Introducing S.E.A. Member Hazel Hightower

Greetings, explorers and adventurers! In August, a group of Imagineers presented at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event and brought an unopened crate from the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.) Archive to share with the public. However, when the crate was opened for the very first time, the Imagineers and the audience were shocked to find nothing inside but a pile of bricks and a mysterious note:

After the S.E.A.’s artifact went missing at D23, they asked for our help to figure out the thief’s name! The Society says the thief is leaving riddles behind with clues to their name, but the letters are in the wrong order. Once players unscramble all of the letters, a brand-new S.E.A. character will be revealed! 

These riddles can all be solved online by looking up images of Disneyland. While Disneyland serves as the inspiration for this adventure, the riddles can be solved completely at home.

S.E.A. Archivist Bonnie Booker says this is the perfect adventure for explorers to prove themselves as honorary S.E.A. field researchers! She has been sending us riddles, clues, and information via the Walt Disney Imagineering Instagram page — let’s see what we know so far!

Our first riddle, discovered by Bonnie Booker, seems to allude to Main Street, U.S.A. What do you think? Here’s the next one she sent to us to solve:

Astute explorers think this one may be referencing the Lilly Belle car on the Disneyland Railroad. And here’s the third riddle we’ve received:

In addition to this riddle, Bonnie Booker found a potentially relevant clipping in the S.E.A. archives from a newsletter dated March 1886:

At this point, we’ve gathered so much information about this mysterious thief that Bonnie Booker decided it would be prudent to compile everything and see what we have discovered so far. As she explained, “We’ve answered many questions but only brought up more!”

Including the third riddle, the letters we’ve solved for are: T, L, and A.

Remember: the thief is leaving riddles behind with clues to their name, with a letter as the answer to each riddle. However, these letters are scrambled and in the wrong order!

Through these riddles we have also learned the following about the thief:

Our pals over at Walt Disney Imagineering have been attempting to make sense of all this information too — don’t miss the mystery board they built to keep track of everything that has been uncovered so far! And speaking of, here’s the fourth riddle:

This one seems to all but confirm that the Ridge Jewel is our missing artifact! But if the Jewel was found in Rainbow Ridge in 1886…how could the thief be leaving riddles for us to find today? Luckily, the fifth riddle found by Bonnie found us a bit more information:

Mention after mention in the riddles of what we can safely assume is the Ridge Jewel! But who stole it? And when? All we can do is wait patiently for Bonnie Booker to uncover more clues.

If you have any leads, please report in to @WaltDisneyImagineering on Instagram to share your findings and check back here for further updates. We need all the help we can get!

Welcome back, explorers! We have plenty to catch up on in our quest to unmask the mysterious thief who stole the Society of Explorers and Adventurers missing artifact! Since our last report on this mystery, we’ve received two new riddles about our cryptic crook…have you been able to solve them? Let’s see what we can glean, together:

“I can go anywhere, anytime, and tell my tale.” This line stands out to us the most! Who would have guessed that the next great S.E.A. story would involve…time travel?! The rest of the puzzle seems to involve the Swiss canton shields that adorn the entrance to the Matterhorn Bobsleds queue at Disneyland park. How many are red and white? Moving on to our next riddle…

Disneyland has many ties to the intrepid S.E.A.! From Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Jungle Cruise to one of the park’s newest additions, the Adventureland Treehouse inspired by Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson, S.E.A. lore can be found around every corner! But newcomers, you may have missed a wonderful tribute to the Society at The Tropical Hideaway in Adventureland. Here, you’ll find a display of oars, each commemorating a rite-of-passage river expedition undertaken by an S.E.A. member. The final four lines of this riddle appear to reference these very oars. So, whose expedition took place in 1831?

Luckily, a group of Imagineers who are investigating this case alongside us have put together another evidence board, tracking all of the clues, lore, and evidence we’ve discovered so far.

