After two long years, the MiceChat Gumball Rally made its triumphant return on February 12th in combination with MiceAge/MiceChat’s 20th Anniversary! For three fun-filled days, participants were treated to a special presentation from Disney D23 historians and archivists and former Jungle Cruise Skippers, the mad dash that is the Gumball Rally, and a classic MiceChat meetup at Disneyland. Let’s take a look back at all the excitement and celebrate the winners of the MiceChat Gumball Rally 2022!
It’s a Jungle Out There!
This year’s Gumball Rally weekend was themed to the Jungle Cruise, and it did indeed get pretty wild. Given that it was the first Gumball Rally since the parks reopened, it was truly a “return to civilization” which was the tagline for this year’s event. With much thanks to Disney D23, the festivities kicked off on Friday night with a Jungle Cruise history presentation at the Anaheim Hotel, followed by Jungle Cruise history and hyena-like laughter from former skippers.
The evening kicked off with a panel discussion featuring Justin Arthur and Alex Williams of Disney D23. The pair took us on an in-depth journey through the history of the Jungle Cruise attraction and brought all the attendees Jungle Cruise hats to wear.
We were regaled with many fascinating morsels of attraction trivia. Jungle squid anyone?!
After the charming and enlightening D23 panel, the event took a turn for the silly as former Jungle Cruise skippers took to the stage to share a medley of comedy routines. The evening included the talents of James Silverman, TIKAY, David “Doctor Skipper” Marley, and Kipp Hart.
And one lucky guest won a very special prize! We gave away a tiki mug inspired by the head salesman of the jungle. Lost Temple Traders donated the mug designed and signed by Raya and the Last Dragon co-director Paul Briggs!
It was an unforgettable night. We’d like to extend a big thank you to Disney D23, our Jungle Cruise skippers, and Lost Temple Traders for helping us celebrate 20 years of MiceChat in wild style!
It was a great start to the weekend, but many of the guests had a 7am start the next day to get ready for…
Gumball Rally 2022
Pre-Rally Prep
In the wee hours of Saturday, February 11th, teams gathered at the Anaheim Hotel for the start of the world-famous MiceChat Gumball Rally. As always, our own Dusty Sage was there to greet teams and explain this year’s rules and evil twists.
This year’s first-place prize was a hand-crafted Jungle Cruise-themed gumball machine trophy. This work of art is immensely detailed, full of different jungle animals, foliage, and even a boat piloted by Skipper Walt Disney. It was all lovingly made possible by the hard work of Topher Hays!
The basic premise of the Gumball Rally is to see who can ride the most attractions in a single day (while answering questions about those rides), but any Rally veteran will tell you there is more to it than that. There is a surprising amount of prep and strategy for each team to figure out throughout the day… and that said, we don’t make it easy for them! Every year brings a few new twists to the rules to keep the teams on their toes.
The twists this year? Instead of a single gamebook, there were two! Teams chose one book at the start of the day and swapped it out for the other midday. Each booklet had different rides in it (we limited the Rally to Disneyland-only this year) and some of the lands were doubled up across the books, which meant there was bound to be some backtracking throughout the day. The contents of the books were unknown when teams made their selection. Our dastardly gamebook creators (Matt Juergens and Dusty Sage) were really forcing teams to make new strategies on the fly!
But, wait! That was not the only wrinkle in the rules. Genie+/Lightning Lane and smartphones were NOT allowed to be used during the game. (A special exception was made for registered influencer teams, who would also be competing for their own separate award sponsored by Get Away Today).
And the Rally is On!
Around 7:30am, Dusty finished explaining this year’s rules and answering questions. Then, the teams filed out of the Anaheim Hotel and made their way over to Disneyland to be in the park for rope drop.
The day was unseasonably hot, over 90 degrees. But that didn’t stop our intrepid Gumball Ralliers from doing what they do best – ride rides!
