DisneyQuest
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| Disney theme park | |
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| DisneyQuest | |
|---|---|
| Location | Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA |
| Opening Day | June 19, 1998 |
| Resort | Walt Disney World Resort |
| Theme | Indoor Amusement Park |
| Website | DisneyQuest Homepage |
| Operator | The Walt Disney Company |
DisneyQuest is an "indoor interactive theme park" located in Downtown Disney at the Walt Disney World Resort. DisneyQuest is housed in a five-story, windowless building; guests enter the first-floor lobby and are brought via elevator to the third floor atrium as the start of their visit.
DisneyQuest contains several virtual reality attractions, classic and recent arcade video games, web terminals, and a Cheesecake Factory cafe. It is popular with locals, who can get an annual pass for less than the cost of three daily admissions.
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[edit] Background
The DisneyQuest project was designed as a way for the Disney brand to reach populations that may not have the chance to travel to its various theme park destinations. It was meant to target large cities and urban areas. Had the project continued, Disney had plans to construct locations in many major cities in the United States.
The second DisneyQuest was built and opened in Chicago, but it was permanently closed on September 4, 2001 due to low attendance. After the failure of DisneyQuest Chicago, the DisneyQuest project was officially brought to an end. Construction that had begun on a DisneyQuest in Philadelphia was scrapped, and a DisneyQuest at Disneyland Resort in California never proceeded past the planning stage. Disney announced another location to be built in downtown Toronto (at the Dundas Square inside the new high tech mall Metropolis), but the project was also canceled.
After the closure of the Chicago location, Disney Regional Entertainment turned over control of the remaining location to Walt Disney World operations.
[edit] Design
The locations were to be moderately identical concerning layout and attractions. This was so the various locations could contribute financially to new attraction designs (which cost in the range of several million USD), thereby reducing the cost that each location has to foot itself.
The attractions at DisneyQuest are of a modular design, so that they could be easily replaced and updated. Originally, the idea was that no attraction would ever go unchanged for more than two or three years. However, after the Chicago location and the DisneyQuest project overall were closed, the one location in Florida has been unable to financially merit a complete attraction overhaul.
The only time an attraction has been changed out was in preparation for the opening of DisneyQuest Chicago. An attraction based on the Disney version of Hercules was replaced with Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold.
[edit] Mascot
The Genie from Aladdin is an unofficial mascot of DisneyQuest. Upon entering at ground level, one is brought by an elevator (here called a "cybrolator," containing a short animation of Genie welcoming you) up to the center of the third floor (the "Ventureport"), where one's visit begins. He is also heard on the end-of-day closing announcements. When a game or attraction is down, a sign reading "The Genie has spotted a technical problem..." is displayed.
Original plans for an unofficial host for the facility included a "Hurricane Mickey" concept symbolic of the attraction's Orlando origins and for the flurry of activity one would experience. Nothing was developed beyond the stylized "Q" still visible in the DisneyQuest logo.
[edit] Attractions
[edit] First floor
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold: Man a pirate ship and destroy other ships, sea monsters, and fortresses to collect gold. One player captains the ship by steering and controlling the throttle, while up to four gunners control the cannons.
- Virtual Jungle Cruise: Paddle an inflatable raft (with real paddles) as you make your way down a prehistoric river, avoiding dinosaurs and occasionally getting sprayed with water.
[edit] Second floor
- CyberSpace Mountain: Guests design a roller coaster on a design kiosk, then sit in a pitch-and-roll simulator and "ride" it. Guests may also ride pre-built coasters.
- Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride: Players wear an HMD as they ride a magic carpet through Agrabah, collecting gems to find The Genie, who has been hidden away in the Cave of Wonders.
- Animation Academy: Regular sessions throughout the day teach how to draw characters, with lightpens on computer screens. For a fee, a guest can purchase a printout afterwards.
- Sid's Create-a-Toy: A program featuring the evil Sid character from Toy Story that allows one to custom design a toy out of parts of other toys, and then buy it later.
- Living Easels: An interactive touch screen program where guests can place various images onto several selectable backgrounds. A full-color printout of a guest's design may be purchased.
- Radio Disney Song Maker: Where you can create your own song, and then buy it later.
[edit] Third floor
- Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam: Players "become" a pinball in a gigantic projected pinball game; by rocking their "duck" back and forth, up to twelve players at a time control their corresponding pinball on the screen, attempting to collect the most points.
- Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlaster: Players board bumper cars and attempt to navigate over foam balls ("asteroids") on the floor. By doing so, the asteroids will be sucked up into the cabin where players can then load them into a cannon and shoot at the other cars. If hit in the correct spot, one's car may spin around uncontrollably for ten seconds. Usually there are two players to a car; however, it is possible for one person to pilot and shoot at the same time.
[edit] Fourth floor
- Ride the Comix 4: Players wear an HMD to "enter the comic book world." Players battle with super villains by using a laser sword. Up to six players can be on a team at a time.