Are any items immediately jumping out to you? We are obsessing over the incredible schematics that were sent by Bonnie Booker along with the last batch of riddles. Take a closer look here:

This diagram is a feast for the eyes! There is so much to decipher here. Where to start?! We can confidently call this invention “The Timeskipper,” as indicated by the design name in the bottom right. However, the inventor’s name has been smudged, along with the date and location where it was created. In their place, we see that cryptic symbol that first appeared on our thief’s note inside the crate at D23…

Even more interesting are the notes scrawled all over the page: “This device should “tune” into the time I want to travel…” and “I want to design it so that it will only work if I wear it.” Who was genius enough to invent time travel, and how? While we ponder that, let’s review the letters we have so far and everything we’ve learned about the thief.

How are you faring so far? Any wild claims to make at this point? We are surely nearing the end of this captivating case, and we cannot wait to discover the identity of this beguiling riddle master! Stay tuned for one more update here on Disney Parks Blog before this adventure comes to an end and continue following @WaltDisneyImagineering on Instagram for more information. Until then, Exploratio Continua!

Congratulations, explorers! The mystery of the missing artifact has been settled thanks to your steadfast sleuthing. Society of Explorers and Adventurers archivist, Bonnie Booker, sent us two riddles, resulting in the final two letters needed to unscramble this mystery thief’s name. If you haven’t already solved for her name, these lines from one of the final riddles might help you cross the finish line:

Who could this perplexing poem be referring to? Why, none other than the infamous Harrison Hightower III! It could only be Hightower, who disappeared on New Year’s Eve in 1899 after acquiring the cursed idol, Shiriki Utundu. Hightower’s reputation would certainly tarnish his family legacy, and if we remove H-I-G-H-T-O-W-E-R from our collection of letters, we are left only with…H-A-Z-E-L. Hazel Hightower.

A final letter from Hazel to Bonnie was discovered in the S.E.A. archives and explains how and why she “stole” the Ridge Jewel. Being the daughter of Harrison Hightower made Hazel unwelcome to join the Society, so she concocted a plan to prove S.E.A. wrong while also righting one of her father’s wrongs in the process. Why steal the Ridge Jewel? Why invent the Timeskipper? You can find the answers to these questions and more in the full letter from Hazel:

Dearest Society of Explorers and Adventurers,

By now, at least some of you have discovered my name, Hazel Hightower. Indeed, it was I who stole your artifact. And while that may seem significant, it’s now such a small part of my story. If you lend me a moment of your time, I can tell you my story in my own words – no riddles in sight.

I was born on April 1^st, 1881, in Egypt. My father was Harrison Hightower III. Now, I know better than anyone what a controversial figure he was, and I personally don’t agree with all his actions and decisions. But I love him, and he taught me to chase my curiosities, and that an adventurous life is a valuable one.

My father mysteriously disappeared right before I started university in London, and I have never found out what happened to him. After he disappeared, I was distraught and directionless. I buried myself in my studies as a distraction, but after I graduated, I still felt lost. So, I sought to become a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers like my father. I hoped S.E.A. would give me the direction and inspiration I was seeking. I even showed them the plans I had been working on in school for a time-traveling device, because what greater adventure could there be than to travel across time? I thought they would be impressed.

They rejected my application. Their reason? I am a Hightower. My father caused enough problems within the organization before he disappeared, and they assumed I would be just as problematic.

This rejection, and their assumptions about my character… infuriated me (my father always told me my temper would get me in trouble). As I left the Society headquarters that day I set my mind to two things:

I traveled to my father’s home in New York to ponder my plan. As I sat there trying to think clearly, I kept thinking about my father and all the treasures he would bring home from his adventures. He would return from some far-away place and show off a new artifact to me. I always marveled at their beauty. One time, when I was just a child, my father brought me on one of his adventures – to a small American mining town in the western frontier called Rainbow Ridge. He was meeting other members of your… sometimes-esteemed society and let me tag along.

The town was celebrating a recent discovery in the mines, a large egg-shaped geode filled with rainbow crystals and had dubbed it – the Ridge Jewel. They put it on display for the entire town to enjoy. On the day I got rejected by S.E.A., I remembered something that I had forgotten long ago. That beautiful egg had gone missing. I remember its disappearance being discussed at S.E.A. gatherings as, “quite the scandal.” It all started to connect for me. It must have been my father who took it. He never could help himself. Always had to have a souvenir.

