Survivor: The Magic Kingdom

So The Day Began...... I was up at 7am anxious and excited for what they day held in store. I was however not happy that I had to scrape ICE off my window. Normal for a lot of people but living 2 hours south of Orlando I thought I was safe...Hmm this cold was going to make the day interesting! ...OK so on to Walt Disney World......

Each guest at this event was chosen because Scoop consider them all to be Scooper Traders. Each either spends New Year’s Day at the Magic Kingdom or they attend Scoop’s One O’clock Pin Talk irregular regularity. And they never expect anything for it.

We were given a few rules and a list of items to bring with us a few items to a special pin event.

1 - You must bring and wear a feather Boa
2 - Bring a piece of Fresh Fruit (yes fruit !)
3 - 10 Trader pins
4 - Paper and Pencil

Instructions were to arrive at the Tour Guide Gardens in the Magic Kingdom at 11 am SHARP! Boa on, items in hand and ready for anything! Well it certainly was easy to spot everyone standing around in winter jackets, hats, gloves AND their boas!

Scoop was there and welcomed us SCROOPIES (Scoops own band of Groupies) to a different type of event. Scoop's Survivor Magic Kingdom! How was this event different? Well there would be NO standing in line, NO RSP's to fill out and NO event fee! Hmm......sounds good to me! We were told that we would be competing for a special pin.
Not just any pin.... but ONE winner would walk away with the ARTIST PROOF of the Scoop Sanderson Pin Trading Pin!

There were some children there that were pretty bored since the parents were wearing Boa's and seemed to be having all the fun.....so....Scoop had them help out. There was a bag of nametags and each child drew one out. The person's whose name was drawn was to stand behind that child. Little did we know that the tribes were being formed right then!!!

After everyone was broken into 3 tribes we noticed that 2 tribes had 6 member and one tribe was only 5 members. Hmm.....that's not fair right? Well the group of 5 happened to be ALL guys so that more than made up for a missing body!

The first challenge we were playing for immunity and ALSO for individual points! The task? Well we were asked to gather our 10 trader pins that we brought along with us. Scoop then explained that we would have 30 minutes to scour the park to find 30 of a very special pin and return to the Train Station platform (via the handicapped ramp).

Which pin ?
Why this one .......

OK for those of you who have not been to WDW this is the American Express White Glove Pin. I think every single lanyard has at LEAST one of these pins on it! This should be a piece of cake! Well......let me tell you! You know that rule when you are looking you can't find? Well this proved to be a tougher challenge than most imagined.

Well apparently the group of 5 that I was in missed the part that said you had to have 30 and be the FIRST GROUP back to get immunity! Well we DID have the MOST! Unfortunately we were last to return.

So tired a bit out of breath we got a reward! What reward? Why a pin of course!

The Keys To The Kingdom Tour Pin!

So with one of the tribes granted immunity it was time to move on to the FRUIT! The fruit was divided between two tribes while the third got to catch their breath.

The Task? Create a Fruit Pin Cushion! What????? Yes we were given our fruit and we had a bag of over 100 of those lovely American Express pins dumped on our table. We had to attach the fruit with the pins and make it into one giant Fruit Pin Cushion! There were 5 minutes on the clock...Mark from Merchandising on one table and Scoop on the other held the bags of pins in the air....ready....one......two.....three.......go.........

OK......first let me warn you. Most people brought a Banana. Do you realize how SOFT a fruit this is? Oh and who brought a Strawberry? Do you know a Strawberry can only hold about 6 pins?

Rules, Rules, Rules....... Pins had to be stuck inside the fruit and not laid on it. You also had to CARRY your creation to another table to be judged. Any fruit or pins that fell off were disqualified!

Well time was up and I have to say Ed aka Raulandpinboy's Apple wrapping technique was amazing! This round was going to eliminate one of the tribes so it was brutal!

Well the creations made it to the table to be judged!

Pins that were not attached to the fruit were removed by Scoop's careful eye!

Then the Tribe with immunity from the last challenge was recruited to tear apart the sculptures and start counting pins!

