DisneyQuest to close?

[Rosso11]

I'm not sure how much I believe this rumor. First of all if DQ is truly loosing money why would they wait almost 2 years from now to shut it down? I really don't see how it can be that expensive to run. They haven't added anything major since 2000. Their major expense would be electricity and CMs. Since I was a CM I know how little that is. Of course their initial cost was expensive to build but they can't change that now. Then some people would say its the income they are loosing by not renting out this huge space to a third party but thats not happening in this case either. Plus there is still plenty of room for expansion at DTD. They could easily build ESPN next to House of Blues. This would bring more traffic down to the end. I guess we will find out what happens in the future, but as we all know in two years at the Walt Disney Company a lot can change.

 

[NeedABreak]

I think that is the salient point. Video arcades have been on the decline in the U.S. for several years. You can play video games on your PC, Xbox or any number of other home machines. :wave:

Home gameing is fine and dandy (its about all I do when not working) but there is something very special about going to an arcade. If Dave and Busters can open up shop in multiple states, charge the prices they charge and have the crowdes that they always do then there is still hope for DQ.

 

[TimeTrip]

Home gameing is fine and dandy (its about all I do when not working) but there is something very special about going to an arcade. If Dave and Busters can open up shop in multiple states, charge the prices they charge and have the crowdes that they always do then there is still hope for DQ.

IMO, there's a good reason why does dave and busters works better than DQ would outside the confines of WDW. The bar + food + "bar games". I don't believe DQ sells alcohol. On top of that, there are places within D+B facilities for adults to just gather and eat and drink, whereas that's not so much the case in DQ.

Just found this on a google search and found it quite appropriate:
( http://www.wave-report.com/other-html-files/Disneyquest2.htm )

Dave and Busters is a much more complex comparison. In terms of food and beverage we have to give Dave & Busters a leading position. We found the food facilities at DisneyQuest second class and not integrated into the environment. The only exception being the Internet screens at some of the dining areas. Our observation was that the seats were parking areas for those in the family that did not want to play or were too tired. Yet, at Dave & Busters food and beverage is integrated throughout the facility. They have made a seamless blend between drinking, eating and play. We also recognize that Disney has a different view on alcohol in a facility that encourages children. Yet, we found the food and beverage rather remote from the rest of the guest experience and not a part of it.

 

[THECARISMINE]

Disney can't get rid of it I love that place although it is WAY to exspenive

 

[WDWCPbrandon]

From what I know, this is nothing but a rumor. None of the CM's or leaders at DQ have heard about the building closing in 2008.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I'm pretty sure that the Cheescake Factory was still there as of January 22nd.

:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[FaerieLuna]

I have to chime in on this topic. I LOVE disneyquest and always have. I go there on every trip and especially like going there in the winter months after the early park closings. (I have a premium annual pass and do agree the admission fee is too high - they should use a card system like other aforementioned establishments.) I would hate to see it replaced with ESPN Zone (I don't like sports at all.) I personally think Dave & Buster's has great food but gamewise it blows because instead of having an adequate amount of video games - they have too many of those "games for tickets", which I think are useless. But that's just my opinion.

The best arcade/restaurant/bar establishment I have ever been to was Gameworks in Columbus, OH. It had great food and drinks, great games and it appealed to both children and adults. It was all ages until 10pm and then over 18 only afterwards until closing (which on weekends wasn't until 2am.) They had certain hours with unlimited play for a flat fee as well as the card system for those who didn't want to spend as much. Perhaps DQ could benefit from adopting some other pricing options such as that.

I hope that this doesn't mean the end of DQ for I would surely miss it.

I'd also like to add that I'm 34 and female, love video games and food, theme hotels and theme restaurants, and think that both Planet Hollywood and the Rainforest Cafe are the pits.

 

[DarkMeasures]

One new addition I have seen in arcades of late is a type of card you buy with a time limit.

If Disney would sell cards based on how long you plan to stay, I bet the whole thing could be much more successful.

Say, you could buy 1 hour, 2 hours, half-day, and a full day pass. It would be very great and probably be good for everybody. But the passes would need to be decently priced.

New custom built machines would be nice as well. As well as cheaper tickets.


But Disney should look at the more popular arcades of today and see how they get their customers and such. Gameworks is a very good example I say.

 

[surfsupdon]

My parents always said we belonged outside always, especially on vacations, so an indoor video game inspired attraction never appealled to us. As an option against the water parks, we never chose to use DQ. Expensive, too.

 

[CaliSurfer182]

I love DisneyQuest, I think it is an awesome idea, but yes it does need some care and attention. As to the ticket price...it might seem high at first, but when you look at what is really being offered it's not. I mean there are six VR rides (I have seen similar rides cost 5-10 bucks a ride), plus tons and tons of arcade games. I don't know about any of you but I've blown upwards of $5.00 in about 30 minutes on games like Time Crisis, House of the Dead, and Star Wars.
When you factor all of that in I don't think the ticket price is all that high, but then again I have always been an APer.

