DQ has always been a hard sell, right from the start. The idea of a virtual theme park never really caught on. And really, there is only five or six attractions that are Disney-esque, most just standard arcade games found in most areas, including the parks and the hotels. It is very expensive for families to take a chance on, and many people cannot see spending that kind of money to see the "wow" attractions (if they are even aware they exist) for what may or may not be a few hours of entertainment. DQ in Chicago was an even harder sell, because people had to physically drive there, park and then go in, rather than having built in traffic that is Downtown Disney.
In the beginning, it was pretty inexpensive to get in, something like $7 which included a few game credits. People were willing to take a shot at it, if nothing else than to see it. And the building is pure Imagineering in just itself. You would then go to a rezap machine to get more credits to play more games. The games were very expensive though. Games like Jungle Cruise, Ride the Comics and Treasures of the Lost Incas were between $2.50 and $4.00. So you had to be extremely careful where you used your credits if you wanted to see these, and not squander them away on the pinball and arcade games.
Rumor had it that Disney was sued over the rezap technology, though the official Disney story is that they wanted to make it easier for consumers, so they put a one time fee, which included EVERY game in the place. This made it a little more palatable for value all around, but scared people with it's high price. The best value was the fact that you could win lots of prizes on the fourth and fifth floor, especially in the crane machines. I spent a lot of time there.
Then that got too expensive for Disney, and so while they went up on the admission price, they started charging for the prize machines. They did give you a coupon though to use for a few such games.
Nowadays, they include DQ in a lot of different park media including Park Hoppers and Premium Annual Passes. This basically means for Disney that the people are getting in basically free. This translates to no money for upkeep, development or anything else coming in. In fact, I'd venture to think they are losing money as people would rather go there where arcade games are free, then playing them in the hotel arcades.
I'll be honest. I don't really like DQ as a whole. The whole Cyberlator thing after the first time is really annoying, being a little claustrophobic around crowds of people, the place really gets to me. I usually can only handle about an hour of it. I do like some of the games, Pirates of the Carribean, the race cars, some of the older arcades. Cheesecake Factory Express is one of the best restaurants in Downtown Disney. I hope if DQ closes, they find a place for it. But I do know that some people really love it. My old boss is willing to fly down from DC to see it, and a couple of friends can spend all day there, and I usually get dragged there with them. From a business point of view, DQ was a doomed idea. If I were them, I would let people in for free, and charge for the games and make it a huge arcade. They'd probably make far more money as a whole. Kinda like a Disney Chucky Cheese.
Just my 2 cents,
ShadowWind
