On July 9th, Disney opened a new attraction… sort of.
When a Disney Parks Blog entry announced the launch of Legends of Frontierland: Gold Rush, many fans were left scratching their heads. Rarely are new experiences described so vaguely and with more information offered after launch.
As guests arrived for Legends of Frontierland Wednesday morning, it seemed that no one really knew anything that was going to be happening. The times guide listed the attraction and seemed to put its location at The Golden Horseshoe. Because of this, a crowd waited out front as Cast Members of various levels and departments met inside.
When the Horseshoe opened, it became clear that the action was really going on outside. After a few minutes of waiting to see if a kick-off show would occur, I made my way to the Telegraph Station. Once there, I saw people getting nametags and maps, so I waited patiently for someone to offer me one.
The first order of business was to choose a Frontierland name. I didn’t know at the time, but this would have been my opportunity to create a character name. Instead, I offered my real name and asked them to Frontier-ize my moniker. The Cast Member decided I should be Krazy Kyle (“With a ‘k’ so it’s extra crazy”).
After receiving my nametag (and unknowingly joining Team Froniterland) I was also given a map that located the stations of the game along with the rules. I took my map and headed over to the Sheriff’s Office where I proceed to stare at it until an in-character Cast Member came up and noticed I was lost. He told me I must be looking for the Sheriff because they needed deputies. I answered affirmatively, but after he looked at the desk he said it was “a bit sleepy” out there and said I should go into the Horseshoe instead.
Inside The Golden Horseshoe was a welcome center where people were making signs and coloring. Being too shy to ask anything, I stood nearby pretending to watch the show. After the crowd dispersed from the around desk, the Cast Member asked for me to send a message to the Telegraph Station and gave me a coin for doing it for her.
This is how I got my first “bits”. Each wooden coin is worth 5 bits. What exactly do you do with bits? I still had zero clue.
After giving the message to the Telegraph Station, the Cast Member running machine gave me another message to take back. Before sending me on my way, she paired me up with a new player (though we were all new players since the game had only been going for 30 minutes) and asked me to tell her what was going on. After we walked a few feet, I confessed to my knew partner that I really didn’t know.
At this point I began to realize that this “attraction” was really just LARPing (live action role playing). Much like “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” everything’s made up and the points don’t matter. I started to observe those who had gotten into the game as they rambled on about Rainbow Ridgers, paid bits for Cast Members to tell them secrets, and haggled over how many bits a task should be worth.
After completing a couple other random chores, I headed over to the High Card table in The Golden Horseshoe. Here guests can gamble their bits away by playing a card game similar to “War”. Each round begins with every guest throwing in one coin before flipping over a card. The player with the highest card wins the pot. Since I only had four bits (or 20 I guess….) to begin with, I ran out very quickly.
After this, I went over to the Rainbow Ridge side where it seemed like not even the Cast knew what was going on. The Cast Member noticed my Frontierland nametag (rectangular with an orange border) and asked what I was doing around those parts. Eventually, I said that I was thinking of moving to Rainbow Ridge and soon I covered my orange bordered tag with a lemon-shaped one with yellow bordering.
Before giving up on the game, I noticed a lot of people were asking about buying land which, at the time, they hadn’t started doing yet. However, there were rules listed about purchasing plots, jumping claim, and having your property surveyed for gold. This all insinuated that this game was bigger than I knew and it was time to punch out. Though, before I could, I was nearly arrested by another player who swore he saw a wanted poster out for me (players can make posters for other players… but I don’t know how all that works). I went peacefully but said that if there wasn’t a warrant out he would owe me some bits for the trouble (after all, everything’s made up and the points don’t matter. Right, Drew?). This is how I ended up getting back one coin to keep as a souvenir.
To be fair, The Legends of Frontierland: Gold Rush does seem like it could be fun if you have the right personality. I do not.
Other players definitely did and I imagine that things took off once players accumulated bits and started buying property. In fact, I can see several people playing this game frequently and becoming well-known regulars around town.
While this is great from a capacity standpoint (especially since Frontierland is a pretty dead area of the park, save Big Thunder Mountain Railroad), but I can also see Annual Passholders taking over the game and making it inaccessible to day guests who will be lost with no hope of catching up.
Hopefully there will be a happy medium and the game will bring some much-needed action to the land. Afterall, the attraction is built upon the same thing as all of Disneyland: imagination.