At noon, all the teams met in front of the Fantasyland Theatre for the group photo (which was worth 10 points for attending, so it’s something that you should definitely be there for!). It turned out that our not-so-little group needed to be photographed from two angles to capture everyone (because you can’t even see the back few rows of the over 400 participants)!
The Rally ended at 7pm, requiring the teams to turn in their gamebooks at the Anaheim Hotel. Some groups checked in far before the deadline— and given the extreme heat, we don’t blame them. Others were pushing right up until the last moment to get in that extra ride before calling it a day.
Relive the Day
Reporter Julie Tremaine followed our teams throughout the day and wrote this incredible account of the day for the SF Gate:
And one of our Influencer Teams, The Disneyland Insiders, produced this fabulous video of Gumball day in the park:
MORE PHOTOS: We had so many photographers this year that there are at least a thousand more photos for you to search through if you are interested:
- For more images from the 2022 Gumball Rally, VISIT OUR GUMBALL RALLY ONE DRIVE (HERE)
A Little Distraction…
As the Gumball Rally scorers tallied up points, teams were entertained with a rousing gameshow interlude, courtesy of our trivia master Hastin Zylstra. The crowd went WILD for the Jungle Cruise-themed Family Feud! So much fun!
The Winners of MiceChat’s Gumball Rally 2022 Are…
The game show concluded as it was announced that the results were in. The first-place team walked away with an amazing gumball machine trophy plus medals. Other winners were awarded medals and/or ribbons as well.
Let’s take a look at Gumball Rally 2022’s top 10 teams!
1st Place: 8th Wonder Skippers
2nd Place: Coolant Runnings
3rd Place: J.S.E.A.
4th Place: Toucans in De-Nile
5th Place: Dole Whip It Good
6th Place: Albert Falls Fan Club
7th Place: Inglorious Blasters
8th Place: Lady and the Champ
9th Place: Wookie Monsters
10th Place: Princesses? Why Did It Have to Be Princesses?
Next up is the Special Team Awards!
The Influencer/Creator Award goes to Ropedrop and Parkhop
And there was also an array of themed awards that were given out as well for teams with a flair for the creative or that embodied the MiceChat spirit.
Best Team Logo: Sleeping Zebra Security
Best Team Name: Lost OAR Found: All Paddles, No Raft
Spirit of MiceChat Award: Tamatoa’s Treasures
There was one final, big surprise that night. During the awards ceremony, two members of Pirates of the Coaster Challenge Podcast (fun fact: the Coaster Challenge podcast has had Dusty Sage on as a guest before), David Cantu and Ivah Redlin, got engaged! Filling in for Cupid, Dusty announced they had won the “Cutest Couple Award” (an unofficial award created for this special occasion) and called the couple up to the stage. After Dusty handed him the microphone, David sweetly proposed to Ivah and she said “Yes!” The whole room erupted into cheers and more than a few happy tears.
And here are the results for all teams scoring at least 25 out of the possible 42 points:
But just having fun at Disneyland and meeting and making new friends is the real prize of the Gumball Rally.
The Gumball Rally’s Hardworking Staff
We also want to give a humungous round of applause to our dedicated team of volunteers, without whom this event would not be possible. Putting together the Gumball Rally takes many, many months of planning, but it is all worthwhile when we see the excitement and joy that lasts even beyond the end of the Rally night.
