First question is.....how many of these types of quests or games are there? I know the two in the subject line are in Magic Kingdom. I hear there is some sort of Perry game in Epcot. Are there any others that I might be missing?
Yup, just those 3 currently. There is the wilderness explorers activities at AK, though they aren't interactive games like the others. They are themed educational activities where you get merit badge stickers for your book. Milage may vary depending on your kids, but my son (10) likes collecting the stickers. The activities at least are sprinkled throughout the park so you can hit them up as you explore.
My son is 9 and this might be perfect for him, but I want to double check.
Can't speak to Perry (my son always wants to do it, we just haven't yet), but he's a big fan of SotMK and to a lesser extent the Pirate quests. If he's as at all into Pokemon or video strategy games, it's tailor-made for him.
Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom....is it worth it? Has anyone done it? Can you do it as you go about the park? How long does it take? Can you do these as the whole family moves through the park? Or will the 15 yr old balk as it takes at least 5 min to do?
Considering it's completely free to play and you get to keep the "spell cards," I'd say most definitely it's worth doing at least 1 round.
Regarding your next question, because of the game system and portal layout, SotMK doesn't really allow you to play the game as you move about the park. There are 4 zones with portals scattered about (Main St, Fantasyland, Adventureland and Frontierland/Libery Sq), and you are assigned one at random when you start the game. It will tell you which portal to start at; that portal then sends you to another portal in the same zone, and so on until you've defeated the villain "boss" for that zone (it's usually 3-4 portals total per zone). Upon defeat, it will send you to another zone randomly. A full game consists of all 4 zones and then a final showdown portal vs Hades and Chernabog.
There's not a time limit or anything, so you can always play a little, do more of the park and then come back, it's just that the game doesn't follow you and as you can imagine, the next zone in the game could be on the other side of the park from where you need to be at a particular time. There's a lot of backtracking.
Time-wise, if there's no lines at the portals, between actual playtime and walking back and forth, you can get a whole zone done in half an hour or so. The problem is, the game is popular enough now where there is usually at least another player or two ahead of you. The system tries to spread people out enough to keep that to a minimum, but it can't account for people who start a game and finish it later.
Treasures of the Seven Seas.....same questions. Is it worth it? How quickly can it be done?
It's fun, but not as interactive as SotMK. Pirates is more a scavenger hunt while SotMK is a game. I believe there's 4 or 5 different maps (like SotMK, you get to, keep them) with multiple possible destinations per map. Once you got to the 3 or 4 you've been assigned, you can get another map. Time for each map is roughly the same as 1 zone in SotMK, if not quicker (because it's not as popular and the destinations are more concentrated than the SotMK portals).
With both of these, is there a time that's better to do these? Is it best to do when crowded instead of waiting in line? Or is that a bad time as there are only so many terminals? Do they only do so many a day? I'm just trying to figure out as I don't want to waste time if it's not something that will work for my family.
Pirates you can do any time, I've never seen a line to get a map nor a backlog of people at a marker destination.
I've found it's best to play SotMK in the mid afternoon to early evening. Regulars play in the morning or before park close because the system will throw in an additional battle per zone if the current playerbase isn't large (and because most regulars play in medium or hard mode which takes a lot longer than a standard easy game). Plus, you don't want to be playing Main St or Libety Sq portals when the parade happens or Fantasyland for the fireworks because you WILL get cut off from the next portal you have to play till the event is over.
Hope that helps. A few other things about SotMK:
- If you're traveling with a large party, ask the CM's to put everyone in the party on one single game (they will give you a "keycard" or you can register to a magic and). That way, you will get a pack of spell cards for each party member and you only have one game to worry about. Otherwise your son might be in a game in Adventureland while someone else is in Main St.
- When you complete a game (all 4 zones + Hades), you get another pack as a reward.
- Each party member can get another pack on subsequent days, but you must play at least 1 portal first.
- There's no time limit, so you can break up a game over the course of a day or entire visit.
- There are 60 cards in differing rarities to collect in the packs they give out free, 10 "lightening bolts" only available in the $15 booster packs and 6 exclusive cards passed out at the Halloween and Christmas Parties the past 3 years. Each card has 3 animations (cards "power up" and change animations the more you use them), and there are special animations for select combos (ie, Woody + Buzz).
- The game has quite the following and a robust trading community that typically meets throughout the day in Tortuga. Most regulars are very happy to help new players complete their sets; it's not uncommon for a vet to give away a bunch of cards to a newbie (as most of us have long completed decks and have tons of extras). That being said, because these cards are collectible and have value (1-60 sets are typically $30-40 on eBay/ Elsa from this year's Christmas party was selling for upwards of $50 recently), there are occasionally scumbags that WILL try to scam new players in trades. Rarities are Sun (le party exclusives), lightening bolt (very rare, 1 per paid booster), star (rare, 1 per free back), moon (uncommon, 2 per free pack) and planet (common, 3 per free pack). Trades are typically 1 x 1 of the same rarity, though parties will trade for a bolt (sometimes 2 bolts).
Sorry for the wall o' text!
