Who's the fastest rider in Disneyland?

Photo by KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER


By SARAH TULLY
The Orange County Register


ANAHEIM Brandon Moss' team members figured out quickly last year that Tomorrowland ride lines go slower than those in Fantasyland.

So, when his teammates today began a Disney contest to ride as many rides as possible, his four-member team dashed for Snow White's Scary Adventures in Fantasyland first.

Moss joined about 300 contestants and organizers that turned out early this morning for the third annual Gumball Rally at the two Disney theme parks – a race in which teams try to get on every ride as quickly as they can. The contest, put on by the MiceChat blog, began shortly after theme park gates opened at 8 a.m. and finishes at 8 p.m. tonight after which the winners will earn a gumball trophy.

The Disney fan Web site originally planned to limit the number to 250, but let more sign up because of the great interest, said Todd Regan, administrator of MiceChat. The contest is largely done on the honor system, but participants must answer obscure questions about rides to prove where they were.

Most contestants came in matching attire, including neon-green Mickey ears and sombreros with curly moustaches.

Some got creative with their names. One team of four men – two with long hair, another with a Mohawk and chin piercing – was called the Eisner Initiative, named after former Disney chief executive officer Michael Eisner. Their black T-shirts featured a logo similar to that of the Dharma Initiative on the TV show "Lost." Moss' group, Team Protozoa, comes from a band in "Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century," a 1999 Disney Channel TV movie.

"We came as a different name last year, so we challenged ourselves to come up with an even more obscure Disney Channel name this year," said Moss, 22, sporting an aqua team shirt.

Each team devised their own strategies and, in some cases, incorporated lessons learned during previous test runs. Team Protozoa came up with its plan on the ride over.

"It's iron-clad," said Moss, whose team failed to rank last year.

Still, this morning, Team Protozoa and friends, Alley Cats, were far ahead of the previous year's pace when they got stuck on Autopia. Before 9:15 a.m., they had already hit seven rides and two walk-through attractions.

Another team, Safety Third, took the opposite approach.

Eric Ceballos, 22, of Fresno, said he spent two hours the night before combing through a Disneyland map, writing down the numbers of the rides in order. Ceballos and his three Safety Third teammates planned to go to Tomorrowland and knock out Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage first because of its usually long line. But they found that the sub ride was worth fewer points than the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which had no line.

"We had to shift our plan. But we're back on plan. This is exactly what we want to do," Ceballos said.

Ceballos' team was also facing off against family and friends in three other teams, who treated the rally as a family reunion.

"We do trash talking before the Gumball Rally. We've seen each other a few times and exchanged heated words, but it hasn't gotten physical yet," Ceballos joked.

Safety Third got off to a slow start, but by about 9:35 a.m., the team had completed seven rides and lined up for Casey Jr. Circus Train. He didn't recall how the team ranked last year, but this year, he expected it would be different.

"Our goal's to win, of course," Ceballos said.

Contact the writer: 714-704-3793 or stully@ocregister.com