Disney Quest's 'Ride the Comix' set to close this weekend

[GhostHost1000]

Does Disney Quest actually make that much money for them? Seems like that space and large building could be put to better use?

How about a large interactive Disney themed indoor mini golf? (actually surprised they didn't include a new mini golf course in the Disney Springs expansion). Not sure that would make a lot of money either though but the other courses seem pretty busy when I've went

 

[DistractedGenius]

Seeing as Wreck It Ralph gets no love in the parks, this would probably be a pretty great opportunity to retheme an attraction with a movie that, you know, actually makes sense to use. Put in some classic arcade games and newer ones, and the games from WIR and you're set (I'd be so down to play Sugar Rush). Add a Meet and Greet if you must, but it's still a better idea than letting this mess continue on.

 

[Syntho_Magnetic]

you can get better gaming experiences at your own home these days for less money. and not sure what VR experiences your referring to, as all the ones at DQ are extremely outdated graphics/technology wise

as far as the coaster thing, theres new tech for this at some places that is alot smoother in operation, I'd rather go on a real coaster anyday.

Except you are going to have to spend hundreds of dollars to play the games at home, DisneyQuest tickets are effectively free if you are going to use the options correctly (or I get UK tickets which include DQ).
I can play as much skeeball, air hockey, shoot em up games at DQ as I like and I don't have any of those machines at home.

No way. I love DisneyQuest, I keep hyping it as the 5th Theme Park (I wish Disney would). Sounds like it's had some decline in food options and maintenance (like the parks). But it's still amazing. Yea, maybe not quite $50-without-a-discount amazing, but it's something you can't get anywhere.

Off the top of my head, I can think of the really-neat to mind-blowing experiences there:

