Is Disney Quest Closing?

[TSR6]

I seem to recall having to buy tokens for my DD to play something that wasn't included in admission

Cass - They used to have an area called the replay zone - it was just for a few select games that gave out tickets on the 4'th floor. You could redeem those tickets for prizes, so DQ had tokens for those. They removed the Replay Zone as of September I believe....

 

[mitros]

Just an expensive, glorified arcade, and, IMHO, they can close it down. I won't cry about it.

 

[Jynohn]

I was at Downtown Disney last weekend and was asked to complete a survey when I got home. They specifically asked about DisneyQuest, whether we had ever been there, would we ever plan to go, etc.
I didn't think anything of it at the time, but sounds like they're trying to gauge any remaining interest in this "attraction."

 

[ChrisFL]

Just an expensive, glorified arcade, and, IMHO, they can close it down. I won't cry about it.

I totally disagree...Gameworks is a glorified arcade, DQ has virtual rides you can't find anywhere else, I'd hardly call them glorified video games unless you want to add such things as Buzz Lightyear at MK to that list, I mean, all you do is ride and shoot things, right? I don't know of anywhere else you can create a virtual rollercoaster or go on a jungle cruise where you paddle through different lands without leaving the room.

Maybe Im just a geek, but I love the place

 

[Kitty-chan]

I love Cyberspace Mountain and the PotC game at DQ, but overall I wasn't that impressed by it. Maybe I'm jaded -- I work in high performance computing so I'm around a lot of VR stuff. But I was also unimpressed by the lack of theme, the lack of "magic" -- it didn't feel like being in a theme park at all.

Plus the lack of other DQs to share development costs of new DQ attractions has got to be a downer for Disney. But they might be able to mitigate that by deploying DQ attractions in other theme parks -- for example, Cyberspace Mountain is at Disneyland Resort Paris, in the Studios.

I wouldn't mind if they shut down DQ, but I'd hope they'd find new locations for the most popular DQ games/rides.

 

[MJMcBride]

Cyber Space Mountain was good, but the rest was not great. It was not worth the price of admission for sure.

 

[heart4dis]

It is at the top of their MUST SEE lists...I am horrified because they prioritized it over Magic Kingdom! What is this generation coming to?

 

[mark&sue]

I could never understand Disney Quest at WDW. I could understand it at any other city in the world (apart from Anahiem, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong) but why would you want a virtual reality theme park when you have the best theme park in the world a few minutes away!! Real life roller coasters, with real smells and sights. The wind in your hair from Big thunder mountain the drops from TOT the real romance of POTC. Why oh why would you bother with Disney quest in Orlando. New York, London, Madrid, Amsterdam etc I can understand, somewhere you can't get a real Disney fix but WDW Orlando I cannot get my head round.

This is one of the biggest questions I have had going round my head for years.

This is the one place in WDW I would be glad to see closed down.

Bring on the flames!



Susan

 

[seashoreCM]

Cass - They used to have an area called the replay zone - it was just for a few select games that gave out tickets on the 4'th floor. You could redeem those tickets for prizes, so DQ had tokens for those. They removed the Replay Zone as of September I believe....

Did they also close down the souvenir shop in the Create Zone (second floor) where you could buy the little toy complete with non-matching head and two left legs (although without the thump thump or clickety click sound), and buy the picture you created using the electronic finger painting and buy the DVD you cut in the karaoke booth?

For several years I have had premium annual passes and stopped in at Disney Quest for multiple short visits. I could not do the virtual Jungle Cruise, or the space rides on the upper floors since I get seasick on virtual reality type games and that would disappoint others I would have to team up with.

 

[Kitty-chan]

I could never understand Disney Quest at WDW. I could understand it at any other city in the world (apart from Anahiem, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong) but why would you want a virtual reality theme park when you have the best theme park in the world a few minutes away!! Real life roller coasters, with real smells and sights. The wind in your hair from Big thunder mountain the drops from TOT the real romance of POTC. Why oh why would you bother with Disney quest in Orlando. New York, London, Madrid, Amsterdam etc I can understand, somewhere you can't get a real Disney fix but WDW Orlando I cannot get my head round.

This is one of the biggest questions I have had going round my head for years.

