Do you have what it takes to be a Kingdom Keeper at Disney’s Animal Kingdom?

Am I smarter than a fifth-grader? I guess I have to admit I’m not after my adventure last weekend with my 11-year-old son at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We set out to solve one of the new Kingdom Keepers Quests in the “2014 Birnbaum Guides to Walt Disney World” that was released at the end of September.

For those not familiar with the term “Kingdom Keepers,” it comes from a popular series of books by the same name from author Ridley Pearson. The Kingdom Keepers are students who protect the theme park from Disney villains, known as Overtakers in the books.

In 2011, Disney Youth Programs launched the first Kingdom Keepers Quest, a self-guided tour that Pearson helped design to create an immersive experience for the series’ fans at Magic Kingdom. Because that program also has educational components — such as building skills in problem solving, creativity, language arts, mathematics and critical thinking — it is offered to groups of students.

Fans like my son, who weren’t visiting the Magic Kingdom with their schools, though, were disappointed and had no such opportunity, so the self-guided adventures were created with Pearson’s input. In 2012, the first individual tour took Kingdom Keepers fans through five quests in the Magic Kingdom.

As a fourth-grader, my son found the challenges in the Magic Kingdom to be difficult enough to keep his attention without being so overwhelming that he wanted to give up. Some of the clues came from “Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark,” the first book in the series, which means participants need to have some basic knowledge of the characters in the book. (There is a new Kingdom Keepers Quest set in the Magic Kingdom in the Birnbaum Guides.)

The new Kingdom Keepers Quest at Animal Kingdom uses a few clues from the second novel, “Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn,” word play and the ability to read a map (or familiarity with the theme park’s layout). My son breezed through the first of four quests at Animal Kingdom, only to be stumped by this clue in the second: “Now think of yourself as floating/flying. Find P.O. Box 275 stuck to a wall in the area.” And I couldn’t offer any assistance.

We searched high and low for this item, having spotted several other P.O. Boxes identifiable by small print, to no avail. We even resorted to asking two cast members, who had no idea what we were talking about. There was construction in the area at the time of our adventure, so I have to wonder if the P.O. Box in question was behind those walls. If you do find P.O. Box 275, please tell us where in the comments below!

When participants successfully complete the Animal Kingdom quest, they will have a code to enter online to receive a printable reward for their hard work. The Kingdom Keepers Quests take about 60 to 90 minutes total to complete — compared with 3 to 4 hours for the Disney Youth Programs version. (The folks at Disney World, though, are in the process of developing an Animal Kingdom quest for school groups, too.)

Self-guided scavenger hunts and games — such as Kingdom Keepers Quests, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, and A Pirate’s Adventure: Treasure of the Seven Seas — are a popular trend at Walt Disney World recently, and with good reason. The adventures can be completed in short periods of time in between FastPasses and dining reservations with little to no wait. In addition, the games can be stopped and resumed at will, making the flexibility appealing. The activities are fun and mentally stimulating, giving park guests one more way to outsmart a villain and protect a Disney kingdom. And don’t worry if you need help. Just ask the nearest fifth-grader you find.

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