• CyberSpace Mountain - create a roller coaster, and ride it. Even with inversions. I have yet to see this anywhere else.
  • Doing it at home: I've seen some VR chair setups in the news lately that let you simulate racing, somewhat between the quality of a Dave & Busters high-end arcade and the BTTF: The Ride. Here's one, the VR Motion Chair for just under $4,000. And you need the room to house it. And it doesn't do inversions. Only holds 1 person too. PC not included. I'd guess over $10,000 to truly replicate it. The closest thing I've seen at a Dave & Buster's-esque place is a 4-player hot air balloon game where the players rise and fall in the seats 20 ft. in front of a big screen.
    • Verdict: not "doable at home for hundreds of dollars"
• Pirates of the Caribbean - I'd say the closest darn thing we have to a holodeck on Earth. Yes, there are some experimental things for combat training that might match or slightly exceed, but here's what we have. An entire 1/2 boat deck, where 3-5 players can use dedicated controllers to steer and fire cannons. The use of backdrop, LCD shutter 3D on 4 huge screens means that the players can see where they are in relation to each other and the environment, with immersive depth. LCD 3D means no issues with polarization from screen to screen views or head tilting. No bulky tethered helmets so you are free to move about. The closest thing I've seen to this was a submarine game in a Pittsburgh science museum, and while good in its own way, not near the level of quality.
  • Doing it at home: I...I can't even. You'd pretty much have to make a replica, you can't simply recreate anywhere near this level of immersion that allows so much teamwork coordination and fun using some Oculus Rift and Virtuix Omni. And even then you'd still need dedicated controllers for the ship's wheel and cannons. It seems you'd either need to pick between realistic controls or freedom to move about the deck. I know in the games I've played there was a lot of "take the cannons on the port!" or "here, you take the wheel, I can't drive!" So, assuming we build a full replica, we need to dedicate a huge room to it, buy all the plank lumber and assemble it and the ship parts and wire them. We need 4 LCD 3D TV's, maybe 70" ones? Glasses too. Probably 1 or 2 high-end gaming PC's. I'd say about $6,000 for the TV's, $80 for the glasses, and $1,000 to $2,000 for the gaming PC's. Then good luck finding software to recreate it, so maybe spending almost as much on contracting to a software dev team. I forgot to include the lumber and building materials too. Total: >$10,000
    • Verdict: not "doable at home for hundreds of dollars"
• Magic Carpet Ride - ride a magic carpet with rideable controller with force feedback, full-motion sensing VR helmet, with stereoscopic sound. 4 players, with avatars visible to each other
  • Doing it at home: Ok, now we're starting to enter the realm of "almost" possible to do at home. So, we spend a month of weekends and boning up on Arduino or the firmware platform of your choice to make the rideable controllers. You could maybe do that for $200 in parts - maybe. If you had the right power tools to begin with too. Next, we have the Oculus Rift. Ok, so the current version is around $500 but I've heard projections as low as $300 for the production model. 4* $300 + $200 = $1,400 and we haven't even discussed the 4 networked, high-end gaming PC's you need to run the Oculus well. So we're looking at maybe $5,000. Then wait a couple years until the software devs actually produce a game comparable to this for sale.
    • Verdict: not "doable at home for hundreds of dollars"
• Virtual Jungle Cruise - 4 person raft with unique paddle motion controls, occasional water-jet splashes
  • Ok, so maybe we can skip the water splashes and not have to water proof our equipment. Maybe simple two or three laser beam sensors per person to sweep the paddles across. We still need actuators to move the boat with the load of 4 large people. One big screen TV and the PC to power it all. And again, the all important software to make it work. So $1,000 TV, $1,000 PC, and judging by the Cyberspace Mountain attempt above, I'd guess the motion control and software is putting you, once again, over $10,000.
    • Verdict: not "doable at home for hundreds of dollars"
• Astroblaster - bumper cars where you can shoot other cars with balls in a 2-person teamwork game of silly fun.
  • Step 1: Buy a bumper car arena and bumper cars. I checked AmusementTrader.com and saw a used bumper car setup with 4 cars for a little over $10,000. Now we have to retrofit these things heavily to pick up balls and fire them. I'm guessing a couple grand at least. And I've failed to mention on the above ones much, but where are you going to put this in your house?!? I'm kind of doubting you can run these on a single 100 Vrms 15 A residential line too.
    • Verdict: not "doable at home for hundreds of dollars"
• Mighty Ducks Pinball - I'd rank this one just above "Ride the Comix." (I'll say, if they had to gut one of the big draws, Comix probably was the right choice.) It's mostly just a frenzied mess of jumping around on a podium for a few minutes. Worth a laugh though.
  • So 20 very high-impact buttons, one huge screen. Well, let's skimp and use an LCD projector to get a big enough screen size. For the lumens we'll need (this isn't some dim lit conference room) I'm guessing $3,000. $1,000 for the gaming PC, and I'm not even going to venture to guess on those super-tough buttons. If you were frugal, you might be able to build this one for under $10,000. Or maybe you could go the route of having 5 XBox Kinect + TV combos (4 people per TV) with special software to translate the jumps of the players to actuation of the pinball machine. Still not cheap, maybe $6,000?
    • Verdict: not "doable at home for hundreds of dollars"

Now onto the arcade. They have a bunch of classic 80's and 90's games in the retro section. A couple bars in my home state called 16-Bit Barcade recently opened up to great fanfare. Currently no cover, they depend on drink sales for income. Near Chicago, there is the Galloping Ghost Arcade that is huge (bigger than DisneyQuest's retro section) that has a $15 cover charge. I guess you could play most of these with an emulator at home, but sometimes the controls are unique to the cabinet, and it loses something in translation.

I guess what I'm saying is at-home entertainment can in no way compete with DisneyQuest's unique experience. And it would be a shame if a Dave & Busters was just shoved in there. I know I wouldn't go, I've got two here in my city, and they're nice, but they're not super amazing. And I'm sure the price in Downtown Disney wouldn't be worth it. Ditto on an indoor golf course. Used to have one at Cincinnati Mills mall down the way on I-71. Kinda neat, but unless I had the dough to spend a leisurely 2 or 3 weeks in the World, I don't think so. It's been decades since I've played mini-golf at or near Disney World. And as for gutting the building because it's an "embarrassment"? Sounds kind of like the Pleasure Island fiasco - empty buildings are so vogue this past decade at TDO.

