It’s that time of year again! The world-famous MiceChat Gumbally Rally returns February 3rd, 2024. A day of theme park fun is just around the corner. Read on to discover the all-new theme and the full array of details for this year’s big event.
What is the MiceChat Disneyland Gumball Rally?
The premise is simple: race against hundreds of other competitors to be the team who rides the most Disneyland attractions in a single day, and take home the illustrious Gumball Trophy (and infinite bragging rights).
To do that, each team must abide by this year’s rally rules — which won’t be fully released until the day of the game. But, in general, teams are simply asked to ride as many attractions as they can in just one day. To prove they’ve done so, they must answer questions in a game book that are hard to guess, but easy to answer once you know what to look for on the ride. Each year, some of the rules are changed to keep the game fun and teams on their toes. At the 2022 rally, no phones were allowed — not even for social media, and especially not to utilize the Disneyland app. At the 2023 rally, phones were allowed to check wait times, and post specifc photos to social media, but Genie+ was banned. More than a hundred MiceChat spotters and other staff roam the park during the Gumball Rally, making sure teams are abiding by the rules.
For each ride, team members must answer a question in the game book about that specific ride. Even if you’re a Disneyland pro, you likely won’t be able to guess the answer to the questions without riding — and you wouldn’t want to. The purpose of the game is to RIDE THE RIDES… and while leaving a question blank deducts no points… getting a question wrong deducts the number of points the question was worth.
Past questions have been about how many owls are on the tree above the graveyard musicians in Haunted Mansion, how many snakes hold up the ceiling on a specific section of Indiana Jones Adventure, the pattern of lights on the control room on Space Mountain, the number of bulbs around a particular screen in the Main Street Cinema, and the time on Big Ben in Peter Pan’s Flight. That all sounds hard, but the questions make it easy to spot the answer when you ride.
When is the 2024 MiceChat Gumball Rally?
This year’s MiceChat Disneyland Gumball Rally will roll on Feb. 3, 2024. The race happens only in Disneyland Park this year, not in Disney California Adventure or Downtown Disney.
As in past years, the 2024 rally begins and ends at the Anaheim Hotel, just across Harbor Blvd. from the Harbor entrance to Disneyland. Gumball Rally participants can get a special discounted rate at the hotel. When you book your team for the Rally, you can add discounted theme park tickets and hotel rooms.
What is this year’s Gumball Rally theme?
Each year, the theme of the event changes. Teams come up with on-theme names and devise clever costumes to reflect that year’s unique theme. The 2024 MiceChat Gumball Rally theme was chosen in honor of the 60th anniversary of the 1964 New York World’s Fair. In fact, the tagline of the game is “Gumball Rally: Come to the Fair.”
The World’s Fair has a special place in Disney history. Walt Disney created four attractions for the fair, all of which ended up in the Disney Parks in some form or another. It’s a Small World and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln are still at Disneyland; Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress was moved to Disneyland and eventually to Walt Disney World (where it still resides). Pieces of the fourth attraction, the Ford Magic Skyway, ended up in Disneyland, and the omnimover system devised for that ride appeared later in Disney rides like Adventure thru Inner Space and the Haunted Mansion.
Expect the game books to pay appropriate homage to the 1964 World’s Fair, and for the elusive Gumball Rally trophy to be themed to the event as well.
What are the rules of the MiceChat Gumball Rally?
The rules of the rally are different every year, and will be revealed early in the morning on game day, Feb. 3, 2024. But some rules do stay the same, especially the one pertaining to the whole team staying together the whole day. No one is allowed to go ahead to wait in line while other people stop for snacks or take bathroom breaks. A team that plays together stays together!
There is always a game book, with questions about rides and attractions that aren’t hard to answer, but aren’t easy to guess if you haven’t been on the ride. Rallyers get points for correct answers, and you aren’t penalized for leaving answers blank — but if you guess incorrectly, you’ll lose points. So it never makes sense to fill in answers for rides you didn’t complete, as that would almost always lower your score.
Some years, contestants have been asked to take photos on rides, or to take team photos with their lanyards at specific points on rides to prove they’ve been on them that day.
Some years, rides have been weighted differently. E-ticket rides with longer ride queues got more points than attractions with little or no regular wait. Other years all rides are worth the same number of points. Don’t expect any advance hints for this year, other than that the big twist that will come on game day will likely be tied to the theme.
What Do You Win at the Gumball Rally?
The team with the most points at the end of the race will take home the Gumball Trophy, designed and built to match the theme.
There are also prizes for the teams that come closest, and prizes given to the teams with the best team name, and best team logo. This year, there will also be a prize for the best team costume that reflects the Fair and the year 1964.
How to build your Gumball Rally 2024 team
Teams can be 2, 3 or 4 people. And if you can’t find a friend or family member to play along, posting to social media that you are looking for a teammate is usually pretty successful once folks hear a bit more about the game.
How to register for the 2024 MiceChat Gumball Rally
Register your team through Gumball Rally sponsor Get Away Today (HERE) and you’ll have secured your spot for the rally. In addition to your rally registration, you’ll also need park admission to Disneyland that day. If you don’t have a Magic Key, Get Away Today also sells discounted theme park tickets and offers discounted hotel room rates.
Keep in mind that Disneyland park reservations sell out quickly for the weekends, so book your Rally spot and make a park reservation ASAP.
What you need to know if you’re competing for the first time
Just have fun! The point of the rally is to spend a day having an old-fashioned theme park experience with people you care about. Many years, the winning team isn’t even trying to win — they’re just having a great day together and they naturally had the most points just from enjoying themselves.
More than anything, the Gumball Rally is a way to experience Disneyland in a new way. If you decide to participate, you’ll meet new people, likely make new friends, and definitely see and do things you haven’t seen in the park before, no matter how many times you’ve been in the past.
Every year, teams return at the end of the day reporting that they experienced an attraction for the first time, saw something they never knew existed, or had an interaction with a character or cast member that made the day extra special.
RELATED EVENT FEB 2nd: RELIVE THE FAIR
On Friday Feb. 2, MiceChat will be holding a special event at the Anaheim Hotel the night before the Rally, and tickets will be available to everyone, not just rally participants. The event will be all about the 1964 New York World’s Fair, where Disney history experts and Imagineers will share photos, videos, and stories about the incredible fair and its impact on Disneyland.
Disney historian and author David Koenig will moderate the discussion, and the guests are epic. Hear legendary Imagineer Bob Gurr talk about creating the Ford Magic Skyway and the first Lincoln animatronic; Imagineer and theme park author Chris Merritt will discuss the incredible contributions to the fair by the original Imagineers. The foremost author and expert on the fair, Bill Cotter, will transport us back to 1964 through exclusive photos and videos that few have ever seen before. You can find details and ticket information – HERE. But act fast. This event is almost sold out!
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- Event Date: Feb 2nd, 2024
- Event Time: 7:30 pm
- Event Location: The Anaheim Hotel
- Details and tickets are available NOW HERE.
Important Gumball Rally Information:
- Sign Up for Gumball Rally at Get Away Today (Be sure to enter the date of February 3rd to see the event option): GUMBALL RALLY TICKETS HERE
- General Gumball Rally Event Information and Photos HERE
- Gumball Rally Rules – HERE
- February 2nd – 1964 NY Worlds Fair event tickets on sale – HERE
Support MiceChat and the Gumball Rally
When you book your theme park vacations and tickets through Get Away Today, you are helping keep MiceChat.com online and allow us to offer you amazing events like the Gumball Rally. You also get great deals on tickets, hotel rooms, and packages to Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, and all sorts of theme parks and attractions.