Who Will Win the Kingdom Hearts Sweepstakes?

I am a historically unlucky person.  This is not a complaint, per say, but a simple fact.  I regret that this is so, but alas, it is so very so.  I first became aware of the inexplicable animosity Lady Luck feels for me when I was a duckling, and I entered a simple elementary school-wide contest.  There were various baskets filled with goodies, and we simply needed to place our tickets on the baskets we wanted most, and the ensuing drawing would determine the winners.  Based on the number of baskets, there should have been dozens of winners, if I recall correctly.  The fact that I didn’t win anything was not the baffling part.  What was, mind you, was the strange fact that nearly every one of my friends was the proud winner of something.  Aargh, my much younger self had said.  No, I was not a pirate back then, but aargh was my unhappy response, nonetheless.

As upset as I was on that sad day back during my ducklinghood, the situation remains now an amusing conundrum more than anything.  Alas, I could be struck by lightning on a clear and cloudless day, if fate willed it!  In fact, I once fell down…probably one of the only times in my life that I fell flat on my life, more or less, and what was there to break my fall?  Why, a cactus.  Yes, a cactus.  I had to pull about half a dozen long, thick needles from my hand, and the ring finger of my left hand, which had been pierced in the joint, remained paralyzed for about a month afterward.  At the time of my unfortunate tumble, I tried to soothe my wound with a bit of water, and do you know what happened next?  I got chased by a bee.  No joke.  I think it was a thirsty bee, but either way, I did not appreciate its company in that moment.

Now, I have since come to terms with the fact that I will likely never win anything for as long as I live.  I shall never become rich and famous.  I shall probably fall on a cactus again.  Alas, even so, I have recently chosen to challenge my fate, and come of it what may!

I am a “member” of GameStop, I suppose you could say.  I have a card, and it accumulates points, and I get emails about what appear to be exclusive deals.  Due to my luck, the really good deals probably never make it to my inbox, but the point is, I get emails.  Well, to my great shock and delight, as I perused my newest account summary, I locked eyes with a very enticing offer.  Okay, the offer did not actually have any eyes upon which mine could lock, but we shared an emotional connection, nonetheless.  It was a sweepstakes, a Kingdom Hearts sweepstakes, to be more exact, for a free trip to Disneyland.  It included two days at the park, a three-day pass to the D23 Expo, and a VIP tour of Disneyland, for the winner and one guest!  Elated that such an offer was available to me, even if the odds of winning it were slim, I immediately looked into how to enter.

Apparently, one could accumulate a grand total of 510 entries, but it required the expenditure of one’s points, and as much as I would have liked to squander every ounce of points I had on 510 entries, I only had enough points for 188 entries.  In the end, my grand total of 25270 points (if I did my math correctly) was quickly reduced to 70 points in the blink of an eye, all so I could give myself the best chance at winning that sweepstakes.  (Then, after the purchase of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I had enough points for three more entries, bringing my total up to a whopping of 191!)

You see, I chose to “stockpile” my points, as GameStop puts it, and I was not going to spend them until I found something truly unique and one-of-a-kind.  I can buy games.  I can buy t-shirts.  I can buy gift cards, if it really makes sense for one to buy such a thing for themselves.  But money cannot buy…okay, money absolutely can buy a trip to Disneyland, but do you know how much all of this would cost!  Why, a full event pass for the D23 expo alone would cost $194 per person for those who buy early and $238 for those who buy late.  At the bare minimum, that’s roughly $400 for two people, and that doesn’t include Disneyland, the VIP tour, the flights, or the hotel rooms.  And let me tell you, the tour is expensive.  From what I’ve found online, it can cost anywhere between $175-195, or even as much as $360-500.  Oh, and did I mention that’s per hour!

So my logic still stands.  Money can’t buy entry into such an epic sweepstakes, the likes of which mankind has never seen, and will likely never see again!  And even if you chose to pay full price for all of this, why, my friend, you’d need to be pretty wealthy indeed.

Will my 188 entries be enough?  I have no idea, but I was going to give myself the best darn chance possible.  The drawing is supposed to be around April 5, so we shall soon find out.  And before I go, I must ask, have any of you, dear readers, entered the sweepstakes?  If so, how many entries did you submit?  I wish you all luck!

Even if the Duck is Rather Biased Towards Oneself…