While it was a close race, I have to say that team made up of all guys definitely pulled it off! 125 pins to 101!

One tribe was OUT! Competition was getting fierce! Only 2 groups left!

On to the FINAL Challenge.... (or so we thought).

Walt Disney World, in celebration of the 100 Year Celebration, had designed a fun trivia quest for the guest to enjoy. This is great fun to travel around each of the parks and find out such things as who's name is on a building or what is the Spanish word near the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride. You can spend WEEKS completing the 100 questions available! Well we did not have quite that much time. Each team was given only ONE book and had FIVE minutes to answer as many questions as they can! Oh.....and NO tearing pages out of the book!

OK.. so a group of 5 and a group of 6 people all trying to read one little booklet AND write in it! Again, Not an easy task!

Well it was still a little cold so we gathered together for warmth and started racking our brains.

Time was called and it was the moment of truth! Remember those AMEX pins? Well that was the starting score for each tribe. Then each question that was correctly answered added another point to your group! The winner?
Well it was the group of 5 guys... Bill, Manny, Ed, Patrick and Ralph!!!

Woo Victory! Team Work! YEAH! We made it!!. Well seems all that team work was out the window! Remember there is only ONE artist proof. Time for us all to face each other!

We returned back to the Tour Guide Gardens for another lighting round of trivia! Again I remind you of those wonderful American Express pins....remember the first challenge where we gathered them? Well out a possible 10 traders, we each had 8-10 pins. That was our starting point for the trivia.

Scoop drilled us with all kinds of trivia. I was painfully reminded that Marciline MO was where Walt grew up and NOT his birth place as the question had asked. We were also reminded that Walt was born on a Sunday not a Tuesday as another one of us answered. Correct answers were important! Get a question right and you had a AMEX pin added...get one wrong and a pin was taken away. The end of the trivia the one with the most pins wins that fantastic Artist Proof pin!

After much sweat and brain cramps we were ready for out winner......

AH.....not so fast........

Seems everyone was a winner of sorts! Manny came in second place but everyone who participated received a Gold Scoop Sanderson PTP in a Mat Frame! The pin was attached to the mock up sheet with the image of the pins front and back along with the color chart on the bottom. Each one was inscribed to each of the Scroopies!
Scoop logs each person's name into his journal along with the pin number that you receive! Everyone were also treated to VERY low numbered pins.

Way to go Manny.....

However we still have to award the 1st place winner. Well... with such a great honor and prize we had to have a special guest to do the honors! There was an EXTRA bonus too! The winner would also be the GRAND MARSHALL in that day's parade!!

Mickey himself arrived to present the winner their prize even Scoop looks excited!

Drumroll please........the winner was......ED! ...aka Raulandpinboy!

He was SO surprised! He even got a very nice wooden frame to hold his reward!

Now THAT is a magical Moment if I ever saw one!
Just wait till the parade Ed!

There was another person that needed to be taken care of too! Mark from Guest Relations also got a nice wooden frame for HIS Scoop Pin too!

Tired, cold a few feathers short in their boas.. but still Survivors.....here they are.......The Scroopies!

Britt and Figgy from Pinpics awarded Scoop with something special too! This award is hard to make out in the picture, but it has Scoop's pin image engraved into the wood and thanking him for all that he does to help out the pin Trading Community!

Oh and while at Scoop's Pin talk we had a Birthday Girl there! She was awarded a Scoop PTP as well. How did she know about Scoop ? Why Dizpins of course!

Ah....but who is this mysterious person? Well I am told she LURKS here a lot but NEVER has made a post! GASP! OK.. I am going to be nice and leave her name out (for now). Perhaps we can all encourage her to say hello and introduce herself and her family! What do you say Hillary? Ooops!

So yes It was a COLD start and a chilly day but so much fun! I was also lucky enough to have something to always treasure and remind me of the fun times spent with friends being silly, being crazy, being a pin trader!

Oh and yes......after today I will forever more do a double take when I see a American Express White Glove pin on a lanyard!

'til next time...
Ralph