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Disney Quest to close in July 2017
- Thread starter IowaHawks7
- Start date
CJR
Well-Known Member
It'll never happen, unfortunately. They don't even want to spend money on their four successful theme parks, that have set attendance records, mind you.
People are told that once Disney sees a significant attendance drop, they'll invest more in the parks, but I think their treatment of DQ is more of what people should expect if the main parks decline (in other words, they'll look into selling off the parks, technically, they already have).
And to be honest, Disney selling off their parks isn't the worst thing that could happen to the parks at this point. Although, it'd depend on the buyer. The current mind set in management is the exact opposite of Target's slogan: "Expect Less, Pay More."
DQ could have been amazing for the same reason the four big theme parks should all be amazing in every way possible. It really is sad when you think of what could have been inside of that building. People would have ate it up too.
GeneralZod
Well-Known Member
I know this is an older post, but this is getting absolutely ridiculous! At one time I had you blocked because of your negativity, so please stop posting things I completely agree with!
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
China...is crazy for basketball. Plenty of Ero teams too. Its more popular globally than Baseball and Football by far.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The ESPN Zone concept was folded. Only the Disneyland Resort restaurant remains.
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
Which is popular as it's in a resort area. It would be popular at WDW for the same reason.
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
Which is also very hard to get to and much smaller...Which is why we have this....No reason for a Zone..
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
It's not a current brand and part of the same overall failed concept as DisneyQuest, so the chances of Disney utilizing the concept are slim regardless of how well the concept may perform.
prberk
Well-Known Member
You know what occurs to me? That really Disney does not do evolutionary attractions well. They just don't have a lot of experience with it, and it is not top-of-mind. So they don't know how to deal with an attraction that has become dated so fast except to replace it.
This is what I mean:
Most of their iconic attractions are pretty much the same as they were the day they opened. They were timeless stories on ride systems that served them well -- and always will. Except for minor updates and tweaking, they are essentially the same. Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Small World, Peter Pan, Space Mountain, Hall of Presidents, even Kilimanjari Safaris, A Bug's Life, American Adventure, MK train, Hoop De Doo Revue, and many of the water park attractions. They were attractions that were highly themed, based on universal themes, and if maintained would need no continual updating throughout the attraction. Yes, a few ride system upgrades, or adding a president or tweaking the ending -- but no evolution to the concept.
DisneyQuest is different. And it can be argued the same is true of many EPCOT Center opening day attractions that are struggling today. They needed evolutionary upgrades to the concept throughout and to extend their lifespan. They were not one-and-done in design like the other, more highly-themed rides. They needed constant attention because they were designed to be at the forefront of innovation.
But Disney does not seem to do well with attractions that need to change constantly. Their expertise is building something that is highly themed and exquisitely detailed that will not need to be upgraded for a generation or more. So, I believe this is what hurt DisneyQuest, and by extension the ESPN Zones and even the Carousel of Progress or Journey Into Imagination and Future World in general. It needed to be evolutionary in design, adaptable to change while keeping its fundamental purpose and vision. Waiting 20 years, until something is completely outdated, and then starting again is not the way to handle these concepts. It would be a bit like driving your car with no maintenance (only putting in gas and getting a spiffy car wash, but never taking it in for a tune-up or even an oil-change), or even just fixing things as they came up, until it came to the point that it needed a completely new engine -- and the engine repair was more expensive than the value of the car. So, then you sell it and buy a new car. But if you had kept it up and put new parts on it regularly, it would have lasted and worked well for you for a lot longer.
Anyway, that may not be the best analogy; but I just think they do not know how to do concepts that need constant reinvention. They only know how to do one-and-done projects that really only need "plussing."
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CJR
Well-Known Member
I agree completely.