Oh yeah, I left out the Buzz Lightyear attraction too!

 

[kurros]

We initially heard rumors that ESPN Zone would go on PI, perhaps replacing BET Soundstage. But it's clear you can't have both ESPN Zone and DisneyQuest nearby. ESPN Zone is heavy on the arcade games as well. And it would only hurt DisneyQuest. It's also apparent that DisneyQuest is nearing its last days. That is a big plot of land that could be used for something much more profitable. So my thought has been to move ESPN into DisneyQuest. Make it ESPN Zone featuring DisneyQuest or something like that. Integrate the food and sports into the whole building, not just replacing Cheesecake Factory Express, and have the arcade games and such "provided by DisneyQuest".

I dunno.

 

[KentB3]

We initially heard rumors that ESPN Zone would go on PI, perhaps replacing BET Soundstage. But it's clear you can't have both ESPN Zone and DisneyQuest nearby. ESPN Zone is heavy on the arcade games as well. And it would only hurt DisneyQuest. It's also apparent that DisneyQuest is nearing its last days. That is a big plot of land that could be used for something much more profitable. So my thought has been to move ESPN into DisneyQuest. Make it ESPN Zone featuring DisneyQuest or something like that. Integrate the food and sports into the whole building, not just replacing Cheesecake Factory Express, and have the arcade games and such "provided by DisneyQuest".

I dunno.

ESPN Zone featuring DisneyQuest? That's a BRILLIANT idea, given the problems you mentioned having ESPN Zone and DisneyQuest so close together! :wave: :sohappy: :sohappy:

Maybe you should submit a few ideas to the Imagineer forum on WDWMagic. You're a pretty sharp thinker indeed! :animwink:

 

[kathyjacks]

I'd do DisneyQuest if it wasn't so expensive. Isn't it like $25? I just can't see spending that kind of money to play video games.

IMO the pirates of the carribean thing was the only thing that lived up to disneyquest name . the rest of it i can do at our local arcade. me and the kids were super dissapointed but if they could get more along the lines of pirates or something like the aladins carpet thing , i think they liked that one too. they need more of that kind of stuff. that virtual jungle cruise is stupid and hurt my arms to row that long :lol: I dont' feel it is worth it and i wouldnt' mind if it closed . just my 2 cents.

 

[Chux]

IMO the pirates of the carribean thing was the only thing that lived up to disneyquest name . the rest of it i can do at our local arcade. me and the kids were super dissapointed but if they could get more along the lines of pirates or something like the aladins carpet thing , i think they liked that one too. they need more of that kind of stuff. that virtual jungle cruise is stupid and hurt my arms to row that long :lol: I dont' feel it is worth it and i wouldnt' mind if it closed . just my 2 cents.

I want to live near your arcade. We make it a point to go to Disney Quest each trip (twice a year) at least once (Sometimes twice) depending on how much time we have. I like the Virtual Roller Coaster, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Alladin, the Alien Encounter, and Ride the Comix attractions, Mighty Ducks pinball, and Buzz Lightyear bumper cars,none of which are at any Arcade I've ever been to. I know me and my gf would be crushed if it was closed. I know earlier in the thread people were complaining about old games. We went in May 05 when and they had Outrun 2 and Tekken 5 (Both of which were less than 6 months old and hadn't shown up in my local arcade). Places like ESPNZone, Dave and Busters, Jillians, etc are all fine and dandy but I garuntee you that if I stayed in there as long as I did in DQ each time we go, I'd spend well over $40 since most of their games are overpriced to begin with. That's my take on it all, but as long as I've been going to WDW I've been hearing it was going to close, so take it for what it's worth.

 

[napnet]

I just saw this on Orlando Sentinel site...

Walt Disney World officials are throwing water on a hot report earlier this week in a reliable Internet site, which says the company plans to close the big DisneyQuest arcade at Downtown Disney in 2008 and replace it with a new, big ESPN Zone.

JimHillMedia.com, a well-plugged-in Disney insider blog, broke the news, citing well-placed but unidentified sources. Nothing to it, Disney officials responded. After all, said Djuan Rivers, Walt Disney World's vice president for Downtown Disney, the company just invested millions of dollars the past year in a major upgrade of everything from software to carpeting in the 100,000-square-foot "virtual theme park."

Blogger Jim Hill stands by his story.

It's worth keeping an eye on. Initially, DisneyQuest was supposed to be a big deal; Disney talked about building 20 of them, all over the place. But the only other one that ever opened, in Chicago, closed in 2001 after just two years. And even though DisneyQuest supposedly is making money, Walt Disney Co. President Bob Iger seemed to dismiss the whole concept in March when, referring to what he called a "theme park in a box," said, "We tried and failed at that."

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/business_tourism_aviation/2006/04/walt_disney_wor.html

 

[tigsmom]

I just saw this on Orlando Sentinel site...