It's not perfect, and a bit pricy, but I like DisneyQuest.

Signed,
An overstressed computer engineer that hopes I can lift some DisneyQuest Imagineer's day if they read this. *fistbump*

P.S. My above estimates are pretty optimistic and assume you'll do most of the work, especially *hours* of coding as a labor of love. I would quote much higher if I was being asked for a quote for a contract job.

 

[Horizons1]

Those sofas they put in the corner sure do make a difference.

 

[chemicalart]

This whole thread, I really don't know where to start.

I work at DisnyQuest now, but I truely wonder if people really want to know the story of the "why" for it, or if they simply want...something else.

There is a reason for everything. They are not all good reasons.


EDIT: DisneyQuest isn't looking so hot, but at least Downtown Disney (or should I say Disney Springs) is looking well. We got a some more info this week, things will finally look up in 2015

 

[ZachS]

Twelve years ago or so I really liked Disney Quest and as much as I want to like it now I just can't. There are still some good things there but too much is outdated. The only reason I'll go there now is because of free admission from staying on property. I do think they will get around to revamping it but there are other things ahead of it at the moment.

 

[jamarmiller]

love disney quest but yeah they need to do some updating. Light saber thing needs to be themed to Star Wars , same with that Mars attack thing, update the graphics and make it Star Wars. My brother and I used to always play Han and luke in that thing.

They need more updates, characters such as Wreck it Ralph ect. Disney Quest is a lot of fun for me and my kids , it just needs some updating

 

[Bairstow]

No way. I love DisneyQuest, I keep hyping it as the 5th Theme Park (I wish Disney would). Sounds like it's had some decline in food options and maintenance (like the parks). But it's still amazing. Yea, maybe not quite $50-without-a-discount amazing, but it's something you can't get anywhere.

Off the top of my head, I can think of the really-neat to mind-blowing experiences there:
..........

I guess what I'm saying is at-home entertainment can in no way compete with DisneyQuest's unique experience.

I think you're greatly overvaluing the appeal/importance of the gimmicky control and feedback systems in place in the various DisneyQuest games.

The point is that at their core, all of the Disneyquest games, besides having hopelessly outdated graphics, are extremely simple and short.
This is very much by design, since DisneyQuest was conceived as a diversion to entertain a guest for a couple hours at most, and guests would be expected to wait in line for several minutes before each interactive activity, which would probably only be "ridden" once or twice, much like in a theme park.

Moreover, the games have to be accessible enough that everyone from a 5-year-old kid to his mother, neither of whom plays video games, can learn them and have fun right away.

Problem is, that's 1998's model.
Today's 9-year-olds spend 4 hours a night on Call of Duty and build scale replicas of the Taj Mahal in Minecraft. Disneyquest's overgrown Smartphone app games with gimmicky canoe paddle controllers have nothing to offer them.

Today, DisneyQuest is so poorly-attended that the games could be ridden repeatedly, but why would anyone want to? The only Disney-Quest exclusive game that offers any kind of depth is the Alien Encounter: Invasion game, which has potential and plays like an alpha build of some sort of MechWarrior clone crossed with Battlefield 1942's driver/gunner/gunner setups.

They were marginally impressive for their time, but for the average visiting kid, who likely has experience with something like Nintendo's Wii, or an Xbox Kinect, or even a Guitar Hero controller, everything at DisneyQuest is going to look VERY old hat.

At least they still have AfterBurner Climax and Let's Go Jungle.

 

[FoozieBear]

ANOTHER sudden Disney World closure?? What in the world is going on there?

 

[chemicalart]

At least they still have AfterBurner Climax and Let's Go Jungle.