Imagine the line for Philharmagic if they updated it to randomly take you to different sequences and updated it with new sequences periodically (such as Frozen, Tangled, Moana, etc).... it's a missed opportunity really (in general, not just my example). DQ is full of "missed opportunity" for the exact same reasons, IMO. Pirates is a great example of what other attractions could have been remade into.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
slappy magoo
Well-Known Member
Put me down for a theater. Either a state of the art theater for Broadway-caliber productions or, at the very least, a solid functional performing space that could house all manner of touring productions - bands/pop acts, ballet, orchestras, stand up comics, and touring productions of Bway shows. I could easily see many people arranging WDW vacations around when an act or a show they'd like to see was coming to the area.
In a similar vein - near where I work in NYC, there is a building full of theater stages in a former cinema multiplex. New World Stages. Saw Evil Dead the Musical there, it was a great venue for that kind of silly show, and it's now home to Avenue Q and four other shows. It might be great for DQ to be converted to that kind of multiple performance space, where a number of various productions or acts can all perform on the same night.
In a similar vein - near where I work in NYC, there is a building full of theater stages in a former cinema multiplex. New World Stages. Saw Evil Dead the Musical there, it was a great venue for that kind of silly show, and it's now home to Avenue Q and four other shows. It might be great for DQ to be converted to that kind of multiple performance space, where a number of various productions or acts can all perform on the same night.
DABIGCHEEZ
Well-Known Member
Did not read all 24 pages, but I am thinking there is still no replacement scheduled to go in for Disney Quest? I like the theater idea Slappy mentions, but I thought of something else that probably would work there.
Is anyone familiar with the Amazing Escape Room. We have gone to one here and are doing another for my daughters birthday(16). If you are not familiar, there are themed rooms where groups of up to 12 people go into a room(for up to an hour) and have to solve various puzzles/physical routines to access clues to determine a code to unlock the door by the time limit. I figure Disney has enough movies to theme the rooms around and can even create a few of their own(imagine that!) It was very fun for the kids and would be a great family activity that would probably do very well. There could be different difficulty levels based on the make up of the group.
Is anyone familiar with the Amazing Escape Room. We have gone to one here and are doing another for my daughters birthday(16). If you are not familiar, there are themed rooms where groups of up to 12 people go into a room(for up to an hour) and have to solve various puzzles/physical routines to access clues to determine a code to unlock the door by the time limit. I figure Disney has enough movies to theme the rooms around and can even create a few of their own(imagine that!) It was very fun for the kids and would be a great family activity that would probably do very well. There could be different difficulty levels based on the make up of the group.
danlb_2000
Premium Member
Disney still hasn't even said the NBA isn't coming, so definitely no news of a replacement.
MonkeyHead
Well-Known Member
That building is far too big for just an Escape room business. Not to mention Orlando is already rife with excellent ones.
DABIGCHEEZ
Well-Known Member
So use 1/2 or 2/3 of the building for it. I did not know there are Escape room locations in Orlando, but there are also other restaurants, mini Golf, regular golf courses, waterparks and hotels in Orlando. Point being there are not Disney-themed Escape rooms. They could really do it up and make it more like a 2-3 hour activity.
Edit: Maybe make the other half a restaurant themed to one of the classics and they can offer a combo deal for $$$$$!
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
GrumpyFan
Well-Known Member
And probably the budget. Although, I guess you could say, they're not WILLing to allocate the budget to make the changes.
They seem to go with the idiom, of If it ain't broke, don't fix it, thinking that as long as people are still lining up for the attraction, and they are, then why do they need to spend the money to change it?
Be that as it may, I think the average theme park guest is starting to change and grow tired of this practice. The younger generation of guests that's starting to hit the parks, is bombarded by multimedia from their phones, tvs, movies and the Internet. In fact, a 2015 report, said that we (in the U.S.) spend almost 720 minutes out of every day consuming media. For the average person, to go from a rich, multi-faceted media environment, to something that's static and unchanged in the last 30+ years is jarring and deadening and will quickly lose their attention.
Now, that's not to say that I think some of the classic attractions need to be re-done, or replaced, but I do think that new attractions need to take this into consideration when being designed and built.