That’s when I knew, to prove I wasn’t like my father; I needed to return the Ridge Jewel.

But I wasn’t satisfied. It wasn’t enough. In those moments I so desperately wanted to humiliate S.E.A. – make them feel as small and unimportant as they had made me feel. How could I damage the egos of so many members at once?

They had laughed at me when I told them what I had been working on the past few years – a time traveling device that I nicknamed, the “Timeskipper.” These adventurers and explorers had seen it all, traveled to every corner of the world, explored the darkest caves and the highest mountain peaks. I had to have one adventure that none of them could achieve – time travel.

So, I spent the next few years finishing my great work – the Timeskipper. When I was ready to test it, I knew I wanted to try and discover where my father had taken the Ridge Jewel. I had to be very careful about where I chose to go, because I knew I wanted to return the Jewel on the same day he took it, when I was with him at Rainbow Ridge. I set the Timeskipper to the day after our trip, and successfully “skipped” into my own past.

For the first time since the night he disappeared, I saw my father and indeed, he had the Jewel with him. I discovered that after he stole the Jewel, to avoid scandal, he hid his newly found treasure inside an official “S.E.A.” crate within his vast collection. I think his plan was that if the egg was ever discovered, he could try and blame S.E.A. for its disappearance. Before the crate was sealed and moved, I took the egg and replaced it with the note that I assume you found. You see, since I had my Timeskipper, it didn’t matter where or when my note was discovered. I had all the time in the world to execute my plan.

And so, with the Ridge Jewel in tow, I continued skipping across time and leaving behind my riddles so that one day, members of S.E.A. would piece together my story and remember my name. I even traveled to times and places where famous members of S.E.A. had been, just to taunt them and prove I could. However, I discovered something very strange on my adventure. The more I traveled across the world and across time, the less angry I became. My adventure slowly healed my wounds. And I suppose that’s the point my new friends, seeking adventure and discovery, opens our minds to new possibilities. It can change us dramatically. In my case, I think it changed me for the good.

I settled in Rainbow Ridge for a while after that night, enjoying the town and its people. But, as perhaps you’ve clued together – I’m a restless soul and easily bored. I decided to test the limits of my Timeskipper, and aim for a faraway place.

Now you know my story (most of it). Maybe you see me as a villain, maybe a hero, and the truth is I’m a little bit of both. No matter what you believe – I wish you nothing but luck on your next adventure.

Until next time,

Hazel Louise Hightower

Thank you, Hazel, for bringing us along on your grand adventure! Where is Hazel now? We may never know, but she did leave us one last riddle, this time leading to a place instead of a letter…

That’s right, the glorious Rainbow Ridge Jewel is viewable in full vibrant glory at the Ticket Booth outside of Pioneer Mercantile in Frontierland at Disneyland park. Beginning today, for a limited time, guests with admission to Disneyland park can witness this rare artifact and ask a cast member at Pioneer Mercantile (while supplies last) or use a MagicBand+ to receive a complimentary commemorative ticket from Hazel Hightower herself, as a token of her congratulations for your incredible detective work. Take a look at Hazel’s ticket below:

Strangely, a newspaper clipping in the ol’ Ticket Booth seems to have transformed overnight… a photo that shows Harrison Hightower III visiting the exhibition of the Ridge Jewel with Jason Chandler in 1886 now features our intrepid Hazel, jewel in hand, returning the town’s beloved discovery moments after her father stole it. She has been honored for this noble act with her own oar at The Tropical Hideaway in Adventureland at Disneyland park, an honor bestowed upon every member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers.

Congratulations on a job well done, explorers! Be sure to visit Frontierland over the next few weeks to receive Hazel’s commemorative ticket while supplies last and view the spoils of her grand adventure. As Bonnie Booker wrote to our new, dear friend:

“If I could speak to her directly, Hazel, you’ve inspired me to build a future for adventurers like you. One made for the brave and made by the ambitious. Like you wrote, Hazel, adventuring changes us for the better, and the hunt you’ve taken us on has definitely transformed me for the better.”

Exploratio Continua!