You heard it here first:

The technology for the newer fighter simulations (oh god, I wish I remember the name, we introduced the game a few months ago. It's a jet fighter game with a 150 degree screen) has a Star Wars prototype that was introduced in Asia. IF that model is mass produced, DisneyQuest will get it. I already confirmed it with the people who operate the games.

(For those who don't know, an "operating participant" (3rd party vendor) runs the arcade games for DinseyQuest, and THANK GOD they do, otherwise the whole place would be even more sad.

 

[Bairstow]

You heard it here first:

The technology for the newer fighter simulations (oh god, I wish I remember the name, we introduced the game a few months ago. It's a jet fighter game with a 150 degree screen) has a Star Wars prototype that was introduced in Asia. IF that model is mass produced, DisneyQuest will get it. I already confirmed it with the people who operate the games.

(For those who don't know, an "operating participant" (3rd party vendor) runs the arcade games for DinseyQuest, and THANK GOD they do, otherwise the whole place would be even more sad.

I think we're both talking about Mach Storm.

Are you referring to "Battle Pod", or something else?

 

[chemicalart]

I think we're both talking about Mach Storm.

Are you referring to "Battle Pod", or something else?

I think that is it. It looks very similar to what we already have, and everyone, from management to base employees, agrees that if we cannot get a new ride (which we won't) this is the closest to a new attraction we will get.


Rest assured, if it is possible to get, DisneyQuest will get it (because traditional management is not involved)

 

[Bairstow]

Nice!

If you can put a word in to anyone, tell them they need a Cho Chabudai Gaeshi machine too.

 

[chemicalart]

Game looks like it could be interesting but my first question is:

Does it have an English Dub?

If the game does not have English it is a no go. It doesn't have to have GOOD English (we have Let's Go Jungle!) But basic English is needed.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I just recently went to Disneyquest to see what has been done since the removal of Ride the Comix.......The ships are still there but, completly gutted and they covered the inner part of the ship with black fabric, the entrance to the ships have been blocked off, As for the queue line they have been removed on both floors and replaced with cushy couches just like Horizons1 mentioned. Yet the 5th floor still has the comic book covers on the wall and the flat screens shut off..Not that this anything big...Just thought you'd be curious to know what has happend since it was announced.

 

[chemicalart]

As terrible as it is, I find that on average, the level of guest enjoyment is about the same with the couches. Sure, a select few have been disappointed that is gone. But that number pales to the number who got on and later got off due to motion sickness (in adults) or fear (for children).

It is also nice for guests to have a place to charge their phones while they rest.

 

[wdw71fan]

big changes coming to DQ next year.. Basically, they can't have It being the fly-in-the-ointment that is a brand-new shiny Disney-springs..

is that enough hyphens in the above sentence ?

 

[RSoxNo1]

big changes coming to DQ next year.. Basically, they can't have It being the fly-in-the-ointment that is a brand-new shiny Disney-springs..

is that enough hyphens in the above sentence ?

Game Central Station?

 

[doctornick]

big changes coming to DQ next year.. Basically, they can't have It being the fly-in-the-ointment that is a brand-new shiny Disney-springs..

is that enough hyphens in the above sentence ?

Well, I'm intrigued, but not particularly optimistic.

I love the concept of DQ and if it were updated regularly, it would be an awesome adjunct to the parks as part of a complete vacation. As is, however, it's not worth it unless you have free passes or a PAP. It's too bad that the Chicago one closed and the other planned ones fell through -- if they were sharing the costs among multiple locations for new experiences, WDW's DQ would be much better off.

 

[chemicalart]

big changes coming to DQ next year.. Basically, they can't have It being the fly-in-the-ointment that is a brand-new shiny Disney-springs..

is that enough hyphens in the above sentence ?

While interesting, I'd be wondering if you have anything more particular. I'm very close to the DQ side of things and the Comix closure took months before finally happening. Haven't heard a single peep from senior leaders at DQ regarding anything else.

Don't get me wrong, it will happen in the sense of "It should happen"...but that logic could have been applied to DQ for years