Walt Disney World officials are throwing water on a hot report earlier this week in a reliable Internet site, which says the company plans to close the big DisneyQuest arcade at Downtown Disney in 2008 and replace it with a new, big ESPN Zone.

JimHillMedia.com, a well-plugged-in Disney insider blog, broke the news, citing well-placed but unidentified sources. Nothing to it, Disney officials responded. After all, said Djuan Rivers, Walt Disney World's vice president for Downtown Disney, the company just invested millions of dollars the past year in a major upgrade of everything from software to carpeting in the 100,000-square-foot "virtual theme park."

Blogger Jim Hill stands by his story.

It's worth keeping an eye on. Initially, DisneyQuest was supposed to be a big deal; Disney talked about building 20 of them, all over the place. But the only other one that ever opened, in Chicago, closed in 2001 after just two years. And even though DisneyQuest supposedly is making money, Walt Disney Co. President Bob Iger seemed to dismiss the whole concept in March when, referring to what he called a "theme park in a box," said, "We tried and failed at that."

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/business_tourism_aviation/2006/04/walt_disney_wor.html

Just read that too! Been to DisneyQuest once, its not for me. :wave:

 

[editor]

The Great DQ!

Like a number of writers on this forum, I use to work for WDI on DQ during development of attraction and venue stage. The only difference was that I come from an amusement and interactive attraction background, while the majority of the team were theme park skill base.

I still work in the out-of-home leisure entertainment business, on the interactive attractions and amusement side and it is weird to now here proposals for next generation location-based entertainment projects some ten years after DQ. I own a trade e-Newsletter (http://www.thestingerreport.com) that covers the market and they ran the venue close down plan back in 2004!

At IAAPA’04 I met the guy responsible for the gradual wind down of the site with the suspension of any investment. The final nail in the coffin was the withdrawal of Silicon Graphics support and replacement of the image generators for all the interactive graphic attractions (the babies I worked on). Though still not an official closure, DQ is winding down fast.

Real sad to wave good bye - as what DQ was meant too originate was the right direction, just too many cooks in the kitchen near the end and too many non-gamers directing the thinking behind the concept implementation with no clue or no advertising (whatever happened to DRE?) I love the story of one of the managers faking ride stats – ha ha.

Just to end my tone – its funning how the most popular attraction Cyber Mountain went on to be the foundation of Mission: Space, and just look at the number of injuries (and fatalities) that CSM caused? Maybe the team on M:S should have used our original research?

All the best,

 

[CommandoDisney]

First off, i would like to say that The ESPN Club (i think thats its official name?), really isnt too spectacular. maybe i just went on a bad night, but i didnt like how we couldnt put our name down and go wander around, instead we had to wait outside... OUTSIDE.... on the other side of a velvet rope while a table opened up. keep in mind this was the end of last august when they had that insane heat wave. the food wasnt really great and we had to wait a while. i think changing it to the ESPN Zone would be a lot better. it would be a lot more relaxed and more of the enviornment that the ESPN CLub doesnt quite get.
Also, DQ was cool when it first came out, but after wandering around, you think to yourself "thats it?" i mean the Create Zone is out unless you feel like dishing out more cash. you end up spending more time in line than actually having fun, and yes i know its disney, but for some reason waiting in line to play a video game seems unnecessary. plus, now years after its opening, a lot of the super cool technology in there, really isnt anything spectacular. all in all both of these places are fun but can be fixed up for more enjoyment. just my thoughts...

 

[mickeysgal]

I think that the ESPN Club moving to DTD would be a great idea. I was staying at the Boardwalk and couldn't believe the amount of people waiting outside at 10am. (It was Sunday). I don't think it should replace Disney Quest, but I do think that DQ needs to be updated. With Disney focusing a lot of their energy into technology, they could really make DQ as cool as it was when it first opened. (Enjoyed it then, didn't enjoy it as much this past year)

On another note, didn't I read on this site that there was a rumor that Disney was looking to build another wedding pavilion at the Boardwalk? Maybe they are looking at the ESPN Club space for that.

 

[AEfx]

There is nothing wrong with arcade attendance. Actually, while we are no where near the boon of the 80's, arcades are in better shape now than they were a few years ago. Games like "Dance Dance Revolution" and others have encouraged more public, active participation. Games have been available on home consoles for decades now, and they simply provide a different experience (playing DDR at home is much different than playing with 20 people watching).

The reason DQ doesn't do very well is because who the hell goes to WDW to play video games? And the "original" games (the roller coaster simulator, PotC) there just...well, they aren't worth what costs nearly a day's park admission (from a multiday ticket) or a fine meal at one of WDW's better restaurants. People barely have enough time to see the major parks in a week these days, let alone spend 1/2 a day in an overpriced, under-maintained, half-baked electronic experience.

I'm no sports fan (I actually have the sports channels de-programmed from my TV and TiVo) so I still won't go, but I welcome them turning it into something people actually enjoy.

AEfx