This is the one place in WDW I would be glad to see closed down.

Bring on the flames!



Susan

I can definitely see your point! And at the same time I think DQ has a few things to offer that the parks don't.

DS9 loved loved loved the PotC game at DQ. We played it a few times and got fairly good at it, running around the ship, calling out for help, coordinating our actions in the final phase. It's a collaborative interactive game, and I don't think the parks offer anything quite like it. Ditto for the Buzz Astroblasters at DQ.

Cyberspace Mountain is also really great for us. DS has some moderate "special needs" and can't handle real-life roller coasters. Even the Barnstormer was too much for him. But Cyberspace Mountain let us create our own coaster, playing to his strengths. We've tried it a couple times and have gradually ramped up the intensity to see what he can handle in the motion simulator -- which is kind of like the sort of experimental VR therapies for people with phobias, now that I think of it. You can press the "stop" button on Cyberspace Mountain; for us, that's more important than the wind in our hair on BTMR (which I personally would rather have, but it's not an option when I have him along).

On the other hand, I hate to miss time in the parks to spend it in DQ instead, when so much of what's there is easily findable elsewhere! (Lord knows there's plenty of places we can play QBert and DDR.) So I guess that's why I wish they'd do something like what they've done in Disney Studios Paris -- put a couple of the best DQ attractions into one of the parks, rather than making DQ its own location/destination. Surely Cyberspace Mountain could be re-spun into an educational activity at Epcot (ie, learn about roller coaster design, learn about motion simulators). And maybe those with brains bigger than mine could find good homes for the PotC game, and maybe a couple others too.

 

[erikthewise]

I know two boys who have been there twice and will be very disappointed if it closes. I agree it is not worth $35 to go there on a rainy day when it's crowded. We paid $21 for adult tickets and went there at opening on a slow day (weekday, not raining), and had a pretty good time -- well worth it. Also if you hold tickets with "extras" or a Premium Annual Pass, it is a reasonable alternative to a water park.

One problem is with the MYW tickets another theme park day costs $3, so why pay $35 or even $21 to go to DQ? That scheme was designed to keep people away from Universal or Seaworld but it may work against DQ as well.

Another problem is that it is really a low-capacity venue. The best attractions (Pirates, Cyberspace Mountain, etc) simply can't handle a lot of people. So either a few people having a good time or a lot of people having a not-so-good time and not coming back. There's a limit to how much revenue it can generate that way.

 

[westjones]

Oh NO! I hope this doesn't happen! I just bought the park hopper plus tickets with 5 pluses planning to use 4 of them at DQ! Well we will get once visit in when we visit in 9 weeks (should still be open then).

With the 10 day PHP tickets, the pluses only cost $9 each when I bought them, so that wasn't too bad price wise, but I agree, to pay the 'door price' is pretty high and we wouldn't normally do it. Maybe they will get more business now that it is park the the 'plus' options.

DJ

 

[TSR6]

Did they also close down the souvenir shop in the Create Zone (second floor) where you could buy the little toy complete with non-matching head and two left legs (although without the thump thump or clickety click sound), and buy the picture you created using the electronic finger painting and buy the DVD you cut in the karaoke booth?

For several years I have had premium annual passes and stopped in at Disney Quest for multiple short visits. I could not do the virtual Jungle Cruise, or the space rides on the upper floors since I get seasick on virtual reality type games and that would disappoint others I would have to team up with.

Sid's Create A Toy is still there. You can buy a picture of that I beleive...

The Finger Painting thing I believe is gone... The "Magic Mirrors" deal??? If thats what you mean - it's gone.

The create your own CD is still there.

They still have the Merch shop in the create zone.

 

[mark&sue]

come on all of you. I am sure Walt would not agree with this inferior disney product.

Just walking or breathing down main street is worth so much more than this "arcade".

As I have previously posted. In any other town or city in the world this would be "nice" but this is the best place in the whole world and it does not need this "arcade".

I have invested my life savings to get from the UK every year to be a DVC member and I assure you I have not paid out all this money for this second rate product or I would just go to Las Vegas every year!

Come on your flame throwers!



