Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom

[1hero2princesses]

Was curious about Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. We are going the end of July kids are son 12, daughter 11, daughter 9. The 12 year old is a big ol contradiction in terms right now, grown up one minute little boy the next, tough hockey player and then super geeked out fan boy of Marvel. The other day he literally said to me I wish I could be a sorcerer. Course this is also the kid that told me he needed a a specific Disney shirt for each day of the trip (I didn't even do that when he was 5!) So with that being said is this fun for his age, or would he probably be to old? How long does it generally take? Should we go and get the cards right when we walk in? I assume the parks will be very crowded when we are there. Any tips on this? We plan to spend two days in MK and have been before but my 9 year old doesn't remember much so we plan to try to do almost everything. Is there anything I should do beforehand?

 

[ateam79828592]

We tried this and Pirates Adventure in Adventureland for the first time on our last trip. We thought pirates adventure was faster & easier ... and the effects were cool. The SotMK was fun as well, but our kids had trouble getting the cards to work consistently...and there were longer lines at times to have a turn at the needed portal. You don't get to pick which area (main street, liberty sq, fantasyland, etc) that your are working in...and you'll have to defeat that villian before you can get another quest/area.

Overall, in my opinion I thought Pirate Adventure was better suited to the occasional MK visitor that wanted something fun to try for about 30 minutes. SotMK seemed to take more time (mostly in trying to get the portals to cooperate and waiting in line for other players) and better suited to regular MK visitors. That was just our opinion having done both games on 3 or 4 days during our last trip.

 

[1lilspark]

I'd at the very least pick up a pack of cards as even if you don't play they are fun suveniers

 

[Disneyliscious]

We tried this for the first time last October. Me, my bf and our friend (all adults ages 27-41). It IS best to get the cards as you enter the park imo because you are right there at the place to get them anyway as you enter the park (and you wont forget later). We kept some as souvenirs but they played a few games in Adventureland. The hardest part was actually finding some of the places to play as they can be quite hidden. After playing a few games we decided it wasn't something we wanted to put any more time into. Good thing is, when you go back (even if its years later) the game picks up where you left off. To complete the whole thing would take a LONG time, I'm guessing 5 or 6 hours at least.

So def get the cards and let him play a game or two then go from there.

 

[soniam]

Each member of your family should pick up a pack, even if not everyone will play. The more cards you have, the easier is it to defeat the villains. You can pick up a pack of cards everyday you go to the park, as long as you play a portal before getting the new pack. The key to the world or magic band that is used to register is the only one with the game info; it's not linked to MDE. So remember which one it is if you have multiple. This is even true between trips, depending upon how long it is between trips. We have not tried this yet, but supposedly, you can link everyone's games together. That way you can play as a family. This will allow everyone to stay together and not end up in different lands or at different portals. They will ask which land you want to start in. Try not to start in a land with the parade. It makes it difficult to get around to the portals. Here's a link that I have been using. It may not be completely accurate, because the game has changed some since it started.

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Sorcerers_of_the_Magic_Kingdom

 

[Lavitz]

Honestly you should be more worried about how much he is going to love it and how much time he'll be wanting to do it.

 

[mountdew1]

Time will have lots of depends. Some of the portals in some lands are closer together than others, and it depends on the order you get sent to the portals. If you have lots of backtracking, a particular villain will end up taking much longer than if it has you progress in a line. Figure 2 mins or so to do the portal, maybe 5 mins waits per portal, so you can do a round in 30 mins or less unless it's really busy. Or you can spend all day, playing all the villains on easy, and then level up to medium (and then to hard) and keep playing. In short you can play one portal a day if you want and spend maybe 5 mins on it, or you could spend all day long playing if you want.

 

[mds88]

I also would like to recommend A Pirate's Adventure Treasure Hunt. There are 4 or 5 maps, and you can complete as many as you like. Each one took us about 15 minutes. If possible, I would suggest doing it at night since a lot of the clues light up when you find them.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I also would like to recommend A Pirate's Adventure Treasure Hunt. There are 4 or 5 maps, and you can complete as many as you like. Each one took us about 15 minutes. If possible, I would suggest doing it at night since a lot of the clues light up when you find them.

My DS8 loves both Sorcerers and the Pirate Adventure and I agree with everything that's been said on here. Pick up the cards when you first arrive. DS8 is typically good for one round of Sorcerers and then it's on to something else. One nice thing about the game is there are some die-hard Sorcerer players in the parks and we've struck up conversations and even traded cards with a few. It was just a nice way to meet fellow MK visitors.