- Event Producer: Dusty Sage
- Game Master: Matt Juergens
- Team Liason: Michele King
- Staffing Coordinator: Tiffany Wilhelm
- Game Show Host: Hastin Zylstra
- VIP Host: Jenn Chavez
- Scoring Lead: Matt Juergens
- Ride Testing Lead: Alberto Gonzalez
- Trophy Design: Topher Hays
- Graphic Design: Anthony Hays & Zachary Kern
- Photography Lead: Mike Kindrich
- Photographers: Brian Pinsky, Alan Kawaratani, Rob Van Diest
- Scoring Team: Matt Juergens, Julie Ringquist, David Daut
- Registration Team: Michele King, Stephanie Fix
- Park Team: Tiffany Wilhelm, Matt Juergens, Stephanie Fix, Alberto Gonzalez, Carol Bischoff, Debbie Holmes, Jeffrey Niederaurer, Chuck & Nancy Kearsley, Noe & Michelle Valladolid, Merrill Barr, Marty Greco, Lewis Thrower, Amanda Weber, Debra Ellsworth, Karen Covington, JoAnn Kimmich, Rick & Mia Hipkins, Barry & Phyllis Veldman, Sharon Walters, Jennifer Pesqueira, Daniel Simaan
- Spotters: And the dozens and dozens of volunteers keeping an eye on the teams and reporting everything from attraction breakdowns to potential team infractions to Rally Central Command.
Our Amazing Sponsors
And, of course, we are immensely grateful to the lead sponsors for MiceChat’s Gumball Rally 2022. We simply could not pull all this together without them. If you appreciate what we do and want to help support MiceChat and the Gumball Rally, please frequent our sponsors.
- Main Sponsor: Getaway Today (ALWAYS book your theme park travel from the Get Away Today links at the top of every page of MiceChat.com. Not only do you get the lowest prices on tickets and hotels, you get the best service as well. We simply LOVE them)
- The Anaheim Hotel (We have a long history with this hotel and its parent company. Their support over these last two difficult years has been incredible)
- The Pizza Press (These wonderful folks do more than just pizza, they also run the bar and catering services at the Anaheim Hotel and provided refreshments to all the teams as well as delicious meals for our VIP teams)
- Anthony Hays Design (Anthony has been creating graphics, game books, and marketing materials for the Rally for over a decade. And his husband Topher crafts the incredible trophy!)
- Kern & Co. (Zachary Kern created our Rally and MiceChat Anniversary logo this year. Welcome to the crew, Zach!)
- The Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel and Water Playground (just across the street from the Matterhorn)
- Lost Temple Traders (Unique tiki mugs and designs)
- Scum & Villainy Cantina (If you like Oga’s Cantina at Disneyland, you’ve got to give this Hollywood bar a try)
MiceChat’s 20th Anniversary Meetup
As if it wasn’t a full enough weekend already, on Sunday we invited our readers to meet us at Disneyland’s Partners Statue for an extra-special meetup to celebrate not only the end of a successful Gumball Rally weekend, but also MiceAge/MiceChat’s 20th Anniversary! 20 years?! Time goes by so quickly.
And we even had party favors! Over the course of the afternoon, we gave away a 2-night stay at the Anaheim Hotel, a 2-night stay at the Howard Johnson Anaheim Resort and Water Playground, and tons of commemorative buttons.
After some reminiscing and chatting with friends both old and new, we made our way over to New Orleans Square’s train station to board the Disneyland Railroad. We enjoyed a leisurely Grand Circle Tour around Disneyland, headed to Adventureland to take a trip aboard the World Famous Jungle Cruise (it was the theme of 2022’s Gumball Rally, after all). And after surviving such a treacherous journey, we built up quite an appetite so we high-tailed it to the Hungry Bear in Critter Country to grab some grub. The afternoon was rounded out with a trip around Tom Sawyer Island aboard the rafts.
Discount Theme Park Tickets and Travel
Are you ready to get away? Our travel partners at Get Away Today are here to help you make new family memories with discounted theme park tickets, hotels, and vacation packages. Get extra days, big savings, and perks on travel to Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Adventures By Disney, and other theme parks and family travel destinations. Snap up those deals while you still can, with your MiceChat partners at Get Away Today- HERE
(MiceChat has worked 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!!
We had an absolutely fabulous time on Gumball Rally weekend and hope you all did, too. Happy 20th Anniversary and we hope to see you again real soon!
And don’t you worry, we’re already thinking about how we’ll make next year’s event just as amazing… and of course, with an unexpected twist!
For more information about Gumball Rally, and to signup for more information about next year’s event, be sure to check out the Gumball Rally info page HERE!
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