Paging John Kurkowski! You really need to claim your prize for JHM’s 7th trivia contest

Jim Hill

12 years ago

I've got a problem, folks.

As you may recall, D23 — The Official Disney Fan Club —
provided JHM with a terrific prize for this website's seventh trivia contest.
Which was a pair of tickets to next weekend's Destination D event at the
Disneyland Hotel, a two day-long celebration of 75 years of Disney animated
features.

That contest officially wrapped this past Friday. And given
that we had 130 people enter, it then took me the better part of this past
weekend to go through all of those e-mails and then determine who got the
answers to all 23 of those trivia questions right.

And — just to recap here — here are all 23 questions AND
their correct answers:

1) Which 1937
Silly Symphony features a young Indian brave tangling with a Grizzly Bear and
her cub? Little Hiawatha

2) Name the 1939 short where Mickey Mouse mistakes a bear
for Pluto. The Pointer

3) Name Br'er Fox's partner-in-crime in Disney's 1946
release, "Song of the South." Br'er Bear

4) Name the circus bear who made his first appearance in
1947's "Fun and Fancy Free." Bongo

5) Who played this circus bear's love interest? Lulubelle

6) Finally, name the "toughest bear in the forest"
who then menaced that circus bear in this package film. Lumpjaw

7) Which cuddly little cubby made his Disney debut in a 1966
animated featurette? Winnie the Pooh

8) Name the bear character that Phil Harris voiced in the
studio's 1967 release, "The Jungle Book" ? Baloo

9) Name the bear cub that Moki (John Yesno) rescues in
Disney's live-action feature, "King of the Grizzlies." Wahb

10) Which bear-themed attraction opened at WDW's Magic
Kingdom on October 1, 1971? The Country Bear Jamboree

11) Name the Audio-Animatronic MC of this Frontierland
favorite. Henry

12) Name all of the members of the Five Bear Rugs. Zeke,
Zed, Ted, Fred and a bear named Tennessee

13) Name the never-built Disney ski resort that this
bear-themed attraction was originally designed for. Mineral King

14) Name the bear character that Phil Harris voices in
Disney's 1973 release, "Robin Hood."
Little John

15) Who animated the fearsome grizzly in Disney's 1981
release, "The Fox and the Hound"? Glen Keane

16) Name the bear-shaped mountain which looms over Disney
California Adventure Park. Grizzly Peak

17) Who voiced Kenai in Walt Disney Animation Studios' 2003
release, "Brother Bear"? Joaquin Phoenix

19) Who voiced Nita, Kenai's love interest in "Brother
Bear 2," the direct-to-video sequel to this 2003 release? Mandy Moore

20) Name the heavily-merchandised teddy bear that Minnie
supposedly made for Mickey. Duffy

21) Who voices the character who becomes the Mumbear in
Pixar's "Brave" ? Emma Thompson

22) Name the demon bear found in this same Pixar film.
Mor'du

23) Name the bear-themed land that just opened at Hong Kong
Disneyland? Grizzly Gulch

Anyway, 96 of the 130 people who entered JHM trivia contest
No. 7 got all of these questions right. Which meant that I then had to randomly
select a winner from all of those people. Which turned out to be John Kurkowski
of Central Florida.

Now where this gets interesting is that — on Monday (after
I determined who the winner was) — I sent an e-mail to John, where I
congratulated him on his win. I also John to confirm that he would in fact be
able to make it out to California next weekend then attend this Destination D:
75 Years of Disney Animated Features event. Because — if not — I'd like to pass
this pair of tickets along to a runner-up who will actually be able to make to
the Disneyland Hotel next weekend and then arrange for some sort of consolation
prize for Mr. Kurkowski.

That e-mail went out early on Monday morning. John never got
back to me.

I sent out a second e-mail on Tuesday morning. Again no
response from Mr. Kurkowski.

It's now Wednesday morning, folks. And I find myself in kind
of a dilemma. I want John Kurkowski to be able to claim the prize that he
rightfully won for getting all of the answers to JHM trivia contest No. 7 right.
But if this guy's not going to respond to any of the e-mails that I've sent him
(Who knows? Maybe John's gone on vacation to some place with really lousy
Internet service and hasn't been able to access his e-mail for a few days), I'm
thinking that — in the end — I'll have no choice but to award these
Destination D tickets to a runners-up.

That said, if anyone of you know John Kurkowski and can then
get ahold of him, I'd really appreciate it if you could reach out and then let
him know that A) he won this prize and B) Jim Hill's trying to get ahold of him
to find out if John will actually be able to go this event.

Because if I haven't heard from John by this coming Friday
morning, I've really got no choice. I can't let this amazing prize go to waste.
I've got to then award to a randomly selected runner-up (who — I'm hoping —
lives in or around Southern California. So that he or she can then actually use
this pair of tickets to next weekend's 75 years of Disney Animated Features
event).

So — again — if you folks could please help spread the
word, help me make John Kurkowski aware that the clock's ticking here, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for your kind time and help here.