[edit] Fifth floor
- Ride the Comix 5: Players wear an HMD to "enter the comic book world." Players battle with super villains by using a laser sword. Up to six players can be on a team at a time. (This attraction is identical on both the 4th and 5th floor)
- Invasion! An ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter: Four players ride inside a rescue vehicle to save astronauts: one player drives, the other three shoot enemy aliens. Based on the now-extinct Magic Kingdom attraction, ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter.
[edit] Removed attractions
- The corkscrew "Cave of Wonders Slide", 150 feet (46m) long, took guests from the third floor to the first. It was closed in DisneyQuest's first year of operation.
- In "Treasure of the Incas", players could drive small remote-control toy trucks through a maze in search of treasure. Along a wall were stations with a steering wheel and a video screen by which to drive the truck; the floor of the room was clear plastic through which friends could see the trucks driving around so that they could shout directions to the driver. This attraction was plagued by interference from emerging technologies such as cell phones, and was finally closed after one of the vehicles caught fire. The clear flooring and mazes could still be seen near the Virtual Jungle Cruise area, adjacent to the Safari hunting games until 2007 when the floor was recovered and new games moved to the area. This area is now entirely jungle themed and is home to a number of Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice Jeeps.
- At "Magic Mirrors", once located on the second floor in the Create Zone, guests could take a picture of themselves and then edit their faces to appear like cartoons. The attraction closed in 2005 and has since been converted to seating.
- "Hercules" was a team game where 6 guests would each control their own character from Disney's Hercules with a joystick. The object of the game was to collect lightning bolts and defeat Hades. This attraction was replaced with "Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold".
[edit] Other games
- Classic arcade games such as Pac-Man, Asteroids, Tron, BurgerTime, Zaxxon, Pengo, Kangaroo, Berzerk, Donkey Kong (in all its iterations), Joust, Robotron: 2084, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Marble Madness, Moon Patrol, Spy Hunter, Asteroids Deluxe, Centipede, Millipede, Q*Bert, Missile Command, Frogger, Arkanoid, Mario Bros., Dig Dug, Mr. Do!, Gorf, Galaga, and others.
- Arcade games from the 1990s and 2000s such as an eight-player linked Sega Daytona USA, a four-player linked San Francisco Rush 2049, a four-player linked Sega OutRun 2, four Pump It Up dance games, a number of fighting games such as Tekken 5 and Marvel vs. Capcom, two Sega Crazy Taxi machines, one Sega Star Wars Trilogy Arcade machine, double two-player linked Mario Kart Arcade GP cabinets, several sports arcade games including Sega Air Trix, Virtua Tennis, Sega World Series Baseball, Bowl-O-Rama, Sega Marine Fishing, F&F Super Bikes, the unique and extremely rare Sega Flash Beat, and many others.
- Skeeball, "shoot-the-hoops,", air hockey, and other games of skill.
[edit] Dining
DisneyQuest features two restaurants, both presented by the Cheesecake Factory. On the fourth floor, the Wonderland Cafe features desserts and drinks along with computers with free internet access at most tables. On the fifth floor, a Cheesecake Factory Express serves food at two stations: Food Quest, which is primarily burgers, chicken, wraps and sandwiches, and Pizza Pasta Panini, which in addition to the foods in its name serves salads.
No alcohol is served on the premises.
[edit] Price
Except for prize-play (claw) machines and photo booths, all games and attractions inside DisneyQuest are free after admission is paid (US $31-$37). Depending on daily attendance levels, late-night tickets are sometimes sold for half-price two hours prior to closing each night.
When DisneyQuest was first opened it had a lower admission fee but each attraction and game required a player to swipe a card to pay "credits" for it, and the card could be "recharged" by putting it and some money into a recharging station, similar to Dave & Buster's gaming restaurants. This was greatly unpopular with parents, however, who didn't like that there was nothing to do once they stopped spending money recharging the cards, so DisneyQuest moved to a single flat fee for entry. The old card swipe consoles can still be found on many of the attractions, even though they now have little or no purpose.
On the fourth floor, there used to be a redemption area that would cost extra ("Midway on the Moon"). Players could exchange tickets won at games of skill for various prizes. However, in late 2005, the games were converted to free play and no longer dispense tickets.
Certain attractions have souvenirs available for purchase in the second floor Guest Gallery. Cyberspace Mountain has an available video of the created roller coaster, with footage of the guests riding the attraction. The Animation Academy, Sid's Create-A-Toy, the Living Easels and Radio Disney Song Maker all offer the option of purchasing created items.
[edit] Attraction facts
- Location: Downtown Disney
- Opened: June 19, 1998
- Address: 1486 East Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32830-8422
- Phone: (407) 828-4600
- Fax: (407) 938-6202
- DisneyQuest is at coordinates Coordinates:
[edit] References
- DisneyQuest. WDWHistory.com. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