I agree with the PP about doing the Pirate Adventure at night. Adventureland can get really hot and crowded during the day in the summer and criss-crossing that land in the heat and crowds to do the game isn't particularly fun. We did all 5 maps one evening in August around 8 pm and Adventureland was much less crowded, the weather was perfect and the lighting effects were really cool!

You didn't mention this, but if you are going to AK, I also recommend Wilderness Explorers. It's a lot of fun and gives you a really in depth view of AK. DS really enjoyed that adventure as well.

 

[Dansr731]

My son is 12 and would be happy to play the game all day.

 

[Cruisin Spartan]

We played for the first time on our recent trip. We had a lot of fun. On average, we played about one area per MK day over the course of a 10 day trip, finishing maybe 5 areas for the whole trip. Our 3.5 yo DS liked opening the portals and watching the videos, my DW liked finding the portal locations on the map, and I enjoyed playing the spell cards while trying to strategize as much as my son would let me (he liked playing the same cards over and over again).

I agree with the advice to give it a try. Definitely sign your whole family up on one game, and get a pack of cards for everyone. We just sort of fit our portals into our day as we went along, playing a few in between attractions, etc. You should note that the Christmas Shoppe location is closed so plan on getting your cards at the Fire Station on Main Street.

 

[GC&S]

Give it a try but as PP has said, be prepared if they like it to spend a lot of time playing it. My dd has been doing it for a couple years now (and has hundreds of cards) and still loves it. I tolerate it for about 15 minutes and then I'm ready to move on. Sometimes the there are lines at the portals and I hate waiting. Especially if it's hot. But she loves it so I suck it up and be the good parent. But it is fascinating finding some of the portals and seeing things come to life that were previously just a window or a bookshelf in a store.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

I know nothing about Sorcerer's. How much are the cards? What happens at the portals?
Thanks for the tips about Wilderness Explorers and doing the Pirate Adventure at night.

 

[Cruisin Spartan]

@TigerlilyAJ - The cards are mostly free. You just go sign up at the Fire House on Main Street. You get one pack per person per day. It is possible to get all of the first 60 cards this way. Then, there are another 10 cards (Ultra Rare) that you can get by buying booster packs in the Emporium. There are also Party Cards for MNSSHP & MVMCP.

You use the cards at designated portals throughout MK to defeat various villains.

 

[DisneyOma]

The SotMK was fun as well, but our kids had trouble getting the cards to work consistently...and there were longer lines at times to have a turn at the needed portal. You don't get to pick which area (main street, liberty sq, fantasyland, etc) that your are working in...and you'll have to defeat that villian before you can get another quest/area.

We've been able to pick where we wanted to start, but not the next round.

 

[xipotec]

Ot fun but time consuming. If your kids not into the rides then its something extra to do. We played 3 rounds i the "year of the glitched MDE" when we pretty much got all the fast passes we wanted anytime.....ah what a great trip.

Those 3 rounds took 3 hours.

 

[msk]

My grands loved playing SotMK. My 13 yo grandson played, traded cards wth other players and had a great time. Our granddaughters 11 and 8 also throughly enjoyed the game. We park hopped to MK everyday to play and get more cards!

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

I played Sorcerers for the first time last month and had a great time. It did take me several hours to complete one entire game - I started at around 4:30pm and finished just before 11pm, but I did take a break to watch MSEP, CTM, and Wishes. The cameras that 'see' the cards at some of the portals are a little touchy, if there's direct sunlight shining towards them they don't work as well. And after dark, I sometimes had to illuminate the front of my cards with my phone's flashlight for optimum performance. But it was still a lot of fun.

I need to do Pirate Adventure one of these days. All of the interactive games are on my Disney bucket list. I'm way outside the "target demographic" for ages, but I don't care.

 

[ChimCher-ee]

Great posts - - we've never given this much thought (though did do Agent P in Epcot a few years back when we ran into another family from back home). DD will be 13 when we come next year, and right now it's hard to predict what she'll be wearing at lunch today much less the movie she'll want to rent this Friday, but I think we'll give at least one of these at try.

It seems if you're going to have the time (we're coming for two weeks) and the patience (I want to slow it down, next time), this could be a good family thing (always looking for those connections esp now).

Thank you all for your thoughts!

 

[msk]

What is especially nice about Sorcerers is that the adults could sit and say enjoy a Dole Whip while the kids played the game at several portals in Adventure land. When that part was done we would move to Liberty Square and they would play at several portals there. They truly had a ball playing the game all around the park. Because we had many days and park hoppers we really did a little bit of Magic Kingdom each day.

Don't intend to highjack this post but I'm curious about the Pirate Adventure. Where and how is that played?