Pirates invade Orlando

Be warned, mateys. The largest convention hotel in Florida is being taken over by pirates on Memorial Day weekend. The Gaylord Palms is hosting its first Pirates Treasure Hunt challenge, and we got to experience a “dry run” a few days ago.

Here’s the challenge, in a nutshell: solve a series of puzzles and complete a number of pirate-like tasks, and you end up with a series of clues that could lead you to a $10,000 treasure. The idea is to challenge guests to “act and think like pirates as they traverse the resort and decipher clever clues.”

Since this was billed as a family activity, I took the whole gang — Aren, 4, Iden, 2 and Erysse, 5 months — along. The kids really loved the pirates who roamed the cavernous convention hotel in costume (and in character) greeting them with an “arrr!” and “ahoi!”. But they were positively baffled by most of the clues in this scavenger hunt, and I have to admit, sometimes I was too.

Many of the clues were so well hidden or encoded that you really had to work long and hard to come up with the right answer. And some of the questions had two or more possible correct answers, leading to yet another round of head-scratching.

But if you have older kids (10+ years, probably) and love puzzles and pirates, you won’t want to miss this weekend. It’s a perfect companion activity to the debut of the new Pirates of the Caribbean film, At World’s End.

Another bonus is the camaraderie with the other scavenger hunters. You’d expect it to be competitive, and it certainly is, but it’s a friendly rivalry with the other teams, and a nice opportunity to meet others who like competitive puzzling.

I hope the pirates come back to Orlando next year. When my kids are a little older, I think they’ll really dig the Pirates Treasure Hunt — and maybe help their parents with a couple of clues.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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