Remove All Of The Arcades From WDW Resorts?

[RustManFan]

When my kids were younger we made a visit to CR specifically so they could use the arcade. They loved it!

 

[RustManFan]

conandrob240; they should at the least have to pay for it rather than add to your vacation costs

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

I am definitely in the minority, but yes to me they are a waste of space. We told our son that there is no way we would spend any time in the arcades at WDW. There is no shortage of arcade games here at home, to us there are plenty of things to do in WDW (in my opinion) than to waste time in one. Down Town Disney, Mini golf, renting a surry bike, taking a horse drawn carriage ride, renting a water mouse, when it rained we put on those cool Disney ponchos and toughed it out (but we're big time into camping used to rain). I don't think they should get rid of them, but we will never visit them.

My son was 7 his first Disney vacation and is 22 now. Must not have traumatized him because he is a huge WDW and DCL fan. Hates when my wife and I leave him behind now. And is looking forward to our visit this winter.

 

[starrysky]

DH and I used the one at POFQ to kill some time before our ME back to the airport. We had a free coupon to use so it didn't cost us anything.
Overall if you have time to kill they are fun but I wouldn't make a special trip to go to it.

 

[Kona65]

The best arcade ever, was at the Contempt Resort in the 70'S Just loved the life size shooting range.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I am definitely in the minority, but yes to me they are a waste of space. We told our son that there is no way we would spend any time in the arcades at WDW. There is no shortage of arcade games here at home, to us there are plenty of things to do in WDW (in my opinion) than to waste time in one. Down Town Disney, Mini golf, renting a surry bike, taking a horse drawn carriage ride, renting a water mouse, when it rained we put on those cool Disney ponchos and toughed it out (but we're big time into camping used to rain). I don't think they should get rid of them, but we will never visit them.

My son was 7 his first Disney vacation and is 22 now. Must not have traumatized him because he is a huge WDW and DCL fan. Hates when my wife and I leave him behind now. And is looking forward to our visit this winter.

No arcades around here. None.

So our son never had the chance to visit them at home. And when he was young, there was no way I was sending him to Downtown Disney, on a carriage ride or off to play mini golf, while I stayed at the resort. On the other hand, he could go to the arcade and not leave the resort.

Now, of course, playing at the arcade or not playing at the arcade doesn't traumatized anyone. Why would that even be a statement?

But if wanting to return to Disney with your family is the litmus test for arcades, here goes. Our son's first trip was when he was 11. He is very much looking forward to our next trip in December. He is 19. And he hates the fact that our trip after that will be without him. But he understands that we will be celebrating our wedding anniversary. So he doesn't seem to be traumatized either.

 

[si-am]

I'm 40 with no kids and to me the arcades are a tradition, long held over from when I was a kid. Of course nothing can ever compare to the former glory that was the Contemporary arcade of my youth, but my husband and brother and I still like to drop in for some games of air hockey and skee ball. I even enjoy the cheesy prizes!

I haven't seen any arcades around town for a long time. I guess they're obsolete, but I'd still be sad to see the ones at Disney go.

 

[HopperFan]

They can stay. Do we use them? No. We've logged over 40 Disney stays and I can remember going 3 times, once because of a coupon. They seem to be busy at certain times, less busy at others. Arcades are a good play area for some kids and if you take them out ... that is one less thing to keep them busy at the resorts. I'd rather they stay busy then be wandering around looking for something to do.

Seems like many are located in spots that are not optimal for anything else. My question would be what would you put there instead?

 

[lborne]

Arcades are cheap babysitting for us. Send the kids with a $20 bill and the wife and I get to spend an hour alone. Problem is now with those dang magic bands, the kids can walk right into the room without knocking.

Seriously, I love the arcades (I'm a guy, and everyone knows the majority of guys like arcades and the 3 stooges). I understand how some people feel it is a waste of time and money when on a dream vacation at DW. I miss the penny arcade at the MK the most. But that is the one arcade where many parents drew the line and said "No".

 

[Oakenshield]

Agree OP. I haaaaaaaaaaaate arcades. And if I'm spending all kinds of money on vacation, no one is going to an arcade to do something we can do at home.

 

[Dis703]

Agree OP. I haaaaaaaaaaaate arcades. And if I'm spending all kinds of money on vacation, no one is going to an arcade to do something we can do at home.

I guess it's still a novelty to us when we are on vacation because we don't have any at home.

 

[DrBanner]

For myself I put aside a couple hundred dollars just to play in the arcades.. It takes me back to when you had to go somewhere with a pocket full of quarters and actually interact with other kids and have fun not sit in front of a tv put a headset on and say you have a bunch of friends that you never have seen...

It also gives me some time to spend with my daughter not trying to get around the crowded parks all the time and also gives the wife some rest and quiet time..lol

I think for some people they feel they spend a lot of money to be go to Disney and if they are not spending every minute in the parks they are not getting there monies worth... (J.M.O)

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I think for some people they feel they spend a lot of money to be go to Disney and if they are not spending every minute in the parks they are not getting there monies worth... (J.M.O)

I paid a lot of money to be here and YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE FUN.