Susan from London Town (where we have the odd arcade game or two)

 

[mitros]

come on all of you. I am sure Walt would not agree with this inferior disney product.

Just walking or breathing down main street is worth so much more than this "arcade".

As I have previously posted. In any other town or city in the world this would be "nice" but this is the best place in the whole world and it does not need this "arcade".

I have invested my life savings to get from the UK every year to be a DVC member and I assure you I have not paid out all this money for this second rate product or I would just go to Las Vegas every year!

Come on your flame throwers!



Susan from London Town (where we have the odd arcade game or two)

Interesting thought... I wonder if anyone out there knows if Walt put any type of arcade games in Disneyland while he was alive . I know when you read stories about Walt's developement of disneyland, he had said that he did not want a "carney" atmosphere, and I would suspect that arcade type of areas would be part of it.

 

[ChrisFL]

come on all of you. I am sure Walt would not agree with this inferior disney product.

Just walking or breathing down main street is worth so much more than this "arcade".

As I have previously posted. In any other town or city in the world this would be "nice" but this is the best place in the whole world and it does not need this "arcade".

I have invested my life savings to get from the UK every year to be a DVC member and I assure you I have not paid out all this money for this second rate product or I would just go to Las Vegas every year!

Come on your flame throwers!



Susan from London Town (where we have the odd arcade game or two)

that's just it though, it's NOT just an arcade. Its not just video games you find anywhere. Yes they DO have those, but there's a lot of FUN interactive rides and attractions also which, again, I've never seen anywhere else. When DQ first opened, to me it was like a mini theme-park in itself.

I do wish it was bigger and laid out better, but overall its worth the price of admission to me, and a lot of friends of mine.

Id also like to add that DQ became a testing area for new technologies Disney has been working on, like VR and CAVE technology which we may see in future rides.

I really don't see what makes DQ a second rate product. What product like DQ is better?

And if you really hate it so much, just don't go there. I can't stand Cirque du Soleil, but I don't bash it for being there, even if there's a lot of them in Vegas also, does that mean it ALSO shouldnt be at Disney?

 

[westjones]

I bet is people tried going, they would like it. I still think that now it is offered as a 'plus' (before you could only go to the waterparks or PI with the plus) that more people will go.

I hate Arcades, but we had so much fun doing the Pirate thing and the raft ride and the Buzz Lightyear ball cars! My DD chickened out of trying the roller coaster she created. She made it wild thinking she would just 'watch' it, she didn't realize you would be 'riding' on the roller coaster she created. This time, she is going to make a milder roller coaster so we can actually ride it!

DJ

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I agree that it's unfair to lump in DisneyQuest with arcades or super-arcades like GameWorks. But I can see why people do so.

A half century ago, Walt Disney and the Imagineers of Disneyland didn't create an amusement park. They created a collection of outdoor environments that immersed guests in other places and times.

DisneyQuest is supposed to be an "Indoor Interactive Theme Park." Although the Imagineers for DisneyQuest created some fine, unique attractions, they did not create an immersive indoor atmosphere worthy of the name Disney. DisneyQuest feels like a multi-level super-arcade. And therein lies the problem.

 

[Kitty-chan]

DisneyQuest is supposed to be an "Indoor Interactive Theme Park." Although the Imagineers for DisneyQuest created some fine, unique attractions, they did not create an immersive indoor atmosphere worthy of the name Disney. DisneyQuest feels like a multi-level super-arcade. And therein lies the problem.

Bingo!

There is so much more that can be done with VR! DQ should scrap all the traditional arcade stuff -- those games can easily be found elsewhere. Focus intead on the interactive games like PotC, Jungle Cruise, Cyberspace Mountain, Ride the Comics, human pinball. Beef up the staffing so the load rate is better on popular attractions (it's maddening waiting in a 30-minute line for Jungle Cruise, seeing all the empty boats). Invest more in theme-ing the building itself, create more Magic. There's currently no real cohesive theme to the overall experience -- it doesn't feel like a Park at all, but that could be changed with sufficient investment.

All that said . . . I have no idea whether the necessary investment would pay off financially. And of course that's the real point, from Disney's point of view.

 

[funhouse8]

My family loves DQ and I know my kids would be really sad if it closes. We go every trip at least once.