Sculpture) | Simply Wild Party |
Discount Disney Theme Park Tickets & Hotels!!!
MiceChat brings you the BEST theme park ticket, hotel & package deals! (You’ll find extra nights free, big discounts, and special offers as well).
Check out the latest offers for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and Knott’s Berry Farm:
If you live in Southern California, there’s a very special ticket offer for you that runs from January 9th through May 25th:
(MiceChat works with Get Away Today to provide you with the best theme park travel deals and we may make a small commission on any sales made through our links)
Thank You, Everyone!
Thanks to all who came out for this year’s MiceChat Gumball Rally, showed up before sunrise to participate, all who volunteered for any position, individuals and businesses who supported the event through donations or sponsorships, and all of you who cheered the teams on from the other side of a computer screen! To relive this year’s Gumball Rally, take a look at the hashtag #mcGumballRally on social media!
We’re already cooking up some amazing ideas for next year. We can’t wait to see you all again before you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
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