Disney Quest to close in July 2017

Maerj

Maerj

Well-Known Member
Maybe when the NBA Experience closes, they can turn the building into a hub for transportation across Disney Springs. A mini-monorail or bubble cars or a People Mover type of thing. I think people would appreciate a way to get around DS quickly.

I often thought that DS would benefit from a Mickey Mouse Club themed restaurant/stage. Bring back the MMC and broadcast the show live from the location on Saturday nights. From 8 to 10pm weeknights, they could have live hosts there for the Disney Channel. There are just so many different things they could do there.
 
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Spectro

Spectro

Active Member
Oh well. Won't be buying premium annual passes anymore. With other excellent off site water parks and closing of dq no need for it anymore. Was a great place to spend time on rainy days. We are not basketball fans unfortunately so the replacement for dq does not appeal. Will there be anything left in Disney springs for young kids now ? Mine are grown up but it does seem to be leaning towards attracting more of an adult crowd, with the new shops restaurants etc.
 
M

macefamily

Well-Known Member
This is just plain dumb. Did Disney notice what happened to the NBA-themed attraction at Universal ? Now they're selling chocolates out of that building. My family has thoroughly enjoyed Disneyquest during every visit to the downtown. My nephew just took his kids there for the first time last year, and they raved about it. Sorry, but there's a whole Disney site dedicated to sports. Why beat it do death by jamming another location in where it doesn't belong ? Our family will never visit an NBA attraction. Too bad.
 
Glasgow

Glasgow

Well-Known Member
macefamily said:
This is just plain dumb. Did Disney notice what happened to the NBA-themed attraction at Universal ? Now they're selling chocolates out of that building. My family has thoroughly enjoyed Disneyquest during every visit to the downtown. My nephew just took his kids there for the first time last year, and they raved about it. Sorry, but there's a whole Disney site dedicated to sports. Why beat it do death by jamming another location in where it doesn't belong ? Our family will never visit an NBA attraction. Too bad.
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Good one
 
Fe Maiden

Fe Maiden

Well-Known Member
I'm looking forward to this and glad it rose from the dead. Never had an interest in DQ. If it's like a permanent All-Star Weekend fan experience it could be a lot of fun.

Go Sixers and Trust the Process!
 
HauntedPirate

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
I don't think the NBA aspect was ever in doubt, to be honest. After all, DI$ has to try to make some of its money back on the broadcasting contract it signed with the NBA:

"The NBA's impending television deal with ESPN and Turner will be more lucrative than initially expected. The league is expected to announce a whopping nine-year, $24 billion arrangement that will kick in before the 2016-17 season.

That's nearly three times as much as the current deal, which runs for $930 million a season and expires in 2016. Under that arrangement, ESPN pays $485 million per season, while Turner pays $445 million. Under this arrangement, ESPN will pay $1.4 billion per year, while Turner will pay $1.2 billion per year."

It was utterly stupid for DI$ to pay that much. I had at least a passing interest in DQ. With DI$ turning DQ into some NBA-themed thing, I have less than zero interest. I'd rather watch paint dry than give a dime to the league that has ruined the game of basketball. I won't even go into the ridiculousness of their draft rules and giving multi-millions to 19 year old kids who have no business playing professional basketball in the first place.
 
fngoofy

fngoofy

Well-Known Member
Oddysey said:
I think Disney Quest really could have worked. The primary issue is that construction of the project was about a decade or more too late. It was constructed in 1998, and the golden age of arcades is generally known to be the early 80's. There was a bit of a rebirth in the early 1990's with specific genres of games becoming popular, and producing graphics and experiences that could not be created at home. Now that high powered interactive consoles and VR sets can now be purchased and used in the comfort of your own home, it is no surprise to me that Disney Quest will soon be a thing of the past. I would have loved a place like Disney Quest in the 80's / early 90's. Shame that the idea came so late.
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Well there were other issues as well that didn't help DQ. They were supposed to be a chain of them across the country (like the NBA experience) so that you could get some Disney magic in your home town. Also, the signature "rides" were supposed to switch out on a regular basis, so there would always be something new to experience. I believe the one in WDW had Hercules change over to PotC and then that was it for change outs. Plus, I was surprised to see the opening date of 1998. I worked there only 3yrs later and (though I should remember the opening date) am stunned because the state of the place was pretty poor when I was there. All in all it was a flawed concept, keep video games for downtime at home, if you or your parents have hauled it all the way to WDW, get out and do something.
 
ChrisFL

ChrisFL

Premium Member
fngoofy said:
All in all it was a flawed concept, keep video games for downtime at home, if you or your parents have hauled it all the way to WDW, get out and do something.
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The popularity of things like Midway Mania would disagree with you.

I do think it was flawed because they gave up on it too quickly, and they never knew how to properly promote it. It was also very cramped in some places.

I would have expanded it, made it a few connected buildings of different "lands", make it a complete virtual magic kingdom and call it a full fledged theme park, then give it the Discovery Cove treatment, meaning, a small number of guests daily, but with some nice food and drinks included, some places to relax (they did have nice booths in the Cheesecake Factory area)...etc.

Edit: This would be a popular thing to do when the weather is bad.
 
Biff215

Biff215

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
Not that it has much relevance to the discussion at hand, but isn't the ESPN Zone in Anaheim still around and running just fine?
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Yep, and I'd argue that it would work well in place of DQ. Of course WDW already has ESPN Club and WWoS, but Disney also isn't interested in running this themselves anymore which is a shame.

I expect a very similar concept from the NBA, hopefully with more interactive elements and less arcade games. Biggest is challenge is being limited to one sport that some don't care for, but I still think this could be successful if done right. Other than the restaurant side it shouldn't look much like the City Walk version. Sounds like a much broader concept.
 

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