No, not as bad as that. But I get what you are saying. And I agree.

But for our family, as long as everyone is having fun, it doesn't matter what we are doing.

It reminds me of a ride at Hershey Park. I have no idea if it is still there or not, but it was called the Roller Soaker. It was a small coaster that was also a water ride. Under the ride was an area with sprinklers and water cannons. You could shot the riders with water or you could just play in the sprinklers. Our son loved to play in the sprinklers. He would play for an hour, just running around, scooping water and once in a while shooting the water cannons. People wondered why I didn't move on to another ride. But why should I? He was having the time of his life. Smiling, laughing and getting me wet. It couldn't have been better. Even though we paid X number of dollars to get in the park, and if you didn't ride X number of rides, you didn't get your monies worth, we were happy.

 

[calnmace]

POP and AOA have great arcades with up to date games and prize counters. If we stay at either of these properties my kids will definitely play in them. When we stay at the mods, my kids have no desire whatsoever to play in their arcades. The games are not as appealing and no prize counter. Big difference in the quality of those arcades.

 

[jburd]

My son and his buddy, both 15, spent quite a bit of time in arcades on our last visit. And they are already talking about going to arcades on the next one. I asked them last time, 'Why are you in here playing guitar hero when you have that at home?' But it's what they felt like doing. As long as they're having fun, I guess.

 

[KonaKaiTom]

Arcades are cheap babysitting for us. Send the kids with a $20 bill and the wife and I get to spend an hour alone. Problem is now with those dang magic bands, the kids can walk right into the room without knocking.

That's why I always throw the door guard, also keeps the maid from walking in at an inopportune time.

Tom

 

[pepe of ohio]

We loved the arcades in the late 70's and 80's....especially the game room ( Fiesta Fun Center ) at the original Contemporary Resort...

We started our madness at the Contemporary back in 1977...and their game room won us over... Huge, beyond reproach ... Top new games always there...we spent many a vacations there, always north garden wing and my father always took our son ( age 5 ) to the game room with all the quarters he wanted.....such a treat..

Sadly, they shrunk the game room and finally moved it upstairs, really too small now and we moved on to a different resort after all those stays....we now take the grandchildren in them for the lights and sounds...

 

[bumbershoot]

For myself I put aside a couple hundred dollars just to play in the arcades..

It takes me back to when you had to go somewhere with a pocket full of quarters and actually interact with other kids and have fun not sit in front of a tv put a headset on and say you have a bunch of friends that you never have seen...

My son and husband will now want to travel with YOU. And I thought $30 was good! Hundreds!

I agree with you about the interacting part. Playing with a handheld game; even playing on our PS3, isn't quite the same as standing, playing one of the "real" arcade games.

Our rules are no arcades on vacation, no tv on vacation, no video games or technology on vacation. That applies to video games in an arcade too.

You know there are videogames in the kid's clubs, right?

And DCL now has a quite-awesome app that lets you message with each other (so much nicer than the antiquated Wave phone), lets you see what's happening now (so you don't have to carry the paper Navigator around), and, fabulously, shows you menus AND lets you see the Navigators for the future days of your cruise. So if you might miss Jack Sparrow today, you can see if he's showing up later on in the cruise, so you can make decisions based on knowledge rather than hoping for the best.

Yay. Was so glad DS had brought his no-SIM phone that could get wifi; as we sailed away DH and DS were scrambling to get the app downloaded and ready!

When my kids were younger we made a visit to CR specifically so they could use the arcade. They loved it!

Gotta get there next time!

I am definitely in the minority, but yes to me they are a waste of space. We told our son that there is no way we would spend any time in the arcades at WDW. There is no shortage of arcade games here at home, to us there are plenty of things to do in WDW (in my opinion) than to waste time in one.

That's totally how I used to feel.

And then I realized that maybe DH and DS just don't *want* to do those other things all the time. Maybe they *want* to go hang out at a bright clean non-skeevy (there's an arcade at our mall...I will never let DS set foot in that place, ew) arcade for an hour. Maybe it's their style of fun.

And yep, it was. So we try to make room for THEIR style of fun on our trips. Universal has an arcade in the parks (as I linked to earlier, so does MK), the Disney Dream arcade is small but DS loves to protect London from airraids in Blazing Angels Squadron (especially cool now that we have been to London and he knows the bridges), and along with visiting other resorts to eat, we visit their arcades, too.

It might be sort of boring for me, but then some of my choices for vacation activities are boring for them...it all works out to more fun. Just another perspective!

 

[duh]

Funny enough, the arcades at the moderate level seem to be empty all the time. POR, CSR, CBR for example. Ditto for a lot of the deluxe resorts. But the values always seem to be packed for some reason.

 

[DrBanner]

My son and husband will now want to travel with YOU. And I thought $30 was good! Hundreds

Not a problem the more gamers the more fun to be had...lol

It doesn't take to long for the $20 card to run out...


For me I noticed the Value resort arcades have a lot of good games, the Moderate are good but not a lot of people go, and the Deluxe the games are not as good but you win more tickets and better prizes..